30.9.02
A week ago in this column, after visiting Valenti in his Washington office, I did my best to faithfully reflect the position of the lobbying organization he heads, the Motion Picture Association of America. Now it's my turn.
Saying you believe in compromise is one thing. Acting like it is another.
In fact, the entertainment cartel has in recent years grossly tipped the balance. Spending millions of dollars on campaign contributions and lobbying, it has persuaded Congress to enact laws reflecting a radical view of information and its use.
The major media/entertainment companies believe that control of information -- absolute control over how it can be used -- belongs to the owner of the copyright. They insist, moreover, that copyrights should be able to last indefinitely.
This is not a compromise, no matter what Valenti calls it. This is a radical agenda, one that overturns tradition and would ultimately wipe out the public domain, without which our culture would be vastly poorer.
{and that's why I read Dan Gillmor}
Saying you believe in compromise is one thing. Acting like it is another.
In fact, the entertainment cartel has in recent years grossly tipped the balance. Spending millions of dollars on campaign contributions and lobbying, it has persuaded Congress to enact laws reflecting a radical view of information and its use.
The major media/entertainment companies believe that control of information -- absolute control over how it can be used -- belongs to the owner of the copyright. They insist, moreover, that copyrights should be able to last indefinitely.
This is not a compromise, no matter what Valenti calls it. This is a radical agenda, one that overturns tradition and would ultimately wipe out the public domain, without which our culture would be vastly poorer.
{and that's why I read Dan Gillmor}
George Walker, GW's great-grandfather, also set up the takeover of the Hamburg-America Line, a cover for I.G. Farben's Nazi espionage unit in the United States. In Germany, I.G. Farben was most famous for putting the gas in gas chambers; it was the producer of Zyklon B and other gasses used on victims of the Holocaust. The Bush family was not unaware of the nature of their investment partners. They hired Allen Dulles, the future head of the CIA, to hide the funds they were making from Nazi investments and the funds they were sending to Nazi Germany, rather than divest. It was only in 1942, when the government seized Union Banking Company assets under the Trading With The Enemy Act, that George Walker and Prescott Bush stopped pumping money into Hitler's regime.
Nick Mamatas in disinfo via that Dr. menlo
{if Mamatas's veracity is near the readability/quality of disinfo's recent quiz-everything you know is wrong- the Bush family can rest a little easier, for now, tho I feel strongly he's more right than wrong.}
Nick Mamatas in disinfo via that Dr. menlo
{if Mamatas's veracity is near the readability/quality of disinfo's recent quiz-everything you know is wrong- the Bush family can rest a little easier, for now, tho I feel strongly he's more right than wrong.}
28.9.02
Fortunately, power has a shelf life. When the time comes, maybe this mighty empire will, like others before it, overreach itself and implode from within. It looks as though structural cracks have already appeared. As the war against terror casts its net wider and wider, America's corporate heart is haemorrhaging. A world run by a handful of greedy bankers and CEOs whom nobody elected can't possibly last.
Arundhati Roy in The Guardian on Greed vs. Iraq
Arundhati Roy in The Guardian on Greed vs. Iraq
26.9.02
THE FINAL three minutes of hijacked United Flight 93 are still a mystery more than a year after it crashed in western Pennsylvania - even to grieving relatives who sought comfort in listening to its cockpit tapes in April.
A Daily News investigation has found a roughly three-minute gap between the time the tape goes silent - according to government-prepared transcripts - and the time that top scientists have pinpointed for the crash.
Several leading seismologists agree that Flight 93 crashed last Sept. 11 at 10:06:05 a.m., give or take a couple of seconds. Family members allowed to hear the cockpit voice recorder in Princeton, N.J., last spring were told it stopped just after 10:03.
The FBI and other agencies refused repeated requests to explain the discrepancy
A Daily News investigation has found a roughly three-minute gap between the time the tape goes silent - according to government-prepared transcripts - and the time that top scientists have pinpointed for the crash.
Several leading seismologists agree that Flight 93 crashed last Sept. 11 at 10:06:05 a.m., give or take a couple of seconds. Family members allowed to hear the cockpit voice recorder in Princeton, N.J., last spring were told it stopped just after 10:03.
The FBI and other agencies refused repeated requests to explain the discrepancy
As the unofficial spokesperson for the anti-globalization movement, Naomi Klein wants everyone to quit calling it the "anti-globalization movement."
"The irony of the media-imposed label, 'anti-globalization,' is that we in this movement have been turning globalization into a lived reality, perhaps more so than even the most multinational of corporate executives," she writes. Klein and a globeful of protesters are building connections from "landless farmers in Brazil, to teachers in Argentina, to fast food workers in Italy... to migrant tomato pickers in Florida."
While she's at it, Klein is also not quite comfortable with being called a spokesperson. "This movement doesn't have leaders in the traditional sense," she writes, "just people determined to learn, and to pass it on."
"The irony of the media-imposed label, 'anti-globalization,' is that we in this movement have been turning globalization into a lived reality, perhaps more so than even the most multinational of corporate executives," she writes. Klein and a globeful of protesters are building connections from "landless farmers in Brazil, to teachers in Argentina, to fast food workers in Italy... to migrant tomato pickers in Florida."
While she's at it, Klein is also not quite comfortable with being called a spokesperson. "This movement doesn't have leaders in the traditional sense," she writes, "just people determined to learn, and to pass it on."
According to the lawsuit, Brewer, 27, discovered the camera on the morning of July 11.
"Thinking it might be an insect, Mr. Brewer swatted at the black spot, thereby inadvertently breaking the plastic cover on the light fixture," Herston wrote in the lawsuit. "He called the front desk, apologized and offered to pay for the fixture."
But while he was waiting for someone to fix the damage, Brewer noticed wires and discovered a small video camera.
A further look by security personnel confirmed that it was an elaborate, self-contained, video recording system.
"The video camera was connected to the bathroom light switch such that the camera would begin recording when the bathroom light was turned on and would stop recording when (it) was turned off," the lawsuit states.
Herston said that the equipment had a film of dust on it indicating that it had been there for some time. It also had a piece of tape on it indicating the room number, Room 253.
"Thinking it might be an insect, Mr. Brewer swatted at the black spot, thereby inadvertently breaking the plastic cover on the light fixture," Herston wrote in the lawsuit. "He called the front desk, apologized and offered to pay for the fixture."
But while he was waiting for someone to fix the damage, Brewer noticed wires and discovered a small video camera.
A further look by security personnel confirmed that it was an elaborate, self-contained, video recording system.
"The video camera was connected to the bathroom light switch such that the camera would begin recording when the bathroom light was turned on and would stop recording when (it) was turned off," the lawsuit states.
Herston said that the equipment had a film of dust on it indicating that it had been there for some time. It also had a piece of tape on it indicating the room number, Room 253.
23.9.02
here's the whole kit and caboodle, right on the money
via the New Yorker
in which eminent rag Edna O'Brien quotes Romain Rolland thus:
"I read years ago a remark by Romain Rolland, which has stayed with me. He said, "Art is a great consolation to the individual but it is useless against history." However, since everyone here today, and hopefully many others, are on the consolation quest, both as hostages to and witnesses of history, it is not the time to be pusillanimous or silenced by our helplessness."
via the New Yorker
in which eminent rag Edna O'Brien quotes Romain Rolland thus:
"I read years ago a remark by Romain Rolland, which has stayed with me. He said, "Art is a great consolation to the individual but it is useless against history." However, since everyone here today, and hopefully many others, are on the consolation quest, both as hostages to and witnesses of history, it is not the time to be pusillanimous or silenced by our helplessness."
22.9.02
Eric Fischl's bronze, "Tumbling Woman," depicts a naked woman with arms and legs flailing. It went on view about a week ago in the lower concourse at Rockfeller Center and was supposed to remain on display through Monday.
Some passers-by in Rockefeller Center complained that the sculpture was too graphic.
"I don't think it dignifies their deaths," said Paul Labb.
>"It's not art. It is very disrupting when you see it."<
"The sculpture was not meant to hurt anybody," Fischl said in a statement. "It was a sincere expression of deepest sympathy for the vulnerability of the human condition. Both specifically toward the victims of September 11 and toward humanity in general."
Some passers-by in Rockefeller Center complained that the sculpture was too graphic.
"I don't think it dignifies their deaths," said Paul Labb.
>"It's not art. It is very disrupting when you see it."<
"The sculpture was not meant to hurt anybody," Fischl said in a statement. "It was a sincere expression of deepest sympathy for the vulnerability of the human condition. Both specifically toward the victims of September 11 and toward humanity in general."
21.9.02
Authorities said the mother had left the store angry because she was refused a cash refund for goods. The woman is then seen putting her daughter in the back seat of a sport utility vehicle, then pummeling, slapping and shaking her for nearly a half-minute.
Toogood's attorney, Steven Rosen, said his client was angry because her child was misbehaving in the department store. He said he would not attempt to defend the attack because of the videotape.
"It's clear here the young lady lost her temper," said. "I'm not here to say she's not guilty ... She committed a shameful act. She shall be punished."
Rosen also criticized the girl's temporary placement with another family, saying the Toogood family was tight-knit and traumatized by the decision.
{ ten bucks says you could read that whole story and never think about how the video tape made the transition from camera to human eye. somebody had to SEE that incident. but it's all about the camera. captured on videotape. captured indeed. a boundariless paddock of reactive domesticated animals, with all that moral outrage confined to the approved moral distinctions. when are they going to show the little mangled corpses on nationalTV? hmmm? automobile "accidents" are the leading cause of death for children, for people under 30 for that matter._ the. leading. cause. of death._ but they've got all the swine up in trotters about abuse and smoking. which, kaff, kaff, are yes truly bad things, but...the leading cause of death... purely random, violent death, with no biological purpose, no right or wrong, just tick tick tick tick, boom! bang! and voila! dead kids.
and not a fucking word from the holy screen. why?
I wonder.}
Toogood's attorney, Steven Rosen, said his client was angry because her child was misbehaving in the department store. He said he would not attempt to defend the attack because of the videotape.
"It's clear here the young lady lost her temper," said. "I'm not here to say she's not guilty ... She committed a shameful act. She shall be punished."
Rosen also criticized the girl's temporary placement with another family, saying the Toogood family was tight-knit and traumatized by the decision.
{ ten bucks says you could read that whole story and never think about how the video tape made the transition from camera to human eye. somebody had to SEE that incident. but it's all about the camera. captured on videotape. captured indeed. a boundariless paddock of reactive domesticated animals, with all that moral outrage confined to the approved moral distinctions. when are they going to show the little mangled corpses on nationalTV? hmmm? automobile "accidents" are the leading cause of death for children, for people under 30 for that matter._ the. leading. cause. of death._ but they've got all the swine up in trotters about abuse and smoking. which, kaff, kaff, are yes truly bad things, but...the leading cause of death... purely random, violent death, with no biological purpose, no right or wrong, just tick tick tick tick, boom! bang! and voila! dead kids.
and not a fucking word from the holy screen. why?
I wonder.}
20.9.02
Thousands of pilgrims in Thailand were visiting a water puddle in the shape of the Buddha's footprint; the puddle is guarded by a frog, and the frog was said to be dying because people keep rubbing talcum powder on its skin hoping to see lottery numbers.
harper's weekly
harper's weekly
Speed of light broken with basic lab kit
10:03 16 September 02
NewScientist.com news service
Electric signals can be transmitted at least four times faster than the speed of light using only basic equipment that would be found in virtually any college science department.
Scientists have sent light signals at faster-than-light speeds over the distances of a few metres for the last two decades - but only with the aid of complicated, expensive equipment. Now physicists at Middle Tennessee State University have broken that speed limit over distances of nearly 120 metres, using off-the-shelf equipment costing just $500.
10:03 16 September 02
NewScientist.com news service
Electric signals can be transmitted at least four times faster than the speed of light using only basic equipment that would be found in virtually any college science department.
Scientists have sent light signals at faster-than-light speeds over the distances of a few metres for the last two decades - but only with the aid of complicated, expensive equipment. Now physicists at Middle Tennessee State University have broken that speed limit over distances of nearly 120 metres, using off-the-shelf equipment costing just $500.
In The Blank Slate, he notes "that there is a quasi-religious theory of human nature that is prevalent among pundits and intellectuals, which includes both empirical assumptions about how the mind works and a set of values that people hang on those assumptions. The theory has three parts".
One is the doctrine of "the blank slate": that we have no inherent talents or temperaments, because the mind is shaped completely by the environment�parenting, culture, and society.
"The second is "the noble savage": that evil motives are not inherent to people but come from corrupting social institutions.
The third is "the ghost in the machine", that the most important part of us is somehow independent of our biology, so that our ability to have experiences and make choices can't be explained by our physiological makeup and evolutionary history.
These three ideas are increasingly being challenged by the sciences of the mind, brain, genes, and evolution," he says, "but they are held as much for their moral and political uplift as for any empirical rationale. People think that these doctrines are preferable on moral grounds and that the alternative is forbidden territory that we should avoid at all costs".
Steven Pinker interviewed at Edge.org vis. his new book-
The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature
link via the consistently worthwhile girlhacker
One is the doctrine of "the blank slate": that we have no inherent talents or temperaments, because the mind is shaped completely by the environment�parenting, culture, and society.
"The second is "the noble savage": that evil motives are not inherent to people but come from corrupting social institutions.
The third is "the ghost in the machine", that the most important part of us is somehow independent of our biology, so that our ability to have experiences and make choices can't be explained by our physiological makeup and evolutionary history.
These three ideas are increasingly being challenged by the sciences of the mind, brain, genes, and evolution," he says, "but they are held as much for their moral and political uplift as for any empirical rationale. People think that these doctrines are preferable on moral grounds and that the alternative is forbidden territory that we should avoid at all costs".
Steven Pinker interviewed at Edge.org vis. his new book-
The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature
link via the consistently worthwhile girlhacker
Q. Among men in their 20s, which sort is least likely to live to age 30?
A. Fat, uneducated, single Egyptian manual laborers.
L.M. Boyd
Q. You've heard of "rogue elephants." Are there "rogue whales"?
A. Indeed. A whale called "Mocha" -- for whom "Moby Dick" was named -- terrorized seamen in the 1840s. He sank five ships, killed more than 30 men and survived 19 harpoons. Or so it's reported in the sea logs.
A. Fat, uneducated, single Egyptian manual laborers.
L.M. Boyd
Q. You've heard of "rogue elephants." Are there "rogue whales"?
A. Indeed. A whale called "Mocha" -- for whom "Moby Dick" was named -- terrorized seamen in the 1840s. He sank five ships, killed more than 30 men and survived 19 harpoons. Or so it's reported in the sea logs.
"The myth that the National Educational Association told teachers not to blame Sept. 11 on al-Qaida continues to unravel," reports Brendan Nyhan. "It's now clear that Washington Times reporter Ellen Sorokin based her original myth-creating article on a preliminary NEA Web site that clearly wasn't complete, misconstruing quotations from a recommended sample essay allegedly written by a professor named Brian Lippincott and attributing them to the NEA. Even worse, the essay in question, published by the National Association of School Psychologists on Sept. 15, 2001, was meant to preach tolerance toward Arab and Muslim Americans -- not al-Qaida. And Lippincott, contrary to what has been widely reported, did not even write it. Yet the myth still continues to spread in Op-Ed columns, on TV and even in a comic strip." Source: Spinsanity.org, September 18, 2002
also see:
The Chickenhawk Database
What do George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Britt Hume, Rush Limbaugh, John Ashcroft, Tom DeLay, Trent Lott, Roger Ailes, Bill O'Reily and Jerry Falwell all have in common? They're all listed in the "Chickenhawk Database." Compiled by Vietnam veteran and newspaper editor Steve Fowle, the database lists pro-war pundits who "share three qualities: bellicosity (a warlike manner or temperament), public prominence, and a curious lack of wartime service when others their age had no trouble finding the fight." The Washington Post notes that many of "the nation's most persistent voices in support of military attack on Iraq ... are people who never served in Vietnam or saw first hand the carnage that war produces." Conservative Senator Chuck Hagel, a Vietnam veteran, agrees: "It is interesting to me that many of those who want to rush this country into war and think it would be so quick and easy don't know anything about war. They come at it from an intellectual perspective versus having sat in jungles or foxholes and watched their friends get their heads blown off."
also see:
The Chickenhawk Database
What do George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Britt Hume, Rush Limbaugh, John Ashcroft, Tom DeLay, Trent Lott, Roger Ailes, Bill O'Reily and Jerry Falwell all have in common? They're all listed in the "Chickenhawk Database." Compiled by Vietnam veteran and newspaper editor Steve Fowle, the database lists pro-war pundits who "share three qualities: bellicosity (a warlike manner or temperament), public prominence, and a curious lack of wartime service when others their age had no trouble finding the fight." The Washington Post notes that many of "the nation's most persistent voices in support of military attack on Iraq ... are people who never served in Vietnam or saw first hand the carnage that war produces." Conservative Senator Chuck Hagel, a Vietnam veteran, agrees: "It is interesting to me that many of those who want to rush this country into war and think it would be so quick and easy don't know anything about war. They come at it from an intellectual perspective versus having sat in jungles or foxholes and watched their friends get their heads blown off."
Elron's zombies in the field:
intimidation works. unless people resist.
a tip of the iceberg to: bOiNGBoiNg
which who also puts us up to OldVersion.com
intimidation works. unless people resist.
a tip of the iceberg to: bOiNGBoiNg
which who also puts us up to OldVersion.com
18.9.02
15.9.02
If you bump into people (we tried it many times) it was no worse than bumping into people as a person. Actually it was better, because the bumping causes the handlebar to move back and that does a braking action, unlike a person who would just continue forward with their momentum. The wide tires distribute weight, so running over a toe isn't too bad. (It doesn't mess up grass much on a golf course, either, I hear.) The units we used raise you off the ground, so tall people have to be careful about bumping their heads on branches and things that they didn't previously need to watch out for. Like someone running through a crowd pushing people with their elbows, an impolite person can be impolite on a Segway, too. Social norms will probably develop for different locales. The fact that you don't have to keep moving to keep from falling off (as you would with a bike or scooter) will lessen the tendency to push the limits of decency when encountering people in your path.
What situations can you use it in? Won't snow and rain mess it up? What about sidewalk curbs?
Gary told us in his talk a bit about the testing being done by the U.S. military's Special Operations people. They have souped up units, going very fast, carrying lots of weight, and push them to their limits. (I'd assume that Special Ops people don't get nice sidewalks to ride on.) He wasn't allowed to show us pictures, but imagine this.......
dan bricklin on Segway
What situations can you use it in? Won't snow and rain mess it up? What about sidewalk curbs?
Gary told us in his talk a bit about the testing being done by the U.S. military's Special Operations people. They have souped up units, going very fast, carrying lots of weight, and push them to their limits. (I'd assume that Special Ops people don't get nice sidewalks to ride on.) He wasn't allowed to show us pictures, but imagine this.......
dan bricklin on Segway
An unusual triangle of light will be particularly bright near the eastern horizon before sunrise during the next two months for observers in Earth's northern hemisphere. Once considered a false dawn, this triangle of light is actually Zodiacal Light, light reflected from interplanetary dust particles
14.9.02
Seventy-one people, School of the Americas Watch tells us, have served a total of more than 40 years in prison for engaging in nonviolent resistance in the long campaign to close the school. Last year Dorothy Hennessey, an 88-year-old Franciscan nun, was sentenced to six months in federal prison. "It�s ironic," Sister Hennessey says, "that at a time when the country is reflecting on how terrorism has impacted our lives, dedicated people who took direct action to stop terrorism throughout the Americas are on their way into prison."
from
Alexander Cockburn Wild Justice in the NYPress
from
Alexander Cockburn Wild Justice in the NYPress
"I am so anxious," she said, after being coaxed from her hiding place. "I'm afraid to go to town. I'm afraid to talk. I'm afraid of everything."
{until it becomes public, this kind of thing is the silence good hearts keep. after it becomes public, it is the sound of resistance good hearts make.}
{until it becomes public, this kind of thing is the silence good hearts keep. after it becomes public, it is the sound of resistance good hearts make.}
Media reports of threats Katie's received are indeed true. She's being homeschooled right now because of those threats (due to her parents' concerns, and the fact the school can't guarantee her safety). She says she'd prefer to be in school. However, the situation as it is has made that a problem.
In Chile, September 11 was marked by violent clashes between demonstrators and Carabinero military police, resulting in over 500 arrests and scores of wounded.
While the media in the US and Western Europe concentrated exclusively on ceremonies marking the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Chile was rocked by protests in observance of the 29th anniversary of the US-backed coup that inaugurated 17 years of brutal military dictatorship.
That September 11, in 1973, also saw planes flying low over a country�s largest city, leaving one of its most important buildings in flames and its people in a state of shock. But in Chile it was the bombing of the La Moneda presidential palace, where the elected president, Salvador Allende, died. The attack inaugurated a bloodbath from which Chile has yet to recover.
...
Lagos used the occasion of the anniversary to make a ritualistic appeal for �reconciliation� between the torturers and the tortured. Those who took an active part in the coup and the subsequent repression, he said, �must have a moment of contrition.� He then praised the armed forces for making �a definitive contribution.�
This same theme was sounded in a bizarre joint television appearance by the grandson of Allende and the granddaughter of Pinochet. Maria Jos� Pinochet conceded that her grandfather may have been �politically� responsible for human rights violations during his 17-year reign, but added that he was so busy that �some things got by him.�
Gonzalo Meza Allende, for his part, echoed the current position of his grandfather�s Socialist Party, praising the Pinochet dictatorship for its �successful� economic policies.
The military used the occasion to further its demand for a �full stop� amnesty, guaranteeing that no one will ever be held accountable for the assassinations, kidnappings and torture committed under the dictatorship......
from wsws {filthy discredited dangerous subversive lying cheating stinking bearded long-haired wild-eyed anarchy-bomb world socialists} via floating wreckage
While the media in the US and Western Europe concentrated exclusively on ceremonies marking the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Chile was rocked by protests in observance of the 29th anniversary of the US-backed coup that inaugurated 17 years of brutal military dictatorship.
That September 11, in 1973, also saw planes flying low over a country�s largest city, leaving one of its most important buildings in flames and its people in a state of shock. But in Chile it was the bombing of the La Moneda presidential palace, where the elected president, Salvador Allende, died. The attack inaugurated a bloodbath from which Chile has yet to recover.
...
Lagos used the occasion of the anniversary to make a ritualistic appeal for �reconciliation� between the torturers and the tortured. Those who took an active part in the coup and the subsequent repression, he said, �must have a moment of contrition.� He then praised the armed forces for making �a definitive contribution.�
This same theme was sounded in a bizarre joint television appearance by the grandson of Allende and the granddaughter of Pinochet. Maria Jos� Pinochet conceded that her grandfather may have been �politically� responsible for human rights violations during his 17-year reign, but added that he was so busy that �some things got by him.�
Gonzalo Meza Allende, for his part, echoed the current position of his grandfather�s Socialist Party, praising the Pinochet dictatorship for its �successful� economic policies.
The military used the occasion to further its demand for a �full stop� amnesty, guaranteeing that no one will ever be held accountable for the assassinations, kidnappings and torture committed under the dictatorship......
from wsws {filthy discredited dangerous subversive lying cheating stinking bearded long-haired wild-eyed anarchy-bomb world socialists} via floating wreckage
13.9.02
PAUL CHODAS NEAR-EARTH OBJECT PROGRAM OFFICE, NASA -
An analysis of the orbital motion of the newly discovered object J002E3 indicates that it could be a leftover Saturn V third stage from one of the Apollo missions, most likely the Apollo 12 mission, launched on November 14, 1969. The new object was discovered on September 3 by Bill Yeung, who noted that it was moving quite rapidly. Initial orbit computations by the Minor Planet Center indicated that the object was only about twice as far away as the Moon, and was actually in orbit about our planet. This fact, combined with the rather faint intrinsic magnitude, immediately led astronomers to suspect that the object is actually a spacecraft or rocket body, not an asteroid. But the object could not be associated with any recent launch.
via progressive news{hmmmm....you don't suppose...?}
An analysis of the orbital motion of the newly discovered object J002E3 indicates that it could be a leftover Saturn V third stage from one of the Apollo missions, most likely the Apollo 12 mission, launched on November 14, 1969. The new object was discovered on September 3 by Bill Yeung, who noted that it was moving quite rapidly. Initial orbit computations by the Minor Planet Center indicated that the object was only about twice as far away as the Moon, and was actually in orbit about our planet. This fact, combined with the rather faint intrinsic magnitude, immediately led astronomers to suspect that the object is actually a spacecraft or rocket body, not an asteroid. But the object could not be associated with any recent launch.
via progressive news{hmmmm....you don't suppose...?}
12.9.02
the looking glass is media-level journalism in quality, blog-level in its unfetteredness, economistic in its focus
BAGHDAD (R) � Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz sent a letter of condolence to former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark on the anniversary of hijack attacks in the United States, the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) said on Wednesday.
Clark, a vocal opponent of US policy on Iraq and the UN sanctions imposed since Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, visited Iraq late last month.
�On the elapse of one year after the tragic events of Sept. 11, I express to you, and through you to the families of the victims my deep condolences,� Aziz said in the letter.
Wednesday marked one year since hijackers killed more than 3,000 people in the United States when they seized four commercial airliners, slammed two into the twin towers of New York's World Trade Centre and one into the Pentagon. The fourth plane crashed in a rural Pennsylvania field.
Washington says there is no hard evidence linking Iraq to the attacks but, with Al Qaeda leader Osama Ben Laden elusive and perhaps dead, deposing President Saddam Hussein has become US President George W. Bush's main focus.
�Our sympathy with you in this event rises from our feeling here in Iraq of the tragedies which have hit our people over 12 years of continued sanctions and aggression,� Aziz said.
Jordan Times not via Drudge
Clark, a vocal opponent of US policy on Iraq and the UN sanctions imposed since Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, visited Iraq late last month.
�On the elapse of one year after the tragic events of Sept. 11, I express to you, and through you to the families of the victims my deep condolences,� Aziz said in the letter.
Wednesday marked one year since hijackers killed more than 3,000 people in the United States when they seized four commercial airliners, slammed two into the twin towers of New York's World Trade Centre and one into the Pentagon. The fourth plane crashed in a rural Pennsylvania field.
Washington says there is no hard evidence linking Iraq to the attacks but, with Al Qaeda leader Osama Ben Laden elusive and perhaps dead, deposing President Saddam Hussein has become US President George W. Bush's main focus.
�Our sympathy with you in this event rises from our feeling here in Iraq of the tragedies which have hit our people over 12 years of continued sanctions and aggression,� Aziz said.
Jordan Times not via Drudge
Twice in a two-week period, what authorities believe to be the same yearling bear was roughed up by tourists in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee because each time he had a fawn in his grasp and was about to have dinner. Floridian Michael Shaw, 38, was charged by park rangers with interfering with wildlife for kicking and roughing up the bear (even though he insisted that saving the deer was the right thing to do), and in the second attack on July 7, a group of visitors drove the bear away by pelting him with rocks (until an animal researcher in the group explained to them the way nature works). [Orlando Sentinel-AP, 7-12-02]
news of the weird
news of the weird
11.9.02
this is a photograph by Carolyn Forche's husband Harry Mattison, and these are the ears I was mentioning
{Women for whom my love has never ceased to live and as it lives grow and as it grows become more than its beginning as the need of a man
becoming the rightful presence of a woman in the dirt of the earth and a man in the dirt of the earth this is the woman who brought us the ears the ears the ears that made that sound those sounds the ears made still making those sounds the ears she brought I stole that sound like a glad thief and made it into a spider made into dental plaque gave it to whores in Guatemala who gave it to subversive boys who hid it in the bright corners of the day hid it in a helicopter flying low over that same spider and the spider was at that moment walking over a tolmec statuette inches under the surface and it dropped the block of dental plaque dropped and crushed him and a little of his blood dripped down through the soil onto that clay figure and he had walked all the way from a country school in Petaluma and now this:}
Teaching Statement
Carolyn Forch�
I didn't know quite what to do, so I announced to the class that I simply couldn't teach in a segregated classroom, and proposed that I leave for ten minutes while they discussed possible solutions. When I returned to class, the no-man's land was a bit more populated, and the class was involved in a rather heated discussion about whose fault the segregation had been. I assigned them to write a narrative about their childhoods in their own words and in their own hand, assuring them that I wouldn't assign grades to these papers. The next day, I asked them to read their papers aloud. They weren't called upon, and so we endured many long silences between volunteers. The narratives were poorly written, but they were compelling and interesting and provoked an unexpected reaction of shock among these students at the similarities between the childhoods of the African-American and white rural poor. Affected by each other's stories, they slowly allied themselves. I confessed to them that their teacher was a rank beginner, but that I cared about their success, and in exchange for their assistance in "training" me, I would certainly dedicate myself to helping them stay in school.
becoming the rightful presence of a woman in the dirt of the earth and a man in the dirt of the earth this is the woman who brought us the ears the ears the ears that made that sound those sounds the ears made still making those sounds the ears she brought I stole that sound like a glad thief and made it into a spider made into dental plaque gave it to whores in Guatemala who gave it to subversive boys who hid it in the bright corners of the day hid it in a helicopter flying low over that same spider and the spider was at that moment walking over a tolmec statuette inches under the surface and it dropped the block of dental plaque dropped and crushed him and a little of his blood dripped down through the soil onto that clay figure and he had walked all the way from a country school in Petaluma and now this:}
Teaching Statement
Carolyn Forch�
I didn't know quite what to do, so I announced to the class that I simply couldn't teach in a segregated classroom, and proposed that I leave for ten minutes while they discussed possible solutions. When I returned to class, the no-man's land was a bit more populated, and the class was involved in a rather heated discussion about whose fault the segregation had been. I assigned them to write a narrative about their childhoods in their own words and in their own hand, assuring them that I wouldn't assign grades to these papers. The next day, I asked them to read their papers aloud. They weren't called upon, and so we endured many long silences between volunteers. The narratives were poorly written, but they were compelling and interesting and provoked an unexpected reaction of shock among these students at the similarities between the childhoods of the African-American and white rural poor. Affected by each other's stories, they slowly allied themselves. I confessed to them that their teacher was a rank beginner, but that I cared about their success, and in exchange for their assistance in "training" me, I would certainly dedicate myself to helping them stay in school.
What happened?
AS THE United States mourns the innocent victims of the premeditated assaults on major American landmarks one year ago today, Arab countries can only wonder: What happened? With most not immune to the scourge of terrorism, Sept. 11, 2001 opened a window for further rapprochement between the US and moderate countries in this part of the world fighting twisted interpretations of Islam.
Yet in the year that has passed, a scan of the US political and international arena painfully reveals the many squandered opportunities to conquer an enemy of all freedom-loving people � terror.
from The Jordan Times 11/9/02
AS THE United States mourns the innocent victims of the premeditated assaults on major American landmarks one year ago today, Arab countries can only wonder: What happened? With most not immune to the scourge of terrorism, Sept. 11, 2001 opened a window for further rapprochement between the US and moderate countries in this part of the world fighting twisted interpretations of Islam.
Yet in the year that has passed, a scan of the US political and international arena painfully reveals the many squandered opportunities to conquer an enemy of all freedom-loving people � terror.
from The Jordan Times 11/9/02
{I've been feeling this push all day to write something about the day itself, its anniversary weight, the meaning and loss, and I've been resisting it as long as this because I have these blocks, locked-up emotions, fear-based hesitancies, all that kind of stuff, but I read Barlow's rap and a couple great poems and then this:
"Liberty is the most precious gift we offer our citizens."
that's the remarkable Tom Ridge there. I want to compare him to Cardinal Richelieu for some reason, except I don't know much about Richelieu.
"Liberty is the most precious gift we offer our citizens."
that's the remarkable Tom Ridge there. I want to compare him to Cardinal Richelieu for some reason, except I don't know much about Richelieu.
Ok. the fun part is it's such a simple statement. 4 noun/pronouns 3 adjectives/adverbial adjectives 2 verbs 1 article. the big hit is from the split, the distinction. a Martian with a tourist-level grasp of English could see it, he says "we" offer "our citizens" a "precious gift".
there is a profound distinction in that statement, between the giver of the gift of liberty and its receiver. a gift like that is like permission, "you can be free for the rest of the afternoon, but if you don't behave...." the power in the statement rests entirely with the speaker, and his cohort, not with the people.
it's truly most naked an expression of the arrogance and delusional fantasies these "men" carry.
my limited reading of American history leads me to conclude liberty was not given to the Founding Fathers, they took it. they took it by a refusal to obey unjust laws, and when pushed, they took their freedom with guns, and they did it in the name of American citizens to come, as American citizens to be themselves. it was most decidedly not a gift from anyone, unless you count the sacrifices of life and limb made on New England soil 226 years ago. and that is not the kind of giving Mr. Ridge and his cohort have in mind when they attempt the rhetoric of liberty, and describe it as a gift. I think I'm using too many words to say this.
Ridge is saying he, and whoever else is included in his "we", owns liberty, possesses it, and "gives" it to others, the citizens of America. and he "offers" it. that's not what I would call an "inalienable right". that's a lot more like a privilege. it's like that yuppie car-insurance argument, "driving is a privilege, not a right". we'll just ignore the fact that the automobile and its paths so dominate the landscape that it's become impossible to move from point to point with any kind of autonomy except in the heart of urban centers or at the risky, poisonous side of the highway. the idea is it's something you're required to qualify for, and you can be disqualified from, you can have that "privilege" revoked. in what passes for Mr. Ridge's heart and mind that is precisely what liberty is, a privilege administered by the state, the state in turn being the public face of that "we" he so confidently speaks for, and in turn, behind that public face is the real enemy of freedom. the presumption of authority which depends for its legitimacy and respect solely on threat and fear, the artificial creation of fear, and the subsequent defense of the frightened, juvenile tricks and cowardly manipulation in the service of greed, an ancient gambit whose achievements have never been anything more than the shackling of the human spirit.}
Under the Cloud
We ran in all directions �
to the vest-pocket park
or the blocked tunnel �
it was OK to run,
there were guards in uniform
lumbering beside us,
we fell into a gait,
not too fast, each
terrified of stumbling
or trampling a straggler.
As in a dream
you think fire hydrant
and come to a hydrant,
you think father
and come to a father �
we were pure consequence,
innocence, that force:
step, step, step:
but strangers bucked our tide,
squeezing past us,
searching our faces
briefly, not you, not you �
they were the ones
who had lost a child:
then the crazies who live
for the end of the world
marched brandishing signs:
Repent: at last
the off-duty firemen
called back from Bensonhurst
came cradling their axes
gingerly against their chests
so we wouldn't be hurt,
striding carefully,
flattening themselves, turning
to let us pass, keeping their eyes
fixed on the plume
and the radiance behind it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D. Nurkse
Poetry
in Poems.com Poetry Daily
We ran in all directions �
to the vest-pocket park
or the blocked tunnel �
it was OK to run,
there were guards in uniform
lumbering beside us,
we fell into a gait,
not too fast, each
terrified of stumbling
or trampling a straggler.
As in a dream
you think fire hydrant
and come to a hydrant,
you think father
and come to a father �
we were pure consequence,
innocence, that force:
step, step, step:
but strangers bucked our tide,
squeezing past us,
searching our faces
briefly, not you, not you �
they were the ones
who had lost a child:
then the crazies who live
for the end of the world
marched brandishing signs:
Repent: at last
the off-duty firemen
called back from Bensonhurst
came cradling their axes
gingerly against their chests
so we wouldn't be hurt,
striding carefully,
flattening themselves, turning
to let us pass, keeping their eyes
fixed on the plume
and the radiance behind it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D. Nurkse
Poetry
in Poems.com Poetry Daily
Jac Holzman's electric memories
via Markzilla, itself via research blogs,which also gives us the erudite, and fun, grumpygirl
via Markzilla, itself via research blogs,which also gives us the erudite, and fun, grumpygirl
this is us, in an open not so much inclusive sense, as in a non-exclusive sense, not that you're invited to the party, or the wake, but that unless you're causing a serious problem, nobody's going to ask you to leave, and if you want to be an 'us' you are, so that Mr. Tomorrow is a speaker for many who are different from him, not united behind, but out there WITH, alongside of, and each one fundamentally different from, and yet basically the same as....
oh heck! all together now...'I'm an individual, yes!'
oh heck! all together now...'I'm an individual, yes!'
"The ads say that doing drugs hinders the war on terror, which is true, because when you're high ... the whole thing kinda looks like bullshit!."
� Overheard at UnknownNews
in turn glimpsed at LiberalArtsMafia
� Overheard at UnknownNews
in turn glimpsed at LiberalArtsMafia
If you look at those matters, you will come to the conclusion that the attitude of the United States of America is a threat to world peace. Because what [America] is saying is that if you are afraid of a veto in the Security Council, you can go outside and take action and violate the sovereignty of other countries. That is the message they are sending to the world. That must be condemned in the strongest terms. And you will notice that France, Germany Russia, China are against this decision. It is clearly a decision that is motivated by George W. Bush�s desire to please the arms and oil industries in the United States of America.
....
I gather you are particularly concerned about Vice President Cheney?
Well, there is no doubt. He opposed the decision to release me from prison (laughs). The majority of the U.S. Congress was in favor of my release, and he opposed it. But it�s not because of that. Quite clearly we are dealing with an arch-conservative in Dick Cheney...
Nelson Mandela at msnbc
....
I gather you are particularly concerned about Vice President Cheney?
Well, there is no doubt. He opposed the decision to release me from prison (laughs). The majority of the U.S. Congress was in favor of my release, and he opposed it. But it�s not because of that. Quite clearly we are dealing with an arch-conservative in Dick Cheney...
Nelson Mandela at msnbc
son of Whole Earth uses tools and access for common weal
Noah Johnson in downtown Portland Ore. with the pepper spray and spit
Noah Johnson in downtown Portland Ore. with the pepper spray and spit
10.9.02
more fun with Negroes
{ something larger that isn't just racist, that doesn't even have racism as its predominant characteristic, something much darker and far more powerful}
{ something larger that isn't just racist, that doesn't even have racism as its predominant characteristic, something much darker and far more powerful}
Change since 1988 in the number of emergency rooms in the United States : �1,235
Chance that an American filing for bankruptcy last year did so because of medical expenses : 1 in 2
Percentage change last year in the total profits of Fortune 500 pharmaceutical companies : +35
Percentage change in the total profits of all Fortune 500 companies : �54
Chance, worldwide, that a child performs work that endangers his or her health : 1 in 9
Year in which the prom of Georgia's Taylor County public high school was first integrated : 2002
Average amount by which the price a black American pays for a new car exceeds that paid by a white for the same model : $420
harper's index online
Chance that an American filing for bankruptcy last year did so because of medical expenses : 1 in 2
Percentage change last year in the total profits of Fortune 500 pharmaceutical companies : +35
Percentage change in the total profits of all Fortune 500 companies : �54
Chance, worldwide, that a child performs work that endangers his or her health : 1 in 9
Year in which the prom of Georgia's Taylor County public high school was first integrated : 2002
Average amount by which the price a black American pays for a new car exceeds that paid by a white for the same model : $420
harper's index online
current proposals to remove the government by deploying hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops are deeply flawed. A premature attack against Iraq, especially when the public opposes it, would be a horrible mistake. Since 1990, more than 400 U.S. soldiers have died in the Gulf War theater of operations. Untold hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, both soldiers and civilians, also died. A second invasion of Iraq for one man is not worth one more life; let's use common sense and avert a second Gulf War.
The author is a Gulf War combat veteran
from ten reasons not to go to war with Iraq, on Alternet
The author is a Gulf War combat veteran
from ten reasons not to go to war with Iraq, on Alternet
9.9.02
going to school
{I was young ,too young for a lot of it, but my mom was always real concerned, she was in the NAACP for a long time, I remember stuff, moments when the raw emotions hit, this is where the light of God shines on the earth, here and in the dust and jingle of nomadic journey, beyond the reach of hopelessness, that's Joan of Arc there in between the soldiers, angels in combat fatigues, with guns, and the madness and the dogs and the sneering scorn, who can look at that and not see spirits?}
When the great teams came in sight at the head of the village street, I ran to meet them over the creaking snow, if possible to mount and ride into town in triumph; but it was not many years before I began to feel sorry at the sight of every huge lopped stem of oak or pine that came trailing along after the slow- stepping, frosted oxen. Such trees are unreplaceable. I only know of one small group now in all this part or the country of those great timber pines.
My young ears were quick to hear the news of a ship's having come into port, and I delighted in the elderly captains, with their sea-tanned faces, who came to report upon their voyages, dining cheerfully and heartily with my grandfather, who listened eagerly to their exciting tales of great storms on the Atlantic, and winds that blew them north-about, and good bargains in Havana, or Barbadoes, or Havre.
I listened as eagerly as any one; this is the charming way in which I was taught something of a fashion of life already on the wane, and of that subsistence upon sea and forest bounties which is now almost a forgotten thing in my part of New England.
Sara Orne Jewett in 1892, writing of her life in Barwick, Maine, as a child, in LOOKING BACK ON GIRLHOOD
Mexico's Supreme Court on Friday rejected challenges to an Indian rights law, angering rebel supporters who accused authorities of abandoning the nation's indigenous peoples.
The 8-3 ruling is likely to spark protests by rebel sympathizers who had all but frozen their dialogue with the government for the last year. They argued the law did not go far enough in protecting Mexico's Indians.
Enrique Avela, a spokesman for the Zapatista Front in Mexico City, called the high court's decision "a tragedy.''
{and yet the story headlines in the Guardian and elsewhere as "Mexican Court Upholds Indian Rights ", but it's not really about Indian rights, or indigenous rights, or human rights at all. it's about property rights. the property rights of successful thieves. thieves who are getting mighty nervous.}
The 8-3 ruling is likely to spark protests by rebel sympathizers who had all but frozen their dialogue with the government for the last year. They argued the law did not go far enough in protecting Mexico's Indians.
Enrique Avela, a spokesman for the Zapatista Front in Mexico City, called the high court's decision "a tragedy.''
{and yet the story headlines in the Guardian and elsewhere as "Mexican Court Upholds Indian Rights ", but it's not really about Indian rights, or indigenous rights, or human rights at all. it's about property rights. the property rights of successful thieves. thieves who are getting mighty nervous.}
Arab League chief Amr Musa rounded off a foreign ministers meeting in Cairo with a warning that a US strike against Iraq would �open the gates of hell� in a region already �angry and frustrated� at Israel's actions against the Palestinians during their nearly two-year conflict.
�We will continue to work to avoid a military confrontation ... because we believe that it will open the gates of hell in the Middle East,� Musa told a news conference after the two-day meeting ended with a statement rejecting �any threat of attack� against Iraq.
�We will continue to work to avoid a military confrontation ... because we believe that it will open the gates of hell in the Middle East,� Musa told a news conference after the two-day meeting ended with a statement rejecting �any threat of attack� against Iraq.
5.9.02
Tomaz Salamun (see also Mary Beth O'Connor)
in Massachusetts Review
GRACE
About God real quick
he never said ampleness
never rosemary
never peaceable
and if there were ants in the corners
there were ants in the corners
let's say the dust
where should it fall
toward down or toward sideways
or should it be the roots
all these things God solves real slow
sometimes he says ARCHAIC
but nobody budges
nobody wakes up
in fact no one wakes up
sometimes he says we killed carriers of flowers
and buys bright paper
I bought bright paper he says
we killed carriers of flowers
and loads
a little barque floats on the sea
trees bend, something falls
it makes a big splash
you are the light of the world
a city on the hill cannot hide
in Massachusetts Review
GRACE
About God real quick
he never said ampleness
never rosemary
never peaceable
and if there were ants in the corners
there were ants in the corners
let's say the dust
where should it fall
toward down or toward sideways
or should it be the roots
all these things God solves real slow
sometimes he says ARCHAIC
but nobody budges
nobody wakes up
in fact no one wakes up
sometimes he says we killed carriers of flowers
and buys bright paper
I bought bright paper he says
we killed carriers of flowers
and loads
a little barque floats on the sea
trees bend, something falls
it makes a big splash
you are the light of the world
a city on the hill cannot hide
4.9.02
If you still somehow manage to use the wrong one, no one will notice. Anyone watching you to see which fork you�ll use is just trying to figure out which fork they should use, which is really rather sweet.
- Margaret Berry in The Morning News(above)
Phoebe Thomas, eight-year-old Syrian girl, full-length portrait, standing outside of house, a little while after accident, in which she had cut the end of her thumb nearly off in factory, Eastport, Maine
links to the Hugo Award Nominees 2002
and Spider Robinson's Melancholy Elephants from the book By Any Other Name, 5 stories of which are online.
link via that bOINgBoinG(above)
and Spider Robinson's Melancholy Elephants from the book By Any Other Name, 5 stories of which are online.
link via that bOINgBoinG(above)
MIT team probes arsenic and old lakes.
The two researchers emphasize the significant contributions of earlier students and other faculty. "I came in after a lot of people had already done much work to identify the major questions to ask," Senn said.
2.9.02
In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attack, people tell me over and over that they don�t feel safe. One friend buys a gas mask, several buy guns. One stocks up on toilet paper. These people live thousands of miles from NYC. I was born there. As a child, I dreamed obsessively of Manhattan bombed from the air. The Cuban Missile crisis found my third grade class hiding beneath our desks. I was raised in a household where the words "Hiroshima" and "Auschwitz" were as common as "salt� and "potato." My grandmother had been in a pogrom. The little girl next to her had been killed by horsemen. The town I grew up in New Jersey had the third highest property damage from riots in the nation. We could hear gunshot from our front porch�this in a gracious upper middle class neighborhood. My friend Sandy was locked in the house during the riots�her dog had escaped, she was very worried. I went to her Black Baptist church with her. The house next door to mine burned to the foundation. My parents were away. I sat up with my Russian grandfather, watching to see the trees didn�t burn. I was 13 years old. Our phone was tapped�a legal tap�click click click. My father was arrested because of his anti-war activities. His taxes were audited every year. He was on Nixon�s enemies list. Safe is not a word I would apply to my sense of reality. I was raised to believe that history would kill me, it was best to try and stay out of the way. During the war in Bosnia I looked every day at my neighbors�a different class, religion, and ethnicity than I. Our mutual walls supported many apricot trees. They were the pleasantest of people. Every day I was glad they weren�t trying to rape and kill me, or cut down my fruit trees. An odd way to live, perhaps, but my frame of reference. When I heard the news on September 11 I did say aloud: this is the worst thing that has happened in my life time in America. I cried for hours�after all, a New York accent means something to me. I won�t put a hierarchy on suffering�this was the suffering of the day, enough to buckle our knees, weep us dry. But I felt no less safe the next day than the day before. I grew up with hurricanes and blizzards. I had enough toilet paper.
In a speech in Maputo, Mozambique, delivered 12 hours before arriving in Johannesburg for the earth summit, Mr Blair made combating climate change his major theme and reiterated his support for the Kyoto agreement to reduce greenhouse gases, a course Mr Bush has rejected.
This was a calculated rebuff to the American president, who, having repudiated the Kyoto agreement, has instructed his team at the earth summit to remove all mention of it from the final 30,000-word "plan of action" being negotiated there.
Mr Blair, aware of the US pressure to "lose Kyoto", decided to embarrass Mr Bush by emphasising its importance.
But what makes it the more surprising is that his aides appeared to be emphasising the split with Washington. Last night the strategy was being seen as a clear attempt to demonstrate to a home audience that Britain is not slavishly loyal to the United States.
from GuardianUK via floating wreckage(above)
This was a calculated rebuff to the American president, who, having repudiated the Kyoto agreement, has instructed his team at the earth summit to remove all mention of it from the final 30,000-word "plan of action" being negotiated there.
Mr Blair, aware of the US pressure to "lose Kyoto", decided to embarrass Mr Bush by emphasising its importance.
But what makes it the more surprising is that his aides appeared to be emphasising the split with Washington. Last night the strategy was being seen as a clear attempt to demonstrate to a home audience that Britain is not slavishly loyal to the United States.
from GuardianUK via floating wreckage(above)
1.9.02
Victims in the case said they felt they had been denied justice at every turn. Some members of Unit 731 became pillars in the Japanese medical and business communities after the war and were never prosecuted; in fact, they held regular reunions.
The United States made a secret deal to exempt the biological war crimes from the Tokyo trials held after the war, in exchange for the results of the gruesome experiments. The Japanese government denied the existence of the deal and the secret unit for years, and still insists in the face of journals, documents and testimony that it doesn't know what the unit did. Nationalist historians have gained increasing acceptance for accounts that diminish or omit the army's use of biological and chemical weapons against the Chinese.
from washintonpost.com
"Its main purpose was to research, develop and produce biological weapons,'' said the ruling. "In order to do this, prisoners from the Chinese resistance forces were used as the subjects for experiments.''
During the five-year court case, Unit 731 veterans confessed to carrying out vivisections on humans; cultivating anthrax, typhoid, cholera, and other pathogens; and dropping plague-infected fleas over villages.
....
Elderly plaintiffs flew in from China and testified -- often in tears -- about their communities being ravaged by diseases that spread mysteriously after Japanese war planes had flown low and dropped wheat, rice or cotton infested with fleas.
After the war, the Japanese Army burned most of the facilities used by Unit 731. The United States granted immunity to Ishii and his colleagues in return for their research findings, and the unit was not mentioned during the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal...
from mercurynews
see also
no. all regrets but no.}
The United States made a secret deal to exempt the biological war crimes from the Tokyo trials held after the war, in exchange for the results of the gruesome experiments. The Japanese government denied the existence of the deal and the secret unit for years, and still insists in the face of journals, documents and testimony that it doesn't know what the unit did. Nationalist historians have gained increasing acceptance for accounts that diminish or omit the army's use of biological and chemical weapons against the Chinese.
from washintonpost.com
"Its main purpose was to research, develop and produce biological weapons,'' said the ruling. "In order to do this, prisoners from the Chinese resistance forces were used as the subjects for experiments.''
During the five-year court case, Unit 731 veterans confessed to carrying out vivisections on humans; cultivating anthrax, typhoid, cholera, and other pathogens; and dropping plague-infected fleas over villages.
....
Elderly plaintiffs flew in from China and testified -- often in tears -- about their communities being ravaged by diseases that spread mysteriously after Japanese war planes had flown low and dropped wheat, rice or cotton infested with fleas.
After the war, the Japanese Army burned most of the facilities used by Unit 731. The United States granted immunity to Ishii and his colleagues in return for their research findings, and the unit was not mentioned during the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal...
from mercurynews
see also
- this
- this
- this
- and this
- further research on Unit 731 at the thorough links page of CalState Sacramento Social Studies
- research also Dr. Norbert Fell, Lt. Col. Arvo Thompson. Thompson arranged the transfer of data to US interests and immunity from prosecution for Unit 731 Japanese military, then suicided in 1948.
- and then on to Korea
- and the resolute Chinese Holocaust Museum
no. all regrets but no.}