From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Oct 30 21:10:27 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 21:10:27 -0700 Subject: [Shadow_Group] 6 arrested at Bellingham Critical Mass! Message-ID: Hi folks, Below is an account of tonight's Critical Mass that I've posted to Seattle Indymedia. It's not comprehensive, but just what I remember. Six people that I know of were arrested, and will definately be needing help and support in the coming months. Please stay tuned. thanks, -Andrew 6 ARRESTED AT BELLINGHAM CRITICAL MASS! 10/29/04 The temperature was low, given that it was your usual brisk and overcast fall evening in Bellingham, but the spirits were high as 100+ be-costumed revelers spontaneously coalesced at the end of Railroad Avenue tonight for a jovial Halloween-themed jaunt on bicycles of all varities. I spotted clowns, cheerleaders, witches, superheros, a tin man, a scarecrow, winged beings, monsters, ballerinas, and just about every imaginable combination of these things one could think of. We took to the streets and rode for a good hour, to Fairhaven district and back, to the beats of drums provided by folks in bike trolleys. All passers-by and even all motor vehicles gave a hearty cheer at the sight of the large bike parade. But the fun became less so as the Bellingham police department proceded to put the lie to their oft-expressed claim of too much crime and not enough officers to handle it. For a modest bike parade, the Ham po' managed to muster up a bike cop, a motorcycle cop, an SUV cop, and three-four-or-five-or-six car cops. The cops gradually surfed in and out and around the crowd, and even found the time to ask the perennial question of authority, "Who's your leader?" (What leader??), until around 5:30 at the corner of East Holly and Cornwall, between Key Bank and Bank of America, they grabbed a brother on a low-rider bike. The Mass came to an abrupt stop in response, and four other folks (to my knowledge) were nabbed. One woman stood in the crosswalk observing the scene, only to have a 'Ham officer grab her arm from behind and march her to his car. In all, four men (ironically, one of whom was costumed as a prisoner!) and two women were arrested for doing nothing that 94+ other people weren't also doing: enjoying an evening bike ride and having a little fun. I can only imagine the Bellingham Herald editorial tomorrow. "Lest we allow (The jail is overcrowded) fun to become an epidemic, it was (criminals want to kill you in your homes) appropriate and in the interests of all tax-paying (further development of Whatcom county is inevitable) citizens that the Bellingham Police Department took the step (insert Bill Elfo quote here) it did in nipping fun in the bud, before it had the chance to blossom into outright (shop downtown) gaity. " After many minutes, the Mass, or what was left of it (15-30 people), slowly made its way to the jail, and then to the police station. After a firm lecture on the Law ("I understand what you guys are trying to do") from a female officer whose name eludes me, and after being told our comrades were being booked (! So much for "booking restrictions" in the overcrowded jail!) and wouldn't be back for another few hours, folks all dispersed to do whatever there is to do on a Friday night. Alas, five comrades remain in coppers' clutches as of this writing. Please keep your eye open for coming defense funds and court dates (you know, the point at which repression gets bureaucratic) for chances to support the folks who were nabbed for no good reason at all. _____________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Oct 30 21:12:05 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 21:12:05 -0700 Subject: [Shadow_Group] 100,000 Iraqi civilians dead Message-ID: "they toll for thee." http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5050397-103550,00.html 100,000 Iraqi civilians dead, says study Sarah Boseley, health editor Friday October 29, 2004 The Guardian About 100,000 Iraqi civilians - half of them women and children - have died in Iraq since the invasion, mostly as a result of airstrikes by coalition forces, according to the first reliable study of the death toll from Iraqi and US public health experts. The study, which was carried out in 33 randomly-chosen neighbourhoods of Iraq representative of the entire population, shows that violence is now the leading cause of death in Iraq. Before the invasion, most people died of heart attacks, stroke and chronic illness. The risk of a violent death is now 58 times higher than it was before the invasion. Last night the Lancet medical journal fast-tracked the survey to publication on its website after rapid, but extensive peer review and editing because, said Lancet editor Richard Horton, "of its importance to the evolving security situation in Iraq". But the findings raised important questions also for the governments of the United Sates and Britain who, said Dr Horton in a commentary, "must have considered the likely effects of their actions for civilians". The research was led by Les Roberts of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. Five of the six Iraqi interviewers who went to the 988 households in the survey were doctors and all those involved in the research on the ground, says the paper, risked their lives to collect the data. Householders were asked about births and deaths in the 14.6 months before the March 2003 invasion, and births and deaths in the 17.8 months afterwards. When death certificates were not available, there were good reasons, say the authors. "We think it is unlikely that deaths were falsely recorded. Interviewers also believed that in the Iraqi culture it was unlikely for respondents to fabricate deaths," they write. They found an increase in infant mortality from 29 to 57 deaths per 1,000 live births, which is consistent with the pattern in wars, where women are unable or unwilling to get to hospital to deliver babies, they say. The other increase was in violent death, which was reported in 15 of the 33 clusters studied and which was mostly attributed to airstrikes. "Despite widespread Iraqi casualties, household interview data do not show evidence of widespread wrongdoing on the part of individual soldiers on the ground," write the researchers. Only three of the 61 deaths involved coalition soldiers killing Iraqis with small arms fire. In one case, a 56-year-old man might have been a combatant, they say, in the second a 72-year-old man was shot at a checkpoint and in the third, an armed guard was mistaken for a combatant and shot during a skirmish. In the second two cases, American soldiers apologised to the families. "The remaining 58 killings (all attributed to US forces by interviewees) were caused by helicopter gunships, rockets or other forms of aerial weaponry," they write. The biggest death toll recorded by the researchers was in Falluja, which registered two-thirds of the violent deaths they found. "In Falluja, 23 households of 52 visited were either temporarily or permanently abandoned. Neighbours interviewed described widespread death in most of the abandoned houses but could not give adequate details for inclusion in the survey," they write. The researchers criticise the failure of the coalition authorities to attempt to assess for themselves the scale of the civilian casualties. "US General Tommy Franks is widely quoted as saying 'we don't do body counts'," they write, but occupying armies have responsibilities under the Geneva convention."This survey shows that with modest funds, four weeks and seven Iraqi team members willing to risk their lives, a useful measure of civilan deaths could be obtained." Guardian Unlimited ? Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Oct 30 21:20:05 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 21:20:05 -0700 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: 9/11 Conspirators met with Bush Officials After the Attack Message-ID: MadCow Morning News 10.29.2004 Terror Network Supporters Cozy Ties to Bush Administration now up at www.madcowprod.com Even though their 'background' as operatives was well known as early as 1996, one month before 9.11 President George W. Bush thanked Al-Arian's wife for a book she sent him, expressing "regret" about how her son was being treated. Bush Administration officials met with terrorists linked to 9/11 like Sami al-Arian and Abdurahman al-Amoudi even after the attack. The busy Mr. al-Arian had contacts not only with Mohamed Atta and al-Qaeda, The MadCow Morning News has learned, but also with Karl Rove and the Bush Administration. Read the whole story at: The MadCowMorningNews "When Matt & Katie aren't enough." This email sent by MadCow Morning News To be excluded from future mailings click here to unsubscribe -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Oct 30 21:22:49 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 21:22:49 -0700 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: [corp-watchers] Halliburton Hit with Multiple Lawsuits Message-ID: WHAT'S NEW ON CORPWATCH Holding Corporations Accountable << http://www.corpwatch.org >> HALLIBURTON HIT WITH MULTIPLE LAWSUITS By David Phinney Companies working in support of U.S. troops in Iraq are hauling Houston-headquartered defense contractor, Halliburton, into federal court with claims that the company stiffed them for hundreds of millions of dollars after they provided essential services in the war effort. Also a top-ranking U.S government contract officer has charged that Pentagon officials skirted the law and willfully violated federal acquisition regulations in the awarding the contracts in the first place. http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11613 WORKING ASSETS SUBSCRIBERS CAN VOTE FOR CORPWATCH! Are you a Working Assets customer? If so, VOTE for CorpWatch in the 2004 Working Assets Donation Ballot. The more members who vote for us the more money we receive. The deadline to vote is 12/31/04 http://www.workingassets.com/voting/ IN THE NEWS JAMAICA: Dust-Up Swirls Around Key Jamaica Industry http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11614 IRAQ: Security Contractors in Iraq Pumping Up Costs http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11607 USA: Leaders of Brokerage Made Partnerships for Private Profits http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11616 USA: Towns Hand Out Tax Breaks, Then Cry Foul as Jobs Leave http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11615 NORWAY: Former Statoil executive to pay fine over Iran deal http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11617 TAKE ACTION! Protest Post-Election Central American Free Trade Agreement Vote in US Congress! http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11595 HOT OFF THE PRESS! Seven Stories Press publishes "Iraq, Inc.: A Profitable Occupation" - the most complete-to-date chronicle of the exploits of private contractors hired to reconstruct and manage Iraq. Donate to CorpWatch and get your own copy today! https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?id=169 __________________________________________________________ You received this message as a subscriber on the list: corp-watchers at lists.corpwatch.org To be removed from the list, send any message to: corp-watchers-unsubscribe at lists.corpwatch.org For all list information and functions, including changing your subscription mode and options, visit the Web page: http://lists.corpwatch.org/lists/info/corp-watchers =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- New Address! CorpWatch -- Holding Corporations Accountable 1611 Telegraph Ave, Suite 702 Oakland, CA 94612 USA Tel: 510-271-8080 Fax: 510-271-8083 Email: corpwatch at corpwatch.org URL: http://www.corpwatch.org =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Oct 30 21:24:40 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 21:24:40 -0700 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: The Larry Franklin spy probe reveals an escalating fight overcontrol of Message-ID: FYI Cloak and Swagger The Larry Franklin spy probe reveals an escalating fight over control of Iran policy. By Laura Rozen and Jason Vest Issue Date: 11.02.04 Print Friendly | Email Article To Washington's small and sometimes fractious community of Iran experts, it was becoming obvious: What to do about Iran and its fast-developing nuclear program was set to rival Iraq as the most pressing foreign-policy challenge for the person elected president in 2004. By the spring and early summer of this year, the city was awash in rival Iran task forces and conferences. Some recommended that Washington engage in negotiations with Tehran's mullahs on the nuclear issue; they drew scorn from the other side, which preached regime change or military strikes. In late July, as this debate raged, a Pentagon analyst named Larry Franklin telephoned an acquaintance who worked at a pro-Israel lobbying group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The two men knew each other professionally from their long involvement in the Washington Iran and Iraq policy debates. A Brooklyn-born Catholic father of five who put himself through school, earning a doctorate, as an Air Force reservist, Franklin had served as a Soviet intelligence analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency until about a decade ago, when he learned Farsi and became an Iran specialist. At their July meeting, Franklin told the AIPAC employee about his frustration that the U.S. government wasn't responding aggressively enough to intelligence about hostile Iranian activities in Iraq. As Franklin explained it, Iran had sent all of its Arabic-speaking Iranian agents to southern Iraq, was orchestrating attacks on Iraqi state oil facilities, and had sent other agents to northern Iraq to kill Israelis believed to be operating there. Iran had also transferred its top operative for Afghanistan to the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad. The move, Franklin implied, signified Tehran's intention to cause more trouble in Iraq. A couple of weeks after this meeting, in mid-August, the AIPAC official was visited by two FBI agents, who asked him about Franklin. From the line of questioning, it wasn't clear to the AIPAC official whether Franklin was being investigated by the FBI for possible wrongdoing or if he was simply the subject of a routine background investigation for renewal of his security clearance. But on August 27, when CBS broke the story that the FBI was close to arresting an alleged "Israeli mole" in the office of the Pentagon's No. 3 official, Douglas Feith, it became clear that Franklin was in trouble. News reports said that the FBI had evidence that Franklin had passed a classified draft national-security presidential directive (NSPD) on Iran to AIPAC. What's more, reports said, the FBI wasn't just interested in Franklin. For the past two years, it had been conducting a counterintelligence probe into whether AIPAC had served as a conduit for U.S. intelligence to Israel, an investigation about which National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice was briefed shortly after the Bush administration came into office. In the flurry of news reports that followed, the scope of the FBI investigation seemed potentially enormous. Citing senior U.S. officials, The Washington Post reported that "the FBI is examining whether highly classified material from the National Security Agency . was also forwarded to Israel," and that the investigation of Franklin was "coincidental" to that broader FBI probe. Time magazine reported that Franklin had been enlisted by the FBI to place a series of monitored telephone calls (scripted by the FBI) to get possible evidence on others, including allies of Ahmad Chalabi, a favorite of Pentagon neoconservatives. Chalabi was alleged to have told his Iranian intelligence contacts that the United States had broken their communications codes -- a breach that prompted a break in U.S. support for Chalabi last spring -- and the FBI wanted to know who had shared that highly classified information with Chalabi. What's more, an independent expert on Israeli espionage said he had been interviewed by the FBI in June and in several follow-up calls, and that the scope of the senior FBI investigators' questioning was broad and extremely detailed. In the wake of the first news reports, AIPAC strongly denied that any of its employees had ever knowingly received classified U.S. information. Israel also categorically denied that it had conducted intelligence operations against the United States since the case of Jonathan Pollard, a U.S. Navy intelligence analyst who was convicted of spying for Israel in 1987. At the time the CBS report aired in late August -- incidentally, on the Friday evening before the opening of the Republican national convention -- custody of the Franklin investigation was being transferred from the head of the FBI counterintelligence unit, David Szady, to U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty, a Bush appointee, in Alexandria, Virginia, as the case moved to the grand-jury phase. And then, in mid-September, news of the Franklin investigation went dark. * * * The classified document that Franklin allegedly passed to AIPAC concerned a controversial proposal by Pentagon hard-liners to destabilize Iran. The latest iteration of the national-security presidential directive was drafted by a Pentagon civilian and avid neocon, Michael Rubin, who hoped it would be adopted as official policy by the Bush administration. But in mid-June, Bush's national-security advisers canceled consideration of the draft, partly in response to resistance from some at the State Department and the National Security Council, according to a recent memo written by Rubin and obtained by The American Prospect. No doubt also contributing to the administration's decision was the swelling insurgency and chaos of postwar Iraq. Rubin, in his early 30s, is a relative newcomer to the neoconservative circles in which he is playing an increasingly prominent role. Once the Iraq and Iran desk officer in the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans and later a Coalition Provisional Authority adviser in Iraq, these days the Yale-educated Ph.D. hangs his hat at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and serves as editor for controversial Middle East scholar Daniel Pipes' magazine, The Middle East Quarterly. In an article published in the Republican-oriented quarterly Ripon Forum in June, Rubin suggests that the administration resolve its Iran waffling by turning against the current regime. "In 1953 and 1979," he wrote, "Washington supported an unpopular Iranian government against the will of the people. The United States should not make the same mistake three times." In other words, President Bush should step up his public condemnation of the Iranian regime and break off all contact with it in hopes of spurring a swelling of the Iranian pro-democracy movement. In short, Rubin, like his fellow Iran hawks, urges the administration to make regime change in Iran its official policy. This invocation of "moral clarity" has a long intellectual pedigree among neoconservatives. It's the same argument they made to Ronald Reagan about the Soviet Union more than 20 years ago. "If we could bring down the Soviet empire by inspiring and supporting a small percentage of the people," Michael Ledeen, a chief neoconservative advocate of regime change in Iran and freedom scholar at AEI, recently wrote in the National Review, "surely the chances of successful revolution in Iran are more likely." Was it to this end that Franklin was allegedly observed by the FBI passing the draft NSPD on Iran to AIPAC? Was he trying to inform AIPAC, or Israel, about the contents of the draft NSPD? Or rather, and perhaps more plausibly, was he trying to enlist the powerful Washington lobbying organization in advocating for a Iran-destabilization policy? In other words, is the Franklin case really about espionage, or is it a glimpse into the ugly sausage-making process by which Middle East policy gets decided in Washington and, in particular, in the Bush administration? * * * More- http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewPrint&articleId =8764 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com APFN-1 YahooGroups: Subscribe: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/apfn-1/join Unsubscribe: apfn-1-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com APFN MSG BOARD: `In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.' http://disc.server.com/Indices/149495.html APFN CONTENTS PAGE: http://www.apfn.org/old/apfncont.htm Without Justice, there is JUST_US! [LEAK-GATE] INVESTIGATING THE WHITE HOUSE http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LEAK-GATE/ Find elected officials, including the president, members of Congress, governors, state legislators, local officials, and more. http://congress.org/congressorg/dbq/officials/ APFN, PMB 107, 6630 W. CACTUS #B107, GLENDALE, AZ 85304 http://www.apfn.org/apfn/kenvardon.htm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Oct 30 21:25:56 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 21:25:56 -0700 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Jewish-American employee of George Soros is arrested by BelorussianKGB Message-ID: Jewish-American employee of George Soros is arrested by Belorussian KGB ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- Jewish-American employee of Jew George Soros is arrested by Belarusian KGB Tue Oct 19, 8:06 AM ET By YURAS KARMANAU, Associated Press Writer MINSK, Belarus - An American employee of philanthropist George Soros' Open Society Institute has been arrested in Belarus by agents of the country's KGB security police, the New York-based Foundation said Tuesday. Ilya Mafter, who also was a consultant for the United Nations (news - web sites) Development Program, was arrested Friday, the institute said. Belarusian KGB chief Leonid Yerin said late Monday that Mafter was arrested on fraud charges after being suspected of having "misappropriated some of the funds entrusted to him," the Interfax news agency said. [...] http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=sto...rus_us_arrest_1 stormfront.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Oct 30 21:26:40 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 21:26:40 -0700 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Support The DrudgeReport; Message-ID: FYI Support The DrudgeReport; Visit Our Advertisers So maybe we will not have to worry about the election after all. You don't suppose this could be related to the sudden concern by the IAEA about all the high explosives they left in place at Saddam's disposal? Perhaps they have heard something or know of some activity and realize far too late the folly of leaving that kind of munitions in the hands of Saddam. Maybe that would explain their much belated and abrupt decision to address an issue that is primarily of their own creation. They should never have denied the US request to destroy the explosives from 1995 but having done so, now it is their own responsibility. But keep in mind that sanctions were working, so the liberals tell us. Yes, but working for whom?Amelia XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX WED OCT 27, 2004 12:42:01 ET XXXXX ABCNEWS HOLDS TERROR WARNING TAPE **Exclusive** In the last week before the election, ABCNEWS is holding a videotaped message from a purported al Qaeda terrorist warning of a new attack on America, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. The terrorist claims on tape the next attack will dwarf 9/11. "The streets will run with blood," and "America will mourn in silence" because they will be unable to count the number of the dead. Further claims: America has brought this on itself for electing George Bush who has made war on Islam by destroying the Taliban and making war on Al Qaeda. ABCNEWS strongly denies holding the tape back from broadcast over political concerns during the last days of the election. The CIA is analyzing the tape, a top federal source tells the DRUDGE REPORT. ABCNEWS obtained the tape from a source in Waziristan, Pakistan over the weekend, sources tells DRUDGE. "We have been working 24 hours a day trying to authenticate [the tape]," a senior ABCNEWS source said Wednesday morning, dismissing a claim that ABC was planning to air portions of the video during Monday's WORLD NEWS TONIGHT. The terrorist's face is concealed by a headdress, and he speaks in an American accent, making it difficult to identify the individual. US intelligence officials believe the man on tape may be Adam Gadhan - aka Adam Pearlman, a California native who was highlighted by the FBI in May as an individual most likely to be involved in or have knowledge of the next al Qaeda attacks. According to the FBI, Gadahn, 25, attended al-Qaida training camps and served as an al-Qaida translator. The disturbing tape runs an hour -- the man simply identifies himself as 'Assam the American.' MORE -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Oct 30 21:30:10 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 21:30:10 -0700 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Kenyan street children Message-ID: Reuters. NAIROBI (Reuters) - More than 100 jailed Kenyan street children smeared themselves and their Nairobi cells with feces in a protest Wednesday, leading police to call in firefighters to hose them down. The homeless boys had been jailed at the central police station for several weeks, awaiting transfer to government-sponsored homes. But their frustration boiled over Wednesday and the 113 in the jail ran riot, attempting to escape and then demanding to be released or charged, police said. "They smeared themselves with sh-t, smeared everywhere with sh-t and damaged doors trying to escape," said central police station boss Julius Ndegwa. The boys have also refused to eat, and banged prison doors after their escape attempt failed. The Nairobi Fire Department, called in by police, brought fire engines and water cannons in to hose down the children and the jail, which is located next to an upmarket hotel. "The stench was unbearable," said one of the firefighters. Nairobi's streets are home to thousands of homeless children, many of them abandoned or orphaned by AIDS. Many steal and sniff glue and are regarded as an aggressive menace. They are also often the victims of abuse and violence. President Mwai Kibaki has pledged to move the street children into government homes, but the plan has lost steam due to a lack of money. ? Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Oct 30 21:31:06 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 21:31:06 -0700 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: fluoride synergism Message-ID: FYI THIS IS THE STUFF THEY ARE PUTTING IN WATER The fluoride synergism effects leading to rise in world wide health effects. By: Jim Phelps Copyright 2004 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- This monologue is presented to orient persons, using plain language, to the problems associated with fluorine and fluoride chemicals. If I were to name one element or one chemical compound that would represent the "Bane of Mans existence on Earth" it would be fluorine or fluoride. Fluorine has caused huge problems for man since the beginning of time due to volcanic effects on Earth. Fluorine or Hydrogen Fluoride released from volcanic events or even meteor terminal events is the principle effect for extinction events on this planet. Fluoride in the body rises constantly with age and there is even one excellent book named for this effect: "Fluoride The Aging Factor" by Dr. John Yiamouyiannis [ISBN 0-913571-03-2]. Fluoride increases in the bones with age and all the effects of aging leading to immune system dysfunction and death track the retention of fluoride in the human body. Yianouyiannis and others have picked up on this effect. See excerpts of his book: Click Here and Here. The industrial age has brought on a huge rise in the levels of fluoride in the air, water, and food supplies. Persons like German doctor Waldbott were some of the first to begin to point out the problems of fluoride. One of his books even presents the issue as the Dilemma: "Fluoride The Great Dilemma" by George Waldbott, MD [ISBN 0-87291-097-0] with foreword by Alton Ochsner, MD. Waldbott has this book foreword'd by one of the lead persons on the kill Castro with Cancer methods using SV-40 effects with a trigger of radiation or fluoride. See book excerpts: Waldbott Book. More recent books speak to the huge cover up of industry and the US Govt. on the issues of fluoride connected to the nuclear bomb and strategic metals processing, see: "The Fluoride Deception" by Christopher Bryson [ISBN 1-58322-526-9]. Book Review. The health damages due to fluoride releases of these operations were so destructive that the Govt. with industry partners [DuPont, ALCOA, Rockefellers, Kettering Labs of Cincinatti, Oh.] decided to conceal the effects from the public. Kettering Labs is located where the occupation illness center in the US is located and Kettering is funded by the polluters and most all their files on fluoride research are kept locked away from the public. This has lead to extreme levels of abuse toward citizens and their health in the name of attempting to defeat communism. See: Kettering History. Fluoride has been used as a pesticide for centuries and when one looks for the method of which it kills bugs, one quickly discovers the mechanism involves the upsetting of trace metal metabolism within cells. In insecticide uses, higher concentrations are applied, but when these same poisons enter the human food chain these same effects happen, only more slowly. Every human on the face of planet Earth is affected by this fluoride effect, some more that others depending on geographic, food consumption, industry, and water pollution. Fluoride is cumulative from even the subtlest levels taken in by human consumption. The key to understanding the most damaging effect of fluoride is to know about these trace metal upsets that control enzyme repairs and other processes within cells. Upsets in these trace metals occur due to the fact that fluorine is the most electronegative element and when present within the body will cease onto trace metals spontaneously. This effect keeps these trace metals from being able to do their essential uses with the body and cells. This effect leads to rise in cell damages, higher levels of oxidation like damage to DNA, rises in the cytokine levels, loss of immune system tolerance in detection and elimination of varied pathogens, etc. The problems associated with fluoride doesn't stop with the metals-complex issues, as fluoride damages the thyroid hormone due to iodine like valence effects, it damages the pineal gland and the melatonin / serotonin hormones, it contributes to arterial plaque, it upsets many of the immune cells like macrophage energy, it associates to heart attacks, kidney damage, and etc. If there were one element that were to be associated with the "God of the Underground," Death, and Hell; it would be fluorine. Fluoride effects are directly related to loss of IQ in children and the dumbing down of the population that makes them easier to lead. Fluoride effects linked to aluminum are linked to the passage of aluminum across the blood-brain-barrier that is linked with Alzheimer's effects. Fluorides complex with aluminum to form G-protein like substances that are able to permanently upset cell bonding sites. Fluorides increase the retention of toxic metals in the body and lowers the retention of the beneficial trace metals, and this is a death keel to essential enzyme processes. Fluorine was a large factor in the health problems in London due to the "London Fogs" that stemmed from the burning of high fluoride "Sea Coal." These emissions produced fogs so thick they were called "Pea Soup" and persons had to lead carriages around the streets in broad daylight with lanterns. It is this same area that spawned the problems connected to "Jack the Ripper," who appeared to be looking at the health effects of prostitutes connected to these toxic effects. A good book that goes into some of this is: "When Smoke Runs Like Water" by Dr. Devra Davis [ISBN 0-465-01521-1]. See excerpts: Here. Fluorine began being exposed industrially in the 1930s in the Meuse Valley in Belgium from the emissions of aluminum processes, where it is used as a flux and melting point modifier for aluminum smelting. In the US in 1948, fluoride became a huge issue for the town of Donora, Pa. from an air inversion that trapped coal smoke and fluoride vapors from the flux operations of the steel mills there. In the 40s era Manhattan Project it was a huge problem connected to national security and huge accidents near Buffalo, NY were concealed and problems from DuPont's Peach Bottoms emissions were the start of huge Govt. sponsored cover ups on the damaging effects of fluorine processes. Fluorine was the only element that led to the lowest temperature gaseous form of uranium compounds. So, the Govt. in working with the Rockefellers and AMA designed medicine around taking note of fluorides damage to human health. This made this faction rich in the process and they attack those that expose this planned oversight and conspiracy of silence. One can see there formed a Govt. and industry sponsored cover up of the dangers of fluoride that matured into something to make it associated with good for children's teeth. The truth of this deceptive process is that it put a deadly poison within the reach of nearly every child in America. The deadly truth is that there is enough fluoride in one tube of the sweet and flavored toothpaste to kill an adult. Short of doses that kill the fluorides toxic effect robs children of their IQ, robs them of essential trace metals needed to immune health, and leaves them with a lifelong predisposition toward cancers, immune illnesses, and HIV. When one knows and recognizes the issues of fluorine intake affecting the immune system, then other factors come into view. For example, rodents have long been associated with spreading the "Black Plague" bacteria in Europe. Most of these outbreaks have occurred correlated with major volcanic events. Rodents like to chew on bones to sharpen their teeth and this also puts high levels of fluorine into their diets. These levels tend to rise after volcanic events and this is associated to the immunity being damaged to the extent that the black plague bacteria are not controlled. Since rodents have naturally been exposed to much higher levels of fluoride in their food chain due to the bone consumption, this effect has also upset the data derived from their use in medical research. Reference 1 below speaks to the finding of rodents by Wake Forest University with drastically different immune responses to cancer than that from all previous lines of mice used in cancer research. The long isolation of mouse lines in captivity and their being fed low fluoride diets have lead to some of them recovering their immune functions. This basically means that all the data collected with mice has been flawed by the generational damage done by fluoride. Bone meal fluoride is a huge undisclosed problem. It shows up in cattle fed bone meal leading to the issues of Mad-Cow or BSE. It shows up in gardeners who use bone meal on food they consume who then come down with similar illnesses. And it has shown up in children fed "pablum," which was made from bone meal. Natural fluoride effects even upset the reproduction of salmon fish, which must migrate into fresh water with less than the 1ppm fluoride in sea water. Various fish hatcheries have been harmed by fluoride levels of only 0.5 ppm in varied industrial cases. Fluoride taken into the stomach is converted by the stomach acid to hydrofluoric acid, which is highly absorbed into the body and highly retained. It is a cumulative effect. The effect is most pronounced in rodents that consume bones that highly concentrate fluorine from the environment. The effect highly drives cancer resistance. This effect entered the studies on cancer as a weapon against Castro using SV-40 mutations. DuPont's mess made from fluorine not only made an ecological disaster from the Manhattan Project, it went on to wreck the world and even individual children's young lives. DuPont made the lead for leaded gasoline. DuPont made the fluorine to make the UF-6 used to make the bomb uranium and they made the "Teflon" used to seal the processes and the "Freon" used to remove the heat of compression from the gas diffusion process. The Freon would go on to wreck the global environment due to the Fluorine being so close in mass to air that it lingers and builds in the upper atmosphere. Here it absorbs high levels of IR radiation and contributes to global warming, and also sequesters hydrogen that adds to the UV-b levels from ionization effects and damages the ozone like chlorine. More- THIS IS THE STUFF THEY ARE PUTTING IN WATER__________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com APFN-1 YahooGroups: Subscribe: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/apfn-1/join Unsubscribe: apfn-1-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com APFN MSG BOARD: `In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.' http://disc.server.com/Indices/149495.html APFN CONTENTS PAGE: http://www.apfn.org/old/apfncont.htm Without Justice, there is JUST_US! [LEAK-GATE] INVESTIGATING THE WHITE HOUSE http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LEAK-GATE/ Find elected officials, including the president, members of Congress, governors, state legislators, local officials, and more. http://congress.org/congressorg/dbq/officials/ APFN, PMB 107, 6630 W. CACTUS #B107, GLENDALE, AZ 85304 http://www.apfn.org/apfn/kenvardon.htm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Oct 30 21:36:19 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 21:36:19 -0700 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Exclusive: Bush Wanted Iraq If Elected in 2000 Message-ID: Guerrillas, GNN.tv has just published an exclusive report from award-winning independent journalist Russ Baker. In the article, Baker quotes former Bush ghost writer Mickey Herskowitz as saying: ?He was thinking about invading Iraq in 1999. It was on his mind. He said to me: ?One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief.? And he said, ?My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it.? He said, ?If I have a chance to invade?.if I had that much capital, I?m not going to waste it. I?m going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I?m going to have a successful presidency.? You can read the full article here: http://www.gnn.tv/articles/article.php?id=761 We have also launched our new e-store which enables our community to buy GNN DVDs and our critically acclaimed book "True Lies" by phone and with all major credit cards. Support GNN, here: http://www.theconnextion.com/index.cfm?artistid=302&noframe=yes Thank you for your support. GNN --------------------------------------------------- If you feel you have received this notice in error, or if you ever want to leave the list, just visit this URL to be instantly removed: http://gnn.tv/cgi-bin/elist/index.pl?subscribe=unsubscribe&email=deano700 at msn.com or visit the website at http://gnn.tv to remove yourself. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Oct 30 21:41:19 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 21:41:19 -0700 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Alex Jones' News Update 27 Oct 2004 Message-ID: $7.77/mo - 1000 MB Space, 150 GB Transfer, 24/7 Support, 99.9% Uptime, FREE Domain & FREE Setup!! Click Here Visit the Infowars / Prisonplanet network of websites today! October 27, 2004Because there's a war on for your mind! Latest News - Police charged over Beslan siege Russia has charged three police officials with criminal negligence over the Beslan school siege in which more than 350 hostages died. Deputy police chiefs were charged in the North Ossetia region, where Beslan is located, and adjacent Ingushetia, where some hostage-takers came from. Full story online at prisonplanet.com Visit Prison Planet.tv - your portal for daily audio, video and text reports Further Headlines from Infowars / Prisonplanet Visit the site for the full articles: a.. Toll on freedom felt in D.C. b.. DNA testing kit leads to conviction and ??300 fine c.. US Gave Exact Date of War to Britain Five Months in Advance d.. 78 protestors die after police put them in packed trucks e.. Nazi doll saddens Holocaust survivor f.. Big Brother watching cellphone users g.. Judge spares Terri Schiavo ??" for now h.. Just 6 Days Left! Educate Yourself on the 2004 Staged Election Advertise with us! Infowars.net gets millions of hits a month. If you have something you want to advertise, please contact us. rates are very low. For more information Click Here Infowars Services Dial up service DSL service Webhosting PropagandaMatrix.com New Anti NWO t-shirts, bumper stickers and more in the re-designed Propaganda Matrix online shop. Now accepting payments via Worldpay and Paypal. We thank you for supporting our activities and helping us grow. Visit Propaganda Matrix today! http://www.infowars.net Free Newsletter Provided by Bravenet.com - Get one for Free ? Unsubscribe from this newsletter -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: globe_header.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 37490 bytes Desc: not available URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Oct 30 21:50:23 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 21:50:23 -0700 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: TODAY: Musicians Release Two-CD Set for Burma! Message-ID: OK, so this was yesterday.... But nonetheless this is a great way to educate people and to support work on Burma (by way of disclosure, I'm on the board of US Campaign for Burma, which benefits from this effort). The liner notes are extensive and informative, and the list of artists suggests the discs have something to please everyone. BTW, this disc has already been banned in Burma. Cheers, Larry Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 10:19:04 -0700 (PDT) From: "Jeremy and Aung Din, US Campaign for Burma" > Reply-To: "Jeremy and Aung Din, US Campaign for Burma" ring.org> To: burma at u.washington.edu Subject: TODAY: Musicians Release Two-CD Set for Burma! **PLEASE CIRCULATE WIDELY** BUY A TWO-CD SET--SUPPORT FREEDOM FOR THE WORLD'S ONLY IMPRISONED NOBEL PEACE PRIZE RECIPIENT! October 26th, 2004 Today, Rhino Records released a two-CD set compilation of 27 songs by famous artists dedicated to 1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi and the courageous people of Burma. The CD-set is titled "For The Lady", and is avaiable in the United States and Canada at major music stores including Barnes and Noble, Tower Records, Best Buy, etc. It is also available for purchase at www.uscampaignforburma.org All proceeds from the sale of this CD will go to the US Campaign for Burma's efforts to support freedom and democracy in Burma. USCB will receive approximately $12 per CD for purchase made through its website or $5.50 per from purchases made at music stores. The CD has already been banned by Burma's military regime. In addition to being the FIRST TIME that major celebrities have shown a public interest in Aung San Suu Kyi, the CD has great music--artists include Paul McCartney, Sting, U2, Pearl Jam, Avril Lavigne, Talib Kweli, Ani DiFranco, Damien Rice, Matchbox Twenty, Bonnie Raitt, and more. The CD-set would make a great gift for all of your friends and family for this holiday season! See photos of the musicians, listen to previes of two of the songs, and order your copy TODAY at www.uscampaignforburma.org Help free Aung San Suu Kyi and all the people of Burma! Aung Din and Jeremy Woodrum US Campaign for Burma 1612 K St., NW Suite #401 Washington, DC 20006 (202) 223-0300 (202) 466-5189 fax www.uscampaignforburma.org 1612 K St, NW #401 Washington, District of Columbia 20006 United States You are subscribed to this list as burma at u.washington.edu. To unsubscribe, send email to unsubscribe.12457.11456333.4826091089888146044-burma_u.washington.edu at en.groundspring.org . -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Oct 30 21:51:30 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 21:51:30 -0700 Subject: [Shadow_Group] CATS 4 Message-ID: Cascadia Anarchist Tech Skillshare CATS 4 -- Nov 5th-7th, Seattle. ____________________________________________ What? Now in its second year, CATS is a quarterly gathering of northwest anarchist and anarchist-inspired tech activists, geeks, sysadmins, programmers (and those who want to learn) to share their skills, learn from others, socialize, and make revolution. CATS rotates between Vancouver (BC), Portland, and Seattle. This particular CATS is also drawing activists from Chicago, the Bay Area, and Spain. (more: http://cats.protest.net/whatiscats/) ____________________________________________ Where? We'll be holding forth primarily in the spacious daylight basement of Mitchell's new house (Soggy Bottom). Couches, wireless, a digital projector, most meals, and power will be provided. Bringing extra hardware, cables, extension cords, laptops, large notepads, is always encouraged. For directions, contact cats at riseup.net ____________________________________________ Housing As usual, people from out of town are encouraged to bring sleeping supplies (bags, mats, blankets) as possible. Please contact cats at riseup.net if you would like a bed. Otherwise, you can assume you will probably get some comfy floor space or couch. ____________________________________________ Agenda We've found that spending just a little time thinking about what you want to get out of the weekend before showing up makes it an immensely more successful weekend. Some things to think about are: 1. What do I want to learn? 2. What can I teach? Currently, these sessions are proposed: - Voice over IP (VoIP) for the revolution. - Gender Changer Academy: women identified only safe space for learning linux skills (Sunday morning). - Security for activists, with break outs for all skill levels. - Northwest collaboration. - Sympa mailing list manager. - Spam filtering skill share & postfix recipe swap. - How to make a wireless uplink show and tell. - backupninja show and tell. - debian tricks show and tell. - security for the paranoid sysadmin: encrypted fs, logs, ramfs, grsecurity, ip-clean postfix patch. - sympa mailing list manager. - activista.org: the activist search engine. - debian packaging tutorial. (website: http://cats.protest.net/seattle-nov-5/) ____________________________________________ The Rule Everyone will be required to say, "i don't know!" and "what do you mean?" at least five times a day (no exceptions). ____________________________________________ More Information More information to follow, hopefully. Don't hesitate to ask, prop, and self-organize, it is after all *anarchist* skill share. If you have not previously attended a CATS, please contact cats at riseup.net for more information. The official announcement list is cats at lists.riseup.net. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Oct 30 21:57:33 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 21:57:33 -0700 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: [Left Hook] Mohawks being slandered... Message-ID: This article is so full of disinformation it's hard to describew where to start... "Mohawks" are the ones who chased out that no good government Indian Gabriel. They have also banned drugs and other things, but this appears to be the media getting ready to send in the army. Lest the indians get uppity and this sovereignty gets addictive. Macdonald Mohawks demand end to Kanesatake 'hell' Security minister criticized over handling of crisis at Quebec reserve By RH?AL S?GUIN Wednesday, October 27, 2004 - Page A17 QUEBEC -- The Mohawks of Kanesatake urged the Quebec government yesterday to break "the reign of terror" that has gripped their community, demanding that federal and provincial police forces intervene immediately to help native peacekeepers restore order. "I've never been to hell, but it's not far from that," said 43-year-old Kanesatake resident Mich?le Lamouche. "It is very frightening, it is scary, it's intimidation every day." Grand Chief James Gabriel, whose home was burned by dissidents in January, said the community was under a state of siege and controlled by "criminals." Residents contend that Quebec Public Security Minister Jacques Chagnon was lying when he said that law and order had been restored in Kanesatake. "The common statement that we are hearing from the Quebec government and the S?ret? du Qu?bec is: 'We did a good job; nobody has died yet.' My question is: How many people are going to have to die [before intervening]? Are they waiting for someone to die -- and who is it going to be?" Mr. Gabriel asked. Residents complain that they regularly hear gunshots and even explosions. Ms. Lamouche said children are traumatized and that the elderly are being harassed. Anyone daring to oppose members of the dissident clan are met with insults, she and others added. Mohawk peacekeepers say they have witnessed a number of incidents where the SQ, the provincial police force, refuse to intervene for fear of triggering another bloody confrontation similar to the one that caused the death of an officer in 1990. "There is nowhere in Canada nor in Quebec where this would ever happen. Why is it happening in Kanesatake?" Robert Patton, the Mohawk deputy police chief, said. "My officers are being harassed every day. They are being chased out of the community." Six Kanesatake residents were present in the National Assembly yesterday to witness Parti Qu?b?cois public-security critic Jean-Pierre Charbonneau grill Mr. Chagnon over his failure to ensure adequate policing in the community. "There is a climate of disorder, intimidation and harassment where laws aren't being obeyed," Mr. Charbonneau said. "The community is sending an alarm signal. They are calling for help." Mr. Chagnon repeatedly listed the number of infractions, charges and arrests made in the community by the SQ as a clear indication the presence of the provincial police was effective. However, his arguments were disputed by Mr. Gabriel and Mohawk peacekeepers who said provincial officers were rarely seen and that adequate policing was totally absent. "What Mr. Chagnon is telling you is completely false. There is no policing on the territory," Mr. Patton said. Residents said that without proper policing, it will be impossible to hold democratic elections for a new band council. The previous council's mandate expired last summer and elections have been delayed until next year. The mediation process between council chiefs and the dissident leaders to settle the election issue broke off three weeks ago. The community has been divided ever since Mr. Gabriel called in members of other native police forces in Quebec for a major crackdown on criminal activities in the small Mohawk territory outside Montreal. The operation was aborted when a small group of community members blocked police efforts and then torched Mr. Gabriel's home. Since then, the Grand Chief and his band council have been governing in exile, unable to re-establish their authority in the community. "We live in a community where democracy does not exist," said Kanesatake resident Myra Cree. "It's indecent." -- Macdonald Stainsby http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green In the contradiction lies the hope. --Brecht. ============================================== List Rules: http://www.lefthook.org/Rules.html [Please clip all unnecessary text if you are replying to a previous e-mail.] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Oct 30 21:59:24 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 21:59:24 -0700 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Upcoming film on Indigenous struggles Message-ID: > > > > > > > TRINKETS & BEADS > By Christopher Walker > > This documentary is about the Huaorani's struggle > against the oil companies. > The Huaorani, people from the forest, from inside > the forest. They people with > different culture and language that live in the > forest. > The Huaorani have existed for thousands of years, > with their face painting > and with holes in their ears. > 50 years ago oil was discovered in Ecuador??Ts > Amazon Rainforest, home to over > 20 Indian tribes, only the Huaorani, a tribe of > 1500, have successfully fought > to keep the oil companies off most of their land. > > DATE: Monday November 8 > > TIME: 7:00 p.m. > > PLACE: University Friends Service Meeting > Hall > 4001 ??" 9th. Ave. NE > > Sponsored by: The Committee of Solidarity and > Justice in Chile and the > American Friend Service Committee > > If you have any questions please call at: 206 > 523-2709 > Labor donated > --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Homepage (as of NOV-01-2002): http://www.SeattleActivist.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Oct 30 22:01:00 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 22:01:00 -0700 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Going to Venezuela Meetings cancelled and happening in November Message-ID: > To: ANSWER_seattle at yahoogroups.com > Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2004 16:52:10 -0700 (PDT) > Subject: [ANSWER_seattle] Going to Venezuela > Meetings cancelled and happening in November > > > > Judy and I will be in Venezuela looking over the > Bolivarian revolution and > studying Spanish. We will be sending fewer emails > because of that. > So here are some events and non events that U would > email to you if I were > here. > > 1. The regular meeting of the Seattle/Cuba > Friendship Committee will be > cancelled for the second Thursday. In > conjunction with Bethany UCC > Church there was a very successful showing of Oliver > Stones interview with > Fidel El Commandante which was banned by the US TV > networks. There > will be other showings around Seattle as well as in > Winthrop and Bremerton > and other places. > > The next regular meeting will happen on December 9th > at 7pm at Central > Lutheran Church as usual. I will send out a > reminder. > > 2. Beacon Hill Peace Action / Bethany UCC > Movie/Discussion Night > > Our November Movie/Discussion Night film is entitled > "We the People." > It is a half hour film by The Positive Futures > Network, publisher of yes! > Magazine, and narrated by Danny Glover. It is meant > as a catalyst to > community-building conversation, as we experienced > at last month's event > led by Bob Hasegawa > > Professional childcare is being provided > > Date: Third Friday Night, November 19, 2004. > Time: 7:00 PM > Location: Bethany UCC, 6230 Beacon Avenue South, at > the corner of Beacon > Avenue and Graham Street > > We expect to begin promptly at 7pm. > > > Our Book Study on the book "Soledad Brother," by > George Jackson will be > taking place on the Second Friday of November. We > hope to immerse > ourselves in a community-building, in-depth > discussion on racism, > prisoner's rights, white privilege, and more. > > Please call 206-725-7535 for more information on > either event > > In solidarity, > Secretary Seattle/Cuba Friendship Committee - a Task > Force of the Church > Council of Greater Seattle > 8923 2nd Ave. N.E. > Seattle WA, 98115 > > http://www.seattlecuba.org > ===== Homepage (as of NOV-01-2002): http://www.SeattleActivist.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Oct 30 22:03:04 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 22:03:04 -0700 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Russian natives join Makahs' celebration Message-ID: Russian natives join Makahs' celebration 10/27/04 By Hal Bernton Seattle Times staff reporter NEAH BAY, Clallam County - First came the salmon and potatoes. Then the songs and dance, a rare mix of traditional Makah and Russian native music and movements that unfolded in a crowded high-school gymnasium. The Makahs offered homage to the spirits of the four seasons. The Russian guests donned long, fur-lined robes to celebrate the reindeer that helped feed native people in the northeast Russian province of Chukotka. And they both honored the gray whale, which the Russians hunt, and the Makahs - now blocked by federal court rulings - hope to hunt again. "I never saw so much energy in the dancing. It was awesome," said Ben Johnson Sr., chairman of the Makah Tribal Council. "It gave me goose bumps." The Chukotka dance troupe that joined in the Monday evening celebration is called Ergyron, and its journey this week to Neah Bay reflects strengthening ties between the Makahs and Russian native people. Earlier this year, a Chukotka whale hunter visited Neah Bay as part of a cultural exchange. Next summer, a group of Makahs is planning to travel to Russia to observe the Chukotka hunts. The Chukotka natives played a key role in launching a modern era of Makah whaling. At the end of Monday's celebration, the hosts thank the visiting dancers by placing gifts in a blanket given to the troupe. At a 1997 Monte Carlo meeting of the International Whaling Commission, the Chukotka natives ceded a share of their gray-whale quota to the Washington tribe. Under the arrangement, the Makahs would be able to take as many as 20 grays over five years. This international allocation gave the Makahs the green light to resume their hunts, a right already affirmed in the tribe's treaty with the U.S. government. At the Monte Carlo meeting, the Makah representatives performed a celebratory dance to thank the Chukotkans for their help. The gray whales winter in Mexican calving grounds and then head north, traveling up the North American coast before crossing the Bering Strait to feed each summer in Chukotka coastal waters. Since gaining the quota, the Makahs have killed one gray, which was dispatched with two shots from a high-powered rifle in May 1999. The Makah hunt drew outrage and lawsuits from animal-rights advocates. The litigation reached the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has prohibited a resumption of whaling until federal officials complete a lengthy environmental review and issue a waiver for the hunt from the Marine Mammals Protection Act. The review likely is to take several years to complete, and tribal officials say there is no clear road map for gaining the required waiver. They say they're determined to try to move forward and yesterday held a meeting with federal officials in Neah Bay to discuss how to proceed. "Whaling is an important part of our culture and our treaty rights, no different than when we started this whole effort," said Keith Johnson of the Makah Whaling Commission. Cei'j Gagnon, 2, of Neah Bay, crawls past an exhibit of Chukotka photographs by Arkadiy Rudol'fovich, who accompanied the Russian native dance troupe on its U.S. visit. "We would like to be able to see the United States honor the treaty rights," said Tom Eagle, a federal fisheries biologist who attended yesterday's meeting. "But we have to do that with the conservation standards we now have in place. And we don't see that as mutually exclusive." The Makahs plan to learn more about whaling by observing Russian hunts. At least one Makah hunter may follow up on an invitation from the Inupiat, an Alaskan native group, to go along on a spring hunt for a bowhead whale off Barrow. But the Makahs who joined in the 1999 hunt are eager to pursue another gray off the Olympic Peninsula. "I'm looking forward to the day when I can get back in the water again," said whaler Arnie Hunter. Monday evening, Hunter gave an encore performance of the 1997 dance in Monte Carlo, which required him to don a series of carved wooden masks. The Chukotka dance troupe represents several Russian native cultures, including the Cukchi, who largely dwell inland and herd reindeer, and the Yup'ik , who live in coastal villages and hunt whales, walrus and other sea life. The troupe was founded in 1968 and offers both traditional and modern interpretations. Through the early years of post-Soviet Russia, Chukotka was one of the most isolated and destitute of Russian provinces, with strict travel restrictions imposed by a regional governor wary of opening to the West. But in a 2000 Russian election, a rich, young oligarch, Roman Abramovich, was voted into the governor's office. In recent years, Chukotka has changed as Abramovich reorganized government, invested part of his personal fortune in the province and encouraged exchanges with the West. The dance-troupe members now often travel abroad but say that Monday's celebration was special. HUNTER GRAY [HUNTER BEAR] Micmac /St. Francis Abenaki/St. Regis Mohawk www.hunterbear.org Protected by Na?shdo?i?ba?i? and Ohkwari' -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Oct 30 22:06:47 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 22:06:47 -0700 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: High School Students Names Message-ID: http://www.rense.com/general58/qwe.htm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rense.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Military Recruiters Demand Names Of U.S. High Schoolers A Dream Puppet Blodspot 10-15-4 Mother Jones tells us: Sharon Shea-Keneally, principal of Mount Anthony Union High School in Bennington, Vermont, was shocked when she received a letter in May from military recruiters demanding a list of all her students, including names, addresses, and phone numbers. The school invites recruiters to participate in career days and job fairs, but like most school districts, it keeps student information strictly confidential. "We don't give out a list of names of our kids to anybody," says Shea-Keneally, "not to colleges, churches, employers -- nobody." But when Shea-Keneally insisted on an explanation, she was in for an even bigger surprise: The recruiters cited the No Child Left Behind Act, President Bush's sweeping new education law passed earlier this year. There, buried deep within the law's 670 pages, is a provision requiring public secondary schools to provide military recruiters not only with access to facilities, but also with contact information for every student -- or face a cutoff of all federal aid. ____ Oh... so that's what No Child Left Behind means. Makes sense now. No Child Unrecruited http://www.motherjones.com/news/outfront/2002/11/ma_153_01.html http://adreampuppet.blogspot.com/2004/10/military-recruiters-demand-names-of.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Oct 30 22:12:52 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 22:12:52 -0700 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Democratic Republic of Congo Message-ID: CNN.com KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) -- Fighters in Congo have raped at least 40,000 women and girls over the past six years yet the health system in the central African country can offer the victims little help, Amnesty International said on Tuesday. Although war in the Democratic Republic of Congo was declared over in 2003, fighting has continued sporadically in the east with some horrific rape cases occurring in June this year, according to the human rights group. Amnesty called for an expert team to assess the needs of the health sector, urged Congolese authorities to take a much tougher line against sexual violence and demanded a national and international effort to improve security in the east. All of the more than 20 groups involved in Congo's conflict had committed rape and sexual violence, it said in a statement. As one example of many crimes, Amnesty cited testimony from the youngest of three sisters raped by up to 20 members of a faction which seized the eastern town of Bukavu in June. "Jeanette was raped by seven soldiers in the storeroom, Francine by eight soldiers in the shop," 16-year-old Edith said. "They put me in the bathroom. I fought with five of the soldiers when they tried to make my brothers watch me being raped. But they beat me so hard." Only two eastern hospitals can treat survivors of sexual violence, Amnesty said, and hospitals often have no water or electricity and lack doors, windows and beds because of looting. "The government and the international community must act now to ensure access to medical care for thousands of rape survivors and ensure that the rehabilitation of the health care system is a priority," Amnesty campaign director Stephen Bowen said. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Oct 30 22:14:49 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 22:14:49 -0700 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Eating Bushmeat Linked To AIDS-Like Virus Message-ID: rense.com Eating Bushmeat Linked To AIDS-Like Virus BBC News 10-26-4 An Aids-like virus has been found in African hunters who have eaten ape meat which is being sold illegally in the UK. A leading scientist has told the File On 4 programme that the virus was probably passed on to tribesmen via body fluids when the animals were slaughtered and butchered. Assistant Professor Nathan Wolfe, who tested more than 1,000 pygmy hunters for Johns Hopkins University, found a retrovirus from the same family as HIV in a number of them. "This is the area of the world where HIV came from, and this is most likely the mechanism by which HIV emerged into the human population," he said. Although the full public health implications are still unknown, the fear is that the new disease will have global impact. UK imports The File On 4 team accompanied environmental health officers to spot inspections at London shops where they found meat from endangered species from West and Central Africa. About 5,000 tonnes of bush meat, which originates from animals such as antelopes, snakes, gorillas and elephants, is eaten in Africa every year. It is estimated that 12,000 tonnes of the meat is smuggled into the UK, although customs only seize 72 tonnes annually. There may also be serious implications for the health of the British domestic livestock as the foot and mouth outbreak was linked to illegal meat imports in 2001. Under cover Posing as rich white loggers, File On 4 journalists travelled to Cameroon where pygmy hunters offered to kill gorillas, seen as the best meat, for 800 francs an animal. The journalists were offered the skull, palms, and legs of the gorilla free of charge as long as they could provide the bullets to shoot it. They were accompanied by an undercover worker from Cameroon's Last Great Ape project who said: "They have killed so many gorillas we cannot tell you exactly how many." Abject poverty forces such hunters to kill any animal, no matter how rare or unfit for human consumption, and transport it out of the country through black markets. The discovery of the bushmeat virus was first reported by Dr Wolfe in the Lancet in March 2004 but as yet there is no proof that anyone has died from the virus. ? BBC MMIV http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/file_on_4/3954183.stm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Oct 30 22:15:44 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 22:15:44 -0700 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Gene wars only a few years away, say doctors Message-ID: infowars.net Gene wars only a few years away, say doctors London Times| Oct 26 2004 There is concern that bio-weapons could be programmed to wipe out specific ethnic groups within five years GENETICALLY targeted weapons capable of ethnic cleansing could become a reality within five years because the "window of opportunity" to tackle their development is shrinking fast, doctors said yesterday. The warning comes after a report by the British Medical Association (BMA), which stated that within a decade genetic research would unleash new and terrifying biological weapons capable of killing only people of specific ethnic groups. Since the publication of the BMA's first study five years ago, the association believes that governments have failed to halt the advance of biological and genetic weapons technology. Dr Vivienne Nathanson, head of science and ethics at the BMA, said: "The situation today is arguably worse than when we published our last report. "The very existence of international laws to protect us is being questioned, the anthrax attacks in the US in 2001 caused widespread panic and fear and, most worryingly, it's never been easier to develop biological weapons. All you have to do is look on the internet." Scientists are making great progress in identifying the human genetic code. BMA doctors are worried that legitimate research, often conducted to find potential therapies for debilitating diseases, could be perverted to develop weapons of mass destruction. The author of the report, Malcolm Dando, head of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford, has studied arms control for 20 years. "Every major piece of scientific research has been used for malign purposes," he said. "If the life sciences are misused, there are major threats to human rights, human dignity and human safety." Although the BMA insisted that genetic weapons have yet to be built, it conceded that their construction "is now approaching reality". If a genetic bomb was developed, it could contain anthrax or the plague and be tailored to activate when it identified a certain group of genes - indicating membership of a particular ethnic group - in the infected person. "Questions need to be asked about where the research could lead, where the results will be published and who has access to the data," Professor Dando said. He also gave warning that the threat from biological weapons has outstripped that of chemical and nuclear weapons because of the "riotous" development in biotechnology. "Unless great care is taken to ensure openness about the vastly increased funding going into the US and other biodefence programmes, suspicions could easily arise and inadvertently help to fuel an arms race which would be in all our worst interests", his report, Biotechnology, Weapons and Humanity II, published yesterday, stated. Professor Dando added that if biological advances continue unabated, then terrorists could misuse the research to wreak widespread havoc and destruction. The reluctance of the United States to agree a multilateral approach to biological monitoring has hampered the international community's attempts to stop the spread of biological, chemical and genetic weapons, he said. "The US took their eye off the ball during the Clinton Administration. There were clearly inter-agency differences; therefore, although we had announcements that were in favour of strengthening existing agreements, they didn't take a leadership role." In 1975 the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) was set up to try to provide protection from the proliferation of biological weapons. Calls in 1999 to strengthen the convention "failed abysmally" after the US Government claimed that imposing controls on biotechnology would interfere with benign research being carried out. As a result, the United States pulled out of international talks aimed at boosting the BTWC in 2001. Yesterday the BMA urged governments around the world to find a way to strengthen up the convention. The doctors also called for scientists to realise the potential risks and responsibilities of their cutting edge work. Dr Nathanson said: "This report does not make comfortable reading, but it is essential that governments take action on this issue now. If we wait too long it will be virtually impossible to defend ourselves." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Oct 30 22:17:00 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 22:17:00 -0700 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Ominous: The US deficit vs the dollar Message-ID: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/FJ14Dj01.html Ominous: The US deficit vs the dollar By Jack Crooks "Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them." - George Orwell The US deficit is good, because it stimulates US demand and Asian exports. The deficit is bad because it has created a massive global financial imbalance that will one day need to be balanced. I think that qualifies as doublethink. I am guilty of doublethink more often than I care to admit. But as I examine the financial "realities" and the implications of the US current-account deficit, the word "ominous" is the only thought that seeps into my mind. And though the timing is anyone's guess, the US dollar is poised to be overwhelmed by the deficit. Peter G Peterson, chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Institute of International Economics, and the Blackstone Group, had this to say in the September/October edition of Foreign Affairs magazine: The United States is now borrowing about $540 billion per year from the rest of the world to pay for the overall deficit funding Americans' consumption of goods and services and US foreign transfers. This unprecedented current-account deficit is paid through direct lending and the net sales of US assets to foreign business or persons: everything from stocks and bonds to corporations and real estate. The United States imports roughly $4 billion of foreign capital each day, half of that to cover the current-account deficit and the other half to finance investments abroad. At 5.4% of GDP [gross domestic product] in the first quarter of 2004, the deficit is substantially higher than its previous record (3.5% of GDP) in 1987, when the dollar fell by a third and the stock market took its "Black Monday" plunge. I think Peterson does an excellent job of explaining the deficit problem and its relationship to the dollar. The deficit truly is the common thread binding dollar bears. Here's a look at what they are seeing: The chart above shows the deficit rose to a whopping US$166.2 billion for the second quarter of 2004. Annualized, that's $664.8 billion, or approaching 6.5% of US gross domestic product. As bad as this seems, it will probably get worse before it gets better. We are locked into a set of "daunting arithmetic", says Richard Berner, an economist with Morgan Stanley. He says, "The daunting arithmetic locks the current-account gap into a vicious circle that is hard to escape." Berner cites several reasons he thinks the deficit will get worse: 1) Imports of goods, services and income are 40% bigger than exports. And this ratio is on the rise again. 2) Higher US interest rates will increase debt payments to foreign debt holders. 3) Iraq war and redevelopment. 4) Slowdown in global growth, especially in Asia. 5) Soaring cost of imported oil. Economics 101 teaches that if a country's currency depreciates, that depreciation will allow for an increase in exports, the theory being that the cost of its goods become cheaper, or more competitive, in international markets. But as one would expect, there is a lag time between the time a currency depreciates and its benefits begin to accrue in terms of trade. This means the deficit will first get worse then better as the currency declines in value. Economists refer to this as the J-curve. Import prices rise immediately as a currency depreciates, but because the volume of trade is not as sensitive to price changes, it can take from one to two years for a positive impact to show up in the terms of trade and improving the current account. Take a look at the chart above, which compares the US current account deficit to the trade-weighted US dollar from 1972 through the second quarter of 2004. I have tried to identify the last time the J-curve worked. It's represented by the rectangular area, highlighted on the chart. The dollar peaked in 1985 (red line). It then fell in value until 1988 before the current account deficit (blue line) began to improve. This also shows the fall in the dollar Peterson was referring to. Many believe it was a major catalyst for the 1987 stock-market crash. Ominous parallels "Economic history is utterly devoid of examples of current account adjustments that are not accompanied by significantly weaker currencies." - Stephen Roach, Morgan Stanley I was thinking about the historical parallels in the economic environment now compared with then - during the time of the last dollar crisis. Here's what I came up with: Then Now Go-go '60s stock-market boom (conglomerates craze) '90s stock-market boom (Internet craze) Vietnam quagmire & communist dominoes Iraq quagmire & "war on terror" Soaring budget deficit Soaring budget deficit Rising energy prices Rising energy prices Rising interest rates to stem inflation Rising interest rates to "normalize" the Fed funds rate Soaring commodities prices (inflation driven) Rising commodities prices (for now, supply/demand imbalance) But as bad as it seemed back then, the global financial system now appears much more unbalanced. The United States and China seem to be the sole economic engines of growth in the world. And the deficit is in historically uncharted territory and lurching from one fresh all-time record to another. The dollar fell approximately 42% from its peak in 1985 to its trough in November of 1990 before the current-account balance turned positive again (when the deficit was 3.5% of GDP). This is the "adjustment" Roach is referring to. And it's why Roach believes a dollar crisis could "soon" be upon us. >From the peak in this cycle, February 2002, through September 2004, the dollar has fallen only 23%. The current account is now approaching twice what it was when it finally bottomed in 1988. So if we use the current-account "adjustment" as a guide, we should multiply the 42% decline by a factor of two to determine just how far the dollar must fall before solving the current-account problem - that's 84%! It may seem silly to conceive of the world's reserve currency, the US dollar, falling that much. But if we consider there is little else on the horizon other than a fall in the dollar to help rebalance this situation, an 84% decline starts to look more plausible. Chinese 'revaluation': That dog might not hunt "In some ways, the 19th-century version of the global capitalist system was more stable than the current one. It had a single currency, gold; today there are three major currencies crashing against each other like continental plates." - George Soros, The Crisis of Global Capitalism The three currencies Soros was referring to are the US dollar, the euro and the Japanese yen. And he is right. But the dollar's fate will probably flow one way or another from China. Now that you understand how deeply the United States is entrenched in deficit, you can understand why the US is pressuring China to "revalue" its currency. The US does not have the political will to do what it takes on the spending side of the equation to improve its financial position. "For the first time in the post-World War II era, the United States faces a future in which every major category of federal spending is projected to grow at least as fast as, or faster than, the economy for many years to come. That means not just pension and health-care benefits for retiring 'baby boomers', or increasing interest payments as deficits and interest rates rise, but also appropriated or 'discretionary' spending for national defense, for foreign aid, and for domestic homeland-security programs," writes Peterson. In a country where voters know they can vote themselves the goodies and have accepted the term "war on terror", it's highly unlikely the US can get its fiscal side under control for many years to come. Thus the howls for China to do something with its currency grow louder. There is one major problem with the Chinese "revaluation" scenario: There are no guarantees that once China allows the dollar-yuan rate to move within a "more flexible band" that its currency will appreciate against the dollar or that it will significantly benefit US manufacturers. Here are four reasons: First of all, the chances of some type of big-bang revaluation in the dollar-yuan rate are slim to none. Chinese policymakers do not believe the yuan is overvalued. And I believe the most they will do is slightly widen the trading band around the 8.28-yuan-per-dollar rate that now exists. Second, if China utilizes a trade-weighted approach to calculating its trading band, which is likely, because the US is the largest trading partner, and because said band will move on a trade-weighted value, not China's fundamentals, the index will not fluctuate a great deal against the dollar. Third, it's not necessarily a differential in exchange rates that will solve the competitive differences between China's exports and the rest of the world. With China's abundant supply of very cheap labor, state-of-the-art manufacturing capabilities and world-class infrastructure, it will take much more than a shift in exchange rates before the goods flow comes into balance. And finally, if financial liberalization includes reducing capital controls, the private sector has significant scope to raise its foreign-currency holdings (of US dollars). US policymakers are depending heavily on a Chinese revaluation and a corresponding improvement in the balance of trade with China. But that dog might not hunt. The dollar's Achilles' heel "Causa remota of the crisis is speculation and extended credit; causa proxima is some incident which snaps the confidence of the system, makes people think of the dangers of failure, and leads them to move from commodities, stocks, real estate, bills of exchange - whatever it may be - back into cash." - Charles Kindleberger, Manias, Panics, and Crashes Causa romota: An explosion of credit from bank lending and fixed investment pouring into China. Causa proxima: A hard landing in China. "When the Asian financial crisis hit in 1997-98, the US Federal Reserve tolerated a liquidity boom that spawned the Internet bubble. When the Internet bubble burst, the Fed tolerated another wave of liquidity, which has led to the global property bubble," says Andy Xie of Morgan Stanley. I would say, "Bingo!" The Economist magazine recently summed it up this way: "China's boom is itself partly the product of the Fed's super-lax monetary policy. With its currency pegged to the dollar, China has been forced to import America's easy monetary conditions. Its [China's] higher interest rates have attracted large inflows of capital that have inflated domestic liquidity, encouraging excessive investment and bank lending in some sectors which could lead to a bust." With the Fed now in a tightening mode, the music in China could soon end. And the scramble "back into cash" from "commodities, stocks, and real estate", as Kindleberger describes, could soon begin. When it does, it's very bad news for the buck. When the US financial markets cratered in early 2000 after one of the biggest financial parties in the history of mankind, the Fed quickly stepped in to fill the void with liquidity. This is why the so-called "emergency" Fed funds rate of 1.0% materialized. The Fed made it clear to all it would err on the side of creating global asset bubbles in stocks, bonds and real estate to stave off the bogeyman of global deflation. Well, the Fed succeeded beyond anyone's wildest expectations at the time. To get a sense of the massive liquidity created by the Fed, consider that Asian central banks are now sitting atop an estimated $2.2 trillion in foreign-exchange reserves - double their 2002 total. In other words, Asian banks were able to recycle $1.1 trillion into US Treasury bonds - driving yields lower and creating a virtuous circle for US consumers - increasing US demand for Asian exports. As Treasury bonds soared and US demand rose, stocks revived. "It's the 1990s again," rattled the talking heads on CNBC. But the big winner in this liquidity game was global real estate. "The world is sitting on top one of the biggest property bubbles in history, with the biggest bits in China and the US, in my view," says Xie. There is nothing new in what we are seeing in China. Massive lending funneled into property and commodities speculation: it's the classic boom-bust credit cycle. The late economist Ludwig von Mises wrote: The drop in interest rates falsifies the businessman's calculation. Although the amount of capital goods available did not increase, the calculation employs figures that would be utilizable only if such an increase had taken place. The result of such calculations is therefore misleading. They make some projects appear profitable and realizable, which a correct calculation, based on an interest rate not manipulated by credit expansion, would have shown as unrealizable. Entrepreneurs embark upon the execution of such projects. Business activities are stimulated. A boom begins. Artificially low interest rates in China have supercharged property speculation. Entrepreneurs, savers, overseas Chinese investors and international institutions have jumped into this "easy" money-making game. It's reminiscent of the "easy money" days trading the Nasdaq in 1999. The human frenzy and delusion are similar in tone. Chinese government attempts to circumvent the price system through central planning/rationing, instead of market-based credit allocation through the interest rate, are exacerbating the boom-bust cycle in China. Inadvertently, they are sending the wrong messages to the market. "The boom can last only as long as the credit expansion progresses at an ever-accelerated pace," wrote von Mises. Fed tightening is working its way through the global financial system. Soaring crude oil prices are dampening growth prospects. Property prices in Australia and the United Kingdom are already falling. And policymakers are continuing to apply the brakes in China where they can. These are the dynamics that scream for an eventual bust in China. I believe this will be the catalyst for a dollar crisis. It could be a wake-up call to US policymakers. They may realize that ignorance is no longer strength when it comes to the deficit. But by the time they act, most of the damage will probably already be done. Timing it right Here's an indicator that may help us with the timing of a fall in the dollar (taken from Black Swan Currency Currents, October 7): US president Richard Nixon closed the gold window in 1971, severing the link between the dollar and gold once and for all. Robert Bartley, the now-deceased longtime editor of the Wall Street Journal and a brilliant man to boot, said when the dollar went off the gold standard crude oil went on the gold standard. He explained that the oil crisis in 1973 was in reality a foreign-exchange crisis (Money Bazaar, Andrew Krieger). In other words, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries realized the dollars it was receiving for its crude oil was buying a lot less than it did before the gold link with the buck was severed. Thus it was time for a little price hike. Okay, fast-forward. Oil is still priced in dollars and now at an all-time high, we all know that. But what is interesting is that the real cost of oil, if we consider gold to be the standard, is also close to an all-time high (calculated by the number of barrels of oil one ounce of gold will buy). This could have some implications for the greenback. Let's say you are in control of the world's money supply. And you see that the cost of oil is threatening global economic growth. And let's also say that you keep an eye on gold prices because you once wrote a paper extolling the virtues of gold. And let us say your last name starts with the letter G. Okay, the stage is set. What do you do now? Hmm, you're thinking: if I can somehow get the dollar price of gold to increase, it might take a lot of pressure off of the global economy by reducing the real cost of oil and clear the way for sustained economic growth. If you're thinking that, then you're thinking a weaker dollar. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Oct 30 22:24:54 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 22:24:54 -0700 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: RALLY & MARCH - NOVEMBER 6 Message-ID: > Join Not In Our Name, A.N.S.W.E.R-Seattle., Hate Free Zone, Veterans for > Peace Chapter 92 and others in building the next wave of resistance to > deliver a resounding NO to war and repression here and abroad. No matter > the outcome of the presidential election, we will still oppose the war and > will continue our opposition until the occupation of Iraq is ended. > > No to: > Endless war on the world > Police-state restrictions and > Detentions and round-ups of immigrants! > > RALLY & MARCH > > Saturday, November 6 > > 1pm > > Westlake Park (4th & Pine) > > We'll march through downtown and surround the Federal Bldg with orange > netting in an arrest for this illegal, immoral war on the people of the > world and immigrants in the U.S. > > In solidarity, > Thomas W. Warner > Secretary Seattle/Cuba Friendship Committee - a Task Force of the Church > Council of Greater Seattle > 8923 2nd Ave. N.E. > Seattle WA, 98115 > > (206) 523-1720 > > warner at scn.org > > http://www.seattlecuba.org > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Oct 30 22:44:20 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 22:44:20 -0700 Subject: [Shadow_Group] CP(Maoist) of India sets up alternative banking system for poor peasants Message-ID: In this mailing: 1. Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal: Ten reasons why the Arroyo regime is ripe for the ousting 2. CP(Maoist) of India sets up alternative banking system for poor peasants. ******************* Information Bureau Communist Party of the Philippines Press Release October 26, 2004 Ten reasons why the Arroyo regime is ripe for the ousting Statement by Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal Spokesman, Communist Party of the Philippines October 26, 2004 There are ten outstanding reasons why the corrupt, anti-people and puppet regime of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is ripe for the ousting. 1. It has failed to take any measure to stop the incessant increases in oil prices resulting in more economic difficulties for the Filipino people. It has chosen to capitulate to the international overpricing scheme of multinational oil companies. It has guarded and defended the drive of foreign oil multinationals for superprofits. It has shown the least concern for the Filipino people who suffer gravely for every increase in the prices of oil products. There is widespread clamor to repudiate the oil deregulation law. Yet, Arroyo, true to her pro-US "free market" ideology, has adamantly refused to even subject it to review. 2. It has failed to address the constant rise in the prices of food and other basic commodities. Through government edict, the prices of electricity and water have increased and will continue to increase in the next few months. The Arroyo regime has failed to institute measures to stop overpricing by unscrupulous big traders. On the other hand, it has persistently opposed any substantial increase in minimum wages. It addresses the problem of hunger with insignificant band-aid measures like the much-vaunted food coupons scheme. 3. It has failed to generate employment, despite its declarations to do so. It has not taken measures to carry out national industrialization and land reform. Instead, it relies heavily on the export of labor to ease the unemployment problem. Locally, it cannot show anything beyond the call-center "boom" which does not contribute anything significant towards the all-sided development of the economy and is bound to dissipate in a few years' time. 4. It has perpetuated the over-reliance of the Philippine economy on foreign credit, leading to the worsening Philippine foreign debt crisis. Philippine foreign debt now stands at $56.3 billion. Arroyo refuses to repudiate the Automatic Appropriations Act and assiduously makes debt payments. By 2005, the Arroyo regime will have squandered P2 trillion in foreign debt servicing. At the same time, Arroyo has increased local public debt to P1.8 trillion from just above P1 trillion four years ago. 5. It has made obscene cutbacks on social spending to enable it to continue foreign debt servicing and reduce its budget deficit. Government services now cost more, making much needed health and education services inaccessible to the toiling masses. It has refused to increase the salary of teachers and public health workers, leading to a mass exodus of professionals seeking overseas employment as nurses and caregivers. 6. It plans to impose additional tax measures that would increase the tax burden on the Filipino people and worsen their economic hardships. In planning to impose tax measures on oil, alcohol and cigarette products and telecommunications services, the Arroyo government is demonstrating its extreme callousness to the people's plight. Increased state revenues through increased taxes will not accrue to the people in the form of improved health, education and other essential social services. Instead, it will only enable the Arroyo regime to continue its corruption and the equally burdensome foreign debt servicing. 7. It has brought bureaucrat capitalist corruption to new heights. With the worsening crisis and contraction of economic production, high-ranking military and civilian officials, including Gloria and Mike Arroyo themselves, have employed their power and influence to receive millions of pesos of bribe money and engage in unscrupulous dealings. The Arroyo regime has constantly raided public pension funds for their private use. Billions of pesos of GSIS and AFP funds were used by Arroyo for her election campaign earlier this year. It is estimated that up to P120 billion is lost annually to corruption. Arroyo extends protection to corrupt officials in exchange for a percentage of their booty. 8. It has unleashed unprecedented violence against the people. It has waged a violent "war of terror" that targets principally unarmed civilians and people's organizations in both the cities and countryside, in a desperate bid to stop the growth of the armed revolutionary movement. It has employed the iron fist policy to quell dissent under the pretext of quashing destabilization plots. The Arroyo regime has repeatedly dispersed street demonstrations, especially those undertaken by the toiling masses to voice out their democratic aspirations. 9. It has practically ended peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front and shut off the possibility of a political settlement of the current armed conflict by unilaterally imposing preconditions in violation of previously agreed principles. The presidential adviser on National Security has arrogantly declared that peace talks can only proceed if the NDF agrees to a ceasefire. The Arroyo regime has exhibited extreme indifference to pursuing the peace talks by consistently failing to undertake its obligations stipulated in past agreements including the February and April Oslo Agreements of 2004. These include the need to take positive measures to address the oustanding issue of the terrorist listing of the CPP, the New People's Army and NDF Senior Consultant Jose Ma. Sison. 10. It has exhibited boundless puppetry to US imperialist policy. It has allowed and encouraged the US government to carry out military intervention in the Philippines in the guise of launching so-called "joint military exercises" and allowing it to use the Philippine as a platform for the rapid deployment of American troops in Southeast Asia and the Pacific region, in general. It has failed to stand up for national sovereignty in allowing the US to determine national policy through its unilateral and unfounded inclusion of the CPP, the NPA and Jose Ma. Sison in its list of "foreign terrorists." It has implemented economic policies in line with imperialist globalization which violate Philippine national patrimony and allow foreign monopoly capitalist firms to control strategic public enterprises to the detriment of Philippine local business and the interest of the Filipino people. The removal of Arroyo from Malaca?ang may take various forms, either through a popular uprising, a civil disobedience movement, a mass withdrawal of support by political parties and personages, a voluntary resignation of Arroyo, a coup d'etat or any combination thereof. The reactionaries wish to prevent people In intensifying the revolutionary armed struggle and carrying out more frequent and bigger tactical offensives, the New People's Army is able to help weaken the Arroyo regime and contribute to the Filipino people's effort to overthrow it. Whatever form it takes, the political authority that will take its place will have to confront and address the ten outstanding issues of the Filipino people enumerated above that have caused grave unrest and dissent against the Arroyo regime. Unrooting the problems confronting the Filipino people, however, entails more than replacing the personalities of the reactionary state. It requires the overthrow of the ruling oppressive and exploitative social system. This can only be achieved by establishing a people's democratic government to replace the reactionary state of pro-imperialist, big bourgeois compradors and big landlords. The people's democratic government, a government of workers, peasants and other patriotic classes, shall stand for national sovereignty and democracy, carry out genuine land reform and pursue the path of national industrialization. ************* CP(Maoist) of India sets up alternative banking system for poor peasants Naxals wooing ryots aggressively By S. Ramu DEVARAKONDA (NALGONDA DT.), OCT.24. In an attempt to provide succour to farmers in distress and also to win over their support, the Communist Party of India (Maoist) has reportedly launched a parallel banking system in certain pockets of Nalgonda district, the stronghold of naxals in southern Telangana. Though the system was started in July, it has spread to nook and corner of certain mandals, according to reliable sources. The Maoists are busy compiling files on the details of lands -- Government as well as private -- at the village level after its leaders held talks with the State Government, it was learnt. The Maoists are utilising the services of sympathisers in preparing the list of farmers in dire need of money and also to send the money to them. The distressed farmers are being given a minimum of Rs. 5,000 to meet immediate requirements, unconfirmed reports said. Token interest ``The amount of the loan depends on the repaying capacity of the farmers. While small and marginal farmers are given free loans, other farmers are being asked to pay nominal interest for the loan (ranging from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 12,000) after the harvest,'' a prominent personality of a Non-Governmental organisation told The Hindu on Sunday. Though the Collector, K. Vijayanand, has launched a special drive to provide crop loans to farmers through banks, naxals too have taken up the issue to ensure their support for the movement. The naxals of the Sagar area committee have already asked moneylenders not to fleece farmers in this hour of crisis. They also reportedly warned seed and fertilizer dealers not to sell spurious varieties. "Don't resort to suicide as we are here to take care of you. Approach our members, if you are in trouble," a naxal leader reportedly told a gram sabha in Chandampet mandal recently. The dealers are being held responsible, if something went wrong with the crop. OSD's version Asked for his comment on the Maoists' banking set up, the Officer on Special Duty (OSD), Ravinder, said it might not be true. "Anyway I have asked my personnel to verify the fact and I will let you know tomorrow,'' he said adding that the police would identify those who had been given loans by the naxals. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Oct 30 22:45:41 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 22:45:41 -0700 Subject: [Shadow_Group] new booklet/resource Message-ID: A new resource from our friends at Risingtide UK. Beyond Oil: the oil curse and solutions for an oil-free future This new 32-page A5 booklet brings together background info on oil and conflict, repressive regimes, development, oil industry workers, and climate change. Together with info on the revolving doors and mutual support between the oil industry, government and the International Financial Institutions which fund new oil projects, it lays out the UK's involvement in the oil curse, and action we can all take to challenge it. Download as pdf from www.nonewoil.org or order a copy U.S. $1.50 call/write to the Beehive Design Collective, 3 Elm st, Machias, Maine 04654 www.beehivecollective.org graphics at beehivecollective.org call: 207.255.6737 ------------------------------------ Erik Leaver Foreign Policy In Focus Institute for Policy Studies 733 15th St. NW, Suite 1020 Washington, DC 20005 Voice: 202-787-5240 Cell: 240-535-8725 Fax: 202-387-7915 Email: erik at ips-dc.org Web: http://www.fpif.org http://www.ips-dc.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Oct 31 17:59:38 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 17:59:38 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Healing power of rose treats most dangerous diseases Message-ID: FYI Front page / Russia / Society and Culture / Health Healing power of rose treats most dangerous diseases 10/25/2004 13:35 Bacteria die within five minutes when contacted with fresh rose petals Rose is an astonishingly beautiful flower which is why it is poetized and immortalized in legends. Long ago, the first rose was raised from an ordinary dog-rose; some unknown gardener did it about four thousand years ago. Ancient doctors used rose water to treat upset nerves, fumed patients suffering from lungs diseases with rose incense and gave extracts of rose petals to patients suffering from heart and kidney diseases. Attar of roses is the basic medical component of roses; it stimulates and harmonizes people's immune and nervous systems. It also improves activity of endocrine glands, removes sclerous disorders in organs and revives cells. Attar of roses is good for digestive tract as it heals mucous membranes, fights disbacteriosis and fermentative deficiency in stomach and intestine. Rose petals contain vitamin C, carotene, B group vitamins and vitamin K that is essential for haemopoesis. Almost all mineral substances of Mendeleyev's periodic table can be found in rose petals. They contain calcium that influences metabolism and assimilation of foodstuffs; also potassium which is important for normal heart activity, copper that participates in haemopoesis and improves activity of endocrine glands; iodine that is good for thyroid gland can be also found in rose petals. The list of rose's virtues is long enough which allows to call rise a universal natural medicine. It is recommended to collect rose petals early in the morning when the air is clean and humid, better after rain or abundant dew. Blossomed out but not fading roses will do for collection of petals. When collected, rose petals should be immediately dried or used for treatment without washing to preserve their health-giving components. Collected rose petals may be used for making extracts, decoctions, rose water or attar of roses. Bacteria die within five minutes when contacted with fresh rose petals which makes rose a perfect medicine for fighting skin diseases. Fresh rose petals will help cure festering wounds and burns; they may also alleviate allergic itching. Powder of dried rose petals mixed with honey is an effective medicine against mouth inflammations, stomatitis and paradontose. The mixture should be rubbed into inflamed gums. Headaches, sickness and weakness can be cured with inhalation of roses and attar of roses. Rose inhalations are also recommended to people with poor nervous system, liable to neurosis and depressions. Put a bowl with hot water and rose petals in the room in case you suffer from nervous diseases, cold in the head, cough and flu. Attar of roses perfectly tones up the cardiac muscle that is why doctors prescribe rose inhalations for stenocardia treatment. Bath with rose petals is a perfect remedy against nervous diseases: it tones up, rejuvenates, relieves anxiety and purifies skin. Pour boiling water over half a glass of rose petals and infuse in a closed bowl to preserve attar of roses. Pour the infusion and the petals into the bath; the infusion's healing power will be stronger if beetroot juice is added to this bath. Never throw faded rose bunches away and make curative baths of them. Spraying with rose water is recommended for treatment of many diseases. Pour a glass of boiling water over 10g of rose petals and infuse in a covered bowl. Everyday spraying within two weeks is recommended to people suffering from nervous disorders. In this case, spraying with warm rose water should be done on the upper third of the back. Spraying with rose water is good for healthy people as well to strengthen the nervous system and immunity. Apply rose water to skin and slightly rub. Warm rose water bath for feet helps cure rheumatism; hot compress with rose water applied to sacrum is good against radiculitis. Wrap a bad-sheet wetted with rose water round the body to tone up the organism after a surgical operation. Then muffle up with a dry bed-sheet and a blanket. Tea made of rose petals (a tea-spoon of dried rose petals per a glass of boiling water) is good against cold, pharyngitis, bronchitis and various neuroses; it is a vitaminous drink as well. Rose petal jam is a wonderful natural medicine especially in cold weather. If rose therapy is not available you may use dog-rose as its characteristics are the same as of roses. Hips are to be collected within the period of late August to October when they are still hard. Green hips will not do for drying as they contain fewer vitamins. Fresh hips should be dried in the shade away from direct sunrays. Better use a special dryer or an oven (at temperature of 80-100 degrees centigrade). The content of ascorbic acid in hips is ten times more than in blackcurrant, 50 times more than in lemon and 100 times more than in apples. At that, the supply of vitamin C depends upon the area of dog-rose vegetation. Hips collected in the north contain more vitamin C than hips collected in the south. Hips grown in the mountains or sunlit places contain more ascorbic acid than those grown in plains or shaded areas. Dog-rose is called a natural concentrate of vitamins: besides vitamin C it contains vitamins B1, B2, P, K and carotene. That is why hips extracts, decoctions and syrup are perfect medicine and prophylactic against beri-beri and hypovitaminosis. To make hips extracts and infusions even more effective add some honey or lemon juice before drinking. This is a unique medicine against cold, flu, chronic bronchitis, lungs diseases, stomach and duodenum ulcer and others. If mixed with carrot juice, hips extract will contain almost all vitamins and minerals that people need. To make a healing beverage against cold, flu and bronchitis mix two portions of dried hips with one portion of dried nettle leaves. Drink half a glass of the beverage twice a day with honey. Hips are perfect surrogate of coffee: they are as aromatic and tasty as coffee beans. Grind a tea-spoon of dried and fried hips and pour a glass of boiling water over the powder. Let it brew for some time, then drink with some milk and sugar. Doctor of medical science Boris Vasilyev Read the original in Russian: http://mail.rambler.ru/Redirect/health.pravda.ru/health/2004/23/101/424/1 7874_rose.html (Translated by: Maria Gousseva) Pravda.Ru Related links: M&W Printing version E-mail this article Add to Favorites -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Oct 31 18:07:36 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 18:07:36 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: REMEMBER ABU GHRAIB? Message-ID: "They're getting nervous in Washington about the prospect of a war crimes charge, and with good reason." REMEMBER ABU GHRAIB? BUSH WOULD RATHER FORGET IT - SO WOULD KERRY By: Justin Raimondo Published in the October 25, 2004 issue of Ether Zone. Like a giant octopus that occasionally surfaces when prodded - or hungry - the seething mass of sheer malevolence at the core of U.S. foreign policy sometimes breaks through to the front pages - most recently, in Sunday's Washington Post, in the form of a story detailing a secret Justice Department memo, written by Jack L. Goldsmith, former director of the Office of Legal Counsel - and author of Pinochet, Head-of-State Immunity, and International Human Rights Litigation in U.S. Courts. The document is a draft opinion rationalizes the "disappearing" of detainees in Iraq, and their transport to nations where human rights protections don't get in the way of interrogation techniques. The Geneva Conventions - the 1949 treaty signed by the U.S. that regulates the treatment of prisoners in wartime - clearly forbid "individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory . . . regardless of their motive." Yet "as many as a dozen" detainees have been "disappeared" - hidden from the Red Cross - and spirited out of the country, according to the Post: "The draft opinion, written by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel and dated March 19, 2004, refers to both Iraqi citizens and foreigners in Iraq, who the memo says are protected by the treaty. It permits the CIA to take Iraqis out of the country to be interrogated for a 'brief but not indefinite period.' It also says the CIA can permanently remove persons deemed to be 'illegal aliens' under 'local immigration law.'" The U.S., which cannot - and will not - enforce its own immigration laws, is now intent on enforcing the immigration laws of other nations. Ah, the ironies of empire! The disappeared Iraqis pose a delicate legal problem of a different sort for U.S. officials who authorize actions deemed a "grave breach" of the Geneva Conventions, as explained in a footnote to the Goldsmith memo. The Justice Department draft also notes that this would be a "war crime" according to our own laws, and goes on to warn the administration: "For these reasons, we recommend that any contemplated relocations of 'protected persons' from Iraq to facilitate interrogation be carefully evaluated for compliance with Article 49 on a case by case basis." They're getting nervous in Washington about the prospect of a war crimes charge, and with good reason. This is only the most recent sighting of the dark secret at the core of America's dirty war in Iraq. There was the story about systematic abuse in Afghan prisons maintained by the U.S., and before that Abu Ghraib. It was Seymour Hersh who blew the lid off the U.S. government's secret network of torture chambers scattered at undisclosed locations all around the world, revealed in a series of articles for the New Yorker. It's all part of an operation code named "Copper Green," the details of which are elaborated on in his excellent - and frightening - recent book, Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib. Copper Green was a creation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his top lieutenant, Stephen Cambone: in the post-9/11 atmosphere of "moral clarity," they set up a secret army of assassins, interrogators, and specialists in torture techniques whose task it was to fight terror with terror. At first directed at ferreting out Osama bin Laden and the top Al Qaeda leadership in Afghanistan, this "special access program" - a program so top secret that only the President and a select group are in on it - soon opened up a branch operation in Iraq. The U.S. military, increasingly on the defensive, was desperate to develop sources of intelligence inside the growing insurgency. The "Gitmo-ization" of the prison system maintained by the U.S. in occupied Iraq was ordered from the top, and we saw the results in those horrific photographs - of which we have yet to see the worst. The idea was to so humiliate and subjugate detainees that we could send some of them back into the population as snitches - under threat of revealing graphic evidence of their coerced activities to family, friends, and associates. According to this rationale, supposedly suggested by the writings of Raphael Patai, author of The Arab Mind, shame can be used to manipulate and ultimately pacify Arabic males, since honor or the lack of it is the moral mechanism that regulates their actions. Strip them of their honor, and you have them by the cojones. Such a theory, however, seems oddly counterintuitive: why assume systematic abuse won't boomerang on the perpetrators, returning as "blowback" in the form of terrorism? The result is more likely to be a replication of the depressingly familiar "cycle of violence" that inflames the West Bank, and keeps the violent passions of the Middle East burning at white hot intensity. That this may very well be the idea is a thought that strikes even the casual observer: Abu Ghraib was a gift to bin Laden, and to the cause of radical Islamism worldwide, such as the mujahideen could never have won on their own, pictorially confirming what bin Laden and his cohorts have been saying all along - that the U.S. is at the head of a Satanic conspiracy to destroy all that is holy. To any Muslim, or, indeed, to anyone outside the West, the Abu Ghraib photos didn't need captions. In the U.S. and Great Britain, however, it was quite a different story: the "abuses" (i.e. acts of torture) were depicted as random "isolated" incidents carried out by a few individuals of lower rank. The scapegoats were quickly rounded up, charged, and railroaded into prison, while all testimony from high-ups was suppressed and the Senate investigation was delayed if not derailed until after the election. The temporal proximity of U.S. presidential elections and Halloween is no accident, I would maintain: and, in any event, the results are always a horror. This time is no different. However, what's truly frightening, this scary season, is not the prospect of uncovering yet more gruesome details about our secret torture chambers, our war crimes, our seemingly deliberate campaign to empower bin Laden even as we pretend to fight him. What's truly Halloweenish is the complete absence of the war crimes issue from the presidential race. Have the words "Abu Ghraib" ever passed John Kerry's lips? Oh, maybe once or twice - but he didn't say much. Only what he felt - "revulsion" - not what he would do. If Kerry had taken the risk of making this a big issue, he would have started acting the statesman before taking office - that, combined with his debate performance, would by now have put him over the top as far as looking more presidential than the current occupant of the White House. And that, I submit, is the main motivating factor behind the swing vote that makes all the difference on Election Day: Bush has already lost the election, but Kerry has yet to win it. By acting as if he's already won - by getting up there on the bully pulpit and showing some real leadership - Kerry could have already sewn it up by now. Oh, but that would clash with the Democrats' idea of being "tough," of emblazoning their bumperstickers with dumbass slogans like "For a Stronger America." Stronger than what - Rome? Russia? The EU? All other nations put together? The law of causality? God? They need to get tough, all right: with George W. Bush. But it's almost too late for that, now. If the Democrats lose this election, they will have no one to blame but themselves: not Ralph Nader, not the Libertarian Party (which is arguably drawing just as many disaffected Democrats as libertarian Republicans, or at least enough to make a significant difference), not voter fraud (there seems to be enough of that on both sides to effectively cancel out the overall effect). Kerry has called for Rumsfeld's resignation, but doesn't raise the larger issue of how and why Abu Ghraib happened beyond calling for an official commission to investigate. He hasn't made an issue of the growing war crimes scandal and the shroud of official secrecy that veils the truth about the war we are waging for a simple and all too obvious reason: if Kerry wins, the apparatus of global "counter"-terrorism is his to command - and he wouldn't hesitate to use it just as the current President and his advisors have done. Kerry has told us this probably more than a couple of hundred times by now: that he wouldn't hesitate to "hunt down the terrorists and kill them." Which "terrorists," and where? Kerry's various declarations are vague enough to cover all possible bases. Kerry is promising to be a better interventionist, to fight and "win" a morally and militarily problematic war. Instead of dismantling the apparatus of torture and exposing the secret network of bloodstained dungeons run by Bush's expert neocon torturers, Kerry will inherit it, succeed in hiding it a little better, and use it for his own purposes. It must be my Randian roots, but this issue illustrates why I cannot vote for Kerry - without ever considering a vote for Bush. I can't help believing that, by casting my vote, I am sanctioning whatever actions that candidate will take once they're in office. I must, in an important sense, take responsibility and be judged, just as President Kerry, or President Whomever, will be judged in the court of history. By voting for a candidate who, in his capacity as commander in chief, knowing permits - and commits - war crimes, I am sanctioning those crimes. I become an accomplice. And so do we all as long as we allow such a government to remain in office. http://etherzone.com/2004/raim102504.shtml ============================================== IF YOU'RE NOT PARANOID, THEN YOU'RE NOT PAYING ATTENTION! ============================================== To Post: ParanoidTimes at yahoogroups.com Home Page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ParanoidTimes Subscribe: ParanoidTimes-subscribe at yahoogroups.com ================================================== NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ================================================== -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Oct 31 18:08:59 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 18:08:59 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: ISRAEL: WE WANT MORE SUBS!.... Message-ID: The Rumor Mills Reading Room. ISRAEL: WE WANT MORE SUBS!.... Posted By: FarSight3 Date: Friday, 22 October 2004, 1:00 p.m. Israel negotiating with Germany about sale of additional Submarines The director-general of the Defense Ministry, Amos Yaron, visited Berlin this week and met with his German counterpart Defense Minister Peter Struck, some high ranking Bundeswehr officers and the defense committee of the Bundestag - Germany's lower house of parliament - on the issue of the sale of two brandnew Submarines to the IDF -'Made in Germany'. Israel wants Germany to fund the construction of these Submarines - costing about 1.2 billion Euro - or to grant an interest-free loan. Struck - and according to an article in Haaretz, the German treasury as well - is opposed to this idea. For the popular 'justification' of this deal an interesting argument was pulled out of the hat which reads as '...because of the anniversary of 40 years diplomatic relationship between the two countries...' (beginning of 2005) - as Israeli daily Haaretz reported further today. The funding seems to be a bigger problem than the fact that Germany is barred from selling offensive arms to crisis zones. At the visit of DM Struck in Israel this June both countries had declared 'that the military cooperation between both countries should be intensified'. But Struck made it rather clear that the German government wouldn't support any financial aid for that prospective deal... Haaretz tried to 'interpret' it this way: "...According to German defense sources, Germany's Defense Ministry and military support Israel's request, which would supply employment at shipyards. However, implementing the deal requires approval by the government, which is divided on the issue.... ..Israel wants Germany to partially fund the construction of the submarines, which is expected to cost nearly $1 billion, or to grant a long-term interest-free loan. The German treasury is opposed to these ideas...." Open was left although the matter whether as an 'alternative' the three Dolphin-class submarines, already 'provided' to Israel by German taxpayers, should be 'rearmed on large-scale'. After 1990 these first two Dolphin class submarines were delivered allegedly free of charge and an extended loan for Dolphin#3 was granted to Israel and it is questionable whether this 'loan' was repaid at all... Hmmm, but I do remember that they were 'rearmed on large-scale' already with US Harpoons - according to the Washington Post - easily to be re-equipped with nuklear warheads 'Made in Israel'... All this was undertaken for sure because of Israel's 'fear' of Iran's possible, 'nuklear capacities'. Can fear beat faith? War on Error, Part 22:"Sunburn" Far Sight 3 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Oct 31 18:15:59 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 18:15:59 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Rice Message-ID: http://www.fpp.co.uk/online/04/10/Bush_AIPAC.html [images added by this website] [Isn't it curious that the American press does not repeat these great quotations from American statesmen and politicians?] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- Israel, Monday, October 25, 2004 Bush courts Jewish votes, sends Rice to address AIPAC By Reuters WASHINGTON -- A speech by U.S. President George W. Bush's national security adviser to a powerful pro-Israel lobbying group in Florida eight days before the election caps a concerted Republican drive for Jewish votes that has so far yielded minimal results. Seemingly undeterred by a probe into whether the AIPAC lobbying group passed classified information to Israel -- an allegation it denies -- the White House has given the organization almost unparalleled access to top officials, from Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney on down. Bush addressed the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, in May, and declared that it was "serving the cause of America." [Website: He also described Ariel Sharon as a man of peace.] Now his national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, (right), who described AIPAC as "a great asset to our country," will address the group on Monday in Hollywood, Florida, in one of the most hotly contested battleground states in the November 2 race. Though Jewish-Americans, who make up about 2 percent of the population, overwhelmingly backed Democrat Al Gore in 2000, polls show support for Republicans is slowly growing. That could have an impact in states like Florida -- where roughly 4 percent of the population is Jewish -- as well as Pennsylvania and Arizona, all won by slim margins in the last presidential election, pollsters say. Jews could also make a difference in an unexpectedly close race for the traditionally Democratic-leaning state of New Jersey, where they represent close to 6 percent of the population. Administration officials say Rice will not mention Democratic presidential rival Massachusetts Senator John Kerry by name. But she is expected to tout the president's steadfast support for Israel and the policies of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, while defending the invasion of Iraq as a boost to the security of the United States and Israel. Democrats have criticized Rice for making speeches in battleground states, accusing her of compromising the traditionally non-political role of national security adviser. The White House insists Rice's speeches are not campaign events and are appropriate due to the importance of security matters. AIPAC does not rate or endorse candidates, and says it is a bipartisan organization. But when Bush addressed the group in May, the audience cheered on the Republican president, chanting: "Four more years." Rice and other White House officials were informed more than two years ago of the investigation into whether AIPAC was relaying information collected from the administration and Congress to Israel, officials said. Since then, nearly 40 high-level administration officials and top Bush advisers -- among them campaign manager Ken Mehlman -- have spoken at AIPAC meetings, not including informal sessions and briefings by phone. Undersecretary of State John Bolton recently spoke to its members about threats from Iran and Syria. Asked why Rice was addressing the group so close to the election, a senior administration official said: "AIPAC is a well-known and well-established organization with a wide membership that attracts speakers from both political parties and across the political spectrum." Kerry is sending his foreign policy adviser, former United Nations Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, [Website note: who is also Jewish] to the AIPAC meeting. Like Bush, Kerry has been reaching out to Jews in Florida, even sprinkling a few words of Hebrew into a stump speech last week. 'Very important voting bloc' Bush campaign spokesman Brian Jones declined to comment on Rice's speech at AIPAC, but said of Florida's Jewish vote, "It's a very important voting bloc for us." The Bush campaign has set up a "Jewish Team." Its Web site features photos of Bush at an AIPAC conference and (left) meeting with rabbis in the Oval Office. Republican Jewish Coalition Executive Director Matthew Brooks is also rallying Jews for Bush -- noting that Kerry has the support of Arab and Muslim groups. "You can judge political candidates by who their friends are," he said. While publicly optimistic, administration officials are realistic about what they can achieve. In spite of outreach efforts, 69 percent of Jews are still expected to vote for Kerry and only 24 percent for Bush, according to an American Jewish Committee survey. This would compare with near 20 percent for Bush in 2000, but Republicans say they still hope to win more than 30 percent of the Jewish vote. Right: A touching scene in Jerusalem Origins of anti-Semitism The bribetakers Latest list of your local US lawmakers and the cash they receive from Israel | Not unconnected: U.S. Congress overwhelmingly approves Bush's position on Israel 10 ways the Pentagon spy case may damage Israel | AIPAC asks for money help against allegations in Pentagon probe | FBI probes Jewish sway on Bush government | ADL is outraged, demands investigation of "leak" of FBI's probe | FBI about to arrest Israeli spy at Pentagon | FBI believes Israel spy at Pentagon influenced Bush regime | Leak probed for a year | Frequent visitor to Israel, served in Israeli air force | AIPAC's whining defense | Israeli embassy official did meet Franklin many times, says no documents changed hands Israeli newspaper: "Dual loyalty" slur returns to haunt Jews | Data update US Financial Aid To Israel - Figures, Facts, and Impact | Justin Raimond on the Pentagon bust: "The Axis of Treason" | Janes Intelligence on the Pentagon's Israeli spies: A Mole called Mega -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Oct 31 18:21:30 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 18:21:30 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Together Israeli Counter-Terror Experts and Message-ID: FYI October 22, 2004 in JINSA Events, Programs, Publications and Notices : Events, Meetings and Programs : Law Enforcement Exchange Program - LEEP ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- Printer friendly versionE-Mail this articleSubscribe to the Article Digest http://www.jinsa.org/articles/articles.html/function/view/categoryid/2168 /documentid/2702/history/3,2359,2166,2168,2702 JINSA Brings Together Israeli Counter-Terror Experts and U.S. Police Officers JINSA??s two-day conferences take place in California, Minnesota and Florida Three two-day counter-terrorism conferences, sponsored and underwritten by JINSA, are being held across the United States for local law enforcement officials this week. The conferences, a project of JINSA??s Law Enforcement Exchange Program (LEEP), have received the support and cooperation of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and the Major County Sheriff??s Association (MCSA). The conferences address counter terrorism and best practice procedures with emphasis on suicide bombings. At the conference in Garden Grove, Calif., on October 18 are (left to right): Major General Mickey Levy, the police attach?at the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C.and fomrer commander of the Jerusalem Police District; Yoram Hessel, a recently retired 30-year Mossad veteran; Gideon Avrahmi, an expert in private and corporate security; Garden Grove Police Chief Joseph Polisar, and; JINSA Advisory Board Member and former assistant FBI director Steven Pomerantz. To date, the conferences represent the largest counter-terrorism cooperative training enterprise ever to take place between the U.S. and Israel. They are hosted by Chief Joseph Polisar, Garden Grove, California Police Department; Sheriff Patrick McGowan, Hennepin County, Sheriff??s Office, Minnesota, and; Sheriff Kevin Beary, Orange County, Florida. At each conference, six Israeli counter-terrorism professionals made presentations. Their topics included: Identifying and Understanding the Enemy The Intelligence Process: an Overview Intelligence Sharing and Source Development The Relationship Between Law Enforcement and Private Security Biological Threats and Responses Suicide Bombings: Methodology and Responses The Mind of the Suicide Bomber Managing the Coordinated Response to Acts of Terrorism The first two of the seminars were held October 18-19 in Garden Grove (Orange County), California and October 21-22 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The third will take place October 24-25, in Orlando, Florida. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- Related Articles: Israelis Brief NJ??s Top Cops on Counter-Terrorism via JINSA??s LEEP Program (07-15-2004) Second Annual U.S.-India-Israel Conference on Counter Terrorism (04-15-2004) #395 JINSA Holds Second U.S.-India-Israel Conference on Counter Terrorism (03-16-2004) Top Cops Return From 2004 JINSA-Sponsored Anti-Terror Study In Israel (02-09-2004) #388 Top Cops Return From Anti-Terror Program In Israel (02-06-2004) Israel, India and the U.S. - A New Partnership Against Terrorism (11-05-2003) Edney and Polisar Address LA Forum (04-10-2003) LAPD Expert Briefs JINSA on Terrorist Bombing Threat (01-16-2003) Paper Details Police Chiefs Trip to Israel (11-01-2002) JINSA Launches Law Enforcement Exchange, Aug. 2002 (09-06-2002) JINSA Sends U.S. Police Chiefs to Israel for Anti-Terror Cooperation (08-21-2002) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - CNET Editors' Choice 2004. Tell them what you think. APFN-1 YahooGroups: Subscribe: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/apfn-1/join Unsubscribe: apfn-1-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com APFN MSG BOARD: `In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.' http://disc.server.com/Indices/149495.html APFN CONTENTS PAGE: http://www.apfn.org/old/apfncont.htm Without Justice, there is JUST_US! [LEAK-GATE] INVESTIGATING THE WHITE HOUSE http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LEAK-GATE/ Find elected officials, including the president, members of Congress, governors, state legislators, local officials, and more. http://congress.org/congressorg/dbq/officials/ APFN, PMB 107, 6630 W. CACTUS #B107, GLENDALE, AZ 85304 http://www.apfn.org/apfn/kenvardon.htm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Oct 31 18:25:32 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 18:25:32 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Edgar Steele Message-ID: By Edgar J. Steele October 22, 2004 "I apprehend no danger to our country from a foreign foe...Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter. From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government, from their carelessness and negligence, I must confess that I do apprehend some danger. I fear that they may place too implicit a confidence in their public servants, and fail properly to scrutinize their conduct; that in this way they may be made the dupes of designing men, and become the instruments of their own undoing." -- Daniel Webster, Works 1:403 (June 1, 1837) "Government is like a baby: An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other." -- Ronald Reagan Last week I mentioned the Twin Towers, not the ones taken out in New York City, but the Twin Towering Deficits: fiscal and foreign spending. I stated that the destruction, even death, resulting when those Twin Towers fall will far exceed what happened on 9/11. The current Iraq war, which both Bush and Kerry have pledged to continue right on through calendar year 2005, has played no small part in both those deficits. America's federal budget deficit (the amount of money our federal government spends in excess of its total receipts...think in terms of your ever-increasing credit card balances as an analogy) runs well over a half trillion dollars annually, with no reduction in sight. Indeed, the rate of increase is, itself, increasing. An uptick in interest rates will devastate the federal budget, as tax receipts increasingly must be earmarked to interest payments for the national debt. Defaulting on the debt is not an option, as that would destroy the dollar overnight. The now-inevitable cutback in federal spending and entitlement programs will lead to rioting in the streets (think LA's South-Central riot writ large...real large) and a worldwide economic depression that will cause us to start numbering our depressions, just like WWII did for the "Great War" (WWI). America's balance of trade deficit (the amount by which American imports exceed her exports) also runs over a half trillion dollars annually, with no relief in sight unless and until a massive devaluation of the dollar occurs so as to make what little America still produces relatively attractive to the world market. Of course, that devaluation will precipitate a stock market crash of epic proportions and usher in Depression II. So, that's more than a full trillion for each deficit in calendar years 2003 and 2004, with 2005 already looking to be even worse. The Iraq war has accounted for about 20% of the totals for both deficits - that's just the direct costs, by the way, and does not include the indirect costs such as incurred for Homeland Defense, airport nazis or security improvements at Dick Cheney's underground bunker...er, home. For a little perspective on the ongoing cost of our current misadventure in Iraq, take a side visit to "Crunchland," which graphically depicts the $79 billion spent until the time of Bush's silly "Mission Accomplished" aircraft carrier photo op in May 2003, plus the additional $87 billion then demanded by Bush for the upcoming fiscal year (that just has ended), as well as the $25 billion supplement demanded in May 2004, for a total of $191 billion. Every penny was approved by Congress. Here is a picture from "Crunchland" showing 191 billion dollar bills stacked up: See that little figure in the bottom center? That's a car. See the littler figure just to the left of the car? That's you. Considering that there are only about 80 million tax-paying households in America (far less if you discount for government employees, whose tax payments really are just wooden nickels), your share was $2,388. And that's only if you are average. Most of those reading this little piece earn more than the average. That's how much of your money, withheld as taxes, went to wage war on a relatively defenseless country that was no threat to us, did nothing to us and in which well over a thousand young Americans have died...so far. A war that also has claimed as many as 15,000 innocent Iraqi civilians (that's a lot of women and children - women and children just like those in your family...well, "just like" in the sense that somebody feels that way about them). Now, that's perspective. "Our administration is concerned about deficits, and the way they deal with deficits is you want to control spending. And I hope Congress lives up to their words. When they talk about deficits, they can join us in making sure we don't overspend." George W. Bush, Remarks from White House web site (Jan 6, 2003). Remember when we used to get worked up over our President merely lying to us about his sex life? Ah, those were the days, weren't they? To think, I actually loathed Clinton. I'm having trouble coming up with a single word that captures the full measure of what I feel about Dubya. When you step into the voting booth in two weeks, please remember just how Congress and our current President have joined together "in making sure (they) don't overspend." Congress could have stopped the spending. Congress could have stopped the war. It did neither. Instead, Congress and our current President joined together in making war on us, via the laughably-named Patriot Act and the Gestapo-like Department of Homeland Security. That took even more of our money, of course, money that has been similarly wasted. Beginning to see how America's twin towers got built? New America. An idea whose time has come. ----------------------------------------------------------- For an extended discussion of why and how we got ourselves into this mess, see Chapters 16 (World War III) and 17 (Money's End Game: Depression II), especially, from my just-released book, Defensive Racism, which now is available through www.Amazon.com (please consider going there and posting a review if you already have read my book), though you can get a $5 discount by ordering directly from the publisher: Now shipping: Defensive Racism - An Unapologetic Examination of Racial Differences. Visit www.DefensiveRacism.com for more information and on-line ordering information or simply click here: Quantity: Quantity discounts are outlined at www.DefensiveRacism.com and are automatically applied during the order process. Shipments to buyers will begin tomorrow, as the trucking company has assured us of delivery late today. Members of this list will receive an additional discount, through the end of October, approximately equal to the shipping cost, by entering the code "cpp" into the "Customer Code" blank when the shopping cart appears. I will be honored to sign copies of this First Edition of my book to faithful members of this list: on the screen where you select the type of shipping and enter credit card information (if that is the payment method you choose), enter "Sign my book" into the "Customer Comments" blank, otherwise I have no way of knowing you are a list member. -ed "I didn't say it would be easy. I just said it would be the truth." - Morpheus Copyright ?2004, Edgar J. Steele Forward as you wish. Permission is granted to circulate among private individuals and groups, post on all Internet sites and publish in full in all not-for-profit publications. Contact author for all other rights, which are reserved. On-Line link to this article in HTML format: http://www.conspiracypenpal.com/columns/twin.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------ Subscribe: Send blank email with "subscribe" in the subject line to subscribe at conspiracypenpal.com Unsubscribe: Send blank email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line to unsubscribe at conspiracypenpal.com ------------------------------------------------------------------ www -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: money.jpg Type: application/octet-stream Size: 10503 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: cover.jpg Type: application/octet-stream Size: 31148 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: edhead.jpg Type: application/octet-stream Size: 6588 bytes Desc: not available URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Oct 31 18:27:36 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 18:27:36 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: REGARDING: Special Energy and Costs Report Message-ID: Special Report Jim, this is absolutely frightening. Where is our common sense? Are our leaders deliberately bank-rupting this country? They undoubtedly have plans for protecting their own interests with bank accounts in other countries for when this country goes down. I am convinced our Congress is absolutely corrupt. Much of what they are now doing is worse than ignorant . . . it LIKELY is criminally planned. While we sit here with our oil and gas wells capped, exploration curtailed, threats of removing the dams to eliminate hydro-power, and sitting on a wealth of biomass in fuel-laden forests, that could so easily be turned into electricity . . . these idiots are huffing and puffing about wind machines, pie-in-the sky hydrogen fuel cell research (something that has been around and not proven successful since before the1969 World's fair), and other fluffy ideas not yet researched or developed. Try little toy electric cars. Where is the electricity coming from? Just another way to eat up more tax dollars. Instead, they are building bicycle factories and constructing bicycle paths for people to get to work on like in China and other third world countries. BOY, IS THIS PROGRESS OR WHAT???? But we sure do have plenty of fuel for all those bombers we have been sending over to Iraq. We JUST CANNOT GO ON LIKE THIS !!! CLARICE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: jim [mailto:jrathbun at libby.org] Sent: Sunday, October 17, 2004 12:16 PM Subject: Special Report Archives 1982-1999 1998-1999 1996-1997 1994-1995 1992-1993 1990-1991 1988-1989 1986-1987 1984-1985 1982-1983 a.. ABOUT WRMEA b.. CONTACT US c.. SUBSCRIBE d.. DONATE e.. ADVERTISE WITH US f.. WRMEA AD CAMPAIGN g.. MIDDLE EAST BOOK CLUB h.. JOIN OUR MAILING LIST i.. CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS j.. LINKS k.. KEEP TRACK OF AIPAC l.. U.S. & LOCAL NEWS June 2003, pages 20-23 Special Report The Costs to American Taxpayers of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: $3 Trillion By Thomas R. Stauffer Conflicts in the Middle East have been very costly to the U.S., as well as to the rest of the world. An estimate of the total cost to the U.S. alone of instability and conflict in the region-which emanates from the core, Israeli-Palestinian conflict-amounts to close to $3 trillion, measured in 2002 dollars. This is an amount almost four times greater than the cost of the Vietnam war, also reckoned in 2002 dollars. Even this figure underestimates the costs because certain classes of expenditure remain unquantified. In particular, no reliable figure is available for the costs of "Project Independence," Washington's lavishly promoted effort to reduce U.S. dependence on oil from the Middle East. That effort, which was subverted early on by diverse local special interests, was designed primarily to insulate Israel from any new "Arab oil weapon" after 1973/74, and may easily have cost $1 trillion. Even though the outlays were rationalized in the interest of "national security," however, they contributed little or nothing to reducing U.S. strategic dependence upon imported oil from the Middle East. Similarly, aid to Israel-and thus the regional total-also is understated, since much is outside of the foreign aid appropriation process or implicit in other programs. Support for Israel comes to $1.8 trillion, including special trade advantages, preferential contracts, or aid buried in other accounts. In addition to the financial outlay, U.S. aid to Israel costs some 275,000 American jobs each year. The major components in this minimum estimate of the costs are summarized in Table One; the detailed breakdown is displayed later in Table Two: (Tables deleted due to length. Clarice) Total identifiable costs come to almost $3 trillion. About 60 percent, well over half, of those costs-about $1.7 trillion-arose from the U.S. defense of Israel, where most of that amount has been incurred since 1973 (see later section and Table Three). Oil Crises The largest single element in the costs has been the series of six oil-supply crises since the end of World War II. To date these have cost the U.S. $1.5 trillion (again in 2002 dollars), excluding the additional costs incurred since 2001 during the build-up toward the second war with Iraq. Until 1991, each crisis was triggered by a conflict among two or more Middle Eastern states, usually with the active involvement of at least one extra-regional power. The nature and impact of the oil crises changed over time, becoming more serious and implying greater risk to the oil-consuming world. The several earlier Mideast oil crises, in 1956 and 1967, actually had relatively little effect on the United States. Indeed, the U.S. profited from exporting surplus oil in 1956 when Mideast supplies-especially of "sterling oil"-were interrupted. The second such crisis, in 1967, did have a longer-term impact. Initially, only the cost of shipping was raised when the Israelis interdicted the Suez Canal. The splitting of oil markets between east and west of Suez, however, was the catalyst for an overall price increase which otherwise would have been unlikely, if not impossible. Several OPEC states were successful in exploiting the closure of the Suez Canal to increase oil prices across the board after 1968. Again, the effect on the U.S. was relatively small, because U.S. oil imports were still at a low level. Nonetheless, those increases between 1970 and 1973 did cost the U.S. some $40 billion (in 2002 dollars). The period before 1973, therefore, had little effect on U.S. oil costs, and the burden of aid to Israel was modest, so the overall cost of Middle East conflicts remained modest. The major cost prior to 1973, in fact, was support for Turkey as part of Cold War operations to contain the Soviet Union. This changed with 1973, and costs escalated rapidly thereafter. Starting with the Arab-Israeli war of 1973, the costs to the U.S. of regional crises and aid programs began to increase beyond any original expectations. Since 1973, protection of Israel and subsidies to countries willing to sign peace treaties with Israel, such as Egypt and Jordan, has been the prime driver of U.S. outlays or the trigger for crisis costs. The 1973 war proved to be dear. At a minimum, it cost the U.S. between $750 billion and $1 trillion. This was the price tag for the rescue of Israel when President Richard Nixon agreed to resupply Israel with U.S. arms as it was losing the war against its neighbors. Washington's intervention triggered the Arab oil embargo which cost the U.S. doubly: first, due to the oil shortfall, the US lost about $300 billion to $600 billion in GDP; and, second, the U.S. was saddled with another $450 billion in higher oil import costs. A third factor added to the oil-related cost of the 1973 war (over and above the multi-billion dollar aid package to Israel which began in that year). Deciding to act preventively, as it were, the U.S. created, after some travail, a Strategic Petroleum Reserve ("SPR") designed to insulate Israel and the U.S. against the wielding of a future Arab "oil weapon." It was destined to contain one billion barrels of oil which could be released in the event of a supply crisis. To date the SPR, which still exists and is slowly being expanded, has cost $134 billion-since much of the oil was bought at high prices, and because the salvage value is relatively low. Thus, the 1973 oil crisis, all in all, cost the U.S. economy no less than $900 billion, and probably as much as $1,200 billion. Ironically, military costs themselves were negligible. The 1973 war illustrated the new dimension of Middle East conflicts, where the burdens are economic rather than military. The next regional oil crisis was relatively less dear, although costly nonetheless. The Iranian revolution and the subsequent Iran-Iraq war cost the U.S. $335 billion in terms of higher oil import prices. There were two stages. First, 5 million barrels per day (b/d) of Iranian oil exports were suspended when the revolutionaries closed the oil terminals in 1978. The resulting shortfall in oil supply, compounded by speculators, doubled oil prices. Then, just two years later, in 1980, began the Iran-Iraq war, which interrupted oil exports from both warring countries, causing prices to more than double once again. The joint effect of the two crises cost the U.S. consumer $335 billion in terms of higher prices for imported oil. It also caused a rise in prices of domestic energy-oil, gas, and coal. These "knock-on" effects are not included, however, so that the figure of $335 billion is indeed a lower bound for the actual costs of those two, back-to-back crises. The total consumer cost is likely to have been more than double that figure. The 1990/91 Gulf war, on the other hand, proved to be almost a bargain. It did cost American consumers approximately $80 billion in higher oil prices, including both imported and domestic oil, again excluding the resulting "knock-on" effects. The military costs of conducting the war itself were all but nil, however, because virtually all the other costs were passed on to Washington's willing or reluctant allies through "burden-sharing." The Germans, Japanese, and some Gulf states contributed cash and kind to the pursuit of the war, with the result that the net military cost to the U.S. was essentially zero. Officially reported "burden-sharing" contributions amounted to $45 billion, compared to officially reported U.S. military costs of $49 billion. Given the inherent imprecision in the budgeted figures, the net effect was a wash. In fact, the U.S. government actually showed a fiscal profit from the crisis, because it collected at least an additional $10 billion in taxes and royalties from the higher prices of domestically produced oil and gas. Economic and Military Aid This category includes only those amounts which flow through the conventional foreign aid appropriations process. Ad hoc and special aid is discussed later. The total for the Middle East is $867 billion, which includes the official "Near East" category, plus Greece and Turkey, which are classified as part of Europe for purposes of U.S. statistics. Greece is included because the Greek lobby has ensured that Greece receives roughly 70 percent as much aid as Turkey as a condition for acquiescing in the appropriations for Turkey. Thus the outlays for Greece are necessary conditions for the outlays for Turkey, given the U.S. domestic political dynamic, and thus are causally linked to the Middle East. The official reports are incomplete. First, it is necessary to estimate the ad hoc and special aid for Israel, which is reported differently, if at all (see below). Secondly, it is necessary to include such special, but related, transactions as U.S. support for insurgents in the Sudan, or the U.S. share in multilateral aid to Turkey, in order to flesh out the full picture. "Humanitarian aid" to the revolutionaries in the southern Sudan has aggregated to some $2 billion, while the U.S. share of recent multilateral aid to Turkey from the IMF and World Bank can be estimated at $7 billion. It can be argued that this money was made available to Ankara as a result of U.S. pressure, intended to reward Turkey further for its alliance with Israel and as an incentive for further cooperation against Iraq. Increasingly, aid to the periphery is part of U.S. involvement in the Middle East. Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea are viewed as integral to geopolitical planning for the Middle East, and, more recently, aid to the Central Asian "emergent democracies" is linked in part to Middle East politics, related to efforts to encircle and isolate Iran. That increasing flow of aid is also part of the larger picture of aid to the Middle East. Another element is ad hoc support for Israel, which is not part of the formal foreign aid programs. No comprehensive compilation of U.S. support for Israel has been publicly released. Additional known items include loan guarantees-which the U.S. most probably will be forced to cover-special contracts for Israeli firms, legal and illegal transfers of marketable U.S. military technology, de facto exemption from U.S. trade protection provisions, and discounted sales or free transfers of "surplus" U.S. military equipment. An unquantifiable element is the trade and other aid given to Romania and Russia to facilitate Jewish migration to Israel; this has accumulated to many billions of dollars. Lastly, unofficial aid, in the form of transfers from the Diaspora resident in the U.S. and net purchases by U.S. parties of Israel Bonds, adds at least $40 billion to the total. A rough estimate, again a minimum, for such additional elements is more than $100 billion since 1973. U.S. jobs and exports also have been affected, adding to costs and losses. "Trade followed the flag" in the area-but in the reverse direction. As U.S. relations with Mideast countries deteriorated, trade was lost. Worsening political relations resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs. Some disappeared as a consequence of trade sanctions, some because large contracts were forefeited, thanks to the Israel lobby-as in the case of foregone sales of fighters to Saudi Arabia in the 1980s-and still others due to a dangerously growing trade-aid imbalance vis-^-vis Israel. Sanctions alone have caused U.S. jobs to disappear. The trickle of U.S. trade with Iran, Iraq, Libya and Syria-compared to what would have been expected had relations been "normal," let alone "good"-currently costs the U.S. some 80,000 to 100,000 jobs each year. The figure is probably higher, in fact, because it does not reflect the lost opportunities for U.S. farmers to export their products into the growing markets of the sanctioned countries. "Good" relations, however, do not necessarily mean employment gains for Americans. In the case of Israel, the striking trade-aid imbalance vis-^-vis Israel costs the U.S. almost as many jobs as the sanction regimes. Israel exports to the U.S. much more than it imports, while it pays for only a fraction of what it does import from the U.S. Specifically, Israel buys little from the U.S. in relation to U.S. aid levels, and the trade-aid imbalance of $6 billion to $10 billion each year costs about 125,000 jobs. One aspect of U.S. government policy in the region, however, does create American jobs: the states of the southern Gulf incrementally buy large quantities of U.S. arms and related services. That relationship, primarily with Saudi Arabia, has translated into an extra 60,000 jobs in recent years. This gain, due to the special status of Saudi Arabia, partly offsets the jobs lost through Israeli pressures or contracting policies. Another large element in cost has been the push for energy autarky-specifically, "Project Independence." This clutch of programs has been extraordinarily costly since it was initiated as a policy objective in the 1970s. Oil imports are higher today than before, in spite of the imposing array of subsidies or forced technologies designed to increase U.S. energy production and cut consumption. No overview of these costs has been compiled. Identifiable costs come to $285 billion, but the grand total is certainly very much higher. A reasonable estimate is at least one trillion dollars, but only part of that can be documented. While the subsidies were inevitably justified in the interests of national security, the projects and programs were in most cases captured and co-opted by domestic lobbies. Since the national objective was reducing dependence upon Mideast oil, however, the costs should be subsumed within the costs of coping with regional conflicts, even if the programs were largely ineffectual. "Defense" of the Gulf-often cited as a major cost factor-in fact has been but a minor element of cost. Excluding the buildup for war against Iraq in late 2002, the official figure for operations and presence in the Gulf is about $30 billion to $40 billion per year. That figure is misleading, however. Most of the equipment and troops and the operations of the carrier task force at Diego Garcia would be maintained in support of other geopolitical objectives, so those outlays, which represent the largest component in the reported "cost," are not substantively tied to U.S. policies in the Gulf itself. The U.S. presence itself has entailed relatively modest incremental costs-on the order of $2 billion (net) per year, exclusive of any new costs tied to the new mobilization against Iraq. Lastly, a large part of the costs have been inextricably tied to U.S. protection of or support for Israel. It is therefore useful to pull together the various elements linked to that policy: Direct costs, excluding crisis costs, have amounted to about $800 billion. This figure includes budgeted U.S. aid for Egypt and Jordan, since that flow of aid is so closely correlated with their postures toward Israel-i.e., that aid is part of the cost of buying peace for Israel on two of its borders. It also includes the flow of dollars from private Jews or Jewish organizations in the U.S. to Israel, which are drains on the U.S. balance of payments, analogous to official aid transfers. The rescue of Israel in 1973 cost another $1 trillion, so total direct costs, including the costs of the results of support for Israel, are some $1.8 trillion. There have been further costs where the causal linkage is less clear-aid to the states of the periphery (Ethiopia, Central Asia, etc.), the "defense" of the Gulf, and the costs of Energy Independence. Although some part of those costs of $300-plus billion are attributable to U.S. support for Israel at the core, any allocation is beyond the scope of this discussion. A last element is a contingent cost: the cost to the U.S. of the Oil Supply Guarantee which Secretary of State Henry Kissinger proffered the Israelis in 1975. If Israel's oil supply is affected, Israel in effect gets a first call on any oil available to the U.S. The opportunity cost of that oil depends upon the crisis scenario-a plausible scenario would entail costs to the U.S. of $3 billion per month in terms of lost GDP if the U.S. were embargoed at the same time. Expensive Unrest Unrest in the Middle East has proven to be very expensive for the U.S. It is known that most of American foreign aid goes to Egypt and Israel, but it is clear that the total costs to the U.S. of conflict in the region are very much higher than the aid bill itself. The total costs of supporting Israel are some six times the official aid, for example. Oil price crises have been particularly expensive-a sobering lesson from the history of the Middle East over the last 30 years. Future "burden-sharing" is unlikely-while successful in eliminating much of the cost of the 1990/91 Gulf war, it will become much more difficult. Mercenary allies, such as Turkey, moreover, are likely to demand compensation "up front," since, they argue, they never received the aid promised to them during the prior Gulf war. Ankara is especially likely to demand considerable rewards, since it protests that it received little to offset the $30 billion it claimed it lost in the last affair. Israel, too, is demanding more aid-$4 billion in extra military support and a further $10 bn in loan guarantees, over and above the current level of appropriated aid. Conflicts in the Middle East have become expensive indeed for the American taxpayer. It is worth noting, however, that the burden shared by the other oil-consuming states has, in fact, been much higher. Even though they do not share in policy formation, they do indeed share in the costs of the consequences. While not greatly drained by foreign aid to the region-unlike the $800 billion borne by the U.S.-they bear much more of the costs of oil crises because, collectively, they import much more oil than the U.S. Thus the total bill-the total burden shared by default-is two to four times higher than that for the U.S. alone. All states-not just the U.S.-have borne the burden of conflicts in the Middle East. Thomas R. Stauffer is a Washington, DC-based engineer and economist who has taught the economics of energy and the Middle East at Harvard University and Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. -------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: wrmeacom.gif Type: image/gif Size: 1418 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: wrmeamast.gif Type: image/gif Size: 3081 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: tablethree.gif Type: image/gif Size: 13052 bytes Desc: not available URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Oct 31 18:34:23 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 18:34:23 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] "Fast Food Nation" Author Accuses Fast Food Industry of "Super-Sized Deception" on Prop 72 Message-ID: Los Angeles Times, October 24, 2004 COMMENTARY Super-Sized Deception From Fast-Food Giants By Eric Schlosser, Eric Schlosser is the author of "Fast Food Nation" (HarperCollins, 2002). The television ad funded by the opponents of Proposition 72 - an initiative that would require large and medium-sized business owners to give health benefits to their workers - offers a grim scenario. "Our family-run restaurant is doing OK," says a lovely Latina, walking past tables crowded with customers. "Well enough to provide benefits for our workers." But Proposition 72 would threaten all of that, she adds. It would cost her restaurant more than $100,000. It would force her to raise prices or fire workers. It would mean getting rid of the restaurant's "good private health plan" in favor of a "government-run plan." The ad ends by warning viewers that Proposition 72 would kill jobs and eliminate health benefits. If George Orwell were alive today, he would marvel at the ad's scare tactics, distortions and its fundamental misrepresentation of Proposition 72. For one thing, the woman in the ad isn't a restaurant owner; she's an actress. The Los Angeles restaurant where the ad was filmed actually has only 12 employees, making it too small to be affected. The initiative would require employee access to private plans, not government insurance. Moreover, the leading corporate sponsor of the effort to block its passage is McDonald's. Other sponsors include Burger King, Wendy's, Jack in the Box, Walgreen, Best Buy, Target, Sears and Yum! Brands (owner of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC). Concern for the plight of family businesses is now being used as a political tool by the very companies that have driven mom-and-pops out of business. The fact that Proposition 72 even appears on the ballot is further evidence of how California's initiative laws, initially passed to thwart corporate influence in politics, now facilitate just the opposite. In 2003, the Legislature passed a bill requiring that large and medium-sized companies offer health insurance to their workers. The story should have ended once then-Gov. Gray Davis signed the bill into law. Instead, the California Chamber of Commerce, the California Restaurant Assn. and their corporate allies have spent millions of dollars to rescind the law through the initiative process. A "yes" vote for Proposition 72 would keep the law, calling for companies with 50 to 199 full-time workers to provide them with health insurance by 2007. Companies with 200 or more full-time workers would have to insure them and their dependents by 2006. The fast-food industry is the nation's largest employer of minimum-wage labor. The only American workers who consistently earn less are migrant farm workers. Led by McDonald's, the industry has pioneered a workforce that earns low wages, gets little training, receives few benefits and has one of the highest turnover rates of any trade. Retail giants such as Target and Wal-Mart have emulated these labor policies, and there's good reason such service-sector positions are called "McJobs." Jot Condie, president of the California Restaurant Assn., says passage of Proposition 72 would immediately cause one-fifth of the state's restaurants to shut down. In fact, the proposition would apply to fewer than one-tenth of the state's restaurants and retail stores. Among employers with more than 200 full-time workers, 99% already provide health insurance; among those with 50 to 150 workers, 94% do. Opponents of Proposition 72 say it would add annual health insurance costs of $2,500 to $7,000 per worker, but supporters argue that such costs are wildly inflated because most fast-food workers are young, healthy and single. Starbucks already offers health benefits to full-time staff, as does Costco. Eight years ago, the California Restaurant Assn. claimed that proposed increases in the state and federal minimum wage would force the industry to fire more than 100,000 workers. Nevertheless, minimum wages were raised - and the annual revenues of the California restaurant industry have nearly doubled in the last decade. The industry is the largest private employer in the state. It provides health insurance to executives and should now do the same for all full-time employees. Its healthcare costs are now largely covered by taxpayers. California spends about $4.6 billion a year on medical care for the uninsured, while hospitals absorb an additional $5 billion. Proposition 72 isn't a panacea. But it would provide insurance for more than 1 million people. The disinformation being spread by multinational fast-food chains shouldn't dissuade voters from doing what's right. Thirty years ago, Hawaii adopted a similar plan. Today, it has one of the best healthcare systems in the U.S. - and on Maui, there's no shortage of Big Macs. http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-oe-schlosser24oct24,1,2238970.story Jessica Rothhaar Northern California Organizer Health Access 414 13th Street, Suite 450 Oakland, CA 94612 Tel: (510) 873-8787 ext 107 Cell: (415) 517-0439 JessicaR at health-access.org Health Access California is a broad coalition working for quality, affordable, health care for all, made up of over 200 organizations representing seniors, people with disabilities, children, immigrants, communities of color, health care professionals, people of faith, labor, women, families, and communities throughout California. Founded in 1987, Health Access California has promoted universal health care solutions and advocated and won specific reforms to expand health access, including the California HMO Patient Bill of Rights and expansions in Medi-Cal and Healthy Families. For information about joining Health Access, contact JessicaR at health-access.org >. Local Currency http://www.lightlink.com/hours/ithacahours/ Permaculture http://www.permaculture.org.au Humanure http://www.weblife.org/humanure/default.html Nonviolent Communication www.nonviolentcommunication.com/resources/interpersonal-communication-skills.htm Gandhi was a Green Blocker http://www.squat.net/caravan/ICC-en/Krrs-en/ghandi-econ-en.htm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: message-footer.txt URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Oct 31 18:42:15 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 18:42:15 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Mining the Matrix: computer program marks thousands as potential terrorist Message-ID: Mining the Matrix - A computer program has marked thousands of citizens as potential terrorists. By Jim DeFede > September/October 2004 Issue The idea came to him while sipping a martini. It was September 13, 2001, and Hank Asher was sitting in his $8 million home in Boca Raton, Florida, seething over the terrorist strikes. Asher, creator of advanced data-processing software, suddenly realized he could program his company's computers to hunt Al Qaeda members hiding in the United States. Within a day, Asher's new program had sorted through 30 billion records-public and private-that his company, Seisint Inc., had obtained over the years. The result? The names of 419 people he believed the government should investigate. He invited state and federal agents to his office to review his work, and they were amazed: The FBI was already investigating five names on the list, and a sixth turned out to be one of the hijackers. The agents became fixtures at Seisint's Boca Raton headquarters, helping Asher to develop a terrorist profile. The program then culled through databases, rating millions of people for terrorist potential according to a combination of factors including: age, gender, ethnicity, criminal record, credit history, how they shipped or received packages, anomalies in Social Security numbers and driver's licenses, and addresses within the vicinity of known terrorists. Within weeks, the system had a list of 120,000 names with High Terrorist Factor (HTF) scores. Three years later, Asher's brainchild has blossomed into the MATRIX-the Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange, a network of state databases subsidized by the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department. While Seisint provides its databases, technology, and facilities for the project, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and a nonprofit research institute in Florida manage the day-to-day oper-ations. Law enforcement agencies in four other states-Connecticut, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania-are enrolled in the project, which allows them to conduct searches for criminal investigations in return for putting their own databases into MATRIX. Although a number of states have withdrawn from the program, citing administrative costs, Florida governor Jeb Bush, a strong backer of MATRIX, is working to recruit more. The American Civil Liberties Union, however, wants to eliminate federal funding for MATRIX. "They are searching through disconnected records, which may not be accurate, looking for patterns and drawing conclusions about people," says Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU's Technology and Liberty Project. "One conclusion they drew is that there are 120,000 suspected terrorists in the United States. If there are 120,000 terrorists in America, then we are in much deeper trouble than anyone ever imagined." Even worse, the list has never been made public, meaning that thousands of people are unaware that they have been singled out as potential terrorists. Steinhardt notes that federal officials are administering this program through the states, letting the MATRIX avoid scrutiny. "There is no question they have hidden this from Con-gress," he says. Law enforcement officials today describe MATRIX as nothing more than a powerful search engine that can simultaneously scan billions of records. They say that it merely consolidates databases already available to them but dispersed across multiple computer systems. According to Mark Zadra, chief of investigations for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the MATRIX is no longer used to generate lists of terrorist suspects. Yet that wasn't the spin MATRIX advocates used to hype the program. In convincing states to join, Seisint and Florida officials developed a PowerPoint presentation highlighting the system's ability to root out would-be terrorists. According to Seisint's own promotional material, within one week of receiving the list of 120,000 names, "several arrests" were made, and in subsequent months "other arrests using the HTF" followed. Officials refuse to provide details about the arrests, though it is believed most were for immigration violations. After producing the list at his own expense, Asher, a 53-year-old who was already a mega-millionaire from his AutoTrack system, was eager to gain national support for his new project. Although he is a Democrat, he wrote two checks in late 2002 to the Republican Party-$5,000 to the Florida party, $50,000 to the national party. In January 2003, he was invited to the White House to give a presentation to Vice President Dick Cheney, FBI director Robert Mueller, and Homeland Security director Tom Ridge. Jeb Bush was also present. Inside the Roosevelt Room, Asher demonstrated the MATRIX's potential. According to a document titled "Briefing Points for the Vice President of the United States," which the ACLU obtained through a public records request, the "factual data analysis portion of the project holds the most promise of identifying potential terrorist cells and solving other crimes." It also notes that Florida was already a partner in the project with Seisint, a firm that specializes in providing data for employee screenings, debt recoveries, and identity verifications. The Department of Homeland Security subsequently awarded the MATRIX $8 million as part of a "cooperative agreement" that requires a Homeland Security project manager to "maintain managerial oversight and control of the activities, including redirection of MATRIX activities or resources." For civil libertarians, the MATRIX conjures up memories of another data-mining project-Admiral John Poindexter's Total Information Awareness program, which the Senate, out of civil liberties concerns, nixed in January 2003 before it launched. MATRIX, however, has escaped congressional scrutiny since it is considered a state program. And while MATRIX officials say that they are not using the system to create lists of potential terrorists, critics worry that nothing forbids them from doing that in the future. But Asher is unlikely to be involved in such a decision. In July, Seisint was sold to Reed Elsevier, the Anglo-Dutch information and publishing company that owns LexisNexis. He had already resigned from Seisint's board of directors, as federal officials last year became aware of his smuggling planeloads of cocaine into the United States in the early 1980s. (He was never charged with a crime and became an informant against other drug traffickers.) Still, Asher thinks the Feds are mistaken in not using the system to its full, terrorist-scoring potential. "If the terrorist attacks continued and the Sears Tower came tumbling down and the Golden Gate Bridge collapsed and Lake Superior was poisoned and a dirty bomb went off in Houston," he says, "would we be talking about whether we find it offensive for the government to look into our personal records to determine we are not terrorists?" Jim DeFede has been reporting on Miami politics since 1991, and joined the Miami Herald as a metro columnist in 2002. He recently published his first book, The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland. ===== In Solidarity and Struggle - For Love and Liberation! - travis http://groups.yahoo.com/group/loveandliberation Also check out the Northen Plains Anarchist Egroup: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NPAnarchist Armed Self Defense Training - For Anarchists, By Anarchists: http://www.abcf.net/tdc " Any Movement that does not support its Political Internee's is a Sham movement!" - New Afrikan Anarchist POW Ojore Lutalo Support the Anarchist Black Cross Federation: http://www.abcf.net http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stateyourcause/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StopNightmareDogIndustries/ hlssuckslists.riseup.net "Live in peace with the animals. Animals bring love to our hearts, and warmth to our souls"-Colleen Klaum ?The ultimate measure of a community is not where it stands in times of comfort and convenience, but where it stands in times of challenge and controversy.? -Martin Luther King Jr. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Oct 31 18:44:25 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 18:44:25 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] WHEN WE 'CELEBRATE' COLUMBUS DAY by Mumia Abu-Jamal Message-ID: WHEN WE 'CELEBRATE' COLUMBUS DAY ===================================== [Col. Writ. 10/10/04] Copyright 2004 Mumia Abu-Jamal For millions of Americans, Columbus Day is a day of parades, nice dinners, and thankfully, a paid vacation day from work. (For Canadians, this is Thanksgiving Day.) But, I've always wondered -- what do the survivors of this 500 years of genocide, slaughter, and land-theft -- the so-called Native Americans -- think of Columbus Day? Undoubtedly some (those culturally conditioned to follow American ways) *do* celebrate it, as do many Americans. Yet, one still wonders. When I think of Columbus Day, I don't think of the present; nor of celebrations. I think of the time, 500 years ago, when 3 Spanish ships darkened the horizons of the Caribbean Sea. When the man then known as Cristobal Colon came to land, and met the people he mistakenly called 'Indians', the world was forever changed. I think of those people -- those people whom Columbus described as "well-formed", "handsome", and with "good faces." Thankfully, the journal of a Spanish priest tells us exactly what was happening in Oct. 1492: On Thursday, October 11th, Fray Bartolome De Las Casas wrote, Columbus marveled at their beauty and their kindness; but he noticed something else: They do not carry arms nor are they acquainted with them, because I showed them swords and took them by the edge and through ignorance cut themselves. [p. 67] Admiral Columbus noticed something else; that this "gentle", "handsome", and "good face[d]" people could be easily enslaved. De Las Casas records the Admiral's thoughts: ...[W]henever Your Highnesses may command, all of them can be taken to Castile or held captive in this same island; because with 50 men all of them could be held in subjection and *can be made to do whatever one might wish*. [pp. 75-77] This, from the first day's entry after landfall! Day One -- and slavery is the first thought! What followed, of course, was 500 years of hell for millions of Native peoples -- and a hell to come for millions of African people. It really makes one feel like celebrating Columbus Day. [Source: De Las Casas, Fray Bartolome, *The Diario of Christopher Columbus's First Voyage to America 1492-1493*. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989); trans. Oliver Dunn and James E. Kelly, Jr.] Copyright 2004 Mumia Abu-Jamal [Check out Mumia's latest: *WE WANT FREEDOM: A Life in the Black Panther Party*, from South End Press (www.southendpress.org); Ph. #1-800-533-8478.] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Oct 31 18:45:25 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 18:45:25 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: ABIDENT show @ The Graceland! Message-ID: Hey guys!! Abident has a show at the GRACELAND on November 3rd. It's a Wednesday (kinda sucky), but the show's actually pretty early. We requested an opening slot in the line-up, so those of you who go will definately be able to see our set. Location: GRACELAND 109 Eastlake Ave. East Seattle, WA 98109 Date: November 3rd, 2004 (Wednesday) Time: Doors open at 6pm Show starts at 7pm Ends at 9:30ish (Abident plays at 7!!) Cost: $6 if you buy from us $8 if you buy at the door Bands: ABIDENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mural (California touring band) IQ20 (Japanese touring band) Remnant Soldier Lines Into Phoenix If you have any questions just write me, or im me at Abident00. Hope to see you at the show! It'll be awesome! -Andrew www.abident.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Oct 31 18:47:20 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 18:47:20 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] peltier Message-ID: Greetings Brady I am giving you a heads up on this. Two of the major support people for native support in seattle, they were M-Ls, have moved out of seattle. That leaves a void and that is something that anarchists could step into without having to work with some of the people they don't like to work with. You in the past wrote that anarchist should actively support native struggles and here is the opportunity to do so with doors that I have been able to open. Arthur Leonard Peltier's case has gained importance because of the renewed political harassment by the FBI of activists from different struggles. Placing Leonard's case out in public view in support of revealing the truth about what happened to Leonard and in support of Leonard's lawyers struggle to gain all government documents on Leonard's case which thousands of pages are being withheld for the reason of "national security", will help place the dangers of having the FBI act as a national political police force in the minds of the public. Also, our work has created a tradition of a voice for Native people in the northwest to be able to speak out on issues that often remain invisible in our region. Information on our next event is below. We ask for your help. Our organizing is purely grassroots, and the help we ask for is in you organizing support within your personal activist network. Ever person has a personal activist network, that being those that you work with and know, Also, we ask that you please help us by getting our fliers and posters out and by forwarding our statements to e-mail lists, to web sites and to people you know. Seattle has a long history of having a Seattle Leonard Peltier Support Group, the first such group was organized not long after Leonard was arrested in Canada. The person who was the contact for Leonard's support in the Seattle area has moved to L.A. So now the Seattle support for Leonard must be reorganized. There will be a meeting to do this on Nov. 27th, from 2 pm to 4 pm at the Capitol Hill Branch of the Seattle Library, Harvard and Republican Ave. We will again be able to get the large church for after the rally for a meal and get together where activists from through out the northwest will have time to meet each other. If you can at all help in any way with this effort please contact me. Thank you Arthur J. Miller Tacoma LPSG bayou at blarg.net: 12TH ANNUAL NORTHWEST REGIONAL INTERNATIONAL DAY OF SOLIDARITY WITH LEONARD PELTIER MARCH AND RALLY FOR JUSTICE SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2004 TACOMA, WA 12:00 NOON: MARCH FOR JUSTICE Portland Ave. Park (on Portland Ave. between E. 24th and E. Fairbanks Ave. Take Portland Ave. exit off I-5 and head east) 1:00 PM: RALLY FOR JUSTICE U.S. Federal Court House, 1717 Pacific Ave. Program: (As it is at this time. There are still people we have to contact) Harold Belmont: Elder, Native People's Alliance With Friends and Allies Dorothy Ackerman: Lakota Elder, Portland, OR Aztec Dancers Pete Sanchez: Ktunaxa (Kutenai), Drummer Jim Page: Folk Singer/Activist Michael One Road: AIM, Portland, OR Kerwin Hemlock: Drummer Juan Jose Bocanegra: Community organizer and long time Peltier supporter. Steve Hapy, Jr: Tacoma LPSG Arthur J. Miller: Tacoma LPSG NW AIM DRUM -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Oct 31 18:56:03 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 18:56:03 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Updated email on November 9 Event Message-ID: Friends, Please forward this email to those who might be interested. Those doing outreach, please also be sure that the NW Asian Weekly and International Examiner have this on their calendars, and also that their editors are aware. You doubtless have heard that there was a coup last Monday in Burma, and that former Prime Minister (and head of Military Intelliegence) Gen. Khin Nyunt is being held under house arrest. The process is entirely opaque, and some reports are coming out of a state of confusion among some army units upcountry. It is hard to view this coup as a good sign, as the reigning trio of Gen. Than Shwe, Gen. Maung Aye and Lt. Gen. Soe Win are extreme hardliners. But it certainly makes it hard for wishful thinkers or cynical manipulators to pretend that there is progress or even hope for progress in Burma under current military rule. As above, please forward the message below (feel free to personalize it) far and wide. Larry _____________________ We at the Seattle Burma Roundtable would like to personally invite you to a special event: >From Piglets to Prosthetics: 10 Northwest Aid Groups on the Burma Border You've heard of speed dating. Now get ready for speedy international relief. At the event, you'll share six intense minutes with each of ten non-profits/NGOs working in Burma and Thailand. Learn about the many ways these local global groups make a difference in the daily lives of Burmese refugees and people displaced by war. Chime in. Trade tips. Make friends. Leave energized. Tuesday Nov. 9, 6:30-8 pm Suzzallo Library, UW main campus DIRECTIONS: MAP Free. Refreshments. All welcome. The event is also part of an opening reception for a special photo exhibit at Suzallo Library November 2-24, featuring images from the Thai-Burma Border by Seattle Times Photographer Tom Reese. ( http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/burma/reese.html) The featured organizations include: Clear Path International -- A Bainbridge Island based de-mining and mine education group group that has a project to make custom-fitted prosthetic legs for land-mine victims trapped inside Burma. ( www.clearpathinternational.org) Green Empowerment -- A Portland group that has outfitted 13 clinics serving 40-50,000 internally displaced Burmese with solar power, and has plans to equip another 11 clinics in 2005. ( www.greenempowerment.org/) Dr. Cynthia's Clinic -- A number of Seattle-based medical professionals continue to volunteer at this clinic in Mae Sot, Thailand, which is run by Dr. Cynthia Maung, winner of numerous international awards and called "the Mother Teresa of the Thai-Burma border." ( http://faculty.washington.edu/kwangett/burma/) World Aid, Inc. -- A Ballard-based non-profit that has for years gathered and shipped medical supplies and financial support for refugees and the internally displaced. Social Action for Women (SAW) -- This Thailand-based group now has a representative in the Seattle area. Mo Mo Aye has provided pre-natal and reproductive health training to the thousands of Burmese migrant women who work in Thai factories in Mae Sot for $1.25 per day. ( www.myfriend.org/saw/) Free Burma Rangers -- Based in both Gig Harbor and on the Burma/Thai border, this group carries relief supplies deep inside Eastern Burma, as well as training and accompanying medics, dentists and doctors into high-risk areas where internally displaced people struggle to survive. ( www.freeburmarangers.org /) Save the Children USA -- With strong support from the Puget Sound community, Save supports micro-credit lending, scholarship opportunities for girls from disadvantaged families and child nutrition programs. ( www.savethechildren.org /) World Vision -- The Federal Way based NGO works both on the Thai-Burma border (providing AIDS education and fighting child sex trafficking) and inside Burma (doing micro-credit lending). ( www.wvi.org/wvi/home.htm) Seattle Burma Roundtable -- A local grass-roots group working on public education that has also raised more than $10,000 to fund basic education for children of internally displaced communities inside Burma. ( http://students.washington.edu/burma/) Project Piglet - This project provides breeding piglets and pig feed to refugee and internally displaced families so they can develop a self-sustaining source of food and income. We look forward to seeing you there! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Oct 31 18:58:33 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 18:58:33 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Your help is needed for Nov 6 Protest Message-ID: --- Not In Our NameSeattle > wrote: > > Dear Not In Our Name Supporter, > > Seattle's Not In Our Name project is asking for your > help in building > the next wave of resistance to deliver a resounding > "NO" to war and > repression, NO MATTER WHO IS ELECTED on Nov. 2nd. > > We are planning a massive rally and march on > Saturday, Nov. 6th at 1pm > at Westlake Park (4th & Pine) along with > ANSWER-Seattle, Hate Free Zone, > American Friends Service Committee and others. We > need your financial > and volunteer assistance to help us build for this > important action. The > permits, sound system, posters and flyers will cost > a total of $2000. We > need your help to do this. > > In these times, we see increasing attacks on > immigrant communities in > the US, attempts to enshrine the Patriot Act attacks > on civil liberties, > plans for a further escalation of the unjust > occupation on Iraq, and the > groundwork being laid for an ever expanding war on > the world. We will > not accept these atrocities. At this critical moment > in history, we are > faced with the very real possibility of the > elections being stolen and > the Bush crew intensifying and consolidating their > agenda for years to > come. We will not compromise in our insistence that > questioning, > criticism, and dissent be valued and protected. The > stakes are high and > we need your help in creating a climate where people > engage in real > social dialogue and political action. No matter who > is elected, we must > not waver in our convictions. This is indeed a very > important time for > Seattle and our country. > > The future of the resistance movement in Seattle is > up to us all. No one > person alone can do what is necessary for change. > Together, in our > varied forms of resistance, protest, struggle, and > creation, we can > bring about another world. Join us in pledging to > help this new world > become a reality. > > WHAT YOU CAN DO: > > Send your tax-deductible donation to: > Not In Our Name > 4509 Interlake Ave. N, Box#190 > Seattle, WA 98103 > Please make checks out to our fiscal sponsor: > Media Island International > > You can also donate by credit card through Pay Pal > on our website at: > www.notinourname-seattle.net > > Come to Westlake Park early on the day of the event > to volunteer: Please > meet us at the NION table on the right side of the > stage between 12 and > 12:30 to get a job. There are a variety of ways to > help. No experience > necessary! > > Come to a NION organizational meeting: > Weekly Meetings: > Sundays at 7pm > 1609 19th Ave in southeast Capitol Hill > (1 block south of Madison on the corner of 19th & E > Pine St) > > > ===== Homepage (as of NOV-01-2002): http://www.SeattleActivist.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Oct 31 19:32:36 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 19:32:36 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] hacktivism Message-ID: Hacktivism: Week of Disruption during the RNC author: rainbowskies at truthmail.com Sep 05, 2004 00:25 Hacktivists launched a campaign of electronic civil disobedience to coincide with the demonstrations against the Republican National Convention. Joining millions of protesters who took to the streets of New York to say no to the Bush agenda, hacktivists took to the net to explore a new medium of protest: the internet. Various tactics included staging financial disruption against major credit card corporations, disrupting various right-wing fascist groups, and an electronic sit-in against Republican websites. Credit card numbers stolen from major news corporationswere used by anti-RNC hacktivists to make $2600 in donations to various humantarian and civil rights organizations. In a statement posted to the NYC Independent Media Center, the hacktivists declared "either the credit card corporations are going to have to spend tens of thousands of dollars in lawyer and investigation fees to track down and retrieve a mere few hundred dollars per account, or these humanitarian organizations are going to get their donations. We??Tll have to see whether Corporate America is heartless enough to take money away from hungry children, AIDS victims and the homeless and give it straight to law enforcement, attorneys and the banks". The hacktivists have claimed that they have hundreds of additional credit card numbers spread out over an underground network of hackers and will continue to make $2600 in donations a month until all military troops are pulled out of Iraq. A right-wing fascist organization known as ProtestWarrior was also hacked and defaced a week before the convention began. In a statement condemning the group's defense of the occupation of Iraq and support for the Bush agenda, the hacktivists spoke, "by infiltrating and crashing legal, peaceful assemblies, the ProtestWarriors are fighting against the democratic process while claiming to uphold the 'core values of this country'". The cell/home phone numbers, names, addresses, and passwords of the site's lead organizers along with the email addresses of all ProtestWarrior members were posted to the site and emailed out to every member. Major components of their website remained down for the remainder of the day. The hacktivists also staged a mainstream electronic sit-in on various Republican websites during the convention. In a document sent to thousands of hackers, activists, press people and email lists, the group provided the means to disrupt Republican webservers, email accounts, phone and fax systems. These actions were joined by the Electronic Disturbance Theatre, who have launched similar successful actions against the World Economic Forum, the Mexican Surpeme Court, and more. The flood scripts allowed users to combine their bandwidth to overload RNC servers with so much traffic that it would be unable to serve any more requests. Although the RNC websites remained online for the majority of the convention, many users along with web monitoring company AlertSite have reported periods of slowdown and complete disruption on September 2nd as George W. Bush was nominated as the presidential candidate for the Republican Party. Hacktivists are defending the attacks on right-wing and corporate systems as a legitimate protest tactic. "When the machinery of law is working towards acts of injustice, then the people have not only the right but the duty to break the law to combat tyranny and oppression". Following in the footsteps of Henry David Thoreau, Thomas Jefferson and other famous revolutionaries, these hacktivists are exploring the internet as a new medium of civil disobedience. "Electronic civil disobedience does not cause any physical damage to people or property: it is merely the shifting of data around in such a manner as to mock or disrupt the injustices of the corporate machine". Through the redistribution of wealth to charities, disruption of right-wing fascist groups, and flooding Republican websites and communication systems, this sort of non-violent electronic civil disobedience is setting new standards for online protests. The campaign website and all email addresses have been knocked offline, but it will not erase the memories of what has happened. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Oct 31 22:04:35 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 22:04:35 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] john kerry Message-ID: http://www.scaryjohnkerry.com/vietnam.htm http://store.yahoo.com/neuse/noname1.html http://www.impeachhanoijohn.com/ http://ice.he.net/~freepnet/kerry/ http://kerrylied.com/otherdocs/flash.htm http://members.aol.com/viperash50/links/links.html http://media1.streamtoyou.com/rnc/100104v1.wmv http://www.scaryjohnkerry.com/wmd.htm http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_101504/content/stop_the_tape.guest.html "Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged." -- President Abraham Lincoln -- (Wouldn't Abe just love John Kerry the Democrats, those who are in the liberal media and the egotistical Hollywood geeks?) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: abraham_lincoln.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 6625 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: iraqgi.gif Type: image/gif Size: 23020 bytes Desc: not available URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Oct 31 22:05:21 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 22:05:21 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] petitions Message-ID: http://patriotpetitions.us/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Oct 31 22:10:08 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 22:10:08 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Amber Alert !!! Message-ID: Subject: Fwd: Amber Alert !!! amber alert please look at the picture, read what her father says, then forward his message on. Maybe if every one passes this on someone will see this child, that is how the girl from Stevens Point was found by circulation of her picture on tv. The internet circulates even overseas South America, and Canada etc. Thanks Please pass this to everyone in your address book. (Embedded image moved to file: pic04966.jpg) We have a store manager (Wal-Mart) from Longs, SC who has a 9 year old daughter who has been missing for 2 weeks. Keep the picture moving on. With luck on her side she will be found. I am asking you all, begging you to please forward this email on to anyone and everyone you know, PLEASE. My 9 year old girl, Penny Brown, is missing. She has been missing for now two weeks.. It is still not too late. Please help us. If anyone anywhere knows anything, please contact me at: zicozicozico at hotmail.com I am including a picture of her.V All prayers are appreciated!! VV It only takes 2 seconds to forward this on. If it was your child, you would want all the help you could get. Sandy Pringle ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Electronic Privacy Notice. This e-mail, and any attachments, contains information that is, or may be, covered by electronic communications privacy laws, and is also confidential and proprietary in nature. If you are not the intended recipient, please be advised that you are legally prohibited from retaining, using, copying, distributing, or otherwise disclosing this information in any manner. Instead, please reply to the sender that you have received this communication in error, and then immediately delete it. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. ============================================================================== -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: pic04966.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 19970 bytes Desc: not available URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Oct 31 22:18:37 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 22:18:37 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Peacekeepers, Haitian cops move against militants Message-ID: Peacekeepers, Haitian cops move against militants http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2004/10/24/683743-ap.html By MICHELLE FAUL PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- Haitian police and U.N. troops moved into a slum that has become a flashpoint for unrest, using bulldozers to remove a barricade of torched cars that had blocked traffic in the capital. One Haitian policeman was shot and killed, apparently in early resistance that ended when scores of Brazilian troops moved in behind 10 armored cars with mounted submachine guns. A police officer at the scene said at least two "bandits" also were killed and several civilians were wounded. That information could not be confirmed by late Sunday. The chant of hymns wafted from church services and a U.N. helicopter roared overhead as the operation got under way in Bel Air, a poor neighborhood full of supporters of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The crackdown came two days after the government said it would root out gangs that have blockaded areas of certain neighborhoods. Bel Air residents accuse police of attacking them without cause and making illegal arrests. Haiti's capital has been convulsed by violence since police shot and killed two protesters at a Sept. 30 march to demand the return of Aristide, who went into exile amid an armed revolt in February. At least 56 people have been killed, including the officer shot Sunday. The operation began at 5 a.m. and continued into the afternoon, the first during the unrest to last several hours. Previous incursions into the neighborhood were brief because police encountered gunfire. A bulldozer pushed burnt-out cars down Rue Macajoux to the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, where front loaders lifted them into garbage trucks. Graffiti scrawled across a church wall called for the return of Aristide. Peacekeepers used a sledgehammer to knock down the second-story wall of a corner building used by snipers, said Gen. Americo Salvador, commander of the Brazilian brigade that is leading the U.N. mission to stabilize Haiti. Police Commissioner Jean-Brice Ralph said his men detained two unarmed men "because they are known bandits." At the top of Rue Macajoux, a group of young men jeered at police officers. "All we want is to have President Aristide returned," said Aristide Carlo, a 20-year-old student. "The police accuse us of terrorism, but it is they who are the bandits." Human rights lawyer Renan Hedouville said Sunday that his organization has received reports of women and young girls being raped in many of the troubled areas in Port-au-Prince, especially Bel Air. Many of the reports involve former Haitian soldiers who helped oust Aristide, he said. Besides the Brazilian troops, about 100 police officers from Benin, Canada, France and Spain took part in the operation. Daniel Moskaluk, a spokesman for an international police force training Haitian officers, said Jordanian and Haitian riot police would remain in the neighborhood. He said his group would help set up a permanent Haitian police station. On Friday, interim President Boniface Alexandre called the gangs "terrorists" and urged people in several troubled neighborhoods to cooperate with authorities to "expel these bandits." Aristide fled Feb. 29, accused of corruption and using police to suppress his opponents. He left Haiti on a U.S.-chartered plane as ex-soldiers leading a bloody rebellion neared Port-au-Prince. Now in South Africa, Aristide has accused the United States of orchestrating his ouster and insists he remains Haiti's democratically elected leader. The United States denies his charges. Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue on Saturday castigated the United Nations, saying it had not sent enough troops to prevent the violence. There are 3,200 peacekeepers in Haiti, instead of the promised 8,700 to police a country of 8 million. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Oct 31 22:21:05 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 22:21:05 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: HAITI Update Message-ID: Below, you will find an update from SOMA, a Haitian organization working on short-term emergency relief and long-term on community-controlled development. Please re-distribute this information far and wide. Contact SOMA directly, to ask questions about any of this. To make a TAX-CHARITABLE DONATION for poverty relief work in Haiti, see below. [If you want on/ off this elist: info at rightsaction.org.] === WORKING FOR SOLUTIONS IN HAITI Update from Sosyete Makaya/SOMA 15 October 2004, Volume 1 IN THIS UPDATE: Violence and Repression in Port-au-Prince Emergency Aid Disbursements - PROFILE: Fondasyon Trant Septamn Preventing Future Tragedy: Spotlight on the Environment Artists' Assistance Sponsored Students Funding Solutions in Haiti Wish List In the Next Update 1. VIOLENCE AND REPRESSION IN PORT-AU-PRINCE On September 30, approximately 10,000 people took to the streets of Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, to commemorate the anniversary of the 1991 coup d' etat. Haitian National Police and armed civilians dispersed the peaceful march by firing into the crowd, killing several demonstrators. The leader of the U.S.-backed de facto regime, Gerard Latortue, admitted Friday that police had shot into the crowd. His claims that the demonstration was not peaceful have been rejected outright by human rights monitors in Port-au Prince. The United Nations Support Mission in Haiti, which has previously been supportive of the de facto government, strongly condemned this attack (1). The Agence Haitienne de Presse, or AHP, reported Latortue stating: "We shot them, some of the them fell, other were injured, others ran away." (2) The commemorative demonstrations, called by many community groups and victims cooperatives, were scheduled to take place over three days. Many of these individuals suffered persecution and repression during the 1991-94 coup d'etat against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the Lavalas movement. Today these same individuals are facing grave human rights violations and brutal violence because of their continued support for President Aristide, ousted in a coup d'etat on February 29, 2004. Reports of a growing terror campaign have been unanimous among human rights organizations and investigative teams that have traveled to Haiti since the coup. (3) On Saturday, October 2 three Fanmi Lavalas former parliamentarians were arrested after making comments critical of the de facto regime during a radio debate. After a day-long stand-off at Radio Caraibes, police stormed the station and arrested the three without warrants. (4) This is only the latest in a continuing trend of illegal arrests and unconstitutional detention of Lavalas members carried out under the Latortue regime. (5) On October 13 UPI reported nearly fifty dead from the recent wave of violence. (1) See "Haiti Human Rights Alert: Illegal Arrest of Political Leaders", 10/5 from the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. "Paramilitaries Shoot Aristide Supporters," Haiti Information Project, 10/3. (2) Agence Haitienne de Presse, 9/30 and 10/1. (3) See www.lethaitilive.org for a list with links. (4) See "Haiti Human Rights Alert: Illegal Arrest of Political Leaders", 10/5 from the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. (5) See "Haiti Human Rights Alert: Illegal Arrest of Political Leaders", 10/5 from the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, "Haiti Human Rights Update," 7/26 from the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. 2. EMERGENCY AID DISBURSEMENTS SOMA has launched an Emergency Assistance Fund and is working to coordinate disbursement of funds from U.S.-based non-governmental organizations (see 6 below for more information on sources of funding). Using existing relationships with organizations and individuals throughout Haiti, particularly in Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitien, SOMA is targeting individuals whose homes have been burned or who have been forced into hiding, providing short-term economic relief for families in need of the basics: food, water and shelter. With escalating violence in Port-au-Prince and beyond, the need for emergency assistance couldn't be greater. We are focusing our efforts now on delivering aid to the Fondasyon Trant Septamn and FAVILEK human rights and victim assistance organizations in Port-au-Prince, COFEVIH women's cooperatives, and the FAENNE teachers' union in Northeast Haiti and it's affiliate, the Haitian Commission for the Respect of Human Rights (CHREDU), headquartered in Cap-Haitien. If you or someone you know would like to receive more information or support the Emergency Assistance Fund, contact us: Melinda at somahaiti.org. -- PROFILE: Still Demanding Justice, 13 Years and Counting: This is the first in a series of profiles we will feature in our regular updates to better acquaint you with the grassroots and community based organizations we are working with and funding in Haiti. The story of Fondasyon Trant Septamn is also a powerful contrast to the misinformation in the mainstream media about the people who were demonstrating in the streets on September 30th, and people who have been the targets of the growing terror campaign in Haiti. As opposed to the image of young men with illegal weapons, we offer this snapshot of middle-aged to elderly women and men who have already experienced more violence than any person should. FTS - FONDASYON TRANT SEPTAMN One of the main organizers of the September 30th commemorative actions is the Fondasyon Trant Septamn (FTS), the Thirtieth of September Foundation. FTS is Haiti's largest human rights network, and its members are predominantly victims of the 1991-94 coup d'etat. Since October 1996, FTS members have demonstrated every Wednesday at Port-au-Prince's Plaza of Martyrs to call for justice and an end to impunity. The only Wednesday's they missed were a few weeks immediately following February's coup. Members of FTS have bravely faced grave danger for many years. One of the leaders of FTS, psychologist Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, has been in exile since days after the coup. They have unwaveringly demanded justice from each Haitian government in the last decade. However, the situation today is more dire than any previous period. The resurgent militaries and paramilitaries who victimized these men and women ten years ago have returned to spread terror again, and the de facto regime is doing nothing to stop them. 3. PREVENTING FUTURE TRAGEDY: SPOTLIGHT ON THE ENVIRONMENT The population of Gonaives where more than 3,000 were killed in the floods from Hurricane Jeanne is now being terrorized by gunmen who are preventing the distribution of assistance, and the first cases of typhoid fever are suspected among the survivors. The tragedy that took place in Gonaives is the result of years of erosion caused by deforestation. Only a few months earlier a smaller storm caused devastating damage in the southeastern towns of Fond Verettes and Mapou. The reality is that the environmental degradation in Haiti has reached a level where each rainy season brings new disaster. Initiatives focused on restoring the land, conserving the soil, planting trees and sustainable agriculture are critical, and funding to expand such programs is desperately needed. In Gros Morne, just one hour north of Gonaives, the community began pursuing an ambitious reforestation agenda six years ago. Named for a priest who worked among the peasants, the Father Jean Marie Vincent Memorial Reforestation Program has made amazing progress. So far they have planted approximately one million trees. Two hundred thousand of these trees are planted on the highest mountain peak in town, an area that was in grave danger of contributing to future mudslides. Trees have been planted throughout Gros Morne, others have created greenbelts along the river, and still others were sent home with peasant farmers to plant on their own land. When Hurricane Jeanne crashed through town water levels rose and swept away dozens of homes. The main tree nursery was damaged and is in need of repair before technicians can return to work there. Funding has been slow this year, but there is a tremendous amount of work that needs to be done. Gros Morne lies between three rivers, leaving it vulnerable to regular rainfall as well as tropical storms. In Southern Haiti, SOMA supports a reforestation cooperative in the mountains. In Lamontay new areas are being cleared to plant trees in an effort to retain the rich red soil. Trees from the nursery there are being readied to plant throughout the area. These are just two of the important grassroots initiatives to protect and renew the environment that we have had a chance to become acquainted with. A dream of ours is to gather the agronomists and technicians from the different reforestation/soil conservation efforts in Haiti to participate in a seminar together. The exchange of strategies and solutions for shared challenges could lead to new partnerships and more effective work for Haiti' s environmental future. If you know of any funders who would be interested in funding reforestation in Gros Morne, Lamontay, and throughout Haiti, please send them our way! 4. ARTISTS' ASSISTANCE Artists are one of Haiti's greatest natural resources. Even though people often associate Haiti only with poverty and violence, it is colorful paintings, masks, wood carvings and iron works that are a highlight of what Haitians have to offer to the world. Now that we are based in Jacmel, Haiti' s largest community of artists, we are face-to-face not only with beautiful works of art, but with the difficult conditions in which Haitian artists are struggling to survive. Eighty percent of the art sold throughout the Caribbean originates in Haiti. Artists here mass-produce souvenirs which are then labeled with the names of other Caribbean islands. Knowing that the formalization and promotion of Haiti's art industry could have a very positive impact on the Haitian economy is just one more reason to work with artists. We are excited to introduce two artists' cooperatives: the SOMA cooperative and the Sant pou Fomasyon Atistik de Jakmel (Center for Artistic Training of Jacmel), directed by Didier Civil. Both initiatives combine efforts to aid disadvantaged artists and to promote the work of their members, while at the same time reaching out to serve the community. In our next update we will bring you details about the coops, their members and photographs of their work. In addition, we are coordinating an "Adopt an Artist" initiative, to pair Haitians artists with artists abroad as sponsors. So far we have three artists sponsored, and fifteen more on the waiting list. If you'd like to find out more about sponsoring an artist, email Melinda at somahaiti.org. The sponsorship is $250 for the year plus a donation of supplies. 5. SPONSORED STUDENTS Our new student sponsorship program is just getting started with three students fully sponsored for the coming year. The cost of sponsorship is $350 a year, which covers tuition, school uniforms and a monthly stipend to assist with food costs. 6. FUNDING SOLUTIONS IN HAITI First, a huge thank you to Natacha Thys and her colleagues at the International Labor Rights Fund for acting as a fiscal sponsor for SOMA! We 'd like to thank those who have made donations to support our work with SOMA: Organizational Donations/Grants: Public Welfare Foundation, $25,000 for the Emergency Assistance Fund Rights Action, $4,000 for Emergency Assistance and general support EPICA, $500 pass through Emergency Assistance for the FAENNE and CHREDU Individual Donations: Carol and Alan Binstock * Donna M. Neff * Ellen R. Gabin * Deborah Cohen * Barbara Jo Krieger * Lucille LePage In-Kind Donations: Ingrid Lofgren for organizing a fundraiser at Franklin's Restaurant and General Store in Hyattsville, MD. Elise Hansen for organizing events in Gloucester and Cambridge, MA. The Bookstore in Gloucester, MA for hosting a fundraising and informational event, and for the gift of an African American art history reference set for the artists of Jacmel. Harborside Cycles and Coley Bryant in Gloucester, MA for donations of bicycle parts, bicycle shoes and t-shirts. Chris Miles for providing web and email services and technical support. Tami Piccione for art supplies and postcards. Artisans World Gallery in Cambridge, MA for hosting an informational event. 7. WISH LIST If you can donate any of these items you can save us some money! Email Melinda at somahaiti.org. Art Supplies Postage Stamps Fax Machine Color Printer Computers Tools (old and broken ones are welcome, too) Old Cell Phones Sponsors for Artists and Students Donations! WANT TO GET CREATIVE? We'd like to set up partnerships between the artists' cooperatives here in Haiti and art departments at colleges and universities. Contact your alma mater or institutions in your area to see if they would be interested. Solicit donations from local art stores and artists. Start a drive for basic art supplies like paints, canvases, charcoal, pencils, easels, etc. 8. IN THE NEXT UPDATE: Status of Emergency Assistance Funding Details about Artists Cooperatives Human Rights and Governance Update on the Southeast The Second Emergency Assistance Organizational Profile Situation in Port-au-Prince Announcement of Delegation on Women's Situation, January 2005 === TAX-CHARITABLE DONATIONS To support humanitarian relief work in Haiti, make check payable to "Rights Action" (writing "Haiti Fund" on the memo-line) and mail to: UNITED STATES: 1830 Connecticut Av, NW, Washington DC, 20009. CANADA: 509 St. Clair Ave W, box73527, Toronto ON, M6C-1C0. DONATE BY INTERNET in the USA: www.rightsaction.org. CFC # 9914. WIRE DONATIONS TO RIGHTS ACTION in the USA and Canada, contact: info at rightsaction.org, 416-654-2074. Thank-you. Grahame Russell, co-director Rights Action === -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Oct 31 22:28:16 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 22:28:16 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] THE ALLAWI TOUR - (SPONSORED BY THE CIA!) by Mumia Abu-Jamal Message-ID: THE ALLAWI TOUR - (SPONSORED BY THE CIA!) ======================================== [Col. Writ. 9/24/04] Copyright 2004 Mumia Abu-Jamal In recent days, the visage of a smiling Iyad Allawi has beamed from the screens of corporate media, to try to put a nice face on the disaster in Iraq. Alternately fawned over, and lauded, as Iraq's "interim" prime minister, Allawi is supposed to be the spokesman of an emergent 'democracy' in Iraq, and by projection, in the entire Middle East. One has to wonder, 'Why this guy?' 'Where does he come from?' The long career of Iyad Allawi is a long and winding road, one which brings him to the attention and the service of the Americans. When he was a student in Britain, he was an informer for the Ba'athist Saddam Hussein regime. Later, he conveniently switched his allegiance to work for MI6, the British intelligence agency. He would subsequently turn his coat to serve the CIA. This opened the door to a lucrative career as a consultant for various UN (United Nations) agencies, from which he would launch the Iraqi National Accord (INA), a group composed primarily of disaffected Ba'athists, who, on the payroll of the Saudi royal house, the CIA, and MI6, would stage a series of terrorist attacks in Iraq during the 1990s. The INA bombed, among other targets, an Iraqi movie theater, killing dozens of people. In 1996, when the CIA backed a failed military coup against the Saddam regime, the presence of the INA was severely reduced in the country. It is not an accident of history that the world's loudest claimants to the so-called 'war against terrorism' would enlist a former terrorist in their crusade to 'remake the Middle East.' Messrs. Bush and [Tony] Blair couldn't give a tinker's damn about terrorism -- this is about *control* of the Middle East, and domination of the oil-rich region, for generations. That's why Iraqis are fighting against the so-called 'interim government!' They know that most of the people on the benches are puppets of foreign, imperial will, who also care nothing about 'democracy', nor 'terrorism.' Every empire that has ever ruled over a foreign people has installed supple puppets to follow their orders, and do their bidding. That is the way of things. For the better part of two generations, we saw this same thing, as the West handsomely supported vile dictators like Mobutu in Zaire, Marcos in the Philippines, the Shah in Iran, and a hundred other various princes, generals, emirs and pashas. Allawi thus joins a rich historical entourage. With the exception of the Kurds, and several Islamic parties, (like al Dawa and the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq [SCIRI]), few of the representatives in the so-called government have a real social base in the country, and have opposed Saddam's regime while he was in power. Most are, like the CIA's former poster boy -- Ahmed Chalabi -- rich men who lived in wealth and comfort abroad for generations. And when Chalabi tried to build a real constituency of support among the majority Shia population, the CIA threw him to the wolves. Allawi, the henchman of the Americans and the British, is being positioned to emerge as the new Iraqi strongman; using American and British imperial might, to bolster his claim to 'democracy.' A war was waged on a lie, to bring forth this lie of an 'Iraqi democracy', where the wealth and future of the nation is mortgaged off to the highest, whitest bidder. This 'democracy' is but the newest form of colonialism. Copyright 2004 Mumia Abu-Jamal -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Oct 31 22:34:49 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 22:34:49 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Ex-Officer Admits to Robberies LAPD Message-ID: KTLA.com >From the Los Angeles Times LOS ANGELES Ex-Officer Admits to Robberies While with the LAPD, Ruben Palomares led a crew of law enforcement cohorts in a crime spree that netted hundreds of thousands of dollars. By Matt Lait and Scott Glover Times Staff Writers October 20, 2004 A former Los Angeles police officer has admitted to federal authorities that he and a group of fellow area law enforcement officers conducted a string of brazen armed robberies across Southern California staged to look like legitimate law enforcement raids. Ruben Palomares, 34, and his cohorts stole hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of drugs, cash, guns and other items over a nearly four-year period beginning in 1998, according to a plea agreement and related documents filed Tuesday. The one-time Rampart Division officer has agreed to plead guilty to a potential life sentence in connection with the crime spree and to cooperate with authorities. The documents provide new details about Palomares' criminal enterprise, which has been the subject of an ongoing federal investigation since he was caught buying 10 kilograms of cocaine from undercover DEA agents three years ago. Palomares and his band wore police uniforms and badges during many of the robberies. They would use LAPD squad cars and unmarked police vehicles during the heists, court documents show. Some of the armed robberies turned brutally violent. At least two men were shot with stun guns during the robberies. Another man was beaten with a police baton, had a gun shoved in his mouth and was burned with a lighter, according to the documents. The crew's crime spree yielded more than 700 pounds of marijuana and 50 kilos of cocaine, which Palomares' crew then sold for profit, the court papers state. In addition, the crew stole cars, money and an assortment of firearms and jewelry. In one particularly bold robbery, crew members identified themselves as cops as they commandeered television sets from the back of semi truck on a street in Montebello, the documents show. According to court papers, Palomares' network of thieves used law enforcement tactics during their robberies. Some crew members were assigned surveillance duties, looking out for police and potential witnesses. Other members - dubbed the "entry team" - would burst into locations. Victims were often handcuffed as the bandits looked for drugs and money. As part of his plea deal, Palomares is required to cooperate with all aspects of the government's ongoing investigation. Palomares has no incentive to lie in his statements to authorities. The only possible way for him to earn a reduction in his life sentence is for prosecutors to determine that he has been truthful and to certify that he has provided "substantial assistance" to the investigation. Even before Palomares agreed to cooperate, investigators had been able to verify many of the group's criminal acts through other means. Palomares and five others were active-duty law enforcement officers at the time, court documents show. Two were members of the LAPD. One of them was fired for unrelated misconduct; the other has since resigned. Two others were Long Beach officers who remain on the force, although they have been assigned desk duties pending the outcome of the federal investigation. The fifth was a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy who now works as a prison guard. He remains on the job with no restrictions at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi. Other members included Palomares' friends and relatives, according to sources familiar with the case. One participant was a professional female boxer. Authorities believe there were about 20 members in all. Palomares' wife, also an LAPD officer, has not been implicated in any direct involvement with the ring but is suspected of knowing about its activities, according to the sources. Assistant U.S. Atty. Thomas P. O'Brien, the lead prosecutor on the case, declined comment. Winston Kevin McKesson, Palomares' lawyer, said the former officer has become a born-again Christian since his arrest and is trying to make amends for his misdeeds. "He's decided to step forward and try to see that justice is done," said McKesson, who also represented Rafael Perez, the LAPD officer who launched the Rampart scandal in 1999. "He's trying to get right with God." Palomares, a former Golden Gloves boxer who sparred with such fighters as Oscar De La Hoya and Shane Mosley, joined the LAPD in 1993. Because of his youthful appearance, he was assigned to a juvenile narcotics unit where he investigated drug use in high schools. He later transferred to the Rampart Division, where he continued to work in narcotics. Allegations of corruption against Palomares first surfaced in 1999 during the Rampart scandal when Perez told detectives that Palomares once intimated that he had been involved in an unjustified shooting and covered it up. "I would look at everything Palomares has done, every arrest that he's made, and scrutinize it very carefully," Perez told investigators. Palomares was never criminally charged in the Rampart scandal. In fact, court documents show, the height of Palomares' criminal activity was during the same time he was under investigation by the LAPD. Palomares' criminal rampage ended June 8, 2001, when he and four other men were arrested in San Diego in a cocaine sting by DEA agents. One of the men arrested that day immediately began cooperating with authorities, alleging that Palomares was the leader of a gang that conducted invasion-style robberies of drug dealers, sometimes dressed as cops. Palomares pleaded guilty to the San Diego drug charges last year and was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison. Since his arrest, a team of FBI agents and LAPD detectives has been attempting to piece together the extent of his criminal activity. The investigation is not limited to off-duty crimes. Investigators have also been looking into a 1999 police shooting by former LAPD Officer William Ferguson, who authorities believe was a member of Palomares' crew. Ferguson's attorney declined comment. Also under investigation is a December 2000 killing in Huntington Park, in which several crew members, including Palomares, allegedly attacked a man after an argument at a restaurant. At his sentencing last year, Palomares said he was remorseful about his life of crime. He said he had started abusing alcohol and pain pills after a shoulder injury forced him go on disability at the LAPD. He started committing robberies, he said, because he desperately needed money to provide for his five young children. "I made the worst mistake of my life," Palomares said at the time. "I turned away from everything I knew to be true and steadfast, a decision I will regret every day for the rest of my life." * (BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX) Crime locations Former LAPD Officer Ruben Palomares has agreed to plead guilty to a string of armed robberies and other crimes committed across Southern California between 1998 and 2001. Below are many of the locations that he and others targeted. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Oct 31 22:39:24 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 22:39:24 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: China Moves 30,000 Troops Message-ID: rense.com China Moves 30,000 Troops To N Korean Border Special to World Tribune.com East Asia Intel.com 10-20-4 China's sudden transfer of more than 30,000 Chinese troops to border areas with North Korea is apparently intended to block a massive influx of North Korean defectors, a Japanese newspaper reported on Oct. 7. The North Korean army has also dispatched elite forces along the border in response to China's deployment, the Sankei Shimbun reported, citing sources informed on Chinese issues. The Japanese government has confirmed military movements along the Sino-North Korean border by using satellite photographs and is monitoring the situation using its intelligence network. The deployment of Chinese troops was so sudden that there were not enough barracks available and soldiers are being quartered in farmhouses. The rapid deployment was ordered because of growing signs in North Korea of an impending mass defection, the newspaper reported. The troop movements followed widespread rumors that North Korean soldiers manning the border would flee the North en masse. Chinese troops were sent to the region ahead of the winter season when North Koreans can easily cross the frozen river into China, the newspaper reported. It quoted sources as saying that China is concerned about the possibility that armed North Korean troops might escape due to food shortage and assault homes and citizens in local cities bordering the North. A diplomatic source in South Korea also said the military movements by China and North Korea seemed aimed at blocking mass defections of North Koreans. The Sanhe-Kaishantun-Nanping region in which the Chinese troops were deployed is near one of main routes through which North Korean escapees can make their way to China, according to the South Korean sources. North Koreans can cross the narrow river with relative ease, especially when it is frozen. The report also raised that possibility the deployment was in response to preparations against a possible civil war in North Korea over who would be the country's next leader. Meanwhile, the South Korea Defense Ministry said China would send about 400,000 troops to fight alongside North Korea should war break out on the Korean peninsula. China rescued North Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War, sending some 1 million troops to fight with North Korea against South Korea and the United States. "There are men - now in power in this country - who do not respect dissent, who cannot cope with turmoil, and who believe that the people of America are ready to support repression as long as it is done with a quiet voice and a business suit." -- Former New York Mayor John V. Lindsay "Terrorism is the war of the poor. War is the terrorism of the rich." -- Leon Uris - Source: Trinity, a Novel of Ireland, 1976 http://216.26.163.62/2004/ea_china_10_12.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: