Freetalk about USA culture: 25 new messages in 21 topics

The culture of the United States of America.

03/19/06 / 03/20/06 / 03/21/06 / 03/22/06 / 03/23/06 / 03/24/06 / 03/25/06 / 03/26/06 / 03/27/06 / 03/28/06 / 03/29/06 / 03/30/06 / 03/31/06 /

Friday, March 31, 2006

25 new messages in 21 topics - digest ==>Read...

soc.culture.usa
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa
soc.culture.usa@googlegroups.com

Today's topics:

* Fly High - 2 messages, 2 authors
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/9401495b34ff8719
* Will Chavez embroil Venezuela in a war in the Caribbean? / - 1 messages, 1
author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/e281996c97a82c4
* To: Fidel_Castro@Cubaqueoprime.com.cu - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/6783cf9eaf4e86b8
* Liberation - An Orwellian term for mass murder - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/62237fd30ab0be05
* The Questions we must ask about policing in Ireland...[was Re: Gardai in
Ireland to reach 14,000! - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/a0cbb5c1a6d8d05b
* Straw asks European leaders to learn more about Islam - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/54fd6cb9c2d9e96b
* Illegals/Amnesty = Modern Day Slavery in the U.S. - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/5f29a1268a937658
* HOW ISRAEL CONTROLS WHAT YOU READ - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/508d9a807a59d05d
* Veteran Cites U.S. Atrocities - 2 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/accbb3c7290493c3
* Goodbye Europe - 2 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/45e5b9700b1e9ac3
* SECURING THE KIKE REALM - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/8dd1ed5cdcb29a1b
* WSJ: Why Not Liberate the American Worker - 2 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/dff0702be9d23a69
* who is financing the weapons for the Balochistan separatists ? - 1 messages,
1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/4fe2cfc18cd19a3e
* NOLA: Levee Plans Fall Short of FEMA Standards - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/dc7de4410ebd23a7
* Otto Reich, Noam Chomsky Face Off on Latin America - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/41a3a89799992d04
* Experts Dismiss US "Alarm" at Venez Arms Deals - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/28ae8eeaf476a3c7
* Venez Warns ExxonMobil, Won't Sell CITGO - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/3f061453ef324051
* Venez: Rifts Plague Chavez Opposition - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/9ae04a191c6681d8
* Hey, How about that Secret SAUDI Nuke Program? - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/268f3196b8dbdf2b
* Media Ignored, Buried NYT Report on Bush-Blair Memo - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/17276b1b99263291
* US Military Exercise Set for Caribbean - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/833875e246cd1fad

==============================================================================
TOPIC: Fly High
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/9401495b34ff8719
==============================================================================

== 1 of 2 ==
Date: Fri, Mar 31 2006 8:54 am
From: koolfireiii@gmail.com

Bholu wrote:
> Wonderful news Naureen. I had a wonderful dream about women pilots last
> night. They were putting me through some gruelling training in a
> harness - only it wasn't flying a plane. When I woke I wanted to go
> back to sleep right away. But the moment was past and I had to pee. You
> know how it is when you get old.
>
>
> naureen101@aol.com wrote:
> > Pakistan gets women combat pilots
> > By Zaffar Abbas
> > BBC News, Islamabad
> >
> >
> > http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4861666.stm
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > The women had to go through the gruelling three-year training
> > The Pakistani Air Force (PAF) has inducted four women as fighter pilots
> > for the first time.
> > The women were part of a batch of 36 cadets who were awarded flying
> > badges after three years of gruelling training at the PAF academy at
> > Risalpur.
> >
> > Being a fighter pilot has until now been a purely male domain. Women
> > could join the armed forces but only for non-combat jobs like the
> > medical corps.
> >
> > Three years ago the PAF decided to allow women to train as fighter
> > pilots.
> >
> > First batch
> >
> > It was a passing out parade with a difference.
> >
> >
> > Although few, the presence of women is being felt in PAF
> >
> > Never before had any woman been part of the batch of fighter pilots
> > being awarded flying badges.
> >
> > And the difference was recognised by the vice chief of the army, Gen
> > Ahsan Saleem Hayat, who handed out the certificates of honour to the
> > successful men and women cadets.
> >
> > Expressing his delight, Gen Hayat said the air force had taken the lead
> > to induct women in the combat units of the armed forces.
> >
> > When the BBC visited the training academy nearly a year ago, the first
> > batch of four women cadets had just moved on to fly jet-engine planes.
> >
> > There were six others who were in the second batch and a few others in
> > the aerospace unit.
> >
> > 'Dream come true'
> >
> > Although these trailblazers were few in number, many instructors
> > admitted their presence was already being felt.
> >
> >
> > Saba Khan, a fighter pilot, says it was her dream come true
> >
> > One of the female cadets and now a fighter pilot, Saba Khan, then told
> > the BBC that joining the air force to become a pilot was like a dream
> > come true.
> >
> > Other female cadets were equally excited.
> >
> > At the passing out, one of the graduating women flying officers, Nadia
> > Gul, received the trophy for best academic achievement along with two
> > of her male colleagues who got trophies for best flying performance and
> > general duties.
> >
> > The air force academy is still male-dominated, and it is not clear what
> > the real feelings of the male cadets have been to the induction of
> > women into the fighter pilot programme. Officially, most have welcomed
> > the move.
> >
> > Even so, the fact that four women are now officially fighter pilots is
> > a clear indication that the new policy of opening up the combat units
> > of the Pakistani armed forces for women is here to stay.

the latest f-16 Pakistan will be getting,has fly by wire,beyond visual
range of firing ability,digital cockpit,with only a control shaft in
between pilots thighs, for the pilot to hold and to maneuver the
plane...when they can maneuver the male pilot and scored them out
during training and passed out successfully,i dont see why they will
have any problem with maneuvering the aircraft.....

maybe at higher speeds and high g's,the control shaft gets very
stiff,and is hard to control,but under constant training they
get....they will get used to it......the f-16 is just a plane,they will
learn to be deft with the control shaft....i am sure its a step in the
right direction...women can drive anything given the training....they
have to dispense with the burquah,and will have to wear g suits........

so that gravity does not affect them,and there is equal blood flow to
the head and legs......there was a problem that const exposure to high
gs,could lead them to be flat chested,but no one has yet put a finger
on the problem and say for sure.....maybe if the come to the medical
institute of high altitude in India,we can look at it,and rectify the
same.

== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Fri, Mar 31 2006 9:48 am
From: baani.t@rediffmail.com

Its nice to hear Pakistan finally moving out of the dark ages. All the
Best to these pilots..
naureen101@aol.com wrote:
> Pakistan gets women combat pilots
> By Zaffar Abbas
> BBC News, Islamabad
>
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4861666.stm
>
>
>
>
>
>
> The women had to go through the gruelling three-year training
> The Pakistani Air Force (PAF) has inducted four women as fighter pilots
> for the first time.
> The women were part of a batch of 36 cadets who were awarded flying
> badges after three years of gruelling training at the PAF academy at
> Risalpur.
>
> Being a fighter pilot has until now been a purely male domain. Women
> could join the armed forces but only for non-combat jobs like the
> medical corps.
>
> Three years ago the PAF decided to allow women to train as fighter
> pilots.
>
> First batch
>
> It was a passing out parade with a difference.
>
>
> Although few, the presence of women is being felt in PAF
>
> Never before had any woman been part of the batch of fighter pilots
> being awarded flying badges.
>
> And the difference was recognised by the vice chief of the army, Gen
> Ahsan Saleem Hayat, who handed out the certificates of honour to the
> successful men and women cadets.
>
> Expressing his delight, Gen Hayat said the air force had taken the lead
> to induct women in the combat units of the armed forces.
>
> When the BBC visited the training academy nearly a year ago, the first
> batch of four women cadets had just moved on to fly jet-engine planes.
>
> There were six others who were in the second batch and a few others in
> the aerospace unit.
>
> 'Dream come true'
>
> Although these trailblazers were few in number, many instructors
> admitted their presence was already being felt.
>
>
> Saba Khan, a fighter pilot, says it was her dream come true
>
> One of the female cadets and now a fighter pilot, Saba Khan, then told
> the BBC that joining the air force to become a pilot was like a dream
> come true.
>
> Other female cadets were equally excited.
>
> At the passing out, one of the graduating women flying officers, Nadia
> Gul, received the trophy for best academic achievement along with two
> of her male colleagues who got trophies for best flying performance and
> general duties.
>
> The air force academy is still male-dominated, and it is not clear what
> the real feelings of the male cadets have been to the induction of
> women into the fighter pilot programme. Officially, most have welcomed
> the move.
>
> Even so, the fact that four women are now officially fighter pilots is
> a clear indication that the new policy of opening up the combat units
> of the Pakistani armed forces for women is here to stay.

==============================================================================
TOPIC: Will Chavez embroil Venezuela in a war in the Caribbean? /
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/e281996c97a82c4
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Fri, Mar 31 2006 11:42 am
From: "PM"

Will Chavez embroil Venezuela in a war in the Caribbean? / Kenneth Rijock
Date: 28 mars, 2006 23:17

http://www.lanuevacuba.com/archivo/notic-06-03-1920.htm

Will Chavez embroil Venezuela
in a war in the Caribbean?

By Kenneth Rijock
Vcrisis
Infosearch:
José Cadenas
Bureau Chief
USA
Research Dept.La Nueva CubaMarch 19, 2006

Last week's saber rattling by Hugo Chavez, a blunt threat to remove the
Dutch from the Netherlands Antilles islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao,
clearly demonstrates the existence of a misguided national policy that can
only result in an armed conflict in the Caribbean. The fabricated
territorial and maritime claims against the Netherlands by the current
Venezuelan government are certainly a recipe for disaster. But by also
seeking to expel what he refers to as the other "colonial powers" of France,
the United Kingdom and the United States from their possessions in the
Western Hemisphere, he risks armed confrontation with the NATO countries.
We should not be surprised, as Chavez has always viewed the NATO military
installations as threats to Venezuela. While he knows he could no more win a
conventional war against any European country than Argentina could prevail
over the UK in the Falklands (Malvinas), offensive weapons, such as missiles
obtained from North Korea and Iran, when coupled with small, albeit
effective, tactical nuclear devices, could result in permanent ecological
damages to the Caribbean. There would be no winner of such a conflict.
When documentary and photographic evidence of the presence of ballistic
missiles inside Venezuela, and of Chavez' serious efforts to develop or buy
nuclear weapons, emerges, those who doubt the validity of such serious
allegations will ruefully have to admit to the existence of a clear and
present danger to peace. Those who scoff at the truth of this information,
and seek to draw a parallel to the bogus claims of weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq by President Bush, miss the point. Chavez must divert
attention from Venezuela's failing economy, and its corrupt Bolivarian
elite, who are stealing the country blind. He must do something, or fall
from power, either through the electoral process, or a popular uprising.
Dictators in political trouble frequently have enmeshed their nations in
foreign military adventures to distract the people from domestic problems.
The worry is that Chavez and Castro will amass sufficient weaponry to
actually initiate military action in 2006. This is not idle speculation;
both regimes have been actively acquiring military technology of late. One
also must bear in mind the alliance of the Chavez regime with radical,
fanatical terrorist organisations who could assist in this madness.
Factor in the recent rantings of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro Ruz, and the
consensus of veteran Cuban watchers that Castro wants to leave his mark on
the region for posterity, and we have the potential for an unthinkable war,
Cuba and Venezuela, with covert logistical support from Iran, North Korea
and possibly Syria, against one or more of the "imperialist powers."
With Chavez losing his grip on Venezuela, he may follow his patron, Fidel,
down the road to ruin for his country. We cannot let that happen; the truth
about offensive weapons inside Venezuela must be told in a clear and
convincing manner. Only then can the folly of military misadventure be
avoided.
More than a hundred years ago, Chile, Peru and Bolivia fought the War of the
Pacific, and bruised feelings from the war still remain in those countries.
Do we really want to see a catastrophic conflict brought solely for the
purposes of keeping the Chavez regime in power? The outcome would be a
nightmare.

Colaboración de Paul Echaniz

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Solo la opresión debe temer al pleno ejercicio de la libertad. Libertad es
el derecho que todo hombre tiene a ser honrado, y a pensar y a hablar sin
hipocresía. Un hombre que oculta lo que piensa, o no se atreve a decir lo
que piensa, no es un hombre honrado. Un hombre que obedece a un mal
gobierno, sin trabajar para que el gobierno sea bueno, no es un hombre
honrado.

José Martí

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long as the source is credited. /
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mientras nuestra fuente (www.netforcuba.org) sea citada.

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==============================================================================
TOPIC: To: Fidel_Castro@Cubaqueoprime.com.cu
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/6783cf9eaf4e86b8
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Fri, Mar 31 2006 11:43 am
From: "PM"

e-mail

Jorge Hernández Fonseca

www.penhacubana.com

From: Ciudadanodesegunda@Cubaquesufre.com.cu

To: Fidel_Castro@Cubaqueoprime.com.cu

Sent: Sábado, 4 de Marzo de 2006

Subject: "'Cocotimba' tórrida"

Comandante:

Ni se imagina como he disfrutado leyendo las noticias en la prensa
extranjera (porque nuestro querido periódico Granma no ha informado nada de
eso) los reportes sobre "El Festival de Habano" que Ud. organiza, vendiendo
tabacos a 500 dólares cada uno.

Yo saqué la cuenta rápido, a ver cuantos años demoraría un ciudadano de
segunda como yo trabajando en Cuba, para juntar el dinero que gana y comprar
un tabaco de esos. La cuenta me dio tres años de trabajo sin gastar nada.
Total, aquí hay periodistas presos que pasarán mucho más tiempo que ese en
la cárcel, así que no es tan caro así que digamos.

Vi que el ron "está en falta" en las bodegas, pero también se está vendiendo
a miles de dólares la botella pa'los extranjeros. Por eso no hay ron.
Nuestro aguerrido y sacrificado pueblo trabajador se alegra mucho, porque
sabe que con esa venta se captan divisas, con las cuales compraremos más
alcohol, pa'seguir vendiendo ron caro, y así hasta el infinito.

Otra cosa que disfruté mucho fue la presencia del artista internacional Manu
Chao en la tribuna anti-imperialista de Malecón, dando un concierto
fenomenal ante el letrero de la embajada de lo'jamericanos en la Habana,
deleitándose con nuestras banderas negras, que le deben haber recordado su
anterior banda, Mano Negra, así que seguro las disfrutó.

Pero Comandante, este tipo es un artista peligroso. Fíjese que hablaba de
'democracia' y de 'dictadura', y aunque él se refirió a "la de los otros"
(nunca a la nuestra) esas cosas dichas en público siempre pueden confundir a
nuestros jóvenes revolucionarios.

Supe que Manu Chao había tenido un encuentro con Silvio, ese antiguo
revoltoso y crítico de nuestra revolución, que aunque ahora se está portando
bien, en cualquier momento sale del escaparate y "la hace". Dos tipos de eso
juntos son muy peligrosos. Menos mal que ese Manu Chao se fue rápido a dar
conciertos donde le pagan (nadie es de piedra).

Otra cosa que leí, esta vez en nuestro querido Granma, fue que 'científicos'
cubanos habían descubierto en Guantánamo una nueva variedad cubana de palma:
la "'Cocotimba' tórrida". Discúlpeme Comandante, pero esa variedad no es de
palma, es de jinetera, y ya había sido descubierta antes por los turistas
españoles, hace mucho tiempo y en to'la isla.

Por eso no se deje impresionar con ese descubrimiento supuestamente
científico. Nuestra mulaticas cabezite'fósforo tienen ese mismo nombre
'científico' ('Cocotimba') y el apellido de 'tórridas' es natural, ya
sabemos lo fogosa que son nuestra mujeres 'luchadoras'.

Ahora Comandante, cuidado, mire que no es lo mismo "vender tabaco y ron caro
a turistas extranjeros mientras descubren nuestras "'cocotimbas' tórridas",
que, "nuestras 'coctimbas' tórridas se venden caro a turistas extranjeros,
mientras disfrutan tabaco y ron".

Su víctima.

Ciudadano de Segunda.

José Martí

NetforCuba International
http://www.netforcuba.org/

--
WINSTON CHURCHILL DIJO:
El socialismo es la filosofía del fracaso, el credo a la ignorancia,
y la prédica a la envidia.
Su virtud inherente es la distribución igualitaria de la miseria.
El ejemplo mas convincente: La Cuba del 2006

==============================================================================
TOPIC: Liberation - An Orwellian term for mass murder
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/62237fd30ab0be05
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Fri, Mar 31 2006 5:01 pm
From: "DKat"

This should be renamed
<C2Darwin@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1143784032.639102.27810@v46g2000cwv.googlegroups.com...
> "When I saw that the response by Bush, Cheney,
>
> Rumsfeld, Rice, Wolfowitz and Powell to 9/11 was to turn
>
> a defense against stateless terrorism into open warfare
>
> on sovereign Muslim states, I realized that the Bush administration
>
> was committing a global strategic blunder and a terrible war crime -
>
> with open-ended disastrous consequences for Afghanistan, Iraq, us
>
> and the world.
>
>
> Instead of organizing a smart defense against stateless
>
> bands of terrorists, they unleashed the military machine of a
>
> superpower on two impoverished and de-armed Muslim states
>
> and ran over them killing tens and tens of thousands.
>
>
> With colonial bombing wars launched on poor non-christian and
>
> darker skinned people 8000 miles away from our shores,
>
> two so-called civilized but racist western nations destroyed the hope
>
> for a 21st century of peace. Greed, oil, power, arrogance, ignorance,
>
> as well as hidden racism led 3 white anglo-saxons (an incompetent
>
> scoundrel from Crawford, a chickenhawk gangster politician from
>
> Wyoming and a pious liar from Britain) into committing global
>
> war crimes."
>
> The price will have to be paid.
>
> If we measure by the number of casualties, counting from the start of
>
> the brutal bombing war on Afghanistan in October 2001 till
>
> the end of the horrible reign of Caesar Bush in January 2009,
>
> no doubt Bush is the number one terrorist.
>
> Osama used gang power to kill 3000, Bush used state power to
>
> kill up to 200,000, with no end in sight.
>
> They call that 'liberation'.
>
> An Orwellian term for mass murder.
>

==============================================================================
TOPIC: The Questions we must ask about policing in Ireland...[was Re: Gardai
in Ireland to reach 14,000!
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/a0cbb5c1a6d8d05b
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Fri, Mar 31 2006 6:08 pm
From: Howard9

In article <442D5990.F21FDF68@bwahahaha.indigo.ie>,
onq@bwahahaha.indigo.ie says...
> Howard9 wrote:
> >
> > In article <4421392A.DF02179C@bwahahaha.indigo.ie>,
> > onq@bwahahaha.indigo.ie says...
> > > Until we know the answers to these and other questions we cannot address
> > > the issue of Garda Manpower.
> > >
> >
> > Perhaps you could help by quoting one other country ... any one will
> > do... that is in possession of the answer to question 1 ?
> >
> > --
> > Howard
>
> The first great thing about asking good questions Howard is that they
> often set new standard.
>
> The second is that you don't have to know the answers, just how to ask
> good questions.
>
> We have a very well paid and pensioned civil service to provide answers.
>

My point was... that it is a pointless exercise asking unanswerable
questions. It only reinforces the image that you are simply asking silly
questions for the purpose of attacking the Gov and not for the purpose
of finding or suggesting any solution.

Anyone can fire off a bunch of questions. The trick is in asking
relevant, pertinent, constructive questions whose answers will lead to
an improvement in the situation. And the suggestion that the civil
service could come up with an answer to anything is a preposterous
notion if you take into consideration their track record on budget
estimates and capital projects.

Garda manpower can never and will never be the solution to crime in this
country. Society is in ultimate control of it's own behaviour. Gardai
can only do so much. There is no such thing as an optimal Garda man
power without examination of society and what the causes of crime are
and how much are we willing to spend to tackle it at what level.

This is a balance reached by every society. Personally I favour the
zero tolerance solution adopted in New York and think that we in Ireland
are far far too tolerant of so-called 'minor' crime, or so called
'petty' crime.

--
Howard

==============================================================================
TOPIC: Straw asks European leaders to learn more about Islam
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/54fd6cb9c2d9e96b
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Fri, Mar 31 2006 11:34 am
From: "K James"

"TheSecularist" <abc123@geocities.com> wrote in message news:e0g3i6$snm$03$1@news.t-online.com...
>
> "K James" <KJames@JusticeForAll.com> (the Mohammedan spammer hiding behind a
> Western name) wrote in message news:G9OdnQe30shw5LbZRVn-jA@sysmatrix.net...
> > Straw asks European leaders to learn more about Islam

Charting the lost innovations of Islam

Paul Lewis highlights a new exhibition that reveals the inventions made by the Muslim world

Friday March 10, 2006

It is the thread that links cars, carpets and cameras and is also responsible for three-course meals, bookshops and
modern medicine. The Islamic civilisation, according to the curators of a national exhibition that opened this week,
has made an enormous but largely neglected contribution to the way we live in the west.

The project, 1001 Inventions: Discover the Muslim Heritage of Our World, supported by the Home Office and the Department
for Trade and Industry, uncovers the Islamic civilisation's overlooked contribution to science, technology
and art during the dark ages in European history. http://www.1001inventions.com/

It lifts the veil on hundreds of innovations - from kiosks and chess through to windmills and cryptography - that are
often popularly associated with the western world but originate from Muslim scholarship and science.

Based on more than 3,000 peer-reviewed academic studies, the exhibition charts Islamic innovations during ten decades of
"missing history" spanning from the 6th to the 16th century and covering an area stretching from China to southern
Spain.

Tailored to appeal to school children and their teachers, and accompanied by a book and online resource, the project was
launched at Manchester's Museum of Science and Industry and will tour the country.

Professor Salim al-Hassani, who has led a five-year project to collate and validate the research behind the exhibition,
said: "If you ask the average person where their spectacles or camera or fountain pen come from, few people would say
Muslims.

"A lot of these scientific and cultural developments are accepted as fact in the academy, but the vast majority of
people - because of the nature of the education system - are completely unaware of their origins."

In his own field, mechanical engineering, Professor al-Hassani has used original 13th century manuscripts to produce
virtual reconstructions of sophisticated water pumps and cranks.

"The technology behind these mechanisms was incredibly sophisticated for its time and eventually gave birth to
pioneering machinery which still features in every single car," he said.

A central theme is the exchange of knowledge and culture between civilisations and their lasting significance today.

For example, the 9th century musician and fashion designer known as Ziryab, who travelled from Iraq to Andalusia in
Spain, is said to have introduced the concept of the three-course meal.

Meanwhile, it was Caliph al-Ma'mum's interest in astronomy that led to the development of large observatories,
sophisticated astronomical instruments and a rigorous analysis of the stars.

The organisers, the Manchester-based Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation, hope to use the compilation to
bring about an audit of the national curriculum to ensure it recognises Islamic achievements and the full extent of
knowledge transfer between civilisations through the ages.

"For a lot of children in schools, the history of science seems untouchable and remote," said Yasmin Khan, the
exhibitions project manager. "We need to change the way we explain civilisation's progress in our schools."

Last year, the government's preventing extremism working group on education proposed that the entire education system
should be instilled with "a more faithful reflection of Islam and its civilisation".

Professor Mark Halstead, a lecturer in moral education at Plymouth University, said there was scope in the existing
curriculum to teach the contributions of Islamic civilisation, but teachers required better training.

"Islam needs to take its place alongside other historic groups, such as the ancient Romans and Greeks," he said.

"When Europe was living in the dark ages, Islamic civilisation was blossoming, and the advances during this period are
more relevant to the modern world than those of the Ancient Egyptians and Aztecs."

http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,1728032,00.html

==============================================================================
TOPIC: Illegals/Amnesty = Modern Day Slavery in the U.S.
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/5f29a1268a937658
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Fri, Mar 31 2006 9:16 am
From: "FB"

Just another American wrote:
> http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1606530/posts?q=1&&page=151
>
> In the old way of slavery, the slaves' 'wages' went to their
> previous owners and their overseers.
>
> They also went to their housing, meals, etc. Modern-day slavery
> has eliminated the initial outlay for purchasing and transporting
> your slaves. They now come to you.

I don't much care for the "slavery" analogy when the illegal Mexicans
are free to go back to Mexico and come back over here and go back over
there again and again.

One of the reasons Mexicans go back over there is to find a new wife.
They will bring three or four 15 year old girls during their career and
start 3 or 4 families that way, or they will kidnap the teenaged
daughter of a relative and take her back to Mexico and marry her over
there when she gets pregnant and the girl might even be willing to
marry her uncle or cousin or whatever to avoid the disgrace of bringing
another Mexican bastard into the world.

Also, when you compare what is happening with the Mexicans illegally
entering the United States and working for low wages as their numbers
increase exponentially, you shouldn't be thinking about slavery in the
southern USA, you should be thinking about what happened to South
Africa and Rhodesia.

Europeans came into regions inhabited by savage tribes and built up
whole nations.

The savage tribes were defeated militarily and pacified and gradually
went to the British and the Dutch asking for jobs. And they got jobs
and enhanced their lifestyles.

But they weren't social and political equals to the Europeans. Why
should they be? They were hourly workers, being paid for the time they
worked on the job. They had no capital stake in those countries, they
had nothing much to lose if they quit and went back to their tribal
village.

The proposition that all men are created equal, endowed by their
creator with certain inalienable rights, etc. are fine words. They came
from a brilliant politician, Thomas Jefferson, who was a Free Thinker,
and a Freemason. Jefferson did not believe in the divinity of Jesus
Christ or in *any* belief system in its entirety.

Jefferson publicly claimed to believe that there was a supreme being
called "God" who ruled over man, and believed in "upright conduct" in
dealings with others. This ideas are the basis of Freemasonry, which
preaches "the Fatherhood of God, the Brotherhood of Man."

Jefferson had read the writings of Locke and Voltaire and others who
promoted the end of organized religion and the rule of noble
governments. That era was called
The Age of Enlightenment" and the American Revolution and the French
Revolution were supported and financed by wealthy bankers who knew that
they could control any government if they could take charge of the
country's money supply.

Some of the wars fought over the centuries occurred because the rich
bankers financed them. Other wars occurred when dictators established
by various revolutions refused to repay the loans that financed the
revolutions.

Africa had a vast wealth of resources. It cried out to be exploited.
But the imperialist governments were weakened by fighting the
international bankers' wars.

The international socialists called out to their African "brothers" to
rise up and throw of the "chains" of imperialist slavery. The
international socialists had also be financed by the international
bankers.

Theturmoil in Africa was a struggle between the European capitalists
and the international bankers and the international socialists and the
Africans were pawn in the game. No revolution wants to continue to
support "brothers in arms' after the revolution has overturned the
older system.

The Jeffersonian proposition even caused American organizations to
boycott South African companies, in order to weaken the supposed power
of White Europeans over Black African people.

External political pressure upon the Europeans governing South Africa
and Rhodesia eventually led to the recognition of the Africans' human
rights. Law controlling them were relaxed and the Africans took over
Rhodesia an South Africa.

So, having our own country in North America is what's really at stake
here, not some buzzword issue of whether exploiting illegal aliens is
"slavery".

==============================================================================
TOPIC: HOW ISRAEL CONTROLS WHAT YOU READ
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/508d9a807a59d05d
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Fri, Mar 31 2006 9:18 am
From: "Mike"

vesuvian.doppelgange@lycos.com wrote:
> Mike wrote:
>
> > ... Iran simply invaded and
> > occupied the US Embassy and held US citizens (including military
> > personnel) captive...
>
> Perhaps the U.S. overthrow of the democratically
> elected government of Iran in 1953, and its
> replacement by a totalitarian government headed
> by the Shah, has something to do with this.

Or perhaps not, given the control the Iranian religious leaders have in
that country.

But what the heck, go ahead and be supportive of the corrupt and brutal
regime which replaced the Shah -- things are SO much better for the
Iranian people (and others) because of the actions/decisions of their
religious leaders.

==============================================================================
TOPIC: Veteran Cites U.S. Atrocities
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/accbb3c7290493c3
==============================================================================

== 1 of 2 ==
Date: Fri, Mar 31 2006 12:06 pm
From: Ivan Gowch

On Thu, 30 Mar 2006 16:17:46 -0600, "QuickTinker" <Tinker@hotmail.com>
wrote:

==>Mybe bush and mr harper will discuss the matters. But wouldnt that make the
==>deserter's terrorists according to the new and improved patriot act?

In today's United Snakes, anyone who opposes or
criticizes the Bush crime family's rule is a
terrorist.

--
Americans have become pathetic
sheep. Frightened like children
by tales of wolves in the wild,
they trundle willingly and
gratefully to the slaughtering pen.
-Ivan Gowch

== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Fri, Mar 31 2006 12:06 pm
From: Ivan Gowch

On Thu, 30 Mar 2006 17:27:51 -0500, SunDancer
<Big_Bad_John@CompaniesStore.com> wrote:

==>...bullshit.

A clear and concise rejoinder from a man who
sees Jesus Christ under every rock.

--
Better an abortion clinic on every streetcorner
than the birth of one more unwanted child.
-Ivan Gowch

==============================================================================
TOPIC: Goodbye Europe
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/45e5b9700b1e9ac3
==============================================================================

== 1 of 2 ==
Date: Fri, Mar 31 2006 7:22 pm
From: Calife

DoD wrote:
> "Calife" <user@user.net> wrote in message
> news:442d4c09$0$29180$8fcfb975@news.wanadoo.fr...
>> Daniel Bernard wrote:
>>> On Fri, 31 Mar 2006 13:52:53 +0200, Calife <user@user.net> wrote:
>>>
>>> <snipped>
>>>> Complaining about American "culture" is a given in France,
>>> Probably because American culture is pretty much now limited to
>>> silicone breasts, drive-by shootings and crack cocaine.
>> A little bit reductive, but difficult to argue...!!! :-) ;-)
>
>
> Ah yes, the hollywood (or california) version of America.... I am not
> surprised that Daniel put that out there, (being as he is half-baked and
> half-French) but why you bit is a little surprising.

>
> Yawn, flatheads from western Kansas started that idiocy and to my knowledge
> it never went through, over here in Johnson, read wealthiest county in the
> USA,

(hey, I live in the richest township in France, we should get together
for Champagne and reefer!!!)

we don't take too kindly to such nonsense. But I am really glad that
> Daniel had to fall back on heines logical arguement. When all else fails
> point out where someone is from, like that is shameful and everything from
> that place is stereotypical.... And you bit on this piece as well.

But DoD, *"When all else fails point out where someone is from, like
that is shameful and everything from that place is stereotypical"* THAT
is the embodiment of what YOU do!!!!
All that idiotic drivel about France "Yurp", a place you know NOTHING
about as your ridiculous posts show again and again, and the French and
what you "think" they're about, racists, antisemitic, bananas to soccer
player,.... YOU ARE THE KING OF STEREOTYPING!!!!
And when I do laugh at you with Daniel, it is laughing about
stereotypes! You're serious about it all!!!

>>
>> Sorry DoD for tawkin' f'reign here and losin' ya big time!!! ;-)
>
> Yep, I don't really care to go through the whole babelfish and try and guess
> what that half-French half-baked pussy just posted here, but suffice it to
> say that some of us can still monitor Yurp and not through a U.S.
> perspective.

Monitoring Europe and other things through "FrontPageMag" is not
monitoring through a US perspective!!!?????????!!!!!!!!!!
Man, you're really F-U-N-N-Y!!!!!!

> Hmmm....You think Daniel is funny? Do you also find some of his other
> postings funny? Of course you would.. You are European...

I have had some usenet encounters with Daniel, occasionally...
I have found him in possession of wit and, unlike me, his retorts are
short... ;-)
Now, I may find him less funny one day. Or even more so!
Time and postings will tell!

I BET you don't
> come back with something cute to say about this......Then again maybe you
> will, your type also throws bananas at black people. LOL!!!!!

My "cute" is YOUR quote again: *"When all else fails point out where
someone is from, like that is shameful and everything from that place is
stereotypical"*
As if you knew my types, and what I throw at whom!!!

Poor DoD!!!!
:-)

>
> Ah but Rev, would you expect anything else from the offspring of the
> Christ
> Killers?
>
> Daniel Bernard soc.culture.israel Oct 21 2003, 10:16 am
>
>
> Reverend, you get what you pay for in this life. Here's a quote from
> the
> bible that I like to repeat whenever some poor benighted fool tries to
> convince me that the jew has been hard done by:
>
>
> "Then cried all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our
> children." - Luke 23:20-23 & Mathew 27:25
>
>
> Daniel Bernard soc.culture.isarel Oct 23 2003, 3:25 am
>
>
> Reverend, might I suggest that you rise above such base insults spouted
> by
> the jew and do not let yourself be drawn down to their level. The jew
> was
> just using bravado to cover up the guilt all jews should feel every
> moment
> of their lives (well they would feel if they actually had a conscience
> but I
> won't go into that).
>
>
> "Then cried all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our
> children." - Luke 23:20-23 & Mathew 27:25
>
>
> As long as there are decent people in the world, those words will come
> back
> to haunt the jew wherever it resides.
>
>
> Daniel Bernard soc.culure.israel Oct 24 2003, 4:22 am
>
>
> If you think my trolling here is a gift, thank Daniel Bernard
>
>
>

== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Fri, Mar 31 2006 7:23 pm
From: Calife

DoD wrote:

> Now I will let you and your compadre continue your Jew hating dialogue about
> Christ-killers and throwing bananas at black people. LOL!!!! GoYurp!!!!

YOU brought this up!! YOU DID!!
*"When all else fails point out where someone is from, like that is
shameful and everything from that place is stereotypical"*

==============================================================================
TOPIC: SECURING THE KIKE REALM
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/8dd1ed5cdcb29a1b
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Fri, Mar 31 2006 5:29 pm
From: "Emanuel Appel"

"Calife" <user@user.net> wrote in message
news:442d387a$0$21269$8fcfb975@news.wanadoo.fr...
> Emanuel, I understand your predicament.

Sir,
I have no predicament.
Israel is a nation like Greece or Italy. It's a group of people living
on their own soil.
No nation has to "prove " it's worth.
If that was the case, if crimes were the criteria for nationhood, then
all Moslem countries would be abolished. But, for some reason, the wolves
have a pass from you and the victim of aggression, the Jews , are called
before the Bar.
No sir, that will not do, and using fools like rachel Corrie, Jill
Carroll, Tom Fox the Christian who was murdered, and the Naturei Carta makes
you look dishonest.

emanuel appel

==============================================================================
TOPIC: WSJ: Why Not Liberate the American Worker
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/dff0702be9d23a69
==============================================================================

== 1 of 2 ==
Date: Fri, Mar 31 2006 11:30 am
From: nightwind

Michael Legel wrote:
> "nightwind" <nightwind65@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1143811948_1549@sp6iad.superfeed.net...
>
>> Why would they work union? I have seen the union make promises they can't
>> possibly keep. They have bankrupted the auto industry, the airline
>> industry, and most of the formerly unionized trucking companies! These are
>> facts, so tell me why, again, everyone will be working union?
>>
>
> Absolute nonsense.

Really? Why?

Poor management and ever worse government have caused
> problems for these industries.

Agreed, first they agreed to labor contracts they cant possibly pay for.
Second, they do not know who their target market is. How can they
possibly expect a worker in Kansas who makes 30000 a year to pay 30000
to 40000 dollars for a car or truck? They got away with it for a while
because the American public was willing to become indebted too someone
to pay for it, that is no longer the case. It was a glass house built in
a hail storm.

You will note than none of these industries
> have gone out of business and they all continue to have a robust offshore
> business.

They haven't gone out of business because they have been subsidized by
the government and bailed out of trouble when they should have been
allowed to either belly up, downsize, or be forced to modernize. That is
how every other industry stays in business and stays competitive.

Just because our government allows them to cook the books isn't a
> reason to blame the workers for the stupidity.
>

Not blaming the workers, blaming the Unions and management who let them
have their way when it clearly was not in the best interest of the company.

Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
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== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Fri, Mar 31 2006 9:44 am
From: nightwind

Capt. Bill wrote:

> Wrong, that was done through poor executive business decisions
> involving foreign competition. Done by non-union CEOs
>> the airline
>> industry,
>
> Industry factors that include the high cost of fuel, and poor
> management, not the unions

Sure that is contributing no doubt. But you ask any CEO or analyst and
they will tell you it is the labor contracts. Spend a little time
reading the wall street journal and it won't take you long to come to
the same conclusion.

>
>
> >and most of the formerly unionized trucking companies!
>
> Again the high cost of fuel, and poor management.

Not true at all. The trucking industry is highly competitive. There are
many companies out there that have suffered through lean times by
becoming more efficient with equipment, procedures, and labor. Most
trucking companies are doing just fine and have been growing quickly.
The only thing holding them back now is lack of available labor. They
are having to import drivers from all over the world because they can't
find enough drivers.

>
> >These
>> are facts,
>
> And you're facts are wrong.

Really, Don't tell me my facts are wrong....prove it!

>
>
>> so tell me why, again, everyone will be working union?
>
> Why not. Union workers have higher productivity, better safety records,
> don't change jobs as often thus lowering the cost of training new
> people.

If this were true, companies would be clamoring for union workers,
instead they keep away from the union like the plague, and union
companies are going belly up! All you have to do is look at how the
union payrolls and membership keep shrinking year after year. I have
been on both sides of this issue and I would not work for a union
company no matter how much they paid me.

>
>
>> Why would President Bush *want* to see "all" jobs outsourced? Who then
>> would buy the products in this country? Nobody, because they wouldn't
>> have jobs to pay for them! Why, would President Bush want to see his
>> country become poverty stricken? He still lives here you know! Who is
>> paying his salary? Idiot, you really don't think your positions through
>> very clearly...do you.
>
> You really should ask George Bush that question because he is the
> champion of foreign labor, or don't you read the news, like him?
>
No, I am asking you, Your the ones who make the accusation. The
evidence does not even come close to backing up your claims, so I want
you to show me factual evidence, with officially released numbers or
some study by a reputable business college that supports your claims. I
am willing to bet you can't do it. The only evidence you will be able to
come up with is some story from a liberal rag full of rhetoric but
providing little factual evidence or information sources.

Give it your best shot. Prove me wrong!

==============================================================================
TOPIC: who is financing the weapons for the Balochistan separatists ?
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/4fe2cfc18cd19a3e
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Fri, Mar 31 2006 9:51 am
From: "harmony"

taiwanese sure have the money, but do they have that kinda vision?
if taiwan shares the vision of making asia the monotheism-free zone, its
contribution would be most significantly valuable. it's time to give
mohamadism back to the arabs and kirastanism back to the vatican mafias.

"Komin" <veakrin@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1143771924.161571.74890@v46g2000cwv.googlegroups.com...
> harmony ,
>
> Karzai needs Balochist help in transport ,.
>
> may be The Taiwanese are giving the money ?
>

==============================================================================
TOPIC: NOLA: Levee Plans Fall Short of FEMA Standards
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/dc7de4410ebd23a7
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Fri, Mar 31 2006 9:46 am
From: NY.Transfer.News@blythe.org

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

NOLA: Levee Plans Fall Short of FEMA Standards

Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

The New York Times - March 31, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/31/us/nationalspecial/31levees.html

Levee Plans Fall Short of FEMA Standards

By JOHN SCHWARTZ

New Orleans's levees do not meet the standards that the Federal Emergency
Management Agency requires for its flood protection program, federal
officials said yesterday and they added that the problem would take as
much as $6 billion to fix.

FEMA has long based its flood planning on whether an area is protected
against a flood that might have a 1 percent chance of occurring in any year,
also known as a 100-year flood. Without that certification, the agency's
flood maps have to treat the entire levee system as if it were not there at
all, which means that people hoping to build in the affected areas might
have to rebuild their homes at elevations of 15 or even 30 feet above sea
level in order to meet new federal building standards.

But since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, the agency has toughened
its 100-year standard, based on new information about land subsidence and
the increasing severity and frequency of hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico.
There is also new data about weak soils in the area and the failure of some
of the city's floodwalls.

As a result, the levees that the Army Corps of Engineers is now building
will not meet the new FEMA standard. Donald Powell, the federal coordinator
for Gulf Coast rebuilding, said Thursday that the Corps now believes it
cannot meet that standard without spending additional billions to upgrade
the flood protection system still further.

Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of Louisiana expressed outrage over what she
called a monumental miscalculation and said it was shocking to learn that $6
billion more might be needed for the hurricane protection system.

"This means that, just two months before hurricane season, the Corps of
Engineers informs us they cannot ensure even the minimum safety of
Southeastern Louisiana," Ms. Blanco said in a statement. "This is totally
unacceptable."

But Mr. Powell said in a news briefing yesterday that the $2 billion that
the Army Corps of Engineers is currently spending and the $1.4 billion in
additional funds it has requested will make the system stronger and better
than it has ever been. Asked if he would feel comfortable living in the area
despite the government's inability to certify the levees, he responded,
"after the Corps completes its work, yes."

Mr. Powell called the difference "a regulatory issue, not necessarily a
safety issue." When the current work on the levees is complete, he said,
there might be flooding from a storm like Hurricane Katrina, but the levee
system would not fail catastrophically again.

Although people can rebuild without the federal flood maps today, many
homeowners may well decide that the risks of rebuilding are too great. The
Louisiana Recovery Authority has said that its plan to provide grants to
those who rebuild will favor those who meet FEMA requirements.

Mr. Powell said that to start the process of getting the new flood maps, the
federal government only needs to state that it does intend to meet the
certification standard a process that it can undertake for the entire
system at the full $6 billion, or pick and choose projects to cut costs.

The flood advisory documents, which will begin the process of creating final
flood maps, could emerge within days, Mr. Powell said. It will take up to 18
months to complete the maps.

In the briefing, Mr. Powell said that rebuilding the city could take 25
years a sentiment shared by many disaster recovery experts. He added,
however, "It could be much shorter than that, depending on how they plan
their future. I'm going to be doing everything I can to make this as short
as possible."

Matt McBride, a member of the community group in Broadmoor, a New Orleans
neighborhood that was inundated during Hurricane Katrina, said many city
residents would be disappointed by the levee announcement. While many people
in his neighborhood were committed to rebuilding, he said, "It's just one
more headache on top of the hundreds that we're dealing with."

Copyright 2006 The New York Times

*
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==============================================================================
TOPIC: Otto Reich, Noam Chomsky Face Off on Latin America
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/41a3a89799992d04
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Fri, Mar 31 2006 9:46 am
From: NY.Transfer.News@blythe.org

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Otto Reich, Noam Chomsky Face Off on Latin America

Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

[Noam Chomsky and Otto Reich face off in the BBC News' "Viewpoints" section
this week on U.S.-Latin America relations. While Reich asserts that Latin
America is important to the U.S. because of trade and the U.S.' inherent
interest in peace and democracy, Chomsky argues that Latin America is an
important area of interest because of its political and economic changes and
because the U.S. is losing power. "The US was never 'all powerful' and is
now less so. Nevertheless, it still dominates the continent, and in fact the
world, certainly in military power. However, with the evolution of a
tripolar economic order in recent decades (North America, Europe, North-East
Asia with growing links to the rest of Asia), and the changes in the South,
US economic dominance is nowhere near what it once was, and is in fact
rather fragile." -VIO]

BBC News - March 30, 2006
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4813378.stm

Viewpoints: U.S.-Latin America Relations

Otto Reich and Noam Chomsky

Left-leaning leaders are in government in six Latin American countries
- - and more could follow after elections this year. But has this new
political map affected relations with Washington?

BBCMundo.com asked two US experts for their views: the US academic
Noam Chomsky and Otto Reich, former assistant secretary of state for
the Western hemisphere and adviser to President George Bush.

Do left-wing leaders, such Bolivia's Evo Morales, represent a
challenge for the US?

NOAM CHOMSKY

It is an extremely serious challenge. From Venezuela to Argentina the
region is falling out of US control, moving toward independent
policies and economic integration, beginning to reverse patterns of
dependence on foreign powers and isolation from one another that go
back to the Spanish conquests.

Morales' election reflects the entry of the indigenous population into
the political arena throughout the continent. Along with other popular
forces, indigenous people are demanding control over their own
resources, a serious threat to Washington's plans to rely on resources
from the Western hemisphere, particularly energy.

OTTO REICH

It depends on the policies that each Latin American leader is
implementing. Three years ago, when President Luiz Inacio Lula da
Silva was elected in Brazil, many analysts warned that it would be
difficult for the US to work with him because of his leftist
background.

However, Washington has a very constructive relationship with
President Lula. The difference between Lula and Venezuela's Hugo
Chavez, is that Lula is more focused on solving the problems of his
own people, whereas Chavez is intervening in other country's affairs.

Is the US an almighty empire that dictates the region's political and
financial fate, as many Latin Americans believe?

NOAM CHOMSKY

The US was never 'all powerful' and is now less so. Nevertheless, it
still dominates the continent, and in fact the world, certainly in
military power. However, with the evolution of a tripolar economic
order in recent decades (North America, Europe, North-East Asia with
growing links to the rest of Asia), and the changes in the South, US
economic dominance is nowhere near what it once was, and is in fact
rather fragile.

A serious look at this question would, however, require a closer
analysis of what we mean by 'United States'. If we mean its
population, then dominance is much less. If we mean the effective
owners of the country, the corporate system, the picture is different.
Thus the famous 'trade deficit' of the US shrinks if we consider
imports from US multinationals and their subsidiaries abroad to be US
exports.

OTTO REICH

The US is the most important buyer of Latin American products - it
purchases 50% of the region's exports. In general terms, the US is
also Latin America's main source of technology and investments, and in
some cases of education and scientific development. This doesn't mean
the US influences government decisions. Washington has always
consulted its partners in Latin America, without dictating anything.

The world has changed. The US has its own national problems - some of
them serious - as well as global challenges such as terrorism and
nuclear proliferation. So what the US wants is a peaceful and
prosperous Latin America. This has been the aim of US foreign policy
in the last 25 years.

Will Latin America be less of a priority in the future because of
Washington's focus on the Middle East?

NOAM CHOMSKY

I suspect that Latin America will be a very high priority. As long as
Latin America is quiet and obedient, the US has appeared to ignore it.
I say appeared, because in reality its subordination was just taken
for granted and policies were designed accordingly. That stance of
apparent neglect has always changed rapidly whenever there have been
signs of independence.

Defiance is intolerable in itself, but even more so when, as in the
case of Cuba, it is feared that successful independent development
might be a 'contagious example' that would 'infect' others, to borrow
Kissinger's terms referring to Allende's Chile. And as noted,
Washington planners have assumed that they will be able to rely on
Latin America's rich resources, primarily energy. Control over them is
not likely to be relinquished with equanimity, to put it mildly.

OTTO REICH

There is an impression - more in Latin America than in the US - that
Washington does not pay attention to the region anymore. Of course the
US government is now focusing on the crisis it is currently facing, on
the threats to international security. This doesn't mean that
President Bush has forgotten Latin America - he is very interested in
the region.

I believe, however, that Latin America should be more helpful. It
should stop complaining that the US doesn't do this or that. Latin
Americans should focus on their own difficulties. They can't continue
ignoring threats to democracy such as Cuba and Venezuela. They should
not expect the US to solve all their problems, as some regional
leaders would like to see happen.

Is trade the most important tool the US has in its dealings with Latin
America?

NOAM CHOMSKY

The mechanisms developed and imposed by the US and its allies are not
'free trade agreements'. They are a mixture of liberalisation and
protectionism designed - not surprisingly - in the interests of their
designers: multinational corporations and the states that serve as
their 'tools and tyrants'. The agreements guarantee expansive monopoly
pricing rights. They also deprive developing countries of the
mechanisms employed by all the rich industrial societies to reach
their present state.

What is called 'trade' is in part an economic fiction, including vast
intrafirm transfers within highly-planned economies. In the North
American Free Trade Agreement, for example, the only accurate words
are 'North American'. The efficacy of such mechanisms, however,
depends ultimately on public acceptance. And, as recent developments
in Latin America clearly reveal, that is far from assured.

OTTO REICH

The US has realised that the best way for countries to achieve
political stability and economic development is through free trade
agreements and by giving more freedom, internally, to companies and
promoting employment. That's why the US has been supporting trade
deals across Latin America. It has already signed accords with most of
the countries of the region, and only a few are opposing them now -
chiefly Venezuela and Argentina.

At the latest Summit of the Americas, Mexico's President Vicente Fox
said that 29 out of 34 countries favoured the creation of the Free
Trade Agreement of the Americas and that they shouldn't allow a
minority to ruin the project. President Chavez subsequently insulted
President Fox, sparking a bilateral crisis. Aggressions don't come
from countries that favour free trade - they come from nations such as
Venezuela, whose government is failing.

*
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==============================================================================
TOPIC: Experts Dismiss US "Alarm" at Venez Arms Deals
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/28ae8eeaf476a3c7
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Fri, Mar 31 2006 9:46 am
From: NY.Transfer.News@blythe.org

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Experts Dismiss US "Alarm" at Venez Arms Deals

Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

Excerpted from VIO Venezuela News Roundup - March 31, 2006

[Although Washington has raised concerns over Venezuela's recent weapons
purchases defense analysts have dismissed U.S. concerns about a possible
arms build-up. In fact analysts say that Venezuela needs to modernize its
army and the equipment purchases opposed by Washington will only have "the
offensive capability to tip the balance of power when Colombia, Brazil and
Chile are more potent forces in the region," reports Reuters.]

Reuters - March 30, 2006
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=3DworldNews&storyID=3D2006-03-30T182120Z_01_N29178635_RTRUKOC_0_US-VENEZUELA-MILITARY.xml&archived=3DFalse

Washington Wary of Chavez's Military Deals

By Patrick Markey

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Strengthening his military with helicopters,
planes and rifles, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has Washington fretting
over regional stability, but defense analysts dismiss U.S. concerns about a
possible arms build-up.

The U.S. government, which portrays Chavez as a oil-wealthy tyrant bent on
undermining democracy, is locked in a simmering dispute with the left-wing
former soldier and has moved to block arms sales it believes will inflate
his 80,000-strong military beyond its requirements.

But defense analysts say Venezuela needs to modernize its army and they
doubt the hardware opposed by Washington has the offensive capability to tip
the balance of power when Colombia, Brazil and Chile are more potent forces
in the region.

"If any other country in Latin America were acquiring these weapons, the
U.S. wouldn't say boo," said Tom Baranauskas, a defense analyst at U.S.
consultancy Forecast International. "Because it's Venezuela, it has got
caught up in politics."

The clash over weapons is one of the latest to roil relations between
Washington and Chavez, who has been at odds with the U.S. government over
his socialist revolution in the world's No. 5 oil exporter and his ties to
Cuba and Iran.

His state coffers bulging because of high crude prices, Chavez has purchased
100,000 Kalashnikov rifles and at least 10 Russian MI-type helicopters.
Caracas has pushed back delivery dates of the rifles, but the first three
helicopters arrived last month.

Chavez has signed a $2 billion deal with Spain to buy 10 C-295 transport
aircraft, two CN-235 maritime surveillance planes, four patrol boats and
four Navy corvette warships. He also wants some Super Tucano light trainer
aircraft from Brazil.

U.S. officials are holding up the Spanish and Brazilian aircraft deals
because they involved U.S.-made technology and needed Washington's approval.

While some of Venezuela's wish list appears exaggerated, so far most
purchases would replace aging equipment and could be used to fight drug
trafficking from neighboring Colombia, military analysts said.

"The army expenditure is the most necessary," said Anna Gilmour, Americas
Editor with Jane's Country Risk. "The previous FAL rifles were nearing
obsolescence and so the 100,000 rifle purchase is less significant than it
might seem."

Since he came to office seven years ago, Chavez has steadily steered
Venezuela away from its traditional military reliance on the United States.
He has suspended cooperation with the U.S. drug agents and training with
U.S. military.

An avowed enemy of U.S. President George W. Bush, Chavez accuses Washington
of plotting to invade or oust his government to gain control of Venezuela's
oil reserves, a charge U.S. officials dismiss as populist rhetoric.

A concern for U.S. officials is that Chavez has ordered his military to
train hundreds of thousands of reservists for a war of resistance against an
invading force. Critics say the new force could be used to repress domestic
opposition and they question how those recruits will be armed.

Venezuelan soldiers also have been sent to Cuba to train in
civilian-military coordination.

Washington, which says Chavez may have sheltered Colombian Marxist FARC
rebels, is concerned that AK-103 ammunition or weapons will fall into
guerrilla hands. U.S. officials so far have provided no clear proof of the
charges Chavez backs the FARC.

"What you have got are significant changes within the armed forces in terms
of its weapons systems, in terms of its war-fighting doctrine, in how it
understands the international environment in which the Venezuelan armed
forces operate," a senior U.S. State Department official said.

"From our point of view this is worrisome and requires us to call a timeout
as we try to figure out whether or not continued sales of U.S. weapons to
Venezuela or U.S. components, is in our interests," the official said.

While Chavez has warned he could seek new fighter planes from China or
Russia to replace U.S.-made F16 aircraft, so far Venezuela's purchases are
limited to equipment analysts say poses little threat compared with the
military capability of Brazil, Chile or Colombia.

"I don't think anyone believes Venezuela can launch an attack using
transport planes," said Enrique Obando at the IDEPE security think tank in
Lima. "Venezuela is buying light rifles, transport aircraft, helicopters.
There is no real comparison."

(Additional reporting by Saul Hudson in Washington)

*
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==============================================================================
TOPIC: Venez Warns ExxonMobil, Won't Sell CITGO
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/3f061453ef324051
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Fri, Mar 31 2006 9:46 am
From: NY.Transfer.News@blythe.org

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Venez Warns ExxonMobil, Won't Sell CITGO

Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

Excerpted from VIO Venezuela News Roundup - March 31, 2006

AP via Seattle Times - March 31, 2006
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002901066_venezoil31.html

Venezuela Warns ExxonMobil

By Natalie Obiko Pearson

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuela had a blunt message this week for Exxon
Mobil, one of the world's most powerful oil companies: Get off my crude-rich
turf.

Venezuela is tightening its squeeze on the oil industry, telling oil
companies to give the state a greater share of profits -- or get out.

Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez on Wednesday said Exxon Mobil was one of the
companies that would "prefer to leave ... rather than adjust" to recent
policy changes.

"We said we don't want them to be here then," Ramirez told state TV, adding,
if "we need them, we'll call them."

Exxon Mobil indicated Thursday it had no plans to pull out.

"ExxonMobil de Venezuela continues to have a long-term perspective of its
activities in Venezuela," it said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

The flap helped push the price of oil above $67 a barrel on the New York
Mercantile Exchange on Thursday as the market reacted to the latest sign of
tighter state control of energy around the globe.

Venezuela is taking on Big Oil at a time when rising oil prices, political
instability in the Mideast and Nigeria and new buyers in Asia have put the
world's fifth-largest oil exporter in a winning position.

After snubbing Exxon Mobil, Ramirez said Venezuela has other eager partners,
including state companies from Russia, Iran, China and India, as well as
traditional oil companies.

The new climate has given Venezuela the flexibility to diversify "away from
Western investors and incorporate state-owned companies from allied
countries ... more willing to abide by new, tighter terms," said Patrick
Esteruelas, analyst at the Washington-based Eurasia Group.

The government has increasingly sought projects with state-controlled oil
companies in friendly countries. Last year, Venezuela granted exclusive
licensing rights to certify and quantify reserves in blocks in the Orinoco
tar belt to seven companies, including China's CNPC, India's ONGC and Iran's
Petropars. The only Western oil major included was Spanish-Argentine company
Repsol YPF.

The trend is driven by President Hugo Chavez's distaste for corporate
multinationals, which he accuses of looting his country's oil wealth over
the years. He enjoys strong support for his efforts to take more industry
profits for use in social programs for the nation's poor.

Since taking office in 1999, his government has passed legislation requiring
a majority government stake in all oil-production projects and increased
taxes and royalties on oil companies.

Thursday, congress approved guidelines to turn 32 privately run oil fields
over to state-controlled joint ventures.

Among the terms faced by companies such as Royal Dutch Shell and France's
Total: a minimum 60 percent stake for the state oil company Petr=F3leos de
Venezuela SA (PDVSA) in each field; PDVSA controlling the boards of the new
joint ventures; and a jump in income-tax rates from 34 percent to 50 percent
and royalties from 16.6 percent to 33.3 percent. They will also see their
potential drilling acreage slashed by almost two-thirds.

Texas-based Exxon Mobil has often been the lone challenger to the
government. It was the only company to reject the new joint-venture
agreements. Instead, in December, it sold off its stake in the 15,000
barrel-a-day Quiamare-La Ceiba field to its partner Repsol YPF.

When other companies agreed without a struggle to a royalty increase in the
Orinoco tar belt in 2004, Exxon Mobil had threatened international
arbitration.

Since then, PDVSA has ousted Exxon Mobil from a multibillion-dollar
petrochemicals project, claiming the company did not meet timetables.

Experts say, however, that fears that Chavez is seeking to drive out private
investment are exaggerated because Venezuela needs the technological
expertise of major Western oil companies to develop its vast deposits in the
Orinoco belt.

Few state oil companies have the expertise to upgrade the extra-heavy oil
and tarlike bitumen found in the Orinoco into lighter, marketable oils.

Notably, Exxon Mobil continues to hold a 41.7 percent stake in the
120,000-barrel-day Cerro Negro heavy oil upgrading project in the Orinoco
along with partners British Petroleum and PDVSA.

***

Bloomberg News - March 31, 2006
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=3D10000086&sid=3DaFzDKUGgimVA&refer=3Dlatin_america

Venezuela Rules Out Sale of CITGO Petroleum, Oil Minister Says

March 31 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter,
ruled out selling the state oil company's U.S. refining unit, Citgo
Petroleum Corp., for now.

Energy and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said in a televised interview late
yesterday that Houston-based Citgo Petroleum is posting better earnings,
increasing its attractiveness.

"We are administering this business better now," Ramirez said, referring
to Citgo. The U.S. company paid about $900 million to Petroleos de Venezuela
in dividends last year, he said.

State-owned Petroleos de Venezuela has studied a possible sale of overseas
assets, including Citgo, to finance investment in more lucrative businesses.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez last year said his government may sell
refineries that serve the U.S. market to reduce dependency on sales to the
U.S.

Citgo was spun off from the former Cities Services Co. in 1982 and acquired
by Occidental Petroleum Corp. the same year. Its marketing, refinery and
transportation arms were acquired by Southland Corp. in 1983. Petroleos de
Venezuela acquired 50 percent of Citgo in 1986 and the other half in 1990.

Petroleos de Venezuela also plans to keep its shareholding in Germany's Ruhr
Oel, a 50-50 joint venture with BP Plc. The Caracas-based company reached
tentative agreement in 2003 to sell its shares to Russia's Alpha Group.

*
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==============================================================================
TOPIC: Venez: Rifts Plague Chavez Opposition
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/9ae04a191c6681d8
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Fri, Mar 31 2006 9:46 am
From: NY.Transfer.News@blythe.org

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Venez: Rifts Plague Chavez Opposition

Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

Excerpted from VIO Venezuela News Roundup - March 31, 2006

[In today's edition of the New York Times columnist Juan Forero reports on
the rifts within the opposition movement in Venezuela, taking a close up
look at one opposition candidate who has decided to run for president rather
than boycott the elections like other opposition members. The battle to beat
Chavez directly seems to be uphill.]

The New York Times - March 31, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/31/world/americas/31venez.html

Rifts Plague Anti-Chavez Venezuelans

By Juan Forero

QU=CDBOR, Venezuela -- Julio Borges is an unusual politician among
Venezuela's fragmented opposition. He is running for office. While much of
the rest of the opposition is intent on boycotting the presidential election
this year, Mr. Borges was busy here on a recent two day campaign swing,
shaking hands, kissing cheeks and trying against long odds to win over
supporters of President Hugo Chavez.

"We spent seven years trying to get Chavez out of Miraflores," Mr. Borges
said, referring to the presidential palace. "What we have to do is get
Chavez out of people's hearts."

He is the first to admit that it is a lonely task. Mr. Chavez remains hugely
popular, with a 55 percent approval rating in opinion polls, for having
funneled billions of dollars in oil revenue to the poor. Perhaps more
important, he has put his stamp on nearly every aspect of life, and every
institution of real power.

Mr. Borges argues that boycotting elections only adds to Mr. Chavez's power
and has already made Venezuela in effect a one-party state. Proponents of a
boycott say Mr. Chavez has undermined the institutions of democracy, so they
seek to undercut his legitimacy by spoiling elections.

They charge that the president stacked the Supreme Court and the five-member
National Electoral Council, has registered fraudulent voters and keeps tabs
on how Venezuelans vote -- all accusations that the government denies.

Many supporters of a boycott are in the segment of the opposition that
failed to oust Mr. Chavez with a coup attempt and a two-month oil strike in
2002, and a recall referendum in 2004. Last December they organized a
five-party boycott of the elections for the National Assembly, losing all
representation in the government.

Some opposition leaders called that boycott a success because 75 percent of
the voters abstained, showing their unhappiness with the electoral system
Mr. Chavez had established.

"It's a diabolical system," said Antonio Ledezma, a leader in National
Resistance, a group of opposition leaders that favors a boycott this year.
"We win by resisting, to not be under the thumb of a government that wants
to dominate us."

While international monitors have called past elections here fair, they have
also noted deep public distrust of electoral officials and called for an
overhaul of the Electoral Council, which oversees the elections.

A newspaper editor, Teodoro Petkoff, and the governor of the state of Zulia,
Manuel Rosales, are considered possible presidential candidates, but Mr.
Borges is the only one who has declared his candidacy so far. He says his
biggest obstacle is uniting a disillusioned opposition, whose fractures have
been among Mr. Chavez's biggest advantages.

"The most difficult challenge is to get past the noise of our own
opposition," said Mr. Borges, 36, a lawyer from Caracas. "The opposition
does not have the luxury to just give up on politics. Here, some people say:
'Let's not do anything. Let's hope for a miracle.' I don't believe in that."

As in the rest of Venezuela, people in this state, Lara, are solidly behind
Mr. Chavez and at best indifferent to Mr. Borges's small First Justice
Party, whose members are mostly young professionals from wealthy districts
of Caracas. Potential voters were polite but distant.

When one unabashed supporter, Carmen Martinez, embraced Mr. Borges --
whispering, "May God and First Justice be our hope" -- it was a bright spot
in an otherwise difficult campaign swing.

Mr. Borges does not sugarcoat the obvious: his campaign is far behind,
underfinanced and spread thin. His one advantage may be that most
Venezuelans -- 84 percent, according to a recent survey by Greenberg Quinlan
Rosner, a Washington polling firm -- support taking part in the election,
even if they question the impartiality of the electoral authorities.

His first big battle was with his own party, which went against him and
voted to sit out last year's legislative elections. But he also faces an
image problem. Many Venezuelans see his party as close to the Bush
administration, elitist and out of touch with Mr. Chavez's base in the
country's ramshackle barrios.

"They're seen as the yuppie party, and the challenge is how do you reach the
poorest people," said a senior American diplomat in Caracas, who spoke on
condition of anonymity because of embassy rules.

"It's not enough being the anti-Chavez," another American diplomat said.
"You have to offer a plan and an alternative."

To do that, Mr. Borges and his aides say they are going to go after the
president where he is vulnerable. While Mr. Chavez appears to be obsessed
with the United States, Mr. Borges said surveys for his campaign showed that
Venezuelans were much more concerned about unemployment and rampant crime.

"Before voting for the Chavistas, I'll vote for Borges," Johanna Padilla,
29, said after meeting Mr. Borges as he went from house to house here. "All
we have here is crime. There's no work. If you get a job, it's for three
months and you're out."

On his campaign swing, wearing jeans and a blue pullover shirt, Mr. Borges
handed out fliers titled "The President's Gifts," about Venezuelan aid to
other countries.

"We want to show we're more nationalistic, more patriotic, more worried
about Venezuela than Chavez," he said. "He's more involved in trying to
become the president of Latin America. This is good for us."

For now the message is a hard sell. Mr. Chavez's largess to the poor, after
all, has won him a solid following that is not about to switch to an unknown
like Mr. Borges.

"I adore the man and thank God he's in power," Elizabeth Jimenez, 37, said
of the president. "The opposition -- each day they lose more standing. They
criticize everything, everything that's for the people. But when they were
in power they never did anything."

*
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==============================================================================
TOPIC: Hey, How about that Secret SAUDI Nuke Program?
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/268f3196b8dbdf2b
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Fri, Mar 31 2006 9:46 am
From: NY.Transfer.News@blythe.org

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Hey, How about that Secret SAUDI Nuke Program?

Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

AFX via Forbes - Mar 28, 2006
http://www.forbes.com/finance/feeds/afx/2006/03/28/afx2629000.html

Saudia Arabia working on secret nuclear program with Pakistan help: report

BERLIN (AFX) - Saudi Arabia is working secretly on a nuclear program,
with help from Pakistani experts, the German magazine Cicero reported
in its latest edition, citing Western security sources.

It says that during the Haj pilgrimages to Mecca in 2003 through 2005,
Pakistani scientists posed as pilgrims to come to Saudi Arabia.
Between October 2004 and January 2005, some of them slipped off from
pilgrimages, sometimes for up to three weeks, the report quoted German
security expert Udo Ulfkotte as saying.

According to Western security services, the magazine added, Saudi
scientists have been working since the mid-1990s in Pakistan, a
nuclear power since 1998.

Cicero, which will appear on newstands tomorrow, also quoted a US
military analyst, John Pike, as saying that Saudi bar codes can be
found on half of Pakistan's nuclear weapons 'because it is Saudi
Arabia which ultimately co-financed the Pakistani atomic nuclear
program.'

The magazine also said satellite images indicate that Saudi Arabia has
set up a program in Al-Sulaiyil, south of Riyadh, a secret underground
city and dozens of underground silos for missiles.

According to some Western security services, long-range Ghauri-type
missiles of Pakistani-origin are housed inside the silos.

fan/rom/pvh/dg/tr

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==============================================================================
TOPIC: Media Ignored, Buried NYT Report on Bush-Blair Memo
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/17276b1b99263291
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Fri, Mar 31 2006 9:46 am
From: NY.Transfer.News@blythe.org

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Media Ignored, Buried NYT Report on Bush-Blair Memo

Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

Media Matters - Mar 31, 2006
http://mediamatters.org/items/200603280013

Media ignored, underreported
NY Times disclosure of explosive Bush-Blair memo

Since a March 27 New York Times article confirmed that a leaked
British memo appears to contradict President Bush's repeated claim
prior to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq that he wanted to avoid war,
media have failed to note the full significance of the document and in
some cases ignored the story altogether. For instance, major
newspapers have yet to feature articles on the memo, and Fox News has
not once mentioned the document. CBS and ABC have limited their
coverage to several brief mentions of the story. And numerous other
reports have failed to contrast the memo's depiction of Bush with his
public statements prior to the war.

In the Times article, headlined "Bush Was Set on Path to War, British
Memo Says," staff writer Don Van Natta Jr. examined in detail a
five-page memo summarizing a January 31, 2003, Oval Office meeting
between Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The memo, written
by then-chief British foreign policy adviser David Manning, had been
previously disclosed in a February 3 Guardian article, as well as in
the book Lawless World: America and the Making and Breaking of Global
Rules (Viking, October 2005) by international law professor Philippe
Sands. The document portrays the leaders as skeptical that sectarian
violence would follow an Iraq invasion and describes them discussing
the possible assassination of Saddam Hussein and considering a
proposal to paint a U.S. surveillance aircraft in U.N. colors in the
hopes of provoking an Iraqi attack. Moreover, the document proves Bush
"was determined to invade Iraq without the [United Nations] second
resolution, or even if international arms inspectors failed to find
unconventional weapons," as the Times reported:

At their meeting, Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair candidly expressed their
doubts that chemical, biological or nuclear weapons would be found
in Iraq in the coming weeks, the memo said. The president spoke as
if an invasion was unavoidable. The two leaders discussed a
timetable for the war, details of the military campaign and plans
for the aftermath of the war.

[...]

At several points during the meeting between Mr. Bush and Mr.
Blair, there was palpable tension over finding a legitimate legal
trigger for going to war that would be acceptable to other nations,
the memo said. The prime minister was quoted as saying it was
essential for both countries to lobby for a second United Nations
resolution against Iraq, because it would serve as "an insurance
policy against the unexpected."

[...]

Mr. Bush agreed that the two countries should attempt to get a
second resolution, but he added that time was running out. "The
U.S. would put its full weight behind efforts to get another
resolution and would twist arms and even threaten," Mr. Bush was
paraphrased in the memo as saying.

The document added, "But he had to say that if we ultimately
failed, military action would follow anyway."

Bush's positions as reported in the memo -- that U.N. inspectors were
unlikely to find weapons, that military action would occur with or
without the U.N.'s backing, that the war was unavoidable -- directly
contradict many of his public statements in the weeks leading up to
the invasion. Between that January 31 meeting and the start of the war
on March 19, 2003, the president repeatedly told the American people
that he was doing everything possible to avoid military action:

* On February 10, Bush said, "If war is forced upon us -- and I say
'forced upon us,' because use of the military is not my first
choice. ... But should we need to use troops, for the sake of
future generations of Americans, American troops will act in the
honorable traditions of our military and in the highest moral
traditions of our country."

* On February 13, Bush said, "Military force is always this nation's
last option. Yet if force becomes necessary to disarm Iraq and
enforce the will of the United Nations, if force becomes necessary
to secure our country and to keep the peace, America will act
deliberately, America will act decisively, and America will act
victoriously with the world's greatest military."

* On February 20, Bush said that the U.S. will act decisively "if
military force becomes necessary to disarm Iraq." He further
stated that the nation would liberate the people of Iraq "if war
is forced upon us."

* On February 25, a reporter asked Bush, "What would it take at this
point to avoid a war with Iraq?" Bush answered, "Full
disarmament."

* On March 6, Bush said, "I've not made up our mind about military
action. Hopefully, this can be done peacefully."

* On March 8, Bush said, "We are doing everything we can to avoid
war in Iraq."

* On March 16, Bush said, "Saddam Hussein can leave the country, if
he's interested in peace. You see, the decision is his to make.
And it's been his to make all along as to whether or not there's
the use of the military."

* On March 17, Bush said, "Should Saddam Hussein choose
confrontation, the American people can know that every measure has
been taken to avoid war, and every measure will be taken to win
it."

In light of these statements, the January 31 memo -- and the Times'
verification of it -- is obviously significant. Nonetheless, numerous
news outlets have failed to cover the story at all, or in some cases
failed to cover it adequately. Fox News has ignored it entirely. A
Media Matters for America survey of Fox's full March 27 coverage (6
a.m.-11 p.m. ET) and partial March 28 coverage (6 a.m.-noon ET) failed
to turn up a single mention of the memo.

Similarly, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street
Journal, and USA Today all declined to run articles on the memo in
their March 28 editions. Both the Associated Press and Reuters have
failed to report on the story thus far. By contrast, United Press
International ran two articles on March 27 -- one on the memo and one
on the White House's reaction to the Times piece.

The major networks covered the Times' disclosure of the memo, but
their reports varied greatly in the degree to which they conveyed its
significance. On the March 27 edition of the CBS Evening News, for
instance, anchor Russ Mitchell asked CBS' chief foreign affairs
correspondent Lara Logan about the document after her report on recent
sectarian violence in Iraq. Logan noted that, according to the
document, Blair and Bush believed that there was "unlikely to be
warfare between the different religious and ethnic groups in Iraq."
But even though the Evening News noted the document in this context,
the newscast failed to report the other aspect of the memo: that it
contradicted Bush's public claims that he wanted to resolve the Iraq
issue diplomatically. Earlier in the day, however, CBS Morning News
anchor Susan McGinnis noted the Times' disclosure of the memo and
described Bush as "reportedly determined to invade Iraq no matter what
the outcome of diplomatic efforts."

On the March 23 edition of ABC's World News Tonight, anchor Elizabeth
Vargas simply reported that the memo "paints President Bush as eager
to provoke Saddam Hussein into war." While she referred to Bush and
Blair's discussion of ways to prompt an attack from Hussein and their
reported lack of concern about sectarian violence following the Iraq
invasion, Vargas made no mention of the document's broader relevance.

By contrast, that morning on ABC's Good Morning America, host Robin
Roberts briefly mentioned the memo in her rundown of the day's news
and noted that it portrayed Bush as "bent on invading Iraq no matter
what." Similarly, on the March 27 edition of NBC Nightly News, anchor
Brian Williams introduced a report on the story as follows: "In the
weeks before the invasion of Iraq, as President Bush and British Prime
Minister Tony Blair said they were pursuing all options for avoiding a
war, a leaked British memo strongly suggests something very different
was going on behind closed doors." In the subsequent report, NBC chief
foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell noted that Bush and
Blair "were officially on a diplomatic track, but a secret memo now
reveals they were determined to go to war six weeks before invading
Iraq."

CNN's coverage of the memo consisted of a single segment by national
security correspondent David Ensor. In the report, which aired three
times -- twice on the March 27 edition of The Situation Room (see here
and here) and once more on the March 28 edition of American Morning --
Ensor said that the memo described Bush and Blair "talking privately
on that day as if they assumed war was inevitable." But rather than
note the contradictions between Bush's statements in the memo and his
subsequent comments in the weeks following, Ensor focused instead on
the leaders' discussion of the possibility of Saddam being
assassinated, the idea of provoking an attack on a U.S. surveillance
aircraft, and the chances of sectarian violence in Iraq.

Of the three cable news networks, MSNBC devoted the most airtime to
the British memo and repeatedly emphasized its relevance. On the March
27 edition of Hardball with Chris Matthews, correspondent David
Shuster reported that, according to the document, Bush and Blair were
"determined to invade Iraq, whether the U.N. approved it or not and
regardless of the results of international arms inspections." Later in
the show, host Chris Matthews said that the memo showed that the
leaders were "set on an unswerving path to war, even as they publicly
kept the door open to negotiations at least six weeks before the war
began." Matthews then interviewed Philippe Sands, who said of the
memo, "[T]his goes to issues of competence and why, frankly, I think
in both Britain and the United States, there needs to be a full
investigation of the road to war."

Later in the evening, on MSNBC's Countdown, host Keith Olbermann went
further, contrasting the memo's contents with Bush's statement that
"[n]o president wants war" -- made in response to a question from
Hearst Newspapers columnist Helen Thomas at a March 21 press
conference. Olbermann said: "Tonight, more evidence to suggest, at
least in his case, that might not have been true." He subsequently
interviewed Andrea Mitchell, who said that the memo indicated that
"whether or not they found weapons of mass destruction, whether or not
Saddam Hussein turned anything over, whether or not there was further
action by the U.N., none of that was going to matter."

Media Matters previously noted the print and broadcast media's failure
to coverage the so-called Downing Street memo in June 2005.

- -J.K.

***

Democrats.com - Mar 29, 2006
http://www.democrats.com/node/8344/print

"White House Memo" Drives a Stake into the Heart of White House Lies

By Bob Fertik

Something remarkable happened Monday: the Corporate Media finally got
sick of Bush's endless lies about Iraq, and started to tell the truth.

The immediate cause was a front-page New York Times story about the
"White House Memo," a 5-page report on the White House meeting between
George Bush and Tony Blair on January 31, 2003 - seven weeks before
the invasion of Iraq.

At that time, millions of us were protesting around the world. We all
knew Bush wanted war - that's why we were protesting! - but Bush
insisted publicly that he did not, and the Corporate Media let him get
away with his lies.

The "White House Memo" proves that Bush was lying - saying one thing
in public while saying the opposite in private. In private, he told
Tony Blair that war was inevitable, and that it didn't matter if WMD's
were found or if the U.N. adopted a resolution actually authorizing
the invasion.

In fact, Bush was so desperate for war that he proposed painting a
U.S. spy plane with U.N. colors and flying it over Iraq to provoke an
attack. But even if Saddam refused the bait, Bush told Blair the
bombing would begin on March 10. Bush wanted war, no matter what.

The Times article caused White House reporters to challenge Scott
McClellan at the morning press gaggle. And in the evening, the "White
House Memo" was featured on two key cable shows - Hardball with Chris
Matthews and Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

Why is the truth finally breaking through? Because of us - all of us.

We marched by the millions before the war and predicted misery and
horror, and we were right. When the Downing Street Memos proved Bush
planned war all along, we created our own media
(http://afterdowningstreet.org) to tell the story the Corporate Media
refused to tell. When we got tired of being ignored, we commissioned
our own polls and began a grassroots impeachment movement
(http://impeachpac.org) to tell Congress and the media that we would
ultimately hold Bush accountable for his lies.

And now we have reached a turning point in our "long march" for Truth.
Everyone in the world knows in their heart that Bush lied. Soon
everyone will say it out loud: Bush Lied. When millions of Americans
say those two simple words - and the media finally joins us - Bush's
reign of fear will come to a crashing halt.

That day cannot come soon enough for the people of America and the
world.

Let's seize the moment we've demanded for five long years. Call your
favorite talk shows. Write letters to your favorite newspapers. Call
and write your Representatives and Senators. Our message is simple and
clear: Bush Lied so he must be Impeached.

The Bush Era must end so peace and justice can finally begin. To honor
the thousands who have died for Bush's lies, we cannot settle for
anything less. Now is the time for truth.

*
================================================================
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TOPIC: US Military Exercise Set for Caribbean
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/833875e246cd1fad
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Fri, Mar 31 2006 9:47 am
From: NY.Transfer.News@blythe.org

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US Military Exercise Set for Caribbean

Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

excerpted from VIO Venezuela News Roundup - March 29, 2006

The General News Wire Service reported today that the U.S. Navy will
send warships to the Caribbean next month for military exercises. The
U.S. Southern Command announced early this week that warships will
conduct Operation Partnership of the Americas from early April to late
May in the Caribbean. "The upcoming naval exercise will include
training with several Latin American navies, focusing on drug
interdiction, narco-terrorism and human trafficking," said military
spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Chris Loundermon. The deployment, the first in
three years to the region that includes an aircraft carrier, likely
will send mixed signals (to Venezuela), said Dan Erikson, a Caribbean
analyst for the Inter-American Dialogue, an independent think tank in
Washington.
Media General News Service - Mar 28, 2006
http://washdateline.mgnetwork.com/index.cfm?SiteID=3Dwsh&PackageID=3D46&fus=eaction=3Darticle.main&ArticleID=3D8125&GroupID=3D181

Carrier Bound for Caribbean Exercise

By James W. Crawley

WASHINGTON -- With rhetoric between Venezuela's leftist leader and
United States heating up, the Navy will send a flotilla of warships,
led by the carrier George Washington, to the Caribbean next month for
military exercises.

The U.S. Southern Command in Miami announced Monday that the Norfolk,
Va.-based carrier, along with three smaller warships, will conduct
Operation Partnership of the Americas from early April to late May in
the Caribbean.

The deployment, the first in three years to the region by an aircraft
carrier, likely will send mixed signals, said Dan Erikson, a Caribbean
analyst for the Inter-American Dialogue, an independent think tank in
Washington..

"It could be both a positive signal to Caribbean and Latin American
countries (because joint exercises could be seen as a goodwill
gesture), as well as a bit of a warning sign to Venezuela and China,"
Erikson said.

"The U.S. military is not particularly popular in Latin America these
days with Iraq and Guantanamo," he added.

American officials have criticized Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
for his claims that the United States plans to invade his country and
for the nation's purchase of Russian military helicopters and guns.

Chavez said Sunday, "It's our responsibility to prepare ourselves for
a war of resistance."

U.S. officials deny any plans to invade Venezuela.

Venezuelan government spokesman Eric Wingerter said Monday he was
unaware of the planned naval exercises. But, he said, "The sentiment
in Venezuela is very skeptical towards the U.S. military."

The upcoming naval exercise will include training with several Latin
American navies, focusing on drug interdiction, narco-terrorism and
human trafficking, said military spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Chris Loundermon.
He would not name the countries involved, he said, because planning is
still ongoing.

The George Washington, its air wing of about 75 aircraft, along with
the cruiser Monterey and destroyer Stout, based in Norfolk, and the
frigate Underwood, based in Mayport, Fla., carry about 6,500 sailors.

No carrier has visited the Caribbean since the training area on the
Puerto Rican island of Vieques closed, but smaller warships and Coast
Guard cutters routinely patrol the area searching for drug runners.

Venezuela, the third largest supplier of petroleum to the United
States, has used its oil wealth to bolster relations with Cuba, Iran
and China.

Since Chavez won a recall election in 2004, the name-calling between
him and the United States has simmered.

Chavez has called Bush a donkey, a drunk and an assassin. Last month,
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld likened Chavez to Hitler.

[James W. Crawley is a national correspondent in Media General's
Washington Bureau.]

*
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Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
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