Web / Press / Offsite Media Updates: July 25th - August 2nd

by redjade Mon Jul 26, 2004 15:50

In case you haven't heard, at the Democratic National Convention in Boston this next week, there will be a "Free Speech Zone" made available for protesters. Isn't that nice... it turns out it is a horrible accident waiting to happen, just look at these pictures... mesh netting, razor wire, it looks like a prision yard crossed with a construction zone. What would happen if thousands of protesters were in there and tear gas was lobbed, there would be no escape. Well, that is what the city of Boston is trying to do, they want to confine the protests in this cage. On legal dispute the judge who heard the case commented, "Despite the fact that Judge Woodlock stated that “[o]ne cannot conceive of what other elements you would put in place to make a space more of an affront to the ideal of free expression than the designated demonstration zone,” yet he ruled that it was lawful.

The scary part is that they are making serious moves to make it so if you don't have a permit to protest outside of the free speech zone you will be arrested. Not only that, but they are asking groups who want to protest to apply for permits that would allow them INTO the free-speech zone at designated times. It is the only place you can use without fear of arrest or harassment, and they want you to apply for specific times that you would be voluntarily penned up?

Above Text from 'full of glass' Blog
http://www.riseup.net/~micah/nerf/archives/000720.html

Links to pictures:
http://boston.indymedia.org/newswire/display/23765/index.php

http://www.skywriting.com/misc/pics/free-speech-pen

'Free Speech' Cage

by CraobhRua Mon Jul 26, 2004 19:56

Here's a story about Kansas Anarchists and radicals being harrassed by the FBI.
According to a friend and comrade of mine who lives in this town, the FBI agents have actually visited their places of employment and told their emoloyers they are dangerous, conspiring to commit violence, etc.

This is scary and shows that COINTELPRO is alive and well.

by redjade Tue Jul 27, 2004 10:50

The week before the early surprise "transition of power" in Iraq, the New Yorker magazine published a disturbing piece by Seymour Hersh that contained news probably far more dangerous than any coming out of Baghdad. His report, Plan B, revealed how top Israeli officials reached the conclusion by last August that "the Bush Administration would not be able to bring stability or democracy to Iraq." Fearing the consequences, Ariel Sharon's government began freelancing a new divide-and-conquer strategy meant, among other things, to help ensure the fragmentation of the Iraqi state and potentially destabilize further an already destabilized region. They decided "to minimize the damage that the war was causing to Israel's strategic position by expanding its long-standing relationship with Iraq's Kurds and establishing a significant presence on the ground in the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan… Israeli intelligence and military operatives are now quietly at work in Kurdistan, providing training for Kurdish commando units and, most important in Israel's view, running covert operations inside Kurdish areas of Iran and Syria."


This (in Hersh's phrase) "politically reckless" move -- an example of tactically brilliant short-term thinking almost guaranteed to prove a long-term strategic blunder and sure to blowback on the Israelis -- is likely to be especially harmful to the Kurds themselves. Now, like the Americans, they will be ever more closely identified in the region with the defense of Sharon's Israel. The training of Kurdish militiamen may, in the short run, aid Israel's policies in the region and bolster Kurdish dreams of an independent state, but it will, in the end, likely prove yet another disaster for the Kurds. Their militias are not serious fighting forces, if you're thinking, say, of the Turkish military (which ruthlessly crushed its own Kurdish population's desire for autonomy), or even perhaps future Iraqi armies. The Kurds, a people scattered across the region, have put their faith and fate in the hands of states (and their intelligence agencies) that have always betrayed them -- including the Shah's Iran, Saddam's Iraq, the United States more than once, and now the Israelis.


If the Israeli link is dangerous for the Kurds, it may prove hardly less so for the Americans in Iraq....

by redjade Tue Jul 27, 2004 10:56

Rage and danger in Kurdistan
The Salon - By Jen Banbury
Salon.com

In a lot of ways, the lack of celebration shouldn’t have shocked me in the least. For many Iraqis, a government headed by Allawi, who previously punched a time clock in the employ of both Saddam’s early regime and later the CIA, has a distinct "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" ring to it. Then, too, the outgoing CPA had essentially scooched Allawi into power past U.N. representative Lakhdar Brahimi’s own candidate. Before my trip to Kurdistan, I might have assumed that the Kurds, who have been the United States’ best ally in Iraq since the invasion began, would welcome a government that would seem to represent U.S. interests. But as I learned during my visit, the Kurds do not trust either the United States or their Arab neighbors to the south, and so they do not even begin to trust a U.S.-backed Arab government. These days, the Kurds aren’t celebrating much of anything. They are waiting to see what the new government will mean for them, and whether it was worth giving up the relative autonomy they’ve enjoyed over the last decade or so.

[....]

These days, the Kurds don’t have a lot of friends in the region. But that may be changing. In a recent article in the New Yorker, Seymour Hersh described an increasing Israeli presence in Iraqi Kurdistan. "Israeli intelligence and military operatives are now quietly at work in Kurdistan, providing training for Kurdish commando units and, most important in Israel’s view, running covert operations inside Kurdish areas of Iran and Syria," Hersh wrote.

An alliance between the two makes a lot of sense. For the Kurds, it provides a powerful ally, friendly with the United States, to train their commando units for deployment against potential Iraqi or other Arab enemies. For the Israelis, it allows them to infiltrate agents into their arch-nemesis, Iran, as well as hostile Syria. Certainly the Israelis would be delighted with the creation of a friendly, independent Kurdistan.

by redjade Tue Jul 27, 2004 11:22

The Pentagon today speaks of a "marriage of convenience" between Islamic fundamentalists and former members of Saddam's Baathist regime, even speculating that the Islamists are taking over Baathist cells weakened by American anti-insurgency efforts.

Once again, the Pentagon has it wrong. U.S. policy in Iraq is still unable or unwilling to face the reality of the enemy on the ground.

The Iraqi resistance is no emerging "marriage of convenience," but rather a product of years of planning. Rather than being absorbed by a larger Islamist movement, Saddam's former lieutenants are calling the shots in Iraq, having co-opted the Islamic fundamentalists years ago, with or without their knowledge.

One look at the list of the 55 "most wanted" members of the Saddam regime who remain at large reveals the probable chain of command of the Iraqi resistance today. It also underscores the success of Saddam's strategic decision nearly a decade ago to disassociate himself from Baathist ideology.

Keep in mind that there was never a formal surrender ceremony after the U.S. took control of Baghdad. The security services of Saddam's Iraq were never disbanded; they simply melted away into the population, to be called back into service when and where they were needed.

by redjade Tue Jul 27, 2004 11:27

Today, media companies are more concentrated than at any time over the past 40 years, thanks to a continual loosening of ownership rules by Washington. The media giants now own not only broadcast networks and local stations; they also own the cable companies that pipe in the signals of their competitors and the studios that produce most of the programming. To get a flavor of how consolidated the industry has become, consider this: In 1990, the major broadcast networks--ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox--fully or partially owned just 12.5 percent of the new series they aired. By 2000, it was 56.3 percent. Just two years later, it had surged to 77.5 percent.

by redjade Tue Jul 27, 2004 13:31

John Kerry's campaign slogan is "Let America be America again."

Which comes from a poem published in 1938 by the Harlem renaissance poet Langston Hughes.

[...]
I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek--
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
[...]
O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make America again!
[...]
http://www.poets.org/poems/poems.cfm?prmID=1473


. . . . . . .

''...testimony by the poet Langston Hughes on March 24, 1953, before the Senate Committee on Government Operations' Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The subcommittee, chaired by Senator Joseph McCarthy, interrogated 395 people between 1953 and 1954 in closed-door hearings designed to determine whom among them to try in public session.''

ROY COHN: Do you remember writing this: "Good-morning, Revolution: You're the very best friend I ever had. We gonna pal around together from now on"?
LANGSTON HUGHES: Yes, sir, I wrote that.
COHN: Did you write this, "Put one more 'S' in the USA to make it Soviet. The USA when we take control will be the USSA then"?
HUGHES: Yes, sir, I wrote that.
COHN: Were you kidding when you wrote those things? What did you mean by those?
HUGHES: Would you like me to give you an interpretation of that?

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1111/is_1843_307/ai_111695427


. . . . . .

"The Negro Speaks of Rivers"
Read by Langston Hughes
http://archive.salon.com/audio/poetry/2001/02/15/langston_hughes/index

MP3 Poem
"Negro Speaks of Rivers"
http://media.salon.com/mp3s/hughes_rivers021401.mp3

by iosaf Tue Jul 27, 2004 13:34

Four French citizens who have been held in Guantanamo Bay detention camp since the Afghanistan war 2001-2002 Mourad Benchellali, Imad Kanouni, Nizar Sassi and Brahim Yadel, have this morning been repatriated to France.
They will now go through a process of debriefing interrogation by France's anti-terror specialist prosecutor Jean-Louis Bruguière. Much in the same way a Ceutan Spaniard was processed by Spain's garzón.
Jean-Louis Bruguière, began the process of extradition in 2002 of the 7 French citizens held by the USA at their notorious "camp X".

last release news

by iosaf Tue Jul 27, 2004 16:46

Egypt became the second state to consider non-intervention and non-comitment to the reconstruction of Iraq after one of it's citizens a member of the Egyptian diplomatic corp was kidnapped on the 23rd of July.
The diplomat has now been released and the all the other diplomatic players are invoking resolution 1546 and calling for the rule of law and order.
http://www.diplomatie.fr/actu/article.asp?ART=43498
link to the Fillipino hostage crises which pre-empted the withdrawl of the Phillipines military support of the alliance set up by resolution 1546.
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=65984&search_text=philippines&search_comments=on&condense_comments=false#comment82227

by iosaf Tue Jul 27, 2004 19:22

The decision was made after a "telephone meeting" between Kings Mohamed VI and JuanCarlos and President ZP this afternoon.
The leaders spoke of their commitment to reinforce dialogue, peace and security throughout the world _*together*_.
The Spanish parliament voted this July 2nd to send a military contigent to Afghanistan, and a presence to Haiti. It is thought the Haiti Spanish presence will mostly be composed of Guardia Civil. That vote was passed by all (including ironically Catalonia's ERC) with the sole vote against coming from Catalonia's green party and their Spanish state partners IU. And was followed by a solemn declaration by ZP that in future Spanish armed forces will not be commited outside the state without parliamentary approval.
It is thought the joint force will be under Spanish command, and so far all indications are that the UN (through voiced support of Kofi Annan) are "on side".

by Peter - For Mother Earth Scotland Tue Jul 27, 2004 22:28 info at scotland dot motherearth dot org

A Determined For Mother Earth Scotland Peace Activist Breached Security around Bush's visit on Thursday.
July 22 2004:
Bush disrupted life for quite a few on Thursday. Some were kept from leaving their homes, others were prevented from getting to them. The area was was to be totally cleared within minutes, a peace activist was told by Bush's security personnel.
Bush arrived Thursday evening with his entourage (helis, trucks, large black-clad men with black vans and trucks, and the local police) to what used to be a fully functional Naval Air Base. It is now an emergency training facility, it's rumoured. Young naval personnel are still housed there while training and waiting to be deployed to wherever Bush the murderer, chooses to send them...

by redjade Wed Jul 28, 2004 13:02

Palestine: What Future?
Public talk with Diana Buttu, PLO Advisor
Thursday 5th August 7.00pm Wynn's Hotel

Irish Premiere: About Baghdad
Screening of groundbreaking documentary "About Baghdad"
Introduced by one of the films producers Rania Masri
Friday 06 August 7.00pm Wynn's Hotel
Film followed by question & answer session with Rania
Admission is free but
we would like to make a contribution to the film costs
so if you can please bring a 5 euro donation
(less than the price of the cinema!)

For more info check out http://www.aboutbaghdad.com

by :0) - this will thrash a couple of putars. Wed Jul 28, 2004 14:43

A fresh version of the MyDoom computer worm is spreading across the internet and slowing the performance of search engines, including Google.
"The latest version of MyDoom, which started arriving in people's mail boxes in force today, uses search engines to find more recipients for its message," said Johannes Ullrich of the SANS.
Google spokesman David Krane acknowledged its website "experienced slowness for a short period of time because of the MyDoom virus, which flooded major search engines with automated searches".
Security firm MessageLabs said it intercepted 23,000 copies of the virus W32.Mydoom.O, the latest variant in the MyDoom virus

by finbar Wed Jul 28, 2004 16:57

This story has been cut and pasted from the Irish Times. Indymedia is for original writing rather than cutting and pasting of other material. This blog was created so that Indymedia publishers could write a summary and post a link to news items that they find interesting on other media. In this case, the article was wholly cut-and-pasted as the Irish Times website can only be viewed by those with a paid subscription.

- 1 of the editors


100 people die in the last twenty four hours, killed by Islamic miltants and US led raids
It also apperas the Iraqi soldiers fighting for the coalition are being used as cannon fodder. A joint US-Iraqi miltiary Military raid wich saw 42 people die and ten injured. None were Western. With the US election drawing nearer the value of American lives has registered with the texan idiot as potential vote winners/losers while the value of Iraqi lives seems to have fallen through teh floor
The death toll in the suicide bombing outside a police station in a town north of Baghdad has now been put at 68. Over 100 people have been killed in the past 24 hours as attempts to bring democracy to the gulf state are undermined by militants.

The bombing attack in the centre of Baquba happened during a busy mid-morning when a bomb-laden lorry exploded outside al-Najda police recruiting centre. At least 40 people were also injured in the blast.

Baqouba, about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad has been a hotbed of militant activity since US-led forces invaded in last year but fighters have also targeted Iraqi police forces, who are regarded as easier targets than the better equipped coalition troops.

Two weeks ago, a fuel tanker truck ploughed into a police station in southwest Baghdad, killing at least nine people and wounding more than 60.

US Army Captain Marshall Jackson said all the casualties were civilian.

In early morning clashes southeast of Baghdad, 35 insurgents and seven Iraqi soldiers were killed and ten soldiers from the Iraqi security forces were wounded in the joint operation with US Army special forces and Ukrainian troops in the city of Suwariyah.

There no casualties among multi-national forces. Around 40 insurgents were captured in the incident, the Polish military say.

Elsewhere, a US soldier was killed and three others injured while on patrol in northern Iraq when a bomb beneath their armoured car detonated in the town of Balad-Ruz, about 40 miles northwest of Baghdad.

In what appeared to be a separate incident, nine Iraqi civilians were injured in another roadside bombing in the town late last night

In the northern city of Kirkuk today, gunmen in a car shot dead local policeman while two men trying to plant a bomb on an oil pipeline near Kirkuk were killed early today when the explosive device detonated prematurely.

The bombing follows the announcement that a key conference on developing democracy in Iraq will go ahead on Saturday as planned.


Mr Fouad Massoum said the conference, due to be attended by about 1,000 people, would take place in Baghdad, even though the United Nations had requested a delay.

"Credibility is essential because any delay would be explained in a negative way," Mr Massoum told a news conference.

The United Nations, which first proposed the conference in May and said it should be held before the end of July, had pushed in the past week for it to be postponed for several weeks to allow more time to prepare for such a large gathering.

The conference is intended to bring together representatives from all walks of Iraqi life - religious, ethnic and political - to select a 100-member National Council to monitor Iraq's interim government until elections in January.

But as events of the past 24 hours indicate, the country is still in chaos months after Saddam Hussein's removal from power.

Apart form the nationwide attacks, militants are also kidnapping foreigners, piling pressure on foreign forces and firms to leave Iraq at a time when the interim government is reliant on foreign troops and companies to secure and rebuild the devastated country.

Agencies


© 2004 ireland.com

by redjade Thu Jul 29, 2004 13:41

Secretary of State Colin Powell has given a tentative welcome to a Saudi Arabian proposal for sending Arab and Muslim troops to join peacekeeping operations in Iraq. Mr. Powell discussed the issue in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, with Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
The Saudi proposal, which would involve troop contributions from Muslim states in Asia and the Middle East, but not Iraq's immediate neighbors, has been under diplomatic discussion for about two weeks, but only became known on Wednesday.

In his first public comments, Mr. Powell welcomed what he described as "preliminary ideas" from the Saudis. He says Arab and Muslim troops could either be part of the American-led coalition or a separate entity and could go to Iraq to secure facilities or protect the United Nations presence in the country, which will lay groundwork for elections next year.

by redjade Thu Jul 29, 2004 15:52

Iyad Allawi, Iraq's prime minister, has established a media committee to impose restrictions on print and broadcast media, a government official announced yesterday. The step underlines an aggressive new attitude towards press freedoms, in spite of US efforts to nurture independent media.

Ibrahim Janabi, appointed to head the new Higher Media Commission, told the FT the restrictions - known as "red lines" - had yet to be finalised, but would include unwarranted criticism of the prime minister.

Financial Times
http://tinyurl.com/4zngj

by redjade Thu Jul 29, 2004 15:55

"Labor and Materials" is Iraq's answer to "Extreme Home Makeover" and the country's first reality TV show. In 15-minute episodes, broken windows are made whole again. Blasted walls slowly rise again. Fancy furniture and luxurious carpets appear without warning in the living rooms of poor families. Over six weeks, houses blasted by US bombs regenerate in a home-improvement show for a war-torn country.

"The main point isn't to rebuild the house, but to show the change in the psychology of the family during the rebuilding," says Ali Hanoon, the show's director. "The rebuilding has a psychological effect on the families - their memories, their lives, are in these walls."

The idea is simple: Take Iraqi families whose houses were destroyed. Rebuild their houses, filling them with new goods, all donated by viewers who respond to the message flashed at the end of the show. (Donations count as zakat, the one-fifth of yearly income all Muslims must give to charity.) The show is so popular that a host of scam artists now circulate Baghdad pretending to collect "donations" for the families on it, now national celebrities.

by redjade Fri Jul 30, 2004 12:05

"In a new study of media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a group of American college students was asked, 'Who is occupying the occupied territories, and what nationality are the settlers?' Fairly simple questions, but only 29 percent knew the correct answers. The Israelis are both the occupiers and the settlers.

"The study points out that the Americans questioned were journalism and media students and some had even done projects on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. So their answers clearly overstated the public’s level of knowledge about the Middle East."

by redjade Fri Jul 30, 2004 12:14

This afternoon, Pakistan's interior minister, Faisal Saleh Hayyat, announced that Pakistani forces had captured Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian Al Qaeda operative wanted in connection with the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The timing of this announcement should be of particular interest to readers of The New Republic. Earlier this month, John B. Judis, Spencer Ackerman, and Massoud Ansari broke the story of how the Bush administration was pressuring Pakistani officials to apprehend high-value targets (HVTs) in time for the November elections--and in particular, to coincide with the Democratic National Convention. Although the capture took place in central Pakistan "a few days back," the announcement came just hours before John Kerry will give his acceptance speech in Boston....

http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040719&s=aaj071904

- - - - -

more info and comments
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/7/29/165636/565

by redjade Fri Jul 30, 2004 12:20

Five former leaders of the Holy Land Foundation, once the biggest Islamic charity in the United States, were arrested Tuesday on charges that they funneled $12.4 million to Palestinian terrorists. But two other charity officials wanted by the government were able to leave the country recently for the Middle East while they were under criminal investigation.

Law enforcement officials said the arrests represented one of their most important efforts since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to stem the flow of money to terrorists from the United States. Holy Land exploited American tax laws "to bankroll terror," said Michael J. Garcia, an assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security.

Lawyers for Holy Land promised to fight the charges vigorously, accusing the F.B.I. of fabricating evidence. They said the group had supported orphans, medical relief and other charitable causes in the Middle East and never knowingly gave money to Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist group, or any other organization promoting violence.

"These arrests are a sound bite for this administration in its war on terrorism," said John Boyd, a lawyer for Holy Land. "This is completely unfounded, and if the Holy Land Foundation is given an opportunity to defend itself, it will be able to rebut every charge made in this indictment."

Mr. Boyd accused the Bush administration of timing the announcement of the arrests - which grew out of an F.B.I. investigation into Holy Land dating to 1993 - in order to distract attention from the Democratic convention in Boston.

by redjade Fri Jul 30, 2004 12:25

With a deep feeling of sadness and anger Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) announces today the closure of all medical programs in Afghanistan. MSF is taking this decision in the aftermath of the killing of five MSF aid workers in a deliberate attack on June 2nd, when a clearly marked MSF vehicle was ambushed in the northerwestern province of Badghis. Five of our colleagues were mercilessly shot in the attack. This targeted killing of five of its aid workers is unprecedented in the history of MSF, which has been delivering medical humanitarian assistance in some of the most violent conflicts around the world over the last 30 years.

[....]

The violence directed against humanitarian aid workers has come in a context in which the US backed coalition has consistently sought to use humanitarian aid to build support for its military and political ambitions. MSF denounces the coalition’s attempts to co-opt humanitarian aid and use it to “win hearts and minds”. By doing so, providing aid is no longer seen as an impartial and neutral act, endangering the lives of humanitarian volunteers and jeopardizing the aid to people in need. Only recently, on May 12th 2004, MSF publicly condemned the distribution of leaflets by the coalition forces in southern Afghanistan in which the population was informed that providing information about the Taliban and al Qaeda was necessary if they wanted the delivery of aid to continue.

by redjade Fri Jul 30, 2004 12:28

Sweden has received no applications for unemployment benefits from citizens of the ten new EU member states, despite talk of an influx of "welfare tourists" earlier this year.

According to figures from the IAF monitoring agency's first quarterly report, not one person from the EU's 10 new members has claimed benifits.

by redjade Fri Jul 30, 2004 12:47

[....]

M: Ok, so he screws up September 11th.  Why would you then listen to him, he says this is a “slam dunk” and your going to go to war.

O: You’ve got MI-6 and Russian intelligence because they’re all saying the same thing that’s why.  You’re not going to apologize to Bush, you are going to continue to call him a liar.

M: Oh, he lied to the nation, Bill, I can’t think of a worse thing to do for a president to lie to a country to take them to war, I mean, I don’t know a worse –

O: It wasn’t a lie

M: He did not tell the truth, what do you call that?

O: I call that bad information, acting on bad information – not a lie

M: A seven year old can get away with that –

O: Alright, your turn to ask me a question—

M: `Mom and Dad it was just bad information’—

O: I’m not going to get you to admit it wasn’t a lie, go ahead

[....]

by redjade Fri Jul 30, 2004 15:11

The first ever Roma Member of the European Parliament has urged the European Commission to start a concerted effort to improve living conditions for her people.

In an interview with the EUobserver, the 29-year old Hungarian MEP from Roma origin, Livia Jaroka, said that Brussels has been "very good at pressuring the new EU member states" to address the Roma issue, but that it had "failed to take concrete action itself."

[....]

EU membership has only very partly resolved these problems, Ms Jaroka said speaking on the phone from Hungary.

"The new EU countries have been very good at satisfying the wishes of Brussels, adopting formal anti-discrimination legislation, but Roma people do not actually feel the effect of it."

She added: "Today I woke up and saw on the television that a Roma man had been beaten up by police and that he had died of the consequences."

Ms Jaroka urges the EU to be more involved with the actual daily fate of the Roma people.

"It is crucial that the EU creates a body which monitors and investigates the actual situation where Roma live in. It should be a sort of "Roma head office", well-based at the highest EU level: within the Commission."

by paul c Fri Jul 30, 2004 16:54

-there have been protests outside the "free speech zone" gatherings in the boston common...

- the protest cage has been mostly avoided the best actions have been hooded and cuffed street theatre actions in the space...

-there been alot of talk of people being sucked in the anybody but bush notion even kerry bush arn't that different...

-a group of dnc delegates blamed bush for the protest cage trying to absolve themsleves of the blame but couldnt do anything about it because "the democrats are busy with convention business"

-there were minor scuffles at the black tea society march...

black teas society walking in the streets

by Uncompetitive Fri Jul 30, 2004 22:43

A journalist from the Financial Times was interviewed about the story on The Last Word during the week, and behind his attempts of breezy humour he sounded worried...

by Paul M Sat Jul 31, 2004 11:13

(Vatican City) The Vatican is set to release a new treatise on the family in advance of the US election that calls gay marriage "unchristian" and says working women are neglecting their families.

by redjade Sat Jul 31, 2004 11:46

If you weren't paying attention, you wouldn't know that American troops are now stationed in nine of the fifteen post-Soviet states. Every one of these deployments has taken place in the last three years, using 9/11 as a pretext, and not one is today engaged in the hunt for the people who have engineered attacks on the United States and its allies. And, as usually happens in this business, most are likely to be permanent.

All you would know from the papers, in fact, is that the five former Soviet states without a Yankee legion in residence are now - surprised? - in grave danger of sinking into totalitarianism, illiberalism, violent nationalism, and, probably, internal collapse. Only a wing of F-16s or a platoon of boys from Fort Campbell can save them from themselves.

If not for the murder of 3,000 American civilians on September 11, 2001, this wouldn't have had a prayer of happening.

by redjade Sat Jul 31, 2004 11:55

There were only two credible reasons for invading Iraq: control over oil and preservation of the dollar as the world's reserve currency.

[....]

In the 70s, the US agreed with Saudi Arabia that Opec oil should be traded in dollars. American governments have since been able to print dollars to cover huge trading deficits, with the further benefit of those dollars being placed in the US money markets. In return, the US allowed the Opec countries to operate a production and pricing cartel.

Over the past 15 years, the overall US deficit with the rest of the world has risen to $2,700bn - an abuse of its privileged currency position. Although about 80% of foreign exchange and half of world trade is in dollars, the euro provides a realistic alternative. Euro countries also have a bigger share of world trade, and of trade with Opec countries, than the US.

In 1999, Iran mooted pricing its oil in euros, and in late 2000 Saddam made the switch for Iraqi oil. In early 2002 Bush placed Iran and Iraq in the axis of evil. If the other Opec countries had followed Saddam's move to euros, the consequences for Bush could have been huge. Worldwide switches out of the dollar, on top of the already huge deficit, would have led to a plummeting dollar, a runaway from US markets and dramatic upheavals in the US.

by redjade Sat Jul 31, 2004 12:22

You see, Microsoft is developing what it calls Bonded Sender, a program that would supposedly separate "legitimate" Internet marketers and bulk mailers from spammers. Working with a California company called IronPort, Microsoft will create a white list of Internet marketers who have paid a fee and demonstrated that they have no record of spamming. Companies participating in the Bonded Sender program will be allowed to send their email ads to HotMail and MSN users.

Given Microsoft's investment in the Bonded Sender program, it seems they may soon be in the business of serving as middlemen between emailer marketers and their webmail users. In other words, it sounds like the software megacorp is about to start competing with Richter. Of course, Microsoft could always call off its suit if Richter claims to have been rehabilitated -- and he pays his Bonded Sender fees!

In the spam wars, sometimes it's hard to tell the spammers from the antispammers.

The situation gets even more complicated when you consider the fact that Microsoft will do more than pick and choose winners in the junk email business. Bonded Sender will punish most the people who aren't even sending advertisements -- groups like Internet activists MoveOn.org, who send out millions of emails to alert their members to upcoming political events and issues. If these groups don't pay their Bonded Sender fees, HotMail simply won't deliver their email -- regardless of whether users have specifically opted in to receive it. When it costs money to "go legit" as a bulk mailer, the biggest losers won't be people like Scott Richter. They will be nonprofit organizations, activists, and individuals who rely on email lists to talk to their communities.

from
Spam and Antispam
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/001774.php

link found at

by redjade Sat Jul 31, 2004 12:41

Rall explains how the US got into the war(s)....

by redjade Sat Jul 31, 2004 14:24

Campaigners against the detention of asylum seekers are staging protests around the country.

The demonstrations come after two apparent suicides in removal centres, one of which led to disturbances.

Organisations backing the protests say they want to see an end to detention of people who have not been convicted of any crimes.

The demonstrations are taking place outside five institutions which have been used to hold asylum seekers.

On Monday 19 July, a Ukrainian asylum seeker was found hanged at Harmondsworth Removal centre, near Heathrow Airport. The man had been waiting a date for deportation.

by redjade Sat Jul 31, 2004 14:25

Police investigating race hate crime in south Belfast have asked people to be vigilant in the coming days amid fears of further attacks.

A number of racial attacks have taken place in recent months, resulting in members of ethnic minorities leaving their homes.

Police patrols in south Belfast have been increased in response to intelligence information suggesting there could be further incidents.

There have been 89 racist incidents in the area so far this year ranging from verbal abuse and graffiti to physical attacks on people and their homes, according to the police.

by ipsiphi Sat Jul 31, 2004 17:48

For a while now the issue of psychopharmaceutical social control and the agenda of several multi-national-corporations working in this field has been atracting worry and concern.
Read this peice go to the links. The UK government play catch as we know, and the Irish would soon follow such an iniative which is not so far fetched as you might think.
Incidently the dopamiene inhibitor type vaccine (for cocaine) would naturally (or rather very un-naturally) blow a kids mind, that is long before the kid even knows it has a mind.
I constantly ask people to approach the question of drugs drug prevention education and related policy. Do so before your kids get high and out of their tiny minds at 18 months to stop them (maybe) getting problematically high at 19 years.

by Mens Rea/Tommy D Sat Jul 31, 2004 23:04

According to the editor of Capitol Hill Blue, Teresa Hampton, Bush is being administered
powerful anti-depressant drugs by his physician, Col. Richard J. Tubb to control his erratic behaviour, depression and paranoia - full disturbing story on http://www.capitolhillblue.com

Bush walking off stage on July 8, refusing to answer reporters questions about his relationship with indicted Enron executive, Kenneth J. Lay. "Keep the motherfuckers away from me," he screamed at an aide backstage, if you can't, I'll find someone who can

by redjade Sun Aug 01, 2004 12:30

Oh, Danny Bot, the robot war has started,
And you were built to fight as well as love.
I am now grown, your programmed tasks are over,
You must leave now, to kill, you warlike dove.

You taught me well and raised me to be loyal,
You cleaned my room of every spot of soil.
I greased your gears and filled you up with oil;
Oh, Danny Bot, oh Danny Bot, I love you so.

And if you come, your killing program over,
And I am dead, as dead I well may be,
For robot wars last longer than forever,
Please sing a mournful robot song for me.

by Cllr Keith Martin - independent Sun Aug 01, 2004 23:10 kmartin at dna dot ie Westport, Mayo

Independent town councillor Keith Martin has launched a clinic on the net
People will be able to chat live with the Cllr on-line in real time using a Java Based chat facility.
Cllr Keith Martin, an Independent Cllr on Westport Town Council has launched a virtual clinic.

The clinic allows people to chat live with the Cllr via a Java based text box.

Cllr Keith Martin says the virtual clinic will mean that during the 2-3 hours he is on-line every day he will be able to deal with queries from constituents in real time.

All they have to do is fill in their names click the chat button and within seconds they will be in direct, real time contact with the Cllr.

Cllr Martin says this is probably the only clinic of its kind in the country and that it may be the clinic of the future for younger voters who don't have the time or inclination to go a see a public representative in the flesh.

If Cllr Martin is not on-line all the person has to do is e-mail him for an appointment at which time the Cllr will be on-line and the clinic can be held then.

The clinic is available to anyone with access to the internet and is confidential.

by Merkin Watcher Mon Aug 02, 2004 03:54

Modern American politics explained in less than five minutes!!

by redjade Mon Aug 02, 2004 11:52

The erratic behaviour of the Russian prosecutors, and the amazing, though plausible, idea that they might close down Yukos’s production, served to illustrate just how important Russian oil has become. Yukos alone produces 2% of the world’s output, and more than all the wells in Libya. A couple of years ago OPEC, the cartel of oil-exporting countries, was annoyed with Russia, which is not a member, for increasing production while the cartel tried to support the price through production quotas. But with demand booming and supply constrained, the world, and even OPEC, is now grateful for Russian production—it has become the second-biggest exporting nation, after Saudi Arabia. As output from oilfields in places like North America and the North Sea has declined, production from Russia and other former Soviet countries has shot up, by 2.5 billion bpd since 2001. This has helped to meet new demand from oil-thirsty China and other countries.

But suppliers are still struggling to meet worldwide demand. OPEC, which is largely made up of Middle Eastern countries, is under intense pressure to increase production, in order to bring the oil price closer to its official price band of $22-28 for a basket of crudes (which typically trade a few dollars below the West Texas benchmark). In particular, Saudi Arabia (OPEC’s swing producer) has seen its relationship with America (the world’s biggest oil consumer) come under strain, especially since the latest price spike has come in the pre-election driving season. But there is little OPEC can do to relieve the pressure: it is already operating within 5% of capacity. There are even rumours that Saudi Arabia’s state oil company is experiencing production difficulties, suggestions the kingdom strenuously denies.

by redjade Mon Aug 02, 2004 11:58

Maybe Kerry's real act of cynicism was his vote for the Iraq war in the fall of 2002. With that vote, he ignored everything he believed he had learned from his Vietnam experience. In retrospect, he may feel that he sold his soul to make himself electable. In the months since the war, Kerry has had to pretend he did the right thing, not only because a politician dare not admit error but because his political advisers believe that in a post-Sept. 11 world most of the electorate does not want an "antiwar" president. Throughout the long months of the campaign, Kerry disciplined himself to sound like a hawk. But in his heart, based on all he learned during the formative years of his life, Kerry is not a hawk. At the Democratic National Convention, John Edwards followed the script. Kerry followed his heart.


The ironies abound. Three decades ago, Kerry came out in opposition to the war he had fought in Vietnam. Today, Kerry extols that service so that he may safely, patriotically distance himself from the war in Iraq that he had supported.

by iosaf Mon Aug 02, 2004 14:47

Augusto Pinochet Hiriart, the eldest son of Augusto Pinochet Ugarte dictator of Chile (1973-1990) has been arrested on differing charges relating to dodgy car dealing.
Included in the indictment are the usual list of swapping registration plates, faking mileage, and not throwing in a fluffy dice when he promised he would
real it all at the link.

by paul c Mon Aug 02, 2004 15:32

WASHINGTON, DC - As part of a series of initiatives to improve
coordination and communication among all levels of the American
public, Secretary Randall M. Packer signed the Homeland Insecurity
Secretarial Directive 3, activating the Homeland Insecurity Advisory
System (HIAS).

The Homeland Insecurity Advisory System will provide a comprehensive
and effective means to disseminate information regarding the risk of
the United States Government to the American people and around the
world.