Fw: [globalnews] Meditation Focus #67: Bringing US All Back In Harmony With Nature

[jsherry]

-Original Message-
From: Jean Hudon [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Sunday, June 30, 2002 4:55 AM
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: Meditation Focus #67: Bringing US All Back In Harmony With
Nature --- This material is also available at
http://www.aei.ca/~cep/MeditationFocus67.htm


Hello,

What follows is the 67th Meditation Focus suggested for the two consecutive
weeks beginning Sunday, June 30, 2002.

BRINGING US ALL BACK IN HARMONY WITH NATURE

1. Summary
2. Meditation times
3. More information on this Meditation Focus
4. Peace Watch for the Midlle East


---

1. SUMMARY

As huge wildfires destroy vast tracks of forest in the U.S. Midwest and
severe droughts affect several African countries threatening millions of
people with starvation and death, notably in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, extreme
floods have recently devastated several parts of the world, mainly in
China, in the south of Russia, and in some U.S. states. Although some of
these problems are man-made either because of bad policies and
shorth-sighted planning and deforestation, it seems that Nature is
increasingly showing signs of imbalance in its global weather patterns, a
problem which may in large part be attributed to global warming. This
imbalance may also be a reflection of the lack of harmony of most humans
with Nature, a situation exacerbated by a lifestyle that has cut many of us
from our natural roots and which encourages us to consume natural resources
at an unsustainable rate. As many of us enjoy outdoor activities in this
summer season (in the northern hemisphere), it may be appropriate to spend
some time reflecting on how we may find a better balance with Mother Earth
and foster positive changes around us so as to gradually improve this
situation. We may also act as catalysts through our prayers and meditations
to help inspire a global awakening to our indissociable unity with Nature
and the urgent need to cherish and protect all aspects of Nature as well as
nurture our environment back to its perfect original balance.

Please dedicate your prayers and meditations, as guided by Spirit, in the
coming two weeks - and during this whole season - to contribute in bringing
us all back in harmony with Nature. Envision an opening of the hearts to
the sacredness of all forms of Life and the blossoming of an awareness that
cherish the unique beauty of Nature in all its multitudinous forms.
Reconnecting with Nature at the deepest levels, we will then collectively
assist our beloved living planet in rebalancing its weather patterns so as
to benefit the regions that need rain and avoid flooding again those that
already received too much of it. May we thus be instrumental in bringing
balance and Harmony on Earth, for the Highest Good of All.

This entire Meditation Focus is also available at
http://www.aei.ca/~cep/MeditationFocus67.htm


---

2. MEDITATION TIMES

i) Global Meditation Day: Sunday at 16:00 Universal Time (GMT) or at noon
local time. Suggested duration: 30 minutes.

ii) Golden Moment of At-Onement: Daily, at the top of any hour, or whenever
it better suits you.

These times below are currently corresponding to 16:00 Universal Time/GMT:

Honolulu 6:00 AM -- Anchorage * 8:00 AM -- Los Angeles * 9:00 AM -- Mexico
City, San Salvador & Denver * 10:00 AM -- Houston * & Chicago * 11:00 AM --
Santo Domingo, La Paz, Caracas, New York *, Toronto *. Montreal *, Asuncion
& Santiago 12:00 AM -- Halifax *, Rio de Janeiro & Montevideo 1:00 PM --
Reykjavik & Casablanca 4 PM -- Lagos, Algiers, London *, Dublin * & Lisbon
* 5:00 PM -- Jerusalem, Johannesburg, Geneva *, Rome *, Berlin *, Paris * &
Madrid * 6:00 PM -- Ankara *, Athens *, Helsinki * & Istanbul * & Nairobi
7:00 PM -- Baghdad *, Moscow * 8:00 PM -- Tehran * 8:30 PM -- Islamabad
9:00 PM -- Calcutta & New Delhi 9:30 PM -- Dhaka 10:00 PM -- Rangoon 10:30
PM -- Hanoi, Bangkok & Jakarta 11:00 PM -- Hong Kong, Perth, Beijing &
Kuala Lumpur +12:00 PM -- Seoul & Tokyo +1:00 AM -- Brisbane, Canberra &
Melbourne +2:00 AM -- Wellington +4:00 AM

+ means the place is one day ahead of Universal Time/Greenwich Mean Time.
* means the place is observing daylight saving time (DST) at the moment.

You may also check at http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/full.html to
find your current corresponding local time if a closeby city is not listed
above.

---

3. MORE INFORMATION ON THIS MEDITATION FOCUS

This section is for those who wish to understand in more detail the
situation of this Meditation Focus. For those who wish to read on, we would
encourage you to view the following information from a positive
perspective, and not allow the details to tinge the positive vision you
wish to hold in meditation. Since what we focus on grows, the more positive
our mindset, the more successful we will be in manifesting a vision of
healing. We provide the details below because we recognise that the
knowledge of what needs healing can assist us to structure our awareness to
maximise our healing 

Re: Solstice Salutations! & rain

[jsherry]

Hello Gil,
We too have received much needed blessed rain! Drought is almost officially
over.

May you have time to contemplate this winter & be well!

Blessings,
Jane

- Original Message -
From: "Gil Robertson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Saturday, June 22, 2002 7:00 AM
Subject: Re: Solstice Salutations!


Hi! Jane,
Thank you, and I wish you a special Winter Solstice from here in Oz.
It was so cold and wet we did not do anything this year, as we normally
have something out side for all the Celtic dates, but stayed in our own
homes and enjoyed the rain, which is very welcome as we had a dry start
to winter and really need a good wet winter to put some thing in the
depleted sub soil and under ground water basins.

Gil

jsherry wrote:

> hello to all,
> Wishing you a Joyous, Fertile & Loving Summer Solstice Today!
>
> May the fires of Peace burn bright in our hearts.
>
> Blessings,
> Jane

Solstice Salutations!

[jsherry]

hello to all,
Wishing you a Joyous, Fertile & Loving Summer Solstice Today!

May the fires of Peace burn bright in our hearts.

Blessings,
Jane

Fw: Tell AOL to Stop Sending Metal Junk Mail

[jsherry]

Tell AOL To Stop Sending Wasteful Metal Junk Mail
  ACTFORCHANGE ACTIVISM UPDATE: June 20, 2002

  You are receiving this newsletter because you have previously taken
action on ActForChange in support of progressive values.

  IN THIS BULLETIN:


a.. FEATURED ACTION: Tell AOL To Stop Sending Wasteful Metal Junk
Mail
b.. ACTIVISM OPPORTUNITIES: Two Actions to Take
c.. SPECIAL OFFER: Wish George Bush a Happy Birthday

--




  Tell AOL To Stop Sending Wasteful Metal Junk Mail

  America Online's aluminum junk mail is in a class all its own. The
company's newest gimmick is to package its disks advertising free hours of
online access in a metal box. This "metal mail" is a central part of the
company's $3.8 billion annual ad budget and really takes a toll on our
nation's energy security and on our environment. Take action!

  Aluminum production consumes more energy than is needed to produce
steel, glass, paper or plastic. It also relies on bauxite mining, which
destroys more of the earth's surface area than any other type of mining.
And, to make matters worse, the discarded junk mail is filling up our
landfills.

  Urge AOL's Steve Case to conserve energy and help the environment by
reforming his company's junk mail practices. Take action!


--




  Increase Funding for Child Care
  Urge your senators to reauthorize the Child Care & Development Block
Grant this year and increase its funding by $20 billion over the next five
years in order to provide assistance to an additional 2 million children and
improve the quality of child care.
  Click here to take action now!

  Protect America's Wild Forests
  Urge your representative to support the National Forest Roadless Area
Conservation Act. This legislation will protect nearly 60 million acres of
unspoiled National Forests in 38 states from most new road building and
logging.
  Click here to take action now!


--




  Celebrate Bush's Birthday by Making a Donation to Your Favorite Group
  On July 6, President George W. Bush will celebrate his 56th birthday.
Let him know you care by making a donation to your favorite nonprofit group.

  Make a tax-deductible donation on GiveForChange to Sierra Club,
Planned Parenthood, Peace Action, Rainforest Action Network, or another
group of your choice, and GiveForChange will send a gift card to President
Bush to inform him of your donation. Just enter "President Bush, 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500" in the gift card fields. You
can even write your own message.
  Click here to donate.


--

  Melissa Simpson
  Manager
  ActForChange.com



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Fw: [globalnews] African Droughts Triggered by Western Pollution -- Seven Figure Deaths the Result

[jsherry]

NewScientist.com

  The World's No.1 Science & Technology News Service



  African droughts "triggered by Western pollution"


  19:00 12 June 02

  Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition

  Emissions spewed out by power stations and factories in North America
and Europe may have sparked the severe droughts that have afflicted the
Sahel region of Africa. The droughts have been among the worst the world has
ever seen, and led to the infamous famines that crippled countries such as
Ethiopia in the 1980s.


   Sahel dries out
  The cause appears to be the clouds of sulphur belched out alongside
the soot, organic carbon, ammonium and nitrate produced when fossil fuels
are burnt, according to researchers in Australia and Canada. As these
compounds move through the atmosphere, they create aerosols that affect
cloud formation, altering the temperature of the Earth's surface and leading
to dramatic shifts in regional weather patterns.

  In the past thirty to forty years, the Sahel--a loosely defined band
across Africa, just south of the Sahara and including parts of Ethiopia in
the east and Guinea in the west--has suffered the most sustained drought
seen in any part of the world since records began, with precipitation
falling by between 20 and 50 per cent.

  Although the droughts have had climate experts scratching their heads,
the impacts have been obvious. During the worst years, between 1972 and
1975, and 1984 and 1985, up to a million people starved to death.

  Now Leon Rotstayn of the CSIRO, Australia's national research agency,
thinks he knows what caused them. Rotstayn and his colleague Ulrike Lohmann
of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, ran a simulation of global
climate that included interactions between sulphur dioxide emissions and
cloud formation. Sulphur dioxide creates sulphate aerosols that provide
condensation nuclei for clouds. With more nuclei, clouds form from smaller
droplets than usual, and are more efficient at reflecting solar radiation,
cooling the Earth below.


  Acid rain


  When the researchers included the huge sulphur emissions from the
northern hemisphere during the 1980s in their model, the Earth's surface in
the north cooled relative to the south, driving the tropical rain belt south
and causing droughts in the Sahel. Their results will be reported soon in
the Journal of Climate.

  "It's still speculative, and the model isn't very refined, but it's
very interesting. It's the first time we've seen a connection between
pollution in the mid-latitudes and climate in the tropics," says Johann
Feichter of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg. Feichter,
who has run similar simulations but cannot talk about the results because
the research is being peer-reviewed for a major journal, says the sulphur
emissions probably worsen the natural cycle of droughts that would have
happened anyway.

  During the past few years, the droughts have become less severe, a
change that Rotstayn puts down to the "clean air" laws in North America and
Europe that reduced sulphur dioxide emissions in response to another
environmental crisis, acid rain.

  But the problems in Asia may be just beginning. Climate researchers
around the world are beginning to study other types of aerosols, such as the
clouds of black soot and sulphate being churned out by rapidly
industrialising India and China, in the hope that they may shed light on
other regional weather anomalies. For instance, northern China has had
unusually dry summers in the past few years, while it has been particularly
wet in the south.


  Rachel Nowak, Melbourne

Fw: [globalnews] Cost of Ending Global Warming A Blip on Screen Over Next 100 Years

[jsherry]

NewScientist.com

  The World's No.1 Science & Technology News Service



  Two years to save the world


  19:00 12 June 02

  Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition

  People will be five times as rich in a hundred years' time. And if we
are willing to postpone that prosperity by just two years, we could fix
global warming into the bargain. That's the startling conclusion of leading
US climate scientist Stephen Schneider and Swedish energy economist
Christian Azar, who are about to publish a bruising assault on the Bush
administration's claims that international plans to curb climate change
would cripple the US and world economies.


   (Photo: Getty Images)
  "The wild rhetoric about enslaving the poor and bankrupting the
economy to do climate policy is fallacious, even if one accepts the
conventional economic models," Schneider told New Scientist. He says the
economic arguments need to be put in context, and called on climate
scientists to take a tougher stand against the doom-mongers who say action
would be too costly.

  Schneider's assault comes a week after a further blow was dealt to the
prospects that the Kyoto Protocol will come into force. Australian Prime
Minister John Howard announced that his government would not ratify the
protocol, claiming it would "cost jobs and damage our industry".

  The Bush administration, and now apparently Howard, have taken their
tone from leading environmental economists such as Yale's William Nordhaus,
who has argued that "a vague premonition of some potential disaster is
insufficient grounds to plunge the world into depression". But, says
Schneider, over a century even the trillions of dollars thought necessary to
halt global warming would be a blip compared with the economic advances
predicted by the same experts.


  Potential dangers


  Many climate scientists have become frustrated by what they regard as
the dead hand of economic orthodoxy in academic analyses of the costs and
benefits of action to halt global warming. But in a forthcoming issue of the
journal Ecological Economics, Schneider and Azar tackle the economists
head-on, taking their own numbers and putting a dramatic new spin on them.

  Last year's report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
included the economists' assessment that stabilising atmospheric carbon
dioxide at twice pre-industrial concentrations by 2100 would cost between $1
trillion and $8 trillion. It sounds a lot, says Schneider, but the money
would be all but invisible against the 2 per cent a year economic growth
predicted by the same economists.

  Without action to halt global warming, economists predict that the
world as a whole will be 10 times as rich by 2100, and people on average
will be five times as well off. Adding on the costs of tackling warming,
says Schneider, would postpone this target by a mere two years. "To be 10
times richer in 2100 versus 2102 would hardly be noticed." Similarly,
meeting the terms of the Kyoto Protocol would mean industrialised countries
"get 20 per cent richer by June 2010 rather than in January 2010".

  Put that way, he believes, the American public and politicians could
be convinced that curbing greenhouse emissions is a necessary insurance
policy against the potential dangers of climate change.


  Fred Pearce

OFF:Fw: [globalnews] The Bundle of Faggots

[jsherry]

BUNDLE OF FAGGOTS 

Sometimes I compare the troubles we have to undergo in the course 

of a year to a great bundle of faggots, far too large for us to 

lift. But God does not require us to carry the whole at once. He 

mercifully unties the bundles, and gives us first one stick, which we 

are able to carry today, and then another, which we are able to carry 

tomorrow, and so on. This we might easily manage, if we would only 

take the burden appointed for each day; but we choose to increase our 

trouble by carrying yesterday's stick over again today, and adding 

tomorrow's burden to our load before we are required to bear it. 

JOHN NEWTON

...
Be the change
you want to see in the world.
-- Mahatma Gandhi

Fw: [globalnews] GMO FOOD AID DESTROYS LIVELIHOODS

[jsherry]

Friends of the Earth Europe
Press Statement
Roma, Italy 13 June 2002: Immediate Release.

GMO FOOD AID: HELPING THE HUNGRY OR DESTROYING LIVLEIHOODS?

Industrial Nations and Biotech Companies show their technology is out of
control: Developing World alarmed at deliberate programme of GMO
contamination.

Six years after the 1996 World Food Summit, Friends of the Earth deeply
regrets that once again world agriculture and food policies are not
addressing the real causes of hunger and instead remain locked in
mythical policy solutions that have no chance of ever bringing benefits
to the world's hungry.  A clear example of a mythical solution to world
hunger problems is biotechnology which while widely discredited as a
genuine solution to hunger, nonetheless has been the focus of a powerful
lobby campaign by the biotechnology industry and the US Administration
in the run up to the Rome Summit.

The widespread condemnation during this week's Summit of the discovery
that food donated by USAID comprised of GM corn StarLink not authorized
for human consumption anywhere in the world reflects the complete lack
of control that biotech companies have over their products. Friends of
the Earth US has requested the US Administration to recall the StarLink
corn and to require Aventis to pay for any costs incurred by recalls and
replacements (see www.foe.org/foodaid).

According to Juan Lopez of Friends of the Earth International, "The
promises of the biotech companies are broken each time one of these
contamination incidents happens. FAO should think twice before jumping
into bed with biotechnology."

Additionally, as illustrated by GMO contamination results recently
reported
from Mexico, the distribution of whole seed intended for consumption
leads to planting in centers of origin, threatening local agricultural
diversity. Further, corn seed sent as food aid to Guatemala has been
confirmed to contain GMOs not authorized in the European Union. In
Nicaragua the presence of GMOs was also confirmed in corn seed sent as
food aid from Germany.

"The fact that Germany is financing aid comprising of corn seed
contaminated with GMOs and has sent it to a center of origin of corn
such as Nicaragua is further proof of the irresponsible management of
this technology" said Julio Sanchez from Centro Humboldt-Friends of the
Earth Nicaragua.

Other discoveries of genetic contamination in food aid have also
occurred in
several Latin American countries in the last months.

 "Food Aid programmes when used systematically in impoverished countries

serve as instruments for the dumping of production surpluses from
Northern
countries, creating dependency and contributing to the destruction of
local production." says Ana Lucia Bravo Acción Ecológica - Friends of
the Earth Ecuador.  Friends of the Earth Latin America is requesting the
Governments in the Summit, the FAO and the WFP to forbid GMOs in food
aid programmes in accordance with the precautionary principle.  "Our
livelihood is our future."

Increasing numbers of organisations have been expressing concern about
the promotion of biotechnology as a solution for developing countries.
International development organisation Oxfam International recently
announced a moratorium on GMOs and the need for improved enforcement of
monitoring systems to stop GMOs from entering countries in consignments
of food aid.
END
__

Contact Friends of the Earth at the World Food Summit:

Juan Lopez - mobile telephone number: 00 39 339 74 49 630

___
Friends of the Earth is the largest grassroots environmental network in
the world campaigning to protect the environment and to create
sustainable societies.

Friends of the Earth Europe unites more than 30 national member groups
with thousands of local groups.




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Fw: [globalnews] u.s. opposes labeling genetically engineered food

[jsherry]

http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2002/06/06112002/reu_47503.asp


U.S. opposes labeling genetically engineered
food
By Deena Beasley, Reuters
Tuesday, June 11, 2002

TORONTO - The U.S. White House is against adopting regulations, already in
use in some countries, that would require companies to label foods that use
genetically engineered ingredients, Health and Human Services Secretary
Tommy Thompson said Monday.

Thompson said labeling foods as genetically altered "puts fear in the
market"
and would serve only to stymie innovation in the rapidly advancing
biotechnology food industry.

"I don't think it solves the problem. Mandatory labeling doesn't work," he
said at
the annual meeting of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, the trade
group
representing the fields of health care, agricultural, industrial, and
environmental
biotechnology.

Last year the group's conference, held in San Diego, was targeted by
marchers
opposed to so-called "Frankenfoods," but their ranks fell short of
forecasts.
Here in Toronto, the scene is even more subdued; protesters staged a brief
rally
on Sunday, and there are no concrete barriers, although the police presence
is
still noticeable.

Some countries already require labels to state whether food contains, for
instance, corn whose genes have been altered to enable the organism to
resist
the corn borer pest. But the United States does not.

"We are concerned about food safety. None of these crops have been tested
for safety," said Charles Margulis, genetic engineering specialist at the
environmental group Greenpeace.

The European Union, unnerved by food safety scares such as mad cow disease,
has banned new biotech crops from other parts of the world for the past
three
years. The United States is by far the largest producer of genetically
altered
corn- and soy-based food.

No one really knows what happens when plants that have not evolved in nature
are consumed by humans, Margulis said. "There could be allergies, increased
toxins, or other unexpected side effects," he said.

In the United States, weed- and pest-resistant versions of six crops -
soybeans, corn, cotton, papaya, squash, and canola - are now being grown,
and many other transgenic plants are being developed.

Last month, a report by the U.S. General Accounting Office said the U.S.
Food
and Drug Administration had adequately tested the safety of new biotech
foods
before allowing them to be sold, and consumers who ate bioengineered foods
were not at a higher risk of allergies or toxic reactions.

A biotech corn variety not approved for human consumption slipped into the
food supply in late 2000, sparking a nationwide recall of more than 300
kinds of
corn-based foods. StarLink was approved only for animal feed due to concern
that it might cause allergic reactions in humans. Several U.S. class action
suits
are pending against Aventis CropScience, which made StarLink.

A National Academy of Sciences panel in February said the government had
allowed food manufacturers to market biotech crops without fully probing
their
potential environmental impact.



Copyright 2002 - Reuters

Any reprinting, rebroadcast or digital transmission of this
work without written permission from Environmental News Network, Inc. is
strictly prohibited.

Fw: [globalnews] GM contamination spreads in Mexico

[jsherry]

BBC News

Sunday, 9 June, 2002, 13:09 GMT 14:09 UK
GM contamination spreads in Mexico


Scientists fear crop varieties will be dramatically reduced



  By Nick Miles
  BBC correspondent in Mexico


Political leaders and academics begin a three day meeting in Rome on Monday
to discuss issues surrounding global food security.
The United Nations World Food Summit will be looking at the spread of
genetically modified crop strains as well as the immediate problem of famine
in parts of southern Africa.



  Our best guess is that the Mexican corn harvests have been
contaminated by imported corn from the United States

  Juan Martin
  Laboratory manager
Recent reports from Mexico suggest that despite a moratorium on planting GM
corn strains, wild varieties have become contaminated by laboratory
developed plants.

The most heavily contaminated area is in Oaxaca, where up to a quarter of
corn samples have tested positive for GM.

GM contamination

The area is home to thousands of small subsistence farmers. High up in the
central mountains of the state one such farmer, Olga Maldonado, is weeding
her tiny plantation of corn. It's just forty metres square and barely
provides enough food for her and her family.

"Corn is our way of life," she told me, as she worked under the harsh
tropical sun. "Most of what we eat like tortillas and thick soups come from
the crop."


  Research has yet to prove GM foods are harmful

But six months ago Olga got a shock. Tests showed that her field had been
contaminated with genetically modified corn. Now she says she's worried
about the possible effects on the heath of her children.

"I'm concerned because our children eat corn all the time. We don't know
whether it's safe to eat or not. The government has told us nothing about
these GM plants. Absolutely nothing."

Just 16 kilometres away down a dirt track in the incongruous setting of
rural Mexico, white coated workers at a hi-tech laboratory are testing
samples of corn from across the country. The hum of electrical stirrers
fills the air as the corn goes though the rigorous testing procedures.

This privately funded work has found widespread GM contamination in corn
samples from across Mexico.

"Despite the moratorium on GM crop growing four years ago, many GM strains
have slipped through the net," says Juan Martin, who's in charge at the lab.



  We've had a number of different campaigns aimed at telling farmers not
to use imported corn as seed

  Victor Arambula, Mexican agriculture spokesman
"Our best guess is that the Mexican corn harvests have been contaminated by
imported corn from the United States," he says.

"That corn was supposed to be for human consumption but farmers weren't
aware of that and they sowed it in their fields."

Genie released

It's difficult to assess the Mexican Government's stance on the issue. State
and federal governments seem to contradict each other on the significance
and even the very existence of GM contamination.


  Halberg fears food security will be affected

"If there is GM contamination then it's not because of any government
failure," says Victor Arambula, spokesman for the Mexican agriculture
ministry.

"We've had a number of different campaigns aimed at telling farmers not to
use imported corn as seed.

"Over the last four years, we've made it perfectly clear to farmers that
this contamination might happen."

However it happened, the GM genie is now out of the bottle. And many people
are worried.

Whilst there is no universally accepted research proving any health risks
from eating GM crops, environmentalists say that many GM strains encourage
pests to become tolerant to insecticides.

"There will also be a drastic reduction in the variety of corn strains in
Mexico," Boone Hallberg told me. Mr Hallberg, a sprightly 79-year-old US
educated botanist, has been working with Mexican corn growers for almost
four decades.


  Maldonado's field has been contaminated

"Until now, when there's been a virus in other parts of the world, people
have been able to come here to find strains resistant to the virus," he
tells me as we walk through his organic corn fields.

"GM contamination will change all that. The thousands of varieties here will
be lost forever, threatening food security around the world."

Meanwhile for small farmers like Olga the concerns are more immediate. Every
mealtime is now a worrying time for her. She has to feed her children corn
tortillas made from her now genetically modified crops by a farmer who
unwittingly tainted her own land.

"I feel misled by the government," she says as she ladles some steaming corn
drink into a bowl. "As usual in Mexico the needs of the farmers here have
been overlooked".



The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

...
Be the change
you want to see in the world.
-- Mahatma Gandhi

OFF: Fw: [globalnews] Only the FBI could spend a year in the French Quarter and find just 12 prostitutes

[jsherry]

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-39957jun07.story?coll=
la%2Dnews%2Dcomment%2Dopinions
COMMENTARY

A Comedy of Eros
Only the FBI could spend a year in the French Quarter and find just 12
prostitutes
By JONATHAN TURLEY
Jonathan Turley teaches constitutional law at George Washington University
School of Law.

June 7 2002

When I lived in New Orleans, I was told about a trial before one of our
state judges in which a local madam appeared under a charge of assaulting an
officer. The bordello was periodically subject to routine sweeps by the
police to "keep up appearances." The madam, however, was mistaken on the
appointed time and, according to one arresting officer, slammed a swinging
door in his face.

On cross-examination, the madam denied the allegation and insisted that
there was no swinging door in that room. When the prosecutor expressed
skepticism, the madam turned to the judge and said, "Judge, you know ...
there is no swinging door in that parlor."

The story captured the attitude of local authorities toward bordellos in
Louisiana. In New Orleans, houses of ill-repute are some of the oldest
institutions in the French Quarter and are often cited on tours as virtual
cultural landmarks. Prostitution itself is a misdemeanor, a law universally
honored in the breach. This is a view not shared by Atty. Gen. John
Ashcroft's Justice Department.

This week, the Justice Department announced the results of a long
investigation of a French Quarter bordello that serviced a virtual who's who
of New Orleans elite, including at least one judge.

For more than 13 months, the Justice Department has conducted a major
investigation of this bordello, producing hundreds of pages of surveillance
transcripts and reports by 10 FBI agents. With considerable fanfare, the
Justice Department touted its "catch" in a news conference: 12 prostitutes.

Only the FBI could go to the French Quarter and find just a dozen
prostitutes after a year of investigation. Given the roughly one-to-one
ratio between agents and prostitutes, the FBI could have produced a hundred
times this number by having agents walk down Bourbon Street.

In some parts of New Orleans, a "sting operation" for prostitutes requires
the simple opening of a car door.

Of course, when the Justice Department convinced an unwitting judge to sign
this surveillance order, it had promised something far more alluring. It
insisted that the bordello would reveal mob dealings as well as criminal
activities by an infamous gang. It further assured the judge that the
bordello was a hot spot for major drug transactions.

Ultimately, the surveillance failed to nail a single mobster or gang member.

As for the drugs, the FBI carefully made a case against a 62-year-old woman
who sold small amounts of marijuana for personal use at the location--often
a joint at a time.

When confronted by the ludicrous "haul" of 12 prostitutes, the Justice
Department was unapologetic and insisted that this was a major law
enforcement victory. Federal prosecutor Sal Perricone spoke for the Justice
Department when he pledged more of such enforcement.

'We'll seek it out, we'll find it, we'll grab it by the scruff of the neck,
and we're going to prosecute it," Perricone said.

That is certainly reassuring. While it was revealed this week that the FBI
largely ignored CIA identifications of known terrorists in the U.S. before
Sept. 11, it appears that it was able to find prostitutes in New Orleans.

It simply boggles the mind how such an investigation could have been
approved, let alone continued after the September attacks.

When these agents were carefully recording calls to a bordello, hundreds of
other agents were being shifted from major crimes to homeland security.
While Ashcroft was seeking expanded powers to listen in on suspected
terrorists, these agents were listening to the descriptions of particular
prostitutes and their special "capabilities."

Agents carefully recorded the strict rates of $200 to $300 an hour and how
the mother-daughter team that ran the bordello could barely pay their bills
on their 50% take. The mother and daughter are now cooperating in the
prosecution of their former "employees."

None of the johns (including the judge, respected lawyers, stockbrokers,
bankers and civic leaders) have been charged.

Though the Justice Department found federal crimes for the prostitutes, they
could not imagine a federal crime for the johns.

Such matters, they explained, are strictly matters for local enforcement.

The Justice Department is half-right. It was all a matter for local concern.

The Justice Department insists that it had jurisdiction in this case because
some of the prostitutes crossed state lines. However, this merely explains
that the government could investigate, not that it should.

Most any crime today has some element that crosses state lines, but we
expect the Justice Department to resist temptation.

One can certainly appreciate that it is more interes

Help with Glycyrrhiza glabra when to plant?

[jsherry]

Hello,
I have licorice which I am not sure whether to consider a root or stem
plant? Steven Foster says it is an underground stem, Richter's little
plastic thing that came with the plant says the underground stolons are used
for flavoring etc (oops, is that what a stolon is? An underground stem?). I
guess I thought it was roots being used? Should I have gotten the Chinese
variety for medicinal use?

Anyone know? I was thinking of using that little window this morning (8-11
am EST) to plant it even though we're just after the eclipse. One of them is
begging to go into the ground, the other two are growing fast, and I would
rather not wait a week.

Anyone with experience? Thanks,

Jane

Fw: [globalnews] THE GUARDIAN WALL

[jsherry]

THE GUARDIAN WALL 

Know that the stream of superhuman knowledge and the Deva-Wisdom 

thou hast won, must, from thyself, the channel of Alaya, be poured 

forth into another bed. 

Know, O Narjol, thou of the Secret Path, its pure fresh waters 

must be used to sweeter make the Ocean's bitter waves - that mighty 

sea of sorrow formed of the tears of men. 

Alas! when once thou hast become like the fix'd star in highest 

heaven, that bright celestial orb must shine from out the spatial 

depths for all - save for itself; give light to all, but take from 

none. 

Alas! when once thou hast become like the pure snow in mountain 

vales, cold and unfeeling to the touch, warm and protective to the 

seed that sleepeth deep beneath its bosom - 'tis now that snow which 

must receive the biting frost, the northern blasts, thus shielding 

from their sharp and cruel tooth the earth that holds the promised 

harvest, the harvest that will feed the hungry. 

Self-doomed to live through future Kalpas, unthanked and 

unperceived by men; wedged as a stone with countless other stones 

which form the "Guardian Wall", such is thy future if the seventh 

Gate thou passest. Built by the hands of many Masters of Compassion, 

raised by their tortures, by their blood cemented, it shields 

mankind, since man is man, protecting it from further and far greater

misery and sorrow. 

Withal man sees it not, will not perceive it, nor will he heed 

the word of Wisdom...for he knows it not. 

But thou hast heard it, thou knowest all, O thou of eager, 

guileless Soul...and thou must choose. Then hearken yet again. 

The Voice of the Silence

...
Be the change
you want to see in the world.
-- Mahatma Gandhi

Fw: [globalnews] THE POWER OF THE INITIATOR

[jsherry]

THE POWER OF THE INITIATOR 

Anyone who can, as a result of deep meditation, start with small 

beginnings and try to utter a word to help or heal another human 

being, or who can stay in a period of silence for the sake of some 

larger purpose of benefit to humanity, can come to know what it is to

initiate. 

To gain the power of the Initiator, one must both specialize and 

concentrate magnetism and be attentive enough to apply a thought with

such controlled precision and perfect timing to the needs of another 

human being, that one can make a permanent change for the good in that

person's life. In the light of Wisdom-sacrifice, Jnana Yajna, good 

and bad are merely relative appellations from the standpoint of 

differentiated consciousness in time and space. 

We grow over a lifetime in making finer and finer discriminations

because the cruder relativities with which we live prevent us from 

understanding a great deal of human life. If this is true of the 

world around us, it is also true of ourselves. 

RAGHAVAN IYER

...
Be the change
you want to see in the world.
-- Mahatma Gandhi

Fw: [globalnews] How to Build for Eternity

[jsherry]

HOW TO BUILD 

Catastrophe will come; or worse than catastrophe, slow mouldering

and withering into Hades. But if you can fix some conception of a 

true human state of life to be striven for - life, good, for all men, 

as for yourselves; if you can determine some honest and simple order 

of existence; following those trodden ways of wisdom, which are 

pleasantness, and seeking her quiet and withdrawn paths, which are 

peace; - then, and so sanctifying wealth into 'common-wealth', all 

your art, your literature, your daily labours, your domestic 

affection, and citizen's duty, will join and increase into one 

magnificent harmony. You will know then how to build, well enough; 

you will build with stone well, but with flesh better; temples not 

made with hands, but riveted of hearts; and that kind of marble, 

crimson-veiled, is indeed eternal. 

JOHN RUSKIN 

...
Be the change
you want to see in the world.
-- Mahatma Gandhi

Fw: [globalnews] The Man with the Hoe: The Origins of Terror

[jsherry]

THE MAN WITH THE HOE 

God made man in his own image, 

In the image of God made He him. 

Genesis

Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans 

Upon his hoe and gazes on the ground, 

The emptiness of ages in his face, 

And on his back the burden of the world. 

Who made him dead to rapture and despair, 

A thing that grieves not and that never hopes, 

Stolid and stunned, a brother to the ox? 

Who loosened and let down this brutal jaw? 

Whose was the hand that slanted back this brow? 

Whose breath blew out the light within this brain? 

Is this the Thing the Lord God made and gave 

To have dominion over sea and land; 

To trace the stars and search the heavens for power; 

To feel the passion of Eternity? 

Is this the dream He dreamed who shaped the suns 

And markt their ways upon the ancient deep? 

Down all the caverns of Hell to their last gulf 

There is no shape more terrible than this - 

More tongued with censure of the world's blind greed - 

More filled with signs and portents for the soul - 

More packt with danger to the universe. 

What gulfs between him and the seraphim! 

Slave of the wheel of labour, what to him 

Are Plato and the swing of Pleiades? 

What the long reaches of the peaks of song, 

The rift of dawn, the reddening of the rose? 

Thru this dread shape the suffering ages look, 

Time's tragedy is in that aching stoop; 

Thru this dread shape humanity betrayed, 

Plundered, profaned and disinherited, 

Cries protest to the Judges of the World, 

A protest that is also prophecy. 

O masters, lords and rulers in all lands, 

Is this the handiwork you give to God, 

This monstrous thing distorted and soul-quencht? 

How will you ever straighten up this shape; 

Touch it again with immortality; 

Give back the upward looking and the light; 

Rebuild in it the music and the dream; 

Make right the immemorial infamies, 

Perfidious wrongs, immedicable woes? 

O masters, lords and rulers in all lands, 

How will the future reckon with this Man? 

How answer his brute question in that hour 

When whirlwinds of rebellion shake all shores? 

How will it be with kingdoms and with kings - 

With those who shaped him to the thing he is - 

When this dumb Terror shall rise to judge the world, 

After the silence of the centuries? 

EDWIN MARKHAM

...
Be the change
you want to see in the world.
-- Mahatma Gandhi

Fw: [globalnews] will gm-food in Europe be labelled ?

[jsherry]

FRIENDS OF THE EARTH EUROPE

PRESS BRIEFING

WILL GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD BE LABELLED IN THE EU ?

Date: 3 June, 2002

Concerns: Vote in the EP's Environment Committee on labelling and the
traceability of GMO-food and animal feed, 4 June, 2002

INTRODUCTION

Friends of the Earth wants to draw your attention to an important
meeting of the European Parliament's (EP)  Committee on the Environment,
Public Health and Consumer Policy.  On 4 June this Committee will vote
upon two proposals by the European Commission concerning the
authorisation and labelling of  genetically modified food and animal
feed (1). To the Commission's proposals more than 532 amendments have
been tabled, indicating that genetically modified organisms (GMO's) in
food and feed are still a hotly debated and controversial issue.

Since the Environment Committee will vote upon all 532 amendments it is
expected that the vote will take more than two hours. After tomorrows
vote the plenary of the European Parliament will vote again on
(amendments to) the same proposals. This vote is expected in the
beginning of July.  Hence, tomorrow's vote is not the final one, but
will nevertheless be of  importance because it will give an indication
of the probable outcome of the parliamentary decision-making process on
GM-food and feed labelling.

WHAT IS AT  STAKE ?

The key-element in both proposals of the  European Commission is a
different approach to the labelling of  food and feed derived from
genetically modified organisms. Under the current legislation (Novel
Food Regulation 258/97) only food-products in which genetically modified
DNA or protein can be detected are subject to a labelling obligation.
Consequently, many products derived from GMO's, such as sugar,
vegetable-oils and corn flour do not have to be labelled.

The Commission now proposes to change this situation and bring the
labelling provisions for GM-food more in accordance with the general
principles laid down in European food safety law. The most important of
these principle is the traceability principle, which can be found in
Regulation 178/2002/EC. If adopted , the Commission's proposals will
ensure traceability of GMO's and of food and feed produced therefrom. It
would mean that operators throughout the food-chain (eg farmers,
transporters, processors, etc.) must inform the next operator that the
product is produced from GMO's. Such a traceability system will
facilitate accurate consumer labelling, environmental monitoring and, if
necessary, withdrawal of products.

If  the traceability  system is adopted by Parliament all food products
produced from  GMO's would have to be labelled, also if genetically
modified DNA or protein cannot be detected in the final products. The
implication would be that many food-products derived from GMO's (eg.
vegetable oils and sugar) that don't have to be labelled now would be
subject to a labelling obligation in the future. The Commission also
proposes to label animal feed, consisting of or produced from GMO's.
However, in the Commissions proposals consumer products (like milk, eggs
and meat) that are derived from animals raised on GM-animal feed are
excluded form the labelling provisions.

WHAT AMENDMENTS ARE TABLED BY THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ?

In different Parliamentarian Committees several Members of the European
Parliament (MEP's) tabled 55 amendments pressing for the restriction of
the labelling requirements and aiming at the removal of  the Commissions
proposals for a more comprehensive labelling system. Most of these
amendments were drafted by Conservative MEP's (EVP-ED) and by David
Bowe, a Social Democratic MEP who is taking a dissident position in the
PSE-fraction.  The most important argument put forward by the
EVP-ED-MEP's  and by Mr. Bowe is that only those products in which
genetically modified DNA or protein can be detected through chemical
tests should be subject to labelling. According to this MEP's any other
system is open to fraud. However, this argument is countered by the
European Commission by pointing at the fact that the traceability system
is already laid down in European food law and is applied to many
conventional products, such as fruits, vegetables and meat.

Another important group of amendments aims at an extension of the
labelling regime as proposed by the Commission. These amendments ( 15 in
total) call for labelling of food products derived from animals fed on
GM-feed. Such amendments were tabled  in different Parlementarian
Commissions by  Social Democratic and  Green MEP's.


WHAT IS THE EXPECTED OUTCOME OF TOMORROW'S VOTE ?

This is hard to predict. The vast majority of the Conservative MEP's are
against the traceability and extended labelling as posed by the
Commission. The vast majority of the Greens and the Socialists are in
favour of  such traceability. Moreover, they want to amend the
Commission's proposal and include food products, derived from animals
fed with GM-feed in the compulsory labelling scheme.

Fw: [globalnews] sacred circle dance & concert in nyc june 8th & 9th, 2002 (free events)

[jsherry]

does anyone know if there's a relationship btwn this paneurethymy and the
eurythmy of Steiner folks?

Jane
--


"The culture of the fellowship of all nations is coming.  They will all
consider themselves as members of one great family.  The stronger nations
will help the weaker ones.  All nations are organs of one cosmic Organism.
And as every organ has its assigned place, function and special mission, so
does each nation.  This idea is currently arising in the consciousness of
humankind,"   Beinso Douno (Peter Deunov)



The PanEuRhythmy Circle of Sacred Dance & The Earth Concert Project


Invitational

Concert of Sacred Music and PanEuRhythmy Workshop


The NYC Paneurhythmy Circle meets Sunday mornings in Central Park,
Spring through Fall Equinoxes.  There is no charge for participation.

Free events: Concert: Saturday June 8th and
Workshop: Sunday, June 9th, 2002



Dear Friends,

You are invited to share in the blessing of this uplifting, simple circle
dance, and to send blessings to the world by your participation.

PanEuRhythmy is a sacred dance. Its music and movements were given by Peter
Konstantinov Deunov (Beinsa Douno, 1864-1944, Bulgaria). The fundamental
principles of Deunov's teaching are Love, Wisdom and Truth. He was a
spiritual giant who touched many lives with his wisdom, purity and gentle
strength.


"Love brings life. Wisdom brings knowledge and light which help in the study
of the laws of Nature. Truth shining within the soul brings freedom from all
weakness and vice."

"There is nothing greater than these principles; there is no straighter or
surer path. In these three principles lies the salvation of the world."
Beinsa Douno

Paneurhythmy is a a series of circular/wave/spiral movements built around
spiritual concepts such as love, beauty, joy, celebration of life, etc. and
is performed by couples in a circle with musicians in the center. It
elevates participants to new levels of awareness of the body, mind, spirit
connection.

The PanEuRhythmy Circle of Sacred Dance gathers between Spring and Fall
Equinoxes in New York City on Sunday mornings in Central Park, on Cherry
Hill, to the northwest of Bethesda Terrace's "Angel of the Healing Waters"
Fountain; 72nd St. entrances, in the heart of the park.  Participants arrive
beginning about 9 a.m. and may remain until noon.

Please join us in a Summer PanEuRhythmy Celebration in New York City with
two events on June 8th and 9th. If you are in the area, join us for these
events, and if you are somehwere else on the planet, then please join us in
spirit. Please send this invitation to your friends that may be interested
in this celebration and may enjoy the harmonic synthesis of music, motion
and
poetry.  Both events are free and open to the public.

SATURDAY, JUNE 8th 2002 at 8:00 p.m.  CONCERT OF SACRED MUSIC

Artists: Bozhidar Simov - Classical Guitar, and Ina Doynova - Voice

Program includes: J.S. Bach, A. Barios-Mangore, L. Brouwer, B. Douno

Venue: Good Shepherd Faith Presbyterian Church
   152 West 66th St., Manhattan


SUNDAY, JUNE 9th 2002 at 9:30 a.m.  PANEURHYTHMY WORKSHOP

Workshop - Manhattan: Sunday: June 9th 2002, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.

9:30am-10:30 PanEuRhythmy Sacred Circle Dance
10:30-noon and 1-3pm Instruction in the Practise

Venue: Cherry Hill, Central Park  to the northwest of Bethesda
Fountain "Angel of the Healing Waters" fountain. (72nd Street
entrances, in the heart of the park.)


This is the first part of the current US tour for these Bulgarian
performance artists. The distinguished violinist Yoana Strateva will join
the above musicians in San Francisco for all other engagements. The tour
includes San Francisco, St. Louis, Washington, D.C., Virginia Beach and
other venues.   Numerous wonderful souls helped organize the tour so that
many may benefit and so contribute further to the sharing and spreading of
this majestic offering.

The complete schedule of the tour is located at:
http://www.everabooks.com/events

God is Love,

"Love brings life. Wisdom brings knowledge and light which help in the study
of the laws of Nature. Truth shining within the soul brings freedom from all
weakness and vice."

"There is nothing greater than these principles; there is no straighter or
surer path. In these three principles lies the salvation of the world."
Beinsa Douno

For more information and photos on PanEuRhythmy, see
http://1spirit.com/sananda/paneury.html

from
http://www.geocities.com/paneuritmia/eindex.html:

The word PanEuRhythmy means "supreme cosmic rhythm":

PAN means whole, all-over, cosmic.
EU means true, supreme, the essence from which everything arises.
RHYTHM means periodicity or correct regularity of movement.

Each PanEuRhythmy exercise has symbolic significance and expresses a
particular thought, feeling and action. It also reflects the Divine Spirit.
The PanEuRhythmy is a harmonious creative manifestation of the Divine in the
Universe. The circle of sacred dance is a symbol of the great Whe

Fw: [globalnews] 21 Year Swiss Study Shows Organic Farming Yields Ecological Benefits

[jsherry]

this actually mentions biodynamics & mycorrizhaie
---
Environmental News Service: Organic Farming Yields Fringe Benefits

  WASHINGTON, DC, June 3, 2002 (ENS) - A 21 year comparison
of farming methods has shown that organic farming produces crops that
average about 20 percent smaller than crops produced using conventional
methods. The study by Swiss scientists also found that organic farmers use
land far more efficiently and with less environmental impact than other
modern farmers.

  Unlike conventional farming, organic farming uses no
synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. The organic approach more than made up
the difference in crop yields through its ecological benefits, argue the
scientists who conducted the study.

In one of the longest running studies of its kind, Paul
Mäder of the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, in Frick,
Switzerland, and his colleagues compared the performance of agricultural
plots grown either with organic or with conventional methods.

 "There is a need to evaluate alternative farming systems
as a whole system in a scientific way. The most appropriate method to do
this is still to conduct long term experiments, which can be analyzed
statistically and performed under identical soil and climate conditions,"
Mäder explained. "Soil fertility and biodiversity develop slowly, and this
is why a long term study is essential."

  Mäder's team compared plots of cropland grown side by side
using different farming methods. The crops used included barley, beets,
grass clover, potatoes and winter wheat.

  Besides examining conventional farming and organic
farming, the authors also studied an organic approach called biodynamic
farming, based the environmental and spiritual philosophies of its inventor,
Rudolph Steiner. Crop rotation, varieties, and tillage were identical in all
the systems studied.

  Overall, the organic systems were able to produce more
with less energy and fewer resources, the researchers report. Their results
appear in the journal Science, published by the American Association for the
Advancement of Science.

  "These results should be encouraging for farmers, because
they can see that yields are stable over time, and that soil fertility has
increased," Mäder said.

  Over the course of the study, organic farmers added 34
percent to 51 percent less nitrogen, phosphorus and other nutrients to the
soil than conventional farmers. Even so, crop yields from organic systems
were just 20 percent lower than those from the conventional systems, which
Mäder said shows that the organic systems use their resources more
efficiently.

  The organic soils were also more fertile in other key
ways, such as hosting a larger and more diverse community of organisms,
Mäder and his colleagues report. This was true for soil microbes, which
govern the nutrient cycling reactions in soils, and for mycorrhizae, root
colonizing fungi that help plants absorb the nutrients.

  Mycorrhizae are fungi that colonize plant roots, helping
the plants absorb nutrients.
  These fungi were also at least partly responsible for the
more stable physical structure of the organic soils, the researchers said.
Earthworms, which help to aerate and turn over the soil, were more abundant
as well.
  Insects were almost twice as abundant and more diverse,
including pest eating spiders and beetles. Weed plants were more diverse in
the organic systems, and included some specialized and endangered species,
the researchers found.

  "Our results suggest that, by enhancing soil fertility,
organic farmers can help increase biodiversity," Mäder said.

  The organic soils also decomposed more efficiently, the
researchers found. This is an important feature of fertile soil, Mäder
explained, because the process releases nutrients and carbon to be used by
the plants and microbes.

  "The organic systems show efficient resource utilization
and enhanced floral and faunal diversity, features typical of mature
systems," wrote the researchers. "We conclude that organically manured,
legume based crop rotations utilizing organic fertilizers from the farm
itself are a realistic alternative to conventional farming systems."


  Organic produce, a mainstay at farmers' markets, must now
meet stricter standards in the United States. (Photo courtesy USDA)
  In Europe, both organic and biodynamic farming are
regulated by national governments, in accordance with standards set by the
European Union.
  In December 2000, the U.S. Department of Agriculture
finalized the United States' first national standards for organic foods,
barring not only the use of synthetic pesticides and ferti

Re: skunk advice

[jsherry]

gee wiz. that all sounds worse than I thought. Not going to use mothballs,
lutefisk, or other worse smelling stuff. I was hoping there was some
essential oil they didn't like like rosemary or eucalyptus or something we
like the smell of...

thanks for weighing in. Under the house sounds really awful. I guess this
would be one time I'm happy to have a basement.

Jane
- Original Message -
From: "Deborah Byron" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2002 10:36 AM
Subject: Re: skunk advice


Hi Jane,

Here we go with everything we've ever heard about repelling skunks.
I've been told that scattering mothballs around their favorite spots
will work but, of course, you have to keep reapplying the stuff.  Also
make sure they can't get into your garbage as that'll keep them coming
back for more.  Good luck--I've had the buggers take up residence under
my house during mating season and let me tell you they do know how to
party.

Deborah

skunk advice

[jsherry]

Hello all,
anyone know anything ab out skunk behavior? There seems to be a skunk(s)
that lurks right next to the house at both twilight hours, spraying right
outside the windows. It takes so long to get rid of the smell with an air
filter & windows shut, seems a shame not to have the evening air inside the
house. I am wondering what exactly is going on, what they're attracted to?

Last year, we observed a particular skunk that was fond of a new circular
flower bed we'd put right close to the house. He would wander through quite
leisurely. Perhaps there were yummy grubs he'd (she?) dig up? It was a piece
reclaimed from lawn, so I know there are nice juicy fat things to eat under
lawn...

any suggestions of what smells they don't like? I would just like to keep
them away from the windows. That smell doesn't do anything for me.

Thanks,
Jane

Re: But What Did the Cow Have for Lunch?

[jsherry]

I prefer eating wild venison over other game, but am wondering how much
longer I will think it safe to eat this, with your recent reports, Markess.

How is the hunter/gatherer struggle to wipe out the deer herd going?

Jane
- Original Message -
From: "Moen Creek" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "BDNow" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, June 03, 2002 10:11 PM
Subject: But What Did the Cow Have for Lunch?

Re: Spiritual Food For The New Millenium

[jsherry]

Apologies to Christy for the misspell...it's yr. last name starts with a
K...

sorry, Allan, can't find Christy's email to have sent this directly to
her...

BTW, Allan how did your babies survive that frost?

Jane
- Original Message -
From: "jsherry" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Bdnow" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, May 31, 2002 9:45 AM
Subject: Spiritual Food For The New Millenium

Spiritual Food For The New Millenium

[jsherry]

Hello to all you bdnow good food consumers,

I recently contacted SFNM to order the wonderful vital food I've missed from
Steiner-practicing-farmers in Victor & Linette Landa's network.

The food arrived so quickly that I called to say thanks and asked how come
it arrived so fast. Victor told me that orders were down and therefore it
was easier to fill the few orders more quickly. This alarmed me and I asked
if this was since the fallout over the trademarking, Demeter issue, which of
course it was.

So I am asking you (I think Kristy also mentioned this a few weeks back)
that we should ALL call or go to the website and order up!! (or at least
those of you in the US) Let's ensure this service stays viable so we can
continue to taste and enjoy this vital food-- some of which is even from
some of the farmers on this list!

Blessings on all your good work!

http://www.members.tripod.com/spiritual_food/spfindex.html

Call  888-384-9642 to order

Fw: [globalnews] Think Globally, Cultivate Local Food

[jsherry]

The Ecologist: Local Food, Global Solution

Increased international trade in food is putting the livelihoods of
small producers across the world at risk. The time has come for a return to
a more localised agricultural model.


For Anjamma, who had never before stepped outside her home
village, the constant flash from the cameras must have come as quite a
shock. But her surprise was nothing compared to the looks on the faces of
the reporters as she answered one of their questions. One of them asked what
she would do if the UK government's current plan for Indian agriculture went
ahead. There was a pause as the translator spoke to Anjamma in her language.
Anjamma thought for a second before giving the interpreter her answer. The
interpreter then turned back to the crowd of journalists and said: 'There
will be nothing for us to do other than to drink pesticide and die.'

Back home in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, Anjamma works
four acres of land with her seven children, two bullocks and eight buffalo.
She has no machines. This March Anjamma left her home for the first time,
and came to the UK with a delegation of farmers in the same situation as
her. The reason for the trip? To protest against UK development minister
Clare Short's plans to spend £65 million of UK taxpayers' money to turn
Andhra Pradesh into a massive food export zone. If Short's plan goes ahead,
then over the next two decades it is likely to destroy the livelihoods of
around 20 million farmers like Anjamma.

Speaking to the press conference, Anjamma made it quite clear
what Indian farmers really want. 'If Britain wants to give money,' she said,
'it should come to the farmers directly. That way we can keep our land, make
farms more fertile, buy more seed and become completely self-sufficient.
Instead, this is being denied to us in the name of modernisation.'

Anjamma's is a message that an increasing number of British
consumers are echoing each week in the ways they choose to buy their food.
In direct contrast to the way the UK government wishes to spend £65 million
of its taxpayers' money, British consumers now spend the same sum at local
farmers markets each year. Every penny of their money makes a clear
statement that, like Anjamma, more and more people in the UK want to know
that the food they put on the table was produced locally, and in ways that
they can trust.

UNFAIR TRADE
This growing call for the emphasis to be put back on local food
production, rather than international trade, is likely to form a contentious
backdrop to the debates at a Food and Agricultural Organisation of the
United Nations conference in Rome this month. In typically noble style, the
meeting has the stated aspiration of wishing 'to alleviate poverty and
hunger by supporting sustainable agricultural development'. Yet countless
similar meetings have happened before, and they all tend to articulate the
solution to world poverty as an increase in the international trade in food.

The idea that farmers can make more money by growing food for
export might, on the surface, seem a very sensible one. Unfortunately, it
just doesn't work. With more and more countries fighting for the same
markets, producers are forced to drop their prices in order to compete. The
result is not more money for farmers, but less. This can be vividly seen in
the coffee trade. Coffee is, after oil, the world's most valuable export.
Between 1995 and 2000, Vietnam used World Bank loans to triple its coffee
output. This made Vietnam the world's second largest producer of coffee
after Brazil. All well and good for the Vietnamese economy, one might think,
but what about the farmers in the other 49 Third World countries that
produce coffee? Well, world coffee prices have collapsed and 20 million
farmers worldwide now see their livelihoods at risk.

A similar story is unfolding in the case of tea. China already
provides 80 per cent of the green tea traded on the international market.
With growing Western interest in green and organic teas' health-giving
properties, China is now gearing up to meet an upsurge in demand. This is
even if it means flooding the market with tea at rock bottom prices so as to
ward off competitors like Sri Lanka and India.

It is not as if India doesn't have any other problems to worry
about. Following a complaint by the US, the WTO decided in 2000 that India
would have to remove trade barriers that previously protected its own, local
producers. Ever since, Indian farmers have found it harder and harder to
survive. Products that they once produced for the home market are now
undercut by cheaper imported alternatives. The country now ships in
Indonesian coconuts. The prices of coconuts in India have fallen by 80 per
cent as a result. Likewise coffee prices have collapsed by over 60 per cent,
and the price of pepper has plummeted by 45 per cent.

   

Fw: [globalnews] US Toxic Waste Production Increased by 8 Billion Pounds in 2000

[jsherry]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAY 23, 2002
12:44 PM
   CONTACT:  US Public Interest Research Group
Jeremiah Baumann, 202-546-9707 ext. 308




  Toxic Waste Production Increased by 8 Billion Pounds in 2000
  New Dioxin Data Show High Amounts of Hazardous Pollution

  WASHINGTON - May 23 - Toxic waste generated by U.S. industry jumped
more than 25% in 2000, according to data released today by the U.S. EPA. The
data, part of the federal Toxics Release Inventory, established by Congress
in 1986 as the nation's community right-to-know program, show about 38
billion pounds of toxic waste managed in 2000, with another 7.1 billion
pounds released directly to the air, land, and water. Louisiana led the
nation in toxic waste generated, with more than 9 billion pounds generated,
or approximately one quarter of the nation's toxic waste. Nevada led the
nation in direct releases, with 14% of the nation's pollution, mostly from
the mining industry.
  Analysis by U.S. PIRG, a public interest advocacy organization, showed
that current Bush administration proposals to weaken environmental
protections would hinder progress toward reducing this toxic pollution and
in some cases would exacerbate the pollution. The group argued that billions
of pounds of toxic chemicals released show the problems with current law
that make it nearly impossible to remove harmful chemicals from the market.

  "The billions of pounds of toxic pollution and toxic waste documented
today should show our decision-makers why we need a law that phases out the
use of the most toxic chemicals," said Jeremiah Baumann, environmental
health advocate for U.S. PIRG. "But instead, we have the Bush administration
letting the very companies that dump these chemicals into our environment
re-write our environmental and public health protections."

  In addition, thousands of facilities were required for the first time
in 2000 to report their releases of persistent toxic chemicals like dioxin
and mercury - chemicals that persist in ecosystems and accumulate in the
human body, dramatically increasing the chances of exposure and detrimental
health effects. Companies reported releasing 12 million pounds of these
persistent chemicals in 2000 and generated nearly 72 million pounds of waste
containing these chemicals.

  "For chemicals like dioxin and mercury, this toxic pollution is almost
guaranteed exposure," said Baumann. "These millions of pounds of toxic
pollution also demonstrate a major failing in current law - chemicals go
into use with little testing and regulators have almost no ability to get
them off the market." The Toxic Substances Control Act doesn't mandate
pre-market testing for toxic chemicals and makes it very difficult for EPA
to phase out or ban a chemical.

  A recently-signed international treaty would create a science-based
process for establishing protections from persistent toxic chemicals.
However, the Bush administration is proposing to implement the treaty in a
way that would address only a handful of the chemicals without establishing
a means of addressing the remaining persistent toxics.

  The 2000 data represent the first year that industries have been
required to report pollution and wastes containing dioxin. Dioxin is a
notorious chemical created in industrial processes that burn or use chlorine
or chlorinate materials, and is a highly potent cancer agent also linked to
damage to the reproductive, immune, and nervous systems. The chemical is not
only toxic, but persists in the environment and accumulates in the body to
such a degree that the World Health Organization estimates a "safe" daily
intake of the most toxic form of dioxin to be 1-4 trillionths of a gram per
kilogram of body weight. Polluters reported 495 thousand grams of dioxin
released to the environment or generated in toxic waste, with about 100
thousand grams released directly to air, land, and water. The Bush
administration has stalled on issuing a long-awaited final assessment of
dioxin's health threats, the release of which would trigger the first steps
toward developing new protections against dioxin exposure.

  Mercury pollution is also particularly striking in the new pollution
data: industries released 4.3 million pounds of mercury and mercury
compounds to the environment and generated 4.9 million pounds of mercury
compounds in toxic waste. By comparison, a teaspoon of mercury deposited
every year can contaminate a 20-acre lake to the point that fish are unsafe
to eat. A 2001 report by U.S. PIRG and the Environmental Working Group found
that fish contamination is already so high that eating fish exposes 1 in 4
pregnant women to levels of mercury that could threaten a developing fetus.
The Bush administration's "Clear Skies Initiative" would allow three times
more mercury pollution than full enforcement of the current Clean Air Act.

  The new toxic pollution data amplify concerns abo

Re: EU Suppresses GE Study

[jsherry]

Merla,
try going to the greenpeace website: http://www.greenpeace.org/~geneng/

- Original Message - 
From: "Merla Barberie" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "BD Now" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, May 28, 2002 4:10 AM
Subject: EU Suppresses GE Study


Hi all,

The email that Jane sent interested me very much, but it was so garbled
on my machine that I couldn't read it so I spent a few hours fixing it
(See below).  Jane, I couldn't figure out how to set up Tables A and B.
Could you help me?

Fw: [globalnews] Am I a Food Snob?

[jsherry]

Am I a Food Snob?
Jay Walljasper, Utne Reader
May 23, 2002

Let me start with a confession: Without Kraft Macaroni Dinner, Velveeta, and
Miracle Whip I couldn't have made it through college. I don't mean just that
I ate the stuff-I manufactured it. My tuition, rent, and living expenses
were paid with money saved from a summer job at the Kraft Foods factory in
Champaign, Illinois. In one sense, I owe my career and current middle-class
comfort to highly processed, preservative-filled, mass-produced, heavily
advertised industrial food.


So how did it happen that I now find myself snapping up organic radicchio,
heirloom tomatoes, and artisan cheese that costs more per pound than I used
to spend for a night on the town? Is it simply that my culinary appreciation
and ecological consciousness (not to mention wages) have risen since
college, or is something else going on? Have I joined ranks with yuppies who
think nothing of spending on a single meal of exquisitely prepared food and
fine wine what an inner-city family needs for a month of groceries?


Well, not exactly. I still can't tell a Merlot from a Medoc, and the stove
in our kitchen is so old that repairmen refuse to work on it. (Luckily,
three burners still light, although when we bake we have to prop a chair
against the oven door to keep it closed.) So, no wave of guilt overtakes me
in the checkout line when I pay a little more for milk without pesticides or
a loaf of delicious red-onion-and-rosemary sourdough bread.


I did pay attention, however, when a headline in my food co-op's newsletter
recently asked, "Why did you buy the fancy red leaf lettuce when you can buy
chopped bagged iceberg for half the cost?"


Mark Muller, the article's author, recounts how relatives question his
purchases of natural and organic food. "Have I lost touch with mainstream
America?" he asks. "Have I become an elitist -- a food snob?"


FOOD REMAINS ONE of the most significant badges of class in American life.
Wealthy, educated urbanites who would never permit themselves to poke fun at
welfare mothers or immigrants freely make cracks about spongy white bread
and Miracle Whip, which were staples in the cupboard when I was growing up.
While I am eternally grateful to have discovered baguettes and aioli (both
of which originated as peasant fare in France), I'm not surprised at the
trepidation (and occasional hostility) many working-class and rural
Americans feel toward new and unusual foods.


Muller explains that his own path to alleged food snobbery began with
microbrew beers, which taste so much better than big corporate brands
they're worth the extra cost. "I later made the jump into high-quality
food," he says. "I find the increased cost small compared to the health
benefits, the better taste, and the pleasure of shopping in small co-ops
rather than crowded grocery stores."


Still, he adds, family back in Iowa "worry that we are wasting our money. .
.There are also larger, unspoken concerns-that eating these expensive
organic foods is wasteful and counters our moral obligation to 'feed the
world.'"


Muller, a trained environmental engineer who works at the Institute for
Agriculture and Trade Policy, decided to investigate whether his taste for
natural foods in any way worsens hunger in developing nations or harms poor
families and hard-hit farmers here at home.


He notes that in North America food has been transformed into a commodity,
just like standard half-inch nails or AAA batteries. A pound of lean
hamburger in one place is supposed be like a pound of lean hamburger in
another, the only difference being perhaps price. But this fails to take
into account a whole host of environmental, health, and taste factors.


"Aficionados of cars, stereos, and televisions would not stand for someone
claiming that they are all the same," Muller notes. So why would we expect
that to be the case with hamburger or eggs or tomatoes?


"Yes, we are blessed with some of the least expensive food in the world, but
that comes with a cost," he adds. The cost includes pesticide poisoning,
destruction of topsoil, desecration of the countryside, and greenhouse gas
emissions from long-distance transportation.


Current agricultural policies, which deliver cheap food via staggering
taxpayer-funded subsidies to large industrial-scaled farm operations, are
driving family farmers and the stable rural cultures they once supported to
extinction. The public's growing interest in organic and locally grown foods
is actually one of the few bright spots on the horizon for small farmers and
small towns.


Little of this cheap food produced on megafarms finds its way to starving
people in the Southern Hemisphere. Muller discovered that the top three
recipients of U.S. agricultural exports are Japan, the European Union, and
Canada, and that none of the top 10 are nations considered undernourished.
"We produce food for people who are able to pay for it, and sometimes use
food as a strategic political too

Fw: [globalnews] EU Suppresses GE Study Showing GE Crops Increase Costs, Threaten Organic

[jsherry]

The Executive Summary of this Suppressed Study is at the Bottom of this
message!

Greenpeace International: EU suppresses GE study:
GE crops add high costs, threaten organic

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, 16 May 2002 - A secret European Union (EU) study leaked
to Greenpeace states that all farmers would face high additional, in some
cases unsustainable costs of production if genetically engineered (GE) crops
were commercially grown in a large scale in Europe. The study predicts that
the situation would become particularly critical for organic farming of
oilseed rape as well as for intensive production of conventional maize.
The study was ordered in May 2000 by the EU Commission, to examine the
co-existence of GE and non-GE crops. It was carried out by the Institute for
Prospective Technological Studies of the EU Joint Research Centre.

When the study was delivered to the EU Commission in January 2002, it came
with the recommendation that it not be made public.

Lorenzo Consoli, EU policy advisor for Greenpeace sais that, "The European
Commission has tried to keep this study secret because it was afraid of its
political
implications."

"The question is, if the introduction of GE crops on a commercial scale in
Europe increases costs of production for all farmers, makes them more
dependent on the big seed companies, and require complicated and costly
measures to avoid contamination, why should we accept GE cultivation in the
first place?" asked Consoli.

The EU study states that in oilseed rape production the co-existence of GE
and non-GE crops in a same region, even when "technically possible", would
be "economically difficult." This is because of the additional costs and
complexity of changes required in farming practices in order to avoid
genetic contamination.

Both organic and conventional farmers "would probably be forced to stop
saving seed and instead buy certified seed", because of the increased risk
of GE impurity for seeds that have been exposed to field contamination. The
study predicts that smaller farms would face relatively higher costs
compared to larger entities, and that cultivation of GE and non-GE crops in
the same farm "might be an unrealistic scenario, even for larger farms."

The Executive Summary of this Suppressed Study Follows:

Co-existence in European Agriculture Summary



SUMMARY



Background, objectives and scope



1. If genetically modified (GM) crops eventually increase their share in EU
agriculture, adventitious

presence of GM varieties in non-GM seeds and crops might become an issue.
Therefore there is a

need to find appropriate measures at the farm level to minimise adventitious
presence of GM

crops.

2. The objectives of this study, covering three model crops, are to

- identify sources and estimate levels of adventitious presence of GM crops
in non-GM crops at

farm level,

- identify and assess changes of farming practices that could reduce
adventitious presence of

GM crops in non-GM crops below policy-relevant thresholds,

- estimate costs of relevant changes in farming practices, costs of
monitoring systems and costs

of potential insurance systems to cover possible financial losses due to
adventitious presence

of GM crops in non-GM crops.

3. The study covers three arable crops, with several farm types for each
crop in representative

production areas of the EU:

- winter oilseed rape (OSR) for seed production (certified and farm-saved
seed) (France,

Germany)

- grain maize for feed production (Italy, France)

- potato for direct consumption and food processing (UK, Germany)

4. The three model crops have been studied on different conventional and
organic farm types,

representing the average farm context for each of the different production
forms in the selected

geographical areas (certified and farm-saved OSR seed, intensive and
nonintensive maize

cultivation, early and regular potatoes). For a better comparison similar
farm and plot sizes have

been assumed for conventional and organic farms. Additionally smaller
organic farm types have

been studied to reflect the actual situation in some Member States.



General Findings



5. Sources of adventitious presence of GM crops in non-GM crops at farm
level are seed impurities,

spread of pollen and seeds from field to field by wind, insects and
machines, overwintering of

plants and plants growing from spread seeds as well as mixing of crops after
harvest.

6. The percentage of GMOs grown in the region represents an important
factor, already a level of 10

% GM varieties in the region causes significant levels of GMO content in
non-GM crops. Two

scenarios of 10 % or 50 % share of GM crops in the region were analysed. A
share of 50 %

mimics the current situation in countries which adopted GM crops readily
(e.g. in 2000, GM

soybeans represented about 54 % of the American soybean acreage, GM rape
seed represented

about 50 % of the Canadian rape seed acreage) and is the principal scenario
examined in the study,

whil

Fw: [globalnews] Industrial Agriculture Poisons Our Water and Homes

[jsherry]

Waterkeeper Alliance

Industrial Agriculture: Poisoning
Our Waters and Our Homes
WATERKEEPER ALLIANCE

American food production is undergoing the most dramatic consolidation in
our history. Industrial meat factories and corporate controlled farms are
replacing family, "hands-on" farms. These facilities are owned by or
indentured to a handful of giant corporations with little or no interest in
socially responsible agriculture. Their livestock factories contaminate
water bodies across the nation with nutrients, pesticides, antibiotic
residues and other pollutants.

One of the nation's largest environmental problems stems from the vast
amounts of waste generated at Confined Animal Feeding Operations, or CAFOs.
These facilities shoehorn thousands of animals into barns full of small
pens, where they are fed nutrient rich imported feed, laced with antibiotics
and growth stimulants. Waste from these facilities is often piped into open
pits, euphemistically called "lagoons," and then applied to adjacent fields.
Nutrient and pesticide laden animal waste contaminates streams, lakes and
rivers, local groundwater, and ultimately, has created a New Jersey-sized
dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.

Waterkeeper Alliance's campaign against this threat began in 1993 with Rick
Dove, the first Neuse Riverkeeper. When Rick retired from the United States
Marine Corps, he picked up his childhood dream of becoming a commercial
fisherman on North Carolina's Neuse River. Rick's dream was soon crushed as
pollution from industrial hog production contaminated his beloved river,
rendering the fish he caught unfit for market. Even worse, the nutrient rich
waters spawned an outbreak of Pfiesteria piscicidia, a micro-organism that
causes lesions in infected fish, and poisons humans as well. Pfiesteria
kills fish, and brings disabling illness to fishermen, bridge workers and
people enjoying the state's rivers.

Over the past two years, Waterkeeper Alliance has initiated a series of
lawsuits targeting waste disposal at large hog facilities. In February 2001,
the Alliance filed a lawsuit in federal district court for the Eastern
District of North Carolina. Our suit claims that Smithfield Foods, the
nation's largest hog producer, has polluted local waterways in violation of
the Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA),
two of the nation's primary environmental laws. In September 2001, District
Court Judge Malcolm Howard rejected Smithfield's attempt to have the case
dismissed; the case will proceed to trial late in 2002.

In the months and years since that initial commitment, the Alliance has
launched a national campaign designed to reform this industry, to restore
healthy landscapes and waterways, and to return good stewardship, prosperity
and democracy to America's rural communities. Waterkeeper Alliance partners
with family farm advocates, environmental groups, animal welfare advocates
and private citizens who are concerned about rural life in America.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT
Consumers have the real power to solve this environmental and social crisis.
As you buy meat, milk, cheese, and produce take the extra step to learn more
about it. Where did it come from? Were pesticides, chemical fertilizers,
hormones or antibiotics used? Your choices at the market can make a big
difference in the struggle to keep agriculture healthy and sustainable.
Hands-on farmers, using proven techniques that reduce chemical use and
animal cruelty, are the strongest link between healthy food and a secure
environment. Please, think twice before buying corporate pork and other
factory grown food!

WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW !!
We have YOU and THE LAW on our side, and with generous financial support
form concerned people like yourself, we'll be able to continue our efforts
to rein in this industry.




...
Be the change
you want to see in the world.
-- Mahatma Gandhi

Fw: [globalnews] Water Wars: The Next Major Mideast Conflict

[jsherry]

The next major conflict in the Middle East
  Water Wars

  A Lecture by Adel Darwish- Geneva conference on Environment and
Quality of Life June 1994.

  Oil has always been thought of as the traditional cause of conflict in
the Middle East past and present. Since the first Gulf oil well gushed in
Bahrain in 1932, countries have squabbled over borders in the hope that
ownership of a patch of desert or a sand bank might give them access to new
riches. No longer. Now, most borders have been set, oil fields mapped and
reserves accurately estimated - unlike the water resources, which are still
often unknown. WATER is taking over from oil as the likeliest cause of
conflict in the Middle East.

  When President Anwar Sadat signed the peace treaty with Israel in
1979, he said Egypt will never go to war again, except to protect its water
resources. King Hussein of Jordan has said he will never go to war with
Israel again except over water and the Untied Nation Secretary General
Boutros Boutros-Ghali has warned bluntly that the next war in the area will
be over water.

  From Turkey, the southern bastion of Nato, down to Oman, looking out
over the Indian Ocean, the countries of the Middle East are worrying today
about how they will satisfy the needs of their burgeoning industries, or
find drinking water for the extra millions born each year, not to mention
agriculture, the main cause of depleting water resources in the region.

  All these nations depend on three great river systems, or vast
underground aquifers, some of which are of `fossil water' that cannot be
renewed.

  Take the greatest source of water in the region, the Nile. Its basin
nations have one of the highest rate of population growth which are likely
to double in less than thirty years, yet the amount of water the Nile brings
is no more than it was when Moses was found in the bulrushes.

  The shortage:

  Although all natural water resources are replenished through the
natural hydrological cycle, their renewal rate ranges from days to
millennia. The average renewal rate for rivers are about 18 days - that is
to renew every drop taken out - while for large lakes and deep aquifer they
can span thousand years.

  The world's oldest reserves such as the Nubian aquifer in North Africa
were filled when water infiltrated the earth's subsurface in past geological
years. When we refer to fossil water in an aquifer, it is water trapped
since the ice age and there is no certainty how long it would take to
replenish them, thus it safe to conclude that mining their water is only a
temporary solution.

  The oil boom in the Gulf and other Middle Eastern states, desalination
became an industry. In 1990 over 13 million cubic meter were produced each
day world wide using 7,500 plants, yet this represents just under one
thousandth of fresh water consumption per day.

  Water scarcity: In general a country with less than 1,700 cubic meter
per capita is regarded as experiencing water stress, while less than 1000
cubic meter is regarded as water shortage.

  Water scarcity or availability is based on measurements of stream flow
within countries in question, with evaporation calculated based on local
climate and subtracted from the total. Dr Malin Falkenmark expresses the
thresholds as number of people per ``flow unit'' of water, a unit equal to
one million cubic meters per year. Dr Falkenmark uses 600 or more persons
per floe unit as an indicator of water stress, 1000 or more persons per flow
unit as an indicator of water scarcity and 2000 or more per flow unit as
absolute scarcity. But most reports - and the methods used in publications -
usually reverse the ratio of people per flow unit, expressing the figure as
the amount of water available per capita. So reversing the first two
equations yields fewer than 1,667 cubic meter per person per annum as an
indicator of water stress ( again this figure is rounded up to 1700) and
1000 or fewer cubic meters per person as an indicator of scarcity.

  In the case of Renewable fresh water resources there is no universal
uniform on it since there is no international consensus on how to define and
measure renewable fresh water resources.

  * The list of water-scarce countries in 1955 were seven including
three Middle Eastern countries : Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait.

  By 1990, 13 were added among them eight from the Middle East :
Algeria, Israel/Palestine , Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Tunisia, United
Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

  UN studies anticipate to add another 10 countries by the year 2025
seven of them are from the Middle east : Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Libya,
Morocco, Oman and Syria. This mean that by the year 2025 some eighteen
countries in this troublesome region will suffer from water shortages.

  * The Annual Renewable fresh water Available Per Person ranked by 1990
Availability in Cubic Metres

  Country 1955 1990 2025

  Kuwait 147 23 9

Re: MARK PURDEY

[jsherry]

did y'all know that there's an article on Manganese at the Price Foundation
website? http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/manganese.html


- Original Message -
From: "bdnow" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, May 24, 2002 7:46 AM
Subject: MARK PURDEY: Motivation to write faster! ;-)

Fw: [globalnews] Searching for Water falls web sites & networks

[jsherry]

- Original Message - 
From: "APFEJ" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Sri Lanka Environmental Journalists Forum" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, May 24, 2002 9:03 AM
Subject: [globalnews] Searching for Water falls web sites & networks


Hi;all,

I am a moderator of World Environmental Journalists Egroup(WEJEG)
 
and President of the Asia Pacific Forum Of Environmental 
Journalists(APFEJ)Hq in Sri Lanka.
And also founder of Sri Lanka Environmental Journalists Forum(SLEJF).

I have introduce new concepts of environmental journalism and 
ethnic reporting in Sri Lanka.I am engaged as the editor of 
Sri Lanka's one and only environmental monthly since 1992.
I have published over dozen of eco books including Sri lanka's
first glossary of eco terms and citizen's report.

Also i am now in the process of editing a book on
Waterfalls of Sri Lanka.This will be publish in July,2002.
In my research i have found that we have in all 340 waterfalls
in Sri Lanka.Can anyone recommend a good reference on waterfalls web sites 
and national,regional or International networks on waterfalls.
This also will be of interrest to our readers.That might be used as a 
yardstick to measure world's interests in waterfalls.

Cheers,

Dharman Wickremaretne.
P.O.Box 26
434/3 Sri Jayawardenapura 
Sri Lanka.
E-mail :- <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

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Re: Urban manure

[jsherry]

I would assume elephant/circus animal poo would be full of pharmaceuticals
plus factor in misery.

Jane
- Original Message -
From: "Allan Balliett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, May 22, 2002 11:37 PM
Subject: Re: Urban manure


>Zoo doo. Sure. Elephant doo is great stuff, similar to cow.

Help me here, a serious question 'caue I'm no zoologist: are
elephants ruminants? Cud chewing bliss beasts filled with beneficial
micro-organisms?  -Allan

Fw: Finally Proof Fluoride INCREASES CAVITIES!

[jsherry]

Subject: Finally Proof Fluoride INCREASES CAVITIES!
>
> - Original Message -
> From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 07, 2002 5:27 AM
> Subject: News Release
>
>
> > Dentists Show Fluoridation a Failure
> >
> > NEW YORK, May 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Unintentionally, studies by
> dentist/researchers
> > indicate fluoridation fails to reduce tooth decay, especially in the
poor,
> > reports the New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation. Also,
> fluoride,
> > above that found in toothpaste, confers no alleged benefit to the
> > majority(14).
> >
> >  *  In CONNECTICUT, 88.8% fluoridated for decades, cavity rates
> > increased -- average number of decayed, missing, or filled tooth
> > surfaces (dmfs) increased from 2.8 to 3.0 and average dmfs in
> > cavity-positive children increased substantially from
> > 5.7 to 7.9, recently reported(1) by Connecticut Dentists.
> >
> >  *  In fluoridated NEWBURGH, NEW YORK, despite 50 years of
> fluoridation,
> > many children have more cavities than never-fluoridated
Kingston,
> > New York, according to a New York State Department of
> > Health study(2).
> >
> >  *  National cavity rates average 1.4 DMFT (decayed, missing,
> > filled teeth)(3) in over 62% fluoridated U.S.A.
> >
> >  *  A FLORIDA fluoridated county -- Three- to five-year olds studied
> > averaged 3.05 to 4.05 dmfs(4). (Children have 128 tooth
surfaces,
> in
> > 28 teeth. So, dmfs is a more sensitive cavity counter than dmft.
> Some
> > teeth have five surfaces.)
> >
> >  *  Non-fluoridated LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK, second-graders are more
> > cavity-free than nationally(5) ranging from no cavities to 0.6
> dmfs
> > in 1987-88.
> >
> >  *  NEW YORK CITY, fluoridated for decades, 7-8 year-olds averaged
> > 2.43 to 3.14 dft (decayed, filled primary teeth) 1993, according
> to
> > "Dispelling the Myth that 50 Percent of US Schoolchildren Have
> Never
> > Had a Cavity," by dentists Edelstein and Douglass(6).
> >
> >  *  Edelstein and Douglass cite studies that show:
> >  1.  CALIFORNIA, the fluoridated parts -- 4.80 dfs in a group of
> >  3- to 5-year olds -- 1990.
> >  2.  Fluoridated NORTH CAROLINA -- peak rates of 5.3 for
> >  9-year-old males and 4.7 for 8-year-old females -- 1990
> >  3.  Fluoridated TENNESSEE -- Peak rates of 7.26 dfs and 2.61
dft
> at
> >  age 7
> >
> >  *  Fluoridated TENNESSEE -- five- to eleven-year-olds averaged
> > 6.94 dfs(7)
> >
> >  *  Fluoridated IOWA -- low socioeconomic 8-year-olds 4.0 dfs(8)
> >
> >  *  Nonfluoridated FINLAND decay rates lower than U.S. -- 1.1 dmft
for
> > 5-year-olds and 0.2 DMFT for 6-year-olds.(10)
> >
> >  *  UGANDAN (Africa) 10- to 14-year-old children, with water their
> only
> > fluoride source, have less cavities than U.S children(9) that
> increase
> > along with greater water fluoride levels.
> >
> >  *  IRELAND, 73% fluoridated -- 12-year-olds are more cavity-prone
> than
> > 12-year-olds in four non-fluoridated European countries and 10%
> > fluoridated U.K.(11).
> >
> >  *  Cavities declined WORLD-WIDE, even in non-fluoridated countries
> (See:
> > http://www.fluoridealert.org/abstracts.htm#industrialized).
> >
> >  *  U.S. children are over-fluoridated(12). Yet, "(t)he nation's
> dentists
> > are beginning to notice an alarming rise in cavities among
> children
> > and teens," reports the Wall Street Journal(13).
> >
> > "It's pointless to fluoridate water when the documented health risks of
> > fluoride far overshadow any possible benefit, if any," says lawyer Paul
S.
> > Beeber, President, NYS Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation. "Lack of
> fluoride
> > is not associated with tooth decay, and fluoride won't help a poor diet
as
> > these studies and reports show," says Beeber
> >
> > References on our website:
> > http://www.enn.com/direct/display-release.asp?id=6812
> >
> > SOURCE NYS Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation
> >
> > /CONTACTS: Paul Beeber, NYS Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation,
> > +1-516-433-8882, [EMAIL PROTECTED];
> >
> >  David Kennedy, DDS, Preventive Dental
> > Health Association, +1-619-222-8177, [EMAIL PROTECTED] /
> >
> > /Web site: http://www.orgsites.com/ny/nyscof
> >
> > http://www.fluoridealert.org
> >
> > http://emporium.turnpike.net/P/PDHA/health.htm /
>
> IMPORTANT NOTE PLEASE--''Here's our latest news release. You can
distribute it anywhere you'd like.  However, IF IT IS POSTED ON AN INTERNET
SITE, please REMOVE THE PHONE NUMBERS.''

OFF: [Fwd: FW: poem]

[jsherry]

> >
> > AN OPEN LETTER TO JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF
> > THE UNITED STATES
> >
> > On January 28, 2002, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced that he
> > spent
> > $8,000 of taxpayer's money for drapes to cover up the exposed breast
> > of The
> > Spirit of Justice, an 18 ft aluminum statue of a woman that stands in
> > the Department of Justice's Hall of Justice.
> >
> > John, John, John,
> > you've got your priorities all wrong.
> > While men fly airplanes into skyscrapers,
> > dive bomb the pentagon,
> > while they stick explosives into their shoes,
> > and then book a seat right next to us,
> > while they hide knives in their luggage,
> > steal kids on school buses,
> > take little girls from their beds at night
> > drive trucks into our state capital buildings,
> > while our president calls dangerous men all over the world
> > evildoers and devils,
> > while we live in the threat of biological warfare
> > nuclear destruction,
> > annihilation,
> > you are out buying yardage
> > to save Americans
> > from the appalling
> > alarming, abominable
> > aluminum alloy of evil,
> > that terrible ten foot tin tittie.
> > You might not be able to find Bin Laden
> > But you sure as hell found the hooter in the hall of justice.
> >
> > It's not that we aren't grateful
> > But while we were begging the women of Afghanistan
> > To not cover up their faces
> > You are begging your staff members to
> > Just cover up that nipple
> > To save the American people
> >   From that monstrous metal mammary
> > How can we ever thank you?
> >
> > So, in your office every morning
> > in your secret prayer meeting
> > while an American woman is sexually assaulted every 6 seconds
> > while anthrax floats around the post office
> > and settles in the chest of senior citizens,
> > you've got another chest on your mind.
> > While American sons arrive home in body bags
> > and heat seeking missiles
> > fly around a foreign country
> > looking for any warm body
> > you think of another body.
> > And you pray for the biggest bra in the world John
> > because you see that breast on the spirit of justice
> > in the spirit of your
> > own inhibited sexuality.
> > And when we women see
> > our grandmothers, our mothers, our daughters, our granddaughters,
> > our sisters, ourselves,
> > when we women see that
> > statue the spirit of justice
> > we see the spirit of strength
> > the spirit of survival.
> > While every day
> > we view innocent bodies dragged out of rubble
> > and women and children laid out
> > like thin limp dolls
> > and baptized into death as collateral damage
> > and the hollow eyed Afghani mother's milk has dried
> > up underneath her burka
> > in famine in shame
> > and her children are dead at her breast.
> >
> > While you look at that breast John
> > that jug on the spirit of justice
> > and deal with your thoughts of lust
> > and sex and nakedness
> > we see it as a testimony to motherhood
> > And you see it as a tit.
> >
> > It's not the money it cost.
> > It's the message you send:
> > We've got the right to live in freedom.
> > We've got the right to cheat Americans out
> > of millions of dollars and then
> > not tell congress about it.
> > We've got the right
> > to drop bombs night and day
> > on a small country that has no army,
> > no navy, no military at all,
> > because we've got the right to bear arms.
> > But we just better not even think
> > about the right to bare breasts.
> > So now John you can be photographed
> > while you stand there and talk about
> > guns and bombs and poisons
> > without the breast appearing over your right shoulder
> >
> > without that bodacious bosom bothering you
> > and we just wanted to tell you
> > in the spirit of justice
> > in the spirit of truth
> > John there is still one very big boob left standing there in that
> > picture.
> >
> >  Claire Braz-Valentine
>
>--
>Kalindi Trietley, EdS, LPC
>Co-Director, Counseling and Student Support
>University of Michigan Medical School
>(734) 936-1513
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>




_
MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: 
http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx

Fw: [globalnews] UN Warns of Water Wars

[jsherry]

The Sunday UK Times - World

May 19, 2002

UN in warning on water wars



THE United Nations is to publish an "apocalyptic" warning on the
global impact of environmental damage this week. It predicts a surge in the
incidence of wars, famine and other catastrophes linked to humanity's
over-exploitation of nature, writes Jonathan Leake.
The study predicts that the next three decades will see water
wars destabilising the Middle East and famine having the same effect on much
of Africa and Asia. In the natural world, most of the world's coral reefs,
rainforests and fisheries face destruction.

The Global Environmental Outlook report is the most dramatic
issued by the United Nations. It portrays various scenarios of which the
worst - the result of doing nothing to halt current trends - is described by
insiders as "apocalyptic". The report is backed by 1,000 scientists who have
drawn up its findings based on data collected around the world.

The study is to be launched in London this Wednesday by Klaus
Topfer, executive director of the United Nations environment programme.

It will be followed by a keynote speech from Margaret Beckett,
the environment secretary, who will support its findings and commit Britain
to sustainable development



...
Be the change
you want to see in the world.
-- Mahatma Gandhi

Re: Mark Purdey in OZ: To the Ends of the Earth part 1

[jsherry]

Dear Mark & Allan,
thanks for this extraordinary story, and the generous work you both do on
behalf of the world. I look forward to hearing more from Mark.

Blessings,
Jane
- Original Message -
From: "Allan Balliett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, May 20, 2002 7:25 PM
Subject: Mark Purdey in OZ: To the Ends of the Earth part 1


>
>
>To the Ends of the Earth 1.
>
>

Re: OFF: [globalnews] IMF and World Bank Blamed for Health Crisis

[jsherry]

Is there some reason you are unable to think these things through for
yourself?

Jane
- Original Message -
From: "Doug & Jay" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, May 20, 2002 6:24 PM
Subject: RE: OFF: [globalnews] IMF and World Bank Blamed for Health Crisis


"The policies dictated by the World Bank and IMF
exacerbated poverty, providing fertile ground for
the spread of HIV/AIDS..."

Pardon me, but I thought that copulation of some sort with an infected
person caused the spread of AIDS.  Now, it appears that poverty causes AIDS.
  Oh, wait a minute, maybe the author is saying that only poor people
copulate.  Or, maybe poor people have more time to copulate.

"These institutions must be made
accountable for their role in causing the worst
health crisis in human history, which Africa now
faces."

Are these poor people at all responsible for their behavior, ie, who they
copulate with?

If these poor people had more money, do you suppose they would stop
copulating and spreading AIDS?  I doubt it!


Doug

Fw: [globalnews] EU Caving in to US on GM Food

[jsherry]

Subject: [globalnews] EU Caving in to US on GM Food
(From Le Monde Diplomatique)

The United States wants the European Union to lift its 1998 moratorium on
the import of new genetically modified organisms. This is one-sided free
trading - as at the same time the US is adopting protectionist measures to
help its steel industry. The EC, far from resisting, is doing its
undemocratic best to help the US.
by SUSAN GEORGE *





The United States declaration of unlimited war on terrorism was not the only
outcome of the 11 September attacks. Appealing to patriotism also enabled
President Bush to squeeze a bill through the House of Representatives, by
only 216 votes to 215, giving him trade promotion (formerly called fast
track) authority. If the Senate follows suit, the executive will be entitled
to negotiate international trade agreements without interference from
Congress, which will have no power of amendment. Congress will have to
accept or reject the texts as they stand, and outright rejection is
unlikely. Without such authority, it is argued, US negotiators lack
credibility, as their partners will fear negotiated agreements may be
vitiated by Congressional amendments.

With Congress still to take its final decision, the ministerial conference
of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), held last November in Doha, Qatar,
was another slap in the face for the opponents of neo-liberal globalisation
and a success for the business lobby. It launched a new round of
comprehensive negotiations, called the Doha Development Round, to take over
from the Millennium Round that failed in Seattle in December 1999. Of the
areas it covered, the environment is probably the most sensitive in the
immediate future.

Mention of the environment in the final declaration of the Doha conference
was mainly due to pressure from the European Union, backed by Japan, Norway
and Switzerland. India was strongly opposed to it, followed by most of the
developing countries and the US. But the cost of securing a mention of the
environment was very high. This was because of the inclusion of an important
rider making the results of future negotiations on compatibility between WTO
rules and multilateral environmental agreements binding only on countries
that have already signed MEAs - which is reason enough for all countries to
follow the example of the US and not sign, or renege. It was also because,
totally contradicting the stated aims, there is a risk of the WTO gaining
the upper hand over MEAs. And that is just what big businesses, especially
biotech firms, hope for.

Pascal Lamy, the European commissioner for trade, shares this perspective.
Before the signing of the Doha declaration, he wrote to his friend Robert
Zoellick, the US trade representative: "You have informed me of your
government's deep concern that Europe might use the negotiations decided on
in Doha to justify illegitimate barriers to trade, particularly trade in
biotechnological products and application of the commercial clauses of
present or future multilateral agreements on biosecurity. As the European
Commission's negotiator, I am writing to assure you that will not be the
case. I can also assure you I shall not use the negotiations to change the
balance of rights and obligations within the WTO with regard to the
precautionary principle" (1).

The last sentence speaks volumes. It means that there is no question of the
EU calling for the precautionary principle to be strengthened, no question
of the EU demanding that the burden of proof in biosecurity be reversed. So
any country or group of countries not wishing to import a given product
(like the EU and hormone-treated beef) will continue to be required to prove
that the product is dangerous. And the exporter will still be exempt from
any obligation to prove it is harmless. This was no doubt the return
demanded by Washington for its agreement to mention the environment in the
declaration.

The EU's capitulation on this issue may soon impact genetically modified
organisms (GMOs). Lamy's consideration for the US is not entirely
reciprocated. Barely a month after Doha, Zoellick announced that the Bush
administration was considering filing a complaint about Europe's alleged
delays in authorising imports of new GMOs, and its directives about
traceability and labelling.

The EU has effectively maintained a moratorium on the import of new GMOs
since 1998. In fact, the measures on traceability and labelling put to the
EU council and the European parliament last July, not yet implemented, are
the commission's chosen method of opening the door to new imports. By
enabling Europe's consumers to choose between products that do or do not
contain GMOs, the EU is attempting to make its policy acceptable. But the US
remains adamant: it is not prepared to countenance a moratorium or rules on
traceability and labelling. GMOs are harmless. End of story (2).

At present

OFF:Fw: [globalnews] IMF and World Bank Blamed for Worst Health Crisis in History

[jsherry]

FOREIGN POLICY IN FOCUS
http://www.fpif.org/

What's in the News at FPIF?
May 16, 2002

**IMF and World Bank Blamed for Worst Health
Crisis in History

Salih Booker, FPIF Advisory Committee member,
says, "The IMF and World Bank have much to answer
for. Many of the strongest critiques come from
Africans, although they have little opportunity to
travel to Washington to demonstrate. The policies
of the World Bank and IMF have eroded Africa's
health care systems and intensified the poverty of
Africa's people. These institutions must be made
accountable for their role in causing the worst
health crisis in human history, which Africa now
faces."

Africa Action has launched a new campaign called
"Africa's Right to Health Campaign." The campaign
is based information on a new position paper,
Hazardous to Health: The World Bank and IMF in
Africa, published by Africa Action and written by
Ann-Louise Colgan. According to this new paper,
"The policies dictated by the World Bank and IMF
exacerbated poverty, providing fertile ground for
the spread of HIV/AIDS and other infectious
diseases. Cutbacks in health budgets and
privatization of health services eroded previous
advances in health care and weakened the capacity
of African governments to cope with the growing
health crisis. Consequently, during the past two
decades the life expectancy of Africans has
dropped by 15 years."

For information about Africa Action's campaign and
to read the new report, go to:
http://www.africaaction.org/action/campaign.htm

For analysis by Salih Booker and other Africa
Action staff, visit:
http://www.fpif.org/advisers/booker.html

For more FPIF analysis on Africa, see FPIF Africa
index:
http://www.fpif.org/indices/regions/africa.html


Siri D. Khalsa
Interhemispheric Resource Center
P.O. Box 2178
Silver City, NM 88062   USA
(505) 388-0208
(505) 388-0916 (fax)
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Websites: http://www.irc-online.org/
http://www.us-mex.org,
http://www.americasprogram.org/
http://www.fpif.org/ ,
http://www.selfdetermine.org

The IRC is a nonprofit research and policy studies
institute; a "think tank" without walls.
Our two main projects are the Americas Program and
Foreign Policy in Focus (FPIF).
___
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Fw: [globalnews] Dry Rio Grande Point of U.S./Mexico Friction

[jsherry]

Dry Rio Grande Point of U.S./Mexico Friction

SILVER CITY, New Mexico, May 17, 2002 (ENS) - The Rio Grande,
the river dividing the United States from Mexico, no longer reaches the Gulf
of Mexico into which it has emptied for millions of years. The water has
stopped flowing due to a sandbar formed by several years of low water levels
plus high water usage in drought stricken northern Mexico.

Left high and dry, Texas politicians are threatening retaliation
in what has become an acrimonious water dispute between the two countries.

"Sharing the Waters," a report issued today by the
Interhemispheric Resource Center, a nonprofit policy studies center,
outlines the international dispute over the waters of the Rio Grande and Rio
Bravo rivers in Texas and Mexico.

The Rio Grande forms the border between the United States and
Mexico. Here it flows through Big Bend National Park. (Photo credit unknown)
The report by Mary Kelly and Karen Chapman of the Texas Center
for Policy Studies shows how Texas officials have accused Mexico of a
failure to live up to its obligations under the 1944 binational treaty
governing the waters of the river basin and how the resources are to be
shared.
Northern Mexico has replied that it is suffering from a
persistent, severe drought that has reduced capacity in its reservoirs to
dangerous levels.

One of the largest reservoirs in the Mexican portion of the
basin, La Boquilla on the Río Conchos in Chihuahua, is at about 20 percent
of normal capacity.

Further down the Conchos, the Luís León reservoir is at less
than 20 percent of its normal storage. Mexico's reserves amount to less than
10 percent of that system's capacity.

Under these conditions, short of cutting off all irrigation
south of the border, it is not practical for Mexico to rapidly repay its
current deficit of about 1.4 million acre-feet as agreed under the joint
1944 Amistad/Falcon Reservoir Treaty.

However, many people in Texas are demanding that Mexico abide by
the treaty regardless of the consequences to that country.

Chapman and Kelly say, "Those Texas politicians leading the
charge against Mexico seem to agree with farmers in the Lower Rio Grande
Valley of Texas who maintain that Mexico is purposefully managing its part
of the Rio Grande/Río Bravo basin in order to deliberately withhold water
and put Texas farmers out of business. They have mounted a sustained
campaign to convince U.S. federal officials that Mexico should be
transferring all its Río Bravo water through to the Rio Grande instead of
using some of it for irrigation in Chihuahua."

In response, Mexico points out that the many farmers in the area
have had to resort to dryer crops such as grain sorghum in order to survive.

Francisco I. Maderas Dam, located near Delicias, Chihuahua, on
the Conchos River, stores irrigation water and generates hydro power for the
region. (Photo by Enrique Rios Gonzalez courtesy Rio Grande/Rio Bravo Basin
Coalition)
The government of Mexico has signaled its intent to tackle these
problems by announcing plans for 11 irrigation modernization projects in the
northern part of the country. A series of new water recycling programs has
been started as a way to meet its water debts and address its own domestic
water needs.
The joint U.S.-Mexico North American Development Bank, created
in a side agreement to the North American Free Trade Agreement, proposes to
fund $40 million of the $420 million total price tag that Mexico's National
Water Commission estimates as the total cost of the irrigation and municipal
infrastructure improvements project.

Most federal officials in Washington have maintained a low
profile on the issue. But constant pressure from Texas officials, widespread
media coverage and lack of progress in resolving the dispute could bring
attention from the federal government.

Earlier this week, President George W. Bush, formerly governor
of Texas, discussed the water issue with Mexican President Vincente Fox, who
responded with a public statement promising Mexico will establish a plan for
paying its water debt within 15 days.

Last week, Mexican and U.S. conservation organizations convened
a forum in Chihuahua to discuss what cooperative actions can be taken to
protect and restore the Río Conchos basin.

Chapman and Kelly warn that further escalation of the dispute
could damage the bilateral relationship, affecting the two countries'
ability to cooperate on water issues along other parts of the border, and
threaten progress on other issues such as immigration and economic
development.

In the near term, says Chapman and Kelly, the governments must
agree on a formula for allocating what rain does fall this year. A realistic
payment plan for the current deficit, based on actual rai

Re: Horsetail/Equisetum Arvense

[jsherry]

Tony & Pam,
If it's tea for human consumption you're planning on, I have read that it is
wise to ONLY collect the horsetail after the first 4-6 weeks of growth after
appearing in the spring otherwise it can be toxic to humans. I don't know if
this is also true for making compost tea.

Jane
- Original Message -
From: "Anthony Nelson-Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Saturday, May 18, 2002 11:21 AM
Subject: Re: Horsetail/Equisetum Arvense


Steve - Pulling horsetail shoots damages the plant?  I should be so lucky!
I approve of this plant in the right place, but not overwhelming my veg
patch.  I've dug down three feet into my subsoil (solid glacial clay)
without coming to the end of its stolons - I've read that they can extend
downwards for several yards.  Every spring I pull each shoot as it appears,
and appears, and appears;  after a decade or more, they are as vigorous
as ever.  Of course, if I'd _wanted_ them there
Naturally, I dry the best leafy shoots for tea making.
Tony N-S.

Re: Indoor Mildew/Standing Water Remedy?

[jsherry]

I had success in areas near the house spraying leftover 501 & added the EO
which help fight mold and I like the energy of plant & flower essential oils
in and around the home. Also aid in keeping out the bad smells. Thanks for
your advice.

Jane

- Original Message -
From: "Stephen Barrow" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2002 4:03 PM
Subject: RE: Indoor Mildew/Standing Water Remedy?


Jane,

Why do you use the 501 with added essential oils?  To get rid of the damp
smell and moulds?  If so, try spraying with the Kyusei EM.  Sure, it wont
dry the area out, but it will stop the moulds and bad smells from
developing, or alternatively, get rid of them if they have developed.

Fw: [globalnews] Ozone Could Sanitize Foods Better Than Washes Do

[jsherry]

What am I missing here folks?

Jane
--

from UniSci-the Daily University Science News
http://unisci.com/stories/20022/0506025.htm

Ozone Could Sanitize Foods Better Than Washes
Do

  Ozone, the gas that protects the Earth from
ultraviolet radiation, may soon give U.S. food shoppers better protection
from harmful bacteria.
  Retailers could sanitize fruits and vegetables
by exposing them to ozone before they go on sale, said Gary Rodrick, a
professor with the University of Florida's Institute of Food and
Agricultural Sciences. In Europe, ozone has been used for decades to
sanitize water and food products.

  "With a 99.9 percent kill rate, it's far more
effective than current sanitizing methods, such as commercial fruit and
vegetable washes," Rodrick said. "The Food and Drug Administration recently
gave the go-ahead to use it commercially in U.S. supermarkets and
food-processing facilities. It also will be more acceptable than food
irradiation, which has raised fears among some consumers."

  Rodrick, a food science and human nutrition
specialist, said ozone used in food sanitation will not contribute to air
pollution or smog.

  "In the upper atmosphere ozone shields the
Earth from ultraviolet radiation. In some urban areas, ozone forms at ground
level when certain airborne chemicals interact with the sun's light and
heat, contributing to smog. However, the sanitation process uses very low
levels of ozone, and the entire process must be precisely controlled to be
effective," he said.

  Ozone molecules contain three oxygen atoms and
are formed when ordinary oxygen molecules containing two atoms are forced to
take on a third. He said ozone's usefulness as a sanitizing agent comes from
its unstable molecular structure -- the third oxygen atom tends to break
apart from the ozone molecule, releasing energy.

  "When you expose an apple to ozone, bacteria
on the fruit's surface will begin absorbing ozone molecules immediately,"
Rodrick said. "Those molecules break apart within seconds, and when they do
the bacteria literally explode. The only waste product created is harmless
oxygen, and it's unlikely that bacteria could overcome this technology by
mutating into a resistant strain."

  For the past year, Rodrick has tested a
commercial ozone sanitizing system developed by Fresh Food Technology in
Burley, Idaho. Designed for use with fruits and vegetables, the system
washes the items in ozone-enriched water.

  "We tested the system in supermarket produce
departments, working with Publix Super Markets here in Florida," he said.
"Ozone killed almost 100 percent of the bacteria on produce received from
suppliers. In slightly higher concentrations, it also killed yeasts and
molds."

  Rodrick said ozone sanitization increases the
shelf life of fresh produce by up to two weeks. It also retards softening
and browning, something he plans to study more this summer.

  "Ozone works even better than we expected, and
I think it will gain wide acceptance with U.S. consumers in the next few
years," he said. "Post-harvest treatments of ready-to-eat produce are of
paramount importance for preventing spoilage and minimizing the chance of
food-borne infection. It's important that supermarkets do what they can to
provide additional safeguards."

  Currently, many supermarkets wash produce by
soaking it in water mixed with a small amount of a commercial fruit and
vegetable wash, Rodrick said. The produce is then rinsed in pure water
before being placed on sale.

  "That method has been adequate, but the
effectiveness varies due to human error," he said. "You have to be mindful
of the amount of wash used and the amount of produce involved. Ideally, you
want a foolproof way to get uniform results."

  The system developed by Fresh Food Technology
is designed to prevent operator error and requires little training, said Tom
Gillette, president of the company. Known as the Ozofresh 5000, the
computerized system will be available commercially nationwide this month. He
said price of the equipment will vary depending on the usage and needs of
the customer.

  "It's operated using touch screens, so all you
have to do is make a few decisions and tap your finger," Gillette said.
"Other than that, the only effort involved is loading and unloading the
chamber."

  The system is about the size of a washing
machine and can sanitize 40 pounds of produce in five to eight minutes,
depending on the item.

  Bob Boggs, director of sales for t

OT: Indoor Mildew/Standing Water Remedy?

[jsherry]

Hello,
I was wondering if anyone has experience with a dark (never seeing the light
of day) area in the basement where flood waters some times seep in leaving a
clammy, wet area, unaccessible to cleaning. (Between the walls inside a
closet where the circuit breakers live and a sewage pipe access point which
is connected to the city system, under a board in the floor).

When we receive the blessed heavy rains like we did this weekend (praise
be!) water seeps in. Other than using 501 with added essential oils, which I
do with leftover mixed 501, does any one have a suggestion of something I
can sprinkle in there to absorb the moisture? I was thinking of using baking
soda...any ideas?

Thanks for any help.

Blessings,
Jane

PS: we are still way low on water in the aquifers & reservoirs, (NYC
drinking water)  yet somehow all people mention on the news, is when will
there be another sunny day...Heavy rains a wonderful gift to Mother Earth on
mother's day...

Fw: [globalnews] Antarctic Icebergs Melting: Similar to Past Cycle of DeGlaciation?

[jsherry]

TWO LARGE ICEBERGS BREAK OFF ROSS ICE SHELF
--

Posted on May 12, 2002


The National Ice Center reports two new icebergs (C-18 and C-19)
have broken off of the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. The iceberg C-19 is 108
nautical miles long and 17 nautical miles wide and is located 77.23 South
173.30 East. C-18 is 41 nautical miles long by 4 nautical miles wide and is
located at 77.78 South 178.78 East.

The iceberg C-18 was spotted by NIC analyst Judy Shaffer on May
5 using satellite images from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program.
The iceberg C-19 was discovered on May 11. The icebergs are named for the
Antarctic quadrant in which they were discovered. Yahoo News says the
icebergs are floating close to the ice shelf and are not considered
hazardous to navigation.

The National Ice Center is an agency represented by the United
States Navy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the
United States Coast Guard. - National Ice Center, Yahoo News, Image credit -
National Ice Center




  SIMILAR ANTARCTIC MELTING IDENTIFIED IN THE PAST
--

Posted on Apr 8, 2002


Researchers from the University of Oregon published a study that
determined that a very large and unusually abrupt rise in sea levels 14,200
years ago was caused by the partial collapse of ice sheets in Antarctica.
The period exhibited conditions similar to today with increased
temperatures, sea levels and atmospheric carbon dioxide. Using shoreline
fossil deposits scientists were able to develop a method of identifying each
possible melting scenario from ice sheets that existed at that time.

According to Peter Clark, professor of geosciences at OSU, "We
can't say at this point whether the recent breakup of part of an ice shelf
in Antarctica has any relevance to this type of huge meltwater event that
originated from Antarctica thousands of years ago. We don't know yet how
important these ice shelves are to stabilizing the larger ice sheets of the
continent. This event happened near the end of the last Ice Age, a period of
de-glaciation that lasted from about 21,000 years ago to 12,000 years ago.
The average sea level rise during that period was about eight millimeters
per year. But during this meltwater pulse there was an extremely rapid
disintegration of an ice sheet and sea levels rose much faster than
average."

The OSU report states, "What is very clear, however, is the
importance of Antarctica's huge ice sheets remaining stable. The West
Antarctic ice sheet is thought to be potentially unstable, and if it
collapsed sea levels around the world would rise almost 20 feet. The melting
of the larger and more stable East Antarctic ice sheet would raise Earth's
sea levels another 200 feet. In less than 500 years at the end of the last
Ice Age, this event caused the Earth's sea level to rise about 70 feet. The
cause of this event, called the "global meltwater pulse 1A" since it was
first identified in 1989, has until now been unknown. This study not only
pinpoints the source of the meltwater pulse, but it also makes clear that
significant climatic events can occur very rapidly and unpredictably. Prior
to the partial collapse of the Antarctic ice sheets 14,200 years ago, carbon
dioxide levels had risen about 50 parts-per-million in the atmosphere. In
the past 150 years, since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, carbon
dioxide levels in Earth's atmosphere have risen 85 parts-per-million." The
research was published in the journal Science. - University of Oregon,
Graphic credit: www.cia.gov

Fw: 5 planets in the Sacred Hoop 2

[jsherry]

Happy Taurus New Moon...Daniel Giamario just finished writing this inspiring
journal entry for his diary page on the Shamanic Astrology website. It won't
get up on the website until tomorrow if all goes well. So this email is the
first opportunity to experience this truly exciting perspective on the
current 5 planet line-up within the Sacred Hoop, very timely in this Taurus
New Moon window. This URL goes to Daniel's Diary on the Shamanic Astrology
Website where this article will be posted tomorrow
http://www.shamanicastrology.com/diarylog.htm

Again, remember this won't be posted for at least another day due to
technical situations beyond my control. I encourage everyone who feels a
connection with the sky to be sure to look westward after Sunset over the
next few days. Tomorrow the tiny crescent Moon will pass by Mercury and then
the next day Saturn, Mars and Venus will be occulted by the Moon in some
areas of the world. Our calendar gives structure to our life experience
suggesting this timing is truly about restructuring that experience in a
whole new exciting way!
Reflections On The Current Planetary Alignment And The Possibility Of The
Beginning Of A New World Calendar by Daniel Giamario


During these past three months I’ve had the opportunity to give numerous
presentations and to facilitate many events relating to the five-planet
alignment in the evening sky, now culminating as I am writing this. Our most
recent Shamanic Astrology event, at Faywood Hot Springs from May 2-5, really
solidified the many insights that have been developing since the events
surrounding 9/11. My growing intuition is that the May 2002 planetary
alignment may well be a celestial event auspicious and significant enough to
warrant the inception of a NEW WORLD CALENDAR.


Since the early 1990’s when myself and a very few other researchers noted
the so-called ‘Galactic Alignment’ (see the chapter on the Turning of the
Ages in The Shamanic Astrology Handbook), many other voices have emerged
heralding the ‘ending’ of world calendars. There is the now well known end
of the Mayan calendar around the December solstice of 2012. Last year Moira
Timms popularized a timeline from the Great Pyramid with a last date of
Sept17, 2001(see her book Beyond Prophecies and Predictions). Since the time
when myself and astrologer Raymond Mardycks were like voices calling in the
wilderness, now there is much greater awareness of the galactic alignments
and their implications for world calendrics.


A galactic alignment occurs only 4 times every 25,820 years, which is the
length of one precessional cycle, the cycle caused by the combined effects
of the earths tilt and wobble. In Shamanic Astrology we assert that this
precessional cycle is the longest natural cycle that can be perceived by the
senses from one lifetime to the next. In fact, one criterion for determining
whether we are in a Dark Age is if humanity loses its awareness of the
precessional cycle. Many if not most of the known world calendars were
sourced 5000-6000 years ago at a time when the equinoxes were in alignment
with the intersection of the galactic plane and the plane of the solar
system. Even today, one of the few things that astronomers and astrologers
agree on is to start their coordinate systems at the Spring Equinox (that is
to say, at 0Aries. At the time that these calendars began (As the Age of
Gemini shifted to the Age Taurus) the spring equinox was not only at a
galactic alignment but also inside the Sacred Hoop, a very special area of
the sky which we will have much more to say about soon.

13,000 years ago (half way back in the precessional cycle) the winter
solstice was located in this same region of the sky. In the Egyptian mythos,
as developed by West, Bauval, and Hancock, this was understood as the ‘first
times’. The great sphinx can be seen as a calendric device, a lion like
being facing due east, which would have observed the constellation of the
Lion rising in the East at Spring Equinox. Today, the sky is a mirror image
of then. Now the Water Bearer (the constellation of Aquarius) rises at
Spring Equinox. And most importantly, now the Summer Solstice is located
exactly at a galactic intersection, the intersection where the galactic
plane meets the zodiacal constellations, in between the Bull and the Twins
(the constellations of Taurus and Gemini), inside the Sacred Hoop.
Meanwhile the Winter Solstice is located at the other galactic intersection
with the zodiac, in between the Scorpion and the Archer (the constellations
of Scorpius and Sagittarius). Again to re-iterate; these alignments are only
possible 4 times within a 25,820 year precessional cycle, about every
6000-6500 years. And they are happening now. When and how long is ‘now’?

Since the precession moves 1degree every 72 years, then a good general
answer could be that a calendric shift occurs within a span of 72 years
(close to an average human lifespan).The exact center point of the 72 years
can be cal

Re: You & CWD

[jsherry]

<< Copyright Deer Crack L.L.C.
2000 Click Here for terms of use.>>

Markess,
are you saying Cargill is the maker of this product? Is it possible that no
one saw the grotesque truth of naming a product crack after the wasting of
inner city youth in the 80's? Seems pretty blatant to me!

Praying that y'all can make a huge shift in consciousness there in Madison!

Jane

OFF or Rel: Kuan Yin

[jsherry]

KUAN YIN
Avalokitesvara Boddhisattva



By Lin Sen-shou
Often seen alone or next to a statue of Amitabha Buddha, Avalokitesvara
Bodhisattva--in Chinese also known as Kuan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy--is the
most popular and most venerated Buddhist figure besides Amitabha Buddha and
Sakyamuni Buddha. A popular Chinese saying illustrates this aspect:
"Everyone knows how to chant Amitabha Buddha, and every household worships
Kuan Yin."

Why is this bodhisattva popular in so many Chinese families? It may be
because Kuan Yin is represented as a female with an appearance that embraces
the qualities of compassion and motherly love. In addition, because many
Buddhist scriptures state that one can invoke Kuan Yin's assistance by
simply calling out her name, people feel that this bodhisattva is very
approachable.

According to the Huayen Sutra (Buddha-vatamsaka-mahavaipulya Sutra), Kuan
Yin uses all kinds of ways to attract people: she makes gifts, uses words of
love, and transforms herself into persons like those that she deals with.
The "Universal Gateway" chapter in the Lotus Sutra lists thirty-two typical
forms in which Kuan Yin may appear. For instance, if a boy or girl is about
to gain some enlightenment, Kuan Yin transforms herself into a boy or a girl
to teach the child. If a monk is about to attain some enlightenment, Kuan
Yin transforms herself into a monk. In short, she can appear as a monk, a
nun, a king, a minister, a celestial being, or a normal person like you and
me. The purpose of such transformations is to make people feel close to her
and willing to listen to her words.

"I am cultivating this method of great compassion and hope to save all
living beings," Kuan Yin said. "Any living being who calls my name or sees
me will be free from all fear and danger. I will activate that being's
spiritual awareness and maintain it forever."

Sakyamuni Buddha confirmed Kuan Yin's vow: "If a suffering being hears the
name of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva and earnestly calls out to the
bodhisattva, Avalokitesvara will hear the call and redeem that being from
his suffering" ("Universal Gateway," Lotus Sutra).

In other words, this bodhisattva's main attraction for people lies in her
efforts to eliminate suffering and to make people live in peace and harmony.
This kind of immediate benefit and the ability to receive protection or help
simply by calling the bodhisattva's name, similar to children receiving an
instant reply when calling their mother, have contributed to Kuan Yin's
great popularity.

Re: politics and agriculture

[jsherry]

For goodness sakes, Gil, you have wasted more bandwidth & energy complaining
to no end about this. Have you not noticed I posted sub info for GlobalNews
at the moderator's polite request and have STOPPED all political posts,
unless you consider a post about Babaji political. The flower essence posts
were started by me and mistakenly continued on list. Why not own your true
feelings already and stop complaining. Isn't there enough enmity in the
world already?

If volume has dropped, perhaps it is because it is springtime here. Most
farmers I know are working in their fields.

Can you not give it up already. If you have ag related posts, now's the time
to send them. I have desisted at your & others' request.

Jane

Fw: [globalnews] Message from Babaji

[jsherry]

>From Babaji's 1984 Speech:

  "Love and serve all humanity.
  Help everyone.
  Be happy, be courteous.
  Be a dynamo of irrepressible joy.
  Recognize God and goodness in every face.
  There is no saint without a past and no sinner without a future.
  Praise everyone. If you cannot praise someone, let them out of your
life.
  Be original, be inventive.
  Be courageous. Take courage again and again.
  Do not imitate, be strong, be upright.
  Do not lean on the crutches of others.
  Think with your own head. Be yourself.
  All perfection and every divine virtue are hidden within you.
  Reveal them to the world.
  Wisdom, too, is already within you. Let it shine forth.
  Let the Lord's grace make you free.
  Let your life be that of the rose.
  In silence, it speaks the language of fragrance.



...
Be the change
you want to see in the world.
-- Mahatma Gandhi

Re: FES query

[jsherry]

thanks for the feedback John-Michael. Which product do you use?

Jane
- Original Message - 
From: "John- Michael" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2002 10:22 PM
Subject: Re: FES query


Greetings Jane,

I know the owners, their neighbors, some staff, and
have visited their site. It's the real McCoy! However,
I have only used one of the products over the years
and so I can't give much personal feedback on
applications. Still, if I needed to use flower
essences this is the line I'd go for.

John-Michael
Grass Valley, California
----
--- jsherry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Hello all,
> 
> do any of you work with or know anything about
> Flower Essence Services?
> 
> http://www.fesflowers.com/index.htm
> 
> thanks for any feedback.
> 
> Jane
> 


__
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Games - play chess, backgammon, pool and more
http://games.yahoo.com/

Re: Sub Info For GlobalNews Mailing List

[jsherry]

GlobalNews is a private mailing list devoted to discussion of the
issues, news and events that are creating tomorrow's news today.
Geo-politics, global financial markets, electronic commerce, the Internet,
environmental concerns and spiritual transformation at the Millennium.
Members only, with messages distributed directly to the group. This means
the host Curtis Lang is not pre-screening messages, although that may change
as the needs of the group change over time. For now, let's treat this as a
chat in Curtis' living room and maintain decorum suitable for that milieu.
Curtis will send interesting and thought provoking material from various
sources for discussion. It is hoped that other members of the group will
also send information they feel is of importance and generally ignored by
the mainstream news media. To subscribe, send an empty message to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Once you've subscribed, you can go to the website,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalnews, and click on "Edit my membership"
in the upper right hand corner. This will take you to a page where you can
choose to enable web access to the archive, but you will receive no more
emails. Or you can choose to receive digest or individual emails.
This way you can go when you want and read what you want.


To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]


Group Moderator: [EMAIL PROTECTED]




- Original Message -
From: "Allan Balliett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2002 9:07 AM
Subject: Re: OFF Re: religion vs ethnicity ( Americans Support Cutting Aidto
Israel)


Jane - Howabout posting the subscription info for Global News?

Fw: [globalnews] April 20 Anti-war Protests Overwhelm Expectations

[jsherry]

April 20 Anti-war Protests Overwhelm Expectations
Don Hazen, AlterNet
April 22, 2002

Huge anti-war demonstrations on Saturday in Washington, San Francisco,
Seattle, Boston, Salt Lake City and Houston turned out considerably more
people than organizers and police authorities expected. District of Columbia
Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey estimated that 75,000 marched in Washington,
while estimates in San Francisco varied between 30,000 and 50,000.


The size, energy and peacefulness of the marches was a big boost to
progressive forces across the country who have been very much on the
defensive in the post-9/11 period. "Saturday was inspiring evidence that
there is enormous grassroots opposition to the Bush agenda of endless war at
home and abroad," said Terra Lawson-Remer, one of the D.C. organizers.


The gatherings, by far the biggest in the U.S. since the Sept. 11 attacks,
focused on an array of progressive grievances -- the undermining of civil
liberties, questions about U.S. foreign policy in Afghanistan and Colombia,
as well as the effects of corporate globalization around the world.


But the protesters' most powerful message was their anger about Israel's
repression in the West bank. Chants of "Stop the occupation now" and "We are
all Palestinians today" emanated from the marchers, and the black, red,
white and green flag of Palestine dominated the visual landscape.


Saturday's demonstrations in Washington were in contrast to the memorable
April 2000 actions in Washington, when protests against the World Bank and
International Monetary Fund led to a virtual shutdown of the downtown area.
At that time there were pitched clashes between police and demonstrators,
and many hundreds were arrested. In this weekend's protests, separate events
with differing goals were held on Saturday morning, but in the afternoon,
everyone -- despite some differences in strategy and tactics -- came
together to create a huge and peaceful crowd. According to the Washington
Post, Chief Ramsey praised the decorum of Saturday's demonstrations.


"The organizers did an outstanding job," said Ramsey, baton in hand as he
watched thousands file past the Justice Department building. "This is really
what protests ought to be."


The San Francisco four-hour protest caused widespread gridlock. "It's one of
the biggest protests in the past five years," San Francisco Police Commander
Greg Suhr told Jim Herron Zamora of the San Francisco Chronicle. "It's not
often that you see one where a crowd has formed in the Civic Center but
there are still people in Dolores Park who haven't started marching."


The San Francisco demonstration was billed as a march against "the real axis
of evil: war, racism, poverty." But clearly, support for the Palestinian
cause transcended the other issues. The march included many Americans of
Palestinian descent, as well as immigrants from other Arab countries who
became politically active after the Sept. 11 attacks. One protester, Riad
Morrar, immigrated from Egypt 27 years ago, and now owns a technology
company in the Sacramento area. "There is nothing else I can do but tell
President Bush: 'You are wrong. Stop killing my people,'" Morrar told the
San Francisco Chronicle, as he marched with his wife and four children.


"I spent 20 years avoiding the news, avoiding conflict. It is too
depressing," said Kais Menoufy, another Egyptian immigrant at the march. "I
love America. But I'm embarrassed and angry that my country is supporting
genocide."


According to Herron Zamora, the oldest marcher in San Francisco was probably
Dave Smith, an 89-year-old member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, an
American group opposing nationalists in the Spanish Civil War from 1936-39.
"I am proud to fight fascism and oppression, whether it's in Spain, Nazi
Germany or Israel," said Smith.


The youngest demonstrator might have been Hanif Amanullah, a four-month-old
from Oakland who slept in his father's arms. "I'm marching for this little
guy," said Shahed Amanullah. "I want him to grow up in a world without this
kind of violence."


Not everyone agreed with how the rallies turned out. Robert Elan, an
inner-city school teacher in San Francisco, felt that Saturday's actions
were supposed to be about war, racism and poverty. "Instead of focusing on
U.S. corporate corruption, the attack on civil liberties ... and celebrating
the environmental victories just before Earth Day, the multi-issue
demonstration was dominated by solidarity with the Palestinian people," he
explained. "Palestinian Independence took the front seat and relegated many
other important issues to the back seat. By doing so, the rally
de-emphasized domestic issues and the problems associated with
globalization. I believe this was a missed opportunity. Some people are
calling this a huge success for it's large numbers. I think it was rather a
failure for its impact."


Nevertheless, as John Nichols wrote for TheNation.com, "the size of the
protests is notable because t

Fw: [globalnews] Earth Day 2002: Where Has All the Fire Gone?

[jsherry]

Healing Our World: Weekly Comment

  By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.

  Earth Day 2002: No Time for Craft Fairs

  "Where have all the flowers gone?
  Long time passing.
  Where have all the flowers gone?
  Long time ago.
  Where have all the flowers gone?
  Young girls picked them, every one.
  Oh, when will they ever learn?
  Oh, when will they ever learn"
  -- Pete Seeger

  "Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity
  for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else's skin.
  It is the knowledge that there can never really be
  any peace and joy for me
  until there is peace and joy finally for you too."
  -- Frederick Buechner

  The list of events planned around the U.S. for Earth Day 2002 is
chilling. While tens of thousands of people die from soil, air, and water
poisoned with pesticides and scores of toxic chemicals, craft fairs,
discussion groups, and lectures will be held. Lost is the passion and sense
of urgency that heralded in the first Earth Day 32 years ago.

  The 32nd Earth Day this year will mark an unprecedented time resource
consumption and environmental violence against the Earth and our health.

  On Earth Day this year, while speeches, conversations and trinket
sales take place:


a.. 603 people worldwide will die from exposure to pesticides and
countless more will suffer serious health threats from chronic exposure

b.. 5,400 to 11,000 children will die from diarrhea from polluted
drinking water

c.. 27,000 children will die from curable infectious diseases

d.. 164 babies will be born that are effected by mercury poisoning
because their mothers ate contaminated fish - while government agencies
recommend that pregnant women eat several servings of fish each week

e.. Over 103,000 animals will be killed for fur coats

f.. Nearly 2 million gallons of engine oil will be poured down the
drain and will enter our nation's waterways

g.. Over 41 million pounds of trash will be dumped at sea worldwide.
About 77 percent of all ship waste comes from cruise ships.

h.. Over 3 million pounds of hydrocarbons will be released into the
atmosphere just from jet skis, lawn mowers, boat engines, and other 2-cycle
motors

i.. At least 1200 gallons of oil and fuel will leak from aging and
malfunctioning pipelines in the U.S., polluting groundwater, lakes, rivers,
oceans and soil.

j.. 313 million gallons of fuel, enough to drain 26 tractor-trailer
trucks every minute, will be used in the U.S.

k.. 18 million tons of raw materials will be taken from U.S. soil

l.. Miscarriages will continue to take place among women of the
Shoalwater Bay Tribe in Washington State, possibly from pesticide
contamination in cranberry bogs.
  Earth Day has become a time when the right wing corporate, industrial,
and political leaders probably rejoice in the passivity of the population.
Of course, there are exceptions and a number of groups throughout the nation
will be mindful of the significance of the day.



  Gaylord Nelson, former Senator from Wisconsin who also served as
Wisconsin's Governor (Photo courtesy The Wilderness Society)
  But the first Earth Day in 1970 saw an estimated 20 million people
across the nation participating in peaceful demonstrations that called
attention to our environmental dilemmas. Senator Gaylord Nelson and activist
attorney Denis Hayes organized it as a nationwide teach-in about the
environment. Over 10,000 grade schools, 2,000 colleges, and 1,000
communities participated, sending a strong message to political leaders that
the environment was part of everyone's lives and needed attention.
  What happened to the grand expectations we had at the first Earth Day,
32 years ago?

  Senator Nelson said the purpose of Earth Day was "to shake up the
political establishment and force this issue onto the national agenda."

  "It was a gamble," he recalls, "but it worked." There is no gamble any
longer. Earth Day is hardly controversial or threatening to anyone.

  Some would argue that although many people are more aware of
environmental issues today than in 1970, little has been done to stem the
tide of environmental destruction in a world where economic growth outweighs
planetary health. If anything, the destruction is happening at a greater
level than ever before. It is often less visible because industry leaders
and politicians know how to keep things quieter with the help of well paid
public relations firms.

  The first Earth Day's message was heard and in the few years that
followed, sweeping environmental legislation was enacted including the
Endangered Species Act, The Federal Clean Air Act, the Federal Water
Pollution Control Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, and the creation of
the Environmental Protection Agency.

  It was a powerful time of reawakening and it appe

Re: OFF Re: religion vs ethnicity ( Americans Support Cutting Aid to Israel)

[jsherry]

Thank you for your thoughtful reply & feedback Stephen. I will screen the
posts more carefully before sending them on.

I am aware that many on this list work very hard and care very deeply about
what they do often with little material reward from the culture, but much in
the way of personal and spiritual reward.

Perhaps, my main intent is to present these pieces in order to remind us
that in our ag work, we can call upon all the intelligences of the world to
work with us for peace. Injustice in any form, in any part of the world
calls out for Love and healing.

Blessings,
Jane

FES query

[jsherry]

Hello all,

do any of you work with or know anything about Flower Essence Services?

http://www.fesflowers.com/index.htm

thanks for any feedback.

Jane

Re: OFF Re: religion vs ethnicity ( Americans Support Cutting Aid to Israel)

[jsherry]

Dear Members of Bdnow,
It seems highly appropriate on Earth Day today to address this issue.
Perhaps I should be adding the OFF preface to these forwarded posts from
GlobalNews Mailing List.

I find the situation in theMiddle East "highly offensive" in the sense that
there are people on both "sides" there who are suffering because of their
outmoded beliefs, practices or fundamentalist zeal. I am not starting a
personal political discussion, Stephen, but am sending out already published
articles by media organizations.

Is there some way to practice spiritual agriculture on earth, anywhere on
earth, in a void or vacuum where we ignore the incendiary desperate plight
of our brothers and sisters? Agriculture in this country is certainly a
highly charged politically determined profession.

Are you happy to garden in your part of the world while the elementals,
devas, nature spirits are also under attack along with the human and animal
residents? Does this situation not inspire you to send as much loving energy
as possible?

I do not apologize for sending in reports which show both perspectives,
especially the least reported perspective by the mainstream media to those
of you who farm and garden. It seems to me that by being so close to nature
you are in the priveleged position to send out your fervent prayers directly
to the earth and sky spirits, all the loving intelligences of the universe
to ask for peace and love to reign on earth.

Peace on Earth and Love in our hearts, happy earth day to you all!
Jane
- Original Message -
From: "Stephen Barrow" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, April 22, 2002 12:13 AM
Subject: OFF Re: religion vs ethnicity ( Americans Support Cutting Aid to
Israel)


I'd like to add my voice to this request at keeping this group orientated
towards agriculture in general and BD in particular.  I have found recent
politically orientated posts highly offensive, have written replies, but
have then had second thoughts as I would not wish to offend others.  Those
who want the "globalnews" indoctrination can subscribe to it in their own
space and time.

So, please, cut the politics.

Stephen Barrow

Re: Drought Redux

[jsherry]

Tony asked "every single window was brightly lit.
Does anyone know how the great and the good are conserving water?"

Yeah, great, they've asked corporate industry to cut back their usage by a
whopping 15%!!

Jane

Fw: [globalnews] What happened at Jenin

[jsherry]

The Economist


What happened at Jenin

Under the rubble of the refugee camp

Apr 18th 2002 | JENIN REFUGEE CAMP
>From The Economist print edition


Reuters





Picking through fact and fiction after Israel's assault on Jenin

Get article background

MANY facts are known, others are still contested. On April 2nd the Israeli
army invaded Jenin as part of its military operations to root out the
Palestinian "terrorist infrastructure" which, in Israel's mind, now includes
the Palestinian Authority. The conquest took three days. Then the army laid
siege to the refugee camp just outside the town.

The camp had been among the prime targets of Israel's assault on the West
Bank, along with the casbah in Nablus and the Palestinian gunmen sheltering
in churches in Bethlehem's old city. Huddled on a northern mountain-side
lush with cypress trees, it has long been a bastion of Yasser Arafat's Fatah
movement and, recently, of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Of the 100 Palestinian
suicide bombers in the 18 months of the intifada, 23 were bred in its warren
of poverty, breezeblock shelters, sloping lanes and a militant brew of
Palestinian nationalism and radical Islam. "The Palestinian Authority
doesn't really exist here. It's the fighters who run things," said a camp
resident, before the invasion.

For five days Israeli helicopters and tanks relentlessly rocketed the square
kilometre of the camp to soften the resolve of the 160 Palestinian
militiamen holed up within it. Men aged 15 to 45 were ordered by loudspeaker
to surrender. Hundreds did so. They were stripped to their underwear,
manacled, hooded, beaten and finally dumped in neighbouring villages. Some
were used as human shields in front of the army as it pushed its way into
people's houses. Women and children were told to flee to Jenin town.

By April 8th a UN official estimated that perhaps half of the camp's 13,000
refugees had gone. The army then tried to breach the camp's interior with
infantry. "We figured it would be a breeze," one reservist told Haaretz
newspaper. It wasn't. Instead, 23 Israeli soldiers were killed, including 13
on April 9th from an elaborate ambush involving a suicide bomber, a
booby-trapped house and a hail of gunfire.

It was then that the army took the decision to crush the resistance once and
for all. There was an intensive blitz of shelling into the camp's heart,
followed by an invasion of tanks and bulldozers, tearing down everything
that stood in their way. The army insists civilians were given fair warning
that the thrust was coming. Palestinians say it was a massacre, with
anywhere between 100 and 500 Palestinians killed, most of them buried
beneath the razed buildings.

Neither claim can be proved or refuted. What is beyond doubt is that the
camp one week on from the invasion is a scene of devastation that has had no
equal throughout Israel's 34-year conquest and occupation of the West Bank
and Gaza.

There is literally no house without bullet marks. Some have had lower floors
sheared away by the blades of bulldozers or tracks of tanks. From one
three-storey house all that is left is a stairwell, hanging in the ether,
descending into nothing.

This is the lesser destruction. The camp's residential core-the last redoubt
of the fighters-resembles an earthquake. Vast craters have been ploughed,
girdled by shored-up mountains of earth, topped by concrete avalanches of
houses, offices, a restaurant. It is a massive furrow the size of three
football pitches.

There is a mass grave beneath it, insist Palestinians. Or, rather, say many,
there was before the Israelis collected the corpses and sped them away while
keeping the Red Cross, the UN and other independent witnesses firmly at bay.
"I saw the soldiers dumping the dead in trucks...I saw this with my own
eyes," says a woman from the camp.

Less disputable acounts of horror are legion. A man describes what happened
to his neighbours, the Fayed family. "We heard the bulldozers coming. Jamal
told the soldiers they couldn't evacuate so quickly because of his disabled
son. The soldiers suspected he was a wounded fighter. They pulled down the
house with the son inside. That's where he's buried." He points to a mound
of earth.

Other Palestinians describe how, in the chaos of the assault, they had no
idea whether they were supposed to stay in their homes or flee. "The orders
were confused," says one. "Some soldiers told us to get out, others told us
there was a curfew. We decided to run and were immediately fired upon by the
army. I have a wife, four daughters and three sons. I haven't seen them
since that moment. I don't know if they're alive or dead."

Whether there was a warning or not, the evidence of the Israeli army's
absolute negligence in trying to protect civilian life is everywhere. One
man describes how his elderly father was shot in the head while getting
water from his kitchen, six metres from the room in which his family was
sheltering. The son could not reach his fathe

Fw: [globalnews] New York City: Garbage Capital of the World

[jsherry]

NEWS FROM EARTH POLICY INSTITUTE.

ECO-ECONOMY UPDATE 2002-6
For Immediate Release
Copyright Earth Policy Institute 2002
April 17, 2002


NEW YORK: GARBAGE CAPITAL OF THE WORLD
http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/Update10.htm

Lester R. Brown

The question of what to do with the 11,000 tons of garbage produced each
day in New York City has again surfaced, this time with Mayor Michael
Bloomberg's budget, which proposes to halt the recycling of metal, glass and
plastic to save money.  Unfortunately, this would mean more garbage to
dispose of when the goal should be less.

The city's garbage problem has three faces. It is an economic problem, an
environmental challenge, and a potential public relations nightmare. When
the Fresh Kills landfill, the local destination for New York's garbage, was
permanently closed in March 2001, the city found itself hauling garbage to
distant landfill sites in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia--some of
the sites 300 miles away.

Assuming a load of 20 tons of garbage for each of the tractor trailers used
for the long-distance hauling, some 550 rigs are needed to move garbage from
New York City each day. These tractor trailers form a convoy nearly nine
miles long, impeding traffic, polluting the air, and raising carbon
emissions. This daily convoy led Deputy Mayor Joseph J. Lhota, who
supervised the Fresh Kills shutdown, to say that getting rid of the city's
trash is now "like a military-style operation on a daily basis."

Instead of rapidly reducing the amount of garbage generated as Fresh Kills
was filling, the decision was made simply to haul it all elsewhere. Fiscally
strapped local communities in other states are willing to take New York's
garbage--if they are paid enough. Some see it as a bonanza. For the state
governments, however, that are saddled with increased road maintenance
costs, the arrangement is not so attractive. They also have to contend with
the traffic congestion, noise, increased air pollution, and complaints from
nearby communities.

Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore wrote to Mayor Rudy Giuliani in 2001
complaining about the use of Virginia as a dumping ground. "I understand the
problem New York faces," he noted. "But the home state of Washington,
Jefferson and Madison has no intention of becoming New York's dumping
ground."

The new governor of Virginia, Mark Warner, proposed in early April 2002 a
tax of $5 per ton on all solid waste deposited in Virginia. This is expected
to generate an annual cash flow of $76 million for the Virginia treasury,
but it will not help New York with its economic woes.

In Pennsylvania, the General Assembly is considering legislation that would
restrict garbage imports from other states. As landfills in adjacent states
begin to fill up, there will be progressively fewer sites to take New York's
garbage, pushing disposal costs ever higher.

Landfilling garbage uses land. For every 40,000 tons of garbage added to a
landfill at least one acre of land is lost to future use. A large
surrounding area is also lost as the landfill with its potentially toxic
wastes must be isolated from residential areas.

Mayor Bloomberg's office has proposed incineration as the solution to the
garbage mess. But burning 11,000 tons of garbage each day will only add to
air pollution, making already unhealthy city air even worse. Like hauling
the garbage to distant sites, incineration treats the symptoms, not the
causes of New York's mountain of garbage.

The amount of garbage produced in the city is a manifestation of a more
fundamental problem--the evolution of a global throwaway economy. Throwaway
products, facilitated by the appeal to convenience and the artificially low
cost of energy, account for much of the garbage we produce. (See Chapter 6
of Eco-Economy http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/index.htm)

It is easy to forget how many throwaway products there are until we
actually begin making a list. We have substituted facial tissues for
handkerchiefs, disposable paper towels for hand towels, disposable table
napkins for cloth napkins, and throwaway beverage containers for refillable
ones. In perhaps the ultimate insult, the shopping bags that are used to
carry home throwaway products are themselves designed to be discarded,
becoming part of the garbage flow. The question at the supermarket checkout
counter, "Paper or plastic?" should be replaced with, "Do you have your
canvas shopping bag with you?"

The challenge we now face is to replace the throwaway economy with a
reduce/reuse/recycle economy. The earth can no longer tolerate the
pollution, the energy use, the disruption from mining, and the deforestation
that the throwaway economy requires. For cities like New York, the challenge
is not so much what to do with the garbage as it is how to avoid producing
it in the first place.

New York recycles only 18 percent of its municipal waste. Los Angeles
recycles 44 percent and Chicago 47 percent. Seattle and Minneapolis are both
near 60 percent rec

Fw: [globalnews] WAR'S REMAINS: MINES, CLUSTER BOMBS AND DEPLETED URANIUM

[jsherry]

WAR'S REMAINS:
MINES, CLUSTER BOMBS AND DEPLETED URANIUM Wednesday, April 17, 2002
Susan V. Thompson, ed.
Read online or subscribe at:
http://www.9-11peace.org/bulletin.php3

CONTENTS
-
1. Introduction: A Legacy of Death
2. Depleted Uranium
3. Landmines
4. Cluster Bombs
5. Take Action
6. Get Involved
7. About the Bulletin

INTRODUCTION: A LEGACY OF DEATH
-
Afghanistan has more landmines than any other country in the world. The US
spent millions on demining the country prior to 9-11, and according to the
US government, no new mines are being laid in the current war. However, the
US is using cluster bombs, and it is estimated that thousands of these
bright yellow bomblets now lie unexploded on Afghan soil. Along with the
hidden landmines, they'll pose a deadly threat to the civilian population
there for years to come (and no, the US has not yet changed the bright
yellow food packets to a different color to distinguish them from these
bombs). The bunker busters that have been much touted for use in destroying
the cave hideouts of Al Q'aeda cells also contain depleted uranium, a
radioactive material that has been blamed for birth defects, cancer, and
other serious health problems in Gulf War veterans.
The problem is that cluster bombs, depleted uranium shells and landmines
can't discriminate between an Afghan or a US soldier, between an Al Q'aeda
operative or a child, between "good" and "evil". They never get a ceasefire
order or understand that a war has ended - they just keep on killing and
maiming anyone who crosses their path. In a war that has generally been
described as a "just" war, meant to help root evil out of the world, the use
of such weapons seems to indicate that there is little concern about
differentiating between "justified" and accidental targets. Also, despite
repeated claims that the US military is taking pains to prevent civilian
deaths through the use of "smart" weapons, the use of cluster bombs and DU
belies a lack of concern about the fact that innocent civilians will still
face the possibility of becoming "collateral damage" in the so-called war on
terrorism long after it has moved on to other fronts.
This week, we will explore the history and use of these types of weapons,
both in Afghanistan and around the world, with the hope that this
information will help garner support for grassroots efforts to investigate
and rid the world of them.
Next week: Humanitarian aid.

DEPLETED URANIUM (DU):
-
Depleted uranium is a radioactive material that is used in weapons in order
to allow them to more easily pierce armor and ground. However, there is
little known about the long-term effects of the use of DU. While the idea
that spreading radioactive waste around a battlefield could cause health
problems may seem like simple common sense, the governments who use DU have
been reluctant to investigate its effects. They've discounted anecdotal and
statistical evidence that cancer, birth defects, and health problems found
in civilians and soldiers are related to DU exposure.
The World Health Organization's report on DU, which concludes that
investigation into the effects of DU weapons is warranted.
http://www.who.int/environmental_information/radiation/depluraniumexecsume.h
tm
Doctors at the Basra Pediatric Hospital just north of Kuwait have documented
an extremely high number of cancer deaths, birth defects, and other serious
medical problems which seem to have a direct correlation to the DU weapons
used in the Gulf War. The controversial Gulf War Syndrome may also be
closely related to the use of DU, although Canadian, US and British
officials vehemently deny it.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines/091200-02.htm
British soldiers who served in the Gulf War report a high number of
"Thalidomide-type" defects among their children.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1122000/1122566.stm
This excellent article focuses on the use of DU weapons by the Pentagon, and
the various concerns about them. The article notes that it would cost
billions to clean up the Gulf, although the Pentagon is maintaining that the
US has no responsibility for doing this.
http://www.gulfweb.org/doc_show.cfm?ID=15
Tests done by a team of American and Canadian scientists show that American
Gulf War soldiers are suffering from uranium poisoning, a fact which is
embarrassing for the Ministry of Defense (MoD) and American Defense
Department. Both have refused to test Gulf War veterans for DU.
http://www.gulfweb.org/doc_show.cfm?ID=733
DU is also a concern in the Balkans, although "Balkans War Syndrome" is
being under-reported in the mainstream media.
http://www.fair.org/press-releases/nato-du.html
DU is in the bunker bombs used on Afghanistan.
http://rawa.org/du.htm

LANDMINES
---
Landmines are a major problem in many parts of the world. They can continue
to maim and kill people decades after a conflict has ended, and their
r

Re: Dandelions

[jsherry]

are you doing anything more than preps to make the elementals happy?

Jane
- Original Message -
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, April 18, 2002 6:41 PM
Subject: Re: Dandelions


Hi Jane, we are two weeks ahead, bone dry too.  We are picking Asparagus and
the store is not even open yet!!!  Our Quanson Cherries will be in full
bloom
by tommorrow, usually not until the end of April...disturbances in the
elemental world...SStorch

Fw: [globalnews] Wesak Festival of Light April 26

[jsherry]

Orin and DaBen, and Sanaya and Duane, Invite You to Join Us and
lightworkers around the world to celebrate the Spring Festival of Light, the
Wesak Festival during the full moon time on April 26, 2002 at 8:01 PM
Pacific Time (San Francisco time) or 10:01 pm EST 11:01 pm EDT.  Go here for
information on your time zone by filling times in the table, using New York
City 11:01 PM as the conversion time.  Or, check your local newspaper for
the full moon time.  Taurus Full Moon is April 26, 2002 at: 23:01 pm EDT -
03:01 GMT (27 April) - 04:01 CET (27 April).

  It is said that during the full moon of Taurus, Buddha descends from
his high place to bestow spiritual blessings on the world.  Buddha sends to
humanity the energies that are next.  Divine Love and Wisdom pour into
humanity, received by many Masters and high initiates.  These energies are
then transmitted to all those who are open and able to receive this energy.
Join in this time and be one of the receivers of this energy, then let it
flow out of you as you radiate it to others.  This is considered one of the
highest spiritual times of the year, a time when great spiritual gains can
be made and where you can experience many expansions of consciousness.

  To join in this meditation, follow the process on the Worldwide
Meditations to call upon the Great Ones during the full moon time. Receive
the potent spiritual energy of light that is being transmitted. Then radiate
this light to humanity.  Imagine light coming from the highest realms and
reaching the minds of humanity, Divine Love radiating into the hearts of
humanity, and everyone's personal will becoming more aligned with Divine
Will.  Prepare by listening to Side 3-The Will to Initiate, The Millennium
Tapes  Transforming With Divine Will by Orin, if you have these tapes.  You
may also want to read the information about the Will to Initiate that is
part of the energy being transmitted to humanity at this time.

  General Information about all three Spring Festivals:

  The three Spring Festivals are celebrated during the full moon. A door
is opened wide at the time of each full moon, for two days before and for
two days afterward. Through that door, we can contact energies of
transformation, sent to us by the Enlightened Ones, which are otherwise not
as easily available.

  The purpose of these Spring Festivals, which are celebrated worldwide,
is to come together as a group to invoke spiritual energy and to receive the
inflow of energy that we have called to us. Together we can create a unified
field of thought that can telepathically reach the Great Ones, those
spiritual beings who are sensitive to and responsive to this call. Their
response is sent out as spiritual energy first to those who are awakened,
and through these people this energy will eventually reach the minds of
humanity, carrying inspiration and revelation that will lead to the needed
spiritual unfoldment.

  The rhythm of the full moon is used to schedule these meditations as
it marks the time each month when the impact of the divine energies of
Light, Love, and Power are at their peak and can be registered by a group
and radiated into human consciousness. Millions will be meditating during
this time, creating a wonderful group energy that we will join, adding our
light and love to this group energy.

  The remaining full moons constitute lesser festivals but are also of
great importance.

  More information on the Three Major (Spring) Festivals and other full
moon times and information can be obtained from Lucis Trust, 120 Wall
Street, 24th Floor, Suite 54, New York NY 10005, USA Tel: 1 (212) 292-0707,
or by visiting their website at http://www.lucistrust.org. You can request
their free brochure on the Spring Festivals, and read their many wonderful
articles on Divine Will.  We highly recommend the books by Alice A. Bailey.


...
Be the change
you want to see in the world.
-- Mahatma Gandhi

Fw: [globalnews] Bush wants to own your medical records

[jsherry]

The Bush administration is trying to change the law to eliminate the
requirement that you consent before your medical records are
released. Doctor-patient confidentiality will be replaced by, in all
effect, government ownership of your medical records.
A fairly well written editorial by Deobrah Peel on the undermining of
patient privacy can be found here:
http://www.nomanagedcare.org/editorial_7.html

You can read official releases and fact sheets as well as send your
comments to Health and Human Services at
http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/.

Comments are being taken until April 26.



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Fw: Prominent Israeli MP calls it 'barbarism'

[jsherry]

Prominent Israeli MP accuses Sharon of 'barbarism'

[In the most dramatic and forceful statement by a Jewish government official
to date, a British MP sharply denounced the Sharon government and expressed
a surprisingly nuanced understanding of the dynamics of the Israel-Palestine
conflict. Gerald Kaufman, a long-time Labour Party MP and self-described
"friend of Israel" loudly proclaimed that the Star of David represents all
Jews and not Sharon's "repulsive government". He roundly rips Sharon, whom
he had the insight to label a war criminal, as well as offering a voice of
reason on the subject of suicide bombings. While unequivocally denouncing
such attacks, he asks the reasonable questions of what would happen if "we"
were occupied for 35 years, and raises the key questions of how Zionist
fighters behaved in the 1940s with such acts as the bombing of the King
David Hotel and the massacre at Deir Yassin. He also points out that another
difference is that Israel is a state and that it needs to be held to the
standards of an independent state. He says, "The difference between the Deir
Yassin massacre and what happened in Jenin is that Deir Yassin was the work
of terrorist groups denounced by mainstream Jewish groups. The horrors in
Jenin were carried out by the official Israeli army." One may hope that such
a powerful statement, from a prominent Jewish official in a major Western
state may inspire other Jews the world over to finally speak out against
what is happening in our names. - MP]


http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foreignaffairs/story/0,11538,685658,00.html

MP accuses Sharon of 'barbarism'

All sides condemn West Bank incursions

Nicholas Watt, political correspondent
Wednesday April 17, 2002
The Guardian

The veteran Labour MP and prominent Jewish parliamentarian, Gerald Kaufman,
yesterday launched a ferocious attack on the Israeli prime minister, Ariel
Sharon, denouncing him as a "war criminal" who was staining the Star of
David.
Speaking in a Commons debate on the Middle East crisis, in which MPs from
across the house condemned Israel's incursions into the West Bank, Mr
Kaufman likened Mr Sharon's tactics to the actions of Zionist terrorists in
Palestine in the 1940s.
In an emotional speech, in which he described himself as a lifelong friend
of Israel, the former shadow foreign secretary said: "Sharon has ordered his
troops to use methods of barbarism against the Palestinians ... It is time
to remind Sharon that the Star of David belongs to all Jews and not to his
repulsive government. His actions are staining the Star of David with blood.
The Jewish people, whose gifts to civilised discourse include Einstein and
Epstein, are now symbolised throughout the world by the blustering bully
Ariel Sharon, a war criminal implicated in the murder of Palestinians in the
Sabra-Shatila camp and now involved in killing Palestinians once again."
To nods of approval from MPs, Mr Kaufman condemned Palestinian suicide
bombers. But he added that it was important to ask why Palestinians resort
to such tactics. "We need to ask how we would feel if we had been occupied
for 35 years by a foreign power which denied us the most elementary human
rights and decent living conditions."
Mr Kaufman then likened the suicide bombers to the Zionist Irgun and Stern
gangs, which launched a series of terrorist attacks in Palestine in the
run-up to the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.
"We need to ask what the Jews did in comparable circumstances," he said. "In
1946 the Irgun controlled by Menacham Begin blew up the King David hotel in
Jerusalem, slaughtering 91 innocent people. In 1948 the Palestinians
denounced what they described as a massacre in the village of Deir Yassin
... The difference between the Deir Yassin massacre and what happened in
Jenin is that Deir Yassin was the work of terrorist groups denounced by
mainstream Jewish groups. The horrors in Jenin were carried out by the
official Israeli army."
A Blair loyalist, Mr Kaufman warned that Mr Sharon's conduct had made it
impossible for Britain and the United States to take action against Iraq.
"To do so would unite the whole Muslim world against the US, the coalition
against terrorism would disintegrate, western economies could suffer a shock
comparable to the oil shock of 1973."
Mr Kaufman's attack on the Israeli government were echoed across the
chamber. The former Tory cabinet minister, John Gummer, said that a
fundamental distinction should be drawn between the actions of the Israelis
and that of the Arabs.
"Israel is a state, with the trappings of a state which claims the
legitimacy of a state and the more that it rightly claims that legitimacy,
the more it has to be judged by the standards of a state and the standards
of democracy," he said.
Amid such a serious Middle East crisis it was irresponsible of Washington to
take such a tough stance against Iraq, Mr Gummer warned. He criticised the
"kind of approach that says that we judge what is in our self-int

Fw: From Sharon's Mouth

[jsherry]

 SHARON'S TRUE NAZI-LIKE SELF-PROCLAIMED SELF
  "The Dirty Work of Zionism is not Yet Finished"

"You can call me anything you like. Call me a monster or a murderer...
Better a live Judeo-Nazi than a dead saint... Even if you prove to me
that the present war in Lebanon is a dirty immoral war, I don't care...
We shall start another war, kill and destroy more and more, until they
will have had enough... Let them tremble, let them call us a mad state.
Let them understand that we are a wild country, dangerous to our
surroundings, not normal, that we might go crazy if one of our children
is murdered, just one! If anyone even raises his hand against us we'll
take away half his land and burn the other half, including the oil.
We might use nuclear arms... Even today I am willing to volunteer to
do the dirty work for Israel, to kill as many Arabs as necessary, to
deport them, to expel and burn them, to have everyone hate us
And I don't mind if after the job is done you put me in front of a
Nuremberg Trial and then jail me for life. Hang me if you want, as
a war criminal... What you don't understand is that the dirty work
of Zionism is not finished yet, far from it."
  Ariel Sharon, December 1982

"Sharon was a killer obsessed with hatred of Palestinians. I
had promised Arafat that his people would not get any harm.
Sharon, however, ignored this commitment entirely. Sharon's
word is worth nil."
  Ambassador Philip Habib
  President Ronald Reagan's Special Middle
East Envoy in 1982

MID-EAST REALITIES - MER - www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington, DC - 4/17/2002:
Just a few months after the terrible massacres of Palestinians in the
refugee camps near Beirut in 1982 Ariel Sharon gave an interview to a famous
Israeli journalist; and pressed by the tensions of the moment and the
condemnation of much of the world Sharon revealed his true self.  The U.S.
was complicitous and responsible for what happened then, just as it is now.
Back then the U.S. was also fronting for the Israelis and giving false
promises to the Palestinians just as it is doing today.  Back then it was
Ambassador Philip Habib representing President Ronald Reagan; now it is
Colin Powell representing President George W. Bush.



 SHARON'S BRUTAL PHILOSOPHY
 By Holger Jensen*

(Minneapolis Star-Tribune, April 12) - Nicknamed "The Bulldozer," Israel's
prime minister is a soldier-politician whose career has been dogged by
persistent accusations of war crimes.

But what kind of man is Secretary of State Colin Powell trying to persuade
to make peace with the Palestinians?

At 74, Sharon may be the last Israeli leader who fought for the Haganah,
politely described as part of the "underground" that helped create the
Jewish state in 1948.

Often overlooked is that the Haganah and its offshoots, Irgun Zvai Leumi and
the Stern Gang, once were considered terrorist organizations that bombed
Arab bus stops, attacked Arab villages and killed quite a few Britons in
fighting to end the British Mandate of Palestine.

It also should be noted that two other former prime ministers of Israel,
Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir, were leaders of the Irgun and the Stern
Gang respectively. Among the atrocities these groups were responsible for
was bombing the King David Hotel and massacring 250 Arab villagers in Deir
Yassin.

So it can safely be said that some of Israel's earliest patriots were no
different from the Palestinians they call terrorists today.

The Haganah, which Sharon joined at age 14, formed the nucleus of Israel's
new army when the Jewish state came into being, and the Israeli Defense
Force, as it is called, is now the world's fourth-strongest military
machine.

Besides an awesome array of American-supplied weapons, it has the largest
and most sophisticated nuclear arsenal outside the five declared nuclear
powers - the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain - estimated at
up to 2,000 warheads. These include nuclear artillery shells and
nuclear-tipped medium-range
ballistic missiles (the Jericho 1 and 2).

The man who now controls those nukes has devoted his entire life to Israel's
security - and ruthlessly so.

Sharon earned a bloody reputation in the 1950s when he led retaliatory
attacks against Jordanian villages
accused of harboring Palestinians who mounted cross-border raids on Israel.
After the 1967 war, when Israel
occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Sharon pursued a ruthless hunt for
guerrillas that destroyed hundreds
of Palestinian homes.

When Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, Sharon was held indirectly responsible
for a massacre of Palestinian
refugees by Israel's Christian Phalange allies. Eyewitness accounts by
journalists and relief workers in the
Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps, including a Dutch doctor and a Jewish
American nurse, said Israeli a

Re: Dandelions

[jsherry]

Hi Steve & all,
Am I mistaken, or are these dandies & violet blooms way early? Much in my so
called spring garden looks about to bolt (chives, turnip greens that
overwintered are in full bloom, my anise hyssop is already inches tall, the
lemon balm fragrant, the roses way behind!)

This week hitting 90's in NYC and the burbs after just a couple of weeks ago
it was so cold we were finishing up the indoor firewood just to warm the
house!

Can't believe it's almost time to make violet syrup and dandelion wine
already!! Which reminds me, my wine was not so great last year. Anyone with
any recipes they'd like to share?

Each night I pray for peace and balance!

Blessings in these strange times!
Jane
- Original Message -
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, April 17, 2002 2:22 PM
Subject: Dandelions


I have accumulated about five gallons of dried dandelion blooms for making
the 506 remedy.  They won't let me be, everyplace I walk they pull me dowm
to
pick them.  Bullseyes are fat and juicy. Anybody else on the list practicing
any biodyn???  SStorch

Fw: [globalnews] IMMEDIATE ACTION TO PROTECT BIODIVERSITY FROM GMOs

[jsherry]

FRIENDS OF THE EARTH INTERNATIONAL
HIVOS

PRESS RELEASE
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF FARMERS' STRUGGLE APRIL 17TH

For more information contact:
Juan Lopez, +31 (0)6 11 228 519
Inez Staarink, +31 (0)70 376 5523

IMMEDIATE ACTION TO PROTECT BIODIVERSITY FROM
GMO CONTAMINATION DEMANDED DURING COP6 MEETING

April 17th. The Hague, COP 6 on Biodiversity. Farmers, farm and
biodiversity advocates, today, demanded at a shadow conference during the
Convention on Biological Diversity (COP6) that a fast track mechanism to
address liability for genetic contamination be developed now.  They also
called for immediate solutions to prevent genetic contamination.

This week news broke that one variety of Monsanto's GMO canola illegally
entered food and seed supplies.  This is the latest development in an
ongoing struggle between farmers and multinational biotechnology
companies.  Speakers cited it as one more reason to take action.

The conference aimed to show the need to take action to protect
agricultural biodiversity and address increasing corporate control over
agriculture, especially in developing countries.  On the International Day
of Farmers' Struggle recognized in locations worldwide, the conference
highlighted the case of a lawsuit against Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser
by Monsanto over the presence of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on
his farm.   Other cases of conflict between the biotechnology industry and
farmers around the world were highlighted, as well.

A Canadian judge ordered farmer Percy Schmeiser in March 2001 to pay
Monsanto thousands of dollars because a GM canola variety from Monsanto
was found growing on his field. In a landmark challenge of a multi-billion
biotech company.  Percy is appealing that decision in a case that will be
heard on May 15 and 16.  Percy maintains that he never voluntarily grew
these seeds, but genetic contamination occurred through direct seed
movement onto his property and cross pollination.

"Monsanto cannot control, and has never tried to control, the spread of
its gene around the country side," said Percy Schmeiser.  "I save and
reuse my own canola seed. If farmers are told now that we cannot do it
anymore because our neighbours are growing GM crops that blow in, it is a
clear that our right to save our own seed has been taken away," said Percy
Schmeiser.  The practice of  saving, using and exchanging seeds is a
cornerstone of agriculture.

Many southern countries are concerned about the potential threats GMO
releases present. In Brazil, no commercial cultivation of GMOs is legal
today. The current situation is under threat in the Brazilian Congress. An
exploratory study conducted by independent researchers on nine different
farms in southern Brazil illegally cultivated with GMO soya demonstrates
some of the problems related to the commercial introduction of these
crops.  The study concluded that problems in plant development,
significant rates of herbicide use, and emergence of weeds resistant to
glyphosate (Roundup) are issues that need further investigation.

"The risk of genetic contamination is too great, especially with corn
which is an open pollinated plant.  It is just too hard to control." said
Claudia Schmitt from Centro Ecologico in Brazil.  Centro Ecologico is a
grassroots group working in support of ecologically sound agriculture.

"We don't need GMOs. We have one of the highest levels of agricultural
biodiversity in the world, which is the result of hundreds of years of
family farming.  We don't want to risk it," said Claudia Schmitt.

A third example lies in Bolivia, the center of origin of the potato.  More
than 200 varieties may be found in the Andes.  Bolivia implemented a
moratorium on the introduction of GMOs at the beginning of 2001, but under
pressure of biotechnology companies overturned the new law in October
2001.  According to Maria Luisa Ramos of the Bolivian Forum on Environment
and Development (FOBOMADE), "Biotech corporations are using all methods to
force us to accept GMOs, particularly efforts under the WTO.  We will
struggle against this because if we allow GMOs to enter, our food
sovereignty will be in danger."  Despite the abrupt turn-about by the
Bolivian government, attempts to introduce a genetically modified potato
have so far been delayed.

# # #

Friends of the Earth International is a global environmental advocacy
organization with affiliates in 69 countries.

Hivos (Humanist Institute for Development Co-operation) is an organisation
working to further emancipation and democracy and to combat poverty in
developing countries.





***
Distributed by the World Environmental Journalists Egroup(WEJEG)
List Owner:Sri Lanka Environmental Journalists Forum(SLEJF)
PO.Box 26,434/3-Sri Jayawardenapura,Sri
Lanka.
phone:(+94-1)873131/827810Fax:(+94-1)883187Email:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Archive

Fw: Another death of a high ranking scientist

[jsherry]

Gene Mallove, editor of Infinite Energy, was asked if he knew anything
about Dr. Brown's death.  He said:

>Yeah, Paul Brown who we knew well and had featured in IE was drag racing,
>informally, and was killed and a tragic accident. We'll have an obit in the
>next issue.

Also, my husband remembers people on the Vortex list talking about his
death and several who knew him personally attested that he like to drag
race and that this was a very believable and likely cause of death.

Nadine

Fw: [globalnews] what's in a word? the mission. (mideastweb)

[jsherry]

   Viewpoints
 April 12, 2002
 What's in a Word? *  The Mission

What's in a Word - Words have invented and reinvented history -
http://www.mideastweb.org/wordhistory.htm - condensed version below.


Introduction

Around us is chaos. We are none of us quite sure what is happening, but it
is not good.
Bullets and bombs and words are flying thick and fast.  Much of the chaos
was created by
words. Words of a holy book, words of an editorial, words of fake interview
make real people
hate and die. Can words stop the chaos too?

   What's in a Word?
[ A longer version appears at http://www.mideastweb.org/wordhistory.htm
]

The area of Israel and Palestine is not rich in resources. We have our
famous conflict, though.  It is our conflict, and we are happy to export it.
It is our second greatest export.

What is our greatest export? It is not oil, as there is no petroleum here to
export. But we have words, and have had words since words first created
civilization in the middle east.  The middle east is famous for exporting
words. The Old Testament, the New Testament, the propaganda of two
sides in the conflict, and fittingly enough, software, are our greatest
exports
in all history. For the Bible and the propaganda are programs for humans,
and people and history are "programmed" by them, as well as by that other
great program for the human computer, the Qur'an.

At this moment, as is usual in our area, a battle is raging. The words are
fighting alongside the tanks and the bombs. Partisans are busy rewriting
history. Suicide bombers are being written out by one side, civilian
casualties are being written out by the other. They do not play well. They
will not sell. Words are changing history, and people are being programmed
to act on the words, never mind what happened. So the words help to
create reality.

Words and symbols are taken seriously here. A right-wing Zionist tract
explains the reason that justifies the bloodshed: "Jews pray facing
Jerusalem, Muslims pray with their backs to Jerusalem." It is not written
in jest. Gulliver, in all his travels in Swiftian satire, never found a more
exotic reason for killing people.

Never mind what the fact is, it depends what it is called. Is it
"legitimate?" If
the Palestinian house is "illegal," then you can demolish it. If the
settlement
is "illegal" then you can blow up the children who live in it.

A man loses his brother to the enemy. He detonates an explosive charge in
a crowded bus stop in Jerusalem, killing himself and a dozen others. Is he
a "terrorist?" a "militant?,"  a "freedom fighter?" or a martyr. Is the
suicide
attack "terror" or "resistance?" If the suicide attack is in Manhattan, is
it also
"resistance?"  A tank destroys a house with children in it, because the
house also includes people set to explode themselves in a suicide attack. Is
it "conducting a defensive operation" or a "war crime?" Is a leader a
"partner for peace" or a "terrorist?" If we add "war criminal" to his name
and
repeat it consistently, does it change the facts? Are the Zionists or the
Palestinians just regular folks, or are they the same as the Nazis? Does it
change the facts of what people did in history? Perhaps not, but it changes
the actions we will take; it changes what people will do in the history they
are making now.

The words are also used to redraw history. Nowhere is it more true that  the
pen is mightier than the sword. Nowhere is "creative writing" more
"creative." Partisans, intent on stirring up hate, crank out fraudulent
interviews with Ariel Sharon, in which he states that he wants his soldiers
to
rape Palestinian girls and kill more Palestinians. A bit of satire by an
Israeli
writer is turned into a fact. The excuse given for the lie is, "There is no
doubt, that what has been expressed in  the interview is the kind of
dangerous thinking shared by Sharon and showing through in his policies."
Reality is shaped by art. First the reality is reinvented, then it is acted
upon.
We are acting out a trashy historical novel, a comic book version of
reality.

The words are not meant to be aesthetic. They are tired, grating writing.
The same adjectives and pejorative words appear a dozen times in a
hundred words. For some reason, the hacks cannot write "Arafat" without
writing "terrorist" and they cannot write "Ariel Sharon" in less than four
words: "War Criminal Ariel Sharon." The words are meant to program
violence in human computers. Computer programs do not make good
reading. They are bad literature. They are worse reality. The words
programmed all
these impossible things we see before us, good and bad. Can we use the
words to "program" Israel and Palestine for peace?

Ami Isseroff
Rehovot, Israel

Fw: Before and after: what else was destroyed?

[jsherry]

Amnesty International Report:
http://www.web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/index/mde150422002

"The Palestinians must be hit and it must be very painful. We must cause
them losses, victims, so that they feel the heavy price".
  - Ariel Sharon, Israeli Prime Minister,
speaking to the press on 5 March 2002

"The military operations we have investigated appear to be carried out not
for military purposes but instead to harass, humiliate, intimidate and
harm the Palestinian population. Either the Israeli army is extremely
ill-disciplined or it has been ordered to carry out acts which violate the
laws of war."

Ben Welderman from CNN stated on the air todaywe feel Israel is hiding
something by not letting any of us enter. 'Us' is not only journalists.
But int'l relief services, Red Cross, human rights activists, Israeli
peace activists, ambulances, clean water trucks, etc, etc...  It is amazing
how much was destroyed. Our offices were entered like all others in town by
about 25 Israeli soldiers...they used [a Palestinian guard] as a human
shield
to go from room to room... I felt violated.


RUBBLE

ATTACKS TURN PALESTINIAN DREAM INTO BENT METAL AND PILES OF DUST
By SERGE SCHMEMANN

"We started in 1994 with damage control after the occupation. In 1995 we
moved to rehabilitation. In 1999 we were building new infrastructure, roads,
apartments, a seaport, strategic projects," said Muhammad Shtayyeh, the
director of the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and
Reconstruction, PECDAR, talking of an era that now seemed ages past. "Then
Sharon went to the mosque."

What is impossible to dispute is the calamitous setback to what had been a
steady development of the Palestinian homelands. In 1999, the
best year for the Palestinians, there were 20 million square meters of
construction under way, $8 billion dollars in private investment, 143,000
Palestinians working in Israel each bringing home $30 a day, a 6 percent
rate of growth.

The Palestinian budget actually had a surplus. The airport in Gaza was
functioning, the private sector had created 3,500 new jobs, industrial
zones were luring large new companies.

"The Palestinian administration was highly functional, and delivered good
services," said Nigel Roberts, the World Bank representative for the
West Bank and Gaza. "One of the good stories of the past 19 months was that
they managed to maintain a functioning civil administration that
delivered basic services, health, education, despite all the problems of
delivering these services. Schools were running, municipalities were
working, there was a government out there that was functioning."



  JERUSALEM, April 10 - Thirteen days ago, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sent
Israeli forces into the West Bank to "uproot the infrastructure of terror."
Since then, the uprooting inflicted by his tanks, bulldozers, helicopters
and sappers has created a landscape of devastation from Bethlehem to Jenin.
   The images are indelible: piles of concrete and twisted metal in the
ancient
casbah of Nablus, husks of savaged computers littering ministries in
Ramallah, rows of storefronts sheared by passing tanks in Tulkarm, broken
pipes gushing precious water, flattened cars in fields of shattered
glass and garbage, electricity poles snapped like twigs, tilting walls where
homes used to stand, gaping holes where rockets pierced office
buildings.
   Today, on the day after 13 Israeli soldiers were killed going house to
house
in the crowded refugee camp of Jenin, the D-9 bulldozer was
sent in instead, erasing whole stretches of tightly packed concrete houses.
   There is no way to assess the full extent of the latest damage to the
cities
and towns - Ramallah, Bethlehem, Tulkarm, Qalqilya, Nablus and
Jenin - while they remain under a tight siege, with patrols and snipers
firing in the streets.

But it is safe to say that the infrastructure of life itself and of any
future Palestinian state - roads, schools, electricity pylons, water pipes,
telephone lines - has been devastated.

Even in areas where there is no fighting, the streets are largely the realm
of alley cats prowling overturned garbage bins, while residents huddle
behind shutters and drawn curtains. Many residents have been without water,
electricity or telephones for long stretches of time.

International aid and development organizations have managed to make only
occasional forays into the besieged towns. Today, a convoy of
cars and trucks with United Nations flags carrying emergency supplies for
refugee camps in Ramallah waited for an hour at Qalandria
checkpoint, and were forced to turn back at the end.

The images and reports of damage and destruction have come largely from
journalists who make risky forays into the towns, or from
residents reporting what they see when curfews are briefly lifted so they
can restock on supplies.

What they see is only the vis

Fw: Chomsky on the Current Situation in The Middle East

[jsherry]

Noam Chomsky on the Current Situation in The Middle East..

 Znet Interview with Chomsky
 April 2, 2002

 Z: Is there a qualitative change in what's happening now?

 I think there is a qualitative change. The goal of the Oslo process was
 accurately described in 1998 by Israeli academic Shlomo Ben-Ami just
 before he joined the Barak government, going on to become Barak's chief
 negotiator at Camp David in summer 2000. Ben-Ami observed that "in
 practice, the Oslo agreements were founded on a neo-colonialist basis,
 on a life of dependence of one on the other forever." With these goals,
 the Clinton-Rabin-Peres agreements were designed to impose on the
 Palestinians "almost total dependence on Israel," creating "an extended
 colonial situation," which is expected to be the "permanent basis" for
 "a situation of dependence." The function of the Palestinian Authority
 (PA) was to control the domestic population of the Israeli-run
 neocolonial dependency. That is the way the process unfolded, step by
 step, including the Camp David suggestions. The Clinton-Barak stand
 (left vague and unambiguous) was hailed here as "remarkable" and
 "magnanimous," but a look at the facts made it clear that it was -- as
 commonly described in Israel -- a Bantustan proposal; that is presumably
 the reason why maps were carefully avoided in the US mainstream. It is
 true that Clinton-Barak advanced a few steps towards a Bantustan-style
 settlement of the kind that South Africa instituted in the darkest days
 of Apartheid. Just prior to Camp David, West Bank Palestinians were
 confined to over 200 scattered areas, and Clinton-Barak did propose an
 improvement: consolidation to three cantons, under Israeli control,
 virtually separated from one another and from the fourth canton, a small
 area of East Jerusalem, the center of Palestinian life and of
 communications in the region. And of course separated from Gaza, where
 the outcome was left unclear.

 But now that plan has apparently been shelved in favor of demolition of
 the PA. That means destruction of the institutions of the potential
 Bantustan that was planned by Clinton and his Israeli partners; in the
 last few days, even a human rights center. The Palestinian figures who
 were designated to be the counterpart of the Black leaders of the
 Bantustans are also under attack, though not killed, presumably because
 of the international consequences. The prominent Israeli scholar Ze'ev
 Sternhell writes that the government "is no longer ashamed to speak of
 war when what they are really engaged in is colonial policing, which
 recalls the takeover by the white police of the poor neighborhoods of
 the blacks in South Africa during the apartheid era." This new policy is
 a regression below the Bantustan model of South Africa 40 years ago to
 which Clinton-Rabin-Peres-Barak and their associates aspired in the Oslo
 "peace process."

 None of this will come as a surprise to those who have been reading
 critical analyses for the past 10 years, including plenty of material
 posted regularly on Znet, reviewing developments as they proceeded.

 Exactly how the Israeli leadership intends to implement these programs
 is unclear -- to them too, I presume.

 It is convenient in the US, and the West, to blame Israel and
 particularly Sharon, but that is unfair and hardly honest. Many of
 Sharon's worst atrocities were carried out under Labor governments.
 Peres comes close to Sharon as a war criminal. Furthermore, the prime
 responsibility lies in Washington, and has for 30 years. That is true of
 the general diplomatic framework, and also of particular actions. Israel
 can act within the limits established by the master in Washington,
 rarely beyond.


 Z: What's the meaning of Friday's Security Council Resolution?

 The primary issue was whether there would be a demand for immediate
 Israeli withdrawal from Ramallah and other Palestinian areas that the
 Israeli army had entered in the current offensive, or at least a
 deadline for such withdrawal. The US position evidently prevailed: there
 is only a vague call for "withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian
 cities," no time frame specified. The Resolution therefore accords with
 the official US stand, largely reiterated in the press: Israel is under
 attack and has the right of self-defense, but shouldn't go too far in
 punishing Palestinians, at least too visibly. The facts -- hardly
 controversial -- are quite different. Palestinians have been trying to
 survive under Israeli military occupation, now in its 35th year. It has
 been harsh and brutal throughout, thanks to decisive US military and
 economic support, and diplomatic protection, including the barring of
 the long-standing international consensus on a peaceful political
 settlement. There is no symmetry in this confrontation, not the
 slightest, and to frame it in terms of Israeli self-defense goes beyond
 even standard forms of distortion in the interests of power. The

Fw: [globalnews] Poll: Americans Support Cutting Aid to Israel, No Longer Consider Terrorism #1 Issue

[jsherry]

April 12, 2002

by Reuters

Poll: Americans Support Cutting Aid to Israel

WASHINGTON - Most Americans believe the United States should halt or reduce

economic and military aid to Israel if Prime Minister Ariel Sharon does not

immediately withdraw troops from Palestinian areas, according to a Time

Magazine/CNN poll released on Friday.

The poll of 1,003 adults also found most Americans back Secretary of State

Colin Powell's Mideast peace mission, although they expect few results and

consider Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat a "terrorist" and an enemy of the

U.S.

The public opinion sampling was conducted on Wednesday and Thursday, before

Powell arrived in Israel on Friday, when a suicide bomber killed six people

outside a Jerusalem market.

Sharon has rejected repeated direct calls by President Bush to withdraw

troops from Palestinian areas, prompting some critics to raise the

possibility of sanctions.

But the administration has made clear it has no plans to threaten key ally

Israel with a cut in its $3 billion in annual aid. Even if it did, a

strongly pro-Israel U.S. Congress likely would oppose the move.

The Time/CNN poll found that 60 percent of Americans favored the aid cut

off if an Israeli troop withdrawal does not take place immediately.

An even larger number -- 75 percent -- think Powell's Mideast trip is a

good idea but only 21 percent of the respondents believe major progress

toward peace will result.

As for Arafat, 59 percent of Americans consider him an enemy of the United

States, 62 percent think he's a terrorist and 90 percent believe he cannot

be trusted, according to the poll.

Sharon's standing is better. One quarter of the respondents consider him an

enemy of the United States, 20 percent say he is a terrorist and 65 percent

do not trust him.

The poll found that 65 percent of Americans think Bush is doing a good job

handling foreign policy, a significant decline from the 80 percent

favorable rating he had in December 2001, three months after the Sept. 11

attacks.

Fear of terrorism has declined. Last September, 45 percent of the poll

respondents identified terrorism as the main problem facing the United

States. That number declined to 25 percent in December and 21 percent this

week.

The poll was conducted by Harris Interactive and has a margin of error of

plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

<> <> <> <> <> <> <> <>

...
Be the change
you want to see in the world.
-- Mahatma Gandhi

Fw: inquiry for guru

[jsherry]

Allan, in response to yr. question:

> Barbara:
>
> No -- I saw it yesterday on one of the "cable" news stations
>
> Was it CNN or FOX or MSNBC.??  I'm not sure...guru.
>
> > barbara gaines wrote:
> >
> > guru...do you have the reference for that possible reclassification on
the Enron official's case?
> >
> > thanks
> >
> > barbara

Fw: 'I Just Can't Go On,' Ex-Officer Wrote

[jsherry]

See the "The Harris County Medical Examiners Office.." para
below.  It appears to be the basis for what I heard Not
as definitive as the TV news report ... which emphasized that
"homicide" was still a possible finding...guru.

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/12/business/12BAXT.html?pagewanted=print&posi
tion=top

April 12, 2002
  'I Just Can't Go On,' Ex-Officer Wrote
  By JIM YARDLEY
  UGAR LAND, Tex., April 11 - In a pained handwritten note, J. Clifford
Baxter, the former Enron vice chairman, described himself as tormented and
ashamed but did not mention the Enron scandal or whether it was leading him
to take his own life.

  "I am so sorry for this," Mr. Baxter wrote to his wife, Carol, in the
note, which the Sugar Land police released today. "I feel I just can't go
on. I have always tried to do the right thing but where there once was great
pride now its gone. I love you and the children so much.

  "I just can't be any good to you or myself. The pain is overwhelming.

  "Please try to forgive me.

  "Cliff."

  Early on the morning of Jan. 25, Mr. Baxter was found dead from a
single gunshot wound to the head. His body was discovered inside his parked
Mercedes-Benz a few blocks from his home in a subdivision of Sugar Land, an
affluent suburb of Houston.

  The Harris County Medical Examiner's office has ruled his death a
suicide, though the Sugar Land police have left the case open, awaiting
results on what officials described as routine tests involving DNA and
ballistic information. A police spokesman said today that the case was
expected to be closed early next week.

  The existence of the note had generated much speculation about whether
Mr. Baxter had offered any details about Enron. He had retired from the
company in May 2001, about seven months before Enron filed for bankruptcy
protection. Former colleagues said Mr. Baxter had criticized some of the
accounting practices conducted by the former chief financial officer, Andrew
S. Fastow, whose off-balance-sheet partnerships later contributed to the
company's collapse.

  Colleagues also said that Mr. Baxter had clashed with Jeffrey K.
Skilling, the former chief executive, though Mr. Skilling testified before
Congress in February that the two had been close friends.

  In the days and weeks before his death, Mr. Baxter had been named a
defendant in at least one civil lawsuit filed against officers of the
company, and Congressional investigators had subpoenaed him to testify.

  The Sugar Land police department released the note late this morning
after the state attorney general ruled that it and other related documents
should be made public under the Texas Open Records Act. Within hours, a
state judge issued a temporary restraining order on the release of the
documents after a motion was filed by Mr. Baxter's wife.

  The order came too late to prevent the release of the note. A hearing
will be held in the next 14 days to determine whether other items, including
a police report and photographs taken at the scene, will be released.



  Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company | Privacy Information

Fw: [globalnews] Meditation Focus # 62: Reclaiming Our Humanity

[jsherry]

Hello,

What follows is the 62nd Meditation Focus suggested for the two consecutive
weeks beginning Sunday, April 14, 2002.

RECLAIMING OUR HUMANITY

1. Summary
2. Meditation times
3. More information on this week's Focus

---

1. SUMMARY

Following the last two weeks of utter destruction inflicted upon the
Palestinian territories and the grave allegations of widespread slaughter
of innocent and unarmed Palestinian civilians caused during a large-scale
military operation by the Israeli army in its effort to root out those
would-be suicide bombers who may be preparing other attacks upon innocent
and unarmed Israeli civilians, the cycle of violence in the Middle East has
reached new heights of horror that have left the rest of the world sickened
by all this reckless killing, triggered worldwide street protests mostly
against the heavy-handed Israeli military operations, and provoked
international condemnations against all these gross violations of all human
rights conventions in times of war. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell
who finally arrived Friday in Israel to try to get both parties to agree to
and uphold a ceasefire, has so far been unsuccessful in obtaining from
Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to withdraw his troops from the
Palestinian Territories despite repeated requests from the U.S. government
and several U.N. Security Council resolutions demanding an immediate halt
to the bloodshed and mayhem by the Israeli Defense Forces in what would now
be the State of Palestine if the now frozen peace process had succeeded in
bringing peace to the region.

What has been called by many a "Mission Impossible" is perhaps the last
best chance that remains to prevent the situation from spiralling into even
worst-case scenarios of war and it would seem that a quasi-miracle is now
the only thing that could bring these two people to their sense, so they
may finally reclaim their humanity and stop all this senseless violence
that has absolutely no chance of ever solving the divisive issues that have
opposed them since Israel invaded what is now called the Palestinian
Territories 35 years ago.

Please dedicate your prayers and meditations, as guided by Spirit, in the
coming two weeks to contribute in fostering in everyone's mind and heart
the true, sincere desire to put an end to all forms of violence, to
acknowledge that fear and hatred will only bring everyone further away from
their innate, compassionate loving self, and to endeavour to gradually
build up mutual trust, mutual security and mutual appreciation in a spirit
of forgiveness and unconditional love. Since this conflict is in a sense a
litmus test for all humanity as to our growing resolve to peacefully settle
all conflicts from the past and create a new world of justice, sharing and
harmony for all human beings, along with heightened respect for the
sacredness of all other life forms, we all have a direct stake in the
successful completion of Mr. Powell's mission and all the successive
further steps that must be taken afterwards to mend the relationship
between the Israelis and Palestinians and eventually bring peace to the
Middle East, for the Highest Good of All.


This entire Meditation Focus is also available at
http://www.aei.ca/~cep/MeditationFocus62.htm

IMPORTANT NOTICE: PLEASE MAKE SURE TO CHECK YOUR NEW LOCAL MEDITATION TIME
BELOW

---

2. MEDITATION TIMES

i) Global Meditation Day: Sunday at 16:00 Universal Time (GMT) or at noon
local time. Suggested duration: 30 minutes.

ii) Golden Moment of At-Onement: Daily, at the top of any hour, or whenever
it better suits you.

These times below are currently corresponding to 16:00 Universal Time/GMT:

Honolulu 6:00 AM -- Anchorage * 8:00 AM -- Los Angeles * 9:00 AM -- Mexico
City, San Salvador & Denver * 10:00 AM -- Houston * & Chicago * 11:00 AM --
Santo Domingo, La Paz, Caracas, New York *, Toronto *. Montreal *, Asuncion
& Santiago 12:00 AM -- Halifax *, Rio de Janeiro & Montevideo 1:00 PM --
Reykjavik & Casablanca 4 PM -- Lagos, Algiers, London *, Dublin * & Lisbon
* 5:00 PM -- Jerusalem, Johannesburg, Geneva *, Rome *, Berlin *, Paris * &
Madrid * 6:00 PM -- Ankara *, Athens *, Helsinki * & Istanbul * & Nairobi
7:00 PM -- Baghdad *, Moscow * 8:00 PM -- Tehran * 8:30 PM -- Islamabad
9:00 PM -- Calcutta & New Delhi 9:30 PM -- Dhaka 10:00 PM -- Rangoon 10:30
PM -- Hanoi, Bangkok & Jakarta 11:00 PM -- Hong Kong, Perth, Beijing &
Kuala Lumpur +12:00 PM -- Seoul & Tokyo +1:00 AM -- Brisbane, Canberra &
Melbourne +2:00 AM -- Wellington +4:00 AM

+ means the place is one day ahead of Universal Time/Greenwich Mean Time.
* means the place is observing daylight saving time (DST) at the moment.

You may also check at http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/full.html
tomorrow to find your current corresponding local time if a closeby city is
not listed above.

---

3. MORE INFORMATION ON THIS FOCUS

This section is for those who wish to understand in more detail the
situation of this week's

Re: Fw: curiosity, to share

[jsherry]

This came from another friend's list. Can't deal with paranoia now.
Antidote: Shape the compost heap!

- Original Message -
From: "Essie Hull" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Sunday, April 14, 2002 10:23 AM
Subject: Re: Fw: curiosity, to share


Jane -
How best to explore this?  I'd been wondering the same thing, and your
forward was reassuring in that it gave some basis, or at least some
support, to my paranoia.
Essie

China's Growing Deserts Are Suffocating Korea

[jsherry]

>From the NYTimes

April 14, 2002

China's Growing Deserts Are Suffocating Korea
By HOWARD W. FRENCH


Associated Press
Schools were closed, flights were canceled and Seoul's clinics filled with
residents suffering from breathing problems recently when a sandstorm blew
in from China.


SEOUL, South Korea, April 12 - School was called off throughout much of this
sprawling city last Monday because of inclement weather.

It was not a freak spring snow storm, a heat wave or torrential rains.

Rather, it was an immense cloud of dust that blew in from China's
fast-spreading deserts, about 750 miles away.

It hid Seoul from view throughout the morning, obscuring the sunrise just as
surely as the heaviest of fogs. Clinics overflowed with patients complaining
of breathing problems, drugstores experienced a run on cough medicines and
face masks that supposedly filter the air, and parks and outdoor malls were
nearly empty of pedestrians.

With the arrival of the huge dust storms for the third consecutive year,
Koreans have begun to grimly resign themselves to the addition of an
unwelcome fifth season - already dubbed the season of yellow dust - to the
usual four seasons that any temperate country knows.

Like the harmattan in West Africa, when skies throughout that region turn a
soupy gray for weeks at a time because of seasonal wind patterns that bring
airborne dust southward from the Sahara, Korea's new season is a disturbing
reminder for Asians of global interconnectedness and the perils of
environmental degradation.

"There is no way for us to deter this," said Kim Seung Bae, deputy director
of South Korea's national weather service. "All we can do is try to forecast
the yellow dust storms as early as possible, but with the current technology
we can only detect it one day ahead of time at best. For now, our main
innovation will be to add predictions of the intensity of the dust to our
weather reports."

In Seoul, a measurement of 70 micrograms of dust per cubic meter of air is
considered normal during most of the year. At 1,000 micrograms, experts say,
serious health warnings are indicated. Earlier this week, in the fourth
storm of the season, a record measurement of 2,070 micrograms was reached in
this city. Mr. Kim said two or three more storms could hit Korea this month.

Scientists say the dust storms, which are distinctly visible on regional
satellite weather maps as gigantic yellow blobs, are the result of the rapid
desertification in China and a prolonged drought affecting that country and
other parts of Northeast Asia.

The term yellow dust refers to the color of the sand when it coats parked
cars and windows rather than the color of the skies, which all this last
week were a thick, acrid gray.

According to China's Environmental Protection Agency, the Gobi grew by
20,000 square miles from 1994 to 1999, and its steadily advancing edge now
sits a mere 150 miles north of Beijing. As in West Africa, which weather
experts say is the world's leading source of dust, China's environmental
changes are accelerating because of overfarming, overgrazing and the
widespread destruction of forests.

But unlike West Africa's dust, which is carried to the southern United
States by winds known as the tropical easterlies, dust from the Gobi and
Taklimakan deserts in rapidly industrializing China is binding with toxic
industrial pollutants, including arsenic, cadmium and lead, increasing the
health threat.

Changes like these have long made springtime synonymous with respiratory
distress in Beijing.

But as the dust storms have grown, their impact has been spreading rapidly
eastward, blighting the air over the Korean peninsula and beyond.

This has been an unusually dusty spring in Tokyo, for example, and
fingerlike plumes of the airborne sand now travel 7,000 miles aboard the jet
stream reaching Portland, Ore., and San Francisco, where the main effect so
far has been to create breathtaking sunsets.

"There is no smoking gun yet that proves that man is causing this," said
Charles S. Zender, a professor of earth system science at the University of
California at Irvine, "but rather lots of anecdotal evidence."

"The puzzle of Asian dust is a huge question in weather science right now,"
he said, "and if human activity is proven to be the cause, it stands to
reason that this problem is going to keep getting worse."

As a mood of resignation has set in over the persistence of this phenomenon,
Koreans have already begun to focus on the economic costs. What was only
recently regarded here as a minor nuisance is now seen as posing a serious
threat in areas as diverse as public health, travel, retail shopping and
even high-tech manufacturing.

This last week, for example, in addition to the school closures, scores of
domestic flights have been canceled because of poor visibility. Workplace
absenteeism has risen, too, and retail sales have dipped, as a result of
people staying indoors.

"I've had a little bit of a cough," said Choi B

Fw: curiosity, to share

[jsherry]

- forwarded message -
Sent: Sunday, April 14, 2002 7:45 AM

Is anybody keeping a count on the number of sudden deaths "by
accident" ... of "high ranking" (persons of special and unique
qualifications and/or achievement) scientists in the U.S. in
recent months.

By my count, it seems that there have been at least three
Starting with that "unbelievable" death on the bridge over the
Mississippi in Memphis.

I am also very interested in the recent revelations that the
high-ranking ENRON official who "supposedly" committed suicide
soon after the ENRON disclosures -- maybe did NOT commit suicide.
The case is now considered a possible homicide..???



from Roy Beavers, emf-guru

Subject: Dr. Brown
Date: Sat, 13 Apr 2002 22:57:18 EDT
From: 
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Roy,

I believe you were in this field?  My understanding of Dr. Brown is that he
was real close to patent an alternative fuel source.  There is some
whispering that it was an intentional accident.


MERIDIAN, Idaho--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

April 8, 2002--

Nuclear Solutions, Inc. (OTCBB:NSOL - news) regretfully announces the death
of Dr. Paul M. Brown.

Dr. Brown was killed on April 7, 2002 in an automobile accident in Boise,
Idaho. He developed the idea for the Company's patented photoremediation
technology for the remediation of nuclear waste that will now be his legacy.
He is survived by his wife and two children.

``Our team is saddened by this tragic loss, however, we remain fully
committed to realizing the vision that Dr. Brown inspired us with. His
vision
holds the promise of safe and economical treatment of nuclear waste and the
potential for a new generation of power reactors,'' said John Dempsey,
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

``We have assembled a management and scientific team that is competent and
fully capable of implementing the technology that Dr. Brown invented as well
as our newer acquisitions such as our GHR tritium removal technology,'' he
concluded.

Fw: NYC Opens Bids for Pesticide Spraying - Surprise!

[jsherry]

No Spray Coalition News Flash -- APRIL 12, 2002

Toxified City Residents Catch a Break

Congratulations! The City opened the bids this morning for aerial pesticide
spraying. Lo and behold - NO ONE SUBMITTED BIDS!

We believe that this was due to all the pressure brought to bear on spraying
companies by the No Spray Coalition, New York Environmental Law & Justice
Project, and other activists through lawsuits, protests, publicity and the
possibility of heavy fines, such as the $1 million fine against Clarke
Environmental that we fought for and won last year. Companies, we've been
told, simply felt it "wasn't worth it" to bid for the aerial spraying
contract. One company submitted a bid for larviciding sewers and such.

Chalk up a much needed victory for our side.

The City could, however, reschedule bidding or attempt to pilot the
helicopters on its own - an unlikely scenario, but not totally out of the
question since the DOH wants to spray us this year with Scourge (Resmethrin
+ piperonyl butoxide + "inerts"). The Department of Health resorted to
having the Sanitation Dept. spray us with Anvil (Sumithrin +) last year. No
official word yet on what was spent monetarily nor the health and
environmental consequences.

In a city that has had its share of toxic overload and is trying to pare its
budget, removing the millions of dollars of unnecessary and indiscriminate
pesticide spraying would be a step in the right direction.

Meanwhile, the No Spray lawsuit moves forward. Both sides are filing motions
for summary judgment, and the Judge has scheduled a "settlement conference"
for next week.

The Mayor, thus far, has not responded to our requests to meet with him.
Please check the hotline at (718) 670-7110 for updates.

Finally, for those who will be at the Socialist Scholars Conference this
weekend at Cooper Union in Manhattan, Mitchel will be speaking about Anthrax
at a workshop on Sunday, April 14, 1:30 pm, Foundation Building room 312.
This is a terrific panel sponsored by the radical philosophy association, on
"State Terrorism and Terrorizing Dissent." Hope you can come! Tariq Ali is
speaking on an opening panel TONIGHT (Friday), and again at the Brecht Forum
on Sunday afternoon at 4 pm.


- Mitchel Cohen, for the
No Spray Coalition


No Spray Coalition
PO Box 334
Peck Slip Station
NYC 10272
Hotline: (718) 670-7110
website: www.nospray.org
listserve: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

The No Spray Coalition is funded solely by its activist base. Please
contribute what you can to help sustain these efforts. Thank you.

***

Heal All Query

[jsherry]

Hello All,

I was wondering if anyone onlist uses heal all, aka self heal or prunella
vulgaris internally, topically? If so, how and what do you do with it? It
has become so plentiful that I am sure it wants to be of service. Any
suggestions?

Thanks for any stories shared.

Blessings,
Jane

Re: poison oak

[jsherry]

Deborah,
I would only add that you should drink copious amounts of fresh spring water
to help your body eliminate toxins. And of course, a reminder NOT to burn
any poison ivy (I assume it would be the same with the oak) at all if you
have cleared some off your property.

Good luck for a speedy recovery,
Jane
- Original Message -
From: "Deborah Byron" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, April 12, 2002 10:28 AM
Subject: poison oak


I am desperately seeking advice on how to treat a worsening case of
poison oak.  It is day 8 and still spreading in spite of initially using
homeopathic 30X Rhus Tox, an herbal tincture astringent, then on to
topical applications of vinegar and aloe vera, and now, finally and
reluctantly, generic benadryl (an over-the-counter antihistamine) both
topically and orally. It feels like it has become systemic now, although
dissolving benadryl tablets in water and applying to the affected areas
has brought some relief.

Has anyone out there found a successful way to treat this affliction
without resorting to allopathic steroids?

Hopefully,
Deborah

Fw: [globalnews] Join Campaign to Shut Down Indian Point

[jsherry]

To join the campaign, or get full instructions on how to help shut down
Indian Point visit: http://www.riverkeeper.org/new/indianpoint/index.html

For Immediate Release
Contact:  LCG Communications: 718.853.5568;

March 26, 2002 917.775.1940;
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Poll Shows No Confidence In Emergency Evacuation Plan for Indian Point


Riverkeeper Releases Results of Marist Poll on Workability of Regional
Evacuation for Indian Point Nuclear Plant; Calls on Governor Pataki To Close
Indian Point Due to Inadequacy of Plan to Protect Public Health and Safety

Riverkeeper, a Hudson River-based environmental group, released the results
of a Marist Institute poll on the workability of evacuation plans for the
region in case of a catastrophic nuclear accident or attack at the Indian
Point nuclear plant in Buchanan, New York.  Many, including government
officials, consider the plant a prime potential terrorist target in the wake
of the September 11th World Trade Center attack.

An emergency evacuation plan currently exists for only the 10-mile radius
around the plant, although, in case of an attack or accident, people within
a 50-mile radius are also at risk.  More than 20 million people live within
50 miles of the plant, including those living within the five boroughs of
New York City and in 21 other counties in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey
and Pennsylvania.

The most startling poll results deal directly with those who live within the
ten-mile evacuation zone, where an evacuation plan exists:


·A vast majority -- 61% of those polled -- feel that the evacuation
plan is not workable;

·76% of those polled would attempt to evacuate anyway, even though
72% feel they are not familiar with what they're supposed to do in the event
of an accident;

·Only 33% -- one third -- of residents who live within ten miles of
Indian Point have read or looked at the official evacuation plan;

·A scant 3% of residents who live within ten miles of the plant can
name an evacuation reception center.


And, even though there is no evacuation plan at all for those beyond the
10-mile radius:


·60% of the people within the larger, 50-mile zone would attempt to
evacuate;

·77% of residents who live within fifty miles of the plant believe
there should be an evacuation plan for their community.


"The poll confirms that in the event of an accident at Indian Point, chaos
would reign," said Riverkeeper's Executive Director, Alex Matthiessen.
"Imagine 12 million people, equipped
with a mere paper plan or possibly no plan at all, trying to evacuate the
area all at once -- it would be sheer pandemonium and many would not survive
it."

"We decided to undertake this poll because we wanted to see how prepared New
Yorkers are for an attack, how well they understand evacuation procedures,
and how they would respond.  Now we know, and the answers are frightening,"
Matthiessen added. "Without a workable evacuation plan, Governor Pataki
simply cannot guarantee the health and safety of the 20 million people who
live in the New York metropolitan area.  If he takes an honest look at
emergency preparedness, he can only conclude that the plant must be closed,"
he added.

The poll also revealed that, although parents are not supposed to pick up
children from school should an evacuation become necessary during school
hours, fully 73% of those polled who have children would ignore the plan and
would go get their children anyway. While Westchester County Executive Spano
is currently attempting to improve the plan to allow parents to pick up
their children, serious questions remain as to how that will happen given
the torrent of evacuees who will be fleeing the emergency zone in the event
of an actual accident.

Susan Shapiro, a parent from Pomona in Rockland County said, "My child goes
to school in the ten-mile zone and her evacuation is dependent on buses that
do not exist. There are not enough buses to evacuate school children.  In
fact, the evacuation plan calls for bus drivers to make multiple trips into
the emergency zone."

Joseph Mangano, National Coordinator with the Radiation and Public Health
Project, said, "As a health researcher with expertise in the field of
radiation and its effects, I know that the health consequences of an
accident or an attack at Indian Point are potentially catastrophic. If an
incident were to occur on a day when the winds were blowing toward New York
City, there might well be very few places to which people could safely
evacuate. Many thousands of people rushing to get out or remaining behind
could suffer all kinds of serious health effects from radiation exposure,
including myriad cancers, thyroid ailments, respiratory and immune
diseases­."

The poll, conducted by phone from February 18th through March 7th, surveyed
a total of 1,118 residents, 505 of whom live within the ten-mile radius of
the plant and 613 of whom live within a 

Re: OT HR2459

[jsherry]

Hi Bonnie,
Haven't had time to talk with my local rep. Actually, I think trying to
legislate decency is a waste of time & money. But as a magical act, it seems
that it might insert a seed for peace in the imagination of that legislative
body.

Best Regards,
Jane
- Original Message -
From: "Bonnie York" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, April 08, 2002 11:58 AM
Subject: OT HR2459



On Monday, April 8, 2002, at 05:59 AM, jsherry wrote:

>
> PEACE AND NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT: A CALL TO ACTION
>
> by U.S. Rep Dennis Kucinich

I just talked to the local contact person for my US representative. He
had never heard of the bill. When he found it, he told me that Peace
Bill HR2459 is in 4 committees and 3 subcommittees. It will probably
never see the light of day.His words.

I told this young man,"unless the people call for it."

Jane, what did your representative say?

Bonnie

Re: Learning to dowse

[jsherry]

Joey Korn, a lovely guy and member of the Dowsers Society, is available to
do one on one instruction as well as offering classes in different locations
in the states. He did a presentation at one of Allan's Bd conferences, I
believe two years ago or so. Missed him there, but I checked out his site,
sent an email and arranged for a home visit when he was staying in Brooklyn
a while back. He's a wonderful spirit, also got me Walt's book. His website
is:

http://www.dowsers.com/

Best,
Jane

- Original Message -
From: "Wayne and Sharon McEachern" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2002 7:35 AM
Subject: Re: Learning to dowse




Gil Robertson wrote:

> Hi! Lloyd,
> Thanks for posting that. It is probably the most used of that sort of
> thing. I think it could do with editing to a briefer item, but apart
> from that, it is fine.
>
> Gil

Anyone wishing a bit of a shorter "how-to" on dowsing can also visit the
Light Expression website at http://lightexpression.com/index2.htm and
read instruction which was offered by a friend of ours -- then tuned to
its finished state by Sharon and I.  Wishing everyone well in their
adventures

Wayne
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sharon and Wayne McEachern

"Expressing the Light"

http://www.ExpressingTheLight.com

"A Ministry Dedicated to the Divine Process"

and

"Light Expression Essences"

http://www.LightExpression.com

"A Divine Program for Healing and Transformation"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Fw: [globalnews] US Sent Millions of Radical Islamist Schoolbooks to Afghanistan

[jsherry]

The Emperor's New Clothes

  URL for this article:
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/jared/jihad.htm

  ===
  BUSH & THE MEDIA COVER UP THE JIHAD SCHOOLBOOK SCANDAL
  By Jared Israel
  [Posted 9 April 2002]
  ===

  Have you heard about the Afghan Jihad schoolbook scandal?

  Or perhaps I should say, "Have you heard about the Afghan Jihad
schoolbook scandal that's waiting to happen?"

  Because it has been almost unreported in the Western media that the US
government shipped - and continues to ship - millions of Islamist (that's
short for Islamic fundamentalist) textbooks into Afghanistan.

  Only one English-speaking newspaper we could find has investigated
this issue: the Washington Post. The story appeared March 23rd. (A)

  According to Washington Post investigators, over the past twenty years
the US has spent millions of dollars producing fanatical schoolbooks, which
were then distributed in Afghanistan.

"The primers, which were filled with talk of jihad and featured
drawings of guns, bullets, soldiers and mines, have served since then [i.e.,
since the violent destruction of the Afghan secular government in the early
1990s] as the Afghan school system's core curriculum. Even the Taliban used
the American-produced books..." -- Washington Post, 23 March 2002 (A)

  According to the Post, these violent Islamist schoolbooks, which
"served...as the Afghan school system's core curriculum" produced
"unintended consequences."

  Core curriculum? Unintended consequences?

  Yes, reports the Washington Post, according to unnamed officials the
schoolbooks "steeped a generation in [Islamist] violence."

  How could this result be unintended? Did they expect that having
fundamentalist schoolbooks in the core curriculum would produce moderate
Muslims?

  LET'S BE REASONABLE

  Nobody with normal intelligence could expect to distribute millions of
violent Islamist schoolbooks without influencing school children towards
violent Islamism. Therefore one would assume that the unnamed US officials
who, we are told, are distressed at these "unintended consequences" must
previously have been unaware of the Islamist content of the schoolbooks.

  But surely someone was aware. The US government can't write, edit,
print and ship millions of violent, Muslim fundamentalist primers into
Afghanistan without somebody in high places (in the US government) approving
those primers.

  So if the books weren't supposed to be Islamist, that is, if their
fanatical content contradicted US policy in Afghanistan, shouldn't the mass
media and top politicians, such as President George Bush, now be calling for
an investigation? Shouldn't they be demanding to know the identity of the
official or officials who subverted the *intended* US policy by flooding
Afghanistan with jihad primers?

  Indeed, considering the disastrous consequences, shouldn't US
officials and the media be questioning the very practice of violating the
sovereignty of other countries by distributing millions of Islamic
fundamentalist schoolbooks?

  Yet after a thorough Internet search we could find no evidence that
any mainstream Western newspaper, with the exception of the Washington Post,
or any TV station or government leader has questioned - let alone
denounced - sending fundamentalist schoolbooks to Afghanistan.

  Quite the contrary.

  For example, here's what the Boston Globe (owned by the NY Times)
wrote about the old textbooks:

"Those schoolbooks that still exist are pro-Taliban screeds and
deemed unusable."
-- Boston Globe, March 17, 2002 (B)

  This is implicitly misleading. How could Elizabeth Neuffer, who wrote
this article, and who is the Globe's UN Bureau Chief, not know that these
schoolbooks were made in USA? Was the UN also involved in distributing the
Islamist books? Perhaps instead of hiding US complicity, she should do some
investigative reporting!

  Other newspapers went further, lying more elaborately about US
involvement. Here is the Daily Telegraph from Sydney, Australia:

[START DAILY TELEGRAPH EXCERPT]

"AFGHAN children ran, skipped and dawdled to their classrooms like
pupils everywhere yesterday for the start of a new school year -- with girls
and women teachers back in class and subjects like math replacing the
Islamic dogma of the Taliban.

"In a symbolic break from a war-scarred past, children opened new
textbooks written by Afghan scholars based at universities in the US.

"There are even pictures of people -- images banned by the
fundamentalist Taliban."
- The Daily Telegraph (Sydney), March 25, 2002 (C)

[END DAILY TELEGRAPH EXCERPT]

  By beginning the article with the irrelevant but cheery image, "Afghan
children ran, skipped and dawdled, etc.," the Telegraph prepares us for an
upbeat ne

Fw: [globalnews] PEACE AND NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT: A CALL TO ACTION

[jsherry]

PEACE AND NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT: A CALL TO ACTION

by U.S. Rep Dennis Kucinich

". . . Come my friends, 'tis not too late to seek a newer world,"

- Alfred Lord Tennyson

If you believe that humanity has a higher destiny, if you believe we can

evolve, and become better than we are; if you believe we can overcome the

scourge of war and someday fulfill the dream of harmony and peace earth,

let us begin the conversation today. Let us exchange our ideas. Let us plan

together, act together and create peace together. This is a call for common

sense, for peaceful, non-violent citizen action to protect our precious

world from widening war and from stumbling into a nuclear catastrophe.

The climate for conflict has intensified, with the struggle between

Pakistan and India, the China-Taiwan tug of war, and the increased

bloodshed between Israel and the Palestinians. United States' troop

deployments in the Philippines, Yemen, Georgia, Columbia and Indonesia

create new possibilities for expanded war. An invasion of Iraq is planned.

The recent disclosure that Russia, China, Iraq, Iran, Syria, North Korea,

and Libya are considered by the United States as possible targets for

nuclear attack catalyzes potential conflicts everywhere.

These crucial political decisions promoting increased military actions,

plus a new nuclear first-use policy, are occurring without the consent of

the American people, without public debate, without public hearings,

without public votes. The President is taking Congress's approval of

responding to the Sept. 11 terrorists as a license to flirt with nuclear

war.

"Politics ought to stay out of fighting a war," the President has been

quoted as saying on March 13th 2002. Yet Article 1, Section 8 of the United

States Constitution explicitly requires that Congress take responsibility

when it comes to declaring war. This President is very popular, according

to the polls. But polls are not a substitute for democratic process.

Attributing a negative connotation here to politics or dismissing

constitutionally mandated congressional oversight belies reality: Spending

$400 billion a year for defense is a political decision. Committing troops

abroad is a political decision. War is a political decision. When men and

women die on the battlefield that is the result of a political decision.

The use of nuclear weapons, which can end the lives of millions, is a

profound political decision. In a monarchy there need be no political

decisions. In a democracy, all decisions are political, in that the derive

from the consent of the governed.

In a democracy, budgetary, military and national objectives must be

subordinate to the political process. Before we celebrate an imperial

presidency, let it be said that the lack of free and open political

process, the lack of free and open political debate, and the lack of free

and open political dissent can be fatal in a democracy.

We have reached a moment in our country's history where it is urgent that

people everywhere speak out as president of his or her own life, to protect

the peace of the nation and world within and without. We should speak out

and caution leaders who generate fear through talk of the endless war or

the final conflict. We should appeal to our leaders to consider that their

own bellicose thoughts, words and deeds are reshaping consciousness and can

have an adverse effect on our nation. Because when one person thinks:

fight! he or she finds a fight. One faction thinks: war! and starts a war.

One nation thinks: nuclear! and approaches the abyss. And what of one

nation which thinks peace, and seeks peace?

Neither individuals nor nations exist in a vacuum, which is why we have a

serious responsibility for each other in this world. It is also urgent that

we find those places of war in our own lives, and begin healing the world

through healing ourselves. Each of us is a citizen of a common planet,

bound to a common destiny. So connected are we, that each of us has the

power to be the eyes of the world, the voice of the world, the conscience

of the world, or the end of the world. And as each one of us chooses, so

becomes the world.

Each of us is architect of this world. Our thoughts, the concepts. Our

words, the designs. Our deeds, the bricks and mortar of our daily lives.

Which is why we should always take care to regard the power of our thoughts

and words, and the commands they send into action through time and space.

Some of our leaders have been thinking and talking about nuclear war. In

the past week there has been much news about a planning document which

describes how and when America might wage nuclear war. The Nuclear Posture

Review recently released to the media by the government:

1. Assumes that the United States has the right to launch a pre-emptive

nuclear strike. 2. Equates nuclear weapons with conventional weapons. 3.

Attempts to minimize the consequences of the use of nuclear weapon

NIH Funded Parkinson's Distance Healing Study

[jsherry]

Hello Friends,

If there is anyone who has a loved one suffering from Parkinson's, they may
be interested in participating in a study apparently funded by the NIH here
in the US using distance healing. I know nothing more than the above. If
interested contact Kathry Kass, Licensed Acupuncturist in Connecticut at the
following email address: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

She mentioned it at the study group of md's and alternative healers (mostly)
which I attend monthly in Katonah, New York.

Blessings,
Jane

Fw: [globalnews] Chemtrails - Barium, Aluminum, Titanium CONFIRMED In Rainwater

[jsherry]

CHEMTRAIL PRESS RELEASE:

3/15/02

Chemtrails - Barium, Aluminum, Titanium CONFIRMED In Rainwater

By Sue Miller

The presence of Aluminum, Barium, Calcium, Magnesium, and Titanium in the

air over a part of the United States is now formally documented, in as

reliable a way as is available to an ordinary American citizen. Over three

months, three separate rainwater and snow samples from Chapel Hill, North

Carolina, have been collected and submitted for formal 'double-blind'

laboratory analysis. Tests were ordered for several elements that should

NOT be present in normal rain/snow. The results should have come back

marked 'N/D' ('None Detected') for all tests... But, that hope was smashed.

The substances that many of us who have been researching the chemtrail

issue suspect are in the air --- ARE IN THE AIR. And coming down in rain

and snow. Especially BARIUM.

This devastating data points to a deliberate atmospheric release of massive

quantities of material containing Aluminum, Barium, Calcium, Magnesium,

Calcium, and Titanium. These bleak figures also point to the possibility of

a grim outlook for the humans (and animals) under this chem-bliz 'fallout',

as well as the entire physical ecosystem. We were not designed to breathe

these materials. Especially at the tiny particulate size, which has over

and over been proven to cause increased death rates. (Most recently by the

Journal of American Medical Association, 3/6/2002, 'Mortality, and

Long-term Exposure to Fine Particulate Air Pollution')

More testing is urgently called for. Other substances may be present --

these five were the only tests ordered, based on information collected from

the Carnicom Chemtrail Site and Discussion Board. The form in which these

documented five exist -- carbonates, hydrates, stearates (?) etc.-- is

still unknown. As chemtrails -- the postulated release method for these

materials -- have been continually observed and documented over the United

States and most of the world, more testing in other areas must be done to

confirm that this is not simply a localized, temporary phenomena. The

health and ecologic effects of these materials entering the groundwater,

oceans, agriculture/food supply, and food chains must be considered and

studied. The health, climactic, and planetary effects of the massive

quantities that must exist in the upper atmosphere to reach the ground in

detectable levels must be studied. The importance of these issues cannot be

understated.

Sue Miller (aka 'Lkinup') [EMAIL PROTECTED] Links - The official

laboratory tests:

Click on 'Lab Tests Are Positive'

http://www.carnicom.com/contrails.htm

Clifford Carnicom's Chemtrail Board:

http://pub8.ezboard.com/fchemtrailschemtrails

Lung Cancer, Cardiopulmonary Mortality, and Long-term Exposure to Fine

Particulate Air Pollution:

http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v287n9/abs/joc11435.html

Vol. 287 No. 9, March 6, 2002

ChemtrailTrackingUSA- A group for reporting chemtrail sightings, and
research

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chemtrailtrackingusa

...
Be the change
you want to see in the world.
-- Mahatma Gandhi

Fw: Healing Modalities

[jsherry]

- Original Message -
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 
Sent: Tuesday, March 26, 2002 3:34 PM
Subject: Healing Modalities


Dear Friends,

There is a bill in committee to restrict alternative healing modalities.

If you are a practitioner or recipient (consumer) of the following healing
modalities this bill affects YOU, as A8704 states:

"INCLUDING, BUT  NOT LIMITED TO: accupressure, asian healing practices;
Anthroposophy (Rudolph Steiner methods); Cranial Sacral Therapy; culturally
traditional healing practices; detoxification practices and therapies;
energetic healing; flower essences; folk practices; Gerson Therapy; Healing
practices utilizing food, food supplements; nutrients and physical forces of
heat, cold, water, color,
 touch, and light; healing-related kinesiology; Healing Touch; Hellerwork;
 hergology or herbalixm; homeopathy; Iridology; Jin Shin Therapy; Mind-Body
 Healing practices; naturopathy; polarity therapy; Qi Gong; reflexology;
 Reiki; Rolfing; Shiatsu; Trager Approach; Heawlth; Tuina; Yoga; or any
 combination of such practices."

In addition to the drawbacks of this legislation as listed below, please
 be aware that the bill, A8704, clearly states that this state legislation
 supercedes U.S. constitutional protections and rights guaranteed by the 5th
 Amendment under U.S. law if a complaint is received against any healer
using
 an unlicensed healing modality (sic, see above list).  Also,  "the
 Commissioner may issue an ORDER DIRECTING THE PRACTITIONER TO SUBMIT TO A
 MENTAL OR PHYSICAL EXAMINATION OR CHEMICAL DEPENDANCY EVALUATION."
In other words, if A8704 is passed into law, NY State spiritual and other
unlicensed
 healers (including priests, nuns, ministers who do laying on of hands
 healing) may be forced to surrender the privacy of their medical records
and
 to submit to forced medical examinations in the case of any complaint made
 against them to the state regarding non medical healing modalities which do
 not harm!!

We need calls (today and tomorrow especially) to Assemblyman Ed Sullivan's
 Albany office regarding bill A8704, especially if you know anyone in his
 upper west side district (and they can call his Manhattan office numbers).
 Callers should politely state their names, give an address, if asked,
 (especially important if they are constituents) and state their opposition
 to the bill as unlicensed healers and/or consumers.
 The bill A8704 is presently in the Higher Education Committee which Ed
 Sullivan chairs.  His telephone in Albany is:  1518-455-5603.

 If you have ever done a Sun Salutation or enjoyed a massage, please call.

Thanks.

I send you all blessings for health, vitality and peace.

xxMama Donna

***
Donna Henes, Urban Shaman presents:

New and Full Moon Drumming Circles and other Celestially Auspicious
Occasions, Ongoing Spirit Support Group Sessions, Public Celebration Events,
Life Cycle Ceremonies, Seminars, Ritual Consultations, Spiritual Counseling,
Life Path Coaching, Mentoring, Reiki Healing and Balancing, Tarot Readings,
and a Spirit Shop.

Mama Donna, as she is affectionately known, has offered lectures, workshops,
circles, and celebrations worldwide for 30 years. The publisher of the
highly
acclaimed quarterly,  Always In Season: Living In Sync With The Cycles, she
is also the author of Moon Watcher’s Manual, Celestially Auspicious
Occasions™: Seasons, Cycles and Celebrations, and Dressing Our Wounds In
Warm
Clothes, as well as the CD, Reverence To Her: Mythology, The Matriarchy, &
Me.

For further information, a list of services and publications, a calendar of
upcoming events, and a complimentary issue of Always in Season: Living in
Sync with the Cycles. contact:

MAMA DONNA'S TEA GARDEN AND HEALING HAVEN
PO Box 380403
Exotic Brooklyn, NY 11238-0403
Phone/Fax 718-857-2247
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.DonnaHenes.com

OFF: Fw: To your Health!

[jsherry]

This is from one of my teachers, a Reiki master and gifted vibrational
healer:


To important women in my life:

Since I have been doing BodyTalk, I have found that synthetic under wire
bras come up as "interference" in the clients flow of energy almost every
time they are worn during a session.

Please check out this article about Breast Cancer prevention.
http://www.all-natural.com/bras.html

An alternativea simple cotton non-underwire bra worn during the day or
part of the day only.
For you to consider,
Ginny
P.S. I'm not old enough to have burned my bra in the 60's  :)

OFF:Fw: [globalnews] denver police raid activist files

[jsherry]

denver & atlanta are reputed to be significant reptilian centers.

Published on Friday, March 22, 2002 in the Los Angeles Times
Denver Police Spied on Activists, ACLU Says
by Julie Cart

DENVER -- The American Civil Liberties Union charged Thursday that Denver
police
illegally searched a local activist group's office and confiscated
membership
lists to include them in the department's secret files.

The suit, which was amended Thursday in federal court here, is connected to
recent disclosures that an intelligence unit of the Denver police has
maintained
files for years on protest groups. The so-called spy files have been kept on
individuals and organizations since 1999 and include information gleaned
from
public rallies and meetings.

The Police Department admitted it has files on about 3,200 individuals and
208
organizations. It defends the practice, calling it a necessary aspect of
criminal intelligence.

Group Labeled 'Criminal Extremists'

"The Denver police have no legitimate interest in keeping permanent files on
peaceful protest activities of law-abiding citizens," said Mark Silverstein,
legal director of the Colorado ACLU. Silverstein filed Thursday's amendment
to
include allegations that his clients' group was included in the files and
labeled "criminal extremists."

The ACLU revealed the existence of the spy files last week. That brought
angry
protests from a broad range of civic groups. This week Denver Mayor
Wellington
Webb joined with the City Council in issuing a nonbinding resolution that
called
for a curb on police power to gather information on residents based on
ethnicity, religion or politics.

Webb, who claimed the FBI kept a file on him in the mid-1970s as he became
politically active in Colorado, said the police had overstepped their bounds
by
maintaining intelligence files on law-abiding groups.

"Have we done an exemplary job at tempering legitimate
intelligence-gathering
versus collecting information on groups or organizations that do not pose a
threat? I think the answer is clearly no," Webb said.

The ACLU's complaint states that on Dec. 14, 2000, officers from the Denver
and
Golden police departments raided the offices of the Denver Justice and Peace
Committee, an organization that works for social justice in Latin America.

The purpose of the raid, according to police, was to obtain evidence in a
case
involving vandalism of a department store. Among the items taken from the
offices were membership phone and e-mail lists, phone-tree lists and other
rosters that included the names of 984 people.

The ACLU complaint states that police used the lists to call more than 100
people and question them about the vandalism case. None of those called had
any
information about the case, the complaint said. Silverstein said the police
selected those they called based on their political activities and
associations.

A Denver police spokesman did not return calls for comment.

Quaker Group Was Targeted

To many here, the issue is not just police surveillance of private citizens
but
also that many appear to be targeted merely for associating with groups or
individuals that have a political agenda.

According to city policy, the Police Department may only collect and
maintain a
file on an individual if there is a "reasonable suspicion" that that person
is
involved in criminal activity. The same standard applies to religious and
political groups.

Among the organizations that Denver police labeled as "criminal extremists"
is
the American Friends Service Committee, a nonviolent Quaker organization
that
has won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Additionally, police kept files on citizens who attended events sponsored by
Amnesty International, and a demonstration organized by Native American and
Latino groups protesting the celebration of Columbus Day.

One group the police has kept tabs on is the Chiapas Coalition, which
supports
the rights of indigenous people in southern Mexico. According to the police
file, the group is "dedicated to the overthrow of the Mexican government."

Kerry Appel, co-founder of the group, called that characterization "flat-out
wrong."


"I had an idea they were keeping tabs on us," Appel said. "Sometimes the
government surveillance teams and police would outnumber the protesters at
these
events. You can always see them with their video and still cameras.

"But we didn't have any idea how they describe us and who they share the
information with. I'm shocked and angered to be labeled as a criminal
extremist.
None of us have any criminal record. I don't think it makes a person an
extremist to be vigorous in the defense of human rights, peace and justice,"
Appel said.

The existence of secret files has shocked civil libertarians and activists,
who
also have raised the question of which other police or governmental agencies
have access to the files.

Mayor Webb, who had been unaware that the files existed, said an independent
review of them is likely. Webb said the spy files could be 

Fw: equinox marches on

[jsherry]

This has been passed along so many times I do not know the original author
named Maggie. It came via a member of the GlobalNews Mailing list



EQUINOX 2002

  Equinox is upon us, a time for celebration and joy, a time of transition.
As we let go of the difficulties and intensity of the last three months, we
can make the shift into the new. Yet again we stand on the threshold of
somethng new. Spring is also a time of opening, cleansing and releasing and
an opportunity to move into the fullness of our being, a chance to blossom
like the beautiful spring flowers that are opening and eager to share their
beauty and delightful smells. As I watch my daffodils and hyacinths opening
and look at the early morning mist lifting from the mountains, I feel a deep
sense of awe and gratitude for all that has been given and for the wonder of
life.

  Make this time of the Equinox, today and tomorrow, one of special
celebration, paying attention to the inner world. In your meditations these
days, feel the transition, attune to the seeds of change and transformation
and open to the joys of life.

  I wish you a beautiful, wonderful Equinox, love and light, Maggie






  "Morning has broken like the first morning
   Blackbird has spoken like the first bird
   Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
   Praise for the springing fresh from the Word."

 - Scottish  Irish ballad



 *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *


  CLEARING FOR THE EQUINOX DAWN

  The worst feeling energies are being experienced at this tail end of the
Snake / Mars zodiacal year. All the toxic remainder of the challenging Mars
year now ending is coming up to be transmuted. But great new energies will
be coming in soon with the Equinox and the Spring Full Moon.

  Those who are more feeling based and or more tuned to world need will have
been suffering most the last few weeks. The more taken on to transform, the
more the suffering, the more creative energy will be coming available in the
new cycle. Transforming is facilitated through prayer and fasting, singing
and dancing. This is also a good time for Epsom salt footbaths and Shiatsu
foot massage. The feet are the last part of the body through which psychic
toxins are released. Sun in Pisces (and Pisces lunation that follows)is the
time for clearing in this way. The more psychic and physical toxins are
cleared now the brighter will be the Equinox dawn.

  The month of March is named from the custom of setting armies marching at
this time of year. March is the month of Mars, the planet of vital energy,
ambition and warfare. This is "scapegoat season," a time when it is easier
to set people against each other. Shadow aspects of the psyche always are
revealed at the close of the zodiacal year. Whenever our cultural traditions
and personal practices fail us in integrating the personal and collective
shadow, then this shadow is apt to be projected onto others.

  St Patrick chasing the snakes from Ireland is a metaphor for "chasing out
the old Mars," an ancient pagan practice for this time in the annual cycle.
St Gertrude, the saint who chased the rats from Norway,  is also celebrated
on Mar 17th.

  Mars rules Aries, the first sign of Spring. Mars also rules the last third
of Pisces, the Scorpio decan with its keynote "purging." The toxic residue
of the last zodiacal year comes up in this time - Mar 10th to 20th - to be
transformed and cleared.

  The old Mars represents outmoded behavioral patterns and beliefs, what
drove us last zodiacal year but doesn't serve in the zodiacal year soon
beginning (Mar 20th). The old Mars is going out now in this Scorpio
(elimination) subsign of Pisces. This clearing and purging process will
continue through the Pisces lunation, the lunar cycle that began on Mar 13th
and continues until April 12th.

  This is spring cleaning time. The better we do our spring cleaning and
clear out our closets, physical and psychic, the more good will come to us
in this zodiacal year. The trappings of the old zodiacal year are now to be
let go. All the toxic residue of the past zodiacal year comes up to be
released during this time. Psychic toxins may appear in the form of negative
and confused thought forms. Old psychic forms broken up now release energy
back to the source within where it will be available for future creative
expression. This process corresponds to "plowing under" in preparing a
garden.

  Emotional and physical toxins always come up to be released from the
system at this phase of the annual cycle. Many  common illnesses are
designed to help in the clearing process. Some herbs that can be helpful for
internal cleansing are dandelion, milk thistle, cayenne, gentian.

  Mother Nature also provides aromatherapy in a timely manner. It's
important now to take time to smell the flowers that bloom around us. Each
scent has its

Fw: Spiritual Communion

[jsherry]

SPIRITUAL COMMUNION

So the lover of Earth obtains his reward, and little by little the

veil is lifted of an inexhaustible beauty and majesty. It may be he

will be tranced in some spiritual communion, or will find his being

overflowing into the being of the elements, or become aware that they

are breathing their life into his own. Or Earth may become on an

instant, all faery to him, and earth and air resound with the music of

its invisible people. Or the trees and rocks may waver before his eyes

and become transparent, revealing what creatures were hidden from him

by the curtain, and he will know as the ancients did of dryad and

hamadryad, of genii of wood and mountain. Or earth may suddenly blaze

about him with supernatural light in some lonely spot amid the hills,

and he will find he stands as the prophet in a place that is holy

ground, and he may breathe the intoxicating exhalations as did the

sibyls of old. Or his love may hurry him away in dream to share in

deeper mysteries, and he may see the palace chambers of nature where

the wise ones dwell in secret, looking out over the nations, breathing

power into this man's heart or that man's brain, on any who appear to

their vision to wear the colour of truth. So gradually the earth lover

realizes the golden world is all about him in imperishable beauty, and

he may pass from the vision to the profounder beauty of being, and

know an eternal love is within and around him, pressing upon him and

sustaining with infinite tenderness his body, his soul and his spirit.

GEORGE WILLIAM RUSSELL

...
Be the change
you want to see in the world.
-- Mahatma Gandhi

Fw: [globalnews] Esoteric Astrology and The Festival of Resurrection

[jsherry]

Esoteric Astrology for the week of March 21 - 27, 2002

  Beams of Resurrecting Light

  This Sunday is Palm Sunday. Next week Passover (Jewish festival of
freedom from death) and the Aries Full Sun/Moon spiritual festival occur.
The Aries Festival is the first of three (Aries, Taurus & Gemini) Sun
festivals of the new Spiritual year (begun at Spring equinox). This festival
overlays both Passover (Jewish) and Easter (Christian), festivals
representing previous developmental stages for humanity and celebrated
during different ages (learning stages of Aries and Pisces). Each age (2,500
years long) provides humanity with new laws, dispensations, rules, and
opportunities for development. In the present Aquarian (our new age)
unfoldment more of humanity will begin to embrace the Full Sun/Moon
festivals which represent the new Aquarian rituals,dispensation, laws,
rules, and opportunities for development. Long term readers of this column
are aware that energies and forces stream into our planet through light
waves. These light waves emanate from the 7 Rays in the Big Dipper, the
constellations, and planets, dropping their information (encoded in light)
to Earth. This reception and utilization of light is one very important and
precise way humanity and Earth's kingdoms evolve. The 12 monthly Full
Sun/Moon festivals are specific (and the only) times when the Earth is
bathed in this special light (five days in all). During these times our
evolutionary journey is accelerated. This information, little known to the
masses of people, is known to those who study the esoteric Ancient Wisdom
teachings (and read these columns).

  This week esoteric students the world over are preparing for the Aries
Full Sun/Moon festival, also called the Festival of Resurrection (new
light/seeds/Life of Spring), the same name for Easter. It is important to
know what energies are available from this Aries Full Sun/Moon. For without
this knowledge we cannot fully use, unify with, understand, and/or
distribute the radiations of light available that brings more life to Earth
and to all we come into contact (mineral, planet, animal, and human). During
the Aries Full Sun/Moon festival the Forces of Restoration are provided.
This is particularly important after the events of September 11th. During
the Aries Full Sun/Moon a great Being called the Spirit of Resurrection
streams forth energies into the world that lead humanity out of darkness
(ignorance) into light, from the unreal to the real, from death to
immortality (all dualities). We initiate a new creative work in Aries --
that of resurrecting the light out of form. An appropriate art visual
responding to the Spirit of Resurrection during the Full Sun/Moon Festival
are the etheric blue beams of light rising up from Manhattan's Ground Zero
and representing the "resurrection" of the Twin Towers (Gemini) destroyed on
September 11th. These beams of light, ascending from New York City (U.S.
throat chakra signifying creativity) are a tribute to the spirit of
recovery, renewal, and rebuilding. Sunday, the 24th is Palm Sunday with the
Moon in Leo (leadership sign). On the first Palm Sunday, two thousand years
ago, the first Aquarian,called Jesus the Christ, rode a donkey (commonality
with the masses) into the city of Jerusalem (Jeru means city, and salem
means peace) as the people waved palms (celebration heralding the coming
Aquarian Age of Knowledge). Jerusalem is a state of heart/mind (where the
Soul resides), the love center in the body. Jerusalem also signifies the
unfoldment of peace (salem) and love (heart) in the Aquarian Age (city)
through the development of knowledge. Because after knowledge is given and
understanding happens, love occurs. This is Aquarian.

  Thursday, the 21st, begins with a mid morning void-of-course (v/c) and
continues till 4:06 pm when the Moon enters Cancer. Comforting and nurturing
foods will be sought. Mercury, the way we speak with each other, could
create rather unempowering states of communication. We are to beware of this
in order to maintain right Speech. Right Speech, with the intentions of
goodwill and praise, is a quality of the Soul infused person.

  Friday, the 22nd, is an excellent money day (Venus/Pluto) but another
day of difficult communication, especially late morning when our
communication, intent on transforming situations, could also hurt and
destroy. Mercury is square (challenge) Pluto. What this means is that the
way we've spoken before may no longer be appropriate and we will be
challenged to seek new levels of connections that regenerate and give new
life with whatever and whomever we find ourselves. Silence is best.

  Saturday, the 23rd, is v/c all day till 9:12 pm. And Mars, which helps
us initiate things but also makes us impatient and angry, could challenge
the activities in our relationships. Beware of feeling aggressive,
impatient, and angry. It's also not a day to initiate things due to the v/c.
A day of sport

OFF: Fw: [globalnews] Something to Learn: Sex Ed in Europe Versus in the U.S

[jsherry]

Something to Learn: Sex Ed in Europe Versus in the U.S
  Melissa Harris, WireTap
  March 19, 2002
  Viewed on March 22,

During the summer of 1998, immediately following my graduation from
high school, Teen People sent me on a two week tour of Europe. It was an
exciting trip, but I didn't go as a tourist. I was joined by 42 American
"experts" (writers, students, educators, clinical workers, activists,
politicians and clergy) and we were all there to examine the European
approach to teen sexuality.


  European policies and programs have dramatically lowered teen birth,
sexually transmitted disease and abortion rates. The annual European Study
Tour, sponsored by Advocates For Youth, a non-profit organization that
focuses on preventing teen pregnancy and HIV, and paid for by the Kaiser
Family Foundation, encouraged participants to look deeply into why U.S. teen
sexual health rates are among the worst in the world.


  Coming from a conservative, religious, suburban Ohio background, I saw
things that shocked and surprised me. But, looking back, I realize that the
trip spurred a series of important changes in my perspective that still
affect who I am today. You could say the trip was my own little sexual
revolution. While traveling through the Netherlands, Germany and France, I
discovered that I was part of the problem. I hadn't conceived a child, or
contracted an STD, or even had sex.  But I was afraid to talk about it,
afraid to accept my own sexuality as natural and healthy. In my journal on
the first day I remember writing "It's all about sex! I despise talking
about my sexuality with people other than my closest, closest friends. I
hope no one asks me to 'reveal a personal experience.' I will probably vomit
before I say anything."


  Of course, I wasn't alone in these feelings. Most Americans don't talk
about sex. Slowly, as I heard personal stories from other study tour
participants, I started to see that it wasn't so difficult.


  Many of people we met with in Europe told us about the open dialogue
they maintained with their children. In fact, parents were often among the
first people Dutch children told when they became sexually active. When
Doortje Brachen's daughter became sexually active, she says she was,
"Thrilled. I asked her whether she enjoyed it." Doortje was a presenter on
the trip from the Rutgers Foundation, which was founded in the early 1980s
by the Dutch government. Its mission is to provide special services for
adolescents, reproductive care to the public and sexuality education.


  ***


  When the Dutch experienced their sexual revolution after WWII, they
never looked back. From the perspective of a 17-year-old suburban teen from
Ohio, sex pervaded Amsterdam's culture. In the Red Light District there was
legal prostitution, a Sex Museum, a Condom Museum and "coffee shops." And
then there were four blocks of scantily clad women sitting in shop windows
lined with red neon. Although some of these kinds of places surely exist in
America, I had never seen them before, and I was left feeling very curious,
and a little disturbed.


  But outside of Amsterdam, the cultural differences are more subtle.
During the trip, we interviewed teens and families in restaurants and cafes.
We also spoke with ministers, doctors, government officials and sex
educators. I noticed that the same type of activism surrounding abstinence
in America wasn't present in the Dutch or European rhetoric. Many of the
people we interviewed, including one minister, saw the differences as tied
to religion. About 25 percent of Dutch residents report practicing their
religion, compared to 44 percent of Americans who say they attend church
regularly. The priest I spoke with said he still encouraged youth to
abstain, but admitted there was little if anything he could say or do to
make teens follow his advice.


  But there's more to it than religious differences. In 1968, more than
half of Dutch adults disagreed with the statement, "Sex is natural -- even
outside marriage." In 1981, this number dropped to 24 percent. In a Dutch
sex survey conducted in 1990, the researchers didn't even bother to ask the
question. The sale of condoms in vending machines was approved in 1969,
legalized abortion in 1981 and contraceptives were covered by national
health insurance by 1971.



  Parents begin talking with their children around 10 or 11, and not
just once. There's no "talk"; it's a dialouge. Girls report taking oral
contraceptives around age 16, even if they aren't sexually active. And in
school, they start learning about their body and how it works as young as
age 5. In high school, they talk about sexual responsibility, using a
condom, birth control pills or both, a practice they call the "Double Dutch"
method. The strategy is to give youth a lot of information. Information
based upon research and statistics, and then to trust them to use it.


  In another journal entry, part 

Fw: [globalnews] Air Traffic Controllers Concerned Over Chemtrails

[jsherry]

http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495&article=21187

Air Traffic Controllers Concerned Over Chemtrails

By William Thomas

March 21, 2002

Should we be breathing in powdered aluminum?

VANCOUVER, Canada - As continuing chemtrail activity culminated in massive

aerial spraying over Vancouver Island and Washington state yesterday- and

broadening plumes once again fanned out to haze clear blue skies - Air

Traffic Controllers at major airports across the United States expressed

concern over the emissions constantly showing up on their radar screens.

(...) These radar returns are the signature of the fine aluminum particles

found in laboratory tests of chemtrail-contaminated rain taken in Espanola,

Ontario in the summer of 1999. The lab analysis found reflective quartz

particles in the chemtrail fallout - and levels of aluminum FIVE TIMES

higher than Ontario's maximum permissible health safety standards.

CLIP

In a fourth interview with reporter S.T. Brendt last week, Deep Sky stated

that Air Traffic Controllers at Chicago's O'Hare airport, all three major

airports in New York, Los Angeles LAX, San Francisco, Atlanta, Cleveland,

San Diego, Washington DC's Dulles and Jacksonville, Florida were being

ordered to route airliners beneath formations of Air Force tanker planes

spraying something that regularly clouds their screens. (...) Every

controller, without exception, is being told to divert traffic due to

military exercises , and to bring in traffic lower because of experiments

that may degrade their radars. The controllers at Cleveland's airport were

surprised by the extent of obscuration on their radars.

CHEMTRAILS SCIENTIST BREAKS SILENCE

Ohio is the home of Wright-Patterson - the air force base working with

electromagnetic and weather modification technology. A scientist working at

Wright-Pat recently told reporter Bob Fitrakis that two different projects

are being conducted. One involves cloud creation experiments to lessen the

effect of global warming. Other chemtrails are connected with the

military's extremely high-power Radio Frequency beam weapon in Alaska

called HAARP.

The scientist claims that the two most common substances being sprayed into

chemtrails are aluminum oxide and barium stearate. When you see planes

flying back and forth marking parallel lines, X- patterns and grids in a

clear sky, that's aluminum oxide, according to the scientist. The goal is

to create an artificial sunscreen to reflect solar radiation back into

space to alleviate global warming. In some cases, barium may be sprayed in

a similar manner for the purpose of high-tech 3-D radar imaging. (Columbus

Alive Dec. 6, 2001) CLIP

...
Be the change
you want to see in the world.
-- Mahatma Gandhi

Fw: [globalnews] un meditation this coming wed., march 27th

[jsherry]

The Spiritual Work of the United Nations & the Liberation of Humanity
Creative Meditation - A Planetary Service in Support of the Work of the UN

Wednesday, March 27th, 5:30 P.M. - 6:15 P.M.

240-242 East 53rd 3rd Floor Meditation Room, Quest Book Shop

"Our planet seems to many more and more like a small boat driven by a fierce
gale through dark and uncharted waters, with more and more people crowded on
board, hoping desperately to survive. None of us can afford to ignore the
condition of our fellow passengers on this little boat. If they are sick,
all of us risk infection. And if they are angry, all of us can easily get
hurt." Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Address to the World Social Forum in
Porto Alegre, Brazil, 4 February 2002

"The heart centre of humanity is created by the sum total of the hearts
(symbolically speaking) of all those men and women of goodwill...who are
serving their fellowmen, sponsoring human welfare movements, working for the
establishing of right human relations, and constantly offsetting the
separativeness of the human mind through the inclusiveness of the divine
love nature." The Tibetan Master, Djwhal Khul in The Rays and the
Initiations by Alice A. Bailey, p. 619

Dear Friends,

The Plan of Love and Light will appear as a fact on Earth when individuals
willingly seek to reproduce upon the plane of earth the inner kingdom of the
Soul.

Within the chaos and turmoil of the daily planetary life, the voice of the
Soul is as a "whisper of the reeds." How to hear that voice save in the
silence of a quiescent, meditative mind and heart? In the book, Infinity,
Vol. I, one of the Masters of the Wisdom refers to how "The beauty of Cosmos
is manifested in silence." (80)

In meditative silence we have the opportunity to contact and then radiate
into our environment those subtle Soul energies that would transform our
daily experience if we but would provide the needed dynamic conditions of
disciplined individual and group receptivity.

Will you join us subjectively or in person this coming Wednesday to invoke
those subtle but fiery healing energies of light, love and the will-to-good
that can strengthen the spiritual work of the United Nations, thus enabling
the Plan of Love and Light?

Prior to the meditation this month, we are most pleased to welcome our guest
speaker, Dorothy Tilson who will address "Our Globalization Plateau" looking
at how current globalization practices either are or are not advancing the
Four Basic Freedoms. Ms. Tilson is a long-time member of the United Nations
Association/USA and a long time student of the Ageless Wisdom.

If you need a meditation form, a copy of the UN Charter or a copy of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, please let us know.

We take this opportunity to once again invite you to share your ideas about
the work of the United Nations and/or the "Liberation of Humanity," and
read/respond to ideas posted by co-workers at the following web site
address: http://www.aquaac.org/UNtalk/UNtalk.html

Please feel free to share this message with others who you think might be
interested.

If you would like to be removed from this mailing list, please write
"delete" in the subject when you reply.

Thank you.

In loving planetary service,

Aquarian Age Community

***Certainly not from without but from within is the spark of Divine Fire
set aflame."  (Fiery World, III)  You are invited to visit the website of
the Aquarian Age Community at http://www.aquaac.org.***