[CTRL] Turbulent Past
-Caveat Lector- Sunday, January 12, 2003 A turbulent past Jan. 12, 2003 Orange County Register column: Nation's long history is filled with conflicts that echo today By Alan W. Bock Senior editorial writer http://www.lewrockwell.com/register/register.html Images of Iraq: the Martyr Monument in Baghdad, top; an ancient ziggurat at an archaeological dig in Brosippa, lower left; women rally in support of Hussein last Oct., lower right; a Shi'ite Muslim prays at a shrine in Karbala, lower right corner. photos by the Associated Press On Jan. 27 the United Nations inspection team in Iraq is scheduled to deliver its first full report on "weapons of mass destruction." So far the inspectors have not reported caches of such weapons, but there could be something in the report that will trigger what commentators have been expecting for months and a large- scale military build-up in the region suggests - a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. If the United States is to go to war with Iraq - and if, as many suggest is inevitable, the United States essentially occupies the country for anywhere from 18 months to 30 years - it will be useful to know something about the history of this country. History may not quite be destiny, but it strongly influences the present and the future, and those who don't take the trouble to understand it usually find themselves making significant mistakes. Here is a country whose deepest roots are proud and shining. This area was the heart of the earliest civilizations; a leading empire for probably 3,000 years in ancient times. The historical facts most relevant to today's impending conflict have more to do with instability, the on-again, off-again influences of the West on law and culture, and ethnic strife. They include the modern creation of artificial borders for Iraq, the long rivalry between Shia and Sunni Muslims, both of which have longstanding roots in Iraq, the historic rivalry between the Arab world and Persia (modern Iran), and the shifting emphases of American foreign policy in the region over the years. The borders of modern Iraq were determined after World War I, mainly by the British. During World War I the Ottoman Empire, which had ruled most of the Middle East from Turkey since the 1500s, sided with Germany. The British, seeking to protect their lifeline to India through the Middle East, established a protectorate over Egypt and supported the Hashemite sharifs, or leaders, who had ruled Mecca and Medina since Muhammad's time, in their revolt against the Ottomans (go rent "Lawrence of Arabia" for a romanticized version of the period with a teeny bit of context). The British also sent troops from India to Iraq, not only to guard the land route to India but to protect their interests in the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. They at first failed to take Baghdad from the Turks, but finally succeeded in 1917. At the end of the war the League of Nations gave Great Britain a mandate to administer Iraq until an independent government could be established. The borders were thus based on British imperial and commercial interests and the fortunes of war rather than being drawn along traditional frontiers or historic tribal or ethnic lines. The British-drawn Iraq also did not include a port on the Persian Gulf, an important factor for benefiting from oil resources; Syria has several times cut off pipelines to the Mediterranean. Thus about 76 percent of the country is Arab, while 19 percent are Kurds, with a few Turkomans, Assyrians, Armenians and others sprinkled in. The area traditionally populated by the Kurdish people is divided among Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran, and the Kurds are a source of discontent in all four countries. Baghdad and surrounding areas are predominantly Sunni Muslim, and Sunnis dominate the ruling Ba'ath Party and the government. But the "Marsh Arabs" in the south are of the Shia persuasion and Shias make up 60-65 percent of the population. This is a formula for instability. Stability could in theory be possible through a federalist system with considerable local autonomy, but in practice it has generally been achieved through strong, sometimes brutal rule by the central government in Baghdad. THE CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION Despite its ethnic fractiousness today, modern Iraq is roughly equivalent to the ancient area of Mesopotamia (Greek for "between two rivers"), between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which fostered history's first civilizations and was probably the leading region of the world for about 3,000 years. The land of Ur, from which the biblical Abraham migrated, is in present-day Iraq. If supplemented by rudimentary (and sometimes sophisticated) irrigation and storage systems, the rivers provided enough water to yield food surpluses, which were the key to the development of cities and trade. The region was settled (largely by Turkish and Iranian migrants from the highlands) by about 6000 BC and larger cities began to be built around 3500 BC. Being relative
[CTRL] Old dictators don't die, they just f a d e ...
-Caveat Lector- http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-542381,00.html January 14, 2003 Playing dead as a last-minute trick >From Tim Reid and Roland Watson in Washington SADDAM HUSSEIN has a range of eleventh-hour tricks and ploys to avert an American-led invasion, White House officials and Iraqi experts believe. One option, it is thought, would be staging a fake coup. In an analysis of the Iraqi leaders options if war is inevitable, Saddam may even mastermind his own assassination, using one of his many doubles. Saddam would then wield power from behind the scenes. According to The Wall Street Journal, officials in the office of Dick Cheney, the US Vice-President, have been fretting over how Washington would deal with this scenario, although Mr Cheneys press office yesterday refused to confirm the story. Nevertheless, Iraqi experts close to the White House say that a false coup or death are two of several sleights of hand that Saddam could use to avert a war. One of the most likely, they believe, is a last-minute conversion by Iraqs leader, or the appearance of one, in which Saddam suddenly discovers large caches of forbidden weapons. This discovery could then be blamed on disloyal aides or military officers. If Baghdad turns over a significant stock of weapons, key US allies may decide that a war is no longer necessary. Anthony Cordesman, a former Pentagon official and one of Washingtons most respected Iraqi experts, said that United Nations inspectors could expect Saddam to pull a variety of tricks as his regime became increasingly threatened. Everything Iraq can do to preserve its capability, its going to do, he said. We already know. He has done this before. He did it with Unscom (the UNs previous arms inspection regime throughout its existence. Mr Cordesman, a fellow at the Centre for Strategic International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, said that Saddam could surprise inspectors with a sudden but partial declaration, or he could make a fuller one with the hope of going back to weapons production after UN sanctions were lifted. They (Cheney officials are worried about him staging his own assassination, a US official told The Times. At the State Department officials say they are more concerned with the prospect of Saddam staging a false coup. A<:>E<:>R Forwarded for your information. The text and intent of the article has to stand on its own merits. Therefore, unless I am a first-hand witness to any event described, I cannot attest to its validity. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumoured by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of teachers, elders or wise men. Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all. Then accept it and live up to it." The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutra http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] Afghan drug crap up
-Caveat Lector- The Washington Times www.washingtontimes.com http://www.washtimes.com/national/20030109-93642922.htm > Federal law enforcement authorities expect the 2002 opium > production total in Afghanistan to be about 3,700 tons, compared with > 185 tons in 2000. In 1999, Afghanistan produced a record 5,070 tons of > opium. >>>Note that this was the time when the Taleban consolidated (2000) and they were awarded something like $43million for their good deeds in reducing the output. Note also that the increase was expected in production to sate the "Great Satans' " appetites after the attacks on Afghanland. Note also that figures for 2001 are somehow not there. Reuters (via Rense) cites the 185 ton figure for 2001 [see below]. They also use fugures of between 1,900 and 2,700 tons for 2002. Now ... if someone "knows" how much, they must be able to "know" where. A<:>E<:>R <<< Afghan drug crops up despite curbs Jerry Seper THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published January 9, 2003 Opium production in Afghanistan has risen twentyfold over the past two years to levels similar to peak production under the terrorist-tied Taliban regime, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration said yesterday. DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson said independent drug traffickers had re- established traditional trade routes in the war-torn country and there had been a significant increase in the number of acres planted with opium poppies, which are processed into heroin. Mr. Hutchinson also said there were concerns the Afghan drug trade could again come under the control of terrorist organizations. "We are seeing poppy production grow, to our regret, to the same levels prior to the dismantling of the Taliban," Mr. Hutchinson told reporters during a briefing at DEA headquarters. "Eradication has been moderately successful, and we are having a measure of success in containing the operations." But, he said, while the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai was strongly opposed to opium production, there were "gaps" in efforts by the still- splintered law enforcement agencies in that country to bring it under control. Mr. Hutchinson said the Afghan government has not trained enough police to control the production of opium. Federal law enforcement authorities expect the 2002 opium production total in Afghanistan to be about 3,700 tons, compared with 185 tons in 2000. In 1999, Afghanistan produced a record 5,070 tons of opium. The Karzai government tried to pay farmers to allow the destruction of their opium crops earlier this year, but the program ran out of money. There also were violent demonstrations by Afghan farmers who opposed the program. The authorities estimated that the 3,700 tons of opium produced represented a cash crop of about $1.2 billion in a country trying to recover from years of war. In the fiscal 2003 budget, the Justice Department implemented a $17.4 million program called "Operation Containment" aimed at identifying, targeting, investigating, disrupting and dismantling transnational heroin-trafficking organizations in Afghanistan. The department said the links to terrorism made combating heroin production in Central Asia critical to U.S. security. It said Operation Containment would use a "multifaceted approach to drug enforcement involving a series of investigative, diplomatic and training initiatives." Under Operation Containment, the DEA has directed enforcement and intelligence assets to dismantle all organizations, including terrorist groups, engaged in drug trafficking. Before the U.S.-led war against the Taliban, Afghanistan was a major source for cultivation, processing and trafficking of heroin, and accounted for more than 70 percent of the world's supply of illicit opium in 1999. Morphine base and heroin produced in Afghanistan were trafficked worldwide and narcotics was the largest source of income in Afghanistan as a result of the decimation of the country's economic infrastructure. The ousted Taliban militia controlled the opium trade, according to government estimates. The sale of the product, authorities said, brought the Taliban as much as $40 million a year with some of the cash going to the terrorists who hid and trained in that country, including Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda terrorist network. The Taliban taxed opium harvests, heroin production and drug shipments to help finance its purchases of arms and war materials, pay for terrorist training, and support the operation of Islamist extremists in neighboring countries. In January 2002 the Afghan Interim Authority (AIA) announced a ban on poppy cultivation and began an eradication program that targeted about a quarter of the 2002 spring poppy crop. Copyright ?#169; 2003 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. Rense.com http://www.rense.com/general29/rpo.htm Afghanistan's Opium Production Rises Sharply By Jason Hopps 9-25-2 LO
[CTRL] SoKor Oil
-Caveat Lector- http://www.halliburton.com/news/hesnws_032502.jsp?printMe 2002 Press Releases FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 25, 2002 HALLIBURTON ENERGY SERVICES WINS MULTIPLE OFFSHORE KOREA CONTRACTS WITH THE KOREA NATIONAL OIL CORPORATION DALLAS, Texas - Halliburton Energy Services, a business unit of Halliburton (NYSE: HAL), recently won several contracts with the Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) to provide drilling fluids, drilling bits, coring services, MWD (measurement-while-drilling) and directional drilling operations, and bundled subsea well completion services. Contract work is scheduled to take place in the Donghae-1 Gas field offshore Korea, the countrys first commercial oil and gas development project. In the final planning stages, the project will consist of three subsea wells connected back to a production platform and pipeline to the gas plant onshore. "Halliburton's ability to maximize the value of the reservoir with our leading-edge technologies and superior service quality, in addition to our record of safe working practices and stewardship of the environment, has allowed us the opportunity to work with KNOC on this first-ever development project in Korea," said Edgar Ortiz, chief executive officer, Halliburton Energy Services Group. "Korea is now developing its oil and gas reserves, and Halliburton is proud to be assisting in this effort." Halliburton Energy Services will supply services from several different product service lines, including Completion Products and Services (CPS), Sperry-Sun, Baroid, Security DBS and Tools Testing and TCP to complete the subsea well project. Products and services include surface well testing and tubing-conveyed perforating equipment, SPTM tubing retrievable safety valves, directional drilling, MWD, and coring services, drilling fluids, custom designed bits, and in-house engineering support. The safety valves will be manufactured in Halliburton's Carrollton, Texas facility while all other CPS items will be manufactured in Jurong, Singapore. Halliburton Energy Services provides products, services, and integrated solutions for oil and gas exploration, development, and production. Capabilities range from initial evaluation of producing formations to drilling, completion, stimulation, and well maintenance for a single well or an entire field. With more than 300 service centers in more than 90 countries, Halliburton possesses the global perspective that is increasingly important for energy exploration and production. Halliburton, founded in 1919, is one of the world's largest providers of products and services to the petroleum and energy industries. The company serves its customers with a broad range of products and services through its Energy Services Group and Engineering and Construction Group business segments. Contact Wendy Hall [EMAIL PROTECTED] Halliburton Public Relations (p) 713.676.5227 Laura R. Schwartz [EMAIL PROTECTED] Halliburton Public Relations (p) 713.676.5619 Employment Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (p) 800.888.7668 ext. 8005 Supplier/Procurement Contact Dave Ireland [EMAIL PROTECTED] Supplier Diversity Contact Linda Holloway [EMAIL PROTECTED] A<:>E<:>R Forwarded for your information. The text and intent of the article has to stand on its own merits. Therefore, unless I am a first-hand witness to any event described, I cannot attest to its validity. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumoured by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of teachers, elders or wise men. Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all. Then accept it and live up to it." The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutra http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lecto
[CTRL] "GI" Joe
-Caveat Lector- http://slate.msn.com/id/2076679/ G.I. Joe Joe Lieberman's risky conservative campaign. By William Saletan Posted Monday, January 13, 2003, at 3:16 PM PT You know this isn't going to be a standard Democratic presidential campaign kickoff when the guy introducing Sen. Joe Lieberman asks everyone to stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance. With cameras rolling, Lieberman turns to the wall and recites the magic words: allegiance, flag, America, God. Stepping to the podium, he speaks of our "God-given talents." He says he feels "blessed by God" and believes "God's work must truly be our own." "My faith is at the center of who I am," he continues. "I'll not hesitate to talk about faith when it's relevant or to invoke God's name. If the spirit moves me occasionally to say a word or two of faith, I think it's a very American thing to do." He smiles and sips from his glass as the audience applauds. Nobody's going to out-Christian Joe Lieberman. The 2004 presidential election is like a football game in a stiff wind. Every other DemocratHoward Dean, John Edwards, Dick Gephardt, John Kerrywants the wind in the first quarter. They're running to the left in the primaries, postponing the question of how, if they win the nomination, they'll get back to the center in a fourth-quarter showdown with President Bush. Lieberman is running the other way, into the wind. In the party of peace, secularism, and civil liberties, he's the candidate of God, family values, and military muscle. If he makes it to the fourth quarter against Bush, he'll have the wind at his back. The risk is that he'll be blown out of the game before he gets there. Kerry has a war record. Edwards and Gephardt support Bush's hard line against Iraq. But none of them can match Lieberman's hawkish record. He voted for the Persian Gulf War and spearheaded congressional support for the Iraqi resistance. Like Bush, he uses the E-word: "We must never shrink from using American power to defend our ideals against evil in a time of war." He frames domestic issues in terms of national power. He speaks of "strengthening homeland security while protecting Social Security." Of the current federal deficits, he warns, "You can't keep doing that and keep America strong." Among Democrats, Lieberman is the closest thing to a cultural conservative. He extols "family and faith and responsibility." "As my state's attorney general, I stood with single moms to go after deadbeat dads," he proclaims. "I have taken on the entertainment industry for peddling sex and violence to our childrenand spoken up for parents who feel they are in competition with the popular culture to raise their children." Like his competitors, Lieberman preaches economic populism. But his version is more Clinton than Gore. He says his parents "worked their way into the American middle class," vindicating the American promise "that no matter who you are or where you start, if you work hard and play by the rules, you can go as far as your God-given talents will take you." Now, he worries, "For too many Americans the middle class is drifting out of reach." Gore made populism sound like a civil war. Lieberman makes it sound like a war of national unity. "A strong middle class means a strong America," he says. In Lieberman's story, the middle class doubles as the melting pot. It embraced, lifted, and assimilated his parents, who were "children of immigrants." Today, their son promises to give "a new generation of immigrants their fair chance to live the American Dream." The last Democrat who made that pledge ended up riding around in a tank in ads for Bush's father. Lieberman's betting that if somebody finds a picture of him in an M-1, the pairing won't look so outlandish. Love, Greg and Lauren - Greg Manning A Husband's Day-by-Day Account of His Wife's Remarkable Recovery Barnes & Noble William Saletan is Slate's chief political correspondent. A<:>E<:>R Forwarded for your information. The text and intent of the article has to stand on its own merits. Therefore, unless I am a first-hand witness to any event described, I cannot attest to its validity. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumoured by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of teachers, elders or wise men. Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all. Then a
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- [EMAIL PROTECTED] spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Dazzled by the science Biologists who dress up hi-tech eugenics as a new art form are dangerously deluded Jeremy Rifkin Monday January 13 2003 The Guardian Recently, J Craig Venter, the gene scientist whose company, Celera Genomics, led the race to map the human genome, announced a plan to create the first artificial life form in a laboratory dish. Venter, who has teamed up with the Nobel laureate biologist Hamilton Smith, says he hopes to use a $3m US government grant to create partially man-made organisms that could produce hydrogen for fuel or break down carbon dioxide from power plant emissions. Other scientists worry that Venter's creation could wreak havoc on natural ecosystems or be used to create new kinds of biological weapons. Venter is among a new genre of biologists who see themselves less as engineers and more as creative artists - designers and architects of what they envision as a "second genesis" - this one inspired not by divine guidance or by the forces of evolution, but by the human imagination. Ironically, this subtle shift in the focus of the biological sciences from "engineering" to "art" is being mirrored in the art community, raising the question of whether a new social gestalt is being readied to make acceptable this radical new manipulation of nature. All of a sudden, artists around the world have discovered DNA and are feverishly at play in their studios using the cutting-edge tools of biotechnology. An American artist, Eduardo Kac, commissioned a team of geneticists in France to create a transgenic rabbit named Alba with a fluorescent gene from a jellyfish in its biological code. The rabbit, which glows, is considered a living piece of genetic artistry. Currently, an exhibit entitled Genesis is touring the US with much fanfare. Like Kac's illuminated rabbit, many of the works on display use the tools of genetic science to create living representations just as their predecessors used paintbrushes to create their representations. A group calling itself the Critical Art Ensemble engages in a performance piece called GenTerra, in which it releases transgenic bacteria into the audience. Christine Paul, the curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art says: "We are witnessing the emergence of a new type of artist, the artist/scientist/researcher." The new biotech artists say that such exhibits will help the public wrestle with the scientific, ethical and legal issues surrounding the new genomic science. Many of the artists hope that their work, which includes digitally produced portrait photographs of hybrid cat people and tubes of real DNA suspended from the ceiling, will provoke an emotional response from the audience and force people to think about the many implications of the new science. Maybe. But it's far more likely that the real consequence of such art exhibits will be to legitimise the idea of a new "artful" eugenics movement. The melding together of genetic science and artistic expression could help ease the way to a popular acceptance of Venter's new microbe, as well as cloned, transgenic and chimeric animals and designer babies. More than 30 years ago, Nobel laureate Joshua Lederberg wrote expectantly of the possibility of designing "a useful protein from first premises, replacing evolution by art". Recombinant DNA techniques are increasingly being viewed as the "artist's" tools of the postmodern era. With the new technologies, human beings assume the role of creative artists, continually transforming evolution into works of art. Already in laboratories around the world researchers are creating new hybrid creatures that have never before existed. Scientists have fused together the embryos of a sheep and goat, two totally unrelated species, and given birth to a new creature called a Geep, a chimeric animal with the head of a sheep and the body of a goat. The anti-freeze gene in a flounder fish has been inserted into the genetic code of a tomato plant, to make it resistant to freezes. Human growth hormone genes, the human immune system and even human brain tissue have been inserted into the genetic blueprint of mice embryos. The mature mice express these human genes in their bodies. The mice with the human growth hormone genes grew twice as big as ordinary mice. Scientists have even grown human skin, pancreases and breasts in laboratory jars. Other scientists have inserted the nucleus of a human cell into a cow egg whose own nucleus was removed in a partially successful effort to create a quasi-human embryo. Spider genes have been inserted into goat embryos and the mature goats produce spider silk in their milk. And Japanese scientists have just announced that they are planning to use tissue from th
[CTRL] Big Bang
-Caveat Lector- http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-542379,00.html http://images.thetimes.co.uk/TGD/picture/0,,60967,00.gif January 14, 2003 Italians alarmed at discovery of huge US munitions base >From Richard Owen in Pisa ITALIANS, already nervous about war with Iraq, were stunned to learn yesterday that they are sitting on top of the biggest American ammunition dump outside the United States. Camp Darby, which nestles in a thousand hectares of pinewoods on the Tuscan coast between Pisa and Livorno, is a storehouse for 20,000 tonnes of artillery and aerial munitions, 8,000 tonnes of high explosive and enough equipment to arm an entire mechanised brigade of tanks and APCs, according to a report. It has emerged that the base was the main source of armaments used during the 1991 Gulf War and is expected to serve the same purpose in any new campaign. It also supplied 60 per cent of the ordnance including nearly 4,000 cluster bombs dropped on Serbia by Nato warplanes during the 1999 Kosovo campaign. The report, issued by the Global Security Foundation in the United States and published yesterday in the respected daily Corriere della Sera, will bolster anti- war sentiment in Italy. The Berlusconi Government has offered the United States use of its bases and airspace, but opposition to war with Iraq is strong both on the Left and in the Roman Catholic Church. A receptionist at the Hotel Mediterraneo, next to the base, said: We knew that its a military base, but not that it has such a huge arsenal. We are all afraid, said a woman wheeling her baby son in a pushchair through the village of Stagno, which borders the camp. The winds of war are blowing, and we feel very close to it here. The armaments are stored in 125 hangar-style buildings, which line the camp behind a seemingly endless green fence. The camp, set up in 1951, is named after General William Darby, an American special forces officer who died during the Allied liberation of Italy from Nazi occupation in 1945. It is one of several US bases on Italian soil, including the airbases at Aviano in northern Italy and Sigonella in Sicily and the naval base at Naples, headquarters of the US Sixth Fleet and of Nato Southern Command. Corriere della Sera said that Italians would be appalled to learn that two years ago underground bunkers at the base built in the 1970s and used to store munitions in controlled temperatures had begun to develop structural problems. US Army engineers had used steel plates to reinforce the bunkers, but this had only made the situation worse. Cracks had widened and chunks of cement had fallen on the stored weapons and bombs. Twelve of the bunkers had been cleared of their contents, with extreme caution, with bomb squads removing 100,000 missiles and bombs and 23 tonnes of high explosive with the help of remote-controlled robots. The report said that it was a small miracle that nothing had gone wrong. US officials emphasised that Camp Darby also had a humanitarian function, storing thousands of beds and tonnes of clothing for aid missions to the Balkans, Kurdish areas and Africa. It houses bulldozers and other heavy equipment for airlifting to areas of natural catastrophe. But the report said that if necessary an entire US armoured brigade could leave Camp Darby for Kuwait without needing a change of socks it would be equipped with everything from cannons to underwear. A<:>E<:>R Forwarded for your information. The text and intent of the article has to stand on its own merits. Therefore, unless I am a first-hand witness to any event described, I cannot attest to its validity. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumoured by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of teachers, elders or wise men. Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all. Then accept it and live up to it." The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutra http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and
[CTRL] 2002: Anomalous Stories in Review
-Caveat Lector- --- Forwarded message follows --- To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: "better_off_said <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date sent: Sun, 12 Jan 2003 19:58:28 - Subject:[CIA-DRUGS] 2002: Anomalous Stories in Review Send reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Where Are They Now? The following are (aside from one speech) various stories that I found online and had book marked throughout the year, but forgot about until making a frivolous attempt to organize my favorites file. While most of them are focused around the September 11th investigation, others are just anomalous stories that broke in the mainstream press then inexplicably vanished. I have not included stories that, while proven anomalous (i.e. the Sniper Case), got significant media coverage. What I am including below are those stories that -- despite their mainstream coverage and considerable implications -- seemed to have fallen off the face of the Earth. In my opinion, some of these stories should have in the least garnered public concern or outcry, while others certainly warranted further investigation; but, for whatever reason, they simply fizzled out or disappeared altogether -- some of the links are even dead now. I'm also curious to know if any of you have follow-up to these stories and would also appreciate any others you might have to add: MORE DOCUMENTED 9-11 FOREKNOWLEDGE The Orlando Sentinel Inmate Says He Told FBI About Danger to New York by Doris Bloodsworth January 6, 2002 "Walid Arkeh contends that, during a late-summer interview that federal officials acknowledge took place, FBI agents scoffed at his promise to exchange more details for freedom, asylum and protection. "But since Sept. 11, the 35-year-old Jordanian national from Altamonte Springs has been grilled by federal agents and whisked to an undisclosed location by state corrections officials. His name and photo -- all traces of his presence in the system -- have been removed from the Department of Corrections Web site." (archives: www.orlandosentinel.com) MYSTERIOUS MURDER SURROUNDING 9-11 CNN.com FBI probes death of driver's license examiner Woman gave licenses to men being checked for terrorist links February 15, 2002 Posted: 11:19 PM EST (0419 GMT) "Katherine Smith was found burned to death in her car early Sunday, a day before she was to be arraigned on federal charges she helped five Middle Eastern men and one juvenile get fake driver's licenses earlier this month. The five adults are under investigation for possible ties to the September 11 terrorist attacks, law enforcement officials said." http://www.cnn.com/2002/LAW/02/15/inv.licenser.death/ CIA DIRECTOR'S ADMISSION OF 9-11 FOREKNOWLEDGE [This speech given by CIA Deputy Director, Jim Pavitt, is one of the most head-scratching, contradictory speeches I've ever read regarding 9-11. Pavitt starts by basically admitting the CIA had foreknowledge of the attacks, stating that "we warned that Al Qaeda was planning a major strike," but then rushes to say they didn't have the "tactical intelligence" to stop them. But then Pavitt flip-flops again, stating the CIA "were there well before the 11th of September." He then contradicts himself again by stating the CIA was the first on the ground "within days" after the attacks (wait a minute, I thought they never left?). And now, according to Pavitt, while (in 2002) the CIA had "more spies stealing more secrets than at any time in the history of the CIA," they can't do anything to stop "the next terrorist attack"? Amazing! Still, the most mind-boggling statement of Pavitt's speech has to be: "...the United States as a whole could not neither prevent or precisely predict the devastating tragedy of the September 11th attacks." Doesn't that double-negative mean that they COULD have prevented the attacks?!] Jim Pavitt, Deputy Director for Operations Address to Duke University Law School Conference April 11, 2002 (as delivered) Excerpts: "(...)I think it's important to note tonight that we did not discover terrorism on the 12th of September. For many of us the war commenced many many years earlier." "Teams of my paramilitary operations officers...were among the first on the ground in Afghanistan...We were on the ground within days of that terrible attack." "...the fact remains...that we in the government of the United States as a whole could not neither prevent or precisely predict the devastating tragedy of the September 11th attacks." "...On September 10th we were devoting more and more resources against the terrorist target than at any other intelligence challenge we faced." "We had very, very good intelligence of the general structure and strategies of the al Qaeda terrorist organization. We knew and we warned that al Qaeda
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- [EMAIL PROTECTED] spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Sharon draws slim hope from polls as revelations continue Chris McGreal in Jerusalem Monday January 13 2003 The Guardian Ariel Sharon drew slight comfort from a new round of opinion polls yesterday that showed his dramatically curtailed television broadcast last week had stemmed the flow of votes from his party ahead of this month's general election. But the polls revealed that most of the Israeli public did not believe his denials over illegal campaign contributions and other financial shenanigans. In addition, Binyamin Netanyahu, the foreign minister, would be a more popular choice as the ruling Likud party's candidate for prime minister in the 28 January ballot. To add to Mr Sharon's woes, the dribble of revelations over his financial relationship with an old war comrade who now lives in South Africa continued yesterday, with claims that the prime minister lied when he said Cyril Kern had no business dealings in Israel. The newspaper Ma'ariv alleged that not only did Mr Kern try to sell diamonds and a gold refinery to Israeli businessmen, but the name of Mr Sharon's son, Gilad, occurs in the correspondence involved. Yesterday, in response to an earlier request from Israel's attorney general, South Africa said it would investigate Mr Kern's $1.5m (£930,000) loan to Mr Sharon. Two polls in the Israeli press show the Likud-led rightwing and religious bloc in the 120- seat knesset hanging on to its majority by five or six seats. Before Mr Sharon went on television to deny that the loan was an illegal campaign contribution, and to deny that he had lied to police over its source, the polls had shown the Likud-led bloc close to losing control of the government, with a majority of just three. But by itself, Mr Sharon's party is still down by about 10 seats on polls a month ago, and his personal standing has taken a battering. Before his television broadcast, Mr Sharon promised to "disprove with documents and facts" the "despicable lies" being told. But he did neither, and so may have squandered his single greatest asset - trust. Some 65% of Israelis who saw last Wednesday's broadcast - before it was halted by a judge for breaching election laws - were not convinced by Mr Sharon's statement that he was telling the truth. However, the opposition Labour party again failed to capitalise on events and fell in the polls by a couple of seats. Perhaps most worrying for Mr Sharon is that another poll in the Ma'ariv newspaper showed that if Mr Netanyahu were Likud's leader, he would boost the party's vote by 10%. An analysis in Ma'ariv said some voters had given the benefit of the doubt to Mr Sharon, being "more furious with the 'hostile' media and the 'harassing' judicial system than they were shocked by the accusations". But the paper says Likud could see the slide resume if there were more revelations. And there are. In his broadcast, Mr Sharon said that Mr Kern "never asked me for anything and never received anything. He does not have business here." Ma'ariv reported yesterday that Mr Kern was regularly in contact with Israeli businessmen, and tried to sell Sierra Leonean diamonds and three gold refineries in South Africa. The correspondence involved is copied to Gilad Sharon. It also noted that Mr Kern had met businessmen in Tel Aviv hotels during visits to Israel at which Gilad Sharon was present. More at guardian.co.uk/israel Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- [EMAIL PROTECTED] spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Secret gun finds raise gang fears Sharp rise in smuggling fuels drug wars Paul Lashmar and James Oliver Monday January 13 2003 The Guardian Growing arsenals of hand grenades, machine guns and Semtex explosives have been seized at ports by customs and excise in a wave of smuggling that is arming criminal gangs, the Guardian can disclose. One of the most disturbing aspects of the arms finds, in a climate of growing public anxiety about gun crime, is that customs, which is under the control of the government, has kept quiet about the most recent discoveries. The dramatic rise in gun crime has profoundly embarrassed the government in the wake of the fatal shooting of two teenage girls at a new year's party in Birmingham. Customs did not publicly disclose their most recent finds in June and November and have given few details of an earlier seizure in April. They cite ongoing investigations as the reason. The most significant seizure took place in early November at a south coast port, according to investigators, when customs discovered in a lorry load of frozen pizza about 30 Uzi machine pistols, magazines, silencers and ammunition believed to come from Croatia and heading for London. In another seizure in June at Dover, in a lorry purportedly carrying aircraft spares, customs found two mini submachine guns. In addition, four magazines, two silencers, a Magnum .44 handgun and ammunition were discovered. Last April customs intercepted a vehicle at Felixstowe docks. Seventeen hand grenades were hidden on board along with detonators, two packs of explosive, 10 handguns, three machine pistols and ammunition. Sources say that some of the weapons were destined for drug gangs, including the Turkish heroin gangs in north London and a south London crime family. Arms shipments, many from eastern Europe, are believed to have been destined for organised criminals. Police sources believe the surge in arms smuggling is motivated by drug gangs urgently increasing their firepower to cope with a growing spate of turf wars. According to sources in police intelligence: "These seizures may well indicate the emergence of a new source of weapons for some organised crime groups. The problem is, we don't know what's got through." In 2001-2002 only a few handguns were found by customs. The seizures in the last nine months suggest a surge in arms smuggling. Customs usually estimate that they seize a small percentage of any regular contraband traffic. Some hand grenades are believed to be in criminal hands in Britain already. After the shooting of the two teenage girls in a drug gang shootout, the attacked gang has threatened to use hand grenades in retribution. Police are hunting the killers of Charlene Ellis, 18, and her cousin Letisha Shakespeare, 17. A customs press spokeswomen confirmed that there had been seizures. "We have had some seizures of guns over the last eight months that naturally concern us. It is far too early to say any new trend was emerging with only handful of significant seizures over the last eight months and not much more than this over the past year." However, a customs source said: "Within customs this is believed to show a new trend in smuggling in such serious weapons." Police sources say they are concerned that the number of dedicated customs firearms and explosive officers based at ports had declined over the last two years. Last month the head of intelligence at Scotland Yard warned that gun battles could break out in London between rival gangs fighting over the trade in crack cocaine and heroin. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Mike Fuller said the capital was "on the cusp" of turf wars between Albanians, Turks, Chinese triads and Jamaicans. He said the gangs were involved in drug dealing, human trafficking and kidnapping. Police are particularly worried because the foreign-based gangs have already shown they have access to firearms and are prepared to kill. There have been 18 murders this year involving "black on black" killings by British crack dealers and Jamaican Yardie gangsters. At the beginning of December Alisan Dogan, 43, a cleaner, was caught in the crossfire and shot dead when dozens of criminals staged a running battle in a busy shopping area of Green Lanes, in Haringey, north London. The incident that left four men with gunshot wounds is thought to be connected to Turkish organised crime linked to the heroin trade. Cutting off new sources of guns for criminals has so far been hampered by the lack of comprehensive and centralised intelligence of police and customs seizures. But April will see the launch of the forensic science service's firearms database that will provide centralised information on all firearms submit
[CTRL] origins of dogs
-Caveat Lector- World Socialist Web Site www.wsws.org WSWS : News & Analysis : Science & Technology New DNA research points to origins of dogs By Sandy English 14 January 2003 Back to screen version| Send this link by email | Email the author A recent issue of the American journal Science has reported new DNA evidence indicating that humans first bred domesticated dogs approximately 15, 000 years ago in east Asia. A team of researchers led by Peter Savonainen of the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden examined the mitochondrial DNA, which is passed on only by females, from 654 dogs in Africa, Asia, Europe and Arctic regions of North America. The findings show that more than 95 percent of dogs in this group were descended from three original female ancestors. Furthermore, the study revealed that east Asian dogs have the greatest genetic variability, indicating that dog populations have existed there the longest. The work of Savonainens team corroborates other recent DNA studies about the evolution and dispersal of dogs. For example, according to an earlier genetic study by Jennifer A. Leonard of UCLA, dogs descended from Asian dogs which traveled with humans across the land bridge from Siberia to Alaska 12,000- 14,000 years ago. Previously scientists had believed that the dog was domesticated somewhere in the Middle East and as long ago as 40, 000 years. The problem is that material evidence for dogs is late: most fossils of distinctly domestic dogs date from about 7,000 years ago, and only a single domestic dog skull has been discovered in northern Asia dating from as long ago as 12,000 years. Only a single domestic dog jawbone has been found in Europe from as long ago as 14,000 years. The earliest North American finds date from about 8,500 years ago. Thus, essential chapters in the prehistory of dogs have been missing. When and where dogs ( canis familiaris) emerged from wolves ( canis lupus) were blanks in the evolutionary record. The new DNA research will allow anthropologists and prehistorians to speculate on the why and how of dog evolution. While any number of hypotheses may emerge, the new evidence already yields certain tantalizing possibilities. The short period of human prehistory during which dogs now appear to have evolved is called the Mesolithic, a period between the long Paleolithic, or a strictly hunting and foraging economy, and the Neolithic, when agriculture and animal domestication became widespread. During the Mesolithic, sophisticated hunting tools, including the spear thrower and the bow and arrow, were invented, the latter about 12,000 years ago. This was also a period of glacial melt at the end of an Ice Age in much of the world, producing great shifts in the flora and fauna. Evidence in both Asia and North America points to a mass extinction of large herd animals such as mammoths in the Mesolithic, though this may well predate dogs. The new evidence suggests that the dog may have been a part of this Mesolithic Revolution. Humans clearly obtained some advantage from dogs, who, after all, are meat-eaters and ecological rivals to humans. Dogs must have improved the yield from hunting, though a variety of other causes of domestication are possible, such as the use of dogs as guards, as a food source, as traction animals. In any case, one noteworthy result of the research is the knowledge that dogs spread rapidly around the world to most human populations. Dogs are a domestic species. That is, both genetically and behaviorally, they are conditioned by their association with human beings. They bear the imprint of human activity on their essential nature, and, as a rule, they do not exist outside of human society today. Yet dogs have also had a reciprocal effect on human culture: society as we know it would not have developed without the domestication of plants and animals. All evidence shows that the dog was the first of these. Just how deeply that material relation of man and dog may go is indicated by a report in the same issue of Science on another study at Harvard, showing that puppies as young as nine weeks will respond to human cues more frequently than to those of any other animal, including those related to humans more closely, such as chimpanzees. We should perhaps not neglect Frederick Engelss remarks on animals in his famous essay, The Part Played by Labor in the Transition from Ape to Man: The dog and the horse, by association with man, have developed such a good ear for articulate speech that they easily learn to understand any language within their range of concept. Moreover they have acquired the capacity for feelings such as affection for man, gratitude, etc., which were previously foreign to them. Anyone who has had much to do with such animals will hardly be able to escape the conviction that in many cases they now feel their inability to speak as a defect, although, unfortunately, it is one that can no longer be remedied because their vo
Re: [CTRL] MRC Alert: Bush's Tax Plan 'Gives the Most to the Rich'
-Caveat Lector- MJ If Joe and Steve pay $1 in taxes, their burden is EQUAL. The Government REQUIRING Joe and Steve pay $1 in taxes is EQUITABLE. If Joe pays $1 and Steve pays $2, their burden is UNequal. The Government REQUIRING Joe to pay $1 and Steve pay $2 in taxes is INequitable. goldi Taking your example above, if Joe earns 1 thousand dollars a year and Steve earns 1 million dollars a year, yet both are required to pay $1 in taxes, how do you find that to be equitable? MJ The Government is requiring them to pay the same -- income has no bearing. What does equity in taxation have to do with income? Wealth? Joe and Steve go to Goldi's Diner for a piece of pie. Should Steve pay MORE for the pie than Joe? Should Joe pay MORE than Steve? goldi Also, how do you propose it should be handled if Joe doesn't have the $1 to pay? I'm curious... MJ What happens NOW? Thew's Tax Charity would aid Joe in meeting his fair share of taxes (which would necessarily be low -- approaching zero ... while an abundance of wealth would necessarily exist -- making those in Joe's situation necessarily few). Regard$, --MJ Probably not many realize how the rapid centralization of government in America has fostered a kind of organized pauperism. The big industrial states contribute most of the Federal revenues and the bureaucracy distributes it in the pauper states wherever it will do the most good in a political way. The same thing takes place within the states themselves. In fostering pauperism it also by necessary consequence fosters corruption. ... All this is due to the iniquitous theory of taxation with which this country has been so thoroughly indoctrinated -- that a man should be taxed according to his ability to pay, instead of according to the value of the privileges he obtains from government. -- Albert Jay Nock http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] Belleville, IL and rights
-Caveat Lector- This reply to my Belleville post may be of interest to those who read the first post: J.D. Abolins [[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > It wouldn't surprise me if this became a trend in the future under the > Sustainability developments for towns, though I don't think this is > the case here. Could this be happening elsewhere? I don't know. [...] > http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/4691498.htm Actually various ploys to conduct searches that collide with the Fourth Amendment have been going on in different places for years. Some such searches are conducted in poor, mostly Black or other minority neighborhoods. So the general media doesn't pick up on them. For example, there was a reported dragnet of a Washington Heights neighborhood in New York City several years ago. Several blocks were blockaded. Everybody going in or out had to show ID. The police went door to door and demanded proof of "belonging there" from every person they found. This was done as an "anti-drugs" move. With different sets of concerns, the home inspections become a pretext for entry. In the Illinois cases, occupancy was the stated concern. Elsewhere, it can be drugs or terrorism. Sustainability is less likely to lead to using this ploy because other methods of detection are available. But if the sustainability concerns in the future include things such as what pets one has (dogs and cats can be deemed a danger to certain threatend species), then pretext might be employed. Once the resident has allowed the officials in, plain sight/sound/smell rules apply. Refusing to let the official in is a classic safeguard, one that the particular officials tried to penalize. (Most likely charge they used was an "obstruction" one. The mere "obstruction" is the offense and doesn't require a warrant and, thus, no probable cause that the resident was violating the law. Obstruction charges are very fluid. Ask too many questions of an officer and take up "too much time" and you can be hit with such a charge. (See http://cryptome.org/bressi.htm for a complaint from a motorist whose "crime" was apparently asking too many questions about the validity of a joint police-INS-Customs checkpoint on a highway.) But even if one allows the officials in, it does help to state that one objects to the de facto search and that one has given consent under the propsect of arrest or criminal citations. One thing that really can affect one's rights is whether or not one "owns" the home. Apartment dwellers and house renters are in a precarious position because the landlord and his agents can give the officials the permission for access. In some communities, the officials are even encouraging property owners, especially landlords, to sign away their Fourth Amendment rights. (See http://www.meydaonline.com/blog/archives/20020826.htm for an example.) In such a case the Constitutional protection of tenants as individuals is challenged by the property owner's rights (albeit not enumerated directly in the Bill of Rights) to allow access to the property. Being a homeowner has some advantages. But some homeowners will sign away their kids rights and protections. One big danger of the sign-away rights trend is that rights become commodities. Sell yourself and others into slavery for some perks or conveniences. Semi-satirical prediction: By mid-decade, the IRS and/or local tax boards will offer "discounts" if you sign away various Constitution protections. They'll claim it makes the government's job easier and, thus, saves money for them. Sign away the First Amendment and you get a 5% discount. You just have to stay away from protests against government policies, not affiliate with any unapproved religions, don't talk to the press, and don't wast the government's time petition it. They're much too busy to be biothered with citizen's views. What do the citizens know anyway about running an empire... oops... a republic? Sign away the Fourth and save time and money with all those pesky search and seizure case. Sign away the protections against cruel adn unusual punishment and help bring in revenue for the government new "reality shows" along the lines of Judge Judy Meets Fear Factor. J.D. Abolins And from a lawyer friend: Wow! These persecuted residents should consider a "Section 1983" federal action against their municipality for intentionally violating their civil rights. This is BLATANT! www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of po
Re: [CTRL] Amazing Moon Landing Footage
-Caveat Lector- http://www.moontruth.com Amazing Moon Footage revealing the moon landings were a hoax. http://www.donet.com/~moser/index.htm My internet site above. www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] The Pentagon Plan to Create Mutant "Super-Soldiers"
-Caveat Lector- http://www.counterpunch.org/ January 13, 2003 Monsters, Inc. The Pentagon Plan to Create Mutant "Super-Soldiers" by CHRIS FLOYD The great wizard, leader of the Wise, once known to all the world as a force for good, has turned bitter, fearful--and ambitious. Aping the ways of the evil he once fought--brutality, dominance, greed, terror--he descends to his secret laboratory, where, with black arts of alchemy and fiendish technology, he breeds a race of mutant warriors, "iron bodied and iron willed": fierce fighters who can attack day and night, without rest, their combat spirit kept soaring by spikes of lightning from the wizard's wand. A scene from Tolkein's Lord of the Rings, where the corrupted wizard Saruman fashions his monstrous Uruk-Hai to wage a relentless, remorseless war for dominion? No; unfortunately it's a very real scheme now being pursued by the Pentagon, whose dope wizards and gene splicers are working on the creation of the "Extended Performance War Fighter," the Daily Telegraph and Christian Science Monitor report. Pentagon dark lord Donald Rumsfeld is shoveling billions of tax dollars into the research furnaces of federal laboratories and private universities across the land in the wide-ranging effort to spawn "super soldiers," fired by drugs and electromagnetic "brain zaps" to fight without ceasing for days on end. The work is being directed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)--yes, the same outfit now laboring under convicted terrorist-conspirator John Poindexter to build the "Total Information Awareness" network that will allow the government to monitor the electronic records and communications of every citizen. The DARPA "war fighter enhancement" programs--an acceleration of bipartisan biotinkering that's been going on for years--will involve injecting young men and women with hormonal, neurological and genetic concoctions; implanting microchips and electrodes in their bodies to control their internal organs and brain functions; and plying them with drugs that deaden some of their normal human tendencies: the need for sleep, the fear of death, the reluctance to kill their fellow human beings. The research is "very aggressive and wide open," says Admiral Stephen Baker of the Center for Defense Information. Indeed, the U.S. Special Operations Command envisions the creation of "iron bodied and iron willed personnel" who can "resist the mental and physiological effects of sleep deprivation" while relying on "ergogenic substances" to "manage" the "environmental and mentally induced stress" of the battlefield. Their bodies juiced, their brains swaddled in Prozacian haze, the enhanced warfighters can churn relentlessly, remorselessly toward dominion. And the term "creation" is not just fanciful rhetoric: some of the research now underway involves actually altering the genetic code of soldiers, modifying bits of DNA to fashion a new type of human specimen, one that functions like a machine, killing tirelessly for days and nights on end. These mutations will "revolutionize the contemporary order of battle" and guarantee "operational dominance across the whole range of potential U.S. military employments," the DARPA wizards enthuse. Of course, the Pentagon is not waiting on sci-fi technology to enhance the physical abilities of its warfighters; old-fashioned off-the-shelf "additives" have long been shoved down soldiers' throats. For example, the use of amphetamines for pilots has been widespread for decades; during the first Bush-Saddam War, whole squadrons were cranked up on the stuff. Not only is the gobbling of speed officially sanctioned, it's actively encouraged, even implicitly mandated--careers can be derailed for pilots who refuse to drug themselves. The results of this dope-peddling were clearly seen on the new imperial frontier of Afghanistan last spring, when two U.S. pilots--hopped up on speed--killed four Canadian allies in a "friendly fire" bombing raid. The pilots, now facing legal charges, say Air Force brass pressured them into taking the mind-altering drug before the fatal flight. But such glitches are inevitable in any grand scientific undertaking, and DARPA remains undeterred in its bold quest to "push the limits of human input/output," advance the "symbiotic relationship between man and machine," and customize "pharmaceutical technology" to "embolden the warfighter and his superiors," as military scientists declared at a Pentagon-sponsored conference on "future warfare." What happens to the burnt-out husks of these "iron" soldiers after their minds and bodies have been eaten way by relentless modification and ceaseless toil is, of course, of no concern to the Bush Regime. Even now, the White House is cutting back on health benefits to military veterans--even going so far as to order veterans hospitals not to advertise their available services, lest broken soldiers actually seek to claim the promise of support their government
[CTRL] A Bigger Scandal: Illegal U.S. Funding of Sharon's Likud
http://www.gooff.com/news/read.asp?ID=1741 A Bigger Scandal: Illegal U.S. Funding of Sharon's Likud by Anton Chaitkin EIR's recent series of exposés tracing the dirty money behind Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the Likud party, have helped fuel the roaring political scandal threatening to wreck what was once thought to be a certain Sharon win in the upcoming Jan. 28 election. Since the series began, Israeli and American journalists and researchers have provided revealing information concerning the Likud's most important foreign funders, which, upon investigation, has proven to be accurate. Israeli law has, since 1994, prohibited foreign donations to Israeli election campaigns. Yet tens of millions of dollars have continued to pour in from abroad, financing the radical-right Likud political apparatus which is driving the mideast and the world into religious-ethnic warfare. One prominent Israeli jurist told EIR, "Talking about illegal foreign money flows into Israeli elections is like talking about illegal booze in Chicago during Prohibition. Everybody does it, or you just don't survive." But in the case of the money propping up the Sharon regime, its legal prohibition is made more sinister by its sources, primarily in the United States. They include heirs of the Meyer Lansky/ Moe Dalitz mafia syndicate; Michael Milken's junk-bond "monsters," corporate predators, and looters; and the sponsors of terrorists such as Meyer Kahane and the Armageddon-theme racial and religious provocateurs. According to knowledgeable Israeli sources, the following names are at or near the top of the list of perpetrators, whose covert funding of the Likud has brought the Mideast to the brink of disaster. The Lansky-Dalitz Legacy The most important Likud sources are associates of Michael Milken's multi-billion dollar scams of the 1980s and early 1990s, and of mob bosses Meyer Lansky's and Moe Dalitz's Las Vegas: Jay Zises: (pronounced "zee-sees"), a Likud funder with his wife Nancy. As of 2000, Jay was President of "Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces in the United States." Jay Zises and his brother Selig founded Integrated Resources, a hyper-leveraged tax shelter. The Zises debt pyramid blew out in 1989, defaulting on $955 million. The scheme was financed by Drexel Burnham Lambert's junk-bond kingpin Michael Milken and his family, and by those backing Milken, including Zises' former boss Saul Steinberg, and executives of Carl Lindner's dope-running United Fruit/Chiquita Banana. A Federal judge ruling on a lawsuit against Integrated said, "This case arises from the ashes of what is regarded by some as the most spectacular scam of the 1980s." Milken and others were jailed, but the Zises brothers escaped with a fortune, bought out by Milken's cousin Stanley Zax shortly before Milken was indicted and Integrated collapsed. Jay Zises created the Roundtable Political Action Committee, a U.S. election campaign-financing arm of the Milken clique, operating from Integrated's New York office. His brother Seymour Zises was president of the coordinating "National PAC," which operated from Washington. Run in tandem with AIPAC (American-Israel Public Affairs Committee), these are the PACs which established, in America, the pattern of dirty-money election financing which rules Israel today. Contributors to Jay Zises' Roundtable included members of the Meshulam Riklis family. Riklis, a mobster go-between for dope-runner Robert Vesco, Vesco's lawyer Kenneth Bialkin, and the Milken group, was Ariel Sharon's personal financial angel. Riklis donated the ranch where Sharon lives today, and where Sharon, Henry Kissinger, Riklis, Bialkin and others planned the West Bank settlement land-scam and rightist offensive. Other Roundtable contributors included convicted Wall Street swindler Ivan Boesky; Saul Steinberg's family; the Milstein family, partners in United Fruit; and the family of Laurence Tisch (of Loews Corp. and Lindner's United Fruit apparatus). Marc Belzberg: Canadian funder of the Likud/West Bank settlers covert nexus. Marc's father and partner, the notorious predator Sam Belzberg, was part of the inner core of the Drexel/Michael Milken junk bond operation, and a sponsor of corporate raider T. Boone Pickens. The Belzbergs bought up large blocks of stocks, and took "greenmail" from companies wanting to avoid their hostile takeovers. Marc Belzberg and his family holding company First City Financial were sued by the SEC in 1986 and forced to disgorge $2.7 million in profits, for "stock parking" with banker Bear Stearns in a takeover-scam against Ashland Oil. The Belzbergs were partners in Zises' Integrated Resources, and arbitrage partners of Roundtable PAC co-founder James Tisch, son of Lawrence Tisch. Marc Belzberg is a director of the Jerusalem Post, the right-wing daily controlled by the Anglo-Canadian rightist Hollinger Corp. of Canadian-born British Lord Conrad Black. Belzberg is a major backer of Ateret Cohanim, th
[CTRL] (Fwd) Where everyone's a Racist
-Caveat Lector- --- Forwarded message follows --- Tolerance.org -- Where Everyone's a Racist By Charles F. Wickwire EnterStageRight.com | January 13, 2003 While watching television the other day I happened to notice Alanis Morissette telling me to logon to Tolerance.org and learn more about tolerating my fellow human beings. Now I freely admit that the bitter lyrics of Canada's number one upset female are among my favorites. I have been a big fan since Jagged Little Pill. I had heard of Tolerance.org but I had never paid much attention to the popup ads and banners that streamed across sites. After all, I consider myself to be very tolerant. But Alanis was urging me to check it out, so I did. Well the site itself is very professional and well maintained. The first thing the site says is Fight Hate, Promote Tolerance. A very noble aspiration and one I can easily agree with. Below this banner are navigation buttons for Teachers, Parents, Teens and Kids. The audience certainly sounds respectable. Under this we get to meatier subjects. Under the title Tolerance Watch we have list of both "Hate and Tolerance in the News", "Tracking of Hate Groups" and ways to "Learn the Truth". It is here that things get a little confusing. Under "Hate in the News" we are offered a multitude of news articles that show examples of racism, sexism, homophobia and various forms of xenophobia. I guess that is all right, after all the title was "Hate in the News". But when we move on to the title "Tolerance in the News" we find a multitude of news articles that show examples of racism, sexism, homophobia and various forms of xenophobia. The only difference in the two sections seems to be whether the article focuses on the crime or the victim. The articles under "Tolerance in the News" are, of course, dedicated to the victims of Hate Crimes with a sprinkling of announcements for Memorials and the occasional story about how wonderful Tolerance.org is. Maybe there isn't any news about tolerance itself. Then we come to the Hate Groups Tracking Map. This is a very impressive collection of organizations across the United States that Tolerance.org's founding organization, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), has identified as promoting hatred or intolerance. One thing I noticed was a grouping called Black Separatists. Tolerance.org states the following definition for Black Separatists: "Black separatists typically oppose integration and racial intermarriage, and they want separate institutions -- or even a separate nation -- for blacks. Most forms of black separatism are strongly anti-white and anti-Semitic, and a number of religious versions assert that blacks -- not Jews -- are the Biblical chosen people' of God." I was impressed. Tolerance.org was admitting that Black on White hate not only exists but exists in such numbers as to need a label. But my newfound respect just as quickly crashed into the wall of reality when I read the very next paragraph. And I quote: "Although the Southern Poverty Law Center recognizes that much black racism in America is, at least in part, a response to centuries of white racism, it believes racism must be exposed in all its forms. White groups espousing beliefs similar to Black Separatists would be considered clearly racist. The same criterion should be applied to all groups regardless of their color." So, the SPLC must consider Black Separatist to be Racist even though it is just a response to centuries of white racism. They sound almost upset to have to place these Separatist in the same category as White Segregationist. Other categories include the Klan, Neo-Nazi, Racist Skinhead, Christian Identity and Neo Confederate, but none of them receive any apologetic remarks. Tolerance.org asks the question "Are You Really Bias Free?" and offers several online test to find out. First you have to select a test, there is a list that includes many biases including racial, gender, homosexuality and age. I tried the test for Racial Bias called Black/White Adults. The test starts out by flashing faces on the screen and you have to select whether they are European American or African American. Next the screen flashes words on the screen and you have to choose if they are bad or good words. The words included Evil, Horrible, Glorious, Happy, Hate and Love. Next phase of the test flashes both faces and words on the screen and you have to select whether the face or word is European American/Bad or African American/Good. That's right, if the face is European or the word is Bad they both get the same answer. If the face is Black or the word is good it gets the opposite answer. I have to admit I was a little shocked but I continued with the test. I found it difficult to do the test when I had to combine the answers of European and Bad for one answer and African and Good for another. It made for many hesitations. This phase of the test was repeated and then a return to the previous phase of flashing th
[CTRL] SCUMBAGS I HAVE KNOWN THIS WEEK: ALAN GREENSCUM
-Caveat Lector- http://www.etherzone.com/2003/stang011003.shtml SCUMBAGS I HAVE KNOWN THIS WEEK: ALAN GREENSCUM By: Alan Stang I first met Alan Greenspan in the Sixties. At the time, he ran a financial consulting company called Townsend Greenspan and was a Free Enterprise economist. He was also a disciple of Ayn Randâs. Ayn, born in Tsarist Russia to a Jewish family, survived the Bolshevik Revolution, defected to the West, changed her name and became an atheist, migrated to Hollywood, where she became a screen writer, and later a novelist, and founded a school of thought called Objectivism. A young man named Nathaniel Branden wrote a letter that impressed her, and eventually became her chief spokesman and interpreter as head of the Nathaniel Branden Institute in New York. At regular meetings of the Institute in the Roosevelt Hotel, Alan Greenspan offered a series of lectures on the Great Depression of 1929. In those lectures Greenspan brilliantly conveyed the teachings of Ludwig von Mises, the consummate genius of the Free Enterprise "Austrian school," and, with regard to the Depression, the findings of Mises disciple Professor Murray Rothbard. Greenspan incisively skewered the Federal Reserve, showed how the Fed caused the Depression by expanding and then suddenly contracting the "money" supply, showed that the Fed prevented financial recovery by repeatedly bringing the economy to its knees, proved that paper "money" always will collapse and underlined the fact that gold and silver alone can be money. After these presentations, many of us in attendance stood speechless, dazed by the power and clarity of his insight. As I recall, Ayn Rand was often present, nodding with approval. So was Ludwig von Mises himself, at least once. Next, we heard that Gerry Ford, appointed to the Presidency by the departing Richard "We are all Keynesians now" Nixon, had appointed Greenspan as Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. Need I add that there was considerable chortling among the Objectivists. Greenspanâs new job obviously meant that infinitely superior Objectivist ideas had won a foothold in Washington and now would begin to permeate the government. Ayn Herself was present in the unholy city when Greenspan was inducted, reveling at the sight. It was all happening as she had foretold. Indeed, word now arrived that new Chairman Alan Greenspan had concocted a cure for inflation. Objectivists had expected no less and were generally enthralled. After all, how far wrong could you go if you subscribed to Aynâs ideas? At the time, inflation was nowhere near as bad as it is today, but it was already a troubling problem. What was Greenspanâs cure for inflation? It was called Whip Inflation Now (WIN). We would wear large buttons that said "Whip Inflation Now," or simply WIN. Those buttons would help combat Old Mr. Inflation, because he would see them and be afraid. The more buttons we wore, and the bigger they were, the more afraid he would be. The buttons would create public awareness that would shut inflation down. WIN kits turned up everywhere. Another aspect of the Greenspan plan called for Americans to finish everything on their dinner plates. Because we were not doing that, inflation was getting worse. Indeed, there was even talk of teaching American women how to buy groceries. Your Intrepid Correspondent clearly recalls being unaware at the time, along with innumerable others, that American women are too stupid to buy groceries by themselves; the basis of the Greenspan scheme was that they are. According to Greenspanthink, they routinely buy the worst deals, the most expensive items on the shelves, with the predictable result that inflation is encouraged. In short, according to Greenspanthink, ignorant housewives cause inflation. If memory serves, Ayn simply disappeared from the scene. Was she embarrassed? I donât know. Did she revoke Greenspanâs status as an apostle? I recall thinking at the time that the inmates of Plan Nine From Outer Space, which many critics call the worst movie ever made, must have been holding him hostage, and that the man who thenceforth claimed to be Alan Greenspan was in fact a species of plant life, because there was no way the man who gave those lectures at NBI could have been the same man behind Whip Inflation Now. But now here comes Alan Greenspan as Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the very organization he condemned for causing the Great Depression, doing the same things he told us had caused it. By now, Ayn Rand was safely dead, another victim of the tobacco industry. Ayn had popularized the affectation of smoking cigarettes in long, black holders, and eventually turned up with lung cancer. One can only speculate about what she would have said of her disciple. Would she have read him out of the human race, as she did chief Objectivist spokesman and interpreter Nathaniel Branden? To do so would have made her a two-time loser. For the whole, smelly story
[CTRL] THE KING HAS NO CLOTHES:BUT SAYING SO MIGHT LAND YOU IN PRISON
-Caveat Lector- http://www.etherzone.com/2003/wats011303.shtml THE KING HAS NO CLOTHES: BUT SAYING SO MIGHT LAND YOU IN PRISON By: Paul Joseph Watson The hallmark of an effective dictatorship, whether that be Stalinist Russia or Hitlerâs Germany, is the wholesale silencing of the opposing voice. Criticism of the government must be eliminated because the foundation of despots crumbles when their authority is questioned in a sober and educated manner. For those of us who donât live in countries like China or Zimbabwe, a benchmark of how healthy our freedoms are is to judge how our government reacts to criticism. We should therefore be alarmed that a growing pretext is being set whereby it is either illegal or an act of political suicide to criticize President Bush. Prior to September 11, jokes about George W. Bushâs questionable intelligence were the highlight of any given evening at the comedy club. Bushâs own words provided enough material to build on. Consider the following, "I've coined new words, like, misunderstanding and Hispanically."-Radio-Television Correspondents Association dinner, Washington, D.C., March 29, 2001 "You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.''-Townsend, Tenn., Feb. 21, 2001 "Rarely is the question asked: is our children learning." - Florence, SC, Jan. 11, 2000 "I think anybody who doesn't think I'm smart enough to handle the job is underestimating."-U.S. News & World Report, April 3, 2000 Since the terrorist attacks, any questioning of Bushâs mental capacity is viewed as subversive activity. If youâre a politician, you must resign immediately. If youâre a member of the public, you may be subject to an FBI investigation. In September of 2002, German Justice Minister Herta Daeubler-Gmelin suggested that Bushâs foreign policy was planned to distract from his domestic problems, a tactic used by Hitler. The media hijacked the comments and concocted headlines like âGerman Minister says Bush is new Hitlerâ. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, eager to childishly avenge German non-cooperation in the war with Iraq, responded by labelling the comments as "outrageous and inexplicable." Despite a public apology, Daeubler-Gmelin was subsequently forced to resign from office. As an aside, in a decidedly unsophisticated propaganda crusade, the Bush administration has compared Saddam Hussein to Hitler. Hitlerâs projected 1,000-year Reich was to be built by invading countries and setting up a pan-European empire. Ask yourself, how many countries has Bush threatened to invade compared to Saddam Hussein? Just a month after Daeubler-Gmelin resigned, Francoise Ducros, a top aide to Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, referred to President Bush as "a moron" at the NATO summit in Prague. The comment was made to a radio reporter and instantly became front-page news. In stark contrast with their reaction to Daeubler-Gmelin, the White House trotted out Flesicher to dismiss the comment as "something from someone who doesn't speak for the Canadian government.'' They wanted to keep Canada sweet because at that stage their unbridled support for a war on Iraq was on the verge of being secured. Ducros apologized but was forced to resign shortly after. Just a day after Ducros quit, the British satirical cartoon show, 2DTV, were informed by the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC) that an ad for their Christmas video had been banned. The commercial featured a cackling Bush mistakenly putting the videotape in a toaster instead of a video player. The BACC ruled that the ad was offensive to Bushâs intelligence. This, despite the fact that the programme itself âoffendsâ Bushâs intelligence on a weekly basis. 2DTV produced a milder second version of the ad but this too was banned because it portrayed the President in a negative light. The realization that the man supposedly leading the free world in a war against global terrorism was in fact quite stupid is just too hot to handle. The consequences of criticizing Bush were fully understood by these politicians and companies. However, at least they have a media platform on which to defend themselves. This saga takes on a more sinister tone when individuals are persecuted for daring to stand up to Bush. A protest group called âTurn Your Back on Bushâ experienced the full force of the new post-9/11 dictatorship after they discovered the President was to fulfil a speaking engagement at Ohio State University on June 14 2002. Lost in the muddy nostalgia of a pre-9/11 America, where groups had at least some rights to assemble, the protestors thought they could rekindle the days where a Bush appearance went hand in glove with a chorus of boos from a sizeable minority. Not so, Richard Hollingsworth, Associate Vice President of Student Affairs, warned the group that he was aware of their plans and that any protest would entail ejections and arrests being made. He also threatened u
[CTRL] 1919
-Caveat Lector- http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/- /books/0375508260/reviews/qid=1042505742/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/104-1523677- 7643949 Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World by Margaret Olwen Macmillan, Richard Holbrooke see larger photo List Price: $35.00 Price: $24.50 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. See details. You Save: $10.50 (30%) Availability: Usually ships within 24 hours Also available for in-store pickup. Used & new from $23.50 Edition: Hardcover See more product details Editorial Reviews >From Publishers Weekly A joke circulating in Paris early in 1919 held that the peacemaking Council of Four, representing Britain, France, the U.S. and Italy, was busy preparing a "just and lasting war." Six months of parleying concluded on June 28 with Germany's coerced agreement to a treaty no Allied statesman had fully read, according to MacMillan, a history professor at the University of Toronto, in this vivid account. Although President Wilson had insisted on a League of Nations, even his own Senate would vote the league down and refuse the treaty. As a rush to make expedient settlements replaced initial negotiating inertia, appeals by many nationalities for Wilsonian self-determination would be overwhelmed by rhetoric justifying national avarice. The Italians, who hadn't won a battle, and the French, who'd been saved from catastrophe, were the greediest, says MacMillan; the Japanese plucked Pacific islands that had been German and a colony in China known for German beer. The austere and unlikable Wilson got nothing; returning home, he suffered a debilitating stroke. The council's other members horse-traded for spoils, as did Greece, Poland and the new Yugoslavia. There was, Wilson declared, "disgust with the old order of things," but in most decisions the old order in fact prevailed, and corrosive problems, like Bolshevism, were shelved. Hitler would blame Versailles for more ills than it created, but the signatories often could not enforce their writ. MacMillan's lucid prose brings her participants to colorful and quotable life, and the grand sweep of her narrative encompasses all the continents the peacemakers vainly carved up. 16 pages of photos, maps. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. >From Library Journal In an ambitious narrative, MacMillan (history, University of Toronto) seeks to recover the original intent, constraints, and goals of the diplomats who sat down to hammer out a peace treaty in the aftermath of the Great War. In particular, she focuses on the "Big Three" Wilson (United States), Lloyd George (Great Britain), and Clemenceau (France) who dominated the critical first six months of the Paris Peace Conference. Viewing events through such a narrow lens can reduce diplomacy to the parochial concerns of individuals. But instead of falling into this trap, MacMillan uses the Big Three as a starting point for analyzing the agendas of the multitude of individuals who came to Versailles to achieve their largely nationalist aspirations. Following her analysis of the forces at work in Europe, MacMillan takes the reader on a tour de force of the postwar battlefields of Asia and the Middle East. Of particular interest is her sympathy for those who tried to make the postwar world more peaceful. Although their lofty ambitions fell prey to the passions of nationalism, this should not detract from their efforts. This book will help rehabilitate the peacemakers of 1919 and is recommended for all libraries. Frederic Krome, Jacob Rader Marcus Ctr. of the American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. >From Booklist Virtually all historians agree that the Versailles Peace Conference was a monumental failure that set the stage for the outbreak of World War II. However, there is no consensus regarding the causes of that failure. Some blame Woodrow Wilson and his high-minded but absurdly impractical ideals; others blame the cynicism and narrow nationalism of Lloyd George and Clemenceau. MacMillan is a professor of history at the University of Toronto and the great- granddaughter of Lloyd George. Her narrative and analysis of the critical first six months of the negotiations will not end the controversy. However, this engrossing and inevitably depressing account is a vital contribution to efforts at understanding the deeply flawed agreements that emerged. At times, MacMillan's recounting of the minutiae of negotiations can be overwhelming, but the great accomplishments of this work are her perceptive and eloquent depictions of the key players in the conference. Of course, Wilson, as the dominant force, is at the center of her account, and she convincingly tarnishes his image as a great statesman. He was often insufferably rigid and arrogant, and his espousal of frustratingly vague concepts like "self-determination" often confused even his own advisors. For those who seek a deeper understanding of one of
[CTRL] Gulf War Syndrome Caused by "Cocktail" Inoculations
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/steveseymour/wecontrolamerica/biowar.html French Finally Prove Gulf War Syndrome Caused by "Cocktail" Inoculations Copyright Joe Vialls, 6 January 1996, Edited 12 January 2003 Many years ago before gaining access to the Internet, I wrote a report about the most likely causes of Gulf War Syndrome. The report slowly moved around the world by snail mail, and was eventually published in four small magazines. Then I forgot all about the report for a few years, because the nightmare symptoms being suffered by Gulf War veterans in America and Britain, seemed light years away from my sleepy little backwater in Western Australia. That was before George W. Bush decided to do the whole thing all over again, in his increasingly frantic and very public attempts to pillage Middle East oil for Wall Street. Though I am obviously powerless to prevent Bush from ruthlessly sacrificing American lives in the Iraqi desert, I can at least sound a warning designed to minimize the physical and psychological impact on servicemen before they leave for the Gulf, and after they hopefully return. There is no doubt that the panic generated by the false “War on Terror” is already being used to coerce people into accepting “preventative medical treatment”, that in a more sane world they would instantly refuse. Most profitable by far for the pharmaceutical multinationals backing the Bush Dynasty, are inoculations forced onto service men and women by legislation. Taking the dreaded “Anthrax Shots” as an example, the manufacturer makes a net profit of $18.00 out of every single individual, a figure that has to be multiplied by 2.4 million to get a true feel for multinational profit margins. It is a harsh fact that the Anthrax vaccine being forcibly administered to service men and women today, is the same as that included in the deadly Gulf War “cocktail” inoculations of 1990-1991. This has no meaning whatever for politicians who habitually bend forward over a desk when their masters approach from behind, but it might have some meaning for you. In the event that the multinationals manage to spark a “civil emergency” somewhere near your own home, be advised that you too will be forced to accept exactly the same untested but hugely profitable vaccine as military personnel bound for the Persian Gulf. The direct relationship between the Anthrax shots of today and the “cocktail” of yesterday is deeply troubling, and is the prime reason for reviving, editing, and adding to this 1995 report. You might find part of the text disturbing, which is probably a very good thing. It is difficult to protect your family from government-induced harm if you are not completely alert. “During late 1995, devastating new evidence on Gulf War Syndrome was released, providing undeniable hard scientific proof for those who have long suspected that Gulf veterans are suffering short and long-term effects of unproven anti-bacteriological warfare inoculations and anti-nerve gas tablets, forcibly administered by U.S. Army doctors in Saudi Arabia. With thousands of U.S. veterans suffering from Gulf War Syndrome, it came as no surprise to learn in October 1995 that several hundred British veterans were suffering in the same way, with three to five new cases being reported every week. Like their U.S. counterparts, most were puzzled by the origins of the disease, which they initially attributed to oil-laden smoke in Kuwait, toxic dust from depleted uranium rounds fired by U.S. weapons, and possible contamination from expended Iraqi chemical shells in the area, fired before the Gulf War commenced. In a startling break with tradition, one British military doctor stated that in her view, 99% of the problems could be sourced back to the anti-bacteriological warfare "cocktail" inoculations, and anti-nerve gas tablets forcibly administered to military personnel in the Gulf region at that time. In an October 1995 broadcast of the ITN TV World News from London, she further explained that all British military personnel had been provided with the same untested and unproven drugs as the Americans, from U.S. medical sources. To reinforce the point, the doctor explained that the number of British personnel suffering symptoms correlated exactly on a per capita basis with U.S. personnel. It was a controversial claim, but apparently lacking in substance. Shattering confirmation came eleven hours later, when Australian Channel 10 television carried exactly the same story at 5 p.m., but with an extra piece tagged onto the end. The extra piece claimed that French military personnel in the Gulf region, numbering the same as the British contingent, had been prevented from taking the "cocktails" and tablets on the direct orders of the French Commander-in-Chief. The story claimed that since the end of the Gulf War, not a single member of the French military has
[CTRL] Student Detention
-Caveat Lector- The Press Democrat: Print a Story http://www.pressdemocrat.com/local/news/08pledge.html © The Press Democrat. For copyright information visit our User Agreement page at http://www.pressdemocrat.com/services/agreement.html Boy's parents want teacher fired in pledge flap Lakeport eighth-grader punished for not saluting flag, mother says January 8, 2003 By UCILIA WANG THE PRESS DEMOCRAT The parents of a Lakeport middle school student Thursday will ask the school board to fire a teacher who told the student to leave the classroom for refusing to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Victoria Kearney said she will ask the Lakeport Unified School District board to dismiss David Laven because she is dissatisfied with the district's handling of her complaint about Laven's treatment of her son, Jim Woodbury. Laven told Woodbury to stand outside the classroom when he wouldn't say the Pledge of Allegiance in his U.S. history and constitution class last semester. "We are appalled that this can go on in the school," Kearney said. "My son's rights were violated. We are trusting that the Constitution is behind us on this." Woodbury, an eighth-grader, said he refused to say the pledge because of his political beliefs. "I believe the flag is a symbol of the government, and I think it's corrupt and I don't agree with some of the choices it made," he said. After investigating Kearney's complaint, district Superintendent John Burke decided in December to send a warning letter to Laven. Burke said in his written response to Kearney's complaint that students cannot be compelled to stand or recite the pledge. Pupils also should not be left outside of the classroom unsupervised, he added. Laven didn't return calls seeking comment. But Laven told Burke during Burke's investigation that Woodbury was disruptive and tried to incite other students not to say the pledge, according to Burke's written report. Kearney disputed Laven's claim. She contended that when her son presented a packet of information about students' rights to refuse to say the pledge, Laven threw the materials into a trash can and said he didn't care what the law is. Burke declined to comment further on the issue, saying information about a teacher's job performance or a student's conduct is confidential. The school board is scheduled to consider Kearney's request in closed session. The board could uphold Burke's decision or decide to look into the issue further. California law requires students to participate in patriotic exercises daily, and saying the pledge meets that requirement. But the state Department of Education also has told school districts that saying the pledge is not mandatory. A landmark 1943 U.S. Supreme Court case, West Virginia State Board of Education vs. Barnette, established that students cannot be compelled to recite the pledge. Kearney said she pulled her son out of Terrace Middle School in November. Woodbury is now in independent study. News researcher Teresa Meikle contributed to the story. You can reach Staff Writer Ucilia Wang at 4620-6473 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Go back A<:>E<:>R Forwarded for your information. The text and intent of the article has to stand on its own merits. Therefore, unless I am a first-hand witness to any event described, I cannot attest to its validity. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumoured by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of teachers, elders or wise men. Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all. Then accept it and live up to it." The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutra http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
[CTRL] Top 10
-Caveat Lector- http://www.democraticunderground.com/top10/03/95.html >>>Note: The site has a lot of embedded linques ... go there for more behind the stories ... A<:>E<:>R <<< The Top Ten Conservative Idiots (No. 95) January 13, 2002 Death and Taxes Edition Happy new year! So what's in store for 2003? In a nutshell: the economy, war, war, racism, war, racism, corruption, and of course, war. And what do these things all have in common? Conservative idiocy of course! Kicking off the new year in style is George W. Bush, cracking the chart twice this week for his great new tax giveaway to the rich and his ridiculous assault on civil liberties. Dubya's administration also manages two spots (for war, and, uh, war). Meanwhile the GOP racists are back in full swing, represented this week by Charles Pickering (4) and Bill Back (5). Elsewhere we find Robert Mueller (6), David Laven (8), Thomas Kean (9), and Donald Rumsfeld (10) all doing terrible, terrible jobs. This week we also have a new feature, Idiots At Large, which highlights other conservative transgressions of the previous week. Enjoy, and don't forget the key. George W. Bush George W. Bush has unveiled his so-called "economic stimulus" plan, and it looks more like a plan for economic disaster. Here's the deal: Tell everyone that you're trying to stimulate the economy as a cover for your real agenda, which is to give another massive tax break to the rich people who bankrolled your campaign. The centerpiece of the Bush plan is a huge tax cut on dividends, which (surprise!) substantially favors the affluent. According to the Tax Policy Center, people earning more than $316,895 a year would on average save $13,243 in taxes, while people earning $21,350 would save just $47. Big bucks! And remember that budget surplus we had during the last presidential administration? Well, you can forget about it. By some estimates, the Bush tax plan would increase the deficit to $350 billion next year, a new record. It's fiscal responsibility, Republican style! The Bush Administration It's war! And if due to some unforeseen circumstance it's not war, then don't worry - it's still war! Last week UN weapons inspectors announced that since they restarted their hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, they had not yet found a "smoking gun" (or "steaming test-tube," presumably). But it's okay - the good news is that Dubya is going to bomb those rotten oil-hoarding brown people back to the stone age anyway. Why? Because according to Colin Powell, we don't actually need a smoking gun. And why don't we need a smoking gun? Because according to Ari Fleischer, we know "for a fact" that Iraq has WMDs. Well I'm glad Ari knows for a fact. I guess it would be cool if he would share the information with the rest of us. So let's recap: brown skin... check. Lots of oil... check. Weapons of mass destruction... sure - they've got 'em, probably, somewhere, right? After all, Dubya's daddy and Ronnie Reagan sold them a bunch back in the eighties, so they must still have some lying around, yeah? But there's no need to get bogged down with details, fer chrissakes! Lock and load! Fire in the hole! Fox three! Kablammo! The Bush Administration Meanwhile, as Bush prepares his enormous penis extension - uh, I mean, the U.S. military - to go to war in Iraq, trouble is afoot elsewhere. Rogue nation and founding member of the Axis of Evil North Korea is growing increasingly bellicose, last week dropping out the international Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. But don't worry, since North Korea hasn't got any oil a diplomatic solution is preferable to war. It's just a shame that the diplomatic solution is two years too late. The BBC last week slammed the Bush administration for North Korea's actions, citing a "policy of military options against proliferation" and "the collapse of sanctions on India and Pakistan for their nuclear testing." And don't forget that as well as pulling out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty with Russia, "the Bush administration initially withdrew from the political process with North Korea designed by former President Bill Clinton, and which had rolled back but not entirely removed North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes." But what the heck - the BBC is just a bunch of foreigners so we don't really have to listen to what they think anyway. Charles Pickering It's like deja vu all over again, with a heaping pile of racism thrown in for good measure. Last year Bush nominated Charles W. Pickering Sr. to a seat on the US Court of Appeals, and he was later sent packing by Democrats in the Senate. Not only was Pickering an extreme fringe right-wing judicial activist, but he had also intervened to reduce the sentence of two racists who had burned a cross and fired shots into the house of a mixed-race couple. (See Idiots 54.) Whoops! Now that the Republicans have taken control of the Senate, George W. Uniter-Notta-Divider Bush decided to nominate Pickering and a bunch of
[CTRL] The Teutonic Order - The Order today
-Caveat Lector- The Order today The Teutonic Order has been in existence for over 800 years. As of 2000 there were some 1,090 members. Of these, 90 are brothers (priests and lay brothers), 6 are Oblaten, 240 are sisters, and 720 are Familiaren (familiars i.e. lay members) including eight Ehrenritter (Honorary Knights). The Order reveres the Blessed Virgin, Saint Elisabeth of Thuringia and Saint George as its patrons. The Brothers, Sisters and Familiars jointly perform the work of the Order. This common activity - unique in the Catholic Church - exists on various levels: ⢠On the spiritual plane: Common prayer, celebration of religious festivals, seminars and contemplation. ⢠In pastoral care: Care of a large number of parishes in five Central European countries, and pastoral activities in hospitals, kindergartens, facilities for the handicapped and many other institutions. ⢠In the pursuit of knowledge: Publication of a large body of documentation on the place of the Teutonic Order in 800 years of European history; organization of international conferences and symposia; and maintenance of an archive. The Archivist is P. Dr. Bernhard Demel. Please send your inquiry directly to the archivist in form of an official writing into German language and dont't forget your address. Zentralarchiv des Deutschen Ordens (DOZA) P. Dr. Bernhard Demel Singerstrasse 7/3 A-1010 Vienna Austria/Europe ⢠In art conservation: Organization of exhibitions, and custodianship of a number of museums including the Deutsch-Ordens-Museum (Museum of the Teutonic Order) and the Schatzkammer des Deutschen Ordens (Treasury of the Order of Teutonic Knights) in Vienna. ⢠In social and charity work: Social and charity projects - often involving the deployment of considerable human and material resources - are implemented under the supervision of members of the Order, who may be sisters, priests or familiars. Idealistic helpers from outside the Order are also invited to participate in projects of this kind. === The chequered past of the Teutonic Order reflects virtually every major development in over 800 years of European history. It begins in the high Middle Ages, at the time of the third Crusade, and encompasses an independent monastic state and an influential position in the Holy Roman Empire, near collapse in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars followed by a comprehensive reform in the 19th century, and another resurgence in the present day. Origins in the Holy Land The Teutonic Order was founded by Hanseatic knights hospitaler in the Holy Land, during the Third Crusade. It was established in 1190 as a hospital order, and its initial purpose was to care for crusaders who were injured or otherwise in need of assistance. Eight years later, following the example of other crusaders' organizations, it was transformed from a hospital into a knightly order, and ceremonially confirmed as such by Pope Innocent III. It was also granted a so-called "exemption", freeing it from subordination to the local bishop and making it directly answerable to the Pope. This special position has continued down to today, and is of great significance for the Order's work. Rapid growth Following the transformation into a military order growth was rapid, and during the 13th century each year saw the foundation of several Kommenden (commendams). By 1300 the Order numbered some 300 commendams. Owing to the fast spread of the Order the Grand Master appointed local commanders - so-called Landmeister (Provincial Masters) - in some provinces. The Provincial Master for Germany later received the title of Deutschmeister (Teutonic Master) that continues to exist today. The older commendams owe their existence to pious crusaders who endowed it with money, lands, manors, churches, monasteries, convents and hospitals. Popes, emperors, bishops, temporal princes, numerous nobles and burghers were among the benefactors. === Emergence of a monastic state One of the most important periods in the history of the Teutonic Order began in about 1224. The Christian duke, Conrad of Mazovia, appealed to the Grand Master Hermann von Salza for assistance against the warlike Prussians, who had periodically fought Poland, Pommerania and Mazovia for centuries, and destroying many villages, churches and monasteries. Pope and the Emperor urged the Teutonic Order to intervene and after Conrad s renunciation over the sovereignty on the land to be conquered, the Order was promised the control of Courland and Livonia as a reward in the event of victory. After a series of wars after 1230, the Teutonic Knights ultimately succeeded in subduing the Prussians. They conquered what was still in part an uninhabited wilderness. In the following centuries the land was cultivated, and numerous towns and castles such as Danzig (Gdansk), Thorn (Torún), Kulm and Königsberg (Kali
[CTRL] Pommern
-Caveat Lector- http://members.bellatlantic.net/~rrkraft/pommern.html Pommern - Pommerania The Truth about the Annihilation of an 800 Year old State and its People (as much as it may be unpopular with many) Pommern (Pommerania) was the land (in effect a "state" in US terms) in northeast Germany along the Baltic Sea. Its borders ran from near Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland) on the east to another German state named Mecklenburg on the west. Pommerania was German for close to 800 years (see below for history).up until the brutal and generally ignored ethnic cleansing of the Germans there at the close of World War II. By ethnic cleansing I mean the organized and state sanctioned, forced migration of Germans by Soviet Russian and Polish troops. This forced migration was effected through mass murder, rape and pillage. Similar to the actions of others in Yugoslavia in the 1990s, Russian and Polish troops entered Pommeranian towns, rounded up the men, killed some, sent some to forced labor camps, raped innumerable women, etc., and sent all the rest fleeing to the West with nothing more than the clothes on their back. My father's side of my family was among these innocent victims. Much has been said and documented in regard to the genocidal barbarism of the Nazi forces, but little is known of the fate of 15 million German civilians who found themselves at the mercy of Soviet troops on the wrongside of the postwar borders. Inhabitants of 800 year old German communities were either expelled or murdered. With this in mind I would like to recommend a very informational book regarding the subject; "A Terrible Revenge: The Ethnic Cleansing of the East European Germans, 1944-1950" by Alfred-Maurice de Zayas. After WWII, Pommern was divided into two sections, "Vorpommern" west of the Oder River and "Hinterpommern" east of the Oder River. Hinterpommern was annexed by Poland at the close of WW II with no democratic vote, no referndum, no choice for the people who lived there. It was a pure land grab by those in power in the USSR and Poland and, to ensure they kept it, Polish people (primarily from the eastern part of Poland annexed by the USSR) were forcibly resettled into the German (Pommeranian) towns. Towns' names were changed to Polish, German monuments and markings destroyed, the German language forbidden. Only the small remnant of Vorpommern became part of East Germany and remains in united Germany today. Note: The point of this history section is solely to highlight little known or often overlooked facts. This section simply serves that purpose and no other. Other notes and links: Maps of Pommern Pommern Coat of Arms Old History: The land of Pomerania was originally settled by the Pomeranii, a heathen tribe living along the Baltic shores who were both marauding the Poles and preventing them from having passage to the sea. Their rulers were known as the Greifen dukes and had been targets of Christian missionaries for some time. German monks, especially the Cistercian order, had been knocking at the Pomeranian door for some time, beginning in 1140, to amplify the existence and control of the Catholic church on these people. Pommerania was first attached to the Holy Roman (German) Empire in 1181. The German nation, such as it was in 1181, accepted the Greifen dukes as princes of the Holy Roman Empire and put the lands under their protection - in exchange for Germany to send settlers into the sparsely settled new land to ease its own burgeoning population growth. In 1226 (just 45 years later), Pommerania became the leading-off area for the Northern Crusades. It was in 1226 that the first 6 Germans, as knights of the Teutonic Order (aka Teutonic Knights, Deutscher Ritterorden, Deutscher Orden), crossed the Vistula River, the one flowing northward to Danzig, to partake in their new Crusade to convert to Christianity the heathens along the Baltic. It was a Crusade for their personal forces and their western allies in all the Crusades of England, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany and others that would not end until the defeat of the western powers at the hands of the eastern powers of Poland, Lithuania, the Czechs and tribes of the Russian people at the Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg) on July 15 of 1410. But this is another story (and I recommend the book by Myron Gruenwald, entitled One Cubit of Stature). >From 1181 until 1945, Pomerania would be part of the 1st Reich of Charles the Great and Friedrich I (Barbarossa); the 2nd Reich of Bismarck and King Willhelm II; and the 3rd Reich of the National Socialists. Pommerania was an integral part of what one would call Germany and remained so for centuries, until the end of World War II. March 1945: The invasion of Pommern by the Soviet and Polish armies and the flight of the Germans: English Deutsch Myron Grunwald's History of Pommerania Gunthard Stüb's Pommern - Das Land am Meer Universität Rostock's Page (English & German) about
[CTRL] IbnKahldun, Pt 2
-Caveat Lector- Polyconomics Dec 20 2002 Supply-Side University SSU Lesson #14: Ibn Khaldun, Part II (Sovereignty and Kingship) To: Students of Supply-Side University From: Jude Wanniski Re: Ibn Khaldun, Part II The first of three guest lectures (November 26) from the 14th century Arab historiographer, Ibn Khaldun discussed the origins of society and how bonds of solidarity formed to produce nations and states. The concept of sovereignty and kingship was boiled down to such simple terms that we are able to grasp their essential elements in new and insightful ways. Think now of the United States as the Global Sovereign, pondering how to manage 180 or more separate nations. Think of the UN as that body which assists the Global Sovereign, with recent UNMOVIC inspections in Iraq being part of this process of managing the world. Think of each nation as a tribe or band, some of whom will always be trying to outwit the sovereign, all of whom will resist being stripped of some measure of independence. It becomes clear we have barely begun to think through the architecture of a new world order, built around our kingship. Remember the following was written six centuries ago. An Arab Philosophy of History: Selections from the Prolegomena (Muqadimmah) of Ibn Khaldun of Tunis (1332-1406), edited by Charles Issawi. Second portion of Chapter Six, "Society and State." Topics: Opposition of Tribes and Bands Nature of Kingship Concentration of Authority Need of the King for a Bureaucracy Changes in the Composition of the Bureaucracy Natural Ages of the State Transition From Nomadic to Sedentary Forms Growth of Luxury Luxury and Power Growth of Docility Opposition of Tribes and Bands It is rare that a state can be securely established in lands inhabited by many tribes and bands. The reason is that in such lands there will be a diversity of opinions and inclinations, each opinion or viewpoint being backed by a social solidarity to which it can appeal for protection. Defections and rebellions against the state then become frequent, even though the state itself be based on some solidarity, because each tribe feels itself secure and powerful. Consider, for instance, what has been happening in North Africa and in Morocco from the Islamic conquest until today. The Berber inhabitants of these lands being grouped in well-knit tribes, the first conquests effected by Ibn Abi Sarh over them and the Franks were of no avail; for they repeatedly rose in revolt and recanted the Muslim faith, killing large numbers of Muslims. And even when the Muslim religion had been firmly planted in these lands, they persisted in revolting and rebelling and in adopting the heterodox beliefs of the Kharijites. According to Ibn Abi Zaid, "The Berbers of Morocco recanted Islam twelve times, that religion not being firmly established until the governorship of Musa Ibn Nusair, or even later." This explains the reported saying of Omar that "North Africa divided the hearts of its inhabitants." By this saying he meant that the great number of tribes and bands leads them to refuse obedience and reject leadership. Iraq and Syria, at that time, were in a very different state, the garrisons consisting of Persian or Byzantine troops, and the masses, of spiritless city dwellers. Hence, once the Muslims had defeated these garrisons and wrested the land from the rulers, they encountered no further resistance or difficulty. The Berbers of Morocco, on the other hand, are organized in innumerable, well-knit tribes, all of them nomadic; hence no sooner is one tribe wiped out than another takes its place as a rebel and renegade, which explains the length of time it took the Arabs to establish themselves in North Africa and Morocco. This too was the position of Syria at the time of the Israelites. For the land was full of the tribes of the Canaanites, the Philistines, the children of Esau, the Midianites, the children of Lot, the Edomites, the Armenians, the Amalekites, the Girgashites, and, in the direction of Arabia and Mosul, the Nabateans -- an innumerable and diverse host of cohesive peoples. This made it very difficult for the Israelites to establish and secure their rule, as they had to face one disturbance after another. Nay, this state of unrest communicated itself to them, leading to factions and rebellions against their kings. Nor did they enjoy a secure, firm state during the rest of their history; being eventually conquered by the Persians, then by the Greeks, then by the Romans, and were finally dispersed in the Diaspora. The position is just the reverse in countries where there are no cohesive tribes; for there it is easy to establish a state because, owing to the lack of disturbances and defections, the king can without difficulty restrain the inhabitants and secure the state without much solidarity on his side. Examples are provided by Egypt and Syria today, which are inhabited by sedentary people. Inde
[CTRL] IbnKahldun, Pt 1
-Caveat Lector- Polyconomics Nov 26 2002 Supply-Side University SSU Lesson #12: The Origins of Society To: Students of Supply-Side University From: Jude Wanniski Re: Ibn Khaldun on the Origins of Society This is a guest lecture first published here on April 24, 1998, one that I especially recommend to college men and women interested in the liberal arts, history and the political economy. Id first heard of Ibn Khaldun, a 14th century philosopher, from Ronald Reagan, who loved to quote Khalduns observation that at the beginning of great empires tax rates were low, and at the end they were high. I began to take a closer look when I learned that Arnold Toynbee, one of the 20th centurys leading historians, believed that Ibn Khaldun had produced the greatest work on social science to come from the mind of man. After reading through a small piece of Khalduns work, I have to admit I am awed by the mans genius. How could I have spent so much of my life in politics without being led to him before? His insights into the nature of empires, why they rise and fall, are especially relevant today, with the United States at the zenith of global power, yet still vulnerable to attacks from unexpected sources that could bring about its decline. Were going to spend the next three weeks on one segment of the massive history of philosophy that he produced. Ibn Khaldun is not an Arab neo-platonist, as his world view subsumes theirs and is an original one not previously expressed in the world. This singular breakthrough is not only awesome, but practically evidence of divine inspiration. What we will consider in the next three weeks are selected fragments from the sixth book of his philosophy of history. My aim is simply to allow you to be impressed with him and have you appreciate the foundation he presents, on which you can build your own designs of the way the world works. The following passages are presented with what at first seems almost childlike simplicity, until you realize he is building this foundation brick by brick, with seamless logic. In a way, the ancient philosophers become easier to follow after seeing how Ibn Khaldun knits together the fabric of society. My thanks to Cedric Muhammad, founder of www.blackelectorate.com who recommended Khalduns Muqaddimah, a self-contained introduction to his mammoth world history. An Arab Philosophy of History: Selections from the Prolegomena (Muqaddimah)of Ibn Khaldun of Tunis (1332-1406), edited by Charles Issawi. SOCIETY AND STATE Origins of Society Human society is necessary. Philosophers express this truth by saying that man is social by nature, i.e. he needs a society, or city as they call it. The reason for this is that...each individuals capacity for acquiring food falls short of what is necessary to sustain life. Even taking a minimum, such as one days supply of wheat, it is clear that this requires operations (grinding and kneading and baking) each of which necessitates utensils and tools, which presuppose the presence of carpenters, smiths, potmakers, and other craftsmen. Even granting that he eat the wheat unground, he can only obtain it in that state after many more operations, such as sowing and reaping and threshing, to separate the grain from the chaff, all of which processes require even more tools and crafts. Now it is impossible for an individual to carry out all the above-mentioned work, or even part of it. Hence it becomes necessary for him to unite his efforts with those of his fellow men who by co- operating can produce enough for many times their number. Similarly each individual needs the help of his fellow men for the purposes of defense. For God...gave to many brute beasts more power than to man. Thus the horse, the ass and the bull are more powerful than man, while the lion and elephant are many times as strong. And whereas enmity is natural between animals, He gave to each kind an organ of self-defense. To man, however, He gave the mind and the hand which, in the service of the mind, can apply itself to the crafts and produce tools which take the place of the natural organs with which other animals are endowed for self-defense. Thus spears replace horns; swords, claws; shields, thick hides; and so forth, as was mentioned by Galen in his book on the uses of organs. But an individual human being cannot resist an animal, especially a beast of prey, nor is his tool- using capacity of any avail unless he join with his fellow men, for he cannot, unaided, make the many tools needed. And unless he so co-operate with others he cannot obtain the food without which he cannot live, nor defend himself, for want of weapons, but will fall a prey to the beasts and his species will be extinct. Co-operation however, secures both food and weapons, thus fulfilling Gods will of preserving the species. Society is therefore necessary to man...and it is society which forms the subject of this science [Here is a parallel passage from Aristotles P
[CTRL] IbnKhaldun, Pt3
-Caveat Lector- Polyconomics Jan 3 2003 Supply-Side University SSU Lesson #15: Ibn Khaldun, Part III (Empires in Decline) To: Students of Supply-Side University From: Jude Wanniski Re: Ibn Khaldun, Part III This is the third and last lesson drawn from Ibn Khaldun's history of philosophy in the 14th century, the three-volume Muqadimmah. It originally ran in the fall semester of 1998. You will notice political references to Newt Gingrich and Al Gore that now seem dated, but that is because I decided the examples are still good and work in context. This trio of lectures is meant to whet your appetite not only for Khaldun, but also for the classical works of Plato and Aristotle. The more things change, the more they stay the same. What I hope you can extract out of these three guest lectures is an appreciation of the timelessness of human society -- in its origins, development and goals. In Lesson #12 (November 26), Ibn Khaldun sketched out the origins of society, the whys and hows. Lesson #14 (December 20) developed the concept of the leader/ sovereign and his assistants, the "bureaucracy." In this last part, Khaldun discusses the signs of deterioration or decay of an empire, all valuable and generally familiar. The most exciting and new to me is his discussion of the ideal ruler and the importance of his gentleness. Also bear in mind in reading this that it suggests ways in which the United States might think of its responsibilities as the new global sovereign as we move by trial and error toward a management of the new world order. What we experienced in Seattle this past week [April 98], with demonstrations and rioting against the World Trade Organization, should be understood as part of this trial and error process. The established order has decided to transfer political power to an international organization in a way that increases the power of the establishment, but at the definite expense of ordinary people. What expense? The one thing the masses have that is equal to all that of the individuals who comprise the establishment is their electoral franchise, the vote. The masses have fought for this power for millennia and those who complain in Seattle are clearly unhappy at what they are being asked to give up. Ibn Khaldun would probably agree with them. Topics: Use of Clients and Dependents The Concentration of Authority Heralds the End of the State Reform of Political Institutions Territorial Limits of the State The Ideal Ruler Use of Clients and Dependents Know, then, that, as we said before, the instrument by which a ruler achieves domination is his own people. For it is they who band about him and give him support; they who help him put down rebellions; it is they whom he appoints as ministers and entrusts with the collecting of revenue and the governing of districts. For they are his helpers in victory and his partner in public matters, sharing his work with him. All this is true of the state in its first stage, as we said before; in the second stage, however, when the king shows despotic inclinations, monopolizes glory, and keeps his former associates away from it, they become in reality enemies of his. In order, then, to keep them out of public affairs and to prevent their sharing in his power, he has recourse to other, foreign, dependents on whom he can rely for support. These foreigners therefore are nearer to him than are his own people; it is they whom he keeps close to him and takes into his service; they on whom he showers favours and honours; for they are ready to die for him and help him keep his own people away from the posts which the latter once occupied and from the positions they used to fill in the days when they had their share of power. The ruler therefore honours and favours his foreign clients...and chooses his minister, governors, generals, and financial agents from among them. And it is they who constitute his closest dependents and his trustiest advisers. This change heralds the downfall of the state and is a symptom of the grave disease from which it is suffering. For it marks the disappearance of that solidarity which had secured domination; it also marks the hatred and enmity felt for the king by the original conquerors, who now wait for an opportunity to get rid of him, all of which causes grave harm to the state. This disease is incurable, increasing with time until finally it brings the state to an end. Consider, as an example, the Omayyad dynasty whose kings relied, for their wars and administration, exclusively on Arabs, such as Amr ibn Sad [At the beginning of the Abbaside dynasty too the kings helpers were also chosen from among the Arabs.] When, however, the kings of that dynasty began to concentrate power in their hands, they began to check the Arabs and to rely on Persian ministers and helpers, such as the Barmecide family...and on Turkish clients such as Bugha In short, the state soon comes to belong to others than
[CTRL] AP: 'God's banker' murdered: forensics experts..associate of
-Caveat Lector- AP: 'God's banker' murdered: forensics experts..associate of 'Gorilla'Marcinkus, Liccio Gelli, Vatican-P2 [nuclear triggers]Roberto Calvi, the Vatican-connected financier implicated in Italy'sbiggest postwar banking scandal, was a murder victim and not a suicide, apanel of forensic experts reportedly has concluded 20 years after his death.Check out the hyperlinks athttp://makeashorterlink.com/?I5E325013orhttp://memes.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1630&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0Michel Chossudovsky on H.A.A.R.P.http://makeashorterlink.com/?G3C843D03Some links and my new listservhttp://makeashorterlink.com/?X3BE13C03Scotland: Anti-war train drivers refuse to move arms freighthttp://makeashorterlink.com/?R1AD21B03Do you Yahoo!? www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now
[CTRL] DARPA's Cyborg Fantasy: $$$ draining away as we speak...false advertising: they don't have the product.
-Caveat Lector- DARPA's Cyborg Fantasy: $$$ draining away as we speak...false advertising: they don't have the product. Is it a fantasy? http://www.google.com/search?q=war+fighter+enhancement,.mil,DARPA,MEMS&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&start=0&sa=N [PDF]DARPA FACT FILE A Compendium of DARPA ProgramsFile Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML... 1 DARPA Support for the Global War on ... 59 Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) ... www.darpa.mil/body/NewsItems/pdf/DARPAfactfile.pdf - Similar pages [PDF]Statement by Frank Fernandez Director Defense Advanced Research ... File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML... an exemplar experiment in FY 1999 that used DARPA's Synthetic Theater of War (STOW)Advanced ... DARPA's MEMS investments have generated that infrastructure. ... www.darpa.mil/body/pdf/Fernandez32100.pdf - Similar pages[ More results from www.darpa.mil ] AFRL Acronym Dictionary... FATE, Future Aircraft Technology Enhancement. FBL, Fly by Light. ... JSF, Joint StrikeFighter. JSIMS, Joint Simulation System. ... MOOTW, Military Operations Other Than War. ... www.afrl.af.mil/dictionary.html - 101k - Cached - Similar pages Acronym Definitions... FATE, Future Aircraft Technology Enhancement. FBL, Fly by Light. ... STOVL, Short TakeOffand Vertical Landing (fighter/attack aircraft). STOW, Synthetic Theater of War. ... www.mbvlab.wpafb.af.mil/public/sdms/menu/acronyms.htm - 85k - Cached - Similar pages Strateji&Taktik... FATE : Future Aircraft Technology Enhancement FBL : Fly by ... TakeOff and Vertical Landing(fighter/attack aircraft ... STOW : Synthetic Theater of War STRAMST : S&T ... www.geocities.com/strateji_taktik/makaleler/ taktik/kisaltmalar-t1.htm - 36k - Cached - Similar pages [PDF]RDT&E BUDGET ITEM JUSTIFICATION SHEET (R-2 Exhibit)File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML... the technical foundation for long-term National Security enhancement through the ... mechanismssuch as circadian rhythms that underlie war fighter performance and ... www.dtic.mil/descriptivesum/Y2003/DARPA/0601101E.pdf - Similar pages [PDF]APPENDIX B LIST OF MCTL ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONSFile Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML... DAB-P digital audio baseband processor DAC digital to analog converter DAF diaminofarazanDARO Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office DARPA Defense Advanced ... www.dtic.mil/mctl/docs/apb052202.doc.pdf - Similar pages[ More results from www.dtic.mil ] [PDF]GLOSSARY OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMSFile Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML... DARE Data Archival Retrieval Enhancement DARPA Defense Advanced ... Council JSF JointStrike Fighter JSIMS Joint ... OOTW operations other than war OPTEMPO operational ... www.wslfweb.org/docs/dstp2000/jwstppdf/18-GLRF.pdf - Similar pages [PDF]UAVs and ISR Sensor TEchnologyFile Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML... colleagues from the Air Force Research Laboratory and DARPA. ... Power in Operations OtherConventional War, Volume 1 ... available from http:// www.af.mil/lib/afissues ... https://research.au.af.mil/papers/ student/ay2001/acsc/01-033.pdf - Similar pages 1996 Research Highlights Annual... Multi-Color Polymers May Improve Fighter Jet Canopies, ... Image Enhancement ResearchAids Air Force Crash Investigations, ... and enhanced ability of war-game planners ... www.afosr.af.mil/pages/afrtrh96.htm - 101k - Cached - Similar pages [PDF] Page 1File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML... conflict (3435 sorties), Persian Gulf War (over 520 ... UAV Systems .72.3.3 DARPA UAV Programs ... www.acq.osd.mil/usd/uav_roadmap.pdf - Similar pages [PDF]Final Report Defense Science Board Task Force on Globalization ... File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat... has accelerated as a result of many positive factors, the most notable of whichinclude: the collapse of communism and the end of the Cold War; the spread of ... www.acq.osd.mil/dsb/globalization.pdf - Similar pages[ More results from www.acq.osd.mil ] [PDF]E.! TESFile Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML... goals would reduce the likelihood of war by providing ... brain" that can emulate a skillfulfighter pilot in ... 289 6. ! Non-Drug Treatments for Enhancement of Human ... wtec.org/ConvergingTechnologies/Report/ NBIC_E_NationalSecurity.pdf - Similar pages Untitled... or to Web server http://www.afosr.af.mil. ... the cockpit for use by the war fighterand data ... aperture sensor systems for resolution enhancement, (2) pointing ... www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~wilkins/ camm/Funding/afosrbaa-2000-01.html - 101k - Cached - Similar pages [PDF]FY98 SPACE AND MISSILES TECHNOLOGY AREA PLANFile Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML... implementation of the Space Force Enhancement TPIPTs' technology ... 55SWS to providethe war- fighter with SATCOM ... of technologies for Advanced MIL- SATCOM program ... www.wslfweb.org/docs/usg/space98.pdf - Similar pages[ More results from www.wslfweb.org ] [PDF]RESEARCH INTERESTS OF THE AIR FORCE OFFICE OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ... File Format: PDF/Adob
[CTRL] government mc movie, tactile sound transducer, Veracity of recovered memory
-Caveat Lector- this may be heavy for survivors This is fyi only, I have not see the movie, survivors might want to use caution when watching it. World Premiere: Saturday, Jan. 18 at 9pm & 2am ET/PT "Lance Bishop was an ordinary, happily married salesperson for a large insurance conglomerate ... until one day at the office, his entire life was torn inside-out. After nearly being killed by a mysterious, disheveled man, Lance begins to hear a powerful voice in his head pushing him to murder his wife. Questioning his sanity, Lance soon discovers the voice is part of a highly classified government mind-control project. With the help of a few renegades â ordinary citizens like himself â he must stop a plan that could rob the nation of its privacy, its liberty, its free will." http://www.scifi.com/onair/scifipictures/controlfactor/ Gizmorama: Life in the Tech Age By Wes Stewart United Press International 1/13/03 What if somebody actually did make a device that turned some part of furniture or your house into a speaker? Turns out somebody has. If you swing by smarthome.com, take a peek at a Clark Synthesis Tactile Sound TransducerThe crux of this little goodie is that you can bolt it up to your floor from underneath and, yes, turn the floor into a huge sub-woofer. The transducer uses a huge 20 oz. neodymium magnet structure, which is far easier to use than pronounce, to produce a whopping 2.8 pounds of force per watt. At the input limit of 135 watts RMS each transducer is capable of exerting over 370 lbs. of force on the bottom of your floor. The word transducer is sort of an elaborate word to describe any device that changes electrical energy into mechanical motion or visa-versa. Http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030109-075121-2360r "This tactile sound transducer adds a level of sensaround that is unbelievable. Experience it once and you will agree that these are a requirement in every home theater. The tactile transducer is mounted under the wood floor beneath your seating area. It literally shakes the floor during explosive low-frequency viewing moments to add an incredible sense of realism. This effect is achieved without requiring an excessively high bass volume, which would be the only other way to even come close to getting this effect using a subwoofer." http://www.smarthome.com/8248.html from http://members.aol.com/smartnews/research.html Veracity of recovered memory: http://www.jimhopper.com/memory-decision (the first page (.com) links to other pages of interest also) "The Validity of Recovered Memory: Decision of a US District Court" http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Taubman_Center/Recovmem/Archive.html It has archives of corroborated cases of recovered memory, some from legal proceedings, full-text articles and abstracts on recovered memories, 22 peer reviewed studies on amnesia and child abuse, 24 publications on traumatic amnesia in Holocaust survivors, etc.Here is some data from the peer-reviewed studies:" The recovery of memories in clinical practice: Experiences and beliefs of British Psychological Society practitioners" Andrews, Bernice; Morton, John; Bekerian, Debra A.; Brewin, Chris R.; Davis, Graham M.; Mollon, Phil The Psychologist 1995 May, Vol. 8, pp. 209-214 " "...recovery from total amnesia of past traumatic material involving both CSA and non-CSA experiences is (not) uncommon"" ... our large-scale survey confirms and extends previous research Memory recovery appears to be a robust and frequent phenomenon." "Recall of childhood trauma: A prospective study of women's memories of child sexual abuse." Williams, Linda Meyer U New Hampshire, Family Research Lab, Durham, US Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology 1994 Dec Vol 62(6) 1167-1176 In a study of 129 women "with previously documented histories of sexual victimization" A large proportion of the women (38%) did not recall the abuse that had been reported 17 years earlier." Women younger in age when abused and women "molested by someone they knew were more likely to have no recall of the abuse...Long periods with no memory of abuse should not be regarded as evidence that the abuse did not occur." "Recovered memories of abuse among therapy patients: A national survey." Pope, Kenneth S.; Tabachnick, Barbara G. Independent practice, Norwalk, CT, US Ethics & Behavior 1995 Vol 5(3) 237-248, "According to the therapists, about 50% of the patients who claimed to have recovered the memories had found external validation, a percentage that coincides with that obtained in the Feldman-Summers & Pope, 1994 study" Corroboration of Child Abuse Memories by Leonard Holmes, Ph.D. 4/13/98, "Studies report 50-75% of abuse survivors corroborating the facts of their abuse through an outside source." http://mentalhealth.miningco.com/health/mentalhealth/mentalhealth/library/weekly/aa041398.htm Dissociation and the Fragmentary Nature of Traumatic memories: Overview and Exploratory Study. Bessel A. van der Kolk &
[CTRL] Did Flight 77 even hit the Pentagon?
-Caveat Lector- A military jet hit the Pentagon. If you go to the video released by the department of defense, currently hosted by MSNBC you can watch the last fraction of a second before the plane hits the pentagon. Just look carefully at the silhouette (just above the concrete object on the right) Anyone who has seen a 757 and I am sure most of you have seen a picture somewhere of an F-16, can tell this is no passenger plane. Here, you'll read something from someone who says, "I know what happened to flight 77." 9-11: Did Flight 77 even hit the Pentagon?Posted by: souljah on Jan 13, 2003 - 09:34 PM http://memes.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1640&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0 If that link does not come through whole, see:http://makeashorterlink.com/?U2B652313 Michel Chossudovsky on H.A.A.R.P.http://makeashorterlink.com/?G3C843D03Some links and my new listservhttp://makeashorterlink.com/?X3BE13C03Scotland: Anti-war train drivers refuse to move arms freighthttp://makeashorterlink.com/?R1AD21B03Do you Yahoo!? www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now
[CTRL] Electronically Hijacking the World Trade Center Attack Aircraft
-Caveat Lector- Global Hawk is a means of remotely piloting aircraft (as NASA's Ames Research Center showed us, it can be done with nerve impulses). Utilizing the electrostatically charged SkyNet, we now have an Air Force controlled battle command. After September 11's demo (no pun intended), Boeing cannot keep UAV's (unmanned aerial vehicles) on the shelf. It all started with Home Run. 9-11: Electronically Hijacking the World Trade Center Attack AircraftPosted by: souljah on Jan 13, 2003 - 12:21 PM Home RunElectronically Hijacking theWorld Trade Center Attack Aircraft Copyright Joe Vialls, October 2001 See http://memes.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1639&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0 If the above link does not come through whole, see http://makeashorterlink.com/?D6FE32213 Michel Chossudovsky on H.A.A.R.P.http://makeashorterlink.com/?G3C843D03Some links and my new listservhttp://makeashorterlink.com/?X3BE13C03Scotland: Anti-war train drivers refuse to move arms freighthttp://makeashorterlink.com/?R1AD21B03Do you Yahoo!? www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now
[CTRL] Turkish Prime Minister Calls
-Caveat Lector- Go To Original http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/011403C.turk.stave.htm Turkish Prime Minister Calls for Region to Stave Off US-Led War on Iraq Agence France-Presse Monday 13 January 2003 -- 7:02 am.eu Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul called for Muslim and Arab countries to work together to avert a US-led war in Iraq that he feared would have disastrous repercussions for the Middle East. "We must undertake steps and seize this final chance to avoid a war in which the Iraqi people and all the people of the region will pay the price," Gul said at a press conference in Tehran. Grilled about his approving US military inspectors to survey air bases and ports in Turkey that could be used in case of such war, Gull acknowledged his country's difficult position as a top US military ally in the region. "Each country must prepare for all scenarios and be ready for any eventuality," he said, while alluding to Turkey's reluctance to let US troops pass through its territory to enter Iraq. Stressing Turkey and Iran's wish to find a peaceful solution to the crisis over Baghdad's alleged secret weapons of mass destruction, Gul said: "If there is a military attack on Iraq, all the countries in the region will suffer." Gul did not comment on whether his regional tour -- which also took him to Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria -- could lead to the sending of an envoy to Baghdad to seek a last minute breakthrough with Saddam Hussein. "All the countries of the region must coordinate their actions to prevent a war, but the principal effort must be made by Iraq," Gul said. As the prime minister made the rounds in Iran, a Turkish state minister, Kursat Tuzmen, visited Baghdad with a message from Gul for Saddam who, in turn, handed over messages to be delivered to Ankara. In Tehran, Gul held talks with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref and Foreign Minister Kamal Karazi. IRNA quoted Aref as saying, "The Islamic Republic of Iran is totally opposed to an attack on Iraq. The Iraqi question must be resolved by peaceful means." Aref called on Muslim and Arab countries to work together to find a peaceful solution to the problem posed by Washington's determination to rid Iraq of its alleged weapons of mass destruction. "Experience shows that we cannot trust the United States. If it leads an attack on Iraq, there is no doubt that the turn of other countries in the region will also come," he said. Khatami, meanwhile, was also quoted by IRNA reiterating Iran's staunch opposition to a war on Iraq. Both Turkey and Iran are alarmed by the prospect of a US-led offensive, notably because it might encourage separatism among their own Kurdish minorities by bringing about the creation of an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq. Iran, which has been lumped by Washington on an "axis of evil" with Iraq and North Korea, is also worried at the prospect of an enlarged and permanent US military presence in the region. In Riyadh on Saturday Gul warned that little time was left to find a peaceful settlement to the Iraqi crisis but said states in the region were formulating an anti-war initiative. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said earlier Sunday that the Turks had proposed sending an envoy to see Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. "We told them that we are in agreement, on condition that it has America's blessing, as we don't want problems," he told journalists in southern Egypt. Mubarak, who is also to visit Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, did not say if he was referring to Turkish state minister Kursat Tuzmen, who arrived in Baghdad Friday at the head of a delegation of about 400 businessmen saying he was carrying "Turkish proposals concerning the current situation" to Saddam. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is also to visit Tehran on Wednesday for talks on the standoff between Iraq and the United States, a foreign ministry spokesman said Sunday. Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah and Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmed al-Fahd al- Sabah arrived here Saturday. An Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said a projected visit to Iran by Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri was still being debated. Iran and Iraq fought a bloody and costly war from 1980 to 1988, and Tehran is seeking reparations and an apology from Baghdad, as well as the release of prisoners it says are still being held and the acceptance of a 1975 accord on their common border. (In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.) © : t r u t h o u t 2002 | t r u t h o u t | forum | issues | editorial | letters | donate | contact | | voting rights | environment | budget | children | politics | indigenous survival | energy | | defense | health | economy | human rights | labor | trade | women | reform | global | A<:>E<:>R Forwa
[CTRL] Iraqi Solidarity
-Caveat Lector- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/01/12/wirq12.xml&; sSheet=/news/2003/01/12/ixworld.html Chemical war threat by Iraq's 'Taliban' By Damien McElroy in Nicosia (Filed: 12/01/2003) Mullah Mohammad Hasan is the new leader of Ansar Al-Islam, a radical Taliban-style mini-state in Northern Iraq where ricin and other chemical agents have been been tested as potential weapons. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/graphics/2003/01/12/wirq12big.gif Click to enlarge He has vowed to use his arsenal to fight America and its allies if a war is launched against Saddam Hussein. Ansar has also given shelter to Abu Musaab al-Zarqawi - the al-Qaeda quartermaster responsible for planning the terrorist group's attacks - in its camps, according to Kurdish officials in the area. The group has told recent visitors to its enclave that it holds stocks of the deadly chemical agents ricin, cyanide gas and aflatoxin. Some of its weapons are what the group calls "spoils of war" - stocks captured as it has expanded the territory under its control - while others, thought to include chemical agents, have been smuggled into the enclave from Iraq, almost certainly with Saddam's blessing. Its threat last week to use this arsenal against American-led invasion forces fighting the Saddam regime could seriously disrupt the Pentagon's plan for a battle front pushing south from the Turkish border - either by direct chemical attack on American troops or by diverting Kurdish fighters, hostile to the Iraqi dictator, into a backyard battle against an Islamic enemy. Baghdad lost control of the three Kurdish provinces of northern Iraq after the domestic uprising set off by Iraq's 1991 defeat in Kuwait. The region has been ruled since then by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), two anti-Saddam factions that adhere to a moderate interpretation of Islam. The mountainous tracts near the border with Iran have traditionally held to a strict religious way of life, however, and Iraqi Kurds from these villages were recruited to al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan in the late 1990s. On their return home to PUK territory, they merged a variety of radical organisations into the Ansar movement in 2001 and established their breakaway anti-PUK enclave. Following the fall of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, scores of Arab al-Qaeda fighters have joined them after escaping through Iran. Saddam is believed to have been secretly supporting the Ansar enclave with money and military assistance because they share an enemy in the PUK. The Telegraph reported last year that members of his Republican Guard had been seen in two Ansar- run villages by Western intelligence officials on a reconnaissance mission. Ansar's founder, Mullah Fatih Kraker, was arrested in Holland last September, but the group has continued to grow rapidly and now has 2,000 fighters, compared with fewer than 600 six months ago - many of them Arabs who fled from Afghanistan. "If America invades Iraq, we will attack its troops," Hasan told the Turkish journalist Namik Durukan, who was smuggled into the Ansar "capital", Biyare, last week. "Our relations with others is based on their attitude to God. If they are against our God, we will attack them." Durukan reported seeing hundreds of foreign fighters in the region. "Bearded warriors with arms on their backs walk in the streets with their children, followed by their wives wearing the chador," he said. "They say they have come for jihad and a government that rules with sharia." A sprawling wooden mosque complex dominates the centre of the town from where the mullahs of the radical Islamic group are spreading a reign of terror across the eastern part of the Kurdish territory. >From Ansar's stronghold on the Sharazoor Plains, its fighters have moved across the Shineray mountains to capture dozens of villages, where they have imposed the strict rules of the Shariat. The strategic passes into the mountains, which are pockmarked with caves and ravines, command access to the Iran-Iraq border. Ansar territory is guarded by units equipped with mortars, heavy machine guns and rocket launchers. The area has been described as an Iraqi Tora Bora, the mountainous stronghold where al-Qaeda made its last stand in Afghanistan. Much of Ansar's stock of chemicals was smuggled in by Abu Wa-il, a former agent of the Iraqi secret service, Mukhabarat; his present whereabouts are unknown. He provided the logistics for smuggling from Saddam-controlled areas, and the funding to acquire weapons and materials, almost certainly with Baghdad's approval. Kurdish officials say that Ansar is experimenting with chemical weapons on animals and humans. Since the arrival of al-Zarqawi, Ansar has dispatched at least one team of would-be suicide bombers, wearing tailored waistcoats studded with TNT, in a failed attempt to assassinate a Kurdish leader. The devastating effects of chemical weapons are well
[CTRL] GWS
-Caveat Lector- French Finally Prove Gulf War Syndrome Caused by "Cocktail" Inoculations Copyright Joe Vialls, 6 January 1996, Edited 12 January 2003 http://homepage.ntlworld.com/steveseymour/wecontrolamerica/biowar.html "Rather than help the media in its never-ending quest to lay misleading smoke screens around the true origins of Gulf War Syndrome, General Roquejoffre appears to have used his statement to finally isolate and expose the real villain behind the debilitating and sometimes lethal disease..." Many years ago before gaining access to the Internet, I wrote a report about the most likely causes of Gulf War Syndrome. The report slowly moved around the world by snail mail, and was eventually published in four small magazines. Then I forgot all about the report for a few years, because the nightmare symptoms being suffered by Gulf War veterans in America and Britain, seemed light years away from my sleepy little backwater in Western Australia. That was before George W. Bush decided to do the whole thing all over again, in his increasingly frantic and very public attempts to pillage Middle East oil for Wall Street. Though I am obviously powerless to prevent Bush from ruthlessly sacrificing American lives in the Iraqi desert, I can at least sound a warning designed to minimize the physical and psychological impact on servicemen before they leave for the Gulf, and after they hopefully return. There is no doubt that the panic generated by the false War on Terror is already being used to coerce people into accepting preventative medical treatment, that in a more sane world they would instantly refuse. Most profitable by far for the pharmaceutical multinationals backing the Bush Dynasty, are inoculations forced onto service men and women by legislation. Taking the dreaded Anthrax Shots as an example, the manufacturer makes a net profit of $18.00 out of every single individual, a figure that has to be multiplied by 2.4 million to get a true feel for multinational profit margins. It is a harsh fact that the Anthrax vaccine being forcibly administered to service men and women today, is the same as that included in the deadly Gulf War cocktail inoculations of 1990-1991. This has no meaning whatever for politicians who habitually bend forward over a desk when their masters approach from behind, but it might have some meaning for you. In the event that the multinationals manage to spark a civil emergency somewhere near your own home, be advised that you too will be forced to accept exactly the same untested but hugely profitable vaccine as military personnel bound for the Persian Gulf. The direct relationship between the Anthrax shots of today and the cocktail of yesterday is deeply troubling, and is the prime reason for reviving, editing, and adding to this 1995 report. You might find part of the text disturbing, which is probably a very good thing. It is difficult to protect your family from government- induced harm if you are not completely alert. During late 1995, devastating new evidence on Gulf War Syndrome was released, providing undeniable hard scientific proof for those who have long suspected that Gulf veterans are suffering short and long-term effects of unproven anti-bacteriological warfare inoculations and anti-nerve gas tablets, forcibly administered by U.S. Army doctors in Saudi Arabia. With thousands of U.S. veterans suffering from Gulf War Syndrome, it came as no surprise to learn in October 1995 that several hundred British veterans were suffering in the same way, with three to five new cases being reported every week. Like their U.S. counterparts, most were puzzled by the origins of the disease, which they initially attributed to oil-laden smoke in Kuwait, toxic dust from depleted uranium rounds fired by U.S. weapons, and possible contamination from expended Iraqi chemical shells in the area, fired before the Gulf War commenced. In a startling break with tradition, one British military doctor stated that in her view, 99% of the problems could be sourced back to the anti-bacteriological warfare "cocktail" inoculations, and anti-nerve gas tablets forcibly administered to military personnel in the Gulf region at that time. In an October 1995 broadcast of the ITN TV World News from London, she further explained that all British military personnel had been provided with the same untested and unproven drugs as the Americans, from U.S. medical sources. To reinforce the point, the doctor explained that the number of British personnel suffering symptoms correlated exactly on a per capita basis with U.S. personnel. It was a controversial claim, but apparently lacking in substance. Shattering confirmation came eleven hours later, when Australian Channel 10 television carried exactly the same story at 5 p.m., but with an extra piece tagged onto the end. The extra piece claimed that Frenc
[CTRL] Anti-war Train Drivers Refuse to Move Arms Freight
-Caveat Lector- http://memes.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1625&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0 Scotland: Anti-war train drivers refuse to move arms freight Kevin Maguire Thursday January 9, 2003 The Guardian Train drivers yesterday refused to move a freight train carrying ammunition believed to be destined for British forces being deployed in the Gulf. Railway managers cancelled the Ministry of Defence service after the crewmen, described as "conscientious objectors" by a supporter, said they opposed Tony Blair's threat to attack Iraq. The anti-war revolt is the first such industrial action by workers for decades. http://makeashorterlink.com/?R1AD21B03 * The two Motherwell-based drivers declined to operate the train between the Glasgow area and the Glen Douglas base on Scotland's west coast, Europe's largest Nato weapons store. English Welsh and Scottish Railway (EWS), which transports munitions for the MoD as well as commercial goods, yesterday attempted to persuade the drivers to move the disputed load by tomorrow. Leaders of the Aslef rail union were pressed at a meeting with EWS executives to ask the drivers to relent. But the officials of a union opposed to any attack on Iraq are unlikely to comply. The two drivers are understood to be the only pair at the Motherwell freight depot trained on the route of the West Highland Line. An EWS spokesman declined to confirm the train had been halted, although he insisted no drivers had refused to take out the trains. "We don't discuss commercial issues," he said. "The point about the two drivers is untrue and we don't discuss issues about meetings we have." Yet his claim was flatly contradicted by a well-placed rail industry source who supplied the Guardian with the train's reference number. The MoD later said it had been informed by EWS that mechanical problems, caused by the cold winter weather, had resulted in the train's cancellation. One solution under discussion yesterday between the MoD and EWS was to transport the shipment by road to avoid what rail managers hoped would be an isolated confrontation. Dockers went on strike rather than load British-made arms on to ships destined for Chile after the assassination of leftwing leader Salvador Allende in 1973. In 1920 stevedores on London's East India Docks refused to move guns on to the Jolly George, a ship chartered to take weapons to anti- Bolsheviks after the Russian revolution. Trade unions supporting workers who refuse to handle weapons could risk legal action and possible fines for contempt of court. Lindsey German, convener of the Stop the War Coalition, said: "We fully support the action that has been taken to impede an unjust and aggressive war. We hope that other people around the country will be able to do likewise." The anti-war group is organising a second national demonstration in central London on Saturday February 15. Organisers claimed more than 400,000 people attended a protest in September. http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] Fire
-Caveat Lector- Reichstag Fire TV show, Hitlers 9/11 Fake terror to grab control! by xx Saturday January 11, 2003 at 11:43 PM This is a history channel video Clip about the Reichstag Fire and the proof that the fire was set by the NAZIs, blamed it on the communist to gain power. http://sf.indymedia.org/uploads/reichstag_fire__september_11.jpg reichstag_fire__september_11.jpg, JPG image, 700x445 This ia a history channel video Clip about the Reichstag Fire and the proof that the fire was set by the NAZIs, blamed it on the communist to gain power. http://education.yahoo.com/search/be?lb=t&p=url%3Ar/reichstag_fire Burning of the German parliament building (Reichstag) in Berlin. Allegedly set by a Dutch communist, the fire was used by A. Hitler to turn public opinion against his opponents, especially the communists. He enacted a decree suspending constitutional protection of personal rights, which effectively began the Nazi Party dictatorship. The fire was widely believed to have been set by the Nazis themselves, while others have argued there was no proof of Nazi complicity; it remains the subject of debate and research Reichstag Fire - Encyclopedia Britannica - Reichstag fire, burning of the Reichstag (parliament) building in Berlin, on the night of Feb. 27, 1933, a key event in the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship and widely believed to have been contrived by the newly formed Nazi government itself to turn public opinion against its opponents and to assume emergency powers...his propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, is supposed to have devised the scheme... On Feb. 28, 1933, the day after the fire, Hitler's dictatorship began with the enactment of a decree "for the Protection of the People and the State," which dispensed with all constitutional protection of political, personal, and property rights. The Problem Reaction Solution Paradigm (The Hegelian Dialectic) 1) The government creates or exploits a problem blaming it on others 2) The people react by asking the government for help willing to give up their rights 3) The government offers the solution that was planned long before the crisis A<:>E<:>R Forwarded for your information. The text and intent of the article has to stand on its own merits. Therefore, unless I am a first-hand witness to any event described, I cannot attest to its validity. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumoured by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of teachers, elders or wise men. Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all. Then accept it and live up to it." The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutra http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] Unreformed Campaign Finance
-Caveat Lector- Hard Hitting Publications Mainstream Won't Dare To Touch! http://www.gooff.com/news/read.asp?ID=1741 A Bigger Scandal: Illegal U.S. Funding of Sharon's Likud by Anton Chaitkin EIR's recent series of exposés tracing the dirty money behind Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the Likud party, have helped fuel the roaring political scandal threatening to wreck what was once thought to be a certain Sharon win in the upcoming Jan. 28 election. Since the series began, Israeli and American journalists and researchers have provided revealing information concerning the Likud's most important foreign funders, which, upon investigation, has proven to be accurate. Israeli law has, since 1994, prohibited foreign donations to Israeli election campaigns. Yet tens of millions of dollars have continued to pour in from abroad, financing the radical-right Likud political apparatus which is driving the mideast and the world into religious-ethnic warfare. One prominent Israeli jurist told EIR, "Talking about illegal foreign money flows into Israeli elections is like talking about illegal booze in Chicago during Prohibition. Everybody does it, or you just don't survive." But in the case of the money propping up the Sharon regime, its legal prohibition is made more sinister by its sources, primarily in the United States. They include heirs of the Meyer Lansky/ Moe Dalitz mafia syndicate; Michael Milken's junk- bond "monsters," corporate predators, and looters; and the sponsors of terrorists such as Meyer Kahane and the Armageddon-theme racial and religious provocateurs. According to knowledgeable Israeli sources, the following names are at or near the top of the list of perpetrators, whose covert funding of the Likud has brought the Mideast to the brink of disaster. The Lansky-Dalitz Legacy The most important Likud sources are associates of Michael Milken's multi- billion dollar scams of the 1980s and early 1990s, and of mob bosses Meyer Lansky's and Moe Dalitz's Las Vegas: Jay Zises: (pronounced "zee-sees"), a Likud funder with his wife Nancy. As of 2000, Jay was President of "Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces in the United States." Jay Zises and his brother Selig founded Integrated Resources, a hyper- leveraged tax shelter. The Zises debt pyramid blew out in 1989, defaulting on $955 million. The scheme was financed by Drexel Burnham Lambert's junk- bond kingpin Michael Milken and his family, and by those backing Milken, including Zises' former boss Saul Steinberg, and executives of Carl Lindner's dope-running United Fruit/Chiquita Banana. A Federal judge ruling on a lawsuit against Integrated said, "This case arises from the ashes of what is regarded by some as the most spectacular scam of the 1980s." Milken and others were jailed, but the Zises brothers escaped with a fortune, bought out by Milken's cousin Stanley Zax shortly before Milken was indicted and Integrated collapsed. Jay Zises created the Roundtable Political Action Committee, a U.S. election campaign-financing arm of the Milken clique, operating from Integrated's New York office. His brother Seymour Zises was president of the coordinating "National PAC," which operated from Washington. Run in tandem with AIPAC (American- Israel Public Affairs Committee), these are the PACs which established, in America, the pattern of dirty- money election financing which rules Israel today. Contributors to Jay Zises' Roundtable included members of the Meshulam Riklis family. Riklis, a mobster go- between for dope-runner Robert Vesco, Vesco's lawyer Kenneth Bialkin, and the Milken group, was Ariel Sharon's personal financial angel. Riklis donated the ranch where Sharon lives today, and where Sharon, Henry Kissinger, Riklis, Bialkin and others planned the West Bank settlement land-scam and rightist offensive. Other Roundtable contributors included convicted Wall Street swindler Ivan Boesky; Saul Steinberg's family; the Milstein family, partners in United Fruit; and the family of Laurence Tisch (of Loews Corp. and Lindner's United Fruit apparatus). Marc Belzberg: Canadian funder of the Likud/West Bank settlers covert nexus. Marc's father and partner, the notorious predator Sam Belzberg, was part of the inner core of the Drexel/Michael Milken junk bond operation, and a sponsor of corporate raider T. Boone Pickens. The Belzbergs bought up large blocks of stocks, and took "greenmail" from companies wanting to avoid their hostile takeovers. Marc Belzberg and his family holding company First City Financial were sued by the SEC in 1986 and forced to disgorge $2.7 million in profits, for "stock parking" with banker Bear Stearns in a takeover-scam against Ashland Oil. The Belzbergs were partners in Zises' Integrated Resources, and arbitrage partners of Roundtable PAC co- founder James Tisch, son of Lawrence Tisch. Marc Belzberg is a director of the Jerusalem Post, the right-wing daily controlled by the Anglo-Canadian rightist Hollinger Corp. of Canadian-bor
[CTRL] Senators on War Path
-Caveat Lector- GOP senators on the warpath http://www.suntimes.com/output/novak/cst-edt-novak13.html January 13, 2003 BY ROBERT NOVAK SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST Advertisement Republican senators gathering last Wednesday for their session-opening ''retreat'' should have been happy, blessed with a regained majority and a popular president. They were not. Instead, they complained bitterly of arrogance by the Bush administration, especially the Pentagon, in treatment of Congress along the road to war. Two years of growing discontent boiled over during the closed-door meeting at the Library of Congress. White House chief of staff Andrew Card was there to hear grievances from President Bush's Senate base that it is ignored and insulted by the administration, particularly by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in preparing for war against Iraq. Recital of complaints began with Sen. John Warner, a pillar of the Senate GOP establishment. This is a disconnected time in Washington. Republican senators appreciate that they have returned to majority status thanks to George W. Bush's bold midterm election strategy and his popularity leading the war against terrorism. But their unease about a divided administration on the brink of attacking Iraq is deepened because they are neither consulted nor informed about war plans. No senator more solidly supports Bush's national security policy than Warner, the 75-year- old chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee who was re-elected last year to a fifth Senate term from Virginia. A veteran of the Navy (World War II) and Marine Corps (Korean War) and a former secretary of the Navy, he has devoted long public service to American's national defense. Consequently, Warner had his colleagues' attention when he addressed Card. ''I will not tolerate,'' he boomed, ''a continuation of what's been going on the last two years.'' He cited cavalier treatment that denies information even to the venerable top Senate Republican on Armed Services. To specify whom he was talking about, Warner said he had breakfast scheduled the next morning with Rumsfeld and would tell the secretary of defense the same thing. Next up was Sen. Pat Roberts, a former Marine officer who has spent the last 40 years on Capitol Hill. Roberts, a plain-spoken Midwesterner from Dodge City, Kan., is the new Senate Intelligence Committee chairman. He told Card to mark him down agreeing with everything Warner just said. Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri next got up to tell Card that the administration had better put out more information justifying military action against Iraq as part of the war against terrorism. ''What is the connection between Iraq and al-Qaida?'' Bond asked. ''Don't worry,'' replied Card, indicating the information would come along. Two days before the GOP retreat, another leading Republican senator-- Ted Stevens of Alaska, incoming chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the new Senate president pro tem--sent a letter of protest to the Pentagon. The notoriously short-fused Stevens was furious that Rumsfeld had eliminated funding for two of the eight high- tech Army brigades mandated by Congress. The brigades are built around the new eight- wheeled Stryker combat vehicles. Stevens, with Sen. Dan Inouye of Hawaii (top Democrat on the defense appropriations subcommittee), wrote that elimination of two Stryker brigades ''is yet another example of the disregard of the Congress, and existing law, by the senior leadership of the Defense Department.'' Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz responded Friday with a conciliatory letter that made no concessions. Wolfowitz's chief is usually less conciliatory. An old Senate Republican hand explained to me why the senators are upset: ''Rumsfeld's behavior toward senators is dismissive, barely civil, bordering on rude. He has no interest in us other than to get the money, no interest in our opinions.'' Rumsfeld spent more than six years in the House, but that was 44 years ago. Card responded to complaints by Warner and Roberts with a ''Thank you. I'll pass that along.'' According to administration sources, Bush is aware of the problem but has not yet addressed it. That constitutes one uncompleted war preparation. Find a Business By Type: By Name: City, Zip, Area Code State Search Now: Find a nearby business with smartpages.com News | Sports | Business | Entertainment | Lifestyles | Classifieds Visit our online partners: Daily Southtown Pioneer Press Suburban Chicago Newspapers Post-Tribune Star Newspapers Jerusalem Post Daily Telegraph Copyright 2003, Digital Chicago Inc. A<:>E<:>R Forwarded for your information. The text and intent of the article has to stand on its own merits. Therefore, unless I am a first-hand witness to any event described, I cannot attest to its validity. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section
[CTRL] Bill Moyers Interviews Howard Zinn
Title: Bill Moyers Interviews Howard Zinn -Caveat Lector- Transcript - Bill Moyers Interviews Howard Zinn BILL MOYERS: We've been talking to people on this program who take different positions about the impending war with Iraq. Tonight's guest is opposed and argues his case in this new book, TERRORISM AND WAR. The author is the historian and teacher Howard Zinn, who has lived a politically engaged life since he came home from the Air Force after World War II. He grew up on the tough streets of Brooklyn where he worked as a teenager in the shipyards, earned his doctorate in history from Columbia university, and while teaching college became an activist in the civil rights movement and the opposition to the Vietnam War. Among his many books is this one - A PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, written from the point of view of men and women left out of the official records of the American epic. Since its publication in 1980 it's become a touchstone of dissident thought in America. Howard Zinn was in town the other day, and I talked to him about the United States, terrorism, and Iraq. BILL MOYERS: As of now, do you think war with Iraq is imminent? HOWARD ZINN: It feels imminent. It feels immanent simply because the Bush administration seems absolutely determined to have a war no matter what-- no matter what the opposition is, no matter what the international community thinks. No matter how reluctant people in this country are. And I do believe there's a lot of reluctance in this country about war. BILL MOYERS: What are the real reasons, in your opinion, for why we're going to war? I mean we know the stated reasons, weapons of mass destruction, all of that. Why do you think they are so eager to go to war? HOWARD ZINN: Yeah, I mean there's no doubt-- as you say there are stated reasons. None of those stated reasons make sense, you know? Saddam Hussein is a tyrant-- well-- we've tolerated tyrants-- lots of them. We've put tyrants in power. You know, weapons of mass destruction, well we just had an example. Korea has more weapons of mass destruction than Saddam Hussein but we're not making war on Korea. So, if-- I think oil is one of the important factors. But I think that there are others. And one of them has to do with something psychological. That macho feeling that people in power have about the United States being the number one superpower and determined to show it. BILL MOYERS: Is there any evidence they could present or any argument they could make that would give you second thoughts about your opposition to the war? HOWARD ZINN: (LAUGHS) I can't think of any. And I think there's a fundamental reason why I can't think of any. If we go to war, we will kill thousands, tens of thousands, we don't know how many people. A hundred thousand? We will kill huge numbers of people. And who will we kill? We will kill the victims of Saddam Hussein. If we go to war against Iraq, we are killing the victims of the tyrant. That to me creates a moral equation which is intolerable. BILL MOYERS: A moral equation? HOWARD ZINN: I mean-- I mean that one of the moral principals about war and about just war you know, is the issue of proportionality. And that is what harm do you do in the course of a war-- in the furtherance of some end. Even presuming the end is good. The end, however moral it appears to be, is always uncertain. So, when you're faced with a certain terrible means, and uncertain end, to me it is very clear you mustn't go to war. BILL MOYERS: This is the kind of war that the terrorists are fighting right now. I mean when they drove those airplane bombs into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, they were striking innocent people for their own purposes. HOWARD ZINN: Exactly. Exactly. BILL MOYERS: Are you saying that's what we're about to do in Iraq? HOWARD ZINN: Well, that's right. I mean-- there's-- it's a-- war is a form of terrorism. I know there are people who don't like to equate-- what was done-- you know on September 11th, 2001, they don't like to equate that with a war that the United States engaged in. Sure, they're different. But they're not different in the-- in the fundamental principal that drives the terrorists and that is, they're saying, we're going to kill a lot of people but it will be worth it. We're trying to do something. We're trying to accomplish something. They-- the terrorists are not killing people just for the sake of killing people, they have some end in mind. To show that the American empire is vulnerable or to make some point about American policy in the Middle East. But they have an end in mind. We are doing the same thing. I mean, as I say, the details are different, but we are willing to kill a lot of people for some political end that we have declared. BILL MOYERS: And in this case, it's ridding the world of a regime that President Bush says is part of the Axis of Evil. HOWARD ZINN: Yeah, well, you know-- (LAUGHS) there are so many ev
[CTRL] Warren Buffet
-Caveat Lector- Who is this Warren Buffet guy anyway?Warren Buffet: peddler of Global Hawk systems with at least two companiesThe following is snippef from Mitre Corp., Offutt AFB, September 11, DARPA, Global Hawk, and WetwareMeet Warren Buffet, the second richest man in the United States, who was holding a 'conference' in Omaha Nebraska on September 11, 2001. This man is part of Mitre Corp. and Mitre is heavily into UAV's (unmanned aerial vehicles). In fact, this little get-together was being held at the United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) at Offut AFB. A number (it hasn't been reported exactly how many but it was called 'a small group of business leaders') of CEO's from New York, including at least one from the WTC, were there. ~snip~MITRE is experimenting with the integration of advanced Internet technologies into the ISR sensor ground station. The ISR Information Service (ISRIS) Mission Oriented Investigation and Experimentation (MOIE) will develop a prototype information portal that provides ISR sensor data and ground station service accessibility to the battlespace internets: the Intelinks, the Air Force Joint Battlespace Infosphere (JBI), the Navy Network Centric Warfare, and the Army First Digital Division. In FY01, the project will demonstrate the ISRIS concept using the Global Hawk UAV platform. Global Hawk is an excellent platform for this pathfinding research since it has no established TPED support systems today, and it's multiple sensor data types Electro-Optic (EO), Infra-Red (IR), Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), and Ground Moving Target Indicator (GMTI) make it an especially rich information source.~The following is snipped from the file on Mitre Corp. at the web site of the Federation of American Scientists.1. Company name, address: The MITRE Corporation, Washington C3 Center 1820 Dolley Madison Blvd. McLean, VA 22102-3481 The MITRE Corporation, San Diego Site 49185 Transmitter Rd. San Diego, CA 92152-7335 2. Company URL: http://www.mitre.org 3. Point of contact for UAV business area, telephone number, e-mail address: Mr. Wayne Spealman UAV Projects Manager (703) 883-5362 [EMAIL PROTECTED] 4. Company product/service: C4ISR and Systems Engineering Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) 5. UAV-related company capabilities: The Mitre Corporation has programmatic understanding and technical depth across many DoD C4ISR-related programs. MITRE has been involved with most past DoD UAV programs, as well most of the current programs. Additionally, MITRE has extensive technical expertise in airborne sensors; signal processing; line-of-sight and satellite communications; analog and digital data links; mission planning; modeling and simulation; UAV ground stations; imagery compression, exploitation, processing and dissemination; software development and test; and systems architecture development and systems engineering. ~The following is from Mitre's own web site (here).This new (2001) project seeks to develop technical foundations for the Semantic Web, layered on Extensible Markup Language (XML) and related technologies, in conjunction with researchers from the DARPA Agent Markup Language (DAML) program, the World Wide Web Consortium, the Object Management Group, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). These foundations include advanced ways to describe Web resources and requests for use by automated tools, techniques to deal with resource heterogeneity and change, and ways to establish relationships between information and service resources to support enterprise processes. ~snip~This MSR addresses the remaining barrier: an information infrastructure for sharing and exploring large quantities of human brain mapping data. We are working with the ICBM and are seeking support from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to develop a worldwide information infrastructure that enables the dissemination, exploration, and analysis of human brain mapping data. Substantial research in the areas of database design, query optimization, content-based image retrieval, and automatic image segmentation will be required to realize this vision. Importantly, research conducted in these areas will have applicability far beyond NIMH and the neuroscience community; results are likely to be highly relevant to other government agencies both within and outside of the Department of Defense (DOD). During the first year of this effort, we are focusing on designing the overall information architecture for managing and exploiting large amounts of structural magnetic resonance imaging data. ~snip~This is from http://www.geocities.com/lord_visionary/bowart_interview.htm.the CIA rented adjacent apartments in Greenwich village where they photographed unsuspecting civilian guinea pigs as they reacted to drugs as they were slipped surreptitiously into their drinks. The agency claimed that only 53 subjects were drugged in this field experiment and in the same year CIA funded Nationa
Re: [CTRL] Ezekiel 31 Shows There Were People In The Garden Of God Besides Adam And Eve
-Caveat Lector- Thanks for the overly-pedantic and patronizing explanation of the symbology in Genesis. It was amusing. Just goes to show that any nut with a book of religion can dream up that God said whatever they want to hear. Your posts reveal much more about you than they do of the Bible, and it's not a pretty picture. - jt http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] Fwd: [GATA] People outside the United States are starting to figure out the money scheme
-Caveat Lector- http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om --- Begin Message --- -Caveat Lector- Why gold is gaining in a world awash with dollars By Ian Lamont The Scotsman, Edinburgh January 13, 2003 http://www.business.scotsman.com/economy.cfm?id=43182003 The largest collection of warplanes ever assembled is airborne. Their bomb bays are burgeoning. Each flight is approaching its target for a co-ordinated strike. Their targets are not Baghdad or Basra, but the major metropolitan areas of the United States. But wait. These are US air force planes. So why are they flying a mission that has US cities and citizens as targets? Have scientists working for Saddam Hussein developed a drug and rendered America's air force insane? Or has George Dubya finally flipped and ordered the extermination of all potential Democratic presidential candidates and voters? Inspection of the bomb bays shows they are not filled with conventional weapons or weapons of mass destruction: No, the planes are crammed with bundles of greyish-green paper carrying the portrait of a dead president on one side and the words "In God We Trust" on the obverse. These are dollar bills. Why, you may well ask, is the US being threatened with a massive bombardment with its own currency? Is it a Marxist plot? Karl Marx said that the way to overthrow capitalism was first to destroy its money. On the contrary, these planes are in the sky 24/7 on "Deflation Watch" and their purpose is to save American capitalism. A terrible fear-provoking thought is gaining ground among the guardians of the US economy. It is that the man in the street, who for decades has enabled the economy to remain on a long, upward path by consuming more than he produces, may be reaching the limit of his capacity for excess consumption and its corollary debt. Now, horror of horrors, the ever-rapacious US consumers may be about to abandon profligacy and restore their balance sheets by consuming less and, perish the thought, saving. In a pre-emptive campaign to prevent the US consumer from abandoning over-spending and embarking on a path of prudent parsimony, Alan Greenspan has already used up most of his conventional firepower and slashed the Federal Funds rate to 1.25 per cent. The US consumer, like the proverbial horse, has been brought to water but is reluctant to drink more. There is not yet panic within the hallowed halls of the Fed but the spectre of deflation, last seen in the 1930s, is starting to loom larger and it is recognised that unconventional weapons may be needed to prevent it taking grip. Dubya has already announced an economic stimulus (anti-deflation) tax-cutting initiative. There is a serious misconception that central banks can increase or decrease the money supply at will. The media make much of central banks resorting to the "printing press" to get economies out of trouble (or to get them into trouble by over-cranking the press and causing inflation). In truth, the monetary system only works when there are willing borrowers and willing lenders. In an attempt to boost money supply, the Fed may aggressively buy Treasury Bonds from the banks, thus forcing down long-term interest rates and leaving the banks with vast sums of cash to do with what they will. But, if banks customers do not wish to borrow then this "cranking of the printing presses" by the Fed may have no impact on economic activity. Remember, this is the first time since the 1930s that the US has slumped because the cost of capital during the "bubble" was so low as to trigger excess investment. Thus, cutting the cost of capital (interest rates) is unlikely to bring about a recovery in investment.
[CTRL] Fwd: Venezuela, the Other Side of the Story
-Caveat Lector- http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om --- Begin Message --- -Caveat Lector- Sunday, January 12, 2003; Page B04 Walking around Caracas late last month during Venezuela's ongoing protests, I was surprised by what I saw. My expectations had been shaped by persistent U.S. media coverage of the nationwide strike called by the opposition, which seeks President Hugo Chavez's ouster. Yet in most of the city, where poor and working-class people live, there were few signs of the strike. Streets were crowded with holiday shoppers, metro trains and buses were running normally, and shops were open for business. Only in the eastern, wealthier neighborhoods of the capital were businesses mostly closed. This is clearly an oil strike, not a "general strike," as it is often described. At the state-owned oil company, PDVSA, which controls the industry, management is leading the strike because it is at odds with the Chavez government. And while Venezuela depends on oil for 80 percent of its export earnings and half its national budget, the industry's workers represent a tiny fraction of the labor force. Outside the oil industry, it is hard to find workers who are actually on strike. Some have been locked out from their jobs, as business owners -- including big foreign corporations such as McDonald's and FedEx -- have closed their doors in support of the opposition. Most Americans seem to believe that the Chavez government is a dictatorship, and one of the most repressive governments in Latin America. But these impressions are false. Not only was Chavez democratically elected, his government is probably one of the least repressive in Latin America. This, too, is easy to see in Caracas. While army troops are deployed to protect Miraflores (the presidential compound), there is little military or police presence in most of the capital, which is particularly striking in such a tense and volatile political situation. No one seems the least bit afraid of the national government, and despite the seriousness of this latest effort to topple it, no one has been arrested for political activities. Chavez has been reluctant to use state power to break the strike, despite the enormous damage to the economy. In the United States, a strike of this sort -- one that caused massive damage to the economy, or one where public or private workers were making political demands -- would be declared illegal. Its participants could be fired, and its leaders -- if they persisted in the strike -- imprisoned under a court injunction. In Venezuela, the issue has yet to be decided. The supreme court last month ordered PDVSA employees back to work until it rules on the strike's legality. To anyone who has been in Venezuela lately, opposition charges that Chavez is "turning the country into a Castro-communist dictatorship" -- repeated so often that millions of Americans apparently now believe them -- are absurd on their face. If any leaders have a penchant for dictatorship in Venezuela, it is the opposition's. On April 12 they carried out a military coup against the elected government. They installed the head of the business federation as president and dissolved the legislature and the supreme court, until mass protests and military officers reversed the coup two days later. Military officers stand in Altamira Plaza and openly call for another coup. It is hard to think of another country where this could happen. The government's efforts to prosecute leaders of the coup were canceled when the court dismissed the charges in August. Despite the anger of his supporters, some of whom lost friends and relatives last year during the two days of the coup government, Chavez respected the decision of the court. The opposition controls the pr
[CTRL] Fwd: [CIA-DRUGS] Foundations are in place for martial law in the US
-Caveat Lector- http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om --- Begin Message --- -Caveat Lector- Hi, I found an excellent article on the background of the "Patriot Act" and plans to declare martial law in the US in the Sydney Morning Herald: *** http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/27/1027497418339.html Foundations are in place for martial law in the US By Ritt Goldstein The Sydney Morning Herald July 27 2002 Recent pronouncements from the Bush Administration and national security initiatives put in place in the Reagan era could see internment camps and martial law in the United States. When president Ronald Reagan was considering invading Nicaragua he issued a series of executive orders that provided the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with broad powers in the event of a "crisis" such as "violent and widespread internal dissent or national opposition against a US military invasion abroad". They were never used. But with the looming possibility of a US invasion of Iraq, recent pronouncements by President George Bush's domestic security chief, Tom Ridge, and an official with the US Civil Rights Commission should fire concerns that these powers could be employed or a de facto drift into their deployment could occur. On July 20 the Detroit Free Press ran a story entitled "Arabs in US could be held, official warns". The story referred to a member of the US Civil Rights Commission who foresaw the possibility of internment camps for Arab Americans. FEMA has practised for such an occasion. FEMA, whose main role is disaster response, is also responsible for handling US domestic unrest. >From 1982-84 Colonel Oliver North assisted FEMA in drafting its civil defence preparations. Details of these plans emerged during the 1987 Iran-Contra scandal. They included executive orders providing for suspension of the constitution, the imposition of martial law, internment camps, and the turning over of government to the president and FEMA. A Miami Herald article on July 5, 1987, reported that the former FEMA director Louis Guiffrida's deputy, John Brinkerhoff, handled the martial law portion of the planning. The plan was said to be similar to one Mr Giuffrida had developed earlier to combat "a national uprising by black militants". It provided for the detention "of at least 21 million American Negroes"' in "assembly centres or relocation camps". Today Mr Brinkerhoff is with the highly influential Anser Institute for Homeland Security. Following a request by the Pentagon in January that the US military be allowed the option of deploying troops on American streets, the institute in February published a paper by Mr Brinkerhoff arguing the legality of this. He alleged that the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which has long been accepted as prohibiting such deployments, had simply been misunderstood and misapplied. The preface to the article also provided the revelation that the national plan he had worked on, under Mr Giuffrida, was "approved by Reagan, and actions were taken to implement it". By April, the US military had created a Northern Command to aid Homeland defence. Reuters reported that the command is "mainly expected to play a supporting role to local authorities". However, Mr Ridge, the Director of Homeland Security, has just advocated a review of US law regarding the use of the military for law enforcement duties. Disturbingly, the full facts and final contents of Mr Reagan's national plan remain uncertain. This is in part because President Bush took the unusual step of sealing the Reagan presidential papers last November. However, many of the key figures of the Reagan era are part of the present admin
[CTRL] Fwd: [smashthestate] ONDCP's Reefer Madness Silliness, Revisted
-Caveat Lector- http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om --- Begin Message --- -Caveat Lector- January 13, 2003 ONDCP's anti-marijuana ad campaign By Rich Lowry http://www.townhall.com/columnists/richlowry/rl20030113.shtml If you want to see drugs and violence on television, you don't need to bother tuning in to "NYPD Blue" or loading up a game of "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City." You can just watch one of the Office of National Drug Control Policy's latest anti-marijuana ads. Two teenagers in a marijuana-induced haze sit in a family den, foggy with smoke. After some typical silly banter ("your sister is hot"), one of the kids pulls out his father's gun, says it's unloaded, and to prove it, aims at his friend's head and fires. ONDCP, showing some residual good taste, spares viewers the splattered brains, but we are supposed to learn that smoking pot will kill you. Other spots suggest that smoking pot will get you raped or make you a rapist, prompt you to run over children on bikes, and otherwise transform you into a rampaging beast. Thus is the sensationalistic dishonesty of the War on Drugs broadcast for all to see in a saturation-ad campaign coinciding with the NFL playoffs. No kid will be dissuaded by these ads from trying marijuana, since the ads are so at odds with nearly everyone's experience with the drug. But ONDCP can't produce more tempered and truthful ads about pot -- because it simply isn't that scary. There is, of course, an extremely slim chance that someone smoking pot might be shot by his bong-mate. The odds, however, are probably equally great of smoking dope, writing a hit song about it and becoming (at least temporarily) rich and famous -- which was Afroman's experience with his 2001 song "Because I Got High." In fact, alcohol is more likely than pot to be associated with all of the ONDCP tragedy scenarios, since it is a drug that tends to induce aggression rather than passivity. The ONDCP would never admit this because it raises the question of why pot is illegal and alcohol isn't. Rather than rationalizing drug policy, ONDCP, under the leadership of Bush nominee John Walters, is more interested in demagogy. Last year's ads airing during the Super Bowl maintained that drugs users support terrorism. The illegal markets created by drug prohibition create this niche for outlaws in the first place, but never mind. Now the latest batch of ads recall the over-the-top propaganda of the cult-classic movie "Reefer Madness." An honest anti-pot campaign would stipulate that smoking the drug might make you feel a mild euphoria, but ultimately you should have better things to do with your time. No ad campaign will ever say this, which is one reason that they are so roundly disregarded by kids. Corporate-funded anti-drug TV ads started running in major buys in the early 1990s, and youth marijuana use took off. Operating on the theory that if something doesn't work, it should be funded by taxpayers, the federal government essentially took the ad campaign over from the private sector in mid-1990s. The emphasis on marijuana in the current spots might seem odd, given how benign it is compared to truly dangerous drugs like heroin, but the campaign has a political point. Marijuana is the weak link in the War on Drugs, and the Bush administration is hoping to shore it up. The Washington, D.C.-based pro-legalization group, National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws, has obtained a Nov. 1, 2002, letter from White House aide Scott Burns to prosecutors across the country urging them to crack down on pot, because "no drug matches the threat posed by marijuana." Drug warriors have long tried to blunt criticism about drug-war overkill by arguing that
[CTRL] Probe of Israeli Execution of Unborn Terrorists
-Caveat Lector- w w w . h a a r e t z d a i l y . c o m --- - Monday, January 13, 2003 Shvat 10, 5763 Israel Time: 03:47 Rights group calls for IDF to probe infant deaths at roadblocks By Moshe Reinfeld The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel yesterday demanded that the Israel Defense Forces chief of staff order an investigation into the deaths of two Palestinian infants. Both died in birth last month after their mothers were delayed at IDF road-blocks en route to hospitals. The organization says Munirah Kabha, 30, from the Jenin area, went into labor on December 6, and the ambulance which was to take her to a hospital in Jenin was held up by a roadblock at the entrance to her home village. After she finally found her way to the ambulance, the vehicle was detained by another security check. The infant died at birth while the ambulance was still on the way to the hospital. The rights group says Adalah a-Seifi, 37, from the Nablus area, lost a child in similar circumstances. After she went into labor on December 10, an ambulance could not make it to her village because of IDF trenches dug around it and road-blocks. She went by car to try to meet the ambulance outside the village, but an Israel defense Forces tank crew would not let her pass through the checkpoint. The infant was born in the car, and died. Hannah Friedman, director of the Committee Against Torture, yesterday said the organization has several times demanded clear orders from the IDF to aid the passage of pregnant women. The army has done absolutely nothing to operate humanitarian procedures in such cases, Friedman charged. Since the intifada began in September 2000, 17 Palestinian infants have died at road-blocks because their mothers have not been allowed to pass the security checks, the organization claims. http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] (Fwd) [I-S] (fwd) The psychological roots of anti-Americanism.
-Caveat Lector- --- Forwarded message follows --- Wall Street Journal AT WAR 'Bomb Texas' The psychological roots of anti-Americanism. BY VICTOR DAVIS HANSON Monday, January 13, 2003 With this past autumn's discussion in Washington over what to do about Iraq there arrived also the season of protests. They were everywhere. In the national newspapers, Common Cause published a full-page letter, backed by "7,000 signatories," demanding (as if it had been outlawed) a "full and open debate" before any American action against Iraq. More radical cries emanated from Not in Our Name, a nationwide "project" spearheaded by Noam Chomsky and affiliates, which likewise ran full-page advertisements in the major papers decrying America's "war without limit," organized "Days of Resistance" in New York and elsewhere, and in general made known its feeling that the United States rather than Iraq poses the real threat to world peace. At one late-October march in Washington, there were signs proclaiming "I Love Iraq, Bomb Texas," and depicting President Bush wearing a Hitler mustache and giving the Nazi salute. In the dock with America was, of course, Israel: On university campuses, demands circulated to disinvest from companies doing business with that "apartheid state"--on the premise, one supposes, that a democratic society with an elected government and a civilian-controlled military is demonic in a way that an autocratic cabal sponsoring the suicide-murder of civilians is not. Writers, actors, and athletes revealed their habitual self-absorption. The novelist Philip Roth complained that the United States since September 11 had been indulging itself in "an orgy of national narcissism," although he also conceded, reclaiming his title as the reigning emperor of aesthetic narcissism, that immediately after the fall of the Twin Towers New York "had become interesting again because it was a town in crisis"--a fleeting, final benefit to connoisseurs of literature from the death of thousands. Barbra Streisand, identifying Saddam Hussein as the dictator of Iran, faxed misspelled and incoherent but characteristically perfervid memos to Congressmen, while Ed Asner, of sitcom fame, threatened publicly to "lose his soul" if we went into Iraq. The Hollywood bad boy Sean Penn, not previously known for harboring a pacifistic streak, demanded that the president cease his bellicosity for the sake of Penn's children. Traveling abroad, the actress Jessica Lange pertly announced: "It makes me feel ashamed to come from the United States--it is humiliating." And the jet-setting tennis celebrity Martina Navratilova, who fled here to escape communist repression and has earned millions from corporate sponsors, castigated the repressive atmosphere of her adopted homeland, a country whose behavior is based "solely on how much money will come out of it." And so forth. Harbingers of this sort of derision were, of course, on view a year ago, in the period right after September 11 and well into the campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Thus Michael Moore, currently making the rounds plugging his movie "Bowling for Columbine" and a sympathizer of Not in Our Name, bemoaned the 9/11 terrorists' lack of discrimination in their choice of target: "If someone did this to get back at Bush, then they did so by killing thousands of people who did not vote for him!" Norman Mailer, engagingly comparing the Twin Towers to "two huge buck teeth," pronounced their ruins "more beautiful" than the buildings themselves. In the London Times, the novelist Alice Walker speculated whether Osama bin Laden's "cool armor" might not be pierced by reminding him of "all the good, nonviolent things he had done." There was the well-known poet who forbade her teenage daughter to fly the American flag from their living-room window, the well-known professor who said he was more frightened by the speech of American officials than by the suicide-hijackers of 9/11, and the well-known columnist who decried our "belligerently militaristic" reaction to the devastation of that day. Not all the criticism of the American response to terrorist cells and rogue governments has partaken of this order of irrationality; serious differences, responsibly aired, are also to be found, including in newspaper ads. But in the year since the slaughter of September 11 there emerged an unpleasant body of sentiment that has little or nothing to do with the issues at hand but instead reflects a profound and blanket dislike of anything the United States does at any time. For a while, The New Republic kept track of this growing nonsense by Western intellectuals, professors, media celebrities, and artists under the rubric of "Idiocy Watch," and the talk-show host Bill O'Reilly is still eager to subject exemplars of it to his drill-bit method of interrogation. The phenomenon they represent has been tracked daily by Andrew Sullivan on his Web log and analyzed at greater length by,
[CTRL] [Fwd: Newsletter #27 - wherein Dave considers the matter of "Conspiracy Theories"
-Caveat Lector- The man has a very humorous way of putting things in perspective... [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Greetings from the Center for an Informed America > (http://davesweb.cnchost.com/). Please forward this newsletter widely. > If this was forwarded to you and you would like to receive future > mailings, e-mail (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) a request to be > added to this mailing list. > > NEWSLETTER #27 > January 12, 2003 > Special 'Conspiracy Theory' Edition > http://davesweb.cnchost.com/nwsltr27.html > > "My name is Dave, and I am a conspiracy theorist." > > There. I did it. I finally took the first step on the long road to > recovery. And it feels good. It will feel even better when I complete > the program, at which time I will be able to (or so I'm told) read the > morning newspaper and watch the evening news secure in the knowledge > that I am being told the unvarnished truth. I will even, if I'm one of > the lucky ones, be able to listen to Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly and > marvel at their intellectually rigorous arguments. > > Although I haven't yet been filled in on all the details of the program, > I'm pretty sure that it involves the consumption of mass quantities of > Prozac. > > Which reminds me ... I have great news to report this week! The FDA has > apparently approved Prozac for use on children as young as seven. Some > talking-head on the evening news claimed that millions of depressed kids > could benefit from this decision. But are there really millions of > depressed kids out there in the 'land of the free'? And if so, then why > are there millions of depressed kids out there? > > What am I talking about? Who cares why they're depressed? Just drug > them! Who cares if they're depressed? Drug them all! I foresee Toddler > Prozac on the horizon. And then Infant Prozac, possibly to remedy Crying > Baby Syndrome: "Does your newborn suffer from Crying Baby Syndrome? > Symptoms include crying when hungry, wet, tired, or neglected. Talk to > your doctor about new Infant Prozac ..." > > And then ... the final frontier ... Pre-Natal Prozac: "Hello. Thank you > for calling Clonaid. How may I help you? ... Yes, certainly we can > create a clone for you. Would you like that with or without Prozac? ... > Most people prefer the Prozac model. They're much easier to train." > > Ooops ... sorry ... that's not really what I want to talk about this > week. I just happened to catch the Prozac story on the news and, next > thing you know, I was off on a rant. That happens sometimes. > > I also will not be talking about incoming Senate Majority Leader Bill > Frist (who, to give credit where credit is due, sports a somewhat more > life-like rug than his predecessor) and his Dahmeresque habit of > adopting cats from animal shelters to stock his home dissection lab. > > I think I'll also pass on commenting on Rumsfeld's recent impersonation > of a schoolyard bully: "I'll take on both Saddam and Kim Jong at the > same time! I'll kick both their asses with one hand tied behind my back! > Let me at 'em ... huh? ... what's that? ... you say we didn't actually > beat North Korea the first time around? When we were only fighting one > war at a time? Oh. Well, never mind then." > > I'm also not going to comment on Bush's preposterous habit of posing as > a good-old-boy rancher, or on various other members of the Bush clan > slumming with the commoners aboard a Disney cruise ship. Has anyone > considered, by the way, that a cruise ship, with a captive, physically > isolated population, would be an ideal place to conduct biowarfare > experiments -- with, for example, something like the "Norwalk Virus"? > Just wondering ... > > But forget about all of that. What I really want to talk about are > conspiracy theories. As I have whined about repeatedly in these > newsletters, conspiracy theory bashing is quite fashionable these days. > According to the anti-conspiracists, conspiracy theories are silly, > paranoid, unproven, counter-productive, irrational, simplistic, and just > plain loony. > > But what exactly is a 'conspiracy theory'? How do we determine if any > given theory is a 'conspiracy theory'? Because everyone, after all, has > only a theoretical view of how the world we all live in really > functions. > > Conservatives have a theory, as do liberals. Neo-conservatives have a > different theory than do 'old school' conservatives. Republicans > subscribe to one theory, while Democrats subscribe to another. > Libertarians have a theory, as do Greens and Independents. Socialists > have one theory, and capitalists have quite another. Communists, white > supremacists, anarchists, skinheads -- they all have theories. Catholics > have a different theory than do Protestants. Jews have their own theory, > as do Muslims, Wiccans, Buddhists, Atheists, Mormons, Episcopalians, > Baptists, Scientologists, Fundamentalist Christ
[CTRL] (Fwd) And Vindictiveness For All
-Caveat Lector- --- Forwarded message follows --- And Vindictiveness For All The creeping lunacy creeps on, creepishly. It gives life a constancy comforting in an uncertain world. For this we should be grateful. In the GreeleyTribune* of northern Colorado I see that Mitch Muller, a boy of thirteen, has been expelled from school for a year. Yep. Gone. You might surmise that he committed some grave crime, that he assaulted a teacher perhaps or was discovered to be selling bulk-lot cocaine. No. He played with a small laser pointer-the sort that projects a red dot onto maps during lectures. It was, said the depressing drones who run the school, a "gun facsimile." This is fascinating, like a rare and aggressive tumor. Let us think about it. To begin, there is no substance to the charge. A laser pointer does not look like a gun, no more so than a ball-point pen or a lipstick tube. It isn't a weapon, doesn't look like a weapon, and is not intimidating, being less dangerous than, say, a fist. Further, note that we are not confronted by a somewhat overzealous application of a reasonable rule. If young Muller had disrupted class and gotten tossed for a week, that would have excessive but not absurd. (Excessive because unnecessary: When you have a male principal who has not been administratively neutered, he says, "Bobby, stop that. Now." That's all he says.) The child was suspended for a year, not for misbehavior but for possession of a legal and harmless object that was determined ex post facto to be gunlike. You see. Crimes carry harsh penalties, but you cannot tell what things are crimes until after you have committed them. That is, the authorities can find you guilty at will, whenever they wish to punish you. This isn't discipline. It's sadism-sexless, boring, mean-spirited bureaucratic sadism. The school's officials are seeking to hurt the child because they enjoy doing it. This Stalinism of the inadequate isn't a fluke. Across the country, time and again, little boys (always boys) are suspended for pointing chicken fingers and saying "bang," for drawing soldiers or the Trade Centers in flames. The schools are in the hands of sodden prisses, intellectual offal, who don't like male children. Mediocrity loves revenge, revenge on others for one's own mediocrity. "Passive aggression," if memory serves, means an attempt to hurt others while pretending that one's aim is pious. Passive aggression, and its cousin misdirected aggression, dominate American culture. Again and again, bullying is packaged as high principle. Consider the persecution of smokers-which is what it is. Yes, reasonable restrictions on smoking are, well, reasonable. To have a smoking section in a restaurant is an exercise in consideration, given that having a stream of smoke in one's eyes is unpleasant. By contrast, putting signs in a subway saying that "second-hand smoke" shortens the lives of children, which it doesn't, with a picture of a piteous, helpless, wide-eyed child, is sheer hostility. So are laws banning smoking within fifteen feet of governmental buildings. The intention is not to provide for the common comfort, but to make smokers as miserable as possible. The giveaway of a mean-spirited law is that it doesn't do what it pretends to do, yet makes people unhappy. Consider the agitations of the rabble opposed to guns. These vessels of rightness transparently are not concerned to prevent crime with firearms. You hear nothing from them favoring mandatory heavy sentences for using a gun in a crime. Nor do they criticize the drug dealer in the ghetto who kills his enemies. Their efforts are aimed at law-abiding men who own guns. It is personal hostility disguised as concern with crime. Similar spuriousness underlies the degrading searches at airports. The government's policy isn't rational. If we armed pilots, watched Moslems, and conducted searches, I might believe that security was the motive. But we don't. Taking nail clippers is ridiculous, like suspending a kid for having a laser pointer. The searches seem designed to humiliate. I have been searched by, among others, Israelis and Japanese. Neither had people undressing in public, and neither was staffed by hostile minorities getting even. There is in all of this, in so very much of American life today, a vindictive meanness enwrapped in moral pose-in hate- crime laws, in careers deliberately destroyed over imaginary sexual harassment, people destroyed over any trace of racial incorrectness, fathers prevented from seeing their children by vengeful exes and worse courts. Why? I'll guess that the cause is a confluence of two social currents. First, the United States is an angry, divided, unhappy country, twisted by unresolved conflicts that it refuses to face. Racial tension is ugly, powerful, and a forbidden topic. Women are grindingly angry at men. Men, angry at the divorce laws, avoid marriage.
[CTRL] Officials Reveal Threat to Troops Deploying to Gulf
-Caveat Lector- http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/13/politics/13INTE.html January 13, 2003 Officials Reveal Threat to Troops Deploying to Gulf By THOM SHANKER COTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill., Jan. 10 Troops and weapons moving toward the Persian Gulf have come under threat of possible terrorist attack, say senior military officials, who add that they are more alert than ever to the risks. Within the past three weeks, American intelligence gathered what officials described as credible evidence of a planned bombing of a passenger airliner contracted to fly troops and freight for the military. To counter what senior commanders call the growing threat of attack on those mobilizing for a possible war with Iraq, the American military has begun for the first time to share classified intelligence warnings directly and quickly with commercial transportation companies ferrying United States forces toward the Middle East from here and abroad, the senior officials said. For example, in the case of the suspected bombing plan, the military had come up with intelligence identifying a specific civilian airline company, a specific airport in the United States and a specific date and time of a possible attack, military and intelligence officials said. (In interviews, they would not discuss the specifics in full detail, citing security considerations.) Military officials removed from the report details that might have revealed the source of the evidence or how it was gathered. Then, rather than risk any delays from working through domestic law enforcement authorities or federal transportation safety agencies, the military gave the secret threat assessment directly to the private airline company. Security officials at the company took pre-emptive steps, including changing the date and time of the flight and the route it followed. In a full mobilization to war, more than 90 percent of the troops deploying would fly aboard private air carriers contracted by the military, officials say. Commercial rail and trucking companies would help haul armored vehicles, fuel and food to domestic ports. A number of other new steps to share secret intelligence warnings with the private freight and passenger sector including a password-protected Web site are being been put in place here at Scott Air Force Base, in the cornfields of southern Illinois, where the United States Transportation Command coordinates the movement of every person and piece of equipment in the armed services. Gen. John W. Handy, the four-star Air Force officer who is chief of Transportation Command, said that since the military must rely on planes, trucks, rail cars and ships operated by private carriers, "We do everything we can to keep them well informed." General Handy said that even classified reports from the American intelligence community must be made available at least in a sanitized form to the private sector. Part of his job, he said, is to make that happen quickly. "Our request at my level is to keep pressing to share as much as we possibly can," General Handy said in an interview at his headquarters. As it carries out the fight against terrorism, the Bush administration, responding to criticism of intelligence failures before the Sept. 11 attacks, has consciously chipped away at a number of walls that previously separated domestic law enforcement, international intelligence gathering and the armed services. The Transportation Command plans to establish the restricted- access Web site for 24-hour posting of new intelligence warnings that can be read by freight carriers and the airlines. The issue is especially acute as tens of thousands of troops receive orders to deploy toward the Persian Gulf with their weapons and the fuel and munitions to sustain any offensive that President Bush might order against Iraq. Troop movements have accelerated in the past few days, and more are to come, according to Pentagon officials. During the mammoth mobilization for the war against Iraq in 1991, the government did not have such significant fears of terrorist strikes against transportation hubs or bases in the United States and overseas. Should there be another war with Iraq, officials concede, the prospect of such attacks would rise above any of the elevated threat levels since Sept. 11. Even when the nation is not at war, there are 45,000 shipments of high-explosive munitions within the continental United States by rail or truck every year, officials said and each is a potential terrorist target. "The commercial carriers told us that they deserve some similar degree of intelligence support as the military," said Thomas S. Reynolds, deputy director of intelligence for Transportation Command. "This is a natural thing with the large level of current deployment activity." Mr. Reynolds said that sharing intelligence with private firms contracted to carry military personnel and cargo was not unprecedented. During the Persian Gulf war, he said, the military gav
[CTRL] MRC Alert: CBS Challenges Don Evans on Tax Cut But Not John Breaux (fwd)
-Caveat Lector- "I pledge Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the REPUBLIC for which it stands, one Nation under God,indivisible,with liberty and justice for all." visit my web site at http://www.voicenet.com/~wbacon My ICQ# is 79071904 for a precise list of the powers of the Federal Government linkto: http://www.voicenet.com/~wbacon/Enumerated.html -- Forwarded message -- Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2003 02:57:37 -0700 From: Media Research Center <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: MRC Alert: CBS Challenges Don Evans on Tax Cut But Not John Breaux ***Media Research Center CyberAlert*** 6:55am EST, Monday January 13, 2003 (Vol. Eight; No. 7) The 1,414th CyberAlert. Tracking Liberal Media Bias Since 1996 CBS Challenges Don Evans on Tax Cut But Not John Breaux; Al Hunt Equates Bush Tax Cut to Teapot Dome; NY Times Distorts Impact of Tax Cut on Family; WashPost Showcases Left Wing Group's Class Warfare Numbers; Tony Snow Suggests Poorer Not Paying Fair Share; Kennedy Would've "Brought Comfort" to Kopechne "in Her Old Age"; NBC's Senator Sterling: Bush a Bad President Distributed to more than 11,600 recipients by the Media Research Center, bringing political balance to the news media since 1987. The MRC is the leader in documenting, exposing and neutralizing liberal media bias. Visit the MRC on the Web: http://www.mediaresearch.org. CyberAlerts from this year are at: http://www.mediaresearch.org/archive/cyber/welcome.asp For 2002: http://www.mediaresearch.org/archive/cyber/archive02.asp Subscribe/unsubscribe information, as well as a link to the MRC donations page, are at the end of this message. When posted, this CyberAlert will be readable at: http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2003/cyb20030113.asp 1) On Face the Nation, Bob Schieffer and Washington Post reporter Dan Balz pressed Commerce Secretary Don Evans to justify the tax cut given how it will hike the deficit and is skewed toward the rich, but the duo refused to challenge Democratic Senator John Breaux. Balz lectured Evans: "You're doing an enormous amount for those at the upper end of the bracket, and for people who pay payroll and Social Security taxes but no income taxes you're doing nothing. What's the equity in a plan like that?" 2) On the weekend debate shows the panelists who are journalists for mainstream outlets condemned Bush's tax cut. Eleanor Clift charged, "This is class warfare against millions of Americans..." Al Hunt: "It's crumbs for about 99 million, and then it's caviar for the very top." Hunt scurrilously claimed Bush and Cheney made the proposal for personal gain: "You got to go back to Teapot Dome to find such a fleecing. This time it's legal. Bloomberg reported that George W. Bush himself, $44,000 tax break here. Dick Cheney, $327,000 tax break." 3) In offering an example of how a typical family, the father of whom dismissed the tax cut plan as "unimpressive," would not benefit much from Bush's tax cut plan, a New York Times story distorted the impact on the only family cited, a Washington Times editorial documented on Friday. 4) A Washington Post story on Friday gave prominence to numbers from a left-wing group. "Who Would Benefit" read the heading over the only table in the story, with this subhead: "Three-fifths of President Bush's tax cut would go to the wealthiest 10 percent of all taxpayers in 2003, according to an analysis by Citizens for Tax Justice." But buried in the article was how the Bush plan, by removing more people from the income tax rolls, would shift the tax burden even more onto the shoulders of the wealthier. 5) A fresh, contrarian take. In his "Parting Thoughts" on Fox News Sunday, Tony Snow observed how "the poor get the largest proportional tax breaks, the richest the smallest" and that the "tax code right now is insanely imbalanced. Half the public pays nearly 100 percent of the income taxes, which mocks the idea that citizenship demands that each person pull his or her weight." 6) In a Boston Globe Magazine tribute to Senator Ted Kennedy, Globe staffer Charles Pierce asserted: "If she had lived, Mary Jo Kopechne would be 62 years old. Through his tireless work as a legislator, Edward Kennedy would have brought comfort to her in her old age." On Fox News Sunday, Tony Snow dubbed that "the macabre political observation of the year." 7) NBC's Senator Sterling is an anti-capital gains tax cut liberal who doesn't think George W. Bush is a good President. He learns not to trust Wall Street Journal editorials. > 1) A classic case of the mainstream media's liberal hostility to President Bush's tax cut plan. On Sunday's Face the Nation, Bob Schieffer and Washington Post reporter Dan Balz repeatedly pressed Commerce Secretary Don Evans to justify the tax cut given how it will supposedly increase the deficit and is skewed toward the rich, but Schieffer and Balz refused to
[CTRL] NYTimes.com Article: C. Douglas Dillon, Financier Who Served in Kennedy Cabinet, Dies at 93
-Caveat Lector- This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by [EMAIL PROTECTED] C. Douglas Dillon, Financier Who Served in Kennedy Cabinet, Dies at 93 January 12, 2003 By ERIC PACE C. Douglas Dillon, a versatile Wall Street financier who was named secretary of the Treasury by President Kennedy and ambassador to France under President Eisenhower, and was a longtime executive of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, died Friday at New York Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan. Mr. Dillon, who lived with his wife on Jupiter Island in Hobe Sound, Fla., was 93. Mr. Dillon was born to wealth and influence as the son of the founder of Dillon, Read & Company, an international banking house. Mr. Dillon was widely respected for his attention to detail - he had a reputation for ferreting out inconspicuous errors in reports - and his intellect, which his parents began shaping at an early age by enrolling Mr. Dillon in elite private schools. Mr. Dillon is said to have been able to read quickly and to fully comprehend what he read by the time he was 4 years old. At the Pine Lodge School in Lakehurst, N.J., Mr. Dillon's schoolmates included Nelson, Laurance and John Rockefeller III. Mr. Dillon later graduated magna cum laude from Harvard and sharpened his analytical powers on Wall Street. Strapping and strong-jawed, Mr. Dillon sometimes seemed self-effacing or even shy in public, despite his long prominence in public affairs and in business. He served over the years as chairman of the Rockefeller Foundation, president of Harvard University's board of overseers, chairman of the Brookings Institution, vice chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations, and, after his time in Paris, in high posts at the State Department. In the business world, he rose to be chairman of Dillon, Read and of the United States and Foreign Securities Corporation, an investment company founded by his father, Clarence Dillon. Despite his patrician roots, Douglas Dillon was only twice removed from more meager means in Poland, where his paternal grandfather was born. Mr. Dillon's grandfather, Samuel Lapowski, a Jewish immigrant from Poland, moved his family to Texas after the Civil War and began building several businesses and propelling his children to higher social strata through education. Mr. Dillon's father studied at Harvard and, at some point, changed his surname from Lapowski to Dillon, which was his mother's maiden name. In private life, Douglas Dillon and his first wife, the former Phyllis Chess Ellsworth, amassed collections of Impressionist paintings and other works of art. His interest in art led him to be selected as a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum two decades before he became its president. He served from 1970 to 1977, when he became chairman. In March 1983, Mr. Dillon said he planned to step down as chairman in the fall, explaining, "My feeling is that this is quite long enough for one person to hold these offices." Mr. Dillon's first wife died in 1982. He is survived by two daughters from that marriage, Phyllis Dillon Collins and Joan, the Duchesse de Mouchy. Mr. Dillon is also survived by Susan Dillon, whom he married in 1983, and three grandchildren. Mr. Dillon was a lifelong Republican who had long been active in party affairs when he was picked for the Treasury post by President Kennedy in an attempt to give an incoming administration a bipartisan cast. Kept on by President Johnson, Mr. Dillon served as secretary of the Treasury from 1961 to 1965, and his fiscal policies won wide support. "I am a moderate Republican," he said as he left the cabinet, adding, "I do not believe that there are great differences between that kind of Republicanism and the objectives" of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. In his years as the secretary of Treasury, Mr. Dillon played a key part in drawing up the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which empowered Mr. Kennedy to cut tariffs by half in the course of reciprocal negotiations. As secretary, Mr. Dillon was also instrumental in framing the Revenue Act of 1962, which mandated a 7 percent investment credit that was meant to spur industrial plant and equipment investment. He oversaw the revising and liberalizing of principles for the companies' handling of depreciation charges. However, Mr. Dillon's influence and the weight of the Treasury dwindled near the end of his tenure when it became known that he was going to resign; he had wanted to leave government for some time. And wide notice was taken, even by his admirers, of his inability to bring about an end to the deficit in the United States' balance of payments. After leaving his cabinet post, Mr. Dillon returned to the world of finance, where the Dillon name was a byword long before World War II, thanks to his father, who amassed a fortune at the head of Dillon, Read. The company was one of the prominent Wall Street houses that underwrote hundreds of millions of dollars worth of bonds that were floated in the United
[CTRL] Human Shields
-Caveat Lector- Monday January 13, 2003 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storyprint.cfm?storyID=3050509 'Human shield' peace activists mobilise for Iraq 09.01.2003 - To the delight of Baghdad, anti-war activists round the world are staging their own mobilisation to Iraq to act as "human shields" if the bombs start falling and in solidarity with the Iraqi people. As the United States and Britain build up their military presence in the Gulf, the volunteers from Western and Muslim groups are also planning to converge on Iraq for what they view as an 11th hour peace mission. Shrugging off criticism they are handing a propaganda gift to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, the groups involved insist they can recruit hundreds or even thousands of volunteers. "I am calling for a mass migration to Iraq. We can stop this mad war," said Ken Nichols, a Dutch-based former US marine who was in the 1991 Gulf War and is now behind one of the highest-profile human shield convoys. His We the People group is seeking volunteers to join a convoy leaving London this month. They plan to travel through European and Middle Eastern capitals to arrive in Iraq in early February where they intend to fan out to key installations. "If war starts, I will be in the most vulnerable areas. I want to be out where the bombs drop," Nichols added, saying hundreds would be on his convoy. "If there is a risk of large Western casualties, that is quite a political liability." Another big rallying point is in Iraq's neighbour Jordan. There, a campaign led by leftist, Islamist parties and civic bodies is seeking 100,000 human shield volunteers. Organisers, the National Mobilisation Committee for the Defence of Iraq, would not give current figures but said many were responding and that the first convoy would leave in a week. "The war against Iraq is a war against the whole Arab nation," committee head Hakm al- Fayez told Reuters. The new human shield plans have inevitably revived memories of the Gulf War when Saddam forcibly held thousands of Western hostages after his invasion of Kuwait. Many were put near sensitive sites in a futile bid to dissuade attacks. Iraq also used Iraqis - alongside some foreign volunteers - as human shields in 1998 against US-British bombing. Not surprisingly, Baghdad has welcomed the latest offers. "This is a practical Arab and international reaction to the hostile build-up of troops in the Gulf and neighbouring countries," said one senior Iraqi official, Saad Qasim Hammoud. To avoid being seen as pawns of Saddam, some among the many groups and charities organising trips to Iraq are shunning the tag "human shield" and are as critical of his government as they are of US and British war plans. These groups prefer to couch their aims in terms of educating the West and showing solidarity with ordinary Iraqis. "We do not support any government," said Kathy Kelly, of the US-based Voices in the Wilderness (VIW) group which has long opposed sanctions on Baghdad and is now organising an Iraq Peace Team to travel there. "We want to be alongside people at a difficult and stressful time. We hope there will not be a war. If there is, we will be there," added Kelly, who was part of a 72-member peace camp inside Iraq near the border with Saudi Arabia in 1991. One poignant stance has been taken by a group of American relatives of September 11 victims - Families for Peaceful Tomorrows - who left for Iraq days ago on a week-long visit. "My hope is that all people will come to realise that loss of more human life will not solve the problems of the world," said Kathleen Tinley, who lost her uncle Michael when two hijacked planes crashed into New York's World Trade Centre. Many of the activists said they were well aware of Saddam's alleged crimes - both in terms of repression of Iraqis and the weapons capacity that is the West's main bone of contention - but they could not be quiet on the suffering of ordinary Iraqis. "If people had actually read the UN reports or been to the country, like I have, and seen babies dying of diarrhoea, they would realize what the West has been doing with its sanctions and what this is all about," said British student Matthew Barr, who is leaving for Iraq with a VIW group. Many of those forcibly used as human shields by Saddam in 1991 are shocked that others would actually volunteer to do it. "They are a bunch of lunatics who don't know what went on," said one British ex- hostage, Ron Eccles. "It is a naive and unbelievable idea. It is very unlikely to deter any action." - REUTERS Herald feature: Iraq Iraq links and resources ©Copyright 2002, NZ Herald A<:>E<:>R Forwarded for your information. The text and intent of the article has to stand on its own merits. Therefore, unless I am a first-hand witness to any event described, I cannot attest to its validity. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed w