Know And Be Free

Nuclear Challenge

2008-08-10T18:17:00.000-04:00

From Clearwater.org:

Hudson River Sloop Clearwater's challenges to Indian Point Nuclear Plant's license renewal application on environmental and public health grounds will be heard during the Atomic
Safety and Licensing Board's (ASLB) upcoming relicensing hearings.

Following several months of legal proceedings, the ASLB announced on July 31, 2008 that two of the six contentions filed by Clearwater, covering a range of challenges to Indian Point's application for another 20-year operating permit, have been accepted for further review.

Clearwater's Environmental Director Manna Jo Greene, and Stephen Filler, an attorney who serves on the Clearwater Board of Directors' Executive Committee, submitted Clearwater's petition to intervene, which featured our Environmental Justice concerns, last fall and presented oral argument before the ASLB panel in March.

"Clearwater continues to fight for the environment and for the health and safety of the people in this region, as it has since Indian Point was first commissioned in the 1960's. The panel accepted 15 contentions--the largest number ever considered--a clear indication of the many serious problems at Indian Point," said Stephen Filler.

Looks like signing all those petitions finally paid off!! More news soon.

public service announcement

2008-07-07T20:54:00.000-04:00

I got my propaganda

I got revisionism

I got my violence in hi-def ultra-realism.

I'm a part of this great nation... -NIN

Flat-screen television: Another short sighted, detrimental trend.

As prices for such technology drops, the mantra "Spend not Mend" becomes even more apparent. It is easier, faster, even cheaper, to buy a new product than to fix your old one. Furthermore, it is FASHIONABLE to own a new product. This attitude, combined with a tablespoon of advertising and a dash of low self-esteem leaves us with the perfect recipe for the perfect average American customer.

Now onto the life threatening part:

"The rising demand for flat-screen televisions could have a greater impact on global warming than the world's largest coal-fired power stations, a leading environmental scientist warned yesterday.

Manufacturers use a greenhouse gas called nitrogen trifluoride to make the televisions, and as the sets have become more popular, annual production of the gas has risen to about 4,000 tonnes.

As a driver of global warming, nitrogen trifluoride is 17,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide, yet no one knows how much of it is being released into the atmosphere by the industry, said Michael Prather, director of the environment institute at the University of California, Irvine." -[Ian Sample, science correspondent The Guardian, Thursday July 3, 2008]

What lesson can we hope to learn from this information?
-Keep the television you have.

-When it is beyond repair, bring it to a recycling facility (contact your local county offices for more information)

-If you are going to buy another television, opt for a thrift store where you can get an older, safer model.

-Or don't replace your TV.
The news broadcasts are mainly lies, violence and gossip. With the exception of the Daily Show, Colbert Report and Adult Swim, most programming has gone down the tubes whilst advertising and commercial interruptions have been on an all time high rise.

Do yourself a favor: read a book, paint a scene, compose a song, write an essay, plant a garden, take a walk, watch a sunset, adopt a kitten, and/or THINK FOR YOURSELF.
Your brain, and the environment, will thank you.

Environmental Efforts

2008-06-27T17:46:00.000-04:00

Times Herald-Record

June 26, 2008

NEW PALTZ — Village parks and green spaces are going organic in hopes that residents will follow suit and stop treating their lawns with inorganic chemicals.

Approval of new legislation that would stop the use of chemical pesticides and herbicides on village property is just a lawyerly tweak away from becoming law, according to Alice Andrews, a member of the village environmental commission and organizer of an organics task force.

Andrews was aghast when she learned about the potential harm that non-agricultural pesticides and herbicides can do to not only plant life but to pets and children as well.

Children spend more time cavorting on lawns and can absorb more pesticides relative to their body weight than adults. They're particularly vulnerable to such risks as cancer and neurological impairment because their organ systems are still developing.

Andrews had hoped to be able to propose legislation that would have banned or limited pesticide use for all village properties, but that plan appears to be dead in the water. Not only would it have been a hard sell for residents, but corporate interests could have taken legal action against the village.

"What we've decided is to try every other angle, especially education," she said.

To that end, the task force has created posters that urge residents to sign a myspace.com petition urging Ulster County to ban pesticides.

Andrews said she hopes the village's Web site will soon have a page devoted to pesticides. With the passage of time, she hopes "social pressure" will do what formal legislation can't.

jhorrigan@th-record.com

If you would like to sign our petition to ban pesticides, visit the site: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/pesticide-freeNP/

If you would like information on how to start a similar organic initiative in your own town, send me a message.

A fallen comrade

2008-06-23T11:33:00.001-04:00

Unfortunately, George Carlin passed on Sunday afternoon, June 22nd 2008 of heart failure at the age of 71. He was a very telling and truthful person, using the art of comedy to bring a little bit of reality to our lives:

"I became a sun-worshipper. Several reasons. First of all, I can see the sun, okay? Unlike some other gods I could mention, I can actually see the sun. I'm big on that. If I can see something, I don't know, it kind of helps the credibility along, you know? So everyday I can see the sun, as it gives me everything I need; heat, light, food, flowers in the park, reflections on the lake, an occasional skin cancer, but hey. At least there are no crucifixions, and we're not setting people on fire simply because they don't agree with us. . .

Sun worship is fairly simple. There's no mystery, no miracles, no pageantry, no one asks for money, there are no songs to learn, and we don't have a special building where we all gather once a week to compare clothing. And the best thing about the sun, it never tells me I'm unworthy. Doesn't tell me I'm a bad person who needs to be saved. Hasn't said an unkind word. Treats me fine. So, I worship the sun. But, I don't pray to the sun. Know why? I wouldn't presume on our friendship. It's not polite."

"For centuries now, man has done everything he can to destroy, defile, and interfere with nature: clear-cutting forests, strip-mining mountains, poisoning the atmosphere, over-fishing the oceans, polluting the rivers and lakes, destroying wetlands and aquifers... so when nature strikes back, and smacks him on the head and kicks him in the nuts, I enjoy that. I have absolutely no sympathy for human beings whatsoever. None. And no matter what kind of problem humans are facing, whether it's natural or man-made, I always hope it gets worse."

"I sort of gave up on this whole human adventure a long time ago, divorced myself from it emotionally. I think the human race has squandered its gift, and I think this country has squandered its promise. I think people in America sold out very cheaply, for sneakers and cheeseburgers. And I don't think it's fixable."

We must remember and apply his words to collectively mend our ways and create the world that he never thought possible.

Pretty much that or we perish like he so confidently predicted...

George Carlin, you will be missed.

Impeachment IV

2008-06-12T00:22:00.000-04:00

The resolution to impeach Bush was shot down tonight.
world socialist web published the first article on this account.

Why is the legislative branch of government not holding this man responsible for all of the crimes and wrong doings he has committed over the past 8 years? Probably because they are all tied into it and guilty on their own levels. So much for justice. So much our representatives REPRESENTING our desires... Does anyone else see why a democratic republic does not work?

Seeing Sounds

2008-06-11T12:39:00.006-04:00

“Seeing Sounds” by N.E.R.D. is another excellent album to add to your collection. Lyrics range from the personal to the political, the music is almost indescribable – unclassifiable, a mish-mash of genres. On one song alone I hear influences from The Clash, the Who, and Michael Jackson. The next, completely different, heavy static beat/bass which doubles up a few measure in to produce an amazing groove.

"What is a N.E.R.D? N.E.R.D stands for No One Ever Really Dies. The Neptunes are who we are and N.E.R.D is what we do. It's our life. N.E.R.D is just a basic belief, man. People's energies are made of their souls. When you die, that energy may disperse but it isn't destroyed. Energy cannot be destroyed. It can manifest in a different way but even then it's like their souls are going somewhere. If it's going to heaven or hell or even if it's going into a fog or somewhere in the atmosphere to lurk unbeknownst to itself, it's going somewhere." - Pharrell Williams

“I'm trying to imply the few,
by removing propaganda but,
They must of fused a dove with superglue,
I’m tryin to take a machine apart,
What I'm simply trying to do
Is have the business take a pause,
I've been down every avenue,
But everybody's good as gone.”*

Very fitting considering all that has gone down this week. I respect every musician who uses their broadcasting power to emit truth, knowledge and inspiration while inciting their audience to question the world around them. At the same time, I also admire music which is purely aesthetic, for the love of the beat and the experience of its creation. Luckily, this album has both. I highly recommend you pick it up.

http://www.myspace.com/nerdofficial

http://nerdofficial.blogspot.com/

*lyrics by ear, may not be 100%

Impeachment part III

2008-06-11T12:37:00.001-04:00

No further news on Kucinich's impeachment articles against Bush. Hopefully there will be some progress by the end of the day.

IMPEACHMENT part II

2008-06-09T23:10:00.000-04:00

89% of 590,533 Americans believe that Bush's actions justify impeachment.

Keep the numbers rolling...

IMPEACHMENT 08

2008-06-09T22:18:00.000-04:00

Kucinich Presents Bush Impeachment Articles (35 to be exact, with supporting evidence)

In particular, on the use of propaganda to manufacture a reason to start the war with Iraq.

Now, this is not being broadcast on the major news sites yet. And here is an opportunity to report some REAL, IMPORTANT, TRUTHFUL and EXCELLENT information. At least someone is finally stepping up to the plate. There is no turning back now. Spread the word! It is time for some justice!

media takeover

2008-06-07T00:19:00.002-04:00

(love this image, will use it again and again)

After observing how the media has painted Hillary, Obama and McCain throughout the different phases of this campaign, witnessing how a story on the potential for higher gases prices on 4th of July actually caused gas prices to raise TODAY, and that whole thing about the Pentagon admitting to the use of propaganda to fuel an unjust war, I decided to write a poem (because any other action would land me in jail).

"Time for a revival
Truth revealed as whole
Rather than bits and pieces
of Information
Bias and controlled.

The media should be
A Conduit
Not a filter
Or an assembly machine.

Our data should not be
Contracted
Or warped to fit someone else's dream.

We must push the pundits
To unveil their vial smoke screens,

While persuading the Pentagon
To disassemble their propaganda team,

And then propose our plan
For fair and balanced reports

Straight from the source
free from Corporate force

Information the viewer can trust
Objectively dispensed
By people who are real and just.

Maybe we can sleep at night again..."

Banks are not for the poor.

2008-05-27T12:49:00.001-04:00

Bank of America, for example, requires one to have at least $750.00 in a checking account, or $1,500.00 in a savings account in order to avoid fees. If one does not maintain a minimum of 750.00 in their checking account, even if it slips under for one day, they will charge between 10.00 and 12.00 dollars.

Now, in my personal experience, as much as I tried to persuade them to see my side of the story (moving to a new apartment and misplacing my checks for ONE DAY), they refuse to cut me any slack, stating that the "fee was correctly applied." Then they told me if I put $1,500.00 in my savings account, I could avoid the fee. Where the hell do they expect me to find that money if I cannot even afford to keep a checking account open?

I do not care how "correctly" their fee was applied... it is the fact that it exists which is outrageous. Why should there be a penalty for not having a certain amount of money in one's account? Why shall the poor continue to be punished? For me, $10.00 is a bag of potatoes, 5lbs of rice and a gallon of gas. To them, it is nothing. These thieves are making money off other people's hard earned wages because they made up a silly rule.

But does this not sound familiar? Think of income taxes, tariffs, lab fees (for those in college), interest on loans, tolls, stamps, and the list goes on. It is the American Capitalist way: those on top will make money with little to no effort, stealing the wages of the poor (and middle class) through their laws and rules. Not to mention the international atrocities committed by the the World Bank and IMF...

Yet, their rules are only suggestions and they are definitely not carved into stone. We must think of clever ways to defy their system and protect ourselves and our means of survival. I have a long list, but for the sake of my privacy (and possibly freedom) I will not list them here at this time.

Start to think of your own tactics and perhaps one day we can share them.

Missing In Action

2008-05-17T18:12:00.000-04:00

Artist M.I.A. is a Sri Lankan refuge, daughter of a freedom-fighter and an outspoken activist for the poor, the indigenous, immigrants and independent women everywhere. She has two albums out, Arular (2005) and Kala (2007). She is the exact kind of role model needed by the young girls/women in American (you know, as opposed to the stick thin, bleach blond, plastic, no talent, unintelligent ideal upheld as of yet).

Here is an interview with M.I.A. worth reading:

Part 1

Part 2

And a few video links:

Bird Flu

Sunshowers

Paper Planes

Well said.

2008-05-14T21:20:00.006-04:00

What the authors of (White) American History books so often forget:

Subliminal or "Superliminal" Message?

2008-05-11T12:56:00.001-04:00

A quick, almost undetectable flash of John McCain in the opening logo for Fox News
courtesy of youtube

If news reporting was truthful and accurate, tactics like these would not be necessary.

If the government trusted its people to make the right decisions, there would be no need for propaganda.

Considering the two manipulative institutions and methods listed above, the people must push themselves further away from the mainstream and question every bit of information with which they come into contact.

Otherwise, we stand the chance (the very likely chance) of being led astray.

the middle man...

2008-05-10T21:57:00.001-04:00

After years of abuse at the hands of record companies and the music industry in general, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails has broken away. With control over a number of songs and albums, Reznor has chosen to make his music free for download, directly from his website, including the recently released album, "The Slip."

There is also a new website which allows users to download separate layers of a song, to remix according to their own desire. This has sparked a wave of creativity and communication, as users share and review each other's remixes. A few of these fan-made remixes were even chosen for the remix album of "Year Zero."

While this may not seem like striking news on the surface, it is actually proof of a dying system. Before the internet, record companies could keep a large percent of record sales and have control over the creative content of a record. If musicians wanted to sell their work, they had no choice but to go through the conduit of a record company. With the internet, users and musicians can share their work, experience and opinions freely. The record companies oppose this only because it signifies their end.

But who needs a middle man when you can go directly to the people? Who needs a middle man tell you how to write your songs or edit your message? Who needs a middle man to take a piece of the profit when they have completed none of the work?

I'll tell you who: No one.

And this is the reason that Nine Inch Nails, Saul Williams and Radiohead have released their albums independently, offering their music on a financial sliding scale to their fans.

Another example of the internet is closing the gap between people.

It's that time of year!

2008-04-29T13:29:00.004-04:00

The growing season is beginning (well, for me it is beginning in the North Eastern U.S.), so now is the perfect time to order seeds.

This year, make your money and your plants count! Support the Zapatista Movement while concurrently preserving the virgin corn seeds grown from original Mayan land.

Click here to order your seeds (payment on a sliding scale):

Zapatista Corn

The Zapatista are an autonomous movement, now settled into over 1,000 members and 38 communities throughout Mexico (2006 stats). Their demands were simple: land, equality and non-interference from the government. The Mexican army continues to harass them to this day, burning their villages and killing their people. (Those who live, work and learn independent of the government are perceived as dangerous).

The Zapatista started the corn project to preserve the heritage of their Mayan ancestors. Most of the corn grown in the USA is laced with pesticides, herbicides and genetically altered to increase growth. These chemicals are passed into our bodies; the runoff from the crops is passed into our water. This contamination is unhealthy for every living thing. Become part of the resistance and grow Zapatista corn in your garden, your community or your school today!!!

The Zapatista say they wear their masks, not to hide themselves, but so they can be seen.

Wartime Propaganda, Part II

2008-04-26T16:36:00.001-04:00

PBS's finally broke the silence on the issue of Pentagon-sponsored propaganda in the media.

If you recall in 2002, the Pentagon began developing the idea of false portrayal of the "war on terror" domestically and internationally. I believe I had posted this very same article on either this blog, or my old one: Pentagon Plans Propaganda War

So, after 6 years of propaganda and the truth being reveal, my question is: Did anyone even notice the difference?
More importantly, will we start seeing a change in the media?
Or will it still be up to us to distrust the majority of information, and to seek out the truth on our own...

The Thought Police

2008-04-24T18:30:00.001-04:00

FBI Director Robert Mueller said his idea of monitoring the internet:

"Balances on one hand, the privacy rights of the individual who are receiving the information, but on the other hand, given the technology, the necessity of having some omnibus search capability utilizing filters that would identify the illegal activity as it comes through and give us the ability to preempt that illegal activity where it comes through a choke point."

preempt illegal activity... They did this in a movie once, right?

This is an impossible task. All Mueller's proposal accomplishes is a demonstration of the government's fear. Not long ago they had total control over the media, and consequently, the people. The internet as become the great equalizer which has spread too far and too wide to be controlled by a single person or agency. The more people who use it constructively, the closer we get to taking back what is rightfully ours.

So FBI... consider yourself on notice.

Following in their Footsteps

2008-04-23T21:28:00.000-04:00

Senator Clinton reported that if Iran were to launch a nuclear attack on Israel, as President she would retaliate against Iran with nuclear weapons.

This is the exact reason I do not want her in the oval office. Many women believe it is time for a female president. While I agree with this view, I do not want a female president who is imitating the strong headed men who came before her.

Women imitating men to assert their power is a long running trend in the United States. Throughout American history, men had the most power in politics, the economy, religion and even dominated the canon of American Literature. With few female role models to emulate (many successful women have had their records and achievements erased from history) women were left with little choice but to imitate men.

One would have to be a very strong, bold and courageous woman to face uncharted ground alone. These are the characteristics I would look for in a female president. I would want her to speak her mind and stay true to her ideals, despite what the opposition said about her. I would want a progressive woman who had the history and struggle of women in mind; someone who wanted equality for all people. Most of all, someone who looked at the past mistakes in foreign policy and domestic issues, and came up with a new plan for the future. Hillary Clinton does not live up to this image. She seems to be more of a carbon copy of everyone who came before her.

I would not approve of this trait of imitation in anyone, no less the person who is running for president. I will be effected by the decision of the winning candidate, so I will be voting for someone who represents my view... and not just my vagina.

Another downfall of DOVE

2008-04-22T18:29:00.000-04:00

To many women, Dove products may seem like a favorable alternative to other items on the market. Their ad campaign seems to emphasize that beauty is something within and all are capable of possessing it. This image is very different from other beauty products in which companies try to convince you that you are worthless without their makeup, lotion, etc.

One does not have to dig too far below the surface to discover that the parent company (UNILEVER) which owns Dove, also owns Axe, a body spray for men. Those familiar with Axe commercials can recall that these 30 second clips degrade women far worse than any makeup commercial on the market.

The Axe ad campaign completely invalidates the Dove commercials (and products) because it reflects that Unilever does not care about feminism; the CEOs only are interested in selling as many products to as many audiences as possible.

Now a new discovery: Palm Oil
Unilever is purchasing palm oil from companies in Indonesia, which are actively destroying the fragile and disappearing rain forests.

Simply one of these reasons is enough to boycott Dove (and Unilever in general).

You can also sign the petition which is located underneath the film box on the Greenpeace page.

More than Housewives

2008-04-22T00:09:00.001-04:00

Three HouseWives

These women planned and executed a 300 hundred mile expedition to climb the Himalayan Mountains. Their achievements, including being the first European women to enter the area, were long forgotten until the recent release of a short documentary.

Just another example of the many women [and their accomplishments] which have been excluded from the records by the makers of history.

Cash for Scores

2008-03-19T12:45:00.000-04:00

So as the standards of education fall even lower, people are beginning to realize that the rewards of learning should be intrinsic...

Try not to get sick when you read this article: Monetary Rewards Cheapen the Value of Learning

Declare Independence

2007-12-08T20:44:00.000-05:00

Go Bjork

what is art?

2007-12-02T18:59:00.000-05:00

this two year old & his parents have got it figured out.

Lead in your chocolate

2007-10-16T23:06:00.000-04:00

The FDA has stated that the "safe" amount of lead to consume is below 0.5 ppm (parts per million). Conversely, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not found threshold for exposure in which there are no harmful effects.

Therefore, it is disturbing to hear that milk chocolate contains up to 0.222 ppm and dark chocolate up to 0.275ppm.

Article

Further Analysis

If anyone comes across a brand that advertises their chocolate does not contain lead... please share!!!! Not the chocolate... just your info.

It's not graffiti, it's art!!

2007-10-14T00:00:00.000-04:00

This article is about a young girl who wrote on the sidewalk with chalk and was charged with a $300 violation. Reminds me of the 13 year old who was brought to court by record companies for downloading a few songs. This stupid country needs to go after the real criminals...the ones in the White House. Leave the art and music to the people!

Another Against

2007-08-10T01:11:00.000-04:00

This is a video of Henry Rollins, on protesting the war.
Amazing man.

And here are some adorable kids, protesting the war...

Loss of Reading

2007-07-20T16:47:00.000-04:00

"So we're experiencing the literary equivalent of a loss of biodiversity. All those people carrying around an 800-page novel looks like a great thing for American literacy, but it's as ominous as a Forbidden Forest with only one species of tree." Ron Charles

I have hear opinions both for and against the Harry Potter Series. Those who say it has children interested in reading, the religious groups who claim it is sinful and corrupting to read about witchcraft, and those who think the plots and characters are lacking.

The author of the following article has an interesting view. This isn't a reading craze - it is just another consumer craze; the idle masses jumping onto the next bandwagon.

It's unfortunate - but not without solution. Again, the love of reading must either start at the home or a very young age in school. Instead of forcing our children to read the prescribed agenda, let them choose what interests them. As the teacher observes the genres a student gravitates toward, they should supply them with more challenging material in the same content area. This is how real learning, and a real interest in reading is developed - rather than having every child waiting in line to read the same book...

No interference with Iraq Recontruction

2007-07-19T23:04:00.000-04:00

So says the president...

His latest signing statement goes something along the lines of: if any person or organization halts or threatens to halt the reconstruction or stability of Iraq, said person will suffer the consequences.

Full article

For more info on Bush's abuse of Signing Statements

homeless hero

2007-07-13T22:54:00.000-04:00

Here is an article from the Boston Globe.

quick preview:
"At 56, he had lived on Boston’s streets for about 30 years. In Kenmore Square and his Allston neighborhood — areas rife with college students and people who prefer less traditional approaches to life — some saw in Mr. Butch a latter-day Thoreau, a man who chose a path that didn’t involve taxes, rent, or office cubicles. Instead, he helped the elderly cross streets, joyously played air guitar, philosophized, and sang."

It is encouraging to see this man received positive media attention. Usually the homeless are portrayed as a nuisance or disease... a sign of society's decay. When people are shown in such a light, it is usually because the onlooker is afraid. In this case, the capitalists have every reason to be afraid. Because if the majority of America chose Mr. Butch's way of life - No work. No mortgage. No money. Just people helping each other out - there would be nobody left for the rich to exploit. Then they would have to step down from their self righteous inflated egos and become like the rest of us....because at that point, it's either join, or languish.

Feminism 101

2007-06-30T17:47:00.000-04:00

Just finished reading "Female Chauvinist Pigs" by Ariel Levy. She is a great writer, very straightforward with a clear thesis backed up by facts and opinions from individuals across the board.

She maintains that the new "feminism" 1. women acting like men (being overly aggressive, putting down other women, attending strip clubs) 2. strippers and porn stars claiming that their professions are powerful and liberating. 3. average women jumping up on the bar and whipping off their shirts or showing their breasts for Girls Gone Wild, etc. IS NOT FEMINISM AT ALL.

Sorry ladies, but you and your bodies are being used and abused by the mainstream media and corporations ready to make a profit by any means possible. The psychology is interesting. First of all, we are surrounded by advertisements on billboards, commercials, magazines and movies, depicting what women are "supposed" to look like. These models have fame and money based on their bodies...so it makes sense that other women would think exposing their bodies will also bring them fame and fortune. At the same time, they are persuaded to buy products which will improve their bodies...make up, clothing, vaginal-plasty...

I understand that these women (in the prostitution industry or not) feel "powerful" because they are choosing when and when not to display their bodies. But why expose yourself at all? Aren't their other ways to feel powerful? And why is the same standard not held to men? Why is a woman judged mainly for her body, and not for her mind?

Ariel Levy pointed out a perfect example: in the recent Olympic Games, the female competitors also appeared in Playboy, with little to no clothing. It is as if it was not acceptable that they be famous only for their skills. Furthermore, in order to look "feminine," we must see that they do indeed have female parts. Again, why are all the male athletes not appearing in Playgirl?

I understand that the Feminist movement has been fractured and divided over the years. I know that each person should be free to choose what empowers them. If taking off your clothes and having sex with strangers makes you feel strong and powerful, fine. But please do not claim that this is moving women and feminism forward as a whole, because it is not. It is holding women to the same submissive and abusive standards that we have been chained to for thousands of years. And keep this in mind - 65-90% of women in the porn/prostitution/stripping industry have been sexually abused, assaulted and/or raped as children or teenagers. Therefore, their ideas of sex and love are coming from a misguided and harmful place; their power was taken away...and they are trying to reclaim it in ways that are still harmful to them. Add on the fact that our youth and adult population looks to pornography for guidance in their first (and continued) sexual encounters, and your result is one very sad, abused and ignorant population.

I shall end (for now) with some interesting notes and inferences from Ariel's book. and of course I can't contain myself and added my extra opinions in parentheses :

-From the porn industry's point of view, if you don’t buy, or even worse, criticize their magazines or videos, you are obviously embarrassed and uncomfortable with sexuality. (The industry will never admit that their system is just inherently abusive. So in their opinion, there must be something wrong with the viewer. And of course, this terrible idea is consequently implanted into our minds as well - that the industry is right and we are wrong to resist it).

-Most Female Chauvinist Pigs want to be like men and profess to disdain women who are overly focused on the appearance of femininity. But they shun these girly-girls while simultaneously fixating on them in magazines and pornography.

-Acting like a F.C.P. may get you ahead, either in money or favor, but you are simultaneously reinforcing the system that traps you.

-Jenna Jamison claims to hold power and sexual liberations but she cannot look at her own sex tapes. She was also a victim - beaten and gang raped in highschool and sexually abused by her boyfriend’s friends. (one of the 65-90% I referred to before).

-$1billion on abstinence only education from 1996-2006. Yet there isn’t a single study that shows this approach works. Instead the United States has one of the higher teen pregnancy ratings and 1 our of every 4 teenage girls will get an STD. (add this to my previous statement of women and men looking toward porn for guidance).

[In reference to stripping, etc]:
-"If you think you are being brave, you think you are being sexy, you think you’re transcending feminism. But that’s bullshit." -Susan Brownmiller (fuck yea!)

-"If we believed that we were sexy and funny and competent and smart, we would not need to be like strippers or men or like anyone other than our own specific, individual selves. That won’t be easy, but ultimately it would be no more difficult than the kind of contortions FCPs are constantly performing in an effort to prove themselves. More importantly, the rewards would be the very things Female Chauvinist Pigs want so desperately, the things women deserve: freedom and power." -Ariel Levy

Criminal Justice

2007-06-27T19:27:00.000-04:00

First off, the CIA released a bunch of classified information. Read the full article here
you know, the usual: assassination attempts, wire tapping, domestic spying, etc.

Second, today Cheney and a bunch of other dicks have finally been subpoenaed for the wiretapping scandals. Maybe some justice will finally be delivered.

Ironically enough, according to the Aztec Calendar, today is the day of the Vulture:
Cozcacuauhtli (vulture) signifies long life, wisdom, good counsel and mental equilibrium. It is a good day to confront the discontinuities, disruptions, failures and deaths one suffers in life. Cozcacuauhtli is a day for tricking the Trickster.

Gay Bomb?!

2007-06-19T22:44:00.000-04:00

My brother sent this article to me, and I could not believe the words. So I thought I would show it to you in full context. Let me know if it makes any sense. . .

taken directly from BBC NEWS, January 15, 2005

US military pondered love not war

The unconventional proposals were made by the US Air Force

The US military investigated building a "gay bomb", which would make enemy soldiers "sexually irresistible" to each other, government papers say.

Other weapons that never saw the light of day include one to make soldiers obvious by their bad breath.

The US defence department considered various non-lethal chemicals meant to disrupt enemy discipline and morale.

The 1994 plans were for a six-year project costing $7.5m, but they were never pursued.

The US Air Force Wright Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio, sought Pentagon funding for research into what it called "harassing, annoying and 'bad guy'-identifying chemicals".

The plans were obtained under the US Freedom of Information by the Sunshine Project, a group which monitors research into chemical and biological weapons.

'Who? Me?'

The plan for a so-called "love bomb" envisaged an aphrodisiac chemical that would provoke widespread homosexual behaviour among troops, causing what the military called a "distasteful but completely non-lethal" blow to morale.

Scientists also reportedly considered a "sting me/attack me" chemical weapon to attract swarms of enraged wasps or angry rats towards enemy troops.

A substance to make the skin unbearably sensitive to sunlight was also pondered.

Another idea was to develop a chemical causing "severe and lasting halitosis", so that enemy forces would be obvious even when they tried to blend in with civilians.

In a variation on that idea, researchers pondered a "Who? Me?" bomb, which would simulate flatulence in enemy ranks.

Indeed, a "Who? Me?" device had been under consideration since 1945, the government papers say.

However, researchers concluded that the premise for such a device was fatally flawed because "people in many areas of the world do not find faecal odour offensive, since they smell it on a regular basis".

Captain Dan McSweeney of the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate at the Pentagon said the defence department receives "literally hundreds" of project ideas, but that "none of the systems described in that [1994] proposal have been developed".

He told the BBC: "It's important to point out that only those proposals which are deemed appropriate, based on stringent human effects, legal, and international treaty reviews are considered for development or acquisition."

beginning of the end?

2007-06-14T23:02:00.000-04:00

Follow this link to BBC article on the impending collapse of Zimbabwe - due to rampant inflation.

and I am sure the World Bank and IMF had NOTHING to do with this...

but, I wouldn't mind bartering...trading goods for food and such. money is just the middle man that gets in the way and messes everything up, hence the situation in Zimbabwe.

QUICK - impeach him before he gets ya...

2007-06-10T12:09:00.000-04:00

Before it's too late, follow the link below to a website which gives directions for a Do-It-Yourself impeachment for Dick Cheney. and good old George is up for it too.

Download the petition here

truth.

2007-06-06T18:49:00.000-04:00

"We can live without religion and meditation, but we cannot survive without human affection"

-Dalai Lama

...enough said.

Why not...

2007-05-30T15:43:00.000-04:00

My life has swept me away from finding great articles to share with you these past few weeks. But here is an update, complete with some quotations, interesting news links, and my latest poem (composed during my break at work...)

In remembrance of Mikhail Bakunin, great anarchist philosopher, born today in 1814:

“If there is a State, then there is domination, and in turn, there is slavery.”

“People go to church for the same reasons they go to a tavern: to stupefy themselves, to forget their misery, to imagine themselves, for a few minutes anyway, free and happy”

“Everything will pass, and the world will perish but the Ninth Symphony will remain.”

and my personal favorite:

“A Boss in Heaven is the best excuse for a boss on earth, therefore If God did exist, he would have to be abolished”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the ever declining news:

Robots To Guard Schools in Korea

Job Approval from Homeland Security

Banning Books in Georgia

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My newest poem, based on truth and dedicated to my 17 yr old brother:

I remember it like yesterday.

The day my brother stated without fear:
"I would rather spend
One hundred years
Locked in jail
For something I said,
Than live 100 free
For keeping my beliefs
Trapped in my head."

But that was long before
They rearranged the words
On the news
And put limits
On musical lyrics produced.
Before they monitored
Our digital dialogue
And blocked out our sun
With their corporate smog.

We always said
We wouldn't go down
Without a fight
But I would rather
Not be arrested
For something I whispered
In the night.

I promised him
We wouldn't sell our souls
But for now,
We had to play the role.
It was far better
To stay concealed
And strike
When the right time
Was revealed.

The message was hidden
In plain view
Our insider informers
Used the enemies own tools.

I remember how rapidly
Everything moved forward.
The people's power
Was about to be restored.

I remember
Our barricaded doors
And fire blankets
Nailed to the floors.
Windows covered with kevlar
The stairs steaming with hot tar.
Our bay-window
Set up with cement blocks
And our long dormant ammunition
Now waiting in full stock.

Our sight was slim
And the light was dim
But we knew the ranges
Like the back of our hand
Everything was going on
As planned.

What we didn't count on
Were the countless
Brainwashed masses
Who joined the ranks
Of the military
To avoid
The crematory ashes.

But we pushed on
Through the faded light of dawn
Set off the pre-planted
Bombs on the border.
Took out the ranking leaders
Of their tyrannical order.

But our bullets ran low
And the last shells fell to the ground
Soft like snow.

We were forced to go
Underground.
And it's a miracle
We haven't been found.

We sealed our tunnel tight
And like vermin,
Only emerge at night.

For months
We haven't felt
The faint heat of the dimming sun.
Had fresh food
Or found the other remaining members
Of our revolution.

I start to wonder
Which prison is really worse?
Or if we will even be able
To out live
This self inflicted curse.

Did our efforts
Help to bring change?
Or was every single thing
We ever fought for
Sacrificed in vain?

We are still here waiting.

A poem to share with you

2007-05-14T20:16:00.000-04:00

I wrote this today while subbing in an elementary school.
You can guess why...

Plunging down
Into a predictable pattern
Is the prerequisite
For any potentially practical adult

For me
It is a precarious premonition.
A promise for the fruition
Of guaranteed boredom and frustration;
Permission for an existence
Compact with disdain.
Leading directly to
A premature departure
From this worldly plane.

I prefer the unpredictable.
The pictorial forefront of
Uncharted life.
The essence of quantum physics
Persistently eliminating strife.

I will worship the tangible,
Photographic past
As I keep my cells sensitive
To the metaphysical
Unfinished future.
And continue to generate
Infinite possibilities
For the permeating prose
Of the present

The majority pursues
The preworn path
Striving to ensure
The perpetual motion
Of the status quo
Upholding the promise
Of permanent prejudice
On their uneven economic plateau.

But I reconstruct my world
At each moment
I bend to accommodate
And integrate
Each new truth, I behold
It is empirical impossible
For this mode of thought
To grow old.

It is far more fortuitous
To encompass flexibility
For it results in a fruitful future
Where all can be free.

opinions/comments on this are very welcome :)

passing thoughts/judgement

2007-05-08T19:53:00.000-04:00

By trying to preserve the "Garden of Eden," and by creating an exclusive club, Christianity has only destroyed itself and the surrounding world.

In the end, only nature will flourish to rule over all.

Public Eye on Corporations.

2007-05-06T11:33:00.000-04:00

Knowmore.org is similar to Wikipedia, you can look up business/environmental practice of 500 Corporations, as well as edit the pages and share your negative or positive information or experiences.

Ratings as followed:

Red- Harmful practices/areas of concern
Yellow-Neutral practices
Green- Responsible practices

The Great Distraction

2007-04-23T23:27:00.000-04:00

So again, as the news was splattered with clips and opinions on the VA tech school... the ban on Abortion took place. and most did not even notice; they were perfectly distracted.
But the hypocrisy runs further.

Values of life are unequal.
A flag was put at half staff on the biggest base in Afganistan for the VA kids, but this same honor is not given for those American soldiers who are dying in Iraq (not to even mention innocent Iraqi civilians...but we won't get into that right now).

So, if a citizen of immigrant parents kills innocent people, they are honored.
If the government kills its own citizens in an unjust war, they are not honored.

And people wonder why I have no respect for this country...

Federal Abortion Ban

2007-04-18T18:44:00.000-04:00

First of all, if you are a man and you are against this practice, shut your damn mouth.
Second, if you are a woman and this practice offends you... don't have one.
There. Controversy solved.

So, Congress backed the ban on a method of abortion, given after 12 weeks of pregnancy. There are still other methods available, those who terminate before 12 weeks will not be affected.

At first this doesn't appear to be to bad...but don't be fooled. This is only the beginning. They are testing the water to see how much they can get away with.

As the line between Church and State fades even further, women are now being stripped of their autonomy, and the choice lies in the hands of rich, white males. This is nothing new. It is how the story was first told back in the Middle Ages:
The rise of Capitalism had begun. The white males in power realized they would need an adequate, unlimited workforce in order to sustain this new found form of economic exploitation. They realized in order to control the number of workers, they must control the number of births, therefore the need arose to control women's bodies.

The Catholic Church and State were united like never before:
-Sex for pleasure, and sex outside of marriage became a sin punishable by DEATH, and the offender would burn in hell for all eternity (as opposed to previously needing to complete a small number of prayers to wash away the offense).
-Using protective measure during sex was also forbidden, since the Church now decreed that the result of sex should only be to bear children.
-Women were now held responsible for the sins both men and women committed during intercourse.
-Young unmarried women were even encouraged to disfigure themselves in order for men to NOT find them attractive, and therefore not want to have sex with them.

-Women were being push out of industries they once owned (brewing ale, textile production, laundry service, sale of goods at markets) Men took over these industries as they became more profitable with new technology. Therefore, women were increasingly kept in the home with little to no capital.
-Urbanization brought men to the cities and women again were kept at home, tending to fields and raising children.
**-Midwives were accused of killing Christian babies, delivering women out of wedlock and preforming abortions, most were stripped of their duties UNLESS they became spies for the State.
-Expecting mothers were brought to hospitals where male doctors with degrees delivered their babies. (women were rarely allowed to attend the universities). They convinced many women that midwives were a threat, with little knowledge and dirty methods.

-Finally, any women who spoke out against these oppressive changes were accused of Witchcraft. Over 400,000 women were burned at the stake, dismembered, drowned or tortured to death under such accusations. Many women learned if they did not speak out, they would not be killed. They stayed in the homes, had many children and laid the groundforce for Capitalism.

Source: 3 Independent Studies I took on "Women and Work in the Middle Ages," at SUNY New Paltz.

Today the abortion ban points toward the same goals: To uphold Capitalism and to uphold the beliefs of the Catholic/Christian Churches.

Today we must not be afraid, and we must not back down. We need everyone to be united in order to lift this ban and prevent the authorities from taking any further steps to control women's bodies.

Separate Bedrooms?

2007-04-17T21:20:00.000-04:00

Solving the snoring problem...
Or encouraging marriage for money? maybe breeding partners? a scenic trip back to 1950? or houses designed specially for those who are just complacent enough to ride out a hate filled marriage.

Either way, it sounds like an excuse to me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Or if you don't have the commitment needed to propose, you can hire someone to dump your partner for you. Just pay a small fee and you're rid of responsibility.

Can you stand how everyone keeps giving their autonomy away?
Can you believe how emotionally detached we are?
Who's to blame?

Why, its Capitalism
And You.

Don't ever let someone else live your life for you.
Don't ever settle for anything less than what you desire.

There is no such thing as "too good to be true." what sick fuck got you to believe that?

The Price of Treason

2007-03-27T22:07:00.000-04:00

The Price of Treason: brought to you by NIN

art to the next level.
above the hypocrisy.
shining in the light.

Its time for the word "citizen" to stop being synonymous with "victim"

Christians, right?

2007-03-27T00:06:00.000-04:00

Those crazy Christians may be on to something...

In reference to the new number system, linking license # to state ID #:
"The book of Revelation that say humans will be "marked … so that no one can buy or sell who does not have that mark" as a prophecy of a global numerical control system to be used by the beast, or antichrist. The number would be used during the Great Tribulation, which some Christians believe will precede the second coming of Jesus."

I do consider Capitalism to be "the beast." A global numbering system sounds like too much control to me. But instead of the end being brought by Jesus, I think it will be closer to the system collapsing on itself, and life returning to a more natural form.

I don't see disaster,
I see hope.

Curse Against Bush

2007-03-26T23:48:00.000-04:00

According to the Tecumseh Legend, Bush is cursed to die.

"How else to explain the horrifying sequence of seven American presidents who did not live to see the end of their mandates in the strict periods of 20 years."

Ha. nice. just gives the Democrats another reason not to take action and impeach him...

Victory!

2007-03-20T22:48:00.000-04:00

Turns out that people can still make a difference...

Over 50 acres of wetland/farmland is now under permanent protection in New Paltz. It cost nearly 1 million dollars, but the funds were raised and now investors and contractors can't get their greedy hands on this precious land.

photos taken by me!

2007-03-14T20:49:00.000-04:00

Are you serious?

2007-03-09T22:16:00.000-05:00

Would the government and FBI really misuse the Patriot Act?

Oh snap, they did. But don't worry, they're super sorry and pinky swear that they will never do it again.

I can't tell if this is good news or just more disturbing news. Well, I suppose it's not disturbing since I assumed they would abuse this power to the max... And it must be good news because their corruption is being publicly displayed and criticized, which should make people less likely to support future renewals of this act.

If the democrats are of any use, they will disable this intrusive act, along with No Child Left Behind, the Clean Air Act and all the other dumb shite the president has thought up or signed into law (and by signed I mean made a few incoherent marks in or around the area he was supposed to write his name) during the past 7 years.

It sure is going to take a lot of time, effort, intelligence and money to fix this country. . . I vote we just hit the reset button.

Further Intrusion of our Privacy

2007-03-07T16:08:00.000-05:00

Bush has proposed that websites must keep records of everyone who uploads a video or picture, in case something is illegal and police need to investigate.

Sure it sounds like they have our safety in mind, but what they are really doing is taking the first amendment right out of our hands. So what if I decide to upload an anarchist picture? Will the CIA decide that Anarchism falls under the category of Terrorism? Will I be investigated? Brought to court? Excommunicated? Executed?

Honestly, I don't want to find out. And I am going to watch what I upload from my computer.

And there in lies the key: Self-Policing.

I hate this administration more and more everyday...

Clean Up Day

2007-03-04T13:19:00.000-05:00

On Clean Up Australia Day, more than 1 million people collected over 8,000 tons of trash. Now that is showing some initiative.

But we can also make a difference at home. Here is some info for those who live in the Hudson Valley in upstate NY:
GREAT RIVER SWEEP, April 2007
Long Dock, Beacon, NY
Join Hudson Valley Pack and Paddle for this years volunteer cleanup on the Beacon Waterfront as part of Scenic Hudson's Great River Sweep. The Great River Sweep is an annual all-volunteer cleanup of the Hudson River watershed and for one week in April each year, hundreds of communities join to save our river. Hudson Valley Pack & Paddle's past cleanups have included the following locations: Long Dock, Beacon, three cleanups, the Wappingers Creek, two cleanups, Denning Point and the Fishkill Creek, two cleanups. We are very proud to have been able to remove over 300 cubic yards of trash, (about 8 big Dumpsters full) with the help of numerous volunteers over the last 7 years and with the support of Jim Popovich and Royal Carting

Or organize your own Hudson Valley Clean Sweep group!

For other national Clean Ups, visit the Earth 911 site

a little mix of updates...

2007-03-03T17:19:00.000-05:00

Superior Court Judge Ronald C. Kline was sentenced to 27 months in a federal prison after a hacker breeched his computer, leading to the discovery of child pornography: Full Article

Apparently dropping sales in yellow "Support our Troops" ribbons could mean that people no longer support the war...or maybe their attention span just ran out: Full Article

Ann Coulter is a bitch: Video Clip

*And look out for the full eclipse of the moon, tonight March 3 between 5-7pm EST :)

Interrogation of an Artist

2007-03-02T09:56:00.000-05:00

So what if he had a cardboard cut out of Bush on his front lawn...with a knife sticking in his head. Some of Michael McDonald's neighbors were so offended that they called the police. Who in turn called the Secret Service. The S.S. accused McDonald of threating the President's life.

Hm, wait. Let's do some math:

If < means "less than"
and > means "more than"
the following equation must be true:

1 man (Mr. Bush) < 3,135 U.S. Soldiers < 62,296 (max) Iraqi Citizens

So what IS the value of a life?
Shouldn't McDonald's neighbors be horrified and disgusted by all the lives the President has taken? Shouldn't Mr. Bush be the one interrogated and removed from office? (at the very least...)

for more up to the minute update on the war's death total, visit Wikipedia
see the artwork and read the article on Artist Michael McDonald

Greenest City in the World and more...

2007-02-27T14:43:00.000-05:00

As of now will be London. Over the next 20 years, they plan to cut their carbon emissions by 60 percent:

read more about their comprehensive plan

Al Gore demonstrates how one can convert their home to Green power:

Gore purchased 108 blocks of “green power” for at least each of the last three months, according to a summary of bills from Nashville Electric Service.

That’s a total of $432 a month spent to pay extra for solar or other renewable energy sources. NES power – outside this program - is derived largely from coal, which emits carbon, a green house gas.

The green power purchased by Gore in those three months is equivalent to recycling 2.48 million aluminum cans, or recycling 286,092 pounds of newspaper, according to comparison figures on the utility's Web site.

(Of course, you can conserve more than Mr. Gore by not driving an SUV (hybrid or not) and having an enormous home to heat)

You can easily save the environment by:
-carpooling
-walk or biking riding to local stores
-buying local products (save on carbon emission from trucks would otherwise need to bring in goods from other areas of the country)
-using energy saver light bulbs
-recycling bottles, cans, paper
-picking up trash, instead of just stepping over it

UNCENSORED-Another artist againt the war...kinda

2007-02-26T12:32:00.000-05:00

My friend showed me this video today, by Madonna, entitled, "American Life." Essentially, she is bashing not only the war our president started, but the way some of our more wasteful, self-centered, American citizens live, while also giving an accurate view of the pain and death that war causes.

Quite a truthful look at the situation, filmed even before the war started. Unfortunately, she did not release it in 2003, stating that it would be disrespectful to the troops.

Actually, you know what is disrespectful to the troops? Sending the off to die in a war that was started by lies.

Anyway, check it out: American Life

Art is Resistance

2007-02-25T19:31:00.000-05:00

It is very exciting when artists, in any medium, use their power and popularity to project a positive message. Especially like the one that Trent Reznor is spreading as a precursor to his new album "Year Zero." All over the world, Reznor is leaving little clues that magnify the shift into totalitarianism in America. Added up, it's a call for a revolution, of non-violent resistance and art.

Check out Art is Resistance

and the message board for more details, clues and revelations.

See you in the frontlines.

why teaching for tests DOES NOT WORK

2007-02-23T16:32:00.000-05:00

Apparently, students test scores are rising, but their ability to read is declining (see article )

Why? Because now teachers are so preoccupied with meeting the National Standards (set by President Bush, who, as one of my fifth graders fondly recalled, was a C student), that they are teaching specifically for the tests, and not for the students.

So, instead of releasing well rounded individuals into the world, we are sending out adults who are only capable of regurgitating "facts" and have no capacity to think beyond the box or question what they are told. But this is to be expected when politicians and corporations are running the show. All they are concerned with are profit and products. In this case, our dumbed down students are the product, becoming the malleable workforce of tomorrow, reaping in ridiculously high profits for our CEOs, while their own children are run through the same appalling education system.

The only way to end this is to take education back into the hands of the community, the teachers, the parents, and most importantly, the children.

Here is a great essay on this topic by Jonathan Taylor Gatto, former teacher, now turned education activist: Against School

Or if you really want to make a difference, get into the education system and help us change it from the inside out!!!I can guarantee some good professors here: Undergrad/Graduate Studies in Education
Or check out the Complete Listing of Colleges offering Educational Studies

Union of Concerned Scientists

2007-02-21T18:33:00.000-05:00

Urge the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fulfill its responsibility for protecting our food by banning drug-producing safflower and other “pharma” food crops grown outdoors. Send a letter here: Keep Drugs out of our Food

And here is another letter to send, courtesy of the Union of Concerned Scientists, urging the Bush Administration not to produce new nuclear weapons: No New Nuclear Weapons

French President calls for revolution?

2007-02-02T14:56:00.000-05:00

President Jacques Chirac opened a Paris conference on world environmental governance with a call for a green "revolution" to meet the challenges of global warming.

"Soon will come a day when climate change escapes all control. We are on the verge of the irreversible," Chirac told the meeting.

United Nations scientific report on global warming.

"Faced with this emergency, the time is not for half measures. The time is for a revolution -- a revolution of consciousness, a revolution of the economy. A revolution of political action."

Chirac opened the two-day gathering flanked by

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, head of the UN General Assembly Sheikha Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa and Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I.

"Our international political system is inadequate for dealing with the vital challenge of the 21st century -- the question of the environment," Chirac told the gathering of some 200 delegates, including environment ministers and scientists from more than 50 countries.

Warning that "in this area too, unilateralism leads to a dead-end," Chirac argued that the existing UN Environment Programme should be transformed into a full-blown United Nations Environment Agency (UNEA), with more far-reaching powers and greater means.

"This UNEA will carry the environmental conscience of the world," he said. "With a strong political mandate... it will give greater strength, greater coherence to our common action."

Chirac said the Paris conference aimed to build a coalition of support for the creation of such an agency, an idea widely backed in Europe but opposed by the United States, as well as emerging powers Brazil, China and India.

"We are, and rightly so, proud of our intelligence and our technical achievements. But in the space of a few centuries we have burned resources accumulated over millions of years," he told the gathering.

"We are destroying eco-systems that sheltered a biodiversity lost for ever, depriving ourselves of vital keys for the future. We know all this: so what are we waiting for to take the necessary measures?" he asked.

He called for a "radical transformation of our methods of production and consumption," calling for a break with past technologies and a massive shift towards clean energies such as solar power, and bio-energy.

"But to do so we need clear and loyal rules of competition. Either the international community works to create them, or we face 'ecological war'," he warned.

He said the effort must be "fairly shared," saying "northern countries, first to build their wealth on the mass exploitation of natural resources, must accept their responsibilities."

The assessment released on Friday by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said global warming was almost certainly caused by humans, and carbon pollution disgorged this century would disrupt the climate system for 1,000 years to come.

Reducing corruption?

2007-01-19T23:23:00.000-05:00

The amount of money spent on earmarks ("public" projects, funded on govt money, in Senators' hometowns) reached totaled $47 billion in 2005 alone. From Teapot Museums to the Bridge to Nowhere, your representatives have effectively wasted your money. The earmarks are often sneaked into larger bills which are guaranteed to pass. The S.1 bill was drafted into order to put an end to extravagant earmarks and a number of other corrupt acts occurring in Congress. Last week, the bill passed 96 to 2. This sounds good in writing, but we'll to wait to see the actual results in Congress.

Taken from The Library of Congress

Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2007 - Authorizes a point of order by any Senator against consideration of a conference report that includes any matter not committed to the conferees by either chamber.

Adds Rule XLIV (Earmarks) to the Standing Rules of the Senate to make it out of order to consider any Senate bill, amendment, or conference report, unless a list of all its earmarks, the identity of the Member or Members proposing them, and an explanation of their essential governmental purpose, along with any associated joint statement of managers, is made available to all Members, and to the general public on the Internet, for at least 48 hours before its consideration.

Amends Rule XXVIII (Conference Committee; Reports; Open Meetings) to make it out of order to consider a conference report unless it is available to all Members and the general public on the Internet for at least 48 hours before its consideration.

Amends Rule XXIII (Privilege of the Floor) to deny floor privileges (except for ceremonial functions and events) to former Senators and Senators elect, Secretaries, Sergeants at Arms of the Senate, and Speakers of the House of Representatives if they: (1) are registered lobbyists or agents of a foreign principal; or (2) are in the employ of or represent any party or organization for the purpose of influencing, directly, or indirectly, the passage, defeat, or amendment of any legislative proposal.

Amends Rule XXXV (Gifts) to exclude gifts from lobbyists or agents of a foreign principal from the gift ban exceptions.

Requires a Member, officer, or employee, before accepting otherwise permissible transportation or lodging from any person other than a governmental entity, to obtain a written certification from such person that includes certain disclaimers regarding a registered lobbyist or foreign agent. Prescribes additional disclosure requirements, including certain information regarding noncommercial air travel.

Amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require a publicly available report, in the case of a principal campaign committee of a federal candidate (other than one for President or Vice President), of any flight taken by the candidate on an aircraft not licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate for compensation or hire.

Amends Rule XXXVII (Conflict of Interest) to impose a one-year lobbying moratorium, upon leaving such position, on any employee on the staff of a Member or on the staff of a committee meeting specified rate of pay and congressional employment criteria.

Prohibits a Senator from directly negotiating or having any arrangement concerning prospective private employment until after the election for his or her successor has been held, unless public disclosure of such employment negotiations and arrangements is provided.

Requires a Member to prohibit all of his or her staff from having any official contact with the Member's spouse or immediate family member if such individual is a registered lobbyist or is employed or retained by a registered lobbyist to influence legislation.

Amends Rule XLIII (Representation by Members) to prohibit a Member, with the intent to influence on the basis of partisan political affiliation an employment decision or employment practice of any private entity, from: (1) taking or withholding, or offering or threatening to take or withhold, an official act; or (2) influencing, or offering or threatening to influence, the official act of another.

The Dangers of Fluoride, Part II

2007-01-10T20:53:00.000-05:00

It took until 2006 for the ADA's alert, following the Food and Drug Administration's October disapproval of fluoridated bottled water marketed to babies,(6) and after the recent National Research Council's (NRC) fluoride report indicated babies are fluoride overdosed from "optimally" fluoridated water supplies (7).

Sources:
(6)FDA
(7)NAP

Yet Walmart continues to market Fluoridated Water for infants.
Sign the petition against Walmart here!

To learn about the negative effects of Fluoride
and why it is so dangerous, read below:

Fluoride & the Pineal Gland: Study Published in Caries Research

The wheels of science grind very slowly. Finally, the first half of the work that was the subject of Jennifer Luke's Ph.D. thesis; presentation in Bellingham, Washington (ISFR conference) in 1998 and a videotaped interview I had with her (see www.fluoridealert.org/videos.htm), has been published in Caries Research.

In my view this work is of enormous importance and could be (or should be) the scientific straw that breaks the camel's back of fluoridation.

When Luke found out that the pineal gland - a little gland in the center of the brain, responsible for a very large range of regulating activities (it produces serotonin and melatonin) - was also a calcifying tissue, like the teeth and the bones, she hypothesized it would concentrate fluoride to very high levels. The gland is not protected by the blood brain barrier and has a very high perfusion rate of blood, second only to the kidney.

Luke had 11 cadavers analyzed in the UK. As she predicted she found astronomically high levels of fluoride in the calcium hydroxy apatite crystals produced by the gland. The average was 9000 ppm and went as high as 21,000 in one case. These levels are at, or higher, than fluoride levels in the bones of people suffering from skeletal fluorosis. It is these findings which have just been published.

It is the ramifications of these findings which have yet to be published. In the second half of her work she treated animals (Mongolian gerbils) with fluoride at a crack pineal gland research unit at the University of Surrey, UK (so there is no question about the quality of this work). She found that melatonin production (as measured by the concentration of a melatonin metabolite in the urine) was lower in the animals treated with high fluoride levels compared with those treated with low levels.

Luke hypothesizes that one of the four enzymes needed to convert the amino acid tryptophan (from the diet) into melatonin is being inhibited by fluoride. It could be one of the two enzymes which convert tryptophan to serotonin or one of the two which convert serotonin to melatonin.

Significance? Huge. Melatonin is reponsible for regulating all kinds of activities and there is a vast amount of work investigating its possible roles in aging, cancer and many other life processes. The one activity that Luke is particularly interested in is the onset of puberty. The highest levels of melatonin ( produced only at night) is generated in young children. It is thought that it is the fall of these melatonin levels which acts like a biological clock and triggers the onset of puberty. In her gerbil study she found that the high fluoride treated animals were reaching puberty earlier than the low fluoride ones.

We know from recent studies - and considerable press coverage - that young girls are reaching puberty earlier and earlier in the US. Luke is not saying that fluoride (or fluoridation) is the cause but her work waves a very worrying red flag. Fluoride's role in earlier puberty needs more thorough investigation. Of an interesting historical note, in the Newburgh versus Kingston fluoridation trial (1945-1955), it was found that the girls in fluoridated Newburgh were reaching menstruation, on average, five months earlier than the girls in unfluoridated Kingston, but the result was not thought to be significant at the time (Schlessinger et al, 1956).

When one considers the seriousness of a possible interference by fluoride on a growing child's pineal gland (and for that matter, elderly pineal glands) it underlines the recklessness of fluoridation. The precautionary principle would say, as would basic common sense, that you don't take these kind of risks with our children for a benefit which, at best, amounts to 0.6 tooth surfaces out of 128 tooth surfaces in a child's mouth (Brunelle and Carlos, 1990, Table 6).

For more information please visit:

Fluoride Statement

Fluoride Accumulates in Pineal Gland

the true timeline of Saddam

2007-01-01T23:34:00.000-05:00

A short, accurate film of the CIA's real relationship with Saddam Hussien:

http://www.bushflash.com/thanks.html

The US government put this man in power, armed him deadly weapons, and used him to their short-sighted advantages. It is not a coincidence that at this point in 2006, this all time low in troop moral and public faith in the president, Saddam is executed. A cellphone video of the hanging is "leaked" onto the internet. All these actions of US propaganda are designed to justify the unjustifiable war on Iraq.

Well, no one cares anymore because we can see through these loosely knit lies. Even if it actually was Saddam being executed in that video (remember, he had countless body doubles) it doesn't matter. There are so many other leaders/generals/psychopaths alive who have committed even greater war crimes and crimes against humanity. Let's even the playing field and kill them all.

Or what if we confront murderers with compassion, instead of sinking to their own cruel levels. Is it possible we could create a better world if we replace the tactics of hate and fear with understanding and love? This mode of thought has worked in the past: In Iroquois culture, capital punishment and prison were never installed; instead, violators were reintegrated into society, with serious offenders sentenced to community service. This method of living worked for centuries, until the arrival of the Europeans and their backwards ways. Unfortunately, we have been stuck in that cycle ever since.

So it is up to people like you and me to change this pattern and develop a more civilized, thoughtful and caring way of life. Start right at home with how you treat your neighbors, friends and family. Take time to talk with the people who bag your groceries, sweep your floors and pump your gas. The world will start to change the moment we begin treating each other like human beings.

Sincerley,

The Professional Revolutionists

More insight...

2006-12-29T23:06:00.000-05:00

Baghdad Burning
... I'll meet you 'round the bend my friend, where hearts can heal and souls can mend...

Friday, December 29, 2006

End of another year.
You know your country is in trouble when:

-The UN has to open a special branch just to keep track of the chaos and bloodshed, UNAMI.
-Abovementioned branch cannot be run from your country.
-The politicians who worked to put your country in this sorry state can no longer be found inside of, or anywhere near, its borders.
-The only thing the US and Iran can agree about is the deteriorating state of your nation.
-An 8-year war and 13-year blockade are looking like the country's 'Golden Years'.
-Your country is purportedly 'selling' 2 million barrels of oil a day, but you are standing in line for 4 hours for black market gasoline for the generator.
-For every 5 hours of no electricity, you get one hour of public electricity and then the government announces it's going to cut back on providing that hour.
-Politicians who supported the war spend tv time debating whether it is 'sectarian bloodshed' or 'civil war'.
-People consider themselves lucky if they can actually identify the corpse of the relative that's been missing for two weeks.

A day in the life of the average Iraqi has been reduced to identifying corpses, avoiding car bombs and attempting to keep track of which family members have been detained, which ones have been exiled and which ones have been abducted.

2006 has been, decidedly, the worst year yet. No- really. The magnitude of this war and occupation is only now hitting the country full force. It's like having a big piece of hard, dry earth you are determined to break apart. You drive in the first stake in the form of an infrastructure damaged with missiles and the newest in arms technology, the first cracks begin to form. Several smaller stakes come in the form of politicians like Chalabi, Al Hakim, Talbani, Pachachi, Allawi and Maliki. The cracks slowly begin to multiply and stretch across the once solid piece of earth, reaching out towards its edges like so many skeletal hands. And you apply pressure. You surround it from all sides and push and pull. Slowly, but surely, it begins coming apart- a chip here, a chunk there.

That is Iraq right now. The Americans have done a fine job of working to break it apart. This last year has nearly everyone convinced that that was the plan right from the start. There were too many blunders for them to actually have been, simply, blunders. The 'mistakes' were too catastrophic. The people the Bush administration chose to support and promote were openly and publicly terrible- from the conman and embezzler Chalabi, to the terrorist Jaffari, to the militia man Maliki. The decisions, like disbanding the Iraqi army, abolishing the original constitution, and allowing militias to take over Iraqi security were too damaging to be anything but intentional.

The question now is, but why? I really have been asking myself that these last few days. What does America possibly gain by damaging Iraq to this extent? I'm certain only raving idiots still believe this war and occupation were about WMD or an actual fear of Saddam.
Al Qaeda? That's laughable. Bush has effectively created more terrorists in Iraq these last 4 years than Osama could have created in 10 different terrorist camps in the distant hills of Afghanistan. Our children now play games of 'sniper' and 'jihadi', pretending that one hit an American soldier between the eyes and this one overturned a Humvee.

This last year especially has been a turning point. Nearly every Iraqi has lost so much. So much. There's no way to describe the loss we've experienced with this war and occupation. There are no words to relay the feelings that come with the knowledge that daily almost 40 corpses are found in different states of decay and mutilation. There is no compensation for the dense, black cloud of fear that hangs over the head of every Iraqi. Fear of things so out of ones hands, it borders on the ridiculous- like whether your name is 'too Sunni' or 'too Shia'. Fear of the larger things- like the Americans in the tank, the police patrolling your area in black bandanas and green banners, and the Iraqi soldiers wearing black masks at the checkpoint.

Again, I can't help but ask myself why this was all done? What was the point of breaking Iraq so that it was beyond repair? Iran seems to be the only gainer. Their presence in Iraq is so well-established, publicly criticizing a cleric or ayatollah verges on suicide. Has the situation gone so beyond America that it is now irretrievable? Or was this a part of the plan all along? My head aches just posing the questions.

What has me most puzzled right now is: why add fuel to the fire? Sunnis and moderate Shia are being chased out of the larger cities in the south and the capital. Baghdad is being torn apart with Shia leaving Sunni areas and Sunnis leaving Shia areas- some under threat and some in fear of attacks. People are being openly shot at check points or in drive by killings… Many colleges have stopped classes. Thousands of Iraqis no longer send their children to school- it's just not safe.

Why make things worse by insisting on Saddam's execution now? Who gains if they hang Saddam? Iran, naturally, but who else? There is a real fear that this execution will be the final blow that will shatter Iraq. Some Sunni and Shia tribes have threatened to arm their members against the Americans if Saddam is executed. Iraqis in general are watching closely to see what happens next, and quietly preparing for the worst.

This is because now, Saddam no longer represents himself or his regime. Through the constant insistence of American war propaganda, Saddam is now representative of all Sunni Arabs (never mind most of his government were Shia). The Americans, through their speeches and news articles and Iraqi Puppets, have made it very clear that they consider him to personify Sunni Arab resistance to the occupation. Basically, with this execution, what the Americans are saying is "Look- Sunni Arabs- this is your man, we all know this. We're hanging him- he symbolizes you." And make no mistake about it, this trial and verdict and execution are 100% American. Some of the actors were Iraqi enough, but the production, direction and montage was pure Hollywood (though low-budget, if you ask me).

That is, of course, why Talbani doesn't want to sign his death penalty- not because the mob man suddenly grew a conscience, but because he doesn't want to be the one who does the hanging- he won't be able to travel far away enough if he does that.

Maliki's government couldn't contain their glee. They announced the ratification of the execution order before the actual court did. A few nights ago, some American news program interviewed Maliki's bureau chief, Basim Al-Hassani who was speaking in accented American English about the upcoming execution like it was a carnival he'd be attending. He sat, looking sleazy and not a little bit ridiculous, his dialogue interspersed with 'gonna', 'gotta' and 'wanna'... Which happens, I suppose, when the only people you mix with are American soldiers.

My only conclusion is that the Americans want to withdraw from Iraq, but would like to leave behind a full-fledged civil war because it wouldn't look good if they withdraw and things actually begin to improve, would it?

Here we come to the end of 2006 and I am sad. Not simply sad for the state of the country, but for the state of our humanity, as Iraqis. We've all lost some of the compassion and civility that I felt made us special four years ago. I take myself as an example. Nearly four years ago, I cringed every time I heard about the death of an American soldier. They were occupiers, but they were humans also and the knowledge that they were being killed in my country gave me sleepless nights. Never mind they crossed oceans to attack the country, I actually felt for them.
Had I not chronicled those feelings of agitation in this very blog, I wouldn't believe them now.

Today, they simply represent numbers. 3000 Americans dead over nearly four years? Really? That's the number of dead Iraqis in less than a month. The Americans had families? Too bad. So do we. So do the corpses in the streets and the ones waiting for identification in the morgue.

Is the American soldier that died today in Anbar more important than a cousin I have who was shot last month on the night of his engagement to a woman he's wanted to marry for the last six years? I don't think so.

Just because Americans die in smaller numbers, it doesn't make them more significant, does it?

posted by river: river bend blog

track the Iraq reconstruction: Iraq Index

Panexa

2006-12-29T01:21:00.000-05:00

Important information about a new drug: http://panexa.com/

real news...

2006-12-16T21:58:00.000-05:00

at least there is still some real news left on tv:

2006-12-05T20:40:00.000-05:00

The Water Problem:

Access to clean drinking water is critical for human survival and is an essential ingredient for improving the lives of those living in poverty in developing countries. And yet:
More than one billion people worldwide do not have access to clean water.
Water-related diseases are the leading cause of death in the world, taking the lives of 6,000 people a day, and are responsible for 80 percent of all sickness in the world.
40 billion hours are lost annually to hauling water, a chore primarily undertaken by women and girls.

All this can change. A life-changing and life-saving invention – the PlayPumpTM water system -- can provide easy access to clean drinking water, bring joy to children, and lead to improvements in health, education, gender equality, and economic development.
The PlayPump systems are innovative, sustainable, patented water pumps powered by children at play. Installed near schools, the PlayPump system doubles as a water pump and a merry-go-round for children.

The PlayPump also provides one of the only ways to reach rural and peri-urban communities with potentially live-saving public health messages. Learn more!

To donate any tax deductible amount, click here: PlayPumps International

anti-us propaganda...

2006-12-05T17:40:00.000-05:00

this is what you get when you leave me in front of a stack of old magazines...

Rocket fuel in our food?

2006-12-01T15:30:00.000-05:00

POLLUTION: American water supply and food contaminated by rocket fuel

Millions of Americans are regularly drinking water and eating foods and drink that have been contaminated by rocket fuel. It's coming from the country's 12,000 military bases, where fuel seepage is going unchecked, and has done so for years.

The water supply in 22 states is contaminated by perchlorate, the toxic chemical found in the fuel, while farms and dairy farms near the military bases are shipping contaminated produce across the States. A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) survey has found that 93 per cent of all lettuce and milk sold in the US is contaminated.

A new study prepared by the Environmental Working Group reveals that 2 million women who are iodine deficient are at special risk from the contamination. Perchlorate may cause a drop in their thyroid hormone levels, which is a risk factor in fetal development.

But it seems to be a pollutant that's affecting most people in the US. A study by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), in which urine samples were taken from 2,299 people around the country, discovered that everyone, with exception, had unacceptably high levels of perchlorate in their bodies.

It's a problem that's been known about for years, yet even now the military, supported by President Bush, are seeking exemption from any clean-up or control. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a report back in 2002 that identified the military bases as the source of the pollution, and it's known that Lockheed Martin, the defence contractor, had been concealing documents about the contamination for some years.

Despite this, the Department of Defense and the Pentagon argue that the military should be exempt from any controls as it must be 'ready' for anti-terrorist activity, and the fuel is an essential part of that operation. A sympathetic President Bush put a gag order on the EPA in 2003, and prevented it from talking about perchlorate and its effect on human health.
Perhaps now, with the shift in political opinion, more will realise that the greatest threat comes from within.

(Sources: Environmental Working Group website; Organic Consumers Association website).

Plan B. send a message now!!!

2006-12-01T15:18:00.000-05:00

After three years of delay, the FDA recently approved the emergency contraceptive Plan B for over-the-counter sales for women age 18 and older. We must ensure that all stores stock it. Take action and tell national pharmacy chains to adopt a written public policy about stocking Plan B in all their pharmacies. It's one of the best ways we can maximize this safe and effective form of birth control's full potential to prevent unintended pregnancy.

Click here to fill a quick email: Tell Pharmacy Chains to Carry Plan B

2006-11-30T21:13:00.000-05:00

President Bush signed The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA, S.3880 ENR) into law today, Monday, November 27th. The AETA not only puts our constitution in jeopardy, it puts all of us who speak out against the status quo in jeopardy. Animal rights activists, civil rights activists, the media, entertainers and even the NRA are all in danger of being called "Terrorists."

The broad language in this bill creates a dangerous, slipperly slope that can be used to take away our first amendment rights and put innocent people in jail! The bill was fast-tracked through both the House and the Senate by the biomedical industries -- people who have everything to gain by silencing legitimate protests against their cruel animal abuse.

"LCA has been at the forefront of fighting and opposing the AETA on a national level. Former Congressman and lobbyist for LCA, Charlie Rose, has been working feverishly against the AETA," states LCA President Chris DeRose. "This is not over for LCA, this is just the beginning."

Fight the AETA Contact your Senate and House Representatives and let them know you oppose the AETA and their complacency during the passing of the bill.
Visit www.house.gov and www.senate.gov for contact information.

read the bill in full: Download or read it here

Lady Sovereign

2006-11-28T15:49:00.000-05:00

Her keys are her bling.

Here is an awesome video/song by British hiphop queen, Lady Sovereign. I think she is an a shimmer of light and hope in the hiphop industry. she gives an honest view of the materialistic world we live in... someone who could appropriately inspire the kids... showing them that its better to be yourself, rather than to latch onto some prefabricated stereotype.

click here to see the video or if it doesnt automatically pop up in your media player thing, you can view it on the web:

click over here to see the video (because i am lacking the proper html skillz needed to put the video directly on our webpage. i cheated with "Sing" because they gave the codes to me...)

F.D.R.

2006-11-20T12:31:00.000-05:00

"Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country."

"Remember, remember always that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists."

"We, and all others who believe in freedom as deeply as we do, would rather die on our feet than live on our knees."

"No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country."

"The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it comes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group."

"Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth."

"Freedom to learn is the first necessity of guaranteeing that man himself shall be self-reliant enough to be free."

"Selfishness is the only real atheism; aspiration, unselfishness, the only real religion."

"I think we consider too much the good luck of the early bird and not enough the bad luck of the early worm." {I think this quote is great because it essentially negates our Capitalist society, in that the Native Americans were here first... -Professional Revolutionist #3}

"Books may be burned and cities sacked, but truth like the yearning for freedom, lives in the hearts of humble men and women."

"We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon."

more than bottled water...

2006-11-14T19:13:00.000-05:00

Coke (Dasani), Pepsi (Aquafina) and Nestle(Poland Spring, Deer Park, Arrowhead and more) aggressively lobby against legislation that would require them to disclose complete water quality information. So what are they hiding? And what are you really drinking?

Send an email to the CEOs of these corporations demanding the truth be revealed:Corporate Accountability International

I believe bottled water is a scam to begin with...but if people are drinking something more toxic than tap water, they should be informed.

Ensure Freedom of Speech in Turkey

2006-11-14T19:06:00.000-05:00

"As a songwriter, a musician, freedom of expression is not some abstract concept to me. It's my life. As a member of Amnesty International, I am given the tools I need to help ensure that no one is silenced for expressing their beliefs. I urge you to join me in signing this petition, to demand an end to Article 301."

- Serj Tankian of System of A Down and Axis of Justice

Turkey has limited free speech by prosecuting individuals of a wide range for peacefully expressing their dissenting opinion. Under Article 301 of Turkey’s Penal Code, Turkey has criminalized views that are deemed to have insulted Turkishness or the government. Article 301 is being arbitrarily used to harass and threaten people with imprisonment and is severe threat to freedom of expression. It must be abolished immediately. Send a letter to Prime Minister Erdogan immediately to express your concern: Sign the Petition

some small wins for animals

2006-11-08T18:15:00.000-05:00

Michigan voters stepped up for mourning doves, crushing Proposal
3 on the ballot and restoring the 100-year tradition of protecting the state's official bird of peace from target shooting. The vote was 68 percent to 32 percent. The Humane Society of the United States spearheaded the effort to protect mourning doves, from garnering more than 1,000 endorsements to relentlessly canvassing the state in support of the issue. Michigan voters listened, and the gentle backyard songbird will remain safe from target shooters.

In Arizona, humane treatment of farm animals won the day when voters cast their ballot in favor of Proposition 204, which bans gestation crates for breeding pigs and veal crates for young calves. Agribusiness and other special interests spent $2.5 million to defeat Proposition 204. It is the second state in the nation to ban gestation crates and the first state to ban veal crates. The vote was 61 percent in favor and only 39 percent opposed.

[while the removal of crates is an achievement, I would rather have heard that Michigan passed a law banning veal all together. god damn bourgeoisie...stop eating babies!!!]

Pro-Choice Results

2006-11-08T18:07:00.000-05:00

In Ohio, pro-choice Rep. Sherrod Brown defeated anti-choice Sen. Mike DeWine, who is one of the Senate's most anti-choice members.

In Missouri, pro-choice Claire McCaskill beat incumbent Sen. Jim Talent, who supports overturning Roe v. Wade.

In AZ-08, pro-choice Gabrielle Giffords defeated anti-choice Randy Graf.

In PA-07, pro-choice retired Admiral Joe Sestak defeated anti-choice Rep. Curt Weldon.

South Dakotans struck down the draconian abortion ban imposed by anti-choice politicians by a 10-point margin.

Californians struck down Proposition 85, which would have changed the state constitution to impose government-mandated parental notification for young women seeking abortion care, even if it jeopardized their safety.

Oregonians struck down Measure 43, which would have established mandatory parental notification with no exceptions for victims of rape or incest.

Sing!

2006-11-06T18:46:00.000-05:00

The Dresden Dolls Sing

listen closely to Amanda's words of wisdom

Guy Fawkes Night BANNED

2006-11-03T19:16:00.000-05:00

Isn't it ironic that now almost year after the movie "V for Vendetta" (which highlighted Guy Fawkes' plan and depicted a new hero who succeeded in destroying Parliament) people will not be "allowed" to celebrate the Fifth of November. Well, now instead of using fireworks, maybe someone will be pissed off enough to actually destroy some government property.

The Article:

FURY erupted today after Guy Fawkes night was banned by “politically correct” council chiefs and replaced by a Bengali folk tale.
Tower Hamlets Council in east London has chosen an “alternative theme” for fireworks night - traditionally based on the attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament.
Instead council bosses have shelled out £75,000 on a fireworks display based on a Bengali tale called Emperor and the Tiger.
Sunday’s display at Hackney's Victoria Park is expected to attract 20,000 but there will no mention of the Guy Fawkes plot.
The move came under fire from George Galloway and campaigners.
Mr Galloway, Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow said: "It beggars belief that this council should organise a Bonfire Night without a bonfire or a Guy."
John Midgley, spokesman for the Campaign Against Political Correctness, said the council's move would "explode in their faces".
He added: "There's a time and a place for everything and November 5 is for Bonfire Night. It's time for common sense and for people to tell bureaucrats that politically correct actions like these undermine our historic occasions and harm community relations."
Tower Hamlets' Bengali population of 65,000 make up about one third of the London borough.
But Bengalis dominate the council and its cabinet with 31 of the 51 councillors.
Tower Hamlets council insisted they were neither being politically correct nor forgetting the gunpowder plot.
A spokesman said: “Since introducing the themed events four years ago, visitor numbers have increased from 3,000 to a massive 23,000 people at last year's event. Let's judge the event by how much people enjoy themselves on the night."

Isn't it ironic that now almost year after the movie "V for Vendetta" (which highlighted Guy Fawks' plan and depicted a new hero who succeeded in destroying Parliment) people will not be "allowed" to celebrate the true Fifth of November.

Oaxaca update, plus video

2006-11-02T16:46:00.000-05:00

for live footage click on the link below:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbirEB5D2NU&eurl
from "La Luchia: Paz, Justicia y Libertad"
Confrontations around Ciudad Universitario

Nancy Davies with Narco News says that the PFP has begun to invade the Autonomous Benito Juarez University of Oaxaca (a violation of Mexican law). La Jornada confirms that confrontations in the area around the University City neighborhood have injured at least three people, including a photographer from El Universal and a reporter from Radio Libre. The University rector is demanding that the PFP (Federal Preventative Police) withdraw from the area of the University.KeHuelga Radio in Mexico City is carrying Radio Universidad online. Listen for Spanish language updates from the South of Monster City (Ciudad Monstruo) according to Enemigo Comun.

They are asking for students to come defend University Radio and their university and to bring (large bottle) rockets and empty bottles and reporting that gas bombs are being dropped by PFP helicopters.

At 2:38 PM EDST are reporting that state and federal police are attacking barricades again around University City with the help of PFP helicopters. There is also a burning bus put up in defense of the University. They are also asking for Oaxacans who aren't near University City to go to the Zocalo to divide the police.

At 2:40 they announced a police retreat, but at 2:45 they said that they police trucks were returning and that there is a person suffering from a serious head trauma that urgently needs the help of a Red Cross Ambulance.

At 2:54 they repeated this call, and reported that paramilitaries were trying to plant weapons on the university campus.They also reported that two of the PFP trucks had been taken out of service, and they called Oaxacans to bring paint thinner to the lines (which can be used to ruin the electrical system of the trucks) and oil, filthy water, or paint to cover their windsheilds. Oaxacans are also urged to throw these liquids from the roofs onto federal forces.Police are reported to have been seen in the University City area wearing shirts with the logo of Chedraui, a large chain of Mexican supermarkets.

At 3:10 Baltimore time, Radio Universidad is asking doctors and other health professionals with the public hospitals of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) to call in and let everyone know if they are safe places for protesters to receive specialized treatment like surgery. According to the announcers, as late as yesterday the hospitals were safe and were trusted, but there is now reason for concern.Mexican version of CNN is reportedly saying the the PFP are not entering in University City.

At 3:18 EDST the police helicopters are throwing tear gas grenades at homes indiscriminately. A reporter for channel 40 spoke over the radio to say that she has not been kidnapped by Radio Universidad as some had thought. An El Universal reporter spoke to the announcers to say he has been giving the real information about what is happening, so that the Oaxacan people know he is working honestly.A PFP truck is said to be burning near the "Cinco señores" gas station, as the Radio Universidad Announcers asked listeners to detain a specific patrol car (whose number was announced) because it contains people who had been taken prisoner off of the street.At the Avenida Ferrocarril police are said to be withdrawing at 3:27 EDST. At "5 Señores" police are also said to be withdrawing as one of their trucks burn and as the helicopters throw tear gas "indiscriminately."A protest in Mexico City is marching down reforma to the PFP headquarters, threatening to blockade the buildings surroundings until the university in Oaxaca is no longer under attack.A local child is said to be having serious respiratory problems near University Radio, though an ambulance cannot be found.La Jornada is following today's events in Oaxaca closely. The PFP is telling the media that it will not enter the university campus, though the Radio Universidad is announcing that some already entered, cutting the chains on a gate in the are of the School of Sciences. The Minister of the Interior (Secretaría de Gobernación) has made an order for the PFP to withdraw, according to Radio Universidad. The Radio is telling protesters, who have the police surrounded, to open one lane for police to withdraw, to see if the order is for real or a bluff. Though another announcer is threatening to hold the police hostage until the political prisoners are freed.Police are withdrawing from Cinco Señores though helicopters continue to drop tear gas at 3:48 EDST.An APPO spokesperson is asking Oaxacans to allow PFP forces to withdraw from the city toward the airport, as per an announcement of a withdrawel by the Minister of Interior. Radio Universidad announcers ask repeatedly "what about our prisoners?"As the protesters at the barricade of Cinco Señores celebrate on air, the announcers put "Venceremos" on air and ask people to stay firm and remember that "this was just a battle, we still can't sing our victory songs until Ulises Ruiz leaves Oaxaca."Students from the front lines have been recounting the almost four hours of "resistance" that ended with a retreat by the Mexican (PFP) on Radio Universidad. Others are on the air to tell the names and the stories of the injured or those in police custody.Juan Trujillo is also publishing updates on Oaxaca from Mexico City thanks to Radio KeHuelga.

Brad Will's Killers

Amy Goodman reports on Democracy Now (as a result of research by El Milenio and Noticias de Oaxaca) the killers of New York journalist Bradley Will were not in custody as the Santa Lucia city coucil president, Manuel Feria of the PRI party (same party as the governor), had announced. John Gibler, who has also written for Left Turn, reports that the killers were still only blocks from the murder scene as late as yesterday.La Jornada says that two of the men filmed committing the murder (Amy Goodman referenced five suspected killers, but I am not sure the source of that) Abel Santiago Zárate, a local politician ("regidor") with the PRI party, and Orlando Manuel Aguilar Coello, Zarate's chief of security and also with the PRI, have been arrested and charged today. Presumably the El Milenio report pressured the Oaxacan PRI government to arrest the murderers.

2006-11-02T08:56:00.000-05:00

Satanic Worshipping in Vatican Verified?
31 Oct 2006
By Greg Szymanski

A former high level member of the influential Monte Carlo P2 Lodge verified that satanic worshipping goes on in the catacombs of the Vatican.

Leo Zagami, who defected from the Illuminati in June, said he had personal knowledge of "Black Masses" were regularly being conducted in the Vatican for high level members of the European and American Illuminati in a decadent display of audacious Satanic power.

Zagami made his startling revelation Monday on Greg Szymanski's radio show, The Investigative Journal broadcast on the Genesis Communication Radio Network at http://www.gcnlive.com/.

"The Jesuits and the Vatican hierarchy are the master black magicians, controlling the many cult groups involved in the New World Order," said Zagami. "American people need to wake-up as the Vatican controls the U.S. government. The Bush family is a tool of the papacy. They are actually crooks and consider themselves pirates and that is the reason for the name Skull and Bones. These are sick criminals that need to be exposed and I am not afraid to do that since I was one of them at the top level in Monte Carlo.

"I am not a saint and they know that. They know who I am and if they come after me, they know I am a warrior and will fight back. These are evil men who have killed before and they will kill again.

"The likes of Georgio Balestrieri, who is the Vatican intermediary, knows all about how they put together 9/11, killing 3,000 people. The Jesuits and the Knights of Malta were, of course, behind it and they will do everything to hide their participation since they are all profiting from 9/11, as well.

"For example, Balestrieri now is the head of the New York Rotary Club, pushing cocaine and other drugs into America for drug lord, George H. Bush. This whole network of criminals needs to be exposed and America needs to realize the Vatican and the Jesuits are at the heart of it all.

"The United States is completely controlled and by 2010 it will be completely fascist. That is their plan. Then they want to rebuild Soloman's Temple in Jerusalem and contriol the world with one world religion and government. They say in Monte Carlo that the Illuminati will control America by the stick! What they want to do is bring down the cities by taking control of the electricity and the water and they say if you want these things back, you will have to submit to fascism."

Zagami, an influential Sicilian aristocrat with important and ancient Illuminati bloodlines, went public in America with his accusations several weeks ago when he started an English language web site. Since going public, he has appeared on The Investigative Journal twice, his only two American radio appearances since a black out exists in America on anything that sheds a negative light on the Vatican.

Zagami, who now lives in Norway for security reasons, said he also had inside and personal information that Hollywood star, Madonna, was working directly with higher-ups in the Italian Illuminati.

"I was supposed to work with her personally and I know for a fact she is being used and is instrumental in the Illuminati plans," said Zagami, who claims Jesuit control runs deep into top Hollywood and American political circles, saying the diabolical Jesuits leave no stone unturned in their Satanic quest to take over America.

During the two hour radio interview, Zagami presented an inside look at how high-lvel Freemasonry operates, citing Jesuit control at the top levels, uniting under one world wide banner dedicated to Satanic domination.

"They all work together, including Hugo Chavez who really is helping Bush's agenda by his theatrical performances," said Zagami, adding that Chavez is controlled by the Vatican and working with the New World Order as are all other leaders of the world's major government's and religions. "This is how they operate with the top layers working together for one purpose in what they think is the perfect cover-up.

"I had to leave the Illuminati after realizing their Satanic and evil deeds had gone too far and I will stop at nothing to continue revealing what they have planned."

It's a well known fact for Brothers of the Illuminati elite circles that the Ancient cult of Orcus is a demonic and evil cult dedicated to the sacrifice of children and other diabolical practices. But today nobody seems to mind if their President or the Head of the CIA, joins such a perverse and satanic cult within the Order of Death, all this in a prestigious place like Yale University.

That's because our society of TV slaves has been manipulated at every level by dangerous satanic intelligence units working for the illuminati in Mind Control activities to confuse us.

And even the sacrifice of children seems to be acceptable in this age of corrupt views, perversions and decadence, as long as it is kept out of the eyes of the public all this evil seems ok for these infidels of the so called elite.

All this is secretly promoted by the Vatican in Lodges like the Skull and Bones and many other sick places around the world, where these practices are done with Pope's blessings by many degenerate individuals hoping to gain power, including the Zionists who support all this with their gold and money.

Professor Charles Eliot Norton of Harvard a known Illuminati wrote about the United States and the American one dollar bill Illuminati connection :

"Not only were many founders of the United States Government Masons, but they received aid from a secret body existing in Europe, which helped them to establish this country for a peculiar and particular purpose known only to the initiated few."

Starbucks is The Devil

2006-11-01T20:25:00.000-05:00

Each year, coffee companies rake in profit by the billions. Last year alone, Starbucks earned $5.8 billion in net revenues. Yet, for every cup of coffee Starbucks sells, poor farmers in coffee-growing countries like Ethiopia make about three cents.

Call on Starbucks to give farmers their fair share of coffee profits>>

Cheap overseas labor and production is nothing new for large corporations. But Starbucks claims to be different. Their website states: "Starbucks strongly believes in the importance of building mutually-beneficial relationships with coffee farmers and coffee communities with which we work."

In reality, Starbucks rakes in premium profits that Ethiopian brand names command, while the farmers providing their supply have been left behind in poverty. With as many as 15 million Ethiopians dependent on coffee revenues, the Ethiopian government has asked Starbucks to sign a licensing agreement that will give Ethiopia trademark control over the names on its coffee. This will allow Ethiopia to determine an export price that ensures a larger share of profits for farmers, enabling them to feed their children, send them to school and pay for better healthcare.

Ask Starbucks to sign the agreement giving Ethiopia trademark control over its coffee, ensuring farmers get their fair share of coffee profits.

Go to: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/335760574?z00m=5975699&z00m=5975699&ltl=1162438406

"Fair Trade" [new poem]

2006-10-28T20:14:00.000-04:00

I see
Just how easily
The capitalist economy
Steals my time
And all that defines
My free thinking mind.

It is an utter crime
To let this transpire
For a second more
It is time to close this door
And create a new space
Where I answer
To my own authority alone
And seek out the unknown.

Your rules will never confine me
I will always find a way
To reroute my course
Twist and turn
Through
Society’s view
Of how a life should be...
The roles a woman should play...

I know you are living for the day
When I bow down and relinquish my role
As the defiant soul.
But don’t worry,
I’ll give you my life
Before I trade my autonomy
For metal coins
I’ll give you my body
Before I trade my spirit
For false beliefs
And I’ll give you my breath
Long before I trade my word
For State censored suppression
and a life of conscious death.

Miami Activists Take Back the Land!

2006-10-27T14:13:00.000-04:00

Fed up with broken government promises and stolen money, activists and residents took over the vacant publicly owned land on 62nd St. and NW 17th Ave. in the Liberty City section of Miami. Miami police tried to evict us, but, having done our research in advance with lawyers, we had the law on our side.

We fed over 50 people and housed about 20. Today and through the week, we will continue to build our city. Our objective is not just to make a statement, it is to directly provide housing to poor Black people, to do for our community what the government and market are unwilling and uncapable of doing.

South Florida has suffered under a critical shortage of affordable housing. However, instead of creating more affordable housing, local government officials have been busy decreasing the number of affordable housing units, through bad public policy, such as the HOPE VI project, which destroyed 851 units of public housing, replacing it with 80 units; and the intentional vacancies in public housing. Following a series of media reports detailing practices of stealing from the poor to deliver to the rich, county officials have given virtually nothing to the community to compensate for the lost housing, stolen money or broken trust. The reality is this: far from providing a solution to the housing crisis, Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami officials are exacerbating the crisis.

Poor Black people in need of housing are suffering disproportionately and unnecessarily, just so that a few officials and developers can line their own pockets. Therefore, the Black community can no longer depend on the government to provide basic human services for us. Consequently, we must provide it ourselves. We must 'Take Back the Land' so that we can circumvent the problem and implement our own solution.

2006-10-24T21:50:00.000-04:00

Zapatista corn grown at La Milpa Organica Farm joins “The Other Campaign”
Jessica Sanchez presents ears of red and black corn to Delegate Zero during the meetings of “The Other Campaign” with Mexicans from “the other side” on Oct. 19, 2006 in Tijuana, Baja California. This GMO- free, natural corn was grown from Zapatista corn seed at La Milpa Organica Farm in Escondido, CA as part of the international solidarity growing program of Mother Seeds in Resistance from the Lands of Chiapas. Ms. Sanchez, a long-term activist with Schools for Chiapas, symbolically presented these dramatic ears of corn to Sub commander Marcos with the goal of nurturing the resistance of the autonomous communities of Chiapas and of the central Mexican community of Atenco. Photo by Victor Camacho , La Jornada, Oct. 20, 2006

click here to order GMO-free Zapatista corn seeds!!!! http://www.schoolsforchiapas.org/english/get-involved/grow-zapatista-gmo-free-corn.html

Habeas Corpus (or lack thereof)

2006-10-19T16:42:00.000-04:00

On October 17th 2006, Bush officially has suspended our right to Habeas Corpus. While this new law was initially focused on Guantanamo Bay, the final version takes away immigrants/non-citizens' rights to have a judge hear their case. Furthermore, people have also lost the right to go free if the government can not show a legal basis for holding them.

Even more disturbingly, according to David G. Savage, "The new law also defines this term broadly to include not just terrorists and fighters, but also people -- including American citizens -- who have 'materially supported hostilities against the United States.'"

I don't know where to begin contesting this...so for now I will just share the poem I wrote, immediately after hearing this news:

Frigid Fear
Liquid nitrogen
Courses through my veins.
Civil Rights abolished;
Only Martial Law remains.

Quiet footsteps.
Silent voices.
Nauseous thoughts.
Cold skin.
Faded memories
Of protesting political din.

Has freedom come to pass?
Will this new law
Now be our last?

yikes

2006-09-30T17:31:00.000-04:00

To view the Jesus Camp video clip, please click on the website below. And prepared to be scared out of your mind.

www.jesuscampthemovie.com

2006-09-30T17:05:00.000-04:00

Bush Given Authority To Sexually Torture American Children
By Paul Joseph Watson/Prison Planet.com September 29 2006

Slamming the final nail in the coffin of everything America used to stand for, the boot-licking U.S. Senate last night gave President Bush the legal authority to abduct and sexually mutilate American citizens and American children in the name of the war on terror.
There is nothing in the "detainee" legislation that protects American citizens from being kidnapped by their own government and tortured.

Yale Law Professor Bruce Ackerman states in the L.A. Times, "The compromise legislation....authorizes the president to seize American citizens as enemy combatants, even if they have never left the United States. And once thrown into military prison, they cannot expect a trial by their peers or any other of the normal protections of the Bill of Rights."
Similarly, law Professor Marty Lederman explains: "this [subsection (ii) of the definition of 'unlawful enemy combatant'] means that if the Pentagon says you're an unlawful enemy combatant -- using whatever criteria they wish -- then as far as Congress, and U.S. law, is concerned, you are one, whether or not you have had any connection to 'hostilities' at all."
We have established that the bill allows the President to define American citizens as enemy combatants. Now let's take it one step further.

Before this article is dismissed as another extremist hyperbolic rant, please take a few minutes out of your day to check for yourself the claim that Bush now has not only the legal authority but the active blessings of his own advisors to torture American children. The backdrop of the Bush administration's push to obliterate the Geneva Conventions was encapsulated by John “torture” Yoo, professor of law at Berkeley, co-author of the PATRIOT Act, author of torture memos and White House advisor. During a December 1st debate in Chicago with Notre Dame professor and international human rights scholar Doug Cassel, John Yoo gave the green light for the scope of torture to legally include sexual torture of infants.

Cassel: If the president deems that he’s got to torture somebody, including by crushing the testicles of the person’s child, there is no law that can stop him?
Yoo: No treaty.
Cassel: Also no law by Congress — that is what you wrote in the August 2002 memo…
Yoo: I think it depends on why the President thinks he needs to do that.
Click here for the audio.

So if the President thinks he needs to order children's penises to be put in vices, there is no law that can stop him and after last night's vote, the Senate and Congress, exemplified by sicko 16-year-old boy groomer Mark Foley (R-FL), has graciously provided Bush its full support for kids around the world to be molested in the name of stopping terror. Yoo's comments were made before the passage of the torture legislation last night. Up until that point Bush had merely cited his role as dictator-in-chief as carte-blanche excuse for ordering torture - now his regime have the audacity to openly put it in writing - going one step further than even the Nazis did. Again, for those who are still deluded into thinking the extent of the "pressure" is loud music and cold water being thrown over Johnny Jihad in Ragheadistan, consider for a moment the fact that your own Congress and President who, according to the Constitution, are mandated to serve you, have just legalized abducting your kids from your home and electric shocking their genitals.

Now that the criminals have declared themselves outside of the law does that mean we'll see Bush barbecuing babies on the White House lawn? Of course not, but the policy of torturing children in front of their parents has already been signed off on by the Pentagon and enacted under the Copper Green program and it happened at Abu Ghraib. Women who were arrested with their children were forced to watch their boys being sodomized with chemical glow sticks as the cameras rolled. Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh says that the U.S. government is still withholding the tapes because of the horror of the "soundtrack of the shrieking boys" and their mothers begging to be killed in favor of seeing their children raped and tortured. Your government has just lobbied for and Congress has passed legislation to discard the Geneva Conventions and mandate all this.

Pedophiles nationwide should rejoice - they can comfortably take a stroll down to the local swimming pool, grab whoever they like, drag them home, rape and torture them, and then in their defense cite the U.S. government as an example of how one should conduct themselves.

The bill also retroactively gives Bush, the Neo-Cons or any of their henchmen immunity from war crimes charges dating back to September 11. Ask yourself why they would be so careful to protect themselves from accusations of war crimes. Could that possibly be because they are knowingly committing war crimes?

The legislating of torture itself should be a criminal act. All laws that contradict the U.S. Constitution are null and void. It was once a law that black people were slaves. Only by engaging in civil disobedience and refusing to tolerate or acknowledge the laws of a criminal regime that has greased the skids for sexually torturing kids can we ever have a hope of returning America to its past glory.

what the HELL??

2006-09-14T00:00:00.000-04:00

Air Force chief: Test weapons on testy U.S. mobs

September 12, 2006

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Nonlethal weapons such as high-power microwave devices should be used on American citizens in crowd-control situations before being used on the battlefield, the Air Force secretary said Tuesday.
The object is basically public relations. Domestic use would make it easier to avoid questions from others about possible safety considerations, said Secretary Michael Wynne.
"If we're not willing to use it here against our fellow citizens, then we should not be willing to use it in a wartime situation," said Wynne. "(Because) if I hit somebody with a nonlethal weapon and they claim that it injured them in a way that was not intended, I think that I would be vilified in the world press."
The Air Force has paid for research into nonlethal weapons, but he said the service is unlikely to spend more money on development until injury problems are reviewed by medical experts and resolved.
Nonlethal weapons generally can weaken people if they are hit with the beam. Some of the weapons can emit short, intense energy pulses that also can be effective in disabling some electronic devices.
On another subject, Wynne said he expects to choose a new contractor for the next generation aerial refueling tankers by next summer. He said a draft request for bids will be put out next month, and there are two qualified bidders: the Boeing Co. and a team of Northrop Grumman Corp. and European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., the majority owner of European jet maker Airbus SAS.
The contract is expected to be worth at least $20 billion (€15.75 billion).
Chicago, Illinois-based Boeing lost the tanker deal in 2004 amid revelations that it had hired a top Air Force acquisitions official who had given the company preferential treatment.
Wynne also said the Air Force, which is already chopping 40,000 active duty, civilian and reserves jobs, is now struggling to find new ways to slash about $1.8 billion (€1.4 billion) from its budget to cover costs from the latest round of base closings.
He said he can't cut more people, and it would not be wise to take funding from military programs that are needed to protect the country. But he said he also incurs resistance when he tries to save money on operations and maintenance by retiring aging aircraft.
"We're finding out that those are, unfortunately, prized possessions of some congressional districts," said Wynne, adding that the Air Force will have to "take some appetite suppressant pills." He said he has asked employees to look for efficiencies in their offices.
The base closings initially were expected to create savings by reducing Air Force infrastructure by 24 percent.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

petition pesticides

2006-09-10T23:21:00.000-04:00

Even if you are not a resident of New Paltz, you can sign this petition.
Come on kids, help us out and ban pesticides!

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/pesticide-freeNP/

Can you spell "Propaganda?" UPDATED 9/7

2006-09-05T18:38:00.000-04:00

Lately I noticed many commercials running about 9/11. I figured the hype is partially due to the fact that it's been 5 years since it happened... but mostly, it's because of the upcoming elections for governor. The government/media is doing it's best to instill fear in our hearts, and to remind us why we need them. And we need them, of course, to protect us from all those terrorists. Meanwhile, not one of these programs reveal that the real terrorists, the ones responsible for the worst attack on US soil, lie within our own government.

Keep in mind, I only collected programs that have aired or will be aired in 2006.

1. Inside 9/11

2. After 9/11: Rebuilding Lives

3. Camp 9/11: Children of Hope

4. 9/11 Anniversary Special (doesn't that one sounds a little too happy?)

5. 9/11: A Day in Time

6. 9/11: The Day that Changed America

7. 9/11 Hijackers: Inside the Hamburg Cell

8. 9/11: Five Years Later

9. 9/11: Toxic Legacy

10. Beyond 9/11

11. Road to 9/11

12. Grounded on 9/11

13. Erie Remembers 9/11

14. Emme's 9/11 Special

15. The Path to 9/11

16. ESPN Classic Remembers 9/11

17. Brothers Lost: Stories of 9/11

18. The Secret History of 9/11 (the only program that could have some potential, but tvguide
failed to give a summary of which "secrets" this program depicts...)

19. Metal of Honor: Ironworkers of 9/11

20. Trapped in the Towers: Elevators of 9/11

21. Dust to Dust: Health Effects of 9/11

22. Post 9/11 Town Hall Meetings

23. Saint of 9/11 (UPDATE)

24. 9/11: The Falling Man (UPDATE)

25. WTC 9-11-01 Day of Disaster (UPDATE)

AND I forgot to mention the fucking feature films released in the past year:

1. Flight 93 (tv movie)

2. United 93

3. World Trade Center (thanks a lot Oliver Stone...)

4. The Great New Wonderful

No bombs in the Twin Towers...

2006-09-04T15:28:00.000-04:00

The recentNew York Times article on 9/11 implies that controlled demolition of the Twin Towers would have been impossible, because no one could have snuck in all of the explosive equipment.

Many claim:
"I don't believe that the World Trade Center could have been destroyed by controlled demolition . . . how could they have possibly planted bombs without anyone seeing them?"

In fact, there were plenty of opportunities to plant bombs in the World Trade Center.
For example:

Bomb-sniffing dogs were inexplicably removed from the Twin Towers five days before 9-11

The Twin Towers had been evacuated a number of times in the weeks preceding 9/11

There was a power down in the Twin Towers on the weekend before 9/11, security cameras were shut down, and many workers ran around busily doing things unobserved.

And -- as an interesting coincidence -- a Bush-linked company ran security at the trade centers, thus giving it free reign to the buildings.

These are just a few of the known, public examples of opportunities to plant bombs. There were undoubtedly many additional opportunities available to skilled operatives."

In addition to these facts, demolition and building collapse experts have purportedly raised the possibility of "explosive tenants" -- i.e. tenants in the WorldTrade Centers who planted bombs in their own, rented space. For example, according to Webster Tarpley and others, Hugo Bachmann, professor emeritus of building dynamics and earthquake engineering at the world-famous Swiss Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule in Zürich:
In the second scenario, an additional terrorist action would have caused the collapse of the buildings. In this way, according to Bachmann, buildings like the World Trade center can be destroyed without great logistical exertion. The article went on to say that Bachmann could imagine that the perpetrators had installed explosives on key supports in a lower floor before the attack. If the perpetrators had rented office space, then these explosivetenants could have calmly placed explosive charges on the vulnerable parts of the building without having anyone notice.

You Can't Even Grow Tomatoes Without Corps. Being Involved

2006-08-30T13:25:00.000-04:00

Seeds That Commit Suicide
by F. William Engdahl
August 27, 2006
GlobalResearch.ca

The United States Government has been financing research on a genetic engineering technology which, when commercialized, will give its owners the power to control the food seed of entire nations or regions. The Government has been working quietly on this technology since 1983. Now, the little-known company that has been working in this genetic research with the Government’s US Department of Agriculture-- Delta & Pine Land-- is about to become part of the world’s largest supplier of patented genetically-modified seeds (GMO), Monsanto Corporation of St. Louis, Missouri.
Relations between Monsanto, Delta & Pine Land and the USDA, on closer scrutiny, show the deep and dark side of the much-heralded genetic revolution in agriculture. It proves deep-held suspicions that the Gene Revolution is not about ‘solving the world hunger problem’ as its advocates claim. It’s about handing over control of the seeds for mankind’s basic food supply—rice, corn, soybeans, wheat, even fruit, vegetables and cotton—to privately owned corporations. Once the seeds and their use are patented and controlled by one or several private agribusiness multinationals, it will be they who can decide whether or not a particular customer—let’s say for argument, China or Brazil or India or Japan—whether they will or won’t get the patented seeds from Monsanto, or from one of its licensee GMO partners like Bayer Crop Sciences, Syngenta or DuPont’s Pioneer Hi-Bred International.
While most of us don’t bother to reflect on where the corn in the box of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes or the rice in a box of Uncle Ben’s Converted Rice come from, when we grab it from the supermarket shelf, they all must originate with seeds. Seeds can either be taken by a farmer from the previous season’ seeds, and planted to produce the next harvest. Or, seeds can be bought new each harvest season, from the companies which sell their seeds.
The advent of commercial GMO seeds in the early 1990’s allowed companies like Monsanto, DuPont or Dow Chemicals to go from supplying agriculture chemical herbicides like Roundup, to patenting genetically altered seeds for basic farm crops like corn, rice, soybeans or wheat. For almost a quarter century, since 1983, the US Government has quietly been working to perfect a genetically engineered technique whereby farmers would be forced to turn to their seed supplier each harvest to get new seeds. The seeds would only produce one harvest. After that the seeds from that harvest would commit ‘suicide’ and be unusable.
There has been much hue and cry, correctly so, that this process, patented ‘suicide’ seeds, officially termed GURTs (Genetic Use Restriction Technologies), is a threat to poor farmers in developing countries like India or Brazil, who traditionally save their own seeds for the next planting. In fact, GURTs, more popularly referred to as Terminator seeds for the brutal manner in which they kill off plant reproduction possibilities, is a threat to the food security as well of North America, Western Europe, Japan and anywhere Monsanto and its elite cartel of GMO agribusiness partners enters a market.

Please read more at http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=ENG20060827&articleId=3082

Surgery = Sexy?

2006-08-29T12:08:00.000-04:00

Here is a strange new trend in fashion ads- using images of graphic surgery to sell jewelry and clothes.

Can sheeps be gay? Your tax money is spent on finding this out!

2006-08-27T22:14:00.000-04:00

Out of the Closet: ‘Gay Sheep’ Experiments Exposed

In addition to being blacklisted as one of PETA’s picks for the 10 Worst Laboratories for conducting crude and useless experiments on monkeys, Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) is now facing public condemnation from animal- and gay-rights advocates and scientific experts for its ill-conceived “gay sheep” experiments.

At the heart of these multi-million-dollar experiments, which are funded by taxpayers through the year 2008, is the goal of identifying a biological basis for homosexuality in sheep in an effort to “cure” homosexuality in humans. OHSU experimenter Charles Roselli is killing scores of sheep and cutting open the brains of rams he calls “male-oriented” (homosexual) in an attempt to find the hormonal mechanisms behind homosexual tendencies, so that they can subsequently be changed.

Roselli is also working with experimenter Frederick Stormshak of Oregon State University (OSU), who has surgically installed an estrogen implant in the bodies of rams in an effort “to restore tissue levels of estrogen comparable to those of heterosexual rams and affect sexual behavior accordingly.”

In a March 5, 2004, news release issued by OHSU, the university admitted that Roselli and Stormshak would “like to know whether sexual preferences can be altered by manipulating the prenatal hormone environment, for instance by using drugs to prevent the actions of androgen in the fetal sheep brain.”

Equally disturbing is the experimenters’ stated intention to apply their findings in sheep to humans. This is highlighted in Roselli’s application for public funding from the National Institutes of Health: “The [sheep] experiments proposed in this application will furnish important information that is needed to formulate and test novel hypotheses about the biological basis of sexual orientation in higher mammals including humans”. Roselli goes on to note in one of his published journal articles that “this research also has broader implications for understanding the development and control of sexual motivation and mate selection across mammalian species, including humans.”

This is not only a needless slaughter of animals and an ethically indefensible experiment, but has also been condemned by experts on scientific grounds. Dr. Malgosia Cegielski, a Portland-based clinical psychologist, calls Roselli’s gay-sheep experiment “frivolous” and “frightening.” She says: “I don’t see any clinical utility or human benefit with what he’s doing. … The gene expression and biological differences at a cellular level between [nonhuman] animals and humans is so huge. To draw conclusions between animal behavior [and] humans is a joke.”

What You Can Do
Please send polite letters to OSU and OHSU at the addresses shown below and ask that they immediately stop the needless use and slaughter of animals in these experiments and instead use taxpayers’ money for beneficial research that does not involve the use of animals or for funding a sexual diversity acceptance and tolerance initiative:

Dr. Ed Ray, President
Oregon State University
634 Kerr Administration Building
Corvallis, OR 97331-2128
ed.ray@oregonstate.edu

Joseph Robertson Jr., M.D., M.B.A., President-Elect
Oregon Health and Science University
3181 S.W. Sam Jackson Park Rd.
Portland, OR 97239-3098
Robertjo@ohsu.edu

Read the letters that PETA sent to OSU and OHSU.

To Be or Watch T.V.?

2006-08-26T22:43:00.000-04:00

Instead of adopting Plato's teachings, Americans have allowed a depraved junta to seize control of the four most powerful brainwashing technologies in modern history: education, television, popular music, and movies. Through the insidious use of these instruments, American young people are programmed to value greed, egomania, money, power, fame, and cleverness in unscrupulousness, and are conditioned to crave and embody violence, ignorance, and chaos.

"The average person in the US watches about four hours of television each day. Over the course of a year, we see roughly twenty five thousand commercials, many of them produced by the world's highest-paid cognitive psychologists. And these heavily produced advertisements are not merely for products, but for a lifestyle based on a consumer mind-set. What they're doing, day in and day out, twenty-five thousand times a year, is hypnotizing us into seeing ourselves as consumers who want to be entertained rather than as citizens who want to be informed and engaged. We need to take back the airwaves as a sphere of mature conversation and dialogue about our common future."

"Experiments conducted by researcher Herbert Krugman reveal that, when a person watches television, brain activity switches from the left to the right hemisphere. The left hemisphere is the seat of logical thought. Here, information is broken down into its component parts and critically analyzed. The right brain, however, treats incoming data uncritically, processing information in wholes, leading to emotional, rather than logical, responses. The shift from left to right brain activity also causes the release of endorphins, the body's own natural opiates--thus, it is possible to become physically addicted to watching television, a hypothesis borne out by numerous studies which have shown that very few people are able to kick the television habit.
Peter Russell, "Dehypnosis - Breaking the Trance"

sick society

2006-08-26T20:48:00.000-04:00

"It is no measure of health
to be well adjusted
To a profoundly sick society."

-Krishnamurti

"A healthy social life is found only,

when in the mirror of each soul

the whole community finds its reflection,

and when in the whole community

the virtue of each one is living."

-Rudolf Steiner

It's no different than what Fox News does to their reports!

2006-08-24T22:19:00.000-04:00

FINALLY, some good news

2006-08-24T14:05:00.000-04:00

Especially when their feelings concern having complete control over women's bodies!!!!

That's right. We did it! At 9:20 a.m. today, the FDA approved over-the-counter access to the "morning-after" pill. Thanks to the letters, petitions, and support from people like you, the FDA finally overcame the political pressure from the White House, Congress, and anti-choice lobbyists, and approved the morning-after pill for over-the-counter sales.

Medical experts and scientists at the FDA have asserted for years that the morning-after pill - which can prevent an unintended pregnancy if taken within 72 hours after sex - should be available without a prescription. It's safe, it's effective, and it's a commonsense way for women to prevent unintended pregnancy.

Thank you again for helping achieve this victory for women - your action does make a difference.

My best,

Nancy Keenan
President
NARAL Pro-Choice America

Once Again- Democracy For The Few (the filthy rich)

2006-08-22T17:04:00.000-04:00

for all you ice-cream lovers

2006-08-22T16:04:00.000-04:00

Is Ben & Jerry's serving up "Chocolate Chip Cruelty Dough"?

On its web site, the ice cream company known for its social conscience criticizes what it calls "giant, industrial farming operations," and it ends one of its commercials with the tag line, "Ben & Jerry's: Join our fight for small family farms."
But this week, after nearly a year of promises to The Humane Society of the United States that it would phase out battery-cage eggs in its ice cream, the company has taken a 180 degree turn and chosen to continue to buy eggs—perhaps 20 to 30 million of them a year—from factory farms that confine egg-laying hens in tiny battery cages so small the birds can't even spread their wings.

Tell Ben & Jerry's right now to stop supporting this cruelty! Please call Ben & Jerry's today at 802-846-1500 (between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. EST) and urge the company to keep its promises to stop supporting battery cage cruelty. You can also take action online: CLICK HERE TO SEND AN EMAIL

This is how it should be if we are going to continue

to take eggs from the hens. free range farms!!!!