LeeP

Now here's the Halloween story as promised:

"Young Bushenstein"

In an evil castle lived an evil asshole named Young Bushenstein. His father had been Bushenstein Sr. and his mother was the old Silver Douchebag. When young Bushenstein took over the kingdom, many people were pissed off at all the lowsy, corrupt and inhumane crime he and his goons committed, but they were afraid to speak up against Young Bushenstein because they didn't want to be stacked in nude pyramids with glow sticks shoved in them. A propoganda war had popped up and the people were constantly being told that the Moors were attacking the Kingdom and poisoning the food supply, and a terrible war raged on far away. Count RumsFuckula was an evil man who had worked for Bushenstein's father, and he also worked for Young Bushenstein. Count RumsFuckula wrang his greasy hands together and counted, "One War in the Mideast, hahaha, no Two Wars in the Mideast, Muahahaha!!" The children watched as a man dressed in a big bird suit got the big Bird Flu, then a big blue monster jumped out and bit the head off of a terrorist and the puppet show was over. Then someone stood up and talked about the dangers of the war and the evil of the enemies, trying to sway them to the side of the ongoing war. The wars raged on, and a growing number of people were starting to speak out against the wars though. Young Bushenstein wanted to keep his kingdom under his thumb amidst a sea of growing decent, so he had to act quickly.

Young Bushenstein had two Igors. One was named Karl Rover, who was his lap dog cronie, and the other was Prick Cheney (who had been the cronie of Young Bushenstein's father). Both of these raunchy men had their own hideous agendas, but they were able to mix their views with the ignorant views of Young Bushenstein. Since public opinion was starting the sway against them, they realized that they had to make propoganda of their own kind and get someone to spread their ideas to the masses more effectively. They decided to create a Fake News Monster to spread false rumors and to get people's minds away from the ongoing war in the Mideast that was costly for the masses and profitable only to Young Bushenstein and his oil baron cronies.


The Lab of Young Bushenstein

Young Bushenstein was in his lab trying to figure out ways to create this Monster to spread his lies, and he was laughing and drinking lots of strange potions and coming up with diabolical plans of creating exploding short buses and finding ways to blame the impending tragedies on the terrorist Moors.

"I wonder if we can make that there meth since we got us a lab", laughed Young Bushenstein, to which Prick Cheney responded in a low and loathsome voice, "don't be ridiculous, Bushenstein, we have to create a monster". "Yes, that's right", agreed Young Bushenstein.

Karl Rover hobbled in as they were trying to mix together an evil stew and pop it into the feeding tube of a recent dead person in order to revive them, except with bits and pieces of different brains they had saved from people who were past cronies of theirs.

"Rover", ordered Young Bushenstein, "We have already added the brains of past cronies, now I want the brains of Gucker Carleson and Robert Nutsack, who formerly used to be on a crappy show called CrossFirerer. "Yes, I will fetch their brains for you, master", and Karl Rover hobbled into the basement where they kept the brains of conservative cronies in jars in hopes of re-animation.

Down in the Dungeon Karl Rover stumbles onto the jar containing Robert Nutsack's balls, so he plucks those up, and then he see's Gucker Carleson's brain so he picks it up too. The jar is slippery and gregreasier than the jar of Bill Oil'Reilly, and Rover drops it onto the floor. Bill Oil'Reilly and Gucker Carleson's brains smash all over the place. Rover grabs another brain off the shelf and he accidently confuses the label that says "Hooker" to mean someone with that as a last name instead of a real prostitute!

Rover stumbles up the steps with the brain and the balls of the cronies, and brings them to Young Bushenstein in the Lab.

Young Bushenstein, Prick Cheney, and Karl Rover all kneel over the dead body and the place the brain into the head and the balls into the sack. Prick Cheney calls in his cronie Scooter to pull the electrical switch.

Zzzzaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaapppppppppp goes the switch.

A bolt of lightning shoots down from the sky and the corpse is instantly animated and starts saying, "Guck, guck, guck".

Young Bushenstein begins to shout, "It's ALIVE !!! It's ALIVE !!!!!!"

The monster jumps up and grabs Scooter and rips his head off, then he grabs Karl Rover and starts having sex with him in very crude ways while Rover tries to hide his smile. Prick Cheney had another heart attack, but then the electricity in the air somehow restored his heart beat, so he pulls out his tranquilizer gun and shoots the monster with it. The monster yelled, "Guck, Guck, Guck", then passes out on the floor.

When the monster awakes it is tied down to a table and surrounded by Young Bushenstein, Cheney, and Rover.

They begin to put all sorts of propoganda into the monster's head and brainwash him day and night. They give the monster a copy of Newsweek, and the monster yells, "Guck, Guck, Guck", then he chews it to pieces, eats it, then vomits it back up and it scrambles up the words so that it now becomes a good piece of propoganda for Bush and his goons. The Monster does this automatically without thinking.

"I shall dub this monster Guckert, since that is what it seems to say all the time", said Young Bushenstein with confidence in himself.

"Let's put this Gucker Monster in a suit and release him out into the open once we have perfectly brainwashed him", said Prick Cheney.

Young Bushenstein and Prick Cheney went down to Bushenstein's fancy party room for a few drinks to celebrate. They left the Gucker Monster strapped down to the table and left Rover to clean up the whole mess of the lab. Rover thought about how the Gucker Monster had ravished him, and he decided to untie him and see if he could have some more fun. The Gucker Monster jumped up, began performing a very filthy act upon Rover, then he grabbed a stack of New York Times papers and jumped out the window and ran towards the city through the night air!

Rover ran to fetch Young Bushenstein and Prick Cheney and he yelled, "The Gucker Monster has escaped into the city and he's heading towards the capital".

"Dammit", yelled Prick Cheney, "Now we'll have to cancel the re-animation plans we had for that Miers corpse to become the bride of Guckertstein".

A few days passed, and the town had found out about the Gucker Monster and many people were completely pissed off about it and began accusing Bushenstein of creating this monstrosity to brainwash the public. Not only that, but the Gucker Monster had been captured nude in a bath house doing raunchy things and having in his possession a press pass to Young Bushenstein's Castle!

The Gucker Monster quickly escaped from the jail and ran into Bushenstein's Castle for protection, and a large crowd with clubs and pitchforks had formed around Castle Bushenstein.

"We want the Gucker Monster! We want the Gucker Monster!"

Prick Cheney had to think fast, and he looked down at the dead body of Scooter that the Gucker Monster had killed a couple days before. Just then Prick Cheney had an idea and he told Young Bushenstein. Bushenstein then stood up on the castle walls and said, "Yes, it's true, there is a Gucker Monster, and we shall give him to you and throw him off this high castle wall for you because he has deceived us too and we think he is

working for the terrorists". They prop the deal body of Scooter on top of the wall and throw him off, and his guts splatter all over the ground in front of the crowd below. Upon seeing this, the crowds wild animal instincts are immediately appeased by the wild act done by Young Bushenstein, so they decide not to storm the Bastille and kick Bushenstein and his goons out of the Castle that day. They all decide to go home.

Meanwhile, in the dungeon of Castle Bushenstein the Gucker Monster is once again strapped to a table after having been subdued by tranquillizers. Karl Rover is tied up in a gimps suit, and Prick Cheney and Young Bushenstein wring their hands and think of other wicked things they can do. They also plot about unleashing the Gucker Monster once again and letting it do more damage to the credibility of the news once they have brainwashed it more thoroughly and have designed a good fake wig of hair for it and a new name.

But the population is one of growing decent against the corrupt ways of Young Bushenstein and his goons, and hopefully someday the masses will revolt and throw Bushenstein and his cronies out of the Castle for good. Hopefully they do this before it is too late, and before even worse monsters and evil deeds are let loose upon the Word!!!!

"The End" [?]

Feminist Writer Joan Kennedy Taylor Passes

Joan Kennedy Taylor was one of the matriarchs of the modern "individualist feminist" movement. Along with similarly minded feminists like Wendy McElroy and Sharon Presley, Taylor argued that American feminism began in the 19th century as a "classical liberal" movement that sought to strike down the chains of government that held women back.

Even today, she says, women will find maximum opportunity and equality by emphasizing individual rights and the free market, rather than government laws and programs.

While her views put her at odds with many "mainstream" feminists, Taylor says she prefers to work to build alliances rather than accentuate differences. "New Deal feminists may put more faith in government solutions than would libertarians or classical liberals," she said in an online discussion (May 7, 1999). "But I think it makes sense to keep the bridges to what is good about the liberal tradition, so that one can call upon our common heritage in the Enlightenment and the American constitutional tradition of individual rights."

Taylor has written about individualism and feminism since the early 1970s. She is the author of Reclaiming the Mainstream: Individualist Feminism Rediscovered (1992), What to Do When You Don't Want to Call the Cops: A Non-Adversarial Approach to Sexual Harassment (1999), and the pamphlet, Women's Issues: Feminism, Classical Liberalism, and the Future (1993).

Her articles and essays have been published in Success magazine, Reason, the Stanford Law and Policy Review, Free Inquiry, the American Enterprise, and The Washington Times. She served as an editor for The Libertarian Review and The Freeman.

Taylor is a founding member, past vice president, and member of the board of directors of Feminists for Free Expression, an organization that works to protect First Amendment rights. She was also a national coordinator for the Association of Libertarian Feminists.

EvolveDamnYou.blogspot.com

Evolution Surrenders! is...

...Here to expose the stupidity of left and right wing politics, and mankind in general since 2005.

Someone's been watching you on the Web

Dogpile sampled Internet searches in the Twin Cities last week and found some specific interests: dogs, mirrors and Paris Hilton.

Steve Alexander, Star Tribune

What's on your mind?

Newspapers, survey takers, advertisers and your next-door neighbor are always curious, but they usually don't know unless you tell them. But Americans have the new habit of telling Internet search engines what they're thinking about; they do it every time they type a query into Google.

What if somebody compiled all those queries into a portrait of our collective personal thoughts? Somebody has. In a sort of mini-profile of what Twin Cities Internet users were thinking Monday, Wednesday and Friday last week, the Bellevue, Wash.-based search engine Dogpile put together a list of the "key word" search terms used in its top 20 searches by people in the Twin Cities.

The results? Apparently we have a more-than-usual interest in dogs, baby names and hockey apparel.

Dogpile is a "search engine aggregator" that accepts your key words, then runs searches on them on major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask Jeeves. Dogpile then gives the user a composite short list of what it considers the best search results.

The three daily lists include Dogpile searches in the metro's four area codes (612, 651, 763 and 952.) Because this is a family newspaper, Dogpile agreed to filter out searches for X-rated terms. (You know what they are, anyway.)

Many of the local top 20 searches fell into a few popular categories, such as music lyrics and heiress Paris Hilton. But less-frequent searches not in the top 20 were for topics such as "mirrors,"New England colonies,"Minnesota Wild apparel" and "What is ESP?"

Sometimes the top lists corresponded to the news of the day or the calendar; Hurricane Wilma and Halloween both appear in these lists.

The Twin Cities search results were a lot like those Dogpile sees nationally. However, key word searches for dogs, radio stations and baby names showed up more often here than in the country as a whole, the company said.

There also are a few odd searches, such as for eBay or complicated Internet addresses within Google's website. Dogpile says that happens when users aren't technically savvy or when they make a common mistake.

The error comes when they think they are typing in the Internet address box at the top of the Web browser, they really are typing in the Dogpile key word search window.

In addition, some complex Internet addresses actually have shorter names that people type in to get there.

The IP address

Such localized search information is not widely available.

But it's feasible for any search engine company to use "data mining" techniques to compare the Internet searches being made in one geographic area vs. another, said Jon Nolz, marketing director at InfoSpace Inc., the Bellevue, Wash., company that owns the nine-year-old Dogpile service.

To compile the Twin Cities search lists, InfoSpace sorted millions of computerized records of Dogpile Internet searches based on where they originated.

The point of origin -- an area code, ZIP code, city, state or country -- can be determined by the "IP address" of the computer that made the Internet search, Nolz said. Because every computer on the Internet has an IP (Internet protocol) address assigned to it by an Internet service provider, it's possible to trace an IP address back to the geographic location of the service provider.

While marketers and advertisers might be interested in buying such demographic information, InfoSpace hasn't tried to sell it -- at least not so far, Nolz said.

But even if the company does sell that data, it won't invade anyone's personal privacy by identifying their individual Internet searches, he said.

"We don't look at individual customers, and we are not playing a Big Brother role," Nolz said.

"We're only looking at aggregate totals of IP addresses."

Robert Fisk: War is the "Total Failure of the Human Spirit"

AMY GOODMAN: Robert Fisk, we are out of time but I just have a quick question, perhaps--

ROBERT FISK: Thank goodness.

AMY GOODMAN: And that is, you've covered the Israeli invasions of Lebanon, the Iranian Revolution, the Iran-Iraq war, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Gulf war, wars in Algeria, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the invasion and occupation of Iraq--

ROBERT FISK: Enough, enough, enough.

AMY GOODMAN: What gives you hope? What gives you hope?

ROBERT FISK: Nothing. I’m sorry. Nothing. I’m sorry. Nothing at the moment. Ordinary people, I guess. Ordinary people who speak out. People in the Arab world as well. But in terms of governments, nothing much. I may be wrong. I may be too much of a pessimist because I've seen too much.

AMY GOODMAN: Robert Fisk, author of “The Great War for Civilization: The Conquest of the Middle East," reports for the Independent newspaper for 30 years, based in the Middle East.

All your base are belong to Google

Google is testing a new service that would allow consumers to post and make searchable any type of content, the company confirmed this week.

Screenshots of the "Google Base" service surfaced this week, immediately prompting speculation that the search giant was getting ready to take one...someone.

Was the new offering the precursor to a new e-commerce site that could wipe eBay and Craigslist off the map? Or maybe Google was developing a massive information storage service?

For its part, a Google spokeswoman stated that the site was merely experimenting with a way to "provide content owners an easy way to give us access to their content."

But as bloggers and analysts have had more time to think about it, one theme emerged--by combining search, commerce, community and other features, the new offering had the potential to be something far bigger than a simple online store.

Blog community response:

"Rather than scrape existing databases, Google is going to encourage people, businesses, and organizations to submit their listings directly to Google. This avoids any potential 'cease and desist' orders like the one that Oodle.com recently received from Craigslist.org for scrapping its listings. By actually owning a structured database that's clean from the start...Google can focus on what it does best--getting loads of consumers and businesses to use its services."
--Charlene Li's Blog

"I think if Google is simply aggregating user listings, like it aggregates text CPC ads, then Craigslist has less to fear from Google Base. If Google Base is going to build a community, like Tribe or MySpace, then everyone has a lot to fear."
--A VC

"Rather than create a bunch of distinct services, Google could potentially provide a platform, into which any number of files could be placed, accessed/shared, and saved. Picasa, GMail, Blogger, Google Maps, etc, etc, etc simply become inputs to your own database."
--Gary Stein

Posted by Margaret Kane

Blah

Formative Period of the Federal Reserve System During the World Crisis, by WGP Harding

Another link

The editorial page of The New York Times, January 18, 1920, carried an interesting comment on the Federal Reserve System. The unidentified writer, perhaps Paul Warburg, stated, "The Federal Reserve is a fount of credit, not of capital." This is one of the most revealing statements ever made about the Federal Reserve System. It says that the Federal Reserve System will never add anything to our capital structure, or to the formation of capital, because it is organized to produce credit, to create money for credit money and speculations, instead of providing capital funds for the improvement of commerce and industry. Simply stated, capitalization would mean the providing of notes backed by a precious metal or other commodity. Reserve notes are unbacked paper loaned at interest.

On July 25, 1921, Senator Owen stated on the editorial page of The New York Times, The Federal Reserve Board is the most gigantic financial power in all the world. Instead of using this great power as the Federal Reserve Act intended that it should, the board....delegated this power to the banks, threw the weight of its influence toward the support of the policy of German inflation." The senator whose name was on the Act saw that it was not performing as promised.

[---]

At the Senate Hearings in 1921 on the Federal Reserve System, it was brought out that the System had been receiving this gold. Congressman Dunbar questioned Governor W.P.G. Harding of the Federal Reserve Board as follows:

HARDING: "Some of it is thought to be Kolchak gold, coming through Siberia, but it is none of the Federal Reserve Banks' business. The Secretary of the Treasury has issued instructions to the assay office not to take any gold which does not bear the mint mark of a friendly nation."

Just what Governor Harding meant by "a friendly nation" is not clear. In 1921, we were not at war with any country, but Congress was already beginning to question the international gold dealings of the Federal Reserve System. Governor Harding could very well shrug his shoulders and say that it was none of the Federal Reserve Banks' business where the gold came from. Gold knows no nationality or race. The United States by law had ceased to be interested in where its gold came from in 1906, when Secretary of the Treasury Shaw made arrangements with several of the larger New York banks (ones in which he had interests) to purchase gold with advances of cash from the United States Treasury, which would then purchase the gold from these banks. The Treasury could claim that it did not know where its gold came from since their office only registers the bank from which it made the purchase. Since 1906, the Treasury has not known from which of the international gold merchants it was buying its gold.

The international gold dealings of the Federal Reserve System, and its active support in helping the League of Nations to force all the nations of Europe and South America back on the gold standard for the benefit of international gold merchants like Eugene Meyer, Jr. and Albert Strauss, is best demonstrated by a classic incident, the sterling credit of 1925.

WithdrawMiers.org

WithdrawMiers.org has been established to urge the withdrawal of Harriet Miers from consideration as a nominee for Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court.

WithdrawMiers.org will serve as a clearinghouse for information related to the nomination along with tools for leaders, activist groups, and the general public to contact U.S. Senators and the White House to express the shared belief that Ms. Miers’ nomination should be withdrawn.

This website was created by a growing coalition of advocates and other individuals that believe the best interests of the country and the Supreme Court would be served by the withdrawal of Ms. Miers.

Priestess of Pity and Vengeance, by Crispin Sartwell

If Joan of Arc were to be reincarnated as an American atheist, she'd be Voltairine de Cleyre. De Cleyre is an almost forgotten figure, but she committed her life to a vision of human liberation, a vision which encompassed even the man who tried to kill her. She was an incandescent writer and an original thinker, though she also lived much of her life in despair to the point of suicide.

De Cleyre and Emma Goldman in their own time were often mentioned in the same breath as the two great women of American anarchism. They had much in common. Both were celebrated speakers and writers. Both mounted scathing critiques of sexual oppression and the institution of marriage. They were active in the same circles and on the same issues, though de Cleyre was centered in Philadelphia, Goldman in New York.

But Goldman and de Cleyre were opposite poles of the same world. Where Goldman was a communist anarchist, de Cleyre was an individualist, at least early in her career. Where Goldman was an immigrant, de Cleyre grew up in rural Michigan. Where Goldman drew on the work of European thinkers such as Kropotkin and Bakunin, de Cleyre associated her thought with Americans such as Paine, Jefferson, Emerson, and the individualist writer Benjamin Tucker. Where Goldman was given to the free expression of desire, de Cleyre spent much of her youth in a nunnery and even after she rejected organized religion she remained quite a severe ascetic. And where Goldman was almost pathologically social, de Cleyre was fundamentally solitary.

They knew each other and admired each other from the soapbox and in print, though their relationship was not untainted by rivalry. Each thought the other ugly, and said so. Goldman wrote that "physical beauty and feminine attraction were witheld from her, their lack made more apparent by ill-health and her abhorrence of artifice." This is rather an odd assessment since many of her contemporaries described Voltai (as she was known to friends and family) as pretty, a view that is borne out by pictures. De Cleyre for her part called Emma a "fishwife," accused her of "billingsgate" (talking abusively) (A 135) and thought her vulgar and decadent. They hated each other's boyfriends as well; De Cleyre despised Emma's notorious Ben Reitman, probably in part because of his continual sexual advances toward her and anyone else who got within range. And de Cleyre's lover Samuel Gordon was a follower of Johann Most and supported him in his condemnation of Berkman's attack on Frick. When Most repudiated her lover and collaborator Alexander Berkman, Emma horsewhipped Most in public, and you will understand why she refused to allow De Cleyre to visit her in jail if she brought Gordon.

But they also grudgingly admired and publicly defended one another. In 1894, Emma was arrested for telling a crowd "Ask for work; if they do not give you work ask for bread; if they do not give you bread then take bread." De Cleyre delivered a speech in her defense which is one of the most astonishing documents in American letters. And after De Cleyre's death in 1912, Emma published an extremely moving eulogy in Mother Earth, which, though it contains the quoted observations about Voltai's appearance, is full also of praise for her work and her personality.

Hugo Chavez Warning

Link

Mnemosyne: Women and Learning

Prison should not frighten us. When you decide to be a writer, a scholar or an artist, you take on the burden of fighting for the word, for love and for beauty.

Alia Shuaib

American Association of University Women

-- The AAUW Report: How Schools Shortchange Girls (1992)

-- Links of Interest

BellaOnline: Education

Center for the Education of Women (University of Michigan)

Caltech Women's Center

Canadian Women's Internet Directory : Education

Dads and Daughters Home Page

Distinguished Women -- Field of Endeavor Index
(Danuta Bois)

The Domain of Patriarchy on the Internet (Robert Sheaffer)

EducatingJane.com (Dawn Welch et al.)

Emory Women Writers Resource Project
(dir. Sheila Cavanagh)

Expect the Best from a Girl

FAWE Forum for African Women Educationalists

GAP Online (Girls Are Powerful)

GenderWatchers (International Gender Organization)

Girl Power! Campaign Homepage (U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services)

Girls & Greenery (Human-Environment Research Laboratory, UIUC)

GirlsCanDo.com

Girls Count

Girls' Education (NEA International)

The Girls' Pipeline to Power

Girlstart - Smart from the start!

IFUW - International Federation of University Women (Geneva)

Institute for Feminist Theory and Research (University of Liverpool)

Margit Stange Support Committee

Myra Sadker Advocates for Gender Equity

National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education (US)

Noema: Women in Philosophy

Nrrdgrrl! (Amelia E. Wilson)

On Campus with Women (Association of American Colleges and Universities)

Pencilbox Magazine - The Online Resource for College Women

Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University

Raising a Daughter (Valerie Zilinsky)

Senior Women Academic Administrators of Canada

SOSIG: Women and Philosophy

State of the World's Mothers 2005: The Power and Promise of Girls' Education (Save the Children, Westport, Connecticut)

Thirdspace: The Site for Emerging Feminist Scholars

The Traveling School | Education and Adventure for Young Women

Trends in Educational Equity of Girls & Women: 2004 (US National Center for Education Statistics, 19 Nov 2004)

Western Association of Women Historians (US)

Women (College and University Research & Reference)

Women In Higher Education

Women in Scholarship, Engineering, Science and Technology
(WISEST, University of Alberta)

Women Nobel Prize Laureates (Nobel Prize Internet Archive)

Women Scholars Worldwide (Susan J. Bandy)

Women's Equity Resource Center - Women's Educational Equity Act (US)

Women's Issues Network (Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences)

Online Works of Howard Zinn

Excepts from books written by Zinn:

• Third World Traveler - featuring excerpts from a large number of Zinn's books and essays.
• Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress - the first chapter of A People's History of the United States.
• Drawing the Color Line - the second chapter of A People's History of the United States.
• The Ludlow Massacre - an excerpt from pages 346-349 of A People's History, which I think is chapter 13 or 14.
• A People's War? - the sixteenth chapter of A People's History.
• The Clinton Presidency and the Crisis of Democracy - The latest chapter in The Twentieth Century.
• Going South - the first chapter of You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train, Zinn's autobiography. Courtesy of ZNet.
• The Modern Era of Law - from Declarations of Independence.
• Introduction to Law and Order: a Chapter on Civil Disobedience - from Declarations of Independence.
• The Uses of Scholarship - an excerpt from The Zinn Reader: Writings on Civil Disobedience and Democracy.

Essays and other miscellany by Zinn:

• Two essays on the Sept. 11 attacks and their aftermath:
  • Violence Doesn't Work
  • A Just Cause, Not a Just War
• Timothy McVeigh's Path to the Death Chamber
• Academic Freedom: Collaboration and Resistance - the transcript of a speech given by Zinn to the University of Cape Town on July 23, 1982.
• Howard Zinn's ZNet HomePage - a treasure trove of interesting articles and essays by Zinn. This page contains links to some of the articles and essays on the ZNet site.
• A Campaign Without Class - a piece about the lack of class warfare in the 2000 US residential election.
• Campaign 2000: The Silence Of The Candidates Is What I Want To Talk About - an article about the silence of Presidential candidates on pressing international problems.
• The Diverted Left - a fairly dated piece about leftists complicated relationship with Clinton appearing on a message board in February 1999.
• The Federal Bureau of Intimidation - an essay about the harassment tactics of the FBI.
• Columbus and Western Civilization - an essay about what Columbus Day means. This is not the same as the first chapter of A People's History of the United States.
• Lessons of Vietnam, - an essay about how bad war is, as the Vietnam War demonstrates.
• A Speech on the Dec. 98 Bombing of Iraq
• A Diplomatic Solution - Zinn's take on Kosovo, dated May 1999, printed in The Progressive.
• A Few Points on the Kosovo Situation - some comments by Zinn published on ZNet, dated April 5, 1999.
• Kosovo: Where are We Headed? - A series of quotes about the situation in Kosovo, dated April 1999.
• Emmarabilia: A Testimonial by Howard Zinn - A short commentary on the life of Emma Goldman, about whom Zinn wrote a play.
• People Still Have Power - Excerpts from a short speech by Howard Zinn about how the establishment isn't as powerful as you might think.

GlobalAware.org

We are a small but incredibly diverse organization. We combine expertise in alternative media with a commitment to raising awareness of social and environmental justice issues. Our text, photo and video databases have become a resource and indispensable tool for activists and organisations from around the world. Our media professionals produce exhibitions, websites and media material to raise awareness on some of the most important issues of our time. Much of this work is contributed on a voluntary basis. We believe that only cooperation and collaboration throughout the social justice community will lead to real change and a sustainable future.

*

The Abolition of Work

No one should ever work. Work is the source of nearly all the misery in the world. Almost all the evil you'd care to name comes from working or from living in a world designed for work. In order to stop suffering, we have to stop working. That doesn't mean we have to stop doing things. It does mean creating a new way of life based on play; in other words, a ludic revolution. By "play" I mean also festivity, creativity, conviviality, commensality, and maybe even art. There is more to play than child's play, as worthy as that is. I call for a collective adventure in generalized joy and freely interdependent exuberance.

Niger Uranium Forgery Myster Solved?

The Fitzgerald/Plame investigation goes in a new direction

by Justin Raimondo

Amid all the brouhaha over whether I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Karl Rove, or any number of Bush administration insiders had a hand in leaking the name of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame, the essential crime at the core of the investigation – and its probable starting point – often gets lost in the shuffle. The "outing" of Plame was not an end in itself: the outers didn't just one day decide that they were going to go after her and Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, her husband, because they were in a vindictive mood. They were out to get them because Wilson drew attention to the provenance of the infamous "16 words" uttered by President Bush in his 2003 state of the union address, in which Bush claimed that Iraq had sought out uranium in "an African country" in order to make a nuclear bomb. Perhaps without knowing it, Wilson – in taking an interest in this subject – was getting too close to the enormous fraud at the center of the War Party's propaganda campaign.

Air America Radio

http://www.airamericaradio.com

Quote by G.K. Chesterton

"Business, especially big business, is now organized like an army. It is, as some would say, a sort of mild militarism without bloodshed; as I say, a militarism without the military virtues.

– The Thing, G. K. Chesterton

So there.

The Little Prince, Chapter 21 for "Rose" from "DR"

It was then that the fox appeared.

"Good morning," said the fox.

"Good morning," the little prince responded politely, although when he turned around he saw nothing.

"I am right here," the voice said, "under the apple tree." "

Who are you?" asked the little prince, and added, "You are very pretty to look at."

"I am a fox," said the fox.

"Come and play with me," proposed the little prince.

"I am so unhappy." "I cannot play with you," the fox said. "I am not tamed."

"Ah! Please excuse me," said the little prince. But, after some thought, he added: "What does that mean, 'tame'?"

"You do not live here," said the fox. "What is it that you are looking for?"

"I am looking for men," said the little prince. "What does that mean, 'tame'?"

"Men," said the fox. "They have guns, and they hunt. It is very disturbing. They also raise chickens. These are their only interests. Are you looking for chickens?"

"No," said the little prince. "I am looking for friends. What does that mean, 'tame'?"

"It is an act too often neglected," said the fox. It means to establish ties."

"'To establish ties'?"

"Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world..."

"I am beginning to understand," said the little prince. "There is a flower... I think that she has tamed me..."

"It is possible," said the fox. "On the Earth one sees all sorts of things."

"Oh, but this is not on the Earth!" said the little prince. The fox seemed perplexed, and very curious.

"On another planet?"

"Yes."

"Are there hunters on this planet?"

"No."

"Ah, that is interesting! Are there chickens?"

"No."

"Nothing is perfect," sighed the fox. But he came back to his idea. "My life is very monotonous," the fox said. "I hunt chickens; men hunt me. All the chickens are just alike, and all the men are just alike. And, in consequence, I am a little bored. But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life . I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow. And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the colour of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat..." The fox gazed at the little prince, for a long time. "Please, tame me!" he said.

"I want to, very much," the little prince replied. "But I have not much time. I have friends to discover, and a great many things to understand."

"One only understands the things that one tames," said the fox. "Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends any more. If you want a friend, tame me..."

"What must I do, to tame you?" asked the little prince.

"You must be very patient," replied the fox. "First you will sit down at a little distance from me, like that, in the grass. I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings. But you will sit a little closer to me, every day..."

The next day the little prince came back.

"It would have been better to come back at the same hour," said the fox. "If, for example, you come at four o'clock in the afternoon, then at three o'clock I shall begin to be happy. I shall feel happier and happier as the hour advances. At four o'clock, I shall already be worrying and jumping about. I shall show you how happy I am! But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you... One must observe the proper rites..."

"What is a rite?" asked the little prince.

"Those also are actions too often neglected," said the fox. "They are what make one day different from other days, one hour from other hours. There is a rite, for example, among my hunters. Every Thursday they dance with the village girls. So Thursday is a wonderful day for me! I can take a walk as far as the vineyards. But if the hunters danced at just any time, every day would be like every other day, and I should never have any vacation at all."

So the little prince tamed the fox. And when the hour of his departure drew near...

"Ah," said the fox, "I shall cry."

"It is your own fault," said the little prince. "I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you..."

"Yes, that is so," said the fox.

"But now you are going to cry!" said the little prince.

"Yes, that is so," said the fox.

"Then it has done you no good at all!"

"It has done me good," said the fox, "because of the color of the wheat fields." And then he added: "Go and look again at the roses. You will understand now that yours is unique in all the world. Then come back to say goodbye to me, and I will make you a present of a secret."

The little prince went away, to look again at the roses. "You are not at all like my rose," he said. "As yet you are nothing. No one has tamed you, and you have tamed no one. You are like my fox when I first knew him. He was only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But I have made him my friend, and now he is unique in all the world." And the roses were very much embarrassed. "You are beautiful, but you are empty," he went on. "One could not die for you. To be sure, an ordinary passerby would think that my rose looked just like you, the rose that belongs to me. But in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses: because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass globe; because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen; because it is for her that I have killed the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies); because it is she that I have listened to, when she grumbled, or boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing. Because she is my rose.

And he went back to meet the fox. "Goodbye," he said.

"Goodbye," said the fox. "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

"What is essential is invisible to the eye," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.

"It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important."

"It is the time I have wasted for my rose..." said the little prince, so that he would be sure to remember.

"Men have forgotten this truth," said the fox. "But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose..."

"I am responsible for my rose," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.

Secrets of the Federal Reserve

Table of Contents
*
Chapter One Jekyll Island 1
Chapter Two The Aldrich Plan 10
Chapter Three The Federal Reserve Act 16
Chapter Four The Federal Advisory Council 40
Chapter Five The House of Rothschild 47
Chapter Six The London Connection 63
Chapter Seven The Hitler Connection 69
Chapter Eight World War One 82
Chapter Nine The Agricultural Depression 114
Chapter Ten The Money Creators 119
Chapter Eleven Lord Montagu Norman 131
Chapter Twelve The Great Depression 143
Chapter Thirteen The 1930's 151
Chapter Fourteen Congressional Expose 171
Addendum 179
Appendix I 181
Biographies 186
Bibliography 193
Index 197

LibrariansAgainstBush.org

"Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government. Whenever things
get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights."

Thomas Jefferson

After the Deluge, by Stephen Gerringer for JCF

Then by the will of Hurakan, the Heart of Heaven, the waters were swollen, and a
great flood came upon the mannikins of wood. They were drowned and a thick
resin fell from heaven…

Because they had not thought on Hurakan, therefore the face of the earth grew
dark, and a pouring rain commenced, raining by day and by night …

Then ran the mannikins hither and thither in despair. They climbed to the roofs of
the houses, but the houses crumbled under their feet; they tried to mount to the
tops of the trees, but the trees hurled them from them; they sought refuge in the
caverns, but the caverns closed before them. Thus was accomplished the ruin of
this race, destined to be overthrown. - Popol Vuh, First Book (tr. Lewis Spence)

*
I pen these words barely a week after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast,
uprooting over a million people, leaving hundreds of thousands homeless, tens of
thousands stranded, and unknown hundreds dead. Most Americans, cast involuntarily in
the role of passive participants, watched this tragedy unfold with the same sense of slowmo
horror, helplessness, and fatalistic fascination we experience in that instant before
cars collide, transfixed by the seemingly endless stream of devastation, suffering, and
death broadcast twenty-four hours a day.

For those of us outside the affected area, the images of anguish, grief, and loss are surreal
and almost unfathomable in their magnitude, evoking empathy, compassion, and grief of
our own.

But for those in Katrina’s path, particularly residents of New Orleans and the Mississippi
delta, those who have lost family, friends, homes, and livelihood, it’s the apocalypse.

"The only word I have to describe this is biblical." -unidentified rescue worker

Frontline on PBS

Since January 1983, FRONTLINE has served as American public television's - PBS - flagship public affairs series. Hailed upon its television broadcast debut as "the last best hope for broadcast documentaries," FRONTLINE's stature over 20 seasons is reaffirmed each week through incisive documentaries covering the scope and complexity of the human experience.

When FRONTLINE was born, however, the prospects for television news documentaries looked grim. Pressure was on the network news departments to become profitable, and the spirit of outspoken journalistic inquiry established by programs like Edward R. Murrow's "See It Now" and "Harvest of Shame" had given way to entertainment values and feature-filled magazine shows. Therefore, it fell to public television to pick up the torch of public affairs and continue this well-established broadcast news tradition.

Since its inception, FRONTLINE has never shied away from tough, controversial issues or complex stories. In an age of anchor celebrities and snappy sound bites, FRONTLINE remains committed to providing a primetime venue for engaging documentaries that fully explore and illuminate the critical issues of our times. FRONTLINE remains the only regularly scheduled long-form public-affairs documentary series on American television, producing more hours of documentary programming than all the commercial networks combined.

From producer Ofra Bikel's seven-year investigation of the Little Rascals sexual abuse case to Martin Smith and Lowell Bergman's sweeping chronicle of America's drug wars; from Helen Whitney's probing biography of Pope John Paul II to Barak Goodman and Rachel Dretzin's "Lost Children of Rockdale County," FRONTLINE gives top-notch journalists the time needed to thoroughly research a story and the time on-air to tell their story in a compelling way.

Credible, thoughtful reporting combined with powerful narrative -- a good story, well-told. That is the heart of FRONTLINE's commitment to its viewers.

CreatingPeace.net

Peace on Earth...Pass it on!

UnitedHoumaNation.org

This tribe has been in been in the Federal Recognition Program for 21 years. Still unrecognized as of today.
*

Houma History by T. Mayheart Dardar

Most researchers universally accept the early history of the Houma (1682-circa 1765). The tribe enters the historical record in the journal of LaSalle in 1682 when the explorer notes that he passed their village but does not visit them. They were visited by Tonti in 1686 and D’Iberville in 1699 beginning a friendship with the French that continues to this day.

In 1706 the Houma left their village, located at the site of the modern-day Angola Penitentiary, and began a southward migration that brought them to the area of the LaFourche Post in the mid-1700’s. Conflict arises when we attempt to connect these historic Houma with the United Houma Nation of today. Indeed the gist of the Bureau of Indian Affairs decision to not Federally Recognize the UHN is tied to this one point. In the opinion of this bureaucracy the tribe can not make this all-important historic tie-in. Presented here in this chapter is a simple presentation of facts that I feel were overlooked. They show a clear link between the United Houma Nation and the historic Houma Tribe.

VenezuelAnalysis.com

Venezuelanalysis.com is an editorially independent website produced by individuals who are dedicated to disseminating news and analysis about the current political situation in Venezuela.

Web server services and bandwith is donated by Aporrea.org, a larger site maintained by grassroots groups in Venezuela. Other expenses are covered by Venezuelanalysis' main volunteers and by donations from our readers.

The site's aim is to provide on-going news about developments in Venezuela, as well as to contextualize this news with in-depth analysis and background information. The site is targeted towards academics, journalists, intellectuals, investors, government officials from different countries, and the general public.

While the site publishes opinion articles, it also aims for accuracy in the news and facts presented in all articles. Our goal is to become the primary resource for information and analysis on Venezuela in the English language.

1stHeadlines.com

For the News Junky in You.

Fmr. Army Chaplain James Yee on the Abuse of Prisoners at Guantanamo

The extraordinary case of Chaplain James Yee - one of the first Muslim Chaplains commissioned by the U.S Army. Yee was posted in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in 2002, but less than a year after serving there, he was accused of espionage by the military and faced charges so severe, that he was threatened with the death penalty.

The military leaked information about the case to the press and the media went on a feeding frenzy. Chaplain Yee was vilified on the airwaves as a traitor to his country and accused of being a mole inside of the Army. Then the military's case began to unravel. The charges were eventually reduced and eight months later, dropped altogether. Chaplain Yee has written a book about his experiences called "For God an Country: Faith and Patriotism under fire."

ColorofChange.org

Our sisters and brothers were left behind to die, because no one answers to them.

It's time to stand together and make a change.

Most politicians ignore poor Black folks because they can't make big donations or deliver votes. And, to be real, a whole lot of us have tip-toed out of the hood and left them behind too, making our folks invisible even to the people who above all others should have their backs.

But they weren't invisible after Katrina hit. The media showed us faces we recognized: people who looked like us; people doing everything they could to save their families; people surviving, not "looting." And the more we looked, the more we knew -- it didn't have to be like that.

We are heart-broken and outraged by the catastrophe that followed Hurricane Katrina. We are disgusted by the lack of response by the Bush administration which would never have left rich, white people to suffer and die. And we are also devastated to realize that as a Black community, we did not have the capacity and political power to demand and receive immediate action to care for our suffering brothers and sisters.

If there were ever a time to step up, that time is now.

We are asking 250,000 people -- African-Americans and concerned allies of any race -- to make a commitment. To ensure that our brothers and sisters, including all folks who find themselves in the same boat, are protected and are never abandoned again. To make sure that our folks in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast have a chance to be a major part of the rebuilding effort, and are given a chance to thrive. To ensure that Bush cannot use this crisis as another way to fatten the pockets of his friends, and further erode our government's support for those who need it most.

No matter what your race or income level, you know what you saw was wrong. Join us and help to make it right.

We are calling out to all people who are ready to stand up for justice. It is time to come together and raise our voices. Let's all become the color of change.

MasturbateForPeace.com

WhiteHouse.org

On January 20, 2001, George W. Bush signed an executive order establishing the United States Department of Faith (USDOF). Headed by the President's (and God's) favorite church, Landover Baptist Church, the USDOF is entrusted with overseeing disbursement of millions of taxpayer dollars to religious organizations. The USDOF does not discriminate against any faith, making funds available to both Baptist churches and other churches or organizations that recognize Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. (Read the USDOF Mission Statemen)

American Voices Abroad

A coalition of individuals and groups composed of U.S. citizens living abroad who share the following general objectives:

• to promote peace, to oppose wars of aggression by the United States, and to take action toward these ends in relation to U.S. policy,
• to promote economic and social justice in U.S. policy,
• to affirm the rights of all people to democratic self-determination and the right to resist injustice and tyranny,
• as a coalition, to maintain nonviolence in our tactics and direct actions,
• to raise awareness that a fully and accurately informed public is essential to the survival of democracy.

Our goals following from the above objectives are:

• to call for the repeal of the USA Patriot Act and of any other new legislation infringing upon inalienable rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution,
• to reject the Bush administration national security strategy of Sept. 2002 which includes the doctrine of preemptive and preventive war,
• to oppose the occupation of Iraq and to work toward withdrawal of U.S. troops; to support viable self-determination for Iraq; and to demand multilateral measures to rebuild that country.
• to promote openness and transparency in the U.S. government,
• to insist upon free and fair elections in the United States,
• to encourage pluralism and diversity in US society, media, and political debate,
• to promote fair trade agreements which foster human development and general prosperity instead of the current system of maximizing exploitation,
• to promote recognition of the United Nations as the primary forum for international law,
• to demand and promote responsible and just US foreign policy with respect for international law,
• to promote resolution of international conflicts through an international justice system,
• to address US domestic economic justice issues and reorient budgetary priorities away from war,
• to develop a worldwide network of U.S. citizens living abroad to promote our objectives and support those in the United States and our countries of residence with whom we share goals,
• to promote dialogue between our countries of residence and the United States of America.

ZMag.org

Nuff said.