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	:: Pip		4:05 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac | Kangaroos found hopping wild near Paris

"VERSAILLES, France, Nov 11 (AFP) - It may not be the scorching Australian outback, but fair dinkum, around 50 kangaroos who escaped a French animal park 30 years ago are happily living wild in a forest west of Paris.

"The grey marsupials broke free from the Emance nature reserve in the Yvelines department and are now bounding around woods bordering a dozen villages in the neighbouring Eure-et-Loir department, Le Parisien daily reported."
Source: Expatica

	:: N		11:03 AM

*Ø* Blogmanac | US media could learn from al-Jazeera

By Jon Faine

"Al-Jazeera, the Arab-language cable TV news service, has just celebrated its seventh birthday. I was there to witness it.

"I had met three al-Jazeera staff at an international media conference in Dublin, where they had debated the international coverage of the Iraq war with 200 war reporters from around the world.

"The al-Jazeera version of the war -- with one exception -- was vastly preferred to that presented by the US media.

"Assistant Secretary Brian Whitman, of the US Department of Defence, was greeted with total disbelief by the veterans, who scorned his pronouncements. The al-Jazeera staff were given a hostile reception by the colleagues of several dead journalists, whose corpses had been shown graphically on the Arab service. But otherwise, their coverage was regarded as accurate and balanced.

"The debate about the war went all day. Gathering socially afterwards, I wangled an invitation to visit their studio in Doha, in the tiny sheikdom of Qatar in the Gulf ...

"Abused by many Western governments -- and commentators -- as being a mouthpiece for Osama bin Laden, al-Jazeera is also decried in some Muslim countries as being nothing but a front for the CIA. As Omar Bec Merhebi, head of news gathering, said: 'We must be doing something right if everyone is abusing us.'"

Continue here
(Jon Faine presents the morning program on ABC Melbourne 774.)

	:: Pip		10:59 AM

*Ø* Blogmanac | Too much



Escher's 'Relativity' done digitally
Escher's 'Relativity' in Lego

Thanx, Baz le Tuff!

	:: Pip		10:59 AM

*Ø* Blogmanac November 15, 1777 | The forming of a great constitution


1777 The Articles of Confederation were adopted by the Continental Congress.

Was the USA founded on Christianity?

Many assert that it was,
but it seems not to be so

Someone wrote to me once that the USA is specifically a Christian nation, and I often hear it said that the American 'founding fathers’ intended America to be Christian or theistic. This, I assume, is why at the late date of 1954, after a campaign by the Catholic Knights of Columbus, Senator Homer Ferguson of Michigan sponsored a bill to amend the Pledge of Allegiance (an American text sometimes recited in school) to include the words "under God". On June 8, 1954, Congress adopted this change.

I believe there is ample evidence that it is not the case that America is a 'Christian nation'. In fact, the very first treaty signed by the USA confirms this view in no uncertain terms. Since the current US administration is so populated with fundamentalist Christians whose views are apparently influencing domestic and foreign policy, I thought it would be an idea to assemble some quotes on the subject.

I've placed these quotes, by American founding fathers, here at the Scriptorium

	:: N		10:31 AM

*Ø* Blogmanac | By George!

	:: Veralynne		5:27 AM

*Ø* Blogmanac | Ahhhh, the truth will out . . . eventually.

The Memory Hole has added the following page:

9/11 Transcripts and Police Reports

Exclusive: Withheld by the authorities, released because of a lawsuit, and insanely expensive to purchase, these are the 9/11 documents that the Port Authority fought to keep under wraps. Previously unavailable online.

Also, 20 new stories have been added to the Newswire.

	:: Pip		9:01 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac | London cancels police leave to handle Bush protesters

"LONDON — Police are bracing for what could be the largest demonstration ever organized against a foreign head of state when President Bush arrives for a state visit on Tuesday.

"Central London streets will be closed for Mr. Bush's motorcades and leave has been canceled for London police, who are expected to spend millions of dollars on security for the visit.

"The highlight will come Thursday when as many as 60,000 people gather in Trafalgar Square to pull down a homemade statute of President Bush in a parody of the April 9 destruction of Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad ..."
Source: Washington Times

	:: Pip		8:47 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac November 14, 1646 | Gottfried Leibniz , genius and polymath



1646 Gottfried Leibniz (July 1, 1646 - November 14, 1716), German philosopher, scientist, mathematician, diplomat, librarian, and lawyer.

One of the main intellectual shapers of his day, Gottfried was the son of a professor of jurisprudence at the University of Leipzig, a precocious child who loved learning. At the age of seven, Leibniz entered the Nicolai School in Leipzig. His talents found him patrons, early in life, among the princes of Europe.

He wanted to join a group of alchemists who were searching for the philosopher's stone: in order to do so, he wrote to the society, and his letter was filled with as many long and difficult words as he could think of, though he didn't know their meaning. Still, the phoney letter impressed the ‘scientists’, who did not wish to appear ignorant, and he got the position.
Full story at the Wilson's Almanac free daily ezine archives

	:: Pip		8:31 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac November 14, 1889 | Today's item

1889 Journalist ‘Nellie Bly’ (Elizabeth Jane Cochran) set sail from New York in an attempt to beat the fictional record of Phileas Fogg of Jules Verne’s best-selling book, Around the World in 80 Days – to go around the world in less than 80 days. Nellie's trip took 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes and 14 seconds. Born May 5, 1864, to Judge Michael Cochran and Mary Jane Kennedy Cochran, part of the large Cochran family of Apollo, Pennsylvania, Elizabeth Cochrane revolutionised journalism for women.

In September 1887, Bly talked her way into the office of John Cockerill, managing editor of Joseph Pulitzer's New York World. Cockerill hired the unknown journalist and gave Bly her first assignment – to be committed to the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island. Impersonating an insane woman, Nellie Bly came back from the asylum ten days later with stories of cruel beatings, ice cold baths and forced, rancid meals. This adventurous and daring stunt propelled Bly into the limelight of New York journalism, and, at only 23, Nellie Bly had become a pioneer of a proud tradition that was well known in the West until the early 21st Century: investigative journalism.

On November 14, 1889, Nellie Bly began her world-wide journey on the Hamburg-American Company liner Augusta Victoria from the Hoboken Pier at precisley 9:40:30 a.m.

In 1895 Nellie Bly married a millionaire, Robert Seaman, 50 years older than herself, and retired. She lost most of his money after he died and in 1919 tried unsuccessfully to make a comeback.

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	:: Pip		8:14 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac November 14, 1998 | Saddam Hussein offers compliance

Did Iraq really expel the UNSCOM weapons inspectors in 1998? Bush said so in his State of the Union. Cheney also told the world this falsehood.
The Almanac says it's an often-repeated error, or lie, one of 31 Myths of the 'War on Terrorism' and Iraq.

Here's what really happened.

On November 14, 1998, President Saddam Hussein of Iraq, after having ceased to comply with UN weapons inspectors on October 31, sent a letter to the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan offering to facilitate the inspections. On December 16, Australian Richard Butler, head of the UN weapons inspection team (UNSCOM), withdrew the team from Iraq, to protect his staff from the air strikes that the US and UK governments were threatening.

Within hours, Operation Desert Fox began: the US and UK began pre-emptively bombing Iraq – hundreds of cruise missiles raining down on the country, marking the start of strikes to punish the Baghdad government. An avalanche of US and British propaganda was published by a mostly unsuspecting world media, justifying the aggression and ignoring the destruction of Baghdad’s utilities and the deaths of many innocent civilians and service people. On ABC's This Week (September 27, 2003), Colin Powell publicly lied that the Clinton administration “conducted a four-day bombing campaign in late 1998 based on the intelligence that he [Butler] had. That resulted in the weapons inspectors being thrown out.”

Funeral services were held for 68 people who Iraqi officials say were killed in the raids. But Iraq's Ambassador to the UN, Nizar Hamdoon, said: “I'm told that the casualties are in the thousands in terms of numbers of people who were killed or wounded.”

US bombs food storage, schools, college, maternity centres
Several weeks after the strikes, the UN children's fund, UNICEF, made a first preliminary assessment of damage to civilian facilities. They reported the destruction of a rice warehouse in Tikrit in northern Iraq, damage to ten schools in the southern port city of Basra, and an agricultural college in Kirkuk in northern Iraq received a direct hit.

They said that in Baghdad medical and maternity centres, a water supply system and parts of the health and social affairs ministries were damaged.

Since Butler’s forced withdrawal in the face of US-UK threats, many Western media and politicians have usually pretended to the public that Iraq “expelled” the team.

The events surrounding the withdrawal are recounted in Butler's book, Saddam Defiant: (2000):

“I received a telephone call from US Ambassador Peter Burleigh inviting me for a private conversation at the US mission ... Burleigh informed me that on instructions from Washington it would be ‘prudent to take measures to ensure the safety and security of UNSCOM staff presently in Iraq.’ I told him that I would act on his advice and remove my staff from Iraq.”

Oft-repeated error of fact
The ‘mistake’ (that UNSCOM was ejected by Hussein in 1998) has been made not only by pro-war people such as George W Bush in his 2002 State of the Union address (‘the axis of evil’ speech), Dick Cheney, Alexander Rose, the Canadian right-wing Washington correspondent of the National Post, and the editorial writers of the Sunday Times. It has also been made by those who have shown concern for the humanitarian situation in Iraq, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, UK Liberal Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson Menzies Campbell, and the usually trustworthy Guardian Middle East editor Brian Whitaker. The BBC often makes the same incorrect assertion, although it usually acknowledges its error when it is pointed out to them.

Butler was pro-peace for Iraq
Richard Butler became a fierce critic of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, strongly criticising Australian Prime Minister Howard and marching with more than a quarter of a million others in the Sydney pro-peace march on February 16, 2003. On the morning of the peace march, he told ABC interviewer Terry Lane:

“I believe that there is a very real prospect now that the United States of America will attack Iraq without the approval of the UN Security Council. That is contrary to international law, it should not happen, and I believe the consequences of such an action could be possibly catastrophic. I also finally believe that war is almost certain not to be the solution to any of the problems that are posed by Saddam Hussein, and they are real problems. The smaller reason, not so small for we Australians, is, I don't know how to put this as simply as possible ... Let me just say that I'm sick to death of the lies that we're being told about this by the Prime Minister of Australia. I heard him again this morning on a national television interview, and it was shocking, it was astonishing to hear him duck and weave, including by the way, say that in answer to a question about the possible deaths of Iraqi women and children, that something broadly like, 'Well, you know, that was unfortunate but it was their fault that Saddam Hussein was their president, and that's how it goes'. Astonishing, and I'm really deeply distressed by his position …

“International law is important here, and we mustn't commit the terrible mistake and folly in our pursuit of a criminal, by ourselves breaking the law. Because then it brings the whole system into disrepute and that is what I fear we face if the Americans go it alone here. We will trash 50 years of post World War II international law and replace it with the rule that might is right, and that's what we've been trying to get away from.” Source

Myths of the ‘War on Terrorism’ and Iraq

Iraq crisis timeline
Chronology from UNSCOM website

Pip Wilson's articles are available for your publication, on application. Further details
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	:: Pip		3:20 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac | CIA Report Suggests Iraqis Are Losing Faith in US Efforts

"WASHINGTON, Nov. 12 — A bleak top-secret report by the Central Intelligence Agency suggests that the situation in Iraq is approaching a crucial turning point, with ordinary Iraqis losing faith in American-led occupation forces and in the United States-appointed Iraqi Governing Council.

"The report, sent to Washington on Monday by the C.I.A.'s Baghdad station chief, suggests that the situation is creating a more fertile environment for the anti-American insurgency. Officials said the report was adding to the sense of urgency behind the administration's reappraisal of its policies in Iraq ..."
Source

[I'm sure readers will have heard or read this news already but I thought it important enough to post.]

	:: Pip		1:12 AM

*Ø* Blogmanac November 14 | Hey Georgie! Flashback!

1969

	:: Pip		12:14 AM

*Ø* Blogmanac November 12-23| If you missed the Perseids in August, don't miss the Leonids!

Leonids meteor showers (Nov 12-23 annually)
“The Leonids are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Tempel-Tuttle. The meteor stream is viewable every year around November 17 and is thought to be comprised of particles ejected by the comet as it passes by the Sun. When the Earth moves through the meteor stream, the meteor shower is visible. The Leonids get their name from usually making their appearance in or near the constellation Leo.

"The Leonids are famous because their meteor showers, or storms, can be among the most spectacular. They seem to follow a 33 year cycle, associated with the 33 year orbit of Tempel-Tuttle. Storms in peak years can feature thousands of meteors per hour; notable events were observed in 1698, 1799, 1833, 1866, 1966, and 2001.”

http://www-space.arc.nasa.gov/~leonid/meteor.html
http://www.leonidstorm.com/
Estimate the best viewing times for your part of the world

Source: Wikipedia

Leonids in Native American history and folklore
“During the last 15 to 20 years, archeoastronomy has uncovered much concerning the astronomical beliefs of native Americans. Unfortunately, the methods of keeping records of astronomical events were not as straight forward as those of the Chinese and Europeans, as there are no books lying around. Instead, the methods of record keeping included rock and cave drawings, stick notching, beadwork, pictures on animal skins and jars, and story telling‹most of which are not dateable.

“One of the few dateable events among the various records of native Americans was the 1833 appearance of the Leonid meteor shower. Historically recognized as one of the greatest meteor storms on record, it made a lasting impression among the peoples of North America.

“The most obvious accounts of the Leonid storm appear among the various bands of the Sioux of the North American plains. The Sioux kept records called ‘winter counts,’ which were a chronological, pictographic account of each year painted on animal skin. In 1984, Von Del Chamberlain (Smithsonian Institution) listed the astronomical references for 50 Sioux winter counts, of which 45 plainly referred to an intense meteor shower during 1833/1834. In addition, he listed 19 winter counts kept by other plains Indian tribes, of which 14 obviously referred to the Leonid storm ...
Much more at source


If you can't see nuthin' ... join the International Dark-Sky Association and help lobby governments to pass some laws to help save the human spirit!

	:: Pip		6:27 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac November 13, 1002 | Ethnic cleansing, English style

1002 Ethnic cleansing: On St Brice's Day, the Anglo-Saxon people rose up and massacred their Danish overlords. This act of carnage so outraged the Vikings that it led to a full scale invasion by them the following year. John of Wallingford suggests that the Vikings had to be killed because they combed their hair daily, bathed every Saturday and regularly changed their clothes – helping to undermine the virtue of married women and even seduce the daughters of nobles to be their mistresses.

For it is fully agreed that to all dwelling in this country it will be well known that, since a decree was sent out by me with the counsel of my leading men and magnates, to the effect that all the Danes who had sprung up in this island, sprouting like cockle amongst the wheat, were to be destroyed by a most just extermination, and thus this decree was to be put into effect even as far as death, those Danes who dwelt in the afore-mentioned town, striving to escape death, entered this sanctuary of Christ, having broken by force the doors and bolts, and resolved to make refuge and defence for themselves therein against the people of the town and the suburbs; but when all the people in pursuit strove, forced by necessity, to drive them out, and could not, they set fire to the planks and burnt, as it seems, this church with its ornaments and its books. Afterwards, with God's aid, it was renewed by me.
From a royal charter

It is widely held that Hocktide games in England commemorated the Anglo-Saxon's inhumane slaughter on that cruel day. Hocktide is the Monday and Tuesday following the second Sunday after Easter.

>Read the whole article at the Scriptorium

Pip Wilson's articles are available for your publication, on application. Further details
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	:: N		7:01 AM

*Ø* Blogmanac | RESIST BUSH

	:: N		4:15 AM

*Ø* Blogmanac | The World's Loudest Belcher

[Don't you think this has got a trifle out of hand? - N]

LONDON (Reuters) - "A burp from the loudest belcher in the world echoed round Britain's Tate Modern Gallery as the Guinness World Records book celebrated the release of its 100 millionth copy. The book, which lists world records from the smallest dog to the highest paid TV guest star, has its own entry in the latest edition as the best-selling copyright book of all time.

"'Everybody has a dream to be the best at something in the world and the public has an incredible imagination,' the book's editor Claire Folkard said at a reception in London. 'That's what has kept us going.'

"One guest who satiated her desire to be entered into the book as a record holder was Elaine Davidson who had 1,903 piercings, studs and rings over her tattooed body."

Full text

	:: N		3:42 AM

*Ø* Blogmanac | United States: Stop Handing Over Detainees to Torturers

Statement from Human Rights Watch

	:: N		3:39 AM

*Ø* Blogmanac | Coffee Break

	:: Pip		9:02 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac November 12 | Festival of Jupiter, ancient Rome

A three-day festival honouring the one Roman deity given the title of God – Jupiter, or Jove to the Romans and Zeus to the Greeks. Jupiter was the god of the sky and thunder, a friendly, mostly happy god, not vengeful or destructive like Jehovah. Worship of Zeus originated among the Minoans, where he was known as the Earthshaker.

Jupiter overthew his Father Saturn (in Greek, Cronus; his mother was Rhea), then drew lots with his brothers Poseidon and Hades to determine who would be the supreme ruler of the gods. Jupiter won this draw and became the ruler of Olympus and the patron of the ancient Roman state.

His weapon is a thunderbolt which he hurls at those who incur his displeasure. Jupiter is married to Hera but, is known for his many affairs. Jupiter had an affair with Juturna but the secret was betrayed by a nymph named Lara, whom Jupiter struck with muteness as punishment. Despite his philandering, he is also known to punish those that lie or break oaths.

This famous statue of Zeus (Jupiter) was created by the famous Greek sculptor Phidius during the 5th century BCE; it was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. According to a contemporary source, it was about 12 metres tall, with the deity carved from ivory and seated on a magnificent throne made of cedarwood and inlaid with ivory, gold, ebony and precious stones. In Zeus’s right hand there was a small statue of Nike, the goddess of victory, and in his left hand a shining sceptre upon which perched an eagle. It stood for more than eight centuries in the temple of Zeus at Olympia in Greece, until the Roman emperor Theodosius I proclaimed Christianity the state religion, and ordered all statues and likenesses of the pagan gods torn down.


Pip Wilson's articles are available for your publication, on application. Further details
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	:: Pip		7:46 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac November 12 | The rising of the Nile

St Michael’s day for the Nile, Egypt
The Christians of Egypt placed their life-giving river, the Nile, under the archangel St Michael’s protection. They adopted the feast as kept by the Greeks and kept it on November 12. On the twelfth of each month they celebrate a special commemoration of St Michael, but on June 12, when the river starts to rise, they keep as a holiday of obligation the feast of St Michael “for the rising of the Nile”: euche eis ten symmetron anabasin ton potamion hydaton.

	:: Pip		7:24 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac November 12, 1815 | Elizabeth Cady Stanton

The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American feminist, born on November 12, 1815

I live ...
For the cause that lacks assistance,
For the wrong that needs resistance,
For the future in the distance
And the good that I can do.
Poem quoted on the title page of the diary of Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (November 12, 1815 - October 26, 1902), US social reformer and feminist co-founder, with Lucretia Mott, of the women's rights movement; first president of the National Woman's Suffrage Association.

	:: Pip		7:08 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac November 12, 1493 | Happy birthday, Paracelsus

1493 (Sources vary as to date) Theophrastus Philippus Aureolus Bombastus von Paracelsus (1493 - 1541), Switzerland, physician and one of history’s greatest alchemists. He called himself para-Celsus because he surpassed even first-century Roman physician Aulus Cornelius Celsus. He broke with tradition by teaching in German rather than Latin, burned Avicenna's Canon to mark his break with academic colleagues at Basel, and lambasted the Greek physician Galen (131 - 201 CE) at every opportunity.

He believed that “magic is a teacher of medicine preferable to all the written books”. He also believed that epileptics were ill, not possessed. Paracelsus was the first to use tincture of opium in medicine, and he correctly associated head injury with paralysis, and miners’ lung with the occupation. He claimed to have discovered the philosopher’s stone and that he was immortal.

On September 24, 1541 Paracelsus made his will, but there was no mention of gold or silver, the alchemists’ holy grail. His only legacy was a 125 grams (approx. 4 oz Troy/Apoth.) silver chalice. Paracelsus died in 1541, possibly from a fall (he was a heavy drinker).

More
More on the philosophers’ stone
More on Paracelsus
Yet more on Paraclesus
And more
More on Paracelsus
The Alchemy Web Site
Shop Alchemy
Science > Anomalies and Alternative Science > Alchemy

	:: Pip		6:24 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac | Iraq war toll up to 55,000: report

"A new report estimates as many as 55,000 people have died in the Iraq war and in the months after major hostilities ended ..."
Source: ABC

	:: Pip		8:27 AM

*Ø* Blogmanac | Australia lashed over boat people

"The UN refugee agency has accused Australia of violating its obligation to refugees by turning away 14 asylum-seekers before they could be assessed.

"The group of Turkish Kurds is now in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, after Australia's navy towed their fishing-boat away from its coast last week.

"'Denial of access... is a breach of... obligations under international law,' said a UN spokesman in Geneva.

"He also urged Indonesia not to deport the Kurds, who say they are refugees ...

"Australia's policies towards asylum-seekers who arrive illegally have become among the toughest in the developed world ..."
Source: BBC News

	:: Pip		8:16 AM

*Ø* Blogmanac | Hustler boss claims nude pics of Pte. Lynch

"NEW YORK — Pornographer Larry Flynt claims he bought nude photos of former prisoner of war Pte. 1st Class Jessica Lynch last month to publish in Hustler magazine, but changed his mind because she is a 'good kid ... and a victim of the Bush administration.'

"The photos, which Flynt's publicist says show the undressed army supply clerk posing with male soldiers, were sold to Flynt last month, according to a statement from Flynt that was read to The Associated Press today by his publicist ..."
Source: Toronto Star

	:: Pip		8:22 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac November 11 | St Martin's Day (Martinmas)

If the geese at Martin’s day stand on ice, they will walk in mud at Christmas.
English traditional proverb

If All Saints’ Day will bring out the winter, St Martin’s Day will bring out Indian summer.
American traditional proverb

If ducks do slide at Hollantide
At Christmas they will swim.
If ducks do swim at Hollantide
At Christmas they will slide.
Winter is on his way
At St Martin’s Day.
English traditional proverb. Hollantide is Martinmas.

At St Martin’s Day
Winter is on his way.
French traditional proverb

‘Tween Martinmas and Yule
Water’s wine in every pool.
Scotch traditional proverb

Wind north-west at Martinmas, severe winter to come.
English (Huntingdonshire) traditional proverb

Martinmas
Martinmas, or the feast day of St Martin, was in Europe the time of year for tasting the new season’s wine and for the killing of meat for Winter eating. Because of the christianisation of the Greek day of Dionysus, god of wine, also around November 11, the saint is closely associated with drinking, hence the expression Martin drunk. As fat geese were plentiful, on ancient clog almanacs the day was marked with the image of a goose. In Europe, today was the day for eating goose, but in Britain the day was Michaelmas (September 29).

As recorded by Bonnie Blackburn and Leofranc Holford-Strevens (Oxford Companion to the Year, Oxford University Press, 1999), the breast bone of a goose that is eaten on the Feast of St Martin can be used as part of a weather prognostication. After the meat is eaten off it, the breast-bone is examined. If the bone is fair and clear, winter is likely to be cold and full of hard frosts. A thick and dark bone indicates that the winter will be full of snow, rain and sleet, although warmer in temperature.

Martin and the goose
One day Martin was lecturing the folks in a village about their sinful ways and a goose started honking so loudly that it interfered with his speech. Not to be outdone, the good priest ordered the goose slaughtered, and then finished his sermon. Afterward the goose was cooked and served to him. St Martin choked to death eating the goose.

The associated precept from the Christian tradition teaches us to be very careful about how we treat our critics.

St Martin’s Day
In the European tradition, today marks the onset of Winter. In earlier days that distinction was given to October 31, or Halloween (originally called by the Celts Samhain), but in 1752 the calendar was altered by a few days. Today was also called ‘Tear-Stomach Day’.

Mart
In Scotland and the north of England, a fat ox used to be called a mart, because St Martin’s Day was the day to kill cattle for winter food.



More at the Scriptorium's page on St Martin's Day

	:: Veralynne		7:42 AM

*Ø* Blogmanac | The Case of (and for) the Invisible Presidential Candidate

About Dennis Kucinich -- The Progressive Choice

Just because you're not hearing about him on television and in the mainstream press doesn't mean that Dennis isn't the candidate to beat Bush! In fact, I'm beginning to think that he's the one most contenders are most afraid of.

Dennis is unique in so many ways it isn't funny. Consequently, no one knows how to act when dealing with him. He doesn't fit the pigeonholing we're so used to doing and doesn't meet the qualifications to play the "game" of politics. And that is exactly why he is the man of the times.

Dennis is and always has been a "man of the people" -- how refreshing!

Prominent social observer/author, Studs Terkel's article in The Nation, Kucinich is The One, relates Studs' recollection of his first meeting with Dennis 24 years ago which led to a long friendship.

Unlike the other candidates, Dennis is well-versed in all the issues of concern to the people. The press and the people who question him at public appearances are wowed by his "hit the ground running" enthusiasm for answering any questions that come his way without waffling, ducking or denying.

To make up for the mainstream media's avoidance of Dennis' presence as a candidate, do yourself a favor and just give his platform, his ten key issues, a run-through. Then share it with everyone you know. Throughout his impressive political history he has always defeated a Republican and gained a seat for the Democrats--this time the seat he will gain is that of Repug (p)Resident Bush in 2004!


---0---0---0---

Dennis' Progressive Vision
We, the people, deserve no less

"One person can make a difference.

"It's time for America to resume its glorious journey. Time to reject shrinking jobs and wages, disappearing savings and rights. Time to reject the detour towards fear and greed. Time to look out upon the world for friends, not enemies. Time to counter the control of corporations over our politics, our economy, our resources, and mass media. Time for those who have much to help those who have little by maintaining a progressive tax structure. Time to tell the world that we wish to be their partner in peace, not their leader in war. Most of all, it is time for America to again be the land where dreams come true because the government is on the side of its people.

"Unfortunately, America now leads the world in categories we should not be proud of. America is now the world’s leading jailer with an incarceration rate higher than China. We lead the industrialized world in poverty and in the growing gap between rich and poor. And we are the only industrial nation not to provide national health care.

"Learn more about what a Kucinich administration would mean for America."

	:: Pip		2:06 AM

*Ø* Blogmanac | The Murder Of Dr David Kelly

I have never felt convinced – perhaps not even persuaded – that David Kelly topped himself. For one thing, only hours before his death he emailed a friend to say he intended to fly to Baghdad very soon.

The Murder Of Dr David Kelly adds fuel to the fire. It's another gripping read from Rense.com, and I thank Almaniac Lynn Perry for sending it in.

	:: Pip		1:09 AM

*Ø* Blogmanac | Men stop watching EV (Electronic Valium) in droves

Absence of television viewers has network executives scratching their heads

"ABSTRACT - Absence of television viewers has network executives baffled; returning hit shows like Friends and E.R. are losing significant numbers of viewers from previous years; new shows have performed far worse than almost anyone expected; men between 18 and 24 are apparently deserting television in droves; nearly 20 percent fewer men in that advertiser-friendly demographic are watching television during prime time than during same period last year ..."
Source: NY Times

"Could they be rebelling against anti-male images?" asks Wendy McElroy from iFeminists.com newsletter, which is feminist but pro-equality.

	:: Pip		12:47 AM

*Ø* Blogmanac | George's Daddy said it

Iraq: "Incalculable human and political costs" – Bush the First

Trying to eliminate Saddam, extending the ground war into an occupation of Iraq, would have violated our guideline about not changing objectives in midstream, engaging in "mission creep," and would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. Apprehending him was probably impossible. We had been unable to find Noriega in Panama, which we knew intimately. We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq. The coalition would instantly have collapsed, the Arabs deserting it in anger and other allies pulling out as well. Under the circumstances, there was no viable "exit strategy" we could see, violating another of our principles. Furthermore, we had been self-consciously trying to set a pattern for handling aggression in the post-Cold War world. Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations' mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression that we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land. It would have been a dramatically different — and perhaps barren — outcome.
A World Transformed, former President George Bush and Brent Scowcroft, National Security Advisor during the Bush administration, 1998, Chapter 19
Source

If you like quotes like this, you can get them from Almost Prophetic Quotes, our other free ezine.

	:: Pip		2:37 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac | I'm looking for a date

Object: Patrimony

Can anyone help me here?

Since I wrote my piece on Cortes, I've been trying to find the date/s of Noche Triste and the (ten-day?) Festival of Tóxcatl to the god Huitzilopochtli when Aztec/Spanish massacres occurred in 1520 at Tenochtitlán, Mexico. Books and websites I've been searching have given me a variety of dates, from June 30 to July 12 (one site even has June 31!!)

I would appreciate any help with this, and any information about the fiesta and its place in the calendar. Thanx, folks.

	:: Pip		12:44 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac Australians| Encourage your local Council to Declare themselves a Refugee Welcome Zone

"The following Councils have already declared their willingness to welcome refugees into their area, to celebrate the diversity in their midst and to acknowledge the importance of upholding the human rights of refugees who have escaped persecution:

"Ashfield Council, Bassendean Town Council, Shire of Greater Bendigo, City of Brisbane, City of Brimbank, City of Casey, City of Darebin, City of Greater Dandenong, Gawler Town Council, City of Greater Geelong, City of Fremantle, Fairfield City Council, City of Hume, Ku-rin-gai Council, City of Maribyrnong, Marrickville City Council, Metropolitan Victoria, City of Melbourne, Mildura Rural City Council, City of Mitcham, City of Monash, City of Moonee Valley, City of Moreland, Mosman Municipal Council, Shire of Mount Alexander, North Sydney Council, Murray Bridge Council, Lake Macquarie City Council, Leichhardt Council, City of Port Phillip, City of Port Adelaide/Enfield, Rockdale City Council, South Sydney Council, City of Subiaco, Town of Vincent, Waverley Council, City of Whittlesea, City of Wollongong, and the City of Yarra.

"Encourage your local Council to become involved. Contact Jacki Dillon at RCOA for more details."

Source: Refugee Council of Australia

	:: Pip		11:41 AM

*Ø* Blogmanac | Bush's corporate juggernaut targets Middle East

Bush: Iraq Part of 'Global Democratic Revolution'
Liberation of Middle East Portrayed as Continuation of Reagan's Policies

"President Bush today portrayed the war in Iraq as the latest front in the 'global democratic revolution' led by the United States. The revolution under former president Ronald Reagan freed the people of Soviet-dominated Europe, he declared, and is destined now to liberate the Middle East as well.

"In a speech to the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) described as a major policy address by the White House, Bush avoided issues such as preemptive attack, weapons of mass destruction and 'gathering" dangers to the United States' ..."
Source: Washington Post

Media Transparency article on National Endowment for Democracy
Trojan Horse: The National Endowment for Democracy
Loose Cannon: The National Endowment for Democracy

Bush-Hitler comparisons unjust (says eXile, the Moscow-based alternative newspaper)

	:: N		7:47 AM

*Ø* Blogmanac | Bush visit set to paralyse London