From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 00:05:48 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 00:05:48 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] (LATimes) Post-Traumatic Stress, The Unseen Wounds Cut Deep Message-ID: <20041115080548.96080.qmail@web13624.mail.yahoo.com> Post-Traumatic Stress, The Unseen Wounds Cut Deep http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/111504Y.shtml ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Check out the new Yahoo! Front Page. www.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 00:45:46 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 00:45:46 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Buy Nothing Day Message-ID: <20041115084546.29155.qmail@web13623.mail.yahoo.com> The following is a forwarded email by me, IBB Okay, there are times when you absolutely have to acquire something in order to get by. Consider alternative sources: -Thrift shops/ secondhand stores -Freecycling. There are multiple freecycling groups on yahoo. Look for one for your city. Here's how it works: members post descriptions of things they don't need, and whichever other member says they're interested in it first can have it. For free. -Farmer's market. -And of course all the obvious things like garage sales, classified ads, etc. -If you fix your own car, use recycled parts. There available at places we used to call junk yards. Okay, we all have to eat. Aside from the aforementioned farmer's market, you can grow stuff. Call it your Freedom Garden! Even if you just have an apartment balcony, you can grow herbs and veggies in pots. When you do buy food, try to get something untainted by your corporate masters. Buy local-or organic-or foreign. The only food I've eaten this week that wasn't from France, Italy or the UK was some vegetarian steaklets. Right. I know. There are times you have to get something new, off the shelf, from some store. But you can still avoid tainting your soul here too, at least to some extent, by watching to whom you give your business. I'm sure everyone already knows to avoid Wal-Mart, the satanic incarnation of corporate fascism. I've found some lists online showing which corporations are big contributors to the Rethuglican party. You can do your own research, but I'll include some of what I found here: Companies whose political contributions went over 80% to Republicans: Outback Steakhouse 98% Wendy's, 91% Pizza Hut Franchisees Assoc. 95% Valero Energy, 85%. Note that Valero Energy is Diamond-Shamrock, Beacon, and Total gas stations. ExxonMobil 88% ChevronTexaco, 83% Marathon Oil 81% Pilot Corporation 100% Safeway, 83% Coors Brewing, 86% (worst of all major brewers) Home Depot, 94% Wal-Mart, 81% Amway, 100% Circuit City, 97% Here's where to spend more money - Big Dem donors (80% or more to Dems): Hard Rock Cafe Costco Bashas Brown & Cole Food Stores Hyatt Corporation (hotels) Random House (book publisher) Chronicle Books E&J Gallo Winery Barnes & Noble Bed, Bath, & Beyond Oil companies - where to fill up? These are the only two. The best of a bad lot. Boycott ALL the others: Shell Oil, 57% to Dems, 43% to pukes Citgo, donations not large enough to appear on the Open Secrets top 20 for its industry, owned by Venezuela's state owned oil company If you smoke: R.J. Reynolds, 91% to pukes. R.J. Reynolds is also on the AFL-CIO boycott list and has been since the 1950s. If you smoke, don't smoke any RJR brands, and let them know why. vs the others: Altria Group 60% to pukes Lorrilard 65% to pukes Swisher, 37% to pukes Liggett Vector Group, 91% to Dems, 9% to pukes (generic cigs, in case you^re wondering) Financial services: Good: 1 Goldman Sachs $4,894,151 56% 43% 11 Lehman Brothers $1,653,943 63% 37% so-so 2 National Assn of Realtors $3,186,139 48% 52% 4 JP Morgan Chase & Co $2,637,868 51% 49% 5 Citigroup Inc $2,354,938 52% 48% 7 Bank of America $2,054,236 49% 51% 13 Credit Suisse First Boston $1,604,619 47% 53% 18 Bear Stearns $1,252,698 48% 51% Bad: 3 Morgan Stanley $2,652,875 40% 60% 6 UBS Americas $2,070,718 40% 58% 8 Credit Union National Assn $1,994,097 42% 58% 9 Deloitte & Touche $1,870,019 28% 72% 10 Merrill Lynch $1,858,031 28% 72% 12 American Bankers Assn $1,630,313 37% 63% 14 PriceWaterhouseCoopers $1,578,205 21% 79% 15 Ernst & Young $1,457,114 33% 66% 16 MBNA Corp $1,413,247 27% 73% 17 AFLAC Inc $1,300,315 37% 63% 19 Wachovia Corp $1,230,976 29% 71% 20 KPMG LLP $1,189,064 29% 71% Good: Microsoft Corp $2,593,532 61% Dem 39% Rep eBay Inc $253,780 56% Dem 44% Rep Hewlett-Packard $297,991 61% Dem 38% Rep Costco Companies $200,303 98% Dem 2% Rep Home Depot CEO Robert Nardelli helped bring in more than $3 million for Mr. Bush at a fund-raiser in Atlanta. Gop friendly credit cards: Citibank, Bank One, and MBNA. Citibank is supposed to have a lot of Saudi money infused in it, too. Mutual of America is NOW^s sole corporate sponsor. More info online at: http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/mojo_400/ and http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.phpaz=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=2587076&mesg_id=2587076 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Check out the new Yahoo! Front Page. www.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 01:03:54 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 01:03:54 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] FALLUJAH DOES NOT ADD UP Message-ID: <20041115090354.78199.qmail@web13606.mail.yahoo.com> BODY { BACKGROUND-POSITION: left top; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 175px; COLOR: #000000; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat-y; FONT-FAMILY: Arial}BODY{border-color: #000000; scrollbar-face-color: #000000; scrollbar-shadow-color: #000000; scrollbar-highlight-color: #006300; scrollbar-3dlight-color: #FFFFFF; scrollbar-darkshadow-color: #006300; scrollbar-track-color: #FF6600; scrollbar-color: #ffffff; scrollbar-base-color: #FFFFFF; scrollbar-arrow-color: #FFFFFF; menubar-face-color: :#ffffff;} http://www.livejournal.com/users/_eric_m_/164395.html Eric M (_eric_m_) wrote,@ 2004-11-14 14:10:00 Right Wing Media ignore civilian casualties Hang on, I'm about to go all mathematic on your ass. Our media is failing us again: FALLUJA, Iraq (CNN) ... Between 1,000 and 2,000 insurgents have been killed in the week-long assault, Marine Lt. Gen. John Sattler said. The American death toll rose to 31, with six Iraqi forces also reported killed. Nearly 300 Americans have been wounded, Sattler said. ... Sattler said the military had about 1,000 people in custody and expected as many as 700 would be released after interrogation. ... It's unclear how many civilians have been killed or wounded in the airstrikes or heavy ground battles that have gripped the city. Military officials said at least 14 civilians were wounded. OK, let's do the math on this: If the number of Americans killed is 31, and the number of Americans wounded is 300, then there were about ten American soldiers wounded for every one killed. If Iraqi "insurgents" show the same killed vs. wounded ratio, and about 1,500 of them have been killed, then we'd expect 15,000 of them to be wounded. If of the 1,000 detainees we can expect 700 of them to be released as innocent civilians, that means our ability to discern an Iraqi "insurgent" from a civilian is only effective about 30% of the time. 70% of the Iraqis we identify as "insurgents" turn out to be innocent civilians, free to go, sorry about that. So, if our ability to discern Iraqi insurgents from ciivilians fails 70% of the time, and 1,500 have been killed and 15,000 wounded, then we just killed somewhere around 1,050 civilians and wounded somewhere around 10,500. To make matters worse, we're forcing Iraqi refugees back into the combat zone, which just happens to be a violation of those same Geneva Conventions that our Abu Graib defending "Justice" Department finds "quaint" and "obsolete." And when we aren't occupying hospitals or bombing them to the ground, we're holding up the Red Crescent's aid convoys so they can't help the civilians. And the best our media can do is parrot the official US military line that "at least 14 civilians" have been injured? I'm calling bullshit on that. When your estimated number of civilians wounded is only slightly higher than the number of "children under ten that have been injured in Fallujah within the last week that I can find a picture of with a 10-second google search," then you've failed. UPDATE: The reason that two-year old boy's left leg happens to be so tastefully cropped out of the picture above? Because what used to be his leg is now just a mangled lump of meat. --------------------------------- --------------------------------- IF YOU CAN READ THIS You're not the president. http://www.democrats.org/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Check out the new Yahoo! Front Page. www.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 10:48:32 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 10:48:32 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Maps and cartograms of the 2004 US presidential election results Message-ID: <20041115184832.1209.qmail@web13601.mail.yahoo.com> Maps and cartograms of the 2004 US presidential election results Michael Gastner, Cosma Shalizi, and Mark Newman University of Michigan http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Check out the new Yahoo! Front Page. www.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 11:08:56 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 11:08:56 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] AP Photographer Flees Fallujah Message-ID: <20041115190856.7965.qmail@web13605.mail.yahoo.com> http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041114/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_escaping_fallujah&cid=540&ncid=1480 AP Photographer Flees Fallujah Sun Nov 14, 1:19 PM ET Middle East - AP By KATARINA KRATOVAC, Associated Press Writer BAGHDAD, Iraq - In the weeks before the crushing military assault on his hometown, Bilal Hussein sent his parents and brother away from Fallujah to stay with relatives. AP Photo The 33-year-old Associated Press photographer stayed behind to capture insider images during the siege of the former insurgent stronghold. "Everyone in Fallujah knew it was coming. I had been taking pictures for days," he said. "I thought I could go on doing it." In the hours and days that followed, heavy bombing raids and thunderous artillery shelling turned Hussein's northern Jolan neighborhood into a zone of rubble and death. The walls of his house were pockmarked by coalition fire. "Destruction was everywhere. I saw people lying dead in the streets, wounded were bleeding and there was no one to come and help them. Even the civilians who stayed in Fallujah were too afraid to go out," he said. "There was no medicine, water, no electricity nor food for days." By Tuesday afternoon, as U.S. forces and Iraqi rebels engaged in fierce clashes in the heart of his neighborhood, Hussein snapped. "U.S. soldiers began to open fire on the houses, so I decided that it was very dangerous to stay in my house," he said. Hussein said he panicked, seizing on a plan to escape across the Euphrates River, which flows on the western side of the city "I wasn't really thinking," he said. "Suddenly, I just had to get out. I didn't think there was any other choice." In the rush, Hussein left behind his camera lens and a satellite telephone for transmitting his images. His lens, marked with the distinctive AP logo, was discovered two days later by U.S. Marines next to a dead man's body in a house in Jolan. AP colleagues in the Baghdad bureau, who by then had not heard from Hussein in 48 hours, became even more worried. Hussein moved from house to house ? dodging gunfire ? and reached the river. "I decided to swim ... but I changed my mind after seeing U.S. helicopters firing on and killing people who tried to cross the river." He watched horrified as a family of five was shot dead as they tried to cross. Then, he "helped bury a man by the river bank, with my own hands." "I kept walking along the river for two hours and I could still see some U.S. snipers ready to shoot anyone who might swim. I quit the idea of crossing the river and walked for about five hours through orchards." He met a peasant family, who gave him refuge in their house for two days. Hussein knew a driver in the region and sent a message to another AP colleague, Ali Ahmed, in nearby Ramadi. Ahmed relayed the news that Hussein was alive to AP's Baghdad bureau. He sent a second message back to Hussein that a fisherman in nearby Habaniyah would ferry the photographer to safety by boat. "At the end of the boat ride, Ali was waiting for me. He took me to Baghdad, to my office." Sitting safely in the AP's offices, a haggard-looking Hussein offered a tired smile of relief. "It was a terrible experience in which I learned that life is precious," he said. "I am happy that I am still alive after being close to death during these past days." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Check out the new Yahoo! Front Page. www.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 11:40:33 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 11:40:33 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Iraq: The Unthinkable Becomes Normal Message-ID: Iraq: The Unthinkable Becomes Normal by John Pilger Edward S. Herman's landmark essay, "The Banality of Evil," has never seemed more apposite. "Doing terrible things in an organised and systematic way rests on 'normalisation'," wrote Herman. "There is usually a division of labour in doing and rationalising the unthinkable, with the direct brutalising and killing done by one set of individuals . . others working on improving technology (a better crematory gas, a longer burning and more adhesive napalm, bomb fragments that penetrate flesh in hard-to-trace patterns). It is the function of the experts, and the mainstream media, to normalise the unthinkable for the general public." On Radio 4's Today (6 November), a BBC reporter in Baghdad referred to the coming attack on the city of Fallujah as "dangerous" and "very dangerous" for the Americans. When asked about civilians, he said, reassuringly, that the US marines were "going about with a Tannoy" telling people to get out. He omitted to say that tens of thousands of people would be left in the city. He mentioned in passing the "most intense bombing" of the city with no suggestion of what that meant for people beneath the bombs. As for the defenders, those Iraqis who resist in a city that heroically defied Saddam Hussein; they were merely "insurgents holed up in the city," as if they were an alien body, a lesser form of life to be "flushed out" (the Guardian): a suitable quarry for "rat-catchers," which is the term another BBC reporter told us the Black Watch use. According to a senior British officer, the Americans view Iraqis as Untermenschen, a term that Hitler used in Mein Kampf to describe Jews, Romanies and Slavs as sub-humans. This is how the Nazi army laid siege to Russian cities, slaughtering combatants and non-combatants alike. Normalising colonial crimes like the attack on Fallujah requires such racism, linking our imagination to "the other." The thrust of the reporting is that the "insurgents" are led by sinister foreigners of the kind that behead people: for example, by Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian said to be al-Qaeda's "top operative" in Iraq. This is what the Americans say; it is also Blair's latest lie to parliament. Count the times it is parroted at a camera, at us. No irony is noted that the foreigners in Iraq are overwhelmingly American and, by all indications, loathed. These indications come from apparently credible polling organisations, one of which estimates that of 2,700 attacks every month by the resistance, six can be credited to the infamous al-Zarqawi. In a letter sent on 14 October to Kofi Annan, the Fallujah Shura Council, which administers the city, said: "In Fallujah, [the Americans] have created a new vague target: al-Zarqawi. Almost a year has elapsed since they created this new pretext and whenever they destroy houses, mosques, restaurants, and kill children and women, they said: 'We have launched a successful operation against al-Zarqawi.' The people of Fallujah assure you that this person, if he exists, is not in Fallujah . . and we have no links to any groups supporting such inhuman behaviour. We appeal to you to urge the UN [to prevent] the new massacre which the Americans and the puppet government are planning to start soon in Fallujah, as well as many parts of the country." Not a word of this was reported in the mainstream media in Britain and America. "What does it take to shock them out of their baffling silence?" asked the playwright Ronan Bennett in April after the US marines, in an act of collective vengeance for the killing of four American mercenaries, killed more than 600 people in Fallujah, a figure that was never denied. Then, as now, they used the ferocious firepower of AC-130 gunships and F-16 fighter-bombers and 500lb bombs against slums. They incinerate children; their snipers boast of killing anyone, as snipers did in Sarajevo. Bennett was referring to the legion of silent Labour backbenchers, with honourable exceptions, and lobotomised junior ministers (remember Chris Mullin?). He might have added those journalists who strain every sinew to protect "our" side, who normalise the unthinkable by not even gesturing at the demonstrable immorality and criminality. Of course, to be shocked by what "we" do is dangerous, because this can lead to a wider understanding of why "we" are there in the first place and of the grief "we" bring not only to Iraq, but to so many parts of the world: that the terrorism of al-Qaeda is puny by comparison with ours. There is nothing illicit about this cover-up; it happens in daylight. The most striking recent example followed the announcement, on 29 October, by the prestigious scientific journal, the Lancet, of a study estimating that 100,000 Iraqis had died as a result of the Anglo-American invasion. Eighty-four per cent of the deaths were caused by the actions of the Americans and the British, and 95 per cent of these were killed by air attacks and artillery fire, most of whom were women and children. The editors of the excellent MediaLens observed the rush - no, stampede - to smother this shocking news with "scepticism" and silence. They reported that, by 2 November, the Lancet report had been ignored by the Observer, the Telegraph, the Sunday Telegraph, the Financial Times, the Star, the Sun and many others. The BBC framed the report in terms of the government's "doubts" and Channel 4 News delivered a hatchet job, based on a Downing Street briefing. With one exception, none of the scientists who compiled this rigorously peer-reviewed report was asked to substantiate their work until ten days later when the pro-war Observer published an interview with the editor of the Lancet, slanted so that it appeared he was "answering his critics." David Edwards, a MediaLens editor, asked the researchers to respond to the media criticism; their meticulous demolition can be viewed on the alert for 2 November. None of this was published in the mainstream. Thus, the unthinkable that "we" had engaged in such a slaughter was suppressed - normalised. It is reminiscent of the suppression of the death of more than a million Iraqis, including half a million infants under five, as a result of the Anglo-American-driven embargo. In contrast, there is no media questioning of the methodology of the Iraqi Special Tribune, which has announced that mass graves contain 300,000 victims of Saddam Hussein. The Special Tribune, a product of the quisling regime in Baghdad, is run by the Americans; respected scientists want nothing to do with it. There is no questioning of what the BBC calls "Iraq's first democratic elections." There is no reporting of how the Americans have assumed control over the electoral process with two decrees passed in June that allow an "electoral commission" in effect to eliminate parties Washington does not like. Time magazine reports that the CIA is buying its preferred candidates, which is how the agency has fixed elections over the world. When or if the elections take place, we will be doused in clich?s about the nobility of voting, as America's puppets are "democratically" chosen. The model for this was the "coverage" of the American presidential election, a blizzard of platitudes normalising the unthinkable: that what happened on 2 November was not democracy in action. With one exception, no one in the flock of pundits flown from London described the circus of Bush and Kerry as the contrivance of fewer than 1 per cent of the population, the ultra-rich and powerful who control and manage a permanent war economy. That the losers were not only the Democrats, but the vast majority of Americans, regardless of whom they voted for, was unmentionable. No one reported that John Kerry, by contrasting the "war on terror" with Bush's disastrous attack on Iraq, merely exploited public distrust of the invasion to build support for American dominance throughout the world. "I'm not talking about leaving [Iraq]," said Kerry. "I'm talking about winning!" In this way, both he and Bush shifted the agenda even further to the right, so that millions of anti-war Democrats might be persuaded that the US has "the responsibility to finish the job" lest there be "chaos." The issue in the presidential campaign was neither Bush nor Kerry, but a war economy aimed at conquest abroad and economic division at home. The silence on this was comprehensive, both in America and here. Bush won by invoking, more skillfully than Kerry, the fear of an ill-defined threat. How was he able to normalise this paranoia? Let's look at the recent past. Following the end of the cold war, the American elite - Republican and Democrat - were having great difficulty convincing the public that the billions of dollars spent on the war economy should not be diverted to a "peace dividend." A majority of Americans refused to believe that there was still a "threat" as potent as the red menace. This did not prevent Bill Clinton sending to Congress the biggest "defence" bill in history in support of a Pentagon strategy called "full-spectrum dominance." On 11 September 2001, the threat was given a name: Islam. Flying into Philadelphia recently, I spotted the Kean congressional report on 11 September from the 9/11 Commission on sale at the bookstalls. "How many do you sell?" I asked. "One or two," was the reply. "It'll disappear soon." Yet, this modest, blue-covered book is a revelation. Like the Butler report in the UK, which detailed all the incriminating evidence of Blair's massaging of intelligence before the invasion of Iraq, then pulled its punches and concluded nobody was responsible, so the Kean report makes excruciatingly clear what really happened, then fails to draw the conclusions that stare it in the face. It is a supreme act of normalising the unthinkable. This is not surprising, as the conclusions are volcanic. The most important evidence to the 9/11 Commission came from General Ralph Eberhart, commander of the North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad). "Air force jet fighters could have intercepted hijacked airliners roaring towards the World Trade Center and Pentagon," he said, "if only air traffic controllers had asked for help 13 minutes sooner . . We would have been able to shoot down all three . . . all four of them." Why did this not happen? The Kean report makes clear that "the defence of US aerospace on 9/11 was not conducted in accord with pre-existing training and protocols . . If a hijack was confirmed, procedures called for the hijack coordinator on duty to contact the Pentagon's National Military Command Center (NMCC) . . . The NMCC would then seek approval from the office of the Secretary of Defence to provide military assistance . . . " Uniquely, this did not happen. The commission was told by the deputy administrator of the Federal Aviation Authority that there was no reason the procedure was not operating that morning. "For my 30 years of experience . . ." said Monte Belger, "the NMCC was on the net and hearing everything real-time . . . I can tell you I've lived through dozens of hijackings . . . and they were always listening in with everybody else." But on this occasion, they were not. The Kean report says the NMCC was never informed. Why? Again, uniquely, all lines of communication failed, the commission was told, to America's top military brass. Donald Rumsfeld, secretary of defence, could not be found; and when he finally spoke to Bush an hour and a half later, it was, says the Kean report, "a brief call in which the subject of shoot-down authority was not discussed." As a result, Norad's commanders were "left in the dark about what their mission was." The report reveals that the only part of a previously fail-safe command system that worked was in the White House where Vice-President Cheney was in effective control that day, and in close touch with the NMCC. Why did he do nothing about the first two hijacked planes? Why was the NMCC, the vital link, silent for the first time in its existence? Kean ostentatiously refuses to address this. Of course, it could be due to the most extraordinary combination of coincidences. Or it could not. In July 2001, a top secret briefing paper prepared for Bush read: "We [the CIA and FBI] believe that OBL [Osama Bin Laden] will launch a significant terrorist attack against US and/or Israeli interests in the coming weeks. The attack will be spectacular and designed to inflict mass casualties against US facilities or interests. Attack preparations have been made. Attack will occur with little or no warning." On the afternoon of 11 September, Donald Rumsfeld, having failed to act against those who had just attacked the United States, told his aides to set in motion an attack on Iraq - when the evidence was non-existent. Eighteen months later, the invasion of Iraq, unprovoked and based on lies now documented, took place. This epic crime is the greatest political scandal of our time, the latest chapter in the long 20th-century history of the west's conquests of other lands and their resources. If we allow it to be normalised, if we refuse to question and probe the hidden agendas and unaccountable secret power structures at the heart of "democratic" governments and if we allow the people of Fallujah to be crushed in our name, we surrender both democracy and humanity. November 12, 2004 John Pilger was born and educated in Sydney, Australia. He has been a war correspondent, filmmaker and playwright. Based in London, he has written from many countries and has twice won British journalism's highest award, that of "Journalist of the Year," for his work in Vietnam and Cambodia. His new book, Tell Me No Lies: Investigative Journalism and Its Triumphs, is published by Jonathan Cape next month. This article was first published in the New Statesman. ? John Pilger 2004 Also read: Resist The U.S. Invasion of Iraq! By Steve Argue http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Liberation_News/message/182 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 11:46:06 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 11:46:06 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] BREAK THE CHAINS HOSTS WORLD AIDS DAY BENEFIT Message-ID: "Although we languish in prison, and we may be caught up in our individual cases, in our hearts we know there is something more we can and should be doing in the service of oppressed peoples. There is one principle edict we should never negate, which is that our struggle and movement is based on 'from the masses to the masses'." - Political prisoner, former Black Panther and co-founder of the Jericho Movement, Jalil A. Muntaquim. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 9, 2004 CONTACT: Brendan Avakian, #541-343-7828 BREAK THE CHAINS HOSTS WORLD AIDS DAY BENEFIT In recognition of World AIDS Day, on Friday, December 3rd, at 7pm, there will be a music benefit held at Sam Bond's Garage on 4th & Blair. Organized by Break The Chains, in collaboration with HIV Alliance, U of O Multicultural Center, Survival Center, African Student Association, and KWVA, the benefit will raise money for the US Political Prisoners School Supplies Drive for AIDS Orphans in Africa, as well as the HIV Alliance "Blanket Project". This benefit aims to raise awareness and provide assistance on a global and local level. Supported by Political Prisoners across the United States, the Jericho Movement is collecting donations to purchase school supplies that will be inscribed "Compliments of Political Prisoners in the United States of America". These supplies will be shipped to selected sites in sub-Saharan Africa for distribution to school children who have lost their parents to the AIDS epidemic that is sweeping across that continent. The Eugene-based HIV Alliance has created a "Blanket Project". Participants in this project will be making blankets for the forty-seven children affected by HIV and AIDS who are part of their Client Services Program. This event will feature speakers from Break The Chains and HIV Alliance, musical performances by local groups Los Mex Pistols Del Norte (punk/mariachi), Happy Bastards (punk), The Shudders (rock), and The Phormula (hip-hop). We are asking for a $5 minimum donation to attend. Break The Chains PO Box 12122 Eugene, OR 97440 541-343-7828 btcpeeps at yahoo.com http://www.breakthechains.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 11:48:58 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 11:48:58 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Jailed Palestinian said to be planning to seek presidency Message-ID: As promised. The one person whom many people think is the best hope for peace between Israel and Palestine... ========== Jailed Palestinian said to be planning to seek presidency Sunday, November 14, 2004 - Page updated at 12:00 A.M. By Ravi Nessman The Associated Press (IMAGE) EITAN HESS-ASHKENAZI / AP Marwan Barghouti raises his handcuffed arms as he enters court during his murder trial in 2002 in Tel Aviv. FROM: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002090519_arafat14.html RAMALLAH, West Bank - Marwan Barghouti, a leader of the Palestinian uprising jailed by Israel but perhaps the strongest candidate to oust Yasser Arafat's old guard of politicians, plans to run in upcoming presidential elections, a person close to Barghouti said yesterday. The candidacy of Barghouti, who supports violence but says he wants peace with Israel, could shake up the calcified world of Palestinian politics. By law, elections are to be held by Jan. 9, or within 60 days of Arafat's death on Thursday. Many believe the popular Barghouti, 45, is the only leader capable of unifying squabbling Palestinian factions, reining in militants and possibly restarting peace efforts with Israel. Israel, however, is determined not to free Barghouti, who is serving multiple life terms for his role in the killings of four Israelis and a Greek monk. Barghouti also could represent the best hope for Arafat's Fatah movement to beat down a challenge by the increasingly popular hardline Islamic militant group Hamas, which is considering running a candidate. "When he takes that decision [to run], we will be near him and we will support him," said Ahmed Ghneim, a senior Fatah leader and another member of the movement's younger guard. "I think he has the best chances of anybody in the movement to win the elections." Barghouti's wife, Fadwa, said she was unaware of her husband's plans. But his brother Hisham said: "His people around him, from the Fatah and Tanzim [Fatah rank-and-file], want him, and if they want him, he is looking to be president." Arafat's death raised speculation Israel might release Barghouti as a goodwill gesture, but Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom ruled that out. "He will remain in prison for the rest of his life, because he's a murderer, because he's responsible for the killing of so many" innocent people, Shalom said Thursday. Barghouti intends to run regardless and will quit the race only if Fatah holds primaries and he loses, the person close to Barghouti said on condition of anonymity. Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat said the Fatah candidate will likely be chosen by the movement's small central committee and not in a primary. The committee would likely nominate Mahmoud Abbas, 69, an old-guard politician who has taken over Arafat's role as head of the Palestine Liberation Organization. It is far from certain, though, whether Abbas could defeat a Hamas candidate. Many Palestinians see Abbas' generation of politicians, many of whom spent decades in exile, as a corrupt clique with little connection to the Palestinian masses. Younger leaders who cut their teeth during the first Palestinian uprising in the 1980s and early 1990s have more grass-roots support but have largely been frozen out of top positions in Fatah, the PLO and the Palestinian Cabinet. Barghouti, a former West Bank leader of Fatah, has firm street credentials. He spent six years in Israeli jails before being deported in 1987 and was one of the first exiles to return seven years later after interim peace deals with Israel were signed. He once had close ties to Israeli peace activists and speaks fluent Hebrew that he learned in prison. But after the outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian fighting four years ago, he said force - including shooting attacks on Israelis - was justified to end Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Regardless, he still says he supports peace. Barghouti was considering running along with a vice president - a position that currently does not exist - who would handle the daily administration of the Palestinian Authority while he remains in prison, the person close to Barghouti said. Pressure on Israel to release Barghouti would become intense if he wins. "If the Palestinians are going to make this work against the really hard-line elements, the Islamists and some of the people of Hamas, they're going to have to have a coalition of the young guard and the old guard," former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker told CNN. "It would be really a very positive step in the right direction if Israel would release Marwan Barghouti so that he could participate in bringing about this transition." Copyright ? 2004 The Seattle Times Company -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 11:44:03 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 11:44:03 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Eyewitness from Fallujah Massacre Message-ID: EYEWITNESS: SMOKE AND CORPSES IN FALLUJAH BBC NEWS US troops, backed by Iraqi forces, are locked in a fierce fight to wrest the city of Falluja from rebel control. The BBC News website spoke by phone to Fadhil Badrani, an Iraqi journalist and resident of Falluja who reports regularly for Reuters and the BBC World Service in Arabic. We are publishing his and other eyewitness accounts from the city in order to provide the fullest possible range of perspectives from those who are there: A row of palm trees used to run along the street outside my house - now only the trunks are left. The upper half of each tree has vanished, blown away by mortar fire. >From my window, I can also make out that the minarets of several mosques have been toppled. There are more and more dead bodies on the streets and the stench is unbearable. Smoke is everywhere. Sleeping through bombardment A house some doors from mine was hit during the bombardment on Wednesday night. A 13-year-old boy was killed. His name was Ghazi. I tried to flee the city last night but I could not get very far. It was too dangerous. I am getting used to the bombardment. I have learnt to sleep through the noise - the smaller bombs no longer bother me. Without water and electricity, we feel completely cut off from everyone else. I only found out Yasser Arafat had died because the BBC rang me. It is hard to know how much people outside Falluja are aware of what is going on here. I want them to know about conditions inside this city - there are dead women and children lying on the streets. People are getting weaker from hunger. Many are dying from their injuries because there is no medical help left in the city whatsoever. Some families have started burying their dead in their gardens. Iraqi soldiers There has been a lot of resistance in Jolan. The Americans have taken over several high-rise buildings overlooking the district. But the height has not helped them control the area because the streets of Jolan are very narrow and you cannot fire into them directly. The US military moves along the main roads and avoids the side-streets. The soldiers do not leave their armoured vehicles and tanks. If they get fired on, they fire back from their tanks or call in air-strikes. I saw some Iraqi government soldiers on the ground earlier. I don't know which part of the country these soldiers are from. They are definitely not from any of the western provinces such as al-Anbar. I have heard people say they are from Kurdistan. They are well co-ordinated. When the US forces pull back from an area, the Iraqi soldiers will take over there. Translation from Arabic by Shukri Shewayish of bbcarabic.com Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/4004873.stm Published: 2004/11/11 22:21:15 GMT ? BBC MMIV =============================================================================== Mission Defeated: Insurgency Foils U.S. Plans for Iraq By Patrick Ayers "Justice," Issue #41 "The Americans say that Saddam is the man of mass graves, but they are the ones responsible for these mass graves." - Iraqi tribal leader On the campaign trail, Bush presented a picture of an Iraq in transition from dictatorship to democracy. The President told a crowd in Minnesota, "It wasn't all that long ago that Saddam Hussein was in power with his torture chambers and mass graves. And today, this country is headed towards elections." But a growing section of Iraqis see the role of the U.S. military occupation of Iraq much differently than Bush. While helping bury Iraqis outside Fallujah after a U.S. aerial assault, one tribal leader told an American reporter, ''They [the Americans] say that Saddam is the man of mass graves, but they are the ones responsible for these mass graves." (Boston Globe, 9/18/04) Months of occupation have stoked up enormous anger among Iraqis. In addition to the brutal and humiliating nature of a foreign occupation, unemployment stands at 60%. Crime is rampant. Women face the threat of kidnapping and rape every time they leave home. Raw sewage flows through the streets of Baghdad, and preventable diseases are spreading in epidemic proportions. Intelligence reports suggest that more and more Iraqis are joining the ranks of the insurgency. One recent report put the number of full-time insurgent forces as high as 20,000, much higher than all previous estimates. The insurgency has already demonstrated sufficient strength to force the U.S. out of major areas in the "Sunni triangle" north and west of Baghdad and large areas of the Shi'a south. In the last months, the insurgency has spread to every corner of Iraq outside of the Kurdish north, and insurgents have even managed attacks in the heavily guarded Green Zone. George Bush's Vietnam George Bush is losing his war. His insane adventure to grab Iraqi oil fields and boost the power and prestige of U.S. imperialism has created a catastrophe that is spinning out of control. Attacks have increased to 87 per day, up from 40-50 per day in June. Nearly 1,100 U.S. soldiers have been killed, and a new report from public health experts estimates that more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians have been slaughtered since the March 2003 invasion.(Lancet Journal, 10/28/04) While playing down this disaster, Bush has gambled on a strategy of "Iraqification," that is, giving the U.S. occupation an Iraqi face in the form of former exile Ayad Allawi. But the authority of Interim Prime Minister Allawi's government extends little beyond the city limits of Baghdad. The U.S. has even found it difficult to ensure the security of the Iraqi National Guard. A recent massacre of 50 Iraqi soldiers suggests that insurgents have successfully infiltrated the guard. Many Iraqis sign up just for the paycheck, and at critical moments many have switched sides, joining the resistance to the U.S. The insurgency may be outmatched by the awesome power of the U.S. military, but the U.S. will not be able to secure Iraq in the face of a widespread guerrilla war or national uprising. The New York Times recently expressed doubts about this: "History, from Algeria to Vietnam, suggests that no military solution to a spreading insurgency is possible" (9/26/04) Without security, Bush's stated aim of a democratic Iraq and U.S. imperialism's strategic goal of a pro-U.S. outpost in Iraq is in jeopardy. Clearly, the U.S. has lost this war if only because of the tremendous political problem posed by a widespread insurgency. Support in Iraq for the U.S. occupation barely exists, and the crisis has shaken U.S. society and the world. UN General Secretary Kofi Annan, for example, has recently expressed sharp criticisms of the U.S. occupation, labeling it "illegal." An increasingly large section of the U.S. ruling class is concluding that Iraq is a lost cause. But, it will not be easy for U.S. imperialism to escape from this bloody mess without doing severe damage to its prestige. Pulling out is unacceptable to the ruling class at this stage. But continuing the occupation could prepare the way for a much more humiliating defeat. Either way, the U.S. will not achieve its aim of forming a stable pro-U.S. regime on Iraqi soil. Elections? President Bush has tried to deflect criticisms of the crisis by insisting that the occupation is preparing the way for democracy. But this war has never had anything to do with democracy. The interim government was handpicked by the U.S. Ayad Allawi's regime is not resting on any firm social roots among the Iraq population. His real base of power is the 160,000 foreign troops who are loathed by the Iraqis he claims to represent. The problems with organizing credible elections are rooted deep in the imperialist character of the occupation, and grave doubts exist as to whether elections can be pulled off in the face of the growing insurgency. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld recently told Congress that an election might only be possible in "three quarters or four fifths of Iraq." Elections of this sort will be fundamentally undemocratic. The Association of Muslim Scholars, representing over 3,000 Sunni mosques, called for Iraqis to boycott the elections. Partial or boycotted elections will be seen as illegitimate and exacerbate the conflict. On the other hand, if elections are delayed or do not proceed all together, Bush risks alienating Grand Ayatolla al Sistani, the most powerful Shi'a cleric. Sistani has been cooperative with the U.S. administration and has acted as a counterweight to radical Shi'a cleric Muktada al Sadr. Sistani has resisted a plan endorsed by other interim government parties to put together a single consolidated list of candidates on the ballot. Shi'a Muslims make up over 60% of the population in Iraq, and Sistani has openly warned he will boycott the elections if the Shi'a majority is underrepresented. Gunning for Fallujah Desperate to pull off elections on schedule by January, the U.S. is undertaking a major military offensive to retake a number of areas currently under rebel control. The focus of the U.S. offensive is Fallujah in Anbar province, where the insurgency is the strongest and best organized. In October, the U.S. military recaptured Samara from the insurgent forces, a dress rehearsal for the attack on Fallujah. But the operation in Samara, which pitted 3,000 U.S. and 2,000 Iraqi National Guard troops against 500 estimated insurgents, pales in comparison to the bloodbath the U.S. prepared for Fallujah, where there are a reported 2,000 to 2,500 insurgents. U.S. Army and Marine units, backed by C-130 gunships, launched an all-out assault on Fallujah in November, forcing 75% of the residents of the city to flee for their lives. The U.S. pretext for the assault is their claim that al Qaeda operative Abu Musab al Zarqawi is using Fallujah as a staging ground for attacks on occupation forces and civilians. Socialists certainly do not support the terrorism of Zarqawi's group, but we do support the right of ordinary Iraqis to resist the nightmare of U.S. terror. There is no doubt that the death and destruction rained down on Fallujah will reinvigorate the insurgency and could possibly lead to a full-scale Sunni rebellion. And while al Sadr's militia seems to be stepping down for the moment, there is no reason to believe that a Shi'a insurgency could not resume at a moment's notice if provoked by a U.S. offensive. The next few months could see a major escalation of violence. Bring the Troops Home Now! U.S. imperialism is not waging this war for the sake of ordinary working-class Americans, and certainly not for the sake of ordinary Iraqis. A continued occupation will only lead to the death and maiming of more Iraqis and more working-class American soldiers. Meanwhile, billions are being spent every month on the war, while education and social services are cut and jobs are being lost here at home. The war in Iraq is intimately linked to the war on working people in the U.S. This is precisely why the working class needs to be at the forefront of building a truly mass movement that can stop the war and bring the troops home. -------------- 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 Mon Nov 15 11:50:01 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 11:50:01 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Abbas Escapes Gunfire, Palestinians to Vote Jan. 9 Message-ID: Legally, they have to hold an election 60 days after Arafat's death. What's interesting is one of the potential candidates and some say is the best hope for peace between Israel and Palestine is now in a Israel Prison for murder. I'll find the article I read about that and send it in my next post. By the way, the very last sentence in this article pretty well explains one of the biggest divides between the two cultures. =========== Abbas Escapes Gunfire, Palestinians to Vote Jan. 9 Sun Nov 14, 1:43 PM ET Top Stories - Reuters By Nidal al-Mughrabi FROM: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&ncid=716&e=13&u=/nm/20041114/ts_nm/mideast_dc GAZA (Reuters) - Yasser Arafat's interim successor escaped injury in a Gaza gunfight triggered by hostile militants on Sunday as Palestinian officials set Jan. 9 for elections to replace the late president and avert a feared power vacuum. The clash at a mourning tent set up for Arafat was the latest sign of factional anarchy challenging would-be moderate heirs to Arafat who are favored by Washington as potential peacemakers with Israel but lack a popular power base. The incident began after gunmen from Arafat's splintered Fatah movement shouting "No to Abu Mazen" -- Abbas's nickname -- marched by him as he stood outside the tent, paused and began firing shots into the air. The gunmen's rifles were pointed upwards, not at Abbas and Palestinian officials said it was not an assassination attempt. Members of Arafat's presidential guard hustled Abbas, 69, into the tent and threw him to the ground for his safety as the militants burst in. Chaos ensued as gunmen and bodyguards began shooting at each other. In the end, two bodyguards lay dead and four other Palestinians were wounded, medics said. As gunfire blazed about him, Abbas was hustled to safety in his local office. The gunmen withdrew and no one was arrested. "We were paying condolences. Emotions were high. There was random gunfire and pushing in the crowd," a calm-looking Abbas told reporters at his office afterward. "There was chaos and there was previous chaos (in Gaza), and perhaps that was one of the reasons leading to today's events." Abbas is disliked by militants because he advocates a negotiated peace with Israel and has condemned suicide bombings and other violence in a 4-year-old Palestinian uprising. He has been chosen chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the highest Palestinian decision-making body, and is tipped as the presidential candidate of Fatah. DREADED POWER VACUUM Arafat's death on Thursday at 75 left power in the uncertain hands of veteran deputies lacking the vast popular stature that the charismatic founder of Palestinian nationalism long enjoyed. Elections to be held within the 60 days set by law will be crucial to creating a democratic leadership with a mandate to start reforms, tackle lawlessness and launch talks with Israel. "There will be free and direct elections to elect the president of the Palestinian National Authority on Jan. 9, 2005," interim president Rawhi Fattouh told reporters. Palestinian leadership changes and President Bush's re-election have revived hope for talks although Israel's rightist government is sticking to a unilateral plan to quit occupied Gaza while sealing its grip on much of the West Bank. During his first term, Bush took Israel's lead in boycotting ex-guerrilla leader Arafat as an alleged obstacle to peace and drew global criticism that it was neglecting Middle East diplomacy and leaving a void filled with violence. U.S. officials signaled readiness at the weekend to kickstart Middle East negotiations frozen since 2000. Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom left on Saturday for the United States, where he and Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) were expected to discuss the new situation in the region. Powell said on Saturday he hoped to meet Palestinian leaders "in the very near future" in a fresh thrust for peace. A U.S. official said that could happen at a Nov. 22-23 conference in Egypt or at some other time in the Palestinian territories. But Palestinian officials warned that elections might not be feasible unless Israel pulled back forces in the West Bank and allowed voting in Arab east Jerusalem. Powell said Israel should permit free movement in the West Bank to enable smooth voting for Arafat's successor. But Israel rules out unblocking Palestinian cities unless militants cease attacks. They swore no respite to violence after Arafat died. But political sources close to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he would likely relent on Palestinian voting in east Jerusalem if pushed by Washington. Palestinians there voted in presidential and legislative elections in 1996. Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital of the state they seek in all of the West Bank and Gaza. Israel regards east Jerusalem, which it annexed after the 1967 Middle East war, as part of its indivisible eternal capital. (additional reporting by Cynthia Johnston and Wafa Amr) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 11:54:07 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 11:54:07 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: HAITI: Challenging Canada's complicit role in Haiti's repression and exploitation Message-ID: Sunday, November 14, 2004 HAITI: Letter from (The Association Vwa Zanset - vwazanset at mail.com) Canadian-Haitians to Paul Martin, Prime Minister of Canada, scheduled to visit Haiti today. Please send your own letters of concern to the Canadian officials listed below. If you want on-off this elist: info at rightsaction.org *** Montreal, November 11, 2004 Honorable Mr. Paul Martin, Prime Minister of Canada 24 Sussex Drive, OTTAWA Dear Sir: The rather silent, if not silenced, majority of taxpayers of Haitian origin were nothing less than befuddled and outraged to come to the realization that Canada, the country perceived as peace-loving and generous, is now party to Haiti's young and hard-earned fragile democracy's demise with President Aristide's forcible removal from power on February 29, 2004, in favor of an illegal, a non-elected regime, whose only allegiance is to foreign interests and to the oligarchs and the rich. The de facto government is not only contemptuous of the poor, who represent 95 percent of our nation, but also is now involved in political witch-hunts and assassinations. Ever since the coup thousands of people from among the underprivileged had been killed and dumped in mass graves at Titanyen. Strangely enough the same press and your government that were so vocal against the legitimate government are now silent. To mask their participation in crimes against our people they coined the word "chimere" to tag the people, whom their prot?g?, Gerard Latortue, intends to kill in order to impose the dictatorship the US and France are trying to implant in Haiti. This is the mess in which your government got involved and which you will be condoning by engaging in any personal contact with the bandits and criminals that are now leading our country. We are certain you must have been kept in the dark about what is actually at stake in Haiti for the very Liberal government we, Haitians, used to support so massively, to be lending credence to our malefactors. Since we wish to give you the benefit of the doubt, we suggest that you find out about the thousands of young Haitians being driven into hiding, being incarcerated or being killed. If, Sir, your contacts are not confined to the government, the privileged, the foreigners and the international organizations, if you succeed in paying attention to what the Haitian people has to say you will have to come back with a real sense of disillusionment and remorse for the amplitude of the crime being perpetrated against our national pride, against our poor, and against our Heritage. To have a sense of the situation, please find, herewith, pertinent documents, now available to the people of the world and which should be useful to any bona fide world leader involved in the Haitian problem. Mr. Martin, travel to Haiti as you undoubtedly will, but may each step you take there give you a clearer picture of the Haitian tragedy in progress, and which is leading straight to a genocide With our best regards, Vwa Zanset vwazanset at mail.com === PLEASE SEND NOTES OF CONCERN TO: Paul Martin: pmartin at fin.qc.ca/ pm at pm.qc.ca. Pierre Pettigrew, Ministre des Affaires ?trang?res, ?difice Lester B Pearson Tour A, 10e ?tage, 125 Promenade Sussex, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G2, or 2348 Jean-Talon Est, Pi?ce 200, Montr?al, Qu?bec.H2E 1V7. pierre at pierrepettigrew.ca/ pettip at parl.qc.ca/ Pettigrew.P at parl.gc.ca/ pettigrew.p at parl.qc.ca/. Jacques Saada: jsaada.mp at videotron.ca/ saadaj at parl.qc.ca. Irwin Cotler: cotlei1 at parl.gc.ca. John Graham: grahab at teammartin.ca/ grahab8 at parl.gc.ca. Stephen Harper, chef de l'opposition officielle, Chambre des Communes, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A OA6. info at oneconservativevoice.com/ harper.s at parl.gc.ca. Stockwell Day, Affaires ?trang?res: days1 at parl.qc.ca/ Day.S at parl.qc.ca/ days at parl.qc.ca. John Reynolds, leader de l'opposition ? la Chambre des Communes: kathieangelo at shaw.ca/ Reynolds.J at parl.qc.ca/ Ted Menzies, coop?ration internationale: menziest at tetus.net/ Menzies.T at parl.qc.ca. Chuck Strahl, leader adjoint de l'opposition ? la Chambre des Communes: mp at chuckstrahl.com/ Strahl.C at parl.gc.ca. Jos?e Verner, Agence de d?veloppement ?conomique du Canada pour les r?gions du Qu?bec, la Francophonie: vernej at parl.qc.ca / VerneJ at parl.qc.ca. Gilles Duceppe, Chef du BQ: ducepg1 at parl.qc.ca/ Duceppe.G at parl.gc.ca/ ducepg at parl.qc.ca. Francine Lalonde, Affaires ?trang?res et pr?sidente du caucus des Affaires ?trang?res: lalonf at parl.qc.ca/ Lalonde.F at parl.qc.ca. Odina Desrochers, Am?rique latine et Afrique: desroo at parl.qc.ca/ desroo at parl.qc.ca/ Desrochers.O at parl.qc.ca/ desroo1 at parl.qc.ca/ Diane Bourgeois, Coop?ration internationale: bourgd1 at parl.qc.ca/ D.Bourgeois at parl.qc.ca/ bourgd at parl.qc.ca/ Guy Andr?, Francophonie internationale: andreg1 at parl.qc.ca/ Andre_G at parl.qc.ca/ NPD-Qu?bec: info at npd.qc.ca/ Jack Layton, Chef du Npd: jack at fed.npd.ca/ Jack Layton, chef du NPD, Chambre des Communes, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A OA6, layton.j at parl.gc.ca/ 279 Laurier West suite 300, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5J9. Bill Blaikie, Chef-adjoint du NPD: Blaikie.B at parl.qc.ca/ blaikbl at parl.qc.ca/ Alexa McDonough, Affaires ?trang?res: mcdonough.a at parl.qc.ca/ McDonough.A at parl.qc.ca/ alexa at hfx.eastlink.ca/ === Amnesty International ?Haiti: Illegal and arbitrary arrests continue -- Human rights hampered amid political violence? www.web.amnesty.org/library/index/engamr360562004 Journal Haiti-Progr?s, vol 22 no 30, ?Anniversaire du coup d'Etat du 30 septembre 1991 Encore la r?pression!? http://www.haitiprogres.com/actu10-06.html Journal Haiti-Progr?s, vol 22 no.31, du 13 au 19 octobre 2004 ?Les arrestations contre les dirigeants de Fanmi Lavalas? Arrestations La l?galit? suivant le ?juge? Boniface-Alexandre. www.haiti-progr?s.com Journal Haiti-progr?s, vol. 23 No. 30, du 27 octobre au 3 novembre 2004 ?un enfant sauvagement massacr? par les policiers. www.haitiprogres.com/bottom10-27.html Journal Haiti-progr?s vol 22 no 34 du 3 au 9 novembre 2004 ?Massacre dans les quartiers populaires: poursuite de l'op?ration phoenix. Znet ?Media Disinformation on Haiti? by Antony Fenton, October 25th 2004, www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=55&ItemID=6492 Znet ?Tearing up the UN Charter: The UN's erosion continues in Haiti" by Kevin Pina, October 20th 2004. www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=55&ItemID=6456 Human right violation in Haiti by Antony Fenton, www.dissidentvoice.org/July2004/Fenton0727.htm#n1 === COMMENTARY by Rights Action: * Haiti's situation of repression and poverty - already precarious - has spiraled worse since the western-backed February 2004 coup. * Canada played a complicit role - along with the USA and France - in supporting and legitimizing the February 2004 coup that overthrew the elected government of Haiti. Canada's mainstream media provided biased coverage, that served to legitimize the incoming regime. * The United Nations has played a complicit role that legitimizes the February 2004 coup and legitimizes the present State repression and brutality. * In this context, it is a dire situation for Haiti's community-development and human rights leaders, political opposition, and - in general - the poor majority population that largely supports the deposed President Aristide. * Pressure is needed on the governments of the USA, France and Canada as well as the political leadership of the United Nations. These governments and institution, so much part of the problems in Haiti, must be pressured to act to restore the rule of law and functioning democracy in Haiti. === TAX-CHARITABLE DONATIONS To support humanitarian relief and community rebuilding 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 Canada and 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. T: 416-654-2074 / info at rightsaction.org / www.rightsaction.org === -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 11:59:16 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 11:59:16 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: banarchy Message-ID: 's http://www.groups.msn.com/banarchyclubOk... we have made several changes to this site, and added several new pages and pictures, like the "Quote of the Day," page, and several news pics on the anti-bush & anti-usa page, we've added tons of bands, and made a funny pics page, IF U HAVE A FUNNY PIC, PUT IT ON THE FUNNY PICS ALBUM AND WE'LL PUT IT ON THE PAGE, we update the news pages(when we feel like it) and informed you ppl of what might happen, and new releases of new albums. Please, if you know anyone that hates america and hates bush, tell them to join this site. Help us stay active. Banarchy is an anti-government cause of pux who fight for liberty and freedom. Its our way of doing everything possible to abolish the government, without going crazy and burning shit! Anarchy is too extreme, and it is often looked down on as terrorism, which is why the punk cause is failing. But, join banarchy, and we will do everything constitutional to take down the government, and not get arrested!!!!! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 12:05:23 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 12:05:23 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: I Am Fallujah Message-ID: I Am Fallujah Jenny Campbell 12 Nov 2004 03:52 GMT This poem was written a few days before the invasion began and updated it the day of the invasion. May it circulate widely! I am Fallujah. I am Fallujah. Once before I endured the colonial arrogance of another nation upon my soil. That was 87 years ago, and with their superior weapons, they, too, came to liberate us. I cried out. I warned them that I would not endure an uninvited presence. The Empire thought my people ignorant. And now, under a different flag, you strike with the precision of deranged camel, your weapons missing your stated target again and again, all the while knowing your real target is complete conquest. You screamed when my people vented their rage upon one or two of your suited predators. With false indignation, you summoned your weapons of mass destruction while truckloads of our dead rumbled past your snipers to a lonely mass burial. Sometimes you even shot at the drivers. And when my people reported the downfall of another child, another family in one of your precision strikes you claimed they lied, they exaggerated, they falsified the facts. Do they exaggerate today when a pall of ten thousand misinformed soldiers enter their city with homicidal rules of engagement? Have you told your own people that those orders include shooting surrendering citizens on sight? And still you use the language of benevolence. You promote the dubious presence of a sinister entity to re-direct world attention through your selective, rhetorical lens. Zarqawi, Zarqawi, Zarqawi you chant as you handsomely reward your media servants for their silence. Yet you dare not acknowledge that with each death, you induce the birth of another fighter. With each bomb, the hatred of your colonial ambition grows. And around the world, with every drop of blood you cause, you feed reaction and backwardness the very food it needs to sabotage the aspirations of the worlds people. The true freedom from oppression you so cynically claim to champion. To meet your ends, you consciously blur the distinction between terrorist and insurgent. The terrorist is your ally, although you call him enemy. The terrorist is the veil behind which your blood encrusted nails attempt to gouge out the clear vision of humanity. The terrorist is your very own Frankenstein monster forged in the laboratories of your foreign policy. The insurgent simply fights to be free - of you, a searing resistance born from the fires of scorned dignity. While your craven campaign may momentarily subdue those who survive, you shall neither defeat them, nor befriend them, for the tincture of time will barely soothe the memories of such atrocities as yours. I am Fallujah. I am all cities under imperialist siege. We have fought you before. We know what motivates you. We know your eyes. They reflect the barrels of black poison that have drained you of decency. And in your murderous pursuit of plundered profits, you stand to condemn all of our children to a lifetime of intellectual and emotional anguish. Remember this: we did not invite you into our house. When you claim the mantle of nobility, know that it is in infamy your legacy will find its home. Fallujah invaded by US forces on November 9th 2004 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 12:09:12 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 12:09:12 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Looking for God, Finding Bush; Cultural Revival Message-ID: <20041115200912.6928.qmail@web13621.mail.yahoo.com> THE CHRISTIAN RIGHT'S HUMBLE SERVANT Max Blumenthal, AlterNet For the religious right, Bush was like any other stealth candidate. No matter his unqualifications, he delivered for them in his first term, and so they rewarded him with their votes in record numbers. http://www.alternet.org/election04/20499/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! ? Try it today! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 12:51:13 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 12:51:13 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Response From A Repuke On One Of My Post Message-ID: <20041115205113.38890.qmail@web13607.mail.yahoo.com> Well I will let you decide on how you would like to reply to this reader. Obviously none of my post seem to have any effect on him, maybe you could do better? IBB Pardon Me While I Gloat by Dick Van Orden I am not normally a cheerful loser or a gracious winner. Whether its tiddly-winks or war at sea, I want to win, win, win! In fact, I hate to lose and when I win I sometimes want to rub the loser's nose in his defeat. After a sleepless night I feel just rotten enough that the past six months of lies and innuendos from the Kerry camp have it all come home to make me more vindictive than usual. As a result, I want to gloat. Here's why: I am happy that the sound common sense of a majority of America's voters resulted in a solid victory for a true patriot-and in the humiliating defeat of a lying traitor. There was no doubt in my mind that Bush's truthfulness and forthrightness would prevail against the lies and half-truths of Kerry and his supporters, and I am pleased that a majority of good folks saw the light and pushed the Bush/Cheney button for justice and for increasing support for the nation's bright future. I am pleased that the left-leaning media-newspapers, radio, TV and newsmagazines - got their bell rung, but good. Now we are assured that these self-appointed "opinion makers" cannot pull the wool over the eyes of most of us, no matter how hard they twist the facts. Their early reporting of the "leaked" fraudulent exit polls, and their sponsorship of other badly skewed voter polls were designed to mislead voters, in which they failed-miserably. And Dan Rather deserves a special place in hell. I am delighted that the fat, disgusting a-hole, Michael Moore did not achieve the success that he wished for and that he was repulsed by so many intelligent Americans. May his soul burn in hell. I hope the Hollywood friends of Michael Moore, especially Barbara Streisand, Whopi Goldberg, P-Diddler, and their friends, are roasting in the hell of their own making. It seems to me that they all offered to depart the U.S. if Bush won the first time, which they did not do. The time is now doubly ripe for their exit. I am blissful that all the treasure and invective of George Soros devoted to defeating George Bush went for naught. I only wish for a financial future of similar poor decisions by Soros; I want to see him as bankrupt in bank account as he is in patriotism. I find it particularly satisfying that the high ranking military suck-ups whose lack of integrity led them to desert their commander-in-chief and follow a lying cheat, even though they knew, or should have known, that his dismissal from the Navy was "less than honorable," as detailed in the military record that he refused to release. It is sad that such Navy types as Bill Crowe, Stan Turner, and even Jimmy Carter would be in that group. It is obvious that their motivation was the hope of a cushy job when their new-found knight in shining armor moved into the White House. Even their strategy was flawed, for Kerry is, and always has been, anti-military; he only used his military service-and those military "advisors" for personal political gain. He would never have offered that cushy job, once he had used them, just as he never voted for the needed armament that they and their shipmates and their Marine Corps, Army, and Air Force brothers-in-arms needed so badly. I am thrilled that the whiners who have complained bitterly about the "stolen" 2000 Presidential election must leave that fallacy in the past and now try to find something else to whine about; maybe they can even develop a fantasy that the four million vote plurality was a miscount, and continue their whining as they slink away into their caves. It pleases me that Kofi Annan and the other United Nations sycophants failed miserably when they tried so hard to influence this election to ensure that a more pliable President Kerry would be elected. I hope they will now realize that either they clean up the bureaucratic, corrupt, do-nothing UN, or they will be short of funds when the Bush-led US decreases, or ends its support. I am overjoyed at the failure of Osama bin Laden's carefully timed video of invective against the US and its President in hopes of using Islamic scare tactics on the American people. Bin Laden's aim was to entice our voters to elect a new President who will not be as robust in his pursuit of terrorists and more willing to "negotiate" with Islamic Fundamentalists. He did not understand that Americans are not so panicky as the French, fearful as the Spanish, or unthinking as the English. (As for the Germans, they should know better; we have defeated them in battle often enough to convince them of the rightness of our ways.) I hope Osama dies in a blast from a bunker-buster before he gets a chance to make another video or another attack on our nation. The blatant attempts of European nations and the EU to cause our President discomfort in his efforts to bring peace to the world make me glad that they are so disappointed with the election results. My joy is unbounded at the chagrin of the French and German and other anti-Bush, anti-American nations (including the people of the UK - but not their loyal and faithful government led by Prime Minister, Tony Blair). Now let those U.S.- sheltered Europeans worry about the end of American financial and military assistance when they have problems. Let them beg for American military aid and other handouts that have helped to sustain their economies. And let them perish in their own sweat when we remove out troops from Germany, the Balkans, and other trouble spots where we have pulled their chestnuts out of the fire. I relish the hope that Islamic fundamentalists will now understand the election result as a blow from which they cannot recover. It fills me with joy that their dreams of world domination will be shattered by Bush's and the American nation's resolve to see them defeated and sent to join their Allah - without the 72 virgins waiting for them. It pleases me more than I can say that the Senate Minority Leader, Thomas Daschle, lost his seat. As the leading obstructionist for the Democrat party, he was primarily responsible for withholding approval of many Bush appointments to Federal judgeships, high-level positions, and other necessary personnel. Good riddance. The demise of the junk-yard dog, loudmouth James Carville, also brings me great happiness. That happiness is further enhanced by the victory of the first Republican to win a Senate seat in Louisiana, Carville's home state. I am delighted with the success of John O'Neil and his Swift Boat Vets-and with those thousands of non-Swifties who joined with them on their forthright revelation of the truth of Kerry's service in Vietnam. They took a truthful but difficult position and made an impact good and honorable Navy men all. Bush gets gentlemanly credit for not using them and their data in his campaign to demean Kerry, but the word was out that they spoke the truth. I maintain that they were the MVPs of this election; their testimony turned the tide against Kerry, and he never recovered. And, finally, I must express my unbounded gratification at the defeat of Senator Kerry, a worthless Senator, anti-military extremist, lying self-promoter, and former Naval officer who disgraced us all. His traitorous collusion with the enemy is second only to that of Jane Fonda. He should have been court-martialed for giving aid and comfort to the enemy in time of war. His dishonorable quest for medals and a quick return to the US, where he turned against his shipmates and lied about their actions resulted in a less than honorable separation from the Navy. Jimmy Carter's amnesty allowed him to file for, and get, an honorable discharge 18 years after he left the service. He should have received a court martial. While my thoughts may seem to be mean-spirited, do not be confused - they really are mean-spirited, as I mean them to be. I have suffered the tortures of the damned over the past year as I heard and read the lies and nasty remarks from politicians, citizens, and media "experts" about our President. I have barely tolerated the feeble but divisive attempts of foreign and domestic peaceniks to build a case against our war on the Islamic fundamentalists, who use terrorism as a weapon against us in order to intimidate out citizens and drive some of our gutless politicians to seek "negotiations" to avoid "confrontations" with those who seek to kill our citizens. Most of all, I have seethed with anger at those who shamefully derided out military, blissfully reporting on their failures and neglecting their successes. They triumphantly celebrated our difficulties by running daily body counts of our own heroic men killed in battle with the enemy, even publishing their pictures in papers and on TV as if to mock the President who sent them to defend our nation. I have only disgust for such tactics. And those are the very same people who now plead for "united actions" in the House and Senate, now that they are in a steadily declining minority. I would advise our President to "watch your six" because these are really enemies and they are not to be trusted. Four more years! How sweet it is! Dick VanO UNQUOTE In case you don't know, G. Soros is now spending billions to disarm the citizens of this country. He has joined the anti-gun fanatics by financing an all out assault on gun owners. Pay attention over the following months. ItalysBadBoy wrote: Maps and cartograms of the 2004 US presidential election results Michael Gastner, Cosma Shalizi, and Mark Newman University of Michigan http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Check out the new Yahoo! Front Page. www.yahoo.com --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! ? Try it today! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! ? Try it today! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 12:53:30 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 12:53:30 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fighting erupts in Sunni Muslim heartland As U.S. forces reportedly mop up the last remaining pockets of resistance in Fallujah - Iraq Message-ID: Fighting erupts in Sunni Muslim heartland CTV.ca News Staff FROM: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1100519625068_21?hub=World As U.S. forces reportedly mop up the last remaining pockets of resistance in Fallujah, fierce battles are being waged in Iraq's Sunni Muslim heartland. The death toll is mounting as U.S. and Iraqi forces face opposition in several Iraqi cities, including Baqouba, Ramadi and Mosul. In Fallujah, where the offensive is now in its second week, warplanes are making between 20-30 bombing sorties in the city. The assault has left at least 38 U.S. troops and six Iraqi soldiers dead. Another 275 American soldiers have been wounded. U.S. officials estimate that 1,200 insurgents have been killed in the operation, launched in an attempt to calm the rebel-held city ahead of January elections. For those living inside the besieged city, tood, water and medical aid have been slow in arriving. A Red Cross spokesman said that a relief convoy of ambulances and supplies trying to enter Fallujah was turned back on Monday. In other news, two female relatives of interim Iraq Prime Minister Ayad Allawi who were kidnapped last week have been released, Allawi said Monday. There was no word on Allawi's cousin, Ghazi Allawi, 75, who was taken at the same time. On Sunday, marines found the body of a Western woman wrapped in a blood-soaked blanket. The woman had been disembowelled. The identity of the woman is not yet known. Two foreign women were taken hostage in Iraq last month, including CARE international worker Margaret Hassan, and Polish-born longtime Iraq resident Teresa Borcz Khalifa. Fighting in Sunni heartland As the offensive continues in Fallujah, clashes were reported in other parts of Iraq, including Baqouba, Mosul, Ramadi and near Baghdad. In Baqouba, insurgents opened fire on Iraqi police from inside a mosque. The mosque was stormed by police forces, and inside U.S. forces said they found a cache of weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades and mortars. Nine Iraqis, including one attacker, a policeman and seven civilians, were killed in the fighting. Another 11 Iraqis and four 1st Infantry Division soldiers were wounded. Heavy fighting was also reported in the insurgent-heavy city of Ramadi, after Sunni clerics called on residents to kick out bands of armed men who had come inside the city. In Mosul, militants raided two police stations, killing at least six Iraqi National Guards, and wounding three others. Iraqi security forces regained control of both stations. One insurgent was killed and three others were injured. Insurgents also set fire to the governor's house, in northern Mosul. It was completely destroyed, as was his car. Fighting south of Baghdad Monday, at Iraqi National Guard headquarters in Suwayrah, killed seven Iraqi police and national guardsmen. Five others were injured. Discoveries in Fallujah During the offensive in Fallujah, U.S. forces claim to have made several discoveries they say are hard evidence of the city's role in the insurgent-led campaign to push U.S. forces from Iraq. On Sunday, marines discovered what they called a bomb-making factory. They found wires, cell phones, Motorola handheld radios and a Plastic foam box packed with C4 plastic explosives. U.S. forces have also found two hostages -- one Iraqi and one Syrian. The Syrian was the driver for two French journalists, who have been missing since August. The Iraqi man was found in a room with a black banner bearing the name of one of Iraq's extremist groups. He was shackled hand and foot, and had been beaten on the back with steel cables. He said his tormentors were Syrian. The room that the hostage was found in also had AK-47 rifles, improvised bombs, fake identification cards and shoulder-fired missiles that could bring down an airliner. On Sunday, the American commander who designed the ground attack claims success. Maj.-Gen. Richard Natonski, in an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday, described the ground war as a "flawless execution of the plan we drew up. We are actually ahead of schedule.'' With files from The Associated Press -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 12:54:48 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 12:54:48 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: US To require mental health screening for all children Message-ID: US To require mental health screening for all children ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- An omnibus appropriations bill being considered by the United States Senate next week includes provisions which will REQUIRE all U.S. children to undergo MANDATORY mental health testing. It will also REQUIRE families to submit their child to any "treatment" the screening deems necessary; including administration of drugs! Imagine children who are racially aware; might they be deemed to have "mental illness" because they do not abide the politically correct government view of things? Further details in lead story: http://www.halturnershow.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 12:54:22 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 12:54:22 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Brazil is very violent Message-ID: Brazil is very violent ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- Quote: Source, Reuters/Yahoo Widespread poverty and extravagant wealth, flourishing drugs and illegal arms trade and corrupt police all help to fuel crime in Latin America's largest country, especially in cities such as Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro with their notorious slums, or "favelas." .. With a homicide rate of 23 per 100,000 people, or a total of 43,600 killings in 2003, Brazil is one of the world's most violent countries, comparable to some countries in conflict. The United States, in contrast, has a rate of about 5.6 victims per 100,000 people. .. The latest UN-Habitat report on the State of the World's Cities said Brazil's organized crime and trafficking in drugs, guns and humans had seen a sharp increase in recent years. Homicides among youths had increased by 77 per cent over the past 10 years, largely because of the prevalence of firearms. According to my numbers, the highest homicide rate in the US is found in Louisiana (32% Black) with a rate of 12.5/100,000. Puerto Rico (98% Hispanic) has a murder rate of 18.2/100,000, and Washington DC (60% Black) has a rate of 41.8/100,000. (2001 numbers) Note also the shifting of the blame from RACE to an inanimate object--"guns"--and this is promoted by the UN. We will see a gun ban, not from Congress but from New York and/or The Hague. stormfront.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 12:55:20 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 12:55:20 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Next Fallujah battle: hearts, minds - Iraq Message-ID: Specials > Iraq in Transition from the November 16, 2004 edition Next Fallujah battle: hearts, minds Marines converted a mosque into a food and medical distribution center for residents Monday. By Scott Peterson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor FROM: http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1116/p06s01-woiq.html FALLUJAH, IRAQ - In the opening days of the week-old assault on Fallujah, the Hadra Mohamadiya mosque was a major battleground. The rocket-propelled grenades used by insurgents holed up here are still kept in a corner; the minaret has been hit by US forces repeatedly. But Monday the mosque became a food and medical distribution center - the first tentative step by US and Iraqi forces to move this broken ghost town from war to peace. Some 88 families sent men on foot to collect food and water, handed out by Iraqi National Guard units after US civil affairs teams broadcast news of the distribution. The danger of the rebels remains: One man was carried dead to the mosque, after being shot while on his way by what his friends described as a foreign insurgent sniper. Elsewhere in Fallujah, a US marine was also killed by a sniper. "People were so happy [when they came], because they need water and food for so many days," says Dr. Adnan Naji, a medical doctor and captain in the Iraqi armed forces, who set up a clinic inside the mosque Monday that treated nearly 20 cases. "This is a very important day for us, and for Iraqi and American soldiers, because we let the people go out," says Dr. Naji. Senior American commanders speak of a race against time in which they must begin to restore services and the faith of the people of Fallujah. After making rapid progress toward ridding the city of radical Islamist fighters loyal to Al Qaeda, the challenge now for the US Marines is to turn military control into political progress. "The clock is ticking before civilians start to come back into the city," Lt. Col. Michael Ramos, chief of the 1st Battalion 3rd Marines that occupy northeast Fallujah, told his company commanders. "Let's get these programs rolling. We're going to exploit some of those [military] actions with hearts and minds." Widespread damage Many of Fallujah's residents fled in the run-up to the assault. When they are finally allowed to return, they will come home to a city where many buildings have been pulverized. Black smoke still rises from fires throughout the city, and the sound of air and artillery bombardment still echoes. At least 38 US soldiers and hundreds of Iraqi and foreign insurgents dead were killed in the fighting. With pockets of resistance remaining here, the US military wants to control the initial humanitarian work. The Iraqi Red Crescent sent truckloads of food and medicine for the city, but US forces turned back the convoy at the main hospital Monday. Speaking of those civilians who remained, Dr. Naji said: "Some of them are angry, because of the destruction, and others are not angry, because they suffered from the bad situation." "All are in their houses, fearing the insurgents and terrorists, who told them they would be shot if they go out. An old man came up to me, and said: 'Thank you, thank you [American and Iraqi troops], for saving us from the insurgents.'" Clearing the streets Besides the first food and water distributions, which were protected by US forces as Iraqi units gave the handouts, the Imam of the Hadra mosque organized a mix of Iraqi soldiers and civilian men to remove the scores of dead from the streets. US military radio traffic crackled Monday with requests for 20 boxes of surgical gloves, and 20 boxes of surgical masks, for those disposing of the dead. "It's the first step," says Maj. Tim Wattier, of US Army civil affairs, about the food distribution. "There's a large project ahead, and this is just the first step." Major Wattier was pleased with the cooperation of the imam of the mosque, which had been listed on US intelligence maps before the war as a hotbed of insurgents. Monday, the imam asked the Army to broadcast his request that anyone with special needs should come to the mosque. The scene in the Hadra mosque Monday was among the busiest in Fallujah, with several families seeking shelter, a handful of the faithful at prayer, and Iraqi troops billeted in the wings. Elderly men in one low-slung corner sat on mattresses, fingering prayer beads and waiting. Across the mosque's broad floor, families lined a far wall. Near the front door, Dr. Naji set up his clinic, using medicines taken from damaged hospital and clinic stores. Children received toys from the Iraqi troops. Outside, the mangled chassis of cars - burnt beyond recognition by US forces, which targeted every vehicle to cut the risk of car bombs - testified to the still-smoldering conflict. House to house searches Shifting toward the tasks of rebuilding and winning hearts and minds does not mean that the battle for Fallujah is over. Far from it, in fact, for troops on the ground. Marine units continue to clear dozens of houses every day. Monday, the Raider platoon of the light armored reconnaissance (LAR) company launched two operations. In the predawn raid, it fired four rockets to gain entry to two suspect warehouses, and then a host of fragmentation grenades to clear it. After dark, another raid targeted a house believed to house insurgents. Elsewhere in the city, US forces renewed airstrikes and positioned tanks in an effort to clean out the remaining guerrilla fighters. "This is the 48 hours, 72 hours for the insurgents to test and learn new tactics," says Capt. Jer Garcia, commander of Bravo Company, 1-3 Marines. Welcome relief for Marines After a week of fighting in which the number of civilians on the streets could be counted on one hand, the scene inside the mosque was a welcome surprise to marines. Throughout the fight, most people seen outside have been armed, and have been engaged. "I really liked what I saw in there," says Corporal Victor Gomez, a scout on a light armored vehicle. "I didn't want to come in here [to Fallujah], shoot a load of rounds and then leave, as if we'd done our job. That really set my mind at ease today." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 12:56:54 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 12:56:54 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Hollow victory for US army - Iraq Message-ID: Hollow victory for US army By Independent Foreign Service, Sapa-AP November 15, 2004 FROM: http://www.dailynews.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=501&fArticleId=2300015 US and Iraqi authorities announced that Fallujah had been pacified yesterday, saying they had smashed through the last lines of resistance and killed more than 1 200 fighters. Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, said allied forces had "completed the move, for all practical purposes, from the north of the town to the south". Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said there had been "a clear-cut win over the insurgents and the terrorists". But the pacification of the rebel stronghold could be a hollow victory. The Americans will leave behind a shattered city, having unleashed the full might of the US military against an estimated 6 000 insurgents. There was plenty of evidence across Iraq that the war is far from over, and the devastation of Fallujah is likely to have fuelled the resistance. American and Iraqi forces were still "mopping up" pockets of resistance yesterday and conducting house-to-house searches. A US commander recognised that the city had been "occupied but not subdued". The US military also acknowledged that the Jordanian militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and other prominent members of the insurgency had escaped from Fallujah. Allawi said: "Fallujah is no longer a safe haven for terrorists", but he admitted that it would take "some days" to clear remaining nests of resistance. The six-day air and ground offensive left 38 Americans and six Iraqi government soldiers dead, according to the US military. More than 200 US soldiers have been wounded in the operation. Two hundred of the insurgents who were killed were foreigners, the Americans said. After failing in April to wrest Fallujah from the insurgents in a three-week assault, this time the US military expressed pride in the speed of the operation, which deployed six times the number of troops dispatched to the city seven months ago. But the number of Iraqi civilians killed or wounded in the fighting was not mentioned. Allawi said on Saturday that no civilian casualties had been reported. Rumsfeld confidently asserted last week that civilians had been given guidance on how to avoid getting injured. He predicted that there would not be large numbers of civilians killed, and "certainly not by US forces". Up to half of the city's 300 000 residents had fled before or during the military operation aimed at pacifying the city to enable elections to be held in January. But thousands remained trapped. Yesterday charred bodies were scattered in the streets, where rows of buildings lay in ruins. People in the city said they had no water and no food, and aid agencies warned that Fallujah and surrounding areas were facing a humanitarian catastrophe. There have been outbreaks of typhoid and other diseases. Some people leaving the city told of rotting corpses being piled up and thousands of people trapped, many of them wounded without access to medical aid. An aid convoy was held up at the city's main hospital in the western outskirts. Capt Adam Collier of the US Army cited security reasons as he explained that the seven trucks and ambulances sent by the Iraqi Red Crescent to Fallujah with medicine, food, blankets and water purification tablets would not be allowed through. US Marines Col Mike Shupp said: "There is no need to bring supplies in because we have supplies of our own for the people. Now the bridge is open, I will bring out casualties and all aid work can be done here." Battles raged across Iraq yesterday. American helicopter gunships attacked Baiji in the north, and tanks moved into the centre of the city. In the northern city of Mosul, US and Iraqi security forces struggled to retake a police station that had been overrun by insurgents. They said the local security forces had lost control of much of Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city with an estimated population of 1.8 million Arabs, Kurds, Turkomen and Assyrian Christians. Also in the Kurdish-dominated region, gunmen ambushed and killed a senior official of the Iraqi Communist Party and member of the national assembly, Waddah Hassan Abdel Amir, on the road to Arbil. There were further gun attacks in Baghdad. There was also an ominous political unravelling as a direct consequence of the Fallujah operation. A senior aide to Muqtada Sadr, the Shia cleric who has led two uprisings against the Americans, said he would not take part in the elections while "Iraqi cities are under attack". Meanwhile, an Islamist group has freed two women related to Allawi but is still holding his male cousin hostage, two Arab satellite channels said yesterday. A previously unknown group seized Allawi's 75-year-old cousin Ghazi Allawi, along with Ghazi's wife and their daughter-in-law in Baghdad last Tuesday. Meanwhile, US Marines found the mutilated body of a Western woman yesterday as they searched for militants still holding out in Fallujah. The woman could not be immediately identified, but a British aide worker and a Pole are the only Western women known to have been taken hostage. Sunni Muslim militants have cut a swath of terror across the country with a string of recent high-profile kidnappings. The disembowelled body of the woman was wrapped in a blood-soaked blanket on a street in Fallujah, Marines said. Margaret Hassan, 59, director of CARE international in Iraq, and Teresa Borcz Khalifa, 54, a Polish-born longtime resident of Iraq, were abducted last month, but the body could not be identified without further tests. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 12:56:05 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 12:56:05 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: UL Says NO WAY WTC Message-ID: rense.com UL Says NO WAY WTC Steel Could Melt At 2000 F UL Executive Speaks Out On WTC Study 911Truth.org 11-14-4 "The buildings should have easily withstood the thermal stress caused by pools of burning jet fuel." >From Kevin R. Ryan Site Manager of the Environmental Health Laboratories South Bend, Indiana (Company site - www.ehl.cc) A division of Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. (Company site - www.ul.com) To Frank Gayle Deputy Chief of the Metallurgy Division Material Science and Engineering Laboratory National Institute of Standards and Technology NIST and the World Trade Center at wtc.nist.gov Dr. Gayle biography wtc.nist.gov/pi/wtc_profiles.asp?lastname=gayle From: Kevin R Ryan/SBN/ULI To: frank.gayle at nist.gov Date: 11/11/2004 Dr. Gayle, Having recently reviewed your team's report of 10/19/04, I felt the need to contact you directly. As I'm sure you know, the company I work for certified the steel components used in the construction of the WTC buildings. In requesting information from both our CEO and Fire Protection business manager last year, I learned that they did not agree on the essential aspects of the story, except for one thing - that the samples we certified met all requirements. They suggested we all be patient and understand that UL was working with your team, and that tests would continue through this year. I'm aware of UL's attempts to help, including performing tests on models of the floor assemblies. But the results of these tests appear to indicate that the buildings should have easily withstood the thermal stress caused by pools of burning jet fuel. There continues to be a number of "experts" making public claims about how the WTC buildings fell. One such person, Dr. Hyman Brown from the WTC construction crew, claims that the buildings collapsed due to fires at 2000F melting the steel (1). He states "What caused the building to collapse is the airplane fuel ? burning at 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The steel in that five-floor area melts." Additionally, the newspaper that quotes him says "Just-released preliminary findings from a National Institute of Standards and Technology study of the World Trade Center collapse support Brown's theory." We know that the steel components were certified to ASTM E119. The time temperature curves for this standard require the samples to be exposed to temperatures around 2000F for several hours. And as we all agree, the steel applied met those specifications. Additionally, I think we can all agree that even un-fireproofed steel will not melt until reaching red-hot temperatures of nearly 3000F (2). Why Dr. Brown would imply that 2000F would melt the high-grade steel used in those buildings makes no sense at all. The results of your recently published metallurgical tests seem to clear things up (3), and support your team's August 2003 update as detailed by the Associated Press (4), in which you were ready to "rule out weak steel as a contributing factor in the collapse". The evaluation of paint deformation and spheroidization seem very straightforward, and you noted that the samples available were adequate for the investigation. Your comments suggest that the steel was probably exposed to temperatures of only about 500F (250C), which is what one might expect from a thermodynamic analysis of the situation. However the summary of the new NIST report seems to ignore your findings, as it suggests that these low temperatures caused exposed bits of the building's steel core to "soften and buckle"(5). Additionally this summary states that the perimeter columns softened, yet your findings make clear that "most perimeter panels (157 of 160) saw no temperature above 250C". To soften steel for the purposes of forging, normally temperatures need to be above 1100C (6). However, this new summary report suggests that much lower temperatures were be able to not only soften the steel in a matter of minutes, but lead to rapid structural collapse. This story just does not add up. If steel from those buildings did soften or melt, I?m sure we can all agree that this was certainly not due to jet fuel fires of any kind, let alone the briefly burning fires in those towers. That fact should be of great concern to all Americans. Alternatively, the contention that this steel did fail at temperatures around 250C suggests that the majority of deaths on 9/11 were due to a safety-related failure. That suggestion should be of great concern to my company. There is no question that the events of 9/11 are the emotional driving force behind the War on Terror. And the issue of the WTC collapse is at the crux of the story of 9/11. My feeling is that your metallurgical tests are at the crux of the crux of the crux. Either you can make sense of what really happened to those buildings, and communicate this quickly, or we all face the same destruction and despair that come from global decisions based on disinformation and "chatter". Thanks for your efforts to determine what happened on that day. You may know that there are a number of other current and former government employees that have risked a great deal to help us to know the truth. I've copied one of these people on this message as a sign of respect and support. I believe your work could also be a nucleus of fact around which the truth, and thereby global peace and justice, can grow again. Please do what you can to quickly eliminate the confusion regarding the ability of jet fuel fires to soften or melt structural steel. 1. http://www.boulderweekly.com/archive/102104/coverstory.html 2. CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 61st edition, pg D-187 3. http://wtc.nist.gov/media/P3MechanicalandMetAnalysisofSteel.pdf 4. http://www.voicesofsept11.org/archive/911ic/082703.php 5. http://wtc.nist.gov/media/NCSTACWTCStatusFINAL101904WEB2.pdf (pg 11) 6. http://www.forging.org/FIERF/pdf/ffaaMacSleyne.pdf Kevin Ryan Site Manager Environmental Health Laboratories [Note: The letter is followed in the e-mail by a standard UL message footer] -- For more information about UL, its Marks, and its services for EMC, quality registrations and product certifications for global markets, please access our web sites at http://www.ul.com and http://www.ulc.ca, or contact your local sales representative. November 12: An executive of the company that certified the steel used in the construction of the World Trade Center has questioned the common theory that fuel fires caused its collapse, in a letter yesterday to the head of the government team that has spent two years studying how the trade center was built and why it fell. The author of the letter, Kevin Ryan, is site manager at Environmental Health Laboratories in South Bend, Indiana, a division of Underwriters Laboratories, the product-compliance and testing giant. Because UL certified the WTC steel for its ability to withstand fires, its performance on September 11 is obviously of concern to the company. Ryan sent his letter to Frank Gayle, deputy chief of the Metallurgy Division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). He later forwarded it in an e-mail to David Ray Griffin, author of the New Pearl Harbor, and Catherine Austin Fitts, who is a member of the 911Truth.org board. Griffin asked for and received permission to forward the letter for Web distribution. 911Truth.org called Ryan today to confirm his authorship. The letter raises disturbing questions, pointing out that the steel in the towers tested up to its certified standard (i.e., it should have easily withstood the fuel fires without buckling). A chemist by profession, Ryan said he is acting in the hope of receiving a public response from Gayle. Given the impact of September 11 on events around the world, Ryan said, everyone needs to know the full truth of what really happened on that day. He added that he considers Gayle to be a good scientist and an honest person. A draft of the government agency's final report on the WTC collapse is due in January. The New York Times reports today that the NIST team is planning to hold some of its deliberations in secret. "The announcement has been sharply protested by advocates for families of the 9/11 victims, who said they were considering a lawsuit to force the agency to open the meetings to the public," the Times writes. As the Times notes, the NIST investigation was started in 2002 after lobbying by, among others, the Skyscraper Safety Campaign, an organization created by Monica Gabrielle and Sally Regenhard, both of whom lost family on September 11. Gabrielle told the Times that NIST should have "one job, and one job only - to find out the truth of what happened to those buildings and to report to the public about it. You don't owe industry, the Port Authority or federal agencies anything. You owe it to the public - the truth, no matter where it goes." (See www.nytimes.com) http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20041112144051451 - 911Truth.org (nl) Comment >From Andrea 11-14-4 On seeing this research from UL, I am pushing for transparent*, fully public meetings/hearings on the structure/physical evidence related to the deterioration of the towers into their foundations -these meetings conducted by the NIST, the gov division under the DeptCommerce, under the Executive Branch, aka - "The White House". Rather than be immutable or mysterious about this research on the (Bethlehem Steel produced) steel in the towers, I found this important information to those who have the interest to understand the truth about what happened at the WTC on 9/11/01. I owned stock in Bethlehem Steel before it was driven into bankruptcy and liquidated. I knew it had made the i-beams and girders for the WTC, and found it annoying when the under-informed would attempt to convince me that we dont/didnt even make steel strong enough to support construction like the towers, and that steel strong enough for construction like the WTC comes/came from Japan. Au contraire! A look at the remaining steel while at the site also speaks otherwise. This government is to answer to the American people. I see no reason for secrecy when the people in the government are looking for 'transparency' from everything else. Our privacy is under invasion and the government wants opaque secrecy? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 12:57:28 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 12:57:28 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Iraqi City Lies in Ruins Message-ID: Iraqi City Lies in Ruins Rebels are reportedly making their last stand in Fallouja. The next step, reconstruction, could cost the U.S. tens of millions of dollars. By Patrick J. McDonnell, Times Staff Writer FROM: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-rebuild15nov15,1,623478.story?coll=la-headlines-world FALLOUJA, Iraq - Even as small groups of guerrillas continued putting up fierce resistance here Sunday, U.S. commanders were preparing for the next phase of the operation: the complete reconstruction of a city that has been devastated in battle. "It's a monumental task," acknowledged Marine Maj. Timothy Hanson, one of the first civil affairs officers on the scene to assess the scope of destruction in the city that had become the tactical and inspirational capital of the Iraqi insurgency. Reconstruction of Fallouja is on hold as the fighting persists, especially in southern areas of the city, where some of the most die-hard guerrillas are reported to be making a last stand. Some have burrowed underground, prompting U.S. forces Saturday to drop a 2,000-pound bomb - the most powerful munition used here to date - on a tunnel complex. Marines and allied Iraqi troops sweeping through the southern neighborhoods have found numerous bomb-making factories and massive arms caches, underscoring Fallouja's role as a supply center for the insurgency nationwide, commanders say. Moving the vast storehouses of weapons and destroying them has proved a logistical challenge in this war-ravaged city. "We want to clean this city up," declared Maj. Gen. Richard F. Natonski, commander of the 1st Marine Division. "We want to get the people back here. But we can't bring them back until the city is secure." Automatic-weapons fire and explosions continued to rock the center of the city, though much diminished in the past 24 hours. The U.S. military reported that at least 38 American troops and six Iraqi soldiers had been killed in eight days of fighting. Elsewhere in Iraq on Sunday, insurgents destroyed the highway bridge in Baiji, forcing the closure of the main road from the northern city of Mosul to Baghdad. In Mosul, U.S. and Iraqi troops fought a six-hour battle with insurgents, and casualties were believed to be heavy, although hospital officials refused to discuss figures. Militants seized a police station, but U.S. and Iraqi forces regained control. In Baghdad, more than a dozen insurgents attacked the Polish Embassy and exchanged gunfire with embassy guards for half an hour, a Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman said in Warsaw. No one was reported killed or wounded. In Fallouja, U.S. troops said they found the mutilated body of a woman covered with a blood-soaked cloth in a street. News services quoted a Marine saying he was "80% positive the body was that of a Westerner." Two Western women are known to have been kidnapped and are still missing: Margaret Hassan, the director of CARE International here, and a Polish woman who is married to an Iraqi. The reconstruction effort in Fallouja will require tens of millions of dollars in U.S. funds to compensate residents for damaged property and to rebuild large parts of the city damaged by weeks of U.S. airstrikes and street-by-street fighting. The project seems likely to dwarf the large-scale rebuilding scheme in the southern city of Najaf, where damage was estimated at $500 million after a Marine offensive in August ousted Shiite Muslim militiamen. Fallouja once was home to almost 300,000 people, though most fled before U.S.-led forces launched the assault early last week. The city now lies abandoned and in ruins, a tableau of the aftermath of urban warfare. The town's main east-west drag, a key objective of U.S. troops, is a tangle of rubble-filled lots and shot-up storefronts. Shattered water and sewage pipes have left pools of sewage-filled water, sometimes knee-deep. Scorched and potholed streets are filled with debris; power lines droop in tangles or lie on the ground. Many mosques, the city's pride and joy, are a shambles after insurgents used them as shelter and firing positions, drawing return fire from the Marines. Houses have been ransacked by insurgents and further damaged as U.S. troops chased snipers, searched for weapons caches or took cover in the homes. Marines routinely called in tanks, artillery and airstrikes to take out gunmen. But the bombed-out buildings are only the most obvious damage. There is no running water or electricity. The water, power and sewage infrastructure will probably need complete overhauls. Food distribution systems must be reinstituted. Shops must be reopened, commerce resumed. Battered hospitals, clinics and schools must be patched up and reopened. Beyond that, U.S. officials have lofty plans to help install a democratic government here that will answer to the administration of interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. A police force of more than 1,000 officers must be deployed in a city where police have been consistently targeted for assassination in the past as collaborators with the Americans. "The challenge is to get a civil administration up and running, and they are starting from zero," said a senior U.S. diplomat. "They have to do everything from getting the director of the waterworks to come back to work to getting a chief of police." And, if all that wasn't enough, commanders would like the city to be ready to hold peaceful elections in January, when Iraqis nationwide are scheduled to choose a national assembly. In all, it is a colossal challenge of nation-building - albeit concentrated in one city - made all the more difficult because Fallouja remains in the heart of the Sunni Triangle, long a source of support for ousted dictator Saddam Hussein and resistance to U.S. and coalition forces. "This is very important: to restore the infrastructure of the city and . get the Iraqi government and the police established, and keep the insurgents from coming back in," Natonski said. Despite the clear military gains, the city remains insecure enough that major civil affairs units that will oversee reconstruction have yet to arrive. But more than $50 million in contracts has already been let, and people are standing by, ready to start work as soon as it is safe enough. A coordinating team - including officials from the U.S. military and civilian agencies as well as the Iraqi government - has been meeting for the last two weeks to figure out how to spend the roughly $200 million allocated for Fallouja and nearby Ramadi. Overall responsibility for rebuilding Fallouja will fall to the Marines' 4th Civil Affairs Group, a largely reserve unit based in Washington that is poised on the outskirts of the city. Mortuary teams to pick up the remains of hundreds of insurgents killed in the fighting also have been held back, as bodies rot in the streets. "It's a health hazard," conceded Natonski. "We'll soon be taking care of that.. We just need to ensure that we're not taking casualties taking care of bodies." It is unclear when residents will be allowed back into the city. A 24-hour curfew is in effect, and those civilians still present have been warned to stay in their homes, as food and water supplies dwindle. U.S. and Iraqi forces have been handing out emergency water and rations. On Sunday, when Muslims marked the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, virtually no one was seen on the streets besides U.S. troops and their guerrilla quarry. Marines are constructing a displaced-persons camp east of the city, though most former residents appear to have settled in with extended family members in Baghdad and elsewhere. The abandonment of the city made the Marines' job a lot easier during combat, reducing the threat of civilian casualties. Now, commanders worry that a large-scale return of residents - and vehicles - will increase the peril, especially from suicide car bombers. "As civilians begin driving around, the [car bomb] threat . is going to be at its highest point," said Lt. Col. Gareth Brandl, commander of the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment. Plans are already in place to screen returning civilians, especially military-age males. But differentiating between fighters and noncombatants is likely to be a difficult task, given that many of Fallouja's native sons are known to have joined the insurgency. In the works is some kind of "Welcome Back to Fallouja" campaign, directing residents to military civil affairs offices where people can find reconstruction help. "It won't be a fruit basket or anything like that," said Hanson, the Marine major. He had $500,000 in cash for various expenses: compensating civilians who had suffered property losses or injuries or lost relatives deemed not to be insurgents. Money also will be spread around to pay residents to help clean up the streets, assuming the people of Fallouja would be willing to take money from Americans and overcome fears of being branded collaborators. Establishing security will be essential to allowing U.S. personnel and Iraqi contractors to work. "We have to be able to allow the Iraqis to come in and work freely and independently without being terrorized and intimidated and corrupted," said Hanson, a reservist and police sergeant from suburban Omaha. "If they go into a building, they shouldn't have to worry about that." U.S. officials also hope to work with civilian leaders to select a representative council. Thousands of Iraqi police and soldiers are said to be ready to be deployed to Fallouja. Many are from outside the city, in the hopes that they will be less susceptible to intimidation. The entire municipal government complex must be rebuilt and secured. The police station, City Hall and other government buildings have been seriously damaged, heavily looted and are occupied by Marines. The compound is probably going to be refurbished and expanded to house both the Iraqi government and U.S. forces, commanders say. Inside an adjacent school complex where Marines also are posted, state-of-the-art photocopy machines and refrigerators stand gutted and abandoned, the remnants of earlier U.S.-funded reconstruction efforts. Marines say they are confident the next attempt to rebuild Fallouja will spur goodwill and divert people from supporting the insurgency. "We're poised and ready to go to help Fallouja rebuild," said Marine Capt. Matt Nodine, an attorney for the 1st Battalion. "People will know where to find us if they need help." ------------------------- Times staff writer Alissa J. Rubin in Baghdad, special correspondents Caesar Ahmed and Roaa Ahmed in Mosul and Associated Press contributed to this report. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 14:19:20 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 14:19:20 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Raging Cyclists push for bike-friendly reforms in Santiago Message-ID: <20041115221920.91689.qmail@web13625.mail.yahoo.com> ItalysBadBoy wrote:Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 14:18:25 -0800 (PST) From: ItalysBadBoy Subject: Raging Cyclists push for bike-friendly reforms in Santiago To: AboutGreenplanet http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/11/14/MNG3M9R9EG1.DTL Critical Mass on a roll in Chile 'Raging Cyclists' inspired by S.F.'s biking movement Jen Ross, Chronicle Foreign Service Sunday, November 14, 2004 Santiago, Chile -- On the first Tuesday evening of every month, a cacophony of whistles, chants and bicycle bells competes with the noise of rush-hour traffic as the Furiosos Ciclistas snake through the downtown of Chile's capital city. The 400-odd "Raging Cyclists" -- a hodgepodge of naturalists, environmental activists and cycling aficionados -- are patterned after Critical Mass, the Bay Area group that has sent bicyclists riding through downtown San Francisco on the last Friday of the month since 1992. Like their California counterparts, Chile's Raging Cyclists put their passion on two wheels to promote nonpolluting transportation in this smoggy, congested South American city of 6 million. "Everyone comes for a different reason," said Jesus Montealegre, who wears a reflective first-aid outfit to identify himself as one of the group's paramedics. "But we all come to promote the safe use of the bicycle and all of its advantages. It's healthy, economical. It reduces traffic and air pollution, and when you ride a bike, you get to relate to others on the road better and get to know people." Raging Cyclists was founded in 1996. When Montealegre first joined four years ago, he says they were lucky to get 50 riders on the monthly jaunt. There are now more than 3,000 participants, though the group has no formal head and has grown largely through word-of-mouth and the Internet. Similar groups have sprung up in more than 200 U.S. and Canadian cities as well as in Europe, Australia, Asia and South America. In Chile, the club's popularity has contributed to an upsurge in cycling -- 5 percent of Santiago residents now use a bicycle as their primary means of transportation -- a rate that has doubled in the past decade, according to the ministry of transportation. "Cyclists used to be seen as blue-collar workers who would take their bike to save bus fare," Montealegre said. "But today, you see executives, government workers, lawyers, students, everyone riding. This is changing the way cycling is seen, from being a lower-class necessity to a classless means of transportation and recreation." Guillermo Diaz, subsecretary for transportation with the Ministry of Public Works, has been pushing the national government to support this kind of green transportation. "Santiago has a population of 6 million people, of which more than a million have their own car -- an incredibly high rate that's bringing this city to a standstill," said Diaz, an avid cyclist. "If we can convince more people to go to the supermarket or drop their kids off at school on a bike instead of a car, we'll help create better health conditions, a better quality of life and less contamination." Santiago, which sits in a valley surrounded by two mountain ranges, is one of the most polluted cities in the world. Residents are frequently subjected to air-quality alerts and pollution emergencies. Respiratory diseases are common. On their monthly rides, the Raging Cyclists chant demands for "ciclovias" or "bike paths" as they pass the presidential palace and government offices. And they're getting what they want. There is already a 2.8-mile path in the works to run along the Alameda, Santiago's main drag. It's a huge victory given its $500,000 price tag, a significant sum even for this prosperous South American country. The World Bank's Global Environment Fund has donated $7 million to Chile to encourage the use of public transit and nonmotorized transportation by expanding the Alameda bike path to neighboring municipalities and outlying communities. The nearby coastal port of Valparaiso will also get new bike paths. And there's a $1 million plan to build 6 miles of bike paths in the southern city of Concepcion, which will be integrated with the train system and other means of public transit. Diaz, of the public works ministry, credits the persistence of the Raging Cyclists for these successes. "I have the best opinion of them," he said. "They have made an important effort to force this issue into a political and public arena." The Raging Cyclists also have a socially conscious side -- working to promote cycling in poor communities, where they donate bicycles and give lessons in how to maintain them properly. "I've always been attracted to groups that fight for change, like Greenpeace and that sort of thing," said 23-year-old Iris Lopez, a new member who bicycles four hours a day. "But this group was much easier to access because there's no hierarchy to it, so there's no discrimination. We're all equal participants. And that's why we're making waves." --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! ? Try it today! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 14:19:35 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 14:19:35 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Drilling Approved for Alaska Oil Reserve Message-ID: <20041115221936.16956.qmail@web13623.mail.yahoo.com> http://edition.cnn.com/2004/US/11/15/energy.alaska.drilling.reut/ Drilling approved for Alaska oil reserve Monday, November 15, 2004 Posted: 1309 GMT (2109 HKT) WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The U.S. Interior Department on Friday gave final approval to a plan by ConocoPhillips and partner Anadarko Petroleum Corp. to develop five tracts around the oil-rich Alpine field on Alaska's North Slope. The department's Bureau of Land Management authorized the first commercial development of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, allowing the companies to go forward with developing the tracts, which are located in the northeastern corner of the reserve. Production from these fields, which together hold more than 330 million barrels of oil, will start by 2006, according to the BLM. They will supplement production from the Alpine fields, which hold 429 million barrels and have a daily oil output of about 100,000 barrels. Environmentalists have criticized the plan to develop these Alpine satellite fields as a rollback of environmental protections promised during the Clinton administration. The BLM said it modified the original development proposal to offer greater protection to wildlife and sensitive habitats in the reserve. Some of the major changes include relocating portions of the gravel access roads and pipeline routes, moving power lines and raising pipelines an additional 2 feet to 7 feet to help migrating caribou. "It allows for the energy development our country needs, while protecting the land, water and wildlife. It will show that this, and future Arctic development, can and will be done in an environmentally sensitive way," said Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Rebecca Watson. The petroleum reserve, the size of Indiana, was set aside in 1923 for its energy potential, but until recently it has been ignored in favor of the region to the east, around the giant Prudhoe Bay field. The Bush administration believes the new Congress next year will approve oil drilling in the separate Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which may hold up to 16 billion barrels of crude. var clickExpire = "11/29/2004"; ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Discover all that?s new in My Yahoo! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 14:23:38 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 14:23:38 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Warplanes pound Fallujah as US death toll reaches 38 - Iraq Message-ID: Warplanes pound Fallujah as US death toll reaches 38 FROM: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/117200/1/.html FALLUJAH, Iraq : Warplanes struck Fallujah as US-led forces hunted for diehard rebels after taking almost total control of the city in a week-long battle that killed 38 US soldiers and more than 1,200 insurgents. But victory in the flashpoint Iraqi enclave will not spell the end to a vicious rebellion against Iraq's US-backed government as violence flared in the northern capital of Mosul and saboteurs bombed oil wells in Kirkuk. "Iraqi forces and Multi-National Force-Iraq have wrested most of Fallujah from insurgent control, but operations are not over," the military said in a statement, noting that US troops backed by Iraqi soldiers were combing mosques and other buildings for weapons as they secured the Sunni Muslim stronghold. "In the last 24 hours, multinational force aircraft flew several close air support missions, attacking anti-Iraqi forces in numerous buildings throughout the city," a statement said, using military terminology to describe militants. One warplane blasted an underground bunker complex of steel-reinforced tunnels in the very south of Fallujah during a pre-dawn raid, which appeared to have been used by rebels to mount attacks. "The tunnels connected a ring of facilities filled with weapons, an anti-aircraft artillery gun, bunk beds, a truck and a suspected weapons cache," the military said. Amid growing fears of a humanitarian crisis in Fallujah, where a convoy of Red Crescent trucks carrying vital food and medical supplies has been prevented from entering freely due to the inherent dangers, the military insisted that everything was being done to treat wounded civilians. Troops informed residents over a loudspeaker to approach soldiers if they needed medical help, it explained. The Fallujah general hospital, which was seized by US-led forces just before the official start of the operation, was available for use, the military added. "In addition, a second hospital in eastern Fallujah is seeing patients, and multinational forces have re-supplied the hospital with water and fuel." The seizure of Fallujah will come at a price as the death toll on both sides mounts and tens of thousands of civilians remain in makeshift camps around the city, once the symbol of resistance against the Iraq's US-backed government. At least five Iraqi soldiers have also died in the battle and scores have been wounded. There is also no sign of a let up in the lawlessness that undermines the interim government of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi as it struggles to prepare the country for national elections promised by January. Clashes erupted over the weekend between insurgents and government forces in the centre of Mosul, Iraq's third largest city, with the two sides exchanging automatic gunfire and rockets. They were particularly heavy close to the police headquarters in the Zanjali area, an AFP reporter said. Iraqi security forces are starting to reassert control in the restive bastion, where a night time curfew is in place. A convoy of 12 armoured US vehicles started to patrol in the centre and the north for the first time since the recent bout of violence broke out. Skirmishes also broke out in the restive city of Ramadi, 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Fallujah, where six Iraqis were killed and five wounded Sunday. Rebels angered by the huge US and Iraqi government offensive on nearby Fallujah deployed in force in Ramadi last week. Hitting Iraq where it hurts the most, attackers detonated four bombs near oil wells in the Kirkuk region of northern Iraq on Sunday, triggering fires, a security officer for the installations said. "Fires broke out and we are trying to put them out," said Anuza Daali, without being able to specify if production was affected. At the start of the month, a series of attacks on a pipeline network halted vital exports from Kirkuk to Turkey. The attacks, which had little immediate impact on world oil prices, dealt a new blow to Iraq's efforts to boost exports from the north and bring in more much-needed revenue for post-war reconstruction. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 14:53:08 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 14:53:08 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Prius 2 named European car of year 2005 Message-ID: <20041115225309.9390.qmail@web13626.mail.yahoo.com> After a short list of vehicles remaining in the contest as listed in this Irish article: http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/motoring/2004/1013/4049736840MOT13CAROFYEAR.html Strong French presence in Car of the Year finals Andrew Hamilton Three French, one German and one Japanese are among the seven shortlisted finalists for the European Car of the Year 2005 that will be announced on November 15th. The strong French presence is represented by the Citro?n C4, the Peugeot 407 and the Renault Modus. The sole German competitor is the BMW 1-Series, while the Japanese challenger is the eco-friendly Toyota Prius hybrid. All five must compete against two cars with multinational rather than national identity, the Ford Focus and Opel Astra. These seven cars have just emerged from the first round of voting by 58 leading motoring journalists from 22 countries, including Ireland. The short list is mostly predictable with an affordable and everyday bias about it. Ford's second generation Focus is likely to find tougher going this time, given that the new car is evolutionary rather than the radical shape that characterised the first model, which took the European title in 1999 ahead of the Astra. Opel, six years on, is saying that the Astra can show the same satisfying driving zeal as the original while offering crisper, fresher styling that's particularly evident on the sleek three-door versions presented at the recent Paris car show. Can Astra beat Focus and reverse the 1999 result? And what about Citro?n's much acclaimed C4, taking over from the Xsara, and the Peugeot 407 which is one rung up in the family and fleet car sector? Both essentially come from the same stable, PSA or Peugeot-Citro?n being one company with differing badges. The C4 was viewed by many as more aesthetically pleasing, especially measured against the 407's gaping open mouth. The inclusion of the Renault Modus supermini MPV was a modest surprise. In spite of being able to move the furniture around, it brings nothing new to the party and the trend has already been established earlier with cars like the Opel Meriva. For sheer driving pleasure, the jury members would certainly be strongly influenced by the BMW 1-Series, the Bavarian marque's newest entry-level car. Rear-wheel-drive is almost a novelty these days in a smallish car, providing excellent 50:50 weight distribution. A disadvantage from this layout is the rear interior space and it's certainly manifest in the 1-Series. The eco-friendly Toyota Prius, now in its second generation, has already garnered a huge amount of publicity, mainly related to the prognosis that the future is hybrid. This new Prius has already won the North American Car of the Year award 2004. It should be a reasonably high scorer, if only because of the times in which we live. Andrew Hamilton represents Ireland on the European Car of the Year jury ? The Irish Times ____________________________________________________________ The following article is stating a clear win for the Prius 2: http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=3&id=318904 Toyota hybrid Prius wins European car of the year award Monday, November 15, 2004 at 12:47 JST TOKYO ? Toyota Motor Corp said Monday its Prius, the world's first mass-produced hybrid vehicle, has been awarded 2005 European Car of the Year. After two rounds of voting by the European Car of the Year Jury, the car was chosen from a list of seven finalists and declared a clear winner with 406 points, the automaker said. (Kyodo News) _____________________________________________________________ And also the following statement by Toyota: 15th November 2004 Toyota Prius wins 2005 European Car of the Year Prius reaches the top position with 406 points The Toyota Prius has been voted 2005 Car of the Year by the 58 members of the European Car of the Year Jury. After 2 rounds of voting, the car was chosen from a list of 7 finalists and declared clear winner after gathering 406 points. Tadashi Arashima, President and CEO of Toyota Motor Marketing Europe said: "We are absolutely delighted to receive the 2005 Car of the Year award for Prius. We believe that hybrid technology, in particular as implemented in the Prius with our revolutionary Hybrid Synergy Drive? system, represents a big step forward in reducing the environmental impact of automobiles, while at the same time enhancing driving performance. We are proud and honored that Prius has been endorsed so strongly by the prestigious group of journalists who make up the Car of the Year jury. This is a major milestone in the acceptance of the hybrid powertrain and the recognition of its potential to become a mainstream technology. It is also a great encouragement to us in our work on developing more environmentally friendly vehicles." Prius, the world's first mass produced hybrid vehicle, is propelled by the combination of an electric motor and a petrol engine. This unique system, called Toyota Hybrid Synergy Drive?, will spearhead the development of new environmentally friendly powertrains and is part of Toyota's effort to create the ultimate eco car. Since its introduction in early 2004, Prius sales in Europe are expected to reach 8,500 units this year. Next year, the sales target has been set at 15,000 units for Europe, whilst an increase in production capacity will allow 180,000 cars to be sold worldwide. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! ? Try it today! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 15:37:39 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 15:37:39 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Amnesty International: Rules of War Broken in Falluja Assault Message-ID: <20041115233740.92073.qmail@web13624.mail.yahoo.com> http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1115-02.htm Rules of War Broken in Falluja Assault - Amnesty Intl LONDON - The rules of war protecting civilians and wounded combatants have been broken by both sides in the week-long assault on the Iraqi city of Falluja, the human rights group Amnesty International said on Monday. The London-based group, which gave examples of what it said were breaches of the rules by both U.S. troops and insurgents, demanded that all violations be investigated and those responsible brought to justice. Not only had the attacking U.S. and Iraqi troops failed to take the necessary steps to ensure that non-combatants did not come under fire, but insurgents had also abused flags of truce and fired indiscriminately. "Amnesty International fears that civilians have been killed, in contravention of international humanitarian law, as a result of failure by parties to the fighting to take necessary precautions to protect non-combatants," Amnesty said. Amnesty said 20 Iraqi medical staff and dozens of other civilians were killed when a missile hit a Falluja clinic on Nov. 9, according to a doctor who survived the strike -- though it was not known who fired the missile. On the same day a 9-year-old boy bled to death after being hit in the stomach by shrapnel. Unable to take him to hospital because of the fighting, his parents buried him in their garden. Elsewhere a woman and her three daughters were reported killed when their house was bombed, Amnesty said. It also said a British television program, Channel Four News, broadcast footage on Nov. 11 that appeared to show an American soldier firing a shot in the direction of a wounded insurgent behind a wall and then commenting "he's gone." "Under international humanitarian law the U.S. forces have an obligation to protect fighters hors de combat. Amnesty International calls on the U.S. authorities to investigate this incident immediately," the human rights watchdog said. It said insurgents were also reported to have violated international humanitarian law. WHITE FLAG A RUSE "In one incident, some Iraqis are reported to have come out of a building waving a white flag. When a Marine approached this group, insurgents opened fire on the Marines from different directions." A U.S. military official in Iraq also accused insurgents of storing weapons in mosques and schools. Insurgents were reported to be firing from a mosque on Nov. 10, Amnesty said. "All violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law must be investigated and those responsible for unlawful attacks, including deliberate targeting of civilians, indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks, and the killing of injured persons must be brought to justice," it added. Although half the city's civilian population was reported to have left the city before the assault began, the tens of thousands left behind were in dire straits, it said. Falluja's normal population is believed to be about 300,000. "There are concerns that a humanitarian crisis is looming with acute shortages of food, water, medicine and with no electricity. There are also many wounded people who could not receive medical care because of the fighting," it added. ? Copyright 2004 Reuters Ltd ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? The all-new My Yahoo! ? Get yours free! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 17:02:36 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 17:02:36 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Keeping Iran From The Bomb Message-ID: Keeping Iran From The Bomb Commentary > The Monitor's View from the November 16, 2004 edition FROM: http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1116/p08s02-comv.html The Bush administration's hope of punishing Iran for hiding its nuclear-enrichment activities for 18 years will just have to wait. Instead, three European nations, (Britain, France, and Germany) have used the lure of possible trade openings to win an Iranian promise this week to suspend the type of enrichment activities that can be used for both peaceful nuclear power and atomic weapons. This troika of US allies are out to prove to Washington that the honey of incentives can catch more flies than the vinegar of sanctions (or even the threat of a preemptive attack by Israel). So far, President Bush is playing along. The US had planned to ask a Nov. 25 meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to recommend to the UN Security Council that it impose sanctions on Iran. That move might have begun to put the UN and the US on a trail like the one that led to the long confrontation and eventual war with Saddam Hussein. But the US military is stretched too thin for any war-talk with Iran. And the Security Council isn't likely to go along with the US. Still, Iran has bought time for itself with an easy give. By suspending its questionable nuclear project, its ruling Islamic mullahs are promised negotiations for special trade concessions from Europe. They need that economic boost to create jobs for a huge and restless mass of young people, many of whom are pro-American. The IAEA, meanwhile, reported Monday that all nuclear material that Iran had declared in the past year has been accounted for, "...and therefore we can say that such material is not diverted to prohibited [weapons] activities." The report, however, was inconclusive about any undeclared material Iran may be hiding. Distrust of Iran's intention runs deep in the West, which fears a nuclear-armed Iran could unsettle the region. A similar but weaker agreement to the one just reached was violated by Iran last year. This time, the fear of a US-Iran confrontation seemed more imminent, especially after Mr. Bush's reelection. The result of all this will probably be months or even years of negotiations, similar to the multilateral talks with North Korea over its bomb-grade nuclear material. The crunch will be in whether Iran gives IAEA inspectors the freedom to probe anywhere they like to uncover any more clandestine nuclear work. The Europeans and the US are playing effective good cop/bad cop roles for now. As long as the carrots are working, there's no need for a stick. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 17:06:27 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 17:06:27 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] AP Photographer Flees Fallujah Message-ID: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041114/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_escaping_fallujah&cid=540&ncid=1480 AP Photographer Flees Fallujah Sun Nov 14, 1:19 PM ET Middle East - AP By KATARINA KRATOVAC, Associated Press Writer BAGHDAD, Iraq - In the weeks before the crushing military assault on his hometown, Bilal Hussein sent his parents and brother away from Fallujah to stay with relatives. AP Photo The 33-year-old Associated Press photographer stayed behind to capture insider images during the siege of the former insurgent stronghold. "Everyone in Fallujah knew it was coming. I had been taking pictures for days," he said. "I thought I could go on doing it." In the hours and days that followed, heavy bombing raids and thunderous artillery shelling turned Hussein's northern Jolan neighborhood into a zone of rubble and death. The walls of his house were pockmarked by coalition fire. "Destruction was everywhere. I saw people lying dead in the streets, wounded were bleeding and there was no one to come and help them. Even the civilians who stayed in Fallujah were too afraid to go out," he said. "There was no medicine, water, no electricity nor food for days." By Tuesday afternoon, as U.S. forces and Iraqi rebels engaged in fierce clashes in the heart of his neighborhood, Hussein snapped. "U.S. soldiers began to open fire on the houses, so I decided that it was very dangerous to stay in my house," he said. Hussein said he panicked, seizing on a plan to escape across the Euphrates River, which flows on the western side of the city "I wasn't really thinking," he said. "Suddenly, I just had to get out. I didn't think there was any other choice." In the rush, Hussein left behind his camera lens and a satellite telephone for transmitting his images. His lens, marked with the distinctive AP logo, was discovered two days later by U.S. Marines next to a dead man's body in a house in Jolan. AP colleagues in the Baghdad bureau, who by then had not heard from Hussein in 48 hours, became even more worried. Hussein moved from house to house - dodging gunfire - and reached the river. "I decided to swim ... but I changed my mind after seeing U.S. helicopters firing on and killing people who tried to cross the river." He watched horrified as a family of five was shot dead as they tried to cross. Then, he "helped bury a man by the river bank, with my own hands." "I kept walking along the river for two hours and I could still see some U.S. snipers ready to shoot anyone who might swim. I quit the idea of crossing the river and walked for about five hours through orchards." He met a peasant family, who gave him refuge in their house for two days. Hussein knew a driver in the region and sent a message to another AP colleague, Ali Ahmed, in nearby Ramadi. Ahmed relayed the news that Hussein was alive to AP's Baghdad bureau. He sent a second message back to Hussein that a fisherman in nearby Habaniyah would ferry the photographer to safety by boat. "At the end of the boat ride, Ali was waiting for me. He took me to Baghdad, to my office." Sitting safely in the AP's offices, a haggard-looking Hussein offered a tired smile of relief. "It was a terrible experience in which I learned that life is precious," he said. "I am happy that I am still alive after being close to death during these past days." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 17:09:10 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 17:09:10 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Agony of Ectascy Message-ID: AR Action Report Online. According to a report issued in 2003 by the U.S. State Department, Israel is at the center of international trafficking in Ecstasy . Sat., November 13, 2004 Cheshvan 29, 5765 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- The agony of the Ecstasy By Nathan Guttman The most commonly heard estimate is that Israeli criminals control no less than 75 percent of the Ecstasy market in the U.S. How did Israel become a central player in this dubious game? Washington -- Oded Tuito died on June 20 [2004] at Lutheran Hospital in New York, a few days after suffering a heart attack in his cell in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York. Tuito, 44, was thought to be one of the major drug dealers in the United States -- although he was never convicted -- and to be the person responsible for smuggling millions of Ecstasy (MDMA) tablets into that country in the late 1990s. He was the first Israeli to be included on the White House list of "drug kingpins," which consists of 30 foreigners whom the U.S. administration views as bearing central responsibility for distributing drugs originating abroad in the U.S. The "kingpin" category is reserved for drug traffickers whose scope of activity makes them a threat to the national security of the U.S., so that a special effort is required to apprehend them, freeze their assets and stop their activity. Oded Tuito died innocent, at least according to American law. He was facing legal proceedings in Brooklyn, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles, but none of them had been completed. Still, Tuito in large measure personifies the Israelis who are increasingly being targeted by the U.S. law enforcement authorities as the dominant figures in the transfer of Ecstasy from European labs, where it is manufactured, to U.S. clubs. Israelis involved in the Ecstasy trade in the U.S. are scattered around the country, and according to the authorities are not necessarily organized in large groups, and certainly not under one criminal umbrella organization. There is no Israeli mafia that deals in Ecstasy, but wherever the drug is trafficked on a significant scale, there are sure to be Israelis in the vicinity. Israelis figure prominently in cases currently under investigation in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York and Miami -- cities that constitute the primary source of drug consumption at parties in the U.S. According to a report issued in 2003 by the U.S. State Department, Israel is at the center of international trafficking in Ecstasy and Israeli crime organizations, some of them linked to similar organizations from Russia, achieved a dominant status in the Ecstasy market in Europe, and went on to control the drug's distribution in the States. "Israeli drug-trafficking organizations are the main source of distribution of the drug to groups in the U.S, using express mail services, commercial airlines, and recently also using air cargo services," the report states. The authorities do not provide official data on the scope of the Israeli trade in Ecstasy, but the most commonly heard estimate is that Israeli criminals control no less than 75 percent of the Ecstasy market in the U.S. How did Israel become a central player in this dubious game? The explanation is apparently historical in character. A report of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) explains, in understated language, that "Israeli drug traffickers, perhaps thanks to their long-standing ties in Antwerp, continue to be the major elements in the transfer of large shipments of Ecstasy from Belgium [to the United States]." Underlying this cautious formulation is the assumption that Israeli mobsters have been operating for years in Belgium, mainly in diamond smuggling, and that when the country became a source of Ecstasy production in Europe and Antwerp became the drug's major export hub to the U.S., Israeli criminals naturally became involved. After all, they were already there. The Israeliness of the Ecstasy smugglers is a relative matter. Law-enforcement sources in the States and Israel emphasized that few Israelis are involved, and often they can be described as "former Israelis." Frequently they are young people who left the country of their own volition and hooked up with the underworld and the drug trade overseas. Some of them were, in fact, already connected with Israeli criminal organizations back at home, while others operate without any connections there. In some cases the struggle over control of the Israeli crime families has been exported to the drug market in the U.S., though the Israeli players in the Ecstasy market in America are only loosely connected to the major criminal organizations back home. Las Vegas connection Israel as a country is not a problem in the Ecstasy sphere in the U.S., but Israelis as individuals definitely are. The relatively new arena of the Israeli Ecstasy distributors in the U.S. is Las Vegas. In the past, the city's casinos and tumultuous nightlife have attracted many groups of criminals, from pimps to Mafia bosses, but the Israeli presence was not felt. True, the city still remembers the period more than 50 years ago when the Jewish bosses of the Mafia, Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky, were in control, but until this year, the Jewish or Israeli presence in the Las Vegas crime scene was not considered significant. The change began with the exposure of an Israeli crime syndicate, which the American media dubbed the "Jerusalem Network" and which, according to the police, seized control of the Ecstasy market in the city. At the beginning of this month, Gabriel Ben-Harosh, 39, who is suspected of being the head of the Jerusalem Network, was extradited from Canada to the U.S. Ben-Harosh, along with four other Israelis, is accused of committing a series of crimes involving extortion and money laundering. However, the indictment, filed in April, does not cite drug offenses. Law-enforcement officials in Las Vegas believe that the major source of the network's income derives from the distribution of Ecstasy to clubs in the city. According to Sergeant Blake Quackenbush, from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police: "A lot of the Ecstasy we see in Las Vegas comes from Israeli dealers." Apart from the current gang, he notes, a good many Israelis have been arrested in the city in recent years, most of them in connection with attempts to smuggle Ecstasy and distribute it to local clubs. The investigation against the Israeli gang in Las Vegas lasted 14 months, and when the indictment was issued last April, it turned out that the tracks led from Las Vegas via drug and other criminal activity throughout the U.S., to drug suppliers in Europe and to the group that is considered one of the largest organized crime gangs in Israel: the Abergil family. Quite possibly the term "Jerusalem Network" stems from a misunderstanding, as in Israel the nickname of "Jerusalem Gang" is actually applied to a different crime family, and the major activity of the Abergils has not taken place in Jerusalem. Police and DEA officials in the States believe that Ben-Harosh is the representative of Yitzhak Abergil in the Las Vegas underworld. Abergil, who, by order of the Israel Police has lived outside Israel since his release from prison, is considered the major rival of Ze'ev Rosenstein (right, wetting his pants, arrested) and a key figure in the Israeli crime scene. The police maintain that Ben-Harosh was responsible for setting up the network in Las Vegas and for creating a monopoly in that city's Ecstasy market. Abergil's man In addition to keeping Ben-Harosh under surveillance, Las Vegas detectives spent considerable time tracking another suspect, Hai Waknine, 32, who is believed to be Ben-Harosh's deputy and is also wanted in the city. The investigation found that Waknine, who resides in Los Angeles most of the time, went on high-rolling trips to Las Vegas, dropping thousands of dollars at casinos. Wiretapping of Waknine's phones turned up the fact that he spoke constantly with Ben-Harosh, who was in Spain at the time, and that he laundered drug money for him. The other aspects cited in the Las Vegas indictment are Assaf Waknine (Hai's brother), Yoram El-Al and Sasson Barashy. According to reports in the Las Vegas media, the Israeli mobsters in the city succeeded in forging ties with a number of owners of local clubs where large quantities of Ecstasy are consumed, and in ensuring an Israeli monopoly on local distribution of the drug. The Israeli network indeed controls the Ecstasy market, say the police and the DEA, but it also engages in other activity -- notably extortion and the protection racket. The local descriptions of the Israeli group are hardly flattering. Its members are said to be flashy, not especially careful (during the lengthy surveillance of the group, police discovered that most of the suspects attended a lavish Passover Seder at one of the most expensive hotels in the city), and not deterred by the use of violence or threats of violence to get what they want. GABRIEL Ben-Harosh was arrested in Canada at the request of the U.S. authorities and held in custody for several months in Toronto before being extradited -- with his full consent, according to his lawyer -- to Las Vegas. The lawyer, David Chesnoff, says his client requested to go to the U.S. to prove his innocence. "He is looking forward to his day in court," Chesnoff says, adding that Ben-Harosh "does not know anything about any `Jerusalem Network' and about any allegations [against him]." Chesnoff, a prominent lawyer who was part of the team that defended Martha Stewart, adds: "I met with him in Canada and he told me he is 100 percent innocent. I believe he will be acquitted." At this stage it's not clear what the probe into "an Israeli organized crime syndicate," as it is called in the indictment, will turn up. The charges, as stated, don't yet include drug-related clauses. Meanwhile, the prestigious lawyers involved promise a lengthy judicial process. A source in the Las Vegas police said one of the results could be a decision by the Israeli mob to leave town, if they feel that the police are hot on their heels. On the other hand, the large profits and the Israelis' absolute control of the Las Vegas Ecstasy market make this unlikely. Be that as it may, the information uncovered by the law-enforcement authorities about the activities of Israeli criminals in Las Vegas sheds light on the scope of the phenomenon today -- ties with organized crime in Israel, various centers in Europe and across the U.S., and criminal activity that combines classic Mafia deeds with niche operations involving trafficking in Ecstasy. The indictments in Las Vegas are perhaps the most recent and most detailed, but they are certainly not the only ones concerning Israeli involvement in the distribution of Ecstasy in the U.S. The list is long and extends from coast to coast: two Israelis in their twenties who were arrested with a million Ecstasy tablets in their possession in New York in the summer of 2001; two others who were picked up when they received a Fed Ex package containing 200 kilos of Ecstasy tablets; three residents of the city of Givatayim, adjacent to Tel Aviv, who were extradited to the U.S. last year after a shipment containing 500,000 tablets that they sent to Brooklyn was seized by the authorities, a few years after they were extradited to south Florida after a scheme to smuggle drugs into Miami was exposed; and many others. Along with the small fry, some Israelis in the top ranks of the Ecstasy business have also been arrested -- notably Jacob "Cookie" Orgad, who controlled the market in Los Angeles, and Ilan Zarger, who was the Ecstasy supplier to the well-known Mafia figure Salvatore (Sammy the Bull) Gravano, from the Gambino crime family. Mistakenly released Two classes of players can be distinguished among Israelis involved in the Ecstasy scene: the directors of the networks, who usually also have connections to crime organizations in Israel and come from the underworld, and the couriers, who are responsible for getting the drugs from Europe to the States. The couriers are recruited in Europe or the U.S. in return for the promise of big profits and for the most part carry out similar missions many times. The numerous charges against the late Oded Tuito cast some light on how the Israeli networks operate. Tuito was suspected of having ties with Ecstasy suppliers in Europe and of being a major recruiter of couriers in the U.S., who were carrying millions of tablets into the country from Europe. The prosecution alleged that Tuito developed a fondness for strip joints in New York during his visits to the U.S. and hired strippers to fly to Europe in return for a payment of $10,000 to bring back suitcases filled with tens of thousands of tablets. The luggage the women took with them to Europe contained tens of thousands of dollars in cash -- Tuito's earnings from previous drug deals. In addition to the strippers, Tuito also made use of young ultra-Orthodox Jews, whom he recruited by word of mouth in New York yeshivas. He believed -- and rightly so, as it turned out -- that the U.S. authorities would not suspect yeshiva students dressed in the traditional black garb and therefore would not check their luggage at the airport in New York. Hundreds of thousands of Ecstasy pills reached the U.S. this way. Later he also started to recruit elderly ultra-Orthodox, again in return for thousands of dollars per delivery. Tuito was initially detained in France, but was released by mistake and got to Spain, from where he was extradited to the U.S. after a years-long legal battle. In testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee last March, DEA administrator Karen Tandy stated that Tuito "was known as the world's largest trafficker of MDMA [Ecstasy]." Tuito, she added, was responsible for the importation of over 7 million tablets of MDMA into the U.S. during his period of activity. The investigation against him completely "dismantled Tuito's MDMA trafficking organization and seriously impacted the ability of Israeli organized crime groups to distribute MDMA into domestic consumer markets," she stated in her testimony. Alexi Schacht, Tuito's lawyer, believes that the description of his client's exploits in the Ecstasy market was greatly exaggerated. "The government behaved as if Ecstasy is the same as cocaine and heroin, as if he is one CEO that runs the operation, but it doesn't work that way. With Ecstasy, people buy and sell to everyone." Schacht adds that it was unreasonable to place his client on the "drug kingpins" list. One way or another, the lawyer maintains, the effect of the arrest and lengthy incarceration of Oded Tuito -- who was known to investigators as "Fat Man" -- on the trafficking of in Ecstasy in the U.S. was no more than marginal, as most of the activity attributed to him took place years ago and he had been out of the game since being arrested in France and Spain. "He was a very nice and friendly man, he spoke several languages and even though he had no formal education, he was very smart," Schacht says, summing up his opinion of the person who was called the world's greatest trafficker in Ecstasy. The new Israelis who are active in the Ecstasy market in the States are different from Tuito, not only in the scale of their trafficking but also in their methods of operation. When Ecstasy came onto the drug market it was a new phenomenon. It was manufactured in the underground and penetration of it in the U.S. required mainly thought, boldness and a great deal of money. In recent years the picture has changed: The federal authorities in the U.S. have greatly stiffened the punishment for trafficking in Ecstasy so that in practice, it is now comparable to the punishment stipulated for dealers of addictive hard drugs. As a result, the Ecstasy industry has passed into the hands of the organized crime bosses, who are willing to take the risk and who have the connections and the wherewithal to cope with the hard hand of the law-enforcement agencies. However, this situation, too, is thought to be on the brink of change. Whereas in the past decade Europe was the principal source for the Ecstasy supply in the States, and Israeli traffickers dominated the trans-Atlantic lines of shipment, more recently there has been an increase in the manufacture of Ecstasy in Latin America. If the major source of the drug's supply shifts southward, it's unlikely that the Israeli mobsters will succeed in maintaining their control of the market. The reasons: the mechanism for smuggling drugs from Central and South America into the U.S. has operated for years without Israeli involvement; and it will be difficult to keep up a competitive price in European Ecstasy in the face of the goods that will arrive from south of the border. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 17:20:44 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 17:20:44 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] 'Apology for Bush Win' Website is a Big Hit Message-ID: <20041116012045.2903.qmail@web13624.mail.yahoo.com> http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1115-09.htm 'Apology for Bush Win' Website is a Big Hit Thousands of Remorseful Americans Say Sorry to the World for President's Victory It started the day after the US presidential election with one student posting a picture of himself on the internet holding up a sign reading: "Sorry world (we tried) - half of America". Within just a few days, the website www.sorryeverybody.com, set up by James Zetlen, had 27 million hits, he said. The site features more than 2,200 pictures of contrite Americans holding up placards expressing their sorrow at the victory of George W. Bush. There are 1,000 more pictures waiting to be posted. "It was mind-boggling the amount of emotion the website has triggered," said the 20-year-old neuroscience student at the University of Southern California. Not all the emotional responses have been positive, however. Mr Zetlen's site for rueful Americans has spawned at least eight websites for people who say they are not at all sorry that Mr Bush beat Democratic candidate John Kerry. Mr Zetlen said the reaction from outside the US has been overwhelmingly positive. "The international community is absolutely mortified at what has happened," he said. About half of the more than 3,000 e-mails he received came from abroad. The worldwide reaction included responses from Germany, France, Italy, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Senegal, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Chile, Brazil, China and South Korea. The German daily newspaper Der Spiegel wrote about the website and the French daily newspaper Liberation called the number of penitent people "impressive". All the pictures share a common theme, asking forgiveness for the re-election of Mr Bush. "Sorry everybody, the inmates are running the asylum. AGAIN! Please don't hate half of us." "Dear World. We are so sorry! It makes no sense to us either." One man's sign reads: "This one of the 55,902,001 Americans that voted against Mr Bush would like to apologize for the 59,422,689 idiots who did." Several talk of leaving the United States. "We are so sorry that we are moving to your country." One man is holding up an SOS distress call, spelled out in Morse code. Another pictures a toddler wearing a T-shirt saying: "If I could vote, I'd vote against Bush." One picture shows the American eagle with the words: "Sorry everybody." Some non-Americans have posted supportive photos and messages on the site. Stefan from Germany said: "On behalf of my country I accept your apology. I know you tried hard." Mr Zetlen said he was surprised at the number of submissions and traffic the site attracted. The University of Southern California had to ask Mr Zetlen to take the site off their server because it was taking up 82 per cent of the traffic. He now hosts the website privately, which he estimates will cost US$6,000 to US$7,000 a month. He has received almost as much in donations ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Discover all that?s new in My Yahoo! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 16 13:34:31 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 13:34:31 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Eyewitness from Fallujah Massacre In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <20041116213431.71611.qmail@web51404.mail.yahoo.com> --- shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca wrote: > > > > > EYEWITNESS: > SMOKE AND CORPSES IN FALLUJAH > > BBC NEWS > > US troops, backed by Iraqi forces, are locked in a > fierce fight to wrest the city of Falluja from rebel > control. The BBC News website spoke by phone to > Fadhil Badrani, an Iraqi journalist and resident of > Falluja who reports regularly for Reuters and the > BBC World Service in Arabic. > > We are publishing his and other eyewitness accounts > from the city in order to provide the fullest > possible range of perspectives from those who are > there: > > A row of palm trees used to run along the street > outside my house - now only the trunks are left. > > The upper half of each tree has vanished, blown away > by mortar fire. > > >From my window, I can also make out that the > minarets of several mosques have been toppled. > > There are more and more dead bodies on the streets > and the stench is unbearable. > > Smoke is everywhere. > > Sleeping through bombardment > > A house some doors from mine was hit during the > bombardment on Wednesday night. A 13-year-old boy > was killed. His name was Ghazi. > > I tried to flee the city last night but I could not > get very far. It was too dangerous. > > I am getting used to the bombardment. I have learnt > to sleep through the noise - the smaller bombs no > longer bother me. > > Without water and electricity, we feel completely > cut off from everyone else. > > I only found out Yasser Arafat had died because the > BBC rang me. > > It is hard to know how much people outside Falluja > are aware of what is going on here. > > I want them to know about conditions inside this > city - there are dead women and children lying on > the streets. > > People are getting weaker from hunger. Many are > dying from their injuries because there is no > medical help left in the city whatsoever. > > Some families have started burying their dead in > their gardens. > > Iraqi soldiers > > There has been a lot of resistance in Jolan. > > The Americans have taken over several high-rise > buildings overlooking the district. > > But the height has not helped them control the area > because the streets of Jolan are very narrow and you > cannot fire into them directly. > > The US military moves along the main roads and > avoids the side-streets. The soldiers do not leave > their armoured vehicles and tanks. > > If they get fired on, they fire back from their > tanks or call in air-strikes. > > I saw some Iraqi government soldiers on the ground > earlier. > > I don't know which part of the country these > soldiers are from. They are definitely not from any > of the western provinces such as al-Anbar. > > I have heard people say they are from Kurdistan. > > They are well co-ordinated. When the US forces pull > back from an area, the Iraqi soldiers will take over > there. > > Translation from Arabic by Shukri Shewayish of > bbcarabic.com > Story from BBC NEWS: > http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/4004873.stm > > Published: 2004/11/11 22:21:15 GMT > > ? BBC MMIV > > =============================================================================== > > Mission Defeated: > Insurgency Foils U.S. Plans for Iraq > > By Patrick Ayers > "Justice," Issue #41 > > "The Americans say that Saddam is the man of mass > graves, > but they are the ones responsible for these mass > graves." > > - Iraqi tribal leader > > On the campaign trail, Bush presented a picture of > an Iraq in transition from dictatorship to > democracy. The President told a crowd in Minnesota, > "It wasn't all that long ago that Saddam Hussein was > in power with his torture chambers and mass graves. > And today, this country is headed towards > elections." > But a growing section of Iraqis see the role of the > U.S. military occupation of Iraq much differently > than Bush. While helping bury Iraqis outside > Fallujah after a U.S. aerial assault, one tribal > leader told an American reporter, ''They [the > Americans] say that Saddam is the man of mass > graves, but they are the ones responsible for these > mass graves." (Boston Globe, 9/18/04) > > Months of occupation have stoked up enormous anger > among Iraqis. In addition to the brutal and > humiliating nature of a foreign occupation, > unemployment stands at 60%. Crime is rampant. Women > face the threat of kidnapping and rape every time > they leave home. Raw sewage flows through the > streets of Baghdad, and preventable diseases are > spreading in epidemic proportions. > Intelligence reports suggest that more and more > Iraqis are joining the ranks of the insurgency. One > recent report put the number of full-time insurgent > forces as high as 20,000, much higher than all > previous estimates. > > The insurgency has already demonstrated sufficient > strength to force the U.S. out of major areas in the > "Sunni triangle" north and west of Baghdad and large > areas of the Shi'a south. In the last months, the > insurgency has spread to every corner of Iraq > outside of the Kurdish north, and insurgents have > even managed attacks in the heavily guarded Green > Zone. > > George Bush's Vietnam > > George Bush is losing his war. His insane adventure > to grab Iraqi oil fields and boost the power and > prestige of U.S. imperialism has created a > catastrophe that is spinning out of control. Attacks > have increased to 87 per day, up from 40-50 per day > in June. Nearly 1,100 U.S. soldiers have been > killed, and a new report from public health experts > estimates that more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians > have been slaughtered since the March 2003 > invasion.(Lancet Journal, 10/28/04) > > While playing down this disaster, Bush has gambled > on a strategy of "Iraqification," that is, giving > the U.S. occupation an Iraqi face in the form of > former exile Ayad Allawi. But the authority of > Interim Prime Minister Allawi's government extends > little beyond the city limits of Baghdad. > The U.S. has even found it difficult to ensure the > security of the Iraqi National Guard. A recent > massacre of 50 Iraqi soldiers suggests that > insurgents have successfully infiltrated the guard. > Many Iraqis sign up just for the paycheck, and at > critical moments many have switched sides, joining > the resistance to the U.S. > > The insurgency may be outmatched by the awesome > power of the U.S. military, but the U.S. will not be > able to secure Iraq in the face of a widespread > guerrilla war or national uprising. The New York > Times recently expressed doubts about this: > "History, from Algeria to Vietnam, suggests that no > military solution to a spreading insurgency is > possible" (9/26/04) > > Without security, Bush's stated aim of a > democratic Iraq and U.S. imperialism's strategic > goal of a pro-U.S. outpost in Iraq is in jeopardy. > Clearly, === message truncated ===> To subscribe to this email list, send an email (no > text is necessary) to: > uw_socialist_alternative-subscribe at lists.riseup.net > > To unsubscribe, send an email (no text is necessary) > to: > uw_socialist_alternative-unsubscribe at lists.riseup.net > > Visit www.SocialistAlternative.org to read the > newest issue of "Justice" newspaper on-line, or > visit www.socialistworld.net for great anti-war, > socialist news, analysis, and campaigns.> _______________________________________________ > ShadowGroup-l mailing list > ShadowGroup-l at lists.resist.ca > https://lists.resist.ca/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/shadowgroup-l > TAKE ME OFF OF THIS MAILING LIST!!!!!! auggies at rocketmail.com and seriously take me off... please... thanks,janine __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The all-new My Yahoo! - Get yours free! http://my.yahoo.com From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 21:28:30 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 21:28:30 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] HEMP - Popular Mechanics Article From February 1938 Message-ID: <20041116052831.25272.qmail@web13624.mail.yahoo.com> New Billion-Dollar Crop, That's a "B" in 1938! Popular Mechanics declared Hemp a billion crop, what happened? http://www.cannabis.com/untoldstory/pmpage1.shtml ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! ? Try it today! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 22:10:14 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 22:10:14 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Flag desecration charge against veteran is dismissed Message-ID: Grand Island Independent. Flag desecration charge against veteran is dismissed By Kevin O'Hanlon The Associated Press LINCOLN -- Charges against a Vietnam-era veteran who flew an American flag upside down to protest the war in Iraq have been dismissed. The American Civil Liberties Union said Thursday that Loup County authorities agreed to drop the charges against 64-year-old Larry Lentz. The case began last month when Loup County Sheriff Dan Kling warned Lentz that he could be ticketed for flying the upside-down flag in his yard. Kling returned later, took the flag down and had Lentz ticketed for violating a 1977 state law that prohibits "mutilation of a flag." Nebraska's flag law says "A person commits the offense of mutilating a flag if such person intentionally casts contempt or ridicule upon a flag by mutilating, defacing, defiling, burning, or trampling upon such flag." Violating the law is a misdemeanor punishable by three months in jail and a $500 fine. Lentz then bought another flag, but this time flew it upside down on his backyard flagpole. When the sheriff returned a third time and threatened to issue another ticket, Lentz called the ACLU for help. ACLU lawyer Amy Miller said Lentz has a right to fly the flag upside down to express himself, "especially because he's paid the price more than most of us by serving in our military." Lentz served in the Navy from 1959 to 1967 and later in both the Navy and Army reserves. Lentz says while he supports U.S. troops, he feels the war is wrong. "My opinion is this country is in upside down mode right now," Lentz said in a statement released by the ACLU. "I decided to fly my flag upside down to show someone needs to make a change for the better. This doesn't mean anything against the boys or girls in the war right now. They're doing their job. I just wanted to express myself on my own land." The ACLU's Tim Butz said Loup County Attorney Jason White agreed to drop the charges after both sides met. White said Thursday that he and Kling would not comment on the case. Butz said several U.S. Supreme Court decisions have overturned laws similar to Nebraska's flag statute. In 1990, the high court struck down a federal law that outlawed burning the American flag. "Punishing desecration of the flag dilutes the very freedom that makes this emblem so revered," the court said. The justices said the Flag Protection Act of 1989 violated freedom of expression guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution. Writing for the majority, Justice William J. Brennan called it a "bedrock" constitutional guarantee. "We are aware that desecration of the flag is deeply offensive to many," Brennan wrote. But, quoting from an earlier ruling, he said, "If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable." Earlier, the court ruled in favor of a Washington college student who hung an American flag upside down and with a peace symbol taped to it from his apartment balcony to protest the 1970 killings of four anti-war protesters at Kent State University by Ohio National Guardsmen. The state argued it had an interest in preserving the "unalloyed symbol of our country." The high court said the student had a right to display the flag as he saw fit. ---- On The Net: American Civil Liberties Union: http://www.aclu.org/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 22:11:48 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 22:11:48 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fallujah, A City in Ruins Message-ID: A city lies in ruins, along with the lives of the wretched survivors By Michael Georgy in Fallujah and Kim Sengupta 15 November 2004 http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=582915 After six days of intense combat against the Fallujah insurgents, US warplanes, tanks and mortars have left a shattered landscape of gutted buildings, crushed cars and charred bodies. A drive through the city revealed a picture of utter destruction, with concrete houses flattened, mosques in ruins, telegraph poles down, power and phone lines hanging slack and rubble and human remains littering the empty streets. The north-west Jolan district, once an insurgent stronghold, looked like a ghost town, the only sound the rumbling of tank tracks. US Marines pointed their assault rifles down abandoned streets, past Fallujah's simple amusement park, now deserted. Four bloated and burnt bodies lay on the main street, not far from US tanks and soldiers. The stench of the remains hung heavy in the air, mixing with the dust. Another body lay stretched out on the next block, its head blown off, perhaps in one of the countless explosions which rent the city day and night for nearly a week. Some bodies were so mutilated it was impossible to tell if they were civilians or militants, male or female. Fallujah, regarded as a place with an independent streak where citizens even defied the former leader Saddam Hussein at times, seemed lifeless. The minarets of the city's dozens of mosques stood silent, no longer broadcasting the call to holy war that so often echoed across the rooftops, inspiring fighters to join the insurgency. Restaurant signs were covered in soot. Pavements were crushed by 70-ton Abrams tanks, and rows of crumbling buildings stood on both sides of deserted streets. Upmarket homes with garages looked as if they had been abandoned for years. Cars lay crushed in the middle of streets. Two Iraqis in one street desperately trying to salvage some of their smashed belongings were the only signs of life. As US soldiers walked through neighbourhoods, their allies in the Iraqi forces casually moved along dusty streets past wires hanging down from gutted buildings. They carried boxes of bottled water to the rooftops of the upmarket villas they now occupy. The soldiers sat on the roofs staring at the ruins. As a small convoy of Humvees moved back to position on the edge of the Jolan district, a rocket landed in the sand about 100ft away, a reminder that militants were still out there somewhere, even if the city that harboured them has fallen. The few civilians left in Fallujah talked of a city left in ruins not just by the six days of the ground assault, but the weeks of bombing that preceded the attack. Residents have long been without electricity or water, abandoning their homes and congregating in the centre of the city as the US forces advanced from all sides. They had cowered in buildings as the battle unfolded past the windows. The reaction of US troops to attacks, say residents, have been out of all proportion; shots by snipers have been answered by rounds from Abrams tanks, devastating buildings and, it is claimed, injuring and killing civilians. This is firmly denied by the American military. About 200,000 refugees fled the fighting, and there have been outbreaks of typhoid and other diseases. People leaving the city described rotting corpses being piled up and thousands still trapped inside their homes, many of them wounded and without access to food, water or medical aid. US commanders insist civilian casualties in Fallujah have been low, but the Pentagon famously claims it does not keep figures. Escaping residents described incidents in which non-combatants, including women and children, were killed by shrapnel or hit by bombs. In one case last week, a nine-year-old boy was hit in the stomach by shrapnel. Unable to reach a hospital, he died hours later from blood loss. His father had to bury his body in their garden. Those trapped inside the city say they are reaching a point of desperation. "Our situation is very hard," said Abu Mustafa, contacted by telephone in the central Hay al-Dubat neighbourhood. "We don't have food or water," he told Reuters. "My seven children all have severe diarrhoea. One of my sons was wounded by shrapnel last night and he's bleeding, but I can't do anything to help him." Aamir Haidar Yusouf, a 39-year-old trader, sent his family out of Fallujah, but stayed behind to look after his home, not just during the fighting, but the looting which will follow. "The Americans have been firing at buildings if they see even small movements," he said. As the fighting died down yesterday he said: "They are also destroying cars, because they think every car has a bomb in it. People have moved from the edges of the city into the centre, and they are staying on the ground floors of buildings. There will be nothing left of Fallujah by the time they finish. They have already destroyed so many homes with their bombings from the air, and now we are having this from tanks and big guns." There was no sign of the guerrillas who scribbled graffiti along the walls of the park, encouraging Fallujah's 300,000 residents to join a holy war against US-led troops. "Long live the mujahedin," read the graffiti. Mohammed Younis, a former policeman, said: "The Americans and [Iyad] Allawi [Iraq's interim Prime Minister] have been saying that Fallujah is full of foreign fighters. That is not true; they left a long time ago. You will find them in other places, in Baghdad. We have been saying to Allawi and the Americans that they are not here, but they do not believe us." THE CIVILIAN DEATH TOLL By Harvey McGavin US military officials were last night counting the cost of their week long assault on Fallujah in which they claim to have killed some 1,200 insurgents and some 44 servicemen lost their lives. But in the city which was once home to 300,000 people there were few reports of the number of civilians killed. Many are thought to have fled the fighting, but reports from the city say it is impossible to tell how many of the bodies that litter its rubble-strewn streets are those of ordinary citizens. Last week a report collated by the UN said 20 doctors had died during a US air strike on a clinic and there have been numerous reports of the US dropping huge bombs. The US Defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld claimed last week that Iraqi civilians had been warned how to avoid injury. "Innocent civilians in that city have all the guidance they need as to how they can avoid getting into trouble. There aren't going to be large numbers of civilians killed and certainly not by US forces," he said. In addition to the 38 Americans and six Iraqis killed in the assault, more than 200 US soldiers were injured. About 400 suspected insurgents have been arrested in Fallujah including "some" foreigners, interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said. The Iraq Coalition Casualties website reported that, as of Saturday, 1,181 US troops had been killed in Iraq. One Iraq-based report estimates civilian casualties to be 37,000. A report in the British medical journal The Lancet put the figure as high as 100,000. Prime minister Iyad Allawi said there had been no civilian casualties during the battle for Fallujah, contradicting accounts from residents inside the city. _______________________________________________________ portside (the left side in nautical parlance) is a news, discussion and debate service of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism. It aims to provide varied material of interest to people on the left. -- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 17:07:46 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 17:07:46 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Outlaws Saving Seeds! Message-ID: rense.com New Iraq Law Outlaws Saving Seeds! Requires Licenses! Posted by Timothy On Monkey.org 11-14-4 Doc Ruby writes - "The (now former) American Administrator of the Iraqi CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority) government, Paul Bremer,updated Iraq's intellectual property law to 'meet current internationally-recognized standards of protection.' http://www.iraqcoalition.org/ regulations/20040426_CPAORD_81_Patents_Law.pdf The updated law makes saving seeds for next year's harvest, practiced by 97% of Iraqi farmers in 2002, the standard farming practice for thousands of years across human civilizations, http://www.vegsource.com/articles2/iraq_seeds.htmnow illegal. Instead, farmers have to obtain a yearly license for genetically-modified seeds from American corporations. These GM seeds have typically been modified from IP developed over thousands of generations by indigenous farmers like the Iraqis, shared freely like agricultural 'open source.' Other IP provisions for technology in the law further integrate Iraq into the American IP economy." http://politics.slashdot.org/politics/04 /11/13/2023220.shtml?tid=191&tid=155&tid=219 http://www.vegsource.com/articles2/iraq_seeds.htm http://www.iraqcoalition.org/regulations /20040426_CPAORD_81_Patents_Law.pdf http://www.grain.org/articles/?id=6 As part of sweeping "economic restructuring" implemented by the Bush Administration in Iraq, Iraqi farmers will no longer be permitted to save their seeds. Instead, they will be forced to buy seeds from US corporations -- including seeds the Iraqis themselves developed over hundreds of years. That is because in recent years, transnational corporations have patented and now own many seed varieties originated or developed by indigenous peoples. In a short time, Iraq will be living under the new American credo: Pay Monsanto, or starve. regards, Eric Sean Webber http://www.monkey.org/~timothy/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 11:51:55 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 11:51:55 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] new intentional community forming Message-ID: Live in an Ecovillage on Vashon Island, WA: Laughing Planet! Hello Alternative Lifestyle Enthusiasts! CREATING TOGETHER - LIVING IN COMMUNITY If you've considered living in cohousing or intentional community, we invite to explore Laughing Planet. Our group is in the process of purchasing 26 beautiful acres and two homes on Vashon Island. I hope this email gives you a sense of the positive lifestyle we are creating. We are a group of families, couples and singles. Two of our group's passions are Nature and the Arts. HISTORY Our vision for Laughing Planet has been evolving since the fall of 1999. Our group has been meeting formally as a whole, and in workgroups since February of 2002. We held full day retreats in August of 2002 and October of 2003, and have another, very important one planned for November of 2004. THE LAND ON VASHON ISLAND After years of searching for just the right property for our vision, we have discovered 26 beautiful acres, zoned appropriately, that already have one truly remarkable home on them. This understated Japanese-style home will serves as our community's common house. There is also a large caretaker's home which will be considered a common area as well. GREEN BUILDING AND OUR FINANCIAL PICTURE Our goal is to offer affordable cohousing opportunities to families, singles and couples. We anticipate living with 25-30 adults and their children, based on the financial requirements of the property. Some community members will move to existing buildings on the Vashon land in April of 2005, while others will build their homes at a more leisurely pace. We intend to use green building techniques and maximize all conservation opportunities. We seek financially responsible individuals who will demonstrate a high level of commitment to the success of the community. Our group includes an architect and green builders. Please attend our presentations to hear more about financial participation requirements. OUR VALUES We are a fun-loving group of lively, passionate individuals. Art and music play major roles in our coming together. We see our move to community and to living cooperatively as a positive step we can take to promote change. Laughing Planet Community Members know that American lifestyles are not sustainable. We seek the fun, camaraderie and liveliness of living in community and celebrating nature with others. Our Mission Statement and Communication Guidelines generate a respectful, creative environment that will help us thrive. INVEST IN COMMUNITY ? JOIN THE FRIENDS OF LP Even if you don't see yourself living with us, consider investing in our vision at an interest rate comparable to what you receive from your other investments. We would welcome you at all our community events. Invest in what really matters: people learning to live cooperatively for a sustainable future. LEARN MORE - 3 PRESENTATIONS IN NOV-DEC, 2004 We are hosting three presentations in the Vashon Island, Seattle, and Tacoma areas, Nov 30, Dec 1 and Dec 2, 7:30 ? 9:30 p.m. Please call us for location information and to RSVP. We'd love to meet you and hear about your dreams of living in community! We'll send you a brochure and we invite you to explore www.laughingplanet.net Call or contact us: Margaret Berman, (206) 525-0630 laughingp at hotmail.com Joy Martinello, (206) 547-4167, joyearth at aol.com Ben Kaufman, Greenworks Realty, (206) 300-0115, ben at greenworksrealty.com Love and Best Wishes to All! Laughing Planet Intentional Community **Short Blurb for Bulletin Boards and Other Electronic Posts LIVE COOPERATIVELY ON VASHON ISLAND SURROUNDED BY BEAUTY Laughing Planet Ecovillage seeks new members! We are a fun-loving group of lively, passionate individuals who will be moving to 26 beautiful acres on Vashon Island, WA. We are offering affordable cohousing for families, couples and singles. Art and music play major roles in our coming together. We see our move to community and to living cooperatively as a positive step we can take to promote change. Laughing Planet Community Members know that American lifestyles are not sustainable. We seek the fun, camaraderie and liveliness of living sustainably in community and celebrating nature with others. Our Mission Statement and Communication Guidelines generate a respectful, creative environment that will help us thrive. For more information call Joy, (206) 547-4167 or Margaret, (206) 525-0630, www.laughingplanet.net -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Learn about the power of raw foods at ---> http://www.rawfoods.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 16 11:37:16 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 11:37:16 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] USA Terror Map (downloadable) Message-ID: <20041116193716.77282.qmail@web13605.mail.yahoo.com> USA Terror Map Whether you?re a budding weapons inspector or just a trivia buff, A Threat to Peace can give you the scoop on nuclear manufacturing facilities, chemical and biochemical weapons facilities, weapons manufacturers, nuclear testing and launch sites, and much, much more. http://indypendent.org/webnews/index.php?action=show&type=story&id=2 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! ? Try it today! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 16 11:41:26 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 11:41:26 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] US study links more than 200 diseases to pollution Message-ID: <20041116194126.44843.qmail@web13622.mail.yahoo.com> US study links more than 200 diseases to pollution By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor 14 November 2004 http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=582743 Pollution has been linked to about 200 different diseases, ranging from cerebral palsy to testicular atrophy, as well as more than 37 kinds of cancer, startling US research shows. The study, which the authors say probably underestimates the full toll of the contamination, will focus attention on the need for information on the tens of thousands of chemicals routinely released into the environment. But Britain has weakened the proposed European Union regulations to provide safety information on the substances at the behest of the US government. The research, by doctors at what was then the University of California and at the Boston Medical Center, was restricted to listing only effects that had been found by several different studies and which are often well known. More than 120 diseases have been definitively linked to pollution, and in another 33 evidence of a link is judged to be "good". For the rest the evidence is "limited". Nine different pollutants have been "verified" to cause asthma - including four from car exhausts, the subject of an Independent on Sunday campaign - the study shows. Testicular atrophy is caused by oestrogen, increasingly found in British rivers that supply drinking water. Mercury poisoning can cause cerebral palsy, while more than 50 pollutants - ranging from dioxins to PCBs - have been shown to cause cancer. Other effects include: kidney disease, heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, dermatitis bronchitis, hyperactivity, deafness, sperm damage and Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. One of the authors, Dr Ted Schletter of the Boston Medical Center, said yesterday: "The human body is in constant conversation with this chemical milieu and some substances have turned out to be important contributors to disease." He said pollution often acted in concert with genetic predispositions to developing particular illnesses. Dr J Peterson Myers, chief executive of the Virginia-based Environmental Health Sciences, said because science continued to find new effects of pollution, the number of diseases linked to it was "very much higher". At the last count - more than 20 years ago - more than 100,000 chemicals were in use in Europe. Few have been properly tested. Blood tests in the UK, the rest of Europe and the US indicate that most people carry potentially hazardous chemicals in their bodies. The European Commission has been trying to introduce a new directive requiring industry to provide safety information on the 30,000 most common chemicals, but this measure has been watered down because of pressure from the Bush administration. A leaked cable signed by Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, complains that the measures "would be significantly more burdensome to industry and government" and would "impact" on US exports to Europe. Tony Blair, President Jacques Chirac of France and Chancellor Gerhard Schr?der of Germany wrote a joint letter to the Commission and succeeded in weakeningthe measure. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? The all-new My Yahoo! ? Get yours free! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 16 13:05:53 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 13:05:53 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fwd: [change-links] Crooked Arnold Greed Message-ID: <20041116210553.55381.qmail@web13622.mail.yahoo.com> Crooked Arnold Greed In the weeks leading up to the November election, Governor Schwarzenegger took $500,000 from real estate mogul and developer Alex Spanos, $100K from The Home Depot, $750K from mortgage lender Ameriquest Capital, $250K from the parent company of Fox News Channel and $1.5 million from tech billionaire Henry Nicholas. Based on the latest public reports, Arnold will have millions to put in his burrow for the next political season. ArnoldWatch has just released the new Arnold's Top 100 donors and an updated chart of his top donors by industry, available at: http://www.arnoldwatch.org/special_interests/index.html These recent mega-contributions are particularly noteworthy because, as of Nov. 2nd, Arnold is no longer allowed to sidestep voter-enacted contribution limits through creative financing schemes. Last June, the Fair Political Practices Commission approved a rule change requiring that all campaign committees controlled by a politician be subject to the same contribution limits applied to their regular candidate committees. The limit for donations to the Governor is $21,200. The FPPC decided not to put this rule into effect until after the election, allowing Arnold to continue raising above-limits contributions including the millions noted above. The question now is whether Arnold will try to circumvent the new rules or if he'll respect the voters' limits on political fundraising. Earlier this year Arnold's attorney Charles Bell cynically dismissed the rule change: "When you look at a piece of swiss cheese it does have holes in it." Read more at http://www.ArnoldWatch.org ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! ? Try it today! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 16 13:54:43 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 13:54:43 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] CNN: Americans Unhappy With Two Party Choices Message-ID: Hi all, Well, this just confirms what we already knew, but it's nice to see it from a "credible" source. CNN asks "Are you happy with the choice of candidates for president?" (Presumably they mean Bush and Kerry.) Yes - 39% No - 61% ~50,000 responses http://www.cnn.com/ (Goto "QuickVote" on the right side.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 16 14:17:43 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 14:17:43 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Hamas rejects calls from Abbas to halt attacks - Palestine Message-ID: Hamas rejects calls from Abbas to halt attacks Associated Press FROM: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1100630843884_96040043?hub=World GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Islamic militant groups behind many suicide bombings dismissed on Tuesday a call from interim Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to halt attacks in the run-up to a Jan. 9 election to replace Yasser Arafat. Abbas, who is trying to work out a deal with rival Palestinian groups on a cease-fire and possible power-sharing, resisted a call by the groups for a share of power despite their planned boycott of the Jan. 9 election. Hamas and Islamic Jihad do not accept the presence of a Jewish state in the Middle East. They refuse to take part in governments formed as a result of agreements with Israel and say they will not participate in the election. However, the two movements, responsible for hundreds of deadly attacks against Israelis in four years of violence, are demanding a leadership role outside the electoral process. They want a "unified leadership" that would exert influence on the Palestinian government. Abbas was cool to the idea and recommended instead that even if they skip the presidential race, the radical groups try their hand in parliamentary elections to be held at an unspecified later date. He is said to be proposing parliamentary and local elections four or five months after the vote. The only other election held since the Palestinian Authority was established, in 1996, combined presidential and parliamentary voting, and the Islamic groups did not take part. Abbas is also urging the radical groups to halt attacks against Israelis during the election campaign, said Ziad Abu Amr, a lawmaker participating in the talks, "(Abbas) said the elections need security, stability and quiet," Abu Amr said. "There is no possibility to conduct elections while we are in a situation of war and conflict." Hamas leaders dismissed the truce call. "This subject is not under discussion in Hamas," said Ismail Haniyeh, a leader if the Islamic group. Another leader, Mahmoud Zahar, said first Israel must stop its attacks, and then Hamas would consider how to respond. Islamic Jihad leader Sheik Nafez Azzam said it was "too early" to consider a cease-fire. "The top priority is to confront the (Israeli) occupation and its aggression," he said. Since Arafat's death on Thursday, Israel has scaled back its military operations, especially in the Gaza Strip, though nightly arrest raids continue in the West Bank. Abbas served briefly as Palestinian prime minister in 2003 and succeeded in negotiating a unilateral Palestinian cease-fire that summer. However, it broke down after six weeks in a flurry of Palestinian attacks and Israeli counterstrikes. Abbas, 69, is the leading candidate in the race to replace Arafat as president of the Palestinian Authority, but he won't run unopposed. Younger members of his Fatah movement favor Marwan Barghouti, the West Bank Fatah leader serving five life terms in an Israeli prison. At least two independent candidates are considering running as well. Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan, considered a possible Arafat successor, took himself out of the race Tuesday, throwing his support to Abbas. The two are close allies. "Abu Mazen could be the bridge between the past, the present and the future," Dahlan told reporters Tuesday in Gaza City, using Abbas' nickname. European Union members are seeking ways to ensure the election is a success. A British diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Britain is paying for an adviser to help the Palestinians set up the elections. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who met Sunday with Abbas, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath and Dahlan, "is convinced that the present leadership can organize elections in 60 days," said his spokeswoman, Christina Gallach. Also Tuesday, an Israeli economist totaled up the cost of four years of violence to the two sides and came up with huge amounts - $12 billion for Israel and $4.5 billion for the Palestinians. Danny Singerman, chief economist at the research firm Business Data Israel, said the Palestinian uprising cut the Palestinian GDP by about 30 percent and Israeli GDP by 10 percent. In September, the United Nations said that three out of four Palestinians are living in poverty. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 16 14:18:43 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 14:18:43 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] U.S., Iraqi Troops Launch Mosul Offensive Message-ID: And the "diversionary" war on terror continues... ========== U.S., Iraqi Troops Launch Mosul Offensive 26 minutes ago Middle East - AP By KATARINA KRATOVAC, Associated Press Writer FROM: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=3&u=/ap/20041116/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. and Iraqi troops stormed insurgent-held police stations and neighborhoods Tuesday, launching an offensive to retake parts of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, where gunmen staged a mass uprising last week in support of fighters in Fallujah. Troops secured several police stations by the mid-afternoon, meeting "very little resistance," the U.S. military said. Witnesses said insurgents blew up three stations they were holding before abandoning them ahead of the U.S. assault. U.S. warplanes and helicopters hovered over Mosul - Iraq's third largest city, with about 1 million residents - as loud explosions and gunfire were heard. About 1,200 U.S. soldiers were taking part in the offensive to recapture about a dozen police stations abandoned by Iraqi forces in the uprising. Meanwhile, kidnapped British aid worker Margaret Hassan was believed killed after Al-Jazeera television received a video showing a hooded militant shooting a blindfolded woman in the head. The British government and Hassan's family in London said the victim was likely the 59-year-old Hassan, the longtime head of CARE International in Iraq. Hassan was abducted in October and had been seen on several videos since, pleading for her life. Well known across the region for decades of work helping Iraqis, she was the most prominent of more than 170 foreigners kidnapped in Iraq this year. Meanwhile, a roadside bomb went off by a U.S. convoy near the central Iraqi town of Balad on Tuesday, killing an American soldier and wounding another, the military said. The uprising swept across Mosul - 225 miles north of Baghdad - amid a wave of violence across north and central Iraq following the U.S.-led attack on Fallujah, the insurgents' strongest bastion, west of Baghdad. The week-old Fallujah offensive has killed at least 38 American troops and six Iraqi soldiers. American officials estimate that 1,200 insurgents have been killed in the Fallujah fighting. But many insurgents are thought to have slipped out of Fallujah ahead of the U.S. onslaught. In a speech found Monday on the Internet, a speaker said to be Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the country's most feared terror leader, called on his followers to "shower" the Americans "with rockets and mortars" because U.S. forces were spread too thin as they seek to "finish off Islam in Fallujah." The U.S.-Iraqi assault in Mosul aimed to push back the uprising last week by gunmen who stormed police stations, bridges and political offices. The city's police force was overwhelmed and, in many places, failed to even put up a fight. Mosul Police Chief Brig. Gen. Mohammed Kheiri Barhawi was fired amid criticism that some police cooperated with insurgents. Reinforcements of about 300 Iraqi National Guards pulled from garrisons along Iran and Syria and a battalion of a special police task force from Baghdad were sent to Mosul. The U.S. military recalled one infantry battalion that had been fighting in Fallujah to return to Mosul. On Tuesday, Mosul's five bridges were closed to start the operation, and American forces began securing police stations in the western part of the city, said U.S. Capt. Angela Bowman, with Task Force Olympia. "We are in the process of securing all of the police stations and returning the police to these stations," she said. Mortars struck two areas near the main government building in the city center, killing three civilians and injuring 25 others, hospital officials said. A car bomb exploded near a U.S. convoy in a Sunni Arab neighborhood of western Mosul, wounding one U.S. soldiers, the military said. Residents reported seeing two bullet-riddled bodies on a sidewalk in the Mafraq Domis area of eastern Mosul, one with a police ID card identifying him as Talal al-Jubori. Both were wearing civilian clothes, and one had bandages on his leg. Meanwhile, the U.S. military said it was investigating the fatal shooting of a wounded "enemy combatant" by a U.S. Marine in a mosque in Fallujah. The inquiry was begun after videotaped pool pictures taken Saturday by NBC showed the incident during an operation of the Marines 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment. On the video, a Marine can be heard shouting obscenities in the background, yelling that one of the men against the wall in the mosque was only pretending to be dead. It then briefly shows a Marine raising his weapon toward one of the men lying on the ground. The video, provided later to Associated Press Television News and other members of the network pool, showed the bullet striking the man in the upper body, possibly the head. His blood splatters on the wall behind him and his body goes limp. It is unclear from the footage whether the body was moving before the shot. Kevin Sites, the TV reporter embedded with the Marines, said the man who was shot to death didn't appear to be armed or threatening in any way, and there were no arms visible in the room. The Marine has been withdrawn from the battlefield pending the results of the investigation. In Baghdad, meanwhile, U.S. forces arrested Naseer Ayaef, a high-ranking member of an influential Sunni political party, the Iraqi Islamic Party, party official Ayad al-Samarrai told The Associated Press. Al-Samarrai said the arrest was punishment for the party's objections to "Fallujah and to the security policies adopted by the Americans and the Iraqi government." Last week, the Iraqi Islamic Party withdrew from Allawi's government to protest the Fallujah offensive. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 16 14:20:34 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 14:20:34 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] 800 civilians dead in Fallujah Message-ID: Published on Tuesday, November 16, 2004 by Inter Press Service 800 Civilians Feared Dead in Fallujah by Dahr Jamail BAGHDAD -- At least 800 civilians have been killed during the U.S. military siege of Fallujah, a Red Cross official estimates. Speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of U.S. military reprisal, a high-ranking official with the Red Cross in Baghdad told IPS that "at least 800 civilians" have been killed in Fallujah so far. His estimate is based on reports from Red Crescent aid workers stationed around the embattled city, from residents within the city and from refugees, he said. "Several of our Red Cross workers have just returned from Fallujah since the Americans won't let them into the city," he said. "And they said the people they are tending to in the refugee camps set up in the desert outside the city are telling horrible stories of suffering and death inside Fallujah." The official said that both Red Cross and Iraqi Red Crescent relief teams had asked the U.S. military in Fallujah to take in medical supplies to people trapped in the city, but their repeated requests had been turned down. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1116-04.htm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 16 14:21:06 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 14:21:06 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] "Few Foreigners Among Insurgents" Message-ID: Published on Tuesday, November 16, 2004 by Los Angeles Times Few Foreigners Among Insurgents Judging from fighters captured in Fallouja, all but about 5% are Iraqi, U.S. officials say. by John Hendren CAMP FALLOUJA, Iraq - The battle for the city of Fallouja is giving U.S. military commanders some insight into this country's insurgency, painting a portrait of a home-grown uprising dominated by Iraqis, not foreign fighters. Of the more than 1,000 men between the ages of 15 and 55 who were captured in intense fighting in the center of the insurgency over the last week, just 15 are confirmed foreign fighters, Gen. George W. Casey, the top U.S. ground commander in Iraq, said Monday. There was evidence that an organized force of foreign fighters was present. One dead guerrilla bore Syrian identification. A number of insurgents believed to be foreigners wore similar black "uniforms," each with black flak vests, webbed gear and weapons superior to those of their Iraqi allies. But despite an intense focus on the network of Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab Zarqawi by U.S. and Iraqi officials, who have insisted that most Iraqis support the country's interim government, American commanders said their best estimates of the proportion of foreigners among their enemies is about 5%. The overwhelming majority of insurgents, several senior commanders said, are drawn from the tens of thousands of former government employees whose sympathies lie with the toppled regime of Saddam Hussein, unemployed "criminals" who find work laying roadside bombs for about $500 each and Iraqi religious extremists. "Over time, it's the former regime elements that are the threat," said Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who joined Casey for a visit to bases in Baghdad and outside Fallouja before meeting with interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. Before the battle, U.S. officials frequently stressed the role of foreign fighters in Fallouja. Last week, as the battle got underway, Myers told reporters that the city was "a major safe haven for former regime elements and foreign fighters, in particular Zarqawi and his folks." It was not clear how many foreign fighters might have slipped out of Fallouja before the U.S. military began its assault early last week and how many may still be fighting in the southern neighborhoods of the city, where clashes continue. A loose coalition of foreign and domestic fighters has shown few signs of a centralized command, said senior American defense officials. The Iraqi government and the U.S. military telegraphed the Fallouja offensive with calls for civilians to leave the guerrilla stronghold. But despite those early warnings, the insurgents failed to cut off military supply routes and to reinforce isolated fighters, Myers said. "There is not someone in charge," Casey said. "There's collaboration between the Islamic extremists, between the foreign fighters and between the former regime elements. And it's a marriage of convenience." U.S. forces also have found large caches of arms in Fallouja containing a wide variety of weapons, including car bombs ready to be deployed, bomb factories and heavy weapons, scattered among houses, businesses and other buildings. Commanders cautioned that identifying foreign militants is no exact science. Of the 3,000 fighters that some officials believe were holed up in the city at the dawn of the battle, by U.S. estimates at least 1,600 are dead. However, estimates of the death toll among insurgents have varied widely; many bodies remain hidden in rubble or have not yet been recovered in the streets. Most of the insurgents "sanitized" themselves, officials said, removing identification and clues to their nationality. "It's hard to tell," Casey said. American, Iraqi and British troops "are resorting to looking at the Korans in their back pocket and trying to figure out where it was published to try to get some sense of nationality." Allawi acknowledged in an interview Monday that the insurgents were largely made up of his countrymen, but continued to assert that foreign fighters had often been responsible for suicide car bombings and other spectacular attacks that he said were designed to derail elections scheduled for January. "We don't have exact numbers and exact figures, but always the foreign elements, terrorists, are used for something else" than the tasks chosen for Iraqi insurgents, Allawi said, citing car bombings in particular. "The terrorists are trying to hurt the multinational force and us, to disrupt the police, to disrupt the army, the national guard." He called those assaults a national "campaign of intimidation." Allawi has firsthand knowledge of that campaign. Three members of his family were recently kidnapped by insurgents. The two female relatives were released Sunday, Iraqi officials confirmed, but a male cousin remained in insurgent hands. "The insurgents will kidnap family members, they will murder government officials. They will murder police. We have found that some of the most effective leaders in the national guard or the Iraqi police are murdered or assassinated," said Maj. Gen. Richard F. Natonski, commander of the 1st Marine Division. "I think we're seeing right now the last stand of the real hard-liners." The insurgents' goal, added Casey, is to keep minority Sunni Muslims - many of whom sympathize with Saddam Hussein, their former Sunni president - from participating in the January election process, undermining its legitimacy. "They've had to go to the intimidation to keep the Sunni from participating in the political process, because they were losing," Casey said. U.S. and Iraqi strategists plan to respond by supplementing Iraqi police with Iraqi national guard or army troops, possibly supported by U.S. forces. The foreign fighters that have joined the insurgency appear to have largely crossed through Syria, military officials said. A small number of Syrians have been captured, along with two Moroccans caught on the first night of the offensive last week. A campaign of intimidation has prompted Iraqi border guards to abandon their posts, U.S. defense officials said. Iraqi government and American authorities alike blame the Syrian government. "It's hard to believe Syria doesn't know it's going on," Myers said. "Whether or not they're supporting it is another question. That said, you could say if Syria wanted to stop it they could stop it, or stop it partially." At the urging of U.S. forces, the Iraqi government shut down the border crossing to Syria at the western Iraqi city of Qusaybah and allowed only commercial vehicles to pass at one Syrian crossing and one Jordanian site, Natonski said. Men of fighting age have not been allowed to cross, he added. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 16 14:26:19 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 14:26:19 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Resistance grows in Iraq Message-ID: Insurgent Attacks Spread In Iraq Mon Nov 15,10:10 PM By Karl Vick and Jackie Spinner, Washington Post Foreign Service BAGHDAD, Nov. 15 -- Insurgent attacks spread Monday to another Sunni Muslim city, Baqubah and a nearby village, where bands of armed men attacked two police stations simultaneously, the U.S. military said. American forces used airstrikes to blunt the assault, the latest that insurgents have launched in apparent response to the U.S. offensive in Fallujah. The insurgents have struck back hard in Fallujah and also turned up the heat in many other cities dominated by Sunni Muslims, who were favored over the majority Shiite Muslims by the government of former president Saddam Hussein (news - web sites). Operating in unusually large groups, fighters have attacked in Ramadi, to the west of Fallujah, and Samarra, Baiji, Tall Afar, Hawija and Mosul to the north. Their strategy was stated Monday in a new recording attributed to Abu Musab Zarqawi, the Jordanian leader of a large insurgent group affiliated with al Qaeda. If the U.S. military "finishes Fallujah, it will move in your direction," the voice said to be Zarqawi's warned followers. "Beware and deny it the chance to carry out this plan." The speaker said that U.S. forces were overextended and would be unable to respond everywhere. "Shower them with rockets and mortars and cut all the supply routes," he said. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1802&ncid=1802&e=4&u=/washpost/20041116/ts_washpost/a50713_2004nov15 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 16 14:29:39 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 14:29:39 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: THE BIG FIX 2004 Message-ID: MadCow Morning News 11.16.2004 Convicted Felons, 'Shadowy Financiers' Own Companies Counting Votes now up at TheMadCowMorningNews www.madcowprod.com An investigation into the surprisingly-sordid history of America's "election services industry" has revealed that executives and owners of E S & S and Sequoia Pacific, the two largest companies, have been repeatedly convicted of bribery and suborning public officials in more than a dozen states. And while a felony conviction may be enough to prevent you from voting in Florida, convicted felons can take heart in the fact that the "blemish" on their record in no way disqualifies them from owning the companies counting the votes. Is this another massive government 'cover-up?' It might be possibler to dismiss it as just a 'conspiracy theory'... except for the fact that the word 'coverup' itself was invented to describe the activities of the original owner of Sequoia Pacific, "shadowy financier" Lewis Wolfson, who got caught bribing no less a personage than a Supreme Court Justice of the United States of America. While Abe Fortas was forced to resign in disgrace, no such harsh fate befell Wolfson. When you own a company that counts the votes, politicians smile more kindly on you than they might otherwise... and for good reason. Read the whole story at: TheMadCowMorningNews www.madcowprod.com "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 Tue Nov 16 14:37:44 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 14:37:44 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Just In Time For Fall: New Items Added To Our Online Store! Message-ID: Shop at Students for a Free Tibet on-line and help to Free Tibet! Fall is here, and so are our special edition shirts and tote bags. Designed by San Francisco-based Juice Design, these new arrivals to our on-line store are perfect gifts for you, your friends and family. To order any of these items simply: 1.Click on the images. 2.Select your style, size and color. 3.Enjoy! You can feel good about every purchase - not only does it benefit SFT, but our goods are 100% U.S. made and sweatshop-free. Our shirts are from American Apparel in Los Angeles, bags from all-woman owned EnviroTote in New Hampshire, and screen-printed by Boston-based Mirror Image. START SHOPPING! The new shirts are made with super-fine, super-soft cotton. These totes are not just your average bag - you will fall in "heart" with them. The long sleeve pullovers are sure to ward off the winter chill. The women's version has a hood. Special thanks to Darcy of Feria Urbana; a unique fair of San Francisco and Bay Area artists & designers. We need your help to spread the word about SFT's new on-line store! Click here and Tell A Friend! This message was sent to deano700 at msn.com. Visit your subscription management page to modify your email communication preferences or update your personal profile. To stop ALL email from Students for a Free Tibet's Action Center, click to remove yourself from our lists (or reply via email with "remove" in the subject line). -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 16 14:40:01 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 14:40:01 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] US kills unarmed Iraqis, discplines refuseniks Message-ID: Check out these two articles: In TV pool footage, US Marine kills wounded Iraqi prisoner (By Steven R. Hurst, Associated Press) NEW YORK -- A US Marine shot and killed a wounded and apparently unarmed Iraqi prisoner in a mosque in the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, according to pool television pictures broadcast yesterday. A Marine spokesman in Washington said the shooting was under investigation. http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/11/16/in_tv_pool_footage_us_marine_kills_wounded_iraqi_prisoner/ Soldiers who refused duty said to face discipline (By Tom Bowman, Baltimore Sun) WASHINGTON -- Soldiers from an Army Reserve unit in Iraq who refused to take part in a convoy last month, citing security concerns and maintenance problems with their vehicles, are facing disciplinary action and some could be charged criminally, Pentagon and military officials said yesterday. http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/11/16/soldiers_who_refused_duty_said_to_face_discipline/ __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 16 15:20:26 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 15:20:26 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] November already is second deadliest month for U.S. troops in Iraq Message-ID: November already is second deadliest month for U.S. troops in Iraq By Robert Burns, Associated Press, 11/16/2004 17:04 FROM: http://www.boston.com/dailynews/321/wash/November_already_is_second_dea:.shtml WASHINGTON (AP) U.S. deaths in Iraq this month are approaching 100, making it the second-deadliest month since American forces invaded the country in March 2003, Pentagon records show. The worst month was last April, with 135 deaths, when the insurgency intensified and U.S. Marines fought fierce battles in Fallujah, only to be withdrawn from the city. That was part of a failed attempt to put the now-defunct Fallujah Brigade of U.S. and allied Iraqi forces in charge. Until now the second-deadliest month was November 2003 with 82 deaths, and 80 Americans died in May and September this year. The rising death toll coincides with U.S. military commanders' efforts to pacify areas of Iraq that need to be brought under Iraqi government control before elections scheduled for late January. It also reflects an escalation of attacks by the insurgents, although some U.S. commanders say they believe this may be a last-gasp effort by rebel forces outmatched by U.S. firepower. It is difficult to gauge the effect of the growing death toll on U.S. troop morale. Commanders say their men and women are holding up well, although they caution that more hard fighting lies ahead. Most of the deaths this month have been in the Fallujah offensive that began Nov. 7. Many Marines and soldiers also have been killed in Ramadi and other cities in Anbar province west of Baghdad, as well as in Mosul in the north, Babil province south of Baghdad and in and around the Iraqi capital. Support troops also have been killed along supply routes. On Tuesday, for example, a soldier assigned to the Army's 13th Corps Support Command was killed and another was wounded when a roadside bomb struck their supply convoy near Qayarrah West Airfield in northern Iraq. A Marine officer said Monday that 37 Marines and soldiers had been killed in the Fallujah offensive, plus one nonbattle death. He said 320 had been wounded. American estimates of the number of insurgents killed in the offensive range from about 1,000 to about 1,200. An exact and fully current count of U.S. deaths is difficult to obtain because of time lags between the military's initial reporting of attacks and the subsequent identification of the individual casualties. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the deputy director of plans for U.S. Central Command, said Tuesday that enough of the insurgency's leaders probably got out of Fallujah to keep the violence flaring elsewhere. ''What we primarily captured, we suspect, are not the high-level leadership nor the facilitators but really the common foot soldiers, and we would expect that the foreign fighters that didn't fight to the death are probably moving out to start the fight somewhere else (in Iraq),'' Kimmitt said in an interview with AP Radio from Central Command offices in Tampa, Fla. As of Tuesday the Pentagon said 1,210 U.S. service members have died in Iraq since the conflict began 20 months ago. At the beginning of November the Pentagon count stood at 1,119, and it rose rapidly as the Fallujah fighting intensified and insurgents struck back in other cities and towns. Because of the heavy fighting in Fallujah and the insurgents' apparent attempts to respond with stepped-up attacks elsewhere, this month also is seeing one of the highest wounded totals. The number of wounded jumped by nearly 500 this week, according to Pentagon figures released Tuesday. Since the start of the war, 8,956 U.S. service members have been wounded, of which nearly 5,000 were serious enough to prevent them from returning to duty. At the start of the month the total was 8,287. Of the 91 or more U.S. deaths so far this month, it appears most were Marines. The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force led the charge into Fallujah and did much of the house-to-house fighting. Elements of the Army's 1st Cavalry Division and 1st Infantry Division also participated, along with Air Force attack jets and gunships and several battalions of U.S.-trained Iraqi troops. The Pentagon has not yet released names and service affiliation for all the casualties reported this month, so it is impossible to tally the exact number of Marines who've been killed. Of the first 71 deaths for which identifications were announced, 48 were Marines. Twenty-one were with the Army, and the Navy and Air Force each had one fatality. The 48 Marine deaths, halfway through November, are the most for any full month during the war except for last April when the corps lost 52 Marines. None of the 48 Marines was older than 29, and most were in their early 20s. Six of the Marines were 19 years old. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Wed Nov 17 12:05:12 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2004 12:05:12 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Scalia tells university crowd to `get over' 2000 election Message-ID: <20041117200512.47090.qmail@web13605.mail.yahoo.com> http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/nation/10198566.htm Scalia tells university crowd to `get over' 2000 election BY MARYANNE GEORGE Knight Ridder Newspapers ANN ARBOR, Mich. - (KRT) - Antonin Scalia, the controversial United States Supreme Court justice, addressed a packed crowd at the University of Michigan on Tuesday, taking the unusual step of taking questions from the audience and drawing some boos - and some applause - during his answers to those questions. Scalia, who was at Rackham Auditorium to speak on the philosophy of constitutional interpretation, was asked by a member of the audience whether, if he had the chance, he would revisit his decision in the Gore-Bush 2000 election. Scalia cut off the questioner , saying, "I'm inclined to say it's been four years and an election. Get over it." That drew loud boos from the crowd. Scalia voted with the 5-4 majority in 2000 to cease the recount of disputed votes in Florida. Scalia continued, "The issue is not whether the decision should have been decided in the Florida or U.S. supreme courts, but that the Constitution had been violated. ... The only decision was to put an end to it after three weeks and looking like fools to the rest of the world. It was too much of a mess." In his address, Scalia talked about originalism, explaining the concept of strict interpretation of the Constitution. "In the last 40 years ... we've become fond of the phrase that we have a living document. But if something is wrong, then change the law or change the Constitution, but don't re interpret the Constitution." He said proponents of the living document concept and flexibility regarding the Constitution are "dead wrong. " He also said the Constitution doesn't say anything about such issues as abortion rights and assisted suicide, and that those who are for or against such measures should work toward passing laws that support their views. Scalia, 68, was first invited to come to the University of Michigan Law School by former dean Jeff Lehman several years ago and was scheduled to lecture on campus in late fall of 2002. But the visit was canceled after the Supreme Court agreed to hear the two University of Michigan admissions cases, according to law school officials. Last year, the high court upheld the use of race in the law school admissions system in a 5-4 decision. Scalia dissented in that case. The court in a 6-3 decision struck down the use of a system in the undergraduate case that awarded minorities extra points. Scalia joined the majority in that case. Scalia is known for his outspoken and often sarcastic opinions. In his dissent in the law school case, Scalia said the school's quest for a "critical mass " of minority students to benefit all students amounted to racial discrimination. "If properly considered an educational benefit at all, it is surely not one that is either uniquely relevant to law school or uniquely teachable in a formal setting. And therefore if it is appropriate for the University of Michigan Law School to use racial discrimination for the purpose of putting together a critical mass that will convey generic lessons in socialization and good citizenship, surely it is no less appropriate ... for the civil service system of the State of Michigan to do so ... "The nonminority individuals who are deprived of a legal education, a civil service job or any job at all by reason of their skin color will surely understand. " Scalia was scheduled to spend two days on campus teaching law school classes and delivering his public lecture Tuesday on constitutional interpretation. The law school classes were open only to law students. He also was scheduled to attend several private dinners. A former law professor at the University of Virginia, Georgetown University and the University of Chicago, Scalia is at home in a classroom. In a rare departure from his usual wary relationship with the news media, Scalia agreed to be photographed at the beginning of his lecture and take audience questions.. Scalia will receive a $10,000 honorarium from the Helen L. DeRoy Fellowship, a privately funded program established at the law school in 1980 to enhance legal education. Chief Justice William Rehnquist was a DeRoy Fellow in 1989 ; former Justice Potter Stewart also came to campus as a fellow in 1982. --- ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Discover all that?s new in My Yahoo! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Wed Nov 17 12:33:52 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2004 12:33:52 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] LA Post Carbon at the Doo Dah ParadeSunday, November 21st, 11:30 AM Message-ID: <20041117203352.98639.qmail@web13623.mail.yahoo.com> LA Post Carbon at the Doo Dah Parade Sunday, November 21st, 11:30 AM LA Post Carbon will be entering the Doo Dah Parade with an entry called Got Oil? The actors will include the out-of-gassers pushing their car carrying empty gas cans, the Earth being followed by a doctor(s) with a thermometer and stretcher, a Soldier fighting for oil, Uncle Sam who is "Addicted to Oil" and a TV set looking for a place to plug in. Visit LA.PostCarbon.org after the parade to see the photos! To counter all this oil addiction, there will be a 12-Step Program for oil addicts. These steps are not meant to be all inclusive, but to give people a starting point and incremental steps to end their addiction to oil. 12-Step Program for Oil-Addicts Be aware of the oil you consume when you travel, shop, work and eat Understand that you need only make incremental changes Educate yourself about energy and sustainability Reduce number of car trips Increace walking or biking trips Become active in your local community Begin a garden Create Car or Van Pools Do away with non-essentials that don't contribute to our health or well being Form an organic food-buying co-op Retrofit homes for energy and water efficiency Know that these steps are a small but important beginning If your thinking of just showing up at 10:30 AM before the parade to join us after we did all the work of making props and signs, Please Do! We can use your help! To Join In: You can contact Eric at 714-926-1916, eric at peakoilaction.org, or look for us at Memorial Park in Pasadena at or before 10:30 AM. You can also join our discussion group at groups.yahoo.com/group/PostCarbonDooDah. For more information on the parade, visit.http://www.pasadenadoodahparade.com/DooDah-Main-1a.html LA Post Carbon presents The END of SUBURBIA Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream Sunday, November 28th, 7:00 PM FREE Documentary screening, 78 minutes, followed by a discussion "Cheap oil is the party that we have been enjoying the past 150 years and that party is coming to an end. Within our lifetimes were going to see the end of the age of oil, and the result of that will be the end of the American way of life" - Richard Heinberg - in an excerpt from The END of SUBURBIA Throop Memorial Church Unitarian Universalist 300 S. Los Robles Ave. Pasadena, CA 91101 626-795-8625 Eric Einem 714-926-1916 http://la.postcarbon.org/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! ? Try it today! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Wed Nov 17 13:06:21 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2004 13:06:21 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Please Read and Pass It To the South Message-ID: <20041117210621.84783.qmail@web13626.mail.yahoo.com> From: Corey Welch Fuck the South. Fuck 'em. We should have let them go when they wanted to leave. But no, we had to kill half a million people so they'd stay part of our special Union. Fighting for the right to keep slaves - yeah, those are states we want to keep. And now what do we get? We're the fucking Arrogant Northeast Liberal Elite? How about this for arrogant: the South is the Real America? The Authentic America. Really? Cause we fucking founded this country, assholes. Those Founding Fathers you keep going on and on about? All that bullshit about what you think they meant by the Second Amendment giving you the right to keep your automatic weapons in the glove compartment because you didn't bother to read the first half of the fucking sentence? Who do you think those wig-wearing lacy-shirt sporting revolutionaries were? They were fucking blue-staters, dickhead. Boston? Philadelphia? New York? Hello? Think there might be a reason all the fucking monuments are up here in our backyard? No, No. Get the fuck out. We're not letting you visit the Liberty Bell and fucking Plymouth Rock anymore until you get over your real American selves and start respecting those other nine amendments. Who do you think those fucking stripes on the flag are for? Nine are for fucking blue states. And it would be 10 if those Vermonters had gotten their fucking Subarus together and broken off from New York a little earlier. Get it? We started this shit, so don't get all uppity about how real you are you Johnny-come-lately "Oooooh I've been a state for almost a hundred years" dickheads. Fuck off. Arrogant? You wanna talk about us Northeasterners being fucking arrogant? What's more American than arrogance? Hmmm? Maybe horsies? I don't think so. Arrogance is the fucking cornerstone of what it means to be American. And I wouldn't be so fucking arrogant if I wasn't paying for your fucking bridges, bitch. All those Federal taxes you love to hate? It all comes from us and goes to you, so shut up and enjoy your fucking Tennessee Valley Authority electricity and your fancy highways that we paid for. And the next time Florida gets hit by a hurricane you can come crying to us if you want to, but you're the ones who built on a fucking swamp. "Let the Spanish keep it, it?s a shithole," we said, but you had to have your fucking orange juice. The next dickwad who says, "It?s your money, not the government's money" is gonna get their ass kicked. Nine of the ten states that get the most federal fucking dollars and pay the least... can you guess? Go on, guess. That?s right, motherfucker, they're red states. And eight of the ten states that receive the least and pay the most? It?s too easy, asshole, they?re blue states. It?s not your money, assholes, it?s fucking our money. What was that Real American Value you were spouting a minute ago? Self reliance? Try this for self reliance: buy your own fucking stop signs, assholes. Let?s talk about those values for a fucking minute. You and your Southern values can bite my ass because the blue states got the values over you fucking Real Americans every day of the goddamn week. Which state do you think has the lowest divorce rate you marriage-hyping dickwads? Well? Can you guess? It?s fucking Massachusetts, the fucking center of the gay marriage universe. Yes, that?s right, the state you love to tie around the neck of anyone to the left of Strom Thurmond has the lowest divorce rate in the fucking nation. Think that?s just some aberration? How about this: nine of the 10 lowest divorce rates are fucking blue states, asshole, and most are in the Northeast, where our values suck so bad. And where are the highest divorce rates? Care to fucking guess? 10 of the top 10 are fucking red-ass we're-so-fucking-moral states. And while Nevada is the worst, the Bible belt is doing its fucking part. But two guys making out is going to fucking ruin marriage for you? Yeah? Seems like you're ruining it pretty well on your own, you little bastards. Oh, but that's ok because you go to church, right? I mean you do, right? Cause we fucking get to hear about it every goddamn year at election time. Yes, we're fascinated by how you get up every Sunday morning and sing, and then you're fucking towers of moral superiority. Yeah, that's a workable formula. Maybe us fucking Northerners don't talk about religion as much as you because we're not so busy sinning, hmmm? Ever think of that, you self-righteous assholes? No, you're too busy erecting giant stone tablets of the Ten Commandments in buildings paid for by the fucking Northeast Liberal Elite. And who has the highest murder rates in the nation? It ain't us up here in the North, assholes. Well this gravy train is fucking over. Take your liberal-bashing, federal- tax-leaching, confederate-flag-waving, holier-than-thou, hypocritical bullshit and shove it up your ass. And no, you can't have your fucking convention in New York next time. Fuck off. Corey Welch Department of Biology University of Washington Seattle, WA 98185 206-616-2634 206-778-6252 (cell) cwelch at u.washington.edu ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! ? Try it today! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Wed Nov 17 13:10:36 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2004 13:10:36 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] URGENT: Arctic Wildlife Refuge Under Attack , Take Action! Message-ID: <20041117211036.96069.qmail@web13621.mail.yahoo.com> URGENT: Arctic Wildlife Refuge Under Attack As many of you may know, one of our last great wild places, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, is under a fresh attack from the oil industry and their allies in Congress and the Administration. This looming threat is more serious, and more dangerous, than ever before. That's why The Wilderness Society has launched an all-out campaign to protect the Arctic wilderness. We are encouraging everyone to take action now at: http://www.wilderness.org/arctic Anti-wilderness forces in Congress hope to use a backdoor budget process to sneak this giveaway onto the same federal budget the government needs to function. They know that they don't have the votes necessary to enact this ill-conceived plan through the normal legislative process that requires 60 votes to pass such highly controversial measures in the U.S. Senate. The decision to circumvent the normal rules is being made NOW. Just last week, Rep. Richard Pombo (R-California), a vocal drilling advocate and chairman of the House Resources Committee, claimed that now is "The best chance we've had" to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (CNN.com, 11/10/2004) We need to send Congress and the Administration a strong early message that we're NOT going to stand by and watch as America's wild places are sold off to the highest bidder. Send a letter to your U.S. Senator at http://www.wilderness.org/arctic today! Thanks for your help, Cory Davies ------------------------------------------- The Wilderness Society Outreach Team http://www.wilderness.org/arctic ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! ? Try it today! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 15 22:07:47 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 22:07:47 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Movers go on trial for alleged extortion Message-ID: AR Action Report Online. Monday, November 15, 2004 Movers go on trial for alleged extortion By Peter Lewis Seattle Times consumer-affairs reporter Erik Deri is one of four people going on trial in the alleged scam. FOUR people go on trial in federal court in Tacoma today on charges they extorted customers in a household-moving scam by luring them with low prices, then jacking up costs and holding their goods hostage until they paid. Now defunct, Woodinville-based Nationwide Moving Systems harmed more than 50 people, the government alleges. Actual and intended losses -- including the amount the defendants tried to defraud customers out of -- exceeded $1 million, prosecutors contend. According to the government, the defendants would delay notifying customers of the inflated prices until after their goods were loaded. This had the effect of squeezing customers, the prosecutors say. Some customers, for example, faced penalties from airlines if they canceled previously scheduled travel arrangements; some were under pressure because they had to relocate for a new job. Others were stuck because their leases had expired or their homes had been sold and so they had nowhere to stay, the government alleges. Of seven people originally charged, three -- Martin Kirk II, 25, and Michael Airgood and Kristen Klein, both 24 -- have pleaded guilty and have agreed to testify against the remaining defendants. They are: Erik Deri, 33; Yosef Nahum, 55; and Yuval Derei, 30, all of whom are Israeli nationals facing deportation if convicted. Yuval Derei is Erik Deri's brother. The fourth defendant, American-born Tanya Deri, 29, is Deri's wife. According to charging papers, the investigation was sparked after a March 2003 Seattle Times article described customer experiences with Nationwide. Each of the defendants is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and interfere with commerce by extortion, which carries up to five years' imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. In addition, they face multiple counts of fraud and attempted extortion, each of which carries up to 20 years and a $250,000 fine. Some of the defendants face additional charges. Nationwide used the Web and the Yellow Pages to advertise, and it sometimes purchased moving jobs from other moving companies. It falsely represented itself as a reputable, insured and licensed moving company, the prosecutors alleged. The scam started in May 2002 and ended in July 2003, the government said. The trial has been delayed several times, most recently in August as a result of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that cast doubt on the constitutionality of federal sentencing guidelines. The so-called "Blakely" ruling, which grew out of a Washington state case, established the principle that jurors, not judges, must decide the facts that determine a criminal sentence. As a result, U.S. District Judge Franklin Burgess of Tacoma recently ordered the Nationwide case split into two parts. If jurors convict, they would then reconvene to consider additional evidence, such as the vulnerability and number of victims and amount of financial loss, that could lead to stiffer punishment. The trial is expected to last about a month. The government plans to introduce roughly 400 exhibits and call nearly 100 witnesses, records show. Among the victims on the government's witness list is John Jennings, a former Issaquah resident, who told The Times his move to Florida in September 2002 was spoiled by Nationwide. He said the company had revised the price upward from $3,000 to $16,000 -- and then refused his request to unload his possessions after he objected. Ultimately, the total cost of his move, after hiring a different company to retrieve, move and re-store his possessions, exceeded $11,000. Another victim scheduled to testify is Sarah DeLassus, who hired Nationwide to move from Seattle to Antioch, Ill., in February 2003. She said her belongings arrived two weeks later than promised. Virtually everything she owned was broken, shredded, soiled, splintered or otherwise mutilated, she and her mother said. DeLassus estimated the loss at between $4,000 and $5,000. In addition, several boxes of her belongings never arrived, she said. DeLassus said the government's Seattle-based witness/victim coordinator told her earlier this year that "she had never worked on a case where people were so eager to participate" as opposed to feeling annoyed about having to testify. The defendants' attorneys have been mum about their trial strategy. But a criminal-defense attorney familiar with the case said he expects the defense will focus on the forms customers signed when they agreed to hire Nationwide, specifically regarding permission to charge more if customers underestimated how much stuff they had. Lawyers for Tanya Deri and Yuval Derei have minimized their clients' roles. At a hearing last year, for example, Jim Frush, representing Tanya Deri, described her as "tangentially involved," a characterization disputed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn Warma. Deri's lawyer, Peter Camiel, said his client responded to his older brother's (Erik Deri's) invitation to join the business, but didn't start working for Nationwide until March 2003. Derei worked primarily as a dispatcher and had "very limited contact" with customers, Camiel contended. A development that could be useful for the defense was the firing earlier this year of the government's case agent: Melanie Jaimerson, a Seattle-based special agent with the Department of Transportation's Office of the Inspector General. Defense attorneys were eager to learn whether her dismissal was related to the Nationwide case. But after her personnel file was submitted to the court under seal, Burgess said it was not. Still, the defense has copies of the interviews Jaimerson conducted with witnesses. If the witnesses tell a different story under oath than they told her, the defense could use the transcripts to impeach their credibility. And because the government has scratched Jaimerson from its witness list, she would not be available to assist in countering such attacks. If history is any measure, the defendants face an uphill battle. The Seattle prosecution is similar to other recent federal extortion cases that implicated Israeli-run moving companies around the country, including California, New York and Florida. In virtually every instance, the defendants pleaded guilty or were convicted by jurors, officials said. In the Nationwide case, prosecutors plan to present a household-goods moving-industry expert to testify about standard practices adopted to avoid customer fraud, obtain accurate moving estimates and resolve consumer complaints. By contrast, Nationwide customers will testify that their goods were damaged and/or stolen, and that their efforts to file claims with the company were typically "rebuffed, ignored, or evaded," the government said in court papers. And in some cases, the defendants stole household goods entrusted to Nationwide's care, the government contends. Peter Lewis: phone 206-464-2217 Copyright ? 2004 The Seattle Times Company -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Wed Nov 17 21:35:36 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2004 21:35:36 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] $200,000 REWARD FOR EVIDENCE OF VOTE FRAUD!!! Message-ID: <20041118053536.94354.qmail@web13606.mail.yahoo.com> $200,000 !REWARD! FOR EVIDENCE OF VOTE FRAUD Justice Through Music, which strongly supports the democratic principles of transparency and honesty in the electoral process, is offering at least a $200,000 reward to any person or persons who provide conclusive and verifiable evidence that the results of the 2004 presidential election were not correctly tabulated because of one or more of the following reasons: 1) hacking into the voting machines; 2) software or coding problems with voting or tabulating machines; 3) multiple counting by machines or humans, 4) improperly implanted codes in voting machines; 5) tampering with voting machines, voting cards or final tabulation numbers; 6) officials or machines not counting all the votes or adding votes; 7) official influence which changed vote totals, or 8) other problems with vote tabulation not noted here. All information and evidence should be submitted to ............ www.jtmp.org/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! ? Try it today! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Wed Nov 17 23:08:32 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2004 23:08:32 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] A Fax Sent to Arnold Schwarzenegger Message-ID: <20041118070832.74857.qmail@web13621.mail.yahoo.com> Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Los Angeles Office 300 South Spring Street Suite 16701 Los Angeles, CA 90013 Phone: 213-897-0322 Fax: 213-897-0319 To send an Electronic Mail please visit: http://www.govmail.ca.gov To Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, November 17, 2004 It is not often that I feel in the pit of my stomach where things will go very wrong for this country as I do now. If there ever were a time ripe enough for an all out Civil War, the future that all of you within the Republican Party will bring about is such a Civil War and one this country may not recover from. For example, I have just read a news article coming from the AP where a group of private donors are set to build you and your family a mansion to live in as governor. Well, how about you and your billionaire boys club use that money instead to feed and shelter the homeless? How about you use those funds to get health care to those that continue to go uninsured in this country? How about you and your wealthy donors fund bus trips for our seniors to get low cost drugs from Canada? The list is endless in what that money used to build a mansion could go to. Both you and your wife are millionaires and how dare you ask that anyone fund a home for you and your family to live in. Why not build it using your own money or just stay in the residence that you are living in now? That is just plain lust, greed and gluttony. All three are sins against God. Another condition is where your party is circling the wagons so that congress members under indictment are not held accountable. Congress members such as Tom DeLay. We have always been a nation of laws and you and your party have sought at every turn to undo our most precious laws. Such as the U.S.A. Patriot Act. As we all know, Secretary of State Colin Powell who was humiliated at the United Nations standing up for an illegal war has been forced out of that position. Whatever respect I had for him is now long gone. But, he was not a team player so he is to be replaced by NSA Director Condolezza Rice who is very much a team player and God help our planet when she becomes our Secretary of State. A diplomat uses diplomacy and does so for peaceful means. Many see her as being a hawk and rightfully so. Any diplomacy I see coming from her as she speaks for George W. Bush will be, ?Either you are with us or against us? and that goes against everything this country was founded upon. Speaking of laws, your name has constantly been in the media as a possible presidential candidate in the future. As it stands now, our nation does not allow for that, but again, some within your own party will try as Senator Hatch has to overturn that law. Our nation has been embarrassed enough by George W. Bush and does not need future embarrassment by a man who has posed nude, and is known as the Gropenator. I feel very much that a bad storm is approaching this nation as it continues to live under Republican dominance. Now that you and your party?s leader George W. Bush do not have to answer to any of this country?s people, your brute strength will come upon us all like a ton of bricks. All of you are setting the stage similar to the stage that brought about this era?s most heinous leader and his name was Adolph Hitler. I wonder too if those living in pre-Nazi Germany felt as I am feeling right now as many of us are feeling out here across this country? Should such a time come when most Americans who are apathetic see what you are doing to their beloved country, I like many will be on the side of the people. There are still many like me who believe in the United States Constitution where the first three words are, ?We the people? I truly believe that a dark storm is coming and I pray to God that we make it out alive. God Save America From the GOP, Mary MacElveen Sound Beach, NY 11789 PS: This letter faxed to you is now being circulated around the Internet and sent to the media as well. Article: Group to Build Calif. Governor's Mansion Tue Nov 16,11:06 PM ET U.S. National - AP (Snip) SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (news ? web sites)'s personal attorney announced the formation Tuesday of a nonprofit corporation to raise money for an official residence for the governor and his family. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=519&e=24&u=/ap/20041117/ap_on_re_us/governor_s_mansion ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Discover all that?s new in My Yahoo! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Wed Nov 17 23:29:49 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2004 23:29:49 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Mark Morford: Dear World: Sorry About Bush Message-ID: <20041118072949.61285.qmail@web13603.mail.yahoo.com> ===== Mark Morford's Notes & Errata ===== SFGate.com - November 17, 2004 --------------------------------- Dear World: Sorry About Bush No, seriously. Very, very sorry. How sorry? Well, let America show you ... in pictures By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist It's a movement. It's a phenomenon. It's a Web site. Or maybe it's far more than that. No one can really be sure. No matter what it is, it's called sorryeverybody.com and it expresses, better than any outpouring so far, a sentiment that's omnipresent and palpable and still going strong, and every single Democrat and every single Kerry supporter and every single liberal of any stripe whatsoever probably felt it like a white-hot stab in the heart the minute Kerry's concession speech hit the airwaves and it undoubtedly went something like this: Dear world: We are so very, very sorry. For Bush. For our bitterly divided and confused nation. For what's to come. Please know that tens of millions of us did not vote for him. Please do not hate us. Not all of us, anyway. OK, maybe Utah. Do you know where Utah is? Never mind. See, not only is half of America still deeply dejected about the onslaught of Dubya Dubya II, but much of that half wants the world to know just how crestfallen we are, and just how awful we feel for inflicting Bush and his middle-finger foreign policy on them like a virus, a toxin, a nasty STD, yet again .... (click here to read the rest) (Full URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2004/11/17/notes111704.DTL&nl=fix ) --------------------------------- ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? The all-new My Yahoo! ? Get yours free! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Wed Nov 17 23:50:17 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2004 23:50:17 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] China Barrels Ahead in Oil Market Message-ID: <20041118075017.63852.qmail@web13622.mail.yahoo.com> http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-chinaoil14nov14,1,6856045.story?coll=la-headlines-business China Barrels Ahead in Oil Market The country's hunt for the energy it needs to fuel its economy has led to deals in political hotspots, riling the U.S. By Don Lee, Times Staff Writer SHANGHAI ? About a three-hour drive south of Shanghai, along the East China Sea, workers are building 52 gigantic tanks, each capable of holding more than 25 million gallons of oil ? enough to supply every driver in China with gasoline for a month. The storage tanks will help accommodate China's thirst for oil as it looks to fuel its booming economy. And it has plans to stockpile much, much more. China, the world's second-largest consumer of oil after the United States, has plenty of cash to secure sources of petroleum and natural gas. But as aggressively as any nation, it is also cutting deals and forging alliances to get the energy it needs. In South America and Africa, the Chinese government is helping build roads and ports in exchange for oil supply contracts. Beijing pledged to support oil-rich Russia in its bid to join the World Trade Organization as the two countries agreed that Russia would boost its exports of crude by rail to China. And after a Chinese company's deal to develop an oil field in Iran, Beijing tacitly offered political support for Tehran's budding nuclear program. That put China in direct cross hairs of the Bush administration. The hunt for energy in the former Soviet Union and political hotspots such as Sudan is making China few friends in Washington. China is "throwing around its economic muscle like crazy," said David Lampton, head of China studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. "The Chinese are throwing incredible amounts of money to lock up long-term [energy] contracts. ? It's going to be a real topic of U.S.-China relations." Some Chinese officials dismiss the threat of increased friction over energy. "Although oil trade plays an important role in every field, it has a limited influence in Sino-American relations," said Han Wenke, vice director of the energy institute affiliated with the National Development and Reform Commission, an important regulatory agency of the Chinese central government. Beijing's pursuit of energy is all about maintaining the nation's strong economic growth, which Communist Party leaders believe is the linchpin to social stability and ultimately their legitimacy. Oil and natural gas, and lots of both, are needed to keep factories running and to power all the new cars hitting freshly paved streets. Only a decade ago, China shipped out more crude than it imported. This year it has sharply reduced exports to meet domestic needs ? and it is now the world's second-largest importer of oil after the U.S. Rising Demand Surging Chinese demand, which has helped drive up oil prices to record levels in the last year, is expected to rise by double-digit growth rates annually for the next 15 years. Although crude prices have settled back in recent days to less than $50 a barrel, China's rapid economic expansion is almost certain to add pricing pressure over the long haul. The country accounts for about 6% of world consumption; that's projected to rise to more than 9% in 2020, as Chinese oil fields dry up. (One-fifth of global oil demand comes from the United States.) Wary of its increasing reliance on a few foreign oil suppliers, China has formulated a "go-out" strategy to diversify and expand its energy capabilities. The plan involves cooperating with 27 countries for oil exploration. Beijing also is pouring money into developing its own pipelines and liquid natural gas terminals and launching an array of energy conservation programs at home, including imposing fuel economy standards on new cars. One of China's biggest and latest energy ventures involves Iran, which the United States has sought to isolate for its alleged development of a covert nuclear arms program. Late last month, Chinese and Iranian officials signed a preliminary deal in which China's Sinopec Group would develop Iran's Yadavarn oil field in exchange for Sinopec agreeing to buy millions of tons of Iranian liquefied natural gas. The Chinese government media valued the deal at $70 billion. A few days later, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing gave Iran important political support in the standoff over the Islamic republic's nuclear program. Li said Beijing opposed efforts to have the matter referred to the United Nations Security Council, although he stopped short of saying China would use its veto power if the case were sent there. U.S. diplomatic sources have been reluctant to comment on the deal. Some analysts said it was unlikely that Beijing would jeopardize U.S. relations over an energy pact with Iran. But others aren't so sure. "There is a rationale from Beijing that is very dominant: If you can supply oil and do business, we would like to sign a deal," said Wenran Jiang, a political scientist at the University of Alberta in Canada. "China is very non-ideological in that sense. They will think about it, but they're not driven by the strategic interest in Washington." Sudan is another example. Among China's African energy partners, which together provide about 20% of the country's oil and natural gas, the single largest is Sudan. Since the late '90s, Chinese oil companies have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into developing oil fields, a pipeline and a refinery. No Apologies Despite long-running criticisms by the United States and international groups about human rights abuses in Sudan, Beijing makes no apologies. When pressed on the issue, Chinese foreign officials have been quoted as saying simply that business is business. In Africa, China has also signed deals to buy oil from Nigeria, Gabon, Cameroon and Angola. Last year China extended a $2-billion loan to Angola in exchange for 10,000 barrels of crude oil a day. He Jun, a senior analyst at Beijing-based Anbound Strategic Consulting Co., doesn't think China will let itself become involved too heavily in sensitive African nations such as Sudan. "China's main purpose is still to develop its economy under a peaceful circumstance," he said. Others note that the U.S. and other big consumers of oil also have bought energy supplies from unsavory governments. For China, more promising are its efforts closer to home. In September, construction crews began work on a 770-mile pipeline running from the oil-abundant Caspian Sea coast in Kazakhstan to China's western border, connecting with another trunk line all the way to China's east coast. The pipeline's initial capacity would be about 10 million tons of crude a year, said Matthew Cairns of Economy .com in Sydney, Australia. Earlier, during a visit to Russia by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the two countries reached the agreement about Russia exporting more crude to China. Cairns said it was no coincidence then that Wen promised to give Russia support for its WTO bid. "It's a very cunning political maneuver," Cairns said. In Russia, China also has sought a crude oil pipeline from eastern Siberia to Daqing in northeast China, to have ready access to supplies. But Japan appears to have won its bid to have the pipeline routed to the Russian port city of Nakhodka on the Sea of Japan. Japanese and Chinese companies have clashed more openly over the exploration of natural gas in the East China Sea. Tokyo is worried that China would siphon gas from the Japanese side of the ocean bed, and has insisted that China provide details about the natural gas field. Some political analysts say the competition for energy will severely test the relations of China and Japan in particular. But energy diplomacy also raises new challenges for the West, as the economic and political center in Asia shifts from the United States and Japan to China. Heightened geopolitical tensions over China's oil imports comes as little surprise to Jeffrey Logan, China program manager at the Paris-based International Energy Agency. "It's only natural," he said. "The world is struggling to learn more about China. As China enters the world more and more, it's going to depend on the world's resources more and more." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! ? Try it today! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Thu Nov 18 09:53:50 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 09:53:50 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] =?iso-8859-1?q?Secret_Patriot_Act_II_to_give_Hitle?= =?iso-8859-1?q?r=92s_Powers_to_Bush?= Message-ID: <20041118175350.92349.qmail@web13624.mail.yahoo.com> http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/11/1705813.php http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2004/11/1706319.php Secret Patriot Act II to give Hitler?s Powers to Bush that even some Republicans are scared about: Congressman Ron Paul (R-Tex) told the Washington Times that no member of Congress was allowed to read the first Patriot Act that was passed by the House on October 27, 2001. The first Patriot Act was universally decried by civil libertarians and Constitutional SECRET PATscholars from across the political spectrum. William Safire, while writing for the New York Times, described the first Patriot Act's powers by saying that President Bush was seizing dictatorial control. On February 7, 2003 the Center for Public Integrity, a non-partisan public interest think-tank in DC, revealed the full text of the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003. The classified document had been leaked to them by an unnamed source inside the Federal government. The document consisted of a 33-page section by section analysis of the accompanying 87-page bill. The Patriot Act II bill itself is stamped "Confidential -Not for Distribution." Upon reading the analysis and bill, I was stunned by the scientifically crafted tyranny contained in the legislation. The Justice Department Office of Legislative Affairs admits that they had indeed covertly transmitted a copy of the legislation to Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, (R-Il) and the Vice President of the United States, Dick Cheney as well as the executive heads of federal law enforcement agencies. It is important to note that no member of Congress was allowed to see the first Patriot Act before its passage, and that no debate was tolerated by the House and Senate leadership. The intentions of the White House and Speaker Hastert concerning Patriot Act II appear to be a carbon copy replay of the events that led to the unprecedented passage of the first Patriot Act. There are two glaring areas that need to be looked at concerning this new legislation: 1. The secretive tactics being used by the White House and Speaker Hastert to keep even the existence of this legislation secret would be more at home in Communist China than in the United States. The fact that Dick Cheney publicly managed the steamroller passage of the first Patriot Act, insuring that no one was allowed to read it and publicly threatening members of Congress that if they didn?t vote in favor of it that they would be blamed for the next terrorist attack, is by the White House?' own definition terrorism. The move to clandestinely craft and then bully passage of any legislation by the Executive Branch is clearly an impeachable offence. 2. The second Patriot Act is a mirror image of powers that Julius Caesar and Adolf Hitler gave themselves. Whereas the First Patriot Act only gutted the First, Third, Fourth and Fifth Amendments, and seriously damaged the Seventh and the Tenth, the Second Patriot Act reorganizes the entire Federal government as well as many areas of state government under the dictatorial control of the Justice Department, the Office of Homeland Security and the FEMA NORTHCOM military command. The Domestic Security Enhancement Act 2003, also known as the Second Patriot Act is by its very structure the definition of dictatorship. I challenge all Americans to study the new Patriot Act and to compare it to the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence. Ninety percent of the act has nothing to do with terrorism and is instead a giant Federal power-grab with tentacles reaching into every facet of our society. It strips American citizens of all of their rights and grants the government and its private agents total immunity. Here is a quick thumbnail sketch of just some of the draconian measures encapsulated within this tyrannical legislation: SECTION 501 (Expatriation of Terrorists) expands the Bush administration'?s enemy combatant definition to all American citizens who may have violated any provision of Section 802 of the first Patriot Act. (Section 802 is the new definition of domestic terrorism, and the definition is any action that endangers human life that is a violation of any Federal or State law. ) Section 501 of the second Patriot Act directly connects to Section 125 of the same act. The Justice Department boldly claims that the incredibly broad Section 802 of the First USA Patriot Act isn?t broad enough and that a new, unlimited definition of terrorism is needed. Under Section 501 a US citizen engaging in lawful activities can be grabbed off the street and thrown into a van never to be seen again. The Justice Department states that they can do this because the person had inferred from conduct that they were not a US citizen. Remember Section 802 of the First USA Patriot Act states that any violation of Federal or State law can result in the enemy combatant terrorist designation. SECTION 201 of the second Patriot Act makes it a criminal act for any member of the government or any citizen to release any information concerning the incarceration or whereabouts of detainees. It also states that law enforcement does not even have to tell the press who they have arrested and they never have to release the names. SECTION 301 and 306 (Terrorist Identification Database) set up a national database of suspected terrorists and radically expand the database to include anyone associated with suspected terrorist groups and anyone involved in crimes or having supported any group designated as terrorist. These sections also set up a national DNA database for anyone on probation or who has been on probation for any crime, and orders State governments to collect the DNA for the Federal government. SECTION 312 gives immunity to law enforcement engaging in spying operations against the American people and would place substantial restrictions on court injunctions against Federal violations of civil rights across the board. SECTION 101 will designate individual terrorists as foreign powers and again strip them of all rights under the enemy combatant designation. SECTION 102 states clearly that any information gathering, regardless of whether or not those activities are illegal, can be considered to be clandestine intelligence activities for a foreign power. This makes news gathering illegal. SECTION 103 allows the Federal government to use wartime martial law powers domestically and internationally without Congress declaring that a state of war exists. SECTION 106 is bone-chilling in its straightforwardness. It states that broad general warrants by the secret FSIA court (a panel of secret judges set up in a star chamber system that convenes in an undisclosed location) granted under the first Patriot Act are not good enough. It states that government agents must be given immunity for carrying out searches with no prior court approval. This section throws out the entire Fourth Amendment against unreasonable searches and seizures. SECTION 109 allows secret star chamber courts to issue contempt charges against any individual or corporation who refuses to incriminate themselves or others. This sections annihilate the last vestiges of the Fifth Amendment. SECTION 110 restates that key police state clauses in the first Patriot Act were not sunsetted and removes the five year sunset clause from other subsections of the first Patriot Act. After all, the media has told us: this is the New America. Get used to it. This is forever. SECTION 111 expands the definition of the enemy combatant designation. SECTION 122 restates the government?s newly announced power of surveillance without a court order. SECTION 123 restates that the government no longer needs warrants and that the investigations can be a giant dragnet-style sweep described in press reports about the Total Information Awareness Network. One passage reads, thus the focus of domestic surveillance may be less precise than that directed against more conventional types of crime. SECTION 126 grants the government the right to mine the entire spectrum of public and private sector information from bank records to educational and medical records. This is the enacting law to allow ECHELON and the Total Information Awareness Network to totally break down any and all walls of privacy. The government states that they must look at everything to determine if individuals or groups might have a connection to terrorist groups. As you can now see, you are guilty until proven innocent. SECTION 127 allows the government to takeover coroners? and medical examiners operations whenever they see fit. SECTION 128 allows the Federal government to place gag orders on Federal and State Grand Juries and to take over the proceedings. It also disallows individuals or organizations to even try to quash a Federal subpoena. So now defending yourself will be a terrorist action. SECTION 129 destroys any remaining whistleblower protection for Federal agents. SECTION 202 allows corporations to keep secret their activities with toxic biological, chemical or radiological materials. SECTION 205 allows top Federal officials to keep all their financial dealings secret, and anyone investigating them can be considered a terrorist. This should be very useful for Dick Cheney to stop anyone investigating Haliburton. SECTION 303 sets up national DNA database of suspected terrorists. The database will also be used to stop other unlawful activities. It will share the information with state, local and foreign agencies for the same purposes. SECTION 311 federalizes your local police department in the area of information sharing. SECTION 313 provides liability protection for businesses, especially big businesses that spy on their customers for Homeland Security, violating their privacy agreements. It goes on to say that these are all preventative measures ??? has anyone seen Minority Report? This is the access hub for the Total Information Awareness Network. SECTION 321 authorizes foreign governments to spy on the American people and to share information with foreign governments. SECTION 322 removes Congress from the extradition process and allows officers of the Homeland Security complex to extradite American citizens anywhere they wish. It also allows Homeland Security to secretly take individuals out of foreign countries. SECTION 402 is titled Providing Material Support to Terrorism. The section reads that there is no requirement to show that the individual even had the intent to aid terrorists. SECTION 403 expands the definition of weapons of mass destruction to include any activity that affects interstate or foreign commerce. SECTION 404 makes it a crime for a terrorist or other criminals to use encryption in the commission of a crime. SECTION 408 creates lifetime parole (basically, slavery) for a whole host of crimes. SECTION 410 creates no statute of limitations for anyone that engages in terrorist actions or supports terrorists. Remember: any crime is now considered terrorism under the first Patriot Act. SECTION 411 expands crimes that are punishable by death. Again, they point to Section 802 of the first Patriot Act and state that any terrorist act or support of terrorist act can result in the death penalty. SECTION 421 increases penalties for terrorist financing. This section states that any type of financial activity connected to terrorism will result to time in prison and $10-50,000 fines per violation. SECTIONS 427 sets up asset forfeiture provisions for anyone engaging in terrorist activities. There are many other sections that I did not cover in the interest of time. The American people were shocked by the despotic nature of the first Patriot Act. The second Patriot Act dwarfs all police state legislation in modern world history. Usually, corrupt governments allow their citizens lots of wonderful rights on paper, while carrying out their jackbooted oppression covertly. From snatch and grab operations to warantless searches, Patriot Act II is an Adolf Hitler wish list. You can understand why President Bush, Dick Cheney and Dennis Hastert want to keep this legislation secret not just from Congress, but the American people as well. Bill Allison, Managing Editor of the Center for Public Integrity, the group that broke this story, stated on my radio show that it was obvious that they were just waiting for another terrorist attack to opportunistically get this new bill through. He then shocked me with an insightful comment about how the Federal government was crafting this so that they could go after the American people in general. He also agreed that the FBI has been quietly demonizing patriots and Christians and those who carry around pocket Constitutions. I have produced two documentary films and written a book about what really happened on September 11th. The bottom line is this: the military-industrial complex carried the attacks out as a pretext for control. Anyone who doubts this just hasn?t looked at the mountains of hard evidence. Of course, the current group of white collar criminals in the White House might not care that we?'re finding out the details of their next phase. Because, after all, when smallpox gets released, or more buildings start blowing up, the President can stand up there at his lectern suppressing a smirk, squeeze out a tear or two, and tell us that See I was right. I had to take away your rights to keep you safe. And now it?s your fault that all of these children are dead. From that point on, anyone who criticizes tyranny will be shouted down by the paid talking head government mouthpieces in the mainstream media. You have to admit, it?s a beautiful script. Unfortunately, it?s being played out in the real world. If we don?t get the word out that government is using terror to control our lives while doing nothing to stop the terrorists, we will deserve what we get - tyranny. But our children won?t deserve it. HOW THE PATRIOT ACT COMPARES TO HITLER?S ERM?CHTIGUNGSGESETZ (ENABLING ACT): At http://www.furnitureforthepeople.com/actpat.htm you can read the following 4 Articles: 1) How the Patriot Act Compares to Hitler's Erm?chtigungsgesetz (Enabling Act) 2) A 21st Century Comparison of The Enabling Act and The Patriot Act 3) Ten Key Dangers of The Patriot Act that Every American Should Know 4) Bill Moyers' NOW Comments on the Patriot Act ~~Please tell your congress and senators to repeal the Patriot Act and to throw out current legislation advocating a second act. Thank You, for your support!~~ Source: http://www.rickieleejones.com/political/patriotact.htm additional resources: Citizens for Legitimate Government http://legitgov.org American Civil Liberties Union http://aclu.org Electronic Frontiers Foundation http://eff.org National Lawyers Guild http://nlg.org ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Discover all that?s new in My Yahoo! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Thu Nov 18 10:03:52 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 10:03:52 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Double Standard On Drugs (Vioxx) Message-ID: <20041118180353.64027.qmail@web13609.mail.yahoo.com> http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/20528/ Double Standard On Drugs By Stephen Pizzo, TomPaine.com. Posted November 17, 2004. Why did the FDA issue a warning about RU-486 but look the other way while thousands died from Vioxx? It has a lot to do with whose campaign benefits from pharmaceutical profits. The Food and Drug Administration just issued a warning on RU-486 ? the drug used to cause medical abortions ? after two women died from secondary infections after taking the pill to end their pregnancies. But the FDA waited until about 27,000 people had died from heart attacks and strokes while taking arthritis drug Vioxx before pulling that drug. Why the discrepancy? The FDA is not exactly known as a Johnny-on-the-spot agency. "Slow" and "careful" are its middle names ? slow to approve generic drugs that might cut into the profits of large pharmaceutical companies, and careful not to do or say anything that could hurt the sales of those companies' hot sellers. The bodies have to really pile up before the FDA pulls the plug on a popular drug. Which is what made the Nov. 15 FDA announcement so unusual. The death of one woman last January prompted the FDA to issue a warning notice on the so-called abortion pill, RU-486. The woman did not die as a direct cause of the medication, but rather a secondary infection that set in afterward. It was only the second such case reported after using RU-486. Compare that FDA response to its handling of Merck's hot-selling arthritis pill, Vioxx. Warnings on that pill have been flooding in from around the world for more than two years ? warnings the FDA ignored. The pill worked fine at alleviating pain ? especially for the estimated 27,000 users it killed. It seems Vioxx had some nasty side affects: heart attacks and strokes. Why did it take so long for the FDA to pull the plug on Vioxx, even though it had hard proof the drug was killing thousands of people every year? And, conversely, why was it so quick to issue a warning on RU-486 based on two deaths not even directly connected to the drug? Would money surprise you? Merck was a big contributor to GOP coffers, and they make sure they hire lobbyists with strong ties to the Bush camp. Meanwhile, RU-486 contributed nothing. The company that produces it is not even American, but French. And that company has been the target of anti-choice forces since the day RU-486 first hit the market. The anti-choice Christian right has had some limited success in curtailing the drug's availability, even for medical research into the drug's other possible applications. Anti-choicers were temporarily successful in blocking the drug in the United States, gaining an FDA order that banned the import of RU-486 from 1989 until 1993. Opponents have also launched boycotts against French pharmaceutical company Roussel-Uclaf; the drug maker's German parent company, Hoechst A.G., as well as their American affiliates; and have threatened to boycott any other pharmaceutical company that makes RU-486 available. But RU-486 is so safe and effective, its use in the United States has grown steadily. Then came George W. Bush's re-election on the backs of the Christian right, and two weeks later, the FDA issued its warning on RU-486. Bush always says he wants to see "the good science" before making tough decisions on such matters. So let's see how the science works out on this: Merck was pulling in around $2.5 billion a year from Vioxx sales. Merck shared some of this drug booty with the Bush re-election campaign and other GOP candidates up for re-election. (In all, drug companies pumped $13 million into various campaign coffers; two-thirds of it went to Republicans.) The FDA knew for two years that there was hard data showing that Vioxx was killing some of its users, but did nothing. Once the body count reached 27,000 and became impossible to hide or deny any longer, the FDA ordered Merck to pull Vioxx off the market. The company that produces RU-486 is foreign and therefore not allowed by federal law to contribute to American campaigns. The Bush campaign and the GOP has not, and never will, get a dime from RU-486 sales. Unlike Vioxx, RU-486 is remarkably safe ? safer than Vioxx, for sure, and a lot safer than illegal abortions. Deaths following RU-486 use were 1 in every 200,000 compared to 1 in every 3,000 illegal abortions. You see what's happening here? The FDA's warning on RU-486 was a no-cost way of showing the religious right that their vote for Bush was not wasted. He is on their side. He is one of them. And the payoffs are only just beginning. Stephen Pizzo is the author of numerous books, including "Inside Job: The Looting of America's Savings and Loans," which was nominated for a Pulitzer. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? The all-new My Yahoo! ? Get yours free! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Thu Nov 18 10:10:44 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 10:10:44 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] 800 Civilians Feared Dead in Fallujah Message-ID: <20041118181044.23245.qmail@web13608.mail.yahoo.com> IRAQ: 800 Civilians Feared Dead in Fallujah He said the Ministry of Health in the U.S.-backed interim Iraqi government had stopped supplying hospitals and clinics in Fallujah two months before the current siege. ?The hospitals do not even have aspirin,? he said. ?This shows, in my opinion, that they've had a plan to attack for a long time and were trying to weaken the people.? Complete article, http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=26303 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! ? Try it today! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Thu Nov 18 10:19:03 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 10:19:03 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Prosecution Finishes in Ecoterrorism Trial Message-ID: <20041118181903.56204.qmail@web13604.mail.yahoo.com> Prosecution finishes in ecoterrorism trial Tuesday, November 16, 2004 By Gene Maddaus , Staff Writer Pasadena Star-News LOS ANGELES -- The prosecution rested Tuesday in the ecoterrorism trial of Caltech graduate student Billy Cottrell, closing with DNA evidence linking Cottrell to a headband found at the arson scene. Several hairs were found on the headband, which was discovered at the Clippinger Hummer dealership soon after the $2.5 million arson fire there on Aug. 22, 2003. Experts at the FBI forensic laboratory at Quantico, Va., found there was a 1-in-370 million chance Cottrell was not the one wearing the headband. But the defense has not disputed Cottrell was present at the scene. They claim Cottrell's friends, Tyler Johnson and Michie Oe, were the true arsonists and that Cottrell only spray- painted environmental slogans on sport-utility vehicles. After the prosecution rested, the defense moved for dismissal of all the charges. Judge Gary Klausner denied the motion. "The evidence in this case is essentially non-existent,' argued defense attorney Michael Mayock. "There is no showing that Billy Cottrell was involved in any way in aiding, abetting or the throwing of Molotov cocktails.' Mayock paid particular attention to the charge of conspiracy, arguing Cottrell may have been guilty of conspiring to commit vandalism, but not to commit arson. Assistant U.S. Attorney Beverly Reid-O'Connell argued that Cottrell's admissions to friends who testified for the government provided enough evidence to send all counts to the jury for a verdict. Klausner agreed, saying there was "more than enough circumstantial evidence to make inference of these charges.' The defense will begin today. The defense is expected to try to call Joshua Connole, a Pomona environmentalist who was arrested for the arsons in September 2003 and later released due to insufficient evidence. The defense hopes Connole's testimony will show that the FBI was desperate to solve the case, but prosecutors have asked Klausner to declare the testimony irrelevant and preclude Connole from taking the stand. Cottrell is also expected to testify. In court Tuesday, FBI Agent Richard Smith testified he had received third-hand information suggesting Johnson could be responsible for house fires in the San Diego area Sept. 19, 2003. Those fires, like the Aug. 22 SUV fires, were claimed by the Earth Liberation Front. Smith also testified that investigators discovered 80 matchbooks with the covers removed during a search of Oe's home earlier this year. Smith said such matchbooks could be used to create an arson device. Johnson, believed to be Oe's boyfriend, graduated from Caltech with a degree in physics in June 2003 and went to graduate school at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Johnson and Oe are both fugitives. In an anonymous e-mail to the Los Angeles Times dated Sept. 16, 2003, the writer references ELF attacks that occurred in New Mexico the previous week. The prosecution claims Cottrell wrote the e-mail, while the defense maintains that Johnson wrote it. On Sept. 5, 2003, a dozen SUVs were spray-painted with ELF slogans at a dealership in Santa Fe. The writer also claimed that bumper stickering attacks took place in New Mexico around the same time, but contemporary media accounts make no reference to bumper stickers. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! ? Try it today! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Thu Nov 18 11:17:38 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 11:17:38 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] (Reuters) U.S. Army to Punish Soldiers Who Refused Iraq Convoy Message-ID: <20041118191738.63715.qmail@web13604.mail.yahoo.com> http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=6831637 U.S. Army to Punish Soldiers Who Refused Iraq Convoy Tue Nov 16, 2004 02:14 PM ET By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Army investigators recommended disciplinary action against about two dozen reservists who refused orders to deliver fuel along a dangerous convoy route in Iraq, officials said on Tuesday. Four or five members of the 343rd Quartermaster Company could face courts-martial on unspecified criminal charges, said Army officials who asked not to be identified. The rest were expected to get administrative punishment, which could include demotion, loss of pay or a reprimand, the officials said. Members of the unit disobeyed orders to take their unarmored fuel tankers on a supply run from Tallil in southeastern Iraq to the Baghdad area on Oct. 13. They raised concerns about the safety and the condition of their vehicles and whether the convoy was getting adequate protection. Maj. Richard Spiegel, an Army spokesman in Iraq, said in a statement that a U.S. commander "has reviewed the initial findings of the investigation into allegations that members of the 343rd Quartermaster Company refused to participate in their assigned mission on Oct. 13." "Certain administrative actions have been initiated as a result of this review and more actions, including criminal charges, are possible in the future," added Spiegel, who did not provide details. Investigators recommended disciplinary action against the 18 soldiers who refused to go on the fuel convoy, and about a half dozen other members of the unit, based in Rock Hill, South Carolina, officials said. Some relatives have said the soldiers believed they were delivering contaminated helicopter fuel and that the convoy was not properly protected. The U.S. military runs about 250 convoys daily involving up to 3,000 vehicles to supply and equip its troops in Iraq. They often are targets of attacks by insurgents. The commander of the company was relieved of her duties after the incident. Other soldiers carried out the Oct. 13 supply mission, the military said. The 343rd Quartermaster Company returned to full duty on Nov. 11, Spiegel said. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ? Copyright Reuters 2004. All rights reserved. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! ? Try it today! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Thu Nov 18 11:39:49 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 11:39:49 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] NO ARNOLD FOR PRESIDENT: NATIONAL MOMENT LAUNCHED TO STOP ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER AND HIS POLITICAL OPERATIVES FROM DESTROYING THE US CONSTITUTION Message-ID: <20041118193949.99280.qmail@web13625.mail.yahoo.com> For Immediate Release: November 18, 2004 NO ARNOLD FOR PRESIDENT: NATIONAL MOMENT LAUNCHED TO STOP ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER AND HIS POLITICAL OPERATIVES FROM DESTROYING THE US CONSTITUTION Americans Against Arnold is strongly opposed to amending Article 2, Clause 5 of the US Constitution that bars the foreign-born from seeking the Presidency. High-level political operatives from Arnold 's Schwarzenegger's gubernatorial campaign have commenced a media blitzkrieg propagandizing for a change in the Constitution so Arnold can run for President. Arnold has said for decades that he wants to amend the Constitution so he can be President. Now, Congressman Dana Rohrbacher, Senator Orin Hatch and others have introduced legislation known in Congress as ?Arnold Bills? to give Schwarzenegger what he wants. This has been an obvious, well-focused campaign to mold public opinion in favor of amending the Constitution for Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arnold has publicly stated that he has dreamed of being a dictator. Americans Against Arnold founder Alex Jones says, ? Arnold 's already running for President. His operatives have been dominating the airwaves, despite the fact that in major polls 80+ percent of Americans don't want to change the Constitution so he can be President. This narcissistic megalomaniac would have control of the nuclear launch codes if he were President ? just think about that. From defending known Nazi Kurt Waldheim, using illegal drugs and sexually harassing women, I've never heard of a politician coated in this much slime.? Americans Against Arnold has launched a counteroffensive that represents the American people's views, the Founding Father's warnings and the US Constitution. To that means we will be running radio and television commercials in select areas of the country to raise public awareness to the real nature of Arnold Schwarzenegger and the clear and present danger he represents to American sovereignty. Make no mistake: Arnold and his minions intend for him to run in 2008. Congressman Rohrabacher told the San Jose Mercury-News on November 3 that Republican leadership believes Arnold has turn the tide and that they want him for President ?when Bush is done.? We beg the media to go to ArnoldExposed.com and look at all the well-respected publications that have chronicled Arnold 's frightening activities. We sincerely hope that they will interview the founder of Americans Against Arnold and give us equal time to this important issue. All we've seen for the last month is the glossy media presentation of how great Arnold is and what a great idea it would be to amend the Constitution. Americans Against Arnold founder Alex Jones is a documentary filmmaker and national radio host who has been researching Arnold Schwarzenegger for years. He has done thousands of interviews on radio and television in the United States and internationally. To set up an interview with Alex Jones please call 512-291-5750 and/or email media at arnoldexposed.com --------------------------------- Please mass E mail this press release to mainstream media. Only with your help can we bring attention to this. Contact Associated Press: info at ap.org Contact Reuters: editor at reuters.com Contact Drudge: drudge at drudgereport.com ---------------------------------- Related Articles: Elite Push For Schwarzenegger Presidency Gains Momentum Schwarzenegger Behind Group Seeking to Repeal Constitutional Rule Baring Foreigners from Presidency ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Discover all that?s new in My Yahoo! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 16 14:39:02 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 14:39:02 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] FW: Support Human Rights this Holiday Season! Message-ID: **Support Human Rights this Holiday Season!** Rhino Records has released a two-CD set compilation of 27 songs by famous artists dedicated to the WORLD'S ONLY IMPRISONED NOBEL PEACE PRIZE RECIPIENT Aung San Suu Kyi and the courageous people of Burma. The two CD-set is titled "For The Lady", and is available for purchase at www.uscampaignforburma.org This CD builds on 15 years of Amnesty International's work to free Aung San Suu Kyi and the 50 million people of Burma. The two CD-set includes great music--artists like Paul McCartney, Sting, U2, Pearl Jam, Avril Lavigne, Talib Kweli, Ani DiFranco, Damien Rice, Matchbox Twenty, Bonnie Raitt, and more have all donated to the effort. 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. The CD has already been banned by Burma's military regime. The CD-set would make a great gift for all of your friends and family this holiday season! See photos of the musicians, listen to previews of two of the songs, and order your copy TODAY at www.uscampaignforburma.org Or, you can buy the CD at any major music store, including Barnes and Nobel, Tower Records, Kmart, etc. However, if you buy it through the website, US Campaign for Burma will receive more of the proceeds. --Please share this email with everyone you know who cares about human rights-- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Thu Nov 18 12:09:20 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 12:09:20 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] DOLLAR SETS A RECORD LOW TO THE EURO - $1.3047 Message-ID: <20041118200921.81252.qmail@web13621.mail.yahoo.com> http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1353645,00.html Dollar melts but Snow stays firm We will not intervene, insists US treasury chief Ashley Seager Thursday November 18, 2004 The Guardian The dollar plunged to an all-time low against the euro yesterday as the Bush administration signalled it was not prepared to take any action to prevent the slide. The greenback has resumed its fall since George Bush was re-elected and is down 40% against the euro over the past two years, reflecting growing concerns in currency markets over the giant US budget and current account deficits. But US treasury secretary John Snow told the Royal Institute of International Affairs that his country's current account deficit was a problem for other nations as well and signalled his opposition to any kind of intervention to put a floor under the currency. "The issue of the current account deficit is a shared responsibility not just one for the US," he said. He added that the US intended to do its bit to eradicate the current account deficit by reducing its budget deficit over the next few years. Other countries, particularly in Europe, had to make a contribution by boosting their economies and attracting invest ment capital which is now flowing into the US and exacerbating its current account problem. "We would be interested in seeing Europe grow faster ... There is unbalanced growth which is contributing to this problem of current account deficits," he said. As he spoke, the dollar bust through the $1.30 to the euro level to set a record low of $1.3047. It also set a nine-year low against a basket of major currencies and a seven-month low of 104.1 against the yen. The pound rose to $1.8628. But Mr Snow dismissed speculation that the major economic powers may intervene in currency markets and buy dollars: "The history of efforts to impose non-market values on currencies is at best unrewarding ... we believe in open, free, competitive currency markets." But in spite of questioning he reiterated that Washington's long-stated policy of wanting a strong dollar remained intact: "The policy is the policy." However, currency markets believe that Washington is happy to see the dollar fall back and help reduce the current account deficit by making imports more expensive and exports cheaper, so they took his comments as a signal to sell the dollar. "He gave no impression that dollar policy will change and that gave a green light to dollar sales," said Tim Fox, currency strategist at National Australia Bank in London. Mr Snow said he was optimistic that China would soon free up the renminbi, which Beijing pegs at an artificially low rate to the dollar to boost its own exports. It runs a huge current account surplus with the US and freeing up its currency is seen as a way to reducing the US deficit. Mr Snow said he was "very optimistic" that China would float its currency in the next few years, but did not specify a date. "They have agreed to do it but say they need a little more time. We are saying 'let's get on with it'." Chinese officials are likely to come under more pressure to revalue the renminbi at a meeting of the Group of 20 leading industrialised and developing countries this weekend. Mr Snow said that with China and India becoming so much more significant, dialogue about economic issues needed to be widened beyond traditional meetings of the G7 industrialised nations. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! ? Try it today! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Thu Nov 18 19:09:25 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 19:09:25 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Left Hook Updated Message-ID: Left Hook www.lefthook.org Latest Release: Thursday, November 18, 2004 American Occupation: Think Rampaging Elephants Joe Ramsey Most reasonably informed people by now will concede that the US invasion of Iraq was something between a mistake and a crime, and that the case for war in Iraq was made based upon mis-information, if not outright lies. There were no WMDs or active WMD programs in Iraq. There were no Saddam-Al Queda terror links. The Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal and the recent reports of US soldiers executing unarmed Iraqis in Falluja cast doubt on whether American forces are (capable of) respecting Iraqis human rights. The war in Iraq has made the US more hated and less secure, and is sucking up US tax dollars that could be much better spent elsewhere. All, or most, of this, for most people in my neck of the woods (Tufts University), is more or less uncontroversial. Thus the most common defense of the occupation I get today is a metaphorical one:-Iraq is a pot in a store, they say-"'We' broke it, so now we've bought it." "Iraq is now ours to fix." I hear it again and again. "We can't just leave it broken." In this article, I would like to offer a radical revision of this ubiquitous clich?. - (Read full) > Democrats Commit Suicide: Harry Reid, Wrong Choice for Senate Minority Leader Joshua Frank The Democrats, obviously still mourning John Kerry's embarrassing loss to George W. Bush just two weeks prior, have drawn up a new game-plan in hopes that it will help them challenge their purported rivals in elections to come. Well, it isn't really a new plan, just a fresh spin on an old failing strategy. The Democrats again believe, even after Kerry's stubborn loss, the only way to beat the neocons is to outflank them to the right. Take on their "values" and surpass their fanaticism. The saga began to unfold following Democratic Senate minority leader Tom Daschle's horrific defeat to Republican John Thume in the South Dakotan Senate race on November 2. After Daschle's loss Democratic National Committee chair, Terry McAuliffe, was on the phone rallying support behind one of his favorite Senators, Nevada's own, Harry Reid. Reid, an admitted friend of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, was being tapped for the position well before Daschle's loss, and quickly gained enough support to assure his appointment and upcoming confirmation. A conservative Mormon, Reid, who was born and raised in Nevada, could just as well have ran as a Republican when he chose to do so in 1982. - (Read full) > Bankruptcy, Overcapacity and the U.S. Airline Industry Seth Sandronsky Do you recall the "new" economy hype of last decade? Its cheerleaders claimed that the American business cycle was over. With the luxury of hindsight, we see the foolishness of that claim. On that note, consider the U.S. airline industry today. Its revenues are down. Expenses are up, led by rising oil prices. So domestic carriers are slashing their costs by any means necessary. This process brings into clearer view the social conflict between airline employers and employees. Currently, there are too many airline flights for too few business and leisure customers. The NY Times of Sept. 14 reported that airline overcapacity "is plaguing the industry." Overcapacity is a condition in which more goods are produced or services provided than can be sold to buyers. Air transport is a service. Overcapacity is not a condition of nature but a consequence of a certain social formation. - (Read full) > A review of Michael Tigar's re-released "Law and the Rise of Capitalism" Chad Faldt Michael Tigar's book "Law and the Rise of Capitalism" is an excellent book for leftwing youth to read in order to gain a historical understanding of capitalism and its institutions- in this case the 'Law' and "legal ideology"- in their historical development, extending all the way back to the Roman Republic/Empire, and then moving, in this republished version all the way to legal developments in the late 20th Century. - (Read full) > ============================================== 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 Thu Nov 18 19:10:14 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 19:10:14 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Should Canada indict Bush? Message-ID: Nov. 16, 2004. 01:00 AM Should Canada indict Bush? THOMAS WALKOM Toronto Star When U.S. President George W. Bush arrives in Ottawa ? probably later this year ? should he be welcomed? Or should he be charged with war crimes? It's an interesting question. On the face of it, Bush seems a perfect candidate for prosecution under Canada's Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Act. This act was passed in 2000 to bring Canada's ineffectual laws in line with the rules of the new International Criminal Court. While never tested, it lays out sweeping categories under which a foreign leader like Bush could face arrest. In particular, it holds that anyone who commits a war crime, even outside Canada, may be prosecuted by our courts. What is a war crime? According to the statute, it is any conduct defined as such by "customary international law" or by conventions that Canada has adopted. War crimes also specifically include any breach of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, such as torture, degradation, wilfully depriving prisoners of war of their rights "to a fair and regular trial," launching attacks "in the knowledge that such attacks will cause incidental loss of life or injury to civilians" and deportation of persons from an area under occupation. Outside of one well-publicized (and quickly squelched) attempt in Belgium, no one has tried to formally indict Bush. But both Oxfam International and the U.S. group Human Rights Watch have warned that some of the actions undertaken by the U.S. and its allies, particularly in Iraq, may fall under the war crime rubric. The case for the prosecution looks quite promising. First, there is the fact of the Iraq war itself. After 1945, Allied tribunals in Nuremberg and Tokyo ? in an astonishing precedent ? ruled that states no longer had the unfettered right to invade other countries and that leaders who started such conflicts could be tried for waging illegal war. Concurrently, the new United Nations outlawed all aggressive wars except those authorized by its Security Council. Today, a strong case could be made that Bush violated the Nuremberg principles by invading Iraq. Indeed, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has already labelled that war illegal in terms of the U.N. Charter. Second, there is the manner in which the U.S. conducted this war. The mistreatment of prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison is a clear contravention of the Geneva Accord. The U.S. is also deporting selected prisoners to camps outside of Iraq (another contravention). U.S. press reports also talk of shadowy prisons in Jordan run by the CIA, where suspects are routinely tortured. And the estimated civilian death toll of 100,000 may well contravene the Geneva Accords prohibition against the use of excessive force. Canada's war crimes law specifically permits prosecution not only of those who carry out such crimes but of the military and political superiors who allow them to happen. What has emerged since Abu Ghraib shows that officials at the highest levels of the Bush administration permitted and even encouraged the use of torture. Given that Bush, as he likes to remind everyone, is the U.S. military's commander-in-chief, it is hard to argue he bears no responsibility. Then there is Guantanamo Bay. The U.S. says detainees there do not fall under the Geneva accords. That's an old argument. In 1946, Japanese defendants explained their mistreatment of prisoners of war by noting that their country had never signed any of the Geneva Conventions. The Japanese were convicted anyway. Oddly enough, Canada may be one of the few places where someone like Bush could be brought to justice. Impeachment in the U.S. is most unlikely. And, at Bush's insistence, the new international criminal court has no jurisdiction over any American. But a Canadian war crimes charge, too, would face many hurdles. Bush was furious last year when Belgians launched a war crimes suit in their country against him ? so furious that Belgium not only backed down under U.S. threats but changed its law to prevent further recurrences. As well, according to a foreign affairs spokesperson, visiting heads of state are immune from prosecution when in Canada on official business. If Ottawa wanted to act, it would have to wait until Bush was out of office ? or hope to catch him when he comes up here to fish. And, of course, Canada's government would have to want to act. War crimes prosecutions are political decisions that must be authorized by the federal attorney-general. Still, Prime Minister Paul Martin has staked out his strong opposition to war crimes. This was his focus in a September address to the U.N. General Assembly. There, Martin was talking specifically about war crimes committed by militiamen in far-off Sudan. But as my friends on the Star's editorial board noted in one of their strong defences of concerted international action against war crimes, the rule must be, "One law for all." Thomas Walkom writes every Tuesday. twalkom at thestar.ca. http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1100517502971&call_pageid=968256290204&col=968350116795 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 Thu Nov 18 19:18:36 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 19:18:36 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Help bring RBG hip-hop to mainstream radio Message-ID: Peace all, DJ Scene, who spins at Clear Channel-owned KUBE 93, has provided us an opportunity to bring revolutionary hip-hop to the masses. dRED-i has recently released a 3 track single called "Revolutionary Crunk Muzik: The Black Panther Party Meets Soul Train". Silent Lambs Project (SLP) has a full-length LP out called "Street Talkin'...Survival". Jace, of SLP, also has a solo album out called "Red Scribes Pages". Be sure to check out pages 41 and 71 of the latest issue of "The Stranger" (www.thestranger.com). Alpha P just dropped a new 7 inch called "Westcoast Scavengers". Contact: DJ Scene cell: (206) 380-6235 2way: djscene at tmail.com mp3: djscene at hotmail.com web: www.dj-scene.com Or go to www.kube93.com for the contact links and phone numbers for DJs Supa Sam, Eric Powers, and Karen Wild. In order for this to work, it requires that folks commit to call and/or email DJ Scene or Kube 93FM a minimum of once a week. If you're in Seattle on November 20th, come see SLP, dRED.i, Felicia V. Loud, and DJ Sean Malik LIVE at the Lo-Fi (439A Eastlake Ave E). You can also catch DJ Sean Malik (dj for Silent Lambs Project and dRED. i) TONIGHT on "Hip-Hop 101" on Seattle Community Access Network (SCAN) public access channel 29/77. "There is no religion more relevant than reality"- dRED.i Gregory C. Lewis, Certified Personal Trainer and Clinical Exercise Specialist(ACE). Certified Instructor; Kenzen Karate. 206-956-4043. How is YOUR nutrition? Find out now: http://147.208.9.133/Default.asp Take the Self-Protection Quiz (For Women): http://www.aware.org/quizzes/quizindex.shtml -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Thu Nov 18 19:39:39 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 19:39:39 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] slingshot organizers are here! Message-ID: once again we are pleased to offer you the best radical Organizer and daytimer available! organize your life, activism, pleasure and parties with these highly-informative pocket-sized books! the 2005 Organizer, the 11th edition, is a 160 pages (4 inches X 5 inches) pocket planner with radical dates for every day of the year, space to write your phone numbers, a contact list of radical groups around the globe, menstrual calendar, info on police repression, extra note pages, plus much more! choose from 40 cover colours printed with either black or silver ink. check out the colours at http://slingshot.tao.ca/organizer.php and tell us your first and second choices. black cat distro is the official canadian mail-order distributor! prices (all prices listed include postage!): in canada: single copies are $9, 3 copies $26, 4 copies $34, 5 copies $40, and 10 copies $75. (canadian dollars) in u.s.: single copies are $7, 3 copies $20, 5 copies $33, and 10 copies $60 (u.s. dollars) overseas: write us for a price quote. ***special bonus offer*** order a copy of the double dvd set 911 EMERGENCY for $50 (includes postage) and receive a slingshot organizer for free!!! (if you missed the post about this dvd set write us and we'll send you all the details.) to order, send a cheque or money order (an international money order if you're outside of canada) or well-concealed cash to: black cat distro p.o. box 229 roberts creek, bc v0n 2w0 canada -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Thu Nov 18 19:41:52 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 19:41:52 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Seven retired military leaders agree: Bush Screwed Up.: Message-ID: Seven retired military leaders agree: Bush Screwed Up. The Generals Speak Seven retired military leaders discuss what has gone wrong in Iraq By PAUL ALEXANDER The nineteen months since the war in Iraq began, some of the most outspoken critics of President Bush's plan of attack have come from a group that should have been the most supportive: retired senior military leaders. We spoke with a group of generals and admirals that included a former supreme Allied commander and a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and they all agreed on one thing: Bush screwed up. Gen. Merrill "Tony" McPeak Air Force chief of staff, 1990-94 We have a force in Iraq that's much too small to stabilize the situation. It's about half the size, or maybe even a third, of what we need. As a consequence, the insurgency seems to be gathering momentum. We are losing people at a fairly steady rate of about two a day; wounded, about four or five times that, and perhaps half of these wounds are very serious. And we are also sustaining gunshot wounds, when, before, we'd mostly been seeing massive trauma from remotely detonated charges. This means the other side is standing and fighting in a way that describes a more dangerous phase of the conflict. The people in control in the Pentagon and the White House live in a fantasy world. They actually thought everyone would just line up and vote for a new democracy and you would have a sort of Denmark with oil. I blame Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the people behind him -- Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Undersecretary Douglas Feith. The vice president himself should probably be included; certainly his wife. These so-called neocons: These people have no real experience in life. They are utopian thinkers, idealists, very smart, and they have the courage of their convictions, so it makes them doubly dangerous. The parallels between Iraq and Vietnam have been overblown, because we were in Vietnam for a decade and it cost us 58,000 troops. We've been in Iraq for nineteen months and we're still under 1,200 killed. But there is one sense in which the parallel with Vietnam is valid. The American people were told that to win the Cold War we had to win Vietnam. But we now know that Vietnam was not only a diversion from winning the Cold War but probably delayed our winning it and made it cost more to win. Iraq is a diversion to the war on terror in exactly the same way Vietnam was a diversion to the Cold War. Adm. Stansfield Turner NATO Allied commander for Southern Europe, 1975-77; CIA director, 1977-81 I think we are in a real mess. There are eighty-seven attacks on Americans every day, and our people in Baghdad can't even leave the International Zone without being heavily armored. I think we are in trouble because we were so slow in terms of reconstruction and reconstituting the military and police forces. We have lost the support of the Iraqi people who were glad to see Saddam go. But they are not glad to see an outside force come in and replace him without demonstrating we are going to provide them with security and rebuild their economy. I am very frustrated. Having a convincing rationale for going in gives our troops a sense of purpose. Whatever you call it, this is now an insurgency using the techniques of terrorism. With the borders poorly guarded, the terrorists come in. All in all, Iraq is a failure of monumental proportions. Lt. Gen. William Odom Director of the National Security Agency, 1985-88 It's a huge strategic disaster, and it will only get worse. The sooner we leave, the less the damage. In the months since the invasion, the U.S. forces have become involved in trying to repress a number of insurgency movements. This is the way we were fighting in Vietnam, and if we keep on fighting this way, this one is going to go on a long time too. The idea of creating a constitutional state in a short amount of time is a joke. It will take ten to fifteen years, and that is if we want to kill ten percent of the population. Gen. Anthony Zinni Commander in chief of the United States Central Command, 1997-2000 The first phase of the war in Iraq, the conventional phase, the major combat phase, was brilliantly done. Tommy Franks' approach to methodically move up and attack quickly probably saved a great humanitarian disaster. But the military was unprepared for the aftermath. Rumsfeld and others thought we would be greeted with roses and flowers. When I was commander of CENTCOM, we had a plan for an invasion of Iraq, and it had specific numbers in it. We wanted to go in there with 350,000 to 380,000 troops. You didn't need that many people to defeat the Republican Guard, but you needed them for the aftermath. We knew that we would find ourselves in a situation where we had completely uprooted an authoritarian government and would need to freeze the situation: retain control, retain order, provide security, seal the borders to keep terrorists from coming in. When I left in 2000, General Franks took over. Franks was my ground-component commander, so he was well aware of the plan. He had participated in it; those were the numbers he wanted. So what happened between him and Rumsfeld and why those numbers got altered, I don't know, because when we went in we used only 140,000 troops, even though General Eric Shinseki, the army commander, asked for the original number. Did we have to do this? I saw the intelligence right up to the day of the war, and I did not see any imminent threat there. If anything, Saddam was coming apart. The sanctions were working. The containment was working. He had a hollow military, as we saw. If he had weapons of mass destruction, it was leftover stuff -- artillery shells and rocket rounds. He didn't have the delivery systems. We controlled the skies and seaports. We bombed him at will. All of this happened under U.N. authority. I mean, we had him by the throat. But the president was being convinced by the neocons that down the road we would regret not taking him out. Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy Army deputy chief of staff for intelligence, 1997-2000 From the beginning, i was asked which side I took, Shinseki's or Rumsfeld's. And I said Shinseki. I mean, Rumsfeld proudly announced that he had told General Franks to fight this war with different tactics in which they would bypass enemy strongholds and enemy resistance and keep on moving. But it was shocking to me that the secretary of defense would tell the Army how to fight. He doesn't know how to fight; he has no business telling them. It's completely within civilian authority to tell you where to fight, what our major objective is, but it is absolutely no one's business but uniformed military to tell you how to do the job. To me, it was astonishing that Rumsfeld would presume to tell four-star generals, in the Army thirty-five years, how to do their jobs. Now here's another thing that Rumsfeld did. As he was being briefed on the war plan, he was cherry-picking the units to go. In other words, he didn't just approve the deployment list, he went down the list and skipped certain units that were at a higher degree of readiness to go and picked units that were lower on the list -- for reasons we don't know. But here's the impact: Recently, at an event, a mother told me how her son had been recruited and trained as a cook. Three weeks before he deployed to Iraq, he was told he was now a gunner. And they gave him training for three weeks, and then off he went. Rumsfeld was profoundly in the dark. I think he really didn't understand what he was doing. He miscalculated the kind of war it was and he miscalculated the interpretation of U.S. behavior by the Iraqi people. They felt they had been invaded. They did not see this as a liberation. As for the recent news about the 380 tons of explosives that disappeared, it's irrelevant when they disappeared. This was known by the International Atomic Energy Agency as a site to be watched. Here is the issue: Bush tried to turn this into a political matter instead of answering questions about why he didn't follow the warnings of the IAEA. It was another example of Bush being a cheerleader instead of a leader. Nothing in Iraq was guarded except for the oil fields, which tells you why we were there. There are any number of indications that with a larger troop strength we would have been able to deal with such sites. Here is my other concern: The IAEA gave us a list of sites to be watched, so there may have been other dumps that were looted. After all, you don't just put one item on a list. So what do we do? I think it would be very irresponsible for us to simply pull out. It sounds like a very simple solution, but it would have some complexity and danger attached. Still, Iraq is a blood bath, and we need to be dealing with this in a much more sophisticated way than the cowboy named Bush. Gen. Wesley Clark NATO supreme Allied commander for Europe, 1997-2000 Troop strength was not the only problem. We got into this mess because the Bush administration decided what they really wanted to do was to invade Iraq, and then the only question was, for what reason? They developed two or three different reasons. It wasn't until the last minute that they came up and said, "Hey, by the way, we are going to create a wave of democracy across the Middle East." That was February of 2003, and by that time they hadn't planned anything. In October of 2003, Donald Rumsfeld wrote a memo asking questions that should have been asked in 2001: Do we have an overall strategy to win the war on terror? Do we have the right organization to win the war on terror? How are we going to know if we are not winning the war on terror? As it has turned out, the guys on the ground are doing what they are told to do. But let's ask this question: Have you seen an American strategic blunder this large? The answer is: not in fifty years. I can't imagine when the last one was. And it's not just about troop strength. I mean, you will fail if you don't have enough troops, but simply adding troops won't make you succeed. Adm. William Crowe Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1985-89 We screwed up. we were intent on a quick victory with smaller forces, and we felt if we had a military victory everything else would fall in place. We would be viewed not as occupiers but as victors. We would draw down to 30,000 people within the first sixty days. All of this was sheer nonsense.They thought that once Iraq fell we'd have a similar effect throughout the Middle East and terrorism would evaporate, blah, blah, blah. All of these were terrible assumptions. A State Department study advising otherwise was sent to Rumsfeld, but he threw it in the wastebasket. He overrode the military and was just plain stubborn on numbers. Finally the military said OK, and they totally underestimated the impact the desert had on our equipment and the kind of troops we would need for peacekeeping. They ignored Shinseki. The Marines were advising the same way. But the military can only go so far. Once the civilian leadership decides otherwise, the military is obliged. There is not a very good answer for what to do next. We've pulled out of several places without achieving our objectives, and every time we predicted the end of Western civilization, which it was not. We left Korea after not achieving anything we wanted to do, and it didn't hurt us very much. We left Vietnam -- took us ten years to come around to doing it -- but we didn't achieve what we wanted. Everyone said it would set back our foreign policy in East Asia for ten years. It set it back about two months. Our allies thought we were crazy to be in Vietnam. We could have the same thing happen this time in Iraq. If we walk away, we are still the number-one superpower in the world. There will be turmoil in Iraq, and how that will affect our oil supply, I don't know. But the question to ask is: Is what we are achieving in Iraq worth what we're paying? Weighing the good against the bad, we have got to get out. (Posted Nov 03, 2004) ------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Thu Nov 18 19:43:27 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 19:43:27 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Bush-Terror, The 'Supreme International Crime' Message-ID: Bush-Terror, The 'Supreme International Crime' By Ghali Hassan 11/17/04 "ICH" -- Since the Bush Administration took power in 2001, the world have witnessed a cabal of extremists and fanatics wreaking havoc on defenseless nations such as Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan in complete violations of international law, international organizations, and justice. They are destroying not only the international system for peace and justice, but progressive legislations in the United States. The destruction of Iraq continues with total disregard for international law. "The crime hereinafter set out are punishable as crimes under international law: wanton destruction of cities, towns, or villages, or destruction not justified by military necessity" (Nuremberg convention Principle VI, 1945). According to this definition, the Bush Administration's destruction of Fallujah, Ramadi, Tall Afar, Najef and Samarra constitutes war crimes for which the Nazis were tried and executed. To initiate a war of aggression is, very simply, the "supreme international crime" condemned at Nuremberg. According to Francis Boyle, Professor of Law at University of Illinois, "In international legal terms, the Bush Administration itself should now be viewed as constituting an ongoing criminal conspiracy under international criminal law in violation of the Nuremberg Charter, the Nuremberg Judgment, and the Nuremberg Principles, due to its formulation and undertaking of aggressive war policies that are legally akin to those perpetrated by the Nazi regime". In addition to this wanton destruction of Iraqi cities and towns, the US have cut off water supplies to Fallujah, Tall Afar, and Samarra for the past two months, affecting up to 750,000 civilians, reports the British humanitarian organisation, Cambridge Solidarity with Iraq (CASI). Can you imagine living without water for a day? International law specifically forbids the denial of water to civilians during conflict. Under Article 14 of the second protocol of the Geneva Conventions, "Starvation of civilians as a method of combat is prohibited. It is therefore prohibited to attack, destroy, remove or render useless for that purpose, objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population such as food-stuffs, agricultural areas for the production of food-stuffs, crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies and irrigation works". The exact number of civilians killed by the US assault on Fallujah is not known. Red Cross official estimates that at least 800 civilians have been killed during the US military siege of the city. According to Red Cross, the information based on reports from Red Crescent aid workers stationed around the embattled city, from residents within the city and from refugees who fled the city. Eyewitnesses say most of the victims are civilians, including, women, children, and unarmed men between the ages of 14-60 years old, who were prevented from leaving the city before the US onslaught. 'Our neighbour house was raided; they killed her and two other women, two men, and two children-eight people-in the name of Al-Zarqawi. One of the women was in her seventh month of pregnancy. Her fetus got out of her body and stayed alive for 6 hours then died, according to the neighbours and relatives who retrieved the bodies from under the rubble', witnesses told IslamOnline. Associated Press reported that, "The Americans are shooting anything that moves". "Our air superiority is incredible," a US marine sergeant told Associated Press. "All we can do now is clear through the city and look for survivors. Air power is our best friend" against defenceless population. The US military does not count the number of its crimes, and its servicemen are immune from prosecution. In a word, the US is behaving like a gangster, above the law. US warplanes have bombed and destroyed hospitals and small clinics serving the city of 300,000 people. Amnesty International reported that, "20 Iraqi medical staff [doctors and nurses] and dozens of other civilians were killed when a missile hit a Fallujah clinic on 09 November 2004". American snipers killed more than 17 Iraqi doctors who had mobilized to answer an appeal from Fallujah's doctors broadcast on al-Jazeera, Asia Times reported on 18 November 2004. There are no medical facilities or medics left to treat the wounded civilians. While Fallujah was enduring the US-fascist assault, the world watches as if the Iraqi people were not humans. Mainstream media sold an act of mass murder of Iraqi civilians as a necessary step to "build democracy". Not only the Arab stooges kept their heads buried in the sand, their pliant media follow their orders and succumb to US power. Recent poll in the Arab World revealed that 81% of Arabs thought that the Arab media is pro-US, and only 8% support the Iraqi Resistance. Western TV programs broadcast footage on 11 November 2004 that shows a US marine murdering a wounded unarmed man in a close-range criminal execution. The footage was used around the world as propaganda to portray the US army as law-abiding army and to cover up a large atrocity. This outright murder of Iraqi civilians is deliberately broadcast in the mainstream media "to normalise [and sell] the unspeakable and unthinkable [atrocity] for the general public". The pretext of bringing 'freedom' and 'democracy' to Iraq through destruction and mass murder of innocent civilians rings hollow among Iraqis. The two terms are so despised in Iraq that people use them to describe westerners derogatively. Both terms are kept alive by Western ruling elites to manipulate the masses and justify wars of aggression against defenceless people. "Words like 'freedom' and 'democracy' have become like old coin, worn so thin as to defy even the most conscientious effort to distinguish between the real and the counterfeit", wrote Andrew Bacevich of Boston University. US disregard for international law and justice has much deeper roots than contempt for democracy. As in the Vietnam War, it was simply taken for granted by the media that international law was for others, not the US. Despite the large atrocity of the Vietnam War, the US was never punished for its war crimes, and allowed to walk free. The US war in Iraq is a silent holocaust about which the civilised world does nothing. It must be resisted and exposed. People have the right to do so without fear. "Everyone around the world has both the right and the duty under international law to resist ongoing criminal activities perpetrated by the Bush Jr. administration and its nefarious foreign accomplices such as Blair, Berlusconi, Howard, Koizumi, Kwasniewski, etc. by all non-violent means possible", wrote Francis Boyle. The war against Iraq is premeditated act of aggression. It is a war crime. "This crime is perpetrated under our eyes every day, making accomplices out of those who do not denounce it", wrote the French philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre. A non-violent international movement for justice and freedom must challenge those responsible for the violence and crimes and bring them to justice. International law and domestic law provide legality for the arrest of world criminals who committed crimes against the Iraqi people. There is overwhelming prima facia evidence to support war crimes committed by the Bush cabal and their allies. Ghali Hassan lives in Perth Western Australia: He can be reached at e-mail: G.Hassan at exchange.curtin.edu.au ------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Thu Nov 18 19:56:22 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 19:56:22 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Mosh Continues... Message-ID: Guerrillas, 1. GNN has just re-launched the Eminem Mosh video with a new ending that includes over 50 seconds of new animation. Check it out here: http://www.gnn.tv/videos/video.php?id=28 2. Mosh has been driving unprecedented traffic to the site, as Brendan Kelly reports in the Montreal Gazette: "With Eminem's latest video, one of the hottest online alt-news sites just got hotter..." http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/news/arts/story.html?id=fb3d2713-1326-4bb7-ad06-7f664da0f203 3.Also, after many requests from the community, the new GNN store accepts all major credit cards, check it out and get GNN media here: http://www.theconnextion.com/index.cfm?artistid=302&noframe=yes 4. Finally, since the shaky launch of GNN V2.0, over 3800 Guerrillas have created home pages, and hundreds have begun publishing insightful and powerfully written blogs. Join up today... and check out the latest blog from GNN gavin_rose: http://www.gnn.tv/users/user.php?id=8 peace GNN.tv -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Thu Nov 18 23:34:57 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 23:34:57 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Earthjustice e-Brief: Special Post-Election Edition Message-ID: <20041119073457.31774.qmail@web13603.mail.yahoo.com> AIR FORESTS HEALTH & COMMUNITIES INTERNATIONAL OCEANS PUBLIC LANDS WATER WILDLIFE IN THIS ISSUE: A Note from Executive Director Buck Parker The Dust Has Settled: A Note from Vice President for Policy and Legislation Marty Hayden Pledge to Protect the Endangered Species Act! The Bush Administration Rollbacks Review Progress Report: Earthjustice and the Bush Administration When The Going Gets Tough A New Moral Cause: A Note from Senior Editor Tom Turner Mail Bag --------------------------------- A Closer Look: EARTHJUSTICE REPORTS Want to get the whole story behind the cases we're taking to court on behalf of our environment? Check out the PDFs of the reports featured below and e-mail Eve Lotter to request hard copies: elotter at earthjustice.org. (Please write "Report Request" in the subject line, include your mailing address, and specify which reports you'd like copies of.) Citizen's Guide to the Endangered Species Act The Northwest Forest Plan: Ancient Forests At Risk Again Refuges in Peril: Fish, Wildlife, and the Klamath Water Crisis Reckless Abandon: How the Bush Administration is Exposing America's Waters to Harm Defending the Gains: June 2004 Report (PDF only) --------------------------------- ABOUT EARTHJUSTICE Founded as the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund in 1971, Earthjustice is the nonprofit law firm for the environment. Earthjustice represents hundreds of environmental organizations, large and small, from eight offices across the country and a law clinic at Stanford University. We do not charge our clients for our services. Visit our site. --------------------------------- THE EARTHJUSTICE SUPPORTER CENTER AND YOU Are you an Earthjustice supporter yet? See what all the buzz is about at our online Supporter Center where you can get the inside scoop, be inspired, and find out the latest news. Click here. SUPPORT EARTHJUSTICE! Your support of Earthjustice will help defend and protect our forests and other public lands; our air, water, and wildlife; our children and our communities. Please, give online today. --------------------------------- QUESTIONS? FEEDBACK? Drop us a line: enews at earthjustice.org. Executive Director Buck Parker A Note from Executive Director Buck Parker Dear IBB, Earthjustice is fully prepared to face the challenges posed by four more years of the most anti-environmental presidential administration in American history. Like many of our supporters, our initial reaction to the election was disappointment, but we will not be discouraged or deterred. For more than 30 years, Earthjustice has been representing the environmental community in the courts and we will spend the next four years playing a leading role in defending environmental laws--such as the Clean Air Act and the Endangered Species Act--and preventing the irretrievable loss of wild places and imperiled species. In this special post-election edition of e-Brief, our monthly electronic newsletter, Marty Hayden, our Vice President for Policy and Legislation, and Tom Turner, our Senior Editor, offer insightful commentary on what the election means for Earthjustice and the environmental community as a whole. >From his vantage point on Capitol Hill, Marty outlines the election results in his piece ?The Dust Has Settled," and explains the challenges we can expect to face in the coming years from a Congress more prone than ever to give industry whatever it wants. While Marty cannot be accused of sugarcoating the situation, even in the face of these bleak facts I am confident in the environmental community's ability to hold the line. I also hope you'll read Tom's column ?A New Moral Cause" for a perspective on what the environmental community must do if it is going to raise the profile of environmental issues in the national consciousness. This is surely a key part of the battle. On behalf of all of us here at Earthjustice, thank you for your interest and support. Together we must fight for the environment like never before. We are honored by your partnership and we need you with us, now more than ever. Sincerely, Vawter ?Buck? Parker Executive Director --------------------------------- VP for Policy and Legislation Marty Hayden The Dust Has Settled: A Note from Vice President for Policy and Legislation Marty Hayden The results of the 2004 election are in with the exception of two Louisiana House races. George W. Bush has won a second term as President. In the Senate, Republicans picked up six former Democratic seats and lost two, giving a net pickup of four and a 55(R)-44(D)-1(I) margin next year. In the House of Representatives, Republicans had a net gain of four seats in their majority (increasing from 227 to 231). Coincidentally, this is same number of Democratic incumbents that lost their seats in the general election as a result of the controversial redistricting in Texas. Two House seats in Louisiana remain undecided, as they will be determined in a run-off election in December. What all this means for the environment is that the challenges it faces in the coming four years are greater than ever. Administratively, we will assuredly see more of what we have seen for the past four years. The most anti-environmental White House in history will continue its single-minded pursuit of the radical right?s agenda to cater to polluters and developers at the expense of clean water, clean air, and wildlife. In the coming months we will likely see the administration finalize its proposals to gut protections for roadless forests and try to eliminate wildlife conservation standards for our national forests first put in place by Ronald Reagan! In October, the administration tried to pretend those wildlife measures no longer applied to logging projects in advance of making a final decision on its new rules. Earthjustice immediately challenged this creative ?interpretation? in court. The White House will also step up its efforts to pay back its oil industry supporters by leasing even more of our sensitive public lands for drilling. In addition, it will want to deliver on the tens of billions of dollars in new handouts and changes in law to benefit various energy industries that it could not achieve for the past four years. In the aftermath of the election, the White House also called on Congress to pass the President?s so-called ?Clear Skies? legislation, which will result in more pollution than implementation of the existing Clean Air Act. In many ways the changes in the Senate are the biggest of the election. The retirement of five southern Democrats set the stage for the shift. Democrats John Edwards (NC), Fritz Hollings (SC), Bob Graham (FL), Zell Miller (GA), and John Breaux (LA) were replaced by decidedly conservative Republicans Richard Burr (NC), Jim DeMint (SC), Mel Martinez (FL), Johnny Isakson (GA), and David Vitter (LA). Zell Miller and John Breaux rarely voted pro-environment. The other Democratic loss was Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle?s (D) defeat by former Representative John Thune (R). Democrats Ken Salazar (CO) and Barack Obama (IL) replaced two Republican retirees, Ben Nighthorse Campbell (CO) and Peter Fitzgerald (IL). Peter Fitzgerald voted with the environment about half of the time and Ben Campbell rarely did so. The net effect in the Senate is probably the loss of three pro-environmental votes on many issues, which is significant. While the agenda for the 109th Congress is far from set, there are several major environmental issues that will likely see action. The day after the election we saw several Republican leaders raising the call to resuscitate the President?s failed energy legislation. House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-CA) has been setting the stage over the course of the past year to pass legislation to take the Endangered Species Act and the protections it provides for imperiled wildlife apart ?piece-by-piece.? Shortly before adjourning for the elections, Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) circulated his draft bill to weaken habitat protections for endangered species. With his ascension to chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee earlier this year, long-time clean air opponent Richard Burton (R-TX) has said he intends to rewrite the Clean Air Act in the coming Congress. A fellow oil-patch compatriot, Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), will again be chairing the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which has jurisdiction over clean air. It is noteworthy that Senator Inhofe is the first anti-environmentalist of either party to chair that committee in its entire history. A major priority for both the White House and the Senate in the coming year touches far more than the environment--judicial nominations. In his first term we saw President Bush nominate a number of ideologues of the radical right for judgeships on the U.S. Courts of Appeals. Filibusters in the Senate blocked the worst of these nominees. In the coming four years there will likely be two or more vacancies on the U.S. Supreme Court that could determine the direction of our nation?s highest court for many years. The first retirement is expected to be Chief Justice Rehnquist, who is currently very ill. So our challenges are as large and difficult as we have ever faced. However, any Senator can still force extreme measures to face the higher bar of 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. Moreover, there are moderate Republicans in both the House and the Senate who care deeply about our environment. While Americans may seldom vote the environment as a top issue in an election, most view themselves as pro-environment, and with your help, their voices will be heard in the upcoming battles on Capitol Hill. -Marty Hayden Vice President, Policy and Legislation --------------------------------- Pledge to Protect the Endangered Species Act! This is your first chance since November 2 to speak up and declare that the election did not provide a mandate to take the Endangered Species Act and the protections it ensures for imperiled wildlife apart "piece-by-piece." The Endangered Species Act is our nation's most important safety net for wildlife, plants, and fish that are on the brink of extinction. We hope to collect thousands of signatures over the coming months, sending a message to our elected officials that their constituents support strong protections for our nation's endangered fish, plants and wildlife, and the special places they call home. If you already have signed the pledge, thank you for speaking out! If not, click here to stand up for imperiled species today! The Bush Administration Rollbacks Review Three short days after the election, EPA administrator Mike Leavitt declared that the election was a mandate for President Bush's environmental policies. It's a preposterous assertion--the environment was invisible as an issue in the campaign--but that doesn't mean that the assault won't be redoubled. For a sense of what Mr. Leavitt is claiming a mandate for, please click here. Keep yourself informed about the administration's "scorched-earth" policy. Progress Report: Earthjustice and the Bush Administration But don't despair--over the past four years, Earthjustice has gone to court time and again, defending the country's environmental legacy and the laws that protect it--and we'll continue to hold the line for the next four. Click here for a summary of some of the key issues where Earthjustice and its clients were able to stop, or at least expose, the Bush administration's anti-environmental agenda. When The Going Gets Tough... Earthjustice got going in 1971, and, thanks to our stalwart supporters, we've been going strong ever since. Four years ago, it got a lot tougher to protect our forests, wild lands, imperiled species, air, and water. Earlier this month, the going got even tougher, and we need you with us. Please give generously today and help our dedicated team of attorneys and policy experts keep going strong. The environment needs your commitment as never before. Please click here to help us mount the toughest possible defense of our forests, wild lands, endangered species, air, and water. Click here to give today. Thank you for your generous support. --------------------------------- Senior Editor Tom Turner A New Moral Cause: A Note from Senior Editor Tom Turner Perhaps the only upbeat thing one can say about the recently concluded presidential election is that environmental issues played almost no part in the outcome. The nuclear waste dump aimed at Nevada was supposed to benefit Senator Kerry, but it wasn?t enough. In Alaska, we saw both the Republican incumbent and her Democratic challenger claiming to be the best one to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. But for the most part, the environment was nowhere to be found, buried under the massive concern about terrorists and war and ?morality,? however one chooses to define that slippery word. In fact, exit polls indicated that a huge number of people chose one candidate over the other based on ?morals.? Our job over the next months and years is to make the irrefutable case that protecting the earth is as moral a cause as one can imagine. But why was the environment missing from the campaign? In three 90-minute debates there was precisely one question about an environmental issue. It was directed at Senator Kerry, and he sloughed it off. President Bush, in his reply, said ?I guess you could say I?ve been a good steward.? He should have been challenged on that preposterous assertion, but he wasn?t. Similarly in 2000 when Al Gore, with a magnificent environmental record and an extraordinary book to his credit, likewise shied away from promoting his environmental programs. Senator Kerry, with the best voting record in the Senate, according to annual tallies compiled by the League of Conservation Voters, did the same. Would touting his environmental record have won election for either man? No one knows, but, given the results, it couldn?t have hurt. Terrorism, war, and the economy are vitally important issues, but one can make a strong case that, in the long run, the environment is even more important. As the late David Brower used to say constantly, ?you won?t have an economy on a dead planet.? Death isn?t imminent, but the vital signs are nearly all bleak. So what are we to do? One thing is for certain. With the White House and both houses of Congress solidly in the president?s camp, the courts will be even more important (if that?s possible) than they have been heretofore. We recently examined the past four years to try to judge how much success we had had in fending off the worst of the administration?s initiatives, and the answer was: a considerable amount. Despite the administration?s open hostility to protection of roadless areas in the national forests, these areas have been saved as roadless since 2000. Although the administration has refused to extend protection to scores of species slipping toward extinction, we?ve helped secure court orders that have so far forced the administration to obey the law. And on air pollution, we have led successful efforts both to impede administration attempts to weaken the Clean Air Act administratively and to force the Environmental Protection Agency to follow the law by tightening restrictions on a wide range of dangerous emissions. That?s just a sample. With strengthened majorities in both houses, the administration is certain to renew its relentless assault on public resources, and, we fear, on the public?s fundamental right to participate in decisions involving those resources. So we will continue the watchdog role we?ve played for three decades, and to pursue new initiatives--new definitions of morality--to turn this thing around. Because, to quote Dave Brower again, ?the bottom line rests on the earth.? It is in everyone?s best interest to protect and restore the environment, but we haven?t learned yet how to explain that to enough people. We must do that, and then ensure that never again is the environment utterly ignored in a presidential election. Tom Turner, Senior Editor tturner at earthjustice.org --------------------------------- Mail Bag On to your letters.... Buck Parker, our Executive Director, sent an e-mail message to Earthjustice supporters the day after the election--if you haven?t yet read it, click here. We received an unprecedented number of responses and are buoyed by the support and energy so many of you expressed. Below is a sample of the replies. Please send me your thoughts at tturner at earthjustice.org. All good thoughts, but the environment is NOT in the minds of this newly aware public. For reasons beyond my understanding, it's off the radar. I know your area is law, but everyone who cares about the environment needs to be thinking of what we can do to make the environment part of the public dialog. Air, water, parks, wildlife etc. need to be the subject of a HUGE ongoing PR blitz. Thanks for all your great work. -Susan, IL Thanks, I am with you all the way. Although this is a depressing turn of events, the protection of the environment isn't a partisan issue anymore--at least it hasn't been in Minnesota. We should be able to sway the masses with the right message. I think it's possible. Best of luck, and know that you have at least half of the population commiserating with you. -Erica, MN We need to stress that family values means providing our children with clean air to breathe and clean water to drink and keeping pollutants out of their neighborhoods. Now let's start stressing that. -Sandra, NY While I support environmental causes, there are more important issues facing this country. The tone of your memo is divisive and detrimental to the spirit of this great country. The American public has spoken loudly and clearly. President Bush won the election fairly and deserves the respect of every American as Commander in Chief. So put aside your sour grapes and stop your whining. Surely you must have heard the saying, 'You can catch more flies with honey'? -Barbara, FL Thanks for the upbeat report, I needed that. I have been a 'precinct captain' for the Tony Knowles Senate campaign here in Alaska. What a sad day Nov. 3 was for Alaska and the world. Your good thoughts and 'never give up' attitude are much appreciated. -Jerry, AK Thank you for the note. I agree that it's essential, more than ever, to fight the despoilers. I can't help but think, though, that it's a losing fight. The voters chose a candidate whose failings are legion. Nowhere is Bush's failing more acute than on the environment. The environment wasn't an issue during the campaign. Only once in the three debates was the subject brought up, by a questioner in the "town hall" debate. The environment wasn't listed among the voters' concerns, such as the economy, "character," terrorism, etc. The Bush victory, symbolizing U.S. citizens' environmental myopia, is hastening us to that ultimate environmental collapse. -Phil, CA Thank you for all that you do. I think that as environmentalists we will be galvanized as never before. I will support your organization by giving memberships to family and friends this year. We are solidly behind you and understand the severity of what you are up against these next four years. Fight on! -Kathi, CA The election results are certainly disheartening and depressing to say the very least. President Bush's environmental record is horrific and his re-election will undoubtedly lead to even greater misuse and destruction of our environment and natural resources. What is very troubling about the future for the environment and for America is that the majority of Americans have just demonstrated that they don't care about the environment. There is no mistaking the fact that the majority of American voters have chosen to support President Bush and his policies. Against this background one has to ask what is the point of continuing to fight what seems to be a losing battle. -Bill, IL I hear ya, Buck, but these creeps now have NOTHING to lose! The Bush administration will load the courts with his hand-picked cronies to uphold their assaults, and our environment, our whole way of life, is about to change. The thing that is most appalling to me is the lack of outrage. The "election"... exit polls showed Kerry surprising the incumbent and leading in crucial states. Then came the fix. Want to bet that the areas that reversed these exit polls were those who heavily utilized the touch-screen E-voting machines? -Mike, WV Without you, I suppose I would need to spend the next years chained to a redwood tree. Or lying in front of equipment somewhere or other. Please let us know when we need to start doing that. -Janet, NY I am much encouraged (amidst all the bad news) that you have articulated your game plan so well and so succinctly in your letter. I am VERY concerned for our environment considering all those capitalists in back rooms that are now rubbing their hands together in glee over anticipating another four years of having their favorite tool sitting in the White House. Thank you. -Ken, CA A good point is that the money that so many of us directed toward Kerry and other Democrats will now be freed up to support our fight. You are in my budget for next payday. -Judith, TX As a former, part-time employee of the EPA, I am aware of the conflicts affecting the environment. Consequently, I am appalled by the directions taken by the Bush Administration which will only increase the environmental damage done by some of our largest corporations. Unfortunately, the recent elections will make it even easier for these despoilers to increase the damage to the environment in the chase for greater profits. That makes your goals further out of reach. You must not flag. I am contributing what I can to your efforts. -Alexander, VA Thank you so much for the letter and words of encouragement. I'm heartened to know that Earthjustice and your supporters will continue to work hard to protect the environment and the critters that live there. Please keep sending out the Action Alerts. I have been reprinting the letters and getting groups to sign them. So far, we sent letters regarding the Roadless Rule, the ESA challenges, and the bizarre proposal to count hatchery salmon along with the wild ones. We have to continue to keep our elected officials accountable in upholding existing environmental laws and work toward strengthening those laws whenever possible. Thank you so much for your inspired, important work. -Laurie, WA To learn more about our action alerts, click here. --------------------------------- ?2004 Earthjustice | 426 17th St., 6th Floor, Oakland, CA 94612 | 510-550-6700 | enews at earthjustice.org Powered by: ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? The all-new My Yahoo! ? Get yours free! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Fri Nov 19 00:29:43 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 2004 00:29:43 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Age of green cars arrives as Canadians cut emissions Message-ID: <20041119082943.22236.qmail@web13608.mail.yahoo.com> http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=584367 Age of green cars arrives as Canadians cut emissions By David Usborne in New York 19 November 2004 Cars that are environmentally friendly may be coming to drivers in North America faster than anyone expected after the Canadian government pledged this week to a dramatic 25 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from all vehicles sold inside its borders by the end of the decade. In so doing, Canada is joining California and seven north-eastern US states, including New Jersey and New York, in seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which means the stricter limits will eventuallyapply to about one third of the North American car market. This should be enough to ensure that the entire North American market is governed by the standards within a few years. The pledge from Ottawa will add to the pressure on the North American automotive industry to develop vehicles that meet higher emission standards of gases such as methane and carbon dioxide. About a third of the greenhouse gas emissions thought to contribute to global warming in the US come from motor vehicles. "We're very clear where we want to go," John Efford, Canada's Natural Resources minister, told The New York Times yesterday. "Twenty-five per cent is our goal and the auto industry clearly understands that." California already has air quality standards that are stricter than those set at the federal level in the US and has just passed even tougher regulations that will require a 30 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from cars by 2016. Earlier this month, officials from the seven north-eastern states with stricter limits indicated they would follow suit. The Canadian announcements coincided with a visit to Ottawa by Fran Pavley, the member of the Californian legislature who pushed through the tougher regulations in September. She said that the leadership her state is providing on the issue was surprising. "The rest of the world depends on California to push the agenda, push the envelope," she said. Certainly, that push is not coming from Washington. The stricter limits are coming in spite of President George Bush, who is sceptical about the science of emissions. For the automotive industry, the decision by Canada is more bad news. Canada produces about 2.5 million vehicles a year and sells about 1.5 million within its borders. While supporters of greener cars say the technology required will add about $1,000 (?540) to the price of the average car, the manufacturers insist the additional cost will be about $3,000. Mark Nantais, the president of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association, said: "It means that roughly 95 per cent of the passenger cars in Canada won't make the cut." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Discover all that?s new in My Yahoo! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Fri Nov 19 11:08:24 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 2004 11:08:24 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Bush's Horrible Environmental Record Message-ID: <20041119190824.13924.qmail@web13603.mail.yahoo.com> http://fixco1.com/bushenvironment.html Bush's Horrible Environmental Record George W. Bush has had the worst environmental record imaginable. He has rolled back fifty years of pro-environment legislation while claiming to be helping improve the environment. He has opened up the national forest to logging companies, he has relaxed coal burning emissions regulations, he has removed barriers to mountain top mining, he has opened up oil drilling in national parks, he has transferred the cost of toxic clean-ups to the taxpayers and off the polluters, he has rolled back drinking water and air quality regulations, he has broken a campaign promise and opened up Yucca mountain for disposal of nuclear waste, and the list goes on and on. Bush's record on the environment is typical of how he and the GOP misrepresent their position while bending over backwards to serve the big corporate interest that are raping and polluting our planet at unsustainable levels. They obviously believe that if they keep telling the same lie over and over it will benefit them. Bush's spin on the environment reminds me of the book "1984" by George Orwell. In Orwell's story the oppressive authoritarian government gives their departments and legislation nice names when in reality the departments and legislation are designed to do things that are very sinister and ugly. Following is a list of some of the ugly and sinister things Bush has done to our environment during the past four years: Administration seeks to weaken efficiency standards for air conditioners (02/12/01) Bush withdraws new arsenic-in-drinking-water standard (03/20/01) Bush administration rejects Kyoto Protocol (03/28/01) Bush seeks to relax requirements of Endangered Species Act (04/09/01) EPA drops objections to Florida rule that undermines Clean Water Act protections (04/26/01) Cheney sketches out a misguided energy policy (04/30/01) Bush administration won't release information on industry participants in Cheney energy task force (05/10/01) Bush administration formally suspends arsenic-in-drinking-water protections; NRDC rips decision (05/22/01) Bush will not change fuel efficiency standards (06/19/01) Bush outlines an 'all talk, no action' approach to global warming (07/13/01) White House favors limiting president's authority to protect federal lands (07/17/01) Bush seeking to weaken federal environmental enforcement (07/23/01) EPA wants to scrap air pollution regulations for power plants (07/26/01) Tongass and other forests open to road building, logging (08/12/01) Bush administration appeals federal judge's decision to ban drilling off California's coast (08/17/01) Norton reneges on agreement to protect endangered desert tortoise (08/27/01) Bush backing away from pledge to clean up federal facilities (09/07/01) Corps official uses terrorist attacks as excuse to weaken environmental protection (09/21/01) EPA issues an arsenic-in-tap-water standard higher than that recommended by public health advocates (10/31/01) White House plans deep cuts in environmental spending (11/28/01) EPA may lift ban on human testing of pesticides (11/28/01) NRDC sues Department of Energy to expose Cheney energy task force secrets (12/11/01) DOE weakens standards for Yucca nuclear storage (12/14/01) USFS guts protections for undeveloped forest lands (12/14/01) More logging in the Pacific Northwest (01/18/02) New NRDC report documents sweeping rollback of environmental protections by federal agencies (01/23/02) Bush administration intends to shift Superfund cleanup from polluters to taxpayers (02/23/02) EPA official admits that Bush clean air plan is weak (02/26/02) Top EPA official resigns in protest of Bush's pro-polluter policies (02/27/02) Energy Dept. ordered to release task force records to NRDC (02/27/02) White House misuses clean energy funds to print dirty energy plan (03/25/02) Energy Department papers show industry is the real author of administration's energy policy (03/27/02) Pentagon seeks exemption from environmental laws (03/29/02) EPA watchdog resigns in protest over Bush policies (04/22/02) White House rejected more stringent EPA air-pollution proposal before issuing so-called "Clear Skies" plan (04/28/02) Bush administration rolls back air conditioner energy efficiency standards (05/23/02) Bush-Putin Summit Produces Deeply Flawed Nuclear Arms Treaty (05/24/02) Bush administration lets construction companies off the hook for protecting environment (05/24/02) Bush administration blames wildfires on environmentalists (06/25/02) EPA stymied investigation of Yucca Mountain radiation standards (06/25/02) Bush slashing EPA funding for toxic cleanups (06/30/02) Bush administration plans to give away oil and coal holdings in Utah (07/25/02) Another EPA official resigns in protest over Bush policies (07/25/02) Bush uses national security to gain corporate secrecy and immunity (07/26/02) Bush administration weakens whale protections that hindered oil and gas industry (08/22/02) Interior Department allows more air pollution at national park (08/22/02) Bush calls for increased logging in the name of fire prevention (08/22/02) U.S. undermines renewable energy proposal at World Summit (08/27/02) Bush administration plans to lift federal protection on wolves (09/25/02) Bush administration relinquishing federal water rights (09/30/02) Bush administration rewriting rules to boost logging in Northwest (09/30/02) New EPA water quality report shows U.S. waters are getting dirtier (09/30/02) EPA halts funding at several Superfund sites (10/31/02) Bush administration reverses snowmobile ban for national parks (11/12/02) Bush administration opens national park to drilling (11/22/02) EPA proposes weakening of Clean Air Act (11/22/02) Forest Service rewriting rules to increase logging, remove wildlife safeguards (11/26/02) White House begins process of relaxing government regulations for industry (12/19/02) Bush administration weakens federal program for cleaning up dirty waters (12/21/02) EPA exempts oil and gas industry from stormwater pollution rules (12/30/02) Bush administration wins court victory on mountaintop removal mining (01/29/03) Bush administration seeks waiver on ozone-destroying pesticide (01/30/03) Bush administration sets sights on drilling in Western Arctic Reserve (02/26/03) Bush air pollution plan weakens current law, threatens public health (02/27/03) EPA seeks to weaken endangered-species protections (02/27/03) Bush administration rejects wilderness protection in Alaska's Tongass (02/28/03) EPA backtracks on pledge to close loophole for California air polluters (03/25/03) White House bans EPA from discussing perchlorate pollution (04/28/03) EPA reports record drop in fuel economy (04/30/03) Bush administration cuts wildlife protection, boosts logging in Northwest forests (05/23/03) White House forest-fire plan axes environmental protections (05/30/03) White House whitewashes EPA environment report (06/23/03) Bush administration calls for more gas drilling on public lands (06/24/03) Bush climate plan all study, no action (07/24/03) EPA hides research on Senate clean air plan (07/30/03) Corporations shaped Bush energy policy, GAO says (08/25/03) New EPA rules ignore mercury pollution from chlorine plants (08/27/03) EPA officially rolls back Clean Air Act protections (08/27/03) White House recommendations could shut the public out of environmental review (09/24/03) BLM opens millions of acres of wilderness to energy development (09/29/03) EPA changes rule to exempt hazardous waste requirements (10/23/03) EPA refuses to tackle rising mercury pollution in Great Lakes region (10/29/03) EPA may allow continued phosphate dumping in Gulf of Mexico (10/28/03) Superfund cleanups lag for third straight year (11/04/03) Park Service workers speak out against Bush policies (11/13/03) Bush administration seeks increase in use of ozone-depleting pesticide (11/14/03) Judge criticizes White House pro-industry mining rules (11/18/03) Bush administration streamlining oil and gas permits (12/23/03) Another senior EPA official resigns in protest to Bush administration policies (12/23/03) Court blocks Bush administration's Clean Air Act changes (12/24/03) Forest Service drops "survey and manage" rule for loggers (01/23/04) EPA's mercury pollution plan mirrors industry's recommendations (01/30/04) Federal mining whistleblower silenced, demoted (02/24/04) Bush cuts funding for endangered species (02/25/04) Court orders Bush administration to stop hiding forest documents (03/30/04) Church leaders chastise President Bush for bad air policies (04/22/04) EPA lifts ban on drilling in Gulf of Mexico (06/24/04) EPA goes soft on pollution control for oil refineries (06/25/04) EPA resists further mercury studies (06/25/04) BLM holds largest federal lands auction in Utah history (06/25/04) The earth is being threatened by global warming, over population, decreasing supplies of fresh drinking water, thinning ozone layer, higher CO2 concentrations, more pollution in the air, and resource depletion and this administration has made all these problems worse. The Bush administration is obviously more concerned about their campaign contributors profits than they are about protecting our environment, and the earth and its inhabitants are becoming sicker because of it. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? The all-new My Yahoo! ? Get yours free! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Fri Nov 19 12:04:09 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 2004 12:04:09 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Americans Against Arnold Message-ID: <20041119200409.66602.qmail@web13626.mail.yahoo.com> http://arnoldexposed.com/ Americans Against Arnold has launched defensive measures against Arnold Schwarzenegger's bliztkrieg attack on the Constitution because we love America and believe that the Founding Fathers were right: only someone born in America should be able to be President. Just as important, we are dedicated to exposing the individual, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is totally unfit to be Governor of California, much less President of the United States. Arnold Exposed.com will serve as a meticulously documented encyclopedia of Arnold's sinister, grotestque and even barbaric activites, from his nazi links to illegal drug use and sexual harrassment. More... ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! ? Try it today! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Discover all that?s new in My Yahoo! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Fri Nov 19 16:00:30 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 2004 16:00:30 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] WAR PIGS' TAB?!?!?!? $5.8Billion/month Message-ID: <20041120000030.90074.qmail@web13602.mail.yahoo.com> WAR PIGS Generals gathered in their masses, just like witches at black masses. Evil minds that plot destruction, sorcerers of death's construction. In the fields the bodies burning, as the war machine keeps turning. Death and hatred to mankind, poisoning their brainwashed minds. Oh lord, yeah! Politicians hide themselves away. They only started the war. Why should they go out to fight? They leave that role to the poor, yeah. Time will tell on their power minds, making war just for fun. Treating people just like pawns in chess, wait till their judgement day comes, yeah. Now in darkness world stops turning, ashes where the bodies burning. No more War Pigs have the power, Hand of God has struck the hour. Day of judgement, God is calling, on their knees the war pigs crawling. Begging mercies for their sins, Satan, laughing, spreads his wings. Oh lord, yeah! --Black Sabbath, War Pigs Iraq War Topping $5.8 Billion A Month United Press International November 18, 2004 http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,FL_cost_111804,00.html?ESRC=eb.nl ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? The all-new My Yahoo! ? Get yours free! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: