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Endace Wins Monitoring Deal and a New Tier 1 Communications

For organisations that rely on their IP networks to do business, Endace provides traffic monitoring, latency measurement, network security and application acceleration solutions that capture, inspect and report on every single data packet. We enable our customers to be confident in their service performance, information security, and regulatory compliance. Based in Auckland, New Zealand, Endace also has offices in the UK, USA and Singapore. Quoted on AIM, the stock code is LSE: EDA. For further information: http://www.endace.com

Endace, the Endace logo, DAG and NinjaProbe are trademarks or registered trademarks in New Zealand or other countries of Endace Technology Limited. All other trademarks may be the property of their respective holders.

SOURCE: Endace

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Oren Harari: Avoiding the Perils of the 'Copycat Economy'

"The business data indicates that it's small and medium size businesses that are not shackled with old legacies and old habits who are the ones that come and do the job." Google and Whole Foods are examples of leader companies that started out small.

What to do? Look for "uncharted value."

"Generic value," Harari said, is simply what your firm does, and in the copycat economy there will be lots of competition in your field. "Expected value" is what your customers assume a business in your field will provide. This is being commoditized too, he said. Even "augmented value" -- everything you do to continuously improve -- cannot distinguish you any longer. It merely keeps you from falling behind.

"Uncharted value," on the other hand, is what sets businesses apart, Harari said. more

Businesses should 'make the most' of trade shows

Some businesses should do more to prepare before they participate in trade shows and other industry events, according to a business writer.Robin Xander of the San Francisco Business Times suggested that there are a number of ways in which organisers can use email marketing campaigns and internet marketing techniques to maximise their contacts before and after an event. Citing Kathryn Horton, director of convention services for the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau, she stated that a direct mail or email campaign can be targeted to potential attendees before the event takes place to encourage other representatives to visit a particular display booth.She added that following up is equally important and recommended that contact should be made with visitors as soon as the convention has ended, followed by a second contact within two to three months after the event.It emerged this week that New York City's Baruch Performing Arts Centre is set to be the venue for the second annual E-marketing E-mersion E-vent, which will discuss topics including email marketing trends and will feature presentations from a Google representative. more

Roundup: AOL shutting businesses, First Solar building factory

AOL plans to shutter a bunch of businesses: Among the businesses on the chopping block are Bluestring, Xdrive, and AOL Pictures. Apple is testing update for iPhone software: Apple is testing version 2.1 of its iPhone firmware. It includes improved location features. Vonage getting new CEO? The Wall Street Journal reported that Vonage Holdings Corp. CEO Jeffrey Citron will step down next week and appoint a new CEO. The VoIP phone service company also said it has signed a letter with Silver Point Finance setting the terms and conditions for up to $215 million in private debt financing of which Silver Point has committed to provide $125 million.Solar firm to build more: First Solar, which has designed efficient thin-film solar cells, announced plans to build another solar cell production plant in Nevada. more

Ted Rogers turns 75 as observers look to future of Rogers

The most likely contenders include Nadir Mohamed, who has risen from head of the company's wireless business to chief operating officer, president and CEO of the broader Rogers communications group, which includes wireless, cable and telecom.

Mohamed is credited by many investors for building the Rogers cellular business into the Canadian market leader.

Ted's son Edward Rogers is another possibility. The 38-year-old is currently the head of Rogers Cable, but working against him is a reputation for being quite the opposite of his father.

"Young Edward is incredibly shy and normally that shouldn't matter, but at the helm of a large publicly traded company you could argue that some degree of extroversion is a good thing," said Lawrence Surtees, vice-president of communications research at IDC Canada Ltd. more

Latest International Business Success Stories News

The latest on California politics and government - Sacramento Bee

Candidates running for spots on the boards of California's two largest public employee pension funds would be required to complete and publicly file more detailed campaign finance information under a bill introduced in the Senate today. The bill ...

Former village clerk charged with stealing FEMA funds - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Thirty-five-year-old Shea Howard of North Freedom faces one count of embezzling funds by a public official. She could face up to 10 years in federal prison and $250,000 in fines. According to an information filed in federal court in Madison, Howard ...

Airport nears end of voluntary relocation program - Courier-Journal

The trees have been cut down and the neighboring houses razed, leaving Eddie and Wilma Rasnake with only a flat, open field between their small, single-story home off South Park Road and a large UPS warehouse in the distance. “The view (before) was ...

Secrecy shrouds lawyer's removal from panel that takes federal cases - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

In a one-page order signed earlier this month, Chief U.S. District Judge Charles Clevert Jr. removed Nikola Kostich from the panel that serves Wisconsin's Eastern District. Lawyers on the so-called CJA panel represent federal criminal defendants who ...

Avatar Propels Asia-Pacific IMAX(R) Theatre Network Past $35 Million ... - MSN Money

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 11, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IMAX Corporation (Nasdaq:IMAX) (TSX:IMX) and Twentieth Century Fox today announced that James Cameron's Avatar, recipient of Golden Globe(R) awards for Best Picture and Best Director as well as nine ...

Revenge of the Wall Street Traders: The Fat Cats Strike Back - Daily Finance

Rare is the book about modern finance that has me nodding vigorously along with every sentence, pausing at points to muse that someone has finally, really, truly gotten it -- and that maybe it's time for me to give this Wall Street stuff a rest, and ...

Internet Governance in a World of Cyberwarcraft - TechNewsWorld

Google's ongoing fight with the government of China brings dozens of issues to the table, not the least of which are human rights, censorship and trade and fairness issues. Another factor impacting the discussion is the role of security and Internet ...

Sarah Brightman Helps Launch Panasonic Song at the Vancouver 2010 ... - Newsblaze.com

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Panasonic Corporation (NYSE: PC), the Official Worldwide Olympic Partner in the Audio and Visual Equipment category of the 2010 Winter Games, today launched the song "Shall Be Done" with ...

Panasonic Opens Full HD 3D Theatre At the Vancouver 2010 Olympic ... - Newsblaze.com

Panasonic believes 3D systems will greatly enhance at-home ... its latest twin-lens full HD 3D camera recorder, and a Full HD 3D home theatre system (50", 54", 58" and 65" sizes) at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

NYC Will Keep Broadway Plazas, Might Create More - CBS 2

Two swaths of Broadway closed to cars in the heart of Manhattan as part of a traffic experiment that drew international attention will be permanently ... Still, officials declared the plazas a success and said the administration is considering ...

Voting Question: english accent ?.......................?

Okay, I have asian parents who emigrated to the us 20 years ago. They have strong korean accents but thats because they're immigrants. After listening to my voice on a microphone I have discovered that I have a strong asian accent. How do i get rid of it. i'm participating in International Speech Contest. so please record streaming audio about my contest essay ! then i can hear your accent and practice more and more like a american with standard accent. Korea is known as the “Land of the Morning Calm.” This expression comes from the beginning of the modern history of Korea. Koryo means “high” and “clear.” This word symbolizes the clear blue sky of Korea. The beautiful nature of Korea is expressed through this ancient name. The beginning of Korean history started from 2333 B.C. The Korean peninsular adjoins China and Japan. Korea was conquered by Japan and divided into South and North Korea at the end of World War II. The Korean War caused devastating damage to Korea. However, it should be noticed that despite frequent foreign invasions, the Korean Peninsula has been under a single government while maintaining its political independence, culture and ethnic heritage. Not that long ago, South Korea was one of Asia’s economic success stories – one of the region’s hungry “tigers” looking around for new markets to conquer. Seoul, its capital, modernized in a very rapid amount of time to accommodate the needs of business travelers and has brought the country’s colorful traditions and trademark tranquility. The population of the Korean Peninsula, sharing a common language, ethnic identity, and culture, was one of the world’s most homogeneous. Although there were significant regional differences even within the relatively small land area of South Korea, neither the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) nor South Korea had significant non-Korean ethnic minorities. This homogeneity, and the sense of a shared historical experience that it promoted, gave the people of South Korea a strong sense of national purpose. The division of the peninsula after World Ward II, the establishment of two antagonistic states in the north and south, and the profound changes in the economy and society caused by industrialization and urbanization since the 1950’s led many South Koreans to search for their national identity and place in the world. Many modernized; urban-dwelling South Koreans embark on a search for the “essence” of their culture, which commonly expresses itself as hostility to foreign influences. The Korea of today is a fascinating place whose ancient culture and history blend harmoniously with it modern cities. The government is continuously investing in transportation and accommodation infrastructure projects in order to attract more and more foreign tourist and investors each year.noooooooo it's okay i love all English accents, but of course I find American accent to be neutral more

Resolved Question: english accent ?..........?

Resolved Question: english accent ?......................?

Resolved Question: american accent ..................?

Resolved Question: Do you plan to boycott or support Whole Foods in light of what the boss said about 0bama?

Monday, August 24, 2009 Boycotting the Boycotters (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) Rick Watts, 49, protests outside a Whole Foods store in West Hollywood, Calif., Sunday, Aug. 23, 2009. The protest took place after John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods Market, wrote an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal about health care reform. John Mackey - the founder, CEO and marketing genius behind Whole Foods - finds himself in an organic, unsustainable mess with his carefully cultivated affluent, liberal customer base after penning an Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal titled, "The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare." For starters, Mr. Mackey opens with a line from known-liberal-allergen Margaret Thatcher that features the dreaded "S" word: "The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." Then he goes on to provide eight sensible free-market solutions gleaned from his company's well-regarded employee health care program. Mr. Mackey, a free-market libertarian, is now at the mercy of an unforgiving grass-roots mob intent on destroying his company. More than 25,000 people have signed on to a Whole Foods boycott on Facebook. "Whole Foods has built its brand with the dollars of deceived progressives," the online petition reads. "Let them know your money will no longer go to support Whole Foods' anti-union, anti-health insurance reform, right-wing activities." A complementary Web site, WholeBoycott.com, features unintentionally comical video testimonials from aggrieved former customers. The mainstream media have picked up on the story and fanned the flames. The success of Whole Foods is largely built on Mr. Mackey's understanding of the liberal mind. It wants the good life - but with instant absolution for the sin of conspicuous consumption. Whole Foods is marketing at its best. Iconography and slogans throughout the store - not unlike those Barack Obama used to win the presidency - tell the shopper they are saving the planet in large and small ways. The product is so good even conservatives and skeptics are willing to play along. But Mr. Mackey missed the key ingredient of modern liberalism: intolerance to the ideas of nonliberals. And this miscalculation may prove to be devastating to his multibillion-dollar business. Everywhere one looks these days, the intolerance of self-avowed liberals is on display. Especially since Mr. Obama came to power. The purportedly open-minded and empathic among us who now run everything - save for NASCAR and Nashville - openly wage war against those who dare disagree. Witness Steny Hoyer and Nancy Pelosi's joint-penned editorial in USA Today in which the House's two top Democrats describe those publicly questioning Mr. Obama's proposed health care system overhaul as "un-American." One need not go back too far in the political time machine to recall a time when the same people were claiming that the term "un-American" was being tossed at liberals for opposing the Iraq war, and that Republicans were stifling free speech. Examples were rarely, if ever, given. It just was. And we were told this was a very, very bad thing. The Dixie Chicks brilliantly used this sob line to become a Rolling Stone magazine cover staple, a blue-state crossover and an international cause celebre. A chorus line of would-be liberal celebrity martyrs took a similar marketing tack proclaiming McCarthyism was again afoot - as conservative Hollywood kept its collective mouth shut knowing that support for President Bush or the war was an instant career-killer. Yet amid the cries of "dissent is patriotic" - a phrase seen on the bumper stickers of cars in the Whole Foods parking lot - the antiwar movement grew and grew, unfettered by the war's supporters or by the party in power. As the Hollywood Left churned out antiwar film screeds, it was creating a narrative of its victimhood as it victimized Mr. Bush and his administration with the false accusation that dissenters were being persecuted. But now that they are in power, Democrats are brazenly wielding punitive weaponry against dissenting Americans and are using the power of the state to shut up citizens. The Democratic leadership - and its friends in the mainstream media - seem determined to brand opposition to the president's legislative agenda as illegitimate, even racist in origin. Individuals and grass-roots organizations are helping the statists' cause by advocating boycotts and other means of stifling dissent. The strategy is clear: Intimidate people from speaking up or from attending public protests by telegraphing that anyone can be made a demon for standing up and exercising basic, constitutional rights. To call these people hypocrites would be a grave insult to those who fail to live up to their own standards. Liberalism has never been ab more

Resolved Question: How to convince businessmen of the importance of marketing in international trade?

I have a humble background in marketing and branding. I'm changing to International trade. I was informed that the office with which I'll be working has difficulty convincing international businessmen (especially from the Middle East, North Africa and the Persian gulf) of the necessity of marketing and cultural promotion for their region's business success with the Western world. How do I better equip myself to tackle this? I have in mind few examples of mega corporations successfully using direct and indirect marketing techniques to influence buyers behavior. Will this help? Can you narrate some of your favorite stories? I enjoy reading, so feel free to post links or books and be invited to write extensively. more

Resolved Question: Has anyone read this article? Good food for thought?

Why the Dollar Bubble is about to Burst? IRAN HAS REALLY DONE IT...more deadlier than the nuclear.. The Voice (issue 264 -) ran an article beginning, ' Iran has really gone and done it now. No, they haven't sent their first nuclear sub in to the Persian Gulf . They are about to launch something much more deadly -- next week the Iran Bourse will open to trade oil, not n dollars but in Euros' This apparently insignificant event has consequences far greater for the US people, indeed all for us all, than is imaginable. Currently almost all oil buying and selling is in US-dollars through exchanges in London and New York . It is not accidental they are both US-owned. The Wall Street crash in 1929 sparked off global depression and World War II. During that war the US supplied provisions and munitions to all its allies, refusing currency and demanding gold payments in exchange. By 1945, 80% of the world's gold was sitting in US vaults. The dollar became the one undisputed global reserve currency -- it was treated world-wide as `safer than gold'. The Bretton Woods agreement was established. The US took full advantage over the next decades and printed dollars like there was no tomorrow. The US exported many mountains of dollars, paying for ever-increasing amounts of commodities, tax cuts for the rich, many wars abroad, mercenaries, spies and politicians the world over. You see, this did not affect inflation at home! TheUS got it all for free! Well, maybe for a forest or two. Over subsequent decades the world's vaults bulged at the seams and more and more vaults were built, just for US dollars. Each year, the US spends many more dollars abroad that at home. Analysts pretty much agree that outside the US , of the savings, or reserves, of all other countries, in gold and all currencies -- that a massive 66% of this total wealth is in US dollars! In 1971 several countries simultaneously tried to sell a small portion of their dollars to the US for gold. Krassimir Petrov, (Ph. D. in Economics at OhioUniversity ) recently wrote, 'The US Government defaulted on its payment on August 15, 1971 . While popular spin told the story of `severing the link between the dollar and gold', in reality the denial to pay back in gold was an act of bankruptcy by the US Government.' The 1945 Breton Woods agreement was unilaterally smashed. The dollar and US economy were on a precipice resembling Germany in 1929. The US now had to find a way for the rest of the world to believe and have faith in the paper dollar. The solution was in oil, in the petrodollar. The US viciously bullied first Saudi Arabia and then OPEC to sell oil for dollars only -- it worked, the dollar was saved. Now countries had to keep dollars to buy much needed oil. And the US could buy oil all over the world, free of charge. What a Houdini for the US ! Oil replaced gold as the new foundation to stop the paper dollar sinking. Since 1971, the US printed even more mountains of dollars to spend abroad.The trade deficit grew and grew. The US sucked-in much of the world's products for next to nothing. More vaults were built. Expert, Cóilínn Nunan, wrote in 2003, 'The dollar is the de facto world reserve currency: the US currency accounts for approximately two thirds of all official exchange reserves. More than four-fifths of all foreign exchange transactions and half of all world exports are denominated in dollars. In addition, all IMF loans are denominated in dollars.' Dr Bulent Gukay of Keele University recently wrote, 'This system of the US dollar acting as global reserve currency in oil trade keeps the demand for the dollar `artificially' high. This enables the US to carry out printing dollars at the price of next to nothing to fund increased military spending and consumer spending on imports. There is no theoretical limit to the amount of dollars that can be printed. As long as the US has no serious challengers, and the other states have confidence in the US dollar, the system functions.' Until recently, the US-dollar has been safe. However, since 1990 Western Europe has been busy growing, swallowing up central and Eastern Europe .French and German bosses were jealous of the US ability to buy goods and people the world over for nothing. They wanted a slice of the free cake too. Further, they now had the power and established the euro in late 1999 against massive US-inspired opposition across Europe , especially from Britain - paid for in dollars of course. But the euro succeeded. Only months after the euro-launch, Saddam's Iraq announced it was switching from selling oil in dollars only, to euros only -- breaking the OPEC agreement.. Iran , Russia , Venezuela , Libya , all began talking openly of switching too -- were the floodgates about to be opened? Then aero planes flew into the twin-towers in September 2001. Was this another Houdini chance to save the US (petro) dollar and the biggest financial/economic crash in history? War preparations began in the US But first war-fever had to be created -- and truth was the first casualty. Other oil producing countries watched-on. In 2000 Iraq began selling oil in euros. In 2002, Iraq changed all their petro-dollars in their vaults into euros. A few months later, the US began their invasion of Iraq . The whole world was watching: very few aware that the US was engaging in the first oil currency, or petro-dollar war. After the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, remember, the US secured oil areas first. Their first sales in August were, of course, in dollars, again. The only government building in Baghdad not bombed was the Oil Ministry! It does not matter how many people are murdered -- for the US , the petro-dollar must be saved as the only way to buy and sell oil - otherwise the US economy will crash, and much more besides. In early 2003, Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela talked openly of selling half of its oil in euros (the other half is bought by the US ). On 12 April 2003, the US-supported business leaders and some generals in Venezuela kidnapped Chavez and attempted a coup. The masses rose against this and the Army followed suit. The coup failed. This was bad for the US . In November 2000 the euro/dollar was at $0.82 dollars, its lowest ever, and still diving, but when Iraq started selling oil in euros, the euro dive was halted. In April 2002 senior OPEC reps talked about trading in euros and the euro shot up. In June 2003 the US occupiers of Iraq switched trading back to dollars and the euro fell against the dollar again. In August 2003 Iran starts to sell oil in euros to some European countries and the euro rises sharply. In the winter of 2003-4 Russian and OPEC politicians talked seriously of switching oil/gas sales to the euro and the euro rose. In February 2004 OPEC met and made no decision to turn to the euro -- and yes, the euro fell against the dollar. In June 2004 Iran announced it would build an oil bourse to rival London and New York , and again, the euro rose. The euro stands at $1.27 and has been climbing of late. But matters this month became far, far worse for the US dollar. On 5th May Iran registered its own Oil Bourse, the IOB. Not only are they now selling oil in euros from abroad -- they have established an actual Oil Bourse, a global trading centre for all countries to buy and sell their oil! In Chavez's recent visit to London ; he talked openly about supporting the Iranian Oil Bourse, and selling oil in euros. When asked in London about the new arms embargo imposed by the US against Venezuela , Chavez prophetically dismissed the US as 'a paper tiger'. Currently, almost all the world's oil is sold on either the NYMEX, New York Mercantile Exchange, or the IPE, London's International Petroleum Exchange. Both are owned by US citizens and both sell and buy only in US dollars. The success of the Iran Oil Bourse makes sense to Europe , which buys 70% of Iran 's oil. It makes sense for Russia , which sells 66% of its oil to Europe . But worse for the US , China and India have already stated they are very interested in the new Iranian Oil Bourse. If there is a tactical-nuclear strike on - deja-vu - `weapons of mass destruction' in Iran , who would bet against a certain Oil Exchange and more, being bombed too? And worse for Bush. It makes sense for Europe , China , India and Japan-- as well as all the other countries mentioned above -- to buy and sell oil in Euro's. They will certainly have to stock-up on euros now, and they will sell dollars to do so. The euro is far more stable than the debt-ridden dollar. The IMF has recently highlighted US economic difficulties and the trade deficit strangling the US-- there is no way out. The problem for so many countries now is how to get rid of their vaults full of dollars, before it crashes? And the US has bullied so many countries for so many decades around the world, that many will see a chance to kick the bully back. The US cannot accept even 5% of the world's dollars -- it would crash the US economy dragging much of the world with it, especially Britain . To survive, as the Scottish Socialist Voice article stated, 'the US , needs to generate a trade surplus to get out of this one. Problem is it can't.' This is spot on. To do that they must force US workers into near slavery, to get paid less than Chinese or Indian workers. We all know that this will not happen.What will happen in the US ? Chaos for sure. Maybe a workers revolution, but looking at the situation as it is now, it is more likely to be a re-run of Germany post-1929, and some form of extreme-right mass movement will emerge... Does Europe and China/Asia have the economic independence and strength to stop the whole world's economies collapsing with the US ? Their vaults are full to the brim with dollars. The US has to find a way to pay for its dollar-imperialist exploitation of the world since 1945.. Somehow, eventually, it has to account for every dollar in every vault in the world. Bombing Iran could backfire tremendously. It would bring Iran openly into the war in Iraq , behind the Shiite majority. The US cannot cope even now with the much smaller Iraqi insurgency. Perhaps the US will feed into the Sunni v Shiite conflict and turn it into a wider Middle-East civil-war. However, this is so dangerous for global oil supplies. Further, they know that this would be temporary, as some country somewhere else, will establish a euro-oil-exchange, perhaps in Brussels . There is one `solution' -- scrap the dollar and print a whole new currency for the US . This will destroy 66% of the rest of the world's savings/reserves in one swoop. Imagine the implications? Such are the desperate things now swimming around heads in the White House, Wall Street and Pentagon. Another is to do as Germany did, just before invading Poland in 1938. The Nazis filmed a mock Polish Army attack on Germany , to win hearts and minds at home. But again, this is a finger in the dam. So, how is the US going to escape this time? The only global arena of total superiority left is military. Who knows what horrors lie ahead. A new world war is one tool by which the US could discipline its `allies' into keeping the dollar in their vaults. The task of socialists today is to explain to as many as possible, especially our class, that the coming crisis belongs purely to capitalism and (dollar) imperialism. Not people of other cultures, not Islam, not the axis of evil or their so-called WMDs. Their system alone is to blame. The new Iranian Oil Bourse, the IOB, is situated in a new building on the free-trade-zone island of Kish , in the Persian Gulf . It's computers and software are all set to go. The IOB was supposed to be up and running last March, but many pressures forced a postponement. Where the pressure came from is obvious. It was internationally registered on 5th May and supposed to open mid-May, but its opening was put off, some saying the oil-mafia was involved, along with much international pressure. ........................... In 2007 Crude was traded around 60 usd. Everyone know dollar was getting weaker and weaker day by day. Then US with the help of their two NYMEX & IPE exchange started raising the price of crude by Future trading on crude( called speculation). Today crude is around 140 usd. It means whole world who were paying 60 usd, now paying 140 usd, means demand of dollar increase to 230% and dollar start again rising. Even OPEC recently that in hike og crude, 60% contribution is due to speculation (Future market). Moral of story is USA has & will go to destroy any nation to keep its monopoly of dollar in world. more

Resolved Question: Why doen't the US make oil from coal, South Africa's been doing this for years. Don't we have alot of coal ?

SECUNDA, South Africa -- Every day, conveyor belts haul about 120,000 metric tons of coal into an industrial complex here two hours east of Johannesburg. The facility -- resembling a nuclear power plant, with concrete silos looming over nearby potato farms -- superheats the coal to more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. It adds steam and oxygen, cranks up the pressure, and pushes the coal through a series of chemical reactions. Then it spits out something extraordinary: 160,000 barrels of oil a day. For decades, scientists have known how to convert coal into a liquid that can be refined into gasoline or diesel fuel. But everyone thought the process was too expensive to be practical. The lone exception was South Africa, a one-time pariah state that had huge reserves of coal and, thanks to anti-apartheid sanctions, limited access to foreign oil. Sasol Ltd., a partly state-owned company, built several coal-to-liquids plants, including the ones at Secunda, and became the world's leading purveyor of coal-to-liquids technology. Now, oil prices are above $70 a barrel, and Sasol has emerged as the key player at the center of the world's latest alternative-energy boom. China is building a coal-to-oil plant costing several billion dollars in Inner Mongolia and may add as many as 27 facilities -- including some with Sasol's help -- over the next several years, according to a recent tally by Credit Suisse. In the U.S., the Defense Department is studying coal-to-oil technology as a way to reduce the American military's dependence on Middle Eastern crude oil. And the National Coal Council, an industry association, is pushing for government incentives to help generate some 2.6 million barrels of liquid fuel a day from coal by 2025. That would satisfy some 10 percent of America's expected oil demand that year. The plan would require 475 million tons of coal a year, which represents more than 40 percent of current annual U.S. production. Industry officials believe America's coal reserves are big enough to allow for the extra production. Coal-to-liquids "is not going to replace oil," says Lean Strauss, a Sasol executive who directs the company's overseas energy business. "But it's an important substitute. It is one of the solutions to energy security." In June, two senators from coal-producing states, Barack Obama of Illinois and Jim Bunning of Kentucky, introduced a bill to offer loan guarantees and tax incentives for U.S. coal-to-liquid plants. Sasol has found a particularly receptive audience in Montana's Democratic governor, Brian Schweitzer, who says he carries a lump of coal and a vial of liquefied coal with him at all times. He is lobbying coal companies and others to build coal-to-liquid plants across his state, which has some of the biggest coal reserves in the U.S. Current estimates indicate the world has just 41 years of known oil reserves and 65 years of natural-gas supplies. It has enough coal reserves to last an estimated 155 years, with some of the largest reserves in the two biggest oil-consuming countries, the U.S. and China. It's far from clear, however, that the world would be better off -- economically or environmentally -- by burning more coal to fuel cars and trucks. One problem is that coal-to-oil projects are extremely expensive. A single plant capable of producing about 80,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day -- less than 0.5 percent of America's daily oil diet -- would cost an estimated $6 billion or more to build. Energy analysts reckon that some coal-to-liquids projects can offer an acceptable return on investment when oil is priced as low as $30 or $35 a barrel, though such ventures might require government tax incentives to reduce operating costs. It seems likely that oil prices will stay above that level for a while, but the longer-term outlook is anyone's guess. An earlier flurry of interest in coal-to-oil facilities in the U.S. during the Carter administration in the late 1970s died after oil prices collapsed. Coal-to-oil projects also pose serious environmental questions. When the South African facility superheats coal and turns it into a gas, one of the main waste products is carbon dioxide, thought to be a significant cause of global warming. The Natural Resources Defense Council, a U.S.-based environmental advocacy group, estimates that the production and use of gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel and other fuels from crude oil release about 27.5 pounds of carbon dioxide per gallon. The production and use of a gallon of liquid fuel originating in coal emit about 49.5 pounds of carbon dioxide, they estimate. Even some boosters of the coal-to-oil plants describe them as carbon-dioxide factories that produce energy on the side. "Before deciding whether to invest scores -- perhaps hundreds -- of billions of dollars in a new industry like coal-to-liquids, we need a much more serious assessment of whether this is an industry that should proceed at all," said David Hawkins, director of the Climate Center at the Natural Resources Defense Council, at a recent U.S. Senate hearing. Coal-to-oil is one of several promising but potentially polluting technologies that are receiving new attention amid high oil prices. Energy companies are trying to unlock natural gas trapped in shale and other difficult rock formations. They're also tapping oil-soaked sands in Canada and so-called heavy oils in politically challenging places such as Venezuela. Environmentalists fear these new sources will outshine conservation as the way to address the world's growing thirst for energy. In South Africa, environmental groups say Sasol's facilities have emitted huge volumes of carbon dioxide and pollutants, including sulfur dioxide. They say these have caused a host of respiratory problems in nearby communities. Sasol says its emissions of these pollutants are small compared to emissions by other companies' coal-burning electricity plants in the region. Sasol officials acknowledge their facilities emit greenhouse gases and that building more coal-to-liquids facilities around the world "could have potentially significant implications, in the long run, for our commitment to reducing carbon intensity," according to a recent company report on its social and environmental programs. Sasol says it plans to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions per ton of product by 10 percent by 2015. Sasol and many other coal-to-oil proponents say that future coal-to-liquids plants can be built with newer technologies that trap carbon dioxide and store it, sharply reducing their emissions. To many South Africans, Sasol is a huge success story. The company's daily production now meets about 30 percent of South Africa's transport-fuel needs. The country's 50-rand bank note even features a picture of one of Sasol's plants. Sasol's share price has more than tripled over the past three years. Analysts estimate it earned about $2 billion in the year ended June 30, about 35 percent higher than the year before -- such a sharp rise that South African authorities are contemplating a "windfall tax" on the company. Coal-to-oil technology dates back to the 1920s, when two German chemists, Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch, developed a process to convert coal into a gas and then use it to make synthetic fuels. Coal-to-oil technology helped fuel the Nazi war machine, which lacked access to sufficient crude oil. International oil companies also experimented with the process but put it aside because oil was cheaper. South Africa took a different view. The country lacked oil, but had enormous deposits of coal, much of which had limited market value because of its poor quality. In 1950, the government set up Sasol as a state-owned company and authorized funding for its first project, a coal-to-liquids facility called Sasolburg in the South African countryside. When oil prices soared in the 1970s, South African officials decided to up the ante. They lent Sasol $6 billion to build two new facilities at Secunda -- each 10 times as large as Sasolburg. The government also privatized the company, listing it on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1979. (The government maintains a 23.5 percent stake). By the time the facilities were completed in the early 1980s, international oil prices were collapsing. The project was nonetheless a success for the white-dominated apartheid government because international sanctions were restricting South Africa's ability to buy foreign oil. The plants managed to stay profitable by continually boosting efficiency and expanding their end products to include plastics, fertilizers and explosives. Besides the government loans, Sasol at various times received cash payments from the government when oil prices fell below a certain level. It eventually paid back the loans and stopped receiving subsidies for its coal-to-oil business by 2000. Today, Secunda is a buzzing industrial hub with 16,000 employees, miles of interlocking pipes and cables, and eight colossal silos. The silos, each big enough to contain a football field, cool steam involved in the conversion process. Fuel trucks wait along the edge of the facility to fill up with gasoline. Nearby mines produce more than 40 million metric tons of coal a year -- as much as all of Illinois. Outside the plant gates, Secunda has a boomtown feel. It has some 35,000 people, a BMW dealership and a multistory casino hotel called Graceland designed to evoke the "grand old age of Colonial America." A growing focus for Sasol is marketing its technology overseas. The company first tried to do so in the 1990s, after apartheid ended, but executives found doors slammed in their faces. Oil was trading for less than $25 a barrel at the time. "We sat in corridors waiting for meetings that never happened because they didn't even know who Sasol was," recalls Pat Davies, Sasol's chief executive. Sasol made its first inroads in countries such as Qatar that have big stockpiles of hard-to-transport natural gas. These countries were interested in Sasol's technology for turning natural gas into liquid fuel. As oil prices began to perk up, Sasol drew interest on the coal front from China, with its big coal reserves and energy needs. In marketing materials produced for Chinese government officials and investors, Sasol offers a simple message: By 2015, 70 percent of China's oil imports will come from the Middle East. Yet the country has coal reserves equivalent to more than half the oil in the Middle East. By 2004, Chinese energy planners began meeting with Sasol executives in Beijing to discuss the coal-to-oil process. That was followed by a series of meetings with policy makers and Chinese companies, capped by a gathering in Cape Town in June attended by visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. Coal-generated pollution is emerging as a major environmental crisis in China. Yet Chinese officials are apparently willing to accept more coal use if it means improving the country's energy security, especially if local companies can design facilities to use relatively clean-burning varieties of coal. Shenhua Group, China's largest coal producer, has started work on China's first commercial coal-to-oil facility, designed eventually to produce as many as 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day. Although that plant uses a different process from Sasol's at Secunda, Shenhua officials are in negotiations with Sasol to jointly build at least one additional 80,000-barrel-a-day plant using the South African company's technique. While Sasol would charge a fee for licensing its technology, its main interest is to share ownership in the facilities once they're built because it wants a share of the long-term profits. In China, Sasol is asking for a 50 percent equity stake in the projects. A Shenhua official says negotiations are going smoothly and the company hopes to begin construction soon. In Montana, at least two companies, including the world's largest private-sector coal company, Peabody Energy Corp. of St. Louis, have said they are looking at potential coal-to-oil sites. Montana's Gov. Schweitzer says any excess carbon dioxide from a facility could be given to oil companies to be injected back into the ground to enhance recovery from old wells. Bringing Sasol on board is critical, says Gov. Schweitzer. He says Wall Street banks want the South Africans to play a role because Sasol is the only company with a track record in the business. To woo Sasol executives, he says, he took them on a flight over Montana coal country last year. "These are the guys everyone wants to take to the prom," Gov. Schweitzer says. Sasol officials say they're interested in Montana and other potential sites in the U.S., provided they can find a suitable partner and receive tax or other incentives. Coal-to-oil "is coming to the United States," Gov. Schweitzer proclaims. When it does, he says, other countries "will be scrambling to protect their oil supplies -- and we'll be energy independent." First published on August 17, 2006 at 12:00 am Shai Oster in Beijing contributed to this article. more

Resolved Question: Why doen't the US begin using coal to produce oil? South Africa has been doing do for years!?

Resolved Question: How has Obama sold the black community a bill of goods?

>>> March 20, 2008 >>> >>> Obama's Anger >>> By Ed Kaitz >>>> 'The anger is real. It is powerful, and to simply wish it away, to >>>> condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen >>>> the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.' >>>> - Barack Obama >>>> Back in the late 1980s I was on a plane flying out of New Orleans >>>> and sitting next to me was a rather interesting and, according to >>>> Barack Obama, unusual black man. Friendly, gregarious, and wise >>>> beyond his years, we immediately hit it off. I had been working on >>>> Vietnamese commercial fishing boats for a few years based in >>>> southern Louisiana. The boats were owned by the recent wave of >>>> Vietnamese refugees who flooded into the familiar tropical >>>> environment after the war. Floating in calm seas out in the middle >>>> of the Gulf of Mexico, I would hear tearful songs and tales from >>>> ex-paratroopers about losing brothers, sisters, parents, children, >>>> lovers, and beautiful Vietnam itself to the communists. >>> >>> In Bayou country I lived on boats and in doublewide trailers, and >>> like the rest of the Vietnamese refugees, I shopped at Wal-Mart and >>> ate a lot of rice. When they arrived in Louisiana the refugees had >>> no money (the money that they had was used to bribe their way out of >>> Vietnam and into refugee camps in Thailand), few friends, and a >>> mostly unfriendly and suspicious local population. >>> >>> They did however have strong families, a strong work ethic, and the >>> 'Audacity of Hope.' Within a generation, with little or no >>> knowledge of English, the Vietnamese had achieved dominance in the >>> fishing industry there and their children were already achieving the >>> top SAT scores in the state. >>> >>> While I had been fishing my new black friend had been working as a >>> prison psychologist in Missouri, and he was pursuing a higher degree >>> in psychology. He was interested in my story, and after about an >>> hour getting to know each other I asked him point blank why these >>> Vietnamese refugees, with no money, friends, or knowledge of the >>> language could be, within a generation, so successful. I also asked >>> him why it was so difficult to convince young black men to abandon >>> the streets and take advantage of the same kinds of opportunities >>> that the Vietnamese had recently embraced. >>> >>> His answer, only a few words, not only floored me but became sort of >>> a razor that has allowed me ever since to slice through all of the >>> rhetoric regarding race relations that Democrats shovel our way >>> during election season: >>>> >>>> 'We're owed and they aren't.' >>> In short, he concluded, 'they're hungry and we think we're owed. >>> It's crushing us, and as long as we think we're owed we're going >>> nowhere.' >>> >>> A good test case for this theory is Katrina. Obama, Jesse Jackson, >>> Al Sharpton and assorted white apologists continue to express anger >>> and outrage over the federal response to the Katrina disaster. But >>> where were the Vietnamese 'leaders' expressing their 'anger?' The >>> Vietnamese comprise a substantial part of the New Orleans >>> population, and yet absent was any report claiming that the >>> Vietnamese were 'owed' anything. This is not to say that the federal >>> response was an adequate one, but we need to take this as a sign >>> that maybe the problem has very little to do with racism and a lot >>> to with a mindset. >>> >>> The mindset that one is 'owed' something in life has not only >>> affected black mobility in business but black mobility in education >>> as well. Remember Ward Churchill? About fifteen years ago he was >>> my boss. After leaving the fishing boats, I attended graduate >>> school at the University of Colorado at Boulder. I managed to get a >>> job on campus teaching expository writing to minority students who >>> had been accepted provisionally into the university on an >>> affirmative action program. And although I never met him, Ward >>> Churchill, in addition to teaching in the ethnic studies department, >>> helped to develop and organize the minority writing program. >>> >>> The job paid most of my bills, but what I witnessed there was >>> absolutely horrifying. The students were encouraged to write essays >>> attacking the white establishment from every conceivable angle and >>> in addition to defend affirmative action and other government >>> programs. Of the hundreds of papers that I read, there was not one >>> original contribution to the problem of black mobility that strayed >>> from the party line. >>> >>> The irony of it all however is that the 'white establishment' >>> managed to get them into the college and pay their entire tuition. >>> Instead of being encouraged to study international affairs, >>> classical or modern languages, philosophy or art, most of these >>> students became ethnic studies or sociology majors because it >>> allowed them to remain in disciplines whose orientation justified >>> their existence at the university. In short, it became a vicious >>> cycle. >>> >>> There was a student there I'll never forget. He was plucked out of >>> the projects in Denver and given a free ride to the university. One >>> day in my office he told me that his mother had said the following >>> to him: 'M.J., they owe you this. White people at that university >>> owe you this.' M.J.'s experience at the university was a glorious >>> fulfillment of his mother's angst. >>> >>> There were black student organizations and other clubs that >>> 'facilitated' the minority student's experience on the majority >>> white and 'racist' campus, in addition to a plethora of faculty >>> members, both white and black, who encouraged the same animus toward >>> the white establishment. While adding to their own bona fides as >>> part of the trendy Left, these 'facilitators' supplied M.J. with >>> everything he needed to quench his and his mother's anger, but >>> nothing in the way of advice about how to succeed in college. No >>> one, in short, had told M.J. that he needed to study. But since he >>> was 'owed' everything, why put out any effort on his own? >>> >>> In a fit of despair after failing most of his classes, M.J. wandered >>> into my office one Friday afternoon in the middle of the semester >>> and asked if I could help him out. I asked M.J. about his plans >>> that evening, and he told me that he usually attended parties on >>> Friday and Saturday nights. I told him that if he agreed to meet me >>> in front of the university library at 6:00pm I would buy him >>> dinner. At 6pm M.J. showed up, and for the next twenty minutes we >>> wandered silently through the stacks, lounges, and study areas of >>> the library. When we arrived back at the entrance I asked M.J. if >>> he noticed anything interesting. As we headed up the hill to a >>> popular burger joint, M.J. turned to me and said: >>>> >>>> 'They were all Asian. Everyone in there was Asian, and it was >>>> Friday night.' >>> Nothing I could do, say, or show him, however, could match the fire >>> power of his support system favoring anger. I was sad to hear of >>> M.J. dropping out of school the following semester. >>> >>> During my time teaching in the writing program, I watched Asians get >>> transformed via leftist doublespeak from 'minorities' to 'model >>> minorities' to 'they're not minorities' in precise rhythm to their >>> fortunes in business and education. Asians were 'minorities' when >>> they were struggling in this country, but they became 'model >>> minorities' when they achieved success. Keep in mind 'model >>> minority' did not mean what most of us think it means, i.e., >>> something to emulate. 'Model minority' meant that Asians had >>> certain cultural advantages, such as a strong family tradition and a >>> culture of scholarship that the black community lacked. >>> >>> To suggest that intact families and a philosophy of self-reliance >>> could be the ticket to success would have undermined the entire >>> angst establishment. Because of this it was improper to use Asian >>> success as a model. The contortions the left exercised in order to >>> defend this ridiculous thesis helped to pave the way for the >>> elimination of Asians altogether from the status of 'minority.' >>> >>> This whole process took only a few years. >>> >>> Eric Hoffer said: >>>> '...you do not win the weak by sharing your wealth with them; it >>>> will but infect them with greed and resentment. You can win the >>>> weak only by sharing your pride, hope or hatred with them.' >>> We now know that Barack Obama really has no interest in the >>> 'audacity of hope.' With his race speech, Obama became a peddler of >>> angst, resentment and despair. Too bad he doesn't direct that angst >>> at the liberal establishment that has sold black people a bill of >>> goods since the 1960s. What Obama seems angry about is America >>> itself and what it stands for; the same America that has provided >>> fabulous opportunities for what my black friend called 'hungry' >>> minorities. Strong families, self-reliance, and a spirit of >>> entrepreneurship should be held up as ideals for all races to >>> emulate. >>> >>> In the end, we should be very suspicious about Obama's anger and the >>> recent frothings of his close friend Reverend Wright. Says Eric >>> Hoffer: >>>> The fact seems to be that we are least open to precise knowledge >>>> concerning the things we are most vehement about. Vehemence is the >>>> expression of a blind effort to support and uphold something that >>>> can never stand on its own. >>> >>> Our Republic does not guarantee equality of conditions, >>> it only guarantees equality of opportunity. more

Resolved Question: a republican politician the rev dr kamal karna k roy, u s presidential candidate, a contender nomination GOP ?

4.3. 2008 new york karna | Open Question Resolved Question: cOURT ACTION FOR... AMENDED COMMENT :THE REVEREND DR KAMAL KARNA ROY AS ON 2.2. 2008 FILED A CIVIL RIGHTS ALLEGATION IN u s DISTRICT COURT FOR NEW JERSEY DISTRICT AT TRENTON N J, AGAINST ABOUT 300+ DEFENDANTS WHO WERE ENGAGED IN CAUSING PAIN, HARMS AND DEMOCRATIC DAMAGES LIKE PRE DEATH PAINS TO A U S PATRIOT FOR DENIAL OF DEMOCRATIC BENEFITS TO THE REVEREND DR ROY AS HE WAS AN ORDAINED CLERGY ON VOW OR POVERTY, I R S RULE, AND AS SUCH , HE REMAINED POOR MOST OF HIS LIFE, AND HE WAS A U S AMERIAN POOR, AND HE WAS A MEMBER OF WEAKER COMMUNITIES IN USA AND WAS A MEMBER OF MILLIONS OF HAVE_ NOT IN USA, ABOUT 10 % OF TOTAL U S POPULATION OR 300 MILLIONS IN U S.S , AS SUCH DR WAS VIRTUALLY LEFT OUT BY THE U S NEWS MEDIA AND NEWS MEDIA CONGLOMERATES , AS A CANDIDATE OF HIGH OFFICE AS U S PRESIDENT 2008 FILED ACTION PRO SE ON 2.2.2008 IN THE U S DISTRICT FOR DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY, TRENTON DIVISION TRENTOAMENDED COMMENT :THE REVEREND DR KAMAL KARNA ROY AS ON 2.2. 2008 FILED A CIVIL RIGHTS ALLEGATION : more.. Tag : INJUCTIVE RELIEFS | cOURT ACTION | Resolved Question Open Question: revolving doors of... Hello LISANROY Change Preferences | Sign Out Sign In | Register Now Print Edition | Subscribe NewsNation Investigations Education Photos & Video World Technology KidsPost Discussions Metro Entertainment Religion Corrections Business Health Post Magazine Archives PoliticsPolitics Blogs House/Senate Votes White House Congress 2008 Campaign In Depth Polls In the Loop DC | MD | VA OpinionsOpinions Home Toles Cartoons On Faith Blogs Telnaes Animations PostGlobal Feedback Outlook Discussion Groups LocalMetro News Weather Local Explorer Jobs Education Traffic Community Guides Cars DC | MD | VACrime The Extras Real Estate Columns/Blogs Obituaries Local Business Yellow Pages SportsRedskins D.C. United Columns/Blogs NFL Nationals Capitals College Basketball NHL Wizards High Schools Local Colleges NBA Arts & LivingStyle Movies Travel Fashion & Beauty Horoscopes Smart Living Television Books Home & Garden Comics Entertainment News Food & Dining Museums Theater & Dance Crosswords CHello LISANROY Change Preferences | Sign Out Sign In | Register Now Print Edition | Subscribe NewsNation Investigations Education Photos & Video World Technology KidsPost Discussions Metro Entertainment Religion Corrections Business Health Post Magazine Archives PoliticsPolitics Blogs House/Senate Votes White House Congress 2008 Campaign In Depth Polls In the Loop DC | MD | VA OpinionsOpinions Home Toles Cartoons On Faith Blogs Telnaes Animations PostGlobal Feedback Outlook Discussion Groups LocalMetro News Weather Local Explorer Jobs Education Traffic Community Guides Cars DC | MD | VACrime The Extras Real Estate Columns/Blogs Obituaries Local Business Yellow Pages SportsRedskins D.C. United Columns/Blogs NFL Nationals Capitals College Basketball NHL Wizards High Schools Local Colleges NBA Arts & LivingStyle Movies Travel Fashion & Beauty Horoscopes Smart Living Television Books Home & Garden Comics Entertainment News Food & Dining Museums Theater & Dance Crosswords City GuideFind Restaurants Find Local Events Find Movies Visitors Guide Find Bars & Clubs Going Out Gurus JobsSearch JobsCarsBuy a Car Sell a Car Experts & Advice Dealer Specials Coupons Real EstateBuy a Home Sell a Home Property Values RentalsFind a Rental Rent Your Place ShoppingShop New Deals & Discounts Shopper Blog Shop Used Sell Your Stuff Pets SEARCH: washingtonpost.com Web | Search Archiveswashingtonpost.com > Opinions Your Comments On...Offense TakenIn this campaign, there is no room for remarks of any sort on any subject. - By Michael KinsleyCommentsscschmidt wrote:Michael Kinsley's article, "Offense Taken" is way off base. The example that he cited are based on relationships, yes- whether they be a cousin or a hairdresser. However, the GREAT BIG DIFFERENCE is that when someone goes out of their way to verbally expound the degree of influence that someone has on you as well as when you tout this person as a role model or "mentor" - well now this is VERY dofferent. By doing this, you indeed are connecting yourself to this person in every way since you indicated that their beliefs were used to mentor and foster your own beliefs. When you look up to someone as a mentor or role model, you are believing in the basic principles of theirs. Obama's open statements to th ereverend being his spiritual mentor and best friend makes his beliefs as suspect as the reverend's. In addition, Obama can now denounce all he wants to but how could he be a parishioner for 17 years and listen to these types of statements if as Obama NOW states are "outrageous"? I think that we need to realy questiob Obama's truthfullness or question his judgement. In either case, the country should seriously reconsider any support for such a candidate. It is frightening that Obama's paltform really emphasizes "change" and his real agenda would seem to indicate other.We need to change our support to Senator Clinton and assure her success in November.3/17/2008 9:05:12 PMRecommend (0) Report Abuse Discussion Policy LISANROY wrote:amemended comments of dr kamal roy dt 3,17,2008LISANROY wrote:COMmENTS OF REV DR KAMAL KARNA Karuna ROY A REPUBLICAN CANIDATE AND HoPEFUL TO BE the NOMINEE OF GOP IN SCHEDULED ELECTION FOr NOV 4, 2008, IF BE HELD WITHOUT any COURT ORDER OF INJUNCTION to postpone corrpt election as PRAYED BY DR kamal k k ROY ALLEGING SKY_HIGH AND CLOUD_DARK CORRUPTIONS BY DEFENDANTS IN CIVIL ACTIONS FILED IN 20+ U S D COURT actions in 20+ different JURISDICTIONS with allegations against defendants for negligence to enforce laws not TO PUSH OUT ELECTORAL CONTESTANTS FROM WEAKER COMMUNITIES OF HAVE-nots 3/17/2008 9:04:05 PMRecommend (0) Report Abuse Discussion Policy rmorris391 wrote:well this is "midly amusing". While I am generally an advocate of Kinsley, and Slate magazine, as well as, Time magazine. I must take umbrage, with the sacastic tone of this tome. It is a thinly veiled attempt to incite debate over issues, and non-issues, which may be unrelated to the national campaign. While the Mainstream Media (MSM) has too much time on its hands, to consider a long winded campaign, the focus has shifted to non-political discourse, about intractable problems that confound american society. We have issues related to baseball players, after all, who alledgedly used illegal substances to puff up their biceps. Certainly, congress can devise a surge campaign to intervene with major league baseball, and save the poor players from the rich players. After all, the economic crisis in MLB is looming, and requires some "foreign ownership equity." This is, afterall the land of "ownership." At least that is what a young president Bush promised the american public. Once a new president is elected, a series of "signing agreements" can be implemented to remove my umbrages.3/17/2008 8:54:47 PMRecommend (0) Report Abuse Discussion Policy LL22102 wrote:Man.... Youre in trouble... You used the N word.3/17/2008 8:51:00 PMRecommend (0) Report Abuse Discussion Policy LISANROY wrote:COMENTS OF REV DR KAMAL KARNAK ROY A REPUBLICAN CANIDATE AND HPEFUL TO BE NOMINEE OF GOP IN SCHEDULED ELECTION FO NOV 4, 2008, IF BNE HELD WITHOUT COURT ORDER OF INJUNCTION PRAYED BY DR ROY ALLEGING SKY_HIGHJ ANMD CLOUD_DARK CORRUPTIONS BY DEFENDANTS IN CIVIL ACTIONS FILED IN 20+ U S D COURT JURISDICTIONS TO PUSH OUT ELECTORAL CONTESTANTS FROM WEAKER COMMUNITIES OF HAVE-nots in usa, viz rev dr kamal roy, an ondained clegy on vow of poverty declarations with i r s, i e dr roy is u s american poor and a member of weaker communities. Dr roy may not be a quiter from electoral race as a victim of corruptions and he will moe upto u s suprem court until jutie doo are opened to weaker people o uitably contest and may be win us presidency some day in decades ......as a woman is trying for presidency and 1/ 2african_american (black is thriving for presidency in 2008 , w theb hy not a member of have_not community successfuly capture u s presidency, but if the inequitable condition prevail then it may take a revolution or two to make way to succeed asis current jungle democratic condition all over the globe including in usa wherin democracy is defacto a powerplay of super rich, powerfuls, elites in society, human_gods , devils of democracy et al...pakistan poltical parties may keep president musarraf until his end of curren term without questioning his lawfulness in the post and judges who were terminated by musarrf shall not handle the agreement of political parties who came recently in power may create peace in the yet volatile state of pakistan. In view political environment is so clouded to peaceful solutions in groups of divisions and conflicts, a middle couse in between musarraf and political parties appear essential to keep peace in pakistan. opinion/comment repackaged by assistants to the rev kamal karna roy, a u s republican hopeful nd demanding to be nominated as mr clean republican nominee for u s president 2008 no election if be held on time rev lisa n r alston, chief campaign of dr roy for u s president 2008Your Comments On...Needed: Honesty on IraqWithout tying their hands, the candidates need to answer hard questions.start making similar demands. Ah, democracy in action.UPDATE, 11:51 p.m.: Searching my inbox, I noticed that the Obama campaign has announced seven superdelegate pickups since March 4. So there might be something to my "steady drip" theory. With seven weeks until Pennsylvania, a constant stream of superdelegate endorsements is a good way to create the impression of momentum--whether or not the supers in question decided to endorse today, yesterday or last month. Conversely, a sudden flood this week might've struck observers as a show of pre-March 4 support--and left them wondering whether Obama could keep attracting superdelegates after Clinton's wins in Ohio and Texas. Now it *looks like* he is.Hillary Clinton, Barack ObamaPermalink: http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper/archive/2008/03/06/the-stumper-superdelegate-watch-part-iii-of.aspx Sphere It! Digg It! Newsvine Del.icio.us Facebook Type SizePrint Email RSS Social Networks Permalink: http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper/archive/2008/03/06/the-stumper-superdelegate-watch-part-iii-of.aspx TrackBack URL: http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper/trackback.aspx?PostID=226250 Sphere It! Digg It! Newsvine Del.icio.us Facebook Thanks for sharing your feedback! If your feedback doesn't appear right away, please be patient as it may take a few minutes to publish - or longer if the blogger is moderating comments. DiscussEnter Your CommentSubmit Member Comments Posted By: CANDIDATE_REPUBLICAN (March 16, 2008 at 7:19 PM) Black voters, a disaffected young and independent electorate coupled with a disenchanted Black community can easily translate into a drop off of 20% of the turnout. This calculus can be even more devastating in the 11 states that had African American voter turnout percentages of 13% or more in 2004. As the young people might say- the Democrats better recognize!Posted by: theradioactivist | March 16, 2008 05:30 PM Nancy Pelozi doesn't care who will be the best president. Nancy Pelozi is only interested in her representatives electibility for the House, which Nancy controls.Nancy Pelozi is looking less and less attractive as a political figure. She says the right things the Democrats want to hear, and next thing you know, there she is smiling, and grinning ear to ear, standing behind the President while he signs legislation we don't want. gw.Posted by: Iowatreasures | March 16, 2008 05:30 PM j9zig1I believe the correct term is St. Paddy's day. D's, not T's. Otherwise, I find your analysis flawless.Posted by: daweeni | March 16, 2008 05:33 PM Posted by: artemis26:So your argument is that "crossovers" would not vote for Obama in the general? Just clarifying, not being confrontational.______________I don't think they will. He is untested. Has done litt3/17/2008 8:50:49 PMRecommend (0) Report Abuse Discussion Policy LISANROY wrote:3.17. 2008 NEW YORKCOMMENTS OF THE RE DR KAMAL KARNA KARUNA ROY AKA JOSEPH GERONIMO JR (BORN IN GUAM, A U S TERRITORY, PURSUANT TO U S ACT 1978 A US CITIZEN BY BIRTH) A REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE AND HOPEFUL TO BE MR CLEAN REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE FOR SCHEDULED NOV 4 2008 ELECTION IF BE HELD WITHOUT INJUNCTION TO POSTPONE ELECTION FOR DEEPROOTED CORRUPTIONS BY THE DEFENDANTS 440+ NOS0 TO SCREEN OUT BOB_ELITE CANDIDATE VIZ KAMAL KARNA ROY , AN ORDAINED CLERGY ON VOW OF POVERTY ( SEE WEBSITES WIH SEARCH WORDS 3 TO 5 WORDS AT A TIME WITH KAMAL KARNA ROY U S PRESIDENT 2008 REPUBLICAN JUNGLE DEMOCRACY ET AL TO FIND DETAILS ABOUT DR ROY .PHOTO CAN BE SEEN IN WEB PROJECT VOTE SMART KAMAL KARNA ROY.......pakistan poltical parties may keep president musarraf until his end of curren term without questioning his lawfulness in the post and judges who were terminated by musarrf shall not handle the agreement of political parties who came recently in power may create peace in the yet volatile state of pakistan. In view political environment is so clouded to peaceful solutions in groups of divisions and conflicts, a middle couse in between musarraf and political parties appear essential to keep peace in pakistan. opinion/comment repackaged by assistants to the rev kamal karna roy, a u s republican hopeful nd demanding to be nominated as mr clean republican nominee for u s president 2008 no election if be held on time rev lisa n r alston, chief campaign of dr roy for u s president 2008Your Comments On...Needed: Honesty on IraqWithout tying their hands, the candidates need to answer hard questions.start making similar demands. Ah, democracy in action.UPDATE, 11:51 p.m.: Searching my inbox, I noticed that the Obama campaign has announced seven superdelegate pickups since March 4. So there might be something to my "steady drip" theory. With seven weeks until Pennsylvania, a constant stream of superdelegate endorsements is a good way to create the impression of momentum--whether or not the supers in question decided to endorse today, yesterday or last month. Conversely, a sudden flood this week might've struck observers as a show of pre-March 4 support--and left them wondering whether Obama could keep attracting superdelegates after Clinton's wins in Ohio and Texas. Now it *looks like* he is.Hillary Clinton, Barack ObamaPermalink: http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper/archive/2008/03/06/the-stumper-superdelegate-watch-part-iii-of.aspx Sphere It! Digg It! Newsvine Del.icio.us Facebook Type SizePrint Email RSS Social Networks Permalink: http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper/archive/2008/03/06/the-stumper-superdelegate-watch-part-iii-of.aspx TrackBack URL: http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper/trackback.aspx?PostID=226250 Sphere It! Digg It! Newsvine Del.icio.us Facebook Thanks for sharing your feedback! If your feedback doesn't appear right away, please be patient as it may take a few minutes to publish - or longer if the blogger is moderating comments. DiscussEnter Your CommentSubmit Member Comments Posted By: CANDIDATE_REPUBLICAN (March 16, 2008 at 7:19 PM) Black voters, a disaffected young and independent electorate coupled with a disenchanted Black community can easily translate into a drop off of 20% of the turnout. This calculus can be even more devastating in the 11 states that had African American voter turnout percentages of 13% or more in 2004. As the young people might say- the Democrats better recognize!Posted by: theradioactivist | March 16, 2008 05:30 PM Nancy Pelozi doesn't care who will be the best president. Nancy Pelozi is only interested in her representatives electibility for the House, which Nancy controls.Nancy Pelozi is looking less and less attractive as a political figure. She says the right things the Democrats want to hear, and next thing you know, there she is smiling, and grinning ear to ear, standing behind the President while he signs legislation we don't want. gw.Posted by: Iowatreasures | March 16, 2008 05:30 PM j9zig1I believe the correct term is St. Paddy's day. D's, not T's. Otherwise, I find your analysis flawless.Posted by: daweeni | March 16, 2008 05:33 PM Posted by: artemis26:So your argument is that "crossovers" would not vote for Obama in the general? Just clarifying, not being confrontational.______________I don't think they will. He is untested. Has done little in the senate but run for president. The Wright story was not out when he was getting votes from whites due to his "unity" message. It falls flat now. As I said before, I think he loses that Wright issue any way you slice it. Either he didn't think his church was controversial or he didn't know. Which is it? Supporting someone who you say is your "mentor" who says "appalling" things with thousands of dollars is worse than saying them yourself. At least the pastor is being honest. Posted by: j9zig1 | March 16, 2008 05:35 PM NO OBAMA. My reasons are expressed here.www.taylormarsh.comPosted by: mjno | March 16, 2008 05:36 PM Change Preferences | Sign Out Sign In | Register Now Print Edition | Subscribe NewsNation Investigations Education Photos & Video World Technology KidsPost Discussions Metro Entertainment Religion Corrections Business Health Post Magazine Archives PoliticsPolitics Blogs House/Senate Votes White House Congress 2008 Campaign In Depth Polls In the Loop DC | MD | VA OpinionsOpinions Home Toles Cartoons On Faith Blogs Telnaes Animations PostGlobal Feedback Outlook Discussion Groups LocalMetro News Weather Local Explorer Jobs Education Traffic Community Guides Cars DC | MD | VACrime The Extras Real Estate Columns/Blogs Obituaries Local Business Yellow Pages SportsRedskins D.C. 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WillCommentsLISANROY wrote:obama. hillary and mcCain all three have shown their deficits in public image which create deep concern among we the people in usa to investgate/ reopen investigations on female lobbyist pleasure pursuit for influence pedalling (felony charg)against, i r s tax fraud by obama for easy and convinient financing of r /e deal involving obamas house in illinois , in assistance of rezco but obama criminally did not report to i r s for his gain in money in sweet_heart financing on the deal, even gain in illegal conduct on this , the shrewed obama , as reported did not report gain to irs, and that a felony; similarly hillary 1/2 successfully evaded issue of corruption in her involvement in white water r/e scandal , which she temporarily delayed or evaded in wearing cloak of a clintonian first woman. she is not wearing any defence cloak, so f b i et al lawfully and easily punish her for her abusive tendency to common we the people. many in arkansas lost money for hillary's high handed orruption . We the people in usa should not reawad her with u s presidency and we the people would like to see her established in a correction house for her corruption if proved in laws of u s court and bar her for a federal full time job of u s president w e f 1.20. 2009'3/17/2008 8:23:44 PMRecommend (0) Report Abuse Discussion Policy more.. Tag : democracy does | revolving doors | Open Question Resolved Question: no no no to... obama shall definitely prove another presidential hopeful of democrats like rudy giuliani of republicans.Obama's abusive deal in purchase of his home purchase reveals a way of wise people in USA to cut short cut deal.But such short circuit for personal gain is very mischievous when it came to natiional interests and it shall definitely arouse loss of faiths in leadership andpeole turn divisive.It is " we the people" to be decisive to stop his hope with additional scrutiny to lead to denial of patriotic job of a u s Presedent 2008. USA is d9vided on issues. we the people can not burden odd issues to add to confusion.Pl elect the clean person as leader and they are in groups of presoidential hpefuls. we the people may have to cross party_line to elect a dependable leader who may comman pulic faith: jerry alston , with consent of a us presiodential, republian hopeful, the rev dr Kamal karna k roy : see the following;Thanks to everyone who donated in the Wikimedia Foundation fundraiser! You can still make a contribution, or buy Wikimedia merchandise. Kamal Karna RoyFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, searchKamal Karna Roy Born GUAM, A u S TERRITORY IN PACIFIC Residence United States Nationality U S CITIZEN BY BIRTH, PURSUANT TO u s ACT OF 1978, FOR PEOPLE WHO WERE BORM IN GUAM AND in MARIANA ISLANDS in Pacific Ocean regions ,AND who were LIVING IN usa ON DAY OF ENACTMENT OF THE SAId ACT OF 1978. Other names the Rev Dr Joseph Geronimo , Jr.Kamal K. K. Roy.KAMAL KARNA K. ROY Known for as ACTIVIST IN SOCIAL REFORMS IN RESPECTS OF GOD/S, RELIGIONS, PEOPLE, hUMAN_GOD/S ( PEOPLE WITH LEADERSHIP AND APPARENT OR REAL POWERS TO EXERT RIGHTS ON PUBLIC WITH GOOD OR ANY INTENTION OF PUBLIC OR PRIVATE IDEOLOGIES VIZ LATE Iraqi Dictator_President :SADAM HUSSAIN OF IRAQ WHILE HE WAS IN POWER OF UN_NAMED U.S PRESIDENT/S WITH severe CONTROVERSIES IN PUBLIC POLICIES IN MAINLAND usa OR WORLD_WIDE democracies, SAY A ruling GENERAL IN SOME POWER IN SOUTH ASIA. Education has an M B A DEGREE (m s IN SPECIALISATION IN tRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT FROM suny MARITIME COLLEGE , the BRONX, NEW YORK CITY, usa ; STUDIED ADVANCED COURSE LEADING TO ADVANCED CERT. IN pUBLIC ADMN. FROM usda gRADUATE SCHOOL, WASHINTON dc ( SCHOOL id :578- 80- 4399 ; he has 2 Doctoral degrees in management science in fields of management Science and another in field/faculty of Religions / god/s/people from foreign school He has a bachelor's degree in law from foreign cchool of laws and management. He further took in education s in University of Rhode Island,both at Providence and Kingston , in usa and other schools viz City university of new York,Baruch college, New york city, usa et al Employer volunteer ordained clergy with vow of poverty ( U S IRS rule for ordained clergies in USA .group Handicap interests international world religions group. 107 A Scribner avenue, staten Island , New york city, n y 10301, USA Occupation activist, mobile clergy, electronic preacher of multiple or unique god/s and religions , et al. Title mobile clergy,Political activist USA and around globe; currently he is a u s presidential hopeful / candidate for 2008 electoral competition from Republican Party in New York ; strategist for common / weaker people, disadvantaged people in democracy in usa et al to claim leadership including the 2008 Presidency electoral competition: the weaker people aresegregated and removed from electoral race by stategic powerful block in democracy in U S republic including the news media and news conglomerates. see court actions pending in the main article of Dr kamal Karna Roy. strategist of god/s , religions, people, et al, activist Height 5' 8'Political party Republican ( GOP)of usa Religious stance world religions/ multiple religions in unique body and soul and a proponent of the strategy. Spouse a common law wife Children some, maintained by natural mother concerned Kamal Karna Roy (a/k/a Kamal K.K. Roy, a/k/a Rev. Dr. Joseph Geronimo, Jr.) is a prolific pro se litigant who, since at least the early 1990s, has filed numerous lawsuits throughout the United States and its territories under the names Roy and Joseph Geronimo, Jr., as well as under the names of entities that he is affiliated with, including International Siva Consciousness & World Religions, Reforms International, Handicap Interests International, and Jungle Democracy.[1] Roy's lawsuits are often brought against multiple defendants, and feature long, unconventional complaints. Roy has filed lawsuits against God, U.S. Presidents, Supreme Court Justices, fast food restaurants, foreign leaders.[2], and Wikipedia [3] [4].Roy's lawsuits have addressed, among many other things, actions taken by President George W. Bush, overcharging by telecommunication companies, the appointment of Chief Justice John Roberts to the Supreme Court, and "failure of democratic societies and God's role therein."[5] In 2006 Judge Michael W. McConnell of The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit described a typical Roy complaint:Roy, a/k/a Joseph Geronimo, Jr. filed a 115-page complaint, a 144-page amended complaint, and a 40-page second amended complaint against over sixty defendants, including among many others President Bush, God as U.S.-based divine benefactor, several government agencies, The New York Times, and Kentucky Fried Chicken. In addition to pages of rambling discourse, the complaint contains numerous illegible handwritten remarks.[6]The Tenth Circuit went on to affirm the district court's dismissal of the complaint holding that no discernible claim was apparent from the complaint. Judge McConnell also humorously noted that the court "strongly suspect[ed] at least one defendant was not properly served."[7]Most, if not all, of Roy's complaints have been dismissed. A 2006 United States District Court for the District of Delaware opinion, Jungle Democracy v. U.S., describes Roy as "no stranger to litigation" and provides a partial list of Roy lawsuits that have been dismissed since 1991.[8]Despite Roy's lack of success in the courts, his lawsuits have been discussed in law school classrooms and in law related blogs.[9] [10]In April 2007 Roy filed a civil rights action against, among others, CBS Broadcasting Inc., MSNBC, the United States Government, and controversial radio shock jock Don Imus.[11]In October, 2007, Roy filed a suit in the US District Court, Middle District of Florida, against "Wikipedia Encyclopedia, USA, All News Media, All State Board of Elections, Federal Election Commission". See Dkt. 3:07-cv-00994-VMC-HTS.[edit] References^ Jungle Democracy v. U.S., No. CIV.06-503-SLR, 2006 WL 2616213, at *1 (D. Del. Sept. 12, 2006) ^ Roy v. U.S., No. CIV.06-685-SLR 2007 WL 1109296 at *1 (D. Del. Apr. 11, 2007) ^ http://dockets.justia.com/browse/state-new_hampshire/court-nhdce/noscat-5/ ^ http://www.area603.com/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=1460&blogId=6 ^ Id. ^ Jungle Democracy v. USA Government at Washington, DC & at Denver, 206 Fed.Appx. 756 (C.A.10, 2006) ^ Id. at 757 ^ Jungle Democracy, 2006 WL 2616213, at *1 ^ http://howappealing.law.com/112106.html#019767 ^ http://enmasse.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?p=81431&sid=fbaa29156d22ef55f5adbe22febfcfe8 ^ http://dockets.justia.com/docket/court-dedce/case_no-1:2007cv00206/case_id-38087/ Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamal_Karna_Roy"Categories: Uncategorised people | Year of birth missing (living people) | Place of birth missing (living people) | Living peopleViewsArticle Discussion Edit this page History Watch Personal toolsKamal karna roy My talk My preferences My watchlist My contributions Log out NavigationMain page Contents Featured content Current events Random article interactionAbout Wikipedia Community portal Recent changes Contact Wikipedia Donate to Wikipedia Help SearchToolboxWhat links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Printable version Permanent link Cite this article This page was last modified 18:00, 29 October 2007. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) tax-deductible nonprofit charity.Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers more.. Tag : Obama reverend | hillary clinton | Resolved Question Resolved Question: newer view of usa... Thanks to everyone who donated in the Wikimedia Foundation fundraiser! You can still make a contribution, or buy Wikimedia merchandise. Kamal Karna RoyFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, searchKamal Karna Roy Born GUAM, A u S TERRITORY IN PACIFIC Residence United States Nationality U S CITIZEN BY BIRTH, PURSUANT TO u s ACT OF 1978, FOR PEOPLE WHO WERE BORM IN GUAM AND in MARIANA ISLANDS in Pacific Ocean regions ,AND who were LIVING IN usa ON DAY OF ENACTMENT OF THE SAId ACT OF 1978. Other names the Rev Dr Joseph Geronimo , Jr.Kamal K. K. Roy.KAMAL KARNA K. ROY Known for as ACTIVIST IN SOCIAL REFORMS IN RESPECTS OF GOD/S, RELIGIONS, PEOPLE, hUMAN_GOD/S ( PEOPLE WITH LEADERSHIP AND APPARENT OR REAL POWERS TO EXERT RIGHTS ON PUBLIC WITH GOOD OR ANY INTENTION OF PUBLIC OR PRIVATE IDEOLOGIES VIZ LATE Iraqi Dictator_President :SADAM HUSSAIN OF IRAQ WHILE HE WAS IN POWER OF UN_NAMED U.S PRESIDENT/S WITH severe CONTROVERSIES IN PUBLIC POLICIES IN MAINLAND usa OR WORLD_WIDE democracies, SAY A ruling GENERAL IN SOME POWER IN SOUTH ASIA. Education has an M B A DEGREE (m s IN SPECIALISATION IN tRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT FROM suny MARITIME COLLEGE , the BRONX, NEW YORK CITY, usa ; STUDIED ADVANCED COURSE LEADING TO ADVANCED CERT. IN pUBLIC ADMN. FROM usda gRADUATE SCHOOL, WASHINTON dc ( SCHOOL id :578- 80- 4399 ; he has 2 Doctoral degrees in management science in fields of management Science and another in field/faculty of Religions / god/s/people from foreign school He has a bachelor's degree in law from foreign cchool of laws and management. He further took in education s in University of Rhode Island,both at Providence and Kingston , in usa and other schools viz City university of new York,Baruch college, New york city, usa et al Employer volunteer ordained clergy with vow of poverty ( U S IRS rule for ordained clergies in USA .group Handicap interests international world religions group. 107 A Scribner avenue, staten Island , New york city, n y 10301, USA Occupation activist, mobile clergy, electronic preacher of multiple or unique god/s and religions , et al. Title mobile clergy,Political activist USA and around globe; currently he is a u s presidential hopeful / candidate for 2008 electoral competition from Republican Party in New York ; strategist for common / weaker people, disadvantaged people in democracy in usa et al to claim leadership including the 2008 Presidency electoral competition: the weaker people aresegregated and removed from electoral race by stategic powerful block in democracy in U S republic including the news media and news conglomerates. see court actions pending in the main article of Dr kamal Karna Roy. strategist of god/s , religions, people, et al, activist Height 5' 8'Political party Republican ( GOP)of usa Religious stance world religions/ multiple religions in unique body and soul and a proponent of the strategy. Spouse a common law wife Children some, maintained by natural mother concerned Kamal Karna Roy (a/k/a Kamal K.K. Roy, a/k/a Rev. Dr. Joseph Geronimo, Jr.) is a prolific pro se litigant who, since at least the early 1990s, has filed numerous lawsuits throughout the United States and its territories under the names Roy and Joseph Geronimo, Jr., as well as under the names of entities that he is affiliated with, including International Siva Consciousness & World Religions, Reforms International, Handicap Interests International, and Jungle Democracy.[1] Roy's lawsuits are often brought against multiple defendants, and feature long, unconventional complaints. Roy has filed lawsuits against God, U.S. Presidents, Supreme Court Justices, fast food restaurants, foreign leaders.[2], and Wikipedia [3] [4].Roy's lawsuits have addressed, among many other things, actions taken by President George W. Bush, overcharging by telecommunication companies, the appointment of Chief Justice John Roberts to the Supreme Court, and "failure of democratic societies and God's role therein."[5] In 2006 Judge Michael W. McConnell of The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit described a typical Roy complaint:Roy, a/k/a Joseph Geronimo, Jr. filed a 115-page complaint, a 144-page amended complaint, and a 40-page second amended complaint against over sixty defendants, including among many others President Bush, God as U.S.-based divine benefactor, several government agencies, The New York Times, and Kentucky Fried Chicken. In addition to pages of rambling discourse, the complaint contains numerous illegible handwritten remarks.[6]The Tenth Circuit went on to affirm the district court's dismissal of the complaint holding that no discernible claim was apparent from the complaint. Judge McConnell also humorously noted that the court "strongly suspect[ed] at least one defendant was not properly served."[7]Most, if not all, of Roy's complaints have been dismissed. A 2006 United States District Court for the District of Delaware opinion, Jungle Democracy v. U.S., describes Roy as "no stranger to litigation" and provides a partial list of Roy lawsuits that have been dismissed since 1991.[8]Despite Roy's lack of success in the courts, his lawsuits have been discussed in law school classrooms and in law related blogs.[9] [10]In April 2007 Roy filed a civil rights action against, among others, CBS Broadcasting Inc., MSNBC, the United States Government, and controversial radio shock jock Don Imus.[11]In October, 2007, Roy filed a suit in the US District Court, Middle District of Florida, against "Wikipedia Encyclopedia, USA, All News Media, All State Board of Elections, Federal Election Commission". See Dkt. 3:07-cv-00994-VMC-HTS.[edit] References^ Jungle Democracy v. U.S., No. CIV.06-503-SLR, 2006 WL 2616213, at *1 (D. Del. Sept. 12, 2006) ^ Roy v. U.S., No. CIV.06-685-SLR 2007 WL 1109296 at *1 (D. Del. Apr. 11, 2007) ^ http://dockets.justia.com/browse/state-new_hampshire/court-nhdce/noscat-5/ ^ http://www.area603.com/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=1460&blogId=6 ^ Id. ^ Jungle Democracy v. USA Government at Washington, DC & at Denver, 206 Fed.Appx. 756 (C.A.10, 2006) ^ Id. at 757 ^ Jungle Democracy, 2006 WL 2616213, at *1 ^ http://howappealing.law.com/112106.html#019767 ^ http://enmasse.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?p=81431&sid=fbaa29156d22ef55f5adbe22febfcfe8 ^ http://dockets.justia.com/docket/court-dedce/case_no-1:2007cv00206/case_id-38087/ Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamal_Karna_Roy"Categories: Uncategorised people | Year of birth missing (living people) | Place of birth missing (living people) | Living peopleViewsArticle Discussion Edit this page History Watch Personal toolsKamal karna roy My talk My preferences My watchlist My contributions Log out NavigationMain page Contents Featured content Current events Random article interactionAbout Wikipedia Community portal Recent changes Contact Wikipedia Donate to Wikipedia Help SearchToolboxWhat links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Printable version Permanent link Cite this article This page was last modified 18:00, 29 October 2007. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) tax-deductible nonprofit charity.Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers more.. Tag : president clean | newer view | Resolved Question Resolved Question: kamal karna roy... more

Resolved Question: Are all modeling agencies that offer 'professional workshops' scams, meaning Ottawa is only a scam city?

Hello, I have been checking out modeling agencies in Ottawa, Ontario. Angie's Models and Talent and Models International Management both claim to have the success stories and be legitimate businesses - however, they want models to take part in professional model workshops, which cost a thousand dollars for 18 weeks. However, I don't want to call them scams, because it seems they are really the only agencies in this medium-sized capital of Canada. The local magazines must come from somewhere... more

Resolved Question: Will Gore's Show Be The Biggest On Earth?

Notice where it's being held in communist China! Gore show is set to be biggest on earth Gore show is set to be biggest on earth China will broadcast Live Earth, giving the climate change concerts an audience of 2 billion. Will that silence the sceptics? David Smith reports Sunday July 1, 2007 The Observer Nowhere, perhaps, will be more important than Shanghai. One of eight cities hosting Live Earth concerts for Al Gore's crusade against climate change on Saturday, it will help deliver a vast audience across China. And with the world's most populous country on board, organisers believe they can reach 2 billion people and eclipse even Live8 as the biggest global media event of all time. It will begin at 1.10am British Summer Time in Sydney, Australia, then roll around the globe with concerts in Tokyo, Johannesburg, Shanghai, Hamburg, London's Wembley stadium, New York and finally, at 8pm, Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach. A special performance at the British Antarctic Survey Station in Antarctica will ensure all seven continents are included. There will be saturation coverage from TV, radio, the internet and at more than 6,000 parties in 119 countries. Critics have argued the 24-hour spectacular - featuring more than 150 acts including Madonna, Lily Allen, Genesis, Bon Jovi, Kanye West, Kelly Clarkson, Black Eyed Peas and Jack Johnson - will do more for the stars' careers than raising awareness of climate change. But Gore will use it to urge people to sign a seven-point pledge calling on governments to agree, within two years, an international treaty that cuts global warming pollution by 90 per cent in developed countries and by more than half worldwide. It also asks people to cut their own pollution, make their homes, businesses, schools and transport more energy efficient, and plant new trees and preserve forests. With its rapid economic growth and soaring carbon emissions, China is regarded as a crucial target for this message. Kevin Wall, the executive producer of Live Earth, has succeeded where he did not two years ago as a co-organiser of Live8, the centrepiece of the Make Poverty History campaign. 'We're on Chinese TV with 800 million people, ' he told The Observer. 'People often think on a parochial basis, so it's vital to be there. We've got to talk and make the whole world listen.' Live Earth China, on the steps of the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai, will feature popular national singers as well as Britain's Sarah Brightman, and be broadcast across the country by the Shanghai Media Group. Steve Howard, chief executive of The Climate Group, a London-based campaign organisation supporting Live Earth, said: 'The US and China are responsible for half the world's carbon emissions. Live Earth will get huge attention in both. The biggest issue on the planet ever requires the biggest media event ever.' The seed was planted less than two years ago at the Beverly Hills Hotel in California, when Wall, a veteran concert producer, attended a slide show about global warming presented by Gore, as featured in the Oscar-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth 'Over the course of the 90 minutes my wife and I were very emotionally moved by the climate crisis,' said Wall, 54, a father of three. 'We understood for the first time it was about us, our children and our children's children. This is not just a movie - it's happening.' Wall met the former US vice-president and discussed taking the message to as many people as possible: 'After Live8 I said never again, but I got the call from Al Gore, the global rock star on this issue. What I can do on the day is deliver 2 billion pairs of eyeballs.' On Saturday Gore will be at the Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, near New York City, where the Police, Smashing Pumpkins, Alicia Keys and others will perform. 'We don't want him getting on planes burning carbon,' Wall acknowledged. Profits from Live Earth will go to Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection. But the entire event has been questioned by Bob Geldof, organiser of Live Aid and Live8. In May he said: 'I hope they're a success. But why is he [Gore] actually organising them? To make us aware of the greenhouse effect? Everybody's known about that for years. We are all fucking conscious of global warming.' Sceptics have also pointed to the amount of electricity used to power the speakers and lights, and the fuel spent on ferrying musicians and their equipment to the venues by plane and lorry. Wall said: 'We are trying to minimise the carbon as much as possible. Most artists are coming from nearby areas. Madonna, for example, lives in London and will be performing at Wembley.' He added: 'There are 3,000 concerts a year. We're doing 10, but touching 2 billion people about what I think is the biggest issue that's ever faced humanity.' Steve Howard of the environmental charity Climate Group said: 'Dealing with climate change doesn't mean we have got to stop live performances or call for a moratorium on football matches. There are positive choices for people to make. If we get this right, in 10 to 15 years time every product will be a green product. 'Live Earth is a big step in the right direction.' Howard added. 'Arnold Schwarzenegger put it well when he said in Washington DC: "We need to make the environment cool and sexy."' Organisers deny that Live Earth will be a one-off that could be soon forgotten. They have produced more than 60 short films, 30 public service announcements featuring stars such as Cameron Diaz and Penelope Cruz, and a book, The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook by David de Rothschild, that will be published in Britain this week. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2115785,00.html more

Resolved Question: What are the secrets Inside Israel's prisons ?!?

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/shart... Detainees are blindfolded and kept in blackened cells, never told where they are, brutally interrogated and allowed no visitors of any kind. Dubbed 'the Israeli Guantanamo,' it's no wonder facility 1391 officially does not exist. M, who serves in the Intelligence Corps reserves, remembers the first time he was sent to do guard duty at Camp 1391. Before climbing to the top of the observation tower he received an explicit order from the responsible officer: "When you're on the tower you look straight ahead only, outside the base, and to the sides. What happens behind you is none of your business. Do not turn around." M., of course, couldn't resist the temptation and occasionally snuck a look behind him. From atop the tower he saw the double fence surrounding the camp, enclosing a compound ruled by trained attack dogs; the jeep that patrols inside the two fences; the vehicles utilized by the members of the unit who man the base; and especially the large concrete structure, dating from the British Mandate period, when it was used by the British police, and which now bears a description that carries an aura of mystery: Israel's secret detention facility. Some of the people who were interviewed for this article dubbed the camp "the Israeli Guantanamo." There are in fact certain points of resemblance between the American detention camp in Cuba and the Israeli site, mainly in relation to the legal questions that hover over them and the gnawing doubt about whether they are consistent with the values of democracy. In terms of the exotic, though, we lag far behind. Whereas the watchtowers of the Guantanamo facility look out over the aquamarine waters of the Caribbean Sea, the secret prison in Israel is situated by the side of a completely ordinary road in the heart of a bustling region in the center of the country. A narrow, tree-lined road ascends to the camp, and inside it looks like any other army base: barracks, mess hall, workshop to repair vehicles. Even the guards are not the best the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have available. The guard towers and the patrols are manned, for the most part, by graduates of the IDF's general basic training program, who "never carried out an assault against anything," as one of them put it. "As always with us, there's a lot of hoo-ha, but behind it is the usual army chaos," an officer who served at the base says ironically. What really surrounds Camp 1391, more than physical protection, is an entrenched wall of silence. Since the 1980s, when the facility was moved from a more southerly location to its present site, the Israeli authorities have made every effort to keep its very existence secret. And even now that its existence has been revealed, the state refuses to answer the many questions of the world and of the Israeli public: Where is the facility? Who is being held there, why, and for how long? Were they tried before being locked up in Camp 1391, or are they awaiting trial? What are their conditions of incarceration? In every other lockup in Israel the answers to these and many other questions are open and amenable to external, legal, public and international review. As far as is known, the 1391 site is the only detention facility whose detainees don't know where they are. If they ask, the warders may answer, "on the moon," or "in outer space," or "outside the borders of Israel." It is also the only detention facility that the state prevents the International Red Cross from visiting. Nor, as far as can be ascertained, have Knesset members ever visited the place, and many of the politicians who have been asked about it in the past few weeks said they had never heard of it - including some who have held senior positions in the government, such as Prof. David Libai, who was justice minister in the government of Yitzhak Rabin and a member of the ministerial committee that deals with the secret services: "I will not say a single word about the subject, for the simple reason that I am not familiar with it. This is the first time I have ever heard about such a thing." If a former justice minister doesn't know about it, a disturbing question arises: who does? Dan Meridor, another former justice minister and chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, is aware of the facility's existence: "I'm not sure there's anything wrong here," he says. "I remember that as a minister and as one who dealt with intelligence matters, I visited every place I wanted to and everything was always open to me. I know about the existence of this facility, but I was never there - apparently because I never asked to visit it. I don't want to bandy words about, because I am not familiar with the subject in depth. There are many complex questions of human rights involved here." Do you think it's right that in the State of Israel there is a facility in which people don't know where they are, nor do their families or lawyers? "No. If there are people who are incarcerated incommunicado, that doesn't seem right to me." According to attorney Dan Yakir, the legal adviser of the Association of Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), "A secret detention facility contradicts basic principles of every democracy - transparency and public supervision over the governmental authorities. And those principles are especially important in relation to the deprivation of freedom - which is one of the most severe infringements of human rights. The existence of a lockup like this gives rise to a double concern: first, of secret arrests and `disappearances' of people; and second, an abuse of power, unfair treatment, violence and torture." As will be seen, attorney Yakir's concerns are well founded. Stepson of army intelligence Camp 1391 is an Israel Defense Forces facility. Agents of the Shin Bet security service and other security branches visit the site and since the start of the intifada have apparently made greater use of it than in the past, but the facility belongs to the IDF. One of the reasons for the wall of secrecy that surrounds it is the fact that it is located in the center of a military base that belongs to one of the secret units of the Intelligence Corps - Unit 504 (according to foreign sources the unit's name has recently been changed). Unit 504 gathers intelligence by means of the human factor - "humint." Most of its work is done by using agents outside Israel. The officers in the unit, which is not large, are known as katamim (acronym for "officers for special tasks") and undergo two-track training. Some of them handle agents and the others - former members of the unit say they are those whose skills the system isn't wild about - are directed to the hakshabim track (interrogators of prisoners). The unit commander is an officer with the rank of colonel. The attitude toward the unit is characterized by duality: on the one hand, this is a small, seemingly elitist unit, which carries out sensitive missions; on the other hand, as one of the unit's members says, "We are the stepson of army intelligence. Sometimes you look at some of the officers and you ask yourself whether these are the standards the IDF assigns to these posts." The same individual adds, "There is also a problem about the impact of long-term service on their mental state. To be an interrogator you have to start out with some kind of scratch on the brain. But the handlers, too - after a time they also start to be handlers in their private life. You see it in their attitude toward women, with the family, even in the interaction between the people in the unit." Along with operational successes, which have naturally remained far from the public eye, the names of some of the unit's members have been linked to dubious affairs in recent years. One of the unit's commanders became criminally entangled because of a romantic affair. Another accidentally discharged his pistol during a meeting with the command personnel. Jean-Pierre Elraz, who last year was accused of murdering Yitzhak Kvartatz, the security coordinator of Kibbutz Manara, is a former member of the unit (and afterward served in the Shin Bet); so is Major Yosef Amit, who was convicted of aggravated espionage and contact with a foreign agent. During the IDF's 18-year presence in Lebanon, the members of Unit 504 were especially active across Israel's northern border. To this day the Lebanese press occasionally runs stories about the arrest and trial of local agents who operated in the service of Unit 504. In November 1998, a Lebanese court convicted no fewer than 57 citizens of collaborating with Israel via the unit. The penalty for this offense: death. The unit's extensive activity in Lebanon placed Camp 1391 at the center of affairs. It became the entry gate to Israel for Lebanese, especially those who were suspected of membership in Hezbollah, who were transferred to the southern side of the border. Some of them were captured in battle, others were abducted at Israel's initiative. The most famous of the abductees are Sheikh Abd al Karim Obeid, who was seized in 1989, and Mustafa Dirani, who was brought by force to Israel in 1994. The helicopter in which members of Sayeret Matkal, the ultra-elite reconnaissance unit, took Obeid from his home in the town of Jibsheet, took him directly to the gates of Camp 1391. The next time Obeid left the camp - apart from medical checks and to appear in court when his detention was extended - was 13 years later. Last summer Obeid and Dirani were moved to Ashmoret prison, near Kfar Yona in the Netanya area. However, well-known anti-Israel activists such as Obeid and Dirani are not the only abductees who have been thrown into Camp 1391. When the soldiers of Sayeret Matkal entered Obeid's house in the dead of night they encountered a few other people, too, among them some of Obeid's relatives and his bodyguard. Hashem Fahaf, then about 20, who happened to visit the sheikh that day to receive his blessing and decided to stay overnight, was especially unlucky. The soldiers bundled him into the helicopter, too. He spent the next 11 years incarcerated in Israel, initially in Camp 1391 and afterward in Ayalon Prison in Ramle. During this entire period he was not tried or accused of any crime. In the first years of his incarceration, Israel denied he was in the country and refused him any contact with the outside world. In April 2000, Fahaf, by now 31, was released by order of the Supreme Court. Together with him another 18 Lebanese, who according to the official version were being held as "bargaining chips" for the missing air force navigator Ron Arad, were also released. The group included two men who had been kidnapped and brought to Israel when they were teenagers aged 16 and 17, as well as Ghasan Dirani, a relative of Mustafa Dirani, who developed catatonic schizophrenia during his incarceration in Israel. At one stage or another, all of them were held in Camp 1391. Inside the facility In aerial photographs of the area in which Camp 1391 is located - as is the case with aerial photos of other security-sensitive sites in the country - the facility and the large building in its center are nonexistent. Most maps of Israel also do not cite the facility, though on a few maps of the Nature and National Parks Protection Authority, it is marked by means of a letter, with no further explanation. There is no sign on the main road directing the curious to the camp. After we drove around the base a couple of times and stopped a bit to take pictures, a security vehicle was sent out to follow us for a few kilometers. At the first opportunity, two armed and surly security men got out of the vehicle and barraged us with questions. Anyone entering the camp has to negotiate two iron gates draped with barbed wire. The first gate closes after the visitor enters and only then does the second gate open. The detention and interrogation section is located not far from the mess hall. A person who served on the base recalls with a smile that a poster spelling out the main points of the Geneva Convention hung on one of the walls of the dining hall. The cells proceed along a corridor; they abut one another but are separated by thick concrete walls. The detainees can communicate by knocking on the walls, "and they often shout to one another," relates an officer who served in the facility. "That is forbidden, but we didn't always have the energy to deal with it." The detainees are led into the facility blindfolded, to prevent them from knowing where they are. Their personal effects are taken from them, as are their clothes and they are given blue pants and a blue shirt. The cells are pretty much identical, though there are two levels of detainees: those who are in the middle of being interrogated, who get the worst cells and worst conditions; and those whose interrogation has been completed. Two of the cells are relatively large (2.5 x 4 meters), have reasonable lighting and running water, and are therefore called the "villas" by the prisoners. Sheikh Obeid shared one of the "villas" with two Lebanese detainees. Two of the solitary confinement cells are considered the worst of the lot. They are 1.25 x 1.25 meters in size, almost completely dark, and the walls are painted black or red. The differences between the other cells are largely insignificant, expressed mainly in the form of a few basic rights that are accorded to those whom the system no longer has any reason to subject to psychological pressure. The doors of the cells are made of heavy steel, with a small crack - which can be opened only from the outside - being the only opening to the outside world. The cells measure about 2 x 2 meters and are made entirely of concrete on the inside. There are no windows or any source of external light. Abutting one of the walls is a concrete platform that serves as a bed, with a mattress and a blanket on it. On the wall opposite is an orifice, a kind of pipe through which water flows, but the tap is controlled by soldiers outside the cell. Below the water source is a hole in the floor that the detainees use to relieve themselves. That, it turns out, is a privilege. In some of the cells, apparently those used for detainees under interrogation, there is no place at all to go to the toilet: the prisoners have to use a large plastic bucket, which is emptied only once every few days. There are ventilation openings in the upper part of the cells, but the main testimony to their existence is the noise they make when they are turned on. A lamp protected by heavy glass casts a dim light 24 hours a day. The detainees have no way to tell night from day. Most of the cells are also under supervision by means of cameras that send the images via closed-circuit television. The majority of the prisoners are incarcerated alone, though some of the cells have two concrete platforms and in some cases hold two prisoners. The detainees receive the same food the soldiers get. Three times a day, soldiers open the door, bring in a dish and then close the door. The procedure is that before the soldier enters he knocks at the door, at which point the detainee must place a black sack on his head and turn around with his hands raised. The warders, members of the Military Police who are seconded to the facility, are not armed. Weapons may not be introduced into the facility, to prevent a situation in which one of the prisoners might seize a warder's weapon. The warders are only allowed to open the cell doors in pairs. Once a day the detainees - those whose interrogation has ended - are allowed out for one hour in a small inner courtyard of sand and vegetation. The conditions of imprisonment, says a person who served in the facility, are relatively reasonable. Similarly, attorney Zvi Rish, the lawyer of Obeid, Dirani and many of the other Lebanese who were incarcerated in the facility in the 1990s, confirms that his clients had no special complaints about the conditions - referring only to the period after their interrogation had ended. What goes on during the interrogation process is another story altogether, one that sheds light on one of the darker corners of Israel. Let George do it On Friday evening, July 28, 1989, the adrenaline was coursing through Camp 1391. In a well-planned operation, Sayeret Matkal succeeded in grabbing Sheikh Obeid from his bed in the town of Jibsheet, about eight kilometers north of the Israeli border. Obeid was considered a spiritual authority in Hezbollah, but despite the high hopes, his abduction did not further the search for Ron Arad, who had been missing since his plane was downed over Lebanon three years earlier. Soldiers who served in the facility at the time say that in the course of time they developed good relations with prisoner no. 801260. They taught him Hebrew - he reached an impressive level of fluency in the language - and he taught them Arabic. Obeid is described as the spiritual mentor of the prisoners and even of the warders. "With him everything was done quietly and with restraint, with grace and decorum. Even the warders treated him almost like `your honor the rabbi,'" recalls an officer who served at the facility. In May 1994 an honorable guest joined the order of the Lebanese prisoners at Camp 1391: Mustafa Dirani. He was another bargaining chip from whom Israel hoped to extract information about Ron Arad, or even to exchange for Arad, but he, too, proved a disappointment. Many months of planning preceded the abduction of Dirani, who was head of the security division in the Shi'ite movement Amal, and as such had been responsible for holding Ron Arad for about two years. A few days before he was seized and brought to Israel, the interrogators of Unit 504 were given all the intelligence material that had been collected about him. When he arrived at the facility there was a feeling of an imminent breakthrough. In the first days of the interrogation all the ranking members of the defense establishment turned up at the facility - prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, the chief of staff, the director of Military Intelligence and officials from the Mossad espionage agency and the Shin Bet. Dirani's interrogation began seconds after he was grabbed. In special cases interrogators from Unit 504 accompany a force that operates across the lines, with the aim of taking advantage of the abductee's initial shock. The interrogation continued in the vehicle that brought Dirani to his cell in Camp 1391 and then for the next five weeks continuously around the clock. The chief interrogators were the unit commander, career and reservist personnel - the latter were mobilized especially for the mission -and above all a major who introduced himself as George. George, who is now 43 and lives in a small community in the center of the country, is dark with cropped hair, brown eyes and a solid body. He is considered one of the unit's toughest interrogators. The relationship that developed between George and Dirani was the stuff of quite a few newspaper headlines. It will continue to engage the courts during the years to come. Still pending in Tel Aviv District Court is a suit filed by Dirani against the State of Israel and Major George concerning two incidents in which Dirani says he was subjected to sexual abuse. In the first case George called in four of the soldiers who were doing guard duty in the facility and one of them allegedly raped Dirani at George's orders. In another case, Dirani says in the suit, George himself inserted a wooden stick into his rectum. The court will have to decide whether these events occurred. A perusal of the affidavits that have been submitted to the court, testimonies of officers and soldiers who served in the facility and evidence given by other detainees who were there paints a picture of a horrific routine in the interrogation rooms of Camp 1391. Within the framework of that routine the interrogators of Unit 504 have no compunctions about making use of extreme measures in order to extract information - information that in a large percentage of the cases was not in their possession. "I know that it was customary to threaten to insert a stick," says T.N., an interrogator at the facility, in testimony he gave to Military Police investigators. "The intention was that the stick would be inserted if the subject did not talk ... I remember one case when something in that style was done ... George was interrogating one of the prisoners ... He called in S. and me. We came into the room and S. dropped his pants and remained in his underwear or he made clicking noises with his belt as though he was opening it ... S. did this during the interrogation, when George told [the prisoner] that he would be raped in the *** ... I remember for certain that the situation was threat of rape ... "I want to add about that prisoner that he arrived in the room naked, handcuffed and with his head covered. S. and I were in the room and one of us led him around the room and the other held the stick next to his rear end, with provocation and threat, that because he had been caught lying the stick would be shoved up his ***. When I say the stick was moved around next to his rear end, the idea was to touch his bottom with the stick and maybe even to shove it next to the rectum so he would think we were really going to stick it in." Dirani's complaint, along with other testimonies about what was going on in the interrogation rooms of Camp 1391, opened a Pandora's box in the army. George's line of defense was clear: The system, he said, abandoned me; everything I did was done with authority and authorization. Everyone knew, everyone gave their backing, and now everyone denies it all. To reinforce his case, George brandishes a petition that was signed by about 60 reserve officers and soldiers of the unit, in which they say it is wrong for George to have to pay a personal price for using working methods that were standard in the unit for many years. What, according to George, did he in fact do with authority and authorization? He denied the rape and the abuse with the stick, but confirmed many details that were reported by Dirani and other prisoners. For example, the fact that they often stood naked while being interrogated. The State of Israel also denied the rape charge in its response to Dirani's suit, though in the legal hearings the representative of the State Attorney's Office, Yael Tennenbaum, confirmed that "within the framework of a Military Police investigation the suspicion arose that an interrogator who questioned the complainant threatened to perform a sexual act on the complainant." The denial notwithstanding, George was dismissed from the career army, in which he had served for nearly 20 years, by order of the IDF's judge advocate general. He claimed the system was trying to silence him and the episode and filed a petition to the High Court of Justice to be reinstated into service. The petition was rejected. Today George sits at home, declining to talk about the case. But stains that will not soon be erased continue to hover in the skies above Camp 1391. Another example is the testimony of Ahmed Ali Banjek, a Lebanese citizen who was brought to Israel and interrogated in the facility on suspicion of smuggling an anti-helicopter missile into the former Israeli security zone in southern Lebanon. Banjek was convicted on the basis of his confession but afterward submitted an affidavit to the military court in Lod stating that the confession had been extracted under torture. He said he had been beaten with a wooden stick between the legs, forced to sit on a wooden stick until it penetrated into his body, made to drink coffee mixed with ashes from cigarettes and force-fed with large amounts of onions and water. In a rare judgment, the military court in Lod, under the president of the court, Lieutenant Colonel Elisha Caspi, found in April 1998 that "a certain doubt remains as to whether it can be asserted with the certainty required in a criminal trial that his statement was made by the defendant and signed by him." In other words, the court did not reject Banjek's account of the horrors that occurred in the interrogation rooms of Camp 1391, and he was released. CONTINUED http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/shart... trassID=14&sbSubContrassID=0&l... A black hole (2 of 2) The new population Since Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon more than three years ago, and certainly since the eruption of the intifada in September 2000, the unit has actively employed agents among the Palestinians in the territories, an area that until then was the almost exclusive preserve of the Shin Bet. Along with the change in the character of the unit's activity, the population that is now brought to the facility has also changed. As far as is known, in the past the main, though not the only, occupants of the facility were citizens of foreign countries - a term that does not include the inhabitants of the Palestinian Authority. They included Lebanese who were captured or abducted and brought to Israel, Iraqis who defected from Saddam's army and hoped to find political asylum in Israel, and there are also stories about an Iranian or two who were held at the facility in the past. In the past year, and perhaps in earlier stages of the intifada as well, Palestinians too were incarcerated there at times. The most senior of them, as far as is known, is Marwan Barghouti, who was interrogated at the facility for a few days. "Barghouti sat on the same chair you are now sitting on," the interrogators said to one of the Palestinian detainees and made fun of the modest dimensions of the famous prisoner - "his legs didn't even reach the floor." The fact that Palestinians were being held at the secret facility was revealed almost by chance in legal discussions between the state and Hamoked - Center for the Defense of the Individual, a Jerusalem-based human rights organization. Hamoked, which helps Palestinians locate relatives who have been arrested by Israel, wanted to know what happened to Muatez Shahin, who was arrested last October 5 at his home in the village of Salfit, near Nablus in the West Bank. The IDF control center replied that "he is not on any list." After Hamoked and Shahin's relatives petitioned the High Court of Justice, the state referred them in its response to a policeman at the Kishon detention facility. However, when they contacted the policemen they were told that "Shahin is being held in a secret facility that is annexed to the Kishon facility." With that response they went back to the court and argued that the law and a series of legal precedents oblige the state to inform a detainee and his family of his exact place of incarceration. The case of Shahin was the first in a growing list of Palestinians who "disappeared" as though they had been swallowed up by the earth. Through the veteran attorney Lea Tsemel, Hamoked continued to press the state for answers - which arrived in bits and pieces. Yes, the representatives of the State Prosecutor's Office finally told the court, the state operates a facility whose name and location are security secrets. The state attorneys went on to say that even though the facility belonged to the army, the Palestinians had been interrogated there by the Shin Bet. However, the facility "served the Shin Bet only temporarily, this being due to a shortfall in places of detention ... Recently, though, the situation changed and it was decided that the Shin Bet no longer needs to make use of the facility in which the petitioners were held as a detention facility, and accordingly [the Shin Bet] removed from the facility the detainees it was holding there." However, within weeks of this statement to the court, Odit Corinaldi-Sirkis, a senior deputy to the state prosecutor, stated that the facility had been revived: "I wish to inform you," she wrote on June 4 to attorney Lea Tsemel, "that since our responses were submitted the circumstances have changed, and the security people have informed us that detainees are currently being held at facility 1391." A few days later, in her response to the court, the representative of the State Prosecutor's Office added more details: In the past five years "only a few detainees" were held at the facility, but because of the shortfall in places of detention in the wake of Operation Defensive Shield, in April 2002, the Shin Bet had made use of the facility, holding residents of the territories there for brief periods during their interrogation. Now [two months ago] a few detainees were being held there. The court was also told that the facility had been subjected to a review to ascertain the conditions in it, and according to the State Prosecutor's Office it met the accepted criteria in the facilities of the Prisons Service. Hamoked was not satisfied with this response. What began as an attempt to locate a few detainees soon became a matter of legal and democratic principle: What is the legal authority for operating the facility? Is the fact that its location and name are secret, and that it is not open to external, public and international review consistent with the letter of the law? The state, by the way, submitted to the court an interesting document, according to which then defense minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer on April 16, 2002, signed an order declaring facility 1391 to be a military prison. Even if this document makes it legal to imprison people at the site, what does it say about the legality of the activity that was carried out there in all the years that preceded Ben-Eliezer's action? The answers to all these questions will have to be provided by the High Court of Justice, which is scheduled to take up the issue next month. It's very difficult to get substantive comments about facility 1391 from officials in the political, security or even legal spheres. A great many politicians, some of them with a rich security background, refused to say anything. Amnon Shahak, who was the director of Military Intelligence at the time of Sheikh Obeid's abduction, and later chief of staff, and was at one point briefly a candidate for prime minister, says he is "not interested in commenting on the subject." Oren Shahor, the chief intelligence officer at the beginning of the 1990s and today a program presenter on radio and television, says, "I can't help you with that." MK Zahava Gal-On (Meretz), who has put in a request to visit the site but has yet to receive a reply, says, "The fact that such a facility exists, whose location no one knows formally, is one of the signs of totalitarian regimes and of the Third World. It is inconceivable that detainees do not know where they are and that their relatives and lawyers don't know, either; that under the auspices of the army, the State of Israel is violating elementary rights of detainees. Even prisoners have rights. There are international conventions. It is inconceivable that the state abducts people and that there is no review or supervision. I visited all the interrogation facilities of the Shin Bet and there was no problem. So what's the problem here?" One big garbage pail Raab Bader, a 38-year-old accountant who is married and the father of two, was arrested last December at his work place - an engineering consultancy firm in Nablus. At 9:30 A.M. soldiers arrived at his office, but he wasn't there at the time. When he got back, he decided to wait for the soldiers, and they returned in the afternoon and took him away. His wife says he waited for them because he was convinced he had done nothing wrong and wasn't worried. She adds that he was asked by his interrogators about his ties with wanted individuals. Today he is in administrative detention - arrest without trial - at Ofer Camp near Ramallah. As he has not been brought to trial, it is very difficult to know what he is suspected of. What follows are extensive excerpts from his testimony about the 42 days he spent at facility 1391. He have the testimony to attorney Lea Tsemel on June 12 at Ofer Camp: "I was arrested on December 10, 2002. After being interrogated by the Shin Bet for 31 days in Petah Tikva, I was taken to a secret military facility. Those who took me there wore army uniforms. "I was blindfolded and black glasses were placed on top of the blindfold to prevent me from seeing anything. I was handcuffed and shackled. Soldiers sat me down on the floor of the car and the soldiers then covered me with a black cloth. I couldn't see a thing the whole time and I was kept on the floor of the car for the entire long trip. "I spent about 40 days at that place according to my count. I was never told the name of the place or where I was. I received different replies to my many questions. Sometimes I was told or they hinted that we were in Atlit, someone said Acre Prison, one interrogator said a 'submarine,' and many times the answer was that we were in 'space' or 'outside the borders of Israel.' " .... There are two types of solitary confinement cells that I got to know. At first, for the first 11 days - according to the count I tried to keep - I was held in the worst of the solitary confinement cells. By my measurement, the cell is 120 centimeters wide (a bit wider than a mattress) and about 2.5 meters long. There is a damp mattress (all the mattresses are always damp) on a platform about 30 centimeters high and there are damp blankets. The blankets have a terrible smell; the mattress, too. There is a large black plastic garbage pail in the room, a small pitcher for water, and a rag. "The room is completely black. All the walls are painted black, and I never saw the ceiling. When I looked up, I saw only darkness. Light of candle brightness penetrates weirdly from one side of the room, from a device that seems to be almost above the ceiling, and the light is filtered through three thick pieces of glass. The light in the room is so faint and illuminates such a small part of the room that if I had had a book it would have been totally impossible to read it. You can hardly see a thing. "Of course the room has no windows. You can't tell whether it is day or night or when day becomes night. I had no way to know when it was time for prayers, I could only guess. "There are one or two pipes in the ceiling, which are apparently for ventilation. I say apparently, because I could never ascertain where there was ventilation. Most of the time and in all the solitary confinement cells I felt I didn't have enough oxygen, and sometimes I thought I was about to pass out. "I spent many days in that solitary confinement cell and in others like it, and hour after hour I would talk to myself and feel that I was going crazy, or find myself laughing to myself. I would sit on the mattress, get up and walk around in a circle, and sit down again. The only thing that kept me sane was thinking about my wife and children. "What sets this solitary confinement cell apart from the others is the fact that it has no toilet facilities and no source of water ... I remember the first time I had to relieve myself. I thought about what to do, and in the end I removed my underpants, placed them on the floor, relieved myself into them, tied them up and threw them into the garbage pail. The pail remained with me in the cell as it was. On other occasions I had to stand on my toes so I could aim my droppings into it and not tip it over onto myself. "I myself did not wash during all these days and no one offered me a chance to wash. Of course I did not brush my teeth or wash my face. Three times a day they brought a little water in a pitcher into the cell. "On my ninth day in this stinking cell, when one of the soldiers had to come in or take me out, he almost threw up and rushed out of the cell. As usual, I stood against the wall with my head covered by a black cloth. He called another soldier and they made arrangements and plans for removing the garbage pail. They told me drag it. I told them I couldn't do that while blindfolded, and I dragged it but it was too heavy and I couldn't get it out of its niche. So they agreed to remove the blindfold and let me drag the garbage pail out the door, and then they blindfolded me again and one of the soldiers grabbed my shirt and pulled me while I was still dragging the stinking pail. "They led me to another solitary confinement cell, made me enter it with the pail and told me to empty it into the hole of the 'Turkish toilet' [a hole in the floor] in that cell. The soldiers were in control of water outside the cell, and as I emptied the pail they turned on a powerful jet of water and I and my clothes were dirtied. "They made me wash the pail. I demanded to wash myself and I told them I was a worshiper but I would not be able to pray while I was dirtied with excrement. That was the first time I saw running water there. I spoke so angrily that they agreed to let me wash myself. I asked for a towel and one of the soldiers went to my cell and brought the rag, which had an unbearable stench. "I asked for a new set of clothes and for a real towel but I didn't get them. All the behavior of the soldiers was coarse and filled with threats, and this time again they threatened that if I didn't use the opportunity I was being given I would not get another. I undressed as they watched through the opening and made insulting comments. I stood naked under a hole in the concrete from which water emerged. The soldiers turned on the water but didn't let me enjoy it for even five minutes and then shut it off from the outside. "It was winter and cold, but I had no choice other than to put the soiled clothes on my wet body, and I was taken back with the sack on my head and an empty pail into the stinking cell. I stayed there for another two days. "After spending 11 days there I was upgraded to a cell with a Turkish lavatory. That isn't really a higher level, because the soldiers control the water no matter what and they decide when to supply it ... After I got to this cell I was given the chance to shower once a day. The way the shower works: a soldier declares the possibility of showering. I have to undress as the soldier watches through the crack in the door. When I am naked I have to stand above the toilet hole and pin myself against the wall so that the soldier will turn on the water of the 'shower.' The water comes from one hole in a concrete protrusion that is about 15 to 20 centimeters from the wall and about 1.5 meters from the floor. To get flowing water you have to stand right against the wall and wait for the water. "I declare that the soldiers never turned on the water for more than five minutes. They can control whether the water is hot or cold and they make use of that as they please ... To illustrate the soldiers' control of the water, I will tell you that one time I had soaped myself and the soldiers decided to shut off the water. I yelled, I pounded on the door and after my shouts and demands the soldier acceded and turned on freezing water. "Everyone knew about these conditions. Obviously the soldiers who did guard duty at the cell knew. So did the paramedic who saw me every day and the doctors who saw me once or twice a week. Of course all the interrogators, to the last of them, knew about it and apparently gave the orders for it. The paramedic and the doctors, who I would have expected would be compassionate men of medicine, saw me day after day in the same clothes, without underpants, smelled the stench that came off me day after day and said nothing, as though this is the way of the world. "The interrogators truly suffered from the way I smelled. The interrogator Yoni had to suffer my stench day after day. I remember that one day Yoni approached me and looked as though he was about to pass out. He said 'Rihtak hara' [You smell like ****] and told me I had to finish the interrogation. Many times, when the questioning was over, he and the other interrogators would say, 'Arja listal al hara' [Go back to the **** pail]. "When I was in Yoni's interrogation room he would turn on the air conditioner right over me. It was winter and cold, and many times I told him I was cold, but he went on doing it. I understand why, because my smell was intolerable. "It's also clear that the judges could know, too, if they bothered to ask why people who are filthy and stinking are brought before them. For my two remands in custody I was brought from that facility to the Kishon Prison (Jalama). When I was brought before a judge after 22 days in the facility I complained to him, I showed him my undershirt and I told him that when I was arrested it was white and now it was yellow, and I told him I had no underpants. I asked him to smell me and told him that I couldn't wash without a towel and clean clothes. The lawyer who was there told me that the judge told the soldiers to give me clothes. "That night, at about 11 P.M., in the facility, they brought me clothes that were used but clean. They didn't bring a towel. When I asked for a towel in the days that followed I always got the same answer: 'Quiet.' "During the whole period I was given food in the cell and made to eat sitting down. The food arrives on a fairly small dish. Three meals a day. The food was tastier than in the Shin Bet interrogation division in Petah Tikva. The problem was with the cleanliness. In the filthy solitary cell the soldiers would place the portion of food on the garbage pail, and in the second cell they put the food right on the toilet. Once I went on a hunger strike because of that and I refused to eat the food and complained to the Shin Bet agent, but no one was the least impressed. I did not get any hot drinks other than once in a while insipid tea that I had to spill out. I lost 14 kilograms during my stay there. "There is no opening to the light or the sun and no daily walk. There is no possibility of getting a prayer book." more

Resolved Question: Has anyone ever tried vi-pro plus on a dog with distemper if so what was result?

Vi-Pro Plus Natural and Effective Help for Canine Distemper and Viral Infections Use Vi-Pro Plus for Pets: As an oral homeopathic vaccine to immunize your dog against Canine Distemper and other viral infections To protect against Distemper infection during a known outbreak To treat active Canine Distemper under veterinarian supervision See Below To Purchase This Product Treatment | Testimonials | Ingredients | Dosage | Ask Us | FAQ's What is Canine Distemper and what are the symptoms? Canine distemper is a highly contagious, extremely serious viral disease which occurs in dogs and other wild canids (e.g.. foxes, wolves and coyotes), raccoons, skunks and ferrets. It is an airborne virus, which affects the respiratory, gastrointestinal, and central nervous system of the animal. Puppies between three and six months and elderly animals are particularly at risk. Symptoms grow increasingly severe as the disease progresses, they include: Conjunctivitis (a watery, pus-like eye discharge) and inflammation of the eye Fever Nasal discharge Pneumonia (Coughing and labored breathing)_ Lethargy Reduced appetite Vomiting Diarrhea Seizures Hyperesthesia (increased sensitivity to sensory stimuli, such as pain or touch) Muscle twitching Progressive deterioration of mental abilities and motor skills Complete or partial paralysis What is the conventional treatment? There is no doubt that Canine Distemper is a serious illness. According to conventional veterinarian treatment, about 50% of dogs that contract it will die. Those that survive will often be left with debilitating conditions like permanent digestive problems, neurological problems, seizure disorders, deformities of the paw pads, etc. According to conventional veterinarian science, Distemper 'cannot be cured' and treatment is supportive only. Vaccination programs against Canine Distemper have made this viral illness less common in recent times. However, holistic vets point out that there are serious concerns about the wisdom of routine vaccination and its long term effect on the health of pets. What are the alternatives? Homeopathic vets have managed to treat Canine Distemper far more successfully than their allopathic counterparts. Using Distemperinum in homeopathic potency, both immunization of dogs as well as recovery rates in infected animals has proved to be highly successful. There is a wealth of evidence that this is the case and one can only wonder why allopathic vets are not making use of and being trained in the use of homeopathic medicine for their patients. Dr Horace B.F. Jervis, a veterinarian who pioneered the use of Distemperinum published a monograph in 1929 called 'Treatment of Canine Distemper with the Potentized Virus' Dr Jervis reports his frustration over many failed attempts at treating Canine Distemper during years of conventional treatment in a veterinarian clinic. This lead him to turn away from conventional veterinarian science and to begin treating his patients using the principles of homeopathic medicine. After developing a homeopathic treatment for Distemper, Dr Jervis writes: "I became intensely interested in the subject and bent all my energies to the study of it. My results were, and are, so much beyond my expectations that I am sorry not to be able to interest more veterinarians to take it up and give it a trial. Anyone doing so, I venture to say, will never go back to the old school again...Since commencing the use of this product the death rate in my distemper ward has been very materially decreased, and I have really for the first time in my years of practice felt a sort of load being lifted from my shoulders." Similarly, Dr Dorothy Shepherd, in her book, "Homeopathy in Epidemic Diseases" notes: "Here again homeopathy offers the best solution. Believe me, it has been shown again and again that our medicines given intelligently and according to our law, do not only cure infectious diseases speedily and easily without the development of any complications, but they also prevent these same diseases. ....I therefore have no hesitation in stating that from my own experience and observation, the homeopathic preventives are much safer in use, and absolutely certain in their effects. Even should the infectious, disease develop, it will be in a much milder form" In the words of Dr Richard Pitcairn, D.V.M., Ph.D, and founder of the Animal Natural Health Center (ANHC): "Based on my clinical experience, I think I can safely say that protection with nosodes is as reliable as with vaccinations and with the added advantage of few unwelcome side effects." What is Vi-Pro Plus? Vi-Pro Plus combines a Distemperinum nosode in homeopathic dose with homeopathic Bryonia and an herbal preparation of Echinacea, providing powerful protection against Distemper as well as many other viral illnesses. Used preventatively to immunize your dog, or curatively under the treatment of a homeopathic vet, Vi-Pro Plus can mean the difference between life and death. 50ml See Below To Purchase This Product What are the ingredients of Vi-Pro Plus? PetAlive Vi-Pro Plus contains the following 100% herbal and homeopathic ingredients: Distemperinum C30 is a homeopathic nosode used both prophylactically (preventatively) and curatively in the treatment of Canine Distemper. Homeopathic nosodes are similar to vaccines in that they help to build protection and resistance against specific diseases. They differ to conventional vaccines in that they are usually manufactured from the products of diseases rather than from a culture of the disease agent or virus itself (as in many conventional vaccines.) Research by Dr Horace B. F. Jervis, a veterinarian that pioneered the use of Distemperinum, has demonstrated the high rate of success in the treatment and prevention of Canine Distemper using this homeopathic 'vaccine'. This is in contrast to conventional veterinarian science, which states that more than 50% of dogs who contract this virus will die and the remainder will be very severely compromised for the rest of their lives. Bryonia C6 is a proven homeopathic remedy which is very effective for the treatment of coughs and dry mucus membranes, as well as the clearing of mucus from the chest. Echinacea purpurea is one of the top selling herbs for the treatment of colds, flu and other viral infections. Clinical trials have proved its effectiveness in a variety of settings. Studies have shown that Echinacea works by preventing the formation of hyaluronidase - an enzyme that is known to break the cell barriers between healthy tissue and pathogenic organisms like viruses. This immune boosting herb has also been successfully used to restore immune functioning in patients who have undergone chemotherapy. Lactose (inactive ingredient) (PetAlive Vi-Pro Plus contains no gluten, artificial flavors, colors or preservatives) How has Vi-Pro helped others? "I am moved to write in and say that our family dog would probably not be with us today were it not for this remedy. When our usual vet diagnosed a very ill dog with Distemper things looked very serious and he thought so too. Under his supervision we used your remedy because others have worked very well and we have all been amazed at the quick recovery. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts." - Sandy. "Luckily our vet agrees with us about yearly vaccination unlike the previous one who wanted to vaccinate every year. Our puppy is taking your Vi-Pro for Distemper to protect her against distemper and other viruses and we are confident that it will be as successful as your other products have been, including your EasyTravel for car sickness!" - Graham "This product is fantastic - from ease of administration to effectiveness it gets 10/10 from me. I have used all your oral vaccination products for my dogs with great confidence and they remain healthy and disease free." - Brent. "Here's my story. I bought a dog from a breeder in kentucky I am in Louisiana. I could not drive to meet [him] , so I decided to have him sent via airplane... The next day he started to have a seizure it was very unnerving. The Vet did some blood work and other test. He determined that our brand new dog that we instantly fell in love with had distemper and would most likely die or not be normal for the rest of his life if we were lucky. We don't have alot of money and they were recomending very expensive treatments. We being the good loving people we are turned to God in this circumstance. We searched for answers online, and by praying nonstop. Finally my mom who is a diehard holistic medicine believer turn us on to the thought of a natural cure. So, I searched and it did not take long. I found this site and was skeptical, because I am by nature. Well needless to say It came in the mail very fast. Then we begain treating him. Nothing happened at first, same old seizures 5 to ten times a day. Then one day he we woke up to him being more active... Now I am happy and blessed to say we have a wonderful healthy almost 1 year old puppy. He has made a full recovery... He brings much happiness to our home, and I truly feel this medicine had a part in that. God bless Native Remedies." - Richard M, LA "My dog was diagnosed with distemper. She became deathly ill! She wouldn't eat, or drink. Thinking I had done everything possible to save her, my last attempt was Vi-pro Plus. After just a few doses I saw the effect it made. She gradually got better and better. Without a doubt; Vi-pro plus saved her life. Thank you so much for saving my dogs life! She is happy, and full of life again." - Paige, Oklahoma Add Your Own Testimonial See Below To Purchase This Product How do we use Vi-Pro Plus? Vi-Pro Plus in convenient dissolvable granule form. The tiny granules are easy to administer to dogs of all sizes and personalities and are simply sprinkled on the back of the tongue and left to dissolve. No fuss and bother! Small to medium dogs: Two pinches sprinkled into the mouth. Medium to large dogs: 1/4 cap of granules sprinkled into the mouth. Preventative: Vi-Pro Plus may be given for up to a week at 3 - 6 month intervals for the prevention of Canine Distemper. Should a known case of Distemper occur in your area, even if your dog has not been exposed to the infected animal, repeat the dose for 7 days. Acute: Administer every hour until symptoms subside. Thereafter administer three times daily for up to 21 days. CAUTION: Please remember that Canine Distemper is a serious illness and it is recommended that any dog with an acute outbreak should be taken to a holistic or homeopathic vet to monitor treatment. Home treatment of acute Distemper is not advised and Vi-Pro Plus should be used under the supervision of a holistic or homeopathic vet for cases of active Distemper infections. How long until we see results? When Vi-Pro Plus is taken prophylactically (preventatively) your dog should stay free of Distemper infection. For dogs who have contracted Distemper, treatment with Vi-Pro Plus under veterinarian supervision is recommended. Under these circumstances and with the appropriate supportive homeopathic treatment, recovery rates are good and most dogs will begin to show improvement within a few days. How long does one bottle last? One bottle of Vi-Pro Plus will last for 15 - 30 days, depending on the size and needs of your pet. A 45-90 day supply of 3 bottles is offered at a discount see the Buy 2 Get 1 FREE special below. What else can I do help my pet? Avoid contact with raccoons, foxes, skunks and other potentially infected wildlife if possible Ensure your pet is eating a balanced, high quality diet with plenty of raw and unprocessed food (preferably organic). Use Immunity and Liver Support capsules to boost your pet's immune functioning and resistance against disease and infection Avoid exposure to toxins and chemicals as much as possible including pesticides, herbicides, commercial flea collars, flea powder, insecticides and second-hand cigarette smoke. Talk to a holistic vet before immunizing your pet. Over-vaccination may stress the immune system unnecessarily. Regular exercise will help to keep your pet healthy and fit. Vi-Pro Plus is manufactured according to the highest pharmaceutical standards. Individual ingredients are well-researched, natural, safe and effective. Vi-Pro Plus is backed by our one year money-back guarantee so your pet can experience relief risk-free. To order online using our secure server please select below. Most orders are shipped the same day. (Normal Retail Price - $63.95) Your Price $49.95 Plus Shipping & Handling Normal Shipping within the U.S.A. is $5.99 for the first item and only $1 additional per extra item. To see all shipping options (overnight, international) see our shipping policy International Customers - Expedited Shipping! We can ship anywhere in the world (UK, Australia, Japan, etc.) within 3-5 business days! Use our currency converter tool. Vi-Pro Plus Capsules (60) 15 day supply $49.95 +S&H $99.90 +S&H Vi-Pro Plus + LiverAid: Effective help for pet distemper with improved liver and pancreatic functioning (one of each). $68.95 +S&H Vi-Pro Plus + Energy Tonic: Effectively treat and prevent distemper while improving vitality and well-being (one of each). $75.95 +S&H Or, call our Toll Free line at 1-877-289-1235 (Outside U.S. +1 (253) 620-4542) where our friendly customer service representatives will gladly take your order.The dog has been diagnosed with distemper by a vet and is under vet care I am calling her about this product tomorrow to see what she thinks about it I just wanted to know if anyone else has heard of it I'm at the point were I will try about anything to save my dog Squidword I just hate seeing him this way. So please tell me what you think of this product and if you think it is worth a try. more

Resolved Question: 9/11 Coincidences?

The Coincidence Theorists Guide to 9/11 That governments have permitted terrorist acts against their own people, and have even themselves been perpetrators in order to find strategic advantage is quite likely true, but this is the United States we're talking about. That intelligence agencies, financiers, terrorists and narco-criminals have a long history together is well established, but the Nugan Hand Bank, BCCI, Banco Ambrosiano, the P2 Lodge, the CIA/Mafia anti-Castro/Kennedy alliance, Iran/Contra and the rest were a long time ago, so there's no need to rehash all that. That was then, this is now! That Jonathan Bush's Riggs Bank has been found guilty of laundering terrorist funds and fined a US-record $25 million must embarrass his nephew George, but it's still no justification for leaping to paranoid conclusions. That George Bush's brother Marvin sat on the board of the Kuwaiti-owned company which provided electronic security to the World Trade Centre, Dulles Airport and United Airlines means nothing more than you must admit those Bush boys have done alright for themselves. That George Bush found success as a businessman only after the investment of Osama's brother Salem and reputed al Qaeda financier Khalid bin Mahfouz is just one of those things - one of those crazy things. That Osama bin Laden is known to have been an asset of US foreign policy in no way implies he still is. That al Qaeda was active in the Balkan conflict, fighting on the same side as the US as recently as 1999, while the US protected its cells, is merely one of history's little aberrations. The claims of Michael Springman, State Department veteran of the Jeddah visa bureau, that the CIA ran the office and issued visas to al Qaeda members so they could receive training in the United States, sound like the sour grapes of someone who was fired for making such wild accusations. That one of George Bush's first acts as President, in January 2001, was to end the two-year deployment of attack submarines which were positioned within striking distance of al Qaeda's Afghanistan camps, even as the group's guilt for the Cole bombing was established, proves that a transition from one administration to the next is never an easy task. That so many influential figures in and close to the Bush White House had expressed, just a year before the attacks, the need for a "new Pearl Harbor" before their militarist ambitions could be fulfilled, demonstrates nothing more than the accidental virtue of being in the right place at the right time. That the company PTECH, founded by a Saudi financier placed on America's Terrorist Watch List in October 2001, had access to the FAA's entire computer system for two years before the 9/11 attack, means he must not have been such a threat after all. That whistleblower Indira Singh was told to keep her mouth shut and forget what she learned when she took her concerns about PTECH to her employers and federal authorities, suggests she lacked the big picture. And that the Chief Auditor for JP Morgan Chase told Singh repeatedly, as she answered questions about who supplied her with what information, that "that person should be killed," suggests he should take an anger management seminar. That on May 8, 2001, Dick Cheney took upon himself the job of co-ordinating a response to domestic terror attacks even as he was crafting the administration's energy policy which bore implications for America's military, circumventing the established infrastructure and ignoring the recommendations of the Hart-Rudman report, merely shows the VP to be someone who finds it hard to delegate. That the standing order which covered the shooting down of hijacked aircraft was altered on June 1, 2001, taking discretion away from field commanders and placing it solely in the hands of the Secretary of Defense, is simply poor planning and unfortunate timing. Fortunately the error has been corrected, as the order was rescinded shortly after 9/11. That in the weeks before 9/11, FBI agent Colleen Rowley found her investigation of Zacarias Moussaoui so perversely thwarted that her colleagues joked that bin Laden had a mole at the FBI, proves the stress-relieving virtue of humour in the workplace. That Dave Frasca of the FBI's Radical Fundamentalist Unit received a promotion after quashing multiple, urgent requests for investigations into al Qaeda assets training at flight schools in the summer of 2001 does appear on the surface odd, but undoubtedly there's a good reason for it, quite possibly classified. That FBI informant Randy Glass, working an undercover sting, was told by Pakistani intelligence operatives that the World Trade Center towers were coming down, and that his repeated warnings which continued until weeks before the attacks, including the mention of planes used as weapons, were ignored by federal authorities, is simply one of the many "What Ifs" of that tragic day. That over the summer of 2001 Washington received many urgent, senior-level warnings from foreign intelligence agencies and governments - including those of Germany, France, Great Britain, Russia, Egypt, Israel, Morocco, Afghanistan and others - of impending terror attacks using hijacked aircraft and did nothing, demonstrates the pressing need for a new Intelligence Czar. That John Ashcroft stopped flying commercial aircraft in July 2001 on account of security considerations had nothing to do with warnings regarding September 11, because he said so to the 9/11 Commission. That former lead counsel for the House David Schippers says he'd taken to John Ashcroft's office specific warnings he'd learned from FBI agents in New York of an impending attack - even naming the proposed dates, names of the hijackers and the targets - and that the investigations had been stymied and the agents threatened, proves nothing but David Schipper's pathetic need for attention. That Garth Nicolson received two warnings from contacts in the intelligence community and one from a North African head of state, which included specific site, date and source of the attacks, and passed the information to the Defense Department and the National Security Council to evidently no effect, clearly amounts to nothing, since virtually nobody has ever heard of him. That in the months prior to September 11, self-described US intelligence operative Delmart Vreeland sought, from a Toronto jail cell, to get US and Canadian authorities to heed his warning of his accidental discovery of impending catastrophic attacks is worthless, since Vreeland was a dubious character, notwithstanding the fact that many of his claims have since been proven true. That FBI Special Investigator Robert Wright claims that agents assigned to intelligence operations actually protect terrorists from investigation and prosecution, that the FBI shut down his probe into terrorist training camps, and that he was removed from a money-laundering case that had a direct link to terrorism, sounds like yet more sour grapes from a disgruntled employee. That George Bush had plans to invade Afghanistan on his desk before 9/11 demonstrates only the value of being prepared. The suggestion that securing a pipeline across Afghanistan figured into the White House's calculations is as ludicrous as the assertion that oil played a part in determining war in Iraq. That Afghanistan is once again the world's principal heroin producer is an unfortunate reality, but to claim the CIA is still actively involved in the narcotics trade is to presume bad faith on the part of the agency. Mahmood Ahmed, chief of Pakistan's ISI, must not have authorized an al Qaeda payment of $100,000 to Mohammed Atta days before the attacks, and was not meeting with senior Washington officials over the week of 9/11, because I didn't read anything about him in the official report. That Porter Goss met with Ahmed the morning of September 11 in his capacity as Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has no bearing whatsoever upon his recent selection by the White House to head the Central Intelligence Agency. That Goss's congressional seat encompasses the 9/11 hijackers' Florida base of operation, including their flight schools, is precisely the kind of meaningless factoid a conspiracy theorist would bring up. It's true that George HW Bush and Dick Cheney spent the evening of September 10 alone in the Oval Office, but what's wrong with old colleagues catching up? And it's true that George HW Bush and Shafig bin Laden, Osama's brother, spent the morning of September 11 together at a board meeting of the Carlyle Group, but the bin Ladens are a big family. That FEMA arrived in New York on Sept 10 to prepare for a scheduled biowarfare drill, and had a triage centre ready to go that was larger and better equipped than the one that was lost in the collapse of WTC 7, was a lucky twist of fate. Newsweek's report that senior Pentagon officials cancelled flights on Sept 10 for the following day on account of security concerns is only newsworthy because of what happened the following morning. That George Bush's telephone logs for September 11 do not exist should surprise no one, given the confusion of the day. That Mohamed Atta attended the International Officer's School at Maxwell Air Force Base, that Abdulaziz Alomari attended Brooks Air Force Base Aerospace Medical School, that Saeed Alghamdi attended the Defense Language Institute in Monterey merely shows it is a small world, after all. That Lt Col Steve Butler, Vice Chancellor for student affairs of the Defense Language Institute during Alghamdi's terms, was disciplined, removed from his post and threatened with court martial when he wrote "Bush knew of the impending attacks on America. He did nothing to warn the American people because he needed this war on terrorism. What is...contemptible is the President of the United States not telling the American people what he knows for political gain," is the least that should have happened for such disrespect shown his Commander in Chief. That Mohammed Atta dressed like a Mafioso, had a stripper girlfriend, smuggled drugs, was already a licensed pilot when he entered the US, enjoyed pork chops, drank to excess and did cocaine, was closer to Europeans than Arabs in Florida, and included the names of defence contractors on his email list, proves how dangerous the radical fundamentalist Muslim can be. That 43 lbs of heroin was found on board the Lear Jet owned by Wally Hilliard, the owner of Atta's flight school, just three weeks after Atta enrolled - the biggest seizure ever in Central Florida - was just bad luck. That Hilliard was not charged shows how specious the claims for conspiracy truly are. That Hilliard's plane had made 30-round trips to Venezuela with the same passengers who always paid cash, that the plane had been supplied by a pair of drug smugglers who had also outfitted CIA drug runner Barry Seal, and that 9/11 commissioner Richard ben-Veniste had been Seal's attorney before Seal's murder, shows nothing but the lengths to which conspiracists will go to draw sinister conclusions. Reports of insider trading on 9/11 are false, because the SEC investigated and found only respectable investors who will remain nameless involved, and no terrorists, so the windfall profit-taking was merely, as ever, coincidental. That heightened security for the World Trade Centre was lifted immediately prior to the attacks illustrates that it always happens when you least expect it. That Hani Hanjour, the pilot of Flight 77, was so incompetent he could not fly a Cessna in August, but in September managed to fly a 767 at excessive speed into a spiraling, 270-degree descent and a level impact of the first floor of the Pentagon, on the only side that was virtually empty and had been hardened to withstand a terrorist attack, merely demonstrates that people can do almost anything once they set their minds to it. That none of the flight data recorders were said to be recoverable even though they were located in the tail sections, and that until 9/11, no solid-state recorder in a catastrophic crash had been unrecoverable, shows how there's a first time for everything. That Mohammed Atta left a uniform, a will, a Koran, his driver's license and a "how to fly planes" video in his rental car at the airport means he had other things on his mind. The mention of Israelis with links to military-intelligence having been arrested on Sept 11 videotaping and celebrating the attacks, of an Israeli espionage ring surveiling DEA and defense installations and trailing the hijackers, and of a warning of impending attacks delivered to the Israeli company Odigo two hours before the first plane hit, does not deserve a response. That the stories also appeared in publications such as Ha'aretz and Forward is a sad display of self-hatred among certain elements of the Israeli media. That multiple military wargames and simulations were underway the morning of 9/11 - one simulating the crash of a plane into a building; another, a live-fly simulation of multiple hijackings - and took many interceptors away from the eastern seaboard and confused field commanders as to which was a real hijacked aircraft and which was a hoax, was a bizarre coincidence, but no less a coincidence. That the National Military Command Center ops director asked a rookie substitute to stand his watch at 8:30 am on Sept. 11 is nothing more than bad timing. That a recording made Sept 11 of air traffic controllers' describing what they had witnessed, was destroyed by an FAA official who crushed it in his hand, cut the tape into little pieces and dropped them in different trash cans around the building, is something no doubt that overzealous official wishes he could undo. That the FBI knew precisely which Florida flight schools to descend upon hours after the attacks should make every American feel safer knowing their federal agents are on the ball. That a former flight school executive believes the hijackers were "double agents," and says about Atta and associates, "Early on I gleaned that these guys had government protection. They were let into this country for a specific purpose," and was visited by the FBI just four hours after the attacks to intimidate him into silence, proves he's an unreliable witness, for the simple reason there is no conspiracy. That Jeb Bush was on board an aircraft that removed flight school records to Washington in the middle of the night on Sept 12th demonstrates how seriously the governor takes the issue of national security. To insinuate evil motive from the mercy flights of bin Laden family members and Saudi royals after 9/11 shows the sickness of the conspiratorial mindset. Le Figaro's report in October 2001, known to have originated with French intelligence, that the CIA met Osama bin Laden in a Dubai hospital in July 2001, proves again the perfidy of the French. That the tape in which bin Laden claims responsibility for the attacks was released by the State Department after having been found providentially by US forces in Afghanistan, and depicts a fattened Osama with a broader face and a flatter nose, proves Osama, and Osama alone, masterminded 9/11. That at the battle of Tora Bora, where bin Laden was surrounded on three sides, Special Forces received no order to advance and capture him and were forced to stand and watch as two Russian-made helicopters flew into the area where bin Laden was believed hiding, loaded up passengers and returned to Pakistan, demonstrates how confusing the modern battlefield can be. That upon returning to Fort Bragg from Tora Bora, the same Special Operations troops who had been stood down from capturing bin Laden, suffered a unusual spree of murder/suicides, is nothing more than a series of senseless tragedies. Reports that bin Laden is currently receiving periodic dialysis treatment in a Pakistani medical hospital are simply too incredible to be true. That the White House went on Cipro September 11 shows the foresightedness of America's emergency response. That the anthrax was mailed to perceived liberal media and the Democratic leadership demonstrates only the perversity of the terrorist psyche. That the anthrax attacks appeared to silence opponents of the Patriot Act shows only that appearances can be deceiving. That the Ames-strain anthrax was found to have originated at Fort Detrick, and was beyond the capability of all but a few labs to refine, underscores the importance of allowing the investigation to continue without the distraction of absurd conspiracy theories. That Republican guru Grover Norquist has been found to have aided financiers and supporters of Islamic terror to gain access to the Bush White House, and is a founder of the Islamic Institute, which the Treasury Department believes to be a source of funding for al Qaeda, suggests Norquist is at worst, naive, and at best, needs a wider circle of friends. That the Department of Justice consistently chooses to see accused 9/11 plotters go free rather than permit the courtroom testimony of al Qaeda leaders in American custody looks bad, but only because we don't have all the facts. That the White House balked at any inquiry into the events of 9/11, then starved it of funds and stonewalled it, was unfortunate, but since the commission didn't find for conspiracy it's all a non issue anyway. That the 9/11 commission's executive director and "gatekeeper," Philip Zelikow, was so closely involved in the events under investigation that he testified before the the commission as part of the inquiry, shows only an apparent conflict of interest. That commission chair Thomas Kean is, like George Bush, a Texas oil executive who had business dealings with reputed al Qaeda financier Khalid bin Mafouz, suggests Texas is smaller than they say it is. That co-chair Lee Hamilton has a history as a Bush family "fixer," including clearing Bush Sr of the claims arising from the 1980 "October Surprise", is of no concern, since only conspiracists believe there was such a thing as an October Surprise. That FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds accuses the agency of intentionally fudging specific pre-9/11 warnings and harboring a foreign espionage ring in its translation department, and claims she witnessed evidence of the semi-official infrastructure of money-laundering and narcotics trade behind the attacks, is of no account, since John Ashcroft has gagged her with the rare invocation of "State Secrets Privilege," and retroactively classified her public testimony. For the sake of national security, let us speak no more of her. That, when commenting on Edmond's case, Daniel Ellsberg remarked that Ashcroft could go to prison for his part in a cover-up, suggests Ellsberg is giving comfort to the terrorists, and could, if he doesn't wise up, find himself declared an enemy combatant. I could go on. And on and on. But I trust you get the point. Which is simply this: there are no secrets, an American government would never accept civilian casualties for geostrategic gain, and conspiracies are for the weak-minded and gullible.Here is where you can see this with links for every statement: http://rigorousintuition.blogspot.com/2004/08/coincidence-theorists-guide-to-911.html A good 9/11 truth movement website: http://truthmove.org/What are your thoughts on these "coincidences"?What is the "Cole's Notes version"? more

Resolved Question: Do you believe in coincidences?

The Coincidence Theorists Guide to 9/11 That governments have permitted terrorist acts against their own people, and have even themselves been perpetrators in order to find strategic advantage is quite likely true, but this is the United States we're talking about. That intelligence agencies, financiers, terrorists and narco-criminals have a long history together is well established, but the Nugan Hand Bank, BCCI, Banco Ambrosiano, the P2 Lodge, the CIA/Mafia anti-Castro/Kennedy alliance, Iran/Contra and the rest were a long time ago, so there's no need to rehash all that. That was then, this is now! That Jonathan Bush's Riggs Bank has been found guilty of laundering terrorist funds and fined a US-record $25 million must embarrass his nephew George, but it's still no justification for leaping to paranoid conclusions. That George Bush's brother Marvin sat on the board of the Kuwaiti-owned company which provided electronic security to the World Trade Centre, Dulles Airport and United Airlines means nothing more than you must admit those Bush boys have done alright for themselves. That George Bush found success as a businessman only after the investment of Osama's brother Salem and reputed al Qaeda financier Khalid bin Mahfouz is just one of those things - one of those crazy things. That Osama bin Laden is known to have been an asset of US foreign policy in no way implies he still is. That al Qaeda was active in the Balkan conflict, fighting on the same side as the US as recently as 1999, while the US protected its cells, is merely one of history's little aberrations. The claims of Michael Springman, State Department veteran of the Jeddah visa bureau, that the CIA ran the office and issued visas to al Qaeda members so they could receive training in the United States, sound like the sour grapes of someone who was fired for making such wild accusations. That one of George Bush's first acts as President, in January 2001, was to end the two-year deployment of attack submarines which were positioned within striking distance of al Qaeda's Afghanistan camps, even as the group's guilt for the Cole bombing was established, proves that a transition from one administration to the next is never an easy task. That so many influential figures in and close to the Bush White House had expressed, just a year before the attacks, the need for a "new Pearl Harbor" before their militarist ambitions could be fulfilled, demonstrates nothing more than the accidental virtue of being in the right place at the right time. That the company PTECH, founded by a Saudi financier placed on America's Terrorist Watch List in October 2001, had access to the FAA's entire computer system for two years before the 9/11 attack, means he must not have been such a threat after all. That whistleblower Indira Singh was told to keep her mouth shut and forget what she learned when she took her concerns about PTECH to her employers and federal authorities, suggests she lacked the big picture. And that the Chief Auditor for JP Morgan Chase told Singh repeatedly, as she answered questions about who supplied her with what information, that "that person should be killed," suggests he should take an anger management seminar. That on May 8, 2001, Dick Cheney took upon himself the job of co-ordinating a response to domestic terror attacks even as he was crafting the administration's energy policy which bore implications for America's military, circumventing the established infrastructure and ignoring the recommendations of the Hart-Rudman report, merely shows the VP to be someone who finds it hard to delegate. That the standing order which covered the shooting down of hijacked aircraft was altered on June 1, 2001, taking discretion away from field commanders and placing it solely in the hands of the Secretary of Defense, is simply poor planning and unfortunate timing. Fortunately the error has been corrected, as the order was rescinded shortly after 9/11. That in the weeks before 9/11, FBI agent Colleen Rowley found her investigation of Zacarias Moussaoui so perversely thwarted that her colleagues joked that bin Laden had a mole at the FBI, proves the stress-relieving virtue of humour in the workplace. That Dave Frasca of the FBI's Radical Fundamentalist Unit received a promotion after quashing multiple, urgent requests for investigations into al Qaeda assets training at flight schools in the summer of 2001 does appear on the surface odd, but undoubtedly there's a good reason for it, quite possibly classified. That FBI informant Randy Glass, working an undercover sting, was told by Pakistani intelligence operatives that the World Trade Center towers were coming down, and that his repeated warnings which continued until weeks before the attacks, including the mention of planes used as weapons, were ignored by federal authorities, is simply one of the many "What Ifs" of that tragic day. That over the summer of 2001 Washington received many urgent, senior-level warnings from foreign intelligence agencies and governments - including those of Germany, France, Great Britain, Russia, Egypt, Israel, Morocco, Afghanistan and others - of impending terror attacks using hijacked aircraft and did nothing, demonstrates the pressing need for a new Intelligence Czar. That John Ashcroft stopped flying commercial aircraft in July 2001 on account of security considerations had nothing to do with warnings regarding September 11, because he said so to the 9/11 Commission. That former lead counsel for the House David Schippers says he'd taken to John Ashcroft's office specific warnings he'd learned from FBI agents in New York of an impending attack - even naming the proposed dates, names of the hijackers and the targets - and that the investigations had been stymied and the agents threatened, proves nothing but David Schipper's pathetic need for attention. That Garth Nicolson received two warnings from contacts in the intelligence community and one from a North African head of state, which included specific site, date and source of the attacks, and passed the information to the Defense Department and the National Security Council to evidently no effect, clearly amounts to nothing, since virtually nobody has ever heard of him. That in the months prior to September 11, self-described US intelligence operative Delmart Vreeland sought, from a Toronto jail cell, to get US and Canadian authorities to heed his warning of his accidental discovery of impending catastrophic attacks is worthless, since Vreeland was a dubious character, notwithstanding the fact that many of his claims have since been proven true. That FBI Special Investigator Robert Wright claims that agents assigned to intelligence operations actually protect terrorists from investigation and prosecution, that the FBI shut down his probe into terrorist training camps, and that he was removed from a money-laundering case that had a direct link to terrorism, sounds like yet more sour grapes from a disgruntled employee. That George Bush had plans to invade Afghanistan on his desk before 9/11 demonstrates only the value of being prepared. The suggestion that securing a pipeline across Afghanistan figured into the White House's calculations is as ludicrous as the assertion that oil played a part in determining war in Iraq. That Afghanistan is once again the world's principal heroin producer is an unfortunate reality, but to claim the CIA is still actively involved in the narcotics trade is to presume bad faith on the part of the agency. Mahmood Ahmed, chief of Pakistan's ISI, must not have authorized an al Qaeda payment of $100,000 to Mohammed Atta days before the attacks, and was not meeting with senior Washington officials over the week of 9/11, because I didn't read anything about him in the official report. That Porter Goss met with Ahmed the morning of September 11 in his capacity as Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has no bearing whatsoever upon his recent selection by the White House to head the Central Intelligence Agency. That Goss's congressional seat encompasses the 9/11 hijackers' Florida base of operation, including their flight schools, is precisely the kind of meaningless factoid a conspiracy theorist would bring up. It's true that George HW Bush and Dick Cheney spent the evening of September 10 alone in the Oval Office, but what's wrong with old colleagues catching up? And it's true that George HW Bush and Shafig bin Laden, Osama's brother, spent the morning of September 11 together at a board meeting of the Carlyle Group, but the bin Ladens are a big family. That FEMA arrived in New York on Sept 10 to prepare for a scheduled biowarfare drill, and had a triage centre ready to go that was larger and better equipped than the one that was lost in the collapse of WTC 7, was a lucky twist of fate. Newsweek's report that senior Pentagon officials cancelled flights on Sept 10 for the following day on account of security concerns is only newsworthy because of what happened the following morning. That George Bush's telephone logs for September 11 do not exist should surprise no one, given the confusion of the day. That Mohamed Atta attended the International Officer's School at Maxwell Air Force Base, that Abdulaziz Alomari attended Brooks Air Force Base Aerospace Medical School, that Saeed Alghamdi attended the Defense Language Institute in Monterey merely shows it is a small world, after all. That Lt Col Steve Butler, Vice Chancellor for student affairs of the Defense Language Institute during Alghamdi's terms, was disciplined, removed from his post and threatened with court martial when he wrote "Bush knew of the impending attacks on America. He did nothing to warn the American people because he needed this war on terrorism. What is...contemptible is the President of the United States not telling the American people what he knows for political gain," is the least that should have happened for such disrespect shown his Commander in Chief. That Mohammed Atta dressed like a Mafioso, had a stripper girlfriend, smuggled drugs, was already a licensed pilot when he entered the US, enjoyed pork chops, drank to excess and did cocaine, was closer to Europeans than Arabs in Florida, and included the names of defence contractors on his email list, proves how dangerous the radical fundamentalist Muslim can be. That 43 lbs of heroin was found on board the Lear Jet owned by Wally Hilliard, the owner of Atta's flight school, just three weeks after Atta enrolled - the biggest seizure ever in Central Florida - was just bad luck. That Hilliard was not charged shows how specious the claims for conspiracy truly are. That Hilliard's plane had made 30-round trips to Venezuela with the same passengers who always paid cash, that the plane had been supplied by a pair of drug smugglers who had also outfitted CIA drug runner Barry Seal, and that 9/11 commissioner Richard ben-Veniste had been Seal's attorney before Seal's murder, shows nothing but the lengths to which conspiracists will go to draw sinister conclusions. Reports of insider trading on 9/11 are false, because the SEC investigated and found only respectable investors who will remain nameless involved, and no terrorists, so the windfall profit-taking was merely, as ever, coincidental. That heightened security for the World Trade Centre was lifted immediately prior to the attacks illustrates that it always happens when you least expect it. That Hani Hanjour, the pilot of Flight 77, was so incompetent he could not fly a Cessna in August, but in September managed to fly a 767 at excessive speed into a spiraling, 270-degree descent and a level impact of the first floor of the Pentagon, on the only side that was virtually empty and had been hardened to withstand a terrorist attack, merely demonstrates that people can do almost anything once they set their minds to it. That none of the flight data recorders were said to be recoverable even though they were located in the tail sections, and that until 9/11, no solid-state recorder in a catastrophic crash had been unrecoverable, shows how there's a first time for everything. That Mohammed Atta left a uniform, a will, a Koran, his driver's license and a "how to fly planes" video in his rental car at the airport means he had other things on his mind. The mention of Israelis with links to military-intelligence having been arrested on Sept 11 videotaping and celebrating the attacks, of an Israeli espionage ring surveiling DEA and defense installations and trailing the hijackers, and of a warning of impending attacks delivered to the Israeli company Odigo two hours before the first plane hit, does not deserve a response. That the stories also appeared in publications such as Ha'aretz and Forward is a sad display of self-hatred among certain elements of the Israeli media. That multiple military wargames and simulations were underway the morning of 9/11 - one simulating the crash of a plane into a building; another, a live-fly simulation of multiple hijackings - and took many interceptors away from the eastern seaboard and confused field commanders as to which was a real hijacked aircraft and which was a hoax, was a bizarre coincidence, but no less a coincidence. That the National Military Command Center ops director asked a rookie substitute to stand his watch at 8:30 am on Sept. 11 is nothing more than bad timing. That a recording made Sept 11 of air traffic controllers' describing what they had witnessed, was destroyed by an FAA official who crushed it in his hand, cut the tape into little pieces and dropped them in different trash cans around the building, is something no doubt that overzealous official wishes he could undo. That the FBI knew precisely which Florida flight schools to descend upon hours after the attacks should make every American feel safer knowing their federal agents are on the ball. That a former flight school executive believes the hijackers were "double agents," and says about Atta and associates, "Early on I gleaned that these guys had government protection. They were let into this country for a specific purpose," and was visited by the FBI just four hours after the attacks to intimidate him into silence, proves he's an unreliable witness, for the simple reason there is no conspiracy. That Jeb Bush was on board an aircraft that removed flight school records to Washington in the middle of the night on Sept 12th demonstrates how seriously the governor takes the issue of national security. To insinuate evil motive from the mercy flights of bin Laden family members and Saudi royals after 9/11 shows the sickness of the conspiratorial mindset. Le Figaro's report in October 2001, known to have originated with French intelligence, that the CIA met Osama bin Laden in a Dubai hospital in July 2001, proves again the perfidy of the French. That the tape in which bin Laden claims responsibility for the attacks was released by the State Department after having been found providentially by US forces in Afghanistan, and depicts a fattened Osama with a broader face and a flatter nose, proves Osama, and Osama alone, masterminded 9/11. That at the battle of Tora Bora, where bin Laden was surrounded on three sides, Special Forces received no order to advance and capture him and were forced to stand and watch as two Russian-made helicopters flew into the area where bin Laden was believed hiding, loaded up passengers and returned to Pakistan, demonstrates how confusing the modern battlefield can be. That upon returning to Fort Bragg from Tora Bora, the same Special Operations troops who had been stood down from capturing bin Laden, suffered a unusual spree of murder/suicides, is nothing more than a series of senseless tragedies. Reports that bin Laden is currently receiving periodic dialysis treatment in a Pakistani medical hospital are simply too incredible to be true. That the White House went on Cipro September 11 shows the foresightedness of America's emergency response. That the anthrax was mailed to perceived liberal media and the Democratic leadership demonstrates only the perversity of the terrorist psyche. That the anthrax attacks appeared to silence opponents of the Patriot Act shows only that appearances can be deceiving. That the Ames-strain anthrax was found to have originated at Fort Detrick, and was beyond the capability of all but a few labs to refine, underscores the importance of allowing the investigation to continue without the distraction of absurd conspiracy theories. That Republican guru Grover Norquist has been found to have aided financiers and supporters of Islamic terror to gain access to the Bush White House, and is a founder of the Islamic Institute, which the Treasury Department believes to be a source of funding for al Qaeda, suggests Norquist is at worst, naive, and at best, needs a wider circle of friends. That the Department of Justice consistently chooses to see accused 9/11 plotters go free rather than permit the courtroom testimony of al Qaeda leaders in American custody looks bad, but only because we don't have all the facts. That the White House balked at any inquiry into the events of 9/11, then starved it of funds and stonewalled it, was unfortunate, but since the commission didn't find for conspiracy it's all a non issue anyway. That the 9/11 commission's executive director and "gatekeeper," Philip Zelikow, was so closely involved in the events under investigation that he testified before the the commission as part of the inquiry, shows only an apparent conflict of interest. That commission chair Thomas Kean is, like George Bush, a Texas oil executive who had business dealings with reputed al Qaeda financier Khalid bin Mafouz, suggests Texas is smaller than they say it is. That co-chair Lee Hamilton has a history as a Bush family "fixer," including clearing Bush Sr of the claims arising from the 1980 "October Surprise", is of no concern, since only conspiracists believe there was such a thing as an October Surprise. That FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds accuses the agency of intentionally fudging specific pre-9/11 warnings and harboring a foreign espionage ring in its translation department, and claims she witnessed evidence of the semi-official infrastructure of money-laundering and narcotics trade behind the attacks, is of no account, since John Ashcroft has gagged her with the rare invocation of "State Secrets Privilege," and retroactively classified her public testimony. For the sake of national security, let us speak no more of her. That, when commenting on Edmond's case, Daniel Ellsberg remarked that Ashcroft could go to prison for his part in a cover-up, suggests Ellsberg is giving comfort to the terrorists, and could, if he doesn't wise up, find himself declared an enemy combatant. I could go on. And on and on. But I trust you get the point. Which is simply this: there are no secrets, an American government would never accept civilian casualties for geostrategic gain, and conspiracies are for the weak-minded and gullible.go to http://rigorousintuition.blogspot.com/2004/08/coincidence-theorists-guide-to-911.html for links for every statement made here. http://truthmove.org more

Resolved Question: Do you believe in coincidences?

The Coincidence Theorists Guide to 9/11 That governments have permitted terrorist acts against their own people, and have even themselves been perpetrators in order to find strategic advantage is quite likely true, but this is the United States we're talking about. That intelligence agencies, financiers, terrorists and narco-criminals have a long history together is well established, but the Nugan Hand Bank, BCCI, Banco Ambrosiano, the P2 Lodge, the CIA/Mafia anti-Castro/Kennedy alliance, Iran/Contra and the rest were a long time ago, so there's no need to rehash all that. That was then, this is now! That Jonathan Bush's Riggs Bank has been found guilty of laundering terrorist funds and fined a US-record $25 million must embarrass his nephew George, but it's still no justification for leaping to paranoid conclusions. That George Bush's brother Marvin sat on the board of the Kuwaiti-owned company which provided electronic security to the World Trade Centre, Dulles Airport and United Airlines means nothing more than you must admit those Bush boys have done alright for themselves. That George Bush found success as a businessman only after the investment of Osama's brother Salem and reputed al Qaeda financier Khalid bin Mahfouz is just one of those things - one of those crazy things. That Osama bin Laden is known to have been an asset of US foreign policy in no way implies he still is. That al Qaeda was active in the Balkan conflict, fighting on the same side as the US as recently as 1999, while the US protected its cells, is merely one of history's little aberrations. The claims of Michael Springman, State Department veteran of the Jeddah visa bureau, that the CIA ran the office and issued visas to al Qaeda members so they could receive training in the United States, sound like the sour grapes of someone who was fired for making such wild accusations. That one of George Bush's first acts as President, in January 2001, was to end the two-year deployment of attack submarines which were positioned within striking distance of al Qaeda's Afghanistan camps, even as the group's guilt for the Cole bombing was established, proves that a transition from one administration to the next is never an easy task. That so many influential figures in and close to the Bush White House had expressed, just a year before the attacks, the need for a "new Pearl Harbor" before their militarist ambitions could be fulfilled, demonstrates nothing more than the accidental virtue of being in the right place at the right time. That the company PTECH, founded by a Saudi financier placed on America's Terrorist Watch List in October 2001, had access to the FAA's entire computer system for two years before the 9/11 attack, means he must not have been such a threat after all. That whistleblower Indira Singh was told to keep her mouth shut and forget what she learned when she took her concerns about PTECH to her employers and federal authorities, suggests she lacked the big picture. And that the Chief Auditor for JP Morgan Chase told Singh repeatedly, as she answered questions about who supplied her with what information, that "that person should be killed," suggests he should take an anger management seminar. That on May 8, 2001, Dick Cheney took upon himself the job of co-ordinating a response to domestic terror attacks even as he was crafting the administration's energy policy which bore implications for America's military, circumventing the established infrastructure and ignoring the recommendations of the Hart-Rudman report, merely shows the VP to be someone who finds it hard to delegate. That the standing order which covered the shooting down of hijacked aircraft was altered on June 1, 2001, taking discretion away from field commanders and placing it solely in the hands of the Secretary of Defense, is simply poor planning and unfortunate timing. Fortunately the error has been corrected, as the order was rescinded shortly after 9/11. That in the weeks before 9/11, FBI agent Colleen Rowley found her investigation of Zacarias Moussaoui so perversely thwarted that her colleagues joked that bin Laden had a mole at the FBI, proves the stress-relieving virtue of humour in the workplace. That Dave Frasca of the FBI's Radical Fundamentalist Unit received a promotion after quashing multiple, urgent requests for investigations into al Qaeda assets training at flight schools in the summer of 2001 does appear on the surface odd, but undoubtedly there's a good reason for it, quite possibly classified. That FBI informant Randy Glass, working an undercover sting, was told by Pakistani intelligence operatives that the World Trade Center towers were coming down, and that his repeated warnings which continued until weeks before the attacks, including the mention of planes used as weapons, were ignored by federal authorities, is simply one of the many "What Ifs" of that tragic day. That over the summer of 2001 Washington received many urgent, senior-level warnings from foreign intelligence agencies and governments - including those of Germany, France, Great Britain, Russia, Egypt, Israel, Morocco, Afghanistan and others - of impending terror attacks using hijacked aircraft and did nothing, demonstrates the pressing need for a new Intelligence Czar. That John Ashcroft stopped flying commercial aircraft in July 2001 on account of security considerations had nothing to do with warnings regarding September 11, because he said so to the 9/11 Commission. That former lead counsel for the House David Schippers says he'd taken to John Ashcroft's office specific warnings he'd learned from FBI agents in New York of an impending attack - even naming the proposed dates, names of the hijackers and the targets - and that the investigations had been stymied and the agents threatened, proves nothing but David Schipper's pathetic need for attention. That Garth Nicolson received two warnings from contacts in the intelligence community and one from a North African head of state, which included specific site, date and source of the attacks, and passed the information to the Defense Department and the National Security Council to evidently no effect, clearly amounts to nothing, since virtually nobody has ever heard of him. That in the months prior to September 11, self-described US intelligence operative Delmart Vreeland sought, from a Toronto jail cell, to get US and Canadian authorities to heed his warning of his accidental discovery of impending catastrophic attacks is worthless, since Vreeland was a dubious character, notwithstanding the fact that many of his claims have since been proven true. That FBI Special Investigator Robert Wright claims that agents assigned to intelligence operations actually protect terrorists from investigation and prosecution, that the FBI shut down his probe into terrorist training camps, and that he was removed from a money-laundering case that had a direct link to terrorism, sounds like yet more sour grapes from a disgruntled employee. That George Bush had plans to invade Afghanistan on his desk before 9/11 demonstrates only the value of being prepared. The suggestion that securing a pipeline across Afghanistan figured into the White House's calculations is as ludicrous as the assertion that oil played a part in determining war in Iraq. That Afghanistan is once again the world's principal heroin producer is an unfortunate reality, but to claim the CIA is still actively involved in the narcotics trade is to presume bad faith on the part of the agency. Mahmood Ahmed, chief of Pakistan's ISI, must not have authorized an al Qaeda payment of $100,000 to Mohammed Atta days before the attacks, and was not meeting with senior Washington officials over the week of 9/11, because I didn't read anything about him in the official report. That Porter Goss met with Ahmed the morning of September 11 in his capacity as Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has no bearing whatsoever upon his recent selection by the White House to head the Central Intelligence Agency. That Goss's congressional seat encompasses the 9/11 hijackers' Florida base of operation, including their flight schools, is precisely the kind of meaningless factoid a conspiracy theorist would bring up. It's true that George HW Bush and Dick Cheney spent the evening of September 10 alone in the Oval Office, but what's wrong with old colleagues catching up? And it's true that George HW Bush and Shafig bin Laden, Osama's brother, spent the morning of September 11 together at a board meeting of the Carlyle Group, but the bin Ladens are a big family. That FEMA arrived in New York on Sept 10 to prepare for a scheduled biowarfare drill, and had a triage centre ready to go that was larger and better equipped than the one that was lost in the collapse of WTC 7, was a lucky twist of fate. Newsweek's report that senior Pentagon officials cancelled flights on Sept 10 for the following day on account of security concerns is only newsworthy because of what happened the following morning. That George Bush's telephone logs for September 11 do not exist should surprise no one, given the confusion of the day. That Mohamed Atta attended the International Officer's School at Maxwell Air Force Base, that Abdulaziz Alomari attended Brooks Air Force Base Aerospace Medical School, that Saeed Alghamdi attended the Defense Language Institute in Monterey merely shows it is a small world, after all. That Lt Col Steve Butler, Vice Chancellor for student affairs of the Defense Language Institute during Alghamdi's terms, was disciplined, removed from his post and threatened with court martial when he wrote "Bush knew of the impending attacks on America. He did nothing to warn the American people because he needed this war on terrorism. What is...contemptible is the President of the United States not telling the American people what he knows for political gain," is the least that should have happened for such disrespect shown his Commander in Chief. That Mohammed Atta dressed like a Mafioso, had a stripper girlfriend, smuggled drugs, was already a licensed pilot when he entered the US, enjoyed pork chops, drank to excess and did cocaine, was closer to Europeans than Arabs in Florida, and included the names of defence contractors on his email list, proves how dangerous the radical fundamentalist Muslim can be. That 43 lbs of heroin was found on board the Lear Jet owned by Wally Hilliard, the owner of Atta's flight school, just three weeks after Atta enrolled - the biggest seizure ever in Central Florida - was just bad luck. That Hilliard was not charged shows how specious the claims for conspiracy truly are. That Hilliard's plane had made 30-round trips to Venezuela with the same passengers who always paid cash, that the plane had been supplied by a pair of drug smugglers who had also outfitted CIA drug runner Barry Seal, and that 9/11 commissioner Richard ben-Veniste had been Seal's attorney before Seal's murder, shows nothing but the lengths to which conspiracists will go to draw sinister conclusions. Reports of insider trading on 9/11 are false, because the SEC investigated and found only respectable investors who will remain nameless involved, and no terrorists, so the windfall profit-taking was merely, as ever, coincidental. That heightened security for the World Trade Centre was lifted immediately prior to the attacks illustrates that it always happens when you least expect it. That Hani Hanjour, the pilot of Flight 77, was so incompetent he could not fly a Cessna in August, but in September managed to fly a 767 at excessive speed into a spiraling, 270-degree descent and a level impact of the first floor of the Pentagon, on the only side that was virtually empty and had been hardened to withstand a terrorist attack, merely demonstrates that people can do almost anything once they set their minds to it. That none of the flight data recorders were said to be recoverable even though they were located in the tail sections, and that until 9/11, no solid-state recorder in a catastrophic crash had been unrecoverable, shows how there's a first time for everything. That Mohammed Atta left a uniform, a will, a Koran, his driver's license and a "how to fly planes" video in his rental car at the airport means he had other things on his mind. The mention of Israelis with links to military-intelligence having been arrested on Sept 11 videotaping and celebrating the attacks, of an Israeli espionage ring surveiling DEA and defense installations and trailing the hijackers, and of a warning of impending attacks delivered to the Israeli company Odigo two hours before the first plane hit, does not deserve a response. That the stories also appeared in publications such as Ha'aretz and Forward is a sad display of self-hatred among certain elements of the Israeli media. That multiple military wargames and simulations were underway the morning of 9/11 - one simulating the crash of a plane into a building; another, a live-fly simulation of multiple hijackings - and took many interceptors away from the eastern seaboard and confused field commanders as to which was a real hijacked aircraft and which was a hoax, was a bizarre coincidence, but no less a coincidence. That the National Military Command Center ops director asked a rookie substitute to stand his watch at 8:30 am on Sept. 11 is nothing more than bad timing. That a recording made Sept 11 of air traffic controllers' describing what they had witnessed, was destroyed by an FAA official who crushed it in his hand, cut the tape into little pieces and dropped them in different trash cans around the building, is something no doubt that overzealous official wishes he could undo. That the FBI knew precisely which Florida flight schools to descend upon hours after the attacks should make every American feel safer knowing their federal agents are on the ball. That a former flight school executive believes the hijackers were "double agents," and says about Atta and associates, "Early on I gleaned that these guys had government protection. They were let into this country for a specific purpose," and was visited by the FBI just four hours after the attacks to intimidate him into silence, proves he's an unreliable witness, for the simple reason there is no conspiracy. That Jeb Bush was on board an aircraft that removed flight school records to Washington in the middle of the night on Sept 12th demonstrates how seriously the governor takes the issue of national security. To insinuate evil motive from the mercy flights of bin Laden family members and Saudi royals after 9/11 shows the sickness of the conspiratorial mindset. Le Figaro's report in October 2001, known to have originated with French intelligence, that the CIA met Osama bin Laden in a Dubai hospital in July 2001, proves again the perfidy of the French. That the tape in which bin Laden claims responsibility for the attacks was released by the State Department after having been found providentially by US forces in Afghanistan, and depicts a fattened Osama with a broader face and a flatter nose, proves Osama, and Osama alone, masterminded 9/11. That at the battle of Tora Bora, where bin Laden was surrounded on three sides, Special Forces received no order to advance and capture him and were forced to stand and watch as two Russian-made helicopters flew into the area where bin Laden was believed hiding, loaded up passengers and returned to Pakistan, demonstrates how confusing the modern battlefield can be. That upon returning to Fort Bragg from Tora Bora, the same Special Operations troops who had been stood down from capturing bin Laden, suffered a unusual spree of murder/suicides, is nothing more than a series of senseless tragedies. Reports that bin Laden is currently receiving periodic dialysis treatment in a Pakistani medical hospital are simply too incredible to be true. That the White House went on Cipro September 11 shows the foresightedness of America's emergency response. That the anthrax was mailed to perceived liberal media and the Democratic leadership demonstrates only the perversity of the terrorist psyche. That the anthrax attacks appeared to silence opponents of the Patriot Act shows only that appearances can be deceiving. That the Ames-strain anthrax was found to have originated at Fort Detrick, and was beyond the capability of all but a few labs to refine, underscores the importance of allowing the investigation to continue without the distraction of absurd conspiracy theories. That Republican guru Grover Norquist has been found to have aided financiers and supporters of Islamic terror to gain access to the Bush White House, and is a founder of the Islamic Institute, which the Treasury Department believes to be a source of funding for al Qaeda, suggests Norquist is at worst, naive, and at best, needs a wider circle of friends. That the Department of Justice consistently chooses to see accused 9/11 plotters go free rather than permit the courtroom testimony of al Qaeda leaders in American custody looks bad, but only because we don't have all the facts. That the White House balked at any inquiry into the events of 9/11, then starved it of funds and stonewalled it, was unfortunate, but since the commission didn't find for conspiracy it's all a non issue anyway. That the 9/11 commission's executive director and "gatekeeper," Philip Zelikow, was so closely involved in the events under investigation that he testified before the the commission as part of the inquiry, shows only an apparent conflict of interest. That commission chair Thomas Kean is, like George Bush, a Texas oil executive who had business dealings with reputed al Qaeda financier Khalid bin Mafouz, suggests Texas is smaller than they say it is. That co-chair Lee Hamilton has a history as a Bush family "fixer," including clearing Bush Sr of the claims arising from the 1980 "October Surprise", is of no concern, since only conspiracists believe there was such a thing as an October Surprise. That FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds accuses the agency of intentionally fudging specific pre-9/11 warnings and harboring a foreign espionage ring in its translation department, and claims she witnessed evidence of the semi-official infrastructure of money-laundering and narcotics trade behind the attacks, is of no account, since John Ashcroft has gagged her with the rare invocation of "State Secrets Privilege," and retroactively classified her public testimony. For the sake of national security, let us speak no more of her. That, when commenting on Edmond's case, Daniel Ellsberg remarked that Ashcroft could go to prison for his part in a cover-up, suggests Ellsberg is giving comfort to the terrorists, and could, if he doesn't wise up, find himself declared an enemy combatant. I could go on. And on and on. But I trust you get the point. Which is simply this: there are no secrets, an American government would never accept civilian casualties for geostrategic gain, and conspiracies are for the weak-minded and gullible."wegottagetoutofthisplace," the democrats are just as guilty as the republicans on this one. they are trying to cover up just as much as the republicans. Sandy Berger, for instance...obviously helping save BJ Clinton's ass. more

Resolved Question: Does Communism work better than capitalism? Der Speagal thinks so.?

February 27, 2007 Font: RED CHINA, INC. Does Communism Work After All? By Andreas Lorenz and Wieland Wagner China is securing an ever-bigger share of the world market with the methods of a planned economy. Competitors and economists alike are astounded by the country's seemingly unstoppable march to becoming a global economic superpower. The development has left many wondering: Does communism work after all? Boom City Shanghai: President Hu Jintao and his Communist Party are experiencing explosive success across the country. Getty Images Boom City Shanghai: President Hu Jintao and his Communist Party are experiencing explosive success across the country. Nine men dressed in dark tailored suits meet behind high, Red walls. Their secret meeting place in downtown Beijing is called Zhongnanhai, or "Middle and Southern Lake." Once part of the Forbidden City, Zhongnanhai was a place where emperors, concubines and eunuchs would spend their days concocting court intrigues. Some of the buildings from those feudal days are still standing today, joined by functional, gray and white structures built when the Chinese Communist Party established its headquarters here. The nine men -- who constitute the Standing Committee of the Communist Party's Politburo, the most-powerful political body in the Middle Kingdom -- meet in the southern section of this refuge. Their discreet meeting is businesslike. The group's members were not elected by the people and they are not interested in being observed while governing. Cameras are banned and there is a conspicuous absence of jovial pats on the back or ready smiles for the evening news. FROM THE MAGAZINE Find out how you can reprint this DER SPIEGEL article in your publication. None of the members of this sombre squad is known for his charisma. President Hu Jintao, 64, the head of state and Communist Party leader, and his eight colleagues are stiff technocrats. Hu, the son of a tea merchant from Jiangsu Province, holds a degree in hydroelectric engineering. The others are trained in fields like electrical engineering, metallurgy or geology. But the discussions and decisions made here within the ranks of China's Politburo affect the well-being of 1.3 billion Chinese -- and increasingly the rest of the world. If the Middle Kingdom were not a country, but rather a giant company -- let's call it Red China, Inc. -- then the Politburo would be its all-powerful board of directors. And if Hu were not a communist official but rather a capitalist corporate boss, he would find himself inundated with job offers worldwide. Competitors in the capitalist West can only dream of the successes he and his fellow communist leaders cum business executives have achieved. Hardly a day goes by on which Asia's giant, Red corporation does not report new and dazzling business figures. And the more helplessly Western heads of state -- from United States President George W. Bush to German Chancellor Angela Merkel -- attempt to reform their traditional market economies, the more enviously the capitalist world eyes China's frenzied growth, all the while asking itself: Does communism work after all? China's speedy ascent to become a global economic superpower is troubling to many: to the industrialized nations of the West because they fear for their jobs; to politicians because the global balance of power is shifting; and, last but not least, to economists because it is so puzzling to them. Red China, Inc.: Does communism work after all? * * * Click on a picture to launch the image gallery (7 Photos) Economists' theories are based on the recognition that market forces alone drive economic growth. The state's only role is to ensure that competition functions and that no one is able to abuse his power in the marketplace to an inadmissible degree. A Midas touch For these economists, the fall of the Iron Curtain offered glaring proof that their hypotheses were correct. Indeed, planned economies in Soviet bloc countries were failures, creating poverty instead of affluence and leaving industrial wastelands in their wake. Yet China is flourishing. With a blend of a planned economy and unbridled capitalism that you won't find mentioned in any textbook, the country is capturing world markets and achieving double-digit growth year after year. Hu and his Red board of directors appear to have something akin to the Midas touch. With their country, which amounts to a gigantic, low-cost factory, they have already managed to accumulate more than $1 trillion in foreign currency reserves. In theory, at least, the communist People's Republic of China, has now joined the United States, the global capitalist superpower, in deciding the fate of the world's leading currency. In 2005, China leapfrogged over France and Great Britain to become the world's fourth-largest economy. The country's new spot in the rankings came as the result of an omission on the part of its communist bosses: Already blessed with so much growth, they had simply forgotten to include a large portion of their giant service sector in China's economic statistics. American sinologist Roderick MacFarquhar is astonished by China's performance. "Never before," says MacFarquhar, "has so much wealth been created by so many people in such a short time span." If China continues to grow at the same pace, it will oust Germany as the world's third-biggest economy in only two years, perhaps even dethroning the United States from its leading position one day. In 2005, China was already the US's second-largest goods supplier and Japan's largest. Not satisfied with being No. 2, Beijing's strategists are continuing their plans to shower the world with inexpensive products such as T-shirts and DVD players -- and, increasingly, with Chinese high technology. A fast-developing tech sector China recently surpassed Germany in the number of patents it registers. With its latest five-year plan, the country's Communist Party has set itself an ambitious goal of catapulting China to world-class heights in the fields of science and technology. According to the plan, Chinese probes will orbit the moon next year and land on it by 2010. China's space ambitions also include a bizarre aural spectacle: Its lunar orbiters will transmit 150 pop songs back to earth, including a Chinese tune titled "We Love our China." Photo Gallery: China's Celestial Ambitions * * * Click on a picture to launch the image gallery (8 Photos) The Communist Party's economic successes aren't its only impressive achievement. Chinese cities are safer than places like São Paulo or Bogotá, and they seem cleaner and more orderly than the slums of Nairobi or Soweto in South Africa. Beijing and Shanghai boast a lively cultural scene, and broadband Internet access is already taken for granted in the country's major cities. Mobile phone reception is even available in small villages. Communist Party leader Hu and his Politburo colleagues aren't the only ones behind the changes that have swept across this vast country. True, they are responsible for coming up with the overriding strategies behind China's economic miracle, and for this task they take the necessary time -- hours that Western politicians waste doing the rounds on talk shows. But the Politburo also routinely solicits advice and reports on the latest global trends in science and business -- on issues running the gamut from biotechnology to health insurance -- from academics in so-called "study sessions." This being a communist land, these sessions would of course be incomplete without the requisite lectures on China's revolutionary history and Marxist theory. Graphic: The Government System of the People's Republic China Zoom DER SPIEGEL Graphic: The Government System of the People's Republic China The State Council, China's cabinet -- headed by the pedantic and schoolmaster-like 64-year-old Prime Minister Wen Jiabao -- deals with the day-to-day business of government. The cabinet meets at least three times a month, as required by law, in a building located a stone's throw from the offices of the Politburo. Meetings are graced with tall beauties dressed in red outfits and white gloves, who serve cabinet members green tea from the Wuyuan district in Jiangxi Province. Red China, Inc.'s central nervous system In addition to Wen, this inner circle of the Chinese government includes four deputy premiers, five members of the State Council (including one general) and a secretary general. Comprised of eight men and two women, the group directs and coordinates the work of 28 ministries and commissions, including the country's central bank and its central auditing authority. It also presides over an immense number of government agencies, including China's official news agency, Xinhua, the Academy of Sciences, the customs agency, the weather bureau, an agency in charge of grain production and distribution and -- not to be overlooked -- the Administration of Government Offices, which provides high-ranking officials with living quarters, cars and vacation homes. NEWSLETTER Sign up for Spiegel Online's daily newsletter and get the best of Der Spiegel's and Spiegel Online's international coverage in your In- Box everyday. All the elements in the network that make up Red China, Inc. come together in Wen's State Council. The body controls daily life in China with a plethora of decrees, memorandums, plans, measures and responses. In the month of September alone, it issued a decree on the "Administration of Payment of the Automobile Sales Tax," approved "Basic Regulations for the Electricity Market" and organized "Safety Inspections of Dams that include Power Plants." A decade and a half after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a communist country appears to be relentlessly transforming itself into an economic superpower. Its recipe for success is, at first glance, the five-year-plan -- one which dismayed Western politicians have routinely dismissed for such features as its ban on private ownership of land and its manipulation of currency exchange rates. Having your cake and eating it too But five-year plans are only one side of the coin in China's vast realm. The other is a wildly unfettered capitalism geared solely toward naked profit. And when it comes to turning a profit, hardly anything seems sacred anymore, not even for China's communists. The Great Hall of the People in Beijing is a case in point. If the National People's Congress doesn't happen to be in session or President Hu isn't using the magnificent building -- with its more than 300 rooms and enormous paintings depicting scenes from the revolution -- to receive foreign dignitaries, the government simply rents it out. Recently, US automaker Ford used the building to unveil its latest line of car models, and fast food giant Kentucky Fried Chicken opted for the elegance of the Great Hall to hold a meeting of its more than 2,100 Chinese restaurant managers. Ironically enough, while economists in Europe and the United States advocate "less government" and "open markets" as a response to globalization and the Chinese challenge, the Marxist-Leninist party that rules China blatantly avails itself of every advantage of capitalism while steadfastly refusing to give up state control over the economy. Graphic: Awakening Giant Zoom DER SPIEGEL Graphic: Awakening Giant ICBC, a major Chinese bank, recently conducted the biggest initial public offering in financial history, floating shares worth the equivalent of $22 billion on the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges. In a win-win situation for China's communists, the bank's value rose to more than $200 billion, and yet Beijing retains control over ICBC. The country's three largest telecommunications companies are also state-owned. Two years ago, the Communist Party simply reshuffled senior executives among the three companies. Is China, one of the most undemocratic nations on earth, setting an example for democratic countries on how to effectively solve problems? Do China's successes fly in the face of every critic and skeptic who believes that Marxism-Leninism and capitalism are as incompatible as the devil and holy water? " A social market economy with Chinese characteristics">> : Blogs discussing this story more

Resolved Question: Calderon vows to restore Mexico's appeal but will it work ?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070306/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/mexico_curing_migration MEXICO CITY - Mexican President Felipe Calderon won't be fighting for migration reform when he meets with President Bush next week. Instead, he will be be spelling out what he intends to do to keep Mexicans at home. ADVERTISEMENT Calderon, who was inaugurated on Dec. 1, has pledged to take 100 actions in his first 100 days in office, many of which represent the first steps toward "curing" Mexico's long tradition of illegal migration to the U.S. If implemented, his proposals could help transform Mexico from a labor-exporting country with relatively low growth, productivity and wages into an investment-rich, job-producing economy with better living standards for its 107 million people, nearly half of whom still live in poverty. "We are laying the foundation for a more just, healthy society with better and more equal opportunities for all," he said. Even a modicum of success for Calderon would improve on the record of his predecessor Vicente Fox, who failed to persuade the United States to accept Mexican guest workers and also could not put in place proposed reforms. Like Fox, Calderon faces powerful Mexican monopolies and oligopolies, union leaders and old-school politicians who have resisted changes to a system that concentrates power and wealth in a small number of hands and blocks attempts to improve competition, lower consumer prices and open the job market to more people. Unlike Fox, Calderon has shown he can rally lawmakers and others behind his plans: Congress unanimously passed his 2007 federal budget and he has united state governments behind a nationwide crackdown on drug trafficking. Among other things, he has proposed labor, energy and judicial reforms to encourage investment, promote competition and create jobs; improved tax collection to generate more revenue to fight poverty and improve education; universal health care and support for small and medium-size businesses. "Curing" migration will take many more than his six years in office, Calderon says. With this in mind, he set the goal of boosting Mexico's per-capita income from the equivalent of about $8,000 today to around $30,000 by 2030. "It won't be easy. It won't be fast, but yes, it is possible," Calderon said. Calderon and Bush will meet in Merida, the capital of Yucatan state, on March 13 and 14. Officials have not disclosed in detail the talks' agenda, but in addition to migration, the two are expected to discuss drugs and unresolved trade disputes over trucking rights and agricultural products. U.S.-bound migrants include not only poor and poorly educated unskilled laborers, but also middle-class entrepreneurs, college graduates and professionals. Many actually have jobs in Mexico, but the salaries don't match their talents and experience, and workplace discrimination is widespread. "I think he's on the right track, but migration is a long-term problem," said Jorge Chabat, an international affairs expert at Mexico City's Center for Economic Research and Instruction. Jose Antonio Perez, a 27-year-old college graduate from the oil-rich Gulf coast state of Veracruz, has a degree in mechanical engineering, but no real career prospects in Mexico. His jobs have included a five-month, unpaid engineering internship at a boat-repair company; a two-year job with a telephone company that offered no benefits and no chance of advancement; and his current teaching job, which requires little of his engineering skills and offers no insurance benefits, vacation, or job security. Perez works 12 hours a day Monday through Friday teaching high school mathematics and computers — a post that pays $12,000 a year. He supplements his income with odd carpentry and bricklaying jobs, or selling clothing and even cars. "I sleep four hours a night," he said. "I can't even think of having a family until I get something more secure." More than a year ago, when several of Perez's friends were working illegally in the United States, they earned as much as $26,300 a year pumping gas or working in carpentry. The friends have since returned, but their stories have inspired Perez. If his situation doesn't improve in six months, he plans to cross the border as well. "I could be a carpenter or a locksmith," he said. Calderon — who often notes that he has relatives in the United States, although he has not revealed their legal status — says he is well aware of the difficulties Mexicans face trying to live and work in their own country. He recently told the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico: "The ideal situation for Mexico is not to have Mexicans migrate." ____ On the Net: http://www.presidencia.gob.mx/en more

Resolved Question: how do i tell my story to the world?

To all this may concern: I write to you in hopes that you can help me tell my story that ruined my life for the simple fact that I was of Arab descent. I am first generation American whose parents are Palestinians; my name is Eyad Shalash. The United States Federal Government appallingly took my freedom and all that was familiar to me in seconds--only to dismiss the case days before trial and with absolutely no apology. I whole heartedly believe I was a victim of racial profiling. I never had anticipated myself ever having to write anyone the way I am now. I was a senior at University of South Carolina, on the Life Scholarship, double majoring in international business and finance. I held the esteem position of being on the Dean's List for the three semesters prior to my senior year, as well. The Charges that were brought against me from the Federal Government was that of a sealed indictment, so at the time I had absolutely no idea what was going on. In fact, I thought it was a sick joke because I knew myself one not to mess with anything remotely illegal---moreover, a sealed indictment? I felt as if I was being treated like a member of Al-Qaieda. Maybe because of my Arab descent, they felt that I was a danger to homeland security? Sadly, I'll never know. Anyway, I suffered major losses. One that hit home was losing my internship with Merrill Lynch because of the farce of an ongoing investigation into which they were pouring useless energy. The following which I will explain not only caused me to suffer with my education and career but nearly caused my mother a stroke. The ATF (Alcohol Tobacco and Firearm agency) in ways I'll never understand accused my older brother and I for selling crack cocaine and ecstasy with sentences that reached twenty to life. It was 2005 and supposedly their whole investigation started the beginning of 2002---only a few months after the horrific terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center Buildings. They shackled my brother as if he was a serial killer and told me to turn myself in or they'll have to take me in. Not knowing, at the time, what the possible problem could be, I obliged. I never believed in the Land of the Free, the land of justice and liberty for all, that i would be fighting for my innocence. Only Two weeks from trial, my lawyer informed me that the case was dismissed. Overjoyed, at first, I was. Only to become so infuriated that I became severely ill and had a dangerously high fever. Thoughts rushed through my head, why should I be happy to get my freedom back? It should not have been taken away from me in the first place! Yet, I did not even get back all my freedom. It has been nearly a year from the day I was accused of all this and still unemployed today because everywhere I apply, I get rejected once they do a background check on me. After all this, one would think the Government would at least take everything off my record that they placed. I have become cynical in the sense of why would the Government go through the hassle of cleaning up their own mess--I am nothing in their eyes. The Government still has their mark on my "criminal" history record. I was robbed of everything that I accomplished and no apology given. My education was everything I had. Each day in school was like a brick that I used to build my house of success, and once I reached placing the roof of my house, a bulldozer comes and demolishes the years of hard work in seconds. On top of that, they take the bricks with them hindering my ability to even start again. I was fortunate enough that my family had the money for the lawyer that we had, but we lost over one hundred thousand dollars to them, along with all my dreams and hopes of ever working for a big corporation. Yes, I live in the USA, the country that gives you the most freedom in the world and the country that can rip them away in a split second even if they just do it by mistake. I feel my life is hopeless now. All my dreams of success have now all faded away. I sometimes regret waking up in the morning, jobless at the age of 23 with a college degree. All I ask is for some help or at least for a finger pointing me in the right direction where I can get help. Or at the least, an apology to give me hope in this country once more. More of this story was in the front page of the Charleston paper; I copied that and attached it as well. Sincerely, Eyad Shalash more

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