-Caveat Lector-
RadTimes # 70 - October, 2000
An informally produced compendium of vital irregularities.
"We're living in rad times!"
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QUOTE:
"When thousands of young Americans and people around the world gather
in the streets, it's an enormous mistake to dismiss them as a group of
overindulgent, dissatisfied technological Luddites who ought to be
disregarded. That cry is a voice of skepticism about the hubris of
modern technology, about science, and other forms of globalization."
--Bruce Babbitt, US Secretary of the Interior and a civil-rights activist
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Contents:
---------------
--A Call for Anti-Capitalist Direct Action in Cincinnati, OH, USA
--The Third Force: The Rise of Transnational Civil Society
--Activist sees link between human and environmental rights
--Activists Take Aim at International Finance Corporation
--Police Airwaves Sabotaged In Anti-Globalization Protests
--The Poverty of Electoral Politics
--More than 200 Olympic threats
--Base commander says biological warfare training won't hurt public
--Give us this day some realism
Linked stories:
*Banned Books, Weak
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Begin stories:
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A Call for Anti-Capitalist Direct Action in Cincinnati, OH, USA
<http://www.n16.org>
We are calling for Revolutionary Anti-Capitalist people to come to
Ohio and join us in opposing yet another undemocratic authoritarian
structure functioning quietly in peace this year. On November 16th
thru 18th the Trans-Atlantic Business Dialog (TABD) will hold their
annual CEO meetings in downtown Cincinnati. The TABD has positioned
itself as the executive vanguard of the World Trade Organization.
They represent the interests of the European Union and North America
in the process of the globalization of capitalism. These meetings will
bring more than 100 CEOs and top government officials together to
resolve trade "issues". This body represents the interests of the
white, first world, capitalist elite, and exists to impose their
collective will, not only the governments and capitalists of other
nations, but on the working peoples of the world as well. Anti-
capitalists of all backgrounds and philosophies must come together
to oppose these authoritarian and exploitive policies and procedures.
The TABD is yet another anti-democratic structure in the capitalist
elite's march toward unopposed world supremacy. Along with the WTO,
IMF, World Bank, UN, NATO, and NAFTA, the TABD is just one more
tool for reducing inter-capitalist conflict, allowing them to better
exploit the rest of us.
Many coalitions are calling for actions, rallies, marches, and teach-
ins during this latest undemocratic meeting to divide the world's
resources and the fruits of all people's labor for the benefit of an
elite few. Many of these actions will be legal, permitted, and
reformist. Others will be of a non-violent, civil disobedient nature.
But regardless of these various coalitions' stances on tactics, none
of their political statements represent our views or needs. For this
reason, we find it necessary to organize in solidarity with these
coalitions, but autonomously, on our own terms and with our own
explicitly anti-capitalist analysis.
We are not necessarily calling for any specific tactic aside from
revolutionaries visibly standing together against imperialism and
exploitation. We feel it is important that we stand apart from the
advocates of "fair" trade and green capitalism. Whether it is the TABD
or another global capitalist structure, our opposition is the same, we
stand with indigenous people and the working class the world over
against the facade of "improvements" on global capitalism; capitalism
cannot be improved, it must be destroyed. We stand for a bright future,
when the fruits of the world's labor are used for the needs of the
people that do the producing.
To that end we are against narrow economic nationalism. We refuse to
play the game of pitting the working peoples of one nation against the
working peoples of another, one state against another, or one eco-
system against another. Capital is globalized; the resistance of the
working class must be as well.
The first-world business leaders who comprise the TABD think they can
quietly meet in a very conservative midwestern city, plan, dine, drink,
play, and slip back to their palaces and offices. We aim to show them
that even here they will meet resistance. This is why we reach out to
anti-capitalist people of all ideological persuasions to join us in
our disruption of business as usual in Cincy.
We feel it is important as well to stand together with the rest of the
movement in solidarity and opposition, but at the same time visibly apart
in our presence and analysis. It is time we spoke out about what we
want, both within the anti-globalization movement and to the world at large.
It's time for the world to hear the voices behind the masks.
Our place and purpose is to keep resistance solidly anti-capitalist,
uncompromising, total, and global. Let the capitalists have no quiet
city. Let the forces of reform no longer use us as silent foot soldiers.
Let capitalism feel another blow.
We ask other like minded collectives and networks to move quickly to
both endorse this proposition and join us in the planning and execution of
this action. Join us in showing the capitalist class that the midwest is not
their playground, that resistance can happen anywhere, and that
revolution is afoot the world over.
Toward the new world we carry in our hearts,
In Solidarity,
Anti-Racist Action Columbus
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The Third Force: The Rise of Transnational Civil Society
Full story here --> <http://www.epn.org/whatsnew/full_cite/366.html>
Edited by Ann M. Florini
The clash in Prague between protestors and police during the
World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings last week filled headlines
worldwide, in what is rapidly becoming a familiar story of violent
protests against globalization. But another story unfolded inside the
meeting halls, where hundreds of nonviolent nongovernmental
activists and officials argued face to face about how the global economy
should
be run. Inside and outside, civil society groups have become a force to be
reckoned with. But who are they? In The Third Force, editor Ann M.
Florini undertakes the most systematic analysis to date of the role of
transnational civil society networks—the emerging third force in
global politics. Six case studies examine the transnational network to curb
corruption; the campaign for nuclear arms control; the opposition to
large dams; efforts targeting governments and their democratic
processes; the campaign to ban landmines; and the human rights movement. In
each case, three primary questions are answered. How powerful are the
transnational networks? Are they sustainable? And most important, should they
play a role on the global scene?
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Activist sees link between human and environmental rights
Monday, September 25, 2000
By Don Hopey, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
As he demonstrated against human rights abuses that included
slavery and forced relocation of villagers near his native city
of Yangon in 1988, 17-year-old Ka Hsaw Wa saw two of his good
friends shot and killed in front of him by soldiers in Myanmar,
formerly known as Burma.
Wa himself was tortured by police and had to flee into deep
jungle to avoid worse; an estimated 10,000 people were killed
when the military dictatorship of the southeast Asian nation
cracked down on the pro-democracy protests. Unable to return
home, he lived in the jungle for years, documenting the human
rights abuses he saw and experiencing an awakening.
"I saw villagers forced from their homes by a company that
opened a gold mine, others displaced or killed by logging firms
and more forced to work carrying weapons and supplies on a
pipeline project," Wa said.
"Slowly I came to understand that those abuses are all directly
related to the exploitation of environmental resources in my
country. I became an environmentalist."
Wa, now 30, was in Pittsburgh last week to kick off the Just
Earth campaign by Amnesty International and the Sierra Club
Allegheny Group.
The worldwide campaign, which joins two of the largest grass-
roots activist organizations in the United States, is aimed at
highlighting the plight of advocates imprisoned and tortured for
their stands on environmental issues.
"Dividing human rights and environmental rights is a waste of
time and plays into the hands of governments and multinational
corporations exploiting both," said Wa, who has won the Reebok
Human Rights Environmental Award and the Conde Nast and Goldman
awards for his work documenting and exposing environmental human
rights abuses.
The link between human rights abuses and environmental exploitation
is not always obvious in the United States. But environmental
activists are under attack in China, India, Kenya, Nigeria, Chad,
Cameroon, Ecuador, Brazil, Cambodia, Indonesia, Mexico and Russia,
as documented in a report recently released by Amnesty International
and the Sierra Club.
One of the most prominent cases was settled earlier this month when
the Russian Supreme Court dismissed charges of treason leveled in
1996 against Aleksandr Nikitin, a scientist and former naval captain
who was subjected to four years of investigations and harassment,
two trials and nine indictments for revealing nuclear safety hazards
aboard aging Russian nuclear submarines.
Amnesty International and the Sierra Club mounted a three-year letter-
writing and lobbying campaign on Nikitin's behalf that was instrumental
in his release, said Ellen Dorsey, the director of Chatham College's
Rachel Carson Institute and former director of Amnesty International's
human rights and environment program.
"People in those countries don't have the right to demand something
better, but a healthy environment is a human right," Dorsey said.
"This campaign aims to help protect those on the front lines."
She said some of the most politically repressive and corrupt nations
have the most severe environmental problems, and American policy and
purchasing decisions can have an effect on both.
In Myanmar, to get foreign currency needed to maintain power, the
military junta sold off the nation's fishing, logging, mining and
gem collecting rights, as well as natural gas deposits to multinational
corporations.
In the early 1990s, at great personal risk, the slightly built and
self-effacing Wa traveled into militarized areas where logging, mining
and pipeline construction were taking place. There he documented the
arbitrary detentions, tortures, rapes, intimidation and execution of
indigenous villagers, many of them ethnic minorities.
"Ethnic cleansing has happened," he said. "To get to the jade, the
forests, the gold, the military did whatever it had to, to whoever it
had to. It would even drive its own people out of an area."
Much of Wa's work focused on the human rights and environmental
abuses surrounding construction of the Yadana Gas Pipeline Project,
built by a consortium that includes UNOCOL, based in the United States,
and Total, a French company.
The pipeline crosses the Tenasserim rainforest, inhabited by diverse
peoples and home to tigers, Asian elephants, rhinoceroses and many
other endangered species.
Wa successfully lobbied the World Bank to withdraw funding guarantees
for a Thai power plant that was to use the Yadana natural gas pipeline.
As a result, the power plant has not been built and the pipeline,
though completed, is not pumping any gas.
"We've gotten the word out and exposed things to the world," said Wa,
who now lives outside Washington, D.C,. and wants to return to Myanmar
but can't. "That's started some reforms. We need to do more."
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Activists Take Aim at International Finance Corporation
27-Sep-00
By Gumisai Mutume
PRAGUE Sep 27 (IPS) From the Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan to the
Peruvian Andes through the jungles of Cameroon and the highways of
Panama, the touch of the International Finance Corporation (IFC)
is unmistakable.
It reeks of lack of disclosure of information and poor
consultation on major projects in developing countries and its
financing is often skewed toward pre-determined outcomes that
favour largest corporations, non governmental organisations
charge.
In a series of case studies released at the World Bank and
International Monetary Fund (IMF) annual meetings taking place in
the Czech capital, Prague (Sep. 19-28), NGOs lashed out at the
IFC, the private sector financier of the World Bank, over a series
of development projects in poor countries.
''The case studies ... plus other research call into question
whether the IFC's concept of development really incorporates an
analysis of the priorities of poorer people and whether its
financing and advisory work is sufficiently targeted to benefit
them,'' notes Alex Wilks of the Bretton Woods Project, a network
of NGOs monitoring the IMF and World Bank, and which is based in
London.
The case studies include the Kumtor gold mine in the Tien Shan
mountains of Kyrgyzstan, where a sodium cyanide spill into a river
resulted in a number of serious injuries last year.
The project developer, the Kumtor Operating Company (KOC) admitted
it failed to notify downstream communities in a timely manner. The
IFC issued public assurances that this would not occur again. But
early this year, a KOC truck with 1,500 kilograms of ammonium
nitrate and explosives used at the mine, crashed, spilling its
contents.
While the Kyrgyzstan government estimates damages at 42 million
dollars, KOC is reported to have agreed to pay 4.6 million dollars
to the state. NGOs claim authorities were not informed of the
accident until a day later.
The Kumtor mine and processing facility, which is said to be the
eighth largest in the world, is a 360 million dollar project that
is financed by the IFC to the tune of 40 million dollars.
The IFC is the largest multilateral source of loan and equity
finance for the private sector in developing countries. Since its
formation in 1956, it has financed more than 2,200 projects worth
27 billion dollars in 132 countries.
In June 1998, the IFC approved a 19.5 kilometre Build-Operate-
Transfer toll highway in Panama City that was completed in
February. The project was the centre of a wave of civil society
opposition even before its approval. Now, several lawsuits and
petitions are pending over the Corredor Sur, as it is called.
A 30-million dollar civil suit has been brought on behalf of 55
people who had their property damaged during construction.
Panama's finance ministry has also received a petition to
investigate the illegal sale of state property for 45 million
dollars. A civil lawsuit is expected from parties trying to
recover the money from the sale.
Last month, the Central American Water Tribunal, an independent
organ focusing on water issues, ruled that the government of
Panama, IFC and Ingenieros Civiles Asociados (the builder) were
culpable for adverse impacts on health and the environment
resulting from the construction of Corredor Sur.
In Africa, the recently approved 3.7 billion dollar Chad/Cameroon
Oil Pipeline project and a pending, 250-megawatt hydropower
project, the Bujagali Dam in Uganda, have created a number of
enemies for the IFC.
Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Malaysia's Petronas form the consortium
developing the 1,070 kilometre long Chad/Cameroon pipeline. The
project is condemned because, among its other shortcomings, it is
being carried out in two countries that have offended the
sensibilities of the international community. Chad is a country
torn by war and ravaged by human rights abuses and Cameroon,
according to Transparency International, which monitors corruption
worldwide, has one of the most corrupt governments on the planet.
NGOs also charge that the project has no adequate provisions to
ensure that indigenous people benefit from the revenue to be
generated by 28 years of oil production. They also say the
pipeline will damage the environment permanently and agreements
signed by the consortium unfairly protect it from risk.
''To reduce their risk _ the companies have ensured in the legal
agreements that the project is placed beyond the reach of national
laws,'' notes the NGO case study on the Chad/Cameroon pipeline
project.
In case of emergency, the agreements say the companies ''will have
access to any private or public land, whatever its status or
location, without prior authorisation, and with the possible
assistance of the public or private emergency services.''
The consortium has also ensured that a number of national laws in
Cameroon do not apply to the pipeline, including laws on land
tenure and forests, the studies charge.
The case studies were prepared by a host of NGOs including the
Bretton Woods Project, the International Rivers Network, the
Pacific Environment and Resource Centre, and Fundacion para el
Desarrollo de la Libertad Ciudadana.
The IFC says it is not ignoring the risks when it finances private
sector developments, but it tries ''to provide access through
private sector leverage to a higher quality of life for as many of
the world's poor people as we can,'' says Glen Armstrong of the
IFC's Environment Department.
''On the major project side, our role in the Chad/Cameroon
project, which has been highly criticised, but also in projects
such as the privatisation of the Konkola copper mines in Zambia,
what we believe we have done is to push back the boundaries of
private sector responsibility, create benchmarks for future
projects ... where the rewards significantly outweigh the risks.''
Armstrong acknowledges the role of NGO advocacy in influencing the
work of the IFC in recent years.
''They have been a significant force for change. The engagement
isn't always easy, but there have been a lot of constructive
interactions. And in many places they are becoming the partners of
the private sector and not just its detractors.
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Police Airwaves Sabotaged In Anti-Globalization Protests
PRAGUE, Oct 1, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) Police radio communications
in Prague were professionally sabotaged during anti-globalization
demonstrations on Tuesday and Wednesday in the Czech capital, local press
reported Saturday.
The scrambling of police airwaves was aimed at hampering the communication
and coordination of security forces during clashes with militants trying
to disrupt a meeting in the city of the IMF and the World Bank, the daily
Lidove Noviny said.
The paper quoted eye witnesses as saying that a German-registered van
equipped with professional scrambling equipment was seen in action in
the streets of the city during the confrontations.
A police spokesman confirmed the presence of two such vehicles operating in
Prague during the demonstrations but said their effect had been limited.
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The Poverty of Electoral Politics
Roughly speaking we can distinguish five degrees of "government":
(1) Unrestricted freedom
(2) Direct democracy
(3) Delegate democracy
(4) Representative democracy
(5) Overt minority dictatorship
The present society oscillates between (4) and (5), i.e. between overt
minority rule and covert minority rule camouflaged by a facade of token
democracy. A liberated society would eliminate (4) and (5) and would
progressively reduce the need for (2) and (3). . . .
In representative democracy people abdicate their power to elected
officials. The candidates' stated policies are limited to a few vague
generalities, and once they are elected there is little control over their
actual decisions on hundreds of issues -- apart from the feeble threat of
changing one's vote, a few years later, to some equally uncontrollable rival
politician. Representatives are dependent on the wealthy for bribes and
campaign contributions; they are subordinate to the owners of the mass
media, who decide which issues get the publicity; and they are almost as
ignorant and powerless as the general public regarding many important
matters that are determined by unelected bureaucrats and independent secret
agencies. Overt dictators may sometimes be overthrown, but the real rulers
in "democratic" regimes, the tiny minority who own or control virtually
everything, are never voted in and never voted out. Most people don't even
know who they are....
In itself, voting is of no great significance one way or the other (those
who make a big deal about refusing to vote are only revealing their own
fetishism). The problem is that it tends to lull people into relying on
others to act for them, distracting them from more significant
possibilities. A few people who take some creative initiative (think of the
first civil rights sit-ins) may ultimately have a far greater effect than if
they had put their energy into campaigning for lesser-evil politicians. At
best, legislators rarely do more than what they have been forced to do by
popular movements. A conservative regime under pressure from independent
radical movements often concedes more than a liberal regime that knows it
can count on radical support. If people invariably rally to lesser evils,
all the rulers have to do in any situation that threatens their power is to
conjure up a threat of some greater evil.
Even in the rare case when a "radical" politician has a realistic chance of
winning an election, all the tedious campaign efforts of thousands of people
may go down the drain in one day because of some trivial scandal discovered
in his personal life, or because he inadvertently says something
intelligent. If he manages to avoid these pitfalls and it looks like he
might win, he tends to evade controversial issues for fear of antagonizing
swing voters. If he actually gets elected he is almost never in a position
to implement the reforms he has promised, except perhaps after years of
wheeling and dealing with his new colleagues; which gives him a good excuse
to see his first priority as making whatever compromises are necessary to
keep himself in office indefinitely. Hobnobbing with the rich and powerful,
he develops new interests and new tastes, which he justifies by telling
himself that he deserves a few perks after all his years of working for good
causes. Worst of all, if he does eventually manage to get a few
"progressive" measures passed, this exceptional and usually trivial success
is held up as evidence of the value of relying on electoral politics, luring
many more people into wasting their energy on similar campaigns to come.
As one of the May 1968 graffiti put it, "It's painful to submit to our
bosses; it's even more stupid to choose them!"
(Excerpts from "THE JOY OF REVOLUTION" --
<http://www.slip.net/~knabb/PS/joyrev1.htm>
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More than 200 Olympic threats
<http://www.olympics.smh.com.au/news/2000/09/30/FFXN9PNEQDC.html>
Sep 30, 2000
Police had received more than 200 threats against the Sydney Olympic Games,
New South Wales Police Commissioner Peter Ryan said today.
All of the threats had been checked and most were determined to be hoaxes,
said Commissioner Ryan, who heads security for the Games.
No explosive devices had been found.
''We received somewhere on average of about 12 different threats a day,''
he said.
''Many of them were hoaxes, others it was difficult to say, but remedial
action was taken by the police and by the defence force working with the
police in terms of the bomb disposal and search teams to make sure any
threat was thoroughly analysed and neutralised before it became a reality.
''We did in fact respond with bomb search teams to the venues and the
places where those threats were made against.
''There were no explosive devices found or dealt with - there were no
explosive devices.''
Several people had been interviewed about the threats but no charges had
been laid, Commissioner Ryan said.
Olympic Security Commander Paul McKinnon said a typical case involved an
extortion and bomb threat against Stadium Australia where the perpetrator
was caught quickly after a detective traced the call to the north coast of NSW.
''He rang the local cops at Casino, they drove around and the silly bugger
was still in the phone-box,'' he told reporters.
''Mainly that was the sorts of things we dealt with.
''The person was taken into custody about a week ago and we were advised by
the locals that he had a long history of psychiatric care and it would have
been inappropriate to proceed with the matter.''
Commissioner Ryan said that some of the threats had been delivered via the
internet.
''We have received threats by the internet which we have traced back to
source despite that fact that one of them tried very hard to disguise its
source of origin by hiding it through different countries, but we are good
enough to be able to track that down,'' he said.
''It turned out it was sourced back to Australia but it bounced all over
the world to get here, trying to hide to footprints in the sand, but we got
there before the tide came in and that person is helping us with our
inquires into that matter.''
Commander McKinnon later said the level of threat received had been
comparable to the number usually received during university or HSC exams
and had been mainly made by ''fruit loops''.
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Base commander says biological warfare training won't hurt public
AP Wire Service
Sep 29, 2000
DERIDDER, La. (AP) _ The commanding general of Fort Polk says proposed
biological warfare training in the area poses no threat to the public, the
environment or to 8,000 soldiers stationed at the base.
Brig. General Charles H. Swannack Jr. said he was responding to concerns
raised by people concerned about the anticipated training exercises
``I would not permit this training if it were not safe to the Fort Polk and
local community or environment,'' Swannack said in a statement.
``We breathe the same air as you. We are part of this community and we
won't do anything to harm it,'' Swannack said.
Base officials said the agent to be used is a dead form of the bacterium
Bacillus subtilis, a non-pathogenic bacterium commonly found in soils,
water and decomposing plant
residue.
Soldiers will spray the agent on base property so others can use detecting
equipment to find it. Army scientists have conducted numerous tests on the
agent and do not consider it toxic to humans, plants or animals.
A federally mandated environmental assessment has been completed for use of
the agent at Fort Polk for training purposes and found there is no
significant impact, base officials said.
In addition, there have been no documented health or environmental problems
at either of the installations where the simulated agent is being used.
Critics claim they have proof that there are documented medical problems
associated with the biological agent and that will come out during public
hearings sponsored by the Beauregard-Vernon Chapter of the Gulf War
Veterans Association.
When used at Fort Polk, the agent would be released in water in an aerosol
spray to allow detection systems in the area to detect it. The only effect
it will have will be to trigger a response in the detection system.
Swannack said the training _ to be held between four and 12 times per year
_ will ensure sure soldiers in the 7th Chemical Company are ready for
biological warfare.
``It is of the highest importance that the soldiers train realistically for
this very important mission,'' Swannack said. ``We owe America's sons and
daughters the very best and most realistic training experience possible
before sending them in harm's way.''
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Give us this day some realism
09-28-00
By Keith Taylor
Online Journal - <http://www.onlinejournal.com>
As an atheist I don't get exposed to the word of God too much, but
nowadays I feel as if I'm in a revival meeting. The two top candidates for
president are carrying their love for God on their sleeves with the fervor
of evangelists. In addition one of the candidates for vice president
candidate suggested we somehow give religion official sanction.
Bush tells us how he became born-again, and we're expected to assume that
makes him a better candidate. Gore lets us know his decisions are based on
"what would Jesus do?" Both ask God to bless us whenever the cameras turn
their way.
Lieberman certainly is not an evangelist, but he would leap right in bed
with the fundamentalists with his "constitutional place for faith in our
public life."
As would be expected the criticism comes not because Lieberman is
religious, but because he has the wrong religion. Those who object to his
ideas are folks with a different religion that might be offended. Not a
word of concern for those of us with no religion at all.
Perhaps we should be used to it by now. The Boy Scouts won't have us, and
the Supreme Court says they don't have to. The Scouts' argument was they
are a private organization and can admit whomever they please. Six states
won't let us in either, and I have no idea how they get away with that.
Even the most ardent states-right advocates don't claim the states are
private. Yet, the constitutions of Arkansas, Maryland, North Carolina,
Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas all require a belief in
God in order for a person to hold any office in those states. .
Suppose they (or the Scouts for that matter) specifically excluded Jews,
or Baptists, or Mormons, or any other group. Would we see a howl about
that? But nobody howls when the likes of Albert Einstein, Mark Twain,
Thomas Paine, Walter Lippman, Luther Burbank, and 93 percent of our top
scientists are excluded from everything from dogcatcher to governor.
In fact a nonbeliever couldn't be elected to much of anything anywhere.
Even in the 43 states that don't specifically prohibit them from holding
office you'll not see an avowed atheist or agnostic holding office. If one
would run, you can be certain his heresy would be exploited.
This "wisdom" prevails despite more than 20 centuries of religiously
inspired inquisitions, crusades, wars, library burnings, censorship, and
gratuitous killing. Today those who embrace any idea of God are accepted,
applauded, and lauded. Those who have one less religion than the rest are
shut out of the whole process.
Blind faith carries more water than hard facts. In the fourteenth century
virtually every European prayed for deliverance from the Black Plague.
Still one quarter of the population--some 25 million--died. Compare that
to the fact that in the last 100 years scientists, few of whom even
believe in God, have doubled our life expectancy.
Still, lately more and more of our candidates for high office insist their
prayers -- not decisions based on hard facts -- will serve our country
well. In 1992, Gore, who dared write in favor of science was sneered at as
"Ozone Head" for his writing. Thereafter he emphasized his piety not his
scientific acumen.
Dan Quayle, who was criticized for nearly everything he said, claimed the
first thing he would do if he became president would be to say a prayer.
It was one his few remarks that passed without comment or question.
Perhaps the reporters didn't want to seem to question the common
perception that good things happen to those who pray. Perhaps it does. We
haven't had a plague for quite a while.
Now we have a major candidate who would seem to defy the First Amendment
and give religion the imprimatur of law. Thank goodness it raised a minor
ruckus. Religion is out in the open. Now let's take a good look at it.
Let's decide if it is deserving of a free ride, or if it is just something
that sounds good.
My hope is to live long enough to see Americans willing to challenge
unproven ideas and willing to actually consider the wisdom of those who
dare to doubt. Perhaps one can even hold office somewhere.
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Linked stories:
********************
Banned Books, Weak
<http://www.disinfo.com/disinfo?p=folder&title=Banned+Books%2C+Weak>
Banned Books Week is good in theory, but it's usually naive, confused, and
gutless in practice.
********************
======================================================
"Anarchy doesn't mean out of control. It means out of 'their' control."
-Jim Dodge
======================================================
"Communications without intelligence is noise;
intelligence without communications is irrelevant."
-Gen. Alfred. M. Gray, USMC
======================================================
"It is not a sign of good health to be well adjusted to a sick society."
-J. Krishnamurti
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