31 July 2004

Census Bureau Serves Up Arab-Americans to Homeland Security



Once again, the Bush Administration take a page from Adolf Hitler's playbook... What a miserable failure!
--ryan



Homeland Security Given Data on Arab-Americans
By LYNETTE CLEMETSON
Published: July 30, 2004
 

ASHINGTON, July 29 - The Census Bureau has provided specially tabulated population statistics on Arab-Americans to the Department of Homeland Security, including detailed information on how many people of Arab backgrounds live in certain ZIP codes.

The assistance is legal, but civil liberties groups and Arab-American advocacy organizations say it is a dangerous breach of public trust and liken it to the Census Bureau's compilation of similar information about Japanese-Americans during World War II.

The tabulations were produced in August 2002 and December 2003 in response to requests from what is now the Customs and Border Protection division of the Department of Homeland Security. One set listed cities with more than 1,000 Arab-Americans. The second, far more detailed, provided ZIP-code-level breakdowns of Arab-American populations, sorted by country of origin. The categories provided were Egyptian, Iraqi, Jordanian, Lebanese, Moroccan, Palestinian, Syrian and two general categories, "Arab/Arabic" and "Other Arab."

Hermann Habermann, deputy director of the Census Bureau, said such cooperation was standard practice. "We are required to provide information to other federal agencies," he said. "This is not a cabal calculating secret tabulations."

But Mr. Habermann also expressed concern over application of the data, adding: "We do worry about how information will be used. However, we have not been given the authority to determine which organization gets which information."

Census tabulations of specialized data are legal as long as they do not identify any individual.

Christiana Halsey, a spokeswoman for Customs and Border Protection, said the requests were made to help the agency identify in which airports to post signs and pamphlets in Arabic. "The information is not in any way being used for law enforcement purposes," she said. "It's being used to educate the traveler. We're simply using basic demographic information to help us communicate U.S. laws and regulations to the traveling public."

But critics of the information sharing said general demographic snapshots could be derived without such detailed information and that the ZIP-code-level data with its breakdowns of ancestral origin seemed particularly excessive because for all of the groups only English or Arabic need be used.

"The real question is to Homeland Security," said Samia El-Badry, an Arab-American member of the Census Bureau's decennial census advisory committee. "What are they hiding? Why do they need this?"

James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, said the data sharing was particularly harmful at a time when the Census Bureau is struggling to build trust within Arab-American communities. "As this gets out, any effort to encourage people to full compliance with the census is down the tubes," Mr. Zogby said. "How can you get people to comply when they believe that by complying they put at risk their personal and family security?"

In 2000, the bureau issued a formal apology for allowing its statistical data to be used to round up Japanese-Americans for internment during World War II.

Kenneth Prewitt, the former census director who made the apology, said that given the bureau's history, consideration of requests from law enforcement agencies requires more than strict parsing of legalities.

"The Census Bureau has a longstanding practice of being unusually cautious about such cooperation because it is difficult to explain to the public," Mr. Prewitt said. "There is an issue of principle involved as well as law. In World War II we violated our principles even if we didn't violate the law, and we assured people we wouldn't do it again."

The data sharing on Arab-Americans was disclosed by the Census Bureau in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a public interest research center focused on civil liberties issues. The group, which filed the request in May and received the information this week, shared the documents with The New York Times.

Several entries in the documents have been blacked out by the Department of Homeland Security, with notations citing the need to protect privacy and government operations.

Census Bureau guidelines for preparing special tabulations for outside agencies and groups include considerations about how the data sharing will affect the bureau's reputation; whether the data deals with "sensitive populations"; and whether it is being requested by law enforcement agencies. With those agencies in particular, the guidelines suggest that the bureau evaluate whether the agency will use the data for statistical applications or for law enforcement.

But the guidelines apply only to projects for which the bureau will be paid. The request from Homeland Security involved no contract or payment and so was not subject to full review by census officials.

Ultimately, Mr. Habermann said, any discussion about the controversial nature of the information sharing is separate from the agency's mandate to provide information.

"The only way we can guarantee that no one will ever be harmed by our information is to release nothing," he said. "We understand that groups can be affected by what we give out, and we understand that can be sensitive. But that is a societal debate, not a census debate."




"I'm Indian and I vote,"



At long last perhaps some overdue political respect?

--ryan



Tribal Leaders Sees Indians Having Role in Election
JENNY PRICE
Associated Press

BOSTON - Ho-Chunk Nation President George Lewis wears a button during this week's National Democratic Convention that reads "I'm Indian and I vote," a reminder of the burgeoning political force in Wisconsin he represents here in Boston.

But votes aren't the only thing Wisconsin's 11 American Indian tribes - just under 1 percent of the state's population - have to offer.

In the past two years, Wisconsin tribes have contributed more than $700,000 to the Democratic National Committee to help elect Gov. Jim Doyle. They also fought a lawsuit brought by Republican state legislators that sought to invalidate gaming compacts they signed with Doyle.

The state's tribes collected nearly $1.1 billion in revenue in 2003, according to a study released earlier this month. Their relatively newfound prosperity has been tempting to state lawmakers looking for extra money to fill budget deficits.

"They hear Native American, the first thing they say is 'Casino. Big money,'" Lewis said.

Lewis, 60, said in the aftermath of the court battle, it's clear Indians must become more active in politics to protect their interests, something it's not always easy to convince them of.

"They don't trust and that's a big issue," Lewis said. "What I'm saying is we have to take the chance, go out and say 'We are here. we've been here and we're going to be here.'"

He also wants to convince the non-Indians among the more than 30,000 people who work for tribes at casinos to vote.

"The majority of our employees are female and 80 percent are non-native," he said. "There's people that aren't being reached."

Lewis is leading the convention's Native American caucus and also helping raise money for John Kerry's campaign as a member of his national finance committee. Like Kerry, Lewis is a Vietnam veteran.

Mike McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a nonpartisan campaign finance group, said he expects the Ho-Chunk and other tribes to make major political contributions again this year.

"They were not players in Wisconsin politics until very recently. When they jumped in, they made a big-time splash," McCabe said. "What we've seen is the entrance of a new and very powerful force in Wisconsin."

Lewis said it's up to the Ho-Chunk's legislature to decide whether the tribe - which gave the DNC $500,000 just before the 2002 election - will contribute again this year.

Tribal legislators won't make that decision until September and Lewis said members are split on whether to contribute, because "once we spend it nationally, there's a big controversy."

Republican lawmakers sued Doyle last year over the compact he signed with the Forest County Potawatomi. It included no expiration date and allowed the tribe to offer Las Vegas-style games such as craps and roulette in exchange for more than $1 billion over the next decade.

The future of those deals is in limbo after the state Supreme Court ruled in May that Doyle exceeded his authority in signing them.

The fight played a role in James Crawford, a Potawatomi member who lives in Crandon, deciding to run for the state Assembly. In September, he'll compete in a three-way primary in the 36th District that covers part of northeastern Wisconsin, including Forest County.

"One of the things I'm really tired of hearing all the time is 'We have to get more money out of the Indian people,'" Crawford said. "There's no corporation in the state of Wisconsin or, as far as I know, in the entire country that pays that kind of money."

Crawford, 54, said the Indian vote alone won't get him elected, but he hopes members of his tribe carry through with their pledges of support.

"They're saying 'We're behind you and we'll get out and we'll vote,'" he said.



30 July 2004

America, Help Is On the Way!



People listen up: It's time to take our country back!

--ryan





Full text: John Kerry speech
The full text of Senator John Kerry's speech to the Democratic National Convention, accepting the party's nomination to challenge George Bush for the US presidency:

We are here tonight because we love our country.

We are proud of what America is and what it can become.

My fellow Americans: we are here tonight united in one simple purpose: to make America stronger at home and respected in the world.

A great American novelist wrote that you can't go home again. He could not have imagined this evening. Tonight, I am home. Home where my public life began and those who made it possible live. Home where our nation's history was written in blood, idealism, and hope. Home where my parents showed me the values of family, faith, and country.

Thank you, all of you, for a welcome home I will never forget.

I wish my parents could share this moment. They went to their rest in the last few years, but their example, their inspiration, their gift of open eyes, open mind, and endless world are bigger and more lasting than any words.

I was born in Colorado, in Fitzsimmons Army Hospital, when my dad was a pilot in World War II. Now, I'm not one to read into things, but guess which wing of the hospital the maternity ward was in? I'm not making this up. I was born in the West Wing!

My mother was the rock of our family as so many mothers are. She stayed up late to help me do my homework. She sat by my bed when I was sick, and she answered the questions of a child who, like all children, found the world full of wonders and mysteries.

She was my den mother when I was a Cub Scout and she was so proud of her fifty year pin as a Girl Scout leader. She gave me her passion for the environment. She taught me to see trees as the cathedrals of nature. And by the power of her example, she showed me that we can and must finish the march toward full equality for all women in our country.

My dad did the things that a boy remembers. He gave me my first model airplane, my first baseball mitt and my first bicycle. He also taught me that we are here for something bigger than ourselves; he lived out the responsibilities and sacrifices of the greatest generation to whom we owe so much.

When I was a young man, he was in the State Department, stationed in Berlin when it and the world were divided between democracy and communism. I have unforgettable memories of being a kid mesmerized by the British, French, and American troops, each of them guarding their own part of the city, and Russians standing guard on the stark line separating East from West. On one occasion, I rode my bike into Soviet East Berlin. And when I proudly told my dad, he promptly grounded me.

But what I learned has stayed with me for a lifetime. I saw how different life was on different sides of the same city. I saw the fear in the eyes of people who were not free. I saw the gratitude of people toward the United States for all that we had done. I felt goose bumps as I got off a military train and heard the Army band strike up "Stars and Stripes Forever." I learned what it meant to be America at our best. I learned the pride of our freedom. And I am determined now to restore that pride to all who look to America.

Mine were greatest generation parents. And as I thank them, we all join together to thank that whole generation for making America strong, for winning World War II, winning the Cold War, and for the great gift of service which brought America fifty years of peace and prosperity.

My parents inspired me to serve, and when I was a junior in high school, John Kennedy called my generation to service. It was the beginning of a great journey, a time to march for civil rights, for voting rights, for the environment, for women, and for peace. We believed we could change the world. And you know what? We did.

But we're not finished. The journey isn't complete. The march isn't over. The promise isn't perfected. Tonight, we're setting out again. And together, we're going to write the next great chapter of America's story.

We have it in our power to change the world again. But only if we're true to our ideals and that starts by telling the truth to the American people. That is my first pledge to you tonight. As President, I will restore trust and credibility to the White House.

I ask you to judge me by my record: As a young prosecutor, I fought for victim's rights and made prosecuting violence against women a priority. When I came to the Senate, I broke with many in my own party to vote for a balanced budget, because I thought it was the right thing to do. I fought to put a 100,000 cops on the street.

And then I reached across the aisle to work with John McCain, to find the truth about our POW's and missing in action, and to finally make peace with Vietnam.

I will be a commander in chief who will never mislead us into war. I will have a Vice President who will not conduct secret meetings with polluters to rewrite our environmental laws. I will have a Secretary of Defence who will listen to the best advice of our military leaders. And I will appoint an Attorney General who actually upholds the Constitution of the United States.

My fellow Americans, this is the most important election of our lifetime. The stakes are high. We are a nation at war ¿ a global war on terror against an enemy unlike any we have ever known before. And here at home, wages are falling, health care costs are rising, and our great middle class is shrinking. People are working weekends; they're working two jobs, three jobs, and they're still not getting ahead.

We're told that outsourcing jobs is good for America. We're told that new jobs that pay $9,000 less than the jobs that have been lost is the best we can do. They say this is the best economy we've ever had. And they say that anyone who thinks otherwise is a pessimist. Well, here is our answer: There is nothing more pessimistic than saying America can't do better.

We can do better and we will. We're the optimists. For us, this is a country of the future. We're the can do people. And let's not forget what we did in the 1990s. We balanced the budget. We paid down the debt. We created 23 million new jobs. We lifted millions out of poverty and we lifted the standard of living for the middle class. We just need to believe in ourselves and we can do it again.

So tonight, in the city where America's freedom began, only a few blocks from where the sons and daughters of liberty gave birth to our nation here tonight, on behalf of a new birth of freedom on behalf of the middle class who deserve a champion, and those struggling to join it who deserve a fair shot for the brave men and women in uniform who risk their lives every day and the families who pray for their return for all those who believe our best days are ahead of us for all of you with great faith in the American people, I accept your nomination for President of the United States.

I am proud that at my side will be a running mate whose life is the story of the American dream and who's worked every day to make that dream real for all Americans Senator John Edwards of North Carolina. And his wonderful wife Elizabeth and their family. This son of a mill worker is ready to lead and next January, Americans will be proud to have a fighter for the middle class to succeed Dick Cheney as Vice President of the United States.

And what can I say about Teresa? She has the strongest moral compass of anyone I know. She's down to earth, nurturing, courageous, wise and smart. She speaks her mind and she speaks the truth, and I love her for that, too. And that's why America will embrace her as the next First Lady of the United States.

For Teresa and me, no matter what the future holds or the past has given us, nothing will ever mean as much as our children. We love them not just for who they are and what they've become, but for being themselves, making us laugh, holding our feet to the fire, and never letting me get away with anything. Thank you, Andre, Alex, Chris, Vanessa, and John.

And in this journey, I am accompanied by an extraordinary band of brothers led by that American hero, a patriot named Max Cleland. Our band of brothers doesn't march together because of who we are as veterans, but because of what we learned as soldiers. We fought for this nation because we loved it and we came back with the deep belief that every day is extra. We may be a little older now, we may be a little greyer, but we still know how to fight for our country.

And standing with us in that fight are those who shared with me the long season of the primary campaign: Carol Moseley Braun, General Wesley Clark, Howard Dean, Dick Gephardt, Bob Graham, Dennis Kucinich, Joe Lieberman and Al Sharpton.

To all of you, I say thank you for teaching me and testing me but mostly, we say thank you for standing up for our country and giving us the unity to move America forward.

My fellow Americans, the world tonight is very different from the world of four years ago. But I believe the American people are more than equal to the challenge.

Remember the hours after September 11th, when we came together as one to answer the attack against our homeland. We drew strength when our firefighters ran up the stairs and risked their lives, so that others might live. When rescuers rushed into smoke and fire at the Pentagon. When the men and women of Flight 93 sacrificed themselves to save our nation's Capitol. When flags were hanging from front porches all across America, and strangers became friends. It was the worst day we have ever seen, but it brought out the best in all of us.

I am proud that after September 11th all our people rallied to President Bush's call for unity to meet the danger. There were no Democrats. There were no Republicans. There were only Americans. How we wish it had stayed that way.

Now I know there are those who criticize me for seeing complexities and I do because some issues just aren't all that simple. Saying there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq doesn't make it so. Saying we can fight a war on the cheap doesn't make it so. And proclaiming mission accomplished certainly doesn't make it so.

As President, I will ask hard questions and demand hard evidence. I will immediately reform the intelligence system so policy is guided by facts, and facts are never distorted by politics. And as President, I will bring back this nation's time-honoured tradition: the United States of America never goes to war because we want to, we only go to war because we have to.

I know what kids go through when they are carrying an M-16 in a dangerous place and they can't tell friend from foe. I know what they go through when they're out on patrol at night and they don't know what's coming around the next bend. I know what it's like to write letters home telling your family that everything's all right when you're not sure that's true.

As President, I will wage this war with the lessons I learned in war. Before you go to battle, you have to be able to look a parent in the eye and truthfully say: "I tried everything possible to avoid sending your son or daughter into harm's way. But we had no choice. We had to protect the American people, fundamental American values from a threat that was real and imminent." So lesson one, this is the only justification for going to war.

And on my first day in office, I will send a message to every man and woman in our armed forces: You will never be asked to fight a war without a plan to win the peace.

I know what we have to do in Iraq. We need a President who has the credibility to bring our allies to our side and share the burden, reduce the cost to American taxpayers, and reduce the risk to American soldiers. That's the right way to get the job done and bring our troops home.

Here is the reality: that won't happen until we have a president who restores America's respect and leadership -- so we don't have to go it alone in the world.

And we need to rebuild our alliances, so we can get the terrorists before they get us.

I defended this country as a young man and I will defend it as President. Let there be no mistake: I will never hesitate to use force when it is required. Any attack will be met with a swift and certain response. I will never give any nation or international institution a veto over our national security. And I will build a stronger American military.

We will add 40,000 active duty troops not in Iraq, but to strengthen American forces that are now overstretched, overextended, and under pressure. We will double our special forces to conduct anti-terrorist operations. We will provide our troops with the newest weapons and technology to save their lives and win the battle. And we will end the backdoor draft of National Guard and reservists.

To all who serve in our armed forces today, I say, help is on the way.

As President, I will fight a smarter, more effective war on terror. We will deploy every tool in our arsenal: our economic as well as our military might; our principles as well as our firepower.

In these dangerous days there is a right way and a wrong way to be strong. Strength is more than tough words. After decades of experience in national security, I know the reach of our power and I know the power of our ideals.

We need to make America once again a beacon in the world. We need to be looked up to and not just feared.

We need to lead a global effort against nuclear proliferation to keep the most dangerous weapons in the world out of the most dangerous hands in the world.

We need a strong military and we need to lead strong alliances. And then, with confidence and determination, we will be able to tell the terrorists: You will lose and we will win. The future doesn't belong to fear; it belongs to freedom.

And the front lines of this battle are not just far away they're right here on our shores, at our airports, and potentially in any town or city. Today, our national security begins with homeland security. The 9-11 Commission has given us a path to follow, endorsed by Democrats, Republicans, and the 9-11 families. As President, I will not evade or equivocate; I will immediately implement the recommendations of that commission. We shouldn't be letting ninety-five percent of container ships come into our ports without ever being physically inspected. We shouldn't be leaving our nuclear and chemical plants without enough protection. And we shouldn't be opening firehouses in Baghdad and closing them down in the United States of America.

And tonight, we have an important message for those who question the patriotism of Americans who offer a better direction for our country. Before wrapping themselves in the flag and shutting their eyes and ears to the truth, they should remember what America is really all about. They should remember the great idea of freedom for which so many have given their lives. Our purpose now is to reclaim democracy itself. We are here to affirm that when Americans stand up and speak their minds and say America can do better, that is not a challenge to patriotism; it is the heart and soul of patriotism.

You see that flag up there. We call her Old Glory. The stars and stripes forever. I fought under that flag, as did so many of you here and all across our country. That flag flew from the gun turret right behind my head. It was shot through and through and tattered, but it never ceased to wave in the wind. It draped the caskets of men I served with and friends I grew up with. For us, that flag is the most powerful symbol of who we are and what we believe in. Our strength. Our diversity. Our love of country. All that makes America both great and good.

That flag doesn't belong to any president. It doesn't belong to any ideology and it doesn't belong to any political party. It belongs to all the American people.

My fellow citizens, elections are about choices. And choices are about values. In the end, it's not just policies and programs that matter; the president who sits at that desk must be guided by principle.

For four years, we've heard a lot of talk about values. But values spoken without actions taken are just slogans. Values are not just words. They're what we live by. They're about the causes we champion and the people we fight for. And it is time for those who talk about family values to start valuing families.

You don't value families by kicking kids out of after school programs and taking cops off our streets, so that Enron can get another tax break.

We believe in the family value of caring for our children and protecting the neighbourhoods where they walk and play.

And that is the choice in this election.

You don't value families by denying real prescription drug coverage to seniors, so big drug companies can get another windfall.

We believe in the family value expressed in one of the oldest Commandments: "Honour thy father and thy mother." As President, I will not privatize Social Security. I will not cut benefits. And together, we will make sure that senior citizens never have to cut their pills in half because they can't afford life-saving medicine.

And that is the choice in this election.

You don't value families if you force them to take up a collection to buy body armour for a son or daughter in the service, if you deny veterans health care, or if you tell middle class families to wait for a tax cut, so that the wealthiest among us can get even more.

We believe in the value of doing what's right for everyone in the American family.

And that is the choice in this election.

We believe that what matters most is not narrow appeals masquerading as values, but the shared values that show the true face of America. Not narrow appeals that divide us, but shared values that unite us. Family and faith. Hard work and responsibility. Opportunity for all so that every child, every parent, every worker has an equal shot at living up to their God-given potential.

What does it mean in America today when Dave McCune, a steel worker I met in Canton, Ohio, saw his job sent overseas and the equipment in his factory literally unbolted, crated up, and shipped thousands of miles away along with that job? What does it mean when workers I've met had to train their foreign replacements?

America can do better. So tonight we say: help is on the way.

What does it mean when Mary Ann Knowles, a woman with breast cancer I met in New Hampshire, had to keep working day after day right through her chemotherapy, no matter how sick she felt, because she was terrified of losing her family's health insurance.

America can do better. And help is on the way.

What does it mean when Deborah Kromins from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania works and saves all her life only to find out that her pension has disappeared into thin air and the executive who looted it has bailed out on a golden parachute?

America can do better. And help is on the way.

What does it mean when twenty five percent of the children in Harlem have asthma because of air pollution?

America can do better. And help is on the way.

What does it mean when people are huddled in blankets in the cold, sleeping in Lafayette Park on the doorstep of the White House itself and the number of families living in poverty has risen by three million in the last four years?

America can do better. And help is on the way.

And so we come here tonight to ask: Where is the conscience of our country?

I'll tell you where it is: it's in rural and small town America; it's in urban neighbourhoods and suburban main streets; it's alive in the people I've met in every part of this land. It's bursting in the hearts of Americans who are determined to give our country back its values and its truth.

We value jobs that pay you more not less than you earned before. We value jobs where, when you put in a week's work, you can actually pay your bills, provide for your children, and lift up the quality of your life. We value an America where the middle class is not being squeezed, but doing better.

So here is our economic plan to build a stronger America:

First, new incentives to revitalize manufacturing.

Second, investment in technology and innovation that will create the good-paying jobs of the future.

Third, close the tax loopholes that reward companies for shipping our jobs overseas. Instead, we will reward companies that create and keep good paying jobs where they belong in the good old U.S.A.

We value an America that exports products, not jobs and we believe American workers should never have to subsidize the loss of their own job.

Next, we will trade and compete in the world. But our plan calls for a fair playing field because if you give the American worker a fair playing field, there's nobody in the world the American worker can't compete against.

And we're going to return to fiscal responsibility because it is the foundation of our economic strength. Our plan will cut the deficit in half in four years by ending tax giveaways that are nothing more than corporate welfare and will make government live by the rule that every family has to follow: pay as you go.

And let me tell you what we won't do: we won't raise taxes on the middle class. You've heard a lot of false charges about this in recent months. So let me say straight out what I will do as President: I will cut middle class taxes. I will reduce the tax burden on small business. And I will roll back the tax cuts for the wealthiest individuals who make over $200,000 a year, so we can invest in job creation, health care and education.

Our education plan for a stronger America sets high standards and demands accountability from parents, teachers, and schools. It provides for smaller class sizes and treats teachers like the professionals they are. And it gives a tax credit to families for each and every year of college.

When I was a prosecutor, I met young kids who were in trouble, abandoned by adults. And as President, I am determined that we stop being a nation content to spend $50,000 a year to keep a young person in prison for the rest of their life when we could invest $10,000 to give them Head Start, Early Start, Smart Start, the best possible start in life.

And we value health care that's affordable and accessible for all Americans.

Since 2000, four million people have lost their health insurance. Millions more are struggling to afford it.

You know what's happening. Your premiums, your co-payments, your deductibles have all gone through the roof.

Our health care plan for a stronger America cracks down on the waste, greed, and abuse in our health care system and will save families up to $1,000 a year on their premiums. You'll get to pick your own doctor and patients and doctors, not insurance company bureaucrats, will make medical decisions. Under our plan, Medicare will negotiate lower drug prices for seniors. And all Americans will be able to buy less expensive prescription drugs from countries like Canada.

The story of people struggling for health care is the story of so many Americans. But you know what, it's not the story of senators and members of Congress. Because we give ourselves great health care and you get the bill. Well, I'm here to say, your family's health care is just as important as any politician's in Washington, D.C.

And when I'm President, America will stop being the only advanced nation in the world which fails to understand that health care is not a privilege for the wealthy, the connected, and the elected it is a right for all Americans.

We value an America that controls its own destiny because it's finally and forever independent of Mideast oil. What does it mean for our economy and our national security when we only have three percent of the world's oil reserves, yet we rely on foreign countries for fifty-three percent of what we consume?

I want an America that relies on its own ingenuity and innovation not the Saudi royal family.

And our energy plan for a stronger America will invest in new technologies and alternative fuels and the cars of the future -- so that no young American in uniform will ever be held hostage to our dependence on oil from the Middle East.

I've told you about our plans for the economy, for education, for health care, for energy independence. I want you to know more about them. So now I'm going to say something that Franklin Roosevelt could never have said in his acceptance speech: go to johnkerry.com.

I want to address these next words directly to President George W. Bush: In the weeks ahead, let's be optimists, not just opponents. Let's build unity in the American family, not angry division. Let's honour this nation's diversity; let's respect one another; and let's never misuse for political purposes the most precious document in American history, the Constitution of the United States.

My friends, the high road may be harder, but it leads to a better place. And that's why Republicans and Democrats must make this election a contest of big ideas, not small-minded attacks. This is our time to reject the kind of politics calculated to divide race from race, group from group, region from region. Maybe some just see us divided into red states and blue states, but I see us as one America red, white, and blue. And when I am President, the government I lead will enlist people of talent, Republicans as well as Democrats, to find the common ground so that no one who has something to contribute will be left on the sidelines.

And let me say it plainly: in that cause, and in this campaign, we welcome people of faith. America is not us and them. I think of what Ron Reagan said of his father a few weeks ago, and I want to say this to you tonight: I don't wear my own faith on my sleeve. But faith has given me values and hope to live by, from Vietnam to this day, from Sunday to Sunday. I don't want to claim that God is on our side. As Abraham Lincoln told us, I want to pray humbly that we are on God's side. And whatever our faith, one belief should bind us all: The measure of our character is our willingness to give of ourselves for others and for our country.

These aren't Democratic values. These aren't Republican values. They're American values. We believe in them. They're who we are. And if we honour them, if we believe in ourselves, we can build an America that's stronger at home and respected in the world.

So much promise stretches before us. Americans have always reached for the impossible, looked to the next horizon, and asked: What if?

Two young bicycle mechanics from Dayton asked what if this airplane could take off at Kitty Hawk? It did that and changed the world forever. A young president asked what if we could go to the moon in ten years? And now we're exploring the solar system and the stars themselves. A young generation of entrepreneurs asked, what if we could take all the information in a library and put it on a little chip the size of a fingernail? We did and that too changed the world forever.

And now it's our time to ask: What if?

What if we find a breakthrough to cure Parkinson's, diabetes, Alzheimer's and Aids? What if we have a president who believes in science, so we can unleash the wonders of discovery like stem cell research to treat illness and save millions of lives?

What if we do what adults should do and make sure all our children are safe in the afternoons after school? And what if we have a leadership that's as good as the American dream so that bigotry and hatred never again steal the hope and future of any American?

I learned a lot about these values on that gunboat patrolling the Mekong Delta with young Americans who came from places as different as Iowa and Oregon, Arkansas, Florida and California. No one cared where we went to school. No one cared about our race or our backgrounds. We were literally all in the same boat. We looked out, one for the other and we still do.

That is the kind of America I will lead as President an America where we are all in the same boat.

Never has there been a more urgent moment for Americans to step up and define ourselves. I will work my heart out. But, my fellow citizens, the outcome is in your hands more than mine.

It is time to reach for the next dream. It is time to look to the next horizon. For America, the hope is there. The sun is rising. Our best days are still to come.

Goodnight, God bless you, and God bless America.




Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/americas/3938393.stm

Published: 2004/07/30 02:37:51 GMT

© BBC MMIV


29 July 2004

Ceremonies of Coming Maturity



It important that we should take the time to thank our Mother for her Gifts and Blessings. . .

--ryan



Ceremonies of Coming Maturity



Posted: July 01, 2004 - 9:46am EST

The sacred exists; it has its own quality. The summer ceremonial season is upon us, from Sun Dances to Green Corn Dances to Snake and New Moon Dances, to the many pow wows of the Indian trail, each has its meaning and degree of significance.

Approach and purpose are central to ceremony. At this time of year, many Native people genuinely partake of and put through numerous spiritual ceremonies, both at private homes and at public places of prayer, at mountain altars and near water places, ceremonies where all life and many revered entities are celebrated and prayed over.
It is the season of early maturity. We are told to remember the sun, the waters, the earth, the winds. We give thanks to these and many beings, these elements that hold up our lives. Many Indian people will dance and celebrate in these ways this summer - thanking and spiritually caressing our natural relatives, from hummingbird to buffalo, from eagle to prairie dog to dung beetle - all must be thanked. Prayers are made at this time for the little ones - may they reach maturity with the strength of the summer heat, with the gift of abundance.

In South Dakota, we salute this summer the record of 500 Oglala gardens assisted by the Running Strong for American Indian Youth program. This resounding effort helps people make better use of their lands, rejuvenating dozens of old family homesteads. The crews put in wells, prepare gardens, help repair elders’ homes - they stress nutrition, sobriety, and at this time of year, Sun Dance. Three tiospayes come together for this dance that celebrates life. The sacred tree goes up again, pledged dancers dance, drummers drum and singers sing and firekeepers take care of fire while others sweat and pray. All over the Northern and Southern Plains, Sun Dances are held, families gather, tribes reaffirm themselves. It happens in this way all over as ceremonies of many kinds unfold throughout this season of maturing plants, animals and humans. Northeast, Northwest, Southwest, Southeast, all over, people pray over fish, sing over crops, stomp the ground, give thanks and plead for respect and attention to the human being, lamenting over our own pitiful needs even as we appreciate all we have and enjoy of life. A Pueblo friend wrote recently, announcing their upcoming "Feast Days." In Oklahoma you will run into Green Corn Dances and in Arizona Hopi runners go for long miles, mesa to mesa, while farther south, peyotists fast for visions of their elusive sacred cactus.

In summer, the herbalists pick many herbs. They leave tobacco for that, and burn with it. Summer solstice altars abound, north and south, nature is joined by the thousands, feathers floating from the crowns of dancers, feathers and staffs and drums in the open air, on the sacred mountain, at the sacred river, at the tree of life, whistles blowing at the hummingbird of life.

As the corn fattens, Indian people give thanks. As the sun’s heat blends with the dew of valleys and fields, Indian people give thanks. Tobacco, copal, cedar, sage and sweetgrass burn through longhouse and tipi hole, and from the depth of kiva to the mountain top, this summer season, as they have from time immemorial, Indian peoples will pray for and with the Mother Earth, with the Grandfather Sun, the Grandmother Moon, one more time they will do this, so that the cycles of continuous creation will, indeed, continue.

Writes Vine Deloria Jr., in his "Spirit and Reason: the Vine Deloria Jr. Reader" (Fulcrum Books, 1999), "In ceremonies the object is to draw into participation all the powerful elements of the cosmos."

No human law, no international or national law, can stop the sincere expression of thanksgiving that is the common duty of tribal humanity in the Americas. It is essential that such a responsibility be met and it is. This is the duty and the privilege of Native America, and in this early summer of 2004, we are pleased to report that indeed the tribes continue to hold up their covenant with the Earth. May it always be so.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
This article can be found at http://www.indiancountry.com/?1088689698


27 July 2004

"Invoking the Four"



Invoking the Four
 
Rocks, water, steam,
Ancestor's may be seen.
Healing within,
Absolving your sin.
Invoking the four directions,
Voices giving instructions.
 
Holy are the words from the mind,
Sent to the ancestral kind.
Grandfather's sending the faith,
No place to hide one's face.
Invoking the four directions,
Voices giving instructions.
 
Ceremonial celestial light,
No longer given any right.
Imposters acting with devout desire,
Quietly the elders put out the fire,
While invoking the four directions,
Ancestral voices sending instructions,
For the fakes will fall,
And the Indian world will stand tall!
 
Written by: Larry Kibby
Elko, Nevada 89801-2577
Friday, August 15, 2003
 




Quote of the Day



'Only after the last tree has been cut down,
Only after the last river has been poisoned,
Only after the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you find that Money Cannot Be Eaten!!'

-- Chief White Cloud






25 July 2004

Carlos Delgado's Quiet Protest



Sometimes the quietest among us are the most courageous. . .

--ryan


TheStar.com - Delgado's quiet protest

Jul. 23, 2004. 01:00 AM



Blue Jays superstar Carlos Delgado is thinking about much more than baseball these days.

Dogged by rumours about his future with the struggling team, Delgado has also made headlines for his silent and, until recently, little noticed protest against the Iraq war.

The Puerto Rico native told the Star this month that as part of his personal protest, he does not stand outside the dugout when "God Bless America" is played in stadiums. The patriotic song has been played during seventh-inning stretches at some ballparks since the Sept. 11 attacks.

"I don't believe in the war," he said. "It's a very terrible thing that happened on Sept. 11. It's (also) a terrible thing that happened in Afghanistan and Iraq."

Delgado makes his protest quietly, and is not outwardly disrespectful of the U.S., its citizens or its national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner," which is sung before games.

Other athletes have paid a price for criticizing U.S. foreign policy. Muhammad Ali lost his heavyweight title after refusing to serve in the Vietnam War, and Canadian basketball star Steve Nash was denounced last year for speaking out on the Iraq issue.

Taking a political stand requires some courage. Whether one agrees or not with Delgado's views, he deserves credit for risking his personal popularity to support his beliefs. It's a refreshing change from the pap that we so often hear from multi-millionaire athletes.


Keepers of a Lost Language



This is most interesting...

--ryan



Keepers of a Lost Language

An 82-year-old linguist and his young protégé are among the last speakers of a native California language — and its final chance.

Dashka Slater
July/August 2004 Issue

After devoting his life to understanding the mechanics and music of languages, William Shipley speaks fewer than you might expect. The 82-year-old linguist studied Latin and Greek as a youth, learned Mandarin during World War II, and is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese. But the language Shipley is most proud of knowing, the one that has shaped his career and much of the course of his life, is understood by less than a dozen people on earth. It is Mountain Maidu, and it was once spoken by some two to three thousand California Indians who lived in the northern Sierra Nevada. . .



24 July 2004

Gettin' Hot in the Kitchen!



My, Oh My! --ryan
Ice Cream Entrepreneur Totes Bush Effigy
By CHRIS RODKEY

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - Call it the burning Bush. The co-founder of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream is on the road, towing a 12-foot-tall effigy of President Bush with fake flames shooting out of the pants.
Ben Cohen says it's an acceptable way to point out what he calls the president's lies.

"In a polite society, you don't go up to a person and look at them in the face and say, 'You're a liar,''' Cohen said in a telephone interview before arriving in Spokane, the next stop on the Pants on Fire Tour.

"We think it's a lot more dignified and there's a lot more decorum to say, 'Excuse me sir, your pants are getting a little warm, don't you think?''' Cohen said. . .





Dancing on Native American Graves?



ICT [2004/07/23] Harjo: Dancing on graves of missing Native Americans

Posted: July 23, 2004 - 10:47am EST
by: Suzan Shown Harjo / Columnist / Indian Country Today
A bunch of white folks are dancing on the graves of missing Native Americans these days. The bodies are stashed in laboratories and other surrogate tombs, where adults experiment on them and use them in bizarre rituals.

The first dancing white men are the federally-subsidized scientists who won a recent lawsuit and the reporters who are celebrating their victory of "science over religion" - the modern day metaphor for "cowboys and Indians" - in the case involving the Ancient One, the 9,000-year-old Native man who was found in 1996 near Kennewick, Wash. . .


23 July 2004

Tugboat Hamiliton (1995-2004)



Tyler Hamiliton wrote this moving tribute to his beloved and faithful companion Tugboat, a golden retriever. Shortly after losing his dog to cancer, Tyler dropped out of the Tour de France stating a back injury as the reason. After reading this, I have to wonder which was hurting him worse, his back or his Heart.

Godspeed Tugs...

--ryan



Tugboat and Tyler


Back in 1995, my parents owned a dog named Bosun. They
bred him with a female named Baby. Tugboat was the
pick of their litter. I chose him because he was the
most animated of all the puppies. Quite often, Baby's
owner would find Tugboat out of the puppy kennel and
perched on its roof. He was an entertainer, even at a
few weeks old.

When Tugs was born back in Massachusetts, I was living
in Colorado. When he was old enough to be separated
from Baby and his eight siblings, he spent a brief
hiatus at my parents' home in Marblehead. A couple
weeks later he was loaded onto a plane, all by
himself, headed for Denver. It would turn out to be
the first of his many trips across the country.

Bike racers generally don't have dogs. Especially
bachelor bike racers, which I was back then. But I had
just bought my first house, and wasn't so sure at that
time where the bike-racing thing was heading. In my
mind, it was almost a fluke that I had morphed from
collegiate cycling to the pro ranks. I thought my
lucky breaks had probably run their course and that
I'd be settling down in Colorado before too long.

As the months passed and the racing calendar heated
up, Tugboat and I started living out of our suitcases
fairly consistently. I would head off to the races and
Tugs would shack up at a friend's house. I was lucky
because Boulder has always been a dog-friendly town.
And I had lots of friends who were willing to take him
in while I was away. It was a pretty good system.

Then a few big changes impacted our lives. First, the
team I was riding for, Montgomery Bell, got a new
sponsor - the U.S. Postal Service. There were big
plans for this organization to go to Europe and ride
in the Tour de France. That meant the better part of
1996 was going to be spent on the road in the U.S. and
going back and forth to Europe so we could prove
ourselves as a developing team. Tugs and I were
spending more time apart than together.

Then, a girl named Haven came on the scene just before
Tugboat's first birthday. She had grown up with a cat
and a goldfish and had been chased by a neighbor's dog
when she was a kid. So the odds of her and Tugboat
hitting it off were a little slim at first. But
together, we eased her into dog life. Our first
challenge was convincing her that golden retrievers
weren't vicious. Our second was getting her to pet
Tugboat with more than her fingertips for a
millisecond. It was slow going, but she came around.
Tugboat could charm the socks off of just about
anyone.

1997 was my first full season in Europe. Haven was
working in Boston, Tugboat was staying with my family
in Marblehead, I was living in Girona, and friends
were renting my house in Colorado. Our lives stayed
this way until 2000 when Haven moved over to Europe.
We hesitated about bringing Tugs over at first,
because we worried that the 15 hours of crated travel
to Europe would be inhumane. So he remained in
Marblehead in-season, and then came to live with us in
the off-season. This situation made Tugboat kind of a
family dog. But he never seemed to mind all the
transitioning. He just rolled with the venue changes
as if he understood that my career required him to do
so.

Finally in 2002 we decided the in-season separation
was too much. His place was with us on the road,
wherever that led. So we loaded him up in his
all-too-familiar crate that had shuttled him between
Colorado and Massachusetts so many times and brought
him with us to Spain.

The airline we chose made us fly him in cargo instead
of baggage, which meant we had to pick him up in a
different terminal. The flight arrived just before 6
p.m. We made a mad dash to the cargo terminal and
arrived there by 6:35 - only to find out that the
cargo office closed at 6:30. They wouldn't let us pick
Tugs up until 10 a.m. the next morning when the
processing office re-opened. We were horrified.

We protested and pleaded. My wife even cried. But they
didn't care. But they did agree to let us see him and
let him out for a walk around the cargo warehouse,
which looked like the inside of a Home Depot. Tugs was
pretty happy to be released and immediately relieved
himself at the end of an aisle of shelves holding
boxes of pricey imports. We practically cheered, but
we couldn't because we were laughing too hard. Tugs
was a trouper. He had to spend his first night in
Europe in a cargo warehouse, and he accepted the
challenge like a champ.

Tugboat was one of the largest dogs in Girona.
Reactions to him were always mixed. Sometimes kids and
adults would scream and run from him like they had
just seen a two-headed monster. But there were just as
many others that warmed instantly to him. Like the
lady across the street from our house who owns a café.
She always had a slice of queso ready for Tugs. In
fact, it was hard to get him back in the house if he
didn't get his customary treat.

I think Tugboat liked his vagabond life. Unlike dogs
who live in one house and walk around the same block
three times a day for their entire lives, he enjoyed a
variety of experiences in his nine years. He traveled
extensively in the U.S. and Europe. He covered a lot
of ground in New England, and out west. And overseas
he visited Spain, France, Belgium, Italy and Monaco.
He traveled through the Dolomite Mountains with us
while I previewed stages for the 2002 Giro d'Italia.
He drove nearly the entire route of the 2003 Tour de
France. He ran through fields in the Pyrénées and
Alps. He swam in the Atlantic Ocean and the
Mediterranean Sea.

Aside from his travels Tugboat also got to do a few
other fun things. He appeared in a documentary aired
on Danish television. He'll be featured in the IMAX
film "Brain Power," which premieres worldwide in 2005.
He posed for countless photo shoots for magazines and
newspapers. My wife thought it was funny when Tugboat
would be invited to media interviews and she wouldn't.
He even received fan mail and CARE packages from his
admirers. But he never let his fame go to his big boxy
head. At the end of every day he was still good old
Tugs.


Click image to enlarge
by Tim DeWaele


Tugboat demonstrates the art of 'lazy-dog fetch'


There were a few things that never changed about
Tugboat. He loved tennis balls. He could sit with a
tennis ball at the end of his mouth for hours. He even
invented his own game where he'd sit at the top of a
staircase and wait for you to throw the ball to him.
After he caught it and gave it a good chewing he'd
drop his chin to the floor and push the ball out of
his mouth with his tongue. It would roll down the
steps back to whoever was in charge of tossing it back
to him. We called this game "lazy-dog fetch."

Tugboat liked to eat. He never turned down food and
often sought it out. He figured out that kids in
strollers equaled sticky treats, and pigeons crowded
on the ground equaled breadcrumbs. He remembered where
the cafés set up their tables during the day, and did
his best to help clean up after the patrons at night.
The city of Girona could have hired him as a street
cleaner.

He liked to sit in the front seat of the car and lean
his head on your shoulder while you drove. He would
lick the tears off your face if you cried. He would
rest his head on your feet while you watched
television. He would lie under the kitchen table while
you ate dinner. He would bite your wrist gently to
tell you he was happy to see you. He loved to roll on
his back and punch the air with his paws. He yanked
the stuffing and squeakers out of every one of his dog
toys. He swallowed his dog food without chewing it. He
loved helping with the dishes.

He was a truly special dog, who supported me through
thick and thin and was by my side all through the 2003
Tour. He knew I was hurting and he comforted and
protected me in a way that was nearly human.

On July 12 he collapsed. He had been sick for about a
month after a reaction to an anti-inflammatory
arthritis drug that badly irritated his stomach. An
edoscopy revealed multiple ulcers. It looked like he
had road rash on his insides. The internal bleeding
caused by the ulcers made him very weak. We can only
assume he had been in the early stages of suffering
from cancer when the drug reaction occurred. We think
his system was so weakened from the blood loss, the
cancer pounced.

After his collapse the vet recommended emergency
exploratory surgery. They found carcinoma and tumors
throughout his body. One had ruptured on his liver,
and had caused the collapse. They recommended putting
him down immediately while he was sedated. They gave
him no chance of survival.

My wife and I spoke that night, and decided that Tugs
had one last road trip in him. I needed to say
good-bye and thank you to my trusty companion face to
face. Haven brought Tugboat home Monday night and set
out for Limoges, France, the next morning. Tugs made
the final journey in good form. He was heavily
sedated, so he never walked again, but he was alert
enough to know he was with the two people who
cherished him the most.

Tugs and I slept side by side that night. Ironically,
one year after he had done so for me, I was comforting
him at the Tour de France. Before the start of stage
10, I said my good-byes. My wife drove him back to
Girona where the vet was waiting for her call. On the
way into town she stopped at a bakery and bought a
whole bag of pastry. It had been weeks since Tugs had
been well enough for a treat. But Haven's brother
Derek, who traveled with her to France, suggested they
take Tugs to a park for his final feast. They carried
him out of the car and sat with him under a shady tree
and fed him his chocolate and sugar and cheese-covered
desserts until there wasn't a crumb left. He was still
on earth, but I think, in that moment, he must have
been in heaven.

At the end, Haven tucked my jersey from stage 9 under
one of Tugs's legs and his last Credit Lyonnais Lion
under the other. He was a bike racer's dog from start
to finish.

My wife's favorite memory with Tugs is walking down
the Champs-Elysees with him last summer at the finish
of the Tour, and asking; "Tugboat, do you know how far
from Marblehead you are?" Somehow I think he knew.

My favorite memory was ascending a 14,000-foot peak
with Tugs when he was a puppy. We got caught in a
snowstorm at the top, but that was just part of the
fun.

He was such a good friend. Such a good traveler. Such
a good companion. Everyone who knew him felt a special
bond with him. He loved unconditionally, and will be
missed by many. Especially me.

Tugboat, thanks for everything.


19.September 2001 Charter Flight



Very Interesting...
--ryan


Plane Carried 13 Bin Ladens

By Dana Milbank Washington Post
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/072304E.shtml

Thursday 22 July 2004

Manifest of Sept. 19, 2001, flight from U.S. is released.
At least 13 relatives of Osama bin Laden, accompanied by bodyguards and associates, were allowed to leave the United States on a chartered flight eight days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to a passenger manifest released yesterday.

One passenger, Omar Awad bin Laden, a nephew of the al Qaeda leader, had been investigated by the FBI because he had lived with Abdullah bin Laden, a leader of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, which the FBI suspected of being a terrorist organization.

The passenger list was made public by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), who obtained the manifest from officials at Boston's Logan International Airport. Lautenberg's office was given the document in recent weeks and released it before today's issuance of the final report of the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks.

Although much was already known about the "bin Laden flight," Lautenberg provided additional details, including the information that the plane, a 727 owned by DB Air and operated by Ryan International, began its flight in Los Angeles and made stops in Orlando, Dulles International Airport and Boston before continuing to Gander, Newfoundland; Paris; Geneva; and Jiddah, Saudi Arabia. The aircraft, tail number N521DB, has been chartered frequently by the White House for the press corps traveling with President Bush.

A staff report by the Sept. 11 commission this spring said the flight was one of six chartered flights carrying 142 people, mostly Saudi nationals, from the United States between Sept. 14 and 24 after airspace was reopened. The U.S. government had allowed, before commercial airspace was reopened, at least one domestic flight for Saudis who had feared for their safety, Lautenberg's staff said.
The commission reported that there were 23 passengers and three private security guards on the bin Laden flight. However, the manifest lists 25 passengers, plus the three guards employed by CDT Training Inc. of Elmwood Park, N.J. After a request for permission to allow the bin Ladens to leave reached Richard A. Clarke at the National Security Council, the flight departed Logan Airport in Boston at 11 p.m. on Sept. 19, 2001.

Dale Watson, former FBI counterterrorism chief, said yesterday that FBI agents "scrubbed the people who were leaving, and I was informed none of them were anybody we needed to detain or not allow to leave."

Lautenberg, in a statement, said that Bush "needs to explain to the American people why his administration let this plane leave." White House spokesman Sean McCormack said the contentions that the flight should not have been allowed to leave have been "debunked by the facts."

Ron Ryan of Ryan International said yesterday that he is "quite confident" that the Saudi Embassy arranged the flight through a Ryan partner called Sport-Hawk. He said the bin Ladens "were quite concerned for their safety," which alarmed the crew. "The Saudi Embassy offered to pay more money if our crew had a concern," he said.

But he said all were reassured because "the FBI and Secret Service were heavily involved. They were in abundance every place we were."
The commission staff reported that each of the Saudi flights "was investigated by the FBI and dealt with in a professional manner prior to its departure." The staff said that 22 people on the bin Laden flight were interviewed by the FBI and that the FBI checked databases for information on the passengers. The commission said none of the passengers was on the terrorist watch list.

The flight manifest lists 13 people with the bin Laden surname and others with Brazilian, British, Indonesian and Yemeni passports. Passenger Omar Awad bin Laden had lived with Abdullah bin Laden, a nephew of Osama bin Laden who was involved in forming the U.S. branch of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth in Alexandria. Federal agents raided the office this spring in connection with a terrorism-related investigation. The FBI has described the group as a "suspected terrorist organization."

Among the other passengers was Shafig bin Laden, a half brother of Osama bin Laden who was reportedly attending the annual investor conference of the Carlyle Group, a politically connected investment company in Washington, on Sept. 11, 2001. Also on board was Akberali Moawalla, an official with the investment company run by Yeslam bin Laden, another of Osama bin Laden's half brothers. Records show that a passenger, Kholoud Kurdi, lived in Northern Virginia with a bin Laden relative.

The bin Laden flight has received fresh publicity because it was a topic in Michael Moore's anti-Bush documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"THE BURNING BUSH: SCRUPLES OF GOVERNMENT"

Hitler. in "Mein Kampf" (MURPHY translation: page 134:)

"All this was inspired by the principle - which is quite true in itself - that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying. These people know only too well how to use falsehood for the basest purposes.




20 July 2004

Big Business Strikes Again...



Once again in America, Big Business feels perfectly within their rights to screw the hard working little guy in order to increase their profits...

--ryan

Coal miners stage second protest outside bankruptcy court



LEXINGTON, Ky. Hundreds of miners plan to protest today outside a hearing in Kentucky because of concerns that the judge might void union contracts with one of the nation's largest coal companies.
Horizon Natural Resources has asked the bankruptcy judge to let it stop buying health insurance for 23-hundred retirees. Some 800 to 900 of those are in Illinois, the rest in West Virginia, Indiana and Kentucky.


Illinois miners started heading down to Kentucky by bus yesterday to participate in the protest in Lexington.

They want the judge to require Horizon to honor its labor contracts.

But Horizon spokesman Matt Isner says every offer to buy the company has been based on the condition that the union contract be voided.



G.W. Bush has Big Plans for your kids...



G.W. ain't going to be happy until every formerly sovereign country becomes part of the "American-Bloc" (read Soviet-Bloc) and every American kid graduates out of high school and into a uniform (remember Nazi Germany? Everyone who mattered wore a uniform). He's already managed to plunge our country into a record debt, in record time with this Mickey Mouse bullshit...

Time to pull the EJECT lever on his happy ass!

--ryan

Regime change in Iran now in Bush’s sights

By Jenifer Johnston

 
PRESIDENT George Bush has promised that if re-elected in November he will make regime change in Iran his new target.

Bush named Iran as part of the Axis of Evil along with North Korea and Iraq almost three years ago. A US government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that military action would not be overt in changing Iran, but rather that the US would work to stir revolts in the country and hope to topple the current conservative religious leadership.

The official said: “If George Bush is re-elected there will be much more intervention in the internal affairs of Iran.”

The Iranian government announced this weekend that it had successfully eradicated all al-Qaeda cells operating in the country, but the statement comes as leaked reports from the US September 11 Commission show definite links between Iran and the September 11 terrorists.

The final report from the cross-party inquiry, which is examining the origins of the September 11 attacks, is believed to contain concrete evidence of contacts between al-Qaeda and Iran.

Time magazine reports that at least eight of the hijackers, who lived in the US for months before the attacks, passed through Iran between October 2000 and February 2001 apparently with help from the Iranian authorities.

Known al-Qaeda members also seem to have been allowed to cross in and out of Iran freely across the Afghan border, with Iranian border guards being told not to stamp the passports of al-Qaeda operatives, harass them or hinder their ability to travel freely.

The report is thought to hint that Iranian officials were ordered to assist al-Qaeda operatives with any travel needs.

The September 11 Commission report will, however, stop short of stating that Iran was aware of the plans for the September 11 attacks.

Tehran has always officially denied helping members of al-Qaeda escape from Afghan istan in 2001 when the Taliban regime fell.

State television in Iran yesterday showed the country’s intelligence minister announcing the capture of a number of al-Qaeda supporters.

Ali Yunesi said: “Iran’s intelligence apparatus has identified and arrested small Iranian deviate branches of the al-Qaeda group.” There was no clarification on how many people had been arrested or charged.

Yunesi warned that Iran would take a tough line against militants using Iran as a base. “Those who seek to misuse the safe situation in Iran will face serious consequences,” he said.

The Iranian government says it has arrested and repatriated hundreds of al-Qaeda suspects in the past two years in a display of willingness to bring terrorism in the Middle East under control.

A suspected Saudi al-Qaeda militant, Khaled al-Harbi, who appeared in a videotape with Osama bin Laden, gave himself up in Iran last week, and was flown back to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

On Friday US officials said the next stage of the September 11 Commission’s report would be available this week.

There was embarrassment for the Bush administration last week when it emerged a tight deadline was being pushed for the capture of Osama bin Laden to generate headlines during the Democratic Convention when presidential rival John Kerry will be grabbing the limelight.

Pakistani security forces have apparently been given deadlines to capture bin Laden that are before the US general election in November, according to US sources.

18 July 2004



17 July 2004

Hawking Backs down on Black Holes!



A Monster development in the fields of Astrophysics and Cosmology. This changes everything!

--ryan

Hawking backs down on black holes

Black holes in space: Hawking says all is not lost

Stephen Hawking says he was wrong about a key argument he put forward 30 years ago on the behaviour of black holes.

The world-famous physicist addresses an international conference on Wednesday to revise his claim that black holes destroy everything that falls into them

He will tell the Dublin meeting that he now believes black holes may after all allow information to get out.

His new findings could even help solve the "black hole information paradox", a crucial puzzle of modern physics. . .



California State Capitol Rally Protests Disenrollments



SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Several hundred disenrolled members of various California tribes staged a lengthy and loud protest on the steps of the state capitol asking Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state legislature to immediately halt signing new compacts with the state’s tribes as a first step toward creating an inter-tribal appeals process for disenrollees.
At least nine tribes were represented at the July 14 demonstration and are perhaps a testament to a growing controversy in which increasing numbers of the state’s tribes are finding themselves left without tribal membership. . .



13 July 2004

Indians' 'Heart' Matters More Than Their Blood



A good Friend (Kris!) sent this to our newgroup...

--ryan


   
DORREEN YELLOW BIRD COLUMN: Indians' 'heart' matters more than their blood

Posted on Tue, Dec. 16, 2003 
 
Who is Indian? Who is really Indian?

As nations of Native people become more and more part of non-Native communities, questions are being asked about how much Indian blood is left in us and when are we really considered Native Americans. If you are 1⁄4 Arikara and 3⁄4 white, for example, are you Indian or white?

The question is a nagging one. In the past few months, I've heard from several people who wrote or called, asking how to be a part of Native communities. Each said he or she is part Indian.

A man who once worked with Indian people as a health provider said he didn't want to overstep his boundaries, so he always told Native people he was "part Indian." An elder asked him, "What part of you is Indian?" In the following weeks and months, he said, the elder persisted, asking him if it was his foot, the left ear - what part?

It is what you perceive inside you, the elder finally told him. That's makes you Indian - all Indian.

Yesterday a woman called me to tell me her father was French and Winnebago. Her mother was "pure Norwegian." The woman is in her middle 60s, so she lived in a time when being Indian wasn't popular. When her father died, her mother did not want to talk about his heritage, nor did she want the woman to speak about her father's Indian heritage to others. It was something to be ashamed of, she learned.

That has been a sore point for this woman for many years, she told me.When I was an administrator in Salem, Ore., three young women came to me about their relationship with the tribe. They were adopted. They found out when their records were opened that they were Indian and white.

One of the girls, who was blond, had a certificate that indicated she could be enrolled in one of the local tribes. She cried during most of the second visit. She came to me because I worked for the tribe and she wanted me to help her find out about her Indian heritage. I was puzzled at first. Why would someone have such an emotional reaction when they found out they were Native American?

I learn it was as if a part of her body - perhaps her soul - was missing. Now that she knew where it was, it was important that her people acknowledge her. She wasn't there for health or other benefits. I doubt if she even knew what was available to her. It was making visible something that for a long time was just an outline, foggy and incomplete.

Those who are "part Indian" suffer on reservations, too. If they favor their non-Native side of the family (light skin or blond hair), they might be treated as outsiders. Some of them may have lived on reservations all their lives and have a good understanding of the culture, but their color can make them feel alien.

True full bloods on a reservation are rare, at least in the sense of only one tribe. Historically, tribes borrowed or perhaps enticed men, women and children from other tribes to live with or become part of their tribe. Sakakawea is a good example; the Shoshone guide of Lewis and Clark had lived among the Hidatsa. After a few generations, such "immigrants" become part of that tribe and forget their ancestry.

I remember the old people sitting around talking. They were good about keeping history intact in those days. They told of Sitting Bull, who had two Arikara wives. Few outside the group believed it until the documents showed that the elders had been right. These women's children went on with their lives thinking they were "pure" Arikara. That mixing of Indian or tribal blood was common.

Unfortunately, there are those who look for a connection to a tribe and have used it for personal benefit. They might use their a long-forgotten ancestry as an opportunity to take part in some Native American program - programs developed to help Native people become more acclimated to non-Indian society; programs that offer higher-education assistance, for example.

I have to smile when I think of some people I have met in my travels who, at first, didn't acknowledge their Indianness. Then years later, I found them teaching Indian people about their own culture. Hmm, I'd think as I sat listening to their newly researched knowledge of Native Americans.

Yet what the elder said is true: It is what is inside you. If you feel and understand the cultural values of Native people or a certain tribe, than the spirit of your ancestor must live somewhere inside you.There are times in my life when that is hard to remember. When someone who is a newcomer assumes a major role in a ceremony, for instance, my hackles go up and I want to see them as outsider because it seems they are taking over some of the culture. It is difficult for me at times.

In the end, I must remember "we are all related" - Mitakuye Oyasin.

Yellow Bird writes columns Tuesday and Saturday. Reach her at 780-1228, (800) 477-6572 ext. 228 or dyellowbird@gfherald.com.
 

 
 

10 July 2004

Fahrenheit 9/11: Hot Film for a Cold Indigenous History



Michael Moore clearly has his finger on the pulse of America!

--ryan

ICT [2004/07/09] Fahrenheit 9/11: Hot film for a cold indigenous history

Posted: July 09, 2004 - 10:44am EST
by: Brenda Norrell / Southwest Staff Reporter / Indian Country Today

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - While the major news media in America failed to respond to the questions raised by Fahrenheit 9/11, indigenous people from the tip of North America to South America joined the working class across America, pointing out that the U.S. media has been the Pied Piper to Oz and the war in Iraq is the latest in a long history of Conquistadors.

Allan Adam, Dene from the Densuline Nation in northern Canada, Saskatchewan region, responded to Fahrenheit 9/11 and the questions it raises as to the real masterminds of 9/11, corporate war mongering for profit in Iraq and the media-bloated war on terror.
"I feel bad for the First Nations people who were sucked into this by tyrant Bush. Who is the real tyrant here? Bush, Sadam or bin Laden? So what other stuff is Bush hiding behind. I’m glad Canada opted out of the crap down there," Adam said. He is active in uniting Dene and Diné youths and elders at gatherings in the north and south regions of North America.

Beth Olson, a teacher of Diné children on the Navajo Nation at Ganado High School in Arizona, questioned why her students, Navajos, are being sent to Iraq in large numbers and not the children of the nation’s elite. It is a question also raised by Moore in the film, as he asked Congressmen if their children will enlist in the U.S. military and go to Iraq.

Would anyone want their children fighting the war in Iraq? Moore questioned with the film focused on the White House.
Olson said, "I have seen Fahrenheit 9/11 twice so far, and I hope to see it again soon. Much of the video footage appears to be edited portions of news programs. Why did we not see this on CNN? I know why we did not see it on FOX. That’s almost all Bush propaganda. Just how stupid does the president think we are? The truth had to get out sooner or later.

"My biggest concern is the complacency of the American public. Why are there not more people asking questions about 9/11 and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq? And why are not the children of the elite over there fighting?

"Why is it my students from the rez are the ones who are sent in harm’s way? Why did we never hear details about the airplane that struck the Pentagon? Thank you Michael Moore for asking the questions the citizens of this country are either afraid or too ignorant to ask."

Roberto Mucaro Borrero, Taíno Indian living and working in New York, said he hopes Fahrenheit 9/11 will get Indians in the U.S. out to vote in 2004 and the issues raised will provide exposure of the true history of indigenous peoples. Borrero is on staff at the American Museum of Natural History in the Education Department and a long-time activist within the United Nations system concerning indigenous peoples.
"I would recommend Fahrenheit 9/11 to all people especially indigenous peoples in the U.S. who are considering not voting. Hopefully this film will stimulate those voters to the polls," Borrero said. "Despite the criticism against the film as ‘sensationalist and highly-exaggerated propaganda,’ it presents a side of the story the America public has not been afforded via the mainstream in quite some time."

If anyone should understand the invasion and occupation of Iraq, it should be indigenous peoples, he said.

"As Native peoples, we should fully understand the ‘HIStory’ paradigm and we should also be able to relate to the ‘vilification of the other’ - the colored other. This film speaks to both these important issues, issues that continue to affect us all as indigenous peoples throughout the Americas living in this aggressive climate of globalization."
As a final point, Borreo said it is important to note the religious overtones, which were not fully explored in the film.

"I feel the connection to the current ‘Christian Crusade’ in the Middle East and the crusade against the ‘Red Pagan Savages’ of the 15th century and beyond is quite apparent. If folks want a confirmation of this connection, I suggest they take a look at the 1493 Papal Bull, which has yet to be revoked."

Over the Fourth of July weekend, the majority of national radio news broadcast in the Southwest were silent about the film and the questions it raised over war profiteering and the real masterminds of 9/11.

While Americans who get their news from the Internet were not surprised by all of the information in the film, working class Americans who depend on their news from CNN and Fox were shocked. In Arizona, young and old, predominately white working class people, sat horrified as the truth unfolded on the screen during Fahrenheit 9/11.
In a coffee shop in Taos, N.M., one woman in her 50s from California praised a house party for the film in Taos, N.M. Had she heard of the accusations about 9/11, Bush and the war in Iraq before Fahrenheit 9/11?

"I’m sorry to say, I was in denial."
Richard Grow, in Berkeley, Calif., said finally there is an imbedded filmmaker in America, one from Flint, Mich.

Grow commented on one of the most powerful stories in the film, that of a mother, Lila Lipscomb in Flint, whose son was killed in Iraq. She remembers him crying in the hall at home before he left, not wanting to go, and later she took her grief to the lawn of the White House.
Grow said, "I feel Michael Moore’s work, and 9/11 in particular, is a grand step towards exposing the myth and the deadly effects of so-called objective’ or balanced journalism."

Across America, Republicans were going to the movies and the film attracted record numbers of moviegoers in towns with military bases.
"I was reluctantly dragged to see Fahrenheit 9/11, expecting nothing but a bad political diatribe and anti-government propaganda," Omar Chavez wrote in letters to Miami Herald. The media had given him that impression, but the movie changed his mind. "Michael Moore is a real patriot for having the courage and intelligence to release this film. Americans should applaud his efforts to shed light on one of the darkest periods in American history."

Critics of the Bush administration, the war in Iraq and the film are ready for a sequel, probing further the masterminds behind 9/11, which they say were not Saudis as many have come to believe.



08 July 2004

53.71 kph



The "Blue Train" delivers!

--ryan

Guardian Unlimited Sport: Postmen deliver yellow for Armstrong

William Fotheringham in Arras
Thursday July 8, 2004

If Lance Armstrong eventually loses out to Tyler Hamilton or Jan Ullrich, and the margin is a handful of seconds, he will have every reason to look back at yesterday's team time-trial and roundly curse the Tour de France's rulebook. For it may be that, because of that inoffensive-looking volume, Armstrong or someone else will finish the 2,000-mile race in the fastest time but not actually win it.

Yesterday the Texan's US Postal Service team were dominant, earning him the yellow jersey and gaining their second successive win in this test of collective strength, yet a complex change in the rules to prevent weaker squads from being disadvantaged meant they were unable to ram that winning margin home.

"There is no point in discussing it because that is the rules," said Armstrong, although his team manager Johan Bruyneel had called the change "ridiculous".

"I can't change the rules," Armstrong added. "The only consolation I can take is that when I see we put 1min 7sec on the next team I know my team is the strongest and the best team in the race." Indeed, the Postmen put in the ride of their lives to leave Hamilton's green-clad Phonak team trailing.

The average speed of 33.5mph in a stiff breeze and on roads which varied from flooded to merely soaking meant they were travelling for much of the 40 miles at 40-45mph, allowing for taking each bend at walking speed.

"Last year winning this stage was the highlight of my Tour de France," said Armstrong, adding that he had fallen in love with the team time-trial as a junior. "This event is something unique in cycling, because you can be four guys who are not so strong but if you work out properly how to take the pulls you can win." It was a masterly, disciplined performance, and its planning and execution sum up why the Texan has made the Tour his own in the past five years. He covered the course twice in a car as an aide-memoire to go with his previous reconnoissances.Each rider had a pre-set place in the line so that his strength could be used to the full. The blue train sped with the precision of a skein of geese in flight.

Armstrong was lucky, as, by and large, he has also been in the past five Tours. Hamilton's men suffered four punctures in the first 15 miles, destroying their rhythm, and for a few miles there was patent indecision among them whether to wait or continue. Phonak is a hearing-aid manufacturer but communication was sadly lacking in the team it sponsors. Among the also-rans - that is all the 20 other teams, for none was on the level of USP - there were flat tyres and crashes galore.

On a course from Cambrai to Arras via Bapaume, the historical resonances ran deep - the start in the old fortress at the heart of the Hindenburg line, the finish where the Somme offensive began, the straight wind- and rain-lashed roads through towns with hardly a single building more than 80 years old, among cornfields where each hillock seems to have its cemetery of white crosses.

The Tour's first week has often been described as trench warfare, in that great effort is expended but not much ground gained, and in these surroundings it was perhaps appropriate that yesterday there was, if not stalemate, then no decisive breakthrough.

In past years, team time- trials have been decided on actual time taken for the first five riders in each squad to cross the line. That time is added to each man's overall time. This year a bonus system was introduced, with a table of sliding time penalties according to a team's finishing position.

It is a system which could have been devised only by the same beancounting minds that invented France's labyrinthine employment laws, and once the slide rules had been put away it was decreed that Amstrong's team had finished 1min 7sec ahead of Hamilton's - but their gain was limited to 20sec. They were 1:19 faster than Ullrich's T-Mobile men but the German's deficit for the day was cut to 40sec. The New Englander and Ullrich are now eighth and 16th - 36 and 55sec behind - and can thank their lucky stars.

No one, however, would begrudge the Basque climber Ibán Mayo a bit of good fortune after his black Tuesday in Wasquehal, and his Euskaltel team managed a surprisingly coherent eighth place, disrupted only when a bike fell off one of their team cars dangerously close to a group of spectators. Their actual deficit of 2:35 was adjusted to 1:20.

Today's flat run from one great cathedral city to another should see the fourth new race leader in as many days Armstrong made it plain that he would not ask his team to expend valuable energy in an attempt to cling on to the maillot jaune 2 weeks from the finish.

"We need to conserve their strength for the second half of the race," he said. "I'm not going to sacrifice the team to defend the lead in the north of France." With the yellow jersey up for grabs, the racing should be intense. There will be more wind and rain to numb the legs, but the riders' nerves will again be jangling.




Ode to Bicycles






Ode to Bicycles

I was walking
down
a sizzling road:
the sun popped like
a field of blazing maize,
the
earth
was hot,
an infinite circle
with an empty
blue sky overhead.

A few bicycles
passed
me by,
the only
insects
in
that dry
moment of summer,
silent,
swift,
translucent;
they
barely stirred
the air.

Workers and girls
were riding to their
factories,
giving
their eyes
to summer,
their heads to the sky,
sitting on the
hard
beetle backs
of the whirling
bicycles
that whirred
as they rode by
bridges, rosebushes, brambles
and midday.

I thought about evening when
the boys
wash up,
sing, eat, raise
a cup
of wine
in honor
of love
and life,
and waiting
at the door,
the bicycle,
stilled,
because
only moving
does it have a soul,
and fallen there
it isn't
a translucent insect
humming
through summer
but
a cold
skeleton
that will return to
life
only
when it's needed,
when it's light,
that is,
with
the
resurrection
of each day.

--Pablo Neruda


05 July 2004

William Scott Anderson, aka "Blue Otter"





Public Advisory issued by ComancheLodge.com.

Please feel free to distribute!

This warning is issued for the public to BEWARE of the individual
known as William Scott Anderson, a resident of Cabool Missouri.

This advisory is published for the protection of the general public
and to advise our visitors that this individual over a period of
several years has operated numerous monetary scams conducted in the name of American Indian People.

Scott Anderson is the current spokesperson for a false group operating
out of Deltona Florida using the name of Indian Creek Band of
Chickamauga Cherokee. Anderson has in fact been known for the
solicitation of donations from the public on behalf of a Convicted Sex
Criminal who is a Registered Sex Offender in the State of Missouri,
along with several other incidents of exploitation affecting American
Indian People.

William Scott Anderson, otherwise known as Blue Otter, began
soliciting donations over the Internet in 2001 for the legal defense
of what he was claiming was an issue of Religious Persecution
concerning the violation of American Indian civil rights.

The incident Mr. Anderson claimed was an American Indian Issue,
actually took place during the execution of a federal search warrant
conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco & Firearms (ATF) in
connection with an investigation by local law enforcement over the
failure of an associate of Mr. Anderson to register in his community,
as is required by federal law in connection with a previous 1990
conviction for a sexual offense concerning a minor.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/da...22265p.pdf

Mr. Anderson was present during this raid where over 17 illegal
firearms were confiscated by authorities that was in the possesion of
the individual in question. This then led to a Grand Jury Indictment
concerning the illegal possession of these firearms by the convicted
sex offender to which the felon then later entered a plea of guilty as
charged.

During the time prior to the entered plea of guilty by the defendant,
William Scott Anderson was in fact soliciting money donations online
for the Legal Aid of this convicted sex criminal under the guise of a
Cherokee American Indian cause while making the claim that the ATF
raid was actually a result of religious persecution of American Indian
people.

Federal court documents concerning the case prove that Mr. Andersons' online solicitations for money under the guise of an American Indian cause were entirely false as this was never a case that involved the Bureau of Indian Affairs, but rather as a direct result of illegal firearms possession by a convicted sex felon which is a violation of federal law.

William Scott Anderson has also falsely claimed to be a Cherokee
Indian Chief in addition to his claims to being a Cherokee Medicine
Man descended from Pocahontas (who he also claims was Cherokee), and he is currently operating yet another monetary scam where he solicits donations online via paypal under the guise of yet another Fake Cherokee Indian Tribe that he claims is located in Florida.

Please be advised that this individual was officially denounced by the
Cherokee Nation in the year 2000 for his heinous abuse of the free
e-mail system that the Cherokee Nation generously offered to the
public that Mr. Anderson was abusing.

Anderson was abusing their free e-mail system to make his false
claims. This was quickly discovered, which then led to his account
being deleted by Cherokee Nation authorities.

Anderson has claimed for several years to be a medicine man where he sold injections of Tahitian Noni Juice while claiming his concoction
heals American Indian people of Diabetes.

Please avoid this individual and the groups he is associated with, and
please be advised of Mr. Anderson's connection to numerous deplorable exploitations of the American Indian People over a period of several years.

If you have been a victim of fraud concerning the scams operated by
this individual named William Scott Anderson, alias Blue Otter, AKA
Runningbull, AKA Strongeagle, Please contact the Bureau of Indian
Affairs to file a report!

Many Blessings!
-Darren McCathern