net127

by csnyder on March 23, 2003
Location: New York, NY

George Monbiot writes, “[Rumsfeld’s] prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, in Cuba, where 641 men (nine of whom are British citizens) are held, breaches no fewer than 15 articles of the third convention. The US government broke the first of these (article 13) as soon as the prisoners arrived, by displaying them, just as the Iraqis have done, on television. In this case, however, they were not encouraged to address the cameras. They were kneeling on the ground, hands tied behind their backs, wearing blacked-out goggles and earphones. In breach of article 18, they had been stripped of their own clothes and deprived of their possessions. They were then interned in a penitentiary (against article 22), where they were denied proper mess facilities (26), canteens (28), religious premises (34), opportunities for physical exercise (38), access to the text of the convention (41), freedom to write to their families (70 and 71) and parcels of food and books (72).”
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Paul Mitchell writes, “Ultimately, it is not dancing, drugs and partying that are keeping young people attached to the rave scene. It is the possibility that they will have their hurts healed there, that they will experience true compassion, justice and love.”
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Michael Moore writes, “So today is what you call “the moment of truth,” the day that “France and the rest of world have to show their cards on the table.” I’m glad to hear that this day has finally arrived. Because, I gotta tell ya, having survived 440 days of your lying and conniving, I wasn’t sure if I could take much more. So I’m glad to hear that today is Truth Day, ’cause I got a few truths I would like to share with you:”
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Today, the world is so small and so interdependent that the concept of war has become anachronistic, an outmoded approach. As a rule, we always talk about reform and changes. Among the old traditions, there are many aspects that are either ill-suited to our present reality or are counterproductive due to their shortsightedness. These, we have consigned to the dustbin of history. War too should be relegated to the dustbin of history.
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(via detontate.net)

Agence France-Presse reports, “A total of 819,000 Chinese were condemned to death or jailed for life over the past five years, the country’s Supreme Court president said.

The figure represents a 25 percent rise over the previous five years, Xiao Yang said in his annual report to members of the National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing.

A total of 3.2 million people were condemned for various types of crime over the past five years, he said.

The Chinese legal system reserves particularly severe treatment for people found guilty of organizing themselves into “evil cults” such as the Falungong spiritual movement, or criminal gangs.

The same goes for crimes falling into the categories of drug trafficking, kidnapping of women and children, underground publishing, separatism, terrorism and subversion of state power.

Xiao also said said 83,308 officials have been found guilty of corruption over the past five years, the vast majority of them apparently small fry.

Only 2,662 were officials above the county level, one of the lowest administrative tiers in China’s administrative system, Xiao said in his report.

“These results have testified to the intensified efforts by the people’s courts in dealing with job-related crimes and those offering bribes to government functionaries,” Xiao said.

The 2,662 public servants at or above the county level falling foul of the law represented a 65 percent increase over the previous five-year period, according to Xiao.
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(via Luke Ford.)

New York Times Editors write, “Within days, barring a diplomatic breakthrough, President Bush will decide whether to send American troops into Iraq in the face of United Nations opposition. We believe there is a better option involving long-running, stepped-up weapons inspections. But like everyone else in America, we feel the window closing. If it comes down to a question of yes or no to invasion without broad international support, our answer is no.”
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The Young Fellow Was about to Be Married and Was Asking His Grandfather about Sex. He Asked How Often You Should Have It. His Grandfather Told Him That When You First Get Married, You Want it All the Time….And Maybe Do it Several Times a Day.
Later On, Sex Tapers off and You Have it Once a Week or So. Then as You Get Older, You Have Sex Maybe Once a Month.
When You Get Really Old, You Are Lucky to Have it Once a Year….Maybe on Your Anniversary.
The Young Fellow Then Asked His Grandfather, “Well How about You and Grandma Now?”
His Grandfather Replied, “Oh, We Just Have Oral Sex Now.”
“What’s Oral Sex?” the Young Fellow Asked.
“Well, ” Grandpa Said, “She Goes to Bed in Her Bedroom, and I Go to Bed in My Bedroom. And She Yell, ‘Fuck You’, and I Holler Back, “Fuck You, Too”.

Mike Hamilton (UK Sunday Mirror) reports from Camp Coyote in Kuwait, “TERRIFIED Iraqi soldiers have crossed the Kuwait border and tried to surrender to British forces - because they thought the war had already started.”

The motley band of a dozen troops waved the white flag as British paratroopers tested their weapons during a routine exercise.

The stunned Paras from 16 Air Assault Brigade were forced to tell the Iraqis they were not firing at them, and ordered them back to their home country telling them it was too early to surrender.
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Mr. Horst from Germany (via resnse.com) writes, “It seems very obvious to me the people in our beautiful Western Civilization have become like maggots in a piece of rotten meat.

“So, tell me, how has America allowed this to happen. Have Americans been too busy watching Fox News and reading the New York Times to notice the truth about their country. Are the folks of America so brainwashed and frightened by the propaganda and lies coming from the likes of Ashcroft and Cheney that they wont leave their sanitised, plastic sheeted, duct taped living rooms to find out what’s really going on? Please, someone let me know. What the hell is going on in America at the moment?”

They have become drugged by their luxury - they are hooked on it like the junkies on heroin. To sustain this way of living they gave up all their spiritual values.

I remember a woman who’s child had problems at school with math lessons.
She sat down and studied the schoolbooks, studied math herself, in order to
be able to teach her child then. Today, parents don’t spend even half an hour
a day with and for their children, they leave them in front of the TV instead.
They made their children not out of love but because their hormones demanded
it.

I don’t doubt that there is a NWO group, but as great doctors always said -
the bug has no significance, the environment is everything - this applies to
societies as well as to organisms. We, all those who value their luxuries more
than spiritual wealth, the corrupted people of the rotten West, we are the environment out of which the NWO was growing. They wouldn’t have had a chance in a healthy society. By now, this social organism has become so sick there is almost no chance of survival, and i am not so sure if a survival is even desireable.

At any rate, the cure will be very painful and the healthier cells of the organism will suffer along with the sick ones.

Regards,
Horst

The Associate Press (via CNN.com) reports, “PHILADELPHIA (AP) –A federal appeals court has ruled that a law meant to safeguard children against Internet pornography is riddled with problems that make it “constitutionally infirm.”

A three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that the Child Online Protection Act restricted free speech by barring Web page operators from posting information inappropriate for minors unless they limited the site to adults. The ruling upheld an injunction blocking the government from enforcing the law.
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Lance Gay (Scripps Howard News Service) writes,

“Fallout shelters were once the fashion of the Cold War’s tense nuclear showdowns. Then they were unwanted relicts, ridiculed in the 1982 cult movie “Atomic Cafe” that critics of the day said left them “howling with laughter, horror and disbelief.”

Well, guess who’s laughing now.

While the federal government promotes plastic sheeting and duct tape as a way of protecting Americans against terrorist attacks and issues dark warnings about “dirty” bombs containing nuclear material and biological weapons, backyard fallout shelters are making a comeback.
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Jeordan Legon (CNN) reports, “It’s believed to be the largest Chee-to in the world. The cheesy glob of fried cornmeal that Navy Petty Officer Mike Evans found last week in a bag of the snacks is about the size of a small lemon and weighs in at about half an ounce.”
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The Associated Press reports, “HALBERSTADT, Germany (AP) First there was silence 1 years of it.

But that was just a brief lead-in for Friday’s playing of the opening notes in what’s planned as the world’s longest concert, a 639-year piece being performed in a former church in east Germany.

With 72 years already mapped out, the concert inspired by the American avant-garde composer John Cage challenges the creativity of future generations to keep the music playing.
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Leica announces the new MP, “The LEICA MP is a tool. Made by hand, created for the photographers craft. Tailored to the decisive photographic parameters. In compact form, with clean design, clearly laid out. Unobtrusive, quiet, reliable. Concentrated technology for concentrated photography, without distraction by automation. For pictures that only a photographer can see, compose and record. Modern, because it captures the present. Current, because all its features have been optimized. Traditional, because it builds on the accumulated experiences of the pioneer in 35 mm camera construction. Not a photographic whim, but a camera for life.”
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This is to wish you a most wonderful New Year for the Year 2003.
(March 3rd is the beginning of Losar, [Tibetan New Year])

What a nice thing this concept of New Year.
We have a chance to make a new beginning.
We have a chance to leave some bad habits.
At least we can make a promise.

What a nice thing this concept of a New Year.
We can rejoice of the promises we kept.
We can forgive the breaches we made.
At least we can make another beginning.

Put off the burden on your mind.
Revive and refresh your inspirations..
Put a song in your heart and smile on your face.
“This year I will do something good for me
and something good for others.”

Let us clebrate a Happy New Year.

Ringu Tulku
Gangtok, 30th Dec. 2002

Dar Williams writes:

Well we’re heading for a past that you leave not defend
Where the downtowns hold the sadness of you can’t go back again
It’s there you’ll find the rust and debtors
Motel signs with missing letters
Cause there’s a monster on the outskirts
Says it knows what your town needs
Then it eats it up like nothing and it won’t spit out the seeds
And we can be the super shoppers
We can say we’re really smart
We can say our town is doing fine without a beating heart
We can even say the money saved is all our own
It’s bought and sold, it’s bought and sold
And we’re heading for a nasty business, keeps our country growing
Where the weapons that we’re selling are the only seeds we’re sowing
You get to blow the fruits of all your labors
Sell F-16’s to all the neighbors
And we know that it’s for money
And that’s how the west gets bargained
You the know the last time this happened
Even Vietnam got jargoned
And you can say they’re out to hunt you
You can say they’re out to fish you
You can join a gang of restless boys
Or start your own militia
You can even say your violence is all your own
It’s bought and sold, it’s bought and sold
Well I look up to the people who are less bought than I
You can show them what you’re selling
And they’ll only ask you why
And their paychecks don’t have lots of zeros
They’re my friends and they’re my heroes
And the TV sets are angry ’cause they just can’t make ‘em pay
But I like the way these people read the signs and walk away
And we can call ourselves the makers
And the keepers of the times
We can spend our sand dollars
And sand nickels and sand dimes
We can even say prosperity is all our own
It’s bought and sold, it’s bought and sold
We can even say our loneliness is all our own
It’s bought and sold, it’s bought and sold
It’s bought and sold, it’s bought and sold