From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 11:47:52 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 11:47:52 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] (Reuters) Birds Not Being Killed By Wind Farms - Ecologist Message-ID: <20041129194752.13301.qmail@web13604.mail.yahoo.com> http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/28293/story.htm Birds Not Being Killed By Wind Farms - Ecologist UK: November 26, 2004 LONDON - Two major offshore wind farms in Denmark are giving the lie to fears that birds are being killed by flying into the huge vanes of such installations, a conference heard on Thursday. In fact, not only were birds not dying, the Danish farms had actually benefitted the local environment, ecologist Charlotte Boesen of Denmark's Energi E2 energy trading and generation firm told the conference on wind energy. Birds were simply flying over or around the huge packs of turbines, and the seabed foundations had created an artificial reef that was attracting new species to colonise and providing a haven for fish as trawling there was banned. "So far the observed effects have been positive," she said. The potential impact on local wildlife is a key objection to wind farms, along with their intrusive appearance. But their supporters disagree. "The wind farm debate is heating up and becoming more polarised. We want to challenge the myths -- that they kill birds ... and deter tourists," Alison Hill of the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) told the meeting. With the Kyoto treaty on cutting carbon dioxide emissions about to come into force, making governments -- except for the United States -- search for clean and renewable sources of energy, the wind turbine's star is in the ascendant. The European Wind Energy Association, organisers of the conference, says it can hit the target of generating 75 gigawatts (GW) of electricity -- or 5.5 percent of EU demand -- by 2010, of which 10 GW could be offshore. With initiative and government intervention to remove long term support for the CO2 emitting fossil fuel power industry, this could rise to 12 percent by 2020. But Rowena Langston of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds -- which says global warming must be stopped -- said development was being pushed ahead with scant reference to the impact on the local environment and in particular bird life. "Until there is more robust information, we are not going to overstep our conservation brief and say a project should go ahead regardless," she told the meeting. Lawyer and wind farm promoter Marcus Trinick, noted the apparent paradox. He said climate change was the overriding prerogative and that conservationists and the green energy lobby should be on the same side. Developer Harvey West said much of the problem lay with the industry having failed to consult the locals and having been secretive about the environmental impact assessments of their schemes. This had created enmity and mistrust. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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 29 16:08:28 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 16:08:28 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Bhopal Disaster and Aftermath a Huge Violation of Human Rights: Amnesty Message-ID: <20041130000828.45102.qmail@web13604.mail.yahoo.com> http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1129-01.htm Bhopal Disaster and Aftermath a Huge Violation of Human Rights: Amnesty Tens of thousands of Indian people still suffer appalling effects from the Bhopal gas leak 20 years ago and over 20,000 have died from the disaster, Amnesty International says, labelling the victims' long wait for justice a major breach of human rights. The aftermath of the leak showed how "an industrial disaster can involve a complexity of violations of civil, political, economic and social rights for generation after generation", the London-based group said in a major report. Amnesty said it believed that at least 15,000 people died between 1985 and 2003 because of disaster, which saw tonnes of deadly methyl isocyanate seep into the atmosphere on the night of December 2-3, 1984 from a pesticide plant owned by US firm Union Carbide in Bhopal. "This is in addition to the 7,000 to 10,000 people who died in the immediate aftermath, taking the total death toll to well over 20,000," the report said. Around 100,000 people are still suffering "chronic and debilitating illnesses" Amnesty said, noting that even 20 years later, many have yet to receive adequate compensation or medical treatment. "Today, 20 years after the disastrous gas leak at Bhopal, tens of thousands of people are still suffering the after-effects," Amnesty said in an 82-page report titled "Clouds of injustice". "Despite the determined efforts of survivors to secure justice, the large numbers affected have received inadequate compensation and medical assistance," the organisation said. "People already living in poverty face health problems that are shortening their lives and affecting their ability to work. "The site has not been cleaned up so toxic wastes continue to pollute the water which the surrounding communities rely on," it said. After a protracted legal battle, Union Carbide, now a subsidiary of Dow Chemical, paid 470 million dollars (355 million euros at current exchange rates) to the Indian government in a settlement reached in 1989. India's Supreme Court directed the government to pay out part of the money, with the rest kept by the Reserve Bank of India, some of which was ordered to be handed over in July following a legal petition from victims. Overall, efforts by survivors to get proper justice through both US and Indian courts "have so far been unsuccessful", Amnesty said. "The transnational corporations involved ... have publicly stated that they have no responsibility for the leak and its consequences or for the pollution from the plant. "Union Carbide Corporation refuses to appear before the court in Bhopal to face trial and the Indian government agreed to a final settlement which has left survivors living in penury." Amnesty said it had identified "a pattern of serious failures" over safety by Union Carbide ahead of the leak, as well as subsequent attempts to frustrate survivors before courts in both the United States and India. The Indian government was also culpable in that it failed to tackle safety problems with the plant, and subsequently negotiated a settlement "without the participation of the victims". The report ends with a list of demands, such as better compensation and treatment for victims, and decontamination of the Bhopal site. It was undeniable that the disaster was a human rights issue, Amnesty said. "Thousands of people in Bhopal were denied their right to life, and tens of thousands of people have had their right to health undermined," it said. "Thousands of poor families have suffered illness and bereavement, further impairing their ability to realize their right to a decent standard of living." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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!? Take Yahoo! Mail with you! Get it on your mobile phone. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 16:22:07 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 16:22:07 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Native Americans at risk from toxic military leftovers Message-ID: <20041130002207.57466.qmail@web13626.mail.yahoo.com> Native Americans at risk from toxic military leftovers More than a century ago, the U.S. slaughtered a bunch of indigenous folks and put the rest on reservations in the most arid, isolated, undesirable parts of the American West. A new study shows that many closed military sites in the Lower 48 states -- including bombing ranges, weapons-testing sites, and waste dumps -- are close by those reservations, possibly putting Native Americans at disproportionately high risk from the toxic materials and unexploded bombs left behind. According to a Defense Department report, the abandoned bases are home to "hazardous materials, unexploded ordnance, abandoned equipment, unsafe buildings, and debris." The feds estimate that unexploded ordnance contaminates up to 50 million acres in the U.S. and, at current rates, would take centuries to clean up. Seems environmental racism isn't confined to low-income urban areas. straight to the source: Aberdeen News, Associated Press, Nicholas K. Geranios, 27 Nov 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!? 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 29 17:39:03 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 17:39:03 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Setting the Conditions for War Crimes Message-ID: <20041130013904.5166.qmail@web13621.mail.yahoo.com> http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/113004A.shtml Setting the Conditions for War Crimes By Marjorie Cohn t r u t h o u t | Perspective Tueday 30 November 2004 I was drafted in 1967 and I served in Vietnam for 1 year ... So this area was mostly all free-fire zones. So it was with this understanding that it was a free-fire zone that everything was fair game. If at any time you saw people in any way trying to avoid you or run away or make suspicious movements, that was free game. You could go ahead and shoot them and kill them. - Testimony of Guadalupe G. Villarreal, Dellums (House of Representatives) War Crimes Hearings, Apr. 28, 1971, Washington D.C. Thirty-six years later, NBC war correspondent Kevin Sites, embedded with the U.S. Marines in Fallujah, wrote in his November 10 blog: "The Marines are operating with liberal rules of engagement." Sites heard Staff Sgt. Sam Mortimer radio that "everything to the west is weapons free." Weapons Free, explained Sites, "means the Marines can shoot whatever they see - it's all considered hostile." On November 13, Sites videotaped a U.S. Marine killing an unarmed, wounded Iraqi in a Fallujah mosque. During the U.S. attack on Fallujah, dubbed "Operation Phantom Fury," Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein saw U.S. soldiers "open fire on the houses." Hussein also reported seeing U.S. helicopters fire on and kill people, including a family of five, who tried to cross the river. "A large number of people including children were killed by American snipers," according to the Independent (U.K.). Civilians who remained in Fallujah "appeared to have been seen as complicit in the insurgency," the Independent reported. "Men of military age were particularly vulnerable. But there are accounts of children as young as four, and women and old men being killed." Free fire zones, and indiscriminate killing of civilians, which constitute willful killing, are grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions. The U.S. War Crimes Act considers grave breaches of Geneva to be war crimes, which can result in the death penalty for those convicted. Criminal liability for war crimes extends beyond the perpetrator. Under the doctrine of command responsibility, higher-ups can be just as liable if they knew or should have known their underlings were committing war crimes, but they failed to stop or prevent it. Commanders have a responsibility to make sure civilians are not indiscriminately hurt and that prisoners are not summarily executed. The rules of engagement are set at the top. The Marines are being told they can fire at anything that moves. Before entering Fallujah, the Marines had been pumped up by tough talking superiors. Fighting in Fallujah was grueling urban warfare. Sites wrote that the Marine who killed the wounded Iraqi in the mosque had reportedly been shot in the face himself the day before. When Sites saw the Marine shoot the unarmed, wounded man, Sites reported, "I feel the deep pit of my stomach." He told the lieutenant "that this man - all of these wounded men - were the same ones from yesterday. That they had been disarmed, treated and left here. At that point the Marine who fired the shot became aware that I was in the room. He came up to me and said, 'I didn't know sir - I didn't know.' The anger that seemed present just moments before turned to fear and dread." By speaking up, Sites prevented other injured Iraqis from meeting a similar fate in that mosque. After Sites's report became public, there was a great outcry. Interim Iraqi prime minister Ayad Allawi said he was "very concerned" about the fatal shooting. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour called for an investigation of allegations of the disproportionate use of force and the targeting of civilians in Fallujah. Clips from Sites's videotape were seen around the world, and aired repeatedly on Al-Jazeera televison. Many who saw the shooting are convinced the soldier committed a willful killing, a war crime. The Headquarters of the United States Central Command announced that the First Marine Division had initiated an investigation "to determine whether the Marine acted in self-defense, violated military law or failed to comply with the Law of Armed Conflict [Geneva Convention]." In order to mount a successful self-defense, the Marine would have to demonstrate he had an honest and reasonable belief in the need to defend himself or his fellow Marines against imminent death or great bodily injury, just before he fired the fatal shot. His lawyer might argue that when he shot the Iraqi in the mosque, the Marine was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which afflicted 30 percent of Vietnam veterans. PTSD can occur following exposure to an extreme traumatic stressor involving direct personal experience of an event that involves actual or threatened death or serious injury during military combat. The person can experience a dissociative state lasting from a few seconds to several hours or days. "Psychic numbing" or "emotional anesthesia" usually begins soon after the traumatic event. An "exaggerated startle response" may occur. One in six soldiers returning from Iraq are suffering from PTSD, according to mental health experts. A study by the Walter Reed Army Institute found that 15.6 percent of Marines and 17.1 percent of soldiers surveyed may suffer from PTSD. Seymour Hersh uncovered the cover-up of the My Lai Massacre during the Vietnam War, where U.S. soldiers killed up to 500 unarmed old men, women and children. Hersh, in interviews on MSNBC, PBS and Fox News, is now talking about what happens when we send young kids off to war. He does not deny that these kids can do bad things. But, "the Army is in loco parentis," he says. "They're your mother and father. And they have an obligation to protect you from yourself, almost, from some of your instincts." A senior Pentagon consultant told Hersh that George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and Steven Cambone, undersecretary of defense for intelligence, "created the conditions that allowed transgressions to take place." The consultant was referring to torture at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. He could just as well have been talking about Operation Phantom Fury. --------------------------------- Marjorie Cohn, a contributing editor to t r u t h o u t, is a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, executive vice president of the National Lawyers Guild, and the U.S. representative to the executive committee of the American Association of Jurists. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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!? Yahoo! Mail - You care about security. So do we. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 19:13:14 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 19:13:14 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] In a World Below, Bedrock Resistance to Protests in Kiev Message-ID: In a World Below, Bedrock Resistance to Protests in Kiev By C. J. CHIVERS nytimes Published: November 30, 2004 DONETSK, Ukraine, Nov. 29 - Measured vertically, the commute to the bottom of the Trudovskaya mine is only 700 yards. The journey is roughly 60 minutes long. First, the men switch on their helmet lights and drop beyond halfway on an elevator that is little more than an open box falling through black stillness and chill. After the elevator, they ride a creaking rail car downhill for 15 minutes, exit and descend on foot for another 15 minutes, walking on planks and muck and passing through doors that regulate the flow of air and gas. At last they lie on their backs and are shot downward on a steeply sloped conveyor belt that, when switched to reverse, sends coal the other way. (The final drop - a long, fast descent on a springy rubber belt - has the weightless sensation of flight.) They arrive at a chest-high chamber whose walls are a shiny black, deep within a vein of rich Ukrainian coal. They hunch over and begin to work, more than 2,000 feet beneath the earth. In the seesaw postelection battle for the presidency of Ukraine, this sweaty end of the shaft, with its dim and dank air, thick with fine gray dust and the smell of split timbers and wet rock, amounts to a parallel universe. This is the territory of Prime Minister Viktor F. Yanukovich, the nominal winner of the Nov. 21 presidential election that outside observers said was marred by fraud. Donetsk is part of the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, a belt of coal and metal mines and heavy industrial plants, and its politics are largely controlled by a clan of post-Soviet industrialists who have backed Leonid D. Kuchma, the departing president, and Mr. Yanukovich, his personal pick as his successor. The opposition may control Kiev, the capital. But as Viktor P. Sorokovoy, a veteran miner put it, "Kiev is not Ukraine." Here the miners describe a political life that orbits around stability and uncomplicated ideas like working and getting paid on time. When Mr. Yanukovich was first their regional governor and then prime minister, the miners said, their salaries were paid on time. Their salaries also rose. Given the history of heavy industry in the former Soviet Union, which they rose up against in its last years, the miners view that as a feat. Stability to them means incumbent power. "We are for Yanukovich," said Sergei P. Pashkov, a work brigade leader in charge of a shift of 160 men. "That is the opinion of all of the mine." The many divisions in Ukrainian politics could hardly be more stark than the difference between the daily life of Independence Square, in Kiev, and the pace in this coal mine. One tactic used by Viktor A. Yushchenko, the opposition candidate, to force the prime minister to acknowledge the allegations of fraud surrounding his victory and stand for another vote has been a call for a national strike. The men of the Trudovskaya mine like to point out that there is in fact no national strike. For more than a week, as Kiev has been swarmed by demonstrators, miners in the shafts of Trudovskaya (a euphonious derivative of the Russian word labor) have not missed a minute of work. They have kept digging, 24 hours a day. "Donbass does not stop," said Vladimir I. Letvinoff, the mine's chief engineer, who in his way speaks for a large part of Ukraine - even the most unfavorable surveys of voters leaving the polls gave Mr. Yanukovich 43 percent of the vote on Nov. 21. The extended fight for the presidency, and by extension the immediate future of Ukraine, is laden with many meanings. The opposition has tried to frame its battle as a contest pitting the standard-bearers of democracy against a strongman's election-rigging crooks. It is much more complicated than that. This nation of 48 million feels as if it is rocking back and forth, and not just between candidates or even competing ideas. It is tugged between the past and the future, between its internal east-west divisions, between historic connections to Russia and aspirations to be European, between rival political clans, between the Russian language and the Ukrainian tongue, between the Russian Orthodox faith and an enduring Catholicism. It is also divided between those comfortable living in a centralized and disciplined form of post-Soviet government and a free-wheeling, flower-waving generation that at times has made opposition demonstrations feel like huge, cappuccino-charged dance parties. (Ukrainian pop-rock, as it happens, is not as awful as its Russian fraternal twin.) And down here in the mine, the men offer another and richly familiar way to frame their nation's political fight: the battle between Mr. Yanukovich and Mr. Yushchenko, they say, is between those who work and those who play. It is a timeless us against them, based on the information available to these men, who live in a region largely informed by state television and who are not aware of the size and energy of the protests. "Students," Mr. Sorokovoy said, "should go back to school." The miners say their prime minister won the race fairly, and those who complain of widespread fraud - as have Western election monitors and governments, and opposition demonstrators - are playing a dirty game. It is not Kiev that risks being disenfranchised, they say, but the men down in the hole. "Imagine a miner, who worked his whole life, finding out his vote did not count," Mr. Sorokovoy continued, pushing his face in close toward a visitor and raising his voice. His first shift here was 51 years ago. "It is impossible. There is law." Everything about what is happening in Kiev fills them with an almost allergic form of disgust, from the street protests to the public behavior of Mr. Yushchenko, whom they see as more stuntman than statesman. As men who labor amid Soviet iconography (the entrance walls remain bright with the murals of thickly built miners, chins high beneath red stars, while Soviet-era production awards fill the mine's official museum), they reject the word revolution as a way to describe what the opposition has been trying. Revolution, they said, crouching in a circle around their rare visitor, has to be made by people with dignity. Last week, Mr. Yushchenko, the opposition leader, appeared at an unofficial meeting of Parliament and administered the oath of office to himself on national television. No matter how the political crisis ends, for the miners that was too much, a sign that what they thought they knew about their country was slipping away. "What would happen in America if John Kerry put his hand on the Bible and declared himself the president of the United States?" asked Anatoly P. Demeshchenko, a brigade leader. He let the question hang in the dirty air and darkness, unanswered, content simply to shake his head. -- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 19:14:03 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 19:14:03 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Iraq 101 Message-ID: There are three major cultures in Iraq. About 5 percent are Kurds (Sunni Kurds) and 30 to 35% Sunni Arabs (like Saddam Hussein) and 60 to 65% Shiite (or Shi'ite). Kurds (Sunni Kurds) mostly control the north which is where the richest oilfields are. Sunnis (Sunni Arabs) mostly now control sporadic areas around Baghdad. They were the ones in power when Saddam Hussein was in power. Shiites (Shi'ites) control the rest or they hope to after the elections and that is why they want quick elections. The problems lie in how each feel about each other... Homepage (as of NOV-01-2002): http://www.SeattleActivist.org To unsubscribe, send an email to: SeattleActivist-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 19:15:02 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 19:15:02 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] PBS: Kurdistan was erased from the world maps after World War One - Kurds - Iraq 101 Message-ID: Images and links to interviews and other things can be found here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/saddam/kurds/ Kurdistan was erased from the world's maps after World War I when the Allied Powers carved up the Middle East and denied the Kurds a nation-state. More than twenty million Kurds live in parts of Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria. Throughout the 20th century their struggles for political and cultural autonomy were opposed by the region's countries and the Kurds were often used as pawns in regional politics. The Kurds' plight most recently captured the world's attention in 1991 following the end of the Gulf War. Television around the world showed images of northern Iraq's Kurds fleeing Saddam Hussein's Iraq through the mountains of Turkey and Iran. Since the 1920s, negotiations between Iraq's Kurds and the government in Baghdad have always broken down over issues of Kurdish independence, and the Kurds' wish to control the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and to have their own militia. In America's dealings with Saddam Hussein and Iraq, Iraq's Kurds have been a tragic side show. For decades, they looked to the U.S. for support in their struggle against Saddam's government. Washington's response has been classic realpolitik - using the Kurds when it wanted to hurt Saddam and then dropping them when their usefulness had run out. [See the chronology] For this FRONTLINE report, "The Survival of Saddam," producer Greg Barker interviewed key Kurdish leaders and senior American officials who discuss the long, bitter relationship between the U.S. and the Kurds of northern Iraq. Here are those interviews: He is one of the veteran U.S. diplomats in the Middle East. He describes America's treatment of the Kurds as "one of the most tragic episodes in our nation's history." He is Deputy Prime Minister of the Kurdish Democratic Party and one of four Kurdish leaders who joined the Iraqi government in 1970 after the Kurds negotiated a power-sharing agreement with then-Vice President Saddam Hussein. He talks about U.S. betrayals and the Kurds' continuing skepticism about U.S. support. He is part of a three-man leadership council for the Iraqi opposition group, the Iraqi National Congress. He offers an overview of Saddam Hussein and Iraq the past three decades, evaluates U.S-Iraq relations, and explains the threat Saddam still poses and the strategy required for launching a successful attack against him. He is former chief negotiator for the Kurdish Democratic Party in its negotiations with Iraq and the United States. He is a leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of the two largest Kurdish opposition groups in Iraq. This PBS Online Newshour Forum with Dr. Salah Aziz, an Iraqi Kurd by birth and director of the Kurdish Studies Program at Florida State University, offers a primer on the Kurds' story, examining questions such as: 'What is the role of the Kurds in Middle East dynamics?' 'How has the history of Western policy toward the Kurds affected the present scenario?' The Newshour site offers related background news reports and web sites. "The Kurdish issue at its core is simply this: A people with a distinct ethnic heritage aspires to control its own ancestral domains, and to be recognized as a nation-state in the modern world." But there is nothing simple about the fate of the Kurds. In this pointed historical overview (with map), Vera Saeedpour, a longtime monitor of Kurdish affairs, tells of: the rise and fall of the ancient Kurdish empire; the carving up of Kurdish lands after the 20th century's world wars; the chronic strife between Kurds and Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria; a series of betrayals by the United States over the last several decades; and the current factional infighting among Kurds themselves that is perhaps as serious a threat to their future survival as any. In another pointed commentary, Katherine A. Wilkens of the Center for International and Security Studies, dissects the failings of two U.S. administrations to make good on promises to help the Iraqi Kurds after the Gulf War. Who are the Kurds? And is there a solution to their enduring conflicts? This transcript of a National Public Radio "Talk of the Nation" 1996 broadcast offers background on the Kurds, as well as discussion among several experts who put the Kurds' current plight in the region in a broader political and historical context. This site offers a range of information on this Kurdish opposition group including its history and goals, its leader Jalal Talabani, and related background information and updated news stories. This site of the other main rival Iraqi Kurdish faction , the KDP, has a collection of information on their history, leaders and goals. Homepage (as of NOV-01-2002): http://www.SeattleActivist.org To unsubscribe, send an email to: SeattleActivist-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 19:16:24 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 19:16:24 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] The Kurds - Iraq 101 - Pt. 1 of 2 or 3 Message-ID: This is from their own PR people, but I'm looking for another one or two diff versions from another bias for comparison... ============ The Kurds: The Expendable people! 28 November 2004 KurdishMedia.com - By Eamad Mazouri Notwithstanding the unparallel tragedies and untold calamities that have befallen Kurds throughout their modern history, they are deplorably optimistic about the events that concern them and their foreseeable future. As soon as they see a spark of light, they forget all their desolation and start believing and taking things at their face value. This of course regardless of the fact that their entire history could be summed up as a chain of denial, deprivation, oppression, total devastation of their land, genocide and betrayal after another by the merciless regional and international players. The allegory amidst regional circles as well as international players now that Kurds are the expendable pawns in the harsh political game of Middle East, that they could be used and abused repeatedly without learning their most valuable lesson of refraining from relying on their adversaries and start depending on the everlasting resources of their own people. Unfortunately, the myth has become more real as the Kurdish leadership is continuing on the same track while the Kurdish intellectuals and true patriots are standing by helplessly not doing anything about it. For that matter Southern Kurdistan, is the best case scenario here. The whole world recognizes that the Kurds have played a major role in bringing down the dictatorial regime of Saddam Hussein, and in combating terrorists and keeping the law and order not only in Southern Kurdistan but also in Iraq, yet there is no single unequivocal official signal from the concerned parties of reward for their sacrifices and heroic role that would recognize them as an oppressed nation aspiring to have a genuine voice in deciding his own destiny in a peaceful and democratic manner. It is excruciating to admit that the coalition in Iraq is only carrying on the same policy as before when the safe haven was established in 1991, and the Kurdish issue was dealt with as a humanitarian one rather than a political issue as in fact it is. Not much has changed since. The true federalism the Kurds are seeking has not been recognized. Instead the so called Administrative Federalism is prevailing. The Iraqis, Coalition forces, and the international Community have utterly ignored the Kurdish Referendum that expressed the wishes of over 1.7 millions Kurds from around the world. Furthermore, the Security Council Resolution 1546 completely overlooked Iraqi Transitional Administrative Law (TAL) that is indeed the only actual guarantee the Kurds have gained so far next to their status quo. The Iraqi elections that are due in January 30s, are basically meaningless for the Kurds, no wonder they are advocating their postponement. In reality, holding elections in Southern Kurdistan before the implementation of the article 58 of TAL that concern the reversal of Arabization policies of the Kurdish lands, specifically Kirkuk, would undermine all the Kurdish efforts, and it would be considered a huge setback for the Kurdish project of federalism. So far, all the indications are pointing towards the ascendancy of governorates decentralization over other options, especially the law regarding the election of the governorate councils where 41 people need to be elected as if setting up a whole regional parliament. Nevertheless, for the Kurds what remains in the shadows is way more daunting than all of this. The Kurds are not keeping informed of the latest escalated episode of violence in Iraq, that targeted them specifically for being Kurds and for no other sin they have committed. The whole debacle of beheading Kurds should not have escaped our attention. Not only the Kurds were savagely victimized, but they were possibly set up. For years there were attempts to turn the Arab-Israeli conflict into an Islamic- Israeli/ Western one, the September 11th terrorist attack on New York and Washington heralded the success of those attempts. Now, anybody can tell you terrorism can not be defeated militarily, simply because this kind of war can only be dealt with by intelligence gathering, information sharing, cooperation and coordinating efforts. That means a political settlement should not come as an eye popper shock to anyone including the Kurds, for the Israeli- Arab conflict before long, especially after Sharon has expressed his readiness to dismantle the Israeli settlement and totally withdraw from Gaza strip. Regrettably, this in itself would not be gratifying Arabs who are seeking much more than that. A few days ago, the Egyptian Foreign Minister abu- Algait in Sharm al-Shekh summit made an interesting remark in which he called for " the necessity of combining the resolution of the Palestinian issue with that of the Iraqi. The implications of such a statement are dangerous and enormous to the Kurds who ought to entirely reject such a proposal. The Kurds must not accept in any way, shape or form for the settlement of the Iraqi question to be hooked up with that of the Palestinians. There is no connection whatsoever between the two issues. Under such a horrible scenario the satisfaction of Arabs would inevitably lead to the sell out of the destitute Kurds. Therefore, every patriot Kurd and their friends are required to use all their resources to prevent such a shameful scheme from materializing. The international community should realize that the Kurdish people have already suffered too much. They have been victimized for too long, perhaps it is time to deal with their plight as a political question and stop exploiting their wretchedness and misery. They have suffered enough and cannot afford another national disaster. Homepage (as of NOV-01-2002): http://www.SeattleActivist.org To unsubscribe, send an email to: SeattleActivist-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 19:16:59 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 19:16:59 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Killings in northern Iraq confound U.S. forces Message-ID: !!! TERRORISM (on all sides) IS DISGUSTING AND I HATE ALL OF IT !!! I cry for our soldiers and all who suffer trying to help the Iraqis get a good foothold in democracy, but anyone who knows the situation in Iraq between the Kurds and the Sunnis and the Shi'ites and knows anything about nation building knows that this is just the beginning and a vote ain't gonna really solve anything. I'll try to find some articles about it all. But consider one thing. The richest oilfields in Iraq are where the Kurd's (these are the folks Saddam gased in 1987 if I remember correctly) are the most plentiful and there has been talk and rumours that if they don't like the constitution and government they may try to seceed from Iraq and form their own country. The problem with this is Turkey would not like this at all and there is a real good possibility of war breaking out between them. I'm off a huntin' for some more Iraq 101 stuff... =========== Monday November 29, 8:48 PM Killings in northern Iraq confound U.S. forces By Luke Baker FROM: http://in.news.yahoo.com/041129/137/2i694.html BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Some have been chopped up and dumped by the side of the road, others shot through the head and piled in a cemetery, victims of a campaign of killings U.S. forces are struggling to contain. For the past two weeks, insurgents in the northern city of Mosul have been steadily eliminating members of Iraq's security forces and civilians. It is not clear what the killers' objective is -- apart from to strike fear into the public and the fledgling security authorities ahead of elections at the end of January. By creating a climate of fear, the insurgents seem to hope Iraqis will be too scared to cast their votes and the election will lose its legitimacy. In that respect, the campaign of intimidation in Mosul may be a test case for the rest of Iraq. In all more than 50 bodies have been found since Nov. 15, mostly on the more violent western side of Mosul, which sits on the Tigris river 390 km north of Baghdad. Around two dozen have been identified as members of the Iraqi National Guard or Iraqi army, while others are believed to be civilians who may have worked with U.S. forces or for the U.S.-backed Iraqi authorities. "What is happening in Mosul is a campaign of intimidation," Air Force Brigadier General Erv Lessel, the deputy director of operations in Iraq, told Reuters in Baghdad on Sunday. "Intimidation of the security forces, intimidation of the people to drive them away from support of the government and potentially disrupt elections." A group linked to Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most hunted man in Iraq, has claimed responsibility for many of the killings, including the deaths of 17 people in the past three days, all of them Iraqi security personnel. In a statement posted on the Internet, the group, calling itself Al Qaeda Organisation of Holy War in Iraq, said it had killed 14 members of the Iraqi National Guard and three members of a specialist rapid reaction force since Nov. 25. The authenticity of the statement, posted on Sunday, could not immediately be verified. But the U.S. military believes Zarqawi and many of his followers probably fled Falluja, west of Baghdad, ahead of a U.S. offensive there earlier this month and may now be hiding out in cities like Mosul. In the wake of the Falluja offensive there was a surge in insurgent-related violence throughout Sunni Muslim areas of Iraq, particularly Mosul. In a two-day rampage on Nov. 10-11, rebels overran dozens of Mosul's police stations, looted them of weapons and then torched or blew up many of them. Police were threatened ahead of the assault and fled, with 3,200 of the 4,000 force deserting in a day. ZARQAWI LINK? Days later, U.S. forces made their first gruesome discovery -- at least four dismembered and mutilated bodies dumped by the side of a busy road in Mosul's northeast, in full view of passers-by. The nature of the killings, particularly the dismemberment, put U.S. intelligence officers in mind of the decapitation of hostages taken by Zarqawi and his followers over recent months. There was no hard evidence, but there appeared to be a link. Zarqawi's group later claimed credit for the murders, saying it had killed the people in a busy public square near a mosque. Since the rebels rampaged through Mosul on Nov. 10-11, U.S. and Iraqi forces have hit back. In a series of raids on Nov. 27 they detained 43 people suspected of insurgent activity. But they appear no closer to halting the killings. The sense of fear created by the killings has spread. At one U.S. base, more than 50 Iraqis employed as kitchen and laundry workers, builders and cleaners, stopped coming to work. Similar desertions occurred at other camps. "They're scared and you can see why," said one U.S. officer. The biggest concern now is that the climate of fear will persist and darken as the Jan. 30 elections near. The desertion of 80 percent of Mosul's police force has already created problems that can't be resolved before election day. "The Iraqi police, by design, were the cornerstone of security for the elections," Brigadier General Carter Ham, commander of U.S. forces in and around Mosul, told BBC Radio. "Without the numbers of Iraqi police that we would like to have, it significantly increases the level of difficulty of establishing the environment that we need for elections." Homepage (as of NOV-01-2002): http://www.SeattleActivist.org To unsubscribe, send an email to: SeattleActivist-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 19:17:40 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 19:17:40 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Useful new report on harms of criminalization Message-ID: I received a very impressive report in the mail, and the URL is below. This would be very useful in Canada and the US, (also other places?) explaining the health and social justice benefits of decriminalization to your local government officials, city councils, legislators, etc. You may be able to request/purchase a hard copy. http://www.pivotlegal.org/sextradereport/1short2.pdf -- Carol Leigh -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 19:20:35 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 19:20:35 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] U.S. Death Toll in Iraq Nears Record Message-ID: No matter how ill-advised a war this was which diverted our attention from the "real" war on terror, I wish ALL our soldiers a hug and health and safety and love and more thanx than I could say or type and many many more hugs and if you know anyone there would you please send them my love and hugs also along with yours... =========== U.S. Death Toll in Iraq Nears Record 25 minutes ago Middle East - AP By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer FROM: WASHINGTON - The U.S. military death toll in Iraq rose by at least three Monday and the November total is approaching the highest for any month since the American-led invasion was launched in March 2003. At least 133 U.S. troops have died in Iraq so far this month - only the second time it has topped 100 in any month. The deadliest month was last April when 135 U.S. troops died as the insurgency flared in Sunni-dominated Fallujah, where dozens of U.S. troops died this month. The Pentagon's official death toll for Iraq stood at 1,251 on Monday, but that did not include two soldiers killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad and another killed in a vehicle accident. When the month began, the death toll stood at 1,121, the Pentagon said. It was not clear whether the bombing deaths of two Marines south of Baghdad on Sunday were included in the overall count the Pentagon published Monday. Also Monday, Osama bin Laden's top deputy vowed in a videotape aired Monday to keep fighting the United States until Washington changed its policies. In a brief excerpt broadcast on Al-Jazeera television, Ayman al-Zawahri said Americans "have to choose between one of two methods to deal with Muslims: either on mutual respect and exchange of interests, or to deal with them as if they are spoils of war." He added, "You have to realize that we are a nation of patience and endurance. We will stand firm to fight you with God's help until doomsday." One factor that drove up combat casualties was fierce fighting in Fallujah. Combat injuries also have increased this month due to the Fallujah battle. Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington reported Monday that it received 32 additional battle casualties from Iraq over the past two weeks. One was in critical condition. All 32 had been treated earlier at the Army's main hospital in Europe, Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. Some of the most severe injuries - and many of the deaths - among U.S. troops in Iraq are inflicted by the insurgents' homemade bombs, which the military calls improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. U.S. forces have put extraordinary effort into countering the IED threat, yet it persists. U.S. troops in Fallujah reported finding nearly as many homemade explosives over the past three weeks as had been uncovered throughout Iraq in the previous four months combined. In recent action in Fallujah, troops found at least 650 homemade bombs, Bryan Whitman, a spokesman for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, said Monday. That compares with 722 found throughout the country between July 1 and October 31. The IEDs are rigged to detonate by remote control and often are hidden along roadways used by U.S. forces, to deadly effect. Since U.S. forces invaded Fallujah on Nov. 8 to regain control from insurgents, they have found about a dozen IED "factories," a number of vehicles being modified to serve as car bombs, and at least 10 surface-to-air missiles capable of downing aircraft, Whitman said. More than half of the approximately 100 mosques in Fallujah were used as fighting positions or weapon storage sites, Whitman said, citing a U.S. military report that has not been released publicly. U.S. officials knew insurgents had used Fallujah as a haven from which to plan and organize resources for attacks in Baghdad and other cities in the so-called Sunni Triangle north and west of the capital, but the amount of weapons found exceeded expectations. Rumsfeld told a Pentagon news conference last Tuesday that the kinds and amount of weapons found in Fallujah indicated the insurgents pose a serious and continuing threat. "No doubt attacks will continue in the weeks and months ahead, and perhaps intensify as the Iraqi election approaches," Rumsfeld said, referring to national elections scheduled for Jan. 30. Whitman said other discoveries in Fallujah include: _Plastic explosives and TNT. _A hand-held Global Positioning System receiver for use in navigation. _Makeshift shoulder-fired rocket launchers, rocket-propelled grenades, 122mm rockets and thousands of mortar rounds. _An anti-aircraft artillery gun. _More than 200 major weapons storage areas. At the State Department, meanwhile, Secretary of State Colin Powell told reporters Monday there is no reason Iraq should not hold its Jan. 30 elections as scheduled, despite the insurgency. "We are working hard on it," he said. The United Nations has increased its presence in the country, thousands of Iraqis are working on registration and "we are encouraging all parties to participate in the political process, especially in the Sunni heartland," Powell said. "An election is the way forward," Powell said. "It's the means by which the Iraqi people can say to the world, we want to live in democracy, we want to be able to choose our leaders, and not let these individuals who are using car bombs to murder innocent people" be allowed to succeed. ___ On the Net: Military casualty statistics at http://web1.whs.osd.mil/mmid/casualty/castop.htm The Defense Department at http://www.defenselink.mil -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 19:28:46 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 19:28:46 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] =?iso-8859-1?q?Fw=3A_support_indigenous_in_a_hunge?= =?iso-8859-1?q?r_strike_in_UN_NOW_/_apoyo_a__Ind=EDgenas_en_una_hu?= =?iso-8859-1?q?e?= Message-ID: Please urgently, pass this on. Anyone can write letters of support. Please send especially to all Tribal Council's, Indigenous People's Organizations, Human Rights supporter's Organizations. Our delegates on Hunger Strike and our future generations need your letters of support to protect the Rights of Indigenous Peoples! This is the time to show your solidarity! - - - - - "support indigenous in a hunger strike in UN" "apoyo a Ind?genas en una huelga de Hambre en la ONU" "soutien Indig?nes en gr?ve de la faim ? l'ONU" ENGLISH / FRANCAIS / ESPANOL HUNGER STRIKE BY INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' REPRESENTATIVES AT THE UNITED NATIONS! Today, November 29th, 2004, at 11 am, we, Indigenous Peoples' delegates, declare a hunger strike and spiritual fast inside the United Nations Palais des Nations in Geneva, during this 3rd week of the 10th session of the Intersessional Working Group on the United Nations Draft Declaration for the Rights on Indigenous Peoples. Send expressions of solidarity from Indigenous Peoples and supporters for the "hunger strike for Indigenous Rights" and for the adoption of the current text of the UN Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to the UN Session during this week. Send faxes to: ++ 41 22 917 00 79 (DoCip, for logistic support) E-mails to: indigenousolidarity at yahoo.com To have your support letter posted on the IITC web page, also send it to: iitc at e-w-t.net, with "to post" in the subject line. --------------------------------- GREVE DE LA FAIM PAR DES REPRESENTANTS DES PEUPLES AUTOCHTONES AUX NATIONS UNIES! Aujourd'hui, lundi 29 novembre 2004 ? 11h, nous, d?l?gu?s des Peuples Autochtones, entamons une gr?ve de la faim et un je?ne spirituel ? l'int?rieur du Palais des Nations ? Gen?ve, durant cette 3?me semaine de la 10?me session du Groupe de Travail Intersession sur le Projet de D?claration des Nations Unies sur les Droits des Peuples Autochtones. Envoyez l'expression de votre solidarit? de Peuples Autochtones et de partisans de la ?Gr?ve de la faim pour les Droits des Autochtones? et pour l'adoption du texte actuel du projet de D?claration des Nations Unies sur les Droits des Peuples Autochtones ? la Session des Nations Unies cette semaine. Envoyez vos faxs ? : ++ 41 22 917 00 79 (DoCip, en soutien logistique) Envoyez vos E-mails ? : indigenousolidarity at yahoo.com Pour avoir votre lettre de soutien publi?e sur le site web du IITC, envoyez aussi votre message ? iitc at e-w-t.net, avec "to post" comme sujet de votre e-mail. ------------------------------ !HUELGA DE HAMBRE DE REPRESENTANTES DE PUEBLOS IND?GENAS EN LAS NACIONES UNIDAS! Hoy, 29 de noviembre de 2004, siendo las 11 de la ma?ana, nosotros delegados de los pueblos ind?genas nos declaramos en huelga de hambre y ayuno espiritual dentro de las Naciones Unidas Palacio de Naciones en Ginebra, durante esta tercera semana de la d?cima sesi?n del grupo de trabajo sobre el Proyecto de Declaraci?n de Naciones Unidas sobre los Derechos de los Pueblos Ind?genas. Envien muestras de solidaridad por parte de Pueblos Ind?genas y por todos los simpatizantes apoyando la "huelga de hambre por los derechos de los Pueblos Indigenas", y por la adopci?n del texto actual del Proyecto de Declaraci?n de las Naciones Unidas sobre los Derechos de los Pueblos Ind?genas a la Sesi?n de la ONU durante esta semana. Mandar fax a: ++ 41 22 917 00 79 (DoCip, apoyo logistico) Correos electr?nicos a: indigenousolidarity at yahoo.com Para tener su carta en la pagina Web de la Organizaci?n IITC, env?elo a: iitc at e-w-t.net, con "to post" en la l?nea sujeta. << Striker Statement.doc >> << Ponencia de Huelgistas.doc >> << Declaration des Grevistes.doc >> << _AVG certification_.txt >> -- _______________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 19:29:48 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 19:29:48 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Secret Report On Cell Phone Dangers And Tetra Message-ID: (The bottomline, folks, is this: if you use a cellphone, even one time, you are using your brain as an antenna, an amplifier and a heat sink. You are "microwaving" your brain. The results are permanent: mass madness.) http://www.rense.com/general60/tetra.htm Secret Report On Cell Phone Dangers And Tetra Confidential Report On TETRA Strictly For The Police Federation Of England and Wales By B. Trower 11-25-4 INTRODUCTION With respect to my fellow scientists I shall be writing this report in non-scientific speak for all of those readers who have not had the benefit of a scientific education. WHAT IS ALL THIS REALLY ABOUT? Imagine the field around a magnet and imagine ordinary everyday static electricity. If you put the force field from the magnet with the force field from the static electricity you make a wave. This wave is called an electromagnetic wave. There are lots of different types of electromagnetic waves but they are all made of the same two things - magnetic and static. The only difference between the waves is their wavelength or the length of the wave and the number of waves that can be produced a second, i.e. the frequency. All of these waves are put into a table called the electromagnetic spectrum. At one end of this electromagnetic spectrum you have the very short waves, namely gamma rays and x-rays and at the other end of the spectrum you have the very long ways, namely radio, TV and waves from overhead power cables. All of these waves have the same properties; that is to say they all behave the same. They can all be reflected, refracted, and they all travel at the same speed, which is the speed of light. For interest, if you were one wave of light you would be able to travel around the world nearly seven times every second; that is the speed of light. The electromagnetic spectrum is ordered so that at the short wave end you have the gamma rays, x-rays, ultra-violet, visible light, infra red, microwaves, radar, TV and radio in that order. The ultra-violet and above are known as ionising waves and there is no argument as to the damage they can cause when entering the body. Below ultraviolet is said to be non-ionising and this is where arguments occur between scientists as to whether damage can occur inside the human body through exposure to these waves. The microwaves used in the TETRA system are in the non-ionising section of the electromagnetic spectrum and I will be discussing the arguments concerning microwaves and health in this report. SAFETY LEVELS In this country, when somebody asks about whether a certain level of electromagnetic radiation is safe they are usually quoted a safety limit. This safety limit is laid down by the NRPB (National Radiological Protection Board). Usually when you ask about a dose of radiation you find that the amount that you were asking about is thousands of times below the safety limit and thereby reportedly safe. A safety limit is really a personal opinion. This personal opinion may be based on many factors by an individual or individuals from whatever data they have in their possession. To give you an example of some safety limits around the world, for one particular type of microwave transmitter, these read as follows: Toronto Health Board: 6 units Italy: 10 units Russia: 10 units Poland: 100 units US Research Base: 100 units International Commission: 450 units The NRPB for Britain: 3,300 units There are other values for other transmitters but there is no need to list those in this document. To look at this another way, supposing you took your car to a garage and one mechanic estimated a price of ?6 and another mechanic estimated a price of ?3,300 for the same job, you would feel justified about questioning the decisions. The reason that our safety limit is much higher than the rest of the world is that in other countries they base their safety limits on possible effects from the electric field, the magnetic field and the heat produced in the body. Our NRPB will only base the safety limit for this country on the heat produced in the body. I will comment on heat further in this report (Appendix 1, Reference 1). WHAT IS BELIEVED TO HAPPEN AS THESE WAVES ENTER OUR BODIES? I will try to summarise the thousand or so research papers written over the last 20 or so years and explain or summarise what happens when the electric and magnetic part of the wave goes into our bodies. We being water based animals act like aerials to these waves. As the waves go into our bodies an electric current is generated inside our bodies which is how aerials work; waves come in and electricity is generated. The electricity generated in our bodies like all electric currents goes to ground through our bodies and like all electric currents it takes the path of least resistance. Unfortunately the path of least resistance through our bodies, although only representing 10% of our pathways, carries 90% of our traffic rather like the M1 motorway. The traffic in our bodies, namely hormones, antibodies, neurotransmitters know where they are going because they also carry an electric charge. The hormones, antibodies and neurotransmitters know where to "get off" because there is a corresponding opposite charge at the site of delivery rather like the positive and negative ends of a battery. The problem is if you have an electric current passing through the body it can change this charge, either on the hormones, antibodies or neurotransmitters or the site of delivery. An analogy to that would be - if you were in Paris on the Underground system and you could not speak a word of French, but you had a map with the station name of where to get off and somebody tippexed out one or two of the letters, you may get off or you may not, and this can happen in the body. The hormones, antibodies or neurotransmitters may get off where they are meant to get off or they may carry on and miss their target. As a one-off this probably would not be very important but continuous interference over many years it is argued can lead to many illnesses. A similar effect is that the destination for some of these hormones, neurotransmitters, antibodies is a surface of a cell where chemicals will pass through a membrane into a cell. If you think of a cell in our body, be it a brain cell, bone cell etc, as having a positive and negative charge on the outside and the inside similar to a battery the difference in these charges will draw the chemical into the cell or draw poisonous substances out of the cell. If the charge is changed on the outside of the cell, then necessary chemicals may not go in or poisonous chemicals may not go out. An analogy to that would be - think of your house as a cell in your body. Essential things like food, water and fuel come into the house and poisonous things like waste and gases leave the house. In fact a house is very similar in many ways to a cell in our body. Now, if we had a blockage and waste could not leave the house or sometimes food or electricity did not come into the house, over a short period of time we would survive this, but continual disruption over many years will probably have a knock-on effect on the health of the inhabitants particularly if they are young or frail. This is my explanation of how electromagnetic waves affect our cells. A final description is possibly the accumulative effect of all the particles going through the body each second. Each particle and for TETRA we are talking about 400,000,000 particles a second carries a small amount of momentum with it. As an analogy, imagine you are driving down the M1 in the largest lorry you could possibly imagine and you are hit by the smallest dust particle you could ever imagine. Obviously the dust particle will not effect the speed or momentum of your lorry but if you have 400,000,000 dust particles a second for many years they could if something else was going wrong with your lorry exacerbate the effect and slow your lorry, and that is the crucial point. All of these effects I have described are believed to have one final conclusion. They all in their own way suppress the immune system. When you suppress the immune system as I will show in research papers, you tend to have more colds, more coughs, longer colds, longer coughs, longer illnesses, depression, anxiety leading to suicide or taken to its ultimate - leukaemia. I will summarise just four of what I consider to be extremely well written research papers by arguably the worlds leading scientists in this field. There are other leading scientists of course but I cannot list them all in this report. I am using these as specimen papers. When I refer to research papers I am not referring to something that somebody has sat down one Sunday afternoon and just written. These research papers have sometimes hundreds of references in the back and each reference on its own is usually 5-10 years work by a group of scientists where their work would have been peer reviewed, and in a lot of cases published. So for arguments sake, if a paper has say 100 references in the back that could well constitute 500-1,000 years accumulative work. The first paper (Appendix 2, Reference 2) by Dr Neil Cherry was presented in May 2000 to the New Zealand Parliament, to Italy, Austria, Ireland and the European Parliament in Brussels. This paper has 122 references. I have photocopied the references to show that as well as being peer reviewed, many are published. I will do this with the other three papers (Appendix 3). >From this research paper some illnesses caused by long-term low level electromagnetic radiation are: Heart problems; Blood problems; Interference with bone marrow; Tumours; Calcium interference; 46% reduction in night-time melatonin; It is believed that during the daytime light going through our eyes passes a message to the pineal glands in the brain which slows down the production of melatonin. At night when no light goes through our eyes the production of melatonin is speeded up. Melatonin is believed to scavenge cancer cells and impurities in our bodies and boost the immune system. If an officer is sleeping in quarters within range of the TETRA transmitter, the microwave radiation is believed to act on the pineal gland and suppress the night-time melatonin to daytime levels; hence the good work of the melatonin at night will be restricted leading to suppression of the immune system. Increased arthritis Skin problems Ear problems Risk to leukaemia Childhood cancer Sleep problems Depression Memory loss Difficulty in concentrating Mental conditions A very recent discovery shows that microwave radiation changes the permeability of the blood brain barrier. Our brain has its own immune system as does our body. The blood brain barrier keeps everything that is designed to be kept within the brain inside it and protects the brain from any unwanted diseases or chemicals which could harm it. Similarly it allows out of the brain anything dangerous to the brain. The blood brain barrier is rather like a sieve where only particles of a certain size may go through. Professor Salford at Lund University in Sweden has shown that such pulsing as from mobile phones can alter the permeability of the blood brain barrier (Appendix 4, Reference 3). I will argue as TETRA pulses, which is arguably more powerful than the average mobile phone, this situation could be worse with TETRA. Also, it is shown that the electromagnetic radiation going into the body can change the size of the particles moving around the body (Reference 4). This is rather like an ice skater spinning on her skates. With her arms out she spins slowly, but if she pulls her arms in she spins faster. Microwaves can affect the particles in our body by changing their spin; hence their size. They can be made smaller or larger. With the changing of the permeability of the blood brain barrier and the changing in size of particles unwanted particles may enter the brain or necessary particles may leave the brain. The connection here with mental conditions is that Dr Hyland of Warwick University has written that the uptake of drugs; in particular neurological drugs is inhibited because of changes in the blood brain barrier. Neurological illnesses Headaches Dizzyness Fatigue Miscarriage, and Infertility I have listed all of the references on this particular research paper because all of these researches correspond to the above list. The second paper I would like to comment on (Appendix 5, Reference 5) has 80 references and as well as a lot of the illnesses written in Dr Cherry's paper goes on to mention that with regard to mobile phone handsets you should avoid keeping the handset when switched on adjacent to the body, in particular in the vicinity of the waist or heart. There have been deaths due to colon cancer from the Royal Ulster Constabulary who wore radio or microwave transmitters in the small of their backs for extended periods of time. Dr Hyland recommends keeping the duration of calls to an absolute minimum and on his back page relating to pulse mobile phone radiation on alive humans and animals, the following may occur: Epileptic activity Effects on human EEG Effects on blood pressure Depression of immune systems Increased permeability of the blood brain barrier Effects on brain electro-chemistry DNA damage in rodent brain Cancers in mice, and Synergistic effects with certain drugs Dr Hyland, in my opinion, is one of the world's leading authorities in this area and his advice is not to be dismissed lightly. Similarly, another very highly respected scientist is Dr Coghill. I would add that both Dr Hyland and Dr Coghill are members of the Stewart Committee. Dr Coghill's paper which has 218 references (Appendix 6, Reference 6) agrees largely with the work by Dr Hyland and Dr Cherry. In this paper, Section 1.16, Dr Coghill writes "the ultimate question must be whether chronic exposure to say 1 V/m electric fields at the envisaged frequencies is likely to produce adverse health effects in the long term. At present the NRPB guidelines recommend an investigation level of 192 V/m while ICNIRP now offers much lower levels. However these are based on thermal effects: if non thermal evidence is accepted than 1 V/m is demonstrably able to induce biological effects, some of which may be adverse". I will show in a later paper that TETRA delivers a lot more than the 1 V/m recommended as a maximum by Dr Coghill. Dr Coghill also, in his summary in the back, lists symptoms caused by mobile phone use. Again, I will argue that as TETRA is pulsed and pulsed radiation is arguably more aggressive than the continuous analogue wave and TETRA uses more power than the ordinary mobile the symptoms will be enhanced rather than be reduced for TETRA. The symptoms listed by Dr Coghill are: Fatigue Headache Warmth behind the ear Warmth on the ear, and Burning skin My final paper by a very highly respected New Zealand doctor, Dr Eklund (Appendix 7, Reference 7) which has 37 references shows leukaemia clusters in and around ordinary radio and TV transmitters around the world. She says on page 13 that adult leukaemia within 2 kilometres of a transmitter is 83% above expected and significantly declines within increasing distance from the transmitter. Similarly skin and bladder cancers follow a similar pattern. As a scientist I could argue that if leukaemia's' and cancers are known to exist from ordinary radio and TV transmitters which take many years to form and radio and TV waves are at the long end of the electromagnetic spectrum, and it is known that exposure to gamma rays or x-rays can cause death within a matter of weeks, a hypothetical line could be drawn from the long waves to the short waves to determine the length of time or exposure doses needed to cause such illnesses. Fitting into this pattern would be several years exposure to sunlight causing skin cancer. There are obvious anomalies with this; namely personal health, hygiene and all sorts of other factors, but as a crude estimate I would argue that the further up the electromagnetic spectrum you go, the shorter the time for the serious illnesses to occur. The microwaves used by TETRA are above radio and television waves. Being water-based animals we are particularly sensitive to microwaves; this is why microwave ovens work. Microwave ovens resonate the water molecules in food and when molecules resonate they re-emit the energy they absorb as heat. This is why the food warms up and the plate does not, because it does not contain water. The warmth on and behind the ear felt by users of mobile phones is one type of heat. Another type of heat unknown to the user, therefore not reported are hotspots within the body from microwaves. These hotspots are tiny areas in the body which warm up considerably when exposed to microwave radiation. The problem with warming up areas inside the body is that a very recent research paper has shown that heat shock proteins are produced to protect the cells in the body from damage. Heat shock proteins act rather like scaffolding around a building; they go around the cell and protect the DNA from damage from the heat. Heat shock proteins have been known to work when the temperature rises by just 2 degrees. Now the problem with heat shock proteins is as well as protecting the good cells they can also protect and save from destruction cancer cells. So, if you have a cell in your body which is turning cancerous and would normally be destroyed by the body's immune system, the heat shock proteins will protect it and it will continue to grow. This work was carried out by Dr David de Pomerai, of Nottingham University (Appendix 8, Reference 8). A report on mobile telephones and their transmitters by the French Health General Directorate, dated January 2001, states in its conclusion of the group of experts that "a variety of biological effects occur at energy levels that do not cause any rise in local temperature". The group ask "is it possible to state that there are no health risks?" and they reply "No". They go on to say "minimise the use of mobile telephones when reception is poor, use an earpiece kit and avoid carrying mobile phones close to potentially sensitive tissue, i.e. a pregnant woman's abdomen or adolescent gonads". They recommend hospitals, day-care centres and schools should not be directly in the path of the transmission beam. Also and very important, they say "the cumulative exposure over their lifetime will be higher ". The word cumulative is also mentioned by Professor Sosskind and Dr Prausnitz in their paper (Reference 9) where they say "an accumulated cellular level damage mechanism is not necessarily related to the intensity but can relate to total dose Hence the averaging of weekly exposure is a meaningful adverse effect related level". This accumulative factor puts a very different slant on doses of microwave radiation. In particular an accumulative level of radiation can build up very quickly when you receive 400,000,000 waves every single second. This is why scientists are concerned and warnings have been issued for people with pacemakers, hearing aids, insulin pumps in relation to interference of their apparatus from electromagnetic waves. Warnings are also given to persons with metal implants in their bodies. These implants can a) warm up; and b) absorb the microwave radiation and re-emit it at a different wavelength. I have been around the world talking to scientists and we agree, although it cannot be proved, that the recent incidents in breast cancers in ladies could be due to the metal underwiring in bras absorbing microwave radiation and re-emitting it at a different wavelength into the mammary glands of the breast. The mammary glands are known to be particularly sensitive to radiation and they are known to be easily changed into cancer cells. Following this line of thought, I would argue scientifically that using a TETRA handset, remembering that if you are using a TETRA handset you must also be receiving radiation from the main transmitter, i.e. you do not just have the radiation from the phone you would have the radiation from the transmitter as well, or the phone would not work, could enhance breast cancer in the lady police officers. A similar argument follows with the argument that the eyes receive 29% extra radiation because of their moist make-up. Metal-rimmed spectacles will absorb the microwave radiation and re-emit it onto the surface of the eye. Again, unproven, but I can follow the arguments that support the two recent research papers which have found increases in eye cancers in two separate areas of the eye. One cancer has been found in the side of the eye, one cancer has been found in the front of the eye (Appendix 9, Reference 10) (Appendix 10, Reference 11). As a result of using pulsed mobile phones, again I will argue that as TETRA is more powerful than the average mobile there could be long-term damage to the eyes of the officers using TETRA. A union document (Reference 12) printed 4 December 1979 for microwave transmitters up to 100,000 MHz warns its members of the following illnesses which may occur from accumulative exposure: Menstrual problems Miscarriage, and Problems of the eye, heart, central nervous system, reproductive organs. They say "a false sense of safety may exist and non-thermal effects are much lower than have been recognised". The TETRA system of 380-400 MHz is within this range of this union paper. I emphasise that these effects are not new; they were being reported on as far back as 1979 and further on in this paper I will show documents that relate to exposure effects going way back to the early 1960s. A very important sentence in this research paper states "non-ionising radiation increases molecular vibration and rotational energies". I will refer to this further on in this document. INSURANCE Two of the worlds largest insurance companies, Lloyds and Swiss Re, have recommended to other insurance companies on the advice of Dr Theodore Litivitz, Professor Emeritus of Physics at the Catholic University of America, to write in exclusion clauses against paying compensation for illnesses caused by continuous long-term low level radiation. My concern for the police force, although adequately insured, is that if in future years officers start claiming for spine or brain tumours the insurance company will terminate its contract with the police force and leave it uninsured. SURVEYS Two recent surveys printed in Electromagnetic Hazard & Therapy 1998, Volume 9 and 2000, Volume 11; the first of a study of 11,000 mobile phone users, the second a study of 17,000 mobile users showed the symptoms already mentioned of fatigue, headache, warmth behind the ear, warmth on the ear and burning skin in various degrees, depending on the use and type of person. >From the 17,000 persons studied, these symptoms varied from 31% to 78% of the users. If I take the lowest number of 31% as a purely hypothetical exercise which is easily dismissed as rubbish, but does give us a look at some of the numbers that could be involved; if we take 100,000 police officers then 31,000 of these officers could experience one symptom. Playing the numbers game, if these 31,000 that experienced one symptom were to progress to a more complicated level, let's argue 10% of them may develop a migraine or a headache or require one day's sick we would have 3,100 officers taking a day's sick. If 10% of those developed something more serious that required further sickness we would have 310 officers off sick. If we take 10% of those and suggest that something more serious may occur then we could be looking at 31 officers, or I would argue 31 families, per hundred thousand involved in something which may develop into a serious medical condition. I stress that this is hypothetical because it is very difficult to predict the future for a device that has not been tested and there are no long-term studies available. As an aside it was noted last year that the Public & Commercial Services Union recommended to its 266,000 Civil Service members that they should not be forced to carry mobile phones. GROUND CURRENTS A very little understood phenomena and reported by Dr D Dahlberg (Reference 13) is ground currents from living in the proximity of transmitters on animals. I mention this with a view to the police dogs and the police horses in their kennels or stables at a constabulary base which is bound to have a transmitter. All transmitters pass an electric current to the ground beneath them. If the ground is particularly wet this has an adverse static effect on the animals concerned and in farm animals can effect milk productions or food production. Huge static charges are built up in the animals and everytime they come across a metal object the charge is discharged through the head; the nose being wet. It has been shown that if animals are taken away from this environment they recover very quickly, yet in the environment of ground currents they also become very sick very quickly. I am particularly concerned for the acutely sensitive brains and organs of the highly trained police dogs. Three years ago when a lot of research papers individually were being dismissed I decided to look at several of the main papers and show that there was a knock-on effect in the body. I drew two flow diagrams showing the knock-on effects from approximately 25 research papers to show that even if one symptom is dismissed there can be an accumulative effect throughout the body. The two flow charts - Appendix 11 relates to the body and Appendix 12 relates to the brain, show clearly that our body systems are very closely interlinked. Taking TETRA's lowest operating power level of 2W I wrote a hypothetical equation, and being hypothetical it is very easily dismissed, which shows that at the 2W cell activity may be accelerated by a factor of 6 or slows down by a factor of 7.5. There are experimental papers which do in fact show that mobile phones may speed up thought processes or may slow down cellular activity. I have tried to explain this using theoretical physics. I based my paper on the already previously mentioned accumulative doses and increased molecular vibration (please see previous references). I am fully prepared to be told that I am wrong or mistaken but I believe I can explain the process by which energy once inside the body affects the cell potential (charge on the outside of the cell), the signal transduction (movement from the outside to the inside of the cell) and the cell cycle timing (the process by which our cells operate). I have placed this calculation in Appendix 13. Often overlooked are the electromagnetic waves from the cables and transformers of all electrical transmitters. These are usually in cabinets near the transmitters, hence near offices or sleeping quarters on constabulary bases or near kennels or stables. A research paper published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry in 1998 (Reference 14) describes the 50 cycles a second waves emitted by transformers and power cables, and how they may induce leukaemia. Although the NRPB and the National Grid have denied that these waves are dangerous both this paper and an article in the New Scientist dated 10 March 2001, page 7 which reads "Guilty as Charged. Powerful fields from pylons and cables are linked to childhood cancer", demonstrates to me scientifically that these transformers and power cables should not be overlooked. THE CONCLUSIVE PROOF ARGUMENT The Government's scientists will often ask for conclusive proof when they are challenged. It is a word often used when you wish to win your side of the argument. Scientifically conclusive proof is impossible to obtain - let me explain. I was at a legal hearing in Torquay representing a community and the barrister representing the communications industry said "there is no conclusive proof that these microwaves will cause damage". I argued: if somebody stood up and shot me in this courtroom there would be three levels of proof. You would have everybody as a witness and that would be accepted in a Court of Law. A pathologist could perform a post mortem, decide that the bullet killed me and that would be a second level of proof. If, however you wanted conclusive proof that the bullet killed me, you would have to argue that at the split second the bullet went into my body every system in my body was working perfectly because there are thousands of reasons why I could drop dead on the spot before the bullet went in and you would have to prove conclusively that all of these systems were working perfectly before the bullet went in. Clearly, this is scientifically impossible; there is no such thing as conclusive proof, yet it is what is demanded by government scientists when challenging their decisions. Conclusive proof has been demanded by scientists defending their decisions after they have said the following are safe: Thalidomide Asbestos BSE Smoking Sheep dip Gulf War Syndrome GM Foods and Vitamin B6 With the above list it will be recognised that evidence of damage from these comes only from counting the people who are injured. I am arguing scientifically that there is a blanket denial by some scientists and the only way to show them wrong is to present them with a certain number of bodies. When commercial interests are at stake there seems to be a denial of relevant scientific data. The problem with the microwave communications industry is that they do not have to prove it is safe; you have to prove it is not, and that is an entirely different ball game. As a scientist, if I develop a new pill I have to run a 5 or 10 year clinical trial and convince a Board of my peers that it is safe before I have permission to release the pill onto the market. With the telecommunications industry the tables are completely turned around. They do not have to show these instruments are safe; you have to show they are not. UNDERSTANDING RADIATION (MICROWAVE AS IN TETRA) There are unknown phenomena concerning low level radiation that is not generally understood by the users of communication instruments. Following the Chernobyl incident it was found that long-term continuous low level radiation of all types was as dangerous as high level doses of radiation. With high level doses of radiation the anti-oxidants in the body (Vitamins A, C, E etc) rush to defend and repair the area of the body being damaged. However with low level radiation the anti-oxidants are not activated and because the dose is accumulative the problems can build up and are usually present before the body realises that there is trouble. So, low level does not necessarily mean safer. Also the smaller you are the more you tend to absorb. Wavelengths for TETRA and mobile phones are relatively short and the nearer the part of the body or the infant to the wavelength the more similarity they have to an aerial and the more they absorb. With ordinary mobiles the wavelength is around the size of a foetus and with TETRA you are looking at a 3-6 year old child. I mention this because TETRA may be used in areas where children are running around and there are very well known and documented cases of pulse radiation affecting epileptic children. Pulse radiation from TETRA at 17.6 Hz (waves per second) is known to interfere with our natural brains rhythm. Our brains generate their own waves within our head. One of these waves, called beta waves is on a very similar frequency to the TETRA handsets. What happens is: If you could imagine yourself jumping on a trampoline and somebody larger and heavier jumps on and dances at a slightly different speed you will bounce at their pace rather than yours. When they jump off you will still bounce at their speed. The jumping on of the person onto the trampoline is known as entrainment and this occurs when the TETRA is used in close proximity to an officer's brain. Because TETRA affects the beta rhythm of the brain it will affect what the beta rhythm is responsible for; namely sounds judgement in emergency situations. Entrainment is always followed by a phenomena called long-term potentiation. This is an analogous to the person getting off the trampoline leaving you dancing. Long-term potentiation has been known to last several weeks after the initial source has died down. The implications for this are that the officers' brain waves would continue to suffer entrainment even after the sets have been switched off, which would be reinforced everytime the sets are switched on again. The first paper written on this subject was by a scientist called Ptolomy who was a Greek living in Egypt in 64BC. Ptolomy found that when he spun a wheel with holes in up against the sun at different rotational speeds he could induce different effects on the brains of his subjects. To get an idea of the complexity of the brain, if you imagine every single person in every single city in the world picking up their telephone and dialling everybody in their phonebooks, that is roughly how many connections we have in the brain. I will show later that even the Stewart Committee advised against using any communication instruments that pulsed above 16 waves per second. TETRA is of course 17.6 waves per second. MY SCIENTIFIC CONCERNS ABOUT THE NRPB >From a court case towards the end of 1998 Dr McKinlay was questioned in court about the use of mobile phones. Dr McKinlay is a senior scientist in the NRPB. It is known that roughly half of the NRPB's funding comes from the industries it represents, the other half of its funding comes from the Government. In court Dr McKinlay explained that data on tissue conductivity was supplied to the NRPB by Dr Camelia Gabriel of Microwave Consultants Limited. It transpired that virtually none of the NRPB documents on non-ionising radiation are peer reviewed and that Dr McKinlay himself had not authored any experimental studies. Dr McKinlay admitted he had no biological expertise. Dr Camelia Gabriel is Director of Microwave Consultants Limited and she reports to the Home Office and the Health & Safety Executive. She is also Chairman of the European Standardisation Body. To summarise, the NRPB subcontract research on microwave radiation to Microwave Consultants Limited; namely Dr Camelia Gabriel. Dr Camelia Gabriel is also a senior consultant for Orange plc and has authored jointly with others the Orange Base Stations Health & Safety Manual (please see Appendices 14 and 15). Dr Gabriel's son, also of Microwave Consultants Limited, confirms the safety of transmitters for Orange plc in school playgrounds (Appendix 16). This dual interest between Dr Camelia Gabriel as representing the NRPB and Orange plc was picked up and reported on, on 19 April 1999, by The Observer where Sarah Ryle writes "concerns are increasing about industry's involvement in research. Some of the NRPB's conclusions have been based on research by Dr Camelia Gabriel, a technical advisor to network operator Orange and Head of Private Consultancy, Microwave (Appendix 17). The problem as I see it is that when it comes to asking about safety concerning TETRA or any other communication instrument there is not one single independent person to give an answer. Every single person who has a word to say about the safety of police officers is somehow in the "food chain" going back to the communications industry. The communications industry fund the NRPB and the Government who fund Microwave Consultants Limited so every single person has a financial interest in recommending the product. THE ABSOLUTE PARADOX Since the early 1960s this country, America and Russia have had what is called the non-lethal weapons programme or synthetic telepathy programme. It is very well documented now that in the early 1960s in Moscow the Russians beamed continuous low level radiation (microwaves) down onto the American Embassy causing miscarriages, leukaemia's and other illnesses to the Embassy staff. Since then the non-lethal weapons programme has become very sophisticated indeed. It is used a) as a long-term low level radiation weapon to cause populations illness and b) at higher intensities to cause blindness, heart attacks or confusion. Details of all of the intensities are unknown to me but knowing that microwave radiation is accumulative, any effect can only be a matter of time. In quoting this research I refer to documents listed under Reference 15. So sophisticated is this research, and I refer to Operation Pandora Joint CIA/MI6 Operation since the 1960s, Operation Woodpecker USSR 1976, Operation HAARP still running in USA; they are able to define specific pulse frequencies to cause specific brain malfunctions or illnesses. For instance: Frequency Illness Caused 4.5 Paranoia 6.6 Depression/Suicide 11 Manic behaviour/Anger 25 Blindness if aimed at the head/Heart attack if aimed at the chest Other consequences of frequencies used but not listed here are hysteria, trauma, lust, murder and cancer, and may all be induced. The TETRA frequency is 17.6 Hz (waves per second) so as a scientist looking at this data which is well publicised I ask myself, if the illnesses moving up the frequency range are progressive and TETRA is between the frequency of 11 and 25 on this table, what will be the effect of TETRA's 17.6 waves per second on the brains of the police force? This phenomena cannot be denied by the NRPB; it is listed in their own document which I will refer to later in this paper, where on page 26 they have described how at 8 waves per second animals can be made to fall asleep and at different frequencies behave differently in various parts of their brains. As this phenomena is written about by the NRPB for 8 waves per second I would like to know what other research they have for other frequencies in and around the TETRA range. HAARP, which is being researched by a nun, Dr Rosalie Bertell, who is concerned about what it represents along with other scientists knows that HAARP is capable of bouncing low level continuous microwave radiation pulsed off the ionosphere to any community in the world and may cause cataracts, leukaemia, changes in blood brain chemistry, changes in blood sugar levels, blood pressure and heart rates. The paradox of course is how can one system of pulsed microwaved radiation be used as a weapon to cause illness or death and at the same frequency and unless close range, a similar low intensity be used as a safe communications instrument. Following this research I fail to see how TETRA can possibly be safe for the officers which use it. This argument is further reinforced by a Channel Four document (Reference 16) and I quote: "The telecoms industry has known about American research suggesting there may be brain effects from TETRA for at least a year". "The research suggests that TETRA radios may have a direct effect on the brain's bio chemistry". "The researchers found that balance changed when brain cells were exposed to pulsed radio signals". On page 4 it is quoted "the Government was warned about the issue last year. The Stewart Report into mobile phones recommended research into pulsed signals and suggested the technology be avoided As a precautionary measure amplitude modulation (pulses) around 16 Hz should be avoided if possible". He continues "what the frequency of 17.6 Hz is doing is duplicating microwave weapons which you buy at arms fairs. So by holding one of these devices to their heads they are putting a small microwave weapon to their head everytime they use it". He finishes "but there is enough to warrant asking why the system is being rolled out before the proper research has been conducted into an effect which not only falls outside all the existing regulations but which the Government advises on mobile phones believes it important enough they recommend the technology not to be used and which the military authorities apparently believe is so powerful that they can design non-lethal weapons to disrupt the minds of their targets". In Electromagnetic Hazard & Therapy 2001, Volume 11, Numbers 2-4, Page 9, Simon Best says when writing about microwave crowd control weapons "after 20 years of rumours and speculation the Pentagon has finally confirmed that it has developed a device as part of its joint non-lethal weapons programme " He continues "in the UK many of the women protestors at Greenham Common in the 1980s experienced symptoms that they attributed to being zapped by microwave weapons from the US base". Reported in The Guardian, Tuesday 8 May 2001 (Appendix 18) Stuart Millar and Stuart MacWilliam write "two independent experts on the biological effects of electromagnetic radiation have accused Ministers of using the police as guinea pigs by pressing on with the launch of the BT Airwave System in the absence of detailed research into potential health risks". They continue "last year Sir William Stewart's report on mobile phone safety concluded that systems modulating at frequencies around 16 Hz should be avoided if possible in future developments of signal coding". They conclude "low frequency electromagnetic radiation was identified as far back as the 1960s as a potential anti-personnel weapon when the superpowers began conducting experiments into non-lethal mind control devices". Low level pulsed signals have even been tried in the oceans. It was reported (Reference 17) by Gibby Zobel that the whales and dolphins beached themselves because their delicate navigation systems were damaged by the low level pulses. This is not surprising as like us they are mammals. The comment from the Minister at the time was "it's their fault for being in that part of the ocean when they could have moved away". Reporting in The Sunday Express, 4 February 2001, Nick Fleming writes "BT advise officers to turn off the handsets when they are near sensitive hospital, breathalyser and speed camera equipment Officers are also being advised to mount speed traps or breath tests only if the equipment is 35 ft from their handsets or 11 ft from radio sets in their cars". He concludes "someone using a TETRA handset will be receiving between 2 and 4 times as much power or energy as if they were using a mobile phone. The low frequency also means about double the penetration into the head". Another document (Reference 18), Mr Stevens quoting from a US Defence document writes "if the more advanced nations of the West are strict in the enforcement of stringent exposure standards there could be unfavourable effects on industrial output and military functions". Listed in this document are all of the symptoms we now come to expect with long-term low level microwave radiation; for example "personnel exposed to microwave radiation below thermal levels experience more neurological cardio-vascular and haemodynamic disturbances than do their unexposed counterparts". Further down the document other symptoms include hypertension, changes in blood, headache, fatigue, menstrual di ADDING UP ALL OF THE WAVES THAT YOU ARE EXPOSED TO An officer on duty may be exposed to his or her own handset, plus the handsets of officers around, plus the transmitter, plus anything else that happens to be on around them, i.e. vehicles. It may seem fairly easy for people to think that all you have to do is add up the radiation from each source, but in fact it can be very complicated and I would argue so complicated that scientists have yet to agree on a standard formula. For example, when measuring the magnetic part of the wave in Norwich it is known by some scientists that the maximum dose would be 0.4 units. When the arithmetic average was taken it came out at 0.46 above the danger level for the child. When the interested parties came and did their measurements they got the reading to be 0.26 units below the safety level; they calculated the geometric average. Clearly there is a difference between 0.26 and 0.46. When measurements are taken and quoted to you, you should always ask how the answer has been calculated and check the figures. Other ways of measuring waves may be time weighed average, constructive or destructive interference, the polarisation, the nearfield, the farfield, the root mean square, the peak to peak, the electric or the magnetic vectors; all of these are legitimate calculations and in my opinion could be used to make a reading look more acceptable if it was desired. In Appendix 19 I enclose an e-mail conversation by three eminent scientists who are trying to agree on the best way to calculate multiple waves. The multiple wave phenomena is of concern to me with regards the health of the police officers, simply because I have yet to find anybody who can say for sure the dose that each officer will be receiving. Arguably if the dose cannot be calculated therefore the health of the patients cannot be calculated. Reporting in Engineering, February 2001 Matt Youson writes about the case where a man had a heart attack and in his journey to the hospital in an ambulance the ambulance crew using their TETRA sets, affected his heart monitoring devices which sadly resulted in the man's death. In an exclusive report in the Manchester News 11 May 2001 Dianne Bourne quoting the Head of Brain Surgery at NASA writes "the Head of Brain Surgery at NASA has even said he would not consider holding one of these to his head (with regards to TETRA). He said the net result is that the police are guinea pigs". Writing in Issue 51 of Caduceus magazine, in an article entitled 'Mobile Phones: The Pressure & Evidence Continues to Mount' by Simon Best, he writes "certainly if mobile phones had been a new drug they would never have got out of the laboratory". He continues commenting on TETRA "a 420 MHz signal producing a waveform that maximises radiation absorption for 3-6 year olds but also a pulse at 17 Hz right in the brains' beta rhythm - 17Hz is close to the peak frequency that triggers calcium e-flux in the brain which in turn affects apoptosis (programmed cell death) which can initiate cancer development. Despite this there is a complete lack of research on TETRA's possible health effects". He concludes "consider that you are talking about cumulative pulsed microwave radiation into your head, eyes and other organs possibly everyday for the rest of your life". A Powerwatch comment dated 2 June 2001 reports in the first paragraph "as far as we can find out virtually no meaningful biological research on the effects of TETRA signals has been carried out. None of this is on humans nor is any on brain functions". In a late study published this month by The Independent entitled 'Mobile Phone Use Can Treble Risk of Brain Tumour', Charles Arthur writes that a research paper studying 1,600 people by a cancer specialist at the University of Sweden will be publishing his research paper on this data when it is finished. In 1997 the Health Council of The Netherlands Radio Frequency Radiation Committee published their paper entitled 'Radio Frequency Electromagnetic Fields (300 Hz to 300 GHz) (this is within the TETRA range). They warn of interference to embryo development, hotspots inside the body, damage to eyes specifically infants, elderly and the sick. They also comment on interference to metallic implants and pacemakers. In Section 261 they write "the effects of electromagnetic fields occur at lower powered entities when the object is exposed to pulsed electromagnetic fields". I write this because TETRA is pulsed and most of the research which has been done has been done on continuous waves. The inference from these new research papers can only suggest that the symptoms will become more serious as pulsed radiation is arguably more aggressive. In a recent paper (Reference 19) Dr Hyland who is also a member of the Stewart Committee and of the International Institute of Biophysics in Germany writes in Section 3 "the introduction of TETRA on the other hand gives rise to an increased level of both thermal and non-thermal concern". On page 14 Dr Hyland comments on the expression of calcium ions from brain cells and on page 15 writes a chapter on the magnetic field associated with current surges from the battery of the phone. Many people do not appreciate that batteries can produce magnetic fields that go into the body. THE NRPB DOCUMENT ON TETRA (Appendix 20) The Governments' NRPB produced their own document (Reference 20) which is a report of an advisory group on non-ionising radiation and TETRA. Each page I quote from I will photocopy and place in the Appendix so that the reader may read the NRPB's research and the reader may compare my answer to that research. On page 3 (Appendix 21) the picture shows the microwave signals labelled radio signals as a continuous not-pulsed signal. I would argue that this has been measured by the Cambridge researcher Alisdair Philips and has been shown to be pulsed leaving the transmitter going to the officer. Page 4 (Appendix 22), Section 21 states "some radiation is also emitted from the case". It does not say which type of radiation - electric or magnetic or when the radiation is emitted, or the strength of the radiation or what part of the body will receive most of the exposure. In Section 22 "the main exposure to the body should be from the antenna and case of the hand portable". The question arises where is the rest of the exposure coming from and how much will there be? Section 24 refers to the earphone. If an earpiece is used and the smallest possible imaginable crack occurs in the earpiece radiation will have a direct path straight through the auditory canal to the brain. The officer will not even have the protection of the skull. In the rough and tumble world of a police officer where earpieces may be frequently knocked, what protection is there for the officer in checking that the earpieces do not leak? I would recommend that earpieces should be checked with very accurate equipment for leaks at least on a weekly basis. The earpieces should be of the highest quality possible and definitely leakproof. Page 5, Section 25 (Appendix 23) "the terminal is mounted inside the vehicle and connected to an antenna mounted on the outside". My concern is what sort of insulation is there inside the vehicle to protect the officers from the terminal inside the vehicle. If the terminal inside the vehicle is not sufficiently insulated from the officers they are effectively sitting inside a microwave oven, except for the windows. Page 6, Section 26 (Appendix 24) shows that the useful range of a mobile terminal (car) to a transmitter is 56 km. 56 km is a fairly powerful transmitter and again I question if an officer is standing outside the vehicle or inside the vehicle, how much research has been done on the radiation levels being received by this officer? Page 7, Section 28 (Appendix 25); this diagram shows a vehicle being used as a transmitting station to relay a message 56 km from a transmitter to 56 km to an officer. Again, I question how much insulation there is to protect the officers from the radiation if they are to be used as mobile transmitting stations? Page 8, Section 37 (Appendix 26); this confirms that the pulses are 17.6 Hz and 35.2 Hz or waves per second. I emphasise that the Stewart Committee warned about using frequencies close to the brain above 16 Hz. Page 9, Sections 39/40 (Appendix 27) refer to a top output in the table of 30 W and for hand terminals 3 W or 10 W for a vehicle mounted transmitter. My concern is that with ordinary mobile phone transmitters no sooner are they up when an engineer comes along and adds another section, then another section and within a few years the original transmitter is unrecognisable because of additional instruments. With TETRA when it expands to cover all of the emergency services; possibly traffic wardens, the new reserve police force, maybe even park keepers and security officers, I am wondering whether these outputs may be exceeded. In my own mind I find 3 W and 10 W outputs particularly high when in proximity to a living being. If we look at Professor Cherry's table (Appendix 27), it can be seen that in millionths of watts, the long-term exposure can lead to various ailments. On this graph I have drawn a line below which the TETRA power level applies. This is obviously an estimate because when the handset is switched on, there is a surge of power. If you are a long distance from a transmitter the power increases, or on standby the power drops down. Due to the lack of research in measuring TETRA in and around vehicles it is very difficult to place an accurate estimate on this graph at present. Suffice to say that the power on this table is in millionths of watts and Sections 39 and 40 are in watts. For the reader I have enclosed a three page guide of reported biological effects from low level radiation. Page 10, Section 44 (Appendix 28); the table shows that the TETRA handsets are slightly more powerful than the ordinary GSM mobile phone systems. This is the basis of one of my arguments that if TETRA is pulsed, which is arguably more aggressive and powerful than the ordinary mobile phone, the medical symptoms could arguably be more severe. Page 14, Section 61 (Appendix 29) reads "hence with TETRA the energy is absorbed in a larger volume of tissue and so is less concentrated". Scientifically I cannot decide whether it is better to have the energy spread over a larger area or concentrated on a smaller area; I will have to discuss this with colleagues. Also in Section 61 the NRPB write "however, since the radiation from TETRA penetrates further into the head ", that I am particularly concerned about because the most delicate parts of our brain are in its centre for maximum protection and if this is where TETRA is going to reach then I have grave concerns. Page 15, Section 63 (Appendix 30) reads "VERY LITTLE INFORMATION EXISTS ON THE SAR'S PRODUCED BY TETRA AND PORTABLES. NO NUMERICAL MODELLING APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN CARRIED OUT". SAR means Specific Absorption Rate and refers to the heat generated inside that part of the body exposed to microwave radiation. I mentioned heat earlier with regard to heat shock proteins protecting cancer cells and to prevent damage to the DNA. I find it absolutely beyond belief that the NRPB can admit they have very little information on a system that is already being used and to say that no numerical modelling appears to have been carried out suggests to me as a scientist that no measurements have been taken to assess any medical damage which may occur to the officers. What experimentation has been done (Gabriel 2000), appears to have been carried out by Mr Gabriel of Microwave Consultants Limited. As this research could possibly affect what may turn out to be brain tumours or spine cancers for the lady or gentlemen officers I would feel justified as a Police Federation in asking which totally independent scientists not connected in any way to the Government or communications industry peer reviewed this research paper and what were there comments? Page 15, Section 65 (Appendix 30); this section explains that SARs could be up to 4 times larger than those in table 6 above. If the reader looks at the unit at the top of the table after SAR (Wkg-1), the reader can go to Appendix 27 'Reported Biological Effects', and the reader will observe one of the pages lists the medical symptoms expected from SAR doses. The reader will notice that for an SAR of 2 or 3 W/kg, cancer acceleration in the skin and breast tumours may be found. Coming back to the table it shows for the left ear an SAR of 2.88 but in the document below it explains that the SAR could be 4 times larger than this, i.e. you could be receiving an SAR above 8. Page 11, Section 51 (Appendix 31) (NB: the NRPB bound document has pages 11-13 out of order and I cannot change this, and I apologise to the reader). This table shows that the power output may reach 40 W from a TETRA transmitter. My concern is that the officer will be receiving the radiation from the transmitter as well as the radiation from the handset. Page 16, Section 66 (Appendix 32); "the main exposure to the body is expected to be at waist level from the antenna and base of the hand portable". My concern with this is the reported cases of cancer of the spine from officers who have carried their hand portables on their belts. To my knowledge 4 deaths have occurred because of this. "Although there could be some exposure from the earphone if RF current is induced in the cable ". When the signal goes from the handset to the earpiece, electromagnetic waves are emitted from the cable, i.e. the cable actually becomes its own transmitter. These waves would obviously go through the neck and my concern is that they could affect the sensitive glands within the neck. Another concern, but unproven, came from a dentist who was concerned about the metal in peoples' fillings absorbing radiation and re-emitting it up into the centre of the brain where there is no protection from the skull. This is obviously a very complex research area to go into but nevertheless I feel that this dentist has a justifiable argument and one which should not be dismissed without thought. Page 16, Section 67; "the situation is complicated by the metal body of the vehicle. It is not evident that this could be relied upon to provide shielding, since the non-conducting parts, e.g. windows of the vehicle are comparable to the wavelength of the radiation". Scientifically what this means to me is that there could be a considerable risk of electromagnetic radiation for the persons either inside or just outside of the vehicle. I find this incredible in so far as the risk is obviously appreciated by the NRPB and yet, as they stated earlier, no numerical modelling has been carried out. To me it appears that the risk in and around vehicles has been overlooked. Page 16, Section 68; "the data in table 6 suggest that for both 3 W and 10 W vehicle mounted terminals the ICNIRP basic restrictions for the general public could be exceeded if a persons' head were within a few centimetres of a vehicle mounted transmission antenna for several minutes". The question I ask is what if the call is some big disaster emergency and the call may last longer than several minutes, or once the system is upgraded you are waiting for pictures to come through? Have calculations been done for say an accumulative 10 minute call? NB: The Police Federation may wish to ask whether the dose levels in these tables are calculated as a geometric average or arithmetic average. Page 16, Section 69; "at these power levels there will be regions in the immediate vicinity of the base station antenna where guidelines could be exceeded". My argument here is similar to the argument above. What if an officer has to remain through duty in the vicinity of a base station or transmitter where even the NRPB's high guidelines are exceeded or the International Commission's guidelines are exceeded? These guidelines, as shown in Appendix 1, are way above what the rest of the world recommends. Page 18, Section 76 (Appendix 33); "no measurements appear to have been made of the exposures received inside or outside vehicles with externally mounted antennas". My simple question is, if officers are using what could be potentially dangerous instruments, why have no measurements been taken to assess their risk? I find this beyond belief. Page 26, Section 111 and 112 (Appendix 34). Here the NRPB agree that the phenomena of non-lethal weapons exists because they say that with a frequency of 8 waves per second into the brain, animals can be made to go to sleep, or be stimulated at higher frequencies. To me this simple statement by the NRPB verifies the non-lethal weapons programme as sound. Page 29, Section 128 (Appendix 35); "HOWEVER THERE ARE LIMITATIONS TO THE REASSURANCE THAT THEY CAN PROVIDE. IN PARTICULAR THEY DO NOT EXCLUDE THE POSSIBILITY THAT RF RADIATION FROM CELLULAR PHONES MIGHT CARRY A RISK OF CANCER THAT BECOMES MANIFEST MANY YEARS AFTER FIRST EXPOSURE OR THAT RELATES TO INTENSE EXPOSURE OVER MANY YEARS. NOR DO THEY RULE OUT A HAZARD FROM RF RADIATION MODULATED SPECIFICALLY AT AROUND 16 Hz". Here, the NRPB are not ruling out that there may be a risk of cancer to the officers in several years time. Also there could be a risk because of TETRA's unique pulsing to the officers' brains. Page 29, Section 129; "further research is needed using modern molecular and cellular biology techniques to assess the reliability of the positive findings and to determine the extent and significance of any effects that do occur". Scientifically to me, what the NRPB are saying is that they need to do research to find out what effects TETRA will have on the officers. Page 30, Section 133 (Appendix 36); "HOWEVER THEY DO NOT EXCLUDE THE POSSIBILITY OF A RISK OF CANCER THAT APPEARS ONLY AFTER MANY YEARS OF EXPOSURE, NOR OF A HAZARD FROM RF RADIATION MODULATED SPECIFICALLY AT AROUND 16 Hz". This suggests that cancer and brain damage has not been ruled out as a possibility of using TETRA. As an analogy, this seems to me like a situation where I could go to my GP and ask for some tablets and the GP can say, you can take these but there may be a risk of cancer in several years time, I don't know, or a risk of brain damage. Page 31, Section 135 (Appendix 37); "A number of recommendations for further research are suggested by the Advisory Group". My observation is why wasn't this research was done before the system was introduced? This puts officers' health at risk unnecessarily. "Proposals for experimental investigations of the possible biological effects of specific TETRA signals modulated at about 16Hz". Again, I suggest this should have been carried out before it was used on police officers. "Further studies need to be carried out on effects of amplitude modulation or pulsing on neuronal activity and on signalling within and between nerve cells The likelihood of epileptic seizures could be investigated ". If the NRPB are suggesting this now, my question stands, why wasn't this research carried out before the officers began their trials with TETRA? * Page 31, Section 135 - Section 5; "HUMAN VOLUNTEER STUDIES SHOULD BE CARRIED OUT TO MEASURE CHANGES IN COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE ARISING FROM EXPOSURE TO TETRA HANDSETS. THESE SHOULD INCLUDE EXAMINATION OF THE EFFECT OF VARYING PARAMETERS SUCH AS THE DURATION OF CALLS, THE EXTENT OF EXPOSURE, AS WELL AS SIGNAL CHARACTERISTICS". * Page 31, Section 135 - Section 6; "THE TETRA SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO BE DEPLOYED WIDELY FOR USE BY STAFF IN EMERGENCY SERVICES. THIS IS A RELATIVELY STABLE WORKFORCE WITH DEFINED PATTERNS OF WORK. IT WOULD BE WORTH CARRYING OUT STUDIES TO EXAMINE WORKING PRACTICES AND CONDITIONS OF EXPOSURE TO RF RADIATION FROM TETRA SYSTEMS. RECORDS OF USE SHOULD BE KEPT WHICH COULD BE OF VALUE IN ANY FUTURE EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDIES". Clearly this means that the police, although to my knowledge not volunteers, as a regular and stable workforce are absolutely ideal for a scientific study into the long-term effects of electromagnetic radiation from TETRA. The NRPB will use all of this data as an epidemiological study, as recorded in their own document. * Page 31, Section 135 - Section 8; "ONLY LIMITED INFORMATION IS PRESENTLY AVAILABLE ON EXPOSURES FROM TETRA HAND PORTABLES. FURTHER WORK IS NEEDED TO PROVIDE MORE INFORMATION ON EXPOSURES FROM HAND PORTABLES AND FROM ANY OTHER TRANSMITTING EQUIPMENT DEPLOYED FOR USE". My simple observation to this statement is why? Why is only limited information presently available on exposures if the system is up and running? There has got to be a risk to the officers from unknown exposures. CONCLUSION If you take a complete overview of this entire document, I would suggest that there is a lot of information which could suggest long-term low level exposure to microwave radiation is harmful. However, science is always about argument. I find it a very dangerous time when a scientist insists that he or she is right. Scientists that have insisted they are right (sometimes publicly) and have later to have been shown to be incorrect are those concerning thalidomide, asbestos, BSE, smoking, sheep dip, Gulf War Syndrome, GM foods, Vitamin B6, to mention just a few. So, let us assume that I am wrong and let us assume that every single scientist I have quoted in this report, which may involve thousands of years of work accumulatively, is also wrong, just for arguments sake. My argument is unchanged and my argument is simple. All I am suggesting is that the ladies and gentlemen of the police force have the opportunity to read both sides of this scientific debate with all of the literature at their disposal and they, be allowed to decide whether or not they would like to use the TETRA system. If every officer decides that they love the TETRA system so much they want to take it home to bed with them, I do not have a problem with that. All I ask is that the officers have the choice where their long-term future health could be at risk. RECOMMENDATIONS * I would like to see a totally independent group of scientists, not connected with the communications industry or the NRPB, be able to represent the police force at th * Should TETRA become widespread, a long-term full indemnity insurance policy should be guaranteed for the officers for any possible future long-term risks. * That all major documents relating to TETRA safety be made available to the officers of the police force along with how the figures were calculated, i.e. which average was taken, which totally independent scientists peer reviewed the papers, the comments of those scientists and if necessary, the relative expertise of the scientist who carried out the experiments and wrote the paper. I recommend this because when I applied to teach Advance Level Physics at College, all of my degrees are personally checked and when we go camping with College students, our mountain leadership certificates, life-saving certificates, updates to those certificates are all scrutinised by the parents. And I totally agree with this. I believe that if you are making decisions pertaining to persons' safety or health, your qualifications, background, experience should all be available for scrutiny. Also, anything that you write should be checked by totally independent persons, and their comments made available. * My final recommendation with all of the information I have to hand is that the TETRA system be halted until further research on safety has been carried out. This research be made available to the ladies and gentlemen of the police force and not until they are satisfied with the safety of the system, should it be implemented. In other words, I am suggesting that the police have the final say in whether TETRA is introduced or not to their force. I believe the ladies and gentlemen of the police force should be credited with the intelligence they have to make decisions regarding their own safety. Further, any scientific document written for them to read should have full explanatory notes so that they can understand any complicated scientific terms. NB: Before my lectures to the Police Federation and writing this report, I submitted my full CV for their scrutiny. QUESTIONS * With all of the research written here showing dangers from electric, magnetic, pulsed microwave electromagnetic fields, why with the officers' safety at risk are we still sticking to our ridiculous safety limit, which only measures heat? * Can more information be given to the officers on our Government's non-lethal weapons programme concerning pulses into the brain around 17.6 Hz, or stored information from other research papers? * Can the signals from the transmitter to the officer be rechecked as they are listed in the manual as continuous waves, whereas they have been measured independently to be shown to be pulsed? This is important because pulsed radiation is arguably more aggressive than continuous. NB: the following questions arise from the NRPB document on TETRA, Volume 12, Number 2, 2001, appendixed at the back of this document. * Section 21 - How much radiation, and of which type is emitted from the case? * Section 24 - What safeguards are in place to guarantee that the earphones are absolutely leakproof and with the rough and tumble world of the police officer, how often are the earphones going to be checked for leaks? Who will do this, and which type of apparatus will be used? * Section 25 - What experiments have been done to measure how the officers inside the vehicle are insulated from the transmitting device? * Section 28 - If a police car is to be used as a relay transmitter, again, what measurements have been taken to ensure the officers are insulated from the electromagnetic waves? * Section 37 - Why is a pulsed frequency of 17.6 Hz being used when it is known to interfere with the brains' beta rhythm and it was warned against by the Stewart Committee? * Section 39/40 - If TETRA becomes widespread to all of the emergency services, reserve officers, traffic wardens, security officers, what is the expected output to be from handsets and the main transmitters? Transmitters generally increase their power to cope with additional calls. Will this be the case for TETRA? * Section 61 - Has a neurosurgeon been consulted to comment on the effect of TETRA penetrating deep into the head? * Section 63 - Why does very little information exist on the SAR produced by TETRA hand portables, why has no numerical modelling been carried out? Can this be done before TETRA is used nationally? * Section 63 - Can all of the information relating to the experiments of measuring radiation inside the head (Gabriel 2000) be made available to the Police Federation for scrutiny, along with an independent peer review assessment from scientists, totally unconnected with the NRPB or communications industry? * Section 65 - If the SAR's could be up to 4 times larger than those in table 6, what risk assessment has been carried out for officers receiving radiation with an SAR of over 8 W/kg? Can this information be made available to the Police Federation? * Section 66 - With the main exposure expected to be at waist level, what research has been carried out relating this to the known deaths of officers from spine cancer from carrying transmitters on their belts? Could this research be made available to the Police Federation? * Section 66 - Has an ear, nose and throat specialist been contacted for an opinion concerning radiation from the cable being transmitted into the glands of the neck? If not, could this be done? * Section 67 - As vehicles cannot be relied upon to provide shielding for the officers, can further improvements to insulate the officers be recommended, then scientific studies carried out to test this insulation and all data be made available to the Police Federation? * Section 68 - If international guidelines could be exceeded, what risk assessment has been carried out for the officers and passers by who may be using pacemakers, insulin pumps, have metal plates in their bodies, or be epileptic? Could this risk assessment be made available to the Police Federation? Similarly, for Section 69, concerning base station transmitters which will also exceed guidelines. * Section 76 - Why have no measurements of exposures been made inside or outside vehicles? Could these be done and the data made available to the Police Federation along with how averages are calculated? * Section 128 - As the possibility is not excluded that TETRA might carry a risk of cancer that becomes manifest many years after first exposure, or there may be a hazard from the pulses around 16 Hz, would it be a good idea to allow the ladies and gentlemen of the police force an opinion in the decision making processes which may concern their long-term health? Should these long-term health risks be published for the police force so that, like members of the armed forces, they may volunteer to expose themselves to possible danger? * Section 129 - As further research is needed, should this not be done before TETRA becomes national, and can the results be made available to the Police Federation for their scrutiny? * Section 133 - Again, the possibility of a risk of cancer after many years of exposure is commented on along with the hazard of pulsed radiation at 16 Hz. I repeat my observation that this risk assessment ought to be made available with full consultation with the officers concerned who will be using the system and that they should have the final decision concerning their future health risks. Is this a possibility? * Section 135, Section 2 - Has a neurosurgeon been contacted to assess the risk of pulsing and its effect on the signalling mechanisms between nerve cells? Could this report please be made available to the Police Federation? * Section 135, Section 5 - Shouldn't the human volunteers study on TETRA be carried out before its use becomes widespread? * Section 135, Section 6 - As an epidemiological study is recommended to be carried out on the use of TETRA and its effects on "a relatively stable workforce with defined patterns of work", shouldn't the police officers be asked their permission if they are going to take part in what is a long-term medical study which may result in a number of brain tumours, spine tumours, eye cancers, heart disorders and many other illnesses? * Section 135, Section 8 - Why is TETRA being used by officers if "only limited information is presently available on exposures from TETRA hand portables and further work is needed to provide more information on exposures from hand portables and from any other transmitting equipment"? LEGAL IMPLICATIONS Although I have legal documents in my possession I do not have the knowledge or confidence to even begin to try and explain legal words. I would recommend the Federation's solicitor contact Mr Alan Meyer who is in my opinion this country's leading authority on matters electromagnetic and all of its relevant implications. I would add I do not have shares in his firm nor do I receive "backhanders", in fact I have never met the gentleman. Mr Meyer will be able to advise on Government responsibilities, the human rights, civil rights and European Law. Mr Meyer may be contacted at: Halsey Meyer Higgins Solicitors 56 Buckingham Gate Westminster London SW1E 6AE Tel: 020 7828 8772 Fax: 020 7828 8774 Researched and written by B Trower, September 2001 REFERENCES 1. Electromagnetic Hazard & Therapy 2000, Volume 10, Numbers 3 & 4 2. Evidence that Electromagnetic Radiation is Genotoxic: The implications for the epidemiology of cancer and cardiac, neurological and reproductive effects. Dr Neil Cherry, June 2000 3. Electromagnetic Hazard & Therapy 2000, Volume 10, Numbers 3 & 4 4. Extremely Low Frequencies and living matter - a new biophysics by Dr Gilles Picard. Living matter and electronic devices 5. Potential Adverse Health Impacts of Mobile Telephony Memorandum, Dr Hyland, February 2000 6. Are Mobile Telephony Base Stations a Potential Health Hazard? A review of the present scientific literature, Roger Coghill MA (Cantab.) C. Biol. MI Biol. MA (Environ. Mgt.), August 1998 7. New Medical Evidence on Electromagnetic Fields and Health is Alarming: Do no Expose Local People to Mobile Phone Base Stations, Dr D A Eklund, BSc MBCHB MFPHM 8. Electromagnetic Hazard & Therapy 1999, Volume 10, Numbers 1 & 2 9. Effects of chronic microwave irradiation on mice, S Prausnitz & C Susskind, 1962 10. Scientists link eye cancer to mobile phones, Sunday Times, 14 January 2001 11. Electromagnetic Hazard & Therapy 2001, Volume 11, Numbers 2 to 4 12. DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 80-107, 4 December 1979 13. Understanding Ground Currents: An important factor in electromagnetic exposure, Dr D Dahlberg, Consultant, The Electromagnetics Research Foundation, Moorhead, MN56560/2118 14. Electromagnetic Field-induced Stimulation of Bruton's Tyrosine Kinase, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Volume 273, Number 20, 2 February 1998 Stimulation of Src Family Protein-tyrosine Kinases as a Proximal and Mandatory Step for SYK Kinase-dependent Phospholipase Cy2 Activation in Lymphoma B Cells Exposed to Low Energy Electromagnetic Files, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Volume 273, Number 7, 13 February 1998 15. Nexus: Military Use of Mind Control Weapons, Judy Wall, Volume 5, Number 6, November 1998 The Encyclopaedia of Mind Control, Adventures Unlimited Press, 1997 Secret & Suppressed, Jim Keith, Feral Press, 1993 Planet Earth: The Latest Weapon of War, Dr Rosalie Bertell (Women's Press) Mind Control & the UK (Remote Viewing), Tim Rifat, ISBN 0712679081 Neurophysiologic Effects of RF and MW Radiation, Ross Adey, Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, Volume 55, Number 11, December 1979 The Influences of Impressed Electrical Fields at EEG Frequencies on Brain and Behaviour, Burch & Altshuler, Plenum Press, 1975 Effects of modulated very high frequency fields on specific brain rhythms in cats, Brain Research, Volume 58, 1973 (Also Volume 23, 1967) on low frequency re-brain (Hippocampus) Non-Lethality: John B Alexander, the Pentagon's Penguin, by Armen Victorian, Lobster June 1993 16. Channel Four News, Radio System Safety Fears, 5 February 2001, Julian Rush 17. The Big Issue Environment Correspondent Gibby Zobel, New Navy Death Risk to Dolphins & Whales, page 5, 12 March 2001 18. Extracts from US Defence Intelligence Agency documents from 1972 to 1983, Donald Stevens, November 2000 19. The Physiological & Environmental Effects of Non-ionising Electromagnetic Radiation, Dr G J Hyland, February 2001 20. NRPB Possible Health Affects from Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA), Volume 12, Number 2, 2001 Erratum Page 13 Hyland and Coghiill (they sent evidence to IEGMP but were not actual members: JVM 28/9/2001) APPENDICES This online version of the report does not have the appendices, it was commissioned for the Police Federation, if you require a copy of the appendices email us Note the appendices are not suitable for sending by email, therefore a postal address must be included. A minimum donation of ?2 towards post and copying appreciated. PLEASE NOTE: This version is complete (less appendices), the reason for the difference in the number of pages is that in the original the lines are double spaced (65 pages) in this HTM version the lines are single spaced (20 plus pages). Download Word Version http://www.planningsanity.co.uk/reports/trower.htm > For More Information On These Dangers: http://www.tetrawatch.net/main/index.php -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 19:33:46 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 19:33:46 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Our Military - Keep It Going Message-ID: The Military (please keep this going) The average age of the military man is 19 years. He is a short haired, tight-muscled kid who, under normal circumstances is considered by society as half man, half boy. Not yet dry behind the ears, not old enough to buy a beer, but old enough to die for his country. He never really cared much for work and he would rather wax his own car than wash his father's; but he has never collected unemployment either He's a recent High School graduate; he was probably an average student, pursued some form of sport activities, drives a ten year old jalopy, and has a steady girlfriend that either broke up with him when he left, or swears to be waiting when he returns from half a world away. He listens to rock and roll or hip-hop or rap or jazz or swing and 155mm howizzitor. He is 10 or 15 pounds lighter now than when he was at home because he is working or fighting from before dawn to well after dusk. He has trouble spelling, thus letter writing is a pain for him, but he can field strip a rifle in 30 seconds and reassemble it in less time in the dark. He can recite to you the nomenclature of a machine gun or grenade launcher and use either one effectively if he must. He digs foxholes and latrines and can apply first aid like a professional. He can march until he is told to stop or stop until he is told to march. He obeys orders instantly and without hesitation, but he is not without spirit or individual dignity. He is self-sufficient. He has two sets of fatigues: he washes one and wears the other. He keeps his canteens full and his feet dry. He sometimes forgets to brush his teeth, but never to clean his rifle. He can cook his own meals, mend his own clothes, and fix his own hurts. If you're thirsty, he'll share his water with you; if you are hungry, his food. He'll even split his ammunition with you in the midst of battle when you run low. He has learned to use his hands like weapons and weapons like they were his hands. He can save your life - or take it, because that is his job. He will often do twice the work of a civilian, draw half the pay and still find ironic humor in it all. He has seen more suffering and death then he should have in his short lifetime. He has stood atop mountains of dead bodies, and helped to create them. He has wept in public and in private, for friends who have fallen in combat and is unashamed. He feels every note of the National Anthem vibrate through his body while at rigid attention, while tempering the burning desire to 'square-away' those around him who haven't bothered to stand, remove their hat, or even stop talking. In an odd twist, day in and day out, far from home, he defends their right to be disrespectful Just as did his Father, Grandfather, and Great-grandfather, he is paying the price for our freedom. Beardless or not, he is not a boy. He is the American Fighting Man that has kept this country free for over 200 years. He has asked nothing in return, except our friendship and understanding. Remember him, always, for he has earned our respect and admiration with his blood. And now we even have woman over there in danger, doing their part in this tradition of going to War when our nation calls us to do so. As you go to bed tonight, remember this shot. A short lull, a little shade and a picture of loved ones in their helmets....... Prayer wheel for our military... please don't break it. Please send this on after a short prayer. Prayer Wheel "Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us. Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. Amen." Prayer : When you receive this, please stop for a moment and say a prayer for our ground troops in Afghanistan, sailors on ships, and airmen in the air, and for those in Iraq. There is nothing attached.... This can be very powerful....... Of all the gifts you could give a US Soldier, Sailor, Coastguardsman, Marine or Airman, prayer is the very best one. I can't break this one guys..sorry This is a ribbon for soldiers fighting in Iraq. Pass it on to everyone and pray. Make a Difference -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: ATT75042.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 51504 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: ATT75043.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 46181 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: ATT75047.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 45557 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: ATT75048.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 52800 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: ATT75049.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 67821 bytes Desc: not available URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 19:41:38 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 19:41:38 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: South Bend Firm's Lab Fired After Message-ID: South Bend Firm's Lab Fired After Questioning Federal Probe By John Dobberstein South Bend Tribune Staff Writer 11-23-4 SOUTH BEND -- The laboratory director from a South Bend firm has been fired for attempting to cast doubt on the federal investigation into what caused the World Trade Center's twin towers to collapse on Sept. 11, 2001. Kevin R. Ryan was terminated Tuesday from his job at Environmental Health Laboratories Inc., a subsidiary of Underwriters Laboratories Inc., the consumer-product safety testing giant. On Nov. 11, Ryan wrote a letter to the National Institute of Standards and Technology -- the agency probing the collapse -- challenging the common theory that burning jet fuel weakened the steel supports holding up the 110-story skyscrapers. Underwriters Laboratories Inc., according to Ryan, "was the company that certified the steel components used in the construction of the WTC buildings."... Ryan wrote that last year, while "requesting information," UL's chief executive officer and fire protection business manager disagreed about key issues surrounding the collapse, "except for one thing -- that the samples we certified met all requirements." UL vehemently denied last week that it ever certified the materials. The National Institute of Standards and Technology is conducting a $16 million, two-year investigation of the collapse of the twin towers. The agency expects to issue a draft report in January, and UL has played a limited role in the investigation. Ryan wrote that the institute's preliminary reports suggest the WTC's supports were probably exposed to fires no hotter than 500 degrees -- only half the 1,100-degree temperature needed to forge steel, Ryan said. That's also much cooler, he wrote, than the 3,000 degrees needed to melt bare steel with no fire-proofing. "This story just does not add up," Ryan wrote in his e-mail to Frank Gayle, deputy chief of the institute's metallurgy division, who is playing a prominent role in the agency investigation. "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." He added, "Alternatively, the contention that this steel did fail at temperatures around (500 degrees) 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." Ryan declined to comment about his letter Thursday when reached at his South Bend home. But his allegations drew a sharp rebuke from UL, which said Ryan wrote the letter "without UL's knowledge or authorization." The company told The Tribune "there is no evidence" that any firm tested the materials used to build the towers. "UL does not certify structural steel, such as the beams, columns and trusses used in World Trade Center," said Paul M. Baker, the company's spokesman. Ryan was fired, Baker said, because he "expressed his own opinions as though they were institutional opinions and beliefs of UL." "The contents of the argument itself are spurious at best, and frankly, they're just wrong," Baker said. Seeking to head off controversy just months before its report is released, the National Institute of Standards and Technology issued its own statement Thursday. Some steel recovered from the WTC was exposed to fires of only 400 to 600 degrees, the institute said, but computer modeling has shown higher temperatures of 1,100 to 1,300 degrees or greater were "likely" experienced by steel in regions directly affected by the fires. The institute believes impact from the jets dislodged fireproofing surrounding some of the steel, and the higher temperatures led to the buckling of the towers' core columns. Wrangling on the Web Ryan's statements have generated interest on many Web sites, including some advocating sharp scrutiny of the federal government's WTC probe. Ryan copied his e-mail to David Ray Griffin, author of "The New Pearl Harbor," and to Catherine Austin Fitts, a board member of 911Truth.org -- a Web site organized by citizens who believe the government is covering up the true cause of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. One day later, Griffin requested and received permission to distribute Ryan's letter to other parties. An official from 911Truth.org called Ryan to confirm his authorship. They said Ryan made it clear he is speaking for himself only, not on behalf of his laboratory or the company, but that others at UL were aware of his action. The letter was published Nov. 11 on the Web site septembereleventh.org, site of the 9/11 Visibility Project. On Tuesday, organizers of the 911Truth.org Web site noted Ryan had been fired. In his letter, Ryan appeared confident in his statements about the WTC's fire protection levels. "You may know that there are a number of current and former government employees that have risked a great deal to help us to know the truth," he told the institute's Gayle. "Please do what you can to quickly eliminate the confusion regarding the ability of jet fuel fires to soften or melt structural steel." UL moved immediately to discredit Ryan. The company said Ryan "was not involved in that work and was not associated in any way with UL's Fire Protection Division, which conducted testing at NIST's request." The company said it "fully supports NIST's ongoing efforts to investigate the WTC tragedy. We regret any confusion that Mr. Ryan's letter has caused 9/11 survivors, victims' families and their friends." "We prefer to base our conclusions, and NIST would say the same, on science rather than speculation," Baker said. "We anxiously await the outcome of the NIST investigation." Organizers of 911Truth.org came to Ryan's defense Thursday, although they couldn't persuade him to speak publicly. "He just saw too many contradictions, and it set off his sense of what was the right thing to do," said David Kubiak, 911Truth.org's executive director. "It's unfortunate for the country, and it's particularly tragic for him, but inspiring as hell." "The way things are working in the country right now," Kubiak added, "it's only going to be citizens like this who take their professional knowledge and sense of personal integrity, and put it ahead of the strange status quo, that we will see truth and justice out of the system." http://inn.globalfreepress.com /modules/news/article.php?storyid=1059 Disclaimer MainPage http://www.rense.com This Site Served by TheHostPros http://www.rense.com/general59/labdirectorfiredfor.htm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 19:40:58 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 19:40:58 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: MPAA wants parents, teachers to rat on their kids Message-ID: MPAA wants parents, teachers to rat on their kids CD Freaks | November 22 2004 Conservatives often accuse Hollywood of failing to pay heed to "family values", but the Motion Picture Ass. of America"s latest initiative is designed to split families right down the middle. The MPAA hopes that new software will encourage parents to turn their children over to the authorities as file-sharing felons.The software, designed to identify potentially infringing material on the home PC, is part of the MPAA"s war on file sharing and will be released for free by the MPAA at a later date. As expected, the MPAA filed its first John Doe suits against file sharers today.The copyright lobbyists have raised the prospect of snoopware before, and last year disclosed that they had developed two pieces of spyware, one of which invaded the PC and then tagged and destroyed MP3 files. This threat was more apparent than real, as any such software would be criminal and the RIAA would have faced a barrage of lawsuits. But by hoping that anxious parents will install the software themselves, thus giving consent, the MPAA can get round its most pressing problem: that it doesn"t really know who the infringers are. In every home, the MPAA hopes, is an informer: an anxious parent.The DARE program encourages children to rat out their parents, so the Stalinist precedent has already been set in the United States (perhaps it"s been here since Salem). This summer, the MPAA was embarrassed after using bogus statistics to exaggerate the level of movie trading on the Internet. Pro-culture group Downhill Battle is fighting back with a campaign to alert kids to the dangers of Willie the Weasel, who represents misleading copyright information being targeted at school children by the BSA and the MPAA. --------------------------- E mail your comment on this article to newstips at propagandamatrix.com and have it posted here. http://propagandamatrix.com/articles/november2004/221104ratonkids.htm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 19:42:51 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 19:42:51 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Special: Interview with Anti-War GI Message-ID: Left Hook www.lefthook.org A Radical Youth Journal Latest Release: Monday, November 29, 2004 Left Hook Exclusive: An Interview with an Anti-war Veteran from the Iraq War Derek Seidman with Jim Talib HM3 (FMF/PJ) Jim Talib is an antiwar vet who served in Iraq earlier this year for nearly seven months. He has recently begun speaking out against the war and occupation. Derek Seidman, co-editor of /Left Hook/, was able to catch up with Jim Talib and ask him some questions about the war and occupation, his personal experiences in Iraq, and issues concerning the relationship between antiwar soldiers and the broader antiwar movement. - (Read the interview) > U.S. Hiring Increases, But Slow Job Growth Continues Seth Sandronsky Despite the apparent resolution of the presidential race, the U.S. economy still faces many problems. One is slow job growth. This, and not abortion and gay marriage, is the social issue of the day, determining for the majority in blue and red states who does get by and who falls by the wayside. In October, the U.S. economy added 337,000 new, nonfarm jobs, the highest total since March. The creation of new jobs, as revised by the Labor Department, was 139,000 in September and 198,000 in August. Policy makers with the Federal Reserve Bank issued cheery comments concerning recent U.S. job growth on November 10. - (Read full) > His Own Fault: John Kerry's Failure Igor Volsky John Kerry has lost his bid for the presidency. To most Democrats who, expecting a Kerry victory, were confirming their celebration-party catering, the loss was a major disappointment. But President Bush had been confident all along. When asked if he had any doubts about winning a second term, Bush would fiercely shake his head from side to side with the conviction of a two-year-old refusing to eat his broccoli. Throughout the election, I had been quick to dismiss the president's confidence as arrogance; convinced that his policies had alienated so many Americans that his defeat was inevitable. But this election was not decided by the issues. Instead, the vote turned into a referendum on gay marriage and Kerry's service in Vietnam. - (Read full) > What PSA's Can Teach Us About American Democracy Chad Faldt How many of you saw the televised exhortations to vote? I'm not talking about the 'rock the vote' events, or other such crap, but a couple of particularly and unintentionally enlightening commercials. Every presidential election is accompanied by a fusillade of rhetoric expounding on the civic virtues and duties of voting. The newest commercials display a brilliant sense of irony. The message is, perhaps, only a cynical and candid acknowledgement of the substance, or lack thereof, of the electoral process. - (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 Mon Nov 29 19:43:39 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 19:43:39 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: President Bush is leaving our borders open Message-ID: Soft...genocide. http://www.newnation.org/Millard/Bush-the-Blender.html Can't get a handle on why President Bush is leaving our borders open and why he wants to legalize millions of illegal aliens and why he's allowing in more and more people from all over the Third World? Here's a just-right-porridge theory on this. Maybe you'll think this has some merit. Maybe you won't. See what you think. Before proceeding, however, we need to understand that the massive immigration, legal and otherwise, that we see happening in America is also happening world wide and we need to fearlessly tell the truth: what is going on is that the non-white Third World is invading the white First World--often euphemistically called the Western World. This is happening partly because the white First World is less populated than the non-white Third World and has a low birth rate. In other words, the white First World is creating unfilled societal niches and a vacuum that are being filled by others who find white First World nations more desirable than their own non-white Third World nations. Think: "nature abhors a vacuum," but in human terms. It is also a simple fact of existence that all living things tend to gravitate to where they are more comfortable, and the white First World is more comfortable than the non-white Third World. In addition, living things, no less than electricity or water, seek the path of least resistance. Immigrants will continue flowing into white First World nations so long as these white First World nations remain more comfortable than the non-white Third World nations and so long as these white First World nations present an ersatz human vacuum, and offer only minor resistance to the immigration. If white First World nations become more uncomfortable, if their populations rise, and if the resistance is increased, massive immigration will slow down and eventually stop. The invasion is being facilitated by our modern mass transportation and is being enabled by white people who have been conditioned and brow beaten into a collective aracial state of mind where they believe, or are forced to pretend they believe, that race doesn't exist and that all people are fungible. Replace this white person in Holland or Denmark or France or Germany or the U.S. or any other traditionally white nation with this non-white person, and those caught up in aracial race-doesn't-exist thinking won't say anything. And, if they do say something, it'll usually be couched in PC terms about these others not assimilating. In other words, it's okay, to hear some people tell it, if these nations become non-white so long as the invaders become darker versions of the people already there. Thus, to those who think this way, the invaders are okay in, say, Germany, so long as these invaders wear lederhosen and speak German. Somehow, that's supposed to make them German and okay. Let's not shrink from the truth. If we really want to be honest, we have to admit that we can't intelligently discuss the present immigration situation unless we also discuss race and ethnicity. The reality of the human condition is that genes matter as much with us as they do with birds or ants or plants or any other living things. People build their societies in certain ways depending on their genes as surely as birds build certain types of nests depending on their genes. The so-called Western World is the way it is because of the dominant genes that built it. And, the rest of the world is the way it is because of the dominant genes that built it also. Maybe we humans are too close to ourselves to see this or maybe we're just too arrogant and give so-called free will too much credit for our actions. If we could see us as we can see ants, we'd realize that this type of human ant builds this type of ant hill and this other one builds this other type. With the above as background; say you believe that the cause of most human conflicts is the result of what you think are not real, but just "perceived" differences between races, religions and nations. In other words, your senses are lying to you. White people are the same as black people and yellow people and brown people and red people. And in religions, why, they all believe the same things when reduced to their basics. Nations? Artificial fences to separate people who are all the same. Say you further believe that the way to avoid conflicts is to eliminate what you (wrongly) think are these false perceived differences between races, religions and nations and blend all races, religions and nations together. Say you're President George W. Bush or any of a number of other leaders who appear to believe the statements in the two prior paragraphs. I call people with these views: Blenders. In their purest, most radical form, Blenders want to blend away all human differences in favor of a one size fits all plain wrap human type. As a powerful Blender, what steps might you take to try to make our world a peaceful place of milk and honey (at least in your mind)? Right. You'd probably use your power and influence to try to blend away differences--remove the extremes--and end up with a conformist average. You would try to eliminate the too hot and the too cold porridge and end up, like Goldilocks, with the just right porridge in the middle--the bland and conformist Tan Everyman clustered under the center of the bell curve in all characteristics. He's not too dark. He's not too light. He's just right. He's not too tall. He's not too small. He's just right. He's not too smart. He's not too dumb. He's just right. But, how do you get people to blend together genetically in a so-called free society? First, you might "educate" the public to believe that there are no racial differences worth spit. You might also enact laws promoting integration. Then, you'll always deny that any differences exist. Your big lie, that you'll repeat over and over again is that race doesn't exist. You might even go so far as to run people out of town on a rail if they indicate there are racial differences. Remember Jimmy the Greek? Poor Jimmy was praising black athletes, but he got fired because his praise indicated that blacks have different musculature than whites. A physician in France received similar treatment when he started lowering the black infant mortality rate by delivering black babies earlier than he would deliver white babies. His theory is that blacks have a slightly shorter gestation period than whites. Now there's a controversy over a new heart medicine that doesn't seem to work very well in whites, but saves black lives. Darn racist pill. There are those who are trying to hide the fact that this black heart pill works on blacks and not on whites. Such racially specific medicine just gives evidence to the notion that people aren't just different because of different skin colors but that they are different from the blueprint on up. To understand that there are such differences starts a whole cascade of ideas that the Blenders don't want to happen. Anyway, your goal, if you are a Blender, remember, is to convince everyone that there are no real racial differences. The second thing you might do is to look at the racial demographics of your nation. Is it too white? Let in more blacks, browns and yellows. Is it too black? Allow in whites, browns and yellows. Then, try to keep the various races from finding their identity in their race, and constantly throw them together in all sorts of social situations so that the mating instinct will take over and they'll tend to meet and mate. It's really no more complicated than that. If you are a Blender you don't have to know much about genetics. All you have to do is work with percentages of various racial hues to come up with the result you want. This is so, because as most aware white people know, skin color is more than just skin color. It is an outward marker for a whole host of differences. Work as though you're mixing paint to help arrive at a blended color, and adjust the percentages of different peoples you allow in to get the color you want. Soon, most people will carry genes from all racial groups and will find it difficult to identify with any race. Your hope is that this will help end racial conflicts. Since you don't believe that people are different, it doesn't matter that your children or grandchildren don't look like you. This brown one is the same as this black one or this white one or this yellow one. What about religious conflicts? Same principle. To accomplish religious blending, you would encourage ecumenism and outreach efforts by different religions to "understand" each other. In fact, what you really want to happen is for those who are meeting and talking to abandon those parts of their religions that may conflict with other religions. As a Blender you probably don't mind that our various religions carry different names so long as their rough edges are filed down so that all religions are "tolerant" and accepting of other religious views. What you are aiming for is a consensus religion and you'll using well known psychological principles to bring most people on board and find consensus. You'll have a religion that is not too this and not too that, but just right. And, what about those religious believers in various religions who really do believe that God is in charge, not humans, and that they must obey God even if what they think He wants isn't PC? As a Blender, you will try to discredit these people as fanatics so that others will avoid them and accept your mild, middle of the bell curve beliefs. What about national conflicts? Promote globalism, which is just Blending in the area of economics and social structures. If you, dear reader, have trouble understanding why Bush is motivated to have the U.S. have open borders, ask yourself if the above, or some variation of the above, might explain his words and actions. If you still don't get it, take a look at the next George Bush on the scene--George P. Bush, of Florida--who is half Mexican. The Bush family is blending itself. That's right, folks, the next George Bush is a mestizo. I know the views contained in this column aren't ones shared by all who are concerned about illegal immigration, and I know that it is de rigueur to try to run away from race and ethnicity by saying things such as "We don't mind legal immigration, we just don't want illegal immigration." However, if this is the case, then why are so many people upset that Bush wants to legalize all illegal aliens? If they're made legal, would that make them okay with those who focus on legal versus illegal? Unless we understand the world wide dynamic of what's going on with the movement of populations and related issues, we'll never be able to solve our problems and the United States will fall to Third World levels. The above can be summed up this way: Behind many of the troubling things we see going on in the world today is a philosophy or world view of Blending, even though few people call it that. Some might call blending by another term: soft genocide. # # # -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 19:45:25 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 19:45:25 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Diana In New Tape Says Message-ID: Diana In New Tape Says Suspects Lover 'Bumped Off' 11-27-4 NEW YORK (Reuters) - NBC television network will broadcast a never-before-seen video tape of Diana, Princess of Wales, next week in which she says she suspects a member of her staff with whom she fell in love was "bumped off." NBC said on Friday the two-part program starting next Monday includes excerpts of interviews Diana recorded with communications consultant Peter Settelen in her living room, discussing her childhood, marriage and struggle with bulimia. Earlier this year NBC aired audio tapes Diana secretly recorded for a 1992 book that exposed the turmoil of her marriage to Prince Charles, whom she divorced in 1996. The princess was killed in a car crash in Paris in 1997. NBC said Diana met Settelen in September 1992, in the aftermath of the book by Andrew Morton, and had engaged him to train her in public speaking, a process that involved an on-camera interview to inspire confidence. Excerpts of the program released in advance include comments by Diana on the lack of sympathy from her mother-in-law Queen Elizabeth when Diana went to her having discovered that Prince Charles was having an affair. NBC said one section of the interview was "on falling in love with a member of her palace staff, presumed to be Royal Policeman Barry Mannakee, who was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1987." "It was all found out and he was chucked out," Diana is quoted as saying. "And then he was killed. And that was the biggest blow of my life, I must say. And I think he was bumped off. But, um, there we are. I don't ... we'll never know, he was the greatest fellow I've ever had." The two-hour special, which also features an interview with Settelen, is to be broadcast in two parts, on Nov. 29 and Dec. 6. "This unusual tape, recorded in Diana's living room, hidden for years after her death, and fought over for months in the British courts, offers a view of the princess quite different from the formal public face she usually put forth," NBC said. Copyright ? 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid= 578&ncid=578&e=10&u=/nm/20041126/ts_nm/people_diana_dc -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 19:45:49 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 19:45:49 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: India, China And Others Dumping US Dollar Message-ID: rense.com India, China And Others Dumping US Dollar To Buy Euro By Bala Vaddi Special Correspondent IndiaDaily.com 11-26-4 The India, China and other countries have started dumping the US Dollar quietly and buying the Euro. That has put a very serious pressure on the US Dollar. Chinese and Indian central bank officials denied such reports. But Foreign exchange traders say they are quite convinced of Indian and Chinese moves. According to some traders, there are many other countries, especially oil rich Middle Eastern countries, running away from dollar. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Y.V. Reddy said the composition of the country's foreign exchange reserves could change when asked on Wednesday if the bank was considering boosting its holdings of the strengthening euro. The central bank does not give a breakdown of its reserves -- the world's fifth largest -- but analysts said it may already have reduced the proportion of dollar holdings and would likely continue to do so. India's reserves, which comprise dollars, euros, sterling and yen in undisclosed proportions, have risen by nearly $23 billion so far in 2004 to a record $123.5 billion. "The question of composition of reserves ... it's a very dynamic situation. You can't take a view on a daily basis," Governor Y.V. Reddy told reporters on the sidelines of a news conference. The dollar has long been held as a reserve currency, but the single European currency hit a record high against it on Tuesday, and again on Wednesday, after the Russian central bank said it could review the share of euros it holds among its $113 billion in reserves. Asian central banks have been among the largest buyers of dollars as the economic tide turned in their countries' favour leading to massive investment and trade inflows. These banks were partly looking to build up their ammunition following a crisis in 1997 and to protect their trade competitiveness. But the U.S. unit has declined sharply because of doubts about the fundamentals of the U.S. economy, which is running wide fiscal and trade deficits. It has fallen nearly 4.5 percent against the euro so far in 2004. Copyright? 1997-2005, Indiadaily.com http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/11-27-04.asp -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 19:46:17 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 19:46:17 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Female Epidemic AIDS Message-ID: rense.com AIDS Strategy Failing As Disease Becomes Female Epidemic By Jeremy Laurance Health Editor The Independent - UK 11-28-4 Global efforts to curb the spread of HIV/Aids are failing because the world has not recognised that it is a female epidemic, a report said yesterday. Aids claimed 3.1 million lives last year, the highest ever, and the rate at which women and girls are affected is accelerating. The spread of the disease shows no sign of slowing, despite billions of pounds invested in treatment and prevention. The annual report on the Aids epidemic, published by UNAids and the World Health Organisation yesterday, says a record 39.4 million people are living with HIV, up from 36.6 million two years ago. Today, the Health Protection Agency will publish figures showing the number of people living in the UK with HIV has also reached a record high, above 50,000 for the first time. Globally, the fastest increase in infections is among women and girls. They account for 57 per cent of all those infected in sub-Saharan Africa, the worst-hit region, and for 75 per cent of those aged 15 to 24. In every region of the world, rates of infection in women are rising faster than among men. In Russia, which has the biggest HIV epidemic in Europe, affecting 860,000 people, the proportion of women infected has leapt from 24 per cent to 38 per cent in two years. The "feminisation" of Aids has dawned slowly on the major international organisations committed to tackling it. Until now they have placed the ABC strategy - Abstain, Be faithful, use a Condom - at the centre of their prevention efforts. Yesterday's report from UNAids said the ABC approach was "insufficient" and left "serious gaps". The strategy to prevent one of the worst diseases in human history must be rewritten with a new focus on women, it says. Kathleen Cravero, deputy executive director of UNAids, told a press conference in London to launch the report: "The prevention strategies are missing the point. They are not responding to the realities of women's lives. Women do not have the economic power or social choices over their lives to put the information [about HIV prevention] into practice." Aids began as a mainly male disease, concentrated among homosexuals in the United States, drug users in Russia and the Far East who injected, and men who used prostitutes in Africa. But, as the epidemic has lengthened, the disease has taken hold among women. The number infected globally is about to overtake men. Women are biologically twice as likely to become infected during sex as they are exposed to a larger dose of virus, and are more prone to be cajoled or forced into sex because of their lack of social power. When sex is violent and non-consensual, abstention is not an option. Wives of men who die of Aids may be forced out of the family home, which may pass to the husband's relatives, leaving them destitute and forced to resort to sex for economic survival. Studies in South Africa showed that women under 20 who were married - usually to older men - had higher rates of infection than those who were unmarried but sexually active, because the latter were better able to negotiate condom use. Ms Cravero said: "We tell women to abstain when they have no right. We tell them to be faithful when they cannot ask their partners to be faithful. We tell them to use a condom when they have no power to do so." "We need to give women power, to reduce levels of violence against them and to protect their property and inheritance rights. We are still not keeping pace with the epidemic and we need to tackle the problem in women and girls." The emphasis on women is a major shift for UNAids which up to now has focused on changing the behaviour of men. But the feminisation of the epidemic has forced it to confront the failure of that strategy. Without an Aids vaccine, the best technical hope for women is a microbicide to prevent transmission and provide them with a method they could control. The report says a first generation microbicide could be ready in five years if investment in research were expanded. A microbicide that was 60 per cent effective and used by one in five women could prevent about 2.5 million infections over three years, it says. Emma Thompson, the actress and Aids campaigner who attended the UNAids launch, said: "Women's economic independence is vital in this struggle. I know a girl who gave her body to a man for an apple. If we have girls who have absolutely nothing we are not going to protect them." Alvaro Bermejo, head of the International HIV/Aids Alliance said: "The report makes clear that too many strategies assume a greater level of choice about sex, particularly among women, than exists. Everyone must recognise this in their programmes - and work to change these economic and social realities. If we don't, we cannot have the greatest impact on the epidemic." ? 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/story.jsp?story=58 6049 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 19:46:58 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 19:46:58 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Explaining the Ukraine Debacle Message-ID: > November 29, 2004 > > Poll Results Aren't the Real Issue > > Ukraine and Inter-Imperialist Rivalry > > By GARY LEUPP > > "Russia plus Ukraine is the Russian empire, which can never be a > democracy." > > David Frum, neocon ideologue, advocating preemptive expansion of the > U.S. empire > > Many are declaring the Ukraine crisis the nadir of post-Cold War > U.S.-Russian relations. Surely it is that. But the clash over Ukraine > between Presidents Bush and Putin is not one pitting "freedom" vs. > "dictatorship," or capitalism vs. something else, as the neocons > might have us believe. Rather, it pits U.S. ambitions for hegemony > over the innermost circle of Russia's historical sphere of influence > (including Belarus and Moldova as well as Ukraine) against Russia's > ambitions to maintain a buffer zone against a relentlessly expanding > NATO. > > Mainstream journalism dwells on a closely contested election, > evidence of vote fraud, and inconsistencies between exit polls and > announced election results. Colin Powell protests that the vote did > "not meet international standards." Critics of Bush foreign policy > are having a field day noting the irony of the charges in light of > the last two scandal-dogged U.S. elections, and particularly the large > discrepancies between exit polls and announced results in the last > vote. But no foreign government is in a position to reject the > substandard American elections, while the U.S. is strong enough to > challenge lots of regimes' legitimacy---before moving in to change > them. > > The outgoing regime of President Leonid Kuchma and his Prime > Minister, Viktor Yanukovych, stands for a closer relationship with > Russia. Yanukovych ran a tight race with opposition candidate Viktor > Yushchenko, who favors NATO and EU membership, concluding with a > reported victory of 49.46 to 46.61%. Yanukovych has been politically > aided by Moscow, Yuschenko by Washington. Ian Traynor in the Guardian > reports a "U.S. campaign behind the turmoil in Ukraine," and labels > the Yushenko campaign "an American creation, a sophisticated and > brilliantly conceived exercise in western branding and mass marketing > that, in four countries in four years [Serbia, Georgia, Belarus, > Ukraine], has been used to try to salvage rigged elections and topple > unsavoury regimes." He points out that "Richard Miles, the U.S. > ambassador in Belgrade, played a key role" in toppling Milosevic in > Serbia, and later as U.S. ambassador to Tbilisi, toppling > Shevardnadze in Georgia. Then "the U.S. ambassador in Minsk, Michael > Kozak, a veteran of similar operations in central America, notably in > Nicaragua, organised a near identical campaign to try to defeat the > Belarus hardman, Alexander Lukashenko." This one failed, but the > experiences gained have "been invaluable in plotting to beat the > regime of Leonid Kuchma in Kiev." > > Washington's propaganda apparatus made it clear in advance that the > only legitimate victory would be that won by its man. This article of > faith ignored the very substantial social base that Yanukovych > enjoys, especially among the ethnic Russian voters in the eastern > half of the country. > > I've seen a host of reports defending and attacking the integrity of > the Ukrainian electoral process, including some surprising ones. The > British Helsinki Watch Group found more irregularities on the > opposition side, whereas a majority in the Ukrainian Parliament > target the government. > I have no personal opinion on the count, but just assume massive > fraud on both sides. I have no greater hostility for one or the other > candidate. The fundamental issue here in any case isn't who got how > many ballots. Just imagine what would happen if Porter Goss received > a CIA report suggesting that Yanukovych indeed won more votes, that > Goss duly reported that to Condoleezza Rice, and that Condi decided > to bring it to her boss's attention. Especially if Karl Rove was in > the room at the time. Would Bush and Powell reverse course and > announce that the election had in fact met "international standards"? > > > > The Turf Battle > > No, it's not the question of electoral purity, surely a matter of > indifference to both Putin and Bush. It's a matter of turf. Look at > Ukraine on a map. This nation of 48 million is Europe's second > largest country, almost as big as Texas, and is bordered by Belarus, > Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary. It's a European, > Slavic country with strong linguistic and cultural ties to Russia; > indeed the first Russian state (Kievan Rus) grew up in Ukraine and > the name itself means "borderland." With Belarus and Russia, it > launched the Confederation of Independent States (CIS) in December > 1991, confirming its intimate links to the other two even before the > breakup of the Soviet Union. With its rich soil, it was the Soviet > breadbasket. Hugging the northern coast of the Black Sea, including > the Crimean Peninsula, it constitutes what the CIA Factbook calls "a > strategic position at the crossroads between Europe and Asia." Its > natural resources include iron ore, coal, manganese, natural gas, > oil, salt, sulfur, graphite, titanium, magnesium, kaolin, nickel, > mercury, and timber. > > U.S. policy is very clear. Washington wants to gain control over the > flow of oil from the Caspian Sea, especially Turkmenistan, and to do > so, vies at every step with Russia. Backing regime change in Georgia > earlier this year, it has increased its leverage in that former > Soviet republic. It woes the former Soviet republics to join its NATO > military bloc, which with the end of the Cold War would seem to have > little raison d'?tre except to contain friendly capitalist Russia. > While Eastern European allies once buffered the USSR from NATO, the > alliance now borders Russia in the Baltics (Estonia and Latvia), and > Washington would like to expand it to include Belarus, Ukraine, > Georgia and Azerbaijan, encircling Russia's western flank. Meanwhile > it stations U.S. troops and acquires military bases in the former > Soviet republics in Central Asia, pursuant to the unpredictably > expanding "War on Terrorism." A compliant Ukraine abetting its > objectives would be a major prize for the Bush administration. > > Similarly a very friendly Ukraine would serve Russian "national > interests." Moscow envisions a modest revival of the late USSR, the > demise of which Putin calls "a tragedy," centering around Russia, > Ukraine and Belarus. The neocons absolutely oppose this. David Frum > (former Bush speech writer, author of the notorious "axis of evil" > line, implacable foe of a Palestinian state, public proponent of the > allegation that Yasser Arafat died of AIDS, Richard Perle associate) > has recently written the National Review Online that "independent > Russia can be a normal country with a democratic future: [but] Russia > plus Ukraine is the Russian empire, which can never be a democracy." > (Emphasis added.) Frum is not necessarily expressing the thinking of > administration officials; obviously the latter find no contradiction > between the empire in general (surely not the one they're busily > expanding) and "democracy" as they perversely conceptualize it. And > they realize that the differences between Russia and the U.S. at this > point are not ideological, Russia having long since thoroughly and > very painfully embraced capitalism. But I expect that such officials > will publicly opine that, indeed, a bloc led by Moscow, even limited > to the immediately adjoining Slavic lands with intimate historical > ties to Mother Russia, is somehow antithetical to democracy and must > be prevented. They will emphasize Putin's manipulation of the Russian > press (hoping no doubt it doesn't raise the issue of the U.S. press's > slavish deference to Bush), and the lack of political opposition in > Russia (as though there were some here). > > Inter-imperialist rivalry is again the order of the day, as it was > before the Russian Revolution, before the socialist alternative and > the Cold War. Powerful nations struggle, not over radically different > ideas about society, but over mere lucre: markets, labor-power and > resources. Few governments want the U.S. to control Iran and Iraq; > other major powers seek at least a share in the pie. So they keep > standing in Washington's way, or trying to. So far Russia has been > patient, allowing France to lead international opposition to the war > against Iraq. Putin has accommodated U.S. expansion, trading support > for most aspects of Bush's Terror War for Washington's acceptance of > Russia's "anti-terrorism" Chechnya policy. But it's one thing to > concede Southwest Asia to the American juggernaut, another to fork > over the borderlands, even if the loss takes the form of some paltry > poll result. > > > > U.S. Rejects "Irresponsible" Democracy Anyway > > Recall how Henry Kissinger, back in June 1970 declared of the Chilean > elections, "I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country > go communist because of the irresponsibility of its own people." He > was speaking about a country in the Western Hemisphere, which U.S. > administrations have always considered their turf, and he as Secretary > of State had no problem abetting the fascist coup of Sept. 11, 1973 > which toppled the "moderate Marxist" regime of Salvador Allende. The > CIA had put at least $ 10 million into anti-Allende propaganda. Then > as now, the U.S. government interferes in foreign politics in pursuit > of what it believes are its interests. It does so now with far > greater means and efficacy than can Russia. > > U.S. governments since 1823 have asserted their right to lead the > hemisphere and thwart the efforts of external (European) powers to > interfere. Chile is 4000 miles from Texas, but when a presidential > candidate marginally more sympathetic to the USSR than to Washington > took power, Washington toppled him without moral qualms. Russia has > long dropped the Brezhnev Doctrine (a variation of the Monroe), but > understandably wants its closest neighbors to be friendly. Ukraine is > to Russia what Mexico (rather than Chile) is to the U.S., and Putin's > behavior should be seen in that light, as he twice congratulates > Yanukovych on his triumph even as U.S. and UE leaders announce they > refuse to accept the Ukrainian election result. > > A falling out among thieves is not necessarily a bad thing, and I > would just as soon that Putin, who has curried favor with the Bush > administration in the past even by collaborating disinformation, > give the hyperpower a run for its money in this contest over the > Ukraine. A contest not between two politicians, but two powers, one > triumphantly ascendant, the other cautiously defensive but following > repeated setbacks and humiliations maybe prepared to mount a fight in > its own neighborhood. One can only hope that the big power contention > doesn't impose a great price on the people of the Ukraine, and that > they make use of the situation to truly advance their interests. > > * * * * > > My surname is Swiss, and my roots mostly Scandinavian, but I have > German ancestors too, who emigrated to the U.S. not from Germany > directly but from the Ukraine. There were many ethnic Germans there, > their ancestors invited by Russia's Czarina Catherine in the late > eighteenth century. Many left for the American Midwest in the late > nineteenth. These "Russian Germans," who contributed enormously to > the history of Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota and the Dakotas, often > left to avoid conscription. Family lore indicates my ancestors were > draft-dodgers. They didn't want their youth fighting for Imperial > Russia, so they came to America seeking freedom. > > I understand that attitude, which brought a lot of immigrants here. I > do not want my teenage kids ever fighting for one imperialism against > another, in some far-flung place. What irony there would be in their > coerced involvement in such a fight, especially if it took place in > this currently contested spot important to my family history. I can't > believe it will come to that, but after all, there are crazy people > in power, surely crazier in Washington than in Moscow or Kiev. > > Gary Leupp is Professor of History at Tufts University, and Adjunct > Professor of Comparative Religion. He is the author of Servants, > Shophands and Laborers in in the Cities of Tokugawa Japan; Male > Colors: The Construction of Homosexuality in Tokugawa Japan; and > Interracial Intimacy in Japan: Western Men and Japanese Women, > 1543-1900. He is also a contributor to CounterPunch's merciless > chronicle of the wars on Iraq, Afghanistan and Yugoslavia, Imperial > Crusades. > > He can be reached at: gleupp at granite.tufts.edu _ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 19:47:34 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 19:47:34 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Exploding cell phones Message-ID: Yahoo News. Exploding Cell Phones a Growing Problem Tue Nov 23, 6:38 PM ET Technology - AP By ELIZABETH WOLFE, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Curtis Sathre said it was like a bomb going off. His 13-year-old son Michael stood stunned, ears ringing, hand gushing blood after his cell phone exploded. Safety officials have received 83 reports of cell phones exploding or catching fire in the past two years, usually because of bad batteries or chargers. AP Photo Burns to the face, neck, leg and hip are among the dozens of injury reports the Consumer Product Safety Commission (news - web sites) has received. The agency is providing tips for cell phone users to avoid such accidents and has stepped up oversight of the wireless industry. There have been three voluntary battery recalls, and the CPSC is working with companies to create better battery standards. "CPSC is receiving more and more reports of incidents involving cell phones, and we're very concerned of the potential for more serious injuries or more fires," said agency spokesman Scott Wolfson. U.S. phone makers and carriers say most fires and explosions are caused by counterfeit batteries and note that in a country with some 170 million cell phone users, the number of accidents is extremely low. "Is it a problem? It has turned up, you bet. But statistically it is extraordinarily rare," said John Walls, spokesman for the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association. "But the fact that it has happened certainly has the industry's attention." Some consumer advocates say the cause goes beyond bad batteries making their way to the market. They point to the increasing pressure on battery and phone makers to fit more capabilities into small instruments. "If you're cramming more and more power in a small space, what you're making is a small bomb," said Carl Hilliard, president of the California-based Wireless Consumers Alliance, which has been tracking incidents of cell phone fires and explosions. Though legitimate batteries can go wrong, there is a greater chance that poorly made, counterfeit ones will lack safety devices to detect overheating or overcharging. The lithium-ion batteries found in most cell phones can overheat if, for example, heat vents are covered. The CPSC is trying to determine if improved venting is enough by itself to ensure safety. "We have seen temperatures as high as 600 degrees, and you can have a torch-like effect if these batteries don't function properly," Wolfson said. The commission has announced three battery recalls since January, one from Verizon Wireless and two from Kyocera Wireless Corp. Kyocera's first recall was blamed on a supplier whose standards had slipped. The other recalls were attributed to suppliers bringing counterfeits into distribution chains. Kyocera, which recalled 1 million batteries last month, said it has changed vendors and doubled efforts to test its own batteries. Hoping to address problems that may lie beyond their supply lines, members of the wireless industry began collaborating last week with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a standard-setting organization, to create voluntary design and performance standards for all batteries. "There needs to be high-quality batteries for these cell phones. You have a lot of power in a very small product, so it's really key," said Wolfson of the CPSC, which is participating in the meetings between wireless industry members and IEEE. Carriers and manufacturers also are urging cellular users to exercise reasonable care of batteries, chargers and phones and to purchase them directly from phone companies rather than secondhand dealers or off the Internet. But even following those recommendations sometimes isn't enough, as bad products inevitably find their way onto store shelves. Angela Karasek, a 21-year-old paralegal in Philadelphia, bought her Motorola phone and battery together from a Nextel store. She awoke one night a few weeks ago to what she described as a pinging sound and then saw fire. Her cell phone battery had blown out, igniting a doll about three feet away. She ran to her parents' room for help, and her father quickly put out the fire. "I'm just a light sleeper, and for some reason I sat up and saw all the flames on the doll," Karasek said. Marcelino Gonzalez of Brentwood, N.Y., said he suffered second-degree burns after his Kyocera phone exploded in his hand as he turned it on to make a call. "If it was to my face it would have blown up in my face," said Gonzalez, 62, who has contacted a lawyer. Michael Sathre, who is expected to fully recover from his wounds, was picking his fully charged Verizon LG cell phone off the floor when it exploded by his side. The family chose not to sue and has instead allowed the companies involved and a consumer group to come to their house to study the damage, in the hopes it won't happen to someone else. "It took my son two months to decide to even be near a cell phone," said his mother, Cris. "But he needs one." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 19:48:26 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 19:48:26 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: US Atrocities, 'Unusual Message-ID: rense.com US Election 2004 US Atrocities, 'Unusual Weapons' In Fallujah 11-26-4 BAGHDAD -- The U.S. military has used poison gas and other non-conventional weapons against civilians in Fallujah, eyewitnesses report.. "Poisonous gases have been used in Fallujah," 35-year-old trader from Fallujah Abu Hammad told IPS. "They used everything -- tanks, artillery, infantry, poison gas. Fallujah has been bombed to the ground." Hammad is from the Julan district of Fallujah where some of the heaviest fighting occurred. Other residents of that area report the use of illegal weapons. "They used these weird bombs that put up smoke like a mushroom cloud," Abu Sabah, another Fallujah refugee from the Julan area told IPS. "Then small pieces fall from the air with long tails of smoke behind them." He said pieces of these bombs exploded into large fires that burnt the skin even when water was thrown on the burns. Phosphorous weapons as well as napalm are known to cause such effects. "People suffered so much from these," he said. Macabre accounts of killing of civilians are emerging through the cordon U.S. forces are still maintaining around Fallujah. "Doctors in Fallujah are reporting to me that there are patients in the hospital there who were forced out by the Americans," said Mehdi Abdulla, a 33-year-old ambulance driver at a hospital in Baghdad. "Some doctors there told me they had a major operation going, but the soldiers took the doctors away and left the patient to die." Kassem Mohammed Ahmed who escaped from Fallujah a little over a week ago told IPS he witnessed many atrocities committed by U.S. soldiers in the city. "I watched them roll over wounded people in the street with tanks," he said. "This happened so many times." Abdul Razaq Ismail who escaped from Fallujah two weeks back said soldiers had used tanks to pull bodies to the soccer stadium to be buried. "I saw dead bodies on the ground and nobody could bury them because of the American snipers," he said. "The Americans were dropping some of the bodies into the Euphrates near Fallujah." Abu Hammad said he saw people attempt to swim across the Euphrates to escape the siege. "The Americans shot them with rifles from the shore," he said. "Even if some of them were holding a white flag or white clothes over their heads to show they are not fighters, they were all shot.." Hammad said he had seen elderly women carrying white flags shot by U.S. soldiers. "Even the wounded people were killed. The Americans made announcements for people to come to one mosque if they wanted to leave Fallujah, and even the people who went there carrying white flags were killed." Another Fallujah resident Khalil (40) told IPS he saw civilians shot as they held up makeshift white flags. "They shot women and old men in the streets," he said. "Then they shot anyone who tried to get their bodies...Fallujah is suffering too much, it is almost gone now." Refugees had moved to another kind of misery now, he said. "It's a disaster living here at this camp," Khalil said. "We are living like dogs and the kids do not have enough clothes." Spokesman for the Iraqi Red Crescent in Baghdad Abdel Hamid Salim told IPS that none of their relief teams had been allowed into Fallujah, and that the military had said it would be at least two more weeks before any refugees would be allowed back into the city. "There is still heavy fighting in Fallujah," said Salim. "And the Americans won't let us in so we can help people." In many camps around Fallujah and throughout Baghdad, refugees are living without enough food, clothing and shelter. Relief groups estimate there are at least 15,000 refugee families in temporary shelters outside Fallujah. (Agencies) http://www.keralanext.com/news/?id=68749 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 19:49:01 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 19:49:01 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Foreigners May Reduce Holdings Message-ID: Bloomberg.com Dollar Heads for Weekly Decline; Foreigners May Reduce Holdings Nov. 26 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar is poised for a seventh straight weekly drop against the euro, its longest losing streak in 10 months, on concern foreign investors and central banks may reduce holdings of U.S. assets. Bank of England Chief Economist Charles Bean said in a speech late yesterday international investors are unlikely to keep buying U.S. assets indefinitely, resulting in a ``possibly substantial'' drop in the dollar. The U.S. currency fell to a record earlier today after China Business News reported Chinese central bank official Yu Yongding said his country had trimmed its holdings of U.S. Treasury securities. ``What we're seeing now is far more than just speculation; these are real fundamental shifts in portfolio allocations from official and private entities, and that could continue and see the dollar selling accelerate,'' said Derek Halpenny, a currency strategist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd. in London. Against the euro, the dollar traded at $1.3277 at 11:10 a.m. in New York, from $1.3269 late yesterday, according to electronic currency-dealing system EBS. It earlier fell to a record $1.3330. The dollar rose to 102.65 yen, from 102.46, after dropping as low as 102.01, the weakest since January 2000. For the week, the dollar has shed 2 percent against the euro and 0.4 percent versus the yen, its ninth straight weekly decline. Echoing Greenspan Bean's comments to business leaders in Colchester, England, echoed those of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who said at the European Banking Congress in Frankfurt on Nov. 19 that overseas investors may tire of financing the U.S. current-account deficit. The U.K. holds $134.6 billion in U.S. Treasuries, according to the Treasury Department. ``There's no reason to be brave right now'' and buy dollars, said Robert Sinche, head of currency strategy at Banc of America Securities LLC in New York. Given the ``tacit approval'' from policy makers that the dollar needs to drop, ``why would you get on the other side of it?'' Sinche projects a dollar drop to $1.35 per euro early next year. A weaker dollar has helped U.S. companies that sell products in Europe such as Gillette Co., which said the U.S. currency's drop boosted sales in the third quarter. The dollar has lost 32 percent against the euro since the start of 2002. DaimlerChrysler AG, the world's fifth-largest carmaker, said the dollar's decline against the euro will reduce the earnings of the Mercedes-Benz luxury car division. European stocks fell today on concern about a weaker dollar. `Weren't Prepared' ``We weren't prepared for the dollar to be at this level,'' Thomas Weber, the management board member responsible for research, told journalists at a dinner in Frankfurt yesterday. ``It will influence the results at Mercedes and 2005 won't be an easy year.'' Yu, a Chinese monetary policy committee member, denied making the statement about reducing holdings of Treasuries. Yu said the report was ``distorted,'' in a statement on the Web site of the Institute of World Economics and Policies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, where he is a director. China, the second-largest foreign holder of U.S. government debt, reduced its holdings of U.S. Treasuries, China Business News said. The country's central bank declined to comment on the report. China's holdings of Treasuries rose to a record $174.4 billion at the end of September, according to the Treasury Department. `Real Risk' ``The real risk is that the sharper and the quicker the dollar falls that these investors pull out pretty quickly from U.S. markets,'' said Mitul Kotecha, global head of currency research in London at Calyon, the investment banking unit of Credit Agricole SA. Chinese international reserve assets were a record $514.5 billion in September, accounting for about 15 percent of the world's total, excluding holdings of gold, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Russian central bank official Alexei Ulyukayev said three days ago Russia may trim the share of dollars held in its foreign- exchange reserves. Russian foreign currency and gold reserves totaled $113.1 billion in the week ended Nov. 12. The central bank keeps about a third of its reserves in euros and the rest mainly in dollars, central bank Deputy Chairman Konstantin Korishchenko said in an interview on Nov. 3. ``There's no escaping a weaker dollar,'' said Ashley Davies, currency strategist in Singapore at UBS AG.``A lack of faith in the dollar by central banks reaffirms our bearish stance.'' UBS, the world's biggest currency trader in Euromoney magazine's 2004 poll, this week lowered its three-month dollar projections to 103 yen from 107, and to $1.36 per euro from $1.30. Dollar Index The Dollar Index, which measures the dollar against a basket of six currencies, fell as low as 81.42 today, the lowest since 1995, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The New York Board of Trade's index averages exchange rates between the dollar and six other currencies, with the euro accounting for 58 percent. The dollar trimmed some of its weekly losses today as a technical indicator some traders use to gauge likely trends suggested the currency has fallen too far. The dollar's 14-day relative strength index against the euro closed at 80.2 yesterday. Against the yen, it closed at 24.3. Levels above 70 and below 30 suggest a currency may change direction. The index shows how rapidly prices have risen or fallen in a given period. `Carried Away' ``The market has gone a little bit carried away'' with the dollar's slide, said Tania Kotsos, a currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets in London. Kotsos forecasts the dollar to gain to $1.30 per euro and trade at 103 yen at the end of the year. Japanese Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki told reporters in Tokyo today the currency market needs careful watching. Japan must act on any unusual moves, Tanigaki said. The Bank of Japan, at the ministry's direction, sold a record 32.9 trillion yen ($320 billion) in the year ended March 31 to stem the currency's gain. ``Their rhetoric indicates that they are going to act, and I think they will at some level below 100'' yen, said Halpenny at Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi. ``The key is 101.25, which is the low from November 1999'' for the dollar. The gap in the U.S. current account, the broadest measure of trade, was a record $166.2 billion in the second quarter. A wider deficit means more dollars need to be converted into other currencies to pay for imports. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 19:56:17 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 19:56:17 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Iraqi Lullaby Message-ID: Disgraceful! Your Tax Dollars at work! === Iraqi Lullaby 2 Minute Video Vocals by Laura Bush and Mothers of America Pictures Provided by President G W. Bush Watch it now ! Real Video http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7379.htm QuickTime http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7368.htm Download FREE real player here http://snipurl.com/a75b ---------------------- An alternative independent non-commercial source for news, information and insight. PLEASE ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO SUBSCRIBE http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/subscribe.htm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 20:58:06 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 20:58:06 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Daybreak Star Arts & Crafts Message-ID: Daybreak Star Arts Center Indian Arts Market 2004 Indian Art Market & Salmon Bake Saturdays December 4, 11, 18 Cultural performances at 1:30 pm A market place of Native artisans - Weavings, baskets, jewelry, prints, photography, carved masks & much more!!!!! 11:00 am - 4:00pm Salmon Bake $10.00 Beginning at noon UNITED INDIANS OF ALL TRIBES FOUNDATION Post Office Box 99100 Seattle, WA 98199 (206) 285-4425 Website: http://www.unitedindians.com The United Indians of All Tribes Foundation is a nonprofit community based organization providing services to the Native community. Our mission is to create opportunities for Native children, youth & families to build a positive and healthy future. Directions to Daybreak Star: From I-5 take the 85th Street Exit. Continue West to 15th Avenue NW, turn left onto 15th NW. Cross the Ballard Bridge, take the first right onto Emerson St./Fisherman's Terminal. Continue to 4 way stop (W. Government Way) and take a right. This will lead you into Discovery Park, follow signs to the Daybreak Star. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 20:59:39 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 20:59:39 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Shiites Reject Election Delay - Iraq Message-ID: THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ Shiites Reject Election Delay November 28, 2004 The majority sect's political and religious leaders say the Iraqi election must be held Jan. 30, despite Sunni and Kurd objections. By Ashraf Khalil, Times Staff Writer FROM: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraqelect28nov28,1,3626681.story?coll=la-headlines-world BAGHDAD - Shiite Muslim political and religious leaders insisted Saturday that Iraq's parliamentary election must be held as scheduled in January, rejecting calls from Sunnis and ethnic Kurds to postpone the landmark vote six months. The Shiites' position bolsters the interim government and U.N.-appointed electoral commission, which said Saturday they intended to proceed with balloting on Jan. 30. The deepening debate over the election date is threatening to aggravate sectarian tensions in a nation already fractured by a raging insurgency that has killed more than 1,230 U.S. troops and many more Iraqis. The prospect of a delay has outraged leaders of Iraq's Shiite majority, who view the vote as a decisive means of political empowerment after decades of repression by the long-dominant Sunni minority. Jawad Maliki, a senior official with the Dawa Party, one of the principal Shiite groups, said any postponement would violate the country's interim constitution and diminish the credibility of the political process. It would also embolden insurgents, he said. "It is a message to the terrorists that they are victorious," Maliki said. "This will encourage them." A joint statement released Saturday by 42 parties, including Dawa and the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, another key Shiite party, said any delay would be illegal. A spokesman for Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Said Hakim, one of the nation's most prominent clerics and a member of the Shiite religious leadership headed by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, also said a delay was unacceptable. Elections are "the most legitimate way on the international level to express the will of the people," said Hakim's son, Mohammed Hussein Hakim. "All parties have agreed on this date, and we cannot take back this position for any reason." A diverse collection of political groups requested the six-month delay after meeting in Baghdad on Friday. Participants in the gathering, arranged by elder statesman Adnan Pachachi, included Sunni religious parties, tribal groups and a women's organization. Also attending were the two largest Kurdish political parties, both longtime U.S. allies who until recently had endorsed holding elections as scheduled. Insurgent attacks and shaky government control over large areas of the country - along with fears of a broad boycott by Sunni groups - were cited as primary reasons for requesting the delay. Organizers acknowledge that violence in predominantly Sunni areas north and west of the capital has seriously delayed election preparations. Voter registration efforts, scheduled to begin Nov. 1, haven't even started in Al Anbar province, home to Fallouja, Ramadi and other cities where insurgents have been strong. In Mosul, a northern city where insurgents continue to make regular shows of strength, a warehouse full of registration forms was set ablaze this month. Despite the violence, U.S. Ambassador John D. Negroponte said Saturday that elections could be held on time. During a visit to Fallouja, where he viewed the large-scale destruction from the recent U.S.-led offensive to retake the city from insurgents, Negroponte predicted that even Al Anbar province would be secure enough to hold an inclusive vote. "National elections will be taking place on 30 of January next year, and we want to do everything possible to create the conditions so that everyone who is eligible to vote in this country will be able to do so," Negroponte said. Thair Nakib, a spokesman for interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, said Saturday that the government was "determined to hold elections on time." He shrugged off Friday's request for a delay as a healthy sign of a newly democratic society. Allawi, Nakib said, "hears [the parties'] opinion and expresses his own opinion to them." Iraq's electoral commission said that it was still working toward the Jan. 30 date and that it did not have power to postpone the vote even if it wanted to. "Legally, to be frank, we don't have that ability," said commission chief Hussein Hindawi, who added that any delay would have to be discussed by the commission, interim government, interim National Assembly and United Nations. If the government insists on holding to the Jan. 30 date and many parties decide to boycott, the vote could be viewed as illegitimate by much of the Iraqi population. A spokesman for Pachachi's Independent Democratic Movement said Friday that it would participate in a January vote if necessary. But Tariq Hashemi of the Iraqi Islamic Party, the country's largest Sunni religious party and a longtime proponent of a delay, would not rule out the possibility of a boycott. In an interview with Al Jazeera, an Arabic-language satellite news channel, Hashemi said that "everything will be open to discussion" if the vote proceeds in January. Either way, election organizers say they face a monumental task. "I'm pleasantly surprised that we haven't come off the rails to date," said an electoral expert with experience in Iraq, speaking on condition of anonymity. Still, he said, a six-month delay wouldn't necessarily improve the chances of success as long as the insurgency continues. "In conditions of this kind of violence, these elections are going to be very deeply flawed," he said. "They might still be worthwhile if they lead to the creation of a somewhat more acceptable, somewhat more legitimate government which is able to peel away some of the support of the extremists." Although Allawi has said Iraq will hold to the Jan. 30 date, the stance of his party, the Iraqi National Accord, has remained fuzzy. Senior INA official Hani Idrees said Allawi and his party would not support a delay unless there was a broad national and international consensus for it. However, the presence of an INA representative at Friday's conference fueled speculation that Allawi was trying to build support for a postponement. Nakib, the government spokesman, said the INA representative attended only "to hear the opinion of the other parties" and did not sign off on the postponement request. Last week, Minister of State Adnan Janabi, a senior INA official and close Allawi advisor, caused waves by endorsing a postponement. At first, Janabi's statement was taken by many as a sign of dissension within the interim government. But the election expert said Janabi's comments now seem like an effort to bring the issue out into the open without leaving the prime minister politically vulnerable. Allawi himself could benefit from a delay. A longtime exile with questionable grass-roots support, he presumably could use an extension to consolidate power within the government. The position of the two main Kurdish parties, the Kurdish Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, may prove critical in the debate. As recently as last week, both endorsed sticking to the election schedule enshrined in the interim constitution. Their change of position lends crucial momentum to the pro-delay camp and is likely to be regarded among Shiites as a betrayal. Maliki, of the Dawa Party, said he was "surprised" by the Kurds' change of heart. Iraq's Kurdish and Shiite political groups have, at times, viewed each other with intense distrust. The Kurds are largely Sunni, but as an ethnic minority they were victimized under Saddam Hussein's regime. Some Kurdish politicians regard the Shiite parties as vehicles for Iranian influence in Iraq. Kurds could benefit from a delay in the election, particularly in consolidating their claim to the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk. Many Kurds view Kirkuk as a future capital and economic heart of a long-desired independent Kurdish state. Since the fall of Hussein, Kurds have worked to establish demographic dominance over the Kirkuk region. Thousands of displaced Kurds who were forcibly relocated by Hussein have flooded in and forced out Arab residents. -------------------------- Times staff writers Raheem Salman and Suheil Affan in Baghdad, special correspondent Saad Saadik in Najaf, and Times wire services contributed to this report. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 20:59:05 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 20:59:05 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Seven Dirty Words Message-ID: Seven Dirty Words by Edgar J. Steele November 27, 2004 "There are some people who would have you not use certain words." -- George Carlin, Seven Dirty Words (1973) When I was a kid, dirty words got you in trouble. Today, the same concept holds true, but the words have changed. Comedian George Carlin broke forbidden ground by using dirty words in his comedy routines, just as my generation came of age. He was a true rebel at the time. Today, Carlin's routines are merely ordinary by most standards. He still skewers sacred cows, but these days the cows are the ones proscribed by a politically-correct society, a society that Carlin's ilk has gotten astride. Carlin particularly delights in attacking religion, especially Christianity. That, however, is a topic for another day. Go here for a transcript of the routine that got Carlin in trouble back in 1973 when it was broadcast by a radio station. It took five years for the legal system to offer up the US Supreme Court's affirmation of the original FCC ruling that Carlin's routine was obscene, in an enunciation of its new, seven-prong test for obscenity. Today, we hear all of Carlin's forbidden words, and more, on the radio. They've been in our movies for years. What's more, they are migrating to prime-time network television. Apparently, now the forbidden words are acceptable for children, as well as adults. But, as the saying goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Today, it's a whole different set of words that will get you in trouble if you dare say them aloud, regardless of venue, and they reflect the change in sensibility (insensibility?) that has occurred in American society over the past generation (the one over which my generation has presided, I am ashamed to say). A change, I say, because these newly-forbidden words commonly were in use throughout society before Carlin's time. Here, let's say them together: Nigger, Spic, Wetback, Chink, Jap, White, Jew. That sentence just got this essay blocked by countless web sites. A large number of members of this list will have to go to www.ConspiracyPenPal.com to read this essay for that reason. But I could have given, instead, detailed instructions for "fisting" and this piece would have sailed right through the filters and censors. I gave an extended interview on a major radio station yesterday and, as the conversation moved into the area of race, (as it always does - there's a reason these radio hosts around the country have me on so often, after all) I opened the topic by referring to "Whites." There was a discernible pause...dead air time in the parlance...as that word hung out there, much as Carlin's words used to hang in the air. A thought crept into my mind: "I wonder if this is how George Carlin felt?" Notice that, of the seven new dirty words, five are pejorative forms of racially-identifying nouns or adjectives (Nigger, Spic, Wetback, Chink and Jap). How times have changed! After WWII, all Asians were referred to as "Japs" by a still-angry American public. Brazil nuts were "niggertoes" to everybody in my childhood days. Interestingly, only two of the new dirty words have yet to acquire widespread negative connotations, except in certain select circles: White and Jew. Even so, one quite simply does not mention either word in polite company and, certainly, never over the air except in the context of "legitimate" news reporting (where ethnicity typically is covered up except when Whites are tagged as stupid bad guys and Jews are shown to be undeserving but noble victims). Yes, there are pejorative forms (Cracker and Kike, for example), but neither White nor Jew are used with impunity over the air as are Black, Hispanic, Chinese and Japanese; thus have they attained a forbidden status both unique and apart from the other new dirty words. Why the silence without the negative implications when it comes to the words White and Jew? Because Jews like to pose as White when it suits their purposes (as when noses are counted in professions, ivy-league college enrollment and governmental Administration positions), though they vilify Whites when it suits other of their purposes (as in falsely depicting Whites as victimizers of other races, so as to remove us from contention for things and positions that Jews want...or don't want Whites to have, which amounts to the same thing to them). The ban on saying White and Jew aloud reflects the power struggle now taking place between the two races (a struggle being won by Jews thus far, though they are destroying America in the process). A different reason applies to the other races, which is why only the negative forms of racial identification are taboo. In fact, anything that differentiates one race from another is taboo these days, just as it is forbidden to suggest that two individuals might have differences that set them apart from one another in any respect. "No child left behind" comes to mind. Of course, nobody left behind means nobody out in front, either. Why? Because ours is a merit-based societal structure that today is morphing into pure socialism. Therefore, we need to have precisely the same outcome for everybody. How do we do that and still maintain the illusion of rewarding merit? Why, we declare everyone to be the winner, of course. And there are no losers. Everyone "merits" the same outcome. How perfect. How coincidental that the result is so...socialistic. It's kind of like how we get to "elect" our President these days, isn't it? In fact, the whole topic of race and, even racism, except when used to vilify whites, is becoming taboo. Witness how many printers and vanity publishers passed on my book, Defensive Racism, simply because of the title. Incidentally, Barnes and Noble now has declined to carry Defensive Racism, though it still is available through Amazon.com. Don't forget, you still can get a $5 discount from the cover price by ordering directly from the publisher, through www.DefensiveRacism.com . American Free Press, pre-eminent weekly of the Patriot Movement (You say you don't receive AFP? For shame! Subscribe here), recently ran a review of Defensive Racism that was so complimentary that I am almost embarrassed to post it. Almost. Go here for a reproduction of the AFP review (penned by the inimitable Michael C. Piper) and the ad that I have run in AFP a couple of times now: www.DefensiveRacism.com/afp.doc In 1964, while grappling with the concept of obscenity, Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart issued his now-famous concurring opinion in which he stated: "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it..." Of course, now that Justice Stewart is dead, you have to wonder how we're supposed to apply his rule to the new dirty words. New America. An idea whose time has come. -ed "I didn't say it would be easy. I just said it would be the truth." - Morpheus Copyright ?2004, Edgar J. Steele Forward as you wish. Permission is granted to circulate among private individuals and groups, post on all Internet sites and publish in full in all not-for-profit publications. Contact author for all other rights, which are reserved. On-Line link to this article in HTML format: http://www.conspiracypenpal.com/columns/seven.htm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 21:01:08 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 21:01:08 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: I Am Fallujah Message-ID: Fallujah and the Meaning of Jihad: Algeria 1956/Iraq 2004 by Luciana Bohne www.globalresearch.ca 22 November 2004 The URL of this article is: http://globalresearch.ca/articles/BOH411A.html ---------------------------------------------------------------- After Fallujah, no two Americans can meet without there lying between them a corpse. I steal the image from Jean Paul Sartre, writing about the Algerian War of Independence (1956-62). Today, as France then, we are a haunted nation. Ghosts are everywhere. By the now famous Lancet's account, there have been 100,000 Iraqis dead--probably a conservative number--before the siege of Fallujah on November 8. Now, we are told, by US military spokesmen, that 1200 "insurgents" have been killed in the city of trashed mosques. (See Mortality before and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq: cluster sample survey by Les Roberts, Riyadh Lafta, Richard Garfield, Jamal Khudhairi, Gilbert Burnham Lancet, Oct 2004 http://globalresearch.ca/articles/LAN410A.html ) According to the BBC online (19 November), US Lieutenant-General, John Sattler, told reporters the "operation" in Fallujah "flushed the rebels out of their safe havens and scattered them." Sattler seems to be a little dim about the tactics of guerrilla fighters--scattering is their common article of tactical faith; they don't need the bombing enemy army to point them in the right direction! You can bet they read Ernesto Che Guevara's "Episodes in the Cuban Revolutionary War," among other works by tacticians of guerrilla war, for no sooner had the Americans penetrated Fallujah with their perambulating toy-shop of massive air and ground assault weapons than the rebels "scattered" to Mosul--leaving fighting cadres behind that are still holding significant parts of the city. "America is having news-media crisis; if they control 90% or more of Fallujah as they alleged, I challenge them to allow world news satellites to see for themselves," says Fallujah Mujahideen Advisory Council spokesman, Abu Saad Al-Delaimy. He says 100 mujahideens have been "martyred." The rest of the dead are civilians. Surprise. Almost alone in the world to readily swallow the grotesque and indigestible plots of the Bush lie-factory like so many village idiots, a majority of the American public continues to be bamboozled by this infantile fib--the idiocy--of the phantom Zarqawi, supreme commander of the "terrorist" insurgency in Iraq--this because they have yet to learn, as other befuddled populations in losing imperial centres throughout history eventually learned, that the homeland's invention of a discourse of "terror, terrorists, terrorism" to sell war has always been an instrument for intimidating the population into silence, thus empowering the real terror their aggressor country visited abroad. It is time we faced the truth. It is time we heard the mutterings on the streets of Baghdad at the sight of rolling Humvees, guns pointed out the windows: "Get off our streets with your guns," "You aren't here to protect us, you bastards," "Can't you see we have no weapons of mass destruction? Now, go home" (quoted from unembedded reporter in Baghdad, Dahr Jamail). It is time we heard the cry of the mother of 12-year-old Fatima Harouz, lying in hospital in Latifya, with US-bullets shattered shins: "They attacked our home, and there weren't even any resistance fighters in our area. . . . Before they left, they killed all of our chickens." "Insurgent" chickens, no doubt! In between shattering Fatima's legs and massacring the chickens, they killed Fatima's mother's brother and wounded his wife. It is time we payed attention to the account by Fallujah refugee Abu Sabah, escaped with his family while soldiers shot bullets over their heads: "They used these weird bombs that put up smoke like a mushroom cloud. Then small pieces fell from the air with long tails of smoke trailing behind them. These exploded on the ground with large fires that burnt for half an hour. . . . When anyone touched those fires, their bodies burnt for hours." These features identify white-phosphorus bombs. They are being dropped in our name. Are we listening yet? Do we have the courage to admit that "if the USA's honor can go along with these tactics . . . , then the USA is a country without honor." I have substituted "USA" for "France," the entity in the original quotation by Robert Bonnard, French intellectual protesting his country's brutal repression of the Algerian popular resistance in the 1950s to the 130-year-old occupation of their country. Then, it took one million Algerian dead to shake the conscience of the French people awake and turn them in revulsion against the slaughter in the name of ridding "French" Algeria of "terrorists," who were no other than the Algerian people themselves, yearning to be free. Now as then, when Sartre reminded the French that "our victims know us by their scars and by their chains," our silence over the wounds we inflicted on Fallujah and, indeed, on the whole of Iraq, will be to "no avail; today the blinding sun of torture is at its zenith; it lights up the whole country," Sartre wrote. Substitute "collective punishment" if the word "torture" is too narrow a term for what was done to Fallujah--a "ratonnade" (literally a rat-clearing), as the French army slang called their Arab-killing campaigns such as ours in Fallujah--and the insight remains stark. Indeed, our silence, in the full glare of the truth as the world sees it, exposes our nakedness before the indefensible reality of this monstrous fact of our destruction of Fallujah on Ramadan, formerly the city of 500 intact mosques. Do we feel exposed to the contempt of the world? We should, for with Sartre I agree that "no one has the power or right to give anything to anybody, for each of them has every right, and the right to everything." To the ears of the Iraqis, our bad-faith "gift" of democracy at the point of a gun translates as a democracy that will do what the US wants. And they will resist this false democracy, for what democracy can come from their election prepared by our bombs? But even with no bombing on the scale of Fallujah's, occupation breeds resistance, and at the apex of their resistance, when all social conditions will have ripened them into one national epic force, the Iraqis will pour out into their streets in protests and strikes--streets in Falluja forever remembered as covered with corpses defiled by hungry cats and dogs and crushed by the impersonal indifference and yet criminally punitive weight of the rolling tanks of the re-invaders-- they will pour out like tidal waves, as they did in Algeria, when the French army could not kill all of them in one spot, under the filming scrutiny of the world. So the French had to stop--but not before they had to point their tanks' guns at the rivers of protesters in France's city streets. That's colonialism for you. Sooner or later the people of the imperium and the people of the colony are persuaded to fight side by side, albeit on separate shores, the armed enemy that is the enemy of them both. It happened to us with Vietnam. Between now and then, however, we must stop crediting the shop-worn lies that offer up Iraqis as "unpeople"--passive victims of "mastermind foreign terrorists" or pathetic "collateral damage" whose deaths don't matter in our noble fight for their emancipation. We must see them as what they are becoming through the pityless vengeance of our wounded pride. They will become the agents of their own liberation. No wonder General Sattler had "no information" about "civilian deaths" in Fallujah! Unacknowledged in his remark lurks the unconscious fear that Iraq is moving toward a popular uprising, when there will be no "civilians" left in Iraq as every Iraqi's "irrepressible violence [will be] neither sound and fury nor even the effect of resentment but human beings recreating themselves [as free people]," to quote Sartre's prophecy of Algeria's successful struggle for self-determination. This process of liberation in Iraq will be cruel and unforgiving; they may even have to kill one another. The Algerians did--collaborationists, opportunists, spies, and traitors. Perhaps even the reluctant ones. I don't know if they will target us here at home (in Algeria they occasionally killed French colonists at hand on Algerian soil), but I wouldn't be surprised, for with Sartre I recognize that "every single one of us has made his bit, has got something out of them" over the years of exploitation of their resources to the advantage of our once-comfortable life at home. Still, true resistance does not routinely use wholesale terror against masses of civilians. That is the prerogative of the master race. So we must pray for a resistance that will wipe out the barbarism of the opportunistic terrorists afoot in quisling, anarchy-riddled, US-destabilized Iraq. We may yet survive if we can wrench out of our shame the self-revolutionary spark to end our silence. Some of my friends on the left deride me for this trust in the Iraqi people's ability to mount a national liberation struggle on the scale and organization of the Algerian FLN. They say that Iraq lacks the national unity and political ideology necessary to lead them to victory--by which they mean the absence of the socialist echo in the world today (admittedly a considerable loss, especially, even in its distorted USSR form, as a check on "this imperious being, crazed by his absolute power" as no doubt Sartre would have called the imperializing US as he did the imperially maxed-out France), but I say that fighting for survival is the most powerful, the most basic ideology of them all. The unifying factor will be found. The Algerian leadership found it in their understanding of "jihad"--not as a call for the defense of Islam but as a rallying cry for the survival of the national identity in Islam. Let us listen to this echo from the past--the defense of "jihad" by the Algerian FLN. Let us listen because the call will come for Iraqis--and not from the criminal bands and sundry terrorist groups now butchering, kidnapping, and beheading in the name of Muslim fundamentalisms to the delight of our criminal chaos-planners in official DC--if indeed the terrorists are not like, Ansar al Islam, CIA-related, psy-op-style mischief makers, intent on creating anarchy on the ground to prolong the occupation. Somewhere, hidden from our TV screens even if these had any interest in showing it, the resistance is maturing into something it will become--the face of free Iraq, liberating itself at last. We go to Algeria, 1956. From the editorial of the first issue of "El Moudjahid," official organ of the FLN: "It is about time that an organ of resistance fighters comes to be . . . in order to make known to the Algerian people in struggle, and to a world polarized by the war in Algeria, the voice of our fighters. . . . Some will doubtless be surprised by the choice of title, which they might believe [is] inspired by a form of political sectarianism or religious fundamentalism, when our goal is to liberate ourselves of de-nationalising colonialist restraints, and for democracy and equality among all Algerians, regardless of race or religion. We must respond. The word 'jihad' (holy war) from which 'el moudjahid' (fighter for the faith) derives, has always been, because of an anti-Islamic prejudice that dates from the Crusades, taken in the Christian West in a limited and restrictive sense. It is taken as a symbol of religious aggressiveness. This interpretation is rendered absurd by the very fact that Islam is tolerant, and the respect of religions, in particular Judaism and Christianity, is one of its fundamental precepts, something which, in fact, has been in practice over the centuries. ?Jihad,? reduced to its essential element, is quite simply a dynamic manifestation of self-defense, for the preservation or the recovery of a heritage of superior and indispensable values for both the individual and the group. It is also the will to continually perfect oneself in all areas. It just so happens that Islam was in Algeria the last refuge of these values hounded and profaned by an outrageous colonialism. Is there any reason then to be surprised that , in recovering a national consciousness, it contributes to the victory of a just cause? Thus, the word ?jihad? has necessarily evolved with time, and its meaning becomes more clear. Adapting itself to the modern world, in this mid 20th century which more particularly concerns us, it puts in ever clearer relief the unshakeable will, the concentration of effort, the spirit of total sacrifice up to martyrdom, to totally destroy the existing retrograde system. It doesn't include any religious or racial hatred, any form of exclusivity or conformism, if only that of the unity necessary for final victory. So understood, ?jihad? is a quintessentially liberal and open patriotism. It's the soldier of the ALN [Arm?e de lib?ration nationale], it's the political activist, the liaison agent, the little shepherd who provides information, the housewife in the casbah who comments on events, the little schoolchild in Algiers who goes out on strike, it's economic sabotage, the student who joins the resistance fighters, the distributor of tracts, the peasant who suffers and hopes along with his family. In a word, it's that ensemble of efforts carried forward by the wheel of history, guided by the FLN, and converging on a single goal, the independence of the country. That said, we must add that a war can never be holy enough against a colonial regime which after a cowardly aggression in 1830 has, for the past 125 years, tried to exterminate the Algerian people and, not being able to do so, has worked to despoil it and exploit it to the extreme, to maintain it in fetters, in an iron collar of political domination, to systematically violate its language, its religion, its traditions. . . . In calling itself 'El Moudjahid' this brochure does nothing but consecrate this glorious name, which since November 1, 1954, the good sense of our people has attributed to the patriots who took up arms for a free, independent, and democratic Algeria." ( www.marxists.com , Global Research Contributing Editor Luciana Bohne teaches film and literature at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She can be reached at lbohne at edinboro.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------- Email this article to a friend To become a Member of Global Research To express your opinion on this article, join the discussion at Global Research's News and Discussion Forum , at http://globalresearch.ca.myforums.net/index.php The Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) at www.globalresearch.ca grants permission to cross-post original Global Research (Canada) articles in their entirety, or any portions thereof, on community internet sites, as long as the text & title of the article are not modified. The source must be acknowledged as follows: Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) at www.globalresearch.ca . For cross-postings, kindly use the active URL hyperlink address of the original CRG article. The author's copyright note must be displayed. (For articles from other news sources, check with the original copyright holder, where applicable.). For publication of Global Research (Canada) articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: crgeditor at yahoo.com For media inquiries: crgeditor at yahoo.com ? Copyright LUCIANA BOHNE CRG 2004 ------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 21:02:22 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 21:02:22 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Banarchy Club Message-ID: If u hate bush and the american deceit of the 21st century click here Banarchy Club Punk News updated everyday QUOTE OF THE DAY... from various songs, and some of our own Forums General Punk/Music Forum Politics Talk Custom Made Songs and Lyrics VWD Rant Page banarchy club forum Band Releases News Who Are You Mofo ? If you havent joined this site yet, then ur nobody! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 21:03:41 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 21:03:41 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Film: Battle of Algiers Message-ID: ***** THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS ****** Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has seen it. Have you? Banned by the French government in 1965. Screened by the Pentagon in 2003. A docudrama about the Algerian war for independence that the U.S. military has been showing to its commanders in hopes of avoiding facing the same defeat in Iraq that French imperialism faced in Algeria. Come see one of the most controversial movies of the 1960s. Friday, December 3 7:30 pm University of Washington Savery Hall, room 243 Campus map at: http://www.washington.edu/home/maps/northcentral.html?93,89,725,401 A benefit for Socialist Alternative Suggested donation $3-10, but no one turned away. Socialist Alternative played the central role in organizing 3,000 students to walk out of school from over 30 Seattle schools the day after Bush began his war on Iraq, and now Socialist Alternative is helping organize a mass protest on the day of Bush's re-inauguration, January 20. For more info: Seattle at SocialistAlternative.org * (206) 526-7864 * www.SocialistAlternative.org 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. -------------- 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 29 21:05:23 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 21:05:23 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] After Iraq it is Venezuela Message-ID: After Iraq it is Venezuela - the next oil confrontation between America and Euro Zone and this time a new super power coalition of India, China, Russia and Brazil makes the difference. Sudhir Chadda, Special Correspondence November 27, 2004 // India Daily After Iraq it is oil rich Venezuela led by Hugo Chavez that has become the center for confrontation between America and the Euro Zone. Chavez is dead against America and Euro Zone needs him to keep the oil balance - the power symbol in 2005. But this time the equation is a little different. A new regional and super power coalition of India, China, Russia and Brazil is making a huge difference. Russian President is in the zone to pull Brazil in the coalition and influence on Chavez for mutual support. While the whole world is focused on America and the Euro zone for the super power challenges, both these powers are looking small when you combine the powers of the new coalition Putin is building with India, China, Russia and Brazil. Add to that Venezuelan oil that supplies America a substantial crude oil, and now you have the actual scenario of confrontation. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is leveraging his country's oil resources to build new geopolitical relationships with key regional powers like Russia, China, India and Brazil. Northern Andean region is where the new super power coalition is planning to influence most. It is in the corridor of America and rich with many natural resources. This is the region that America takes it for granted. For Russian, Chinese and other non-US. oil companies, the Chavez government's oil-based foreign policy also will translate into profitable investment opportunities in Venezuela in coming years. Brazil, a member of the superpower coalition is a neighbor of Venezuela, And though Brazil has special relations with America, it has far more interest in Venezuela than any other countries. According to think tanks, it is not Iran but Venezuela will be the next epicenter of confrontation for oil supremacy. But this time both Euro zone and America will face a real formidable super power coalition - the combined resources of India, China, Russia and Brazil. -- Macdonald Stainsby http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green In the contradiction lies the hope --Bertholt Brecht. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 21:05:52 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 21:05:52 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Indigenous insurrection in Australia over death in police custody Message-ID: Indigenous insurrection in Australia over death in police custody November 26, 2004 About 1,000 residents of the Aboriginal community of Palm Island, Australia, burned down the local police station, court house and the home of the police officer-in-charge on November 26, after a coroner's report revealed that Cameron Doomadgee, a 36-year-old Aboriginal and Palm Island resident, had suffered four broken ribs, a ruptured liver and a ruptured portal vein, during an arrest for public drunkenness last Friday. Doomadgee died about an hour later in police custody. Witnesses reported seeing Doomadgee being bashed. The coroner's report was read to a community meeting yesterday after it had been given to Doomadgee's family late on Thursday. Within hours, hundreds of residents were lobbing firebombs at the police barracks and other government buildings. "This is cold-blooded murder," one person yelled at the crowd, "I am not going to accept it and I know a lot of you other people won't". Local police officers were forced to hide out in a hospital and then flee the island, while outside police were flown in by an army Chinook helicopter from Townsville and a plane from Cairns. Authorities declared an "emergency situation" under the Public Safety Preservation Act, allowing police to close the airport, take control of resources and buildings and close roads. Some contractors, public servants, teachers and other residents have been evacuated. About 80 police are on the island presently, with more expected tomorrow. Tensions had been rising in the community since Monday, when 200 angry residents marched on the police station. On Tuesday, a police car was assaulted by rock throwers after officers on patrol stopped to take down a road block. The police officer who arrested Doomadgee, Senior-Sergeant Chris Hurley, left the island that same day "for his own safety". The following day, a group of teenagers attacked the police barracks and the police station, breaking windows and damaging officers' cars parked in front of the building. The conflict on Palm Island is also a reminder of the February 15 riot in the Aboriginal neighborhood of Redfern in Sydney, sparked by the police murder of a 17-year-old Aboriginal named Thomas Hickey. "It is very much a white, black issue," said Palm Island resident Nicky Willis. "The young people of Redfern were full of anger and now the young people here are full of anger." Aborigine Riots Against Police Brutality - http://users.resist.ca/~wiinimkiikaa/issue1/aborigine_riots.shtml -- Macdonald Stainsby http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green In the contradiction lies the hope --Bertholt Brecht. ============================================== List Rules: http://www.lefthook.org/Rules.html [Please clip all unnecessary text if you are replying to a previous e-mail.] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 21:08:27 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 21:08:27 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: BUSH OUT OF BAGHDAD! BUSH OUT OF OTTAWA! Message-ID: BUSH OUT OF BAGHDAD! BUSH OUT OF OTTAWA! Bush Out of Canada, Special Activities Bush is coming to Canada! www.nowar.ca Online Information on Upcoming Anti Bush Demonstrations Opportunity for Canadians to express their opposition to Bush Prime Minister Paul Martin will be meeting with U.S. President George Bush in Ottawa on Tuesday November 30th, 2004. President George Bush will be visiting Halifax on Wednesday December 1st, 2004. http://www.canadians.org/browse_categories.htm?COC_token=23@@797430b96cd7c5c065828998ae387db5&step=2&catid=359&iscat=1 This is a tremendous opportunity for Canadians to express their opposition to the President's policies and to demand of the Prime Minister "the Canada we want." The Council of Canadians will be very active in raising concerns about Bush's policies during his visit to Canada: If you can not come to Ottawa, plan actions in your regions www.acp-cpa.ca. You may also want to look into the cwho cannot come to Ottawa to plan actions in their regions. Activities across the country will be listed on the Canadian Peace Alliance's website A Fundraiser for the anti-Bush mobilizations On November 30 in Ottawa! THIS SATURDAY!! November 27th 4518 Papineau (just north of Mount Royal, in the alleyway Genereux) 8pm $5 at the door All proceeds go to funding buses from Montreal to Ottawa Featuring: Speed Bike (Whacky Boogie Beats), Mossman (Massive Dub), DJ Dexter X, DJ Coconut, DJ Tashish (Funky Electro Beats), Al-Sharouq (Traditional Palestinian music), Ian Ferrier (Spoken Word) Plus a screening of "We Interrupt this Empire", food, and more!! Come out and shake your ass against the biggest asshole around. No Bush up in Ottawa! No Bush up in this Jam! **Party is BYOB** This is a smoke-free environment. For more info, contact info at education-action.net, or call 931-2377. BUSH OUT OF BAGHDAD! BUSH OUT OF OTTAWA! George W. Bush, commander-in-chief of the US Army and international war criminal, has confirmed his plans to visit Ottawa on November 30 and December 1st 2004. The Canadian government, headed by Paul Martin, is preparing a warm welcome for him, showing its true colors as a willing ally to a terrorist regime and its imperial adventures. Corporate Canada and its family of war profiteers are salivating in anticipation of a Iraq. Palestine. Haiti. Afghanistan. Colombia. Venezuela. Turtle Island. USA. At the borders. Right where you are and around the world, people are waging battles for survival, dignity, freedom and justice against U.S. military and economic offensives and proxy wars. We can do no less. On November 30 and December 1st 2004, we will make the most of the opportunity to confront the Bush and Martin administrations on their murderous policies, so thinly disguised as a "security agenda." Wherever they go and wherever they try to hide, we will be there: the resistance inside the walls of Fortress North America. For more info on how to get a spot on the bus to Ottawa, and the demonstrations being planned, call 514-931-2377, or email info at education-action.net Bush is not welcome in Canada No to Bush in Canada Go to Ottawa and Montreal demonstrations, Tuesday November 30th As a warm-up for stopping Bush from entering Canada, to date, 600 persons have already made a reservation on the buses going to Ottawa on November 30. This is already quite impressive but we can probably do better than that. There are still seats available on these buses and you can make reservations until the end of the day tomorrow (Saturday). To reserve a seat, please phone 514-931-2377 or drop by the offices of the Canadian Federation of Students-Quebec (CFS-Q) 1500 de Maisonneuve West, # 403, very close to metro Guy-Concordia. LEAVING from Montreal at 9 am from Concordia, McGill, and UQAM universities (two of the buses leaving from Berri-UQAM will be marked "Collectif Echec a la guerre" everyone welcomed, of course !) LEAVING from Ottawa (for return trip) : 7:30 pm COST: $5 for students, with card $10 for others You must pay and choose your point of departure at the time of your reservation. OF COURSE, there is also a demonstration at 5:30 pm in Montreal on 30 November, for all those who cannot go to Ottawa. In the next few hours, you should be receiving another message concerning help needed in this regard... EX-Liberal MPs, Caroline Parrish and several activists Encouraging Canadian to refuse Bush Visit to Canada Listen at CKUT on line, http://ckut.ca/archives.php Enter; Date: Thu Nov 25 Start Time: 17:00 End Time: 18:00 Alexa McDonough Refuse Canadian government call for not protesting during George Bush's upcoming visit to STIFLING DEMOCRACY IS NOT ON SAYS MCDONOUGH FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NOVEMBER 26, 2004 HALIFAX -Alexa McDonough, MP for Halifax suggested today that the federal government owes an apology to Canadians for asking them to refrain from exercising their democratic right to peaceful protest during George Bush's upcoming visit to. "I am aghast that the Parliamentary Secretary for Canada-US relations would urge Atlantic Canadians to "take a pause from expressing our view" during Mr. Bush's visit. This signals that Paul Martin's political lieutenants are more interested in ingratiating themselves to the US President than in taking the opportunity to respectfully express legitimate Canadian concerns with the war on Iraq and the threat to world peace posed by Bush unilateralism and a ballistic missile system that will lead to weaponization of space," said McDonough. "It is a sad commentary on the Liberal government and a grotesque irony that Parliamentary Secretary Jennings counselled Atlantic Canadians to stifle their democratic protests on the eve of an all-party motion that pledged Canada would remain resolute in its commitment to freedom and democracy for the people of Ukraine," said McDonough. ------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 21:09:41 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 21:09:41 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Call for Autonomous Actions: Become the Resistance InsideFortress North America (OTTAWA: N30 & D1) Message-ID: In honor of the fifth anniversary of the "Battle of Seattle", November 30, make Bush pay... ============================CALL FOR AUTONOMOUS ACTIONS ===========================BECOME THE RESISTANCE INSIDE FORTRESS NORTH AMERICA The Canadian government, headed by Paul Martin, is preparing a warm welcome for George W. Bush, commander-in-chief of the US Army and international war criminal, showing its true colors as a willing ally to a terrorist regime and its imperial adventures. Corporate Canada and its family of war profiteers are salivating in anticipation of a t?te ? t?te. Iraq. Palestine. Haiti. Afghanistan. Colombia. Venezuela. Turtle Island. USA. At the borders. Right where you are and around the world, people are waging battles for survival, dignity, freedom and justice against U.S. military and economic offensives and proxy wars. We can do no less. We are calling for and encouraging autonomous direct actions throughout the days of N30 and D1. To this end, we are providing the following list of Ottawa-based corporate lobby groups, war profiteers, "security" agencies and government offices which are bound into the politics of violent and oppressive domination. This is only a tiny sampling of Ottawa's imperial offerings - in many ways, "Bush" (the political system, not the individual) is everywhere! But so are we . A map of Ottawa with the locations of each of the following is posted on www.pgablocottawa.net. ++++Crown Corporations and Corporate Lobby Groups++++ -->Canadian Council of Chief Executives (formerly BCNI) (www.ceocouncil.ca) 90 Sparks The biggest corporations in Canada are members of CCCE. In 2003, CCCE came out with their new lobbying agenda: North American Security and Prosperity Initiative (NASPI) which can be seen as corporate Canada's reaction to 9/11. NASPI proposes US-Canadian "harmonization" on tariffs and so-called "trade barriers", border "security", general policing, and the military. CCCE recognises the current necessity of increasing militarisation and "security" in order to maintain privilege in the hyper-capitalist status quo, actively lobbying for missile "defense" and other projects of economic and political domination. -->Canadian Defence Industries Association (CDIA) (www.cdia.ca/) 100 Gloucester, Ste 202 CDIA is a military industry lobby group. It has over 350 members from the a ============================================== -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 21:11:24 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 21:11:24 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: How Zionists Spy On American Message-ID: rense.com How Zionists Spy On American Citizens Around The Clock Blackmail-Worthy American Leadership Become Slaves Of Ariel Sharon 11-25-4 Note - We've run this story before but it remains extremely important for all Americans to read and to ponder its staggering ramifications. -ed Israel, purportedly our friend, has been spying on us all. And we're not talking about individual spooks like Jonathan Pollard, or small-time networks such as the 140 Israelis arrested by the FBI prior to 9/11, or the 5 who were arrested who were cheering and celebrating as the World Trade Towers collapsed. Israel has had a potential wiretap on every phone in America for years, along with the ability to monitor and record who any person is calling, anywhere in America; information of great value even if one does not listen to the calls themselves. Amdocs, Inc. the company which sub contracts billing and directory services for phone companies around the world, including 90 percent of American phone companies, is owned by Israeli interests. Yet another company, Comverse Infosys, is suspected of having built a "back door" into the equipment permanently installed into the phone system that allows instant eavesdropping by law enforcement agencies on any phone in America. This includes yours. Concerns about allowing an Israeli company such intimate access to the infrastructure go back many years. As reported by Fox News, the Israeli company Amdocs was implicated in the leaking of police phone data that resulted in the collapse of on investigation into a massive drug and credit card fraud operation with Israeli connections. In a telling repeat of the Los Angeles drug case, investigators looking into the attacks on the World Trade Towers are again reporting that confidential telephone information is again being leaked in a manner that is interfering with the investigations. Again, Amdocs was implicated. Not content with the phones of ordinary citizens in the United States, evodence has surfaced that Israel compromised the telephone systems at the HIGHEST LEVELS of the US Government. Now, I want you all to stop and think for a minute of the full ramifications of this. Israeli interests have the ability to listen in on ANY phone in America connected to any of the systems used by Amdocs or Comverse Infosys. They have had this ability for years. They can listen in and track the phone calls made by anyone's phone, whether police officer, elected official, media talking head, editor, policy setter, news mogul, even the President of the United States. The Ken Starr report on Whitewater describes how Bill Clinton warned Monica Lewinsky that a foreign government was tapping their phone calls. Few indeed are the people in America who do not have something to hide. That insider trade, the brief but torrid affair, the stolen votes, the deliberate smear, the role one played in an assassination, the acceptance of money from drug runners to look the other way. Be honest. Is there a skeleton in your closet you hope will stay there? Something nobody knows about? Well, if that skeleton involved a phone call, someone may know about it. Amdocs and Comverse Infosys. And their Israeli owners. Just think about it for a moment. Everyone's private phone traffic, right up to the President, potentially visible to Israeli interests. And you cannot find the phone taps or bugs because they are built right into the phone system! Suddenly, a lot of events which have puzzled observers start to make sense. Like the way the US vetoed the UN resolution calling for peace in Palestine, despite being the only 1 out of 15 voting nations to have voted against the measure. The USA gained nothing by this veto. But Israel did. Over the last few weeks, the people of the United States have seen a great deal of evidence pointing the finger of blame for 9/11 at Osama bin Laden and Arabs in general, evidence which is circumstantial, often self-contradictory, and in some cases faked. Yet as was reported in the news evidence also exists linking many of the arrested Israeli spies (some of whom worked for the Israeli telecom companies above) with the events of 9/11. Yet this evidence is NOT being broadcast endlessly on the news. In fact, this evidence is CLASSIFIED. Someone has persuaded" the US Government and the media that the American people are ONLY supposed to see the evidence that points a certain direction, and must never see any evidence that points someplace else. Likewise, the media has been "persuaded" not to report evidence that Israel knew of the 9-11 attacks ahead of time. The foreign press has outright accused Mossad of taking part in the WTC crashbombings, but the American media have been "persuaded" not to cover these accusations. It was well known that there was an Israeli spy, "Mega," inside the CLinton White House -- see, for example, http://www.rense.com/general18/esp.htm . But Clinton ordered the FBI to cease searching for the mole, code-named "Mega". It is now known that "Mega" http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2001/2833mega_spy.html was not just a Mossad spy but a top Mossad agent in America. The cancellation of the hunt for "Mega" occurred at the same time Clinton warned Monica Lewinsky that their phone conversations were being recorded. This strongly suggests that Clinton was "persuaded" to call off the FBI's hunt for "Mega" with the threat of a recorded phone sex session being made public. Because of the purported links between Muslims and the attacks on the World Trade Towers, the US Government has been shutting down all Moslem linked charities in the USA. But the chairman of the Jewish Defense League, a group with a violent history, was arrested recently, in a plot to bomb a US congressman. But the US Government has been "persuaded" not to take actions against Jewish charities, while the media has been "persuaded" to allow the story of hard evidence of JDL terrorism to fade away as quickly as possible. Two Mossad agents were arrested with dynamite inside the Mexican Congress. http://www.fpp.co.uk/BoD/Mossad/Mexico/151001.html The Mexican government was persuaded to release the two men without trial. Meanwhile, the American media has been "persuaded" not to report on the Mexican arrests. Israel receives a hugely disproportionate share of foreign aid from the United States, about $5 billion a year. A large segment of the US population questions the sending of so much money to such a small population while so many people remain homeless on our own streets. But somehow, Congress is "persuaded" to keep sending more cash each and every year. Ariel Sharon faced a war crimes trial and the American media is "persuaded" not to make a big deal of the story. Israel is in violation of the Geneva Accords and the American media is "persuaded" not to make a big deal of that story either. The United Nations accuses Israel of using torture on children. The American media is "persuaded" not to make a big deal of that story either. How is such persuasion possible? Blackmail. The revelation of an Israeli-linked system for monitoring and potentially listening in to the phone calls of every single person in the nation at will opens up the possibility that a massive blackmail operation, unprecedented in scale, is the real force shaping media bias and United States policy. The reality is that this nation's politicians and media leaders all have secrets to hide. Mistresses, drug habits, links to that airfield in Mena, Arkansas, BCCI cash sitting in that bank in Barbados, loot from ADFA in the Cayman's; in a corrupted society only the corrupt can reach the heights of power, and they all have secrets to hide. They are all vulnerable to blackmail. And being the kind of people who were willing to, and usually did, anything to get power, they are also the people willing to do anything to keep it. Look the other way when the drugs come in, spike an embarrassing news story or plant a fake one that embarrasses your enemy, alter the books, destroy a report, falsify data, destroy evidence, maybe even allow the military might of the United States and the blood of her children to be tricked into fighting someone else's war. History has shown that if a crime is possible, it is also inevitable. The cold hard reality is that Amdocs and Comverse Infosys are the most powerful tools a blackmailer could ever hope for, opening up the private lives of everyone in the nation, including the secrets of targets able to control the media and US policy. Dare we ignore this potential threat? Or will the media be "persuaded" that all this fuss about Israeli-owned companies with wires into the phone system is just a lot of nonsense? There is one more aspect to this issue that needs to be looked at. If indeed Israel is blackmailing our officials and media icons, it is because those who are being blackmailed ARE blackmailable. And we have a blackmailable leadership because we, as a people, have gotten lazy in selecting who we allow to govern us. And now we pay the price. http://christianidentity.members.easyspace.com/amdocs.htm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 21:13:18 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 21:13:18 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Thankful for the simplest blessing - water: by MORRISON Message-ID: This is a GREAT ARTICLE!!! Look at the bottom of page and see the organizations Joyce and her husband are involved in . They are ideas for what can and should be done in local rural communities throughout the country. I had the opportunity to meet Joyce a couple of years ago at Freedom 21. She is always looking for people to contribute articles for her publication and networking system. She would like to hear about experiences in your region. We can help each other by sharing, especially if we provide not only an accounting of problems but also some success stories of how to deal with these problems which too many of us share. Clarice From: Wanda Benton [mailto:wlbenton at salemnet.com] Sent: Thursday, November 25, 2004 8:30 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MORRISON: Thankful for the simplest blessing - water From: J Morrison Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 2004 8:34 PM http://www.illinoisleader.com by Joyce Morrison (admin at illinoisleader.com) OPINION -- It is so easy to be thankful. As I write this column, I am warm and I have never been hungry. I have electricity and indoor plumbing. Certainly all my needs have been met over and over and I thank God for His endless blessings this Thanksgiving. While some of the younger generation cannot even fathom what I have said, there are still a few million left who do. It is good to reflect on some of the blessings we take for granted. At the same time we need to pray and be thankful for the troops who are fighting to defend these blessings and freedoms. One of our greatest blessings is water. It is a miraculous resource God has provided which we should be most grateful. And it is a renewable resource . . . it rains. Two-thirds of the earth's surface is made of water. Between 60 to 75% of our body is made of water. All forms of life require water. Without water, we would have no food. The Scriptures are filled with illustrations of "water." We bathe, wash our clothes, our dishes, even our cars and enjoy water sports. Water is used for physical therapy. We are blessed when we have an adequate supply of water. Rural water has changed the landscape of the countryside as new homes are springing up everywhere. No worry about drilling a dry well as rural water will provide their needs and what was once thought to be worthless land is now most valuable. While complaints are heard of people building on this rural land, economic development programs and rural water encourage more building. While we take for granted the abundance of water, try to imagine what life would be like if the government had total control of our water. Go another step and research Global Commons, Agenda 21 and Sustainable Development and their goals for water management. Water has always been the measure of a good farm. A good drinking well adequate to water the livestock and irrigate the crops has often meant the difference between success and failure. A creek branch where the livestock can drink without having to pump water into a trough is an invaluable resource for a family farm, even though today we use electric pumps. Owning one's own water supply is a freedom and right we have always enjoyed in the United States. But this freedom is now being threatened along with the private ownership of property. Owners of private wells in Missouri may have already lost another freedom. According to a property rights organization in Missouri, HB 1433 was signed into law by their governor and will set into motion the formation of Watershed Improvement Districts. This bill was passed into law without discussion from anyone who might disagree with it. It enables volume monitoring (metering) of individual wells, mandatory replacing of individual septic systems (financed by low interest loans), and an increase of taxes to residents within the district. Missouri is not alone in wanting to meter private wells. Pennsylvania, Washington, California and other states are trying to pass legislation for well metering. Why are they implementing this? Is it about collecting more money or could control be the main purpose? Who is behind this move? It takes water to raise food. By controlling the water and food supply, could this be another way to control the masses? In some areas, rainfall is adequate to grow fruits, vegetables and grain, but there is talk of a "rain tax." The Asheville Tribune's 2002 article "The 'raintax' cometh? Be prepared to pay the government for the rain on your roof," caused quite a stir. The folks of Klamath Falls, Oregon will never fully recover from the year the government shut off their irrigation water to benefit two supposedly endangered species of fish. Devastated Klamath farmers said "When the last salmon is gone there will be no more salmon. When the last farmer is gone, there will be no more food." Without an adequate water supply, there will be no farmers to grow the food and the result will be hunger. Foreign countries such as France and Germany already own many of our large municipal water supplies. Germany owns the American Water Works that provides rural water to our area. They provide water for a large municipal Metro-East portion of Illinois as well as municipal water works in 23 states. Do they own yours? Meters on private wells and rain tax could take away one of our most cherished gifts from God -- free, flowing water. But those who know Him know about His living water and they shall not thirst. Although Global dictates have the plan for metering and monitoring private water supplies, now is the time to be watchful and prevent such legislation from becoming law in your state or it will be, "Welcome to becoming a Global Citizen - come share your Global Commons." ? 2004 IllinoisLeader.com -- all rights reserved _______ What are your thoughts concerning the issues raised in this commentary? Write a letter to the editor at letters at illinoisleader.com and include your name and town. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joyce Morrison lives in southern Illinois. She is a chapter leader for Concerned Women for America and she and her husband, Gary, represent the local Citizens for Private Property Rights. Joyce is Secretary to the Board of Directors of Rural Restoration/ADOPT Mission, a national farm ministry located in Sikeston. She has become a nationally-recognized advocate for property rights. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: clear.gif Type: image/gif Size: 74 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: SZ200_waterpump.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 25571 bytes Desc: not available URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 21:15:09 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 21:15:09 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: WHAT THE COLLAPSE OF THE US DOLLAR WILL MEAN TO THE WORLD Message-ID: FYI WHAT THE COLLAPSE OF THE US DOLLAR WILL MEAN TO THE WORLD Over the last few days there has been a number of articles in the media about the steady decline of the $US against the Euro.While many economists have forecasted the possiblity of the dollar declining against the Euro for sometime, most do not comprehend the significance of this.Some believe that the decline of the dollar against the currencies of American's trading partners will help correct the USA's trade deficit, and the dollar will stop falling when the trade imbalance is corrected.However, the evidence is that the opposite is happening - the $US has declined 40% against the Euro over the last 2 years, and during this time America's trade deficit has continues to deteriorate. There is now nothing the USA can do to prevent the collapse of its currency, and its economy. It has no reserves to support its value, and has the most indebted country in the world, is dependant of the credit from America's former enemies.Over the last couple of days, both Russia and China have said they will be switching their considerable dollar reserves into Euro.This will only hasten the lack of confidence in the dollar, creating a global lack of confidence in the currency, and setting into free-fall.It will soon bring about the total collapse of the dollar, and the American economy. The collapse of the dollar will throw the world into a global depression.Those nations with large external debts will not be able to trade sufficiently to earn the income to service their debts, and will slide into bankruptcy.The economies of New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the UK will also totally collapse, as a result of their indebtedness and not being able to service their borrowings.It will result in the Anglo-Saxon nations facing abject poverty, our people facing starvation, and a total break-down in society.Crime will become rampant.Law and order will cease to exist.Disease will become widespread. The Asian economies, which have depended upon American trade, will also be severely affected.However, they will recover after a period, but only after considerable political and economic turmoil. The EU will be in a much better position to survive the coming economic chaos.An influx of capital into the Euro zone by those selling dollars will provide the funding for rebuilding the economies of the new United States of Europe.However, the collapse of the $US will still severely affect the already depressed German and French economies.The resulting economic turmoil will create the need for the acceptance of a strong EU leader, who will be able to make the necessary political and economic reforms to enable Europe revive their economies.Those nations that accept the new EU Constitution will come under the control of this new leader, creating Europe as the world's new Super Power. The Euro will become the world's only reserve currency, creating the means for the new United States of Europe to become the dominant economic power in the world.The new Europe will be able to dictate the terms on how the global economy should be run.They will take over the administration of America and Britain, placing the Anglo-Saxon people in bondage for repayment of their debts. Americans do not appear to comprehend the bitterness that has grown around the world as a result of their illegal invasion of Iraq.While once Europeans looked up to, and admired America; today it is held in utter contempt for its arrogance and warmongering. Anti-European comments in the American media have only added to this hostility towards the US. America's attempt to impose its version of government on the world, its hypocrisy in claiming to be the moral leader of the world, while flooding the media with degenerate filth and garbage, has bought upon it disgust and contempt that few Americans can comprehend. We are about to enter a time of tribulation for the Anglo-Saxon people.Some will ask why God has allowed this to happen to us.The answer is that as we have rejected God and His Laws, so He has allowing us to be punished for our sins. Bruce Porteous bruceport at xtra.co.nz 24 November, 2004 APFN-1 YahooGroups: Subscribe: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/apfn-1/join Unsubscribe: apfn-1-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com APFN MSG BOARD: `In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.' http://disc.server.com/Indices/149495.html APFN CONTENTS PAGE: http://www.apfn.org/old/apfncont.htm Without Justice, there is JUST_US! [LEAK-GATE] INVESTIGATING THE WHITE HOUSE http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LEAK-GATE/ Find elected officials, including the president, members of Congress, governors, state legislators, local officials, and more. http://congress.org/congressorg/dbq/officials/ APFN, PMB 107, 6630 W. CACTUS #B107, GLENDALE, AZ 85304 http://www.apfn.org/apfn/kenvardon.htm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 21:16:29 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 21:16:29 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Angry Mexican Mob Message-ID: rense.com Angry Mexican Mob Burns Policemen Alive By Traci Carl Associated Press 11-25-4 MEXICO CITY -- The images were chilling: A young man, his face bloody and swollen, struggled to tell a television reporter that he was an undercover federal agent, shortly before an angry mob burned him and another officer alive on camera. The horrific footage from an incident that took place on Tuesday has sparked a debate on growing vigilante justice in Mexico, where police are viewed as inept at best and corrupt at worst and where many say they must take matters into their own hands. Tuesday's killings occurred amid rumours that children had been kidnapped from an elementary school in San Juan Ixtayopan, a neighbourhood of 35,000 on Mexico City's southern outskirts. When residents saw three men taking photos and staking out the school on Tuesday evening, they took action. One after another, they set off dozens of crude, rooftop bullhorn alarms that serve as backup security. Neighbours heeding the alarms poured into the streets, where they cornered then beat the men. Surrounding crowds cheered and shouted obscenities as blood splattered. Reporters arrived and the assailants pushed the victims before television cameras so they could be interviewed. Barely conscious and struggling to talk, they nodded and gave one-word answers when asked whether they were federal agents. As television helicopters hovered overhead, police arrived. One man was rescued, carried away unconscious. The other two were bathed in gasoline and set ablaze, their charred bodies left in the street as dozens of people milled about. Federal police director Admiral Jose Luis Figueroa said the three men were plainclothes agents who had been sent to the neighbourhood to investigate drug dealing near the school. Police were searching yesterday for those responsible for instigating the violence but had made no arrests. Yet public debate focused on the police. Many questioned why it had taken riot officers hours to arrive. Others said vigilante justice is to be expected in a country where the police are infamous for seeking bribes and often implicated in the same crimes they are supposed to prevent. There appeared to be little remorse in San Juan Ixtayopan, a picturesque community of small concrete homes tucked into pine-covered hills at the foot of a snow-capped volcano. Under the watchful eyes of nearly 300 uniformed federal police officers yesterday, residents in the town's central plaza discussed the events of the previous night as vendors loudly hawked newspapers carrying photos of the victims and boldface headlines screaming LYNCHED. Many people were reluctant to speak to reporters or denied they were present during the beatings. But others complained that police had ignored initial reports of the kidnappings, and said they did not regret what had happened. ? Copyright 2004 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/ TPStory/LAC/20041125/MEXICO25/TPInternational/Americas -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 21:21:27 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 21:21:27 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Salt Lake Lawyer - FBI Likely Knew Of Oklahoma Bombing Plot Message-ID: The Midwest Bank Robbers aka ARA was a black bag operation, multi-agency, orchestrated by the FBI, the BATF, the Secret Service and the Israeli Mossad. The informant referred to in this filing is the Jewish intelligence asset named Andreas Strassmeir. Strassmeir was the ringleader behind the plotting of the OKC catastrophe.) rense.com Salt Lake Lawyer - FBI Likely Knew Of Oklahoma Bombing Plot By Pamela Manson The Salt Lake Tribune 11-25-4 Seeking disclosure: In a court filing, he wants the agency to provide an unedited 1995 memo and a related report about his brother's death in prison The FBI "in all likelihood" had advance notice of the Oklahoma City bombing plot but did nothing to prevent the attack, a Salt Lake City lawyer claims. Attorney Jesse Trentadue alleges an informant infiltrated a white supremacist compound in Oklahoma and learned Timothy McVeigh was trying to recruit accomplices there about two weeks before the April 19, 1995, bombing. This information probably was relayed to the FBI before the bombing, the lawyer contends in a document filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City. Trentadue has sued the FBI, alleging it is violating the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by refusing to turn over documents connected to the 1995 death of his brother in an Oklahoma prison. As evidence that the agency has failed to do a proper search for the records he wants, he points to a FBI memorandum sent to members of a task force investigating the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, which killed 168 people. Although he specifically requested that memo, the FBI claimed it either did not exist or could not be located, Trentadue says in court documents. Yet Trentadue - who does not say how he obtained a copy - filed in court a print copy of a heavily edited electronic memo dated Jan. 4, 1996. The memo also has been mentioned in prior media reports in Oklahoma. It is unclear who wrote the memo, which appears to have been sent to FBI offices in several cities. It states someone affiliated with the Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama-based civil rights group, was at a white supremacist compound in April 1995, when one of the Oklahoma bombing suspects allegedly called looking for a co-conspirator. The name of the caller is blacked out, but the person is described as one of the two indicted defendants in the bombing. The two defendants were McVeigh, who was executed in 2001 for the crime, and Terry Nichols, who is serving a life sentence. An employee at the Department of Justice, which represents the FBI in the lawsuit, said Wednesday that no one was available for comment on the memo. The department in the past has declined to talk about pending legal actions. A call to FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., was not returned Wednesday. Trentadue is pursuing the document because he believes the investigation of the bombing holds clues to his brother's death. Kenneth Trentadue, 44, was being held on an alleged parole violation in a federal prison in Oklahoma City when guards found him dead on Aug. 21, 1995, hanging from a noose made of torn bed sheets. His family insists he was killed and contend correctional officials destroyed evidence; authorities have denied the allegations and contend he committed suicide. Several investigations also ruled the death a suicide. Trentadue believes the FBI mistakenly suspected his brother was part of a gang that robbed banks to fund attacks on the government, and that authorities killed him ?when things got out of hand? during an interrogation. Trentadue believes that at one time, the FBI was investigating whether the bank robbers were connected to the bombing. FBI agents have said there was no connection between the six bank robbery gang suspects who were arrested and McVeigh and Nichols. One agent, testifying in a state murder trial against Nichols last spring, said the only link was that the robbers had connections to an Elohim City, Okla., supremacist compound, and there was evidence McVeigh called there once. As part of his own probe into Kenneth's death, Trentadue had asked the FBI for records related to the robbers. According to his suit, an anonymous caller told him a few months after his brother died that his brother, a convicted bank robber, had been murdered because he fit a profile of the gang members. The FBI responded it has followed FOIA procedures and has asked U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball in Salt Lake City to dismiss the suit. In turn, Trentadue on Tuesday asked the judge to order the agency to produce two specific documents: An unedited copy of the 1995 FBI memo and a report he believes was prepared after an FBI agent and two assistant U.S. attorneys investigating his brother's death interviewed him a year later. http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_2473280 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 21:59:03 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 21:59:03 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Clouds on the Organic Horizon Message-ID: WHAT'S NEW ON CORPWATCH Holding Corporations Accountable << http://www.corpwatch.org >> CLOUDS ON THE ORGANIC HORIZON Is organic farming becoming the victim of its own success? By Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero Until a decade ago, organic foods were available only through tiny farmers markets, health and natural food stores, but today their growing popularity means that more organic food is now sold by chain stores like Whole Foods. Often, the food itself is grown on corporate-owned farms, no longer synonymous with small farms, rural communities, social justice and humane treatment of animals. http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11712 WORKING ASSETS SUBSCRIBERS CAN VOTE FOR CORPWATCH! Are you a Working Assets customer? If so, VOTE for CorpWatch in the 2004 Workings Assets Donation Ballot. The more members who vote for us the more money we receive. The deadline to vote is 12/31/04. http://www.workingassets.com/voting/ HOT OFF THE PRESS! Seven Stories Press publishes "Iraq, Inc.: A Profitable Occupation" - the most complete chronicle to date of the exploits of private contractors hired to reconstruct and manage Iraq. Donate to CorpWatch and get your own copy today! http://www.corpwatch.org/donate CHINA: Wal-Mart Allows Unions http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11700 USA: Auditors Support 15 Percent Witholding on Halliburton's Iraq Work http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11703 USA: Merck Steps Up Public Relations Campaign After Recall http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11698 IRAQ: Silence Surrounds Fates of Contractors http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11687 UK: Export Credit Agency Faces Legal Challenge http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11692 SERBIA: European Agency Survives Allegation it was Bribed by Siemens http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11702 __________________________________________________________ You received this message as a subscriber on the list: corp-watchers at lists.corpwatch.org To be removed from the list, send any message to: corp-watchers-unsubscribe at lists.corpwatch.org For all list information and functions, including changing your subscription mode and options, visit the Web page: http://lists.corpwatch.org/lists/info/corp-watchers =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- New Address! CorpWatch -- Holding Corporations Accountable 1611 Telegraph Ave, Suite 702 Oakland, CA 94612 USA Tel: 510-271-8080 Fax: 510-271-8083 Email: corpwatch at corpwatch.org URL: http://www.corpwatch.org =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 21:59:56 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 21:59:56 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: CONSORTING WITH THE ENEMY? Message-ID: MadCow Morning News 11.25.2004 now up at TheMadCowMorningNews www.madcowprod.com CONSORTING WITH THE ENEMY? A New Series in the the MadCowMorningNews attempts to find answers to some disturbing questions. Three years and counting since the 9.11 attack without an official investigation to whose results the American people are privy, and the questions are only growing thornier. For example: What if FDR had been discovered secretly meeting with NAZI officials after the start of World War II? Yet that's what seems to be happening now in the War on Terror: a.. Mohammed bin Zayid, the UAE's Crown Prince and Chief of Staff, is tied to al-Qaeda yet regularly meets with Bush Administration Officials, has learned, to discuss the prevention of terrorism. b.. Why are some of the terrorists on the FBI's 9/11 suspect list heavily-connected to high-level officials internationally? c.. How come these same high level officials, in turn, also have strong ties to the current U.S. Administration? d.. Why have Bush Administration officials repeatedly met with people linked to 9/11-like Sami al-Arian and Abdurahman al-Amoudi-even after the attack? e.. Why are Bush Administration officials quietly advocating "reaching out" to the Muslim Brotherhood? f.. Why was President Bush thanking Sami Al-Arian's family for a book they sent him, and expressing "regret" about how their son was treated by the Secret Service... even after he was already well-known to law enforcement as a terrorist sympathizer? Is there a pattern here? Read the whole story at: TheMadCowMorningNews www.madcowprod.com "When Matt & Katie aren't enough." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 22:02:13 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 22:02:13 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] enemy propaganda Message-ID: Diamonds, gold, oil and gas driving frontier economy / Natural gas reserves estimated to be worth US$406 quadrillion http://www.nnsl.com/Opps04/index.html To get a good idea of how fast opportunity springs up in the North, consider this: Seven years ago, Canada had no diamond mines. Who had heard the name Ekati and Diavik? Now Canada, with these two mines in the NWT near the Nunavut border, is the third largest diamond producer in the world. Mining is a big business in more ways than one. Here a Diavik worker is dwarfed by one of the company's eight Komatsu 830E haul trucks. - Elizabeth Hargreaves/NNSL photo If politics allow and natural gas prices stay high, the Mackenzie Valley pipeline will take $4 billion to build. It's estimated there are 65 trillion cubic feet of gas from the Liard Valley to the Beaufort Delta. At a price of about US$6/mmbtu, that puts the value at more than US$406 quadrillion. In Nunavut, by the western shore of Hudson Bay, a region called Kivalliq, the Meadowbank project sits with three million ounces of gold reserves to be mined. It isn't alone as more gold deposits dot the two territories. A promising one at Hope Bay, in the Kitikmeot, is estimated to hold over five million ounces. NWT Premier Joe Handley who has been trying to sell the idea for the last two years: Hydro power from run of river type dams on Great Bear River and Mackenzie River can produce 3,300 megawatts of power for export to the south. The above world class opportunities create countless other opportunities. The exploration industry grows larger with each profitable mine or oil and gas find. Construction, ground and air transportation, manufacturing and service industries all enjoy new business. The people These rich economic opportunities are creating equally valuable political opportunities for more than 60,000 Northerners, half of whom are the Inuit, Dene, Inuvialuit and Metis. Aboriginal governments, the largest of which operates in Nunavut through Nunavut Tunngavik, have a powerful role to play in developing the resources on the vast lands to which they have legal title. The Inuvialuit in the Beaufort Delta are past the strictly political stage. The Inuvialuit Development Corporation has large holdings in oil, real estate and business service companies. In contrast, the Deh Cho, at the southern end of the proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline, is wrestling with political development. At the same time, Deh Cho leaders are trying to prepare for maximizing value from the gas flowing both out of and over their land. With the federal and territorial governments involved, it's a confusing and taxing process in every sense. BHP Billiton, owner of the Ekati Diamond mine and Rio Tinto/Aber, owners of the Diavik mine, have managed to navigate the politics and get two mines built. When the profits are there, anything can be accomplished. Diverse economy, career opportunities Before oil and gas, diamonds and gold, there was the harvesting of caribou, fish, muskox and fur, industries which still exist and in some cases are expanding. Caribou, muskox and char from across the North are harvested, processed and shipped as delicacies to Europe and across North America. There are profitable processing plants in Cambridge Bay, Rankin Inlet and Panniqtuuq. Commercial muskox is an emerging industry thanks to research spearheaded by the Inuvialuit in the Western Arctic. Muskox meat has a beeflike taste and texture. Scarves, mittens and sweaters are produced from the muskox's under-hair known as qiviut. Fishing in NWT, mainly the Great Slave Lake freshwater fishery, has a solid resource of whitefish and trout, but is struggling against soft prices, high costs and lack of capital. Nunavut is expanding its shrimp and turbot fishery, with char being a steady fishery in all regions. The future should see Inuit-owned trawlers, increased processing operations and expanding international markets. Compared to the other two thirds of Canada, the North lacks infrastructure. The highway system services only half the NWT while the Mackenzie River, as it has for centuries, is a main supply route. Nunavut relies on the ocean shipping for its annual resupply and air transport does the rest. Money for more roads and strategically placed sea ports must come from the federal government. The two territorial governments are also attempting to change the financial deal they have with the federal government. Right now, all royalties from Northern resource development go to Ottawa, regardless of what it costs the Northern governments to manage that development. With the unparalleled opportunities coming and the skyrocketing world demand for greater natural resources, Canada's North is ensured a higher profile in the national economy. -- Macdonald Stainsby http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green In the contradiction lies the hope --Bertholt Brecht. ============================================== List Rules: http://www.lefthook.org/Rules.html [Please clip all unnecessary text if you are replying to a previous e-mail.] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 22:05:05 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 22:05:05 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Day of Mourning Message Message-ID: Day of Mourning (so-called Thanksgiving Day) Message I refuse to concede to the deceivers of the overlords of this country that they love America and those those who speak out and resist the policies of the overlords are some how disloyal to America. While I do acknowledge that the term America is questionable and the Americas extend from the top of North America to the southern tip of South America, but only those in the dominating country of the Americas are called Americans, that question of words we use is a topic of discussion for a later time. The deceivers of the overlords claim to love America and to be loyal to America means blind acceptance to their actions that they call American interests. I challenge that concept as being a false misrepresentation of what has been our history and the reality of America today. Is America only that which benefits the overlords? Or is America the land and the people who live within what we call America? If America is the land and the people then I say to the deceivers that I do love America because I seek to protect the land of America from the abuses that the greed of the overlords cause it and I seek the end of oppression and exploitation of the people of America by the American overlords. I do not believe the overlords do love America. Rather I believe that the overlords see America as something to exploit in order to increase their wealth. Thus when confronted by the statement from the deceivers, ?America love it or leave it?, my response is, I do love America, its land and people and it is you, the overlords who exploit the land and the people, who do not love America and you should pack your bags and leave! Today many of us are calling for peace because of another foreign war the overlords have gotten America into. Some wonder why it is that we are still forced to march for peace after so many wars? The answer to that question will be found in history. Columbus did not discover America; he invaded it, not unlike the invasion of Iraq. He and his people tortured and killed the people whose land he invaded in the pursuit of the interests of the overlords of Spain, which at that time was gold, not unlike so-called American interests that of oil. Though some of the deceivers will cry with bleeding hearts that what was done to the Native people of this land long ago was wrong, and they show how believable their words are by celebrating Columbus Day and Thanksgiving every year. From the days of Columbus?s invasion to the invasion of Iraq there has been a policy in the Americas of the overlords using the might of arms to carry out their interests of accumulation of wealth and power. The formula of the overlords, be it in foreign wars or the war of conquest here in America, has always been basically the same. When the overlords see something they want, which they call their interests, that someone else has they first demonize those who have what they want, sometimes by showing their faults or by outright lies, in the minds of the America people. That process is to instill in the minds of the American people that those who stand in the way of American interests are our enemies. Once that is done the overlords have the justification to use whatever force they desire to annihilate the so-called enemy and gain that which they want. To the American people, the overlords demand that they sacrifice, fight and die for interests that do not directly benefit them and to refuse or even to challenge this arrangement is to be seen as disloyal and un-American. Even when the war is fought on the other side of the world the deceivers tell the America people that they are fighting and dieing for their freedom when in fact they are fighting and dieing only for the benefit of the interests of the overlords. In the modern world the overlords act in the interest of large corporations. Not only are wars fought for the benefit of these large corporations, but the overlords have signed so-called trade deals, such as NAFTA and so on, and created international organizations in the direct interests of the corporations, such as the WTO, IMF and World Bank, and they sell all this to the American people as being in their interests also. We the American people, how do we benefit from this? Our jobs go some where else where cheaper labor is found, our labor protection is lost, our environmental protections are lost, in other words like the wars we are forced to fight, we always lose went we go along with the interests of the overlords. And if we resist or try to improve our conditions, the overlords have their political police force, the FBI, to suppress us and force us to submit to the power of the overlords. Yes my friends, the FBI is a political police force. The FBI, since it was created, has been used against most every social movement in America. It has been used against the peace movement, the civil rights movement, the labor movement, the environmental movement, against the movements of people of color and many other such movements. If the overlords do really love America as they say then why do they seek to suppress the American people when they seek social change in order to improve their lives? The real reason is that any improvement in the lives of the American people is seen by the overlords as a threat to their purpose of maximized accumulation of power and wealth. Let me tell you a little story here. There was a group of people who resisted the conquest of their land by the American overlords. A war was fought and in time a peace treaty was signed, though the treaty did give the American overlords some land, the American overlords signed a document that granted the resisters some of their former land and sovereignty within the boundaries of that land. No sooner than the treaty was signed the army of the overlords took up bases in the resisters land and began to enforce its will upon those people. It was seen that if the resisters culture, religion, identity and even their language could be done away with that in time the overlords could just seize the remaining land with out much resistance. They outlawed many cultural practices, outlawed their religion and sent in missionaries of the overlord?s religion to force these people to convert to it. When a group of people tried to practice their religion they were massacre, children, women and men. They kidnapped the children and placed them in interment camps that they called boarding schools and were not allowed to see their families for years. In these interment schools, their colture, religion and language was beaten out of them. Then the overlords set up a government for them upon the request of oil companies so that mineral rights could be signed. The overlords themselves would run a trust fund that royalties would be placed in because those people, it was said, could not do that for themselves. That trust fund was robed and is the largest financial scandal in the history of America, though few outside of the victims seem to care about it. And to aid the genocide of these people the overlords had a secret force sterilization program. The land that these people were forced to live on was land that the overlords had once viewed as worthless land. Later on uranium was found in a section of these people?s land and the overlords wanted that uranium for their weapons of mass destruction and for their nuclear power plants. Knowing that these people would not willingly give up any more of their land and that there were still, even after all they had been through, people on that land that resisted the overlords and held on to their culture, the overlords sent in their political police force with a covert plan to suppress all who may resist the interests of the overlords in stealing the land they wanted for the mining corporations. Some people did resist and then political police force used out right murder, 67 resisters were killed in two years, villages that were seen as strongholds of resisters were invaded and shot up. Many resisters were sent to prisons. One encampment of resisters was set up for a firefight so that it could be destroyed. In that firefight two of the invading political police died as the resisters defended themselves from a murderous attack. Those who defended themselves were called murders by the invaders. This true story did not take place in some foreign land like Iraq. It took place on the Pine Ridge Oglala Lakota Reservation within the borders that the state of South Dakota claims. The person in charge of the political police force at that time, the head of the local FBI office, Norman Zigrossi, defended the illegal FBI actions by saying: ?Indians are a conquered nation and the FBI is merely acting as a colonial police force.? He went on to say: ?When you?re conquered, the people you?re conquered by dictate your future.? How easy that statement can be seen as the policy in Iraq or any other place the interests of the overlords are played out by military force. The wars here at home and in foreign lands are not about liberation and freedom, they are about conquest. It should also be pointed out that the Lakotas were not conquered, but rather a peace treaty was signed that the U.S. government violated. Three of the Native resisters were put on trial for murder. The trial of the first two Native resisters ended with an all white jury finding them not guilty for reason of self-defense. The third Native resister, Leonard Peltier, was caught up in Canada on Feb. 6, 1976. The U.S. Government was able to extradite Leonard by knowing lying to the Canadian courts, that has been proven. Leonard was put on trial and the government intimidated witness, who later made public statements to that fact. Key evidence was fabricated. Evidences was and still is being withheld. Through the appeals process Leonard?s defense team has disproved the government?s case to the point that the government has stated that they don?t know what involvement Leonard may or may not have had in the deaths of the two FBI agents. Though Leonard was converted in his trial as being one of the people who shot the FBI agents, the government now has changed that, without and new trail, to say that Leonard ?aided and abetted? in the deaths of the agents by just being there that day. Given the fact that the first two Native resisters were found not guilty for reason of self-defense, that means Leonard has been locked up in a cage since 1976 for ?aiding and abetting? an act of self-defense. Last year the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, in a statement denying Leonard?s latest appeal, put Leonard?s situation into more truthful terms when it stated: ?Much of the government?s behavior at the Pine Ridge Reservation and its prosecution of Mr. Peltier is to be condemned. The government withheld evidence. It intimidated witnesses. These facts are not disputed.? The peace movement and other such movements can never win out in the long run by only resisting each war or social issue at a time. These movements need to learn that it is the long time policies of war and injustice that must be changed in order to stop these wars and injustices. Some times the minds of social activists look at what is happening in foreign lands and over look what has happened in their own backyard. This must change because, I believe, social policy must change at home in order to change elsewhere. Though we do not wish for people to stop all the other things they are doing. We only ask all social activists to realize the important connections between the issues they are working on and the great need to gain real justice for Leonard Peltier. Please help this campaign for justice for Leonard Peltier by coming out for our Feb. 5, 2005 Annual Regional Tacoma March and Rally for Justice, and help bring out all the people that you can. Please contact us if you can help get out fliers and posters. On this Day of Mourning when we remember the victims of the genocide of Native people. I fast as I do every year on this day. I fast also as a means of giving thanks to all that have given so much in the struggle for the well-being of the people. I fast and I continue to work for justice for Leonard as I have for the last 25 years because I do love this land and the people. And I know that there is a power greater than all their weapons and wealth. That is the spirit of the people when it rises up to demand an end to war and injustice. In The Spirit Of Solidarity Arthur J. Miller Tacoma LPSG PLEASE POST WIDELY From: TACOMA LEONARD PELTIER SUPPORT GROUP P.O. BOX 5464 TACOMA, WA 98415-0464 Tacoma-lpsg at ojibwe.us bayou at blarg.net ANNOUNCING 12TH ANNUAL NORTHWEST REGIONAL INTERNATIONAL DAY OF SOLIDARITY WITH LEONARD PELTIER MARCH AND RALLY FOR JUSTICE SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2005. TACOMA, WA MARCH FOR JUSTICE: 12:00 NOON Portland Ave. Park (on Portland Ave. between E. 24th and E. Fairbanks Ave. Take Portland Ave. exit off I-5 and head east) RALLY FOR JUSTICE: 1:00 PM U.S. Federal Court House, 1717 Pacific Ave. Program (more to be added later) Harold Belmont: Elder, Native People?s Alliance With Friends and Allies Dorothy Ackerman: Lakota Elder, Portland, OR Aztec Dancers Matilaja: Yu?Pik/Yakama Pete Sanchez: Ktunaxa (Kutenai), Drummer Jim Page: Folk Singer/Activist Michael One Road: AIM, Portland, OR Jeanette Bushnell: Anishinaabe Kerwin Hemlock: Drummer Russell Redner: AIM. Larry Mosqueda: Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace and Olympia CISPES. Juan Jose Bocanegra: Community organizer and long time Peltier supporter. Steve Hapy, Jr: Tacoma LPSG Arthur J. Miller: Tacoma LPSG NW AIM DRUM FANANCIAL DONATIONS ARE GREATLY NEEDED: We need to raise money for printing fliers, posters and for our mailings. Please send donations to: Tacoma LPSG, P.O. Box 5464, Tacoma, WA 98415-0464 (make checks out to: Tacoma Leonard Peltier Support Group) HELP NEED: We need supporters to pass this message on to e-mail lists, news web sites and to groups, organizations and to your friends. Also we need people to get out fliers by passing them out and/or posting them. You can either make your own flier out of the information in this message or send us a message with your address and we will mail you fliers. CARAVANS FOR JUSTICE (CARPOOLS): You can help by organize transportation for your friends, families and or people in groups that you are involve with to the march and rally. We will again try to organize caravans for justice from the north and the south. If you can help with that please let us know. We will need to have meeting points for the caravans soon. PORTLAND: Last year people in the Portland area talked about organizing a caravan/car pool. Is there anyone who would be interested in organizing one this year? If so please let us know. Those who wish to sign up on the NWPeltierSupport e-mail list can do so by sending an e-mail to: nwpeltiersupport-subscribe at lists.riseup.net . . . . -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 22:08:24 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 22:08:24 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Baptist Minister Dies in Custody While Seeking Asylum Message-ID: > Amnesty International is saddened and outraged that an 81-year-old asylum > seeker, the Rev. Joseph Dantica, has died in detention in Florida. Rev. > Dantica arrived in Miami on October 29, 2004, entering the country legally > with his own passport and a valid visa. The minister had fled Haiti after > he cooperated with Haitian police and UN troops conducting a raid - and > then was threatened by Haitian gang members as a result. Upon his arrival > at Miami International Airport, Rev. Dantica forthrightly declared that he > wished to apply for asylum, even though this meant giving up the > opportunity to enter the country on his visitor's visa. > > Instead of releasing the elderly minister to his family in the United > States - some of whom are U.S. citizens - the authorities sent him to the > Krome detention center, southwest of Miami. His family reports that his > medicine was confiscated. After several days in detention, Dantica became > violently ill, and was eventually transferred to Jackson Memorial Hospital > in Miami. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) refused to allow Rev. > Dantica's family members to visit him in the hospital - "for security > reasons" - and he died there, alone. > > ACT NOW: > http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=11325 > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to aiusa-refugee as: colleenr at speakeasy.net > To unsubscribe send a blank email to > leave-aiusa-refugee-567022S at lists.amnestyusa.org > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 22:09:44 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 22:09:44 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] BUSH TERROR Film Tour Message-ID: Black Cat Productions presents: BUSH TERROR Film Tour http://users.resist.ca/~blackcat/bushterror.pdf Nov. 29 - Dec. 9, 2004 8 Cities / 9 Screenings VICTORIA - Nov. 29 & 30 DUNCAN - Dec. 1 NANAIMO - Dec. 2 CUMBERLAND - Dec. 3 COURTENAY - Dec. 4 VANCOUVER - Dec. 7 GIBSONS - Dec. 8 ROBERTS CREEK - Dec. 9 See below for full tour date and venue details. Following up on the public's overwhelming thirst for infomation surrounding the events of September 11, 2001, Black Cat Productions continues its mission to spread critical information, analysis, and awareness through film and discussion. We are pleased to announce the "Bush Terror Film Tour" beginning in Victoria on Nov. 30th. The tour heads up-island to Nanaimo and the Comox Valley before heading to Vancouver and the Sunshine Coast. Black Cat's previous road show "911 EMERGENCY" toured the lower mainland and Vancouver Island in mid-September with a three and a half hour film presentation which seriously questioned the official story of Sept. 11. The tour was an overwhelming success with sold-out screenings and near-capacity crowds at every venue. The Bush Terror Tour follows up with new and updated information about 9-11, and uncovers the insidious agenda of the neo-conservative Bush administration who are using Sept. 11 to usher in their global plans. Two films will be screened, followed by discussion on the questions: "Where do we go from here?" and, "What can we do?" The first film, "THE GREAT CONSPIRACY: The 9/11 News Special You Never Saw" is the sequel to The Great Deception, the ground-breaking video by Barrie Zwicker, much of which was featured in the 911 EMERGENCY tour. Zwicker was the first mainstream journalist in the world to ask hard questions, in early 2002, about the official story of the events of 9-11. In The Great Conspiracy, Zwicker analyses the use of fear to befuddle the public, and deconstructs the so-called "war on terrorism" as a public control mechanism. He then examines in depth the failure of the military to function on 9-11 and the entirely inappropriate behaviour of the president and his aides that day. Finally, the resistance of the White House to any proper investigation, the extreme taintedness of the 9-11 commission and its drastic underperformance are examined. Throughout, the compliance and complicity of the mainstream media in maintaining a trance of ignorance is addressed. And the responsibility of each thinking citizen emphasized at the end. The second film, "HIJACKING CATASTROPHE: 9/11, Fear & the Selling of American Empire" examines how a radical fringe of the Republican Party has used the trauma of the 9-11 terror attacks to advance a pre-existing agenda to radically transform American foreign policy while rolling back civil liberties and social programs at home. The documentary places the Bush administration's false justifications for war in Iraq within the larger context of a two-decade struggle by neo-conservatives to dramatically increase military spending in the wake of the Cold War, and to expand American power globally by means of military force. Narrated by Julian Bond, Hijacking Catastrophe features interviews with more than twenty prominent political observers, including Pentagon whistleblower Lt. Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski, who witnessed first-hand how the Bush Administration set up a sophisticated propaganda operation to link the anxieties generated by 9-11 to a pre-existing foreign policy agenda that included a preemptive war on Iraq. Joining Kwiatkowski in a wide-ranging, accessible, and ultimately empowering analysis of American foreign policy, media manipulation, and their global and domestic implications, are former Chief UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter, former Pentagon analyst Daniel Ellsberg, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Jody Williams, author Norman Mailer, MIT professor Noam Chomsky, Code Pink founder Medea Benjamin, defense policy analyst William Hartung, author Chalmers Johnson, and Army Special Forces Master Sergeant Stan Goff (Ret.). For more information contact: David Barbarash 604-886-2780 blackcat at resist.ca Dates, Location and Venue Details VICTORIA - Nov. 29 and 30 Camosun College Lansdowne Campus Fisher Bldg, Room F100 Doors open at 8 PM, films begin at 8:30 $10 admission, $8 low-income http://users.resist.ca/~blackcat/bushvictoria.pdf DUNCAN - Dec. 1 Duncan Garage Showroom 201-330 Duncan St. Doors open at 6:30 PM, films begin at 7:00 $10 admission, $8 low-income http://users.resist.ca/~blackcat/bushduncan.pdf NANAIMO - Dec. 2 Malaspina University-College Bldg. 355, Room 203 Doors open at 6:30 PM, films begin at 7:00 suggested donation $5 - $10 A special Worldbridger presentation sponsored by the Dept. of Anthropology and Dept. of Political Science. http://users.resist.ca/~blackcat/bushnanaimo.pdf CUMBERLAND - Dec. 3 The Abbey 2689 Penryth Ave. Doors open at 6:30 PM, films begin at 7:00 $10 admission, $8 low-income http://users.resist.ca/~blackcat/bushcomoxvalley.pdf COURTENAY - Dec. 4 BCGEU Building 910 Fitzgerald Ave., Room 210 Doors open at 6:30 PM, films begin at 7:00 $10 admission, $8 low-income http://users.resist.ca/~blackcat/bushcomoxvalley.pdf VANCOUVER - Dec. 7 SFU Harbour Centre 515 West Hastings St. Labbatt Hall, Room 1700 Doors open at 6:30 PM, films begin at 7:00 $10 admission, $8 low-income http://users.resist.ca/~blackcat/bushvancouver.pdf GIBSONS - Dec. 8 Heritage Playhouse Doors open at 7 PM, films begin at 7:30 $10 admission, $8 low-income http://users.resist.ca/~blackcat/bushsunshinecoast.pdf ROBERTS CREEK - Dec. 9 Roberts Creek Hall Doors open at 7 PM, films begin at 7:30 $10 admission, $8 low-income http://users.resist.ca/~blackcat/bushsunshinecoast.pdf -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 22:13:01 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 22:13:01 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Election Company Has Long Criminal History Message-ID: MadCow Morning News 11.24.2004 now up at TheMadCowMorningNews www.madcowprod.com Thugs, Racketeers Counting American Votes "An electronic voting system is to a mechanical one what a nuclear bomb is to a hand grenade... If someone manages to sabotage it, the results can be catastrophic." While Ukrainians poured into the streets of their capital Kiev to protest a presidential election they say was stolen by that country's current regime, here in the U.S. a little-known election company called Sequoia Pacific, responsible for putting our own 'current regime' in power four years ago, was for the second Presidential election in a row at the center of controversy last week... While U.S. newspapers have been filled with quotes from American officials pontificating about election miscues in the Ukrainian election, doubts have been raised anew about the accuracy of the election results of Sequoia Pacific, fingered for blame four years ago in the Florida Vote Snafu which marred the 2000 election. A MadCowMorningNews investigation into the ownership of the companies that count America's votes has uncovered evidence indicating the crisis of democracy in Kiev is hardly more serious than the one taking place in Washington, D.C. One of America's two major election companies, Sequoia Pacific, accused of "irregularities" which resulted in a so-far inexplicable 260,000 additional votes for President Bush in Florida, has a felony 'rap sheet' an arm-long. Read the whole story at: TheMadCowMorningNews www.madcowprod.com "When Matt & Katie aren't enough." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 22:16:28 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 22:16:28 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Israeli officer: I was right to shoot 13-year-old Palestinian child Message-ID: Israeli officer: I was right to shoot 13-year-old child Radio exchange contradicts army version of Gaza killing Chris McGreal in Jerusalem Wednesday November 24, 2004 The Guardian An Israeli army officer who repeatedly shot a 13-year-old Palestinian girl in Gaza dismissed a warning from another soldier that she was a child by saying he would have killed her even if she was three years old. The officer, identified by the army only as Captain R, was charged this week with illegal use of his weapon, conduct unbecoming an officer and other relatively minor infractions after emptying all 10 bullets from his gun's magazine into Iman al-Hams when she walked into a "security area" on the edge of Rafah refugee camp last month. A tape recording of radio exchanges between soldiers involved in the incident, played on Israeli television, contradicts the army's account of the events and appears to show that the captain shot the girl in cold blood. The official account claimed that Iman was shot as she walked towards an army post with her schoolbag because soldiers feared she was carrying a bomb. But the tape recording of the radio conversation between soldiers at the scene reveals that, from the beginning, she was identified as a child and at no point was a bomb spoken about nor was she described as a threat. Iman was also at least 100 yards from any soldier. Instead, the tape shows that the soldiers swiftly identified her as a "girl of about 10" who was "scared to death". The tape also reveals that the soldiers said Iman was headed eastwards, away from the army post and back into the refugee camp, when she was shot. At that point, Captain R took the unusual decision to leave the post in pursuit of the girl. He shot her dead and then "confirmed the kill" by emptying his magazine into her body. The tape recording is of a three-way conversation between the army watchtower, the army post's operations room and the captain, who was a company commander. The soldier in the watchtower radioed his colleagues after he saw Iman: "It's a little girl. She's running defensively eastward." Operations room: "Are we talking about a girl under the age of 10?" Watchtower: "A girl of about 10, she's behind the embankment, scared to death." A few minutes later, Iman is shot in the leg from one of the army posts. The watchtower: "I think that one of the positions took her out." The company commander then moves in as Iman lies wounded and helpless. Captain R: "I and another soldier ... are going in a little nearer, forward, to confirm the kill ... Receive a situation report. We fired and killed her ... I also confirmed the kill. Over." Witnesses described how the captain shot Iman twice in the head, walked away, turned back and fired a stream of bullets into her body. Doctors at Rafah's hospital said she had been shot at least 17 times. On the tape, the company commander then "clarifies" why he killed Iman: "This is commander. Anything that's mobile, that moves in the zone, even if it's a three-year-old, needs to be killed. Over." The army's original account of the killing said that the soldiers only identified Iman as a child after she was first shot. But the tape shows that they were aware just how young the small, slight girl was before any shots were fired. The case came to light after soldiers under the command of Captain R went to an Israeli newspaper to accuse the army of covering up the circumstances of the killing. A subsequent investigation by the officer responsible for the Gaza strip, Major General Dan Harel, concluded that the captain had "not acted unethically". However, the military police launched an investigation, which resulted in charges against the unit commander. Iman's parents have accused the army of whitewashing the affair by filing minor charges against Captain R. They want him prosecuted for murder. Record of a shooting Watchtower 'It's a little girl. She's running defensively eastward' Operations room 'Are we talking about a girl under the age of 10?' Watchtower 'A girl of about 10, she's behind the embankment, scared to death' Captain R (after killing the girl) 'Anything moving in the zone, even a three-year-old, needs to be killed' ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 22:20:33 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 22:20:33 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Vaccine Ingredients - Message-ID: rense.com Vaccine Ingredients - Formaldehyde, Aspartame, Mercury, Etc 11-11-4 This following list of common vaccines and their ingredients should shock anyone. The numbers of microbes, antibiotics, chemicals, heavy metals and animal byproducts is staggering. Would you knowingly inject these materials into your children? Acel-Immune DTaP - Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis Wyeth-Ayerst 800.934.5556 * diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis adsorbed, formaldehyde, aluminum hydroxide, aluminum phosphate, thimerosal, and polysorbate 80 (Tween-80) gelatin Act HIB Haemophilus - Influenza B Connaught Laboratories 800.822.2463 * Haemophilus influenza Type B, polyribosylribitol phosphate ammonium sulfate, formalin, and sucrose Attenuvax - Measles Merck & Co., Inc. 800-672-6372 * measles live virus neomycin sorbitol hydrolized gelatin, chick embryo Biavax - Rubella Merck & Co., Inc. 800-672-6372 * rubella live virus neomycin sorbitol hydrolized gelatin, human diploid cells from aborted fetal tissue BioThrax - Anthrax Adsorbed BioPort Corporation 517.327.1500 * nonencapsulated strain of Bacillus anthracis aluminum hydroxide, benzethonium chloride, and formaldehyde DPT - Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis GlaxoSmithKline 800.366.8900 x5231 * diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis adsorbed, formaldehyde, aluminum phosphate, ammonium sulfate, and thimerosal, washed sheep RBCs Dryvax - Smallpox (not licensed d/t expiration) Wyeth-Ayerst 800.934.5556 * live vaccinia virus, with "some microbial contaminants," according to the Working Group on Civilian Biodefense polymyxcin B sulfate, streptomycin sulfate, chlortetracycline hydrochloride, and neomycin sulfate glycerin, and phenol -a compound obtained by distillation of coal tar vesicle fluid from calf skins Engerix-B Recombinant Hepatitis B GlaxoSmithKline 800.366.8900 x5231 * genetic sequence of the hepatitis B virus that codes for the surface antigen (HbSAg), cloned into GMO yeast, aluminum hydroxide, and thimerosal Fluvirin Medeva Pharmaceuticals 888.MEDEVA 716.274.5300 * influenza virus, neomycin, polymyxin, beta-propiolactone, chick embryonic fluid FluShield Wyeth-Ayerst 800.934.5556 * trivalent influenza virus, types A&B gentamicin sulphate formadehyde, thimerosal, and polysorbate 80 (Tween-80) chick embryonic fluid Havrix - Hepatitis A GlaxoSmithKline 800.366.8900 x5231 * hepatitis A virus, formalin, aluminum hydroxide, 2-phenoxyethanol, and polysorbate 20 residual MRC5 proteins -human diploid cells from aborted fetal tissue HiB Titer - Haemophilus Influenza B Wyeth-Ayerst 800.934.5556 * haemophilus influenza B, polyribosylribitol phosphate, yeast, ammonium sulfate, thimerosal, and chemically defined yeast-based medium Imovax Connaught Laboratories 800.822.2463 * rabies virus adsorbed, neomycin sulfate, phenol, red indicator human albumin, human diploid cells from aborted fetal tissue IPOL Connaught Laboratories 800.822.2463 * 3 types of polio viruses neomycin, streptomycin, and polymyxin B formaldehyde, and 2-phenoxyethenol continuous line of monkey kidney cells JE-VAX - Japanese Ancephalitis Aventis Pasteur USA 800.VACCINE * Nakayama-NIH strain of Japanese encephalitis virus, inactivated formaldehyde, polysorbate 80 (Tween-80), and thimerosal mouse serum proteins, and gelatin LYMErix - Lyme GlaxoSmithKline 888-825-5249 * recombinant protein (OspA) from the outer surface of the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi kanamycin aluminum hydroxide, 2-phenoxyethenol, phosphate buffered saline MMR - Measles-Mumps-Rubella Merck & Co., Inc. 800.672.6372 * measles, mumps, rubella live virus, neomycin sorbitol, hydrolized gelatin, chick embryonic fluid, and human diploid cells from aborted fetal tissue M-R-Vax - Measles-Rubella Merck & Co., Inc. 800.672.6372 * measles, rubella live virus neomycin sorbitol hydrolized gelatin, chick embryonic fluid, and human diploid cells from aborted fetal tissue Menomune - Meningococcal Connaught Laboratories 800.822.2463 * freeze-dried polysaccharide antigens from Neisseria meningitidis bacteria, thimerosal, and lactose Meruvax I - Mumps Merck & Co., Inc. 800.672.6372 * mumps live virus neomycin sorbitol hydrolized gelatin NYVAC - (new smallpox batch, not licensed) Aventis Pasteur USA 800.VACCINE * highly-attenuated vaccinia virus, polymyxcin B, sulfate, streptomycin sulfate, chlortetracycline hydrochloride, and neomycin sulfate glycerin, and phenol -a compound obtained by distillation of coal tar vesicle fluid from calf skins Orimune - Oral Polio Wyeth-Ayerst 800.934.5556 * 3 types of polio viruses, attenuated neomycin, streptomycin sorbitol monkey kidney cells and calf serum Pneumovax - Streptococcus Pneumoniae Merck & Co., Inc. 800.672.6372 * capsular polysaccharides from polyvalent (23 types), pneumococcal bacteria, phenol, Prevnar Pneumococcal - 7-Valent Conjugate Vaccine Wyeth Lederle 800.934.5556 * saccharides from capsular Streptococcus pneumoniae antigens (7 serotypes) individually conjugated to diphtheria CRM 197 protein aluminum phosphate, ammonium sulfate, soy protein, yeast RabAvert - Rabies Chiron Behring GmbH & Company 510.655.8729 * fixed-virus strain, Flury LEP neomycin, chlortetracycline, and amphotericin B, potassium glutamate, and sucrose human albumin, bovine gelatin and serum "from source countries known to be free of bovine spongioform encephalopathy," and chicken protein Rabies Vaccine Adsorbed GlaxoSmithKline 800.366.8900 x5231 *rabies virus adsorbed, beta-propiolactone, aluminum phosphate, thimerosal, and phenol, red rhesus monkey fetal lung cells Recombivax - Recombinant Hepatitis B Merck & Co., Inc. 800.672.6372 * genetic sequence of the hepatitis B virus that codes for the surface antigen (HbSAg), cloned into GMO yeast, aluminum hydroxide, and thimerosal RotaShield - Oral Tetravalent Rotavirus (recalled) Wyeth-Ayerst 800.934.5556 * 1 rhesus monkey rotavirus, 3 rhesus-human reassortant live viruses neomycin sulfate, amphotericin B potassium monophosphate, potassium diphosphate, sucrose, and monosodium glutamate (MSG) rhesus monkey fetal diploid cells, and bovine fetal serum smallpox (not licensed due to expiration) 40-yr old stuff "found" in Swiftwater, PA freezer Aventis Pasteur USA 800.VACCINE * live vaccinia virus, with "some microbial contaminants," according to the Working Group on Civilian Biodefense polymyxcin B sulfate, streptomycin sulfate, chlortetracycline hydrochloride, and neomycin sulfate glycerin, and phenol -a compound obtained by distillation of coal tar vesicle fluid from calf skins Smallpox (new, not licensed) Acambis, Inc. 617.494.1339 in partnership with Baxter BioScience * highly-attenuated vaccinia virus, polymyxcin B sulfate, streptomycin sulfate, chlortetracycline hydrochloride, and neomycin sulfate glycerin, and phenol -a compound obtained by distillation of coal tar vesicle fluid from calf skins TheraCys BCG (intravesicle -not licensed in US for tuberculosis) Aventis Pasteur USA 800.VACCINE * live attenuated strain of Mycobacterium bovis monosodium glutamate (MSG), and polysorbate 80 (Tween-80) Tripedia - Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis Aventis Pasteur USA 800.VACCINE *Corynebacterium diphtheriae and Clostridium tetani toxoids and acellular Bordetella pertussis adsorbed aluminum potassium sulfate, formaldehyde, thimerosal, and polysorbate 80 (Tween-80) gelatin, bovine extract US-sourced Typhim Vi - Typhoid Aventis Pasteur USA SA 800.VACCINE * cell surface Vi polysaccharide from Salmonella typhi Ty2 strain, aspartame, phenol, and polydimethylsiloxane (silicone) Varivax - Chickenpox Merck & Co., Inc. 800.672.6372 * varicella live virus neomycin phosphate, sucrose, and monosodium glutamate (MSG) processed gelatin, fetal bovine serum, guinea pig embryo cells, albumin from human blood, and human diploid cells from aborted fetal tissue YF-VAX - Yellow Fever Aventis Pasteur USA 800.VACCINE * 17D strain of yellow fever virus sorbitol chick embryo, and gelatin http://www.informedchoice.info/cocktail.html Vaccine Liberation Information http://www.vaclib.org/pdf/exemption.htm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 22:21:05 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 22:21:05 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Not What You Think Message-ID: FYI November 20, 2004 Not What You Think by Charley Reese With all of the political hoopla and heifer dust that is spread about the Middle East, you might think we are totally dependent on Middle Eastern oil. Actually, we are not. The United States imports about 62 percent of its oil and other petroleum products. Only about 11 percent of domestic usage comes from the Persian Gulf countries. Saudi Arabia, for example, supplies about 7.2 percent of domestic usage. Our main imports by far come from Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, and Nigeria. >From January to July 2004, Saudi Arabia was fourth, just ahead of Nigeria and behind Canada, Mexico, and Venezuela. Iraq was sixth. These figures [.pdf] are from the American Petroleum Institute. We are bogged down in the Middle East because of Israel, not oil. Iraq was perceived as a threat to Israel, not to Saudi Arabia and certainly not to us. A man who at one time prepared the president's daily intelligence briefing told me years ago that there was never any indication whatsoever that Iraq was going to invade Saudi Arabia. We just used that as an excuse for the first Gulf War. The majority of American diplomatic efforts in the Middle East are directed at trying to persuade Arab countries to accept Israel. Their relationship to Israel is really none of our business. I realize that members of a Christian cult that originated in the 19th century believe they have a biblical obligation to love Israel. Well, people are entitled to their religious beliefs, but none of them has any business being used as a basis for American foreign policy. We have one, and only one, interest in the Middle East. That is access, at a fair market price, to oil. Whether the countries from which we buy oil like or don't like Israel, are democracies or monarchies or dictatorships, is immaterial and irrelevant. I harbor no ill feelings toward Israel. In many ways, it is an admirable country, but it is a foreign country, and the United States should treat Israel the same as it treats every other foreign nation. We should make it clear, for example, that Israel's enemies are not our enemies. If the Israelis and the Syrians don't get along, that's their business. Our relations with Syria should be based strictly on how Syria treats Americans and America's interests. Unfortunately, Israel has a very powerful lobby in the United States. Even though our intelligence people said Syria was cooperating with the United States in the war on terrorism, we nevertheless applied sanctions, not because of anything Syria said about us or did, but because Syria allows some Palestinian organizations opposed to Israeli occupation to operate inside Syria. When Jimmy Carter was president, we ended up in effect paying bribes both to Israel and to Egypt so they would sign a peace treaty. That was a dumb thing to do. It was in their interest, not ours, to sign a peace treaty. Why should the American taxpayers be dunned to pay for it? The whole underlying basis of the neoconservative cockamamie idea of democratizing the Middle East at the point of a gun is the theory that if the Arab countries are democracies, they will accept and get along with Israel. I seriously doubt that, as their dispute with Israel is not over forms of government but over Arab land Israel has seized and refuses to relinquish. George Washington advised us to harbor neither habitual enmity nor habitual friendship for any foreign country. He also advised us to beware of foreign influence in our domestic affairs. Both pieces of good advice, and both ignored because too many politicians in Washington are wet-pants scared of the Israeli lobby. We should not be involved in the Middle East at all except as purchasers of oil, but we will go on spending treasure and blood in that area until the American people elect some politicians brave enough to face down the Israeli lobby. Establishing a modern state of Israel in the middle of the Arab world was a British colonial idea. Americans should not pay with their lives and tax dollars for a British blunder. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl at listserv.aol.com/ >ctrl -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 22:23:36 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 22:23:36 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Granules that stop bleeding Message-ID: FYI Granules that stop bleeding popular with U.S. troops (Note: See Testimonial and contact information for the manufacturer below the article.) November 20, 2004 A QuikClot "battle pack" costs $39.95. (HamptonRoads.com/Pilot Online) By Dale Eisman, The Virginian-Pilot icemandc at msn.com or 703-913-9872 P.O. Box 449 Norfolk, VA 23501-0449 Fax: 757-446-2051 http://home.hamptonroads.com To submit a Letter to the Editor: letters at pilotonline.com (150-word limit) Washington, D.C. - A small green packet, filled with white granules that resemble kitty litter, has quietly become a must-carry item for U.S. soldiers and Marines in or headed to Iraq. While the Marine Corps is providing it free to every Marine headed into battle - about 109,000 packets have been distributed to Marines so far - thousands of troops also are opening their wallets to buy personal supplies of the substance, QuikClot, and tucking the packets into their rucksacks. Army medics in Iraq are applying QuikClot to wounds, said Colonel John Holcomb, commander of the Army's Institute of Surgical Research, but the Army has left decisions about distribution to individual soldiers up to commanders in the field. Doctors say the granules, a refined form of a volcanic mineral called zeolite, have saved dozens -- and perhaps hundreds -- of lives since the war began nineteen months ago. Sprinkled into a wound, QuikClot stanches even the most profuse bleeding in seconds, according to doctors, medical corpsmen and individual users. The product works by absorbing the blood's plasma, leaving the platelets that naturally form blood clots. "This is not magic, or a kind of fairy dust," said Navy Captain Sandra Reed, the sea service's director of expeditionary medicine. Potential users are cautioned that QuikClot can cause minor burns and should be applied only after a pressure dressing or tourniquet has failed to stop the flow of blood, she said. "It's a last resort," agreed Marine Captain Gerard R. Cox, director for medical programs at Headquarters Marine Corps in Washington. But Reed and Cox acknowledged that the granules have proven astonishingly effective in stopping bleeding. A soldier or Marine wounded by gunfire generally can be treated with a pressure dressing, Reed said, but the homemade explosive devices favored by Iraqi insurgents create shrapnel that shreds flesh and makes bleeding harder to stop. His customers don't flinch at the $39.95 price tag for a QuikClot "battle pack," said Paul Voorhees, co-owner of Ranger Joe's, a military supply outlet located a few miles from Fort Benning, Georgia. Voorhees said every week he sells about 700 of the packs, which include 3.5 ounces of QuikClot plus gauze and a pressure dressing. "When we put it in, I really didn't anticipate the sales being as good, but I didn't think about how many people would want it," Voorhees said. Most of his customers are soldiers, but he's also doing a brisk business in online orders from police officers, firefighters, paramedics, even hunters who have heard about QuikClot's use in Iraq, he said. "We get orders from wives, mothers, e-mails from people who say they're putting together a bake sale to raise money for QuikClot" for service members in their families or from their neighborhoods, said Jessica Perkins, product manager for QuikClot's manufacturer, Z-Medica LLC of Newington, Connecticut. http://www.z-medica.com/ Z-Medica markets QuikClot directly to service members and emergency first responders through its Web site and is building a national network of distributors. The product is not available in pharmacies, but Perkins said Z-Medica hopes eventually to sell it in retail stores alongside other first aid supplies. Some distributors, such as Ranger Joe's, already sell it online. Z-Medica's founder, Francis X. Hursey, is said to have stumbled into zeolite's lifesaving potential more than a decade ago when he cut himself while shaving. http://www.z-medica.com/order.html A scientist who had used zeolite in his work developing gas-separation and purification equipment for medical uses, Hursey was familiar with the mineral's absorptive properties; he dabbed a few grains on the nick, which immediately stopped bleeding. The Food and Drug Administration cleared QuikClot for public sale in 2002, and after tests by the Office of Naval Research, the Navy Department decided to include it in the individual first aid kids provided to every Marine and Navy SEAL going ashore in Iraq, Reed said. Copyright 2004, HamptonRoads.comhttp://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=7836 8&ran=97968 Z-Medica Headquarters 35 Budney Road Budney Industrial Park Newington, CT 06111 USA 860-667-2201 (ext. 261 to locate distributors - Jeffrey Horn) Fax: 860-667-6040 jhorn at z-medica.com Testimonial Pennsylvania State Police helps save a patient with severe femoral artery bleeding using QuikClot I was at a local hospital when paramedics brought in a patient with severe femoral artery bleeding. They were applying direct pressure to the wound with little effect and they told the attending physician that they estimated she had already lost over three liters of blood. The doctor had already requested a surgical tray and was preparing to perform surgery in the emergency room to stop the bleeding, but he was not sure if he could stop the bleeding in time, as the patient had already lost so much blood. I told the doctor that I had some Quikclot in my patrol car and he asked me to get it. He had a nurse apply pressure to the artery above the wound to stop the bleeding while he cleaned the clots from the wound. He then told me to apply the Quikclot to the wound. He applied direct pressure to the wound and told the nurse to release the pressure to the artery. He then slowly released the pressure to the wound and announced that the bleeding had stopped. He turned to me and said that I saved the patient's life. He later asked me to get him information on Quikclot and when I told him I will be ordering more of it he asked me to order some for him. Cpl. Pennsylvania State Police http://www.z-medica.com/Testimonial/Testimonials.html APFN-1 YahooGroups: Subscribe: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/apfn-1/join Unsubscribe: apfn-1-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com APFN MSG BOARD: `In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.' http://disc.server.com/Indices/149495.html APFN CONTENTS PAGE: http://www.apfn.org/old/apfncont.htm Without Justice, there is JUST_US! [LEAK-GATE] INVESTIGATING THE WHITE HOUSE http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LEAK-GATE/ Find elected officials, including the president, members of Congress, governors, state legislators, local officials, and more. http://congress.org/congressorg/dbq/officials/ APFN, PMB 107, 6630 W. CACTUS #B107, GLENDALE, AZ 85304 http://www.apfn.org/apfn/kenvardon.htm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 22:25:43 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 22:25:43 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] IWW Organizer to Stand Trial in Starbucks/RNC Case Message-ID: > For Immediate Release: > Industrial Workers of the World IU/660 > November 24, 2004 > Contact: > starbucksunion at yahoo.com > > IWW Organizer to Stand Trial in Starbucks/RNC Case > > New York, NY- Daniel Gross, a co-founder of the IWW > Starbucks Workers Union and an employee at the > company, is set to stand trial for disorderly > conduct > and resisting arrest at a Republican National > Convention protest. Gross participated in a > peaceful > union rally in front of the Starbucks store where he > works to protest the Bush Administration's support > for > anti-union actions at the world's largest coffee > chain. He faces a maximum sentence of over six > months > in jail. The union is asking its friends and allies > to attend the trial in support of the right to > protest. The trial will begin on January 14 at 9:30 > a.m. in Part C of the 100 Centre Street Courthouse > in > Downtown Manhattan. > > "Once again, Starbucks has proven it will do or say > anything to attempt to break our union," Mr. Gross > said. "Chairman Howard Schultz will likely use a > conviction against me as a fear-tactic to deter > workers from joining the IWW to improve their life > on > the job. Multiple videotapes as well as eyewitness > testimony will demonstrate that NYPD officers > concocted these charges against me- a New York City > jury will no doubt see through the Bush/Bloomberg > hype > that prevailed during the Republican National > Convention." > > The only attendees arrested at the protest were both > union workers at the store. Prosecutors later > dropped > charges against Starbucks barista Anthony Polanco, > an > outspoken supporter of the organizing effort. > Company > managers were witnessed giving information to NYPD > detectives before the protest began. Starbucks has > a > history of making false allegations about IWW > rallies > in New York City. > > "Daniel Gross is being prosecuted for political > reasons," maintained his attorney Leonard Weinglass, > a > noted advocate for controversial defendants. The DA > and the NYPD are desecrating the right to assembly > guaranteed by the First Amendment." > > Hundreds of people have already signed a petition > demanding that the District Attorney drop all > charges > against Gross. Support has come from overseas as > well. Last Saturday, union members in Edinburgh and > Glasgow demonstrated at Starbucks shops in > solidarity > with the Starbucks Workers Union and Mr. Gross. > > The Union has called for all charges to be dropped > against RNC protesters. > > Starbucks workers in New York City have sparked a > national campaign to organize the chain. Workers are > coming together to rise out of poverty, put an end > to > understaffing, and achieve a guaranteed number of > work > hours per week. > > The Industrial Workers of the World IU/660 is a > non-partisan union of retail workers fighting for > dignified employment conditions in the industry. > > > > ### > _______________________________________________ > Starbucksunion mailing list > Starbucksunion at lists.iww.org > http://lists.iww.org/mailman/listinfo/starbucksunion > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 22:28:26 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 22:28:26 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] US "mistakenly" terrorizes Iraqi civilians Message-ID: Published on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 by Reuters Confusion Reigns as U.S. Raid Misses Target in Iraq by Luke Baker MOSUL, Iraq - It began with U.S. troops busting through the doors of the wrong house. Dozens of soldiers rammed the white gates of a well-to-do home in central Mosul early on Tuesday, detaining three Iraqi men, only to discover their target was a house with black gates. "Four houses down," said the elderly homeowner patiently, his hands bound behind his back by yellow plastic cuffs. "You've got the wrong people," he told the officer leading the operation in good English, his wife, daughter and two pajama-clad grandchildren cowering alongside him, trying to avoid the glare from the spotlights on the soldiers' guns. For the past 19 months, U.S. forces have carried out raids across Iraq, sometimes netting big targets and gathering key intelligence to help them combat the sort of mounting insurgency that swept through Mosul this month, routing the police force. But Iraqis say the targets are often wrong, and heavy-handed tactics have created resentment and alienated ordinary people. "Squad Two, get to the house three doors down with the black gates," Captain Robert Lackey ordered over the radio. Several heavily armed men with night-vision scopes attached to their helmets trotted out into the rain. At the wrong house, the search went on, with soldiers overturning every room for evidence to link the family to Iraq's insurgency. They turned up at least one AK-47 assault rifle -- common to nearly all Iraqi homes and generally permitted by U.S. forces -- and around $3,000, according to a U.S. investigator. "That's a lot of money right there," he said, shaking his head, although wealthy Iraqis often keep sums of much more than $3,000 at home because banks are not trusted. HUNTING BAATHISTS Down the road, soldiers were ramming open the gates of an upscale house. They were about to burst through the door when it opened. Inside were seven young women and six dazed children. The men of the house were in a village outside Mosul for a few days, one of the women said in fluent English. The soldiers were looking for her father, a Mosul university professor. "Is he a member of the Baath party?" Lackey asked her. "The Baath party that still exists?" She replied that he wasn't any more, "that was ages ago." She pointed out her father was detained by U.S. troops in a previous raid and held for five months without charge. At about 1 a.m. (2200 GMT) the phone rang in the kitchen. One of the women answered and quickly hung up. "Who was that? Was that your father?" asked a female soldier. "No. It was the neighbors wondering what on earth is going on," said the woman, nodding toward the street, where several 20-tonne, eight-wheeled U.S. Stryker vehicles were positioned. A search of the house turned up an AK-47 and a little money. A fatigues-clad Iraqi translator for U.S. forces smoked several cigarettes and put them out on the family's floor. "Can I please have a receipt for my things?" said the daughter of the house as the soldiers prepared to leave. "Absolutely," said Lackey, whipping out his receipt book and apologizing for the inconvenience. Back at base, the operation was declared a success. "I feel bad that we didn't get the guy we were looking for," Lackey said. "But you know what, just his knowing that we've been by and that we're looking for him is likely to stop him getting up to his activities." ? Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1123-09.htm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 22:32:31 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 22:32:31 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] FW: Help Stop Atrocities in Sudan Message-ID: November 23, 2004 Arms Trade Fuels A Human Rights Catastrophe in Darfur, Sudan Dear Kelly, Every casualty of the crisis in Sudan has a name and a story. This short movie displays more than 3,200 names collected by Amnesty of people killed in Darfur, Sudan. ? Over 70,000 people are believed to have lost their lives since the conflict in Darfur, Sudan erupted in February 2003. All sides of the conflict have committed abuses, however the Sudanese government and its allies have committed the preponderance of violations. It is essential that the supply of weapons be stopped. Please take action to extend the United Nations arms embargo to include the government of Sudan: http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=11270 "It is a travesty that governments have sold weapons to Sudan despite widespread reports of serious human rights abuses by the security forces," stated Dr. William F. Schulz, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA (AIUSA). "By allowing arms and other military equipment to be sent to Sudan without guarantees that they would not be used to commit such violations, foreign governments have knowingly signaled their willingness to be complicit in torture, rape and murder." Amnesty International is recommending that the United Nations (UN) Security Council impose a mandatory arms embargo- accompanied by rigorous UN monitoring both inside and outside Sudan-to halt exports of arms likely to be used to commit human rights violations. The embargo should remain in effect until safeguards exist to protect civilians from grave human rights abuses. Learn more: Press release | Flash animation | Sudan: Full coverage ------------------------ Rosa Del Angel Amnesty International USA Online Action Center We are committed to protecting your privacy, so your email address will NEVER be sold or exchanged. If you would like to unsubscribe from this newsletter, send an email to alerts at takeaction.amnestyusa.org from aigroup4 at hotmail.com with the word "remove" in the subject line. Or visit http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/unsubscribe. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 22:33:37 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 22:33:37 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Corrected: SFT US National Conference Message-ID: Corrected: SFT US National Conference Students for a Free Tibet Please note corrected conference dates: January 14-16 (not 17-19) Come to the Students for a Free Tibet U.S. National Conference! Join us for a weekend of action, learning, and planning: a.. Meet amazing students and crazy campaigners from across the United States who are working for Tibetan freedom. b.. Participate in workshops and discussions on the Tibet movement, strategic action and specific campaigns. c.. Learn more about what you can do to FREE TIBET! WHERE: University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA WHEN: January 14th to 16th, 2005 WHO: Chapter & Student Members WHY: To learn the art of nonviolent agitation and the leadership skills necessary to free Tibet! *December 10, 2004: DEADLINE for applications! *December 25, 2004: ALL travel plans must be confirmed with the SFT office (flights/buses to San Francisco (SFO) or Oakland (OAK). *Conference starts Friday, January 14th at 5pm and ends at 3pm on Sunday, January 16th. *There will be a registration fee of $50 for all participants. If you are not a member, you can click here to pay your chapter dues online or click here to pay an individual membership fee. *The workshops will cover topics such as chapter building, grassroots coordinating, campaigns organizing and direct action. For more information, please ask Tendor (email address below). ***If you need financial assistance in order to come, please contact us*** Please direct all questions to Tendor, Grassroots Coordinator: tendor at studentsforafreetibet.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- APPLICATION FORM: (Please copy just this form into a separate e-mail and return to Tendor at tendor at studentsforafreetibet.org as soon as possible): First Name: Last Name: Age: E-mail: Current address: Current telephone: Parent's/Permanent address: Parent's/Permanent telephone: School Name: College or High School? A few quick questions: 1) What do you hope to learn from and contribute to the conference? 2) Do you have any dietary needs (i.e. allergies or vegetarian/vegan) and/or other special needs? 3) Will you need housing? 4) Will you have access to a car? 5) Do you have any special physical needs that we should know about? -end of application - -------------------------------------------------------------- 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 Mon Nov 29 22:36:20 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 22:36:20 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Alex Jones' News Update Nov 23 2004 Message-ID: Make money on your website with our Free Shopping Cart. click here Visit the Infowars / Prisonplanet network of websites today! November 23, 2004Because there's a war on for your mind! Latest News - FAKE TERROR ALERT: Britain's '9/11' foiled by security forces NO DETAILS, NO FOLOW UPS, THIS SMACKS OF ANOTHER FAKE GOVERNMENT SCARE TACTIC JUST AS BIG BROTHER LEGISLATION IS BEING ANNOUNCED IN THE UK. AN AL-QAEDA terror plot involving aircraft being flown simultaneously into the towers of Canary Wharf and Heathrow Airport has been foiled by British security forces, it emerged last night. The 9/11-style attacks on the two high-profile London targets are among four or five al-Qaeda strikes that security chiefs believe they have stopped, it was reported. Full story online at infowars.net Visit Prison Planet.tv - your portal for daily audio, video and text reports Further Headlines from Infowars / Prisonplanet Visit the sites for the full articles: a.. Security services play down 'terror plot' b.. 150 Cases Found in U.N. Sex Abuse Inquiry in Congo c.. Arafat's nephew blames Israel in Palestinian's death d.. Law Society slams plans for UK 'FBI' agency e.. Suicide pigs fly to support Blunkett's War on Terror f.. ID card scheme unveiled by Queen g.. Chinese, Cuban presidents sign 16 economic cooperation agreements h.. 'Big brother' cameras won't make schools safer i.. Spying On Your Teen Driver j.. Confusion As US Troops Raid Wrong Homes k.. News Agencies Confirming Mujahideen Control Most of Fallujah l.. US Withdraws 100 Tanks From Korea, Moves Them to Iraq m.. Scientists debate blending species Advertise with us! Infowars.net gets millions of hits a month. If you have something you want to advertise, please contact us. rates are very low. For more information Click Here Infowars Services Dial up service DSL service Webhosting PropagandaMatrix.com New Anti NWO t-shirts, Playing cards, bumper stickers and more in the re-designed Propaganda Matrix online shop. Now accepting payments via Worldpay and Paypal. We thank you for supporting our activities and helping us grow. http://www.infowars.net Free Newsletter Provided by Bravenet.com - Get one for Free ? Unsubscribe from this newsletter -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: globe_header.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 37490 bytes Desc: not available URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 22:36:56 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 22:36:56 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Occupation Watch Bulletin - November 21, 2004 Message-ID: Occupation Watch Bulletin www.occupationwatch.org November 21, 2004 By Marjorie Lasky Slowly, very slowly, the story about what has happened in Falluja is emerging. The numbers of killed and wounded civilians might never be known but we do know that hospitals were flooded with wounded Iraqis, 80% of the 300,000 residents of Falluja fled to neighboring towns, US troops and their Iraqi counterparts destroyed the town, and the U.S. refused access to trucks carrying humanitarian aid. There are also narratives about starving and wounded Iraqis, more than 50 dead and hundreds of wounded US military personnel, the deaths of 1200 "insurgents" and the arrest of approximately 1500 more, a US marine killing an injured and unarmed Iraqi in a mosque, and the discovery of hostage houses where hostages might have been tortured and slain. One needs to remember that most of these reports emanate from either military personnel or reporters embedded with U.S. troops. Occasionally, refugee stories have reached the media, but the lack of coverage from varying perspectives, ten! ds to provide a limited view of what actually occurred in Falluja. A commentary by Tom Engelhardt and Jonathan Schell offers a collage of materials from eyewitness reports in Fallujah, mainly appearing in the mainstream media: "Even the dogs have started to die, their corpses strewn among twisted metal and shattered concrete in a city that looks like it forgot to breathe. The aluminum shutters of shops on the main highway through town have been transformed by the force of war into mangled accordion shapes, flat, sharp, jarring slices of metal that no longer obscure the stacks of silver pots, the plastic-wrapped office furniture, the rolls of carpet... [T]he Insurgents were putting up their most tenacious resistance as U.S. and Iraqi forces pursued them through a bleak landscape of bombed-out cinder block factories and houses reminiscent of the movie Blade Runner Driving down Highway 10, the main street running east to west through the heart of Fallujah, is like entering a film that is set sometime on the other side of Armageddon. Cars sit on the roofs of buildings. Lamp posts lie at odd angles on the street. Just south of the highway, a minaret has been snapped off near the base like a pretzel stick, and another minaret is missing a huge chunk. Fire has blackened the facade of building after building 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 northwest Jolan district, once an insurgent stronghold, looked like a ghost town, the only sound the rumbli! ng of tank tracks... 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... See: "The Battle for Minds, (forget the Hearts)" http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=7914 Other reports describing the results of the battle fought in Fallujah include: Robert R. Worth "Clues of Hostages Emerge from Houses in Falluja" http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=7964 "Grim, Angry Rites as Falluja Buries its Dead" http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=7906 Michael Georgy and Fadel al-Badrani "1,600 Iraqis Killed in U.S. Assault on Falluja" http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=7865 "Children Pay Price of US Offensive" http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=7865 Patrick McDonell "Troops Round Up Corpses, Weapons in Falluja" http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=7909 Scott Peterson "Still Under Fire US forces shifting to Relief Effort" http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=7883 Jackie Spinner "Falluja Residents Emerge, Find "City of Mosques" in Ruins" http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=7869 Opinions on what the battle of Falluja accomplished vary considerably--from the US military's pronouncement that the battle had broken the back of the Iraqi insurgency, a view echoed by Qasim Daoud, Iraq's interim minister of state for national security, who told a news conference: 'Mission accomplished ... Fallujah has been liberated,' to the belief that the insurgents, most of whom are believed to have left Falluja, will simply fight in other places, at other times. For a sampling of these opinions, see: Hadi Yahmid "US Losses in Falluja to Outweigh Victory: Expert" http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=7890 Haifa Zangana "Collective Punishment is Escalating in Iraq" http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=7913 Simon Jenkins "A Wrecked Nation. A Desert. A Ghost Town. And This Will Be Called Victory" http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=7861 Ken Coates "Fallujah: Shock and Awe" http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=7910 On November 18, the BBC's website featured one of the most poignant pictures to emerge from Falluja -- a headless Iraqi corpse lying in a street, one arm draped (in protection?) around a dead child who is lying on the corpse. Clearly, barbarity was and is evident and abundant on both sides in Fallujah (and elsewhere). And one needs to ask, in judging the depth and level of barbarity, how does a corpse, decapitated by hand, differ from a corpse decapitated by technology? Indeed, the events of Falluja and elsewhere have led the International Committee of the Red Cross to condemn the "utter contempt for humanity" shown by all sides of the Iraq War. "Red Cross Condemns Rights Abuses in Iraq" http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=7924 Of course, as anyone who has been following events in Iraq during the last few weeks knows, the resistance to the US occupation took a new and virile form throughout Iraq, but particularly amidst the Sunnis, almost from the day that Fallujah was attacked. For a recent report on these attacks see: Edward Wong "Rebels Keep Up Attacks in Central and North Iraq" http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=7915 The US administration stated that one major reason for the Falluja assault was the need to safeguard Iraq's upcoming January elections. Now that a date for those elections has been set (January 30), the threat of wide scale boycotts by various Iraqi groups and the continuing chaos occasioned by the resistance to the US occupation have led many observers to question the possibility of "free and democratic" Iraqi elections. Elizabeth Schrader and Mark Mazzetti "Chaos in Iraq Imperils Vote" http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=7917 Mazen Ghazi "Protesting US Raids, 47 Iraqi Bodies Boycott Polls http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=7847 Edward Wong "Date for Iraqi Elections; Violence Slows Registration" http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=7965 READ DAHR JAMAIL'S DISPATCHES FROM IRAQ: http://dahrjamailiraq.com/weblog/ SIGN UP FOR OW'S EMAIL BULLETIN: To sign up for the Occupation Watch Center's weekly email bulletin, go to http://www.occupationwatch.org/email.php _____________________________________________________ To unsubscribe or update your listing go to: http://www.occupationwatch.org/?id=1&token=792878 _____________________________________________________ To unsubscribe or update your listing go to: http://www.occupationwatch.org/?id=1&token=792878 _____________________________________________________ To unsubscribe or update your listing go to: http://www.occupationwatch.org/?id=1&token=792878 _____________________________________________________ To unsubscribe or update your listing go to: http://www.occupationwatch.org/?id=1&token=792878 _____________________________________________________ To unsubscribe or update your listing go to: http://www.occupationwatch.org/?id=1&token=792878 _____________________________________________________ To unsubscribe or update your listing go to: http://www.occupationwatch.org/?id=1&token=792878 _____________________________________________________ To unsubscribe or update your listing go to: http://www.occupationwatch.org/?id=1&token=792878 _____________________________________________________ To unsubscribe or update your listing go to: http://www.occupationwatch.org/email.php?id=4150&token=805325 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 22:39:29 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 22:39:29 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] FW: The Role of Boycotts in the Fight for Peace Message-ID: The International Action Center suggests a holiday shopping boycott during the "Stop the War week", Dec. 3-11, initiated by the Million Worker March. http://www.peoplejudgebush.org. I promise I will buy no Bradley Fighting Vehicles during that week. ===== ******************************** Workers and Oppressed Peoples of the World Unite! http://www.workers.org/ Bring the Troops Home Now! Week of Action: Dec. 3-11 http://www.AntiWar4theMillionWorkerMarch.org/ ******************************** -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 22:31:36 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 22:31:36 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Holiday Benefit for At-Risk Native Youth Message-ID: Please feel to forward widely :) *********************************************** We hope you have a joyful holiday season! The holiday season is a difficult time for at-risk youth. Many youth are living away from their families and have no home to go to for a holiday meal or receive a gift. This is the sixth year that the Northwest Two-Spirit Society has put on a holiday benefit to raise money for these youths. The Northwest Two-Spirit Society (NWTSS) would like to invite you and your family/friends to the Sixth Annual Holiday Benefit for At-Risk Youth! The Northwest Two-Spirit Society will use the funds from the Benefit (and from donations) to purchase gifts for Native American youth who are in transitional living, dependents of the State, homeless, or otherwise in need; youth who are not being served by other programs, who would otherwise go without gifts this season. WHEN: December 4, 2004, 7pm. WHERE: Asian Theatre, 407 7th Ave. S. Seattle. COST: $15 per person. (You must be 21 or older to attend). There are many ways you can help! You can contact the NWTSS about sponsoring a youth by purchasing items from their wish list, you can send in a donation to the Northwest Two-Spirit Society (1122 E. Pike St., PMB 995, Seattle WA 98122), and/or you can come to the fabulous benefit show and participate in the show's silent auction! The format of the show is somewhat different this year: we're in a beautiful new location, the entertaining show is at 8pm, and it is preceded by an hour of music, filling hors d'oeuvres, and a silent auction. We look forward to seeing you there! The youth who will benefit from this show are members of/served by the following organizations; United Indians of All Tribes Foundation (Youth Home and other programs), Pathfinder School, and the Office of Indian Child Welfare/DCFS. To sponsor a youth, please contact Raven Heavy Runner at (206) 709-8301. For ticket information, or to purchase tickets, please contact Miriam Bearse, (206) 384-8440. Thank you! We look forward to seeing you there! www.nwtwospiritsociety.org http://groups.msn.com/NorthwestTwoSpiritSociety "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed it's the only thing that ever has." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 22:35:41 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 22:35:41 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Tort reform advocates play fast and loose with facts Message-ID: Tort reform advocates play fast and loose with facts By DAN ZEGART GUEST COLUMNIST FROM: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/199885_focus21.html?searchpagefrom=1&searchdiff=2 Just as the GOP convention was about to kick off in late August, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce made an unusual announcement. Although it had never in its 92-year history endorsed a presidential candidate, the organization vowed to help pump $10 million into ads in seven battleground states urging voters to support lawsuit restrictions endorsed by President Bush and opposed by Sen. John Kerry. Calling it "a make-or-break election for legal reform," chamber President Thomas Donohue charged "lawsuit abuse destroys jobs, drives doctors out of business and forces companies into bankruptcy." The ads put the 3 million businesses of the theoretically non-partisan chamber squarely in Bush's corner. The Bush campaign hit hard at the Kerry/Edwards ticket for allegedly being pawns of plaintiff's attorneys. Indeed, the lines could not have been more clearly drawn. John Edwards had a meteoric career as a malpractice lawyer while the Bush forces made attacks on "junk lawsuits" a mainstay of their stump rhetoric. "You can't be pro-doctor and pro-patient and pro-plaintiff's attorney at the same time," Bush said in mid-August in Michigan. "I made my choice. I am for medical liability reform now." The crowd applauded, although voters have never shown the slightest interest in tort reform. But regardless of whether the issue helped Bush get re-elected, its heightened prominence demonstrates the escalation of the stakes in what is now a 30-year-long war by the ultraright to disembowel the civil-justice system and make the United States safer for companies to work their unfettered will. Piggybacking on the campaign of an incumbent president, who made lawsuit restrictions a central part of his governorship in Texas, the tort reformers seized on the election just past as their defining moment. There are no statistics, but a four-month Nation magazine investigation established to a virtual certainty that there are many cases of victims the civil-justice system once helped who are now routinely barred from court, as a kind of tort-reform frenzy has swept the country during the past two years. Malpractice "reforms" are only the thin end of the wedge for a much bigger agenda. Lined up behind the doctors are most of the Fortune 500, a formidable coalition led by insurance and tobacco companies, far-right think tanks and dozens of well-heeled pressure groups, many of them fronts for corporate interests. Buoyed by the conservative tide flowing through the country, this coalition has stepped up the pressure to enact damage caps and other measures. Before unleashing its campaign ads, the Chamber of Commerce had already poured $100 million into an anti-lawsuit lobbying and publicity blitz that claimed product liability suits add a "tort tax" of $809 per person every year to the cost of goods and services. Stories highlighting the lawsuit abuse "problem" have become a staple in Reader's Digest and the newsweeklies. It is no exaggeration to say that the civil-justice system in the United States is under saturation bombardment, the most significant effort at rewriting the laws that govern lawsuits in 20 years. These are changes some legal scholars believe could alter the balance of the three branches of government, changes that could defang the civil jury so thoroughly that its role as quality-control guardian for products and services will alter drastically, if it doesn't wither and die. The cheerleader in chief for this movement is Bush. In his first months as governor of Texas, a job he won with the help of $1.3 million from the extremist Texans for Lawsuit Reform, Bush declared an "emergency" on "frivolous lawsuits" and rammed through the Legislature a series of bills restricting suits. Now Bush has become the first president to make downsizing the civil courts a signature concern of both his administration and his re-election effort. His campaign called medical liability the "largest cost in the health care system" -- a sheer fiction. Malpractice filings declined nationally by about 4 percent between 1995 and 2000. And while a recent analysis of the Medicare population estimated that medical errors kill 131,000 people annually, making it the fourth-leading cause of death, medical suits are only 5 percent of personal-injury filings, with product-liability cases another 5 percent. Plaintiffs lose 60 percent of product cases and 70 percent of malpractice suits. Not only are socially significant lawsuits such as malpractice and product liability a small fraction of the legal picture, but also numerous studies show that capping damages doesn't affect insurance premiums. One survey examined insurance rates between 1985 and 1998, then ranked the states according to the severity of their restrictions on lawsuits. Increased severity did not produce lower rates. According to J. Robert Hunter, federal insurance administrator under Presidents Ford and Carter, caps don't work because liability rates reflect not litigation costs but the insurance industry's own practices. During good times, insurers write policies even for the worst risks to generate cash for investment. When the stock market tanks, rates climb steeply to cover losses. The current liability crisis, Hunter notes, coincided with the market downturn that began in the summer of 2001. And because the insurance cycle is international, the "hard market" also drove up premiums in Canada, Australia and France. "And those countries have totally different legal systems," Hunter says. The irony is that just as virtually the entire country finishes retooling its civil-justice system, the hard market is easing and insurance costs are edging downward, a trend that became evident in late 2003 and for which tort reform is unjustly receiving credit, according to Hunter. The numbers show that lawsuits are an insignificant cost both to businesses and to health providers, for whom they represent less than 2 percent of spending. In short, the lawsuit-abuse crisis is a hoax. Yet the Republican right has launched one of the great propaganda blitzes of recent American history to yank the teeth from the civil jury. The reach of the civil-justice system expanded dramatically during the '70s, but by the early '80s, a retrenchment was under way. The seed money for tort reform came from the same group of extremist multimillionaires whose family foundations nurtured the rest of the ultraright's agenda, especially David and Charles Koch, Richard Mellon Scaife, and Lynde and Harry Bradley. Of the dozens of think tanks they created, four -- the Heritage Foundation, the Washington Legal Foundation, the American Legislative Exchange Council and especially the Manhattan Institute and its Center for Legal Policy -- took particular aim at plaintiff's lawyers. They were an obvious target, especially the "mass tort" lawyers who were filing waves of suits over products such as the Dalkon Shield and asbestos. Only in the United States can civil juries, which are virtually unheard of in the rest of the world, both compensate victims and award punitive damages against a defendant whose behavior outrages the community. Although less than 4 percent of tort actions are decided by a jury verdict, that tiny handful represents the only time a corporation's fate rests in the hands of ordinary citizens. A punitive damage award, or any large judgment, is a serious embarrassment and often collapses stock prices. The fate of asbestos maker Johns Manville, which sought bankruptcy protection in 1982 under a deluge of 20,000 lawsuits, has often been cited as a portent of things to come, although it is rarely mentioned that Johns Manville was a fully solvent company with assets of more than $2 billion when it sought shelter. Or that it emerged six years later with its profit-generating core intact. By the mid-'80s, the asbestos wars had made a number of plaintiff's lawyers wealthy political players in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, while on the other side, the American Tort Reform Association was founded to lobby and begin reprogramming the jury pool through a long-term propaganda campaign. The ultraright was perfectly positioned to speak with opinion leaders through its web of self-referential think tanks, magazines, books and conferences. The Manhattan Institute promoted Peter Huber, whose influential books injected terms such as "junk science" and "tort tax" into the national conversation. Few, if any, of the ultraright's obsessions have won such substantial backing from mainstream corporate America as tort reform. Corporate boards may have little stake in school vouchers or abortion, but every company wants to limit its liability. According to Leonard Salle, co-author of the Commonweal Institute's report "The Attack on Trial Lawyers and Tort Law," the total spent on lobbying, advertising, think tanks, endowing chairs at law schools and electing reform-friendly judges and legislators probably exceeds $1 billion over a 30-year period. But despite two successful waves of tort reform in the states in the mid-'70s and mid-'80s, in Washington anti-lawsuit bills died in committee. As an issue, tort reform had a chilly, academic ring, like lobbying for the metric system. The solution was born in south Texas in 1991, when the Rio Grande Valley Chamber of Commerce, infuriated by a $2.5 million verdict to two Mexican Americans illegally fired from a sugar mill, started Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, which plastered billboards across the valley with such slogans as "Lawsuit Abuse: Guess Who Picks Up the Tab? You Do," according to a joint study by the Center for Justice and Democracy and Public Citizen. The cigarette companies were already deeply involved in the issue, and Philip Morris provided generous startup funding for Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse. Thanks in large part to tobacco largesse, there were CALA groups all over the country by the mid-'90s. In 1993 and 1994, while a politically green George W. Bush received instruction from Mike Toomey, soon-to-be lobbyist for Texans for Lawsuit Reform, Karl Rove, a consultant to Philip Morris, was persuading Bush to exploit the lawsuit-abuse issue in his first gubernatorial campaign, according to the book "Bush's Brain," by James Moore and Wayne Slater. Tort reform proved a powerful weapon. Although of little interest to voters, the issue, according to Rove himself, was a magnet for corporate donations -- among numerous other benefits. "By publicizing all the horrors of the tort system, they get a lot done," explains Pamela Gilbert, a lobbyist for plaintiff's lawyers. "You pass legislation that curbs their liability; that's the ultimate prize. But short of that, you affect juries, you affect elected officials, you affect judges, you affect the entire discourse of the United States." Best of all, by doing harm to plaintiff's lawyers, Gilbert notes, tort reform would help defund the Democratic Party, a key piece of strategy for the Rove Republicans in the new millennium. With a uniform message and national structure, the "lawsuit abuse" campaign grew exponentially in the states in the '90s. Although trial lawyers and consumer groups fought back with hastily erected alliances, the message has become so familiar it has jumped the fence from think tanks to John Stossel, drive-time radio and David Letterman's "Top Ten," coming perilously close to turning Americans against the civil jury, perhaps our most radically democratic institution. There are, of course, plenty of things wrong with the civil-justice system. It has high "transaction" costs, meaning money that should go to victims is eaten up by lawyers and others, but worst of all, it is haphazard. In 1991, a Harvard University study of medical malpractice in New York state found an unexpectedly high rate of medical accidents. However, few of even the most serious "mishaps" resulted in lawsuits, and there was no correlation between severity and litigation. Carl Bogus, a law professor at Roger Williams University, argues that what plaintiff's lawyers do best is regulate, a role that has become more and more vital as government's watchdog function has shrunk under conservative attack. Bogus notes that although asbestos caused 170,000 deaths from lung cancer, the Environmental Protection Agency was never able to ban it. Lawsuits forced it from the market. However, if this vital aspect of the civil-justice system is to be rescued, someone will have to make the case for it. Despite Bush's persistent attacks and the presence of trial lawyer Edwards on the ticket, the Democrats apparently considered tort issues unmentionable. Part of the problem, says Gilbert, the trial-lawyer lobbyist, is that defending the system is inherently problematic. "If someone's been a victim of medical malpractice, to like say, 'Oh, but gee, aren't you lucky because you get to bring a medical malpractice lawsuit!' It's like, Well thank you very much, I'd much rather that it never happened at all." The real goal is safety. Lawsuits can never provide anything more than frontier justice in a world in which we are surrounded by seemingly innocuous manufactured goods that in fact can injure or kill us. In this world, evil is truly banal -- it's the missing plastic seal in a gas tank, the pill we take for morning sickness, the tires on our car. Plaintiff's attorneys can sometimes punish a wrongdoer, but there is no swift and sure law enforcement in our manufactured world. Whopping punitive awards -- even in the rare cases where they are awarded and stick -- are an embarrassment and a short-term deterrent, but the persistence of corporate wrongdoing over decades argues that the effect wears off. Ford built the flammable Pinto in the '70s, the rollover-prone Bronco II in the '80s and its successor, the almost equally hazardous Explorer, in the '90s. However, absent a working alternative, there is no substitute for civil justice. For now, the sheer scale of the harm done to an entire society by a defective mass-marketed product makes the availability of the tort action essential, even while underlining its inadequacies: 11 million workers exposed to asbestos, 10,000 children born with defects because of thalidomide, 1.5 million Pintos recalled, more than 6 million dieters who used Phen Fen, which damaged the heart muscle. These are truly modern plagues. On the tort-reform side, the numbers tell a story of squandered dollars. The $809 "tort tax" was invented by taking $233 billion, which is what insurance-industry consultant Tillinghast-Towers Perrin says is the cost of the tort system, and dividing it by the population of the United States. But those billions represent not only legal expenses, but also the total cost of running the insurance industry, including executive salaries, advertising expenditures and much else unrelated to lawsuits. The real figure is probably less than half that amount. It is unlikely we will become less litigious -- that there will be less law and fewer legal interventions. Although the number of personal-injury suits isn't rising, the sheer number of laws is increasing rapidly, writes Marc Galanter, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin. Between 1962 and 2002, the percentage of civil cases that went to trial in federal courts fell from 11.5 percent to 1.8 percent, an astonishing drop. Galanter's conclusion was that the civil trial, with its adversarial public questioning of live witnesses, is vanishing. The implications are disturbing. "When there was a bigger possibility of trial, that distributed the bargaining chips in a certain way. Now we're going to a situation where so few things go to trial, it's not there anymore as a wild card for plaintiffs or underdogs to use," Galanter explains. In addition to these trends, there is an increasing emphasis on alternative dispute resolution and privatized forums for handling certain legal issues, such as in-house tribunals within companies. If trials all but disappear while the right of ordinary people to sue is restricted, Galanter argues, the legal process becomes more and more about exchanges of paper between and within entities, especially corporations, frequently behind closed doors. Will Americans allow their most unique legal rights to slip down the memory hole? Reprinted with permission from the Oct. 25 issue of The Nation (www.TheNation.com). Homepage (as of NOV-01-2002): http://www.SeattleActivist.org To unsubscribe, send an email to: SeattleActivist-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 22:38:53 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 22:38:53 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Tutu warns of poverty 'powder keg' - South Africa Message-ID: Tutu warns of poverty 'powder keg' Tutu says poverty is the biggest threat to South African security FROM: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4035809.stm Archbishop Desmond Tutu has warned that South Africa is sitting on a "powder keg" because millions are living in "dehumanising poverty". The Nobel Peace laureate said attempts to boost black economic ownership were only benefiting an elite minority. And he cautioned that political "kowtowing" within the ruling ANC was hampering democracy. The archbishop was speaking at the Nelson Mandela annual lecture in Johannesburg on Tuesday. We cannot glibly on full stomachs speak about handouts to those who often go to bed hungry He attacked the black economic empowerment programme for further enriching already wealthy blacks. "What is black empowerment when it seems to benefit not the vast majority but an elite that tends to be recycled?" he asked. He warned the system could be "building up much resentment which we may rue later." "Gruelling, demeaning, dehumanising poverty" experienced by millions of South Africans was the biggest threat to the country's security, he said. "We are sitting on a powder keg." Security The archbishop criticised politicians for debating whether to give the poor an income grant of $16 (?12) a month and said the idea should be seriously considered. "We cannot glibly on full stomachs speak about handouts to those who often go to bed hungry," he said. "It is cynical in the extreme to speak about handouts when people can become very rich at the stroke of a pen." He called on ordinary citizens to "adopt" a poor family by giving them $16 to $32 a month or to pay their school fees. While listing South Africa's successes since the end of apartheid, he warned against a tendency towards stifling political debate. "Truth cannot suffer by being examined or challenged," he said. "Unthinking, uncritical, kowtowing party line-toeing is fatal to a vibrant democracy," the archbishop added. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 19:50:02 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 19:50:02 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Real facts; real figures. Message-ID: Real facts; real figures. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7367.htm 20,802 US Soldiers Heavily Wounded Believe it or not... Raed In The Middle 11/25/4 -- Can anyone believe how dirty and dishonorable the US administration is? The official number of US soldiers wounded in Iraq that was announced by the US DOD (department of defense) is 8458 in Iraq and 423 in Afghanistan. Can anyone believe that the US military hospital at Germany (alone), the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, announced that 20,802 troops have been treated at Landstuhl from injuries received in "Operations Iraqi Freedom" (occupying Iraq) and "Enduring Freedom" (occupying Afghanistan). The interesting part of the news that I didn't find these numbers on AlJazeera (the No.1 enemy of Rumy and other little bush supporters). These Numbers were published by the well-known, Department of Defense-authorized daily newspaper distributed overseas for the U.S. military community, "Stars and Stripes". more than 17,200 from these soldiers were injured in Iraq, and more than 3,000 were injured in Afghanistan as I read in a local newspaper. These numbers are just for the US soldiers that were moved to Germany. There are other thousands that were injured inside Iraq and Afghanistan and treated in small local military clinics and hospitals, or moved to other US military hospitals. The official number of Us soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan is 1375 and 144. I wonder what the real numbers are. permanent link (In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Information Clearing House has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is Information Clearing House endorsed or sponsored by the originator.) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 19:15:47 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 19:15:47 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Iraqi Election Creates Unusual Alliances (Kind of a Kurd - Iraq 101) Message-ID: Iraqi Election Creates Unusual Alliances Dispute Over Timing of Elections Creates Unusual Alliances, Underscores Iraq's Fragmented Political Landscape FROM: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=288746&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312 BAGHDAD, Iraq Nov 29, 2004 - Doubts about holding Iraqi national elections on Jan. 30 produced an alliance few believed possible Sunni Arabs and Sunni Kurds united in calling for a delay. Less than 24 hours later, the alliance collapsed after Shiite Arabs made clear they would not accept any postponement. The flap over the election date, which began Friday, illustrates the complexity of Iraq's ethnic-based politics. It also provides insights into the welter of conflicting interests and views in a fragmented country trying to build democracy in the midst of an armed uprising and foreign military occupation. Sunni Muslim politicians pushed for the delay because of widespread anger within their community over this month's attack on the Sunni insurgent base of Fallujah, which in turn produced a call by Sunni clerics to boycott the vote. In calling for a delay, the Sunnis managed to win backing of representatives from the country's two leading Kurdish parties. Collectively, the Kurds and the Sunni Arabs form about 40 percent of Iraq's nearly 26 million people the rest of whom are mostly Shiites. But when the Shiite clerical leadership refused to delay the balloting, the Kurds waffled, claiming they never intended to agree to a postponement and they were ready for elections whenever they occur. The Iraqi National Accord, Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's party, took part in the meeting that produced the call for the delay. But as soon as the Shiites spoke out, Allawi's government said it was sticking by the Jan. 30 date and his Accord party also said it never intended to join in the call for an election delay. One Shiite official, asked not to be identified, said that if the Shiites lost on the battle over the election date, they might demand their own autonomous region in the south similar to what the Kurds have in the north. For the Kurds, a major goal is control of Kirkuk, a major oil-producing center and ethnically mixed city that is outside the Kurdish-ruled autonomous region. The city's major ethnic communities Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen each consider Kirkuk their own. Kurdish parties have been encouraging Kurds who were displaced from the Kirkuk area by Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Arab, to return to the city. The goal is to increase Kurdish numbers in time for a parallel election Jan. 30, in which voters in the city will decide whether to join the Kurdish autonomous region. Delaying the election would give the Kurds more time to boost their numbers in Kirkuk, political analysts say. "The Kurdish political parties have interests in postponing the general elections for a certain period of time, simply to guarantee that the municipal elections in Kirkuk will be also postponed," Kurdish political analyst Assos Hardi said. Before last week's postponement call, both Kurdish parties the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party had insisted that the referendum on the status of Kirkuk should not be held until the government had implemented Article 58 of Iraq's interim constitution. That article states that all Iraqis, including Kurds, who were displaced under Saddam's regime, have the right to return to their homes and receive compensation. Both parties, however, publicly deny any link between the timing of the Kirkuk vote and the national election. "These are totally different issues," said PUK spokesman Sero Kihdar said. "Elections in Kirkuk will not be possible if the law (Article 58) isn't implemented. But at the same time, we are ready for the general elections." The contacts between the Kurdish and Sunni Arab parties was also motivated by their common fear of an overwhelming Shiite victory, especially if the Sunni clerics convince many of their followers not to take part in the election. Hardi, the Kurdish analyst, said the Shiites "are trying, peacefully, to take power in Iraq and all estimates point to their massive victory." Anticipating a big victory, the Shiites want no delay in the election, believing it will guarantee them the power long denied them under Ottoman, British and Saddam's rule. Hussain al-Shahristani, who is close to the top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, warned the generally peaceful Shiite community might resort to "other alternatives" if the election were delayed. Bayan Jaber, a member of a leading Shiite party, said a delay would require amending the interim constitution. If that happened, Jaber said "the doors will be open for other amendments and those calling for postponement will be the losers at the end." The Kurds, for one, aren't anxious for an open-ended review of the interim constitution. The document gives the Kurds, estimated at no more than 20 percent of the population, an effective veto of the permanent constitution to be drafted by the parliament elected in January. Under the temporary charter, if two-thirds of the voters in three provinces reject the permanent constitution, it would fail to win ratification. The Kurds control three provinces. Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 30 10:24:04 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 10:24:04 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Worldwatch: Food & Vital Signs PDF Download Message-ID: <20041130182404.13668.qmail@web13601.mail.yahoo.com> body {font: 10pt/12pt arial;color: #000000;margin: 4px;}p,td,li {font: 10pt/12pt arial;}p.small {font: 8pt/12pt arial;}li.small {font: 8pt/12pt arial;}h2 {font: normal 13pt georgia;font-weight: bold;letter-spacing: 1px;margin-bottom: 0px;color: #8D0C06;}h3 {font: normal 12pt georgia;font-weight: bold;letter-spacing: 1px;margin-top: 2px;margin-bottom: 2px;margin-bottom: 0px;color: #3A1B06;}h4 {font: normal 10pt georgia;font-weight: bold;letter-spacing: 1px;margin-top: 2px;margin-bottom: 2px;color: #536C2A;}a:link {text-decoration: none;color: #6666cc;}a:visited {text-decoration: none;color: #6666cc;}a:hover, a:active {text-decoration: underline;color: #6666cc;}span.menu {font: bold normal 10pt georgia;color: #ffffff;padding: 1px;}span.menu a, span.menu a:visited {font: bold normal 10pt arial;color: #ffffff;}div.box{padding: 2px;margin: 0px 0px 4px 0px;border-style: dotted;border-width: 1px;}Publications | Donate | About Us | Home Contents - Online Feature: Food, Live Online Discussion: Local Food - Free PDF Download: Vital Signs 2003 Good Stuff? Cars: Barreling Across the Planet Matters of Scale Death in Baghdad Number of Americans killed on their own soil, in combat with the British during the Revolutionary War 4,435 Number of Iraqis killed on their own soil, in combat with the Americans during "Operation Iraqi Freedom" over 10,000 (More...) Join the Worldwatch e-mail list. Unsubscribe from the Worldwatch e-mail list. Worldwatch Institute: November 30, 2004 Online Feature: Food Educate yourself about the benefits of local food, find organizations in your area that are promoting local food, and use our resources and links to discover what you can do to spread the local food movement, in our Online Feature: Food. Use our Discussion Questions and Activity Ideas in conjunction with Worldwatch's new release?Eat Here: Reclaiming Homegrown Pleasures in a Global Supermarket?to educate your friends or your classroom on the merits of eating locally. Live Online Discussion: Local Food December 15, 2004 ? 2:00 PM EST (1900 GMT) Join Worldwatch Senior Researcher and Eat Here author Brian Halweil on December 15th to discuss the surging local food movement, rediscovering homegrown pleasures, and changing the way we eat. Submit your questions now at www.worldwatch.org/live/discussion/101/ and return on December 15th for the discussion. Free PDF Download?Vital Signs 2003 From devastating resource wars fueled by oil or diamonds to a surge in clean, cheap wind power, Vital Signs 2003 documents the trends that are shaping our future in concise analyses and clear tables and graphs. Download the PDF versions of Vital Signs 2003 today at www.worldwatch.org/pubs/vs/2003/. Among the important trends highlighted in Vital Signs 2003: Infectious diseases kill twice as many people worldwide as cancer each year. Roughly one-quarter of the 50 recent wars and armed conflicts have involved a struggle for control of natural resources. The most rapidly expanding energy source is wind power?with an annual average growth rate of 33 percent between 1998 and 2002. With less than 5 percent of the world?s population, the United States uses 26 percent of the oil, 25 percent of the coal, and 27 percent of the natural gas. 82 percent of the world?s smokers now live in developing countries. Worldwatch is hiring. Visit our jobs page for details. Support the InstituteWorldwatch Publications Join the Worldwatch Institute and help inspire a revolution in global thinking on how we live on planet earth. Benefits of membership include free publications and a free subscription to World Watch magazine. Donate Now! >From our flagship State of the World and Vital Signs publications to the interactive Signposts CD-ROM, Worldwatch publications provide in-depth data and analysis on a broad range of environmental and social topics. Browse our publications. Worldwatch Institute - 1776 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20036 Tel 202.452.1999 - Fax 202.296.7365 - www.worldwatch.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 30 16:05:19 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 16:05:19 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] WARNING: Going to church could be hazardous to your health Message-ID: <20041201000520.22576.qmail@web13623.mail.yahoo.com> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4026537.stm Church air is 'threat to health' Air inside churches may be a bigger health risk than that beside major roads, research suggests. Church air was found to be considerably higher in carcinogenic polycyclic hydrocarbons than air beside roads travelled by 45,000 vehicles daily. It also had levels of tiny solid pollutants (PM10s) up to 20 times the European limits. The study, by Maastricht University, The Netherlands, is published in the European Respiratory Journal. The researchers say that December, with churches lighting up candles for Christmas, could be an especially dangerous month for the lungs. It is now believed that respiratory health is increasingly at risk from so-called "indoor pollution" in the home, workplace and other enclosed spaces. The Dutch team set out to examine the air quality in churches, as they are often poorly ventilated, with candles burning all day, and frequent use of incense. Both could, in principle, be expected to have some harmful effects. Simulated service The researchers analysed the particulate matter concentration found in the air of a small chapel and a large basilica in Maastricht following lengthy use of candles or a simulated service in which incense was burned. Fine particulate matter is a major ingredient in air pollution. Consisting of solid particles with a diameter of 10 microns or less, it contains different types of toxic chemicals, including soot, metals and various carcinogenic molecules. The particles can penetrate very deep into the lungs and trigger various lung and heart conditions. The researchers found that, after nine hours of candle-burning, the church air had PM10 levels of 600 to 1000 micrograms per cubic metre - more than four times higher than before the start of the first morning mass. This represents 12 to 20 times the European allowed average concentration over 24 hours. The study also found very high concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, also known to be carcinogenic. New free radicals It also uncovered various types of free radicals, including some previously undocumented ones. Free radicals are highly reactive molecules that damage lung tissue and can trigger or exacerbate inflammatory reactions, including those connected with major respiratory conditions such as asthma and chronic bronchitis. The researchers say priests and people working for long periods in churches are at greater risk than ordinary worshippers. However, worshippers devout enough to spend several hours each day in church could also be affected. Researcher Dr Theo de Kok said: "While we still have to assess more precisely what level of risk these people are running and how toxic the newly identified free radicals are, this discovery is very worrying." A spokesman for the Church of England said that during candle and incense-burning ceremonies the doors of churches were often open, with people coming in and out. He said many factors would govern pollution levels, such as the height of the church, and whether the high level windows were open. He also took issue with the idea that churches were poorly ventilated - pointing out that many are notorious for being draughty. However, he added: "This study certainly bears further investigation, and we will keep a watching brief." Dr Richard Russell of the British Thoracic Society, said: "Particle pollution, whether it be in an outdoor or indoor environment, can be a danger to lung health and cause respiratory diseases such as emphesyma and bronchitis. "More research needs to be done in this area but we would also recommend that churches look at ways to reduce indoor air pollution such as improving ventilation." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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!? Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 30 17:07:20 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 17:07:20 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Pentagon: 'They Hate Our Policies, Not Our Freedom' Message-ID: <20041201010720.49784.qmail@web13602.mail.yahoo.com> http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/120104V.shtml 'They Hate Our Policies, Not Our Freedom' By Tom Regan The Christian Science Monitor Monday 29 November 2004 Quietly released Pentagon report contains major criticisms of administration. Late on the Wednesday afternoon before the Thanksgiving holiday, the US Defense Department released a report by the Defense Science Board that is highly critical of the administration's efforts in the war on terror and in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 'Muslims do not hate our freedom, but rather they hate our policies [the report says]. The overwhelming majority voice their objections to what they see as one-sided support in favor of Israel and against Palestinian rights, and the long-standing, even increasing, support for what Muslims collectively see as tyrannies, most notably Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan and the Gulf states. Thus, when American public diplomacy talks about bringing democracy to Islamic societies, this is seen as no more than self-serving hypocrisy.' The Pentagon released the study after The New York Times ran a story about the report in its Wednesday editions. The Defense Science Board, reports Disinfopedia, is "a Federal advisory committee established to provide independent advice to the Secretary of Defense." 'The current Board is authorized to consist of thirty-two members plus seven ex officio members': the chairmen of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Policy, Ballistic Missile Defense Advisory Committee, and Defense Intelligence Agency Science and Technology Advisory Committee. 'Members, whose appointed terms range from one to four years, are selected on the basis of their preeminence in the fields of science, technology and its application to military operations, research, engineering, manufacturing and acquisition process.' China's Xinhuanet reported that the board's report criticized the US for failing in its efforts to communicate its military and diplomatic actions to the world, and the Muslim world in particular, "but no public relations campaign can save America from flawed policies." The report also takes the administration to task for talking about Islamic extremism in a way that offends many Muslims. In stark contrast to the cold war, the United States today is not seeking to contain a threatening state empire, but rather seeking to convert a broad movement within Islamic civilization to accept the value structure of Western Modernity - an agenda hidden within the official rubric of a 'War on Terrorism,' [the report states]. MSNBC notes that the report, in a comment that directly goes against statements made by President Bush and senior cabinet members, says the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have united otherwise-divided Muslim extremists and given terrorists organizations like Al Qaeda a boost by "raising their stature." In fact, Wired News reported the board as saying, the US has not only failed to separate "the vast majority of nonviolent Muslims from the radical-militant Islamist-Jihadists," but American efforts may have "achieved the opposite of what they intended." Al Jazeera reported Thursday that the board called for the creation of a strategic communication's "apparatus" within the executive branch and "an overhaul of public diplomacy, public affairs and information dissemination efforts by the Pentagon and State Department." If we really want to see the Muslim world as a whole [the report states], and the Arabic-speaking world in particular, move more toward our understanding of moderation and tolerance, we must reassure Muslims that this does not mean that they must submit to the American way. As columnist Thomas Freidman of The New York Times wrote Monday in an opinion piece, the lack of planning and a 'clear channel of communication to the Muslim world' means that the US is losing the PR war to people that "saw off the heads of other Muslims." Wars are fought for political ends. Soldiers can only do so much. And the last mile in every war is about claiming the political fruits. The bad guys in Iraq can lose every mile on every road, but if they beat America on the last mile - because they are able to intimidate better than America is able to coordinate, protect, inform, invest and motivate - they will win and America will lose. The New York Times reported last Wednesday that although the board's report does not constitute official government policy, it captures "the essential themes of a debate that is now roiling not just the Defense Department but the entire United States government." ------- ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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 30 20:36:37 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 20:36:37 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Please forward: Friday Night At the Meaningful Movies 12/3: "INCIDENT AT OGLALA: The Leonard Peltier Story" Message-ID: Wallingford Neighbors for Peace and Justice "Friday Night At The Meaningful Movies" ...Every Friday Night All Films At: Keystone Church, 5019 Keystone Place N., Seattle (Wallingford) 0.4 miles west of the I-5 50th St. Exit - Metro Bus Routes 16, 26 & 44 Free! - Donations Very Much Appreciated!! Dear Friends, On Friday, December 3rd, 7-9:30PM, "Friday Night At the Meaningful Movies" is pleased to present: "INCIDENT AT OGLALA: The Leonard Peltier Story" Friday, December 3, 2004, 7:00PM Film: "Incident at Oglala: The Leonard Peltier Story" (93 min, Robert Redford & Michael Apted, 1992) Incident at Oglala is a thought-provoking documentary examining the trials of three Native Americans after the 1975 shoot-out on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. After two members of AIM (American Indian Movement) were acquitted on grounds of self-defense, the third, Leonard Peltier, was tried separately and convicted of double homicide. Peltier's lawyers claim that the FBI saw AIM as a conspiracy against the government and, after losing the first case, manufactured evidence against Peltier. OPEN DISCUSSION FOLLOWS FREE - Donations Appreciated. Relevant websites to check out: Film Review: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104504/usercomments Leonard Peltier Defense Committee: http://www.leonardpeltier.org/main.html Peltier Case Info: http://www.freepeltier.org/ General Info re: Leonard Peltier: http://nativenet.uthscsa.edu/archive/nl/peltier.html ALSO: Saturday, February 5, 2005. Tacoma, WA 12th Annual Northwest Regional International Day Of Solidarity With Leonard Peltier March For Justice: 12:00 Noon - Portland Ave. Park (on Portland Ave.between E. 24th and E. Fairbanks Ave. Take Portland Ave. exit off I-5 and head east) Rally For Justice: 1:00 PM - U.S. Federal Court House, 1717 Pacific Ave. More Info: Tacoma-lpsg at ojibwe.net or bayou at blarg.net Other Events: Wednesday, Nov 30 @5:30-7:00PM Wallingford Neighbors For Peace and Justice - VIGIL and BANNERING at N 45th St. & Wallingford Ave. N Uplifting! Come join us! Saturday, Dec 4 @ 7:30PM FILM SNEAK PREVIEW - "ARGENTINA: HOPE IN HARD TIMES" . University of Washington, Kane Hall #210 Don't miss this incredible film AND DISCUSSION - So relevant now! At the end of 2001, after years as the poster child for corporate globalization, the Argentine economy collapsed. This film is about what happened next. 'Que se vayan todos!' Chants echo off the skyscrapers, burst through the plazas, and clamor down the streets of Buenos Aires. 'Throw them all out!' shout legions of frustrated Argentine housewives, students, lawyers, weaving their way through the city one summer evening, banging on pots and pans. These are their inspiring stories - of a failed economy and distrusted politicians, of heartache and hard times, of a resurgence of grass roots democracy, and of an irrepressible spirit of community - told in colorful, resonant detail. More info: www.movingimages.org. Riddle: Q: What's the difference between Argentina and the United States? A: Three years. ...so pay attention Sunday, Dec. 5 @ 6:00 PM BALLARD MOVIE NIGHT: "AMANDLA!" Trinity United Methodist Church at NW 65th & 23rd NW, Ballard, Seattle The power of song to communicate, motivate, console, unite and, ultimately, beget change: that ideal, gloriously realized, lies at the heart of director Lee Hirsch's inspiring feature film documentary "Amandla! A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony". More info: http://www.amandla.com/ppress/index.php?pid=35 Potluck, discussion and community-building will follow the film. Bring your ideas for actions to take and take inspiration from others! Our purpose in facilitating discussion after the film is to provide a venue for community-building which is a hallmark of current Ballard events. We hope to encourage people to collaborate on proposals for actions to take in response to the challenges that our films present. Please come and participate in building a more positive future for us all! (Held Monthly.) Thursday, Dec. 9 @ 7:00 PM FILM: "CLANDESTINOS" Freehold Studio Crow Room, 1525 10th Ave., Seattle, WA. $5-$10 donation. A film about love and resistance in pre-revolutionary Cuba. Based on a true story. Directed by Fernando Perez, 1987, 103 min. Film showing to benefit the National Committee To Free the Cuban Five. 206-568-1661 More info: www.freethefive.org Upcoming Friday Night At the Meaningful Movies: Friday, December 10, 2004, 7:00PM Film: "Fixing Elections: The Failure of America's Winner Take All Politics", by Stephen Hill Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) & Proportional Representation Open Discussion Follows Friday, December 17, 2004, 7:00PM Film: Brother From Another Planet (John Sayles, 108 min, 1984) Open Discussion Follows. Friday, December 24, 2004, 7:00PM No Film Christmas Eve Wallingford Neighbors for Peace and Justice "Friday Night At The Meaningful Movies" Follow-Up Information From Last Friday 11/26 ("Culture Jam"): Great discussion - thanks to all! ? King County Solid Waste has an Exchange site which features used household materials, building materials, and more: http://www.metrokc.gov/dnrp/swd/exchange/index.asp ? Craig's List has a great list of have's and want's, as well as an events calendar: http://seattle.craigslist.org/ It also has a large list of non-profit work and volunteer opportunities: http://seattle.craigslist.org/npo/ ? Seattle FreeCycle: Here's the yahoo groups website: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freecycleseattle/ , and here's their main website: http://freecycle.org/, where you might find something on Seattle. ? Exchange Events: The City of Seattle has this program for scheduling exchange events. There are none currently scheduled, but might be something to watch in Spring: http://www.seattle.gov/util/Services/Recycling/Reduce,_Reuse_&_Exchange/Reuse_Exchange_Events/EXCHANGEE_200311261547475.asp ? SCN Computer Giveaway Project: http://www.scn.org/scna/pcdonate.html ? Coop Fremont Mapping Project: http://www.seattlemap.org/neighborhoods/fremont/ ? Adbusters: http://www.adbusters.org/home/ ? "Walden - Chapter 1 - Economy" by Henry David Thoreau: http://www.online-literature.com/thoreau/walden/1/ [Cliffsnotes version for the time-challenged: http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/id-159,pageNum-5.html] ? Circle of Simplicity/Cecile Andrews: http://www.cecileandrews.com/ ? Phinney EcoVillage Project: http://www.phinneyecovillage.net/ This site is still under construction, but check it out later. There's also an events calendar for workshops on topics like global warming and community democracy. Please note that our Email address has changed to: wnfp at bridgings.org Wallingford Neighbors for Peace and Justice "Friday Night At The Meaningful Movies" ...Every Friday Night All Films At: Keystone Church, 5019 Keystone Place N., Seattle (Wallingford) 0.4 miles west of the I-5 50th St. Exit - Metro Bus Routes 16, 26 & 44 Free! - Donations Very Much Appreciated!!~~~ If you would like to be added to our emailing list, please drop us a note at wnfp at bridgings.org. If you would like to be removed from our email list, please reply to this email, with the following in the "SUBJECT" box: "PLEASE UNSUBSCRIBE, ...but don't take it personally, I just can't handle any more of all this email overload, ...thanks." Wallingford Neighbors For Peace and Justice is a group of concerned citizens in your neighborhood who are trying to make a difference in the defense of justice and pursuit of peace. We are part of the SNOW Coalition - www.snowcoalition.org Please visit our events website at: http://snowcoalition.org/event.php?h_id=31 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 30 20:38:22 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 20:38:22 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] "The Plan" meeting minutes/ next meeting Dec 2 4-7 @SYPP Message-ID: "So, what you gonna do?" Hello everyone, Here are the notes from the last "The Plan" meeting. in attendence: Tashina Willard, Sabastien Paquiet, Henok Emerizon, Cryshawna Mills, Giavanna White, Ali Sunbane, Amen Mengesha, Hazel Pine, Sara Medlicott, Gabrielle Bennett, Denise Cooper, Lanika Knight, Yasmeen Perez, Preethi Raghu, David Chunga Moon, Shelby 1. We debriefed about the election 2. We broke into various comittees those comittees include: a. Conciousness raising/ fun event planning committee b. Strat Plan Retreat committee c. Mlk Hip Hop show committee d. Summer Youth organizing Insitute committee 3. 10 of us went to "Blood Ties" a panel and discussion about the black native connection. The next "Plan" Meeting will be Dec. 2 from 4-7 @ SYPP DINNER AND FUN INCLUDED!!!!!!!! "If you're trying to help us you're wasting your time. But if your liberation is bound with mine, let us work together. We are ONE VOICE, ONE VESSEL, invested in change. Love yourself. Believe. And all power to the people!" -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: message-header.txt URL: -------------- next part -------------- An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: message-footer.txt URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 30 20:40:49 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 20:40:49 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Tom Ridge Message-ID: Tom Ridge has just resigned from his postion of Homeland Security.What is going on. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 30 20:41:42 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 20:41:42 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Iraq health care 'in deep crisis' Message-ID: Iraq health care 'in deep crisis' Iraq's health system is in a far worse condition than before the war, a British medical charity says. Doctors from the group Medact conducted surveys with international aid groups and Iraqi health workers in September. They exposed poor sanitation in many hospitals, shortages of drugs and qualified staff and huge gaps in services for mothers and children. Medact, which monitors healthcare in post-conflict areas, called for an inquiry into the situation. It has also challenged the British government to set up a commission to establish the level of civilian casualties in Iraq. Damaged hospitals "The war is a continuing public health disaster that was predictable - and should have been preventable," the group says. "Excess deaths and injuries and high levels of illness are the direct and indirect results of ongoing conflict." Groups like the medical charity Merlin and the UN aid organisation Unicef were among those whose staff provided information. They paint a picture of a health service struggling to cope and, because of the continuing violence, a population often afraid to leave their homes to seek medical help. Twelve percent of Iraq's hospitals were damaged during the war and the country's two main public health laboratories were also destroyed, the report says. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4054105.stm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 30 20:42:33 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 20:42:33 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] NYTimes article: US may stay in Iraq for at least a decade Message-ID: U.S. Officials Say Iraq's Forces Founder Under Rebel Assaults By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. and JAMES GLANZ Published: November 30, 2004 OSUL, Iraq, Nov. 29 - Iraqi police and national guard forces, whose performance is crucial to securing January elections, are foundering in the face of coordinated efforts to kill and intimidate them and their families, say American officials in the provinces facing the most violent insurgency. For months, Iraqi recruits for both forces have been the victims of assassinations and car bombs aimed at lines of applicants as well as police stations. On Monday morning, a suicide bomber rammed a car into a group of police officers waiting to collect their salaries west of Ramadi, killing 12 people, Interior Ministry officials said. While Bush administration officials say that the training is progressing and that there have been instances in which the Iraqis have proved tactically useful and fought bravely, local American commanders and security officials say both Iraqi forces are riddled with problems. In the most violent provinces, they say, the Iraqis are so intimidated that many are reluctant to show up and do not tell their families where they work; they have yet to receive adequate training or weapons, present a danger to American troops they fight alongside, and are unreliable because of corruption, desertion or infiltration. Given the weak performance of Iraqi forces, any major withdrawal of American troops for at least a decade would invite chaos, a senior Interior Ministry official, whose name could not be used, said in an interview last week. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/30/international/middleeast/30police.html?ei=5094&en=7d32e130127ed63c&hp=&ex=1101877200&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1101836141-j6IQbrwNAcUx1/Ij/JvTBw -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 30 20:44:54 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 20:44:54 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Free Speech Can Be Fatal Message-ID: Free Speech Can Be Fatal News/Comment; Posted on: 2004-11-28 18:33:24 [ Printer friendly ] Siegfried Verbeke of Free Historical Research arrested by joint German-Belgian thought-police. by Armin M?ller That Father Stalin would be innocent of the planned starvation of up to eight million Ukrainian peasants, may still be proclaimed and commercially published by the likes of the Flemish communist Ludo Martens. That the Hutu's have decapitated their Tutsi bro's by the hundred thousands can also be denied in the official media circuit. That Hitler-Germany first gassed and then cremated a total of six million Jews is a statement that may not be refuted, denied, questioned, approved nor minimalized according to Belgian legislation of 1995. Although the Free University of Brussels claims to withstand "every form of dogmatic thinking" in its statutes, this is a mere fait divers [diversion], since hardly any academics protested the limits imposed on free speech and on academic freedom vis-?-vis the alleged "judeocide". After a decennium of bullying, house searches, the Flemish revisionist publisher Siegfried Verbeke (pictured; founder of Free Historical Research, or VHO, which was previously shut down by the corrupt Jewish politician Andr? Gantman) was convicted in the end and sentenced to one year and a half of probation and a rather large fine. The investigation that took seven years could hardly convince any serious jurist, but the judge must have felt the breath of the judeo-liberal ruling class down his neck. If this were not harsh enough, Siegfried Verbeke was arrested again on Saturday 27th of November 2004 in his Flemish town of residence, Kortrijk on the same charges. Given the recently established "European Arrest Warrant" Belgium will pass this martyr of free speech on to the Germans, who was very eager to prosecute him to even further lengths. The 63-year old revisionist scholar will then probably spend his last days in a German jail. In the best case scenario, he will sit in the same prison block as Ernst Z?ndel once he is extradited. This is the state of affairs for freedom of speech in the so-called European democracies. Belgium, with its tradition of 170 years tyrannizing its Dutch-speaking majority by the French-speaking ruling clique, recently sent an investigative panel to the US presidential elections. The current uproar in Ukraine is also highly noted on the agendas of these Politkommisars. Maybe it would be better fitting if they investigated their proper democracy prior to "investigating" other worldly states. A logical consequence would be to release the famous protagonist of free speech and make Siegfried Verbeke an honorary citizen of the town of Kortrijk. Two years ago the Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn was murdered for his anti-immigration stance. Early November 2004 the Dutch film director Theo Van Gogh got likewise murdered for his critique of Islam. it seems all known protagonists of freedom of speech are getting liquidated, both legally and extra-legally. In the Low Countries, freedom of speech seems to be at an all time low and may turn out to be fatal. --Armin M?ller on behalf of the Committee for Protection of Free Speech. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- Brief article on David Irving's Action Report Article from January 2001 on the Zundel Site source: National Vanguard -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 30 20:46:02 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 20:46:02 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] =?iso-8859-1?q?Fw=3A_Red_Cross_Finds_Detainee_Abus?= =?iso-8859-1?q?e_in_Guant=E1namo?= Message-ID: Go to Original Red Cross Finds Detainee Abuse in Guant?namo By Neil A. Lewis The New York Times Tuesday 30 November 2004 WASHINGTON - The International Committee of the Red Cross has charged in confidential reports to the United States government that the American military has intentionally used psychological and sometimes physical coercion "tantamount to torture" on prisoners at Guant?namo Bay, Cuba. The finding that the handling of prisoners detained and interrogated at Guant?namo amounted to torture came after a visit by a Red Cross inspection team that spent most of last June in Guant?namo. The team of humanitarian workers, which included experienced medical personnel, also asserted that some doctors and other medical workers at Guant?namo were participating in planning for interrogations, in what the report called "a flagrant violation of medical ethics." Doctors and medical personnel conveyed information about prisoners' mental health and vulnerabilities to interrogators, the report said, sometimes directly, but usually through a group called the Behavioral Science Consultation Team, or B.S.C.T. The team, known informally as Biscuit, is composed of psychologists and psychological workers who advise the interrogators, the report said. The United States government, which received the report in July, sharply rejected its charges, administration and military officials said. The report was distributed to lawyers at the White House, Pentagon and State Department and to the commander of the detention facility at Guant?namo, Gen. Jay W. Hood. The New York Times recently obtained a memorandum, based on the report, that quotes from it in detail and lists its major findings. It was the first time that the Red Cross, which has been conducting visits to Guant?namo since January 2002, asserted in such strong terms that the treatment of detainees, both physical and psychological, amounted to torture. The report said that another confidential report in January 2003, which has never been disclosed, raised questions of whether "psychological torture" was taking place. The Red Cross said publicly 13 months ago that the system of keeping detainees indefinitely without allowing them to know their fates was unacceptable and would lead to mental health problems. The report of the June visit said investigators had found a system devised to break the will of the prisoners at Guant?namo, who now number about 550, and make them wholly dependent on their interrogators through "humiliating acts, solitary confinement, temperature extremes, use of forced positions." Investigators said that the methods used were increasingly "more refined and repressive" than learned about on previous visits. "The construction of such a system, whose stated purpose is the production of intelligence, cannot be considered other than an intentional system of cruel, unusual and degrading treatment and a form of torture," the report said. It said that in addition to the exposure to loud and persistent noise and music and to prolonged cold, detainees were subjected to "some beatings." The report did not say how many of the detainees were subjected to such treatment. Asked about the accusations in the report, a Pentagon spokesman provided a statement saying, "The United States operates a safe, humane and professional detention operation at Guant?namo that is providing valuable information in the war on terrorism." It continued that personnel assigned to Guant?namo "go through extensive professional and sensitivity training to ensure they understand the procedures for protecting the rights and dignity of detainees." The conclusions by the inspection team, especially the findings involving alleged complicity in mistreatment by medical professionals, have provoked a stormy debate within the Red Cross committee. Some officials have argued that it should make its concerns public or at least aggressively confront the Bush administration. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which is based in Geneva and is separate from the American Red Cross, was founded in 1863 as an independent, neutral organization intended to provide humanitarian protection and assistance for victims of war. Its officials are able to visit prisoners at Guant?namo under the kind of arrangement the committee has made with governments for decades. In exchange for exclusive access to the prison camp and meetings with detainees, the committee has agreed to keep its findings confidential. The findings are shared only with the government that is detaining people. Beatric? M?gevand-Roggo, a senior Red Cross official, said in an interview that she could not say anything about information relayed to the United States government because "we do not comment in any way on the substance of the reports we submit to the authorities." Ms. M?gevand-Roggo, the committee's delegate-general for Europe and the Americas, acknowledged that the issue of confidentiality was a chronic and vexing one for the organization. "Many people do not understand why we have these bilateral agreements about confidentiality," she said. "People are led to believe that we are a fig leaf or worse, that we are complicit with the detaining authorities." She added, "It's a daily dilemma for us to put in the balance the positive effects our visits have for detainees against the confidentiality." Antonella Notari, a veteran Red Cross official and spokeswoman, said that the organization frequently complained to the Pentagon and other arms of the American government when government officials cite the Red Cross visits to suggest that there is no abuse at Guant?namo. Most statements from the Pentagon in response to queries about mistreatment at Guant?namo do, in fact, include mention of the visits. In a recent interview with reporters, General Hood, the commander of the detention and interrogation facility at Guant?namo, also cited the committee's visits in response to questions about treatment of detainees. "We take everything the Red Cross gives us and study it very carefully to look for ways to do our job better," he said in his Guant?namo headquarters, adding that he agrees "with some things and not others." "I'm satisfied that the detainees here have not been abused, they've not been mistreated, they've not been tortured in any way," he said. Scott Horton, a New York lawyer, who is familiar with some of the Red Cross's views, said the issue of medical ethics at Guant?namo had produced "a tremendous controversy in the committee." He said that some Red Cross officials believed it was important to maintain confidentiality while others believed the United States government was misrepresenting the inspections and using them to counter criticisms. Mr. Horton, who heads the human rights committee of the Bar Association of the City of New York, said the Red Cross committee was considering whether to bring more senior officials to Washington and whether to make public its criticisms. The report from the June visit said the Red Cross team found a far greater incidence of mental illness produced by stress than did American medical authorities, much of it caused by prolonged solitary confinement. It said the medical files of detainees were "literally open" to interrogators. The report said the Biscuit team met regularly with the medical staff to discuss the medical situations of detainees. At other times, interrogators sometimes went directly to members of the medical staff to learn about detainees' conditions, it said. The report said that such "apparent integration of access to medical care within the system of coercion" meant that inmates were not cooperating with doctors. Inmates learn from their interrogators that they have knowledge of their medical histories and the result is that the prisoners no longer trust the doctors. Asked for a response, the Pentagon issued a statement saying, "The allegation that detainee medical files were used to harm detainees is false." The statement said that the detainees were "enemy combatants who were fighting against U.S. and coalition forces." "It's important to understand that when enemy combatants were first detained on the battlefield, they did not have any medical records in their possession," the statement continued. "The detainees had a wide range of pre-existing health issues including battlefield injuries." The Pentagon also said the medical care given detainees was first-rate. Although the Red Cross criticized the lack of confidentiality, it agreed in the report that the medical care was of high quality. Leonard S. Rubenstein, the executive director of Physicians for Human Rights, was asked to comment on the account of the Red Cross report, and said, "The use of medical personnel to facilitate abusive interrogations places them in an untenable position and violates international ethical standards." Mr. Rubenstein added, "We need to know more about these practices, including whether health professionals engaged in calibrating levels of pain inflicted on detainees." The issue of whether torture at Guant?namo was condoned or encouraged has been a problem before for the Bush administration. In February 2002, President Bush ordered that the prisoners at Guant?namo be treated "humanely and, to the extent appropriate with military necessity, in a manner consistent with" the Geneva Conventions. That statement masked a roiling legal discussion within the administration as government lawyers wrote a series of memorandums, many of which seemed to justify harsh and coercive treatment. A month after Mr. Bush's public statement, a team of administration lawyers accepted a view first advocated by the Justice Department that the president had wide powers in authorizing coercive treatment of detainees. The legal team in a memorandum concluded that Mr. Bush was not bound by either the international Convention Against Torture or a federal antitorture statute because he had the authority to protect the nation from terrorism. That document provides tightly constructed definitions of torture. For example, if an interrogator "knows that severe pain will result from his actions, if causing such harm is not his objective, he lacks the requisite specific intent even though the defendant did not act in good faith," it said. "Instead, a defendant is guilty of torture only if he acts with the express purpose of inflicting severe pain or suffering on a person within his control." When some administration memorandums about coercive treatment or torture were disclosed, the White House said they were only advisory. Last month, military guards, intelligence agents and others described in interviews with The Times a range of procedures that they said were highly abusive occurring over a long period, as well as rewards for prisoners who cooperated with interrogators. The people who worked at Camp Delta, the main prison facility, said that one regular procedure was making uncooperative prisoners strip to their underwear, having them sit in a chair while shackled hand and foot to a bolt in the floor, and forcing them to endure strobe lights and loud rock and rap music played through two close loudspeakers, while the air-conditioning was turned up to maximum levels. Some accounts of techniques at Guant?namo have been easy to dismiss because they seemed so implausible. The most striking of the accusations, which have come mainly from a group of detainees released to their native Britain, has been that the military used prostitutes who made coarse comments and come-ons to taunt some prisoners who are Muslims. But the Red Cross report hints strongly at an explanation of some of those accusations by stating that there were frequent complaints by prisoners in 2003 that some of the female interrogators baited their subjects with sexual overtures. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, who commanded the detention and intelligence operation at Guant?namo until April, when he took over prison operations in Iraq, said in an interview early this year about general interrogation procedures that the female interrogators had proved to be among the most effective. General Miller's observation matches common wisdom among experienced intelligence officers that women may be effective as interrogators when seen by their subjects as mothers or sisters. Sexual taunting does not, however, comport with what is often referred to as the "mother-sister syndrome." But the Red Cross report said that complaints about the practice of sexual taunting stopped in the last year. Guant?namo officials have acknowledged that they have improved their techniques and that some earlier methods they tried proved to be ineffective, raising the possibility that the sexual taunting was an experiment that was abandoned. ------- Jump to TO Features for Wednesday December 1, 2004 Today's TO Features -------------- FOCUS: Red Cross Finds Torture at Guant?namo t r u t h o u t Home ? Copyright 2004 by TruthOut.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 30 20:46:46 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 20:46:46 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Huge Afghan poppy crop raises fear of Message-ID: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1364976,00.html Huge Afghan poppy crop raises fear of 'narco-state' From Rory Watson in Brussels A boom in opium production threatens to wreck stability THREE years after the Taleban were overthrown, Afghanistan leads the world in the production of illegal recreational drugs. Opium farming soared by 64 per cent last year, prompting fears that it could undermine moves to bring stability to the country and turn it instead into a "narco-state". A United Nations report released yesterday shows that opium cultivation has spread to all 32 provinces, making narcotics the main engine of economic growth. The opium economy, valued at $2.8 billion (?1.55 billion), represents 60 per cent of Afghanistan's gross domestic product. Presenting the findings, Antonio Mario Costa, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, said: "With 131,000 hectares (324,000 acres) dedicated to opium farming this year, Afghanistan has established a double record - the highest drug cultivation in the country's history, and the largest in the world. "Corruption in the public sector, the diehard ambition of local warlords and the complicity of local investors are becoming a factor in Afghan life," he said. Despite the huge increase in the land set aside for farming poppies - which supply the main ingredient for heroin - the actual growth in production from 2003 was only 17 per cent because of bad weather and disease. Even so, the total output of 4,200 tonnes of opium was only marginally below the record 4,600 tonnes harvested under the Taleban in 1999 and represents 87 per cent of world production of opium. Most of the drugs, turned into heroin using imported chemical precursors, are smuggled across the Pakistan border, where Taleban and al-Qaeda forces in hiding demand protection and transit fees. The narcotics are eventually delivered to the Netherlands for distribution across the Continent. The drugs explosion in Afghanistan runs counter to trends elsewhere in the world, where output is decreasing on every continent. According to the UN agency, cocaine production in the Andes region has fallen by 30 per cent in three years, and in South-East Asia opium production has decreased by 75 per cent. Signor Costa said that it would be an error to abandon Afghanistan to opium after the country had been reclaimed from the Taleban. He added that opium cultivation, which now involves 10 per cent of the country's population, could "ultimately incinerate everything - democracy, reconstruction and stability". Nato and the coalition forces are under pressure to take tougher action against the traffickers. Bill Rammell, a British Foreign Office Minister, said: "A change is taking place. Troops will now destroy seizures and hand over suspects. We need to increase the number of arrests and send a strong message to police and government officials that it is not business as usual." Britain is leading efforts to fight the drugs trade, as part of moves to establish democracy in Afghanistan. It has earmarked ?70 million for a three-year campaign, already under way, to crush the heroin trade. Mr Rammell confirmed that Britain would fully back Hamid Karzai, recently elected President, who has made the clampdown on drugs a priority. As part of the strategy, the Government is hoping to create alternative livelihoods for farmers, although persuading them to change crops will not be easy when for one hectare of opium they can receive ten times as much as they get for wheat. Britain is also helping to create an effective criminal justice system by training investigators, prosecutors and judges, and giving advice on building high-security court and prison facilities. Yesterday the United States confirmed that it would spend an extra $780 million next year on the fight against drugs in Afghanistan by destroying poppy fields and providing alternative employment. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: trans.gif Type: image/gif Size: 49 bytes Desc: not available URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 30 20:48:42 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 20:48:42 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Audit: Halliburton Lost Track of U.S. Property in Iraq Message-ID: Go to Original Audit: Halliburton Lost Track of U.S. Property in Iraq The Associated Press Saturday 27 November 2004 Washington - A third or more of the government property Halliburton Co. was paid to manage for the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq could not be located by auditors, investigative reports to Congress show. Halliburton's KBR subsidiary "did not effectively manage government property" and auditors could not locate hundreds of CPA items worth millions of dollars in Iraq and Kuwait this summer and fall, Inspector General Stuart Bowen reported to Congress in two reports. Bowen's findings mark the latest bad news for Vice President Dick Cheney's former company, which is the focus of both a criminal investigation into alleged fuel price gouging and an FBI inquiry into possible favoritism from the Bush administration. The Associated Press reported Wednesday that FBI agents have extensively interviewed an Army contracting officer who last month went public with allegations that the Bush administration was improperly awarding contracts to Halliburton without competitive bidding. Halliburton and the Pentagon deny wrongdoing, and say they are cooperating in all investigations. Company spokeswoman Cathy Gist said Friday that KBR recently conducted a "wall-to-wall" review of all property it is managing for the Pentagon in war zones including Iraq and Afghanistan and produced results far better than Bowen's findings. "We are pleased to report that this total inventory review confirmed 99.4% accountability of all property," she said. "The facts show that KBR has adequately managed property for this mission by aggressively monitoring its property management functions - above and beyond what is required." The U.S-backed CPA officially dissolved after a year in power in Baghdad when an interim Iraqi government took control of the country this summer. But Bowen's office continues to review how money was spent and it gave a tough assessment of KBR's performance. KBR won a key logistics contract to manage everything from trucks and generators to computers. Bowen reported that an audit earlier this summer found KBR had lost track of more than $18 million worth of equipment in Iraq. Investigators could not track down 52 of 164 randomly selected items in an inventory of more than 20,000 items overseen by KBR, including two electric generators worth nearly $1 million, 18 trucks or SUVs and six laptop computers. Pentagon and Halliburton officials have been searching since the summer for the missing items and have tracked down many of them. Some were found in the hands of "unauthorized users" and 111 vehicles had not been returned for required check-in, they said. Bowen's auditors found the problems extended beyond Iraq's borders. More recently, auditors sought to determine how well KBR managed the inventory and supplies of the CPA offices and warehouses in neighboring Kuwait, initially sampling 90 items from an inventory of more than 3,000. The auditors found 30 of the 90 items could not be accounted for, and then reviewed additional documents and projected a total of 1,297 of the 3,032 property items, or 42.8%, could not be accounted for or were missing. The inspector general said 108 additional items were on hand but not properly recorded in inventory. The audit projected more than 400 required hand receipts for property were not available or weren't filled out. "This occurred because KBR did not effectively manage government property: specifically, KBR did not properly control CPA property items. Further, the KBR property records were not sufficiently accurate or available to properly account for CPA property items," Bowen reported to Congress. "As a result, the CPA-IG projected that property valued at more than $1.1 million was not accurately accounted for or was missing," it added. Bowen's report said the Pentagon agency that managed KBR in Iraq did not agree with all of the findings, and the agency declined to force KBR to change its inventory tracking system. The Pentagon "stated that the contractor has put an accurate property control system in place that is effective, and an analysis of the system does not need to be performed at this time," Bowen's report said. Bowen told lawmakers the Pentagon didn't provide any information to back its conclusions. However, he said the government did agree to "conduct a thorough review of CPA property and seek to recover the cost of missing equipment from the responsible party." ------- Jump to TO Features for Sunday November 28, 2004 Today's TO Features -------------- U.S. Campaign Behind the Turmoil in Kiev U.S. Troops Brace for More Losses in Iraq U.S. Lacks Reliable Data on Iran Arms U.S. Offensives in Iraq Create Surge of Detainees House GOP Spurns Cooperation Molly Ivins | A Few Political Developments Boston Globe | Coal's Global Goal Armelle Thorval | Elisabeth II, Tony Blair's Ventriloquist Dummy Critics Tackle Ohio Vote Jim Lobe | Watch Out for 'Dirty Wars' in Latin America Economic 'Armageddon' Predicted Naomi Klein | Smoking While Iraq Burns Ship Spills 30,000 Gallons of Oil Near Philadelphia Halliburton 'Loses' Millions in Government Property in Iraq 'Unusual Weapons' Used in Fallujah 15 Parties in Iraq Ask for Vote to be Delayed Ukrainian MPs Reject Poll Result t r u t h o u t Home ? Copyright 2004 by TruthOut.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 30 20:48:10 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 20:48:10 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Breaking News: Venezuela's regime raids Jewish school Message-ID: FYI Breaking News: Venezuela's regime raids Jewish school By Aleksander Boyd http://www.vcrisis.com/index.php?content=letters/200411290950 London 29.11.04 | Sources report that this morning at around 6.30AM, 25 police officers raided in Caracas the Jewish school known as Colegio Hebraica. Students were meant to start classes at 7AM. Due to the 'procedure' that still goes on, classes have been suspended. The school is attended by 1.500 youngsters and children. Criminal-turned-judge Maikel Moreno gave the order to raid the premises. Daniel Sinmack, president of the Jewish community in Caracas, just declared that this is the first time ever that such incident occurs Allegedly the State television network, Venezolana de Television, has been reporting for days now that the Mossad is behind the assassination of prosecutor Danilo Anderson. Picture of judge who authorised the raid, back in the days when he was arrested owing to his criminal activities, which included homicide. Long live the revolutionary justice. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Do you Yahoo!? Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard. APFN-1 YahooGroups: Subscribe: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/apfn-1/join Unsubscribe: apfn-1-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com APFN MSG BOARD: `In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.' http://disc.server.com/Indices/149495.html APFN CONTENTS PAGE: http://www.apfn.org/old/apfncont.htm Without Justice, there is JUST_US! [LEAK-GATE] INVESTIGATING THE WHITE HOUSE http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LEAK-GATE/ Find elected officials, including the president, members of Congress, governors, state legislators, local officials, and more. http://congress.org/congressorg/dbq/officials/ APFN, PMB 107, 6630 W. CACTUS #B107, GLENDALE, AZ 85304 http://www.apfn.org/apfn/kenvardon.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: C:windowsTEMPnsmailTU.jpeg Type: image/jpeg Size: 22389 bytes Desc: not available URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 30 20:49:42 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 20:49:42 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Jerusalem Summit Call For New Body To Replace UN Message-ID: rense.com Jerusalem Summit Call For New Body To Replace UN IsraelNN.com 11-29-4 Two speakers addressing the second Jerusalem Summit, this morning, called for the establishment of a new international body, representing democratic states, to undertake the charter of the United Nations which, they explain, has been sorely ignored. Opening the assembly this morning in Jerusalem's King David Hotel was Isi Liebler, Senior Vice President of the World Jewish Congress. Mr. Liebler stated that since its inception, the United Nations has become a "burden to global tranquility" and in its present form, it would be best for the UN "to disappear". Liebler added that the international body "displays incompetence on the level of its predecessor, the League of Nations." Former Mossad Intelligence Agency director Shabtai Shavit also addressed the forum. Shavit is considered to be an expert in the field of counter-terrorism. He told the forum he sees terrorism as being divided into two categories, "classical" and "current," citing some of the distinctive characteristics of both. The "classical" age of terrorism ended, Shavit explained, in the 1970s, and the "current" age of terrorism began, pointing out that in the past, terrorists were operating more locally; today we have seen a transition to a global terrorist operating platform -- motivated by a "cause" in the past but today, primarily actuated by "religious fanaticism," specifically "Islamic fundamentalism." Shavit, a 32-year veteran of Israel's intelligence community, is confident the need exists for the establishment of an international body to fulfill the mandate of the United Nations. The next speaker was Prof. Anne Bayefsky of the Hudson Institute, an internationally acclaimed expert on human rights law. She labeled the UN as the "leading global purveyor of anti-Semitism". The professor pointed to the recent American national elections, during which both candidates during pre-election debates concurred the United Nations is no longer an option. Prof. Bayefsky added the shameful Durban Conference was yet another example of the UN's blatant anti-Semitic agenda. Prof. Bayefsky pointed out that 30% of all UN Human Rights Commission resolutions target "human rights" violations committed by Israel, while in 75% of the organization's resolutions, there is no mention of some of the world's most blatant human rights violators, including Syria, Saudi Arabia and China. The summit, which opened on Saturday night, addressed by former Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, will continue through Tuesday evening. IsraelNN.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 30 20:50:18 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 20:50:18 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] =?iso-8859-1?q?Fw=3A_Make_your_identity_known_--_o?= =?iso-8859-1?q?r_face_a_fine_of_=A31=2C000?= Message-ID: Make your identity known -- or face a fine of ?1,000 By Richard Ford, Home Correspondent, The Times - London November 30, 2004 People who fail to tell the Government when they move to a new address will face a fine of up to ?1,000 under the Government's plans for identity cards published yesterday. Failure to register for the scheme will also carry a fine of up to ?1,000 and anyone caught tampering with the database containing the details of 40 million people could be jailed for ten years. The fines and jail terms were outlined in the Identity Cards Bill published by the Home Office which admitted that full costings of the scheme could not be provided because the technology involved was still developing. The scheme could become compulsory sooner than previously thought as the Bill makes no reference to previous ministerial assertions that 80 per cent of adults would have to register for a voluntary scheme before it was made mandatory. The identity card scheme will be phased in from 2007-2008 and is to be combined with a passport. Anyone applying for a new passport will have no choice but to receive the identity card. Last month the Government said that the cost would be ?85, but notes accompanying the Bill said that this figure was based on 2004 prices. The notes said that the actual fee would be made clear when the first chargeable cards are issued. The Bill contained little new information on the cost of the huge project which has been estimated at between ?1.3 billion and ?3.1 billion. But it did reveal that card readers, which will be required at thousands of benefits offices, GPs' surgeries and other government departments, will cost up to ?750 each. These costs are not included in the overall estimates. Failing to sign up to the database will carry a fine of up to ?2,500 and individuals who submit a spoiled application could be fined up to ?1,000. Not updating registered details such as addresses will be punishable with fines of up to ?1,000 in the county courts -- or the sheriff courts in Scotland -- as will failing to renew a card. This sanction will apply from the moment cards start being issued in 2007-2008 -- before Parliament has voted to make it compulsory for everyone to have the document. Ministers expect that 80 per cent of the population will have the identity card by 2014. David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, said: "The identity card scheme will give people confidence, convenience and security in an increasingly vital aspect of modern life -- proving and protecting their identity. "Publication of the Bill marks a further step in the careful process of consultation and refinement which we began almost three years ago." A host of new criminal offences will be created by the Bill to deal with people who try to abuse the new ID cards. Fraudulently using a card will carry up to 10 years' imprisonment, as will creating a false entry on the National Identity Register, or tampering with it. Fraudulently obtaining an ID card, or altering one, will carry a sentence of up to two years. Officials with access to the database will face up to two years in jail if they disclose details without authorisation. The ID cards will carry "biometric" details about each person such as fingerprints or an electronic scan of the iris of the eye. These details -- along with a photograph, signature, date of birth, address and nationality -- will also be stored on the central register. Officials will be able to compare data on the card with the register, theoretically making the cards impossible to forge. Under the Bill, the Home Secretary has the power to force anyone to provide information required for background checks in ID card applications. The register will also record previous addresses, a new register number for each person, National Insurance numbers, passport numbers and driving licence numbers. It will record details of every person who countersigns an application for an ID card, and every time a card is amended, lost, destroyed or stolen. David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, said: "The case for ID cards is still to be made. First, what is its purpose? Second, does the technology exist to enable it to curb terrorism, serious crime and the avalanche of illegal immigration? Third, is the Home Office capable of introducing them? "Fourth, is it cost-effective and fifth, can we protect civil liberties and privacy, not just in the use of the ID cards but also in its associated databases?" COST OF A CARD The identity card scheme is to be phased in from 2007-08, when anyone who applies for or renews a passport will have to get a card The estimated cost to the public of the passport/identity document will be ?85, based on today's prices The overall estimated costings are put at between ?1.3 billion and ?3.1 billion, not including the cost of machines to read cards, which will be ?750 each It will not initially be compulsory to carry the card But Parliament is likely to vote in 2014 on whether to make it a legal requirement for every citizen to have one http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1381222,00.html ============================================== IF YOU'RE NOT PARANOID, THEN YOU'RE NOT PAYING ATTENTION! ============================================== To Post: ParanoidTimes at yahoogroups.com Home Page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ParanoidTimes Subscribe: ParanoidTimes-subscribe at yahoogroups.com ================================================== NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ================================================== -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 30 20:51:55 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 20:51:55 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] AI Report on Use of Tasers (& PI Series) Message-ID: If you've seen this morning's PI, there are 3 articles on the use and misuse of tasers in Seattle and King County, which is part of a series which will continue tommorrow. As noted in the article, AI has just released their report on taser use by law enforcement agencies throughout the US and Canada, and is calling for their suspension until an independent study is done on their safety. Press release below, with a link to the report online. Relating to the racial profiling issue, while the issue was not mentioned in the PI article, I couldn't help but wonder about disproportionality since all the photos are of African-Americans. Colleen ----- Original Message ----- From: "Amnesty International" > To: > Sent: Monday, November 29, 2004 11:38 PM Subject: USA / Canada: Pattern of abuse -- suspend use of taser guns News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty International AI Index: AMR 51/168/2004 30 November 2004 USA / Canada: Pattern of abuse -- suspend use of taser guns More than 70 people in the USA and Canada have died since 2001, after being electro-shocked with taser guns. While coroners have generally attributed cause of death to factors such as drug intoxication, in at least five cases they have found the taser played a role. "Tasers have been used by police officers against unruly schoolchildren; unarmed mentally disturbed or intoxicated individuals; suspects fleeing minor crime scenes and people who argue with police or fail to comply immediately with a command," said Amnesty International today as it launched two new reports examining the use of taser guns in the USA and Canada. Evidence suggests that, far from being restricted to narrowly-defined circumstances in order to avoid lethal force, tasers have become the most prevalent force tool in some police departments. More than 5,000 law enforcement and correctional agencies in 49 US states are currently reported to be deploying or testing taser equipment, with the take-up rate continuing to grow. In Canada approximately 60 police departments have been issued with tasers. Despite being widely deployed, there has been no rigorous, independent and impartial study into the use and effects of tasers, particularly in the case of people suffering from heart disease, or under the influence of drugs. "Many experts believe taser shocks may exacerbate a risk of heart failure in people who are under the influence of drugs or suffer underlying health problems such as heart disease, risk factors present in many of the cases we examined," said Amnesty International. Tasers have been purchased by the US army, including for use in Iraq. The US Air Force is reported to deploy tasers aboard aircraft carrying suspected al-Qa'ida members to Guant?namo Bay, Cuba. While few details have been provided about the use of tasers by US military forces, one of the units deploying them in Iraq in 2003 was the 800th Military Police Brigade, accused of grave abuses in Abu Ghraib prison. New generation tasers have also been purchased, or are undergoing testing, by police or military forces in other countries, many of them known for their poor human rights records. Countries currently using or testing tasers include: Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, Spain, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. "Portable and easy to use, with the capacity to inflict severe pain at the push of a button without leaving substantial marks, electro-shock weapons are particularly open to abuse," said Amnesty International. Amnesty International's report on the use of tasers in the USA (full report online at http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maacUSqabb7lwbfqFqCb/ ) also cites several cases in which parents have been prosecuted for child cruelty after using stun weapons to discipline their children. Stun weapons have also been reportedly used during the commission of crimes, or as instruments of torture or abuse, including of women by abusive partners or former partners. Amnesty International's report recommends that the sale of stun weapons for private use be subject to strict controls. Amnesty International acknowledges that there may be situations where tasers can effectively be used as "stand-off", defensive weapons as an alternative to firearms in order to save lives. However, it appears that in practice tasers are rarely used as an alternative to firearms in the USA and most departments place them at a relatively low level on the "force scale". "The growing death toll underscores the urgent need for the US and Canadian governments to set up a serious, independent inquiry into the impact of the use of taser guns." Such an inquiry should be carried out by acknowledged medical, scientific, legal and law enforcement experts who are independent of commercial and political interests in promoting such equipment. A report of the findings of such an inquiry should be made public promptly after completion of the study. All transfers and use of tasers should be suspended until such an inquiry is carried out. Background Information Taser guns are dart-firing electro-shock stun weapons designed to cause instant incapacitation by delivering a 50,000 volt shock. Tasers fire two barbed darts up to a distance of 21 feet (6.4 metres), which remain attached to the gun by wires. The fish-hook like darts are designed to penetrate up to two inches of the target's clothing or skin and deliver a high-voltage, low amperage, electro-shock along insulated copper wires. They can also be used without the darts, close-up, as stun guns. Amnesty International includes information on 74 taser-involved deaths, based on a range of sources, including autopsy reports in 21 cases. Most of those who died were unarmed men who, while displaying disturbed or combative behaviour, did not appear to present a serious threat to the lives or safety of others. For further media materials, visit: www.news.amnesty.org For a full copy of the reports, please see: "USA - Excessive and lethal force? Amnesty International's concerns about deaths and ill-treatment involving police use of tasers": http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maacUSqabb7lxbfqFqCb/ Canada - Excessive and lethal force? Amnesty International's concerns about deaths and ill-treatment involving police use of tasers, please see: http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maacUSqabb7lybfqFqCb/ Facts and figures: USA / Canada: Excessive and lethal force? -- AI's concerns about deaths and ill treatment involving police use of tasers - Facts and Figures, please see: http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maacUSqabb7lzbfqFqCb/ ***************************************************************** You may repost this message onto other sources provided the main text is not altered in any way and both the header crediting Amnesty International and this footer remain intact. Only the list subscription message may be removed. ***************************************************************** Past and current Amnesty news services can be found at >. Visit > for information about Amnesty International and for other AI publications. Contact amnestyis at amnesty.org if you need to get in touch with the International Secretariat of Amnesty International. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 30 20:51:03 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 20:51:03 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] UPDATE:STRUGGLES AGAINST COCA COLA WORLDWIDE Message-ID: *STRUGGLES AGAINST COCA COLA WORLD WIDE - NEWS UPDATE * *Contents: 1.. India - Police Attack Coca-Cola Protest, Over 350 Arrested 2. Colombia -Legal Attack on Sinaltrainal Crumbles 3. Italy - Town Of Empoli Joins Boycott 4. England - Leeds Student Movement **5. England - Coca Cola could bleed Malvern Hills dry 6. Ireland - Belfast Students Vote 7. USA - Oberlin College 8. USA - Elizabeth Nadeau arrested for remembering assassinated Coca Cola worker 9. USA - Hedge fund shorts its way into political activism *[P.S. sorry this is very long. We're working on a better way of doing it, next time hopefully.] *Also see below: _Update on Super Urgent Action - Lina and Miguel _*1. POLICE ATTACK COCA-COLA PROTEST, OVER 350 ARRESTED November 25, 2004 (Varanasi, India): Over a thousand community members adversely affected by Coca-Cola marched to the Coca-Cola factory premises in Mehdiganj, near the holy city of Varanasi in India on November 24, demanding that the factory shut down. The march in Mehdiganj was the end of a 10 day, 250 km march from Ballia, the site of another Coca-Cola bottling facility, to Mehdiganj, bringing attention to Coca-Cola's negative impacts on communities across India. Communities living around Coca-Cola's bottling plants across India are facing severe water shortages, and the groundwater and soil have also been polluted, directly as a result of Coca-Cola's bottling operations in the area. Towards the end of the rally, the marchers decided to march to the factory gates, about a hundred meters from the site of the rally. The armed police reacted violently and swiftly, with no warnings. Over 350 of the marchers were arrested, with close to 100 with injuries, and they were held without being booked overnight. "Coca-Cola is stealing our water, our land and getting away with it legally. And they are calling our struggle for our livelihoods, our existence, illegal", said Nandlal Master, one of the organizers from Lok Samiti and the National Alliance of People's Movements. "We do not accept this, and our struggle with prevail", continued Master. Full report at http://www.indiaresource.org/press/2004/mehdiganjattack.html 2. THE CAMPAIGN BY COCA -COLA AND THE MINISTRY OF SOCIAL PROTECTION, TO REVOKE SINALTRAINAL'S STATUTES, HAS CRUMBLED. On 8 July 2004, Coca-Cola presented a petition to revoke Sinaltrainal's statutes, making it impossible for people to join the union. This petition was accepted and agreed by the Ministry of Social Protection through resolution number 2994 of 10 August 2004. Sinaltrainal were denied any right of appeal, and the decision was ratified definitively on 2 November 2004. In the face of this abuse and scheming by the Ministry of Social Protection and by Coca-Cola, part of their policy of persecution against Sinaltrainal, we responded in two ways. Firstly we occupied 3 churches in Bogota on 11 October, demanding respect for life and for free association. Secondly, on 5 November 2004, we petitioned the Supreme Judicial Council that they rule in our favour with respect to the rights of due process, freedom of association, equality, freedom of conscience and guarantees regarding the exercise of trade union rights. On 22 November 2004, magistrates Paulina Canosa Suarez and Jose Fernando Castro Garcia resolved to uphold the claim by Sinaltrainal and hence to guarantee the above trade union rights. They also gave the Ministry of Social Protection 48 hours in which to make a new decision strictly within their jurisdiction. Furthermore, they ordered that the Ministry of Social Protection refrain from repeating similar actions in the future, or from taking decisions that affect the existence of trade unions or their statutes. These actions clearly show the existence of a strategic alliance between Coca-Cola and the Ministry of Social Protection against Sinaltrainal and our workers. We again insist on an end to this abuse of both Labour Standards and Colombian Law. With this in mind we intend to initiate criminal proceedings to prevent any such future perversions of justice. We would like to thank all the organisations and individuals in Colombia and throughout the world who have given us their solidarity in this just struggle, and who have made this victory possible. You have shown that despite the power of Coca-Cola and the government, they will not easily be able to wipe us out. Your solidarity makes us strong. Our gratitude and respect goes to all those who have contributed to this small but significant victory, which will motivate us to continue resisting. Yours Luis Javier Correa Suarez President, Sinaltrainal. 3. ITALY - TOWN OF EMPOLI JOINS BOYCOTT >"The Mayor of Empoli approved the motion to join the International Boycott Campaign of Coca Cola. The decision was made at the end of a visit to the Tuscany region by the Colombian trade union SINALTRAINAL. This is the same motion that was approved by District 11 in Rome and which is now being discussed by many local authorities. Meanwhile COCA COLA - ITALIA DID NOT ANSWER ANY OF THE CHARGES in the proposal presented during a public event on 8th November in Rome, related to the carrying out of an "Independent Commission" to travel to Colombia to assess the legitimacy and weight of the allegations in person. The national assembly of the "Network of New Municipalities" meeting in Bologna on 13th November in which around 250 municipalities and local institutions from all over Italy met, in CONSIDERING THE POSITION OF THE MULTINATIONAL, affiliated to the Boycott Campaign by acclamation. These decisions and the support received by the Boycott Campaign represent a great step forward by Italian civil society and some institutions concerning the Genocide that continues to be committed against the trade union, social, peasant and indigenous movements in Colombia." Roma 16-11-04 [Contact Reboc-RETE BOICOTTAGGIO COCA COLA http://www.nococacola.info ] 4. ENGLAND - LEEDS UNIVERSITY MOVEMENT AGAINST COCA-COLA "Despite desperate tactics by company representatives trying to link their Colombian workers to terrorism, Leeds students voted last week that Coca Cola is 'a highly unethical company responsible for needless suffering worldwide' and implemented a raft of advisory measures to remove its products. The motion was passed after a fortnight of campaigning by the Leeds Students Social Forum, a new social group pioneering the revival of the 'student activist' stereotype. Action began on the 3rd of November with a stall in the Union foyer offering information and selling t-shirts, posters and stickers. This helped raise initial awareness of the campaign. Two further stalls followed it on the 11th & 12th November, helping concrete the campaign and increase interest in the LUSF. On the 16th November, LUSF hosted a debate between Coca-Cola, NUSSL and Colombian Solidarity. Speaking for Coca-Cola were Lauren Branston, UK Communications, and Raphael Fernandez, Public Affairs and Communications Director for Costa Rica. Speaking for Colombia Solidarity was David Rhys-Jones, and Jamie Agombar representing the National Union of Students Services Ltd. (NUSSL). Coca-Cola traditionally used the simple tactic of denying responsibility for their alleged crimes in Colombia, but reverted to a new tactic of attempting to deligitimize Sinaltrainal and link the trade union with the Colombian guerrillas. Attempts to confuse the crowd by referring to bottling plants other than those in question, and to other trade unions, was of some effect, although David clarified the situation with his indicative closing comments. NUSSL, the NUS's trading consortium, referred to their constructive engagement policies with Coca-Cola and other companies, but was unable to answer questions on his own morals, refusing to condone the drinking of Coca-Cola products. After the opportunity to pose questions to the speakers, which included linking Coca-Cola's actions in India to the violation of UN Millennium Development Goals and NUSSL's contracts enforcing Coca-Cola's hegemonic domination of the market place, the majority of the crowd left satisfied that the allegations against Coca-Cola needed to be investigated. On the 18th of November, students at Leeds University passed a motion with advisory status resolving: 1.. To propose a motion to the NUS Annual Conference and the NUSSL Annual Conference that all compulsory contracts be ended and that no further compulsory contracts should be made in future; 2.. That an NUS disaffiliation referendum shall be held if NUSSL refuse to end all compulsory contracts; 3.. That posters and/or other information are to be displayed next to all Coca-Cola machines and Coca-Cola outlets in the Union explaining why we believe that Coca-Cola is an unethical company; 4.. To host a conference for all Student Unions seeking major reform of student representation on a national level, either through working within the NUS or outside of it. 5.. That such a Conference should be held before the deadline for motions to the next NUS Annual Conference, and that the Campaigns Committee and/or Union Council should define the precise nature of this Conference; 6.. That the Union will continue to critically support NUS unless attempts to end NUSSL compulsory contracts are unsuccessful, or until a general meeting of the student body decides otherwise. This motion has to be ratified on Monday 29th November by the Union Council, where criticism is expected from the right over the second and fourth proposals. The challenge that remains is to raise awareness of the blatant lack of democracy in the NUS, despite recent attempts at reform. If students are unable to regain control of the NUS from the hands of NUSSL and its corporate contracts, then students have to seriously consider alternatives to the corporative and undemocratic system they are part of." To contact the Leeds students e-mail: sparta at riseup.net e.. ENGLAND MALVERN HILLS: COCA-COLA PLANS 'WILL BLEED HILLS DRY' By Nick Britten (Filed: 23/11/2004) "Plans by the drinks giant Coca-Cola to bore into the Malvern hills to quadruple its supply of mineral water could have a catastrophic effect on plants and wildlife, environmental campaigners said yesterday." Full report at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/11/23/nwater23.xml 6. IRELAND - BELFAST STUDENTS VOTE FOR BOYCOTT Belfast, Queens University Student Council's meeting held on 25th November 04, passed the following motion: "This council support the Colombian trade unions call for a worldwide boycott of Coca-Cola, until Coca-Cola apologise to, and compensates the families of the Coca-Cola employees who were murdered, because they were members of the trade union employed by Coca-Cola in its bottling plant in Colombia. Moreover, the Coca-Cola Boycott will only be removed when Coca-Cola recognise the human rights of workers in Colombia to belong to a trade union of the own choice free from the threat of murder/terror. The council have place the boycott of all Coca-cola products into immediate affect, further more; all profits made by the students union from the sale of Coca-Cola products we be donated to the Colombian trade union Sintraemcali to help fund their fight for justice for the employees Coca-Cola, and for all workers in Colombia." 7. USA - OBERLIN COLLEGE BANS COKE The Campaign to Stop Killer Coke writes: "We have been notified by our contact at Oberlin College that Coke will be removed from their campus. This is the letter sent by Oberlin's president, Nancy Dye, to the college purchasing committee, announcing her decision to ban coke products: November 10, 2004 Sarah Bishop, Chair Campus Purchasing Committee Oberlin College Dear Sarah, Thank you for your fine letter regarding the recommendation of the College Purchasing Committee about the sale of Coca-Cola products on campus. I greatly appreciate the thoroughness with which your committee did its job in asking the Workers Rights Consortium for help in investigating the allegations of violence against trade unionists abetted by the Coca-Cola Company and its bottling partners in Colombia. I have great respect for the Workers Rights Consortium and its integrity, and I am quite dismayed that the Coca-Cola Corporation has refused to cooperate with any independent investigation of its subsidiaries in Colombia. I have reviewed your comprehensive set of findings and recommendations and have decided to end the sale of Coca-Cola products on Oberlin's campus, unless and until the Purchasing Committee recommends otherwise. I will ask our College Dining Services as well as the Oberlin College Inn to discontinue use and sale of Coca-Cola products in all food services as well as vending machines, and I will include a copy of your letter as an explanation about why we are taking this action. Many thanks to the Purchasing Committee for your careful and comprehensive review. Sincerely, Nancy Dye President" More news from USA at http://www.killercoke.org/ 8. USA - ELIZABETH NADEAU ARRESTED FOR REMEMBERING ASSASSINATED COCA COLA WORKER From the Gates of Fort Benning November 21, 2004 "Among those arrested today was Elizabeth Nadeau, 27, a student and member of the Steelworkers Union. Elizabeth was part of a group of people who scaled two barbed-wire fences to cross onto Fort Benning calling for the closure of the SOA. Elizabeth was drawn to participate in this act of conscience, risking up to six months in prison, to be in solidarity with her brothers and sisters in Colombia. Today she remembers Isidrio Gil, a Colombian labor leader killed in 1996, and that one of every four union organizers killed in the world is Colombian." Full report SOA Watch http://americas.org/item_16988 9. HEDGE FUND SHORTS ITS WAY INTO POLITICAL ACTIVISM By Thomas Kostigen Last Updated: 11/23/2004 1:24:16 PM http://www.investors.com/breakingnews.asp?journalid=24119943&brk=1 SANTA MONICA, Calif. (CBS.MW) -- Mad as hell about corporate policy? A new hedge fund is, and it's putting its money where its mouth is with an investment strategy of shorting shares of companies with which it takes issue. By buying put options, or shorting a stock, the hedge fund hopes shares will fall, in effect punishing a company for what it calls "misdeeds" and profiting all the while. A portion of profits will go toward mending the social wounds inflicted by target companies. The fund is the brainchild of Max Keiser, the investment activist, for lack of a better definition, who launched Karmabanque.com several years ago on a similar philosophy. Zac Goldsmith, son of famed corporate raider Sir James Goldsmith, is also a partner in the venture. Goldsmith's The Ecologist magazine will audit, track and publish results. "For every 1,000 new boycotters, I and my group of investors/activists, including Zac, will increase the size of the fund by 5,000 pounds," says Keiser. "All profits (minus a two percent processing fee) will go the groups/people who are the victims of bad companies." The London-based fund's first target is Coca Cola (KO). "As Coke's stock goes down, and as we collect more boycotters, the victims of Coke's business model in places like India and Colombia will get all the dividends from the fund," says Keiser. Keiser et al are waging their "boycott" at Coke because of claims and actions against the multinational conglomerate that allege human rights violations, racism, and health concerns, among other disperse findings which have plagued the company. Coke has issued numerous public statements with regard to the allegations Keiser and his investors/activists address. The company has defended and/or clarified its position on many of its supposed violations, and flatly denied some of the more outrageous claims (such as the use of "illegal armed groups" in Colombia). To be sure, there's quite of bit of hyperbole in Keiser's subjective recitation of Coke's abuses. Indeed, in eyeing other companies for what he calls a "smart boycott," or short-selling, Keiser is downright virulent (His description of Microsoft ills is particularly demonstrative.) While Keiser's rhetoric may be better blotted out, his financial metric is worth a look. He calls this metric the Boycott Vulnerability Ratio. This ratio is the company's market capitalization divided by trailing annual sales. That number, he says, can then determine exactly how much damage each dollar of sales lost to a boycott would affect share price. Coke, for example, with a BVR of five would be more vulnerable than Exxon, with a BVR of one. Coke is trading at about $40 per share, with sales of $20 billion and a market capitalization of $100 billion. That means, using Keiser's BVR, for every person who stops drinking a can of Coke, shareholders will see $5 in market capitalization. This would all seem profoundly cuckoo if Goldsmith wasn't involved. The heir has a fortune of some $700 million with which to make a stand. He's vocal about his desire to smash global capitalism and promote environmentalism worldwide. With investing power like that, a short-sale boycott strategy might just raise corporate eyebrows. Already, short-sales put pressure on a stock to fall. Sophisticated investors regularly check with Nasdaq to gauge short-interest data. Companies such as Netflix may have even seen its stock price fall more sharply recently because of so many people taking short positions. (Barchart.com shows resistance levels to stock prices, taking into account short-sales data.) In any event, there are loads of hedge funds and other investment vehicles that specialize in short-sales. (The flamboyant Feshbach Brothers made short-selling fashionable in the 1980s before flaming out in the early 1990s.) Some have even tried socially conscious investing to try and sidestep corporate malfeasance. But Keiser and his group of investors are looking to combine socially conscious investing with short-selling strategies to jujitsu corporations with their own capital market power; Some may fall. For more information on Smart Boycotts, see www.karmabanque.com > or www.theecologist.org >. *Update on Super Urgent Action - Lina and Miguel *We have just received confirmation that Lina Castano and her son Miguel have NOT been deported and that they are in the process of being moved to Oakington Reception Centre. We will provide a fuller update tomorrow once we have spoken to her solicitor and have more information. Please keep the pressure on the Home Office in any ways that you can think of. regards Bristol branch *Bristol Evening Post article and comment: *Lina Castano and Miguel Castano Bristol Evening Post 27 Nov 2004 *DAWN RAID LEAVES MUM AND SON FACING RETURN TO COLOMBIA *BY SIMON PEEVERS S.PEEVERS 11:00 - 27 November 2004 A Mother and her seven-year-old child were taken from their Bristol home in a pre-dawn raid by immigration officials and are now at a detention centre waiting to be deported. Friends of the pair have organised a last-ditch campaign to stop them being sent back to their homeland, where they fear they could be murdered. Seven police officers and an immigration officer went into the home of Colombian asylum seekers Lina Castano and her son Miguel without warning at 6am on Thursday. They said they had a warrant to detain them under immigration rules, despite the Home Office having not made a final decision on their asylum application, which is still going through the system. Lina was strip-searched and a friend said she was forced to get dressed in front of a male officer. It is also claimed that officers presumed she could not speak English and made derogatory remarks in front of her. The pair were taken away without being given a chance to pack a bag. Josh Richards, who was sharing his Easton house with the family, said: "A woman with a warrant said she was here to look for Lina and Miguel. "The police came in and took control of the house. "Having been woken in her pyjamas, Lina was then strip searched and left in her bra and knickers in front of male police officers. "Assuming she didn't understand English, the officers stood round discussing the cheek of these 'illegals' daring to exist within our borders before Lina vocally informed them that, not only was she not stupid, but that she did speak English and her family had reported to the police station every month for the past three-and-a-half years. "She was treated like a criminal and was not given a chance to take anything with her." Pupils at Miguel's school, St Nicholas of Tolentine in St Jude's, were said to be upset at the news of his detention. Miguel has written a letter to say how sorry he was to miss school. He said: "I got arrested but I didn't do anything wrong." The class have written letters back, some apologising for the actions of the British government. Head teacher Isobel Flexman said: "Miguel was a bright and friendly boy who was doing very well here. I have rarely met such a nice family. "The children here have collected a few things for Miguel and were in tears when they heard about what happened." Lina, 34, and her husband Luis Orozco Collazolos, came to Britain more than three years ago from Colombia seeking asylum. Mr Collazolos, whose application for asylum has already been turned down, was not at home at the time of the raid and is now in hiding. Mr Collazolos was an engineer in Cali, Colombia, where he says he discovered the company he was working for was responsible for polluting a river, causing deformities in new-born babies. He says that when he tried to alert the authorities, his father and brother were murdered. They fled for their lives and have since established a life in Bristol.Mr Collazolos found a job as a kitchen porter as soon as he had a work permit and his wife works for Ikea. Both were able to work because they applied for asylum before the Government changed the rules to stop asylum seekers from working. The family fears that they will face certain death if they are returned to Colombia because they say the authorities are corrupt and there is nobody to protect them from those who want them dead. A campaign has been launched by friends to try to stop the family from being deported. Lina has been told that she has seven days to make her case to stay in Britain and will be held at Oakington Immigration Reception Centre in Longstanton, Cambridgeshire. After seven days she could be sent back to Colombia with her son if the authorities do not accept her case. Amparo Vizcaino, a family friend, said: "Their case has not even been heard and they have been taken without warning." Campaigners met with Jean Corston MP yesterday. A spokeswoman from her office said: "We will be taking up the case of this family." *TREATED WITH NO COMPASSION *11:00 - 27 November 2004 One minute, Lisa Castano and her seven-year-old son Miguel were tucked up in their beds. The next, they were the targets of a pre-dawn raid by a clutch of police officers and carted off to a detention centre. If the details they have given their friends are correct, seven police officers and an immigration official served their warrant on these asylum-seekers at 6am on Thursday. It is claimed Lisa was strip-searched, forced to get dressed in front of a male officer and had to listen to derogatory remarks about "illegals". She and her son were whisked away to the other side of the country without even being given time to pack a bag. And all this, before the Home Office has even made a final decision about their case. The Evening Post has been as vocal as anyone about illegal immigrants, and failed asylum seekers who go to ground and scrounge a living off the rest of us. But the Castano family is different, and surely a case for compassion - not the brutally abrupt treatment they have been given. They have been in this country for three and a half years after husband Luis blew the whistle on his company for a water pollution scandal. Luis was under threat after his father and brother were murdered. They have settled in Bristol and have jobs. Miguel, who has already spent half his young life here, is getting on famously at school, where his head teacher said: "I have rarely met such a nice family." Anyone who has a heart could not read Miguel's letter of apology to his teacher for missing school without feeling ashamed at this country's officialdom. Jean Corston has met the group of people campaigning for the Castanos and will take up the case with the Home Secretary. We can only hope that the Bristol East MP can prod the ministry into demonstrating a more decent, more British attitude towards what seems to be a genuine family with a genuine justification for being allowed to stay. Colombia Solidarity Campaign PO Box 8446 London N17 6NZ Tel: 07743 743041 Email: colombia_sc at hotmail.com > www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: list-unsubscribe at mclibel.org For additional commands, e-mail: list-help at mclibel.org ---- the McLibel mailing list ---- McDonald's, McLibel, multinationals http://www.mcspotlight.org get on: send blank mail to list-subscribe at mclibel.org get off: send blank mail to list-unsubscribe at mclibel.org help: send blank mail to list-help at mclibel.org human: send meaningful email to list-owner at mclibel.org submit: send stuff to list-submit at mclibel.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 30 20:52:35 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 20:52:35 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] interesting anti-military recruitment tactic Message-ID: Pentagon ordered to halt law school recruiting tactics By Marcella Bombardieri, Globe Staff | November 30, 2004 The federal law that forces law schools to allow military recruiters on campus is an unconstitutional violation of schools' First Amendment rights, according to a ruling handed down by an appeals court in Philadelphia yesterday. A three-judge panel issued an injunction prohibiting the Pentagon from enforcing the Solomon Amendment, which had compelled Harvard, Yale, Boston College, and many other universities to allow military recruiters on campus despite the fact that the US policy against gays serving openly in the military violates the schools' nondiscrimination rules. "The Solomon Amendment requires law schools to express a message that is incompatible with their educational objectives, and no compelling governmental interest has been shown to deny this freedom," Judge Thomas L. Ambro wrote for the two-judge majority in the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Yesterday's decision was in response to a lawsuit filed by a group of law schools and professors and marked a victory for those who have opposed what they called the heavy-handed tactics used by the Department of Defense at law schools around the country. The Solomon Amendment allows the government to withhold a large portion of federal funding from universities that bar military recruiters, and beginning in 2002, the Pentagon began a campaign of using the law to pressure schools to allow its recruiters on campus. Many of the schools reluctantly decided they could not jeopardize their federal support by barring the recruiters. The Solomon Amendment applies to military recruiters at all universities, but the battle over enforcement has largely been fought at law schools because the group that accredits law schools requires them to have a nondiscrimination policy that includes sexual orientation. http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2004/11/30/pentagon_ordered_to_halt_law_school_recruiting_tactics/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 30 21:52:42 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 21:52:42 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Campuses May Bar Military Recruiters Message-ID: <20041201055242.59254.qmail@web13605.mail.yahoo.com> http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/120104U.shtml Campuses May Bar Military Recruiters By Esther Schrader The Los Angeles Times Tuesday 30 November 2004 A federal appeals court rules that universities' free-speech rights are incompatible with the Pentagon's policy on gays and lesbians. Washington - Handing a significant legal victory to gay-rights advocates, a federal appeals court ruled Monday that academic institutions may restrict on-campus recruiting by the military because of the Pentagon's policy on gays and lesbians. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Philadelphia, ruled that a federal law known as the Solomon Amendment infringes on the free-speech rights of schools by allowing the federal government to withhold funds from colleges and universities that deny access to military recruiters. The preliminary injunction issued in one of four separate lawsuits filed by students and professors at law schools throughout the country found that by threatening to withhold federal funds from schools that do not accommodate military recruiters, the government was compelling them to take part in speech they did not agree with. "The Solomon Amendment requires law schools to express a message that is incompatible with their educational objectives, and no compelling governmental interest has been shown to deny this freedom," the panel wrote in a 2-1 decision. The court overturned an opinion by a federal judge in New Jersey who ruled a year ago that law schools must open their doors to military recruiters, even if the Defense Department's refusal to admit openly gay or lesbian individuals to military service offends a school's antidiscrimination policies. "The court understood that if bigots have a 1st Amendment right to exclude gays, then enlightened institutions have a 1st Amendment right to exclude bigots," said E. Joshua Rosenkranz, lead counsel for the Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, a coalition of more than 25 law schools - including those at Stanford University, New York University and Georgetown University - that filed suit against the Pentagon in September 2003. The Pentagon can seek a review of the ruling from the entire 3rd Circuit or from the Supreme Court. Lawyers for the Pentagon did not return calls asking what their next step might be. The controversy over military recruiting on law school campuses has simmered since the early 1990s, when schools began to extend their long-standing policies against campus recruitment by employers that discriminated on the basis of race and sex to those that did so on the basis of sexual orientation. In 1994, Congress passed a defense authorization bill that included an amendment, sponsored by then-Rep. Gerald Solomon (R-N.Y.), allowing the government to withhold federal funds from institutions if they denied military recruiters access to students. Faced with the possibility of losing hundreds of millions of dollars, almost all law schools backed down from their bans, allowing military recruiters on campus if invited by a student group or if they conducted interviews off campus. But in December 2001, in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Defense Department added new teeth to the Solomon Amendment, establishing regulations that subjected entire academic institutions, rather than just their law schools, to the loss of federal dollars. A year later, it began enforcing the new regulations in earnest, notifying schools that they were out of compliance with the law and faced a loss of funds if they did not provide military recruiters the same level of access to their students as that given to recruiters from the private sector. The modern military relies heavily on lawyers, who form the Judge Advocate General's Corps and help commanders establish the legal basis for many of their decisions. Some law school officials say they believe that the war in Iraq and the government's concerns about terrorism are driving its campaign for greater access to potential recruits. The Defense Department contends that it is just following the law. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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!? Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 30 21:59:27 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 21:59:27 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Activists Crawl Through Web to Untangle U.S. Secrecy (great links) Message-ID: <20041201055927.86680.qmail@web13606.mail.yahoo.com> http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1130-20.htm Published on Tuesday, November 30, 2004 by Inter Press Service Activists Crawl Through Web to Untangle U.S. Secrecy by William Fisher NEW YORK - To combat the Bush administration's penchant for secrecy, U.S. citizens have been forced to unearth new sources for information they once read in their daily newspapers. But thanks to a few dedicated individuals and not-for-profit groups -- and the Internet -- such material is easier to come by than ever before. "The Bush administration has taken secrecy to a new level. They have greatly increased the numbers and types of classified documents," says Steven Aftergood, who conducts one of the most widely used "open government" programs -- the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) Project on Government Secrecy. "They have made it far more difficult and time-consuming to obtain documents under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). And they have imposed 'gag rules' on an ever-widening group of government employees," Aftergood added in an interview. ''Open government'' sites on the World Wide Web provide a wide variety of information. For example, on the Internet pages of George Washington University's National Security Archive you can read Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) manuals from the 1960s and the 1980s specifying approved methods of prisoner abuse as well as one of the last major pieces of the puzzle explaining U.S. and UK roles in the August 1953 coup against Iranian Premier Mohammad Mossadeq. Or, just posted, the telephone conversations of former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, berating high-level subordinates for their efforts in 1976 to restrain human rights abuses by military dictators in Chile and Argentina. OpenTheGovernment.org is a new coalition of 33 organizations dedicated to combating unwarranted government secrecy and promoting freedom of information. Among recent postings on that site: an evaluation by The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press on "the likely impact of attorney general nominee Alberto Gonzales on press freedoms and the public's right to know," based on Reporters Committee research of Gonzales' performance as a judge on the Texas Supreme Court from January 1999 to December 2000 and as White House counsel since January 2001. The FAS Project on Government Secrecy publishes 'Secrecy News', which recently disclosed: "Americans can now be obligated to comply with legally-binding regulations that are unknown to them, and that indeed they are forbidden to know." As an example, the website reports the effort of a former conservative member of Congress to board a commercial airplane. "She was pulled aside by airline personnel for additional screening, including a pat-down search for weapons or unauthorized materials. She requested a copy of the regulation authorizing such pat-downs, and was told that she couldn't see it." Why? "Because we don't have to," said an official of the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA). "That is called 'sensitive security information'. She's not allowed to see it, nor is anyone else," he added, according to 'Secrecy News'. "She refused to go through additional screening (without seeing the regulation), and was not allowed to fly." According to Aftergood, the "variety of Internet-based sources has increased substantially during the Bush administration. Freedom of Information Act requests are on the rise, passing three million for the first time last year." "What is behind all of these phenomena is a growing public appetite for official records," he argues. "That is a healthy impulse that in a democracy should be respected and cultivated, not scorned." Another site, BushSecrecy.org, sponsored by the highly respected Public Citizen organization, chronicles and documents the administration's obsession with secrecy, as well as steps being taken to fight it. The website provides a variety of electronic links to up-to-date summaries of each of the administration's major secrecy initiatives, with additional links from those summaries to key documents, such as executive orders, congressional materials, judicial decisions and legal briefs filed by both sides in the court battles raging over these issues. The new Coalition of Journalists for Open Government has been established "to provide timely information on freedom of information issues and on what journalism organizations are doing to foster greater transparency in government." The coalition's website reports "the Department of Homeland Security is requiring all of its 180,000 employees and others outside the federal government to sign binding non-disclosure agreements covering unclassified information. Breaking the agreement could mean loss of job, stiff fines and imprisonment." Like many "open government" websites, the coalition distributes a free email newsletter. Other sites charge for documents. One such is InsideDefense.com, which provides primary source documents gathered by a team of Pentagon reporters, and issues a free weekly publication, 'The Insider', to alert readers to new documents. The FAS government secrecy project recently provided a sampling of other Internet sources. A few examples: GlobalSecurity.org which says it provides "bottomless resources on all aspects of national security policy, and then some;" The Resource Shelf offers news on all aspects of government information policy and links to valuable source documents; The Memory Hole collects and publishes elusive records and documents that have been withdrawn from the public domain; Cryptome promises a rich collection of new official and unofficial documents on security policy; Project on Government Oversight performs independent investigations to promote openness and government accountability; Electronic Privacy Information Center offers declassified documents and insights on cryptography policy and privacy; and Nautilus Institute's Global Disclosure Project specializes in nuclear weapons policy and strategy. Some "open government" websites are maintained by individuals, usually associated with universities. For example, the Guide to Declassified Documents and Archival Materials for U.S. Foreign Policy and World Politics, a road map to declassified foreign policy records, is the work of David N Gibbs of the University of Arizona. foi.net provides resources on national and foreign freedom of information law from Alasdair Roberts of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Has the proliferation of these websites had an impact on Bush administration policies? "Almost all of the recent statistical trends are negative, i.e. in the direction of greater secrecy," says Aftergood. "So it would probably be an exaggeration to say this work on challenging government secrecy has had much of an impact on the government during the current administration." But, "The real value of the work lies in the fact that it represents the creation of alternate channels for public access to government information," he adds. "These efforts to provide new means of access are not exactly the solution to government secrecy, but they are a constructive response that leaves the public less vulnerable to official secrecy than it otherwise would be," according to Aftergood. Most other observers interested in open government agree the Bush administration is unlikely to change its attitude toward fuller disclosure and, they predict the number of alternative sources will continue to grow. But even the continuing proliferation of new information sources will not correct some of the problems arising from excessive government secrecy. For example, Timothy H Edgar, legislative counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) told IPS: "Basic information that is crucial to oversight of the government's new spy powers under the Patriot Act -- such as how it is using new powers to obtain personal records -- has been cloaked in secrecy, making it impossible to judge the effectiveness of these powers or their impact on civil liberties." Copyright ? 2004 IPS-Inter Press Service ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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!? Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 30 20:49:10 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 20:49:10 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Wal-Mart's Free Ride Message-ID: Liberty Forum. Category: News & Opinion (General) Topic: Business & Economy Synopsis: Source: www.madison.com Published: November 11, 2004 Author: For Education and Discussion Only. Not for Commercial Use. Editorial: Wal-Mart's Free Ride November 11, 2004 How Does Wal-Mart Keep Prices So Low? Taxpayer Subsidies, That's How. Wal-Mart, the Arkansas-based retail chain that is now the nation's largest employer, has a dramatic advantage when it builds a store in a Wisconsin community and then starts charging dramatically lower prices than hometown businesses. Wal-Mart is able to charge those low prices in part because the company does not pay a living wage to most of its workers. But the company really cleans up in the area of benefits; instead of paying for health insurance for its employees, as homegrown Wisconsin retailers do, Wal-Mart steers those employees into the BadgerCare and Medicaid programs. With Wisconsin and federal taxpayers picking up the tab, Wal-Mart can keep prices low enough to run more responsible retailers out of business. And a hefty tab it is! According to figures obtained from the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services, the annual cost to taxpayers for health care coverage for Wal-Mart employees and their families is $4.75 million. Of that, the state covers $1.8 million, while the remainder comes from the federal treasury. (The feds split the costs of BadgerCare and Medicaid with the state.) The current enrollment of Wal-Mart employees and their relatives in BadgerCare is 1,175 adults and 638 children. Another 1,952 children of Wal-Mart employees are insured through the Medicaid program. The first thing to remember is that the Wal-Mart employees who are covered by BadgerCare are not guilty of wrongdoing. They should be covered, as should their children. The problem is not with working Wisconsinites who need health care coverage. And it is certainly not with their children. But BadgerCare and Medicaid cannot afford to carry the burden of Wal-Mart's corporate irresponsibility forever. It is time for state intervention on behalf of Wisconsin's taxpayers. What should be done? Wal-Mart and companies like it do not begin to pay their fair share of taxes into the state treasury. For years, firms doing business in Wisconsin have paid lower taxes than in virtually any state in the United States. And under the foolish single-factor tax reform, which was enacted during the last legislative session and sighed by Gov. Jim Doyle, corporations were given another huge tax break. Step 1 should be to reverse the single-factor reform. Then Doyle should work to develop tax structures that reward companies that create good jobs and pay living wages and good benefits, while penalizing firms such as Wal-Mart that fail to meet basic standards. To deal with the specific problem of companies like Wal-Mart, which shift the burden of providing health care coverage onto the taxpayers, Wisconsin should enact a law that requires large employers either to provide affordable, quality health care to all of their employees or to pay fees to cover the costs to BadgerCare. Of course, there will be screams from the apologists for corporate excess, who will claim that forcing Wal-Mart to pay its fair share will cost Wisconsin jobs. But that is a false premise. Wal-Mart is not cutting back; rather, the retail corporation has embarked upon an ambitious program of opening new stores across Wisconsin. There is no danger whatsoever that Wal-Mart is going to cut back in Wisconsin. In fact, the danger is that the firm will continue to expand at the current rate, which is too fast for many communities - hence the widespread opposition to Wal-Mart construction and expansion projects. Asking Wal-Mart to pay taxes and meet basic standards will not harm Wisconsin workers. It will help Wisconsin taxpayers. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 30 20:40:18 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 20:40:18 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Rumsfeld Sued for Alleged War Crimes Message-ID: Also see below: Explaining the Code of Crimes against International Law . Go to Original Rumsfeld Sued for Alleged War Crimes Deutsche Welle Tuesday 30 November 2004 Alleging responsibility for war crimes and torture at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, a human rights group has filed a criminal complaint in Germany against US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other top US officials. The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and Berlin's Republican Lawyers' Association said they and five Iraqi citizens mistreated by US soldiers were seeking a probe by German federal prosecutors of leading US policymakers. They said they had chosen Germany because of its Code of Crimes Against International Law, introduced in 2002, which grants German courts universal jurisdiction in cases involving war crimes or crimes against humanity. It also makes military or civilian commanders who fail to prevent their subordinates from committing such acts liable. "No Other Place to Go" "We filed these cases here because there is simply no other place to go," CCR vice president Peter Weiss said in a statement, adding that the US Congress had "failed" to seriously investigate the abuses. "It is clear that the US government is not willing to open an investigation into these allegations against these officials." The Center for Constitutional Rights noted that while several US soldiers were facing court martial for the abuse and sexual humiliation of prisoners at the US-run Abu Ghraib detention center in Iraq, their superiors looked set to escape discipline. The complaint names Rumsfeld, former CIA director George Tenet, Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Steven Cambone, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, Brigadier General Janis L. Karpinski and other military officers who served in Iraq. Five Victims Part of the Case "From Donald Rumsfeld on down, the political and military leaders in charge of Iraq policy must be investigated and held accountable," CCR president Michael Ratner said in a statement issued in Frankfurt, Germany. The CCR said that the five Iraqis it was representing had been victims of mistreatment including electric shock, severe beatings, sleep and food deprivation and sexual abuse. It noted that Sanchez and other officers involved in the case were based in Germany. Germany's federal prosecutor now has to decide whether the case warrants further investigation. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- <>Go to Original Explaining the Code of Crimes against International Law Deutsche Welle Tuesday 30 November 2004 Germany's Code of Crimes Against International Law is a unique piece of legislation that allows Germany to prosecute crimes against international law anywhere in the world. The law has been in effect since July 2002 and was implemented in response to the formation of the International Criminal Court, which became operative at the same time. The law is meant to enable Germany to prosecute all crimes against humanity. "Regardless of the law of the place of commission, the German criminal law is also applicable to . acts committed outside of Germany," the law reads. While the law could be interpreted as an obligation to act in cases of crimes against international law, a clause leaves it up to prosecutors to decide whether alleged crimes should be brought before a German court. Prosecution can be dropped in cases where neither the victim nor the perpetrator of a crime are German citizens. If the accused is not in Germany nor can be expected to come to Germany, prosecution can also be dropped. Germany's Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries justified these limitations by saying that Germany should not act as a "global policeman" by prosecuting all crimes against international law regardless of where they have been committed. ------- Jump to TO Features for Wednesday December 1, 2004 Today's TO Features -------------- BREAKING: Rumsfeld Sued for Alleged War Crimes U.S. Death Toll in Iraq for November Approaches Record Red Cross Finds Torture at Guant?namo t r u t h o u t Home ? Copyright 2004 by TruthOut.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Nov 30 23:25:41 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 23:25:41 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Bush Administration Want Artic Meltdown Message-ID: <20041201072541.1444.qmail@web13625.mail.yahoo.com> http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/printer_13618.shtml Science/Nature Bush Administration Want Artic Meltdown By Wayne Madsen Nov 15, 2004, 22:56 Washington, DC. Speaking off the record, scientists studying the current warming of the Arctic region intimated that some officials in the Bush administration saw the loss of Arctic ice and the resultant opening of sea channels such as the Northwest Passage of Canada as a good thing for the exploration and retrieval of oil and natural gas from the endangered region. Over 300 international scientists have just completed an extensive 1200-page report documenting their exhaustive 4-year Arctic Climate Impact Assessment study on the rapid warming of the Arctic. The study was commissioned by the Arctic Council and the International Arctic Science Committee at a ministerial meeting of the Arctic Council in Point Barrow, Alaska in 2000. On November 8, the scientists released a 144-page summary of their findings at a press conference in Washington, DC. As if out of a scene from the Roland Emmerich's climate disaster movie, "The Day After Tomorrow," the U.S. State Department is criticizing the international panel's call to slow down Arctic warming by curbing greenhouse emissions into the atmosphere. The State Department, according to some scientists, is echoing the positions of oil companies and anti-environmentalist pressure groups like the Cato Institute and Heritage Foundation, in dismissing the recent report on Arctic warming. In fact, President Bush has repeatedly referred to previous scientific studies pointing to the effects of global warming as "silly science" based on "fuzzy math." The chief State Department focal point on the Arctic warming issue is Paula Dobriansky, the Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs, who is seen as a virtual mouthpiece for Vice President Dick Cheney, the oil companies, and the anti-environmental groups. She will be trying to minimize the impact of the Arctic warming report before she attends the November 24 meeting of the Arctic Council in Reykjavik, Iceland where the report will be officially released. Before her current stint at the State Department, Dobriansky was an international affairs adviser with the law firm Hunton & Williams, whose clients include a number of large energy companies, including Exxon Mobil. The report concludes that Arctic warming has increased dramatically since 1954. Average Arctic winter temperatures have increased as much as 4 to 7 degrees F (3-4 degrees C) during the past 50 years and are projected to increase another 7-13 degrees F (4-7 degrees C) over the next 100 years. Over the past 30 years, the sea-ice extent of the Arctic has decreased 386,100 square miles (or Texas and Arizona combined). Since Arctic sea ice is declining at such a rapid rate, maritime access by oil exploration ships and tankers is viewed by the Bush-Cheney administration and their oil industry backers as an economic windfall because of increased access to Arctic resources. Timber companies are also excited about access to Arctic timber reserves from accessible Arctic seaports. Therefore, the Bush administration and their corporate sponsors want to downplay the environmental catastrophe that will be brought about by an anticipated complete loss of Arctic ice and the creation of an iceless Arctic Ocean by the end of the century. Already, British Petroleum and a Russian partner are using newly-opened shipping channels in the Russian Arctic to begin the off-shore drilling of natural gas. The possible opening of the Northwest Passage to maritime shipping has already prompted Canadian warnings to the United States not to intrude on its national territory. The United States does not recognize Canadian sovereignty over its Arctic sea passages. This past summer, Canada's largest warship, a fleet of helicopters, and 200 troops engaged in Operation Narwhal, the largest Canadian military exercise ever held in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Narwhal was also noteworthy in that U.S. military participants and observers were not invited. The Bush administration and their oil company supporters have also dismissed concerns that oil spills resulting from increased maritime access to Arctic waters cannot be cleaned up because no solutions have been discovered on how to deal with oil contamination in colder waters, such as the Arctic. They point to continued problems arising from the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989. In addition to the loss of the Arctic icepack, scientists discovered that substantial melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet will continue and its eventual melting will raise global sea levels by about 23 feet (7 meters). That, coupled with glacial melting in the Arctic (in Canada, Alaska, and Russia) and Antarctic melting, will cause the sea to flood most of southern and coastal Florida (including the Keys and the Everglades), the Mississippi Delta (including the city of New Orleans), a number of near-sea level islands in the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans, and the expansion of tidal-influenced bays and rivers worldwide. Arctic ice melt will also increase ocean salinity and this affects ocean currents that bring warmer waters to colder regions. Because saltier water results in colder water sinking, a decrease in salinity will result in colder water rising to the surface and threatening the thermohaline conveyor belt upon which Europe depends for its temperate climate [see Dale Allen Pfeiffer's writings on abrupt climate change and the thermohaline current in FTW, especially: http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/050504_climate_change_pt2.html -- ed.]. The effect is that while temperatures increase in North America and Asia, regional cooling will take place in Europe. The imbalance will affect agriculture and the overall eco-system. The loss of snow cover in the Arctic will mean that less solar energy will be reflected back into space, thus adding to the warming of the Arctic's land and water surfaces. Unprecedented rainfall is already being witnessed on Greenland's Ice Sheet by the local Inuit inhabitants. According to the Arctic warming report, the loss of Arctic ice and permafrost will also result in the near extinction of a number of species, including the polar bear, a number of seal species, walruses, caribou, reindeer, lemmings, voles, and migratory birds such as snow owls. The Indigenous People of the Arctic will be forced to relocate from floods, loss of permafrost, coastal erosion from killer storms, building collapse from destruction of permafrost, and loss of food supply. In addition, rising Arctic temperatures are permitting the invasion of destructive insects such as the spruce beetle which has already decimated 1.6 million hectares of white spruce and Sitka/Lutz spruce on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. In Sweden, invading moths have destroyed entire forests of birch trees. New species of birds entering the warmer Arctic tundra regions are also bringing with them a new disease - West Nile Virus, which threatens both humans and animals. The Bush administration, in its unwillingness to appreciate the impact of Arctic warming and its desire for expanded oil sources, has incurred the wrath of the nations and peoples of the Arctic Council. These are Canada, Denmark, Greenland, Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, the Aleut International Association, Arctic Athabaskan Council, Gwich'in Council International, Inuit Circumpolar Conference, Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, the Saami Council along with observers France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, and the United Kingdom. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Queen Elizabeth have both championed the efforts to reverse global warming as have Senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman. See also: "An Arctic Alert on Global Warming," Peter N. Spotts, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor. November 9th, 2004 http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1109/p01s03-sten.html "Satellites Record Weakening North Atlantic Current," NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center press release. April 15th, 2004. http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/2004/0415gyre.html http://www.fromthewilderness.com/members/111104_arctic_meltdown.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!? 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 29 21:12:31 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 21:12:31 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Great-Grandmother Being Deployed to Iraq Message-ID: kentucky.com AP Wire Posted on Wed, Nov. 24, 2004 Great-Grandmother Being Deployed to Iraq Associated Press LAWTON, Okla. - A 72-year-old great-grandmother is preparing for deployment to the war zone in Iraq and will become one of the oldest Department of Defense civilian workers in the war zone. "I volunteered," said Lena Haddix of Lawton, who has five children, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. "I wanted to do something for the country, because I was always left behind taking care of the children." Haddix was a military wife from 1950 until 1979, and has worked at the Fort Sill Post Exchange, or PX, since 1977. "I've been a supervisor of every department out there," Haddix said. "I guess I'm the flunky." The PX is more than just a store for soldiers, she said. It's also a boost to morale, giving soldiers stationed overseas a link to the United States and Haddix said that's why she wants to go to Iraq. "I just see so many of the boys. They're like little kids. They keep telling me, 'I'm going over,' or 'I've just come back,'" she said. "I would just like to go over and be with them." And Haddix said others have tried to talk her out of her decision, to no avail. "I'd already made up my mind I wanted to go. I just wanted to do something for myself and other people instead of working and coming home. "I'm sure there'll be times that I'll be scared, but I'm not now." Haddix is now going through much of the same process soldiers go through before deployment, including shots and a thorough medical checkup to make sure she's physically able to do a tour of at least six months. She will be sent to Fort Bliss, Texas, for one week of training, then be sent to Germany where she will receive her orders on where in Iraq she will be stationed. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Wed Dec 1 00:28:26 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2004 00:28:26 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: WAC Show Reminder Message-ID: There is a Washington Arms Collectors show this weekend. See http://www.WashingtonArmsCollectors.org for more information and exact schedule. If you want to be removed from the reminder service -- click the Remove Button below. If you have any problems, reply to this email. Thanks. DISCLAIMER: The reminder service is a courtesy of this site's Webmaster. The code and systems that run the reminder system have been written, developed and implemented by the Webmaster at no cost to WAC. While every effort is made to insure that you receive reminder emails, certain situations may occur which could prevent the timely delivery of reminders. WAC and the site's Webmaster, offer no guarantee or implied guarantee of the reminder's delivery. If you have some critical need for being reminded of a WAC show, you may not place value in this system that exceeds the cash value, in U.S. dollars, you paid to partake in said system. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Thu Dec 2 00:16:55 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 00:16:55 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Interesting anti-military recruitment tactic Message-ID: <20041202081656.74845.qmail@web13624.mail.yahoo.com> Pentagon ordered to halt law school recruiting tactics By Marcella Bombardieri, Globe Staff | November 30, 2004 The federal law that forces law schools to allow military recruiters on campus is an unconstitutional violation of schools' First Amendment rights, according to a ruling handed down by an appeals court in Philadelphia yesterday. A three-judge panel issued an injunction prohibiting the Pentagon from enforcing the Solomon Amendment, which had compelled Harvard, Yale, Boston College, and many other universities to allow military recruiters on campus despite the fact that the US policy against gays serving openly in the military violates the schools' nondiscrimination rules. "The Solomon Amendment requires law schools to express a message that is incompatible with their educational objectives, and no compelling governmental interest has been shown to deny this freedom," Judge Thomas L. Ambro wrote for the two-judge majority in the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Yesterday's decision was in response to a lawsuit filed by a group of law schools and professors and marked a victory for those who have opposed what they called the heavy-handed tactics used by the Department of Defense at law schools around the country. The Solomon Amendment allows the government to withhold a large portion of federal funding from universities that bar military recruiters, and beginning in 2002, the Pentagon began a campaign of using the law to pressure schools to allow its recruiters on campus. Many of the schools reluctantly decided they could not jeopardize their federal support by barring the recruiters. The Solomon Amendment applies to military recruiters at all universities, but the battle over enforcement has largely been fought at law schools because the group that accredits law schools requires them to have a nondiscrimination policy that includes sexual orientation. http://www.bostoncom/news/education/higher/articles/2004/11/30/pentagon_ordered_to_halt_law_school_recruiting_tactics/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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!? Yahoo! Mail - Helps protect you from nasty viruses. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Thu Dec 2 00:30:56 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 00:30:56 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] EPA Tests Find Rocket Fuel in Nation's Milk, Lettuce Message-ID: <20041202083056.47469.qmail@web13625.mail.yahoo.com> http://www.bushgreenwatch.org December 01, 2004 | Back Issues EPA Tests Find Rocket Fuel in Nation's Milk, Lettuce Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tests released this week have confirmed the presence of perchlorate - an explosive additive in solid rocket fuel - in almost every sample of lettuce and milk taken in a nationwide investigation. Perchlorate, leaking from military bases and defense contrator's facilities, is known to cause regional water pollution, resulting in serious health effects. The FDA investigation found the toxic additive in 217 of 232 samples of lettuce and milk from 15 states, including areas not previously known for perchlorate contamination. According to the Environmental Protection Agency's perchlorate coordinator for the southwest and Pacific region, Kevin Mayer, the FDA results show that this regional pollution problem is now exposing people across the entire U.S. to the toxin. [1] "This is surprising new evidence that rocket fuel is getting into the food supply in places we never would have suspected. It means that perchlorate exposure is not just a problem in areas where the drinking water is contaminated, but a concern for everyone, every time we visit the grocery store," Bill Walker, West coast vice president of Environmental Working Group (EWG) told BushGreenwatch. Problems associated with perchlorate include impaired thyroid function, tumors, cancer, and decreased learning capacity and developmental problems --such as loss of hearing and speech -- in children. [2] BushGreenwatch reported last December on the stalling tactics of the Bush Administration and the Defense Department regarding a national standard for safe drinking water. [3] The EPA's preliminary risk assessment found that perchlorate should not exceed 1 part per billion (ppb) in drinking water for protecting developing fetuses, but industry and Defense Department scientists claim that as much as 200 ppb is safe for human consumption. [4] The EPA's suggested safe level of 1 ppb is below levels found in several drinking water sources, including the Colorado River. Since perchlorate pollution stems largely from military sites, costs for clean-up would be the responsibility of the Defense Department. "With these results, it's time for health officials, perchlorate polluters and food producers to stop stalling by saying we need more studies," said Renee Sharp, a senior analyst at EWG. "Rocket fuel is in our water, in vegetables, in milk. How much more evidence do we need?" ### SOURCES: [1] "Chemical Problems Widen," Press-Enterprise, Nov. 30, 2004. [2] Environmental Protection Agency fact sheet. [3] BushGreenwatch, Dec. 11, 2004. [4] Press-Enterprise, op. cit. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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 Dec 2 00:48:04 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 00:48:04 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Toyota Prius Achieves Quarter-Million Worldwide Sales Message-ID: <20041202084804.88626.qmail@web13607.mail.yahoo.com> Toyota Prius Achieves Quarter-Million Worldwide Sales Toyota's revolutionary Prius has passed the landmark of a quarter of a million sales, confirming its position as the world's most successful hybrid power vehicle. The world's cleanest family car has experienced exceptional global demand, particularly since the launch of the second generation model which went on sale in the UK in January 2004. Prius sales in the UK have reached almost 1,400 units so far this year. Sales in Europe for 2004 are expected to reach 8,500 units. For 2005, the sales target has been set at 15,000 units for Europe, while an increase in production capacity will allow 180,000 cars to be sold worldwide. Earlier this month Prius was named the 2005 European Car of the Year by a 58 member international jury. 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?, spearheads Toyota's development of new, environmentally friendly powertrains and is part of Toyota's effort to create the ultimate eco car. Prius was also awarded the International Engine of the Year 2004 title for Prius Hybrid Synergy Drive? with a record score. In the UK Prius is exempt from the London Congestion Charge, representing a potential saving of up to ?1,250 per annum to a commuter. On the road prices for Prius start at ?17,545. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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!? All your favorites on one personal page ? Try My Yahoo! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Thu Dec 2 01:07:50 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 01:07:50 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Mark Morford: America Loves Kinky Sex Message-ID: <20041202090750.76464.qmail@web13603.mail.yahoo.com> ===== Mark Morford's Notes & Errata ===== SFGate.com - December 1, 2004 --------------------------------- America Loves Kinky Sex Let the religious Right whine about "Kinsey." The next sexual revolution is imminent By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist Here's my suggestion: let them have it. Just do it. Let the sexually bitter and morally frantic conservative groups now dictating governmental policy and FCC agendas and paranoid media attitudes have their time, their brief cultural burp, their little speed bump on the great and beckoning highway that will still lead us all, inexorably, irreversibly, though often agonizingly, toward grinning open-thighed progress. Because here's the fabulous thing: no matter what these faux-Christian groups do, no matter how hard they oppress and protest and clamp down, this is a road that leads, despite all dour headlines and sour prognostications otherwise, toward spiritual illumination, toward awareness, toward sexual openness and same-sex marriage and revelatory sodomy and free vibrators for teenage girls and lesbians kissing open mouthed in the streets. In Kentucky. In the daytime. On Sunday. It's true. All this and more, is gonna happen. This is my belief. Superlative homemade pornography and fetish dungeons and happy dildo supermarkets and the utter brilliance of the Suicide Girls and regular people having juicy consensual reasonably kinky respectful sex like it's no big deal, and it's all a matter of time, isn't it, before it will all erupt back to the surface of the culture and spread like hot karmic butter across the land. Maybe? You think? .... (click here to read the rest) (Full URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2004/12/01/notes120104.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!? 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 Dec 2 14:59:18 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 14:59:18 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] From Mother Jones-The Great Media Breakdown Message-ID: <20041202225918.2690.qmail@web13607.mail.yahoo.com> http://www.motherjones.com/cgi-bin/print_article.pl?url=http://www.motherjones%20.com/news/feature/2004/11/10_402.html The Great Media Breakdown The press admits it fell for the administration's line on weapons of mass destruction. But the media's failure goes far beyond Iraq. Todd Gitlin November/December 2004 Issue All governments lie, the muckraker I.F. Stone used to say. They fudge and omit. They bury and muffle inconvenient facts. They do this repeatedly, relentlessly, shamelessly. That's hardly surprising. Why shouldn't they seek? as a Marine Corps public affairs officer, Lt. Colonel Richard Long, told a conference on journalism and the Iraq war?to "dominate the information environment"? But of late, the government has had plenty of help in its efforts at dominance. To a disgraceful degree, the organs of news have been grinding out its tune. Many are the reasons for deference. Reporters and editors are credulous, fearful, and flatly bamboozled. Timid about getting out ahead of a public they respect more when it is "conservative" (read: rightwardly radical) than when it is liberal, they bend over backward to accommodate spin doctors. They grant officialdom the benefit of the doubt. They fear risking independent judgment, which they have defined as occupational hubris. They are terrified of missing out on the perks of access. They fear that detailing the anatomy of official distortion will turn off readers and viewers. Their proprietors, seeking favor in high places, cool their critical engines. So the media yield to temptation and morph into megaphones, and falsehoods too often and too loudly repeated take on the ring of plausibility. Does that leave citizens clueless? Not quite. In a digital world, there's easier access to multiple sources of facts and analysis than ever before. But even as journalists lose their hold on a distracted public, they remain indispensable for arousing democracy and holding liars, bullies, and cheaters accountable. If ever there were a time for unbridled journalism, this would be it: terrorist mayhem, war, corporate scandal, ecological crisis, economic upheaval. Public passion and curiosity have been stoked. But the potential investigators have been, to a considerable degree, otherwise occupied. Historians will someday burrow among the musty artifacts of America's supercharged 24/7 news organizations?TV with its glammed-up sets, its convention skyboxes and satellite feeds; the well-fed correspondents on a firstname basis with second-rate sources; the newsmagazines with their gloss, gossip, and fluff?and they will rub their eyes and marvel that a nation possessed of such an enormous industry ostensibly specializing in the gathering and distribution of facts could yet remain so befogged. Befogged we have been, and don't take my word for it. With the nonappearance of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, the problem grew sufficiently glaring that, earlier this year, the spirit of self-scrutiny spread throughout the nation's prestige press like a belated burst of antibodies. Here is the New York Times' ombudsman, Daniel Okrent, writing on May 30?14 months after the bombs began falling on Baghdad: "Some of The Times's coverage in the months leading up to the invasion of Iraq was credulous; much of it was inappropriately italicized by lavish front-page display and heavy-breathing headlines; and several fine articles that provided perspective or challenged information in the faulty stories were played as quietly as a lullaby." Two months later, the Washington Post's Howard Kurtz issued his own paper's self-critique, chastising "coverage that, despite flashes of groundbreaking reporting, in hindsight looks strikingly onesided at times." Make due allowance for the boilerplate qualifications?"in hindsight," "looks," "at times"?and you see a condemnation so harsh, you know the blunders must have been grave indeed. Never before has American journalism been driven to correct itself so lavishly. Yet even now, the news industry remains unwilling or unable to come to grips with the full scope and system of its failures, and the narrowness of the media's self-criticism does not inspire confidence that they will refuse to swallow government propaganda the next time. (Television news bigwigs, for one, have yet to admit any responsibility for having escorted the nation into a calamitous war.) In fact, the malfunctions extend far beyond the question of WMD, beyond even the routine deceptions of George W. Bush. The machinery of truth-telling has broken down. THE MACHINERY was creaky already. In truth, journalism's golden age of Vietnam and Watergate expos?s was not so golden. It took years to undo the lies about "progress" in Vietnam, and for many months, most news organizations missed the magnitude of the criminal operations running out of the Nixon White House. Much of the time since then, the Fourth Estate has remained distracted. The Iran-Contra scandal lay scattered about in plain view until the dots were connected by a Beirut magazine. In the 1990s, any sense of proportion went missing: As murderous Islamism oozed out of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Osama bin Laden fine-tuned his massacre machine, O.J. beckoned... and Whitewater... and Princess Diana. In 1998 and 1999, when Al Qaeda was gathering force and bombing embassies, the obsession of America's media was...Monica Lewinsky (and Clinton was accused of only seeking to distract us when he bombed bin Laden's camp). Journalists have missed many a boat. But the problem of the past few years is that the media have taken to escorting the boat?amplifying disingenuous claims, downplaying doubts, belittling dissent. As it thrashed about in a state of emergency, America needed solid reporting?and solid skepticism?more than ever. Instead, large numbers of people were left believing that some of the September 11 hijackers were Iraqis, that Saddam Hussein was implicated in the terror attacks, and that the United States had actually found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. IT IS NOT TOO MUCH TO SAY that the press has let the public down on every one of the big life-and-death stories of our time. Begin with those unforgettable 35 days in Florida in 2000, when reporters let Republicans get away with their chosen story line: Bush was the presumptive victor and Gore was trying to deprive him of his due. NBC's Tim Russert again and again suggested that Gore be the statesmanlike gent and bow out. Never once did I see a network bigfoot suggest that Bush do the graceful thing and step aside. Bush was cast as president-in-waiting, Gore as the interfering usurper. Then, from the moment George Bush walked into the White House, he was excused from serious scrutiny. It would have seemed invasive, ungenerous, downright mean to inquire too forcefully of a chief executive so, well, unchieflike. Anyway, this White House was known to slam the door on overly feisty reporters. In a remarkable piece three months into Bush's term, John F. Harris of the Washington Post wrote that Bush "has done things with relative impunity that would have been huge uproars if they had occurred under Clinton. Take it from someone who made a living writing about those uproars.... Do you suppose there would have been an uproar under Clinton if Democrats had been rewarding donors with special closed-door briefings by Cabinet secretaries? GOP donors received just such a briefing with Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson as thanks for their efforts. Far from an uproar, the story has had only a faint echo. Clinton's 'donor maintenance' coffees led to a year of congressional inquiries." Bush received an even broader pass after September 11. At least until American bodies piled up in Iraq and the Abu Ghraib revelations cracked through, journalists clearly feared that seeming to cast discredit on the commander in chief would smack of insufficient patriotism. (The New York Times' chief Bush watcher, Elisabeth Bumiller, commented on a Bush press conference on the eve of the Iraq war: "I think we were very deferential because... nobody wanted to get into an argument with the president at this very serious time.") Obsequious stenography would protect the Washington press corps from cries of "liberal media." There was?and remains?considerable reluctance to invoke what a Times reporter I spoke to called "reportorial authority," which, as he put it, would require that "when the president says the sun rose in the west, we take it upon ourselves to say no." Todd Gitlin, a professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University, is a contributing writer for this magazine. He is the author of several books about the media and social activism, including his latest, Letters to a Young Activist. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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!? Take Yahoo! Mail with you! Get it on your mobile phone. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Thu Dec 2 16:09:58 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 16:09:58 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] HIT THE RED STATE WHERE IT HURTS Message-ID: <20041203000958.97788.qmail@web13601.mail.yahoo.com> Discussed having to support the Red States only to be stabbed in the back at election time? Then stop the support to them and buy from Blue States. Resource Link....... http://www.choosetheblue.com IBB ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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!? Yahoo! Mail - Easier than ever with enhanced search. Learn more. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Thu Dec 2 17:09:58 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 17:09:58 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] North American birds on the decline - Nearly a third of native bird species are seeing striking losses Message-ID: <20041203010958.5311.qmail@web13622.mail.yahoo.com> North American birds on the decline Nearly a third of native bird species - even common ones - are seeing striking losses, says a survey. By Mark Clayton Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor December 02, 2004 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1202/p13s01-sten.html Nearly two centuries ago, vast herds of buffalo were almost wiped off the face of America's great plains by settlers. Today it's the prairie chicken that's getting plucked. Once plentiful like the buffalo, the prairie chicken was dubbed the "fool's hen" because it was so easy to shoot. Even so, the delectable but hardy species survived. As recently as the 1980s, healthy numbers could be found "booming" their songs across the plains. But a new survey shows that the greater prairie chicken species is in trouble. Since 1966, its population has fallen 78 percent. Fewer than 700,000 ........... http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1202/p13s01-sten.html ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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!? Yahoo! Mail - You care about security. So do we. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Thu Dec 2 18:46:19 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 18:46:19 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Take Action - Tenzin Delek Week of Action, Day 1 Message-ID: Tenzin Delek Week of Action - Day 1 Students for a Free Tibet Two years ago today, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve. Since then, the movement for his release has grown exponentially, and we are now in the final countdown to save his life. Please read below for reports of what is happening around the world for the Tenzin Delek Global Week of Action, and a simple way to join. Reports are beginning to come in from around the world about powerful demonstrations and actions targeting Chinese authorities, some even inside and on top of Chinese government offices. In Poland, activists held a demonstration in front of the Chinese embassy. In London, SFT members and the Tibetan community held a vigil and members of Free Tibet Campaign scaled the embassy to hang a banner. In Vancouver, SFT held a protest and began a week-long sit-in at the consulate. In Washington DC, SFTers organized dramatic political theater and a demonstration - and the list goes on. Check out http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org/tdrweek for inspiring photos and more updates as they come in over the next week. To stop the execution of Tenzin Delek, we must continue this level of activity. We need every single person who wants to help save his life to take a few simple actions, and to urge others to help as well. Every day for the next week, we will ask you to phone a different Chinese government office and ask for Tenzin Delek's release. It will take less than five minutes of your time and will have a real impact. Tomorrow, December 3rd, please call the Chinese embassy in the United States (Washington DC) at +1-202-328-2500. Choose extension #9 (Political Affairs), but if that doesn't work any other extension is fine. If the number stops working, please call +1-202-328-2551. Keep time zones in mind and try to call between 9am and 5pm EST (mornings are best). Tell them: - You are calling about a Tibetan political prisoner, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche. - Tenzin Delek faces execution in the next few weeks for crimes that he did not commit. - You are asking that the Chinese President, Hu Jintao, free him now. - Ask the person you are speaking to to make sure that this message gets conveyed to the Ambassador, Yang Jiechi. **If you reach an answering machine, please leave a message. Say you are calling to tell the Ambassador that China must free Tenzin Delek Rinpoche and overturn his death sentence. At some point they may disconnect the number. If you can't get through, please call +1-202-328-2551. Keep up the great work and please send us your photos and stories of your actions for Tenzin Delek. Mail them to campaigns at studentsforafreetibet.org and remember to check out the Week of Action page on the SFT website - http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org/tdrweek. Together we will free Tenzin Delek. In solidarity, Freya, Lhadon, Tendor, Han-shan, Alma & Thupten -------------------------------------------------------------- Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this. Tell-a-friend! If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Students for a Free Tibet's Action Center. 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 Thu Dec 2 18:47:30 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 18:47:30 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] FLIGHT 77 PASSENGER LIST Message-ID: LEAK-GATE: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LEAK-GATE/join This White House Scandal Finally Tips the Scale! http://www.apfn.org/apfn/leakgate.htm Post message: LEAK-GATE at yahoogroups.com Subscribe: LEAK-GATE-subscribe at yahoogroups.com Unsubscribe: LEAK-GATE-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com List owner: LEAK-GATE-owner at yahoogroups.com "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism" - Thomas Jefferson "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and never will be... The People cannot be safe without information." -- Thomas Jefferson http://disc.server.com/Indices/149495.html FLIGHT 77 PASSENGER LIST http://home.debitel.net/user/andreas.bunkahle/plate59.htm WTC 1 NORTH TOWER PHASE 2 http://home.debitel.net/user/andreas.bunkahle/plate30.htm a.. The Sheeple Analyst: 9-11, Conspiracy and the Illuminati - ourbillofrights, Thu Dec 2 17:38 a.. Re 9/11 - Your government Bush is lying to you - German Engineers Help the USA, Thu Dec 2 18:17 b.. Former CIA Director George J. Tenet - wants curbs on the net - kirwan, Thu Dec 2 17:49 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bin Laden vows to fight America until....... - outtherenews.com, Thu Dec 2 17:23 ======================== http://www.911fsa.org/directors.html Board of Directors, 9/11 Families for a Secure America Bruce DeCell, (NYPD, retired); Father-in-law of Mark Petrocelli, age 28, WTC, North Tower, 92nd floor Bill Doyle; Father of Joseph Doyle; Coalition of 9/11 Families Lynn Faulkner; Husband of Wendy Faulkner; WTC South Tower Peter & Jan Gadiel; Parents of James, age 23, WTC, North Tower 103rd Floor April D. Gallop; Pentagon Survivor Grace Godshalk; Mother of William R. Godshalk, age 35, WTC, South Tower, 89th Floor Colette LaFuente; Mayor, Poughkeepsie, NY (1995-2003); Wife of Juan LaFuente, WTC visitor Joan Molinaro; Mother of Firefighter Carl Molinaro Sally Regenhard; Mother of Firefighter Christian Regenhard, age 29, Co-Chair, Skyscraper Safety Campaign Will Sekzer, Detective Sgt (retired) NYPD; Father of Jason, age 31, WTC, North Tower, 105th Floor Diana Stewart, wife of Michael Stewart Viggiano, Kathy, NYPD; wife of Joseph Viggiano, Detective, NYPD and sister-in-law of Firefighter John Viggiano http://www.911fsa.org/directors.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Thu Dec 2 18:49:39 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 18:49:39 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] December 4th Message-ID: Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe will be raising 3 traditional Totem Poles December 4 at 1:30 pm. Feast afterwards. The tribe's location is just before you get to Sequim, WA on Hwy 101 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Thu Dec 2 19:15:42 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 19:15:42 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Rod C. Indicted on Federal Conspiracy Charges Message-ID: WAR Note: We will be contacting Rod to see if there is anything we can do to support him. Stay tuned for updates which we will pass on as soon as we have them. CONTACT: Rod Coronado 520.623.9184 PRESS RELEASE: December 2, 2004 email: rod at resist.ca SABINO CANYON LION DEFENDER TO BE INDICTED ON FEDERAL CONSPIRACY CHARGES On December 2nd at 11:00am at the Evo A. DeConcini Federal Courthouse, federal prosecutors will formally indict Chuk?shon Earth First! (CEF!) activist Rod Coronado on conspiracy charges related to the local environmental group?s interference with the hunt for mountain lions in Sabino Canyon last March. The indictment comes just seven days before Coronado was to stand trial for three lesser misdemeanor charges filed after his arrest in Sabino Canyon on March 26th. The new charge, ?Conspiracy to Impede or Injure an Officer? carries a maximum penalty of six years in prison. Last March when Arizona Game &Fish Department (AZGFD) and US Forest Service officials attempted to remove four-to-five mountain lions from Sabino Canyon, Coronado with Chuk?shon Earth First! organized a campaign of interference that included nonviolent tactics such as the spreading of false lion urine scent to lead AZGFD hunting hounds away from the real lions. Coronado and a reporter from Esquire magazine were originally charged with violating a federal closure and disabling a steel-cable snare set by AZGFD to capture a lion. Coronado believes the indictment is in response to his continued organizing against AZGFD controversial policies such as the killing and removal of lions from the Coronado National Forest and the trophy hunting of sandhill cranes and desert bighorn sheep in southern Arizona. In November, Coronado was part of a CEF! investigation team that exposed AZGFD?s annual trophy hunt for sandhill cranes south of Willcox, AZ. ?Its just an Orwellian attempt to intimidate me for criticizing and drawing attention to AZGFD policies that cater to urban sprawl and trophy hunters. If AZGFD continues controversial programs such as lion eradication, trophy desert bighorn sheep and sandhill crane hunting, CEF! will continue to document and expose those abuses of public lands and wildlife.? Unless taken into custody, Coronado will be available for interviews following his arraignment. Video documentation of Chuk?shon Earth First!?s efforts to protect mountain lions, black bears, Gunnison?s prairie dogs, mule deer, elk and sandhill cranes from the hunter?s guns is available upon request. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stateyourcause/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StopNightmareDogIndustries/ hlssuckslists.riseup.net "Live in peace with the animals. Animals bring love to our hearts, and warmth to our souls"-Colleen Klaum ?The ultimate measure of a community is not where it stands in times of comfort and convenience, but where it stands in times of challenge and controversy.? -Martin Luther King Jr. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Nov 29 21:15:58 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 21:15:58 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Thousands In UK 'Unaware Message-ID: rense.com Thousands In UK 'Unaware They Have HIV' Increase In Infections Largely Due To African Immigrants BBC News 11-26-4 The number of people with HIV in the UK is still rising with 53,000 adults now living with the virus, figures show. More than a quarter - 27% - do not know they have the infection, which could be as many as 14,300 people. There were 6,606 new HIV infections diagnosed, the Health Protection Agency said, but that could rise to 7,000 once all the data are collected. The new figures come as the government announced a ?300m investment to tackle the UK's sexual health crisis. The increase in HIV diagnoses compares with 6,017 cases in 2002 and 2,835 in 1998. The increase means the UK faces rising costs as well as ill health with each HIV infection estimated to cost between ?500,000 and ?1m in treatment and lost productivity. Dr Kevin Fenton, author of the HPA's Focus on Prevention report, said the increase in the number of infections diagnosed was "the result of a combination of factors". "But it is largely contributed to by the migration of people from areas of the world where there is a high prevalence of HIV, such as sub-Saharan Africa," he said. Distribution changes Of the 6,606 new cases diagnosed in 2003, 58% - 3,801 - were among heterosexuals while gay and bisexual men accounted for 1,735, or 26%. The number of new infections diagnosed in gay and bisexual men was the highest for 10 years, Dr Fenton said. The distribution of HIV cases has changed in the past decade, moving away from gay men and into heterosexual adults. In 1994, only 31% of new cases were in heterosexuals. This percentage had almost doubled to 58% by last year. The number of heterosexual diagnoses likely to have been acquired in this country had increased from 139 in 1998 to 341 in 2003, he added. Two thirds of HIV infections acquired through heterosexual sex diagnosed in 2003 were in women - 2,465. ?300m investment Dr Ewen Stewart, HIV spokesman at the Royal College of GPs, said: "It is worrying that there are now a large number of people in the UK with undiagnosed HIV. "If people are concerned that they may have been exposed to HIV they should contact their GP or sexual health clinic for a test." Professor Pat Troop, chief executive of the HPA, said sexual health services were coming under increasing pressure to cope with the number of people diagnosed with HIV and other STIs. She said: "We carried out a survey looking at waiting times in GUM clinics which showed that fewer than a third of patients are seen at clinics within the first 48 hours of seeking an appointment. "If people are to receive early diagnosis and treatment, these waiting times need to be reduced." On Wednesday, the government announced a ?300m investment over the next three years in an attempt to deal with the UK's sexual health crisis. ? BBC MMIV http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4040457.stm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Thu Dec 2 18:53:27 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 18:53:27 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] sign this Message-ID: please help the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe protect the grave site of their families visit the petition website: http://www.petitiononline.com/village/petition.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Thu Dec 2 19:14:17 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 19:14:17 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: HOW TO CALL THE POLICE Message-ID: When all else fails... be creative! HOW TO CALL THE POLICE George Phillips of Meridian Mississippi was going up to bed when his wife told him that he'd left the light on in the garden shed, which she could see from the bedroom window. George opened the back door to go turn off the light but saw that there were people in the shed stealing things. He phoned the police, who asked "Is someone in your house?" and he said no. Then they said that all patrols were busy, and that he should simply lock his door and an officer would be along when available. George said, "Okay," hung up, counted to 30, and phoned the police again. "Hello I just called you a few seconds ago because there were people in my shed. Well, you don't have to worry about them now cause I've just shot them all". Then he hung up. Within five minutes three police cars, an Armed Response unit, and an ambulance showed up at the Phillips residence. Of course, the police caught the burglars red handed. One of the Policemen said to George: "I thought you said that you'd shot them!" George said, "I thought you said there was nobody available!" (True Story) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Thu Dec 2 19:16:24 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 19:16:24 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: China adds its might to ASEAN Message-ID: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/FL01Ad08.html China adds its might to ASEAN By Alan Boyd, Asia Times, 12/01/04 SYDNEY - In the 1960s it was "All the way with LBJ", as Australia put its US loyalties on the line and went hunting communists in Indochina. Thirty years later, Asia's booming Tigers were the flavor of the month; Canberra was sending corn instead of cannons and then-prime minister Paul Keating was talking of watering down the most enduring postwar Pacific security alliance. Now the conservative government of Prime Minister John Howard, which began dismantling Keating's new regionalism almost as soon as it won office in 1996, wants it both ways. Howard is lobbying for inclusion in an expanded East Asian free-trade zone, but only if it doesn't prejudice Australia's vital defense relationship with Washington. The crunch is that not all of Australia's prospective Asian partners are prepared to divorce the two issues of trade and diplomacy, especially as China's hulking presence is forcing just about everyone to reassess where their strategic interests lie. Welcome China On Monday the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) signed an accord with China that will create an open market of 2 billion people by 2010 to compete with Europe and the United States. The pact aims to drop most tariffs over the next five years in a move some analysts have said is a sign Beijing may be moving to undercut America's vast economic influence over the region. The pacts include an agreement to liberalize tariff and non-tariff barriers on traded goods and one to set up a mechanism to resolve trade disputes. The pact will form the first component of a comprehensive accord planned for completion by 2010 that will include the full liberalization of the services sector. If completed on time, the overall ASEAN-China deal will result in the creation of the world's biggest free-trade zone, covering nearly 2 billion people. And on Tuesday, leaders of the ASEAN group agreed with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to start trade talks in April, with the aim of wrapping them up in two years. The talks will center on how to cut tariffs between the world's second-largest economy and ASEAN nations. Also attending the 10th ASEAN summit in Laos are the leaders of China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand. It is the first time Australia and New Zealand have been invited to the event. India was due on Tuesday to sign "a landmark partnership document" with ASEAN. The agreement is significant not just because it allows India to forge strong economic relations with the group that could catalyze trade between the two sides from the current US$13 billion to $30 billion by 2007, but also because it brings India closer to the region's economic powers, such as Japan, China and South Korea, as the deal involves a new ASEAN grouping that includes these three countries. Australasia connection Australia and New Zealand, grouped together through their own Closer Economic Relations (CER) trade agreement, are the only non-Asian states being considered for a free-trade agreement (FTA) centered on ASEAN. China, India, South Korea and Japan are the other likely players in an ambitious push to establish the world's third major trading bloc, with the objective of matching the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) and the European Union by 2020. Preparatory discussions currently are under way at an ASEAN summit in the Laotian capital, Vientiane, that began on the weekend. For the first time the annual gathering includes the Australian and New Zealand prime ministers. But how far should integration go? ASEAN advocates at least a confluence of political views, and expects its friends to ratify the 1976 Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, a largely symbolic non-aggression pact that commits signatories to resolve security issues peacefully. China, India, Japan, Pakistan, South Korea, Russia and New Zealand all will have signed by the end of the summit, if only to remove an inconsequential obstacle to a more critical economic relationship. But Howard, worried about sending the wrong signal to the United States, has refused. Canberra and Washington have security commitments under the Australia-New Zealand-US (ANZUS) Treaty, reduced to only two parties since New Zealand in effect opted out a decade ago over its hardline stance on nuclear proliferation. But Japan and South Korea are also close allies of the US, while Singapore and Thailand have logistical and training arrangements. All six countries are full participants in the annual ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) security talks and cooperate at various levels in the anti-terrorism offensive. So why the reticence about ratifying a treaty that has never been activated and is couched in such generalized terms that it probably could never be enforced in the unlikely event that it were ever put to the test? A likely reason is that Canberra fears being backed into a corner over ASEAN's blinkered policy of refraining from making judgments on individual members, which has ensured that the bloc will struggle to evolve beyond a limited consultative role. Article 2 of the treaty guarantees "non-interference in the internal affairs of one another", and the right of every state to "lead its national existence free from external interference, subversion or coercion". Given that the Vientiane summit has broached such sensitive topics as continuing human-rights setbacks in Myanmar and the alleged suppression of Thailand's Muslim minority, the caution is probably justified. Canberra has not been as forthright as Washington on such issues as the nuclear standoff in North Korea and the ponderous pace of democracy in Myanmar. Australia is one of few Western countries that maintain complete consular links with both pariah states. But it has nonetheless been branded a US puppet because of an unguarded moment by Howard - later reinforced by comments from President George W Bush - that Washington saw Canberra as its "deputy sheriff" for security within the region. Although Howard insists that his comments were taken out of context, he did not help his cause by later announcing a preemptive-strike counter-terrorism policy, under which Canberra reserved the right to take military action in Asia against perceived security threats. Realistically, this is never likely to happen. Canberra lacks the offensive capability to mount anti-terrorist operations in Asia involving military units and is unlikely to risk a damaging loss of economic markets. Yet some ASEAN leaders, mostly notably Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, see the treaty as a test of Canberra's deeper commitment to Asia after decades of alternately riding the sheep's back to Europe and the resources trail to North America. The 10 ASEAN member countries account for a modest 13.7% of Australia's overall merchandise trade and 11.3% of its export earnings. Only 3.8% of the bloc's combined export transactions and 2.6% of its imports are with Australia. But the picture alters radically if data for other Asian states are included. Seven of Australia's top 10 export markets are in Asia, eight if New Zealand is included. The US is No 2 on the list, but is rapidly being overtaken by India and China. While Canberra makes much of its recently concluded FTA with the US, it has other such agreements with Singapore and Thailand. A feasibility study is under way for a similar agreement with China, and there is speculation of a future deal with Malaysia. A Closer Economic Partnership (CEP) signed by ASEAN with Australia and New Zealand in 2002 set a target of doubling both two-way merchandise trade and investment by 2010. So far the outlook has not been promising for Canberra: while Australia is progressively buying more goods, ASEAN imports have fallen steadily since 2001, contributing to a widening trade deficit in ASEAN's favor that could become a diplomatic irritant. For all of Canberra's economic commitment to the region, none of its four key trade-development policies in 2004 has focused directly on ASEAN. Rather, it is the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, dominated by the US, that takes center stage, though it must be noted that most ASEAN members are also APEC partners. In purely economic terms, Canberra doesn't have a lot to offer ASEAN. Australia accounted for a negligible 1% of global trade last year and its domestic market is only about the same size as Malaysia's. As an investor, it lags behind such "regional" heavyweights as Sweden, the Netherlands and Finland. All this has convinced many observers that ASEAN might want to get Australia on board precisely because of its close US ties, which might give Asia an ear in Washington as the three big blocs look for an edge in the next multilateral trade round. There has already been a convergence in the farm lobby, with the Australian-led Cairns group of agricultural exporters providing a buffer between the hostile US and Western European camps. Several ASEAN states are Cairns members. The proposed FTA with ASEAN will probably proceed whether or not Canberra accedes to the Treaty of Amity. But in failing to conform to Asian expectations, Australia will leave itself exposed to a far greater set of diplomatic pressures once the serious talk starts on a broader East Asian agreement. ASEAN leaders will find it difficult to justify Canberra's involvement in future diplomatic summits if it lacks a full commitment to the bloc's ideals - and its treaty symbols, how matter how vacuous they may be. Ominously for Australia, its most vocal Asian critics are Malaysia and Indonesia, arguably the most influential voices in ASEAN. As Indonesian spokesman Marty Natalegawa noted: "There can be no more efficient and effective way for Australia to dispel misperceptions some quarters may have of its intentions in Southeast Asia than to simply accede to the [treaty]." Alan Boyd, now based in Sydney, has reported from Asia for more than two decades. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "The practice of discernment is part of higher consciousness. Discernment is not just a step up from judgement. In life's curriculum, it is the opposite of judgement. Through judgement a man reveals what he needs to confront and learn. Through discernment, one reveals what he has mastered." Quote from: Love Without End, by Glenda Green ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: asean-map.gif Type: image/gif Size: 11764 bytes Desc: not available URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Thu Dec 2 19:16:54 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 19:16:54 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Serbian president survives assassination attempt Message-ID: http://www.canada.com/national/story.html?id=628d8f5b-86ee-4214-ab7c-eecb8d76b178 Serbian president survives assassination attempt Dusan Stojanovic, National Post-Canadian Press, 12/01/04 BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro -- Serbia's pro-western President Boris Tadic survived an apparent assassination attempt when a car repeatedly tried to crash into his motorcade, his press office said Wednesday. The incident occurred late Tuesday in downtown Belgrade when the driver of a black Audi made several attempts to crash his car into Tadic's but was cut off by a security vehicle, the press office said. Tadic was unhurt, and the Audi fled the scene in Belgrade's wealthy Dedinje district after the security car rammed it. The president's security had noticed that the car was following the motorcade for a while before the incident, officials said. Tadic's agenda for Wednesday was unaffected and he held a scheduled meeting with British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon. Afterward, he told reporters that "the situation requires a serious investigation." "This state has serious problems," he said. Tadic, who was elected Serbian president in June, also criticized the police for a slow start to the investigation, saying, "I still have not received a report" about the incident. "This is not about me, this is about whether our institutions are working or not," the president said. "All institutions must do their job and this applies to the government." The government is led by Tadic's political foe, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica. Another pro-western official, Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, was assassinated in March 2003 outside his downtown Belgrade office in a sniper attack. Just weeks before the fatal shooting, Djindjic survived another attempt on his life in which a truck tried to crash into his motorcade, also in Belgrade. After the killing, Tadic took over leadership of the pro-western Democratic Party. "History is being repeated in a most terrible way," said Bojan Pajtic, vice-president of the party, noting the similarity to events leading up to Djindjic's slaying. "Serbia must not allow that the March 2003 (assassination) happen again," he said. It would mean a loss of last hope that this country would ever join the European family of nations." The European Union foreign policy and security chief, Javier Solana, issued a statement expressing "sympathy and support" to Tadic after the attack, whose "perpetrators ... work against the interests of Serbia and of the Serbian people in Europe." Several paramilitary and gang figures associated with former president Slobodan Milosevic are standing trial in the Djindjic case, accused of killing the reformist prime minister in order to bring Milosevic's allies back to power in Serbia. Considered the most popular Serbian politician, Tadic is hated by nationalists who oppose his pro-western policies and calls for more than a dozen Serb war crimes suspects to be extradited to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands. Tadic's Democratic Party led the rebellion that toppled Milosevic, the former president of Yugoslavia, Serbia-Montenegro's predecessor, in October 2000, and extradited him for trial to The Hague a year later. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "The practice of discernment is part of higher consciousness. Discernment is not just a step up from judgement. In life's curriculum, it is the opposite of judgement. Through judgement a man reveals what he needs to confront and learn. Through discernment, one reveals what he has mastered." Quote from: Love Without End, by Glenda Green ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Thu Dec 2 19:49:59 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 19:49:59 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Get the UN Out of the US." Message-ID: LET'S PASS THIS ON TO EVERYONE WE KNOW ! ! ! Just think what this could do to the Endangered Species fiasco. Maybe we could get back to the REAL business of taking care of our environment and all human and animal living things, and have the finances and economy to accomplish it with wisdom and common sense. Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2004 8:16 AM Subject: UN Faces International Scrutiny From: "Melanie Morgan - Move America Forward" > More big news in the effort to "Get the UN Out of the US." Tomorrow, Move America Forward's Howard Kaloogian will be on the Fox News Channel at 9:30 AM Pacific (12:30 PM Eastern) to discuss our effort. Please be sure to watch and get your family members, friends and co-workers to tune in as well! = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = TV Ad Campaign Picking Up Steam = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = You'll soon be seeing our television ads exposing the troubling developments surrounding the United Nations on national television. We're trying to raise upwards of $1 million to make a strong impact on the airwaves. To achieve this we simply need 10,000 supporters to contribute $100. See the "Get the UN Out of the US" TV Ad Here: http://www.MoveAmericaForward.com/?Page=AdCampaign And then be sure to make a contribution to help us get the ad on the airwaves. http://www.MoveAmericaForward.org/Contribution = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = UN Under Fire All Around the World = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Thanks to your incredible support (hundreds of thousands of people have already visited our "Get the UN Out of the US" petition page), the effort we have launched is attracting international attention. This press coverage is crucial if the policy makers in our government are to truly take us seriously. Here is just a sampling of the news stories from AROUND THE WORLD. I urge you to click each link and realize that your voice is being heard by millions around the globe: ASIA: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/118608/1/.html FRANCE: http://permanent.nouvelobs.com/etranger/20041123.OBS2168.html FRANCE: http://clesnes.blog.lemonde.fr/etatsunis/2004/11/recall_the_un.html GERMANY: http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,329192,00.html GERMANY: http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/18/18876/1.html ISRAEL: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=72573 SOUTH AFRICA: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=qw1101160980401U25 6 SPAIN: http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2004/11/22/comunicacion/1101163621.html TURKEY: http://www.turkishpress.com/int/news.asp?id=041123071212.o4o5m0jr.xml UNITED KINGDOM: http://www.islamonline.org/English/News/2004-11/23/article03.shtml P.S. Please keep encouraging people you know to sign the petition at http://www.MoveAmericaForward.org There are several Members of Congress who have already introduced - or will introduce - legislation cutting U.S. payments to the U.N. or seeking the ouster of the UN from American soil. These individuals will benefit from a groundswell of public support for our effort to "Get the UN Out of the U.S." If you have an email list, Blog or website please help us publicize the link to the petition page via these outlets as well: http://www.MoveAmericaForward.com/?Page=Petition Thanks so much for your continuing support! -- Melanie Morgan Move America Forward http://www.MoveAmericaForward.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Fri Dec 3 14:48:11 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 14:48:11 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Mark Morford: Very, Very Dirty Pictures Message-ID: <20041203224811.98635.qmail@web13604.mail.yahoo.com> ===== Mark Morford's Notes & Errata ===== SFGate.com - December 3, 2004 --------------------------------- Very, Very Dirty Pictures You want explicit? You want raw and uncensored and free of media bias? Here you go By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist This is what you won't see in the paper. This is what you won't see on CNN or on MSNBC or CBS News or on any major media Web site anywhere and especially no goddamn way ever in hell will you see it within a thousand miles of Fox News. You aren't supposed to see. You aren't supposed to know. You are to remain ignorant and shielded, and, if you're like most Americans, you have been very carefully conditioned to think Bush's nasty Iraq war is merely this ugly little firecracker-like thing happening way, way over there, carefully orchestrated and somewhat messy and maybe a little bloody but mostly still patriotic and good and necessary and sponsored by none other than God his own angry Republican self. And hence you and I both have no real idea what the hell goes on in Iraq, no real images to gnaw on and be deeply horrified and saddened by, except for maybe a tiny handful of carefully sanitized snapshots of bombed-out Iraqi cities and maybe some grainy video of U.S. soldiers enjoying a dusty game of pickup football and a turkey dinner at the posh military digs way, way outside of Baghdad. Or maybe you think war is manly and heroic and cool, as exemplified by that now-famous shot of that macho "Dogface" Marlboro-smokin' Marine whose dirt-encrusted mug was eagerly picked up by newspapers and media Web sites across the nation (including this one), and he became an instant icon for the war and the military was positively giddy about using him an ideal recruitment tool, a model of how to make soldiers look all studly and rugged and badass as opposed to the often poorly educated, disposable hunks of politically abused postpubescent meat BushCo considers them to be. .... (click here to read the rest) (Full URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2004/12/03/notes120304.DTL&nl=fix ) --------------------------------- All contents (tm) (c) 2004 SF Gate Have a lovely day ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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! ? What will yours do? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Thu Dec 2 19:11:12 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 19:11:12 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Follow up on killinigs in Wisconsin Message-ID: Chai Vang, 36, of St. Paul - A Cold Blooded Immigrant Killer -- Americans Pay The Price of Uncontrolled Immigration! "Killed were Robert Crotteau, 42; his son Joey Crotteau, 20; Al Laski, 43; Mark Roidt, 28; Terry Willers' daughter Jessica Willers 27; and Dennis Drew, 55, all from the Rice Lake area." "The Crotteaus, Laski and Jessica Willers were all shot in the back - the younger Crotteau, four times, the complaint said." Vietnam Veteran Dennis Drew, 55, who served in the Army, was a father of three. He had been raised on a dairy farm. He was one of those killed by IMMIGRANT Chai Vang. Source: The Janesville Gazette | Janesville, Wisconsin, USA http://www.gazettextra.com/ Man charged in Wisconsin hunter slayings makes court appearance http://www.gazettextra.com/huntersshot113004.asp (Published Tuesday, November 30, 2004) By Robert Imrie/Associated Press HAYWARD, Wis. - A Minnesota man accused of fatally shooting six deer hunters in the woods of northern Wisconsin appeared in a makeshift courtroom Tuesday a day after charges were filed against him. During a brief five-minute hearing held in a basement classroom at the Sawyer County Sheriff's Department, Chai Vang, 36, of St. Paul, waived his right to a preliminary hearing within 10 days and one was set instead for Dec. 29. The criminal complaint filed Monday said the hunters managed to shoot back once - maybe twice - after a confrontation about trespassing. Two survivors told investigators no one in their group pointed a gun at the Hmong immigrant before he opened fire in an assault that had four of the victims shot in the back, according to the complaint. He was charged in Sawyer County Circuit Court with six counts of first-degree intentional homicide, each carrying a life prison term, and two counts of attempted murder. Defense attorney Steven Kohn said Vang was mentally competent to understand the charges against him and participate in proceedings in the case. The hearing was held in a basement classroom because the sheriff could not make the courthouse secure without massive efforts, Judge Norman Yackel said. The judge read the charges and asked Vang if he understood them. "Yes," replied the handcuffed defendant, who was wearing an orange jail jump suit and shackles on his legs. Vang told the judge he was not under the influence of drugs. Yackel also asked Vang about his education, and he said he gone to a two-year college. Bond remained at $2.5 million, but Kohn said he reserved the right to address that issue later. The defense attorney declined after the hearing to discuss the case or describe Vang's emotional state. The criminal complaint said Vang, a deer hunter since 1992, told investigators the other hunters used racial slurs and profanity as they told him to leave, and they fired the first shot at him - suggesting he acted in self-defense. The killings occurred in southern Sawyer County Nov. 21 - the second day of the state's nine-day gun deer season. The criminal complaint said Vang told investigators he fired 10 to 13 shots from his semiautomatic rifle, and the victims fired at him twice - including the first shot when he was walking away after being told he was trespassing on private land. But two survivors, Terry Willers and Lauren Hesebeck, indicated only one shot was fired at Vang - by Hesebeck, who was already wounded, the complaint said. Hesebeck said he fired only after he was shot in the shoulder trying to dodge bullets fired by Vang. By then, he said, some of his friends lay mortally wounded on the ground. Vang said at one point he saw one of the hunters still standing, yelled "You're not dead yet?", shot one more time and ran away down an ATV trail, the complaint said. The criminal complaint indicates investigators found only one rifle at the scene of the killings. Vang still had his empty rifle when he was arrested several hours after the shooting as another hunter helped him find his way out of the woods. Killed were Robert Crotteau, 42; his son Joey Crotteau, 20; Al Laski, 43; Mark Roidt, 28; Terry Willers' daughter Jessica Willers 27; and Dennis Drew, 55, all from the Rice Lake area. Terry Willers, 47, who worked with Crotteau in Crotteau's construction business, and Hesebeck, 48, who worked with Drew at a car business, were released from the hospital last week. The Crotteaus, Laski and Jessica Willers were all shot in the back - the younger Crotteau, four times, the complaint said. The final two funerals for the victims were held Monday, with family and friends paying tribute to Jessica Willers and Drew in separate services. A week's passage did little to heal the community's wounds from the shootings, the Rev. Jim Powers said in his homily at Willers' service. "Most of us are just as confused and lost and stunned as we were when we first heard about it," Powers told several hundred mourners. "We need to work through this and we need to help others work through it." At a different church later Monday, mourners spilled out onto the steps outside to pay respects to Drew, a father of three who was raised on a dairy farm, served in the Army in Vietnam and returned to the area to raise his family. Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager, whose office is prosecuting the case, refused Monday to address specific questions about it. She also declined to say whether the state was looking into a possible connection between Vang and the unsolved killing of another hunter three years ago. In that case, a 37-year-old Medford man was shot in the back twice as he hunted alone on family land about 80 miles from last week's shootings. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Fri Dec 3 14:59:54 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 14:59:54 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fwd: *Unembedded, Independent* journalist tells what is really going on in Iraq Message-ID: <20041203225955.80516.qmail@web13607.mail.yahoo.com> Dear Media, And we are all to hold such high esteem for Bush right? This sickens me as it should you. The only feelings that I have for Bush are total abhorrence, total hate and total condemnation of a cowardice nation not to take him out of office. What he is doing over in Iraq is nothing more than cold blooded murder. I have more respect for the citizens of the Ukraine for taking their democracy seriously since we failed at taking ours seriously. I pray daily to God for him to show us a way of taking these neocons out of office for good and restoring our once great country. Please start doing your jobs and telling the American people what is being done in their name and by the murderer who resides in our White House. Just how many more innocent lives will satiate Bush's lustful appetite for greed and power? God Save America and the world from Charles Manson Bush. Mary MacElveen Sound Beach, NY Some truth out of Iraq -- from an UNembedded reporter. <> << ...it reminded me of everything I've read about what happened to the psyche of US soldiers in Vietnam.>> <> <> << And at the end of the day, those of us who have been reporting that this occupation FAILED months ago, and the VAST, VAST MAJORITY of Iraqis OPPOSE the occupation and SUPPORT the resistance, will end up again being proven right. But I'm afraid with the media blackout in the mainstream of the US, in general, being as stunningly effective as it has been, I think this is going to be a long time before this comes to light. But it will.> --------------------------------- *Unembedded, Independent* An exclusive, in-depth interview with journalist Dahr Jamail on what is really going on in Iraq by Charles Shaw Alternative Press Review Dec 1, 2004 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - << How long have you been reporting on Iraq, and what brought you there? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I have spent 6 of the last 12 months in Iraq. As I mentioned, what brought me here was the nearly total failure of the US ?mainstream? media to show the truth of this illegal invasion and occupation. How it affected the Iraqis, as well as US soldiers. Overall, they just weren't doing their job, and this has grown even worse. I had done all the usual actions of attempting to speak up and effect change at home-calling and writing Senators/Congresspeople, attending teach-ins, spreading information. After watching the worldwide demonstrations on February 15, 2003 be brushed aside as a ?focus group,? I knew then that the minds of the American public had been misled by the corporate media who mindlessly supported the objectives of the Bush regime, and reporting the true effects of the invasion/occupation on the Iraqi people and US soldiers was what I needed to do. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - What is it like being one of the only "unembedded" journalists operating in the country? Do you fear for your safety, and what have you done to ensure your safety? Whom do you fear more, random kidnappers or the American Military? How do you manage to move through Iraqi society now when it appears that, in the wake of Margaret Hassan's murder, all Westerners are viable targets? And on that same note, what do the Iraqis think of the kidnappings, murders, and beheadings? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - It's tough. Working in this environment of media repression and danger is always an uphill battle. Blinking electricity, car bombs, kidnappings are the playing field. I constantly monitor my safety factor and those who work with me. I grew a beard, dress like locals, and only travel around covertly with one interpreter in a beat up car. I minimize my time on the street, while at the same time spending enough there to get the Iraqis reactions to what unfolds here each day. My greatest concern is the reaction of my own government. I'm reporting information that the Bush regime wants kept under wraps. I fear reprisal from both the government and military far, far more than being kidnapped or blown up by a car bomb. Iraqis are of course shocked and outraged by the beheadings and kidnappings of people like Margaret Hassan. So many also believe it was a CIA/Mossad plot to keep aid organizations and journalists out of Iraq in order to give the military and corporations here a free hand to continue to dis-assemble and sell of the country. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - On Nov 18 in one of your dispatches you wrote, "Journalists are increasingly being detained and threatened by the U.S.-installed interim government in Iraq. Media have been stopped particularly from covering recent horrific events in Fallujah." What are the predominant differences between your reporting and that of the corporate media and embedded reporters, or that of Iraqi and Muslim journalists? In other words, what does each group do with the same pieces of information? Do you feel you have a freer hand by being "unembedded"? Have you or anyone you know been intimidated or harassed in any way? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Myself and most Arab and western independent journalists here show the costs of war. Report the massacres, the slaughter, the dead and wounded kids, disaster that this occupation truly is for the Iraqi people. Report on the low morale of most soldiers here, report on how doctors now state openly that due to lack of funds and help from the US-backed Ministry of Health, they feel it is worse now than during the sanctions. I do feel I have more freedom because I am ?unembedded.? I'm flying under the mainstream radar of censorship. I have been attacked from some mainstream sources and pundits. Fox propaganda channel invited me on after I accurately reported the sniping of ambulances, medical workers and civilians in Fallujah last April?I declined the set up because I didn't have a desire to have my character assassinated. My website has taken some attacks by hackers?but so far we've managed the onslaught. I receive some hate mail via my site, and have received one death threat?so far. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The US Corporate media consistently characterizes the Iraqi resistance as "foreign terrorists and former Ba?athist insurgents". In your experience, is this an accurate portrayal? If not, why? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - This is propaganda of the worst kind. Most Iraqis refer to the Iraqi Resistance as ?patriots.? Which of course most of them are-they are, especially in Fallujah, primarily composed of people who simply are resisting the occupation of their country by a foreign power. They are people who have had family members killed, detained, tortured and humiliated by the illegal occupiers of their shattered country. Calling them ?foreign terrorists? and ?Ba?athist insurgents? is simply a lie. While there are small elements of these, they are distinctly different from the Iraqi Resistance, who are now supported by, very conservatively at least 80% of the population here. There are terrorist elements here, but that is because the borders of Iraq have been left wide open since the invasion. These did not exist in Iraq before. The Bush regime like to refer to anyone who does not support their ideology and plans for global domination as a ?terrorist.? Here, these fighters in the Iraqi Resistance are referred to as freedom fighters, holy warriors and patriots. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - We rarely see any substantial imagery coming out of Iraq in the US corporate media. What does Iraq look like now? What aren't the people in the United States seeing, and what do you feel they should be seeing? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The devastation. The massive suffering and devastation of the people and their country. Baghdad remains in shambles 19 months into this illegal occupation. Bombed buildings sit as insulting reminders of unbroken promises of reconstruction. Bullet ridden mosques with blood stained carpets inside where worshippers, unarmed, have been slaughtered by soldiers. Entire families living on the street. 70% unemployment with no hope of this changing. Chaotic, clogged streets of Baghdad and 5 mile long petrol lines in this oil rich country. Engineers and doctors, unemployed, driving their cars as a taxi to try to feed their families. The seething anger in the eyes of people on the streets as US patrols rumble past. Iraqis now cheering when another US patrol or base is attacked. Dancing on the burning US military hardware. Dead and maimed US soldiers. The wounded screaming and writhing in agony. Their shattered families. The mass graves of innocent Fallujans after the utter destruction of their city. Children deformed by Depleted Uranium exposure lying in shattered hospitals, suffering from lack of treatment, or even pain medications. Dead, rotting bodies in the streets of Fallujah of women and children being eaten by dogs and cats because the military did not allow relief teams into the city for nearly two weeks. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - What are the sentiments of the Iraqis you have spoken with towards the Americans? Is there any good will left? Was there any to begin with? What do they think of Alawi, the pending "elections", the continued occupation, the American-trained Iraqi security forces? Do they have any hope or belief that the Americans will leave, or are they thinking this will be a generation-long occupation? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - There was support by most Iraqis for the removal of Saddam Hussein. But that started to ebb quickly on in the occupation as people watched family members killed, detained, tortured and humiliated by the occupation forces. Then there was Abu Ghraib. I cannot stress enough how devastating this was to US credibility in Iraq, and the entire Middle East. Throw on top of that the April siege of Fallujah, nearly complete lack of reconstruction, importation of foreign workers to do jobs Iraqis are far more qualified for, the installation of an illegal interim government, and you have a complete PR disaster for the US here. Any credibility for the occupiers, and I doubt there was much to speak of, after the destruction of Fallujah has been lost. Iraqis I speak with are infuriated at the US government. While they are well aware that what is most likely the majority of people in the US being in opposition to the Bush regime, they believe the US government and those who support it are guilty of war crimes of the worst kind. I see rage, grief, and the desire for revenge on a daily basis here. They hate Allawi. They have no respect for him or any other of the puppets in the US-installed interim government, because they don't see how any self-respecting person would allow themselves to be a puppet of the US in this illegal, brutal endeavor. They are well aware that he is an exile who has been linked with the CIA and British intel for a long, long time. He and the rest of the interim government are viewed as thieves, rapists and US pawns. They are utterly loathed, as everyone here knows these people do not have the interests of the Iraqi people in mind. The elections are viewed as a joke. Most here now believe there is no way they can be held in an honest, transparent and truly democratic way. Most are also too afraid to vote. I've heard people say things like, ?The Americans won't even allow a legitimate election in their own country, so why would they want to have one here!? The Iraqi ?security? forces, being the police and national guard, are viewed by most as surrogates of the US military. They are viewed as collaborators and traitors by most. While people understand many of these forces join out of desperation because there are no jobs, they remain loathed, along with the foreign occupation forces. It doesn't help when many of the police are actively involved in organized crime. Lastly, the occupation is viewed as endless. Iraqis know there are already 4 permanent military bases here, and more soldiers coming. There is little hope amongst those I talk with about this topic that the occupation will end. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - We've read substantive reports recently that over 100,000 innocent Iraqi civilians have been killed since the war began. What is your take on this report, and what have you seen that either supports or contradicts it? Is the US military indiscriminately targeting civilians, or are they just hopelessly inept, or is it something in-between? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I think this report has understated the death toll. From what I've seen during my six months here, it is increasingly difficult to find a family here who has not had at least one member killed by either the military or criminal activity. Entire neighborhoods in Fallujah have been bombed into rubble. Houses with entire families have been incinerated and blown to pieces. The random gunfire of soldiers nearly every time a patrol or convoy is attacked almost always results in civilian deaths. Keep in mind there are now over 100 attacks per day on US forces in occupied Iraq. Then we have the infrastructure-people dying from lack of food, water borne diseases, inadequate health care?the list is longer than any of us know. I think the military is killing so many civilians for several reasons. Primarily, because they have been put in an untenable situation by their Commander in Chief-that is, a no-win guerilla war against an enemy who now has the massive support of the populace. Thus, anyone, anytime could be an attacker. So they are shooting first and asking questions later because they are scared to death. They are using a conventional military to fight a guerilla war-and just as in Vietnam, it is a disaster and utter failure. Then there are the soldiers who have completely dehumanized Iraqis, and I've spoken with some who seem to actually enjoy killing them. Of course it doesn't help that this is sanctioned and encouraged by the US government, and that blinding religious ideology appears to have filtered down into many of the soldiers here. ?You are either with us, or you are against us.? Iraq is now full of fields of death. There is carnage in the streets everyday in Baghdad, as well as other cities throughout much of the country. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - There has been a lot of speculation about the role of oil in the occupation. Americans were told that Iraqi oil revenues would pay for the war and reconstruction, but there is no oil coming out of Iraq after more than 18 months. Certain journalists and activists ranging from Jim Marrs to Mike Ruppert to Peter Camejo have all stated, in some form or other, that this was NEVER the intention, that the idea was to first remove Iraqi oil from the world market, thereby driving up oil prices (the profits mainly landing in the pockets of the Saudis), and eventually to co-opt the oil supply to sell to China and India as their energy demands skyrocket. What have you seen in regards to oil activity? Also, Iraq Coalition Casualty was the only outlet to report on a series of coordinated attacks on the Iraqi oil infrastructure all this week. This has gone completely unreported in the US corporate media. Do you believe this lack of reporting is intentional and who do you think is sabotaging the infrastructure? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Iraq is still importing all of its gasoline. And from what I know, they are exporting all of the oil from here, as well as that which is refined in Iraq, which isn't much at all, if any. I think the lack of reporting on the sabotaging is akin to the lack of reporting that there are nearly 100 attacks per day on US soldiers, or lack of reporting of lack of infrastructure, etc. I think it all falls under the umbrella of the mainstream media's successful efforts to whitewash the Iraq catastrophe for the Bush administration. It looks as though it is the resistance who are doing the sabotaging. An open question though, regarding what you asked, is why is there not better protection of the oil infrastructure? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - We have conflicting reports in the US about the Shia and Sunni putting aside their historical differences to team up against the Americans. Do you see this happening, and what do you believe the eventual outcome will be. US policy makers claim that an American withdrawal would only result in a widescale civil war between these two factions and the Kurds in the north. Do you believe this will be the case? Are the Iraqis in a situation now where they are dammed any way they turn? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I do see this happening. During the siege of Najaf, collections for aid at Sunni mosques were organized, as well as resistance fighters from Fallujah who provided guns and supplies to the Mehdi Army there. During the siege of Fallujah last April, Shia weighed heavily in donating aid, and participated in a non-violent action that pushed supplies into Fallujah through a US military cordon. The Shia/Sunni rift is largely a CIA generated myth. There are countless tribes and marriages alike that are both Shia/Sunni. There are mosques here where they pray together. There is the possibility of war if the Kurds go independent, but the more likely possibility of that war would be Turkey invading Kurdistan before any Shia/Sunni action would occur regarding this. Remember the Arab proverb; ?Me against my brother. Me and my brother against my cousin. Me, my brother and cousin against the stranger.? The Iraqis are in a situation where they are damned as long as the US continues to occupy and subvert their country, as they have been doing. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - It is critically important that Americans begin to understand the psyche of the Iraqi resistance. What is really going on in Fallujah, Ramadi, Mosul, and Baghdad? Is this a legitimate, coordinated uprising against the occupation, or is it a defensive response to the US escalation of the war? Or both? Considering that the US claims they have opened a front to "take the battle to Al Qaeda", do you see any evidence of an Al Qaeda presence, or the presence of "foreign fighters streaming in from the Syrian border" as is also reported here? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The resistance is complex because it has so many facets. Parts of it are simply Iraqis who don't want their country to be occupied. Iraqis who have had family members killed, tortured or humiliated by the military?so they are exacting revenge. Other parts are more organized, where individual cells are operating in coordinated attacks with other cells, but they remain largely decentralized. This is why the conventional US army will never defeat it. Because the resistance has no face, no leader, no fixed organization. It is really both a defensive reaction to the occupiers, but also is going more on the offensive as the occupation continues. As one Iraqi man old me once, ?The invasion was America's war on Iraq. Now we are seeing the Iraqi's war against the Americans.? I have yet to see any evidence or meet any Iraqi who has seen evidence of Al-Qaeda here. There are certainly other fighters entering Iraq from different countries, but they are a relatively small number. When we say ?foreign fighters? here, we must recall that every Iraqi I've spoken with views the occupiers as the foreign fighters, and not any other Arab who is coming here to fight in the resistance. Most Iraqis I speak with view these Arab fighters as brothers, and the occupiers as the ?foreign fighters.? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tell us about the raid on the Abu Hanifa mosque, and what it means in the larger scope of the war? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - At 12:30pm on Friday, November 19th, US troops and Iraqi National Guard sealed the Abu Hanifa mosque in the al-Adhamiya district of Baghdad. The Imam, a longtime outspoken critic of the occupation, was detained. The raid occurred during Friday prayers, and people began praying loudly because they were very afraid due to the fact that over 100 armed soldiers were pointing guns at them. They were instructed to be quiet, but the worshippers continued to pray, and were fired upon. Four people were killed and at least 9 wounded, along with 30 people detained. This mosque had been raided at least 5 times previously, with no weapons ever having had been found. Abu Hanifa is the largest and most prominent Sunni mosque in Iraq, as well as one of the most important in the entire Muslim world. This blatant act of provocation (the Imam could have just as easily been detained on any given day in his office or home) has resulted in heavy fighting throughout Baghdad and a new curfew in al-Adhamiya, along with home raids and more detentions. This action will draw in even more fighters to the resistance. This is obviously just one step in the attempt to crush a largely Sunni resistance. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Have you had much contact with American troops, and if so, what are they saying, and what is your impression of them? Do you support NBC reporter Kevin Sites' decision to film and report on the murder of an unarmed and wounded Iraqi prisoner this week? Do you believe this was a relatively "isolated" incident, or did these guys just get caught? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I've had a fair amount, but not so much this trip. I make it a point to avoid them now since they are such constant targets. They are being attacked at least 100 times a day as of late. But when I interacted with them my last two trips I found most of them to be quite scared, and morale depended on how long they'd been here. The newer folks were keeping a stiff upper lip and staying on message. The folks who'd been here 6, 9 or 12 months were angry, aiming their guns at everyone, and sometimes high on drugs. Not to generalize ? not all were like this. But I saw many who were, and it reminded me of everything I've read about what happened to the psyche of US soldiers in Vietnam. I do support Kevin Sites? decision to film what he did of the execution of the old, unarmed Iraqi man in the mosque. 100% I support this. People need to see that this is what is occurring here ? and this is NOT an isolated incident. Nearly every refugee from Fallujah I've interviewed has spoken of mass executions, tanks rolling over the wounded in the streets, bodies being thrown in the Euphrates by the military, and other atrocities. The footage of the execution in the mosque is akin to the photos that came out of Abu Ghraib. They are only the tip of the iceberg of atrocities that have been occurring here from the beginning. Atrocities that are occurring right now. Indeed, those soldiers just got caught. This is not news, however ? because we've even had military commanders come out in the media and admit that they gave orders to soldiers to shoot anything that moved in Fallujah. What we will see in Fallujah is that it has been a genocide. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Lastly, what do you see happening in both the immediate and distant future in Iraq? How long do you plan to stay? Do you believe you will sill safely be able to report the truth to us when so much of your reporting flies in the face of the so-called "official" reports and media blackout? Do you envision an even greater information clamp-down, or do you think Independent reporting is going to become a stronger force as the US digs itself into a deeper and deeper hole? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I see more bloodshed and chaos. Sending more troops will only speed up the spiral here; increase the fighting. I see a continuing degradation of the infrastructure and failing of the occupation. It has already failed. It had failed even before the April siege of Fallujah and the Abu Ghraib scandal (which is ongoing). The real question is, how many more Iraqis and soldiers die before the US admits to its colossal failure, makes reparations for the countless war crimes that have been committed and pulls out. The long term ? that depends on how long the US stays here. It is rare when I speak with an Iraqi who wants the US to stay-they say, ?Civil war? It can't possibly be worse than this ? so the US should leave. Then we'd at least have the chance to run our own country.? Another man pointed out that if there were a civil war, no Shia or Kurdish attack on Fallujah could ever possibly compare to the devastation the US military has caused there. I think he makes a good point. I am concerned about my safety, of course. This is the most dangerous place in the world for a journalist to be, especially those of us who are reporting the reality of what is occurring here. I have concerns of reprisal from the military and my government ? because they don't like to have the facts get out. I've consistently been a minority voice with my reporting in Iraq-which has led many to discount my reports and call me biased. Yet I have consistently been shown to be accurate, as have the other independents here. An example would be that several of us were reporting on Abu Ghraib months before the mainstream decided to do their job and run the story. And at the end of the day, those of us who have been reporting that this occupation failed months ago, and the vast, vast majority of Iraqis oppose the occupation and support the resistance, will end up again being proven right. But I'm afraid with the media blackout in the mainstream of the US, in general, being as stunningly effective as it has been, I think this is going to be a long time before this comes to light. But it will. I do envision a deepening of the clampdown we are now experiencing. We're watching this in the US media now, with NPR having even jumped on the propaganda bandwagon. However, as with repression of any kind, the more the ?powers that be? attempt to muzzle independent media and the truth, the more they create a growing, powerful, diverse entity that finds new and creative ways to work here. For example, the closing of the Al-Jazeera office here has simply caused their journalists to go underground and decentralize, making it impossible for the government to control them. In this way, the repression naturally creates a smarter, more diverse and creative resistance in the form of increased independent reportage. In the end, people know the truth when they see it. I taste this by mail I get from my readers ? those who read many sources and thank me for reporting the truth, as well as those who support the occupation who send hate mail and try to tell me I'm reporting from Idaho and making everything up. Their ugly reactions indicate that they prefer not to know the truth ? that their government has deceived a large percentage of the American people into supporting an illegal invasion that has cost at least 100,000 Iraqi lives, as well as those of over 1,200 US soldiers. Many people would rather lash out to protect their denial rather than accepting responsibility for supporting such atrocities. In the end, the truth will come out, no matter how intense the repression becomes. And in the end, those in America who support this occupation will eventually see that virtually the majority of people in every other country on the planet oppose the American agenda in Iraq. It is only a matter of time. >> Read this at: http://www.altpr.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=386&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0 Make sure to read Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches at: http://dahrjamailiraq.com/ Charles Shaw is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Newtopia. --------------------------------- ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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!? Yahoo! Mail - Find what you need with new enhanced search. Learn more. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Fri Dec 3 16:09:09 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 16:09:09 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Palestinians Called 'Stinking Animals' on MSNBC Message-ID: <20041204000909.38712.qmail@web13622.mail.yahoo.com> http://www.cair-net.org/asp/article.asp?id=1331&page=NR News Releases Thursday, November 18, 2004 Palestinians Called 'Stinking Animals' on MSNBC's 'Imus' CAIR calls for apology, says unchallenged remarks promote hate (WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/18/04) ? A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today called for an apology from the MSNBC cable television network over comments on its "Imus in the Morning" program that referred to Palestinians as "stinking animals" and suggested that they all be killed. The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) also urged that the program's host, Don Imus, be reprimanded for failing to challenge his colleagues? inflammatory remarks. CAIR, which says it received numerous complaints about the comments, quoted a transcript of Imus? November 12th program in which he and his on-air colleagues engaged in the following discussion about live coverage of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's funeral: DON IMUS: They're (the Palestinians) eating dirt and that fat pig wife of his is living in Paris. COLLEAGUE: They?re all brainwashed, though. That?s what it is. And they're stupid, to begin with, but they?re brainwashed now. Stinking animals. They ought to drop the bomb right there, kill ?em all right now? IMUS: Well, the problem is we have (reporter) Andrea (Mitchell) there; we don't want anything to happen to her. COLLEAGUE: Oh, she's got to get out. Andrea, get out and then drop the bomb and kill everybody? COLLEAGUE: Look at this. Animals. Animals! In a letter to MSNBC President Neal Shapiro, CAIR stated: "We are firm defenders of the First Amendment, but these hate-filled and racist remarks can only serve to legitimize anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bigotry in our society and could lead to further discrimination against members of the Islamic and Arab-American communities." (CAIR also filed a complaint with the FCC because "Imus in the Morning" is a nationally-syndicated radio program.) This is not the first time Imus has been involved in a controversy over anti-Arab and Islamophobic remarks. As early as 1985, he was forced to apologize for referring to Arabs as "goat-humping weasels." (Sunday Mail, 4/21/85) He has also been criticized for using the derogatory term "raghead." (Accuracy in Media) In a reference to the crash of an Iranian airliner earlier this year that killed 43 passengers, Imus said, "When I hear stories like that, I think who cares.? He then stated: "Too bad it wasn't full of Saudi Arabians." (National Iranian American Council) Earlier this year, CAIR announced a campaign designed to counter hate speech on talk radio. The campaign, called "Hate Hurts America," is based on the premise that the increasing attacks on Islam by talk show hosts harm the United States by creating a downward spiral of interfaith mistrust and hostility. As part of that campaign, Muslims were given step-by-step instructions on how to monitor local and syndicated radio programs, report anti-Muslim hate, file FCC complaints, and contact advertisers to register their concerns. SEE: http://www.cair-net.org/hatehurtsamerica/ Reports of anti-Muslim hate may be filed at: http://www.cair-net.org/hatehurtsamerica/hatewatch.asp To learn "How to Challenge Anti-Muslim Hate on the Radio," go to: http://www.cair-net.org/hatehurtsamerica/hatehurtsamerica.asp?page=challengeradio CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and has 29 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding. - END - CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper at cair-net.org ; Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441, E-Mail: rahmed at cair-net.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!? The all-new My Yahoo! ? Get yours free! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Fri Dec 3 16:21:13 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 16:21:13 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] WMD Hits Theaters Friday Message-ID: <20041204002113.39152.qmail@web13621.mail.yahoo.com> WMD subscribers, We are happy to announce that WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception will be opening in selected theaters starting this Friday, Dec. 3rd and will soon be "rolling out" nationwide. Please tell your friends and colleagues to come out and support these showings. We have postcards available at the theaters if you would like to come down and pick some up. We also have a flier, poster, and press release available for download below. WMD director Danny Schechter, "The News Dissector," will be at the Boston, San Francisco, and Berkley premieres: Theater Locations & Times DECEMBER 3: BOSTON, MA: Landmark Kendall Square 1 Kendall Square, Bldg 1900 Cambridge, MA 02139 Show Times: 2:05 4:35, 7:10 9:50 (Please call theater to confirm times) (617) 621-1202 Danny Schechter does Q&A after 7:10 pm show Friday (premiere) and Saturday Common Cause & John Bonifaze from the National Voting Rights Institute will be in attendance AUSTIN, TX: Landmark Dobie Theatre 2025 Guadalupe St #268 Austin, TX 78705 Show Times: Fri-Sun: 1:30, 4:30, 7:20 and 9:30 Mon-Thurs: 7:20 and 9:30 (Please call theater to confirm times) (512) 472-3240 Common Cause will be in attendance DENVER, CO: Starz FilmCenter 900 Auraria Parkway Denver, CO 80204 Show Times: Friday: 5:20, 7:35, 9:35 Saturday: 1:00, 3:15, 5:20, 7:35, 9:35 Sunday: 1:00, 3:15, 5:20, 7:35 Mon-Wed: 5:20 and 7:35 Thurs: 5:20, 7:35, 9:35 (Please call theater to confirm times) (303) 820-3456 Common Cause & Colorado Media Reform will be in attendance DECEMBER 10: SAN FRANCISCO: Landmark Embarcadero Center Cinema #1 Embarcadero Ctr, Prom. Level San Francisco, CA 94111 (Please call theater to check for times) (415) 352-0810 Danny Schechter does Q&A after (7:00ish?) show Friday (premiere) and Saturday Media Alliance will be hosting Friday nights premiere Bay Area United Against the War will be hosting Saturday nights showing Global Exchange's Medea Benjamin will be in attendance on Sunday night Common Cause will be in attendance BERKELEY The Oaks Theater 1875 Solano Ave. Berkeley, CA 94707 (Please call theater to check for times) (510) 526.1836 Danny Schechter & CorpWatch will host Saturday afternoon premiere Common Cause will be in attendance WASHINGTON, D.C.: Landmark E Street Cinema 555 11th Street NW Washington, DC 20004 (Please call theater to check for times) (202) 452-7672 NPR host David Rabin & Jeff Chester from the Center for Digital Democracy will host premiere Common Cause will be in attendance Post opening party to follow. ST. LOUIS, MO: Tivoli Theatre 6350 Delmar in The Loop University City, MO 63130 (Please call theater to check for times) (314) 995-6270 Veterans & Citizens For Truth will be hosting the Friday night premiere WGNU Radio's Liz Brown will be in attendance More theaters will be added soon . . . We need your help in spreading the word about WMD. We want it seen everywhere. Cinema Libre studio has begun to get WMD into theaters, but we want it shown in your community too. You can help us promote these screenings and set up other ones. We cannot rely on the mainstream media to inform people about a film that challenges the mainstream media. To get involved, write to the WMD outreach coordinator David DeGraw @ David at wmdthefilm.com Outreach tools: You can download our movie flier here: http://www.wmdthefilm.com/WMDflier.pdf You can download our Press Release here: http://www.wmdthefilm.com/WMDrelease.doc You can download our poster here: http://www.wmdthefilm.com/wmdposter.jpg If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail outreach at wmdthefilm.com or call 212-246-0202 Ext. 3005 Thank you for the support! *** Please forward this e-mail to interested friends and colleagues *** David DeGraw Outreach WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception Inside the Iraq Media War You Never Saw www.WMDtheFilm.com 212-246-0202 Ext. 3005 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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!? All your favorites on one personal page ? Try My Yahoo! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Fri Dec 3 16:45:41 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 16:45:41 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] SABINO CANYON MOUNTAIN LION DEFENDER TO BE INDICTED Message-ID: <20041204004541.21436.qmail@web13624.mail.yahoo.com> CONTACT: Rod Coronado 520.623.9184 PRESS RELEASE: December 2, 2004 email: rod at resist.ca SABINO CANYON LION DEFENDER TO BE INDICTED ON FEDERAL CONSPIRACY CHARGES On December 2nd at 11:00am at the Evo A. DeConcini Federal Courthouse, federal prosecutors will formally indict Chukshon Earth First! (CEF!) activist Rod Coronado on conspiracy charges related to the local environmental group?s interference with the hunt for mountain lions in Sabino Canyon last March. The indictment comes just seven days before Coronado was to stand trial for three lesser misdemeanor charges filed after his arrest in Sabino Canyon on March 26th. The new charge, Conspiracy to Impede or Injure an Officer? carries a maximum penalty of six years in prison. Last March when Arizona Game &Fish Department (AZGFD) and US Forest Service officials attempted to remove four-to-five mountain lions from Sabino Canyon, Coronado with Chuk?shon Earth First! organized a campaign of interference that included nonviolent tactics such as the spreading of false lion urine scent to lead AZGFD hunting hounds away from the real lions. Coronado and a reporter from Esquire magazine were originally charged with violating a federal closure and disabling a steel-cable snare set by AZGFD to capture a lion. Coronado believes the indictment is in response to his continued organizing against AZGFD controversial policies such as the killing and removal of lions from the Coronado National Forest and the trophy hunting of sandhill cranes and desert bighorn sheep in southern Arizona. In November, Coronado was part of a CEF! investigation team that exposed AZGFDs annual trophy hunt for sandhill cranes south of Willcox, AZ. Its just an Orwellian attempt to intimidate me for criticizing and drawing attention to AZGFD policies that cater to urban sprawl and trophy hunters. If AZGFD continues controversial programs such as lion eradication, trophy desert bighorn sheep and sandhill crane hunting, CEF! will continue to document and expose those abuses of public lands and wildlife. Unless taken into custody, Coronado will be available for interviews following his arraignment. Video documentation of Chukshon Earth First!s efforts to protect mountain lions, black bears, Gunnison?s prairie dogs, mule deer, elk and sandhill cranes from the hunters guns is available upon request. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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!? Yahoo! Mail - now with 250MB free storage. Learn more. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Fri Dec 3 17:06:27 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 17:06:27 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fwd: Letter to Union Carbide Message-ID: <20041204010627.23262.qmail@web13624.mail.yahoo.com> Today is the 20 year anniversary of the Union Carbide accident in Bhopal, so I decided to write Dow a little letter... I thought it was funny, anyway. :-) Dow Chemical 4520 Ashman Street P. O. Box 1206 Midland, MI 48642 Dear Union Carbide/Dow Chemical Company: Congratulations on your victory over human rights! For 20 years after the massive Bhopal chemical disaster, you have successfully avoided making adequate reparations to the 150,000 people you've injured and 20,000 you've killed. And to date, you still haven't cleaned up the accident site! I am amazed at how you've successfully managed to balance corporate profit at the expense of hundreds of thousands of people; this is a feat not many companies can accomplish. See, in America, corporations run the risk of occasionally being held accountable for their actions (and I do mean occasionally!), but you were smart enough to set up shop in a third-world country where people are too poor and powerless to protect themselves. As I tell my friends: in today's fast-paced world, who has time to pay attention to petty human rights issues when you're trying to maximize corporate profit? As Bill O'Reilly would say, those whining Bhopalians should just SHUT UP. "Oh, waa, I can't afford medical treatment for my massive lung scarring, I'm dying of horrific cancers, and I've given birth to five deformed babies, waa waa!" Come on people, move on already! Just because you're too sick to get out of bed, that doesn't mean you have the right to try to take the right to take Dow's hard-earned money to pay for your medical bills. Please. Get fucking serious. As a matter of fact, my roommate and I were just making fun of the disaster victims last night. We're going to organize a dorm-wide reenactment of the chemical spill... man, how funny will that be? All of us screaming up and down the hallways, gasping for breath, vomiting as fluid fills our lungs, trampling our own friends to death because the chemicals are burning through our eyes... oh man! I'm cracking up right now just thinking about it! Anyway, I'd like to congratulate you on your successes; you must have worked very hard to reach the number one spot for worst industrial accident in world history. Not only does your company manufacture vast quantities of toxic chemicals, but through gross negligence and lawlessness, you've managed to share these your murderous product with thousands of Indian citizens. Once again, congratulations, and I look forward to seeing what great industrial disasters you guys can come up with next! Sincerely, Abbey Hartland ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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! ? What will yours do? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Fri Dec 3 17:43:28 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 17:43:28 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] 87 down, 723 to go, Inside the god Mafia Message-ID: <20041204014328.88321.qmail@web13606.mail.yahoo.com> The god mafia here in Southern California have started to make some amends to some of it's victims. Now if we could start putting some of these creeps behind bars. I wonder where your god was in all this? Maybe he should be indi IBB http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-priest3dec03,0,1838492.story?coll=la-home-local O.C. Diocese Settles Abuse Cases The Roman Catholic Church reaches a deal with 87 plaintiffs. The undisclosed amount, reportedly a record, could affect L.A. talks. By Jean Guccione, William Lobdell and Megan Garvey, Times Staff Writers The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange agreed Thursday to settle claims by 87 people who said they were sexually abused by priests and other church employees, promising a sum that sources said would exceed the $85 million record payment by an American diocese. The specifics of the settlement were not disclosed under the terms of a court-imposed gag order. Some details remain to be worked out, according to a statement issued by both sides. The record settlement is likely to influence the money that may be paid to thousands of plaintiffs in pending cases in Los Angeles and elsewhere. Bishop of Orange Tod D. Brown called the agreement "both fair and compassionate." He said he planned to write a letter to each victim "personally seeking forgiveness and reconciliation." "We will be able to fairly compensate the victims in a way that allows our church to continue its ministry of service to the entire community," Brown said immediately after the announcement shortly after 11 p.m. at the civil courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. "It's over. It's over. It's all over," sobbed David Guerrero, 36, who hugged Brown and shook his hand after the announcement. Guerrero was molested by Father Siegfried Widera, a now-dead priest who had been convicted of abusing a boy in Milwaukee before being transferred to Orange County. Guerrero was one of about a dozen plaintiffs who had camped out in the hallway during the negotiations, toting blankets and pillows. Max Fisher was 13 when he was molested by Widera. "I want a new beginning," said Fisher, 40, who held his crying wife in his arms. "I want to be able to put this behind me. I'm tired of the nightmares." The settlement will be paid without bankrupting the diocese or requiring any of its 56 parishes to be closed, church officials said. Maria Schinderle, general counsel for the diocese, said the sale of some property, as well as cash reserves, staff cuts and loans secured with church assets would raise the funds for the diocese's share of the settlement. The one major piece of property that is not a parish or school and is eligible to be sold is the diocese's 17-acre headquarters in Orange. The deal settles allegations of molestation against 30 clergymen and about a dozen other church employees, with some cases dating back as far as the 1930s. The previous record amount was paid in 2003 by the Archdiocese of Boston to settle more than 500 abuse cases. The amount of that settlement was held down by a Massachusetts law that strictly limits the amount of damages a charitable organization such as a church can be required to pay in a lawsuit. California has no similar limit. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, likely to be the most directly affected by Orange County's settlement, is negotiating with its insurers and plaintiffs' lawyers over roughly 500 sexual abuse claims. "It's like a market is being established for [clergy abuse] settlements, and the price can go up or down," said Loyola Law School professor Georgene Vairo. In September, J. Michael Hennigan, the lead attorney for Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, said some of the cases he was handling "will just break your heart." At the time, Hennigan said he guessed that the 50 worst cases alone could each potentially lead to jury awards of $5 million or more. Under the terms of the settlement, the Diocese of Orange will share the cost of the settlement with eight insurance companies. Plaintiffs' attorneys ? who may keep up to 40% of the payment as fees ? had the task of dividing the money among their clients. Individual awards were determined based on the facts of each case, attorneys said. The diocese had a $171-million investment portfolio and $23.4 million in cash reserves at the end of the 2003 fiscal year, according to its financial statements. Last year, the diocese spent $17 million for land to be used to build a cathedral in Santa Ana but suspended fundraising for the complex until the sexual abuse cases were resolved. Over the last several years, the diocese has cut services and personnel, in part because of the pending negotiations. In addition to the payment of money, Brown agreed to let the court decide if any confidential personnel files of accused priests would be made public. The diocese had previously given those files to plaintiffs' attorneys under an agreement that they would remain secret until the cases were resolved. Releasing those documents was a key demand of some of the plaintiffs. The agreement in the Orange County cases was reached in a Los Angeles Superior courthouse nearly six hours after Brown arrived unexpectedly at the court, coming up a back stairwell minutes before the doors were locked at 5 p.m. Attorneys for the diocese and its insurers had met for 27 hours of negotiations with plaintiffs attorneys this week. As they waited, many plaintiffs met for the first time, tearfully sharing their stories. "I hope it's cases like these that let people come out and talk about their molestation, because silence kills. It almost killed me and left my three children orphans," Edward Landry, 36, of Plano, Texas, said as he waited for a settlement to be reached. "My parents' blind faith, trust and confidence in the church got me into this situation, and [their] same blind faith, trust and confidence got me out," he said. Landry sued over his claim of abuse by Eleuterio Ramos, who admitted to sexually abusing at least 25 boys during a decade-long tenure as a parish priest in the diocese. Ramos is now dead. Landry, who was an 8-year-old altar boy when the abuse began, said that as a settlement grew more likely, he began to forgive those who had hurt him years ago. Six weeks ago the former Marine said he forgave Ramos. A week ago he said he made peace with God. On Sunday, for the first time in many years, he received communion. In addition to Ramos, many of the priests were involved in multiple molestation cases. One of the former priests involved in the cases, John Lenihan, allegedly paid for an abortion for a teenager he impregnated when he was her parish priest in the 1970s. In a letter to Pope John Paul II in 2002 asking to be released from the priesthood, Lenihan admitted to two sexual relationships with teenage girls starting in 1978. The Los Angeles and Orange dioceses previously had paid $1.2 million to settle one case against Lenihan. Overall, the Orange County diocese already has paid $4.6 million to victims and $66,000 for counseling to victims and their families. Thirty of the plaintiffs who agreed to settle also have claims against the Los Angeles Archdiocese. Those cases predate 1976, when the separate O.C. diocese was created. Over the course of settlement talks, Brown publicly weighed the need to protect the church financially against his responsibility to serve those who had been hurt. In June, he warned his parishioners that a large settlement was likely. "The window of opportunity to settle these cases through mediation is closing," he said in a letter to parishes. "If we do not settle, we will proceed to costly, time-consuming trials where the outcomes are unpredictable. Recent experience has shown that juries in California can often be swayed by erroneous misconceptions about our church's response to this crisis." The cases were filed last year under a special state law that opened the way for litigation against the Catholic church and other institutions that allegedly had failed to protect children from those they had reason to believe were predators. The law gave alleged victims of childhood sexual abuse one year to sue no matter how old the case. Some church officials have argued the extension unfairly targeted Catholic churches in California by forcing church officials to defend old claims, in some instances involving witnesses who are now dead or files that have long since been discarded. Before the law was enacted, victims of childhood sexual abuse had been barred from suing in molestation cases after their 26th birthday or more than three years after discovering that their emotional problems were linked to molestation. By settling the cases before trial, the Diocese of Orange gave up its right to challenge the law which allowed the suits. The Los Angeles archdiocese, along with other dioceses being sued under that law, have sought to have the law declared unconstitutional. Times staff writer Nita Lelyveld contributed to this report. 800 claims filed against this god mafia http://www.snapnetwork.org/news/calif/ca_law_spurred_flood.htm Victim support network http://www.snapnetwork.org Fun and games from the black book http://www.evilbible.com ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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 Fri Dec 3 19:34:00 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 19:34:00 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Would Jesus Ban This Ad? Message-ID: <20041204033400.67216.qmail@web13623.mail.yahoo.com> http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/20652/ Would Jesus Ban This Ad? By John Nichols, The Nation. Posted December 3, 2004. The United Church of Christ wants to spread a message of respect and inclusion for all. But the mainstream media won't let them. Watch the ad that the networks found too "controversial" to air Watch the ad that the networks deem too "controversial." The Rev. John Thomas, who serves as general minister and president of the United Church of Christ (UCC), is having a hard time figuring out why the same broadcasters that profited so handsomely from airing the vicious and divisive attack advertisements during the recent presidential election are now refusing to air an advertisement from his denomination that celebrates respect for one another and inclusiveness. "It's ironic that after a political season awash in commercials based on fear and deception by both parties seen on all the major networks, an ad with a message of welcome and inclusion would be deemed too controversial," said Thomas. "What's going on here?" The ad in question is part of an ambitious new national campaign by the UCC to appeal to Americans who feel alienated from religion and churches, and to equip the denomination's 6,000 congregations across the U.S. to welcome newcomers. In an effort to break through the commercial clutter that clogs the arteries of broadcast and cable television, the UCC ad features an arresting image: a pair of muscle-bound bouncers standing in front of a church and telling some people they can attend while turning others away. After people of color, a disabled man and a pair of men who might be gay are turned away, the image dissolves to a text statement that: "Jesus didn't turn people away. Neither do we." Then, as images of diverse couples and families appear on screen, an announcer explains that, "No matter who you are, or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here." It is a graceful commercial, which delivers an important message gently yet effectively ? something that cannot be said of most television advertising these days. But viewers of the ABC, CBS and NBC television networks won't see it because, in this age of heightened focus on so-called "moral values," quoting Jesus on the issue of inclusion is deemed to be "too controversial." What was controversial? Apparently, the networks don't like the ad's implication that the Nazarene's welcome to all people might actually include ALL people. Noting that the image of one woman putting her arm around another was included in the ad, CBS announced, "Because the commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and organizations, and the fact the Executive Branch has recently proposed a constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast on the (CBS and UPN) networks." NBC was similarly concerned that the spot was "controversial." UCC leaders, pastors and congregation members are upset, and rightly so. "It seems incredible to me that CBS admits it is refusing to air the commercial because of something the executive branch, the Bush administration, is doing," says Dave Moyer, conference minister for the Wisconsin Conference of the UCC. "Since when is it unacceptable to offer a different perspective?" Moyer says that people of all religious faiths and all ideological perspectives should be concerned that the major networks ? which dominate so much of the discourse in America ? are seeking to narrow the dialogue. The Rev. Curt Anderson, the pastor of the First United Church of Christ in Madison, Wis., says that people of good will should also be concerned about the message being sent to gays and lesbians in the aftermath of an election season that saw them targeted by the political right. "I'm thinking of the LGBT folks in my church who felt so under attack after the election. They are getting hit again," explained the pastor. "This is another way where the culture, the media, makes them invisible. It is incredible that it is controversial for one woman to put her arm around another." It is also bizarrely hypocritical. After all, the same NBC network that found the UCC ad "too controversial" airs programs such as "Will & Grace" that feature gay and lesbian characters. "We find it disturbing that the networks in question seem to have no problem exploiting gay persons through mindless comedies and titillating dramas, but when it comes to a church's loving welcome to committed gay couples, that's where they draw the line," explained the Rev. Bob Chase, director of the national UCC's communication ministry. Chase has a point. ABC, CBS and NBC, networks that reap enormous profits from the public airwaves, are not serving the public interest. Rather, they are assaulting it by narrowing the dialogue and rejecting a message of inclusion that is sorely needed at this point in the American experiment. John Nichols is The Nation's Washington correspondent. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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!? Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Fri Dec 3 20:49:41 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 20:49:41 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Bush Administration Rejecting Strong State Environmental Laws Message-ID: <20041204044942.59680.qmail@web13622.mail.yahoo.com> http://www.bushgreenwatch.org/ BODY, P, TD, TD P, TD UL, TD BLOCKQUOTE, BLOCKQUOTE { color: black; font-family: Verdana, "Trebuchet MS" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt}A:link { color: #003366 }A:visited { color: #003366 }A:active { color: #0000FF }.bodybold { font-weight: bold} /* this is for making body text bold */.bodybold10px { font-weight: bold; font-size: 10px} /* this is for making body text bold at 10px */.bodybold11px { font-weight: bold; font-size: 11px} /* this is for making body text bold at 11px */.bodybold12px { font-weight: bold; font-size: 12px} /* this is for making body text bold at 12px */.bodybold13px { font-weight: bold; font-size: 13px}.bodybold14px { font-weight: bold; font-size: 14px}.bodybold15px { font-weight: bold; font-size: 15px}.body8px { font-size: 8px} /* this is for making body text smaller */.body9px { font-size: 9px} /* this is for making body text smaller */.body10px { font-size: 10px} /* this is for making body text smaller */.body11px { font-size: 11px} /* this is for making body text smaller *.body12px { font-size: 12px} /* this is for making body text smaller */.body14px { font-size: 14px} /* this is for making body text smaller */.body16px { font-size: 16px} /* this is for making body text smaller */.body18px { font-size: 18px} /* this is for making body text smaller */.bodyunderline { text-decoration: underline}.bodyitalic { font-style: italic}.none {list-style-type: none}.titleitalic { font-weight: bold; font-style: italic}.titlebold { font-weight: bold} /* this is for making title text bold */.titlebold10px { font-weight: bold; font-size: 10px}.titlebold11px { font-weight: bold; font-size: 11px}.titlebold12px { font-weight: bold; font-size: 12px}.titlebold13px { font-weight: bold; font-size: 13px}.titlebold14px { font-weight: bold; font-size: 14px}.titlebold15px { font-weight: bold; font-size: 15px}.titlebold16px { font-weight: bold; font-size: 16px}.titlebold17px { font-weight: bold; font-size: 17px}.titlebold18px { font-weight: bold; font-size: 18px}.titlebold19px { font-weight: bold; font-size: 19px}.titlebold20px { font-weight: bold; font-size: 20px}.titlebold21px { font-weight: bold; font-size: 21px}.titlebold22px { font-weight: bold; font-size: 22px}.titlebold23px { font-weight: bold; font-size: 23px}.titlebold24px { font-weight: bold; font-size: 24px}.titlebold25px { font-weight: bold; font-size: 25px}.titlebold26px { font-weight: bold; font-size: 26px}.titlebold27px { font-weight: bold; font-size: 27px}.titlebold28px { font-weight: bold; font-size: 28px}.titlebold29px { font-weight: bold; font-size: 29px}.titlebold30px { font-weight: bold; font-size: 30px}.flashtitle { font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px} /* Used for Advocacy Campaign titles */.monospace { font-family: Courier, monospace;}/* monospace fonts for input forms */.roll { text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal; color: black }/* rolling links */a.roll:hover { text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal; color: D10000 } --------------------------------- Tell a friend about BushGreenwatch .............................. December 3, 2004 | Back Issues Bush Administration Rejecting Strong State Environmental Laws While the Bush Administration and its conservative judicial appointees make a constant public show of their dedication to states' rights, their actions on environmental protection are increasingly moving in exactly the opposite direction. That is very bad news for Americans' desire for clean air, clean water and a healthy environment. In the latest example of this say-one-thing-but-do-another, the Bush Administration last week filed a brief before the Supreme Court designed to immunize pesticide manufacturers from paying damages when their products cause harm. The name of the case is Dow v. Bates. It involves a lawsuit brought by 29 Texas peanut farmers, seeking compensation for crop damage they say was caused by a Dow Agrosciences weed killer named Strongarm. According to the farmers, who sued for damages in a Texas state court, the pesticide nearly wiped out their entire crop. But Dow intervened in federal court, where it persuaded a judge to to halt the farmers' lawsuit on the ground that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodentricide Act (FIFRA), preempts remedies provided under Texas state law. Hence the farmers would be prevented from winning damages under states' common law. Now, with Dow v. Bates before the Supreme Court, the Bush Justice Department brief is arguing in favor of federal preemption over state law--which happens to be a reversal of its own established position against expansive federal preemption of state remedies under FIFRA. In a summary of the situation, attorney Jason Rylander of the Washington-based Community Rights Counsel, writes that in Dow v. Bates, "The Supreme Court has an historic opportunity to level the playing field and remind the administration, Congress and the lower courts that federalism [the idea that states are free to innovate in policy matters not specifically addressed by Congress] is important. By rejecting preemption except where specifically mandated by Congress, the Court can protect the ability of states to regulate products and provide remedies to their citizens," says Rylander. The Dow case is but one of several recent examples where the Bush Administration has acted to block state actions, as explained by Community Rights Counsel in a new book called Redefining Federalism. More about the book will be forthcoming in the next edition of BushGreenwatch.org. --------------------------------- Spread the Word | Back Issues --------------------------------- BushGreenwatch | 1320 18th Street NW 5th Floor Washington, DC 20036 | (202) 463-6670 Web site comments: info at bushgreenwatch.org Copyright 2003 Environmental Media Services --------------------------------- ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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!? Yahoo! Mail - Helps protect you from nasty viruses. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Fri Dec 3 21:14:39 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 21:14:39 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Denmark's Bottom Line Is Green Message-ID: <20041204051440.75119.qmail@web13623.mail.yahoo.com> Present and Future Denmark's Bottom Line Is Green By Betty Lowry, member Society of American Travel Writers ? 2003 Betty Lowry http://www.goodmoney.com/denmark.htm ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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!? Yahoo! Mail - Find what you need with new enhanced search. Learn more. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Fri Dec 3 21:40:32 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 21:40:32 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] The End of Violence Message-ID: <20041204054032.74101.qmail@web13621.mail.yahoo.com> The End of Violence http://www.grist.org/comments/soapbox/2004/11/22/roberts/ The last thing enviros need now is a bout of radicalism By David Roberts 22 Nov 2004 Enviros made unprecedented efforts to sway the 2004 election with legitimate tools: advertising, fundraising, rallying, knocking on doors. It didn't work. Apparently that fact is not sitting well. The top response in a poll http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2004/11/03/post_election/index.html asking Grist readers where green-minded folks should direct their energy in the next four years was "armed resistance" -- by a 10-point margin. You might say armed resistance received a mandate. Enough is enough, you proclaimed. Time to shake off milquetoast pretensions of mainstream acceptance, pick up some tree spikes and Molotov cocktails, and fuck shit up. A Monkey Wrench Gang for the 21st century! But you were just kidding, right? Heh heh. Right? Look, I know it's depressing. Environmentalists, Democrats, repentant Naderites, foreigners, even some old-school (read: principled) conservatives said for months that a Bush election would mean disaster. The most important election of our lifetimes, we were told. An historic turning point. The very fate of the planet at stake. Small, defenseless kittens would be slaughtered if W. returned to the White House. Think of the kittens! And then he went and won. The worst-case scenario for the next four years is not pretty. The rest of the world continues to mobilize against global warming while we hang out by the bleachers with Australia, smoking cigarettes and mocking science-club geeks. The Bush administration subsidizes the creation of new oil and gas companies because the current ones finally say, no, really, that's enough public land, we're full. The EPA announces an improvement in its proposed mercury regulations, bravely doubling the number of years power plants are given to make substantial emission cuts. Bush follows his "Clear Skies" and "Healthy Forests" initiatives with the "Immaculate Superfund Act" (which cuts funding for the Superfund program) and the "Pinch My Cheeks I'm So Healthy! Act" (which loosens controls on pollution from chemical plants). George Orwell spins in his grave so fast that he drills to the center of the earth, knocks the planet off its axis, and causes a new ice age. Damage is done that cannot be undone. Direct and sometimes violent (at least to property) activism is part of the cultural mythology of environmentalism and has a storied past, from Ed Abbey down through today's mysterious Earth Liberation Front. But still, in the here and now, going all Monkey Wrench on their asses is exactly the wrong thing to do, for two reasons. First, things won't get that bad. And second, it won't work. Environmentalism is ultimately a cultural change, a change in the attitude, perspective, and expectations of ordinary citizens -- and like most broad, gradual cultural changes, it is not as subject to the whims of the governing class as people like to make out. If the Republican leadership thought it were permissible to openly demonize gays, they probably would. But it's not. Why? Not because of anything the government did, but because Will and Grace just isn't very scary. Acceptance of gays has been spreading and will continue to do so, and the political class will follow behind, even if some members thereof kick and scream on the way. Admittedly, there is no homophobe industry with millions of dollars on the line, so enviros have a different row to hoe. But change is a'comin', like the hippies used to sing. Right now it is politically permissible to dismiss environmental concerns as the province of radicals and elites, luxuries we can attend to when the economy is safely tucked in bed. Sometime -- soon -- it won't be. It may look at the federal level like progress is stalled, but it isn't. States are setting carbon-dioxide limits. Fuel-efficient cars are becoming so popular that fuel efficiency will soon be taken for granted. Working mothers are finding out that their Wal-Mart fishstix are full of mercury, and you really don't want to piss off a working mother. Crusty, conservative outdoorsy types in the West are bucking their party and asking why every square mile of the land on which they hunt and fish needs to be leased to energy companies. The forces of anti-environmentalism are shrinking and retrenching inside a few industries and political claques, and soon -- not soon enough, but we're not talking centuries either -- they will simply sink under the tide. It's a slow process, and frustrating, particularly given the sense of urgency enviros rightly feel. But the point is, it's happening. Bush is nothing if not a political weathervane. He obviously feels the need to pay lip service to environmental protection. Why else the deceptive names and obfuscation? The game is moving down field, and grudgingly or not, he'll have to move with it in a second term. Regardless, bomb-throwing radicalism is a political non-starter these days. It can be effective in specific times and places, for ruthlessly pragmatic reasons, but in a postmodern world, it eats itself. In our media-saturated environment, what matters is not old-fashioned institutional ties or personal allegiances, but perception -- and the meme jockeys on the right are experts at tagging the left with the actions of its most extreme members (a skill that continually eludes their counterparts on the left). An outbreak of lawlessness among enviros would be like Christmas for the wingers, their first opportunity in years to roll back public perception of environmental issues. People want to be on the side of a winner, so if you want people on your side, act like you're winning. Karl Rove gets this; it's why he had Bush doing victory laps through obviously blue states toward the end of 2000's squeaky-close election. Spiking trees and blocking roads can be incredibly effective as emergency measures to stop specific timber harvests, but as a primary strategy they are a mark, like all violence, of marginalization and helplessness -- of losing. The proper reaction to Bush's mind-bendingly disheartening victory is not to fight with more violence but to fight with more savvy. Enviros don't typically do irony well, but in this media climate the winning attitude is not earnest outrage but amused, mocking superiority. To be disagreed with carries its own sort of legitimacy. To be laughed at is deadly. Retrograde environmental opinions and policies must be made to appear small and silly. Republicans get this kind of strategy -- witness the time and money they spent making Kerry an object of ridicule, of a piece with their years of effort painting enviros as people-hating, varmit-loving fruitloops. I do not mean to minimize the damage to the environment that is sure to take place in the next four years, or to discount the real harm it will do to the most vulnerable among us. But the answer is not to cede the playing field. Environmentalism does not need another Edward Abbey. It needs a Jon Stewart. - - - - - - - - - - David Roberts is assistant editor of Grist. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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!? Yahoo! Mail - now with 250MB free storage. Learn more. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Fri Dec 3 23:33:12 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 23:33:12 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Victoria's Dirty Secret Exposed! Message-ID: <20041204073312.3067.qmail@web13608.mail.yahoo.com> http://www.forestethics.org/paper/ Victoria's Dirty Secret Exposed! On October 14th, ForestEthics launched a national campaign against Victoria?s Secret and parent company Limited Brands for their leading role in forest destruction. The campaign includes.........http://www.forestethics.org/paper/ IBB ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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!? Yahoo! Mail - Easier than ever with enhanced search. Learn more. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Dec 4 00:34:09 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 4 Dec 2004 00:34:09 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] (AP) Evidence from Torture Is Usable, U.S. Asserts Message-ID: <20041204083409.40346.qmail@web13607.mail.yahoo.com> http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/120404A.shtml Evidence from Torture Is Usable, U.S. Asserts The Associated Press Friday 03 December 2004 Tribunals reviewing detention of foreigners as enemy combatants are free to rely on results from such tactics, an official tells court. Washington - U.S. military panels reviewing the detention of foreigners as enemy combatants would be allowed to use evidence gained through torture in deciding whether to keep them imprisoned at Guant?namo Bay, Cuba, the government said in court Thursday. The acknowledgment by Deputy Associate Atty. Gen. Brian Boyle came during a U.S. District Court hearing. Boyle said, however, that he did not believe any torture had occurred at Guant?namo. The hearing was held on lawsuits brought by some of the 550 foreigners imprisoned at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. The foreigners' lawsuits challenge their detention without charges. Attorneys for the prisoners argued that some were held solely on evidence gained through torture, which they said violated fundamental fairness and U.S. due process standards. But Boyle argued in a similar hearing Wednesday that the detainees "have no constitutional rights enforceable in this court." U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon asked whether a detention would be illegal if it were based solely on evidence gathered by torture, because "torture is illegal; we all know that." Boyle replied that if the military's combatant status review tribunals "determine that evidence of questionable provenance were reliable, nothing in the due process clause [of the Constitution] prohibits them from relying on it." Leon asked whether there were any restrictions on using evidence produced by torture. Boyle replied that the United States would never adopt a policy that would have barred it from acting on evidence that could have prevented the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, even if the data came from questionable practices, such as torture by a foreign power. Evidence based on torture is not admissible in U.S. courts. Leon asked if U.S. courts could review detentions based on evidence from torture conducted by U.S. personnel. Boyle said torture was against U.S. policy and any allegations of it would be "forwarded through command channels for military discipline." He added, "I don't think anything remotely like torture has occurred at Guant?namo." But Boyle noted that some U.S. soldiers there had been disciplined for misconduct, including a female interrogator who removed her blouse during questioning. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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!? All your favorites on one personal page ? Try My Yahoo! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Dec 4 01:06:13 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 4 Dec 2004 01:06:13 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Looks Like More Fraternity Prank Acts in Iraq Message-ID: <20041204090613.11363.qmail@web13608.mail.yahoo.com> Looks Like More Fraternity Prank Acts in Iraq Ugly the War: Iraq Watch Specials From Peace No War Network December 3, 2004 URL: http://www.PeaceNoWar.net Navy probes new Iraq prisoner photos: AP China Daily (China) Updated: 2004-12-04 09:16 http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-12/04/content_397299.htm The US military has launched a criminal investigation into photographs that appear to show Navy SEALs in Iraq sitting on hooded and handcuffed detainees, and photos of what appear to be bloodied prisoners, one with a gun to his head. A photo found posted on a commercial photo-sharing Web site operated by a woman who said her husband brought the photos from Iraq after his tour of duty appears to show prisoners in the back of a truck with a foot atop one of the detainees. The Navy SEALs have launched a criminal investigation into photographs that appear to show commandos in Iraq sitting on hooded and handcuffed detainees, and photos of what appear to be bloodied prisoners, one with a gun to his head. [AP]Some of the photos have date stamps suggesting they were taken in May 2003, which could make them the earliest evidence of possible abuse of prisoners in Iraq. The far more brutal practices photographed in Abu Ghraib prison occurred months later. An Associated Press reporter found more than 40 of the pictures among hundreds in an album posted on a commercial photo-sharing Web site by a woman who said her husband brought them from Iraq after his tour of duty. It is unclear who took the pictures, which the Navy said it was investigating after the AP furnished copies to get comment for this story. Photos that appear to show commandos in Iraq sitting on hooded and handcuffed detainees are seen on a commercial photo-sharing Web site operated by a woman who said her husband brought the photos from Iraq after his tour of duty. The Navy SEALs have launched a criminal investigation into the photographs. Date stamps on some photos suggest they were made in May 2003, which could make them the earliest evidence of possible abuse of prisoners in Iraq. [AP]These and other photos found by the AP appear to show the immediate aftermath of raids on civilian homes. One man is lying on his back with a boot on his chest. A mug shot shows a man with an automatic weapon pointed at his head and a gloved thumb jabbed into his throat. In many photos, faces have been blacked out. What appears to be blood drips from the heads of some. A family huddles in a room in one photo and others show debris and upturned furniture. "These photographs raise a number of important questions regarding the treatment of prisoners of war (POWs) and detainees," Navy Cmdr. Jeff Bender, a spokesman for the Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado, said in a written response to questions. "I can assure you that the matter will be thoroughly investigated." The photos were turned over to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which instructed the SEAL command to determine whether they show any serious crimes, Bender said Friday. That investigation will determine the identities of the troops and what they were doing in the photos. Some of the photos recall aspects of the images from Abu Ghraib, which led to charges against seven soldiers accused of humiliating and assaulting prisoners. In several of the photos obtained by the AP, grinning men wearing U.S. flags on their uniforms, and one with a tattoo of a SEAL trident, take turns sitting or lying atop what appear to be three hooded and handcuffed men in the bed of a pickup truck. A reporter found the photos, which since have since been removed from public view, while researching the prosecution of a group of SEALs who allegedly beat prisoners and photographed one of them in degrading positions. Those photos, taken with a SEAL's personal camera, haven't been publicly released. Though they have alarmed SEAL commanders, the photographs found by the AP do not necessarily show anything illegal, according to experts in the laws of war who reviewed photos at AP's request. Gary Solis, a former Marine Corps prosecutor and judge who teaches at the United States Military Academy, said the images showed "stupid" and "juvenile" behavior ??? but not necessarily a crime. John Hutson, a retired rear admiral who served as the Navy's Judge Advocate General from 1997 to 2000, said they suggested possible Geneva Convention violations. Those international laws prohibit souvenir photos of prisoners of war. "It's pretty obvious that these pictures were taken largely as war trophies," Hutson said. "Once you start allowing that kind of behavior, the next step is to start posing the POWs in order to get even better pictures." At a minimum, the pictures violate Navy regulations that prohibit photographing prisoners other than for intelligence or administrative purposes, according to Bender, the SEALs spokesman. All Naval Special Warfare personnel were told that prior to deployment, he said, but "it is obvious from some of the photographs that this policy was not adhered to." The images were posted to the Internet site Smugmug.com. The woman who posted them told the AP they were on the camera her husband brought back from Iraq. She said her husband has returned to Iraq. He does not appear in photos with prisoners. The Navy goes to great lengths to protect the identities and whereabouts of its 2,400 SEALs ??? which stands for Navy Sea, Air, Land ??? many of whom have classified counterterrorist missions around the globe. "Some of these photos clearly depict faces and names of Naval Special Warfare personnel, which could put them or their families at risk," Bender said. Out of safety concerns, the AP is not identifying the woman who posted the photos. The wife said she was upset that a reporter was able to view the album, which includes family snapshots. Hundreds of other photos depict everyday military life in Iraq, some showing commandos standing around piles of weapons and waving wads of cash. The images were found through the online search engine Google. The same search today leads to the Smugmug.com Web page, which now prompts the user for a password. Nine scenes from the SEAL camp remain in Google's archived version of the page. "I think it's fair to assume that it would be very hard for most consumers to know all the ways the search engines can discover Web pages," said Smugmug spokesman Chris MacAskill. Before the site was password protected, the AP purchased reprints for 29 cents each. Some men in the photos wear patches that identify them as members of Seal Team Five, based in Coronado, and the unit's V-shaped insignia decorates a July Fourth celebration cake. The photos surfaced amid a case of prisoner abuse involving members of another SEAL team also stationed at Coronado, a city near San Diego. Navy prosecutors have charged several members of SEAL Team Seven with abusing a suspect in the bombing a Red Cross facility. According to charge sheets and testimony during a military hearing last month, SEALs posed in the back of a Humvee for photos that allegedly humiliated Manadel al-Jamadi, who died hours later at Abu Ghraib. Testimony from that case suggest personal cameras became increasingly common on some SEAL missions last year. Photos of U.S. Military Torture in Abu Ghraib Prison http://www.peacenowar.net/Iraq/News/April%2004-Photos/Abu%20Ghraib.htm For more photos and Videos from Iraq, visit: "Report from Baghdad" July, 2003 http://www.actionla.org/Iraq/IraqReport/intro.html ============================================================= Peace, No War War is not the answer, for only love can conquer hate Not in our Name! And another world is possible! Information for antiwar movements, news across the World, please visit: http://www.PeaceNoWar.net Please Join PeaceNoWar Listserv, send e-mail to: peacenowar-subscribe at lists.riseup.net Please Donate to Peace No War Network! Send check pay to: ActionLA/SEE 1013 Mission St. #6 South Pasadena CA 91030 (All donations are tax deductible) <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> *To Translate this page to Arabic, please visit ajeeb.com: http://tarjim.ajeeb.com/ajeeb/default.asp?lang=1 *To Translate this page to French, Spanish, German, Italian or Portuguese, please visit Systran: http://www.systransoft.com/ <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> **"Report From Baghdad" CD-ROM** Pacifica Radio KPFK Los Angeles Reporter Lee Siu Hin's July 2003 trip to U.S. occupied Iraq. An interactive CD-ROM with articles, photos, audio and video interviews includes: people of Iraq, U.S. military, human rights workers, religious leaders and more! Please Visit the Website: http://www.actionla.org/Iraq/IraqReport/intro.html Each CD costs: $15.00 plus $3.50 S/H (work both PC and Mac) The CD sells will be benefit the Baghdad Independent Media Center, ActionLA, and PeaceNoWar.net *Additional donations are welcome, and it will be tax deductible. For more information, tel: (213)403-0131 e-mail: info at ActionLA.org URL: www.ActionLA.org Send check/money orders to: ActionLA/SEE 1013 Mission St. #6, South Pasadena, CA 91030 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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!? Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Dec 4 01:12:09 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 4 Dec 2004 01:12:09 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Think Twice About Giving Pets as Presents Message-ID: <20041204091209.34757.qmail@web13609.mail.yahoo.com> Think Twice About Giving Pets as Presents By Amanda Brown, PA Environment Correspondent Low-income families and those on means-tested benefits are being targeted in a Christmas campaign to warn people about giving pets as gifts. Nicky Gavron, the deputy mayor of London, launched a leaflet today that spells out the problems of pet ownership, which include the costs of feeding them and vets? bills if they become ill. Space is also a key issue ? a large dog, for example, would not be suitable for a small flat. Pets are time-consuming, and dogs need exercise and someone to look after them when the owners are on holiday. Prospective pet owners are urged to analyse the implications of caring for animals before committing themselves or others to them. Ms Gavron, who was visiting the Blue Cross Animal Hospital in Victoria, London, launched two documents, the Mayor?s Animal Welfare framework and a Veterinary Care booklet. The Animal Welfare Framework is the first ever regional framework for animal welfare in England. It outlines the Mayor?s desire to maintain London?s position at the forefront of animal welfare. The aim is to improve standards in this area through education, investigation and supporting initiatives on key issues such as the promotion of responsible pet ownership, halting the illegal wildlife trade and resolving potential conflicts between humans and wildlife. The Veterinary Care booklet is aimed at people on low incomes and means tested benefits, outlining charities and other organisations that offer free and subsidised veterinary treatment available to their pets, including preventative treatment such as neutering and microchipping. The Blue Cross is among the charities providing free and subsidised care for animals. Ms Gavron said: ?Often we forget the commitment involved in owning a pet. ?Animals can live for a long time, and additional costs start from the minute you buy a new pet. ?These include treating them when they are sick and giving them annual vaccinations or flea and worming treatments, and also providing appropriate food and housing for them. ?We are working to improve animal welfare across the capital in several key ways, including through education and London-specific strategies.? ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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!? Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Dec 4 01:17:22 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 4 Dec 2004 01:17:22 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] The god Mafia and the Vote Message-ID: <20041204091722.14044.qmail@web13601.mail.yahoo.com> Poll: Creationism Trumps Evolution NEW YORK, Nov. 22, 2004 Support for evolution is more heavily concentrated among those with more education and among those who attend religious services rarely or not at all. (CBS) Americans do not believe that humans evolved, and the vast majority says that even if they evolved, God guided the process. Just 13 percent say that God was not involved. But most would not substitute the teaching of creationism for the teaching of evolution in public schools. Support for evolution is more heavily concentrated among those with more education and among those who attend religious services rarely or not at all. There are also differences between voters who supported Kerry and those who supported Bush: 47 percent of John Kerry's voters think God created humans as they are now, compared with 67 percent of Bush voters. VIEWS ON EVOLUTION/CREATIONISM God created humans in present form All Americans 55% Kerry voters 47% Bush voters 67% Humans evolved, God guided the process All Americans 27% Kerry voters 28% Bush voters 22% Humans evolved, God did not guide process All Americans 13% Kerry voters 21% Bush voters 6% Overall, about two-thirds of Americans want creationism taught along with evolution. Only 37 percent want evolutionism replaced outright. More than half of Kerry voters want creationism taught alongside evolution. Bush voters are much more willing to want creationism to replace evolution altogether in a curriculum (just under half favor that), and 71 percent want it at least included. FAVOR SCHOOLS TEACHING: Creationism and evolution All Americans 65% Kerry voters 56% Bush voters 71% Creationism instead of evolution All Americans 37% Kerry voters 24% Bush voters 45% 60 percent of Americans who call themselves Evangelical Christians, however, favor replacing evolution with creationism in schools altogether, as do 50 percent of those who attend religious services every week. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This poll was conducted among a nationwide random sample of 885 adults interviewed by telephone November 18-21, 2004. There were 795 registered voters. The error due to sampling could be plus or minus three percentage points for results based on all adults and all registered voters ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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!? Yahoo! Mail - You care about security. So do we. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Dec 4 01:54:13 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 4 Dec 2004 01:54:13 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Top Ten Signs You're a Fundamentalist Christian Message-ID: <20041204095413.63912.qmail@web13604.mail.yahoo.com> http://www.evilbible.com/Top_Ten_List.htm Top Ten Signs You're a Fundamentalist Christian 10 - You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of yours. 9 - You feel insulted and "dehumanized" when scientists say that people evolved from other life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt. 8 - You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Triune God. 7 - Your face turns purple when you hear of the "atrocities" attributed to Allah, but you don't even flinch when hearing about how God/Jehovah slaughtered all the babies of Egypt in "Exodus" and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in "Joshua" including women, children, and trees! 6 - You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and Greek claims about gods sleeping with women, but you have no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life and then ascended into the sky. 5 - You are willing to spend your life looking for little loopholes in the scientifically established age of Earth (few billion years), but you find nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by Bronze Age tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing that Earth is a few generations old. 4 - You believe that the entire population of this planet with the exception of those who share your beliefs -- though excluding those in all rival sects - will spend Eternity in an infinite Hell of Suffering. And yet consider your religion the most "tolerant" and "loving." 3 - While modern science, history, geology, biology, and physics have failed to convince you otherwise, some idiot rolling around on the floor speaking in "tongues" may be all the evidence you need to "prove" Christianity. 2 - You define 0.01% as a "high success rate" when it comes to answered prayers. You consider that to be evidence that prayer works. And you think that the remaining 99.99% FAILURE was simply the will of God. 1 - You actually know a lot less than many atheists and agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history - but still call yourself a Christian ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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!? Take Yahoo! Mail with you! Get it on your mobile phone. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Dec 4 11:37:52 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 4 Dec 2004 11:37:52 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] The origins of ELF Message-ID: <20041204193752.31372.qmail@web13622.mail.yahoo.com> http://greennature.com/article859.html The origins of ELF Since 1977, when disaffected members of the ecological preservation group greenpeace formed the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, http://www.seashepherd.org/ and attacked commercial fishing operations by cutting drift nets, acts of "eco-terrorism" have occurred around the globe. The FBI defines eco-terrorism as the use or threatened use of violence of a criminal nature against innocent victims or property by an environmentally oriented, subnational group for environmental-political reasons, or aimed at an audience beyond the target, often of a symbolic nature. In recent years, the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) has become one of the most active extremist elements in the united states. Despite the destructive aspects of ALF's operations, its operational philosophy discourages acts that harm "any animal, human and nonhuman." Animal rights groups in the United States, including the ALF, have generally adhered to this mandate. The ALF, established in Great Britain in the mid-1970s, is a loosely organized movement committed to ending the abuse and exploitation of animals. The American branch of the ALF began its operations in the late 1970s. Individuals become members of the alf not by filing paperwork or paying dues, but simply by engaging in "direct action" against companies or individuals who utilize animals for research or economic gain. "Direct action" generally occurs in the form of criminal activity to cause economic loss or to destroy the victims' company operations. The alf activists have engaged in a steadily growing campaign of illegal activity against fur companies, mink farms, restaurants, and animal research laboratories. Estimates of damage and destruction in the United States claimed by the ALF during the past ten years, as compiled by national organizations such as the fur commission and the national association for biomedical research (NABR), put the fur industry and medical research losses at more than 45 million dollars. The alf is considered a terrorist group, whose purpose is to bring about social and political change through the use of force and violence. Disaffected environmentalists, in 1980, formed a radical group called "Earth First!" And engaged in a series of protests and civil disobedience events. In 1984, however, members introduced "tree spiking" (insertion of metal or ceramic spikes in trees in an effort to damage saws) as a tactic to thwart logging. In 1992, the ELF was founded in Brighton, England by Earth First! Members who refused to abandon criminal acts as a tactic when others wished to mainstream Earth First!. In 1993, the ELF was listed for the first time along with the ALF in a communique declaring solidarity in actions between the two groups. This unity continues today with a crossover of leadership and membership. It is not uncommon for the ALF and the ELF to post joint declarations of responsibility for criminal actions on their web-sites. In 1994, founders of the San Francisco branch of Earth First! published in the Earth First! Journal a recommendation that Earth First! mainstream itself in the United States, leaving criminal acts other than unlawful protests to the ELF. The ELF advocates "monkeywrenching," a euphemism for acts of sabotage and property destruction against industries and other entities perceived to be damaging to the natural environment. "Monkeywrenching" includes tree spiking, arson, sabotage of logging or construction equipment, and other types of property destruction. Speeches given by Jonathan Paul and Craig Rosebraugh at the 1998 National Animal Rghts conference held at the Uiversity of Oegon, promoted the unity of both the ELF and the ALF movements. The ELF posted information on the ALF website until it began its own website in January 2001, and is listed in the same underground activist publications as the ALF. The most destructive practice of the ALF/ELF is arson. The ALF/ELF members consistently use improvised incendiary devices equipped with crude but effective timing mechanisms. These incendiary devices are often constructed based upon instructions found on the ALF/ELF websites. The ALF/ELF criminal incidents often involve pre-activity surveillance and well-planned operations. Members are believed to engage in significant intelligence gathering against potential targets, including the review of industry/trade publications, photographic/video surveillance of potential targets, and posting details about potential targets on the internet. The ALF and the ELF have jointly claimed credit for several raids including a November 1997 attack of the Bureau of Land Management wild horse corrals near Burns, Oregon where arson destroyed the entire complex resulting in damages in excess of four hundred and fifty thousand dollars and the June 1998 arson attack of a U.S. Department of Agriculture animal damage control building near Olympia, Washington, in which damages exceeded two million dollars. The ELF claimed sole credit for the October 1998, arson of a Vail, Colorado, ski facility in which four ski lifts, a restaurant, a picnic facility and a utility building were destroyed. Damage exceeded twelve million dollars. On 12/27/1998, the ELF claimed responsibility for the arson at the U.S. Forest industries office in Medford, Oregon, where damages exceeded five hundred thousand dollars. Other arsons in Oregon, New York, Washington, Michigan and Indiana have been claimed by the ELF. Recently, the elf has also claimed attacks on genetically engineered crops and trees. The ELF claims these attacks have totaled close to $40 million in damages. The name of a group called the coalition to save the preserves (CSP), surfaced in relation to a series of arsons that occurred in the Phoenix, Arizona area. These arsons targeted several new homes under construction near the north phoenix mountain preserves. No direct connection was established between the CSP and ALF/ELF. However, the stated goal of csp to stop development of previously undeveloped lands, is similar to that of the elf. The property damage associated with the arsons has been estimated to be in excess of $5 million. Statement of James F. Jarboe, Domestic Terrorism Section Chief, Counterterrorism division Federal Bureau of Investigation, before the House Resources Committee, Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health. February 12, 2002. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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!? Yahoo! Mail - now with 250MB free storage. Learn more. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Dec 4 14:04:18 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 4 Dec 2004 14:04:18 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] StopTheWall.org Lastest News Message-ID: <20041204220418.20218.qmail@web13606.mail.yahoo.com> THE GRASSROOTS PALESTINIAN ANTI-APARTHEID WALL CAMPAIGN WEEKLY E-NEWSLETTER StoptheWall.org in a Week from the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign November 27, 2004 Apartheid Wall: The Demise of Palestinian Life International Week Demands Boycott and Sanctions Latest News What Will Come Next After the Apartheid Wall Is Completed? In Tulkarem: A Buffer Zone for the Wall on the Eastern Side 300 Meters Wide, New Confiscations, and New Demolitions During November 2004, four military orders were issued to the people living in the villages south of Tulkarm. These military orders emphasize the step-by-step policy pursued by the Occupation in order to impose a new reality on the ground. [More] A picture taken from Shufa showing Avne Hefetz settlement, which was built on land confiscated from the village. Shufa is situated on a hill south of Tulkarem, looking down towards a completed area of the Apartheid Wall; it also overlooks a stretch of Apartheid road, usable only by settlers. Analysis / Features The Apartheid Wall: The Israeli Project for the Demise of Palestinian Life It was the timing with which Israel began the construction of the Apartheid Wall in the northern West Bank in June 2002, together with the way this construction has proceeded, that made it clear for the Palestinian people that this would turn out to be a massive Occupation ?project?. It was begun only two months after the so-called ?incursion? by the Occupation of the West Bank. The residents of Nablus and Jenin were still searching for the bodies of their martyrs beneath the rubble of the houses demolished by the Israeli military during the incursions when 200 bulldozers started razing the land along a 145 KM stretch from Salem, north of Jenin, to Qalqiliya where the Apartheid Wall would be built. [More] Fact Sheets Apartheid in Palestine?Definition, History up to the Wall, and Tool for Mobilization This fact sheet highlights the meaning of the term ?Apartheid?, its different oppressive apparatus, and how Apartheid continues to take place in Palestine from its roots in a colonialist and racist project to today?s Apartheid Wall. The fact sheet looks at the policies of suppression, segregation, labour exploitation, expulsion, land control, humiliation and murder enacted by the Occupation that are: Apartheid in Palestine. [More] Worldwide Activism Highlights from the Second International Week against the Apartheid Wall At the Eve of the 2nd International Week: 2000 Protestors Go to the Streets in the Canary Islands! On Saturday, November 6, some 2,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Las Palmas, Canary Islands (Spain) to protest against the Apartheid Wall that Israel is building in Palestine. [More] Divestment and Boycott Initiatives throughout the UK during the International Week against the Apartheid Wall! Numerous activities marked the 2nd International Week against the Apartheid Wall in the UK, starting on November 6th, with a blockade of the Hayes, Middlesex premises of Agrexco Ltd., the largest Israeli exporter of fresh agricultural produce.[More] Canada Is Building for a National Mobilization against the Apartheid Wall and the Onslaught on the Middle East! On the 12th of November, Canpalnet organized a forum against the Apartheid Wall in Vancouver, Canada. The strategy meeting was set up in solidarity with the Palestinian grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign and aimed at discussing ways to build up popular strength to compel the Canadian government to implement the ICJ decision and to abide by its legal obligation to make sure Israel tears down the Apartheid Wall and respects international law.[More] Mobilization Throughout France during the International Week against the Apartheid Wall! After months of preparation, mobilizations took place in some 30 cities all over France during the 2nd International Week against the Apartheid Wall. Hundreds of people in different regions and cities(totalling thousands throughout the country)went out on the street, and press conferences, debates, film screenings, photo exhibits and leafleting initiatives have also taken place in many cities.[More] 15,000 in Rome against the Apartheid Wall and for Sanctions on Israel! During the International Week against the Apartheid Wall, initiatives have been taking place throughout Italy. The week began with a rally in front of the regional TV station in the south of Italy, denouncing the lack of information and the disinformation given by the Italian media regarding the occupation in Palestine and Israeli crimes committed there.[More] The Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign Newsletter now in Spanish! Thanks to a strong team of volunteers, the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign is now publishing its newsletter in Spanish, beginning with the 2nd International Week against the Apartheid Wall. This means that the latest updates of the website are now available through the Spanish newsletter, allowing us to offer information and analysis as well as the most important activist resources in Spanish to the people of Spain and Latin America. To subscribe to the Spanish newsletter, please write to: Spanish at stopthewall.org Please let your Spanish speaking contacts know about the new Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign newsletter! StopTheWall.org Visit the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign web site. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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!? Yahoo! Mail - Easier than ever with enhanced search. Learn more. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sat Dec 4 14:08:28 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sat, 4 Dec 2004 14:08:28 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] 1500 in Rome against the Apartheid Wall Message-ID: <20041204220828.20701.qmail@web13606.mail.yahoo.com> http://stopthewall.org/worldwideactivism/808.shtml Fifteen Thousand in Rome against the Apartheid Wall and for Sanctions on Israel! Activism, PENGON/Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, November 21st, 2004 During the International Week against the Apartheid Wall, in various parts of Italy, initiatives took place, beginning with a rally in front of the regional TV station in the south of Italy, denouncing the lack of information and disinformation given by the Italian media regarding the Occupation in Palestine and the Israeli crimes committed. Demonstrators called on the population to boycott Israeli goods. In Pisa, activists held a seminar on Israeli Apartheid. The main focus was on the national demonstration where, on Saturday, 13th of November, the rainy streets of Rome were filled with slogans in support of Palestinian rights and the Intifada. The protest against the Apartheid Wall demanded for its immediate dismantling. The 15 thousand strong demonstration was led by the Palestinian community living in Italy and co-organized by left wing parties and dozens of grassroots groups. Demonstrators gathered from all across Italy to express their solidarity with the Palestinian people and pay homage to Yasser Arafat. The slogans against the Apartheid Wall were accompanied by calls for an end to the Occupation and the implementation of the Right of Return. Palestinian and Iraqi flags were raised together, highlighting the devastation to lives and land under occupation. The ongoing massacre in Falluja as well as the Occupation in Iraq would not be forgotten. Finally, the clear and concrete message of the demonstration?s organizers was obvious and strong throughout, a message to the Italian and European Governments: Suspend the EU-Israel Trade Association Agreement and place sanctions on Israel as long as it does not respect International Law! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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!? Yahoo! Mail - Helps protect you from nasty viruses. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 19:03:12 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:03:12 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] STOLEN SISTERS: Discrimination and Violence Against Indigenous Women in Canada Message-ID: >From http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR200012004 STOLEN SISTERS Discrimination and Violence Against Indigenous Women in Canada A Summary of Amnesty International's Concerns One Family, Three Decades, Two Murders Helen Betty Osborne was a 19-year-old Cree student from northern Manitoba who dreamed of becoming a teacher. On November 12, 1971, she was abducted by four white men in the town of The Pas and then sexually assaulted and brutally killed. A provincial inquiry subsequently concluded that Canadian authorities had failed Helen Betty Osborne. The inquiry criticized the sloppy and racially biased police investigation that took more than 15 years to bring one of the four men to justice. Most disturbingly, the inquiry concluded that police had long been aware of white men sexually preying on Indigenous women and girls in The Pas but "did not feel that the practice necessitated any particular vigilance."(1) Three decades later, on March 25, 2003, Felicia Solomon, a 16-year-old cousin of Helen Betty Osborne, failed to return home from school in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Felicia's family says the Winnipeg police did not treat the case seriously when they first reported Felicia missing. A Winnipeg police spokesperson told Amnesty International that the force responds to missing persons reports based on an assessment of the likely risk to the missing person and does not have a policy of waiting 48 hours for the person to turn up, as many in the public believe. However, the family says that the officers who took the report said they could not take action until another 48 hours had passed. The first posters seeking information on Felicia Solomon's disappearance were distributed by the family, not the police. A family member comments: "When something happens to someone else's child, whether they are white or from any other kind of race or culture, the police do everything. It's completely different when an Indian person goes missing." In June 2003, body parts were found that were later identified as Felicia Solomon's. Her killer has not been found. The murders of Helen Betty Osborne and Felicia Solomon are two of the cases highlighted in a new report by Amnesty International - Stolen Sisters: A human rights response to discrimination and violence against Indigenous women in Canada.(2) These stories of missing and murdered Indigenous(3) women and girls take place in three Western provinces of Canada over a period of three decades. The perpetrators, where known, include both intimate acquaintances and strangers. In some cases, the crimes remain unsolved. In every instance, Canadian authorities could and should have done more to ensure the safety of these women and girls or to address the social and economic factors that had helped put them in harm's way. The Scope of the Violence A shocking 1996 Canadian government statistic reveals that Indigenous women between the ages of 25 and 44, with status under the Indian Act, were five times more likely than all other women of the same age to die as the result of violence.(4) Understanding the true scale and nature of violence against Indigenous women, however, is greatly hampered by a persistent lack of comprehensive reporting and statistical analysis. Reports of murders, assaults or missing persons may be investigated by municipal police forces, provincial forces or the national police force, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Police have said that they do not necessarily record the ethnicity of crime victims or missing persons when entering information into the Canadian Police Information Centre database, the principle mechanism for sharing information among police forces in Canada.(5) According to the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, in 11 percent of homicides in 2000, Canadian police did not record or report on whether or not the victim was an Indigenous person.(6) Indigenous women's organizations have long spoken out against what some describe as an epidemic of violence against women and children within Indigenous communities.(7) More recently, a number of advocacy organizations, including the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC), have drawn attention to acts of violence perpetrated against Indigenous women in predominantly non-Indigenous communities. A number of high profile cases of assaulted, missing or murdered Indigenous women and girls have also helped focus greater public attention - in some instances, very belatedly - on violence against Indigenous women in specific cities. For example: ? A joint RCMP/Vancouver City Police Taskforce is investigating the disappearance of 60 women and one transgender person from Vancouver, British Columbia over the last decade. Sixteen of the missing women are Indigenous, a number far in excess of the proportion of Indigenous women living in Vancouver. A British Columbia man, Robert Pickton, is currently awaiting trial for 22 murder charges related to this investigation. Police and city officials had long denied that there was any pattern to the disappearances or that the women were in any particular danger. ? In two separate instances in 1994, 15-year-old Indigenous girls, Roxanna Thiara and Alishia Germaine, were found murdered in Prince George in eastern British Columbia. The body of a third 15-year-old Indigenous girl, Ramona Wilson, who disappeared that same year, was found in Smithers in central British Columbia in April 1995. Only in 2002, after the disappearance of a 26-year-old non-Indigenous woman, Nicola Hoar, while hitchhiking along a road that connects Prince George and Smithers, did media attention focus on the unsolved murders and other disappearances along what has been dubbed "the highway of tears." ? In 1996, John Martin Crawford was convicted of murder in the killings of three Indigenous women, Eva Taysup, Shelley Napope, and Calinda Waterhen, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Warren Goulding, one of the few journalists to cover the trial, has commented: "I don't get the sense the general public cares much about missing or murdered aboriginal women. It's all part of this indifference to the lives of aboriginal people. They don't seem to matter as much as white people."(8) ? In May 2004, a former British Columbia Provincial Court judge, David William Ramsey, pleaded guilty to buying sex from and assaulting four Indigenous girls, aged 12, 14, 15 and 16, who had appeared before him in court. The crimes were committed between 1992 and 2001. In June, the former judge was sentenced to seven years in prison. ? In Edmonton, Alberta, police are investigating 18 unsolved murders of women in the last two decades. Women's organizations in the city estimate that a disproportionate number of the women were Indigenous. NWAC believes that the incidents that have come to light are only part of the picture. The organization has estimated that over the past twenty years more than five hundred Indigenous women may have been murdered or gone missing in circumstances suggesting violence. Given the significant gaps in available information, it is not possible to comment on the accuracy of this estimate. Until police consistently record whether or not missing persons and the victims of violent assaults are Indigenous, and these statistics are subject to comprehensive analysis, it will not be possible to accurately estimate the true scale or the circumstances of violence against Indigenous women in Canada. Yet, no matter what the exact toll of murdered and missing women has been, their fate has not been adequately addressed by Canadian authorities. Faced with apparent indifference to the welfare and safety of Indigenous women, the families and non-governmental organizations working on their behalf have been obliged to launch their own campaigns to bring the issue before the police, media and government officials. Amnesty International's own research was not comprehensive. The stories told in Amnesty International's report have been chosen because they reflect the range of concerns and circumstances brought to the organization's attention. Amnesty International's research focused on a limited number of cities in western Canada where there is a large and growing Indigenous population and where there has already been some public attention to these concerns.(9) Many regions of the country, such as the north of Canada, could not be included in this research. Furthermore, the report only includes case studies in which the families of these women and girls were willing and prepared to have these stories told publicly. However, the stories told in the report, along with valuable input from a range of front-line organizations, work done by authoritative government commissions such as the Manitoba Justice Inquiry, and other information reviewed in the course of research, all point to an urgent need for Canadian officials to better understand and address violence against Indigenous women in predominantly non-Indigenous communities. It is Amnesty International's view that the role of discrimination in fuelling this violence, in denying Indigenous women the protection they deserve or in allowing the perpetrators to escape justice is a critical part of the threat faced by Indigenous women. Indigenous Women at Risk The Manitoba Justice Inquiry said of the killing of Helen Betty Osborne: There is one fundamental fact: her murder was a racist and sexist act. Betty Osborne would be alive today had she not been an Aboriginal woman.(10) Those words describe an act of horrific violence carried out by four men more than thirty years ago. Sadly, Amnesty International's research underscores the fact that three decades later the lives of Indigenous women in Canada continue to be placed at risk precisely because they are Indigenous women. That research, along with the testimony of frontline organizations and the conclusions of previous government commissions and inquiries, points to the following factors linking racism and discrimination to violence against Indigenous women in urban centers in Canada: ? Despite assurances to the contrary, police in Canada have often failed to provide Indigenous women with an adequate standard of protection. ? The social and economic marginalisation of Indigenous women, along with a history of government policies that have torn apart Indigenous families and communities, have pushed a disproportionate number of Indigenous women into dangerous situations that include extreme poverty, homelessness and prostitution. ? The resulting vulnerability of Indigenous women has been exploited by Indigenous and non-Indigenous men to carry out acts of extreme brutality against Indigenous women. ? These acts of violence may be motivated by racism, or may be carried out in the expectation that societal indifference to the welfare and safety of Indigenous women will allow the perpetrators to escape justice. Indigenous women's lives remain at risk in part because of the failure of Canadian officials to implement critical measures needed to reduce the marginalisation of Indigenous women in Canadian society and build better relations between Indigenous peoples and the justice system. These are measures that have been repeatedly called for by commissions and inquiries such as the Manitoba Justice Inquiry and the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, and by United Nations human rights bodies.(11) The failure to respond quickly and appropriately to threats to Indigenous women's lives means that Canadian officials have failed to live up to their responsibility to prevent violations of Indigenous women's fundamental human rights.(12) A Legacy of History Violence against women and children within Indigenous families and communities is widely understood to be part of a broader spectrum of social stress and turmoil that has resulted from government policies imposed on Indigenous peoples without their consent.(13) For more than a century, from the 1870s through the mid-1980s, the Canadian government took away Indigenous women's status as Indigenous people under the federal Indian Act, along with their right to live in their home communities, if they married a non-Indigenous man or a man from another community. This policy resulted in the uprooting of tens of thousands of Indigenous women, jeopardizing their ties to their families and increasing their dependence on their spouses. During roughly the same period, the government required Indigenous children to be educated in off-reserve residential schools where, in addition to being punished for speaking their language or practicing their cultures, many were subjected to inhuman living conditions and physical and sexual abuse. (14) Even as the residential school system was being phased out through the 1960s, Indigenous children continued to be taken from their families by child service programs oriented toward putting children in the care of the state rather than addressing the circumstances of poverty and family violence that placed the children at risk - a problem that persists today.(15) All the while, the land and resource base essential to the viability of Indigenous economies and ways of living has been dramatically eroded by the failure of governments to consistently recognize and uphold Indigenous title.(16) The legacy of these policies has been the erosion of culture, the uprooting of generations of Indigenous women, the separation of children from their parents, and a cycle of impoverishment, despair and broken self-esteem that continues to grip many Indigenous families. The federal government's Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) concluded in 1996: Repeated assaults on the culture and collective identity of Aboriginal people have weakened the foundations of Aboriginal society and contributed to the alienation that drives some to self-destruction and anti-social behaviour. Social problems among Aboriginal people are, in large measure, a legacy of history.(17) Amnesty International's research suggests that the same legacy of history has also contributed to a heightened risk of violence for Indigenous women in urban centers in Canada. Generations of Indigenous women and girls have been dispossessed by government policies. Many now face desperate circumstances in Canadian towns and cities, a situation compounded by sexist stereotypes and racist attitudes toward Indigenous women and girls and general indifference to their welfare and safety. The result has been far too many Indigenous women and girls placed in harm's way, denied adequate protection of the law, and marginalized in a way that allows some men to get away with carrying out violent crimes against them. Dispossessed in Their Own Lands Social strife, decades of involuntary uprooting of women and children, and lack of economic and educational opportunities within many Indigenous communities have contributed to a steady growth in the number of Indigenous people living in predominantly non-Indigenous towns and cities. On average, however, Indigenous women in Canadian urban centers are unable to earn enough money to meet their own needs, much less support a family. In the 1996 census, the average annual income of Indigenous women with status living off-reserve was $5,500 less than that of non-Indigenous women(18) and substantially less than the amount Statistics Canada estimated people living in a large Canadian city would have needed to provide food, shelter and clothing for themselves.(19) Homelessness and inadequate shelter are believed to be widespread problems facing Indigenous families in all settings.(20) The difficult struggle to get by is compounded by sexist stereotypes and racist attitudes toward Indigenous women and girls and general indifference to their welfare and safety. As described in 1993 by the Canadian Panel on Violence against Women: ".most Aboriginal people have known racism first-hand - most have been called 'dirty Indians' in schools or foster homes or by police and prison guards. Aboriginal people have also experienced subtle shifts in treatment and know it is no accident."(21) In one survey, Indigenous families struggling with poverty described their situation using words and phrases such as "low self-esteem, depression, anger, self-doubt, intimidation, frustration, shame and hopelessness."(22) Prostitution is one means which some Indigenous women have resorted to in the struggle to provide for themselves and their families in Canadian cities.(23) In a study of 183 women in the Vancouver sex trade carried out by the PACE (Prostitution Alternatives Counselling and Education) Society, roughly 40 percent of the women said they got into the sex trade because they needed the money(24) and 25 percent referred to drug addiction as part of the reason they started selling sexual services. Almost 60 percent said they continued working in the sex trade to maintain a drug habit.(25) In the PACE study, more than 30 percent of sex workers surveyed were Indigenous women, although Indigenous people make up less than two percent of the city' s population.(26) Indigenous women are believed to be similarly over-represented among sex workers in other Canadian cities. Another non-governmental organization, Save the Children Canada, spoke with more than 150 Indigenous youths and children being exploited in the sex trade. Almost all the youth and children interviewed talked about "the overwhelming presence of disruption and discord in their lives, accompanied by low self-esteem."(27) Other factors common to many of the young peoples' lives included a history of physical or sexual abuse, a history of running away from families or foster homes, lack of strong ties to family and community, homelessness or transience, lack of opportunities, and poverty. The report notes: Any trauma that detaches children from their families, communities and cultures increases the likelihood of involvement in commercial sexual exploitation. Once a child or youth loses such basic parameters as safety, shelter and sustenance, their vulnerability forces them into situations whereby the sex trade can become the only viable alternative for survival.(28) Violence Against Women in the Sex Trade Whether or not prostitution is a criminal act, women in the sex trade are entitled to the protection of their human rights. Concrete and effective measures must be adopted to ensure their safety and to bring to justice those who commit or profit from violence against sex trade workers. Working in the sex trade in Canada can be extremely dangerous for women, whether Indigenous or non-Indigenous. This is especially true for women who solicit on the streets. In the PACE study, one-third of the women said they had survived an attack on their life while working on the street.(29) Women in the sex trade are at heightened risk of violence because they are often desperate enough to take risks such as getting into cars with men known to be violent and because the social stigmatization of women in the sex trade provides a convenient rationale for men looking for targets for acts of misogynistic violence.(30) Furthermore, the threat of arrest makes many women reluctant to report attacks to the police or cooperate with police investigations. As a result, the perpetrators may be encouraged by the belief that they are likely to get away with their crimes. The isolation and social marginalization that increases the risk of violence faced by women in the sex trade is often particularly acute for Indigenous women. The role of racism and sexism in compounding the threat to Indigenous women in the sex trade was starkly noted by Justice David Wright in the 1996 trial of John Martin Crawford for the murder of three Indigenous women in Saskatchewan: It seems Mr. Crawford was attracted to his victims for four reasons; one, they were young; second, they were women; third, they were native; and fourth, they were prostitutes. They were persons separated from the community and their families. The accused treated them with contempt, brutality; he terrorized them and ultimately he killed them. He seemed determined to destroy every vestige of their humanity.(31) Racist Violence and Indigenous Women Among the missing and murdered Indigenous women whose stories appear in Amnesty International's report, some had occasionally or regularly engaged in the sex trade to make a living. Others, however, had had no connection to the sex trade. It is Amnesty International's view that some of the factors contributing to violence against sex workers, such as social stigmatisation and being cut off from the protection of family and society, are often part of the experience of Indigenous women beyond the sex trade. The Manitoba Justice Inquiry said of the murder of Helen Betty Osborne: Her attackers seemed to be operating on the assumption that Aboriginal women were promiscuous and open to enticement through alcohol or violence. It is evident that the men who abducted Osborne believed that young Aboriginal women were objects with no human value beyond sexual gratification.(32) Frontline organizations contacted by Amnesty International confirmed that racist and sexist attitudes toward Indigenous women continue to be a factor in attacks on Indigenous women in Canadian cities. Police, however, are inconsistent in their acknowledgement of this threat. Some police spokespersons told Amnesty International that they believe that "lifestyle" factors, such as engaging the sex trade or illegal drug use are the most important risk factors, and that other factors such as race or gender are not significant enough to be considered in their work. Other police spokespersons told Amnesty International that they have seen that racism and sexism are factors in attacks on Indigenous women and that they consider Indigenous women as a whole to be at risk. Over Policed and Under Protected Numerous studies of policing in Canada have concluded that Indigenous people as a whole are not getting the protection they deserve.(33) This conclusion is supported by the testimony of many of the families interviewed by Amnesty International. A few described police officers who were polite and efficient and who, in a few cases, even went to extraordinary lengths to investigate the disappearance of their loved ones. Other families described how police failed to act promptly when their sisters or daughters went missing, treated the family disrespectfully, or kept the family in the dark about how the investigation - if any - was proceeding. A number of police officers interviewed by Amnesty International insisted that they handle all cases the same and do not treat anyone differently because they are Indigenous. However, if police are to provide Indigenous people with a standard of protection equivalent to that provided to other sectors of society, police need to understand the specific needs of Indigenous communities, be able to communicate with Indigenous people without barriers of fear and mistrust, and ultimately be accountable to Indigenous communities. As some police officers acknowledged to Amnesty International, this is clearly not the case today. Across the country, Indigenous people face arrest and criminal prosecution in numbers far out of proportion to the size of the Indigenous population. The Manitoba Justice Inquiry suggested that the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the justice system may partly stem from the predisposition of police to charge and detain Indigenous people in circumstances "when a white person in the same circumstances might not be arrested at all, or might not be held."(34) The Inquiry explained that many police have come to view Indigenous people not as a community deserving protection, but a community from which the rest of society must be protected. This has lead to a situation often described as one of Indigenous people being over-policed but under-protected.(35) Many Indigenous people feel they have little reason to trust police and as a consequence, are reluctant to turn to police for protection. Police forces were used to enforce policies such as the removal of children to residential schools that have torn apart Indigenous communities. Today, many Indigenous people believe police are as likely to harm as to protect them. The Saskatchewan Justice Reform Commission noted that "mothers of Aboriginal youth have spoken about the apprehension they feel when their children leave the home at night. Their fears involve the possibility of police abusing their children."(36) One Indigenous woman, herself a professor at a Canadian university, told Amnesty International that she has instructed her teenage son to never talk to the police unless she is present. Protesting against the absence of any permanent police force in many Northern communities, the Inuit Women's Association of Canada has said, "In order to serve all parts of the communities, the police have to know our communities, they must be a part of our communities."(37) Many police forces in Canada now require officers to take courses in cultural sensitivity, cross cultural communication or Indigenous history to help improve their understanding of Indigenous communities. Despite such requirements, the Saskatchewan Justice Reform Commission concluded, "police officers continue to be assigned to First Nations and M?tis communities with minimal knowledge of the culture and history of the people they serve."(38) Despite the efforts of many police forces to hire more Indigenous officers, Indigenous people are still underrepresented in police forces across Canada.(39) Greater effort must be made to hire more Indigenous officers, especially women. More attention must also be made to integrate an understanding of Indigenous communities into core learning experiences of all officers. For example, the concerns, perspectives and needs of Indigenous communities should be reflected in the operational scenarios used in police training. Officers also need the time and the opportunity within their day-to-day duties to develop the necessary relationships of mutual understanding and trust with Indigenous communities. Unfortunately, many officers told Amnesty International that heavy workloads and frequent, often mandatory, rotations in and out of assignments, present real barriers to officers understanding and being trusted by Indigenous communities. Police forces should work with Indigenous organizations to establish practices and policies that can support not only the learning of individual officers, but also an improved relationship between Indigenous communities and the force as a whole. The Saskatchewan Justice Reform Commission pointed to a number of positive practices within the Saskatoon police force that should be emulated elsewhere. These included the creation of an Indigenous liaison post and regular cooperation with community elders, including having elders accompany officers on some patrols in predominantly Indigenous neighbourhoods.(40) One of the critical areas for institutional reform highlighted by Amnesty International's research is the way police respond to reports of missing persons. Many Indigenous families told Amnesty International that police did little when they reported a sister or daughter missing and seemed to be waiting for the woman to be found. Police point out that the vast majority of people who are reported missing have run away or chosen to break off ties with family or friends. Most people who have voluntarily "gone missing" in this way do quickly turn up on their own. However, this does not excuse incidents recounted to Amnesty International where, despite the serious concern of family members that a missing sister or daughter was in serious danger, police failed to take basic steps such as promptly interviewing family and friends or appealing to the public for information. These steps are particularly urgent when the missing person is a girl, as the state has special obligations to find and protect children at risk. Every missing person report needs to be carefully assessed to determine the risk to the missing person. Unfortunately, even in large cities, many Canadian police forces do not have specialized personnel assigned to missing person cases. Instead, the task of assessing the risk and the credibility of the family's fears may fall to individual officers with little or no specific training or experience related to missing persons. To Amnesty International's knowledge, few police forces have specific protocols on actions to be taken when Indigenous women and girls are reported missing. The national police force, the RCMP, does require that a specialized liaison officer be involved in the case when the missing person is Indigenous. All forces should work with Indigenous communities to develop and put in place more specific protocols that are sensitive to the particular concerns and circumstances in which Indigenous women are reported missing. There are additional concerns around police treatment of Indigenous and non-Indigenous women in the sex trade. Under Canadian law, the act of prostitution is not illegal, but communicating in public for the purpose of buying or selling sexual services, as well as buying or attempting to buy the sexual services of someone younger than 18, being found in a place maintained for prostitution, and procuring or living off the proceeds of someone else's prostitution are all criminal acts.(41) Although these laws potentially target those who purchase sex or live off of prostitution as much as they target women and men who sell sexual services, prostitutes are the most frequent targets of arrest in many jurisdictions. Many in the sex trade say that the threat of enforcement of these laws is used to drive sex trade workers from neighbourhoods where affluent residents are likely to complain, into less visible, and therefore more dangerous areas.(42) The threat of arrest places sex workers in an "adversarial relationship" with police.(43) Sex workers are reluctant to seek the protection of police for fear of being arrested. In turn, police tend to look on prostitutes with suspicion and mistrust, and may blame them for putting themselves in positions of risk.The executive director of Regina's Sex Workers' Advocacy Project, Barb Lawrence, told Amnesty International about comments made by one police officer. A sex worker missed an appointment with a Crown Prosecutor to give testimony in the case of a murdered Indigenous woman in Regina. Lawrence, who had set up the meeting, eventually received a call from the sex worker. It turned out that the woman was being held by city police who wanted her to provide evidence on a separate case. The police had refused to believe that she had a meeting with the prosecutor's office. When Lawrence and the prosecutors went to the police station to meet the woman, the arresting officer reportedly said he had no reason to believe the woman' s claims, saying "she's just a hooker on the street." Conclusion and Recommendations Indigenous women and girls deserve the protection of Canadian authorities and Canadian society. The failure to provide that protection is a personal tragedy for their families who have lost sisters, daughters and mothers to racist and sexist violence. It is also a human rights tragedy. The concept of human rights is based on the recognition of the inherent dignity and worth of every human being - without exception. Through ratification of binding international human rights treaties and the adoption of important declarations by bodies such as the United Nations, governments have made a commitment to ensure that all people enjoy universal rights and freedoms. Governments are obliged to provide protection from discrimination and ensure that everyone has access to adequate healthcare, education, and shelter. Governments are also obliged to take every reasonable precaution to prevent crimes such as murder, abduction and torture. Amnesty International is concerned that Canadian officials are not living up to their obligations toward Indigenous women. Attacks on Indigenous women in Canadian cities have, for too long, been treated as isolated incidents. The common patterns are not adequately researched and many of the preventive measures identified by past government commissions and inquiries have not been implemented. Meanwhile longstanding patterns of social and economic inequity that remain unaddressed continue to drive Indigenous women and girls into situations like the sex trade where the risk to their lives is that much greater. It is time for action. All levels of government in Canada should work closely and urgently with Indigenous peoples' organizations, and Indigenous women in particular, to institute plans of action to stop violence against Indigenous women. The following recommendations for action are based on recommendations made by the families of missing women, frontline organizations working for Indigenous women's welfare and safety, and official government inquiries and commissions. Some of the recommendations are specific to the situation and needs of Indigenous women. Others are relevant to both Indigenous women and non-Indigenous women. Canadian officials should: 1. Identify and implement appropriate and effective protocols for action on missing person cases consistent with the specific risks to Indigenous women and girls. 2. Provide adequate, sustained, multi-year funding to culturally appropriate services, such as shelters and counselling for Indigenous women and girls, needed to prevent violence against Indigenous women. The design and implementation of these programs must be responsive to the needs of Indigenous women. 3. Expand programs which provide advocates to assist Indigenous people in their contacts with police and with courts. 4. Ensure that all police forces in Canada are subject to the jurisdiction of independent civilian bodies able to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by police. 5. Increase recruitment of Indigenous police officers, particularly Indigenous women. As well, ensure adequate training for all police, prosecutors and judges on issues of violence against Indigenous women in a range of settings including family violence, child sexual exploitation and violence against women in the sex trade. 6. As part of ongoing review and implementation of laws regarding the sex trade in Canada, give police clear instructions to ensure that the fundamental rights of women involved in the sex trade are protected in the course of all law enforcement activities. 7. Provide funding for comprehensive national research on violence against Indigenous women, including the creation of a national registry to collect and analyze statistical information from all jurisdictions. 8. Request the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people and Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, to jointly study and document patterns of violence against Indigenous women, including in Canada. Clearly outline the measures taken to address the problem of violence against Indigenous women in Canada in reports to relevant UN human rights bodies, including the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Human Rights Committee. 9. Implement outstanding recommendations of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples which address poverty and social marginalization of Indigenous people in Canada, as has repeatedly been urged by United Nations human rights treaty bodies. 10. Strengthen and expand public education programs, including those within the formal school system, that acknowledge and address the history of dispossession and marginalization of Indigenous peoples and the present reality of racism in Canadian society. 11. Take measures to ensure mandatory and meaningful consultation with Indigenous women in the formulation and implementation of all policies affecting their welfare. 12. Ratify and uphold international human rights instruments relevant to the prevention of violence against women, including the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women (Convention of Bel?m do Par?). For further recommendations, please see our full report: Stolen Sisters: A Human Rights Response to Discrimination and Violence Against Indigenous Women in Canada. Take action Add your voice to the demand that Canadian officials take urgent action to stop violence against Indigenous women in Canada. Write to: The Honourable Anne McLellan Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness House of Commons Parliament Buildings Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6 Canada Express your deep concern about violence against Indigenous women in Canada. Ask the federal government to take the following steps as a matter of urgent priority: ? Strongly encourage all police forces across Canada to work with Indigenous women's organizations to identify and implement appropriate and effective protocols for action on missing person cases consistent with the specific risks to Indigenous women and girls. ? Ensure adequate, sustained, multi-year funding to culturally appropriate services such as shelters and counselling, needed to prevent violence against Indigenous women. ? Provide adequate funding for comprehensive national research on violence against Indigenous women, including the creation of a national registry to collect and analyze statistical information from all jurisdictions. ? Ensure full implementation of outstanding recommendations of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, which address poverty and social marginalization of Indigenous people in Canada, as has repeatedly been urged by United Nations treaty bodies. ******** (1) Report of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba: The Deaths of Helen Betty Osborne and John Joseph Harper, Commissioners A.C. Hamilton and C.M. Sinclair, 1991. (2) The cases are included in the full version of this report. (3) The term "Indigenous" refers to all descendants of the original inhabitants of the territories that now make up Canada. This includes the First Nations, the Inuit and the M?tis. In Canada, the word "Aboriginal" has the same meaning and is more widely used. This report uses the term "Indigenous" because of its use in international human rights laws and standards. (4) Aboriginal Women: A Demographic, Social and Economic Profile, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Summer 1996. (5) Canadian Press, "Missing aboriginal women inspire national campaign," 22 March 2004. (6) Juristat Vol 21, No.9, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada 2001. (7) See, for example, Claudine Dumont-Smith and Pauline Sioui Labelle, National Family Violence Abuse Study. Aboriginal Nurses of Canada, 1991. Pauktuutit (Inuit Women's Association). No more secrets. 1991. (8) "Serial killer who roamed Saskatoon met with indifference by police, media: Journalist-author accepts award for book about slain aboriginal women." Edmonton Journal. 29 November 2003. (9) Vancouver, Prince Albert, Saskatoon, Regina, and Winnipeg. (10) Report of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba, Supra, footnote 1. (11) See, for instance, Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP), 1996, http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ch/rcap/sg/sgmm_e.html; and the Concluding observations of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Canada, 10/12/98, E/C.12/1/Add.31. (12) Canada's obligations to protect Indigenous women from violence stem from a number of international human rights treaties including the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, article 2; the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, article 2; and the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination, article 2. (13) See, for example, The Aboriginal Family Healing Unit Steering Committee, For Generations to Come: The Time is Now: A Strategy for Aboriginal Family Healing (Sylvia Maracle, Barbara Craig, co-chairs), 1993. (14) RCAP, Supra, footnote 11. (15) Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Assembly of First Nations. First Nations Child and Family Services Joint National Policy Review. Ottawa, 2000. Cindy Blackstock, Sarah Clarke, James Cullen, Jeffrey D'Hondt, and Jocelyn Formsma. Keeping the Promise: The Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Lived Experiences of First Nations Children and Youth. First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada. Ottawa. 2004. (16) RCAP, Supra, footnote 11. (17) RCAP. Ibid. (18) Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. Aboriginal Women: A Profile from the 1996 Census, Ottawa, 2001. (19) Statistics Canada. Low income cut offs from 1994-2003 and low income measures from 1992-2001, Ottawa, 2003. (20) Mary Ann Beavis, Nancy Klos, Tom Carter and Christian Douchant. Literature Review: Aboriginal Peoples and Homelessness. Institute of Urban Studies, The University of Winnipeg. January 1997. (21) Freeman Marshall, Pat and Marthe Asselin Vaillancourt. Changing the Landscape: Ending Violence -Achieving Equality: Final Report of the Canadian Panel on Violence Against Women, Ottawa: Supply and Services Canada, 1993. (22) Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres, Urban Aboriginal Child Poverty: A Status Report on Aboriginal Children & Their Families in Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, October, 2000 (23) A variety of factors lead women to work in the sex trade. That full range of circumstances is not the focus of this report, which concentrates on Indigenous women in Canada. (24) PACE Society, Violence against Women in Vancouver's Street Level Sex Trade and the Police Response, Vancouver, 2000, p. 82. (25) Ibid. pp. 32-3. (26) Ibid. p. 6. (27) Save the Children Canada. Sacred lives: Canadian Aboriginal children and youth speak out about sexual exploitation. National Aboriginal Consultation Project. Ottawa, 2000. p. 33. (28) Ibid., p. 34. (29) PACE Society, Supra, footnote 24, p. 6. (30) John Lowman. "Violence and the Outlaw Status of (Street) Prostitution in Canada. Violence Against Women, Volume 6, Number 9, September 2000, pp. 987-1011, at 989. (31) Warren Goulding. Just Another Indian: A Serial Killer and Canada's Indifference, Calgary: Heritage House Publishing Company. 2001. p. 188. (32) Report of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba, Supra, footnote 1. (33) See for example: Saskatchewan Commission on First Nations and M?tis Peoples and Justice Reform (Saskatchewan Justice Reform Commission), Final Report, Regina, 2004. Report of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba, Supra, footnote 1. (34) Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba, Supra, footnote 1, p. 595 (35) The Aboriginal Justice Implementation Commission, Final Report, Manitoba, 2001. (36) Saskatchewan Justice Reform Commission, Supra, footnote 33, pp. 5-3, 5-4. (37) Pauktuutit (Inuit Women's Association of Canada), Inuit Women and Justice: Progress Report No. 1, Appendix, Violence Against Women and Children: The Concerns of Labrador Women pp.5-6. (38) Saskatchewan Justice Reform Commission, Supra, footnote 33, pp. 5-8. (39) Ibid, pp. 5-10, 5-11. The Aboriginal Justice Implementation Commission. Supra, footnote 34. (40) Ibid., p. A-34. (41) Criminal Code of Canada, ss. 212, 213. (42) Pivot Legal Society. Voices for Dignity: A Call to End the Harms Caused by Canada's Sex Trade Laws. Vancouver, 2004. (43) Lowman, Supra, footnote 30, p. 1008. ----------------------------- "The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed." (Steve Biko) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 19:04:50 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:04:50 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Support Argentinian Workers of Worker-Run Companies Message-ID: *Zanon* *by Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein; December 04, 2004* Dear Friends, Workers at the Zanon ceramic tile factory - an inspiring, worker-run factory in Argentina - have asked us to gather international support to prevent their eviction. The Zanon workers' co-operative is called FaSinPat, short for Fabricas Sin Patrones, Factories Without Bosses. Their highly successful combination of direct action and direct democracy is a precious example of that other world that is possible and that is growing before our eyes. Argentina's movement of worker-run companies involves 15,000 workers in almost 200 democratic workplaces. It is building hope and a concrete economic alternative in the rubble of Argentina's disastrous experiment with neoliberalism in the 1990s. Recovered companies are run by assembly - one worker, one vote. In most of them, workers have decided that everyone should receive the same salary. They are proving the viability of an economy run on an entirely different value system - and they are growing. In the past year Zanon has increased its workforce from 300 to 450, a 50% increase, without the millions in public subsidies given to the former owner. Zanon has cultivated a deep relationship with the surrounding community. For 20 years the poor neighbourhood of Nueva Espaqa next to the factory has been asking the provincial government for a health clinic. Earlier this year Zanon workers voted to build a community health facility in the neighbourhood and did so in three months flat. Now the provincial government is threatening to illegally send in police to remove Zanon's precious machines.The Zanon workers have told us that a massive international petition in support of their struggle could make a big difference with the various levels of courts and governments. We urge you to sign the petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/zanon/petition.html and to forward this email to others encouraging them to do the same. Thank you for your time and support, Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 19:08:36 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:08:36 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Take Action! Day 4 Message-ID: Tenzin Delek Week of Action - Day 4 Students for a Free Tibet It's day 4 of the Week of Action for Tenzin Delek, and today, we are asking you to call the Chinese embassy in Canada. Please call +1-613-789-3434 and dial extension '248' (political affairs). You will be transferred, and then hear a recorded message. Please leave your message after the tone. If you don't make the call on Sunday, then please try to call during embassy hours on Monday: 9am-12pm and 2pm-5pm, Eastern Standard Time. Dial the same extension, but be prepared to speak to a person. If that extension doesn't work on Monday, you can also try 223 (administration). Please say: - You are calling to ask China not to execute a Tibetan monk who is in prison, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche. - Tenzin Delek could be executed in the next few weeks for crimes he did not commit. - China must overturn his death sentence and free him. - Please make sure to pass this message on to Ambassador Mei Ping. This will make a difference - thanks for doing it! --The SFT crew -------------------------------------------------------------- Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this. Tell-a-friend! If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Students for a Free Tibet's Action Center. 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 Sun Dec 5 19:23:12 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:23:12 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Revolution @ Sundance, True Lies @ College Message-ID: Greetings Guerrillas: 1. GNN is pleased to announce that our first feature film, This Revolution, directed by Stephen Marshall and starring Rosario Dawson, has been accepted to the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. More details to come... 2. GNN is kicking off its True Lies tour in earnest this week, with appearances at several fine East Coast institutions of higher learning and coffee houses. For more info about upcoming events and how you can bring GNN to your town: http://www.gnn.tv/truelies Saturday Dec. 4, 7 PM Sander Hicks and Vox Pop present Our First Authors Event with Anthony Lappe and Karen E. Lillis, author Magenta's Adventures Underground: A Fable for the Police State. @ Vox Pop: Books, Coffee, Democracy 1022 Cortelyou Road, Ditmas Park, Flatbush, Brooklyn For more info and directions: http://www.voxpopnet.net/index.php?id=54&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=5&tx_ttnews[backPid]=41&cHash=5cf45520b9 Tuesday Dec. 7, 4:00 PM Anthony Lappe University of Pennsylvania UPENN Bookstore, corner of 36th & Walnut Street in Philadelphia Free and open to the public Thursday: Vassar Friday: Rutgers 3. Site highlights: School of Rove GNNer Liam Scheff interviews Bush's Brain authors, and reveals the dark secrets behind Karl Rove's success. http://www.gnn.tv/articles/article.php?id=951 Banking on Baghdad Mess-o-potamia in a nutshell. GNN interviews author Edwin Black about his groundbreaking new book. http://www.gnn.tv/articles/article.php?id=950 Letter from Seville GNN's man in the Middle East, Borzou Daragahi provides a haunting personal account of life after Baghdad. http://www.gnn.tv/articles/article.php?id=949 4. Lastly, be sure to check out these amazing GNN user blogs: the answer is 42 http://www.gnn.tv/users/user.php?id=157 what better time than now http://www.gnn.tv/users/user.php?id=165 Watching the Flower War http://www.gnn.tv/users/user.php?id=1930 strange symmetries http://www.gnn.tv/users/user.php?id=8 --------------------------------------------------- If you feel you have received this notice in error, or if you ever want to leave the list, just visit this URL to be instantly removed: http://gnn.tv/cgi-bin/elist/index.pl?subscribe=unsubscribe&email=deano700 at msn.com or visit the website at http://gnn.tv to remove yourself. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 19:23:50 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:23:50 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: man adopted Romanian orphan for sex, pornography with child Message-ID: Prosecutors say Silverton man adopted Romanian orphan for sex, made pornography with child crimeshttp://www.kptv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2637275 FOX TV Channel 12 Prosecutors say man adopted orphan for sex crimes 12-01-04 SALEM - A Marion County man has been charged with a number of child sex crimes involving a boy he brought back from Romania. Prosecutors allege that 37-year old William Peckenpaugh went to Romania to adopt a boy, then brought him back to a life of child pornography which involved videotape. Detectives say Pekenpaugh videotaped abuse acts with the boy, then returned the video camera to Fry's electronics in Wilsonville. A couple then bought the camera and found the images and contacted police. Darren Tweet of the Marion County D.A.'s Office says he has seen it all as a prosecutor. But this case, he said, is unusually sad. Peckenpaugh is charged with six counts of sodomy, two counts of Sex Abuse, and one county of Using a Child for the Purpose of Sexual Display. The boy has been placed in foster care. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Read the following link: We hope there will be more public disclosure on this case. "Foster Care" in state homes means more of the same abuse for this child. This is RAMPANT method and policy by agents of the state to abuse the children in "care". This is part of a network of pedophiles who are having open season on vulnerable children, placed intentionally in these homes as well as adopted....all part of the same international market in child flesh operating in Oregon and other states.... this is so well known that in the nineties the media referred to Oregon a having "airport adoptions".... Good Housekeeping in l995 wrote an expose titled "STOLEN BABIES", which said at that time Oregon and nine other states were known to be involved in black market child selling .... the article stated that at that time a white baby was being sold for $65,000 and a mix race child for $45,000 .... that amount is alot more now and the younger the better, babies preferred .... These are VULTURES who target their prey and exploit the children for profit, shredding families, stealing children. Read more about former Oregon child services head KAY TORAN at the link below, officers of the police and state operating in Silverton have been found to be involved in black market child selling through the offices of the child services ... the schemes are international, "streamlined" to seize as many children as possible in every country .... more than 2,300 children dissappear in the USA EVERY DAY, and more than 3,000 children are seized by state agencies in the USA.... THAT many families are being shredded DAILY, and the media are silent about the systemic issues. pamela gaston www.avoiceforchildren.com Oregonian Reporter does not want to know about crimes happening in Oregon...... refuse to investigate evidence http://www.avoiceforchildren.com/news/2002/November/Oregonian_doesnt_want_to_know.htm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 19:25:55 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:25:55 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Serbian president survives assassination attempt Message-ID: http://www.canada.com/national/story.html?id=628d8f5b-86ee-4214-ab7c-eecb8d76b178 Serbian president survives assassination attempt Dusan Stojanovic, National Post-Canadian Press, 12/01/04 BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro -- Serbia's pro-western President Boris Tadic survived an apparent assassination attempt when a car repeatedly tried to crash into his motorcade, his press office said Wednesday. The incident occurred late Tuesday in downtown Belgrade when the driver of a black Audi made several attempts to crash his car into Tadic's but was cut off by a security vehicle, the press office said. Tadic was unhurt, and the Audi fled the scene in Belgrade's wealthy Dedinje district after the security car rammed it. The president's security had noticed that the car was following the motorcade for a while before the incident, officials said. Tadic's agenda for Wednesday was unaffected and he held a scheduled meeting with British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon. Afterward, he told reporters that "the situation requires a serious investigation." "This state has serious problems," he said. Tadic, who was elected Serbian president in June, also criticized the police for a slow start to the investigation, saying, "I still have not received a report" about the incident. "This is not about me, this is about whether our institutions are working or not," the president said. "All institutions must do their job and this applies to the government." The government is led by Tadic's political foe, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica. Another pro-western official, Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, was assassinated in March 2003 outside his downtown Belgrade office in a sniper attack. Just weeks before the fatal shooting, Djindjic survived another attempt on his life in which a truck tried to crash into his motorcade, also in Belgrade. After the killing, Tadic took over leadership of the pro-western Democratic Party. "History is being repeated in a most terrible way," said Bojan Pajtic, vice-president of the party, noting the similarity to events leading up to Djindjic's slaying. "Serbia must not allow that the March 2003 (assassination) happen again," he said. It would mean a loss of last hope that this country would ever join the European family of nations." The European Union foreign policy and security chief, Javier Solana, issued a statement expressing "sympathy and support" to Tadic after the attack, whose "perpetrators ... work against the interests of Serbia and of the Serbian people in Europe." Several paramilitary and gang figures associated with former president Slobodan Milosevic are standing trial in the Djindjic case, accused of killing the reformist prime minister in order to bring Milosevic's allies back to power in Serbia. Considered the most popular Serbian politician, Tadic is hated by nationalists who oppose his pro-western policies and calls for more than a dozen Serb war crimes suspects to be extradited to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands. Tadic's Democratic Party led the rebellion that toppled Milosevic, the former president of Yugoslavia, Serbia-Montenegro's predecessor, in October 2000, and extradited him for trial to The Hague a year later. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "The practice of discernment is part of higher consciousness. Discernment is not just a step up from judgement. In life's curriculum, it is the opposite of judgement. Through judgement a man reveals what he needs to confront and learn. Through discernment, one reveals what he has mastered." Quote from: Love Without End, by Glenda Green -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 19:28:23 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:28:23 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Donald Scott case - killing for land Message-ID: Donald Scott case - killing for land Advertisement HOME Contact STORE 2nd AMEND DAILY NEWS Links Free Posters Bookstore -------------------------------------------------------------------- TO SaveOurGuns.com Sunday, January 23, 2000 -------------------------------------------------------------------- ARMED AND DANGEROUS Ranch-coveting officials settle for killing owner Five police agencies staged bogus drug raid on rich eccentric to acquire 200-acre spread -------------------------------------------------------------------- By Paul Ciotti ? 2000 WorldNetDaily.com Recent revelations about rampant police perjury have made Los Angeles juries so mistrustful of law enforcement that attorneys for Los Angeles County are in some cases offering plaintiffs multi-million dollar settlements, rather than risking the possibility of far larger damage awards should the cases ever go to trial. In one of the more infamous instances of alleged law enforcement misconduct -- the killing of the reclusive Malibu millionaire and rugged anti-government individualist Donald Scott in his ranch house by Los Angeles sheriff's deputies in 1992 -- county and federal government officials tentatively agreed last week to pay Scott's heirs and estate a total of $5 million in return for their dropping a wrongful death lawsuit. Furthermore, they made the settlement despite the deep conviction, says deputy Los Angeles County Counsel Dennis Gonzales, that the deputy who shot Scott was fully justified and -- even though the sheriff was never able to prove it -- that the heavy-drinking Scott was growing thousands of marijuana plants on his remote $2.5 million Malibu ranch. Early on the morning of Oct. 2, 1992, 31 officers from the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, Drug Enforcement Administration, Border Patrol, National Guard and Park Service came roaring down the narrow dirt road to Scott's rustic 200-acre ranch. They planned to arrest Scott, the wealthy, eccentric, hard-drinking heir to a Europe-based chemicals fortune, for allegedly running a 4,000-plant marijuana plantation. When deputies broke down the door to Scott's house, Scott's wife would later tell reporters, she screamed, "Don't shoot me. Don't kill me." That brought Scott staggering out of the bedroom, hung-over and bleary-eyed -- he'd just had a cataract operation -- holding a .38 caliber Colt snub-nosed revolver over his head. When he pointed it in the direction of the deputies, they killed him. Later, the lead agent in the case, sheriff's deputy Gary Spencer and his partner John Cater posed for photographs arm-in-am outside Scott's cabin, smiling and triumphant, says Larry Longo, a former Los Angeles deputy district attorney who now represents Scott's daughter, Susan. "It was as if they were white hunters who had just shot the buffalo," he said. Despite a subsequent search of Scott's ranch using helicopters, dogs, searchers on foot, and a high-tech Jet Propulsion Laboratory device for detecting trace amounts of sinsemilla, no marijuana --or any other illegal drug -- was ever found. Scott's widow, the former Frances Plante, along with four of Scott's children from prior marriages, subsequently filed a $100 million wrongful death suit against the county and federal government. For eight years the case dragged on, requiring the services of 15 attorneys and some 30 volume binders to hold all the court documents. Last week, attorneys for Los Angeles County and the federal government agreed to settle with Scott's heirs and estate, even though the sheriff's department still maintained its deputies had done nothing wrong. "I do not believe it was an illegal raid in any way, shape or form," Captain Larry Waldie, head of the Sheriff's Department's narcotics bureau, told the Los Angeles Times after the shooting. When Scott came out of the bedroom, the deputies identified themselves and shouted at him to put the gun down. As Scott began to lower his arm, one deputy later said, he "kinda" pointed his gun -- which he initially was holding by the cylinder, not the handle grip -- at deputy Spencer who, in fear for his life, killed him. Although attorneys for Los Angeles County believed Scott's shooting was fully justified, they weren't eager to see the case go to trial. Recent widespread revelations of illegal shootings, planted evidence and perjured testimony at the Los Angeles Police Department's Rampart Division were making the public mistrust the police. "I've tried four cases (since the Rampart revelations)," said Dennis Gonzales, a deputy Los Angeles County counsel. And in each case, he said, jurors have told him that the possibility that police officers were lying was a factor in their vote. "You have to be realistic as to public perceptions," he said. Nick Gutsue, Scott's former attorney and currently special administrator for his estate, put it more bluntly: "(Gonzales) saw he had a loser and he took the easy way out." Ironically enough, the county might have had a better chance of winning a court battle if it had allowed the case to go to trial when Scott's widow and four children first filed their lawsuit back in 1993. The county blew it, says Gutsue. It adopted a "divide and conquer strategy." It prolonged the lawsuit's resolution with a successful motion to throw legendarily aggressive anti-police attorney Stephen Yagman off the case. Then it filed a time-consuming motion to dismiss the estate from the lawsuit. In the process, says Gutsue, new revelations of police misconduct began appearing so frequently that the public's attitude toward law enforcement began to change. "It was one scandal after another," says Gutsue. "(County attorneys) stalled so long that the (Rampart scandal) came along and their stalling tactics backfired." Although county officials still maintain that Scott was a major marijuana grower who was just clever enough not to get caught, his friends and widow maintain that his drug of choice was alcohol, not marijuana. As a young man, Scott lived a privileged life, growing up in Switzerland and attending prep schools in New York. Later he lived the life of a dashing international jet setter who was married three times, once to a French movie star, and who had gone through two bitter and messy divorces by the time he moved to his Malibu ranch, called Trail's End, in 1966. Although well-liked and generous to friends, Scott drank heavily, could be cantankerous and deeply mistrusted the government, which he suspected of having designs on this ranch, a remote and nearly inaccessible parcel with high rocky bluffs on three sides and a 75-foot spring-fed waterfall out back. "You know what he used to say," his third wife, Frances Plante, told writer Michael Fessier Jr. in a 1993 article for the Los Angeles Times magazine, "He'd say, 'Frances, every day they pass a new law and the day after that they pass 40 more.'" To Los Angeles County officials, the fact that Don Scott got killed in his own house during a futile raid to seize a non-existent 4,000-plant marijuana farm is just one of the unfortunate facts of life in the narcotics enforcement business. It doesn't mean that sheriff's deputies did anything wrong. "Sometimes people get warned and we don't find anything," Gary Spencer, the lead deputy on the raid and the one who shot Scott, told an L.A. Times reporter in 1997, "so I don't consider it botched. I wouldn't call it botched because that would say that it was a mistake to have gone there in the first place, and I don't believe that." Someone who did believe that was Ventura County District Attorney Michael Bradbury. Although Scott's ranch was in Ventura County, none of the 31 people participating in the massive early morning raid, which included officers from the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, the DEA, the National Park Service, the California National Guard and the Border Patrol bothered to invite any Ventura County officers to come along. Furthermore, once Scott was shot, Los Angeles County tried to claim jurisdiction over the investigation of Scott's death, even though the shooting occured in Ventura County. To Bradbury, it was easy to see why. L.A. County wanted jurisdiction. In a 64-page report issued by Bradbury's office in March of 1993, Bradbury concluded that the search warrant contained numerous misstatements, evasions and omissions. The purpose of the raid, he wrote, was never to find some evanescent marijuana plantation. It was to seize Scott's ranch under asset forfeiture laws and then divide the proceeds with participating agencies, such as the National Park Service, which had put Scott's ranch on a list of property it would one day like to acquire, and the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, which heavily relied on assets seized in drug raids to supplement its otherwise inadequate budget. For something written by a government agency, the Bradbury report was surprisingly blunt. It dismissed Spencer's supposed reasons for believing that the Scott ranch was a marijuana plantation and accused Spencer of having lost his "moral compass" in his eagerness to seize Scott's multi-million dollar ranch. As proof of its assertions, the report pointed to a parcel map in possession of the raiding party that contained the handwritten notation that an adjacent 80-acre property had recently sold for $800,000. In addition, the day of the raid, participants were told during the briefing that Scott's ranch could be seized if as few as 14 plants were found. In order to verify that the marijuana really existed, at first Spencer simply hiked to a site overlooking Scott's ranch. Discovering nothing, he subsequently sent an Air National Guard jet over the area to take photographs of the ranch. When this also failed to reveal anything, he dispatched a Drug Enforcement Administration agent in a light plane to make a low level flight. The DEA agent, whose name was Charles Stowell, said he saw flashes of green hidden in trees which he believed were 50 marijuana plants. At the same time, Stowell was uncertain enough about his observations -- which he had made with the naked eye from an altitude of 1,000 feet -- to warn Spencer not to use them as the basis for a search warrant without further corroboration. In an effort to confirm the marijuana sighting -- Spencer by this time had decided that Scott was growing marijuana in pots suspended under the trees -- Spencer asked members of the Border Patrol's "C-Rat" team to make a night-time foray into the ranch. Despite two separate incursions, they failed to find anything except barking dogs. The following day a Fish and Game warden and Coastal Commission worker went to the ranch to investigate alleged stream pollution and do a "trout survey" on the dry stream bed. They too failed to see any marijuana. Two days after that, a sheriff's deputy and National Park ranger visited the ranch again, this time ostensibly to buy a rottweiler puppy from Scott. The Scotts were friendly and gave them a tour of the ranch. Once again no one saw any marijuana. This lack of confirmation notwithstanding, four days later Spencer filed an affidavit for a search warrant saying that DEA Special Agent Charles Stowell, "while conducting cannabis eradication and suppression reconnaissance ... over the Santa Monica Mountains in a single engine fixed wing aircraft ... noticed that marijuana was being cultivated at the Trails End Ranch 35247 Mulholland Highway in Malibu. Specifically Agent Stowell saw approximately 50 plants that he recognized to be marijuana plants growing around some large trees that were in a grove near a house on the property." To attorneys with a lot of experience with warrants, Spencer's affidavit didn't look like much. "On a scale of one to ten," says former district attorney Longo, "I would give it a one." Despite the affidavit's deficiencies -- among other things, Spencer didn't mention that none of the people participating in any of the previous week's incursions had reported any marijuana -- Ventura Municipal Court Judge Herbert Curtis III issued a search warrant which, in the words of the Bradbury report, became Scott's "death warrant." After Scott's death, a helicopter hovered over the area in which the marijuana plants were believed to have been growing. There were no pots, no water supply, no marijuana. There was only ivy and even that wasn't in the location where the marijuana was supposed to be. Larry Longo, a friend of Scott whose children used to play with Scott's children, says it's absurd to think that Scott had marijuana plants hanging from the trees. "I went up there right after the shooting. The trees were 200- or 300-year-old oak trees. The leaves under them hadn't been raked in a hundred years." If Scott had been growing marijuana under the trees, the leaves would have been disturbed and the tree bark broken. "There wasn't a single mark on the trees. There was no water supply." Besides, says Longo, "Donald might have been a lot of things, but he would never be so dumb as to cultivate marijuana on his property." If for no other reason, he didn't need the money. Any time he needed cash, all he had to do was call New York and they'd withdraw whatever was necessary out of his trust fund. At the time of Scott's death, there was $1.6 million in his primary trust account. The Bradbury report caused a huge ruckus in Los Angeles County. Sherman Block, the sheriff at the time, denounced it and issued a report of his own which completely cleared everyone, and California Attorney General Dan Lungren criticized Bradbury for "inappropriate and gratuitous comments." Cheered by his apparent exoneration by Sheriff Block and Attorney General Lungren, sheriff's deputy Spencer subsequently sued Bradbury for libel, slander and defamation. After a long and bitter fight, including allegations that Bradbury suppressed an earlier report which concluded that Spencer was innocent after all, a state appeals court declared that Bradbury was within his 1st Amendment rights of free speech when he criticized Spencer. The court also ordered Spencer to pay Bradbury's $50,000 legal fees, a development that caused Spencer to declare bankruptcy. According to press reports, the stress from all this caused Spencer to develop a "twitch." Spencer wasn't the only one affected by Scott's killing. Scott's wife, Frances, was so strapped for cash, she subsequently told a judge, she considering eating a dead coyote she found on the side of the road. According to her attorney, Johnnie Cochran, as quoted in the Los Angeles Times, she is currently living on the property while she holds off government claims to seize it for unpaid taxes. In 1996, the massive Malibu firestorm destroyed Scott's ranch house and the outlying buildings. As a result, Frances Scott currently lives in a teepee erected over the badminton court, albeit a teepee with expensive rugs and a color TV. Scott's old friend and attorney Nick Gutsue recently said he had mixed feelings about the settlement. While he was glad that Scott's widow and children didn't have to go through the horror of reliving Scott's death in a jury trial, at the same time was disappointed that he never got a chance to clear Scott's name. "I asked for an apology and exoneration of Scott," said Gutsue. "I never got one. I was told it was against their policy." That's one reason, said Gutsue, he always wanted a jury trial. In a settlement, no one has to admit any guilt. "Of course," said Gutsue, "$5 million is a pretty good sized admission." TO MAIN PAGE -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: top.ht1.gif Type: image/gif Size: 8442 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: advertise001a.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 6121 bytes Desc: not available URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 19:29:40 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:29:40 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Action Alert: Defend Soldiers who refused in Iraq Message-ID: I want to encourage everyone to sign this petition, and I want to apologize for misspelling court-martial as "court marshal"--hopefully we'll be able to fix that on the website. Desmond Ga. State--CAN article: "The Civilians We Killed" by Michael Hoffman, Iraq Vets Against the War http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1364368,00.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 19:30:31 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:30:31 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Make-believe NATO soldiers rob security van Message-ID: http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200412/s1256934.htm Make-believe NATO soldiers rob security van Thieves masquerading as NATO soldiers have stolen a million euros ($US1.3 million) from a Bosnian security van on the last day of the alliance's peace mission in the country. The robbers, wearing the insignia of NATO's outgoing Stabilisation Force (SFOR), set up a check point on a highway in north-western Bosnia and stopped an armoured van hauling cash for the Raiffeisen Bank, the daily Nezavisne Novine reported. The gang of five handcuffed security guards escorting the cash and left them in the back of the van, the newspaper added. The robbery was staged on the eve of NATO's handover of the nine-year-old peacekeeping mission to a new European Union Force, (EUFOR). Police declined to comment. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 19:38:47 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:38:47 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Action Alert: Defend Soldiers who refused in Iraq Message-ID: Good stuff. This'll go up in the next update of Left Hook. > **Defend the 343rd! Sign the petition in support of > the 343rd > Quartermaster > soldiers who refused to follow dangerous orders at: > www.campusantiwar.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 19:42:09 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:42:09 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Gangs Spread Across Mexico Message-ID: rense.com Central American Street Gangs Spread Across Mexico 12-3-4 MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Violent gangs with roots in U.S. crime culture are spreading through Mexico, with some setting up shop in the capital, the government said on Thursday. The gangs, or "maras" as they are known, have their roots in a wave of convicts sent back to Central America from the United States in the 1990s and who are said to have brought Los Angeles gang culture to the region. Blamed for beheadings, murders and rapes, their presence has spread throughout El Salvador to neighboring Honduras and Guatemala and now Mexico. "We are concerned about the phenomenon from the point of view of public security," Mexican Interior Minister Santiago Creel told reporters on Thursday. The mara members, easily identified by gang tattoos, have been linked with all sorts of crime in Mexico, including drugs and weapons trafficking. Eduardo Medina Mora, the director of Mexico's national security institute (CISEN), said gang members have been detained in 21 Mexican states but 85 percent of them were in the southern states of Chiapas, Veracruz and Oaxaca. Members of the gangs flooded into Central America eight years ago when the U.S. Congress passed a law ordering non-U.S. citizens who were sentenced to more than a year in jail to be deported after serving their time. Medina said Mexico was working with U.S. and Central American authorities to help control the Maras, although the task was complicated because they are not tightly organized like drug cartels, but operate instead as independent groups. Copyright ? 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. http://news.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=6982801 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 19:42:58 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:42:58 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: From jail to the executive suite Message-ID: Quadriplegics, epileptics and incontinents on all continents -- watch out. Guard your credit cards! [images added by this website] >From jail to the executive suite A suspected Mossad spy who had been jailed for passport fraud in New Zealand became a credit-card executive. Israel's VISA CAL company told Yediot Achronot on Wednesday that it had made Eli Cara its deputy general manager, two months after he completed a three-month prison term in Auckland for trying to obtain a passport by assuming the identity of a bedridden New Zealander. The company had no comment on Wellington's allegations that Cara and two Israeli accomplices were Mossad agents." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 19:44:41 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:44:41 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] NY Times: Documents Show C.I.A. Knew of a Coup Plot in Venezuela Message-ID: Documents Show C.I.A. Knew of a Coup Plot in Venezuela By JUAN FORERO Published: December 3, 2004, New York Times BOGOT?, Colombia, Dec. 2 - The Central Intelligence Agency was aware that dissident military officers and opposition figures in Venezuela were planning a coup against President Hugo Ch?vez in 2002, newly declassified intelligence documents show. But immediately after the overthrow, the Bush administration blamed Mr. Ch?vez, a left-leaning populist, for his own downfall and denied knowing about the threats. Long irritated by Mr. Ch?vez's ties to Fidel Castro and his blistering anti-American attacks, the Bush administration provided the Venezuelan government in Caracas with few hard details of the looming plot, although American officials say they broadly talked to Mr. Ch?vez about opposition plans. Full: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/03/international/americas/03venezuela.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 19:49:56 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:49:56 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Mugabe Bans Charity Message-ID: rense.com Mugabe Bans Charity Feeding 90,000 Children By Peta Thornycroft in Harare The Telegraph - UK 12-2-4 Ninety thousand hungry Zimbabwean children have lost the only daily meal they could count on because President Robert Mugabe's regime has forced an aid agency to leave the country. Switzerland's Medair was feeding primary school children in two of Zimbabwe's poorest districts but the authorities refused to renew work permits for international staff. The regime stopped Medair from distributing any food four months ago and refused to register it as an approved non-governmental organisation. "We found ourselves prevented from distributing and so the food has sat deteriorating in the warehouses since August," said Mark Screeton, a Medair spokesman at its Geneva headquarters. "It's been so frustrating - not being free to work - and now we leave, knowing the increasing food insecurity that faces those primary school children and their families." Medair began working in Zimbabwe two years ago and gave a meal of enriched porridge to children in 150 schools. The United Nations World Food Programme, which has fed millions of Zimbabweans since 2001, described Medair as one of its best distribution partners. "They were efficient and reliable," said a UN spokesman. "What more could we want?" The government in Zimbabwe regards foreign aid agencies with deep suspicion and is quietly disrupting their work. Yesterday a senior WFP official, who declined to be named, said: "There is no implementing partner available to replace Medair and we are nervous that the few which may come forward to help will also be forced to leave Zimbabwe before the next harvest." Last month the Famine Early Warning System Network predicted that more than two million rural households would need food supplies by this month. ? Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/12/02/ wzimb02.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/12/02/ixworld.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 19:50:24 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:50:24 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: International Jewish Slave ring Message-ID: Newsday.com NEWARK, N.J. -- A man admitted Wednesday he was part of a ring that forced Russian women to dance in New Jersey strip clubs while extorting money by threatening to harm their families. Lev Trakhtenberg is the second person to plead guilty in the case. He implicated his wife, Viktoriya I'lina, who has not made a plea deal with federal prosecutors, Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie F. Schwartz said. The couple are naturalized U.S. citizens. Their co-defendant, Sergey Malchikov, pleaded guilty in August, also to a single charge of conspiracy to commit forced labor, visa fraud, immigration fraud and extortion. Trakhtenberg and Malchikov, both of Brooklyn, N.Y., face up to five years in prison on that charge. Trakhtenberg, answering questions before U.S. District Judge John C. Lifland, said the scheme induced about 25 Russian women to come to the United States from the summer of 1999 to August 2002. The women had visa petitions that falsely stated they were part of internationally recognized show groups, he admitted. The women were forced to dance nude up to 10 hours a day, six days a week, at clubs in Lakewood, Manville and South Amboy, he said. The women paid Trakhtenberg and his wife $200 a day even if they did not earn that much, he admitted. Trakhtenberg faces up to 20 years in prison on a related guilty plea, made in New York last month, to conspiring to extort a Russian woman. In that case, he admitted placing the woman in prostitution and demanding $5,000 when she attempted to quit. When she did not pay, he arranged for her family to be threatened, he admitted. The plea by Malchikov, who is Russian, related to that woman, the U.S. attorney's office said. The three were indicted in August 2002. ___P> On the Net: U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nj/publicaffairs/NJ_Press/break.html Subscribe to Newsday home delivery Copyright ? 2004, The Associated Press -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 19:52:24 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:52:24 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: FALLUJAH NAPALMED Message-ID: sundaymirror.co.uk FALLUJAH NAPALMED Nov 28 2004 US uses banned weapon ..but was Tony Blair told? By Paul Gilfeather Political Editor US troops are secretly using outlawed napalm gas to wipe out remaining insurgents in and around Fallujah. News that President George W. Bush has sanctioned the use of napalm, a deadly cocktail of polystyrene and jet fuel banned by the United Nations in 1980, will stun governments around the world. And last night Tony Blair was dragged into the row as furious Labour MPs demanded he face the Commons over it. Reports claim that innocent civilians have died in napalm attacks, which turn victims into human fireballs as the gel bonds flames to flesh. Outraged critics have also demanded that Mr Blair threatens to withdraw British troops from Iraq unless the US abandons one of the world's most reviled weapons. Halifax Labour MP Alice Mahon said: "I am calling on Mr Blair to make an emergency statement to the Commons to explain why this is happening. It begs the question: 'Did we know about this hideous weapon's use in Iraq?'" Since the American assault on Fallujah there have been reports of "melted" corpses, which appeared to have napalm injuries. Last August the US was forced to admit using the gas in Iraq. A 1980 UN convention banned the use of napalm against civilians - after pictures of a naked girl victim fleeing in Vietnam shocked the world. America, which didn't ratify the treaty, is the only country in the world still using the weapon. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 19:54:23 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:54:23 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Reasons for concern at the CIA Message-ID: http://www.fpp.co.uk/online/04/12/Sher.html World Jewish Review Wednesday, December 1, 2004 Reasons for concern at the CIA By Neal M. Sher A wake-up call to the Jewish and pro-Israel communities by the former director of the Office of Special Investigations in the Justice Department RECENT headlines scream that the CIA is in disarray, beset by high level resignations and open warfare between various factions along the Potomac. Porter Goss certainly has his hands full, although the smart money is on the side of new Director. For those who live and die "inside the Beltway" this is drama of the highest order, generating delicious fodder for the cocktail party circuit. While such intrigue should be of little interest to the Jewish and pro-Israel communities, recent events suggest that there is indeed reason to be concerned about the thinking at the Langley headquarters -- or at least in parts of it. Last year, in a very unusual development, a CIA official was granted permission to publish a book detailing his work as a counter-terrorism expert and setting forth his highly critical analysis of U.S. policy. There was one caveat imposed by his employer: his identity could not be revealed. Hence, the book "Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror" was officially penned by "Anonymous". Having just resigned from the Agency, the author is now "out" and Michael Scheuer (who headed the bin Laden desk at the CIA) has been making the rounds of all the TV studios (including 60 Minutes) and granting interviews to countless newspapers and magazines. In his book and recent media fest, major emphasis is placed on Scheuer's negative views of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and of our failure to eliminate Osama bin Laden. But there is another significant theme which surprisingly has not generated the level of concern it deserves. Central to his thesis is the notion that bin Laden, Al Qaeda and the terrorist attacks and threats against us are to some degree a function of America's support for Israel. Reminiscent of the famous charge by a well known pundit that Israel is an albatross around America's neck and that Capitol Hill is "Israeli occupied territory", Scheuer contends that U.S. policy towards Israel is 'the tail leading the dog" and that pro-Israel activists have undue and dangerous influence over foreign policy. Most respected scholars and analysts have little brief for that view and reject the argument that all we have to do to insulate ourselves from the terrorist threat is change our policy towards Israel. First of all, the argument flies in the face of the facts and logic. For example, Al Qaeda attacks against the U.S. embassies in east Africa and the USS Cole came at a time when, under U.S. auspices, Israel made the most generous concessions imaginable to Arafat and the Palestinians. Moreover, it smacks at the discredited "blame the victim" phenomenon ( "if you Jews would only do this or stop doing that, there would be no anti-Semitism"), with which we are all too familiar. It's not that Scheuer is raising something new. He isn't. We've heard it before from Israel's detractors and we'll certainly hear it again. It comes with the territory. We can recall commentators saying in the immediate aftermath of 9-11 that Americans now know what Israelis live with on a daily a daily basis. Some predicted, however, that such sympathy would eventually wane and that anti-Israel crusaders would push the view that America's pro-Israel stance was the root cause of terrorism directed against us. This is precisely the sort of thinking our enemies want us to embrace. Surely, no reasonable person can believe for a moment that if the U.S. were to throw Israel overboard tomorrow all terrorist threats would miraculously evaporate. The raw truth is that they hate the U.S and the West for reasons having nothing to do with Israel. What is terribly distressing is that Scheuer's view of the U.S.- Israel relationship was given a Tenet-led CIA seal of approval when publication was authorized. Make no mistake, a book like this, approved as it was at the highest levels of the Agency after scrutinizing every last word, was meant to send messages. Whatever the other ones might have been, the one regarding Israel could not have been clearer. For whatever reason, the hostility towards Israel in Imperial Hubris, which should have raised a host of red flags, seems to have flown under the Jewish community's radar screen. To be sure, Scheuer is careful to throw out the obligatory protestations that he is not anti-Isarel, arguing that he merely seeks a "re-examination" of U.S. policy in the middle east. But we all know what that really means and one would have thought that officially sanctioned Israel bashing -- and that's precisely what Scheuer's views represent -- would have come under fierce attack. I don't know which is worse: that he actually believes this nonsense, or that a person of that mindset actually oversaw the campaign against an enemy and movement which perpetrated the worst crime ever on U.S. soil. The CIA is now under new management; the role Goss intends to play regarding Israel and the region remains to be seen. But it is essential that we keep a watchful eye on the situation. To date, we have seen nothing from Langley to repudiate Scheuer's provocative comments. Given his high public profile and his eagerness to perpetuate his views about Israel, the Agency's silence is troubling; and Goss himself is at best a question mark on this issue. This is especially so in light of the fact that as chairman of the House Committee on Intelligence he was not at all sympathetic to the plight of a CIA employee who had been subjected to blatant anti-Semitism and scurrilous accusations of dual loyalty, even though Agency improprieties were established by irrefutable documentary evidence. I know this because I represented the aggrieved employee during his travails at the Agency. Scheuer's charges -- which have been given seeming legitimacy by a backdoor CIA imprimatur -- must not be taken lightly. We have every right to demand that Mr. Goss and his Agency squarely repudiate the views of the man formerly known as Anonymous.. JWR contributor Neal M. Sher, a New York-based government relations and communications consultant, served as the director of the Office of Special Investigations in the Justice Department. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 19:55:27 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:55:27 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: FBI Searches Pro-Israel Lobbyists' Office Message-ID: FBI Searches Pro-Israel Lobbyists' Office By CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press Writer December 1, 2004, 9:34 PM EST WASHINGTON -- FBI agents searched files and served subpoenas Wednesday at the offices of the major pro-Israel lobbying organization as part of an investigation into whether Israel improperly obtained classified U.S. information on Iran. The search at the offices of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee was disclosed in a statement by the organization, which repeated it is cooperating "in order to get these false and baseless allegations put to rest fully and swiftly." "As we have said from the beginning, AIPAC has done nothing wrong," the statement said. The FBI previously searched AIPAC's offices on Aug. 27. Agents also have interviewed two AIPAC employees about whether a Defense Department analyst, Larry Franklin, gave them classified information that would up with Israel. Franklin works on Iran and Middle East issues in the office of policy undersecretary Douglas Feith. Franklin has not commented on the probe and has not been charged. AIPAC said FBI agents on Wednesday requested and received files related to those same two employees, who previously were identified -- Steve Rosen, the director of research, and Keith Weissman, deputy director of foreign policy issues. The FBI has copied computer hard drives and files from both men. In addition, the AIPAC statement said subpoenas were served by the FBI requiring four senior AIPAC officials to testify before the federal grand jury investigating the case. A source familiar with the inquiry identified the four as AIPAC executive director Howard Kohr, managing director Richard Fishman, communications director Renee Rothstein and research director Rafi Danziger. The FBI and Justice Department declined comment. The Israeli government has denied spying on the United States, saying that meetings between U.S. and Israeli officials are common and that the two countries share many secrets. Iran, particularly any assessments of its nuclear ambitions, is of critical importance to Israel's security interests. Israel said it has imposed a ban on espionage in the United States since the scandal over Jonathan Pollard, an American caught spying for Israel in 1985. The AIPAC investigation, which dates to the early 2001 days of the Bush administration, is being handled by U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty of Alexandria, Va. No charges have been brought. http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-pentagon-spy-probe,0,420 0520.story -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 19:56:40 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:56:40 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Dr. Lorraine Day's Letter to the AARP Message-ID: Send this to all the retired people you know. --Lisa ------------------------------------------ Dr. Lorraine Day's Letter to the AARP January 14, 2003 Elliot Carlson, Editor AARP Carole Fleck, author of Scam Alert Column P.O. Box 199 Long Beach, CA 90801 Dear Mr. Carlson and Ms. Fleck: I want to thank you for mentioning me in your column "Scam Alert" in the January 2003 issue of the AARP Bulletin, page 18. Obviously my message of Natural Healing is having a major impact throughout the country if an organization the size of AARP, 30 million members, feels the need to attack me. Yes, I am an orthodox medical doctor who was for 15 years on the faculty of the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, considered to be one of the three top medical schools in the country. As Associate Professor and Vice Chairman of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery, I trained thousands of doctors. In addition, as Chief of Orthopedic Surgery at San Francisco General Hospital, one of the premier trauma hospitals in the country, I ran the equivalent of a M.A.S.H. unit for many years. For the past 20-25 years, I have been invited to lecture to doctors at numerous University medical schools including Vanderbilt, Baylor, Cincinnati, Tufts, South Carolina, Iowa, USC, Minnesota and countless medical societies throughout the U.S. including the Massachusetts Medical Society, as well as other medical organizations around the world, including the Royal Society of Medicine in London. How surprised they will be to find out that the very doctor, Dr. Lorraine Day, these highly distinguished medical groups invited as a guest speaker, you, the editors of AARP, have designated as a quack. How could I, overnight, go from a highly respected surgeon at the top of my field, to an AARP-designated quack? What was my "crime?" Answer: I had the audacity to successfully reverse my severe, life-threatening cancer WITHOUT DRUGS! According to your business partners, the pharmaceutical companies, this is the GREATEST crime of all! Yes, I did reverse my life-threatening, end-stage cancer by totally natural methods. (You can see the pictures of the huge tumor I had, as well as my biopsy reports at my web site www.drday.com) Yes, I did refuse chemotherapy, radiation and mutilating surgery because, as a medical doctor with years of experience, I saw thousands of cancer patients die, NOT from their cancer, but from the painful, maiming, destructive "treatments" we doctors give them. And Yes, I am TOTALLY WELL and Cancer-FREE a full 10 years after my tumor first appeared, and EVERYTHING I used to get well is totally free, except for food, and almost everyone has to buy that anyway. But I understand your need to attack me and my reputation. Certainly you don't want your membership to learn how to get well from Cancer, Heart Disease, Parkinson's Lupus, Arthritis, Diabetes and many, many other diseases by natural methods, without drugs of any kind. After all, one of the main functions of AARP, according to your own advertising, is to sell drug medications to your members. Let's see, with 30 million members (all over 55) and each one spending maybe $100.00 per month with AARP for their medication (a conservative estimate), that amounts to $3 BILLION in drug sales per month. If your organization gets a cut of just 10% of that total, that?s $300 MILLION per month for you! If your cut is only 1%, that's still $30 MILLION per month you are receiving, a minimum of $360 MILLION per year! When you have a multi-million dollar arrangement with the drug companies as you do, my message of inexpensive natural methods of healing, with NO adverse side effects, could really cut into a truly phenomenal income such as you are receiving. It's easy to see why you would choose to attack me. One more thing, in your column you referred to natural healing as quackery, yet on the back page of your very same AARP Bulletin, January 2003, you promote a "Yearbook" with an advertising headline stating "Ordinary Ailments, Extraordinary Cures -- Health Breakthroughs and Remarkable Remedies." In that advertisement are listed SIX or SEVEN points of the TEN Step Natural Health Plan I used to reverse my end-stage cancer! Why is it "quackery" when I promote it, but it's NOT "quackery" when YOU promote it? (see ad in AARP bulletin) Even MORE interesting is the fact that you CHANGED the headline for the advertisement when it was published in your Bulletin. Here is the SAME ad found in another paper. The heading is very different. It includes the words: "Remedies That Work Better Than Dangerous Drugs Or Risky Surgery" Your AARP Bulletin obviously required that the ad be changed to eliminate these important words - to protect your enormous payoff from your drug business. You have deliberately withheld potentially life-saving information from your membership for your own monetary gain. In the interest of fairness, I'm sure you will be more than happy to print this letter in a prominent spot in your up-coming February AARP Bulletin. I give you permission, but ONLY if it is printed in its entirety. You do not have my permission to cut and paste portions to suit your own agenda. Just in case there's an outside chance you are NOT interested in fairness, I will post this letter on my own web site at www.drday.com as well as other web sites, as the public does have the right to hear both sides. Again, thank you for mentioning me. I could never afford to buy publicity like this to an organization the size of AARP, and here you have provided it for me free of charge. You have probably forgotten, or at least have not considered the fact that there are millions of intelligent and discerning members in your organization who will be perceptive enough to search me out, to find out how they too can get well without the torturing pain, surgical disfigurement, and bankrupting expense of orthodox methods. Thanks for letting them know I'm here! They may not have found me otherwise. Sincerely, Lorraine Day, M.D. forwarded by Zeus Information Service Alternative Views on Health www.zeusinfoservice.com New Medical Awareness Seminars 14761 Pearl Road | Box 263 Strongsville, OH 44136 | (440) 239-1878 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 19:57:22 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:57:22 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Kosher Slaughterhouse Defends Practices Message-ID: Kosher Slaughterhouse Defends Practices Wed Dec 1, 6:50 PM ET By TODD DVORAK, Associated Press Writer POSTVILLE, Iowa - An animal rights group filed a complaint Wednesday against a kosher slaughterhouse for alleged cruelty to cattle. The slaughterhouse called the complaint a veiled attack on religious freedom. AP Photo Videotape of animals thrashing about after their throats were slit was shown at a news conference Wednesday in New York. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said the videotape, taken secretly in the summer of 2004, shows the animals were conscious and suffering. PETA's complaint, filed with the U.S. Agriculture Department, called for the prosecution of Agriprocessors Inc. and the Orthodox Union, an international kosher certification agency. "Cows can be heard bellowing in agony and terror as the cut is made, as a metal hook is inserted into the wound, as their tracheas and esophagi are yanked from their bodies," said Bruce Friedrich, a PETA director. Slaughterhouse officials said the plant strictly adheres to federal guidelines and is overseen by rabbinic leaders committed to humane treatment. "This isn't an attack on Agriprocessors, but an attack on the kosher processing industry," said Mike Thomas, a company spokesman. "Federal law states how kosher slaughter operates, and by definition it is humane." Thomas said the PETA tape is misleading and was obtained under dubious circumstances by someone with a political agenda. He disputed claims that the trachea are yanked from steers, saying to do so would violate kosher laws. Steve Steiner, spokesman for the Orthodox Union, said his group is reviewing the 30-minute videotape. "We believe shechita, the Hebrew form of slaughter, is a humane form of slaughter," he said. Thomas and other kosher advocates say the slaughtering process, which is regulated and carried out by trained rabbis, is designed to make death quick and painless. "It's not aesthetically pleasing. There's an enormous amount of blood loss," Thomas said. "But just because it's not pretty does not mean it's cruel." Kosher slaughter requires that the animal's throat is slit. The sudden and enormous blood loss triggers immediate anemia in the brain, which renders the animal insensible, Thomas said. Agriprocessors' plant in Postville, a small town in northeastern Iowa, took over a defunct slaughterhouse in 1987 and today is the world's largest glatt kosher slaughterhouse. Glatt, under kosher law, means that the animals are free of certain physical defects. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: thumb.iacn10112012231.peta_accused_abused_iacn101.jpg Type: application/octet-stream Size: 3154 bytes Desc: not available URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 19:58:37 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:58:37 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] U.S. force in Iraq to rise to biggest of war as election nears Message-ID: ..and still no where near 200,000 like someone here once said and still says incorrectly... ========== U.S. force in Iraq to rise to biggest of war as election nears By Robert Burns, Associated Press, 12/1/2004 18:00 FROM: http://www.boston.com/dailynews/336/wash/U_S_force_in_Iraq_to_rise_to_b:.shtml WASHINGTON (AP) The United States is expanding its military force in Iraq to the highest level of the war even higher than during the initial invasion in March 2003 in order to bolster security in advance of next month's national elections. The 12,000-troop increase is to last only until March, but it says much about the strength and resiliency of an insurgency that U.S. military planners did not foresee when Baghdad was toppled in April 2003. Brig. Gen. David Rodriguez, deputy operations director of the Joint Staff, told reporters Wednesday that the American force will expand from 138,000 troops today to about 150,000 by January. The previous high for the U.S. force in Iraq was 148,000 on May 1, 2003, when President Bush declared that major combat operations were over and most soldiers thought the war had been won. The initial invasion force included thousands of sailors on ships in the Persian Gulf and other waters, plus tens of thousands of troops in Kuwait and other surrounding countries. The expansion in Iraq will be achieved by sending about 1,500 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Bragg, N.C., this month and by extending the combat tours of about 10,400 troops already in Iraq. Those 10,400 will be extras until March because the soldiers who were scheduled to replace them in January will arrive as planned. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld approved the moves Wednesday, according to a Pentagon statement. ''They are the most experienced and best-qualified forces to sustain the momentum of post-Fallujah operations and to provide for additional security for the upcoming elections,'' the statement said. The Pentagon originally expected to train and equip enough Iraqi government forces to fill the security gap in the weeks leading up to the elections, but that hope was not fulfilled. The military is reluctant to extend soldiers' combat tours because of the potential negative effect it could have on their families, and thus on their willingness to remain in the service. In this case, Gen. George Casey, the most senior U.S. commander in Iraq, decided it was necessary to keep up pressure on the insurgents while also providing security for the elections. One unit, the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division, is being extended for the second time. Its soldiers originally were told they would be going home in November at the end of a 10-month assignment, but in October they got the news that they would remain until mid-January. Now they are being extended until mid-March. The 2nd Brigade of the 1st Cavalry and most of the other extended units will end up serving about 14 months in Iraq, exceeding by two months the 12-month standard set by the Army. Rodriguez listed these unit extensions: About 4,400 troops of the 2nd Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division, which is operating in north-central Iraq, will stay until mid-March, instead of departing in early January. Those soldiers' home bases are mostly in Hawaii. About 3,500 soldiers of the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Cavalry, will be extended until March. These are the soldiers who originally were told they would be leaving Iraq in November. About 2,300 members of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, based in Okinawa, Japan and in Hawaii, and California, will stay until mid-March instead of leaving in January. About 160 soldiers of the 66th Transportation Company, based in Germany, was due to depart Iraq in early January but instead will stay until early March. The 82nd Airborne is generally relied upon by the Army to keep one of its three brigades on short-notice alert year-round to deploy abroad in the event of a crisis. Shortly before the October elections in Afghanistan, about 600 members of the 82nd Airborne were sent there to strengthen security. Military officials have said repeatedly in recent weeks that they were considering whether more American troops would be required to provide sufficient security before Iraqis vote. The moves announced Wednesday are in line with expectations a combination of holding some troops in Iraq longer than scheduled and sending some fresh forces from the United States. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., a critic of the administration's handling of the war, said the Pentagon's announcement confirmed that the effort to stabilize Iraq would take years, with no certainty of success. ''This announcement makes it clear that commanders in Iraq need more troops and that this will be a long and very expensive process for the United States,'' Reed said. ''It is still not clear whether Iraq will emerge from this chronic violence as a viable and stable country.'' Officials have said they were considering sending some elements of the 3rd Infantry to Iraq earlier than scheduled, as part of a force-bolstering plan. But Rodriguez said it was decided that no units will have their deployments accelerated as part of the pre-election security effort. Security problems are most severe in the area north and west of Baghdad, as well as in the capital itself. Voter registration has not yet begun in the more unstable cities such as Fallujah and Ramadi, west of Baghdad. Recently there also has been trouble in the northern city of Mosul. On Wednesday, U.S. soldiers traveling through Mosul on a mission to discuss the January election with Iraqis came under fire at a gasoline station, witnesses said. One U.S. soldier was wounded in the ensuing gunbattle. ===== Homepage (as of NOV-01-2002): http://www.SeattleActivist.org To unsubscribe, send an email to: SeattleActivist-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 20:00:53 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 20:00:53 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] URGENT ACTION: Strikers Massacred in Philippines Message-ID: > > STRIKERS MASSACRED IN THE PHILIPPINES - YOUR HELP NEEDED NOW > > On 16 November, at least seven striking sugar workers were killed by the army and militarized police in the Philippines. Those people were strikers, trade unionists like yourselves. They worked on a huge sugar plantation and in sugar mills in the province of Tarlac, several hundred kilometers north of Manila. > > 5,000 Luisita workers had been on strike for ten days, due to the owners' refusal to bargain over a badly needed wage increase of 100 pesos per day (about $2.00). The owners also refused to rehire the union officers and 327 union members who they had recently fired for organizing activity. Hacienda Luisita is owned by the family of former President Cory Cojuangco-Aquino. Her older brother manages the plantation. This is a reminder of deep social inequities in the Philippines, where a very few own the means to live, while the majority live in abject poverty. > > In the midst of a rally of over 5,000 strikers and supporters from local barrios, the police and military based in Armored Personnel Carriers attacked first with tear gas, then with live fire. One of those killed was a child, aged two, who died from suffocation as a result of the tear gas used by the police. Some 35 people suffered gunshot wounds, > 133 were arrested, and hundreds more were injured. > > The sugar workers union and the KMU, the largest federation of trade unions in the Philippines, have called for a massive international protest condemning the murders, and demanding a full and impartial investigation of what happened. They also demand the rehiring of the 327 workers who were illegally dismissed, that the owners of Hacienda Luisita return to the bargaining table, and that the perpetrators of this massacre be identified and prosecuted. > > > RECOMMENDED ACTION: > > Please send emails, faxes or letters calling for: > > 1. The immediate formation of an independent fact-finding and investigation team composed of representatives from human rights groups, the Church, local government, and the Commission on Human Rights > 2. The arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators > 3. The immediate and full indemnification of the family/relatives of the victims > 4. The Philippine Government should be reminded that it is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and that it is a party to all the major Human Rights instruments. It must observe all these provisions. > > Please send your messages to: > > H.E. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo President of the Republic Malacanang Palace, Manila Philippines Voice: (+632) 564 1451 to 80 Fax: (+632) 742-1641 / 929-3968 E-mail: corres at op.gov.ph / opnet at ops.gov.ph > > Hon. Purificacion Valera Quisumbing Chairperson, Commission on Human Rights SAAC Bldg., UP Complex Commonwealth Avenue Diliman, Quezon City Philippines Fax: (+632) 929 0102 Email: drpvq at chr.gov.ph > > Hon. Avelino Cruz Secretary, Department of National Defense Camp Emilio Aguinaldo E. de los Santos Avenue, Quezon City, Philippines Voice: (+632) 912-9281 Fax: (+632) 911 6213 > > Hon. Teresita Deles Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process > 7F Agustin Building Emerald Avenue Pasig City, Philippines Voice: (+632) 636 0701 to 0766 Fax: (+632) 638 2216 > > > Don't forget: Please send copies of your messages to our addresses below. > > kmuid at tri-isys.com (KMU union federation) karapatan at edsamail.com.ph (KARAPATAN national human rights organization) nispop at nispop.org (Network in Solidarity with the People of the Philippines--NY) > > For more information about the Hacienda Luisita struggle and protest activities, visit: > > www.bulatlat.com (best investigative journalism in the Philippines) www.karapatan.org (human rights site) www.geocities.com/arkibo10/04-asyenda/asyenda.htm (Pictures of the massacre) www.labourstart.org (British web site that has adopted this campaign) > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 20:01:45 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 20:01:45 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Getting fleeced Message-ID: Please note that many, many Israeli moving companies are Mossad fronts.) The Seattle Times. Ex-workers detail tactics of movers By Peter Lewis Seattle Times consumer-affairs reporter Erik Deri ran Nationwide and is on trial along with three others. E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles TACOMA - A former moving-company foreman told jurors yesterday that he and his co-workers used to brag and laugh about how they had fleeced customers by overcharging for household moving jobs. "We were happy," recounted Michael Airgood, referring to how much extra money they brought in by cheating people. Airgood testified as part of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors. The potentially damaging testimony came at the start of week three in the government's case against now-defunct Nationwide Moving Systems of Woodinville and four people charged with extorting customers. They are accused of luring customers with low prices, then jacking up costs and holding their goods hostage until they paid. Airgood, 24, of Lynnwood said his superiors taught him to get the customer's signature on certain forms as soon as the moving crew showed up and before the forms were fully filled out. He also would tell them the move could not start unless they signed. Then, after their stuff was loaded and the truck was locked, he would present customers with a significantly higher price than the original estimate and point to the signed forms, which gave the movers permission to charge more than the original quote and to hold the goods until the price was paid, Airgood testified. The government has identified more than 50 customers who were harmed between the time Nationwide was formed in May 2002 and was shut down in July 2003. Actual and intended losses - including the amount the defendants tried to defraud customers out of - exceeded $1 million, prosecutors contend. "Unhappy customers" In opening statements, defense attorneys denied that the business was trying to defraud customers. They contended that moving-company customers themselves were to blame for the higher prices because they underestimated how much stuff they had. "All businesses have unhappy customers," said defense attorney Bob Leen, who represents Erik Deri, who ran the company. On trial along with Deri, 33, are Yosef Nahum, 55, and Yuval Derei, 30. All are Israeli nationals facing deportation if convicted. Yuval Derei is Erik Deri's brother but spells his name differently. The fourth defendant, American-born Tanya Deri, 29, is Deri's wife. Airgood is one of three other people, including Kristen Klein and Martin Kirk II, who were also charged but reached deals with the government and agreed to testify against their former associates. Yesterday, Airgood said Deri, Nahum and Derei taught him how to drive up prices. Those techniques included underpacking boxes, leaving gaps inside trucks when furniture and boxes were loaded and lying to customers about the size of the trucks into which their stuff was loaded, Airgood testified. Airgood, who worked for Nationwide as a packer and later as a foreman, has pleaded guilty to six counts of extortion. His sentencing won't occur until the trial is over. Low-balling estimates His common-law wife, Klein, also 24, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud. She testified that she worked as a secretary and that her superiors taught her how to lure customers with phony estimates. For example, if a customer said they had a sofa, she would indicate they had a love seat when she entered an inventory of their items into a computer program. By indicating a smaller piece of furniture, the program would give a lower estimate. Then when the movers showed up to load the goods, the belongings would take up more room. The point was to "reel in" customers by offering unbeatable prices, Klein testified. Defense attorneys have dismissed the testimony from former employees as "bought and paid for" by the government. The cooperating defendants expect reduced sentences in exchange for their testimony. The trial is expected to last another couple of weeks. Peter Lewis: 206-464-2217 or plewis at seattletimes.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 20:02:58 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 20:02:58 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Money-Shifting Uproar Shakes World Jewish Congress Message-ID: AR Action Report Online. The only financial wrongdoing, he said, were the accountant's payments to himself, which he attributed to that man's possible dementia. -- Isn't that always the way? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- New York, November 30, 2004 Money-Shifting Uproar Shakes World Jewish Congress Rabbi Israel Singer, WJC chief By Stephanie Strom THE World Jewish Congress is in turmoil, two decades after the billionaire Edgar M. Bronfman Sr. (below) rescued it from crushing debts and propelled it to remarkable successes. With just a few dozen employees and an $8 million annual operating budget, the congress, a nonprofit organization, brought to light the Nazi past of Kurt Waldheim, the former United Nations chief, [Website note: Waldheim turned out to have been G2, Intelligence officer, in a minor Wehrmacht unit] and forced Swiss banks to pay more than $1 billion to settle Holocaust-related claims. Now the organization that criticized those banks for their lack of transparency and accountability finds itself under attack on similar accusations -- and from within the Jewish community. An odd series of money transfers totaling $1.2 million first to a Swiss account and then to one in London has critics crying foul and questioning whether the money was improperly moved by Israel Singer, the 62-year-old rabbi (above right) who has generally led the organization since 1985. Four people who pressed for a full audit of the money transfer have left the congress or been dismissed, and another has been suspended from a subsidiary organization The Geneva accountant who, together with Rabbi Singer, signed for the money's transfer to an account in London has been fired for paying himself roughly $1,900 a month more than his approved salary. The Geneva office was then ordered closed -- although after two employees who raised questions were let go, the organization has since decided to keep it open. None of the transferred money is missing, and a review of the paper trail by the congress's auditor uncovered no irregularities, said Stephen E. Herbits, who was brought in by Mr. Bronfman in September to complete an overhaul of the organization that began last year. The only financial wrongdoing, he said, were the accountant's payments to himself, which he attributed to that man's possible dementia. Mr. Herbits said he was concerned that the uproar over the money transfer threatened to destroy the organization and that it had complicated efforts to strengthen oversight and rewrite the group's constitution. "I am horrified by the time and cost and embarrassment and potential damage that this is doing and for reasons that are not substantive and have come up by pure desire for influencing politics and having prestige," Mr. Herbits said. Isi Leibler, a retired Australian businessman, [actually a billionaire, right] said the Geneva money transfer was symptomatic of the organization's feeble controls over management and money. Mr. Leibler was ousted in September from the organization's steering committee but remains senior vice president, a titular role. "I want a clear investigation," Mr. Leibler said. "If people have done wrong things, they should go, and the organization should establish financial transparency, accountability and checks and balances over its money." Mr. Bronfman, who built the Seagram Company Ltd. into one of the world's premier purveyors of liquor, was virtually the organization's sole backer at one point, and he continues to contribute about $2 million a year. For years, Mr. Bronfman and Rabbi Singer ran the congress as a fief, Mr. Leibler said. "I accepted that because I felt that Mr. Bronfman was himself giving the bulk of the funds," Mr. Leibler said. "I'm now aware that about 80 percent of money comes from 400,000 donors who provide money to the American section, but the organization is still effectively controlled by Rabbi Singer, who operates under jurisdiction of Mr. Bronfman." Rabbi Singer, who is responsible for billions of dollars in Holocaust reparations and restitution through his leadership of the Claims Conference and the World Jewish Restitution Organization, declined to comment. So did Mr. Bronfman, the president of the congress. Mr. Herbits said he was speaking on their behalf. The $1.2 million was moved out of the congress's New York account into a numbered UBS account in Switzerland in five installments from October 2002 through February 2003. The people running the Geneva office were unaware of the account, according to a letter to Mr. Herbits from Daniel Lack, a lawyer who had worked for the congress in Geneva for 29 years. But the Geneva office did discover a problem with the accountant's pay soon after a young lawyer, Maya Ben-Haim Rosen, took its helm. She told the man his services would no longer be needed, and briefed Rabbi Singer and another official about the problem in London in July 2003, according to Mr. Lack's letter. Two days after that meeting, Rabbi Singer flew to Geneva. He coaxed the accountant out of a medical center, where he was recuperating from a heart problem, and took him to the bank to sign the order transferring the $1.2 million to a London account of Zvi Barak. The transfer order describes the money as "for the pension." Mr. Barak, a lawyer in Israel who has handled pension business, is a friend of Rabbi Singer and declined to comment on the matter. According to the letter, Mr. Lack and Ms. Ben-Haim Rosen learned of the account only when they received a statement in October 2003 showing that it had been overdrawn by $40 because no money was left in the account to cover the transfer charges. Mr. Lack's letter, dated Sept. 19, 2004, was supplied to The New York Times by Facts, a Swiss news weekly against which the congress has begun legal proceedings. Mr. Lack, whom Mr. Herbits described as a disgruntled former employee, declined to comment. Ms. Ben-Haim Rosen and Mr. Lack were dismissed when the Geneva office was closed. WHEN questions arose about the transfers, Rabbi Singer was quoted in a Jewish publication as saying that the money had been given to the World Jewish Congress by the Jewish Agency for Israel, possibly to create a pension for him. In later publications, he said the money was for pensions for the organization. But Mr. Leibler and other critics say they suspect he was trying to create a personal pension account. Rabbi Singer is paid $226,000 a year as an "ex gratia pension" for his previous work and now serves as chairman of the governing body. The Jewish Agency denied that the money had been set aside for pensions. "That is totally incorrect," said Michael Jankelowitz, a spokesman for the agency, which helps immigration to Israel. He said the agency sent $1.5 million in 2001 to the congress's general account in New York. Mr. Herbits said that the bulk of that money was transferred to Switzerland to broaden its pension plan. Only the employees in Geneva had pensions, and the organization wanted to cover all its roughly 30 employees, some of whom are part time. He said the money was put into a dormant account -- not a secret one -- to avoid giving discretion of so much money to a new employee. "A statement went to the office each month and was opened by the secretary," Mr. Herbits said. Ultimately, he said, the plan to build a pension program in Switzerland failed. The money was then transferred to Mr. Barak because he is an expert in pensions, Mr. Herbits said. Mr. Barak is chairman of the Jewish Agency's employee pension fund. The transfer was retraced by Loeb & Troper, a New York accounting firm that has done work for the congress for years. "Based upon our review of the documents, we are not aware of any irregularities," the firm wrote in a letter to the congress. Mr. Herbits said that report, which was repeated by German and Belgian law firms, established that the $1.2 million never left the organization's control, as critics have contended. But some others say that these reports merely traced the movement of the money and lacked independence because of Loeb & Troper's history as the congress's auditor. "We also asked why this money movement was done and who had ordered it," said Alfred Donath, a retired professor of nuclear medicine who is president of the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities. The Swiss group, with Mr. Donath, has been suspended from the governing body of the European Jewish Congress because of its persistent demand for more information. "Those questions were not answered." Mr. Herbits said he had answered all the questions of the Swiss Federation and had addressed all the critics' concerns. He also noted that Mr. Leibler had voted to close the Geneva office in his previous role. The restructuring at the Congress is starting to take hold. Mr. Herbits has created a personnel manual with guidelines on travel spending, has installed a cash management system, has put together a finance committee that will meet next month and has created new policies to govern the hiring of consultants and the disbursal of money. "Governance and financial management have been weak," he said, "and I'm fixing it." Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 20:02:22 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 20:02:22 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: 'Break-Up Or Bloodshed' Message-ID: rense.com Ukraine Heading For 'Break-Up Or Bloodshed' By Harry de Quetteville in Kiev The Telegraph - UK 12-1-4 Negotiations to end Ukraine's political crisis collapsed last night as the Kremlin predicted that the divided country was heading for "break-up or bloodshed". Allies of Viktor Yushchenko, the opposition leader, walked out of discussions to end the stand-off with Viktor Yanukovich, the prime minister, and called for his hundreds of thousands of supporters to renew blockades of government buildings, which were briefly lifted earlier in the day. Mr Yushchenko's supporters have flooded the streets of the capital, Kiev, since he was narrowly beaten in Ukraine's presidential election by the Russian-backed prime minister last week. The poll was overshadowed by widespread reports of intimidation and vote rigging, sparking the protests. The collapse in negotiations followed a hectic day in which protesters marched from the Supreme Court, which is considering appeals against the election result, to the parliament building, where a no-confidence motion in the government of Mr Yanukovich was being debated. Before the vote, Mykola Tomenko, an opposition spokesman, addressed crowds in Independence Square, just beyond the tent city housing protesters in the sleet and snow, and warned of dire consequences if the motion was not carried. "We understand full well that the potential for political means is being exhausted," he said. "When this potential comes to an end we will act within the framework of a civil resistance." After the no-confidence vote was rejected, the atmosphere soured and a small number of protesters forced their way into the parliament building, where Mr Yushchenko joined a group of deputies in getting them to leave peacefully. Volodymyr Lytvyn, the parliamentary speaker, said: "I appeal to protesters. Don't storm parliament. It is the last pillar of democracy." The unrest prompted a second trip to Kiev in a week for Javier Solana, the European Union foreign policy chief, who was due to take part in talks with both sides today. Also present will be Boris Gryzlov, the Russian parliamentary speaker, who provided a grim warning that Ukraine was not headed for a peaceful resolution but for "break-up or bloodshed". Mr Gryzlov accused Mr Yushchenko of stoking up the uprising. Mr Solana is then due to fly to Moscow, where President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly accused western states of meddling. Ukraine is broadly divided between pro-western supporters of Mr Yushchenko in the west and more Russia-oriented backers of Mr Yanukovich in the east and there have been fears of the country splitting in two. That faded yesterday as two pro-Yanukoviych regions postponed moves to introduce self-rule. But there was still panic in eastern Ukraine as people fearing economic collapse queued to withdraw savings. ? Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/12/01/wukra01 xml&sSheet=/news/2004/12/01/ixhome.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 20:03:33 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 20:03:33 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Secretary-General Kofi Annan Message-ID: CNN.com UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Monday he was "disappointed and surprised" to learn that his son, Kojo, had remained on the payroll of a company involved in the Iraq oil-for-food program, the subject of several corruption probes. Kojo Annan received money for consulting work done in Africa for Geneva, Switzerland-based Cotecna Inspection, which was hired to verify whether food, medicine and other goods entering Iraq were on the approved list under the $64 billion oil-for-food program. The United Nations previously said the payments stopped after Kojo Annan left the firm in 1997. Earlier this year, it revised that statement, saying the younger Annan received money through the end of 1998 under an agreement not to compete with Cotecna in West Africa. Cotecna had said the payments to Annan were halted when the firm won the contract to inspect oil-for-food humanitarian shipments starting in December 1998. But late last week the United Nations said Kojo Annan had received payments as recently as February 2004 under the non-compete agreement. The company said Swiss law required that it continue the payments for the length of time the younger Annan was prohibited from working for a competitor under the agreement. At least six investigations are under way into the defunct oil-for-food program -- several in the U.S. Congress and one by an independent U.N. panel headed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker. (Full story) Kofi Annan told reporters Monday he understands that with this latest oil-for-food news the United Nations faces the perception "of conflict of interests and wrongdoing." "Naturally I was very disappointed and surprised," Annan said, when he learned his son had not fully disclosed his continued involvement with Cotecna. He said he has spoken with his son, but he declined to reveal what was said. Annan said he has "warm family relations with his son, but he is in a different field. He is an independent businessman. He is a grown man, and I don't get involved with his activities and he doesn't get involved in mine." Annan said he had no personal involvement in the granting of contracts to businesses that participated in the oil-for-food program. He walked away without a response to questions about calls for his resignation in opinion articles published in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard was quoted by Reuters as saying that those who signed the inspection deal with Cotecna in 1998 contended they did not know that Kojo Annan, then a trainee, worked for the firm at the time. No formal charges of wrongdoing have been made against Kojo Annan, who is based in Nigeria. Reuters reported that no evidence has been found that he worked on the Iraq project for Cotecna, which also was hired by the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq until mid-2004. The oil-for-food program began in December 1996 to alleviate the effect of U.N. economic sanctions on ordinary Iraqis. Under supervision by the U.N. secretariat and Security Council, the government of dictator Saddam Hussein was permitted to sell oil and buy civilian supplies. The program was halted after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. In October, former U.N. weapons inspector Charles Duelfer said in a report for the CIA that Saddam's government routinely violated the sanctions, earning an estimated $7.5 billion in cash mainly by smuggling oil outside the U.N. program. Saddam's government earned another $3 billion in kickbacks on oil and other schemes under the program, Reuters reported Duelfer's report as saying. The General Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, reported similar estimates. A U.S. Senate committee said earlier this month that the amount of money Saddam earned by subverting the program may be more that twice the estimates by Duelfer and the GAO. (Full story) U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Danforth said Monday that the United States considers the allegations made about the oil-for-food program "very serious." "The investigation has to be very comprehensive," Danforth said. "We have to get to the bottom of this. It has to be done in a very professional fashion. It shouldn't be prejudged. Let the chips fall where they may." Danforth said he favors having Volcker's panel turn over information to U.S. congressional committees that are demanding sharing of all oil-for-food files. So far, Volcker has refused to do so, and Danforth said he saw no immediate resolution to the deadlock on that issue. Volcker's panel is due to issue an initial report in January and a full report by mid-year, Reuters reported. Republican Rep. Henry Hyde of Illinois, chairman of the House International Relations Committee, introduced a bill November 17 that demands heightened U.N. accountability. Reuters reported Hyde as saying that U.N. audits he had obtained "identified mismanagement and uneconomical' arrangements" by Cotecna. Asked if Kofi Annan should resign, Danforth was quoted by Reuters as saying, "I don't think that the United States government rushes to judgment until all the facts are in." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 20:04:20 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 20:04:20 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Amnesty International: human rights defenders at risk, Guatemala and Honduras Message-ID: December 1, 2004 Below and attached are excerpts from an Amnesty International press release concerning human rights defenders. The two cases that AI reports on from the Americas are cases that Rights Action has long been working on: - Guatemala, the Chixoy Dam Reparations Campaign - Honduras, the Montana Verde political prisoners Rights Action has been providing AI with extensive information about these [and other cases] and we are heartened that these cases are receiving global attention. Please re-distribute this information. If you want on/ off this elist: info at rightsaction.org === Amnesty International November 2004, AI Index, ACT 30/020/2004 HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS AT RISK TABLE OF CONTENTS Middle East and North Africa 4 Iran 4 Europe and Central Asia 8 Turkey 8 Belarus 11 Asia 14 Indonesia 14 Nepal 17 Americas 20 Honduras 20 Guatemala 24 Africa 28 Mauritania 28 HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS AT RISK Human rights defenders around the world face serious dangers and difficulties on account of their work to promote and defend the human rights of others. This report is part of a series of Amnesty International documents illustrating the different patters of repression faced by human rights defenders worldwide. The appeal cases highlighted in this document show how in some countries legal measures or the threat of prosecution are used to dissuade or prevent activists from conducting human rights work. The misuse of the judicial system to harass or punish human rights defenders for their legitimate work is not new. However, Amnesty International believes the cases in this report reflect a growing trend in which some government officials or private individuals try to gag and silence human rights defenders by threatening them with detention either on spurious criminal charges or charges that are politically motivated. Amnesty International also believes that such legal measures or charges are designed to discredit the claims of human rights defenders and detract attention from the abuses they report. Human rights defenders are all those men and women who act on their own or collectively to contribute to the effective elimination of all violations of the fundamental rights and freedoms of peoples and individuals. Across the world, human rights defenders have fought, often against the odds, to establish fairer, more equitable societies. In so doing they have enhanced human dignity and helped alleviate the hardships of many of the most impoverished, marginalised and deprived sectors of the population. They have campaigned to compel governments to deal with gross inequalities in the distribution of wealth, access to basic health facilities, education, water and food. They have fought to protect the environment and defend economic, social and cultural rights. They have sought justice for crimes against humanity, and for violations committed by state agents including extrajudicial killings, "disappearances" and torture. They have insisted on democratic and judicial reform and exposed government corruption. The United Nations Declaration on the Right and Responsibility Of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote And Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, commonly known as the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the UN General Assembly on 9 December 1998, sets out the rights of human rights defenders, identifying specific freedoms and activities which are fundamental to their work, including the right to know, seek, obtain and receive information about human rights and fundamental freedoms, the right to participate in peaceful activities against violations of human rights and the right to criticize and complain about the non-compliance of governments with human rights standards, and to make proposals for improvement. By referring to the right to act collectively the Declaration pays special attention to freedom of association and the right to act in collaboration with others for the protection of human rights. The Declaration requires that states address these rights and freedoms to ensure human rights defenders may carry out their work freely, without interference or fear of threats, retaliation or discrimination. Legally, under international human rights treaties, governments are accountable for attacks, harassment, including the misuse of the judicial system carried out by law enforcement officials and other agents of the state. However, human rights defenders in countries from Guatemala to Turkey, from Belarus to Nepal, from Indonesia to Iran and Honduras are increasingly facing spurious or false criminal or politically motivated charges, fines, trials, arbitrary detention, criminal investigation, or restrictions on the right to freedom of association or the right to peaceful assembly. Amnesty International is urging its members and governments around the world to take effective action to ensure that human rights defenders are able to carry out their legitimate work without fear of prosecution. Amnesty International is asking all governments to present a plan for the implementation of the principles of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. [. . . ] AMERICAS HONDURAS - 25 YEAR SENTENCE FOR INDIGENOUS ACTIVISTS AI is gravely concerned that, in Honduras, the judicial system appears to have been misused to target environmental and indigenous activists and those who support them, in order to prevent them from carrying out their work on behalf of their communities claiming rights to communal land titles. The actions of community representatives and social activists, like the Miranda brothers, pursuing land and environmental protection initiatives are frequently viewed as an impediment by those involved in land and environmental exploitation. The harassment through the judicial system of environmental and grassroots activists, including indigenous people, is part of a pattern of human rights abuses against those involved in defending the environment in Honduras. Amnesty International has documented killings, death threats, as well as the targeting of activists through spurious criminal charges. On 8 January 2003, brothers Marcelino and Leonardo Miranda, indigenous leaders of the Consejo C?vico de Organizaciones Ind?genas Populares, (COPINH), Civic Council of Indigenous and Popular Organisations, were taken by 21 armed police officers from the Polic?a Nacional, National Police, and armed civilians wearing ski masks, from the indigenous Lenca community in Monta?a Verde, municipality of Gracias, Lempira department. According to reports the two men were tortured in front of their relatives, who were also threatened, during the arrest. The torture reportedly continued as the two men were taken to prison in Gracias municipality. At the prison, the police officers reportedly stabbed Leonardo Miranda in the head with a knife and threatened to kill him and his brother in their cells. Marcelino Miranda was forced to sign a confession under torture for unknown charges. They have reportedly been tortured further while in prison by Cobra officers from an elite group in the National Police force. Leonardo Miranda was reportedly threatened with death unless he signed a piece of paper accepting the charges brought against him. The Fiscal?a Especial de las Etnias (Special Prosecutor for Ethnic Affairs) brought a lawsuit against several police personnel on charges of torture and abuse of authority during the Mirandas' arrest. The torture charges against the police involved were dismissed (sobreseimiento definitivo) in September 2003. On 29 September 2003, the Special Prosecutor for Ethnic Affairs appealed against the dismissal. The Prosecutor for Santa Rosa de Cop?n confirmed the dismissal, but with a provisional character (sobreseimiento provisional) which allows for new elements to be put forward in the case against the police. Leonardo and Marcelino Miranda were initially accused of illegal seizure of land (usurpaci?n), battery (lesiones) and manslaughter (homicidio). In addition, Marcelino was charged with grand larceny of livestock and damages (hurto de ganado mayor y da?os), and Leonardo was charged with "attack against the State of Honduras" ("atentado contra el Estado de Honduras"). Several of these charges were dropped and the charges of battery and murder (asesinato) for the 2001 killing of Juan Reyes G?mez in an alleged land dispute remained. On 16 December 2003, they were sentenced to 25 years in prison for the murder charge. An appeal was lodged in January 2004. Amnesty International has received information which would suggest that due process was not properly observed during the trial and sentencing of the Miranda brothers. Two men, who were reportedly not at the scene of the crime when Juan Reyes G?mez was killed, were called on by the mayor to tend to the body, thus removing or disturbing important crime scene evidence. The sentence for murder is based largely on witnesses' statements for the prosecution which many believe to be unreliable and contradictory and which are not supported by evidence (regarding the number of shots fired and the location of the murder) These reported contradictions in the witness statements were not followed up or analysed. Amnesty International believes they were also denied a fair trial as they were not guaranteed the right to equality before the law and courts, the right to call and examine witnesses and the principle of "equality of arms"1 was not observed. Despite the fact that 10 witnesses placed the Miranda brothers far away from the scene of the crime at the time of the murder, their testimony was ignored; instead there has been total acceptance of the prosecution's witnesses' statements. Given that there are strong political and economic interests in Gracias, which are opposed to COPINH's work on behalf of indigenous communities, Amnesty International is concerned that the charges against the Miranda brothers were politically motivated, that they were not offered a fair trial, and considers the two political prisoners. Amnesty International has also received information that would indicate that the Miranda brothers were also denied the right to the presumption of innocence during their trial. While there does not seem to be conclusive evidence to link the Miranda brothers to Juan Reyes G?mez's murder, at least one of the witnesses stated that he knew that the Miranda brothers were guilty because there were already suspicions about them, "digo que ellos fueron porque ya hay sospechas...yo de la muerte de Juan no vi nada, pues yo no estaba en la monta?a". "I say that it was them because there is already suspicion...about the death of Juan [Reyes G?mez] I didn't see anything, because I wasn't there." Ballistic evidence, that indicated that the nature of the metal fragments found in the body of the deceased could not be identified as bullets, was reportedly ignored and the weapons used in the killing (a firearm and a machete) were not submitted as evidence. In June 2004, the Appeals Court in Santa Rosa de Cop?n ratified the 25 year sentence. An appeal was submitted to the Supreme Court. On 11 November 2004, the Supreme Court issued its decision upholding the appeal. The Supreme Court found serious problems and irregularities in the judicial process, including witnesses evidence. The Supreme Court is sending its decision to the Appeals Court in Santa Rosa de Cop?n. Further proceedings at the court of appeals could take weeks or months depending on its decision on whether to accept or reject the Supreme Court ruling. A decision to reject the ruling can still be appealed by the Miranda brothers. For many years Amnesty International has been concerned about abuses against indigenous people in Honduras and the failure of the authorities to investigate the abuses and bring those responsible to justice. According to information Amnesty International has received, much of the abuse and arbitrary detentions against indigenous people has apparently been intended to obstruct the efforts of indigenous leaders to secure recognition of their community's land rights. COPINH fought for and won the first Communal Land Title in Monta?a Verde. COPINH's fight for communal land titles has placed them in direct opposition to landowners and other powerful people in the Gracias municipality, interested in using the disputed land for cattle, logging and the cultivation of coffee beans. Amnesty International is concerned that the judicial system in Honduras has failed to provide due process to the Miranda brothers inhibiting as a result of the prison sentence imposed on them their ability to carry out their human rights work on behalf of their community. TAKE ACTION! Please send appeals to the president of Honduras: Express concern at the way the judicial system in Honduras is misused to harass human rights defenders using the cases of the Miranda Brothers to illustrate your point; Calling for the immediate and unconditional release of the Miranda brothers, unless clear evidence against them can be produced; Urge the authorities to ensure that national and international fair trial standards are upheld. PLEASE SEND YOUR APPEALS TO: President of the Honduras Republic Lic. Ricardo Maduro Presidente de la Rep?blica de Honduras Casa Presidencial Boulevard Juan Pablo Segundo Palacio Jos? Cecilio del Valle Tegucigalpa, Honduras Fax: +504 2357700 Salutation: Dear President/Se?or Presidente Please send copies of your appeals to: Special Prosecutor for Ethnic Affairs Licda. Jany del Cid Fiscal Especial de las Etnias Edificio Castillo Poujol, 4a Avda, Colonia Palmira, Boulevard Moraz?n Tegucigalpa, Honduras Fax: +504 221 3099 extension 2123 Salutation: Dear Licda del Cid / Sra. Fiscal Especial de las Etnias GUATEMALA Amnesty International is seriously concerned that the judicial system in Guatemala is being misused to harass communities who have been campaigning for compensation, in relation to past human rights violations. Evidence collected by Amnesty International suggests disproportional charges have been levied against activists campaigning on their behalf to prevent them from carrying out their legitimate human rights work. Amnesty International believes that the charges may be politically motivated and in the event that these activists were detained and prosecuted, Amnesty International would consider them political prisoners. Members of several communities in the Rabinal municipality, Baja Verapaz Department were evicted from their land over 20 years ago to allow for the construction of the Chixoy hydroelectric dam. Most residents refused eviction and resettlement during the planning and development phases of the project in the 1970's, finding conditions in other areas inferior to what was promised and returned to R?o Negro. Five massacres were carried out at the Ach? village of R?o Negro, Rabinal municipality, between 1980 and 1982 in the course of operations by the Guatemalan military to combat armed groups. Local human rights groups say 4,000 to 5,000 people were killed during that period in the wider Rabinal area, and that 444 of the 791 inhabitants of R?o Negro were extra-judicially executed. According to numerous studies, R?o Negro may have been especially targeted because the land was required to build the Chixoy hydroelectric dam. The dam was part of a government economic development plan. Initial funding for the dam construction came from the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank. In March 1982 the army and a civil defence patrol marched 70 women and 107 children from R?o Negro into the mountains and killed them. Three women escaped and 18 children were captured and detained by patrollers. Several of these children have become key witnesses in efforts to bring those responsible for the massacres to justice and to obtain compensation for the community's lost lands and possessions. On 7 September 2004, around 2,000 members of the Chixoy dam affected communities participated in a peaceful protest at the Chixoy hydroelectric dam. The communities were protesting the lack of reparations for past human rights violations, for the losses incurred during the construction of the dam, and for the lack of free running water and electricity in the communities as offered to the communities before the construction of the dam. On 8 September 2004, the community ended the protest following an agreement with representatives of the Instituto National de Elecrificaci?n, (INDE), State Electricity Institute, the authorities and observers from the Procuradur?a de los Derechos Humanos, PDH, the state human rights ombudsman's office, to negotiate with the communities. The week of September 14 2004, INDE representatives formally presented a complaint to the Ministerio P?blico, Public Prosecutor's Office, in Cob?n against members of the Chixoy dam affected communities. Those who took part in the protest were accused of 'actividad contra la seguridad de la naci?n,' activity against national security2. INDE claimed that in occupying the hydroelectric dam, the communities could have closed the dam's flood gates, thereby putting at risk the electricity supply for the whole nation, damaging the national economy and provoking a catastrophe. However, according to a report of the Fiscal Regional, or regional prosecutor, a police report claimed that the members of the community were participating in a peaceful protest, calling for the fulfilment of promises made by INDE since 1976. According to the regional prosecutor, the police report also stated, following an inspection, there were no damages to the Chixoy dam. Once the accusation had been presented to the Ministerio P?blico in Cob?n, the regional prosecutor was obliged to determine whether there was sufficient evidence in order to prosecute. The regional prosecutor has allegedly been disinclined to prosecute due to the lack of evidence of criminal damage to the dam, he has allegedly been instructed by the Fiscal General de la Rep?blica, Attorney General, to individualize responsibility, to bring criminal charges and to issue arrest warrants against individuals. As a result, several representatives of the 18 dam affected communities involved in the protest, who signed the agreement with INDE on 7 September 2004, are currently facing criminal charges. Those facing charges include: Carlos Chen Osorio a survivor and key witness to the 1982 Rio Negro massacre; Juan de Dios Garc?a, director of the Asociaci?n de Victimas de Rabinal (ADIVIMA), Rabinal Victims' Association; other leaders of other Chixoy dam affected communities, including Domingo Sic, Rafael Santiago Fren?ndez, F?lix Alonso Raymundo, Antonio V?squez Xitumul and V?ctor Lem Colorado. Also facing charges is Daniel Pascual, Director of the Comit? de Unidad Campesino, CUC, Peasants' Unity Committee. According to reports, on the day prior to the occupation of the hydroelectric dam site, Daniel Pascual gave two declarations to the press in which he stated that the protests against the Chixoy dam had links to Guatemala's long-running land conflict. He stated that the government had failed to fulfil its obligations to the Chixoy dam affected communities and claimed the World Bank was also responsible for the current impoverished situation of the communities. The Attorney General has urged the regional prosecutor in Cob?n to initiate investigations against Daniel Pascual in relation to theses statements to the press. Although no arrest warrants have been issued at the time of writing, the criminal investigations against community representatives and Daniel Pascual reportedly remain open. Parallel to efforts to bring criminal charges against members of the communities the negotiation process regarding compensation for past violations has begun. On Friday September 24 2004, a meeting took place between INDE and the communities affected. At this meeting, INDE refused to drop charges. On 13 October community representatives held a meeting with representatives of the World Bank, during which the World Bank reportedly committed to participating in the negotiating table. However, during the most recent meeting organized for 28 October 2004, World Bank representatives as well as senior government officials failed to attend. Amnesty International is concerned that the charges against the community members may be politically motivated in order to discredit and prevent community members from participating in negotiations on behalf of the Chixoy dam affected communities. TAKE ACTION! Please send appeals to the President and Attorney General of Guatemala: Urge the authorities to ensure that any criminal investigation against members of the Chixoy affected dam communities comply with domestic and international standards regarding due process, the right to an adequate defence and fair trial; Expressing concern that in the case of the Chixoy affected dam communities, criminal charges may be used to punish and prevent community representatives from actively participating in negotiations for compensation and reparations in relation to past human rights violations. Please send appeals to: President of the Republic of Guatemala Licenciado Oscar Berger Perdomo Presidente de la Rep?blica de Guatemala Casa Presidencial, 6 a. Avenida, 4-18 zona 1 Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala Fax: +502 221 4423 Salutation: Excelent?simo Sr. Presidente/Dear President Berger 1- The principle of "equality of arms" between the parties in a case, which must be observed throughout the trial process, means that both parties are treated in a manner ensuring that they have a procedurally equal position during the course of the trial, and are in equal position to make their case. Each party must be afforded a reasonable opportunity to present its case, under conditions that do not place it at a disadvantage vis-?-vis the opposing party. 2- According to the Guatemalan Penal Code Article 390: Activity against the security of the Nation is punishable by prison sentences of one to five years and a fine of 1,000 to 15,000 quetzales (about US $130 to US $2000) for those who carry out acts which have the objective of sabotage, destruction, stoppage or creating disorder of the businesses that contribute to the economic development of the country with the purpose of hindering the national production of important services of public utilities (unofficial translation). [. . . ] Human rights defenders at risk, Amnesty International November 2004, AI Index: ACT 30/020/2004 === RIGHTS ACTION, with its main office in Guatemala, is tax-charitable NGO that supports community development work in Chiapas, Guatemala, Honduras and Haiti, as well as Peru, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and engages in north-south education and work related to global development and human rights issues. To make TAX-CHARITABLE DONATIONS for humanitarian support for the Miranda brothers and their families in Honduras, and for the Chixoy Dam Reparations Campaign in Guatemala, make check payable to "Rights Action" and mail to: UNITED STATES: 1830 Connecticut Av, NW, Washington DC, 20009. CANADA: 509 St. Clair Ave W, box73527, Toronto ON, M6C-1C0. Donate on-line in the USA and Canada: www.rightsaction.org CFC # 9914. CONTACT US: - to come to Central America on a fact-finding educational delegation - to be a community development and human rights accompanier in Guatemala or Honduras info at rightsaction.org/ 416-654-2074/ www.rightsaction.org --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.788 / Virus Database: 533 - Release Date: 11/1/04 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 20:05:28 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 20:05:28 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Confusion Reigns as U.S. Raid Misses Target in Iraq Message-ID: Published on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 by Reuters Confusion Reigns as U.S. Raid Misses Target in Iraq by Luke Baker MOSUL, Iraq - It began with U.S. troops busting through the doors of the wrong house. Dozens of soldiers rammed the white gates of a well-to-do home in central Mosul early on Tuesday, detaining three Iraqi men, only to discover their target was a house with black gates. "Four houses down," said the elderly homeowner patiently, his hands bound behind his back by yellow plastic cuffs. "You've got the wrong people," he told the officer leading the operation in good English, his wife, daughter and two pajama-clad grandchildren cowering alongside him, trying to avoid the glare from the spotlights on the soldiers' guns. For the past 19 months, U.S. forces have carried out raids across Iraq, sometimes netting big targets and gathering key intelligence to help them combat the sort of mounting insurgency that swept through Mosul this month, routing the police force. But Iraqis say the targets are often wrong, and heavy-handed tactics have created resentment and alienated ordinary people. "Squad Two, get to the house three doors down with the black gates," Captain Robert Lackey ordered over the radio. Several heavily armed men with night-vision scopes attached to their helmets trotted out into the rain. At the wrong house, the search went on, with soldiers overturning every room for evidence to link the family to Iraq's insurgency. They turned up at least one AK-47 assault rifle -- common to nearly all Iraqi homes and generally permitted by U.S. forces -- and around $3,000, according to a U.S. investigator. "That's a lot of money right there," he said, shaking his head, although wealthy Iraqis often keep sums of much more than $3,000 at home because banks are not trusted. HUNTING BAATHISTS Down the road, soldiers were ramming open the gates of an upscale house. They were about to burst through the door when it opened. Inside were seven young women and six dazed children. The men of the house were in a village outside Mosul for a few days, one of the women said in fluent English. The soldiers were looking for her father, a Mosul university professor. "Is he a member of the Baath party?" Lackey asked her. "The Baath party that still exists?" She replied that he wasn't any more, "that was ages ago." She pointed out her father was detained by U.S. troops in a previous raid and held for five months without charge. At about 1 a.m. (2200 GMT) the phone rang in the kitchen. One of the women answered and quickly hung up. "Who was that? Was that your father?" asked a female soldier. "No. It was the neighbors wondering what on earth is going on," said the woman, nodding toward the street, where several 20-tonne, eight-wheeled U.S. Stryker vehicles were positioned. A search of the house turned up an AK-47 and a little money. A fatigues-clad Iraqi translator for U.S. forces smoked several cigarettes and put them out on the family's floor. "Can I please have a receipt for my things?" said the daughter of the house as the soldiers prepared to leave. "Absolutely," said Lackey, whipping out his receipt book and apologizing for the inconvenience. Back at base, the operation was declared a success. "I feel bad that we didn't get the guy we were looking for," Lackey said. "But you know what, just his knowing that we've been by and that we're looking for him is likely to stop him getting up to his activities." ? Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1123-09.htm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 20:10:52 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 20:10:52 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: THE CIA AND U.S. MONEY IS Message-ID: THE CIA AND U.S. MONEY IS GOING ALL OUT TO WIN EVEN IF IT DESTROYS THE UKRAINE. The CIA with U.S. funding is financing this coup because the vote turned out on the side of Pro-Russia Yanukovich instead of the Pro-Western Yushchenko. I guess the U.S. only considers a vote valid and democratic when it favors the side the U.S. tried to rigged it. (What about the STOLEN U.S. election?) But they just won't accept defeat so will tear the country apart and figure half is better than nothing. I hope the coup, demonstrations and new election works out the same as it did in Argentina. The U.S. was politically embarrassed there when the vote of the people overwhelmingly went against the U.S. http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=957358&tw=wn_wire_story International Mediators Try to End Ukraine Crisis By Ron Popeski, Wired News, 11/30/04 KIEV (Reuters) - International mediators will step up efforts on Wednesday to resolve Ukraine's 10-day-old crisis over a disputed presidential election after the collapse of talks between pro-Western and pro-Russian factions. President Bush called on Tuesday for a peaceful resolution to the crisis, which has triggered mass street protests and threatened to tear the former Soviet republic apart. "It's very important that violence not break out there, and it's important that the will of the people be heard," Bush told a joint news conference with Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin in Ottawa. Bush said he had spoken by phone to Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, one of the international mediators trying to broker a way out of a standoff that has paralyzed government and is beginning to bite into Ukraine's economy. Ukraine's opposition, whose insistence its candidate Viktor Yushchenko was cheated out of victory in the Nov. 21 ballot has brought tens of thousands onto the streets, pulled out of talks with authorities on Tuesday in favor of "People Power." YUSHCHENKO DEMANDS NEW VOTE Yushchenko, a liberal who seeks gradual moves toward Western Europe, is demanding a rapid new vote and has challenged the Nov. 21 result in the Supreme Court, which will sit for a third day to examine allegations of systematic electoral fraud. The crisis was triggered when electoral authorities declared the ballot had been won by Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, who sees closer links with neighboring Russia as vital for Ukraine's future prosperity. Parliament will meet for a second successive day to consider an opposition motion to dismiss Yanukovich and his government on grounds of mismanagement and fomenting separatism in the Russian-speaking and more economically powerful east of Ukraine. On Tuesday, opposition protesters surged toward the parliament building after the assembly failed to proceed with the motion. The parliament speaker appealed to the protesters not to storm the building, promising a decision on Wednesday. European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who arrived in Kiev on Tuesday and met outgoing President Leonid Kuchma, said any solution "had to lie in Ukraine's legal framework, ruling out any use of force." Kwasniewski, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus and Boris Gryzlov, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, were due to arrive on Wednesday. All the mediators took part in talks in Kiev last week that produced a "working group" involving both sides in Ukraine, independent for only 13 years and lying between an expanded EU and its master for many centuries, Russia. It was not immediately clear whether the mediators had any new proposals to end the standoff, particularly after the opposition's withdrawal from talks with Yanukovich's camp. Kuchma was due to chair talks on the economy with top officials on Wednesday, 24 hours after the central bank introduced emergency measures to stop people pulling money out of banks. Kuchma, his 10-year rule tarnished by scandal and poor economic management, had suggested on Monday he might bow to pressure at home and abroad to allow a fresh presidential poll. Russia, which had backed Yanukovich, seemed to come round to the idea of a fresh vote. Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said they would respect the outcome of any new poll, according to a German government statement. A Kremlin statement made no mention of a new poll. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "The practice of discernment is part of higher consciousness. Discernment is not just a step up from judgement. In life's curriculum, it is the opposite of judgement. Through judgement a man reveals what he needs to confront and learn. Through discernment, one reveals what he has mastered." Quote from: Love Without End, by Glenda Green ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 20:11:25 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 20:11:25 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: 338 dead in floods and landslides in Philippines Message-ID: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1381613,00.html 338 dead in floods and landslides in Philippines By Jenny Booth, Times Online, 11/30/04 Landslides and flash floods have killed 338 people in the eastern Philippines, with 150 others missing and a fresh typhoon on the way. Corazon Soliman, the Social Welfare Secretary, said that rescue efforts were being hampered by bad weather, with roads blocked by landslides and submerged in flood waters. The authorities were finding it difficult to deliver supplies and to rescue people on rooftops. Helicopters had to drop food parcels to those stranded on roofs because there was no place to land, she said. Ms Soliman, who returned to Manila today from an aerial survey of the area, said that 306 people were killed and 150 missing in Quezon province, about 70 kilometers (40 miles) east of Manila, the capital. The Office of Civil Defence reported that 19 were killed in Aurora province, eight in Rizal province, and one each in the Manila suburb of Marikina and Camarines Norte province. Other officials reported that three had died in Bulacan province, north of Manila. Ms Soliman said that the town of Real was worst hit with 114 dead, while 100 were known to have died in Infanta and 92 in General Nakar, all in Quezon province. At least 150 were reported missing in Real, she said. Officials were arranging for a coast guard boat to reach the three Quezon towns facing the Pacific Ocean, from where a new typhoon was approaching. Reuben Sindac, the police intelligence chief in Quezon, quoted a colleague as saying he saw up to 20 bodies floating in the floodwaters. He said police communications equipment and vehicles in Infanta were damaged and the whole town was underwater. Lieutenant Colonel Restituto Padilla, a spokesman for the Philippines Air Force, said that stricken towns in Quezon were inaccessible after swollen rivers washed away bridges and uprooted trees. A coast guard helicopter flew 12 people who were injured in the Quezon landslides to Manila for treatment, most with fractures and some in critical condition. A private helicopter used to survey the damage has crash-landed in flood waters in northern Nueva Ecija province, but the pilot and a radio reporter with him were rescued by a military helicopter. TV footage showed residents stranded on patches of dry land, waving at rescue helicopters. Brown-colored floodwater submerged bridges, and large areas of hillsides were swept away, sending tons of dirt and debris onto roads and toppling coconut trees. The Philippines is hit by about 20 storms and typhoons a year. A typhoon and another storm in the country's east last week killed at least 87 people and left 80 others missing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "The practice of discernment is part of higher consciousness. Discernment is not just a step up from judgement. In life's curriculum, it is the opposite of judgement. Through judgement a man reveals what he needs to confront and learn. Through discernment, one reveals what he has mastered." Quote from: Love Without End, by Glenda Green ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 19:09:42 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:09:42 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Hero or Murderer? Historical Court May Clear Name of Chief Leschi Message-ID: Hero or Murderer? Historical Court May Clear Name of Chief Leschi By Rebecca Cook, Associated Press Writer Yelm, Wash. (AP) _ Chief Leschi fought to preserve his tribe's way of life and died a hero to his people. But in the official records of Washington state, Leschi is a convicted murderer, hanged for the death of a militia soldier in the 1855 Indian War. Everyone from Leschi's executioner to respected historians have questioned his guilt. Next week, the chief justice of Washington state's Supreme Court will convene a historical trial to seek justice, at long last, for Chief Leschi. ``It's a search for the truth,'' Chief Justice Gerry Alexander said. The search began generations ago, among Nisqually Indians who kept Leschi's legacy alive through stories they told their children and grandchildren. Cynthia Iyall, a descendant of Leschi's sister, remembers visiting her grandfather's home on a bluff where Leschi (pronounced LESH-eye) and his brother Quiemuth (KWAY-muth) used to camp. ``It was just fantastic. He would tell us how they used to burn the prairies for grazing, and about their horses,'' Iyall said. ``They had a view for miles. I could imagine way back when, Leschi and Quiemuth sitting up there watching the militia men.'' Iyall grew up knowing Leschi's life by heart. She didn't dwell much on his death until she had a child and started thinking about the stories she would pass down to him. ``It really makes a big difference to know who your ancestors are and where they came from, and pass that on to your kids,'' Iyall said. ``To know our historical icon, the person who is why we are here today, is considered a murderer _ the people of Washington state need to know the true history.'' Legend says a bright star rose over the Nisqually plains the night Leschi was born in 1808. Wealthy in horses, Leschi was also known for his wisdom and eloquence. The Nisqually Indians did not have formal chiefs, though. That distinction was conferred upon Leschi by Isaac Stevens, Washington's first territorial governor, who needed someone to sign treaties for the tribe. The Medicine Creek Treaty of 1854 defined reservations for the Nisqually and several other Puget Sound tribes. An X appears next to Leschi's name, though some historians say he refused to sign. The treaty consigned the Nisqually _ whose original name, Squally-absch, meant ``people of the river and people of the grass country'' _ to a high forest, cut off from their homes on the prairie and the river. War between the Indians and the territorial militia broke out in 1855, and in 1856 Leschi was captured on Stevens' orders. The government charged Leschi with the murder of Col. A. Benton Moses, a militia soldier killed in battle. The trial ended with a hung jury. At the second trial, the court refused to instruct the jury that killing an enemy solider in war is not considered murder. Leschi was convicted and sentenced to death. On appeal, the territorial Supreme Court declined to consider new evidence showing Leschi was miles away when Moses was killed. The U.S. Army refused to execute Leschi, as military leaders believed the rules of war should have prevented him from being charged with murder. Then as now, debate raged about the distinction between prisoners of war, ``enemy combatants'' and terrorists. Pierce County authorities oversaw Leschi's execution on Feb. 19, 1858. Indian drums sounded in the distance as Leschi stood on the gallows. His hangman, Charles Grainger, later said, ``I felt then I was hanging an innocent man, and I believe it yet.'' Leschi did win one battle in the end: after his death, the government moved the Nisqually reservation to a more suitable spot on the river, about 50 miles south of Seattle, where his descendants still live. When Iyall was hired as the Nisqually tribe's economic development planner, she also became chairwoman of the Committee to Exonerate Chief Leschi. Building on decades of research by tribal historians, she lobbied to set the record straight. Iyall teamed up with Melissa Parr, a curator for the Washington State Historical Society. The Leschi story had captured Parr's imagination several years ago, but she wasn't sure how to change history. ``He was standing up against something that was wrong. That's in the hearts of all of us,'' Parr said. ``That's what heroes are made of, and it doesn't matter your color.'' Parr and Iyall found a powerful friend in Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg. The more Ladenburg read about Leschi's execution in his home county, the more he felt compelled to do something. ``It became clear to me this was a miscarriage of justice. He got lynched, with court approval,'' Ladenburg said. He rejected the idea of a pardon, saying pardons are for guilty people. ``We want to establish the historical record and make sure people understand what really happened,'' Ladenburg explained. The Legislature passed a resolution last spring urging the Supreme Court to vacate Leschi's conviction. Chief Justice Alexander said he didn't think the current Supreme Court has the power to overturn a decision made by the territorial Supreme Court _ which was technically a federal court. Plus, he doubted anyone would have legal standing to petition the court on behalf of a man who's been dead nearly 150 years. Instead, Alexander proposed a ``Historical Court of Justice,'' judged by himself and a racially diverse panel of six other Washington jurists. Next Friday they will meet at the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma to consider evidence from trial records and hear testimony from historians. Ladenburg and Nisqually attorneys will represent Leschi, while two Pierce County prosecutors will argue the government's case. ``It's going to be hard to do _ there's not a lot of direct evidence,'' Alexander said. The ruling will be symbolic, but Alexander and Leschi's supporters believe it will speak strongly enough to set the record straight for good. Alexander promised the court has no predetermined verdict. ``This has got to be a straight up-deal,'' Alexander said. ``I'm going in with a totally open mind.'' Many Washington residents already know Leschi's name _ several schools, some monuments and even a posh Seattle neighborhood are named after him. Soon, Iyall hopes, everyone will know the truth about the hero of her grandfather's stories. http://www.imdiversity.com/Villages/Native/Daily_News.asp FREE LEONARD PELTIER!! americanindianpoliticsandmusic messages archived at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/americanindianpoliticsandmusic -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 19:19:38 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:19:38 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] What do you want to ask Noam Chomsky? Message-ID: Hey folks, Later in December I'm meeting up with Chomsky for a half-hour interview. Focus will be Iraq and Palestine, but I will also ask what we can do as activists - anyway, if any of you have specific questions pertaining to these issues you'd like to see asked, send me a line and I'll try to incorporate it. alam at lefthook.org Cheers *** 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 Sun Dec 5 19:22:44 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:22:44 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Take Action! Day 3 Message-ID: Tenzin Delek Week of Action - Day 3 Students for a Free Tibet Thank you to everyone who made phone calls to the Chinese Embassy in the US yesterday. We spoke to someone in their press office and were told that they had already received many calls about Tenzin Delek and they would pass the messages on to the Ambassador! Nice work. Today, please call the London embassy at +44-20-7299-4037. Because it is a Saturday, you will just get a voicemail box, no matter what time you call, so just leave a message after you hear "You have reached mailbox number 4037" and the tone (this is the political affairs number). Tell them: - You are calling to ask China not to execute a Tibetan monk who is in prison, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche. - Tenzin Delek could be executed in the next few weeks for crimes he did not commit. - China must overturn his death sentence and free him. - Please make sure to pass this message on to Ambassador Zha Peixin. You might wonder if your message is going to be noticed - it will. We know that embassies and consulates keep careful track of this type of thing, no matter what they tell you. Thanks for taking the time to help. Freya, Lhadon, Tendor, Han-shan, Alma & Thupten P.S. - Check out new updates about activities in Canada, New Zealand, Nepal and others on the Week of Action page - http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org/tdrweek . -------------------------------------------------------------- Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this. Tell-a-friend! If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Students for a Free Tibet's Action Center. 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 Sun Dec 5 19:22:08 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:22:08 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] FW: Tears of gratitude from theFallujah refugees Message-ID: FW: [codepinktalknorthbay] FW: Tears of gratitude from the Fallujah refugees December 3, 2004 Dear? Linda Last week, we received an urgent message about the dire conditions in Fallujah and the desperate need for supplies from journalist Dahr Jamail, who has been risking his life to get the truth out about the this tragedy to the American people. We sent out a call for your help and from every part of the country you responded with warmth and generosity. Because of you, $30,000 has already been sent to Iraq and we have gathered hundreds of pounds of supplies to take on the delegation that will be leaving December 26. Here is the latest report from Dahr on how the money you donated has already helped save lives and bring warmth and comfort to thousands of refugees, especially the children: Dear Code Pink, Here is a report on how the money has been spent: -- blankets, warm clothing, and food distributed to 4 mosques around Baghdad, which are then distributing the supplies to four different refugee camps they are responsible for. -- portable heaters, cooking stoves, stove and heater fuel to the refugee camp near the Al-Amiryah mosque. These supplies have been critical to help the refugees cope with the cold. We plan to buy more of these, since the need is so great. ? -- antibiotics, needles, sterile gloves, pain medications, gauze, and basic first aid materials. These have been distributed to three different refugee camps by a group of doctors dealing with the emergency health crisis in the camps. -- water tanks, pipes, water pumps, water purification materials. These have gone to one camp in Baghdad, and we need much more of this as clean water and heat remain the greatest needs. Tomorrow one of our team members is going to the worst camp, up in Saqlawiya near Fallujah, and she will bring me back a lists of the most urgent needs for the families there. The doctors buying the medications work with a medical distribution company here, and are buying the meds at below wholesale cost. We are getting an incredible amount of medications for the money we spend on them. All the money is going directly to the refugees, because we aren't paying any of the docs or volunteers. I offered to pay them, but none of them would accept.?They say this is the very least they can do to help their brothers and sisters in Fallujah. ? It has been like managing a hurricane, the needs and devastation are so intense. But we're one of the only groups doing this and people are thanking us and crying everywhere we go. It is a desperate situation, but we can easily say that this aid is making a huge difference in the lives of the refugees, particularly the children--who are the most vulnerable. Please thank all the people who have donated for their generosity and kindness." Solidarity, Dahr This week your compassion helped bring healing to Fallujah refugees -- but they still need so much more. The holidays bring with them the spirit of giving, and we hope that as you're making your gift list, you'll remember the refugees of Fallujah with a donation. A great holiday gift idea: give a donation in the name of a loved one. We have created a quick and easy form where you can donate money on behalf of loved ones. You can continue to donate throughout the holiday season. http://CODEPINK.kintera.org/aidtribute As part of your holiday party, set up a table where your friends and family can donate, or, hold a fundraiser. You will feel good knowing you're doing something in the true spirit of the season. Donate securely online: http://codepink.kintera.org/helpiraqis . Send checks made out to 'Help Iraqis/Global Exchange' to 2017 Mission St. #303 San Francisco, CA 94110. Thank you friends--your generosity is ever inspiring, Andrea, Carol, Claire, Dana, Gael, Jodie, Medea, Nancy, Sue, Tiffany P.S.? A recent report by the Institute for Policy Studies estimates that this war will cost $3,415 for every U.S. household. Giving to the children of Fallujah is one way to counter the government's atrocious misuse of our tax dollars! To unsubscribe from this mailing, please click here ------ End of Forwarded Message -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: message-footer.txt URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 20:12:38 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 20:12:38 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Philadelphia homeless families occupy army recruitment center Message-ID: URGENT ALERT: TUESDAY NOVEMBER 30TH, 2:00 PM PHILADELPHIA HOMELESS FAMILIES OCCUPY ARMY RECRUITMENT CENTER, DEMAND MONEY FOR HOUSING NOT FOR WAR! Today, as part of their "Homes For The Holidays: Operation Bring the Money Home" Campaign, dozens of homeless families belonging to the Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU) have moved their Bushville Tent City to sit in at the main Army Recruiting Office in Philadelphia. As police and Civil Affairs officers attempted to lock the families out of the office, the families quickly placed signs saying "Billions for the War, Still Nothing for the Poor" and photographs of homeless children with the words, "Bring the Money Home" on every available space in the office. See http://www.kwru.org for photographs and updates. Background: November 30, 2004: Early this afternoon, members of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union - homeless families currently living at the KWRU's BUSHVILLE in North Philadelphia - attempted to meet with the Office of Housing and Urban Developement (HUD) in Philadelphia. Soon after the families entered the building the elevators were turned off and we were denied our right to speak with government officials. The growing protest then moved to the Army Recruiting Office at Broad and Arch where the families then took over the Army Recruiting Office. Others have set up to spend the night outside. No family should ever go homeless one night in Philadelphia. Your support is needed. The Kensington Welfare Rights Union is insisting that Alphonso Jackson, the current Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, fly to Philadelphia to witness firsthand the impact the recent budget cuts made by the Bush Administration have had on the families in this city. "The Bush administration continues to put billions of dollars towards a needless, brutal war while families across America suffer without the basic necessities of life. This is not a fight for a bed in a homeless shelter; it is a fight for decent, affordable housing for everyone is this wealthy nation." - Cheri Honkala, Kensington Welfare Rights Union/ Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign Kensington Welfare Rights Union NUHHCE, ASFCME, AFL-CIO PO Box 50678 Philadelphia, PA 19132-9720 Phone: 215/203-1945 Fax: 215/203-1950 email: kwru at kwru.org web: http://www.kwru.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 20:14:00 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 20:14:00 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] "PR Meets Psy-Ops in War on Terror: The use of misleading information as a military tool sparks debate in the Pentagon. Critics say the practice puts credibility at stake." Message-ID: Well this does it! I don't think we will ever hear about the need to "support" or "trust" the military or Team Bush again. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-warinfo1dec01,0,1882598,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines latimes.com http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-warinfo1dec01,0,321180.story?coll=la-home-headlines THE NATION PR Meets Psy-Ops in War on Terror The use of misleading information as a military tool sparks debate in the Pentagon. Critics say the practice puts credibility at stake. By Mark Mazzetti Times Staff Writer December 1, 2004 WASHINGTON - On the evening of Oct. 14, a young Marine spokesman near Fallouja appeared on CNN and made a dramatic announcement. "Troops crossed the line of departure," 1st Lt. Lyle Gilbert declared, using a common military expression signaling the start of a major campaign. "It's going to be a long night." CNN, which had been alerted to expect a major news development, reported that the long-awaited offensive to retake the Iraqi city of Fallouja had begun. In fact, the Fallouja offensive would not kick off for another three weeks. Gilbert's carefully worded announcement was an elaborate psychological operation - or "psy-op" - intended to dupe insurgents in Fallouja and allow U.S. commanders to see how guerrillas would react if they believed U.S. troops were entering the city, according to several Pentagon officials. In the hours after the initial report, CNN's Pentagon reporters were able to determine that the Fallouja operation had not, in fact, begun. "As the story developed, we quickly made it clear to our viewers exactly what was going on in and around Fallouja," CNN spokesman Matthew Furman said. Officials at the Pentagon and other U.S. national security agencies said the CNN incident was not an isolated feint - the type used throughout history by armies to deceive their enemies - but part of a broad effort underway within the Bush administration to use information to its advantage in the war on terrorism. The Pentagon in 2002 was forced to shutter its controversial Office of Strategic Influence (OSI), which was opened shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, after reports that the office intended to plant false news stories in the international media. But officials say that much of OSI's mission - using information as a tool of war - has been assumed by other offices throughout the U.S. government. Although most of the work remains classified, officials say that some of the ongoing efforts include having U.S. military spokesmen play a greater role in psychological operations in Iraq, as well as planting information with sources used by Arabic TV channels such as Al Jazeera to help influence the portrayal of the United States. Other specific examples were not known, although U.S. national security officials said an emphasis had been placed on influencing how foreign media depict the United States. These efforts have set off a fight inside the Pentagon over the proper use of information in wartime. Several top officials see a danger of blurring what are supposed to be well-defined lines between the stated mission of military public affairs - disseminating truthful, accurate information to the media and the American public - and psychological and information operations, the use of often-misleading information and propaganda to influence the outcome of a campaign or battle. Several of those officials who oppose the use of misleading information spoke out against the practice on the condition of anonymity. "The movement of information has gone from the public affairs world to the psychological operations world," one senior defense official said. "What's at stake is the credibility of people in uniform." Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said he recognized the concern of many inside the Defense Department, but that "everybody understands that there's a very important distinction between information operations and public affairs. Nobody has offered serious proposals that would blur the distinction between these two functions." Di Rita said he had asked his staff for more information about how the Oct. 14 incident on CNN came about. One recent development critics point to is the decision by commanders in Iraq in mid-September to combine public affairs, psychological operations and information operations into a "strategic communications" office. An organizational chart of the newly created office was obtained by The Times. The strategic communications office, which began operations Sept. 15, is run by Air Force Brig. Gen. Erv Lessel, who answers directly to Gen. George W. Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. Partly out of concern about this new office, Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, distributed a letter Sept. 27 to the Joint Chiefs and U.S. combat commanders in the field warning of the dangers of having military public affairs (PA) too closely aligned with information operations (IO). "Although both PA and IO conduct planning, message development and media analysis, the efforts differ with respect to audience, scope and intent, and must remain separate," Myers wrote, according to a copy of the letter obtained by The Times. Pentagon officials say Myers is worried that U.S. efforts in Iraq and in the broader campaign against terrorism could suffer if world audiences begin to question the honesty of statements from U.S. commanders and spokespeople. "While organizations may be inclined to create physically integrated PA/IO offices, such organizational constructs have the potential to compromise the commander's credibility with the media and the public," Myers wrote. Myers' letter is not being heeded in Iraq, officials say, in part because many top civilians at the Pentagon and National Security Council support an effort that blends public affairs with psy-ops to win Iraqi support - and Arab support in general - for the U.S. fight against the insurgency. Advocates of these programs said that the advent of a 24-hour news cycle and the powerful influence of Arabic satellite television made it essential that U.S. military commanders and civilian officials made the control of information a key part of their battle plans. "Information is part of the battlefield in a way that it's never been before," one senior Bush administration official said. "We'd be foolish not to try to use it to our advantage." And, supporters argue, it is necessary to fill a vacuum left when the budgets for the State Department's public diplomacy programs were slashed and the U.S. Information Agency - a bulwark of the nation's anticommunist efforts during the Cold War - was gutted in the 1990s. "The worst outcome would be to lose this war by default. If the smart folks in the psy-op and civil affairs tents can cast a truthful, persuasive message that resonates with the average Iraqi, why not use the public affairs vehicles to transmit it?" asked Charles A. Krohn, a professor at the University of Michigan and former deputy chief of public affairs for the Army. "What harm is done, compared to what is gained? For the first year of the war, we did virtually nothing to tell the Iraqis why we invaded their country and ejected their government. It's about time we got our act together." Advocates also cite a September report by the Defense Science Board, a panel of outside experts that advises Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, which concluded that a "crisis" in U.S. "strategic communications" had undermined American efforts to fight Islamic extremism worldwide. The study cited polling in the Arab world that revealed widespread hatred of the United States throughout the Middle East. A poll taken in June by Zogby International revealed that 94% of Saudi Arabians had an "unfavorable" view of the United States, compared with 87% in April 2002. In Egypt, the second largest recipient of U.S. aid, 98% of respondents held an unfavorable view of the United States. The Defense Science Board recommended a presidential directive to "coordinate all components of strategic communication including public diplomacy, public affairs, international broadcasting and military information operations." Di Rita said there was general agreement inside the Bush administration that the U.S. government was ill-equipped to communicate its policies and messages abroad in the current media climate. "As a government, we're not very well organized to do that," he said. Yet some in the military argue that the efforts at better "strategic communication" sometimes cross the line into propaganda, citing some recent media briefings held in Iraq. During a Nov. 10 briefing by Marine Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, reporters were shown a video of Iraqi troops saluting their flag and singing the Iraqi national anthem. "Pretty soon, we're going to have the 5 o'clock follies all over again, and it will take us another 30 years to restore our credibility," said a second senior Defense official, referring to the much-ridiculed daily media briefings in Saigon during the Vietnam War. According to several Pentagon officials, the strategic communications programs at the Defense Department are being coordinated by the office of the undersecretary of Defense for policy, Douglas J. Feith. If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at latimes.com/archives. TMS Reprints Article licensing and reprint options Copyright 2004 Los Angeles Times -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 20:12:06 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 20:12:06 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Fw: Fence hides Navy secret Message-ID: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2920103 Fence hides Navy secret Extraordinary silence surrounds D.C. construction By SPENCER S. HSU Washington Post WASHINGTON - Shortly after dawn on a recent morning, two dump trucks and a water tanker pulled up to a new, unmarked complex of buildings at East Potomac Park, the grassy peninsula near the Jefferson Memorial. The drivers exited their cabs, knocked at a gatehouse with blacked-out windows and waited for a security guard to emerge from behind a locked door. ADVERTISEMENT A few minutes later, a panel of 10-foot-high security fence slid open, and the trucks disappeared inside, leaving the joggers and cyclists along the waterfront none the wiser about their mission. Review bypassed What goes on beyond the fence is a mystery. The multi-agency review normally required to erect anything on federal parkland did not apply to the beige, metal buildings. The Navy, which operates the site, calls the work a "utility assessment and upgrade" and volunteers nothing more. "As a matter of policy, we can't go into the particulars," said a Navy spokesman, Lt. Cmdr. Joseph A. Surette. Frederick J. Lindstrom, acting secretary of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, said it is illegal for him to discuss the matter. He did say the Navy started the work without seeking review from the commission, which oversees the city's Potomac River parklands. "Let's just say when they're finished, you'll be glad they've done what they've done," Lindstrom said. Amid the secrecy, theories abound about the 4-acre complex, which is dead center in a ring that includes the White House, the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, Reagan National Airport and the National War College. Is it a sophisticated sensor station, guarding the 14th Street bridge and other Potomac River crossings? Is it an excavation point for underwater barriers to protect the Washington Channel and Potomac River from submarines? Is it a staging area for Navy Seabees securing underwater cables between the White House and the Pentagon, across the river? Whatever the case, in a capital where concrete barriers and police roadblocks have become a common and often grating part of city life since Sept. 11, 2001, the Navy compound represents a more ambiguous side to security. It is visible and obscure, hidden in plain sight, billed as temporary but expected to last for years. And it joins a network of things large and small erected to protect the capital. Wind and radiation-tracking instruments sit atop the Federal Reserve. Biowarfare sensors sniff the air in front of the Smithsonian Institution. Anti-aircraft systems have been spotted on a rooftop next to the White House and on a Prince George's County riverbank, across the Potomac from Mount Vernon. A year in the works For its part, the Navy began work unobtrusively about a year ago on its site near Hains Point, a recreation area known best for its golf course, fishing and The Awakening, J. Seward Johnson Jr.'s giant sculpture. The Navy took over the National Park Service land without any announcement. When the agencies that oversee the Mall caught up with the project months later, the hangarlike structures, which cover an excavation area, were visible from Interstate 395. The agencies' only recourse was to ask the Justice Department to sue the Pentagon. Lindstrom said that was deemed not an option. After inquiries, senior officials at the Fine Arts Commission and the National Capital Planning Commission were briefed about the security-sensitive project and sworn to silence. The staffs of both commissions, which review many federal agency security requests, were bypassed, and no paper trail was produced. "The project's sponsors felt it wasn't necessary to bring it to these agencies for their review," Lindstrom said. "It's not quite right - they should have - but in hindsight, they did discuss the building and the project and essentially what's entailed there." Delegate's rare silence Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia's delegate in Congress, has criticized federal security projects for encroaching on life in the District of Columbia and seldom lets slip an opportunity to make her point. In this case, however, Norton "is aware of what's going on but cannot comment," spokeswoman Doxie McCoy said. A spokeswoman for the planning commission, Lisa MacSpadden, referred questions to Surette, the Navy spokesman. Surette would not say whether the project is classified or whether it had a name. "Get off your ass and take your government back." ~Rocky Ward www.federalobserver.com http://groups.yahoo.com/group/libertarianisland/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! - Try it today! APFN-1 YahooGroups: Subscribe: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/apfn-1/join Unsubscribe: apfn-1-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com APFN MSG BOARD: `In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.' http://disc.server.com/Indices/149495.html APFN CONTENTS PAGE: http://www.apfn.org/old/apfncont.htm Without Justice, there is JUST_US! [LEAK-GATE] INVESTIGATING THE WHITE HOUSE http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LEAK-GATE/ Find elected officials, including the president, members of Congress, governors, state legislators, local officials, and more. http://congress.org/congressorg/dbq/officials/ APFN, PMB 107, 6630 W. CACTUS #B107, GLENDALE, AZ 85304 http://www.apfn.org/apfn/kenvardon.htm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 21:55:19 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 21:55:19 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] The Security Party: Republicans are the party of risk Message-ID: <20041206055519.25156.qmail@web13607.mail.yahoo.com> http://www.laweekly.com/ink/05/02/powerlines-meyerson.php The Security Party Republicans are the party of risk. That should create an opening for Democrats by Harold Meyerson So what went wrong, and what must we do to set it right? By many measures, the Democrats and progressives never had it so together as they did this year. There were more volunteers and paid activists than ever before, and polling showed that more Americans were contacted by Kerry?s foot soldiers than by Bush?s. The Democrats put their people in the right states, counties and neighborhoods; they seem to have out-registered the Republicans, and the majority of first-time voters went for Kerry. Democratic turnout soared in the battleground states. And we lost. It wasn?t an evangelical upsurge that won it for the Republicans. Weekly churchgoers constituted the same share of the electorate than they did four years ago. Both parties turned out their base, but the Republicans won this election in the middle. In particular, they won it among women: The gender gap, which stood at 16 percent in 1996 and 11 percent four years ago, was just 3 percent on November 2. The group which saw the biggest shift in sentiment during the campaign, says Democratic pollster Anna Greenberg, was white women over 50 with no college education. They supported Kerry last spring, particularly favoring his position on health insurance over Bush?s. But as Kerry came under attack in August and September, his support melted away, and these voters ended up backing Bush by 18 percent. These were just some of the voters who were still in play this fall ? the majority of them white, downscale, worried about the economy, worried about terrorism, and worried about the condition of the cultural climate. Kerry was still an option for them in October, but then came the October surprise. No, not the Osama tape. It was the failure of Kerry to wrap up his campaign with a strong Democratic populist message. Perhaps the most astonishing nugget in the exit polling and the hardest to find, since the most commonly available version of the poll, on the CNN Web site, doesn?t contain this information, is that when asked which candidates voters trusted more to handle the economy, they preferred Bush to Kerry by a 40 percent to 37 percent margin. That?s a stunner. Democrats always win that question in the quadrennial exit polling, usually by somewhere between 7 and 10 percent. Does that mean people support the Bush economic program? Privatizing Social Security? Ending all taxation on investment income and taxing only wages? Letting pharmaceutical companies charge whatever they want for prescription drugs? Doing nothing to check the rising cost and declining employer responsibility for health insurance? Of course not, not if all the polling on these issues is remotely right. What it does mean is that the Democrats? message problem ? progressives? message problem ? is even more serious than it may have seemed on election night. At that point, it seemed the party?s main problem was cultural: Not that the Dems weren?t reaching right-wing evangelicals who?d never vote Democratic under any circumstances, but that voters in the middle of the spectrum weren?t comfortable with a Northern liberal, all else being equal. It wasn?t so much values as such, but, among the swing women voters, the issue of terrorism, which worked to Bush?s advantage, and the economy, which should have worked to Kerry?s, but mysteriously did not. Roughly half of Bush?s voters lived in cloud-coo-coo land when it came to terrorism: believing, all government reports to the contrary, that Saddam?s Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and had cooperated with al Qaeda in the period before 9/11. About the only group, other than voters under 30, among whom Kerry did better (by 5 percent) than Al Gore did four years ago was college-educated men, who were cool to the Republicans? religiosity and downright cold when it came to Bush?s conduct of the war and stewardship of the economy. Time was when the Democrats had no trouble devising and conveying an economic security agenda. In a national economy, the institutions of the New Deal and the unions that arose during that time turned a low-wage working class into the most highly paid working class in human history. Today, though, the Democrats have lost most of the levers with which they used to raise living standards. The destruction of unions, the openness of the U.S. economy to a global labor market, the ideological de-legitimation of government ? all these have made it much harder for the Democrats to present a plausible solution to voters. Addressing the destruction of decent-paying manufacturing jobs by ending the tax deductibility of outsourcing, as Kerry proposed, is the kind of policy you put forth when you don?t really have a policy at all. Democrats need to rethink an economic security agenda for a global economy ? putting a lot more money into education and a lot more teeth into trade accords that promote worker rights and labor standards throughout the world. They need to build "moral values" coalitions of their own in the heartland, by backing, for instance, a mega-campaign to unionize Wal-Marts, and involving churches in those struggles. They need to insist on a reality-based foreign policy, but they can?t cede to Bush the "moral" side of the American foreign-policy tradition, as Kerry sometimes seemed to do with his rhetoric of realpolitik. They need to secure the funding and cobble together the structures that will enable the remarkable institutions that sprung up this year, such as Americans Coming Together, to sink roots into the states where they did such a good job this fall, and into the non-battleground states where thousands of progressives gave them money. Some of what the Democrats must do amounts to little more than accommodating bias. It?s clear that a purely Northern-state presidential-election strategy won?t work; too few states are in play that way, into which Republicans can concentrate their resources. But the Deep South, and the more winnable Upper South and Midwest won?t vote for a Northern progressive. That means the Democrats have to look elsewhere for a plausible nominee ? beginning with their Southern governors and then radiating outward into heartland states. Victories usually contain the seeds of subsequent defeats, and the early signs of Bush?s second-term agenda point to a domestic agenda far to the right of anything the American public would support. In 1964, Republicans in the wake of the Goldwater defeat were in far worse shape than the Democrats today: Lyndon Johnson had won 61 percent of the popular vote, not the 51 percent Bush pulled down this month. Democrats had 60 more seats in the House and 25 more in the Senate than the Republicans have today. But with the wind in their sails, the Democrats enacted anti-poverty legislation that much of the nation rebelled against. Johnson presided over the quagmire of Vietnam. And within four years, Richard Nixon wrested control of the White House from the Democrats. Now, the military quagmire and the factional domestic agenda are the Republicans?. In its war on social responsibility, the GOP has become the party of risk, which it re-packages as "opportunity." The Democrats can return to power as the party of security, but that means becoming a beacon of global liberalism in the face of both radical Islam and radical (and culturally amoral) global capitalism. That means playing offense while also playing defense against Bush, both squads on the field at the same time. The world is changing for the worse, and this guy wants to abet it. Welcome to the next four years. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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 Sun Dec 5 19:18:55 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:18:55 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Whistle-Blower Crackdown Spreads Message-ID: LEAK-GATE: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LEAK-GATE/join This White House Scandal Finally Tips the Scale! http://www.apfn.org/apfn/leakgate.htm Post message: LEAK-GATE at yahoogroups.com Subscribe: LEAK-GATE-subscribe at yahoogroups.com Unsubscribe: LEAK-GATE-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com List owner: LEAK-GATE-owner at yahoogroups.com "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism" - Thomas Jefferson "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and never will be... The People cannot be safe without information." -- Thomas Jefferson http://disc.server.com/Indices/149495.html BUSH: F..K LEAKGATE! a.. Kerik nomination is a ticking time bomb - Ellis Henican, Sat Dec 4 14:44 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- a.. The Ethic of Total Opposition - William Rivers Pitt, Sat Dec 4 14:39 a.. Whistle-Blower Crackdown Spreads - Newsweek, Sat Dec 4 15:14 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- a.. New Ohio Vote Tallies Question Legitimacy of Election - Democracy Now!, Sat Dec 4 14:05 a.. Voting Irregularities Nationwide and in Ohio in particular - R. Leland Lehrman, Sat Dec 4 14:26 Newsweek Whistle-Blower Crackdown Spreads Sat Dec 4, 2004 15:14 http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?disc=149495;article=71914;title=APFN Whistle-Blower Crackdown Spreads Newsweek December 3, 2004 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6630166/site/newsweek A hard-edged tactic used by a Justice Department special counsel to smoke out anonymous sources in a CIA leak case is about to be expanded to the 2001 anthrax investigation-despite profound misgivings within the department about the legitimacy of the practice. As many as 100 FBI agents, federal prosecutors and other department employees are likely to be asked-possibly as early as the next few weeks-to sign broadly worded statements waiving any confidentiality agreements they had with journalists about the anthrax case, Justice officials tell NEWSWEEK. The waiver statement was recently ordered by a federal judge at the urging of lawyers for bioterrorism expert Dr. Steven J. Hatfill, who has filed a lawsuit alleging that government officials leaked damaging personal information about him in an effort to connect him with the anthrax attacks. The language is to be patterned on a similar statement distributed last year to White House officials and others in the investigation headed by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, a U.S. attorney in Chicago, to determine who leaked the identify of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame to columnist Robert Novak. Like the upcoming Hatfill waiver, the so-called "Plame waiver" was designed to be an end run around journalists' claims that they are protecting the confidentiality of sources when they refuse to testify in leak investigations. The statement asserts that a government official who talked to the news media waives "any promise of confidentiality, express or implied" that was offered to them by a reporter, according to a copy of the Plame waiver obtained by NEWSWEEK. It further authorizes any reporter with whom the official talked to disclose to investigators "any communications that I may have had . regarding the subject matters under investigation, including any communications made 'on background,' 'off the record,' 'not for attribution,' or in any other form." The Plame case, including the validity of such "waiver" statements, is headed for a showdown next week when a federal appeals court hears arguments about whether two reporters, Judith Miller of The New York Times and Matthew Cooper of Time magazine, should be incarcerated for refusing to answer questions about their contacts with administration officials who signed the waivers. But largely overlooked is that the Plame waiver appears to be catching on as an accepted practice to pressure reporters to reveal their sources. This is happening even though some top officials within the Justice Department have serious doubts about the waivers. Indeed, although it got little attention at the time, a Justice lawyer recently acknowledged to the judge overseeing the Hatfill suit that the theoretically voluntary waiver poses "significant issues" for the government, including the fact that they could well be construed as coercive by officials who are asked to sign them. The lawyer, Elizabeth Shapiro, also questioned whether the waivers would even be effective in persuading a journalist to disclose confidential communications with a source. "I can't imagine that the breadth of such a waiver would have significant meaning to a reporter," she said, according to a transcript of an Oct. 7 hearing before U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton, who is on the bench for the Hatfill case. "It's very disturbing that this is starting to become used as a way to out the relationship between reporters and sources," said Floyd Abrams, a prominent First Amendment lawyer who is representing both Miller and Cooper in the Plame case. "On the face of it, [the waivers] are coercive. How could they be anything but?" In the Plame case, special counsel Fitzgerald has persuaded a federal judge to hold both Miller and Cooper in contempt of court for refusing to testify about conversations they had with White House officials about Plame's identify. (Plame, a former CIA undercover officer, is the wife of former U.S. ambassador Joseph Wilson, who had become a critic of the president's Iraq policy.) In pressing his case that both Miller and Cooper should be jailed if they don't testify, Fitzgerald has invoked the waiver statements signed by the White House officials as evidence that whatever "reporters' privilege" the journalists are claiming no longer applies. But Miller and Cooper have countered exactly how Shapiro, the Justice Department lawyer in the Hatfill case, suggested they would: the waivers are meaningless. One reason is that White House officials were effectively compelled to sign them-and risked even losing their jobs if they did not, according to the journalists. "Whatever may have been said publicly or privately within the government to any source of mine that may have cajoled him or her to sign the form prepared by the government-and I am aware of public statements of the president himself urging all officials to cooperate with the investigation-does not affect my promise of confidentiality to my sources in any way," Miller said in an affidavit submitted in the case. "I do not feel at all confident that such a form presented to individuals by their employer . is not signed under extraordinary pressure." Just how much pressure the government has used can be gleaned from the experience of one former White House official who, after the leaving the government, was still pushed repeatedly by the FBI to sign the waiver form. The former official, who asked not to be identified, said he refused to do so because "I didn't think it was fair to the reporters. It struck me as a backdoor way to use pressure." An arrangement between a reporter and a source "has to be all or nothing. It can't be changed after the fact." At that point, the FBI agents called up the former official's lawyer and stepped up the pressure, saying that other witnesses at the White House had signed the statements. "If he's got nothing to hide, why won't he sign," one of the agents asked, according to the former official's lawyer. The new use of the Plame waiver stems from claims by Hatfill's lawyers that government officials violated his rights under the Privacy Act by allegedly leaking damaging information about him-to NEWSWEEK, among other publications. (The lawsuit is separate from, and unrelated to, a libel suit filed by Hatfill against New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristoff that was dismissed by a federal judge last week.) Although he was once described by Attorney General John Ashcroft as a "person of interest" in the deadly anthrax attacks, and was widely reported to be a principal focus of the investigation, Hatfill has never been charged in the case. Still, Hatfill lost his job with a government contractor and remains both unemployed and "unemployable" as a result of the widespread publicity he received in the matter, according to a source close to him. In the civil suit, Hatfill's lawyers demanded that the Justice Department conduct a vigorous leak investigation into who provided the news media with incriminating information about Hatfill. As a prod to make them do so, they seized on the idea of pushing Justice to distribute "Plame waivers" to a list of between 50 and 100 federal prosecutors, FBI agents and others who were working on the anthrax case. Justice Department public affairs chief Mark Corallo said that no pressure will be put upon agents, prosecutors and others asked to sign the waivers in the Hatfill case. "We are simply the facilitators," Corallo said. "The individuals who will receive these waivers will be informed they are under no obligation to sign them. It is totally voluntary, and no matter what their decision, it will not reflect on their employment." But Hatfill's lawyers clearly have their own ideas. They intend to depose a long list of the agents and prosecutors who have worked on the anthrax case and intend to, they have indicated, target first and foremost any that declined to sign the waivers. SOURCE AND LINKS: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6630166/site/newsweek \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Slaughter in the Woods A hunting trip turns deadly, and a community recoils By Dirk Johnson Newsweek http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6597180/site/newsweek/ ============================================= -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: LEAK-GATE.gif Type: image/gif Size: 6455 bytes Desc: not available URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 23:10:26 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 23:10:26 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Bush sets out plan to dismantle 30 years of environmental laws Message-ID: <20041206071026.83401.qmail@web13608.mail.yahoo.com> Bush sets out plan to dismantle 30 years of environmental laws By Geoffrey Lean in Washington 05 December 2004 http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=589884 George Bush's new administration, and its supporters controlling Congress, are setting out to dismantle three decades of US environmental protection. In little over a month since his re-election, they have announced that they will comprehensively rewrite three of the country's most important environmental laws, open up vast new areas for oil and gas drilling, and reshape the official Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). They say that the election gave them a mandate for the measures - which, ironically, will overturn a legislative system originally established by the Republican Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford - even though Mr Bush went out of his way to avoid emphasising his environmental plans during his campaign. "The election was a validation of the philosophy and the agenda," said Mike Leavitt, the Bush-appointed head of the EPA. He points out that over a third of the agency's staff will become eligible for retirement over the President's four-year term, enabling him to fill it with people lenient to polluters. The administration's first priority is the controversial plan to open up the Arctic Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling. Two years ago the Senate defeated plans to exploit the refuge - home to caribou, polar bears , musk oxen and millions of migratory birds - by 52 votes to 48. But with the election of four Republican senators in favour of the drilling, and the disappearance of one who opposed it, the administration now has the votes forvictory. It plans to follow with an energy bill - also defeated in the last Congress - which would investigate vast new tracts for exploitation for oil and gas. It will also encourage the building of nuclear power stations, halted since the 1979 Three Mile Island accident. Far more radical measures are also under way. Joe Barton, the Texas Republican chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, who is to help push through the energy bill, has also announced a comprehensive review of the Clean Air Act, one of the world's most successful environmental laws. Environmentalists predict the emasculation of the Act, which has cut air pollution across the country by more than half over the last 30 years. Not to be outdone, the Republican chairman of the House Resources Committee, Richard Pombo, has announced a review of the Endangered Species Act, for the protection of wildlife. The law has been the main obstacle to the felling of much of the US's remaining endangered rain forest. And in a third assault, Congressional leaders have also announced an attack on the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires details of the environmental effects of major developments before they proceed. Philip Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, said last week that the previous Bush administration had largely contented itself with weakening environmental legislation, but the new one intended to go much further. He added: "We will now see an assault on the law which will set the US in the direction of becoming a Third World country in terms of environmental protection." The environmentalists point out that almost every local referendum on environmental issues carried out on election day achieved a green majority. They recall the fate of the assault on environmental law - headed by the former Congressional Speaker, Newt Gingrich, in the mid 1990s - which caused such opposition that Congress enacted tough new green legislation. * The material in this post is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html http://oregon.uoregon.edu/~csundt/documents.htm If you wish to use copyrighted material from this email for purposes that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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!? Yahoo! Mail - Find what you need with new enhanced search. Learn more. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 19:44:13 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:44:13 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] US Can Use Evidence Gained by Torture Message-ID: U.S. Can Use Evidence Gained by Torture By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Evidence gained by torture can be used by the U.S. military in deciding whether to imprison a foreigner indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as an enemy combatant, the government concedes. Statements produced under torture have been inadmissible in U.S. courts for about 70 years. But the U.S. military panels reviewing the detention of 550 foreigners as enemy combatants at the U.S. naval base in Cuba are allowed to use such evidence, Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Brian Boyle acknowledged at a U.S. District Court hearing Thursday. Some of the prisoners have filed lawsuits challenging their detention without charges for up to three years so far. At the hearing, Boyle urged District Judge Richard J. Leon to throw their cases out. Attorneys for the prisoners argued that some were held solely on evidence gained by torture, which they said violated fundamental fairness and U.S. due process standards. But Boyle argued in a similar hearing Wednesday that the detainees "have no constitutional rights enforceable in this court." http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041203/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/guantanamo_detainees -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 19:15:10 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:15:10 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Reaching Out To Soldiers At The Airport Message-ID: TALKING TO A SOLDIER BACK FROM AFGHANISTAN Today, I saw a soldier at the ATL airport on my way to an antiwar rally. I stop by the airport every week to transfer from the bus line to the metro train system. I often see soldiers waiting at the airport. I usually just think to myself about how messed up everything is and go on my way. But I decided to stop and talk this time, especially since I had some flyers for Traveling Soldier in preparation for the rally. The soldier was looking at a WWII display of fighter planes that the ATL airport had set up. I said, what's up and asked him if he was about to ship off. He said he was actually getting back to the States. He had been in Afghanistan for 8 months. I asked him what he did in Afghanistan. He told me he was in the infantry. He said they basically go to a "bad hood" (as he called it, seemingly making a connection to the desperate situation in black working class communities in the US), and set up shop, and then, he said, people "start shooting at us." I said, basically your just going out to get shot at. He knew how pointless the mission was. I gave him a small flyer with Traveling Soldier, GI Special, IVAW, and MFSO websites and e-mail contacts, and I told him it was legal for a soldier to possess a single flyer etc. as it is considered personal property, but if you have multiple copies of something, it could be interpreted as intent to distribute, which is illegal ( DoD ). He said he only had 4 months left and then he's getting out. I hope so. MEETING TWO MORE SOLDIERS ON THEIR WAY TO IRAQ, WHILE ON MY WAY HOME On my way back home from the antiwar rally, I talked to two more soldiers. I asked one soldier whether was getting ready to ship out. He said he was going to Baghdad. His unit had been to Iraq before. We talked a bit about the Baghdad airport, how the road to the airport is one of the most dangerous places in Iraq. He said, the airport is attacked all the time. He said was looking forward to getting out of the Army soon. Unfortunately, our conversation got cut short, but I managed to tell him about GI Special. I also got to talk to his friend who also on his way to Baghdad. He had been to Iraq before, stationed at Camp Anaconda. Like the two other soldiers, he couldn't wait to get out of the Army. I gave him the same flyer with Traveling Soldier and the other contacts. He hopes this will be his last tour, but he worries that he could be called up again in 2006 or 2007. Let's work our hardest to see that all the troops come home for good. Desmond Georgia State U Students for Peace & Justice Traveling Soldier www.traveling-soldier.org GI Special www.militaryproject.org Iraq Veterans Against the War www.ivaw.net Military Families Speak Out www.mfso.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Sun Dec 5 23:21:36 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 23:21:36 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] SCOTLAND will use less oil, gas and electricity in bid to cut the pollution which is causing climate chaos Message-ID: <20041206072136.34738.qmail@web13607.mail.yahoo.com> The aim here is efficiency, not austerity. Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue, but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive energy policy. Vice President Dick Cheney, former CEO of Halliburton, Inc. (an oil services company.), (as quoted in the New York Times, May 1, 2001). SCOTLAND will adopt a strategy to use less oil, gas and electricity as part of a bid to cut the pollution which is causing climate chaos. Ministers will announce this week that they want an energy efficiency strategy which should include more sustainable transport, better insulation of buildings and more efficient industrial machinery. Experts believe a widespread series of small, cheap and easy technical fixes could prevent the emission of millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide and other climate-wrecking greenhouse gases. At least 20% of Scotland?s energy is being wasted, amounting to a loss of ?1.3 billion every year, yet the country has lacked any overarching plan for improving energy efficiency. Ministers have preferred to rely instead on a disparate variety of projects, such as measures to tackle fuel poverty and adverts to persuade consumers to cut back on energy use. That will change on Tuesday, when environment minister Ross Finnie addresses a major conference on climate change in Edinburgh. Backed by Deputy First Minister Jim Wallace, he will announce plans to develop an energy efficiency strategy. ?Energy efficiency is a key element of the Executive?s climate change strategy,? said an Executive spokeswoman. ?Improved efficiency is generally agreed to be the most cost-effective way of reducing demand and benefiting the environment through reduced greenhouse gas emissions.? One example of the kind of initiative central to the strategy is the advice on energy conservation techniques offered to people living in Edinburgh?s tenements. The Executive?s Energy Saving Trust hopes the service will expand elsewhere. The ministers? announcement will be welcomed by environmental groups, who are already demanding that the strategy includes specific targets for saving energy in different sectors, particularly in homes. ?That is crucial,? said Dr Richard Dixon, head of policy at WWF Scotland. According to Dr Dan Barlow, head of research at Friends of the Earth Scotland, energy conservation has to be a major part of any sensible policy on climate change. ?Energy efficiency is the Cinderella of technologies, often overlooked by those fixated only with increasing generating capacity,? he argued. ? The cheapest form of energy is that which we don?t need to produce in the first place.? The Executive?s move on energy efficiency is the latest in a series of initiatives aimed at heading off growing criticism of its efforts to combat climate change. Last Thursday Finnie launched a review of the Executive?s climate change programme, and for the first time suggested setting targets for cutting pollution. As predicted by the Sunday Herald, the Executive also published figures last week showing that emissions of greenhouse gases fell by nearly 6% between 1990 and 2002. This reduction is better than previously, but still a long way behind the UK as a whole, which achieved a reduction of almost 15%. And on Friday Wallace announced ?6.6 million funding for the Scottish Community Householder Renewable Initiative for a further three years. This is a scheme which provides grants and expert advice on installing solar panels and wind turbines at community centres, schools and homes. Such a burst of activity on climate change is no accident. Ministers are preparing the ground for hosting the G8 summit of world leaders at Gleneagles next July, when climate change is due to be at the top of the agenda. This week, Green MSPs are preparing to launch a ?climate change challenge? which will spell out the seven tests that ministers will have to pass if they are serious about tackling the problem. ?An energy efficiency strategy is a basic first step,? says the Green speaker on the environment, Mark Ruskell MSP. 05 December 2004 The material in this post is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html http://oregon.uoregon.edu/~csundt/documents.htm If you wish to use copyrighted material from this email for purposes that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++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 Sun Dec 5 19:57:55 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:57:55 -0800 Subject: [Shadow_Group] Update on Jeff 'Free' Luers' appeal Message-ID: Finally, we have some news to share with you about the status of Jeff's appeal. It's not great but for everyone that has wondered, here it is. As you can see, this process is remarkably slow and the end is nowhere in sight. PS-Jeff's birthday is December 5th. While Jeff has asked that people NOT send him cards etc, please hold him in your thoughts that day and consider doing something to help his case. The holidays are rough times for prisoners. Update on Jeff 'Free' Luers' appeal November 24, 2004 Jeff's appeal is currently on hold. In June, the United States Supreme Court decided Blakely v. Washington, 542 US ___, 124 S Ct 2531, ___ L Ed 3d ___ (2004). The case has the potential to affect the sentences of thousands of people sentenced under Oregon's sentencing guidelines, including Jeff's. The Oregon Court of Appeals has received requests for additional briefing on Blakely in so many cases that it has delayed ruling on these requests until Oregon courts have a chance to figure out the impact of Blakelyon sentencing in Oregon. The Oregon Court of Appeals and Supreme Court are expected to begin issuing opinions in some representative cases (also called "lead cases") soon. After that, the Court of Appeals will decide to allow or deny additional briefing in cases like Jeff's, and his appeal will go forward from there. How can you help the appeal and Jeff's case: You can contribute funds to Jeff?s appeal or to his commissary account a few different ways: ? Online: donations can be made online on a secure server through Paypal. To make a donation, click here: All names/addresses are kept confidential. These donations go to fund Jeff?s appeals. ? Snail Mail: You can send checks/money orders made out to ?Free?s defense network? to POB 3, Eugene, OR 97440. Specify legal fund or commissary. ? Directly to Jeff?s commissary account: These funds are used by Jeff to buy necessities like pens, stamps, envelopes etc. Money orders only [no checks] can be made out to: DOC Central Trust for (For Jeffrey Luers, #13797671) and sent to DOC Central Trust for (For Jeffrey Luers, #13797671). DOCCentral Trust, PO Box 14400,Salem OR 97309-5077. 2. Jeff?s case desperately needs to stay in the news and in the public?s mind in order to affect his appeal and chances of getting out. Letters to Oregon based media are very useful. Here are a few media outlets you can write to. For examples of letters sent on Free?s behalf, see here. ? Eugene Weekly, 1251 Lincoln, Eugene OR 97401. editor at eugeneweekly.com ? Register Guard, PO Box 10188, Eugene, OR 97440-2188. rgletters at guardnet.com ? Portland Mercury, 605 NE 21st Avenue, Suite 200, Portland, OR 97232. mercuryeditorial at portlandmercury.com ?Willamette Week, 822 SW 10th Avenue, Portland, OR 97205. mzusman at wweek.com It is also a good idea to write to the Governor of Oregon to urge him to intervene on Free?s behalf: Governor of Oregon Ted Kulongoski, 160 State Capitol, 900 Court Street, Salem, Oregon 97301-4047. Fax: 503.378.6827. 3. Form a support group/work directly with Jeff Local support groups can do everything from hosting benefits to web based activism to staging protests. You can write Jeff at Jeffrey Luers, #13797671, Oregon State Penitentiary, 2605 State Street, Salem, OR 97310. Also, feel free to get involved with a pre-existing group like Break the Chains 4-Sign Jeff's solidarity statement: Check it out at http://www.freefreenow.org/signon.html 5-Buy a Slingshot 2005 organizer from Friends of Jeff Luers for $6. Proceeds benefit Jeff's legal fund. Email freefreenow at Mutualaid.org for details. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stateyourcause/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StopNightmareDogIndustries/ hlssuckslists.riseup.net "Live in peace with the animals. Animals bring love to our hearts, and warmth to our souls"-Colleen Klaum ?The ultimate measure of a community is not where it stands in times of comfort and convenience, but where it stands in times of challenge and controversy.? -Martin Luther King Jr. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: