*Ø* Archbishops accuse Blair of double standards

From the (London) Times:

"The archbishops of Canterbury and York have combined to deliver an extraordinary rebuke to the Government over the behaviour of Western security forces in Iraq.

"In a joint attack, Dr Rowan Williams and Dr David Hope accuse Tony Blair of 'double standards' and give warning that the credibility of his Government is at risk over the treatment of Iraqi detainees ...

"The archbishops also say that the reputation of Britain as 'honest brokers' in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must not be jeopardised. They are understood to be concerned by the growing influence of Christian Zionists in the Christian community and the US Administration."

Full text

*Ø* The defiance of science

From Independent.co.uk:

"More than 4,000 scientists have signed a petition accusing George Bush of twisting their work to further his political agenda.

"Andrew Buncombe investigates the war between the White House and the men in white coats"

Full text here

*Ø* What killed Susan Hayward?

June 30, 1917 Birth of Susan Hayward (born Edythe Marrenner; d. 1975), American actress (Oscar: I Want To Live); portrayed an alcoholic in three films, (Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman, My Foolish Heart, and I'll Cry Tomorrow) and was nominated for an Oscar for each performance.

Hayward died of brain cancer, possibly because she was one of the cast members of the ill fated film The Conquerer, which was filmed in 1954 in the Nevada desert near to where dozens of above-ground nuclear fission bombs had been detonated since 1951. The film crew returned to Hollywood with 60 tons of local fallout-contaminated red sand for studio retakes. 

In later years those tests were suspected to have caused the cancer deaths of several of the film's stars, including John Wayne, Dick Powell, Agnes Moorehead and Pedro Armendáriz.

Of the 220 persons who worked on The Conqueror on location in Utah in 1955, 91 had contracted cancer as of the early 1980s and 46 died of it. In a population of that size and a similar age distribution, the expected cancer incidence might have been about thirty persons ...

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* Ned Kelly's Last Stand



Oops!
I'm a day late to post here about Ned Kelly's Last Stand, because it happened on June 28, 1880. But it was only today that I found time to write up a bit of a chronology about the amazing siege at the Glenrowan Inn, when Ned and his famous bushranger gang made their own heavy iron armour but were still brought down in a hail of bullets from 30 state troopers.

There's a few other snippets there as well, such as this:

Ned in film
One of the world's first feature length films was The Story of the Kelly Gang released in 1906, with a then-unprecedented running time of 70 minutes, of which all that remain are a few minutes of film, a synopsis and a program. Mick Jagger starred in a poorly reviewed 1970 film, Ned Kelly, directed by Tony Richardson.

In 2003, Ned Kelly, a $30 million budget movie about Kelly's life was released. Directed by Gregor Jordan, it starred Heath Ledger (as Kelly), Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush, and Naomi Watts.

Read more at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click June 28 when you're there.

Also, if you click February 15 there, today I've added a lot more to the bit about the John Frum cult in Vanuatu, whose tribal members believe that an American messiah will come for them one day.

*Ø* But will they take it?

Did I not read that interactions between nitroclycerin and viagra can be life-threatening? I wonder what 'interactions' this one will cause:

"Washington (Reuters) - A drug that seems to drive female rats mad for sex may offer the first real scientific aphrodisiac for women, U.S. and Canadian researchers said on Monday.

"The drug, Palatin Technologies Inc's PT-141, is being developed for use to fight impotence in men, but the researchers said tests showed it also aroused female rats."

Full text

*Ø* Karzai Presses NATO to Boost Afghan Peace Force

"ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai pressed NATO Tuesday to rush troops to his country to secure September elections, embarrassing alliance members reluctant to provide the forces for the mission.

"NATO agreed Monday to add roughly 1,500 troops to its 6,500-strong peacekeeping force for the polls, but it has drawn criticism for restricting its deployment to Kabul and the relatively stable north of the violence-plagued country ...

"President Bush had hoped the summit of 26 leaders would showcase renewed transatlantic unity to combat domestic criticism in a presidential election year that he took his country to war in Iraq without international backing.

"But France spoiled the mood, insisting the deal agreed on Monday to train the forces of Iraq's new interim government should not mean a formal role for NATO within Iraq itself.

"The Iraq training deal is much more modest than the troop deployment Washington had initially sought from the alliance, which was scotched by French and German resistance. [my emphasis - N]

"French President Jacques Chirac, Europe's fiercest critic of last year's US-led invasion of Iraq, also criticized Bush's support for Turkey's bid to join the European Union, saying it was none of his business."

Full text

*Ø* CIA stooge, "WMD" conman, maybe terrorist, installed in Iraq

Who is Iyad Allawi to whom the USA has given the Prime Ministership of Iraq?

Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, includes this in his biography:

"In 1993, Allawi organized the Iraqi National Accord (INA), a group consisting mainly of former military personnel who had defected from Saddam Hussein's Iraq to instigate a military coup. Allawi was recruited by the CIA in 1992 as a counterpoint to the more well-known CIA asset Ahmad Chalabi, and because of the INA's links in the Ba'athist establishment. According to former CIA officers, Allawi's INA organised terrorist attacks in Iraq between 1992 and 1995, probably including the bombing of a school bus that killed school children.

"Beginning in 2003, Allawi paid prominent Washington lobbyists and New York publicity agents more than $300,000 to give him access to Washington policy-makers and journalists. The funds passed through his ally in the UK, Mashal Nawab. Operating with the CIA, the INA unsuccessfully attempted to provoke a military coup in Iraq in 1996.

"Allawi channelled the report from an Iraqi officer claiming that Iraq could deploy its supposed weapons of mass destruction within "45 minutes" to British Intelligence. This claim featured prominently in the September Dossier which the British government released in 2002 to gain public support for the Iraq invasion. In the aftermath of the war, the '45 minute claim' was also at the heart of the confrontation between the British government and the BBC, and the death of David Kelly later examined by Lord Hutton. Giving evidence to the Hutton Inquiry, the head of MI6 Richard Dearlove suggested that the claim related to battlefield weapons rather than weapons of mass destruction. An Allawi spokesman admitted in January 2004 that the claim was a 'crock of shit.'"

* Ø * Ø * Ø *

CIA man and self-promoter
"Allawi is broadly despised by the Iraqi population. According to fieldwork last month by the Iraqi Centre for Research and Studies, he was the least popular of 17 prominent Iraqi political personalities. Nearly 40 percent of Iraqis polled were 'strongly opposed' to Allawi—a figure that was even higher than for the reviled Ahmad Chalabi, the favourite of the Pentagon neo-conservatives.

"The reasons for Allawi's unpopularity are not difficult to find. He has a long and intimate association with Western intelligence agencies and close connections to the Baath Party and dissident elements of Saddam Hussein’s regime ...

"According to an article in the New York Times, Allawi received the green light to recruit ex-members of the hated Mukhabarat intelligence service, which was responsible for much of the torture and killings under the Hussein regime ...

With the assistance first of the British MI6 then the CIA, he built a network of contacts throughout the 1980s, travelling extensively in the Middle East as a businessman ...

"As well as enjoying the support of the CIA and US State Department, he has spent a small fortune on hiring professional lobbyists in the United States to promote himself in the US media and political establishment. According to papers filed with US Justice Department, wealthy Allawi supporters have paid more than $300,000 for the services of former US diplomat Patrick Theros, law firm Preston, Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds and public relations company Brown Lloyd James."
Long-time CIA "asset" installed as interim Iraqi prime minister

* Ø * Ø * Ø *

Send a terrorist to catch terrorists?
"Dr. Allawi's group, the Iraqi National Accord, used car bombs and other explosive devices smuggled into Baghdad from northern Iraq ...

"'Send a thief to catch a thief,' said Kenneth Pollack, who was an Iran-Iraq military analyst for the C.I.A. during the early 1990's and recalled the sabotage campaign."
Source: Common Dreams

*Ø* Families take heart from Guantanamo ruling

"LONDON (Reuters) - Families of Guantanamo Bay detainees and their lawyers hope yesterday's rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court to limit the Bush administration's war on terror would mean the beginning of the end of the prison camp.

"The high court ruled on Monday that hundreds of prisoners, held in the camp on a U.S. base in Cuba with no charges or access to any legal proceedings, could challenge their detentions in U.S. courts.

"The ruling, along with a separate ruling that a U.S. citizen should get a fair opportunity to rebut the government's case for detaining him, was hailed by civil rights campaigners as a blow against the most controversial powers claimed by the U.S. government in its war on terror."
Source: Yahoo! News

* Ø * Ø * Ø *

Lawyers plan speedy Hicks appeal
"Lawyers for Australian David Hicks could launch an appeal against his detention at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba within two weeks.

"The United States Supreme Court ruled overnight that American courts have the jurisdiction to consider challenges to the legality of the detention of foreign nationals.

"Hicks and fellow Australian Mamdouh Habib have been held at the centre for two years without legal recourse.

"Hicks has recently been charged with conspiracy to commit war crimes, attempted murder and aiding the enemy but is yet to face court ...

Home trial
"Hicks was told of the court ruling this morning during a monitored conversation with his father, Terry.

"Even though Terry Hicks had previously been warned against discussing legal matters, this morning he took the risk.

"'I thought, blow 'em, if they're going to pull the plug, they can pull it,' he said.

"'I just said to him the Supreme Court's just handed down – you people can now come under the jurisdiction of the courts.

"'I said, 'what do you think of that?' and he said, 'I can't say anything'."
Source: ABC Oz News

Another three years ina 6' by 8' cell?
"Hicks's Adelaide-based lawyer, Stephen Kenny, says despite the Supreme Court ruling, it could be three years before his client's legal challenge to detention can be heard."
Source: ABC Oz News

Hope for Hicks and Habib

NB Mamdouh Habib probably doesn't know about the US court ruling. After all this time, his lawyers in Australia are still forbidden to speak with him. Why is he getting even worse treatment than David Hicks? Is it his ethnicity?

*Ø* New computer bug

Thanks Mary Ann Sabo for sending this:

DoS Attack May Tap Web Graphics Flaw

"Security experts are tracking a new piece of malware that appears to be compromising large numbers of Windows PCs and may be laying the groundwork for the creation of a large spamming network or a major attack in the future.

"Analysts at NetSec Inc., a managed security services provider, began seeing indications of the compromises early Thursday morning and have since seen a large number of identical attacks on their customers' networks. The attack uses a novel vector: embedded code hidden in graphics on Web pages.

"When visitors to a few particular Web sites—including popular auction, shopping and price-comparison sites—request pages that include the malicious graphics, the code automatically downloads itself onto their machines. Once installed, the code unpacks itself and loads a keystroke logger on the PC.

"NetSec officials said the attack seems to exploit a vulnerability in Internet Explorer ..."
Source

*Ø* US: Supreme Court limits power over detainees

From Human Rights Watch:

"Right to Judicial Review of Detentions Upheld

"(New York, June 28, 2004) -- Today's Supreme Court rulings will compel the Bush administration to follow the rule of law rather than executive whim in detaining terrorism suspects, Human Rights Watch said. In two separate rulings, the Supreme Court upheld the crucial role of the judiciary in protecting detainees’ basic rights and liberties.

"'The United States can no longer hold detainees in a ‘rights free zone,’ said Jamie Fellner, director of the U.S. Program at Human Rights Watch. 'They can now have their day in court.'"

Full text

*Ø* Research says mobiles cut sperm count

From the Guardian:

"Men who carry mobile phones in their trouser pockets may be at risk of damaging their sperm count, according to research by Hungarian scientists.

"Full details of the study will be formally presented at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology conference in Berlin tomorrow."

Continue to full text

*Ø* Eve of St Peter, Britain

Tomorrow in the English Christian tradition is known as the Feast Day of Saints Peter and Paul, but it is often referred to as St Peter's Day, and today is commonly known as St Peter's Eve. It's another night of Midsummer revelry.

In olden times, bonfires were burnt on this night, composed of contributions called 'boons', echoing the old pre-Christian, pagan custom of putting bones on the 'bone-fire'. People danced with almost frantic pleasure on this night, with the men and boys jumping through the fire, not to show their prowess as much as to observe the ancient custom.

People would go walking about the towns much of the night. "Every citizen either went himself, or sent a substitute; and an oath for the preservation of peace was duly administered to the company at their first meeting at sunset. They paraded the town in parties during the night, every person wearing a garland of flowers upon his head, additionally embellished in some instances with ribbons and jewels." (Robert Chambers, The Book of Days, 1881)

In the middle ages, about two thousand men would parade through London's streets tonight, garlanded with flowers and bedecked with jewels. The 'watchmen' as they were known, were provided with 'cressets', or ceremonial torches carried in barred pots on long poles, and there were bonfires in the streets ...

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* Fahrenheit 9/11 box office smash

Fahrenheit 9/11 is getting great exposure at the popular Internet Movie Database (IMDB) website, even giving cinema listings. Baz le Tuf sent me this below (source unknown):

Michael Moore's incendiary anti-Bush documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 was the top ticket at North American cinemas this weekend, according to preliminary figures released Sunday.

The film slamming US President George W Bush is expected to gross $US21.8 million over the weekend, according to Exhibitor Relations.

However, to put this in perspective, the 2nd top box office movie at present is White Chicks, a comedy about 2 black FBI agents posing as white women.

*Ø* The Invisibility Cloak

From the BBC:

"The inventor of an 'invisibility' cloak has said that his next project will be to develop the technology to allow people to see through walls.

"Susumu Tachi, who showed off the cloak at an exhibition in San Francisco earlier this month, said he was hopeful of providing a way to provide a view of the outside in windowless rooms."

Full story

*Ø* John Frum, where are you when you're needed?

This news is a bit late (May 9), and too late for John Frum Day (February 15), but important nonetheless, and I think Fred would want me to post it:

Vanuatu villagers in bloody cult clash
"It has all the makings of a Hollywood blockbuster: a smouldering volcano, a jungle battle, a bizarre cult and a self-styled messiah called Prophet Fred.

"But the feud that has broken out between two villages in the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu is all too real for the dozens of men in hospital with axe and spear wounds.

"It has split one of the world's last surviving cargo cults, one of the strangest legacies of European colonisation of the South Seas.

"The John Frum movement first emerged in Vanuatu in the 1930s when the islands were jointly ruled by Britain and France as the New Hebrides. Rebelling against the aggressive proselytising of Presbyterian missionaries, dozens of villages on the island of Tanna put their faith in a mysterious outsider called John Frum.

"They believed he would drive out their colonial masters and re-establish their traditional ways. The cult was reinforced during World War II when the US military arrived with huge amounts of 'cargo' – tanks, ships, weapons, medicine and food.

"On Tanna, islanders became convinced that John Frum was an American. They have spent the past 60 years dressing up in home-made US army uniforms, drilling with bamboo rifles and parading beneath the Stars and Stripes in the hope of enticing a delivery of 'cargo' again ..."
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
John Frum movement
More at February 15 (John Frum Day) at the Book of Days

*Ø* Bush: Choking on media gristle?

From the Irish Independent:

"The White House has lodged a complaint with the Irish Embassy in Washington over RTE journalist Carole Coleman's interview with US President George Bush.

"And it is believed the President's staff have now withdrawn from an exclusive interview which was to have been given to RTE this morning by First Lady Laura Bush."

The Guardian describes the interview thus:

"But what Mr Bush has been choking on recently is the gristle of the Irish media. Expecting nothing more than a gentle probing from a friendly state which America 'helped' to prosper, he gave the first White House interview to an Irish journalist for 20 years. But the state broadcaster RTE subjected him to a grilling which left him fuming and had media commentators and licence-payers debating the Irish style of journalism.

"The interview was intended as a cordial start to the president's first visit to the Irish Republic. Some claim the summit was tailored to give Mr Bush a pre-election media-opportunity for the 50 million or so Irish folk back home.

"But RTE's Washington correspondent, Carole Coleman, was not about to let Mr Bush off the hook. In an interview broadcast on television and a radio breakfast show she persisted with questions about dead US soldiers, torture, the issue of making the world a more dangerous place, and being disliked."

Unfortunately I missed the interview, and as I'm not on my usual computer I can't watch it at the link on this page, but I thought I'd post it for those who might be interested.

*Ø* The latest global growth industry: immigration detention

Investigative documentary into corporatized prisons

This is extraordinary material that helps show some of the machinations behind the pernicious privatization of prisons in the USA, Australia and elsewhere, and the rise of businesses that run the new concentration camps.

These businesses were going bust in the late 1990s, and found new prison fodder in immigration/refugee issues and 9-11. This partly explains the awful refugee detention centres Australia has given these profit-hungry goons to run in desert locations and way out on Pacific islands.

"September 11 is increasing business"
You'll need to read the whole radio documentary transcript to get the low-down, and as it's a long one I'll just paste this bit here:

"In 2002, the CEO of Cornell Companies, Steve Logan, told investors in a conference call that September 11th would mean a big boost in the market for immigration detention.

"Here's a reading of what he said.

"'I think it's clear that since September 11 there's a heightened focus on detention. More people are going to get caught. So I would say that's positive. The other thing that you’re seeing, and to be honest with you I have no idea how this is going to impact us, but it's not bad, it can only be good, is the focus on people that are illegal and also from Middle Eastern descent in the United States. There are over 900,000 undocumented individuals from Middle Eastern descent. That's, keep in mind, that's half of our entire prison population; that's a huge number, and that is a population, for lots of reasons, that is being targeted. So I would say the events of 9/11, let me back up: the Federal business is the best business for us. It’s the most consistent business for us and the events of September 11 is increasing that level of business.'"
Read on at Background Briefing or listen to the streaming audio

*Ø* Bush visit: Thousands protest

"DUBLIN: Thousands of left-wing activists marched through the heart of the Irish capital yesterday to protest the arrival in the country of US President George W Bush for a brief summit with European Union chiefs.

"Rallying under the 'Stop Bush Campaign' banner, the crowd of about 10,000 waved placards and banners denouncing Bush as a warmonger and calling on facilities for US military flights to be withdrawn from Shannon Airport, a strategic refuelling point used by thousands of US troops each month ...

" ... Eamonn McCann, a veteran socialist from Northern Ireland, raised a cheer by saying that if Bush's reasons for war had been legitimate, 'he wouldn't be cowering behind rings of steel in the County of Clare. Why isn't he walking the streets of Baghdad with winsome children scattering flower-petals in his path?'

"During the march, leaders of the Green Party handed out copies of a mock set of instructions advising protesters how to make a 'citizen's arrest' of Mr Bush if they meet him.

"That prospect appeared remote - 240km west on the far coast of Ireland, more than 6000 police and soldiers mounted checkpoints and closed key roads near the summit site in the biggest security operation ever mounted in Ireland ...

"Some of the demonstrators said the police presence was heavy-handed.

"'This is a lively and colourful protest but the Garda presence is way over the top. It's security gone mad,' said Dominic Haugh, a marcher from Shannon.

"The unpopularity of Mr Bush's policies, combined with the heavy security surrounding the luxury castle, have angered many locals - particularly those nearest the resort, who have been required to collect passes from the police if they want to go to or from their homes.

"'In my recollection, the last place people had to carry passes was under apartheid in South Africa,' said Shannon resident Fiona Wheeler."

Source and full text

*Ø* Shut it, Condi

Quoting Condoleezza Rice, according to the Irish Times yesterday (25 June), "Irish people who protest against US President George Bush's visit to Ireland this weekend should remember that people in Baghdad who protested before the toppling of Saddam Hussein had their tongues cut out". See, Condi? That's me in blue, in Dublin last night, along with the ten thousand others who protested your Commander-in-Chief's presence in our country. Condi, stay out of my business and out of my face when I'm in my own capital city and in my own land! Ireland is one of the minority of countries in this world that has no US military bases on its soil, and we are angry at an Irish Government that has allowed our civil airport at Shannon to be used as a stop-over for armed US troops on their way to do your dirty business in Iraq.

*Ø* UFO over Niugini

Father Gill's close encounters

June 26, 1959 In one of the best documented and most celebrated UFO experiences of all time, Australian missionary Father William Booth Gill and the entire staff and clients of an Anglican Mission at Boianai, in the former Australian colony of Papua-Niugini (Papua-New Guinea), saw an aerial disk-shaped object and exchanged waves with four passengers on board. The ‘close encounters’ carried over into the next two days.

For some time, a spate of alleged UFO sightings had been reported by numerous people around the mission, and Gill's colleague Rev. Norman EG Cruttwell had been keeping records and interviewing witnesses, while Father Gill himself had been dubious. Even a sighting by his assistant, Stephen Gill Moi, who claimed to have seen an "inverted saucer" above the mission at 1 am on June 21, had left Gill skeptical.

He wrote out a formal report on Moi's earlier sighting and sent it to Rev. D Druiry in the Church of England (Anglican) Missions home office in Sydney, Australia. In a postscript, Gill added, "My simple mind still requires scientific evidence before I can accept the 'from out of Space' theory … I am inclined to think that many unidentified objects are more likely to be some kind of electrical phenomenon. I prefer to wait for some bright boy to catch one and exhibit it in Martin Place [main square in Sydney – PW]." ...

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* Aboriginal hero

June 25, 1852 Australia: Seventy-seven (some sources put the number up to 83 or higher) out of 250 residents of the village of Gundagai, New South Wales, drowned when the Murrumbidgee River flooded. Gundagai at the time was a crossing point for people en route to the Victorian gold fields.

Many were saved by local indigenous people, notably Yarri who rescued 49 stranded people in his bark canoe, braving the torrents of one of the continent's largest rivers to pluck the survivors one at a time from treetops and roofs, working perhaps 50 hours without a break.

Following the rescue, Yarri was given a copper shield to wear around his neck (a decoration not infrequently bestowed by Europeans to Aboriginals considered worthy of respect), but for nearly 140 years neither Yarri nor Jacky, his partner in the rescue, really gained the recognition they deserved.

On September 27, 1990, State Premier, Nick Greiner, unveiled a headstone on Yarri's grave (in the Gundagai Catholic Cemetery), erected by the Tumut-Brungle Local Aboriginal Land Council. While Yarri's memory had been commemorated in a number of smaller monuments around the township, his grave had been previously unmarked.

"Considering the situation for Aborigines at the time did not evoke generosity towards white settlers, Yarri’s efforts were truly remarkable," Premier Greiner said. "This simple ceremony today honours someone whose extraordinary love for fellow humans is an inspiring example to all."

A plaque commemorating Yarri’s remarkable feat was also laid at Yarri Bridge over Morley’s Creek.

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* ADHD: Absent Dad, Highrise Dwelling

What shall we do about mother's little helper?

For more years than I care to consider, I've contended that ADHD, while it certainly does exist in many children, is an over-diagnosed condition, especially in boys.

In modern Western societies, it is often easier in many circumstances for a doctor to prescribe Ritalin than for a parent to find ways for a boy to burn off his natural energies climbing trees or kicking round a ball in the backyard or park. For this reason, I've taken to calling ADHD "Absent Dad, Highrise Dwelling". Boys will be boys, but if that's too hard in a two-room apartment seven storeys up, when father isn't allowed to see his children, you can just buy some drugs. Unfortunately, this is something I have seen too many times.

The Australian state of Western Australia has the dubious distinction of having one of the highest prescription rates of ADHD medications in the world, and the highest in Australia, with the rate now at around a staggering 4.3 per cent of all the state's kids, and climbing. Almost one child in twenty, apparently, has a disease that seems to have emerged mysteriously in the past couple of decades. Perhaps it's a new space virus from NASA's Skylab that crashed onto WA a few years ago.

Medical practitioners seem to have fallen under the spell of the transnational chemical corps, and many parents seem to have fallen under the spell of the doctors. The Australian epidemic of mothers refusing fathers' access to their children might be addressed if we are to get restless boys off the male issues list.

It's the Anatomy, Stupid
There is another aspect to this epidemic (of medication) which is rarely considered. Teachers want their pupils to sit still for hours a day on hard wooden seats. Apart from this being a violation of their natural need to be physically active, for boys there is an added problem. In general, their buttocks do not have enough bulk for such seating, and six or seven hours a day can for most boys be akin to slow torture. A simple prescription of cushioned seats, particularly for children with slighter buttock mass, makes far more sense than the dispensing of psychoactive drugs being pushed by the pharmaceutical corporations.

Better still would be the long-overdue abolition of the current systems of education, but I might be getting a wee bit ahead of the vested interests here.

Bad Boys Take Drugs: Ritalin and ADD/ADHD
Does ADHD Even Exist? The Ritalin Sham
What if ADHD Doesn't Really Exist?
ADHD: Does It Exist? (Audio)
ADHD Drugs Linked to Crime
Exam students "fuelled up on Ritalin"
Parliamentary Inquiry: ADD & ADHD in Western Australia
Licit psychostimulant consumption in Australia, 1984–2000: international and jurisdictional comparison

*Ø* Does Echinacea work?

"Long hailed as the ultimate immune system booster, echinacea's ability to keep colds and flu at bay has been disputed by a study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

"When 48 volunteers were given either echinacea or a placebo before being exposed to a cold virus, nine out of 10 volunteers in both groups came down with bad colds. The study's leader said the research, which backs up other recent studies, clearly shows that echinacea is useless. But the herb's supporters say the research is biased.

"Echinacea purpurea, or purple coneflower, is one of Britain's most popular herbal therapies, with sales rising by more than 30% a year as people use it to try fending off colds and flu."
Source: Medical News Today

* Ø * Ø * Ø *

Black Cohosh May Reduce Hot Flashes By Targeting Brain's Thermostat
"Black cohosh, a medicinal herb increasingly used by women as an alternative to estrogen replacement therapy, may reduce hot flashes by targeting serotonin receptors – some of the same receptors used by the brain to help regulate body temperature – according to a team of researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago. The finding, the first to demonstrate a possible mechanism of action for the herb other than estrogen, increases the likelihood that the herb is safe to use, they say."
Source: Science Daily

*Ø* "Victory for international justice and the rule of law," says AI

From Amnesty International, 24 June:

"US withdrawal: determination of international community is 'victory for international justice and the rule of law,' says AI

"(New York) -- Amnesty International (AI) applauds the determination of the international community, which led the US to withdraw its proposal for a further renewal of Security Council Resolutions 1422 and 1487 to exempt peacekeepers from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

"'This is a victory for international justice and the rule of law,' said Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International. 'The world community has sent an unequivocal message that it will not stand for continued efforts to undermine the International Criminal Court.'

"However, Amnesty International is concerned that the US continues to oppose the ICC, and negotiate impunity agreements with individual countries, ensuring that US nationals will not be subject to the ICC's jurisdiction. Amnesty International believes that this undermines international justice, and is unnecessary as the ICC can only exercise jurisdiction if states are unable or genuinely unwilling to prosecute the worst possible crimes under international law."

For current and background information on International Justice please visit the dedicated International Justice pages

*Ø* Perth will die, says top scientist

"Perth will become a ghost city within decades as rising global temperatures turn the Wheatbelt into a desert and drive species to the brink of extinction, a leading Australian scientist warns.

"Australian palaeontologist and popular author Tim Flannery said Perth was a city on the edge – isolated, dependent on energy and declining water supplies and more likely to feel the effects of global warming because of its geographical position.

"'You're going to suffer faster and harder than any other State in Australia,' Dr Flannery said yesterday.

"'My hypothesis is Perth will become a ghost metropolis over the next few decades unless governments acknowledge that global warming is a reality.'

"He said a global temperature rise of less than 1C last century had robbed the State of over half its annual rainfall run-off. Global temperature rises of up to 6C would transform Perth into an arid city unable to feed itself.

"A 1C rise was enough to wipe out an estimated two-thirds of WA's native flowering plants."
Source: The West Australian

*Ø* US-EU Summit: Ireland is not smiling

"DUBLIN, Ireland (Reuters) -- U.S. President George W. Bush's trip to Ireland for a European Union and U.S. summit is expected to draw thousands of protesters who oppose the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq in a country where U.S. presidents are traditionally feted.

"Ireland is deploying more than 6,000 police and troops to protect Bush and EU leaders at the summit in one of the biggest security operations Ireland has staged ...

"'We expect large numbers to attend the anti-Bush protests in County Clare,' said Fintan Lane, an organizer of Anti-War Ireland, an alliance of protest groups. 'We want him to return home with a clear understanding of the depth of Irish opposition to his warmongering.'

"The mayor of Dublin, Michael Conaghan of the leftist Labour Party, has said he will join the protests.

"Protesters are angry not only at U.S. policy in Iraq but at a decision by Prime Minister Bertie Ahern and the government of neutral Ireland to allow U.S. jets to refuel at Shannon en route to the Middle East.

"Organizers say 50,000 protesters are expected in Dublin and some 10,000 in Shannon.

Troops, police on guard

"Bush flies in to Shannon airport in County Clare, southwest Ireland, on Friday night.

"He meets Ahern, European Commission President Romano Prodi and EU security chief Javier Solana at Dromoland Castle on Saturday before leaving for a NATO summit in Turkey."

Source and full text

*Ø* First encounter: indigenous Australians and Europeans



Historian Inga Clendinnen gave a fascinating talk at Sydney Writers' Week on the topic of relations between the first European settlers in Australia, and indigeous people, at Sydney Cove in the late 1700s. I'm a Sydneysider born and bred, but I learned a helluva lot in less than an hour (can hardly wait for the transcript). She refers to some very interesting historical records of male-female relations, too, both intraracial and interracial. Have a listen.

Also, I found a very plagiarisible page of early (in European terms) drawings of Aboriginal people. One of them is tres Von Daniken.

*Ø* Honi soit

June 24, 1348 The exact day is not known, but some time between this day and August 6, King Edward III of England instituted the Order of the Garter.

During a festival at court, a lady happened to drop her garter. King Edward picked it up, and noticed that the others were giggling. He said, with displeasure, "Honi soit qui mal y pense" – "Shame to him who thinks ill of it". In the spirit of gallantry, perhaps to prevent any further impertinence, he put the garter around his own knee. Or, so it is said.

Traditionally, the lady was the Countess of Salisbury. The garter was an object of note in the year preceding June 24, 1348. Garters with the motto embroidered on were common, as were banners and couches with the motif, and a surcoat provided to the king in 1348 was covered with garters.

The Australian folklorist, Rabbi Dr Rudolph Brasch, says the story is hardly convincing. "Fourteenth-century ladies, even those attending royal functions, were not so finicky or modest that the mere loss of a garter would have caused them to blush or feel uncomfortable," he writes.

Margaret Murray advances a different theory. In the14th century the garter symbolised witches. To lose it was to give away her allegiance to Satan and was an acute danger. Her very life was threatened. By making light of it, the king was protecting her honour, saving her life. By picking up the garter and making light of it, King Edward was showing his confidence in her as not a witch. In case anyone still had doubts, he uttered the famous expression – thus issuing a threat to anyone who would say that the garter was a witch's badge. 

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* "Enough is enough" . . . with a twist.

"Enough is enough"
By Firas Al-Atraqchi
YellowTimes.org Columnist (Canada)

(YellowTimes.org) -- In light of the criminal beheading of Lockheed-Martin engineer Paul Johnson, it's time for the Muslim world to take a stand and clearly say enough is enough. Murder in the name of Islam is actually murdering the good name of Islam. Abducting and slaying innocent men and women, flying airplanes into buildings, blowing up discotheques and trains are not the ways of Islam; they are the ways of cowards, pagans who do not worship the God of Abraham, but the God of death and destruction.

There is a saying that goes something like this: The greatest enemies of a church are within.

In the case of the Islam, as an organized religion, its greatest enemies are so-called Muslims who believe they are fighting in the name of Islam to defend what they claim are Islamic interests in Islamic lands. In fact, they are so-called Muslims who plagiarize sections of the Quran, failing to embrace the comprehensive message of the entire holy book.

Six years ago, many Muslims were cheering the corrupt regime of the Taliban and the al-Qaeda network they harbored and derived inspiration from. The Taliban were seen as the only true Islamic state on the planet. Funny thing is, the Taliban never lifted a finger to better the plight of the Afghan people. Not one school was built, not one road was repaved, not one building was reconstructed, not one hospital was refurbished. The Taliban destroyed television sets, videos, radios, computers --¬ any instrument that represented the West. However, they held onto their tanks, missile launchers, anti-aircraft systems, guns…well, you get the picture. Hypocrisy hardly begins to describe it.

This is a true Islamic state?

The Islamic nation that the Prophet Mohammed bequeathed the people of the world was one inspired by arts and science, culture and history. It was the early Muslims who propagated mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, irrigation, civic management, and architecture, to name a few.

It was the Muslims who took the forgotten Greek philosophies, translated them and gave them back to a comparatively backward Europe. The first medical college and hospital was established in Kufa some 1100 years ago.

Now compare that with the Taliban who excelled at beating women and restricting their role in society.

But there were signs that a threatening ignorance was sweeping through the Islamic world early in the 1990s when the West, much to its discredit, allowed the barbaric Serb massacres of tens of thousands of Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was there that the seeds of perverse Islamic militancy took root. When the West and the laughable United Nations failed to intervene, hardened Arab fighters from Afghanistan started to pour into Bosnia to defend other Muslims. Ironically, the Bosnians had as much in common with other Muslims as a Chinese man has with a llama. In time, the Bosnians began to feel 'irritated' with the Arab fighters, complaining of arrogance and holier-than-thou attitudes.

CONTINUE

[With apologies to the author, I turn his words a bit: -v]

"In light of the criminal beheading of Lockheed-Martin engineer Paul Johnson, it's time for the Christian world to take a stand and clearly say enough is enough. Murder in the name of Christianity is actually murdering the good name of Jesus. Abducting, detaining and slaying innocent men and women, flying airplanes and bombing buildings, blowing up discotheques and trains and homes are not the ways of Christ; they are the ways of cowards, pagans who do not worship the God of Abraham, but the God of death and destruction.

"There is a saying that goes something like this: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It does NOT go like this: Do unto others before they can do unto you.

"In the case of Christianity, as an organized religion, its greatest enemies are the so-called right-wing Christian coalition 'compassionate conservatives' who believe they are fighting in the name of Jesus to defend what they claim are Christian interests in Islamic lands. In fact, they are so-called Christians who plagiarize sections of the Bible, failing to embrace the comprehensive message of the entire holy book."

*Ø* Midsummer Eve (St John's Eve) folklore

Bonfires and a magickal herb

Saint John's Eve is the night before the Feast Day of St John the Baptist, and in Europe, from pre-Christian times, Summer Solstice festivities and spiritual practices have been a part of this day.

Also called Midsummer Eve, June 23 is a time rich in folklore. On this night in olde Britain, people would go into the woods and bring back branches to their homes, celebrating the eve of the birth of John the Baptist (his day is tomorrow). Fairies speak in human tongues on this night; the flower of happiness blooms.
 
St John’s bonfires
In olde Britain, tonight was bonfire night and fires were made composed of contributions of fuel called boons. Men and boys jumped through the fires in accordance with an ancient custom. People would walk about the towns for much of the night, usually garlanded with flowers or with ribbons and jewels – some citizens would not go themselves but send a substitute ...

The magickal herb
It was customary in Britain and Europe on St John's Eve, to gather certain herbs, such as St John’s wort, vervain, trefoil and rue, all of which were believed to have magical properties. St John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) does, in fact, have scientifically proven anti-depressant qualities. Drinks were brewed from it to cure madness, sciatica, epilepsy and paralysis. The salve made from the herb cured wounds from spears and swords – or, so it is said ...

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* Rumsfeld torturer

What was that the neocons were saying about invading other countries to impose a superior culture on them?

Pentagon releases interrogation memo

"The Pentagon has declassified a number of memos about interrogation techniques used at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.

"The memos were all signed by Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

"Among them is a directive signed by Mr Rumsfeld in October 2002 authorising a technique called 'water boarding' in which a prisoner is strapped down, immersed in water and made to feel as if he is going to drown.

"Another is said to have authorised forcing detainees to stand for long periods of time.

"Senior administration officials including the President have denied that any of their orders amounted to approving mistreatment or torture."
Source: ABC Oz News

*Ø* Will Bush dump Cheney?

You heard it here second. Chris Keeley has sent me this from his dad:

"You heard it here first: Cheney will be eased out, off the ticket, before the Republican convention, on health grounds, and 'in order to spend more time with his family.' His replacement as the vice presidential candidate will be John McCain, primarily to counter the AWOL charge, plus Iraq, plus torture, plus lying, plus incompetence, plus general failure, plus any number of other things, but mainly to put a war hero on the ticket to counter that other war hero who turned against a lousy war long ago. It could work, but I doubt it."

Robert V Keeley, retired US ambassador, who I mentioned here on Thursday, June 17.

*Ø* The world's oldest map of the heavens



The Nebra Disk

Seen from the Mittelberg, a 252m hill in the Ziegelroda Forest, Nebra, 180km south-west of Berlin, the sun sets every June 22 behind the Brocken, the highest mountain in northern Germany. The Brocken is in a direct line of sight on a clear day, 85km to the north-west.

The Brocken is fabled in northern European mythology as the place where witches gather for a coven every Walpurgisnacht, April 30.

Treasure hunters on the Mittelberg in 1999 found a 32cm bronze-and-gold disc, crafted around 3,600 years ago. The map on its face shows the Brocken as well as 32 stars including the Pleiades. The Nebra disc, with the oldest concrete representation of the stars in the world, was placed in a pit in the middle of a ringwall during the early Bronze Age. The ringwall was built in such a way that the sun seemed to disappear every equinox behind the Brocken. Scientists believe the map and site formed an observatory, used to set the calendar for planting and harvesting crops.

The forest nearby contains 1,000 barrows or princely graves from the period, but little else is known about the lost people, who are not mentioned in ancient Greek or other Mediterranean writings.

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* Happy solstice!

What are the solstices?
The solstices are the longest and shortest days of the year. In the Northern Hemisphere, Summer Solstice (June 21 or 22) occurs when the sun is farthest north. In the Northern Hemisphere, Winter Solstice (round about December 22) occurs when the sun is farthest south. In the Southern Hemisphere, winter and summer solstices are reversed, so my family, friends and I are enjoying Winter Solstice, or Yule, as it is known in the Celtic tradition. Meanwhile our northern friends are enjoying Litha.

Bright blessings to all and greetings from chilly Sandy Beach, Australia, where today's daylight was far too fleeting.

Click for today's fine photo of the annual Summer Solstice Stonehenge rites. By the way, in Australia, our equivalent is celebrated on the summit of Mt Warning, not so far from where I live, where the first dawn rays of the day touch the Australian continent. (Mt Warning, the plug of an ancient volcano, is in a World Heritage-listed national park.)

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* "The Revolution Starts...Now"

From EP of EP-Rants:

Damn, I love this guy Steve Earle. Not only does he write great music, but he's got a conscience! - EP

* * * * * * * *
Subject: Steve Earle Plans Politically Charged 'Revolution'

Steve Earle wears his politics on his sleeve on his new studio album, "The Revolution Starts... Now," due Aug. 24 via Artemis. The 11-track set finds the outspoken singer/songwriter advocating his most blatant anti-government stance on the guitar-driven "F the CC." Earle pulls no punches in his assault on the Ramones-esque track, which boasts the chorus, "F*** the FCC /f*** the FBI / f*** the CIA / I'm living in the motherf***ing U.S.A."

The album kicks off with the brief call-to-arms cut "The Revolution Starts...," which ends suddenly before segueing into "Home to Houston." A full version of the song, titled "The Revolution Starts Now," closes the set.

Elsewhere, National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice comes directly under fire in
"Condi, Condi," while Earle also airs his frustrations on "Gringo," "Rich Man's War" and the spoken word track "Warrior."

Lest fans think Earle is operating with a one-track mind, he eschews politics and bares his tender side on the mid-tempo "Comin' Around," a duet with longtime friend Emmylou Harris. "Revolution" also includes the heartbreaking ballad "I Thought You Should Know."

The artist and Ray Kennedy produced "The Revolution." Kennedy has collaborated on several of Earle's albums since 1997's "El Corazon" (Warner Bros.)

In advance of the album, Earle will be on tour beginning with a June 22 show in San Diego. Along with his own headlining shows, he's also slated to take part in a pair of Gram Parsons tribute concerts. As previously reported, those events will also feature performances by Norah Jones, Lucinda Williams, Dwight Yoakam, the Mavericks' Raul Malo and Jim Lauderdale.

SOURCE

*Ø* Big Brother Watches, Listens and Misuses Info


From Raff:

How Big Brother Is Watching, Listening
and Misusing Information About You
By Teresa Hampton and Doug Thompson
Capitol Hill Blue

You’re on your way to work in the morning and place a call on your wireless phone. As your call is relayed by the wireless tower, it is also relayed by another series of towers to a microwave antenna on top of Mount Weather between Leesburg and Winchester, Virginia and then beamed to another antenna on top of an office building in Arlington where it is recorded on a computer hard drive.

The computer also records your phone digital serial number, which is used to identify you through your wireless company phone bill that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency already has on record as part of your permanent file. [Emphasis added. -v]

A series of sophisticated computer programs listens to your phone conversation and looks for “keywords” that suggest suspicious activity. If it picks up those words, an investigative file is opened and sent to the Department of Homeland Security.

Congratulations. Big Brother has just identified you as a potential threat to the security of the United States because you might have used words like “take out” (as in taking someone out when you were in fact talking about ordering takeout for lunch) or “D-Day” (as in deadline for some nefarious activity when you were talking about going to the new World War II Memorial to recognize the 60th anniversary of D-Day).

If you are lucky, an investigator at DHS will look at the entire conversation in context and delete the file. Or he or she may keep the file open even if they realize the use of words was innocent. Or they may decide you are, indeed, a threat and set up more investigation, including a wiretap on your home and office phones, around-the-clock surveillance and much closer looks at your life.

Welcome to America, 2004, where the actions of more than 150 million citizens are monitored 24/7 by the TIA, the Terrorist Information Awareness (originally called Total Information Awareness) program of DARPA, DHS and the Department of Justice.

Although Congress cut off funding for TIA last year, the Bush Administration ordered the program moved into the Pentagon’s “black bag” budget, which is neither authorized nor reviewed by the Hill. DARPA also increased the use of private contractors to get around privacy laws that would restrict activities by federal employees. [Emphasis added. -v]

CONTINUE

*Ø* Clinton the Bush man

Bill Clinton had great charm, great PR, and the heart of a Republican. Last August we looked at Slick Willie's policies record, which, as Michael Moore pointed out, was as bad as anything a Shrub could concoct.

Now Time Magazine reports that Clinton is a Bush man when it comes to pre-emptive invasion of sovereign nations. In a move seemingly designed to divert votes from Kerry to Shrub, Clinton does it again. Should we be surprised? In three words: not likely:

Bush got Iraq timing wrong says Clinton
"NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush made the right decision to go after Saddam Hussein but the timing of the invasion was wrong, Bill Clinton said in an interview with Time magazine.

"'I have repeatedly defended President Bush against the left on Iraq, even though I think he should have waited until the U.N. inspections were over,' the former president said in the interview, published on Sunday."
Source: Yahoo! News

Just for a recap, here is

Clinton’s lamentable record

“He has signed a bill providing for federal funds to be distributed to ‘faith-based’ charitable organizations.

“He has expanded the number of federal crimes for which the death penalty can be given to a total of sixty.

“He has signed a bill outlawing gay marriages and has taken out ads on Christian radio stations touting his opposition to any form of legal same-sex couplings.

“In a short span of time, he has been able to kick ten million people off welfare – that's ten million out of fourteen million total recipients.

“He has promised states ‘bonus funds’ if they can reduce their welfare numbers further, and made it easier to get these funds by not requiring the states to help the ex-welfare recipients find jobs.

“He has introduced a plan that would bar any assistance to teenage parents if they drop out of school or leave their parents' home.

“Though he is careful not to draw attention to it, he supports many of the old provisions of Newt Gingrich's ‘Contract With America,’ including lowering the capital gains tax.

“In spite of calls from Republican governors like George Ryan of Illinois to support a moratorium on capital punishment, he rejected all efforts to slow down the number of executions even after it was revealed that there are dozens of people on death row who are innocent.

“He has released funds for local communities to hire over a hundred thousand new police officers and supports laws that that put people behind bars for life after committing three crimes--even if those crimes were shoplifting or not paying for a pizza.

“There are now more people in America without health insurance than when he took office, even though he campaigned on the idea of universal health care. And universal health care has now been removed from the Democrats platform.

“He has signed orders prohibiting any form of health care to poor people who are in the United States illegally.

“He supports a ban on late-term abortions and promised to sign the first bill to cross his desk that includes an exemption only if the mother is in jeopardy.

“He has signed an order prohibiting any U.S. funds going to any country to be used in helping women secure an abortion.

“He signed a one-year gag order that prohibits using any federal funds in foreign countries where birth control agencies mention abortion as an option to pregnant women.

“He refused to sign the international Land Mine Ban Treaty already signed by 137 nations – but not by Iraq, Libya, North Korea, or the United States.

“He has scuttled the Kyoto Protocol by insisting that ‘sinks’ (e.g., farmlands and forests) be counted toward the U.S. percentage of emissions reductions, thus making a mockery of the whole treaty (which was written primarily to reduce the carbon dioxide pollution from cars and factories.)

“He has accelerated drilling for gas and oil on federal lands at a pace that matches, and in some areas exceeds, the production level during the Reagan administration.

“He has approved the sale of one California oil field in the largest privatization deal in American history, and he opened the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (something even Reagan wasn't able to do).

“And he became the first President since Richard Nixon not to force the auto manufacturers to improve their mileage per gallon – which would have saved millions of barrels of oil each day.”

Source: Moore, Michael, Stupid White Men, Chapter 10, ‘Democrats, DOA’

*Ø* ~~flotilla~~ update

We have spoken here before of the ~~flotilla ~~ that has sailed 4,000 km to Australia's internment camp on the Pacific island nation of Nauru.

They have sailed to protest against the Australian Government's detention of those who arrive in Australia by boat and without papers, and to present gifts from people who care. Unfortunately, these brave souls have been turned away by the Nauru authorities.

Yesterday, BBC reported that they would be allowed to meet Nauruan representatives offshore, but latest reports say that this did not happen. No doubt the Australian government sent out its orders. Meanwhile, three Iraqi detainees enter their fifth day of a hunger strike.

More on Australia's shame in Nauru

*Ø* World Refugee Day

A place to call home:
Rebuilding lives in safety and dignity

In 2004, World Refugee Day will focus on the search for, and implementation of, durable solutions for refugees. Based on the theme, "A place to call home: Rebuilding lives in safety and dignity", UNHCR will look at the challenges and hopes that accompany refugees in their search for a new home through voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement.

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* Queen James

June 19, 1566 James I, (d. March 27, 1625; reigned July 24, 1567 - March 27, 1625), only son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Lord Darnley, minor poet and first Stuart king of England (also known as King James VI of the Scots, and 'the wisest fool in Christendom'). He of the 'King James Bible'.

Queen James
James was a homosexual and made no secret about it, but condemned sodomy as an unforgivable sin. When he ascended the English throne in 1603 after the death of Queen Elizabeth I, it was openly joked of the new English monarch in London that Rex fuit Elizabeth: nunc est regina Jacobus ('Elizabeth was King: now James is Queen').

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* The Torturer-in-Chief

By Marjorie Cohn
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Excerpt:

George W. Bush came into the White House — albeit through the back door — pledging to restore honor to the White House. Instead, he has dishonored America by leading us into an illegal war under false pretenses.

In light of the Defense and Justice Department documents, there is probable cause to believe that the commander-in-chief condoned the methodology of torture to secure information from prisoners.

The Constitution mandates the impeachment of a President for high crimes and misdemeanors. There is no higher crime than a war crime. Willful killing, torture and inhuman treatment constitute grave breaches of the Geneva Convention, which are considered war crimes under The War Crimes Act of 1996. Even if Bush’s lawyers could successfully parse the meaning of torture, they cannot deny that the atrocities we’ve seen constitute inhuman treatment.

Bush impliedly admitted sanctioning willful killing, torture and inhuman treatment in his 2003 State of the Union Address. He would be liable under the doctrine of command responsibility for war crimes committed in Iraq as well. The captain goes down with his ship. It is time to call for the Impeachment of George W. Bush.

CONTINUE

*Ø* Just Do It!

What's the single most important thing we can do in the U.S. right this minute to make sure Bush doesn't grab another term? Break all box office records with Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911, that's what!


Rats32 at tsuredzuregusa shares with us his recap of the Republican dirty tricks afoot to force theater owners not to show the film and adds a "Du-uh" list of additional actions we can take, including:

1. Scratch and Sniff

The campaign against Michael Moore is typical GOP ersatz grassroots activism: pay PR hacks to build a glitzy website, plug in freepers, and overturn freedom of speech and free market forces. When you encounter a GOP "grassroots" campaign, scratch the surface and see if it passes the smell test. And if your local media is not checking their facts and presents these stories at face value, write and fax and call and let them know what's going on.

2. Reverse Engineering

Move America Forward (sic) includes a list of contact information on their site for theatres that have committed or are considering carrying Moore's film.

These people are internet carpetbaggers and their antics constitute an orchestrated effort to subvert the first amendment by misrepresenting public opinion to manipulate the "free market" process they allege to love so dearly while they wrap themselves in the flag.

So...use their resources. I encourage everyone who cares about free speech and wants to see this film to use the list, supplied so handily by our friends in the right wing, to contact the theaters in support of Moore's film. You can find the list (along with some truly hyperbolic right wing rhetoric here.

(Yes, I've sent my email to all of them already.)

3. Vote with your wallet

Advance tickets for Fahrenheit 9/11 are already available! Circle June 25th on your calendar, grab your friends, and order your tickets now. [Emphasis added. -v]

[Disclaimer: I do not know nor am I related to Michael Moore. I make no financial gain from the proceeds of his ticket sales. I do, however, strongly believe that if the Republicans can hijack taxpayers' dollars for a partisan campaign event under the thin pretext of a presidential funeral, that Michael Moore deserves a reasonable opportunity to distribute his film without political meddling. -Rats32]

[I would also suggest spending as much as we can afford to buy tickets for our right-leaning friends and relatives. Charter buses and take loads of them to the theaters the way churches did for The Passion — especially in the swing states. Forward this post widely. Let's get those fannies in those seats! Right-cheeked AND left-cheeked! -v]

SOURCE

*Ø* Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

June 18, 1178 About an hour after sunset, according to Gervase of Canterbury (c. 1141 - 1210), the famous medieval chronicler, a band of five eyewitnesses watched as the upper horn of the bright, new crescent Moon

"suddenly split in two. From the midpoint of this division a flaming torch sprang up, spewing out … fire, hot coals and sparks … The body of the moon, which was below writhed … throbbed like a wounded snake".

The phenomenon recurred another dozen times or more, the witnesses reported.

A long-held belief has it that a meteor collision witnessed by these 12th-Century Englishmen resulted in a violent explosion on the moon, so creating the moon's Giordano Bruno crater, named after the 16th-Century astronomer burned at the stake for heresy in 1600. However, this notion doesn't hold up under scientific scrutiny, says Paul Withers of the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.

"I think they happened to be at the right place at the right time to look up in the sky and see a meteor that was directly in front of the moon, coming straight towards them," Withers said.

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* Shell boss's 'confession' shocks industry

Oil chief raises greenhouse fears

"The head of one of the world's biggest oil companies has revealed he fears for the planet's future if carbon dioxide emissions cannot be controlled.

"The new chairman of Shell, Lord Ron Oxburgh, says he sees very little hope for the world unless carbon dioxide emissions are dealt with.

"He told the Guardian newspaper the consequences resulting from the current level of emissions cannot be predicted and are 'probably not good' ..."
Source: ABC Oz News


"Friends of the Earth's director Tony Juniper said:

"'We are pleased that Shell appears to realise the serious threat posed by global climate change. But its core business is the production of fossil fuels – the major cause of the problem. Last year it claimed to have produced more oil and gas than ever before. If Lord Roxburgh really wants to tackle climate change, Shell must stop investing in new oil projects, such as in Sakhalin, Russia, stop the insane practice o9f gas-flaring and switch to alternative, renewable sources of power instead. Until it gets out of fossil fuels, Shell will continue to be a major part of the problem.'

"Mr Oxburgh called for a mass programme of carbon sequestration, where carbon would be captured and stored underground.

"Tony Juniper continued:

"'Technical fixes such as sequestration may have a role to play but are likely to prove more expensive and less effective than simple measures to reduce emissions such as more fuel efficient vehicles and renewable sources of energy. Shell must realise that we need to tackle the core of the problem. There's no point in bailing out the basement while there's holes in the roof.'

"The latest Shell Report says that its emissions of greenhouse gases rose by 6 per cent in 2003."
Source: FoE

*Ø* AIDS stalking Africa

What would we do if 40% of the adult population of Australia, Britain or the USA had HIV/AIDS?

We can easily be distracted about the biggest issues when we read things like that George W Bush is sticking to his guns about there being an Iraq-Al Qeda connection, even when the FBI and CIA say there was not. It's a big issue, but not the biggest.

Here in the West it is so easy to forget one of the greatest problems facing the world, and that is the tragic toll that HIV/AIDS is wreaking on so many countries of Africa. This report from the Washington Post and this from CNN present issues and statistics that we need to know.

Of the 36.1 million people living with HIV/AIDS, an overwhelming 95 per cent live in developing countries. And it is in these countries that the anti-retrovirus medicines that have made AIDS a less fearful problem in the West, are relatively unavailable, as are massive prevention programs that are urgently needed. In Lesotho, 30 per cent of adults are infected; Swaziland, Botswana and Namibia have figures of around 40 per cent (source).

By 2020 the epidemic will have claimed the lives of one-fifth or more of all those working in agriculture in many southern African countries.

The UN's AIDS envoy to Africa, Stephen Lewis, says that if the West only had the will to act and stretch out the hand of friendship, the pandemic could be turned round in Africa in just five years. But this is scarcely happening, and Africa is faced with the promise of millions of orphaned children. How many of these will grow into armed militants? Lewis says that everywhere he goes in Africa, he sees death, suffering, funerals.

Google AIDS in Africa
United Nations and AIDS
UNAIDS

*Ø* Aussie national poet: Henry Lawson



June 17, 1867 Henry Lawson, Australian's best known writer of short stories and ballad-like verse and noted for his realistic portrayals of bush life, born in Grenfell, New South Wales.

His mother was the pioneer feminist, Louisa Lawson (February 17, 1848 - August 12, 1920), feminist editor of Dawn: A Journal for Australian Women (a "paper in which women may express their own opinions on political and social questions").

When female Australian British subjects (with the glaring exception of Asians, Aborigines and Africans) won the vote with the Uniform Franchise Act (June 16, 1902), Louisa Lawson was hailed by her political sisters as "The Mother of Womanhood Suffrage". Unlike many suffragists and feminists of her day, she did not come from a privileged background but from the shanties of rural Australia. Dawn was a monthly journal that lasted for 17 years, employed a staff of ten and mostly published the writings of Henry Lawson’s remarkable mother.

Henry lived much of his life in poverty and alcoholic despair, but even during his lifetime he was acknowledged as a poetic genius, much-loved by the Australian people who until recently had a strong poetic culture ...

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* Why Iraq? God instructed Bush, that's why

Chris Keeley, a Net mate of mine from USA (Daily Dreamtime blog) has been sending some interesting stuff lately. His father, retired US diplomat Robert Keeley, is associated with Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change which is making quite a splash:

"An unprecedented bipartisan coalition of 27 career chiefs of mission and retired four-star military leaders will launch a nationwide campaign to press for the need for change in U.S. foreign and defense policy because they are deeply concerned by the damage the Bush Administration has caused to our national and international interests."

He also sent me the following fine article but no headline or URL (I googled a phrase in it and a teaser showed up at AlterMedia but the full story required a log-in so I will take a liberty and reprint what Chris sent me in full):

By James A. Haught

The Charleston Gazette - 6/15/04

Millions of words are being written about the Iraq war, but hardly anyone asks the fundamental, underlying, unanswered question: Why did the Bush administration start it?

As Americans watch the sickening daily events, we really don't know why we got into this mess.

All the official reasons for the war turned out to be phony. Iraq didn't possess horror weapons, wasn't in league with terrorists, wasn't a menace to America and wasn't eager to welcome U.S. troops as liberators. So why did President Bush order the attack? This should be the number-one question of 2004, yet it isn't heard in the election campaign.

About half of Americans still support Bush's war. Maybe they don't even wonder about the cause. If asked, many of them probably would say the war was necessary because of the 9/11 suicide assault. But that's irrational. No Iraqis were among the self-destroying "holy warriors" of Sept. 11, 2001. Nearly all of them were Saudis – yet the White House wouldn't have dreamed of attacking Saudi Arabia.

Early in the war, some cynical Americans speculated that Bush's secret motive was to gain control over Iraq's oil – or to finish his father's old vendetta against Saddam Hussein – or to establish U.S. global military sway, as advocated by far-right hawks in the Project for a New American Century. But those allegations seem largely forgotten now. Nobody seriously thinks it was started to give fat contracts to Halliburton.

A couple of weeks ago, longtime U.S. Senator Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, D-S.C., challenged his colleagues to explain why America is at war – but he got no comprehendible answer.

Hollings had stirred up a hornets' nest by contending that President Bush ordered the invasion partly to serve interests of Israel and "to take the Jewish vote from the Democrats." In a commentary published by several southern newspapers last month, Hollings noted that all of Bush's purported reasons for the war were false.

"With Iraq no threat, why invade a sovereign country?" the senator wrote. "The answer: President Bush's policy to secure Israel."

Hollings pointed out that Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Charles Krauthammer and other key hawks in Bush's clique spent many years demanding a U.S. attack on Iraq, partly "to guarantee Israel's security." Because of their influence, he said, Bush came into office looking for an excuse to invade – and the 9/11 tragedy provided it.

"You don't come to town and announce your Israel policy is to invade Iraq," the senator said, so other pretexts were given for the war.

Ironically, he said, Bush's war actually is creating more terrorism, thus worsening danger to Israel.

Immediately after the commentary was published, Hollings was denounced as anti-Semitic, even by fellow senators. In response, he gave a long, extemporaneous, May 20 floor speech denying any prejudice, and asking:

"I challenge any one of the other 99 senators to tell us why we are in Iraq?... Everybody knows it is because we want to secure our friend, Israel."

Hollings said he mistakenly supported the 2002 resolution authorizing an attack on Iraq. When Bush began talking about Iraq's secret nuclear program, he said, he assumed that Israeli agents had detected evidence of such weaponry and had asked the White House to "knock it out for them. That is why I voted for it. I got misled."

Last month, retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni made similar allegations on "60 Minutes." He said "everybody I talk to in Washington" knows that Bush's far-right advisors wanted to invade Iraq to strengthen Israel's position in the Mideast. Gen. Zinni said that, likewise, "I was called anti-Semitic."

The Village Voice says White House aides meet with leaders of a Pentecostal (talking in tongues) lobby that wants Israel to reign over biblical territory, to fulfill prophecies for the return of Jesus.

Meanwhile, some observers think President Bush's simplistic religion, which brands opponents as "evil," was a factor in his war. In his news conference last month, he declared that "freedom is the Almighty's gift to every man and woman in the world, and as the greatest power on the face of the Earth, we have an obligation to help spread that freedom." In other words, he thinks he carried out God's will by ending dictatorship in Iraq.

Earlier, Bush told biographer Bob Woodward that he didn't consult his earthly father about launching the war – "there's a higher father that I appeal to." Fringe candidate Ralph Nader calls Bush a "Messianic militarist" – a holy warrior.

Last year, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas met with Bush, and said afterward that the American president told him: "God told me to strike at al-Qaida, and I struck them, and then He instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did." The White House later denied this statement. Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen feigned disappointment about the denial, saying "the purported instructions from God remain about the only explanation for some of what Bush has done."

From all of this, can anyone fathom the real reason why 826 young Americans and thousands of Iraqis have been killed, and a chaotic mess has been created? If you can see a logical explanation, I wish you'd spell it out for me.

This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm

*Ø* Recommended: "Follow The Money" and "George Bush Lies"

From E.P. of EP-Rants [itself highly recommended -v]:

Two things to report today:

1) New York Times TV/Discovery Channel just completed a new documentary about the 2004 elections, and I'm proud to announce that they licensed some of my Howard Dean footage. They only used 2 seconds, so if you BLINK, you may miss all of my footage. I recommend that you keep your eyes wide open throughout the entire program.

The show will be on the Discovery Times Channel (as opposed to the Discovery Channel) which is not part of standard cable. To view this channel, you'll need extended digital cable or one of those special satellite dish packages.

Here's the official word:

"FOLLOW THE MONEY," the one-hour documentary about money in the 2004 elections, will premiere on the Discovery Times Channel on Tuesday, June 29th at 8:00 PM (EST). If you miss the premiere, check the Discovery Times for re-broadcast information.


2) Musician Carmaig de Forest has created a remake of his 1992 single "George Bush Lies." To quote his website:

This version of "George Bush Lies" is a rewrite of Carmaig's 1992 single. The election of that year made it possible for Carmaig to retire the song from his repertoire. Please help Carmaig retire the song again. This means if you're a U.S. citizen please register to vote and, especially if you live in a "battleground" state, vote for John Kerry. The country and the world will be safer and saner.

http://www.carmaig.com/georgebushlies.html is where you should go for more information about this song, including a link to download a FREE MP3.

E.P.
http://www.rantical.com/dfa-dvd/

*Ø* Torture: "US official policy to blame" says Human Rights Watch

"A recently released report from New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) places the blame for torture by US forces at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and other locations around the world firmly on the policies of the Bush administration.

"In the 38-page report titled The Road to Abu Ghraib, HRW describes the pattern of official policy decisions the group says encouraged the use of torture and prisoner abuse by US soldiers, as well as subsequent "cover-ups" to quash any allegations of abuse. HRW’s conclusions provide more evidence to counter statements by US officials that instances of torture resulted from a lack of discipline among frontline troops.

"'The only exceptional aspect of the abuse at Abu Ghraib may have been that it was photographed,' the report’s introduction explains."
Source: News Standard

*Ø* Meet Joe Blog

Why are more and more people getting their news
from amateur websites called blogs? Because they're
fast, funny and totally biased

By Lev Grossman; Anita Hamilton

A few years ago, Mathew Gross, 32, was a free-lance writer living in tiny Moab, Utah. Rob Malda, 28, was an underperforming undergraduate at a small Christian college in Michigan. Denis Dutton, 60, was a professor of philosophy in faraway Christchurch, New Zealand. Today they are some of the most influential media personalities in the world. You can be one too. [Emphasis added. -v]

Gross, Malda and Dutton aren't rich or famous or even conspicuously good-looking. What they have in common is that they all edit blogs: amateur websites that provide news, information and, above all, opinions to rapidly growing and devoted audiences drawn by nothing more than a shared interest or two and the sheer magnetism of the editor's personality. Over the past five years, blogs have gone from an obscure and, frankly, somewhat nerdy fad to a genuine alternative to mainstream news outlets, a shadow media empire that is rivaling networks and newspapers in power and influence. Which raises the question: Who are these folks anyway? And what exactly are they doing to the established pantheon of American media?

CONTINUE

*Ø* Protest song is back — with a vengeance

And this time the lyrics are not just antiwar.
From hip-hop to punk to rock, artists are wailing against
President Bush.

By Christopher Blagg
Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor

The term protest music often conjures up images of unkempt folkies strumming guitars and warbling their dissent in Greenwich Village coffeehouses. All that has changed.

Folk music no longer dominates the genre. Today, rebellious political rhetoric can be found in hip-hop, punk, country, metal, alt-rock, and everything in between. Not only has protest music diversified, it seems to be rapidly on the rise.

Some of the new songs, unsurprisingly, address the war on Iraq. But whereas protest songs during the Vietnam era were broadly antiwar in their message, the new batch of political tunes aren't narrowly focused on the recent war. It's more personal than that. Most of the music is targeted at the actions and policies of one man: George W. Bush.

And it's often incendiary stuff.

"For better or worse, Bush has stirred up a lot of vitriol in the music community," says David Browne, head music critic for Entertainment Weekly. "There's always been protest songs against presidents, but they have never been near to the level of venom you're seeing now."

That isn't to say no songs are championing the administration's foreign policy — country music has produced hits such as Toby Keith's "Courtesy of the Red White and Blue (The Angry American)." But they're being drowned out by the sheer volume of musicians working to oust the Oval Office's current occupant. [Emphasis added. -v]

The musicians range from punk rockers to pop acts to older artists like Patti Smith and Rickie Lee Jones. In all, Mr. Browne reckons protest songs seem to have been more numerous in the past year and a half than in the late '60s. "There just wasn't that concentration of songs during the Vietnam War," he says.

Leading the charge in the current round of Bush-whacking is Fat Mike, frontman for the veteran punk rock group NOFX. Mike created the current Billboard-charting compilation entitled "Rock Against Bush," a collection of sneeringly rebellious punk rock songs including ones from mainstream acts like Sum 41, OffSpring, and the Ataris. Twenty-six bands offered songs for the compilation, and many more joined the tour that followed.

The idea for the album emerged from the controversy over the Florida vote count in the previous presidential election. The outcome still rankles Fat Mike, who believes the result was unjust.

"After the 2000 election I was pretty upset," says Mike. "I needed to come up with a way I could use my celebrity to expose the fraud of the election."
[Emphasis added. -v]

Mike also soon founded the provocative website punkvoter.com, which aimed to harness the youth vote.

CONTINUE

*Ø* Torturing Mr. Bush
By Steve Weissman
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Should George W. Bush lose his bid for re-election this November, historians will find a major cause in the flood of pornographic photographs that show American soldiers torturing and sexually humiliating naked Iraqis. How will publishers of sanitized schoolbooks ever tell the story to future generations?

Nor will serious historians stop there. How will they deal with those of us who knew, or should have known, the way American forces have used — and taught other nations to use — the same degrading torture techniques at least as far back as President John F. Kennedy? Will our grandchildren and theirs see us as we see "the Good Germans" who callously turned their eyes away from what Hitler did to the Jews?

As bad as the torture was and continues to be in America's global gulag, it is not the Holocaust. But it is bad enough, and the moral dilemma it poses feels painfully similar.

Consider the role — no, the criminal complicity — of President Bush. For a Harvard MBA who usually delegates details, he played a remarkably hands-on role pushing his torture package through Washington's bureaucratic maze. Not only did he know what his underlings planned to do, he told them to do it. His fingerprints show up all over the smoking documents. [Emphasis added. -v]

CONTINUE

*Ø* Green Man is lurking


A midsummer night's imp
Watch out, watch out, there are imps about! Charles Kightly in his The Perpetual Almanack of Folklore tells us that the red-stalked Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum) blooms around English houses in June, associated with Summer Solstice (June 21) and Midsummer (June 24). (In North America, however, it is a noxious weed.)

Herb Robert is also known as Death-come-quickly, Robin's eye, Robin Hood, Robin-i'-th'-hedge, Stinking Bob, Stinker Bobs and Wren flower. Weed or not, beware how you treat it, for it is Robin Goodfellow's flower and he might direct a snake to bite you, especially if you destroy it.

Robin Goodfellow is an English imp, a trickster from the woods. As a forest dweller, he symbolises the pagan (wood-dwelling) pre-Christian peoples who the Church worked hard at converting from their wicked ways. Robin is a cognate of the famous European Green Man (a name coined by Lady Raglan in 1939 for a medieval image usually found in churches), and of Robin Hood ...

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* Bloomsday centenary

[Our team member Nora, who lives near the heart of Dublin, is unwell, and I'm sure if she wasn't, this would be something like her post. Wishing Nora a speedy recovery. We miss your posts!]

1904 Bloomsday, celebrated annually on June 16: all of the main narrative events in James Joyce's Ulysses, took place on this day. Bloomsday is celebrated all over the world wherever people read and love Joyce.

The first celebration of this secular holiday took place in 1954 and major festivals are taking place worldwide on the centenary of the first Bloomsday. For example:

"An exhibition on James Joyce's life and work is being held at the Hoshigaoka Campus of Aichi Shukutoku University in Nagoya through June 16."
Source: Daily Yomiuri, Japan

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* Forgotten massacre of Bud Bagsak

Jun 15, 1913 The Battle of Bud Bagsak
US troops under General John 'Black Jack' Pershing ended (temporarily, for it continues to this day) the Moro people's struggle for self-determination in the Philippines.

This was done by exterminating 2,000, including 196 women and 340 children, (one source has 6,000 to 10,000 men, women and children) in an assault on the same crater in which an entire community had been similarly liquidated on March 8, 1906, an act of bastardry roundly condemned by anti-imperialist Mark Twain ...

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there. 

*Ø* Che: nice cheekbones

Shame about the concentration camp

Crazy with fury I will stain my rifle red while slaughtering any enemy that falls in my hands! My nostrils dilate while savoring the acrid odor of gunpowder and blood. With the deaths of my enemies I prepare my being for the sacred fight and join the triumphant proletariat with a bestial howl!
Che Guevara; Motorcycle Diaries

June 14, 1928 Ernesto (Che) Guevara (d. 1967), Argentinian-born Stalinist revolutionary who fought with Castro in Cuba, and in Bolivia; commonly extolled as a hero despite his authoritarian and bloodthirsty ideology and crimes against humanity.

Guevara's first position in the ruthless Communist Cuban dictatorship was that of comandante of La Cabana Fortress in Havana. There he had jurisdiction over the notorious 'war criminals' trials, which allegedly resulted in the execution of 600 civilian and military officials.

Many individuals imprisoned at La Cabana, such as poet and human rights activist Armando Valladares, who worked in the new revolutionary government, allege that Guevara took particular and personal interest in the interrogation, torture, and execution of prisoners. Guevara also assisted Raul Castro in purging and reorganizing the national army to make it the "principal political arm of the people's revolution".

For me, it meant 8,000 days of hunger, of systematic beatings, of hard labor, of solitary confinement and solitude, 8,000 days of struggling to prove that I was a human being, 8,000 days of proving that my spirit could triumph over exhaustion and pain, 8,000 days of testing my religious convictions, my faith, of fighting the hate my atheist jailers were trying to instill in me with each bayonet thrust, fighting so that hate would not flourish in my heart, 8,000 days of struggling so that I would not become like them.
Armando Valladares

The famous '60s image of Guevara was taken from a photo from March, 1960 by lifelong communist Alberto Korda. The eyes of the revolutionary have been altered by an unknown person to give him a more saintly and courageous look ...


This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* Sleeping Beauty castle king

June 13, 1886 King Ludwig II of Bavaria ('the Swan King'; 'the Mad King'), who had a history of mental disorders, and a long struggle with his homosexuality, drowned with his physician in Lake Starnberg, near Munich, Austria.

Luwig was both friend and enemy of the composer Richard Wagner, whom he banished from Bavaria. Ludwig created the fantastic Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria; Sleeping Beauty's castle in Disneyland was largely modelled on this magical edifice.

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* Here, there and everywhere: St Anthony of Padua



Jun 13: Feast day of St Anthony (Antony) of Padua (holiday in Padua and Lisbon)
(Garden ranunculus, Ranunculus asiaticaus, was designated today’s plant by medieval monks. It is dedicated to this saint.)

The patron saint of illiterates, the poor and the downtrodden, St Anthony was born on August 15, 1195 in Lisbon, Portugal, as Francisco de Bulhões (d. June 13, 1231). He became a Franciscan and grew famous throughout Italy. The story is told that once, to impress a heretic, he preached to fish, which lifted their heads out of the water to hear him. On one occasion, to impress a heretic, he caused the man’s mule, which had not eaten for three days, to kneel down and venerate the communion host, instead of rushing to eat a bale of hay ...

Anthony is the patron saint of careless people, especially those who have lost something important, such as an animal, a valuable possession, or even a child. If you have lost something, the following rhyme, which is actually a prayer to this saint, is supposed to help:

Tony, Tony, look around
Something's lost that must be found.

If women burn a candle on his day and say the following prayer, they will find a rich husband:

Sant Antoni beneit (Blessed St Antony),
Feu-me trobar un marit (Make me find a husband)
Que sigui bon home i ric (Who is a good man and rich),
I, si pot ser, de seguit (And if possible, immediately).

Many strange occurrences attended the life of this Portuguese saint. On one occasion, a woman went to hear him preach, leaving her child home alone; it fell into a pot on the fire. When she got home she found the baby standing up unharmed in the cauldron.

The Cathedral of Padua, where Anthony is called Il Santo, has kept the tongue of the saint since 1307. On this day, a holiday in Padua, this and other relics are exhibited.

Give food to strangers
An old folk saying in New Mexico, USA, has it that on St Anthony’s Day, as well as on St Joseph’s Day (March 19), one should give food to strangers, because the strangers may be saints themselves.

St Anthony of Padua and bilocation
While preaching in the Church of St Pierre du Queyroix, in Limoges, France, St Anthony of Padua suddenly remembered he should have been preaching in another place across town. But at the monastery where he should have been, he was seen by the monks to deliver his sermon then step back into the shadows. Other Christian religious figures who are said to have bilocated include Ambrose of Milan and the Italian priest Padre Pio. The Swedish philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg supposedly also had the ability.

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* Please bury Ronnie soon, it's embarrassing

Jeez. If they don't plant the old guy soon he'll go off like a bucket of prawns. What can they be thinking? He's been dead for about a month already.

All I know is that I'm glad that I've chosen the road most travelled, the path of mediocre achievement. I don't want to lie in state, not in summer, anyway. And I'm sure my rello's wouldn't want it either. I've asked my friends to do something funny with my corpse, but hopefully not let it bloat up like someone from Jonestown or an American TV audience.

One idea I suggested years ago to Mr Peg and Baz le Tuff is to put my carcase in a trick coffin, one that's just held together with a few small nails or some Blu-Tak (TM), and get the hearse to do a roaring wheelie around Woolworths corner in Sydney at lunchtime, making sure that Wilson skittles a dozen or so office workers and unsuspecting shoppers. And chuck some pig offal into the casket beforehand, just for that Ed Wood-meets-Mel Gibson effect.

The other plan was to get hoisted at half-mast up a flagpole. And maybe ceremoniously bury a flag at the foot of it. Peg and Baz respect me, I'm sure, but I don't know if they would honour me that way. They're both pretty slack. And it could be pushing the friendship a bit far, but I have a feeling they'll actually do it. I've known them both to do sillier things over the past 43 years. One day I might tell all. Remind me to mention the cut-up Picasso stunt. "Subdivision art," Mr Peg called it.

The weather here in summer is probably why we don't make politicians lie in state in Australia. (Apart, of course, from the fact that we hate the lot of them.) We have too many blowflies, and it's just plain too warm most of the time, in most parts of the continent. It's even unwise to eat anything at a barbecue that you haven't actually seen taken from a freezer less than 10 minutes before burning. That includes lettuce, which I'm told harbours a great many micro-organisms. We lost a prime minister who ate a warm kebab once, which is why ever since, it's uncool to be an Arab here. And we certainly didn't stick him on a plinth in the hot sun so he would pong like Danish blue cheese. Must be an Old World thing, i.e, American.

Obsequies from the obsequious
Or maybe we don't honour our pollies the way the Yanks apparently do because we reckon our so-called leaders have done enough lying in state already and it'd be kinder to everyone to get them six foot under pushing up the daisies rather than take the risk that they're just pretending, or in a coma or something. I believe there was some doubt about that with the former US president.

However, our American cousins love a parade and any chance to get out those 300 million plastic flags. And 300 million obsequies about an old man who was either the greatest leader and nicest bloke in God's favourite hemisphere, or a cretinous, cruel bastard who oversaw the deaths of 100,000 Central Americans, depending on which bullshit website you trust.

I do give Reagan due credit for helping to end the Cold War (it's just the way he did it that makes me feel like dropping him off at Woolworths corner), but perhaps the commentators might like also to mention Gorby, who could be said to have had a teensy weensy bit to do with it as well. Although, according to Sakharov, one of the main factors in Gorbachev's backdown was that he was convinced that Star Wars would work, despite the frantic propaganda to the contrary that his KGB and Western friends of the USSR promulgated in the 1980s like a gaggle of disingenuous pre-schoolers pretending they aren't hiding anything behind their backs.

Vale, Ronald Wilson Reagan. Loved your hair. Just don't mention your middle name at the Pearly Gates.

*Ø* Funniest fukn thing I've heard on radio for years

Home handyman talkback show, this morning:

First handyman: Rhonda from Westmead's on the line. Rhonda wants to know how to drill a hole in a teddy bear. Unhappy childhood Rhonda?
Second Handyman: 357 Magnum.

*Ø* 1964 John, Paul George and Jimmy



June 11, 1964 The Beatles arrived in Australia at Darwin airport at the beginning of their 'down under' tour.

An enterprising Australian promoter had booked them some time prior to their major international success, at a price that by this day had become ludicrous. However, Brian Epstein, the Beatles' manager, was a true gentleman and honoured the contract to bring the Fab Four to the antipodes, despite the fact that they made no money on the tour and could easily have paid out the contract.

Much to the fans' disappointment, Ringo Starr wasn't there, but at home in London hospital with a bad case of tonsillitis. The band hired Jimmy Nicol as a stand-in for Ringo. He only played a few shows before Mr Starkey arrived on June 14. A press typo at the time had fans believing the Beatles' drummer had had his 'toenails' removed. Their opening act was Kiwi rocker, Johnny Devlin.

World record crowd in 'the City of Churches'
The next day, the Fab Four hit Adelaide, South Australia. There, even though it was a working day (Friday), not a weekend, an estimated 350,000 to 400,000 people – out of a population of fewer than 900,000 – lined the streets to see the band. Very few crowds in history, it’s been said, had been bigger anywhere – Gandhi’s funeral being a notable exception with about one million. Big stars had rarely been to Adelaide before, but the Beatles' amazing success there helped put the town on the world entertainment map and must have contributed to the small city’s current standing as one of the cultural centres of Australia.

Australia was Beatle crazy, and the Mop Tops said they were overwhelmed by the size of reception in each Australian city they played: Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, larger than the crowds in any country.

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* Fair trial? Hicks's military lawyer has doubts

This army man must have balls of steel: Major Michael Mori, American military lawyer for Australian POW David Hicks (left), has bravely expressed his reservations that Hicks will get a fair trial from the Americans.

"The defence team intends to fight these allegations, and that's all they are is allegations, to the fullest extent that we're allowed to and the resources that are provided to us," Major Mori told Reuters.

"It's unfortunate these allegations will never be tested in a fair and established justice system. There's just a complete lack of the independent judiciary and the independent appeals process that are the backbone of any criminal justice system we're used to. It's such a departure from fundamental fairness."
Source

US denies flouting the law following leaked torture memos
US torture policy: "It's not rotten apples, it's at the top of gov't" – lawyer
CCR Files Lawsuit Against Private Contractors For Torture Conspiracy
CCR Obtains Internal Pentagon Report Outlining Framework For Use Of Torture

*Ø* USA to charge 42 million with war crimes

Now that Australian David Hicks has been charged with war crimes, plans are afoot in the US administration to charge retrospectively every soldier who has ever been in an army that was an enemy of the United States.

Mr Donald Rumsfeld told a packed press conference in the White House's Eva Braun Garden that the Hicks case had inspired a general feeling of "yeah, we can do this" in the White Bunker. "We used operate on this narrow notion that a war crime is when you go into a village and kill all the babies. You know, like we did at My Lai. And all those rinky-dink countries. But we define that as psyops now. Then that Aussie punk comes along, and Ashcroft says to me, 'Hey, if that Aussie guy can be charged with war crimes just for training in an enemy military camp, it should be a walkover to charge the Japs for World War Two.' The Germans and Italians was my idea. We almost forgot the Ruskies but that one was the President's."

Apparently the idea of retrospectivity can also be attributed to the Hicks case. "You can thank Lynnnnndddie ... I mean, Condolleeeezzzza for that," Mr Rumsfeld giggled. "The President was concerned that there was no precedent for charging the British for fighting us so long ago, till I pointed out that the Aussie has been more than two years in detention and no one cared, in fact we have shitloads of prisons full of war criminals over there in Cuba and Eye-raq, so ... retrospeckshmivity."

"It's just a shame that we let all those soldiers in the past go free after their terrorist actions, but they won't get away with it for much longer", he added.

When asked how the United States could possibly charge every service man and woman in the world, and through all history, with war crimes, and carry out prosecutions, Mr Rumsfeld replied that the concept that the USA can not do anything at all does not make grammatical sense and asked for the sentence to be re-worded.

An order for 42 million orange jump suits and 84 million testicle electrodes has been placed with a corporation jointly owned by the White House, Standard Oil, Enron and Halliburton.

No word has been heard of the other Australian, Mamdouh Habib, believed to be being held in the Colored Guys section of Guantanamo Bay, from which no one has ever emerged.

*Ø* Bush's comment was a set-up


A few days ago, US President Bush outraged a great many Australians, probably a majority, by stepping over a conventional line, into Australian domestic politics (as posted here on Friday June 4). A lot of commentators made it seem like it was just a throw-away line. It was not.

Now veteran and highly respected Australian journalist Alan Ramsey tells the background story in an article One question makes it all worthwhile at the Sydney Morning Herald. Australia's Prime Minister, John Howard, was with Shrub in the Rose Garden for a media conference, and when the conference was about to close, Howard made sure that a Rupert Murdoch journalist (Steve Lewis from Murdoch's The Australian newspaper) put the clincher question to the Prez.

Read on for what really happened:

"The locals' two questions showed no interest in Bush's visitor. The first Australian question asked when the incarcerated [Australian citizens] David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib, buried alive in Guantanamo Bay for 2 years without charge, would face trial. Bush mumbled a non-reply about 'the case proceeding'. The second Australian question incited Howard. As an American reporter tried to grab the last opportunity, Howard interjected: 'Mr Lewis, Steve Lewis, The Australian.'

"Lewis, taking his cue: 'President Bush, if I could ask a question?' Bush, scanning the media gaggle: 'Where are you?' Lewis: 'Just here. Thank you.' And then the Murdoch press gallery journalist from Canberra asked the question his Prime Minister had gone half round the world to get answered, out loud, for his election campaign ads.

"Lewis: 'Mr Howard and yourself reaffirmed the commitment to stay the course in Iraq. Are you aware the alternative prime minister in Australia, Mark Latham, has promised to withdraw Australian troops by Christmas if he wins the election? What signal would that send to the Iraqi people and the other members of the coalition of the willing?'

"Bush obliged, fully and freely, what his script writers had failed to deliver: 'I think that would be disastrous. It would be a disastrous decision for the leader of a great country like Australia to say, "We're pulling out". It would disspirit those people who love freedom in Iraq. It would say the Australian government doesn't see hope of a free and democratic society leading to a peaceful world. It would embolden the enemy, who believe they can shake our will. See, they want to kill innocent life, because they think the Western world, the free world, is weak. That when times get tough, we will shirk our duty to those who long for freedom, and we'll leave. And I, anyway - [to clamouring reporters] no, you can't [ask] any more. Thank you all for coming.'

"John Howard, beaming: 'Thank you.'

"And thank you, oh thank you, Steve Lewis."


Aussie cultural cringe Vs. Helping the USA get rid of Dubya

Lewis's question was a Dorothy Dixer, as we call them in Oz: a set-up question. Note the way he asks "What signal would that send to the Iraqi people and the other members of the coalition of the willing?" He served it to the Shrub on a plate.

Australians will be going to the polls soon, at a date yet to be set but quite likely before the US election. No wonder Howard was beaming. Like Bush, he lives in the socks drawer of Rupert ("I no longer call Australia Home") Moloch.

If Mark Latham's Labor Party wins power and pulls Australian troops out of Iraq, it will be a bigger slap in the face to Shrub than most Aussies realise, and at a very important time. It will definitely harm Shrub's campaign as American electors get further confirmation of disapproval of his policies from allies in the world.

Australians typically underrate their country as a world power, because we are smaller than Britain and the USA, our main cultural influences. We shouldn't. That cultural cringe should have died 40 years ago. We have the world's 12th largest economy out of 190 nations. In most fields of endeavour, be they cultural, scientific, political, sporting or whatever, we punch well above our weight in the international arena. We have more international clout that we credit ourselves with.

We should remember this, I feel, when we enter the polling booths in a few months time. Bush wants our votes real bad. This is why people as high in the US administration as Powell and Armitage have also been mouthing off about Latham's plan to exit Iraq. They've been as noisy as a chookhouse full of goannas. It will be a bigger blow to Shrub than when Spain vamoosed. We should shoot through like a Bondi tram, and help the dinkum Seppos get rid of Bush, an' I tell ya that fer nuthin.

Normally, I reckon ya wouldn't lay a bait for most Labor pollies, but I'll be votin for them this time. Even though Peter Garrett, who joined Labor yesty, now says that we should keep Pine Gap, the American spy station we host here. As he once sang,


Power and the Passion Lyrics
Artist: Midnight Oil

Sunburnt faces around, with skin so brown
Smiling zinc cream and crowds, Sundays the beach never a cloud
Breathing eucalypt, pushing panel vans
Stuff and munch junk food
Laughing at the truth, cos Gough was tough til he hit the rough
Uncle Sam and John were quite enough

Too much of sunshine too much of sky
It's enough to make you want to cry

Oh the power and the passion, oh the temper of the time
Oh the power and the passion
Sometimes you've got to take the hardest line

I see buildings, clothing the sky, in paradise
Sydney, nights are warm
Daytime telly, blue rinse dawn
Dad's so bad he lives in the pub, it's a underarms and football clubs
Flat chat, Pine Gap, in every home a Big Mac
And no one goes outback, that's that
You take what you get and get what you please
It's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees

Oh the power and the passion ...


Now back to our overseas commentary, after this important word from our sponsor.

*Ø* US "not founded on Christianity": Washington

As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion, – as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen [Muslims], – and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
Treaty between USA and Libya, proclaimed by George Washington, the first President of the United States, June 10, 1797

More at the Scriptorium: Was the USA founded on Christianity?

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* The madness of King George W

Bush's Erratic Behavior Worries White House Aides

"President George W. Bush's increasingly erratic behavior and wide mood swings has the halls of the West Wing buzzing lately as aides privately express growing concern over their leader’s state of mind.

"In meetings with top aides and administration officials, the President goes from quoting the Bible in one breath to obscene tantrums against the media, Democrats and others that he classifies as 'enemies of the state.'

"Worried White House aides paint a portrait of a man on the edge, increasingly wary of those who disagree with him and paranoid of a public that no longer trusts his policies in Iraq or at home.

"'It reminds me of the Nixon days,' says a longtime GOP political consultant with contacts in the White House. 'Everybody is an enemy; everybody is out to get him. That’s the mood over there.'"
Source: Capitol Hill Blue via our link partners, Stage Left

*Ø* Blair as tragic figure



From a provocative new Atlantic article, 'The Tragedy of Tony Blair'

"From an American perspective, it may be worth asking whether at this moment, in the extraordinary new unipolar world with the United States as an unrivaled military hyperpower, America needs an unquestioning and uncritical supporter. Mightn't something be said for a candid friend, brave and clear-eyed enough to tell the all-powerful one when it is in error? Not very long ago America took Blair to its heart. Now the Washington war party comes close to treating him as a 'useful idiot,' and Americans opposed to the war are bitterly disappointed in him. As for the liberal hawks, they must surely grasp the hideous paradox Blair embodies: in order that democracy hypothetically or in theory be brought to the Middle East, it has actually and in practice been very gravely damaged in Europe, above all in the country that used to be called the mother of parliaments.

"At a time when representative government is not looking in good shape in America (or so many Americans evidently think), and when much of the world is dismayed by the path America is taking, Blair could have offered an alternative vision of political honesty, domestic accountability, and international humility. Instead the man who not so long ago seemed a new ideal in himself now stands alone, truly a great tragic figure."
Source: The Atlantic

*Ø* No-CARB diet for USA election

Have you heard this one? the No-CARB diet is

No Cheney
No Ashcroft
No Rumsfeld
No Bush

And absolutely no Rice.

I saw it at ResourceFull, another cool blog and one of our link partners.

*Ø* Genital Cutting Losing Favour in Africa

NAIROBI, Kenya: "Slowly, genital cutting is losing favor. Parliaments are passing laws forbidding the practice, which causes widespread death and disfigurement. Girls are fleeing their homes to keep their vaginas intact. And the women who have been carrying out the cutting, and who have been revered by their communities for doing so, are beginning to lay down their knives."
Source

I got this from Metafilter. I've had this great blog linked in the Planet Directory for more than a year, but today was the first visit I've made in that time. What an excellent community blog! I'll be visiting more regularly from now on.

*Ø* Midnight Oil frontman for Oz Parliament



Garrett has mixed feelings
"Peter Garrett has mixed feelings about his move to federal politics, but was taking the step because of his commitment to the nation, a friend said.

"Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) executive director Don Henry said the former rock star had told him he was resigning as president to join the ALP and run for parliament.

"In the first hint of Mr Garrett's mindset since speculation erupted about the move, Mr Henry said the singer appeared to have mixed feelings about his transition to politics but was nonetheless calm."
Source: AAP

MidnightOil.com
Peter Garrett and the best of both worlds

*Ø* Bad day at Myall Creek


1838 Myall Creek Massacre, Australia

On Saturday, June 9, 1838, twelve European stockmen rounded up approximately 20 Kwiambal people at Myall Creek (a branch of the Gwydir River), and killed them with knives and guns. The stockmen, who had accused the Aboriginal people of pilfering, were acquitted at a trial on November 15, but faced trial again on November 29 and were found guilty. Seven of the twelve murderers were executed under Governor Sir George Gipps’s authority.

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* Leo Strauss, the neo-cons, and Iraq


In case you missed it:

Noble lies and perpetual war:
Leo Strauss, the neo-cons, and Iraq
By Danny Postel
OpenDemocracy.net
10/16/03

Are the ideas of the conservative political philosopher
Leo Strauss a shaping influence on the Bush administration’s
world outlook? Danny Postel interviews Shadia Drury – a
leading scholarly critic of Strauss – and asks her about the
connection between Plato’s dialogues, secrets and lies, and
the United States-led war in Iraq.



What was initially an anti-war argument is now a matter of public record. It is widely recognised that the Bush administration was not honest about the reasons it gave for invading Iraq.

Paul Wolfowitz, the influential United States deputy secretary of defense, has acknowledged that the evidence used to justify the war was “murky” and now says that weapons of mass destruction weren’t the crucial issue anyway (see the book by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber, Weapons of Mass Deception: the uses of propaganda in Bush’s war on Iraq (2003.)

By contrast, Shadia Drury, professor of political theory at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan, argues that the use of deception and manipulation in current US policy flow directly from the doctrines of the political philosopher Leo Strauss (1899-1973). His disciples include Paul Wolfowitz and other neo-conservatives who have driven much of the political agenda of the Bush administration.

If Shadia Drury is right, then American policy-makers exercise deception with greater coherence than their British allies in Tony Blair’s 10 Downing Street. In the UK, a public inquiry is currently underway into the death of the biological weapons expert David Kelly. A central theme is also whether the government deceived the public, as a BBC reporter suggested. [Emphasis added. -v]

CONTINUE

*Ø* East coast koalas could die out


"The Federal Government has been asked to list Australia's koalas as a vulnerable species, with new research showing the animals could be extinct in the eastern states within 15 years.

"The Australian Koala Foundation has been conducting surveys of 1,000 sites along the east coast and says the population is being decimated by urban sprawl, roads through the middle of koala habitat and dogs."
Source: ABC [Oz] News

There are many places I've lived where I've been tempted to erect a billboard: "Welcome to [name of town or suburb], where we prefer dogs from Europe to native koalas". Grrrr

*Ø* Islamophobia pervades UK - report

"Persistent and untackled Islamophobia in the UK could lead to 'time-bombs' of backlash and bitterness, according to a major report.

"Findings by a national commission into Islam in Britain found the aftermath of the 11 September attacks has made life more difficult for Muslims.

"It criticised public bodies for failing to address institutional Islamophobia.

"But it said schools and hospitals had become much more sensitive to the religious needs of Muslims ..."
Source: BBC News

"It is not racism, it is hatred of the religion" (Video, requires Real)

*Ø* Israel kills 34 Americans on US ship

Remember this from school? No, I didn't think so.

1967 Israeli attack on USS Liberty: in a little-known incident of aggression, during Israel's ‘Six-Day War’, the NSA intelligence ship USS Liberty was attacked on the boundary line of Sinai Peninsula's international waters north of El-Arish, by Israeli fighter planes and torpedo boats.

In all, 34 American servicemen were killed and 172 wounded in the attacks, or more than two-thirds of the Liberty's 295 crew.

The action included rocket fire, machine-gunning, napalm bombing and torpedoing for more than two hours. Israeli fighter jets machine gunned life-rafts as American crewmen put them in the water. A ship was forbidden to go to Liberty's assistance.

The incident was downplayed by the government, and the media reported that the incident lasted only five minutes and consisted of a single torpedo attack ...

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* Reagan no B-actor


He was a long-term friend of my uncle (photo), and I remember the Christmas cards from Ron and Nancy each and every Christmas, so I've naturally long had an interest in the late Ronald Reagan.

Reagan has a stigma. I doubt that, apart from within my family circle, in the countless times I've heard Reagan's name mentioned over the decades, it has ever been without either rancour or mirth.

I've also noticed that he is almost invariably referred to as a 'B-movie actor'. The term 'B-movie' denotes a particular kind of studio production, and I don't believe Reagan's extensive filmography supports this assertion. Australia's 'Mr Movies', Bill Collins, a brilliant walking encyclopaedia of film, says that Reagan was an A-movie actor first and foremost, and who am I to disagree with Collins? Certainly during Reagan's career, he was not seen as a 'B actor', either, regardless of the studios' nomenclature of the films he was in. He was hugely popular in his day, and he didn't 'appear' in movies, he usually starred in them. I haven't seen him on screen much, but I don't think he was too bad, against the background of his era.

I see that Bill Collins is backed up by none other than Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia:

"He had a pleasant screen presence, and was by no means as bad an actor as his detractors would have one believe. Nor was he strictly, as the press would have it, 'a B-movie actor'.
Ronald Reagan bio at IMDB

So, whatever one thinks of the late Ronald Reagan's politics or character, maybe the B-actor moniker can be seen as questionable at least.

As for his intellectual capabilities, I just can't accept that an idiot can get to be President of the Screen Actors' Guild, Governor of California and especially President of the USA. George W Bush notwithstanding – as much as I, like most people, like to ridicule Bush, I think he is more wily than he is stupid. Too many smart and ruthless men vie for the White House, for its resident to be a bumbling fool.

I think.

Let's put politics aside for a moment (and I'm no Reagan apologist): Ronald Wilson Reagan also had a sense of humour, and I like that. I have at hand a copy of a letter he wrote to my Uncle Fred a few years ago, congratulating him on the "37th anniversary of your 39th birthday". Now, that's pretty good and I wish I'd thought of it.

*Ø* Viking pillage of Lindisfarne

June 8 is, rather perversely, one might say, celebrated by Odinists (worshippers of Odin, the Norse god).

Odin is the supreme deity of the old religion of Norway, eldest of all the gods in the Nordic pantheon and leader of the race of gods known as the Aesir, they who live in Asgard. Odin is called All-father for he is father of all the gods.

It is the day that in 793 Vikings raided Lindisfarne, the holy island off the coast of Northumberland. The Vikings hacked the monks to death or dragged them into the sea where they drowned them. The chapels and monastery were looted of the riches they contained, much of which had been derived from the payment by the common folk for their indulgences – monetary payments to safeguard them from the torments of hell. The treasure included gold, silver, jewellery, ivory coffins and much beside.

It was not the first violent encounter between Vikings and the people of the British Isles – in 789 the crews of three Viking vessels landed at the present site of Portland, near Weymouth, England ...

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* Taj Mahal love story

June 7, 1631 While on a campaign with her husband (Shah Jahan, Mughal Emperor of India), Mumtaz Mahal died.

The Taj Mahal, described by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore as "a tear on the face of eternity", is often said to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, and is her tomb.

The grand Taj Mahal stands as a monument to the love of a man for a woman. As she lay on her deathbed, it is said that Mumtaz whispered to Jahan a dying wish for him to build a monument that would express the beauty of their love for each other. Stricken with grief, Shah Jahan remained indoors for a week; when he emerged his hair had turned white, his back was now bent, and his face lined with despair ...

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* Marital bliss: Proof required



The Dunmow Flitch, ancient custom of marital bliss

This quaint ancient ceremony is an annual event in Little Dunmow, Essex, England, which died out in 1772 but has been revived at various times.

A married couple would present themselves to town authorities for the trials; if they could prove that they had lived for twelve months without ever wishing, either awake or asleep, that they weren't married, they would receive a gammon or flitch of bacon – half a pig, also known as a side of bacon ...

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* Fake terror – the road to war and dictatorship

Thanks to Michael Rivero at What Really Happened website, I've obtained reprint rights to a stimulating article that has already appeared on many sites.

Although it's been read by many before, I thought it was well worthwhile adding Fake terror – the road to war and dictatorship to the list of more than 115 pieces in our Articles department. Check it out.

Thanks, Mike!

*Ø* D-Day crossword coincidence

June 6, 1944 D-Day: the biggest invasion in world history began – more than one million men from 4,000 ships landed on beaches in northern France, beaches codenamed Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. The day had been set for June 5, but was postponed due to impossible weather conditions.

It was a coincidence, officer ... honest!

Poor old Leonard Sidney Dawe. All the English schoolmaster wanted to do was produce a good crossword puzzle for London's Daily Telegraph as he did each day in 1944.

Little did he expect to be raided by secret agents of MI5, Britain’s spy agency. On May 2 of that year, one of the clues in the Telegraph's crossword was 'One of the U.S.' This gave the answer 'UTAH'. On May 12, one of the solutions was 'OMAHA'. On different days throughout May and early June, Dawe's puzzle solutions included the words 'OVERLORD', 'MULBERRY' (May 31), and 'NEPTUNE' (June 2).

So why were the British spooks interested in Mr Dawe? A remarkable coincidence had occurred in his innocent crossword. 'Overlord' was the Allies' codename for the entire Normandy invasion that was planned for June 6 – D-Day as we know it now. 'Utah' and 'Omaha' were ciphers for two of the beaches on which the Allies would be landing. 'Neptune' was code for the naval part of the operation, and 'Mulberry', the artificial harbour which would be put in place after the landing. Dawe had unwittingly stumbled into one of history's great coincidences, his pen being mistaken by MI5 as a likely tool of German espionage ...

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* Venus transits, then and now



June 6, 1760 The transit of Venus over the Sun.

Transits of Venus are rare, coming in pairs, 8 years apart, separated by approximately 120 years. The next such transit, on June 3, 1769, was observed at Tahiti by a party led by legendary mariner Captain James Cook (October 27, 1728 - February 14, 1779), on a voyage on which Cook claimed the continent of Australia in the name of King George III of Britain.

Almaniac Mary Anne Sabo informs me that the next one will be June 8, 2004. Click the link, it's a very cool page.
James Cook and the transit of Venus
History of Venus transits

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* Atlantis: Way down below the ocean la la la ...

June 5, 8498 BCE Today is a traditional date of the natural calamity that destroyed the supposed ancient civilization of Atlantis.

One wonders what is the origin of the human love of the unlikely, the irrational, the bizarre and the preposterous, but no amount of wondering will solve the puzzle. The chance that an advanced civilization lies beneath the ocean, undetected by 21st-century oceanography, satellite imaging, geology and any number of modern scientific aids, is slim indeed, but here we have a persistent legend that is probably believed by more people today than in the Middle Ages. I confess to having my own imp of fascination for many things to which I give no credence whatsoever. A hobgoblin, a tale from the crypt, or a UFO or two can brighten the dreariest evening.

Atlantis, or so it is said, was a huge island lying beyond the Pillars of Hercules (now known as the Straits of Gibraltar) and its culture had dominated the Mediterranean nine thousand years before Solon, the lawmaker of Athens. From its ideal condition as an advanced culture it deteriorated into a military aggressor, so the gods resolved to punish the civilisation ... [More at the Book of Days]

Ignatius Donnelly: Congress to Atlantis via Australia
As an interesting sidelight, one of the most prominent 19th-century Atlantist authors (he made his fortune with Atlantis: the Antediluvian World) was Ignatius Donnelly (born Philadelphia, November 3, 1831), an idiosyncratic and somewhat quixotic American Congressman whose writings, particularly the utopian sci-fi novel, Cæsar's Column: A Story of the Twentieth Century, profoundly influenced the working class in pre-federation (1901) Australia. Perhaps ironically, he died in Minneapolis on January 1, 1901 (precisely 100 years before this Almanac was founded) on the first day of the century, the very day that Australia's federation took effect.

Donnelly is perhaps better known for his The Great Cryptogram: Francis Bacon's Cipher in Shakespeare's Plays about an alleged code in Shakespeare's work that reveals that Francis Bacon wrote much of Shakespeare's work ...

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* Aussie Greens slam Bush's Latham attack

[A few months ago, the US Ambassador to Australia made an almost unprecedented intervention into Australian politics with some gratuitous remarks about Australian domestic matters. Australians of all political colours were rightly outraged. Now Shrub has defied convention by sticking his nose into an issue on the Australian political agenda. When asked about a statement by the Leader of the Opposition, he didn't say, as all his predecessors have in similar circumstances, "That's a matter for the citizens of Australia", he put his boots in. Read on ...]

"'President Bush should pull his head in. This is Australia. It's not Florida or Alaska or Texas."

By Libby Sutherland

"US President George W. Bush should pull his head in and stop interfering in Australian domestic policy, Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown said today.

"In an unprecedented attack coinciding with Prime Minister John Howard's visit to Washington, Mr Bush told reporters overnight the early withdrawal of troops would hurt those who wanted freedom in Iraq.

"Asked directly about the implications of federal Opposition Leader Mark Latham's plan to bring the troops home, Mr Bush said: 'I think that would be disastrous'.

"Senator Brown said the president had crashed into domestic politics in a way which was insulting and patronising, while Mr Howard sat there 'lapping it all up'.

"'President Bush has in one go ... relegated Australia in his estimation to a second-rate state of the United States,' he told reporters.

"'President Bush should pull his head in. This is Australia. It's not Florida or Alaska or Texas.

"The fact is that Australia has an opposition, and I think a majority viewpoint among the public, that our troops should be withdrawn ...'"
Source: Brisbane Herald-Sun

* Ø * Ø * Ø *


Meanwhile ... David Hicks's father is sceptical about a promised investigation into Howard's promise to get Bush to look into the allegations of torture and beatings at Guantanamo:

"A South Australian man whose son is being held by the US military at Guantanamo Bay is sceptical about assurances that his son's treatment is being investigated.

"Prime Minister John Howard has spoken with US President George W Bush about claims that David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib have been tortured.

"Mr Bush says the claims are being investigated by the US military, and their cases are moving forward.

"David Hicks's father Terry says Mr Howard should have asked much sooner.

"'It's two-and-a-half years too late and now all of a sudden they're going to do something,' he said.

"'This should have been dealt with a long, long time ago, not Mr Howard all of a sudden coming out saying we're doing this and we're going to investigate that and down the track we've got elections coming up.'"

*Ø* Tiananmen Square: Lest we forget

June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square protests: As many as 2,600 people were killed and 10,000 injured in Tienanmen Square, Beijing, when the Chinese Communist government cracked down on pro-democracy protesters, covered live on television worldwide ...


[Click]



We commemorate the massacre at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days. Click June 4 when you're there.

*Ø* Aussie Govt unable to find Iraq detainee agreement

"The Federal Government is unable to find a agreement covering the handling of Iraqi detainees captured by Australian soldiers.

"Officials say an arrangement to hand over prisoners to the United States during the war in Afghanistan is still being used by Coalition forces in Iraq.

"Defence Minister Robert Hill is unable to explain where the documentation is.

"Bureaucrats have been unable to find the details of arrangements between Australia and the US covering the custody of prisoners of war in Iraq.

"Senator Hill says there was an arrangement for the war in Afghanistan.

"'What I don't know is whether a new directive on this particular issue was in fact made,' he said.

"Senator Hill's statement has angered Labor's John Faulkner.

"'What you're putting, Senator Hill is absurd, the conflict in Iraq followed on shortly after this conflict," he said ..."
Source: ABC [Oz] News

*Ø* Did Billie Joe jump, or was he pushed?

June 3, 19?? Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, USA, year unknown

Today is the day that the [unnamed] parents of Billie Joe McAllister’s girlfriend made some insinuations about what their [also unnamed] daughter had been doing recently with Billie Joe  McAllister at the Tallahatchee Bridge. It's a mystery.

The probably fictitious Billie Joe jumped off the Tallahatchee Bridge, too, on this day, an incident recalled in the 1967 hit song Ode to Billy Joe by Bobbie Gentry, a singer from Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, USA.

The year 1953 is given by some sources but I see no evidence.

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* Mother Shipton: England's Nostradamus lady



Mother Shipton's Day
The Wednesday following Whitsunday, for reasons unknown to your almanackist, is said by some to go by this name. Mother Shipton, whose real name was the rather un-English-sounding Ursula Sontheil, was a celebrated soothsayer in Cambridge, England and the wife of Toby Shipton, a carpenter. To some, she is also the patron saint of women working in laundries. 

Ursula was born in a cave at Knaresborough, Yorkshire (where Guy Fawkes once lived) in 1488, in the reign of Henry VII just fifteen years before Nostradamus, in an era in which prophetic utterances were widely sought – and just as readily condemned ...


This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* Fahrenheit 9/11 finds coalition of willing

"After being famously dropped by Disney, Michael Moore's award-winning documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 has finally secured US distribution and will hit American cinemas on June 25.

"The film is to be released by a partnership of Lions Gate Films, IFC Films and the Fellowship Adventure Group, which was formed by Miramax's Harvey and Bob Weinstein specifically to market Moore's film."

Source

*Ø* June 2, 1581 | Beheaded by his own device?



1581 James Douglas, Fourth Earl of Morton, Regent of Scotland, was beheaded at Edinburgh.

Justice for Douglas?
After ruling Scotland for ten years under the auspices of Queen Elizabeth I, Morton fell foul of factionalism at court and found himself on the scaffold.

What is striking about his execution is that he was beheaded by a device known as the 'Maiden', or 'Scottish Maiden' (aka 'the Widow'), a forerunner of the guillotine (not to be confused with the Iron Maiden, a hollow device like a sarcophagus, with spikes in its interior, in which the victim was confined). It is believed that Douglas himself had introduced the contraption into Scotland for the purpose of beheading the laird of Pennycuick.

Records show that the Maiden dates to 1564 (one Thomas Scott, a murderer, had been executed in Scotland in 1566), so an old reference that "He who invented the maiden first hanselled it" is erroneous ...

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

* Ø * My letter to the editor

[Based on Vee's post below, I have sent this letter to the editor of the Sydney Morning Herald. Hope they publish it because it has a huge circulation. (The wedgetail, pictured, is Australia's biggest and best-known eagle.)]



Dear Editor

It seems that American hawks are more likely to eat crow than Australian hawks.

We find now that even neocons like sometime Republican speechwriter Mark Helprin can at last lament (on the Wall Street Journal editorial page) "the inescapable fact that the war has been run incompetently, with an apparently deliberate contempt for history, strategy, and thought, and with too little regard for the American soldier, whose mounting casualties seem to have no effect on the boastfulness of the civilian leadership".

Other prominent American hawks such as David Brooks and Tucker Carlson now admit to having been gripped with a "childish fantasy" about Iraq and to now feeling "ashamed" and "enraged" – at themselves, and the 50,000-deaths tragedy Bush & Co. have wrought.

In Australia, the wedgetail eagles that were quick to bite, are strangely slower to dine – on crow, that is. Worse, our disingenuous PM tells us he's only now discovering what half the Internet has been screaming about for nearly three years: systemic torture and other evils of the Axis of Diesel. Will someone please get The Lodge a decent dial-up connection before we're the last chickenhawk flapping?

Pip Wilson

*Ø* Israel wants Iraq to pay compensation

By Lawrence Smallman

"Israel looks set to pursue a compensation claim on behalf of Jews who left Iraq over 50 years ago, despite no such similar consideration for Palestinian refugees.

"Tel Aviv has sent copies of over 800 documents to Washington -- not Baghdad -- in a bid to claim compensation for Israeli citizens who 'were forced to abandon their property'."

Source and full text

*Ø* | Hawks Eating Crow

BATTLE LINES BEIN' DRAWN, AND REDRAWN, AT HOME -- War and Peace

[As sad and horrible as the Iraq occupation is turning out to be, those of us who protested the war and fought to stop if, the millions of us so casually tossed aside as "a focus group" can't help but feel some sorry sense of satisfaction in the knowing that we were, at least, correct in our own analysis of the situation. Now, even the most vocal of the hawks are coming forward with their mea culpas. It's time for BushCo to pay the price for mis-ministration. -v]

Hawks Eating Crow
By Eric Alterman

The Bush Administration has not made it easy on its supporters. David Brooks now admits that he was gripped with a "childish fantasy" about Iraq. Tucker Carlson is "ashamed" and "enraged" at himself. Tom Friedman, admitting to being "a little slow," is finally off the reservation. Die-hard Republican publicist William Kristol admits of Bush, "He did drive us into a ditch." The neocon fantasist and sometime Republican speechwriter Mark Helprin complains on the Wall Street Journal editorial page--the movement's Pravda--of "the inescapable fact that the war has been run incompetently, with an apparently deliberate contempt for history, strategy, and thought, and with too little regard for the American soldier, whose mounting casualties seem to have no effect on the boastfulness of the civilian leadership."

Most of the regretful hawks blame the Administration for its failure to execute what they consider a noble endeavor. But it is a noble endeavor only in the way it would be noble to give all your money to one of those deposed Ethiopian princesses who fill your inbox with pleas to send them all your money for a guarantee of future riches. In other words, yes, while it might have been nice to liberate Iraq from Saddam's clutches, it was a lot more likely that under Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Co., we would end up arresting innocent people, holding them without trial and systematically torturing and sexually humiliating them; all the while saying, as the Daily Show's Rob Corddry so brilliantly put it, "Remember, it's not important that we did torture these people. What's important is that we are not the kind of people who would torture these people." [Emphasis added. -v]

CONTINUE

*Ø* Counter Cultural Programming

By Michael Atkinson, at AlterNet.org:

"The November firefight approaches and here we are, awash in a media flashflood of press secretary prevarication, corporate indictment dodging and in-your-face presidential lies.

"Gay marriage is the year's burning flag used to incite the ignorant, while the pundits lend credence to flat-out absurdisms just by debating them –- that Antonin Scalia's outrageous conflicts of interest may not give the 'appearance' of conflicts of interest, that Halliburton may not be 'profiting' from a war launched for its benefit, that The Passion of the Christ may in fact have been divinely inspired. (Certainly, the millions of tax dollars poured into 'faith-based' institutions and used to buy ticket blocs can be seen as a gift from God to Mel Gibson.) And, of course, the nine-figure White House marketing launch is pure skullduggery, grinning with Christian manifest destiny and transparent jingoism.

"What do we do for counter-programming? Don't rely on present-day Hollywood, that brothel of military celebration and half-measure liberalism. Instead, rent some of these firecrackers, the best left movies ever made, and keep the flags of discontent flying."

I can't recommend the full list as you continue here, because I've only seen about a half-dozen of them. But I'm taking notes. :)

*Ø* Abu Ghraib: Australia knew last October

I was misled on abuse: Howard

"Prime Minister John Howard says he did not mislead the public about when Australian officials became aware of allegations about the serious abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

"The Defence Department has revealed that its officials first learnt of the allegations last October.

"Last Friday, the department said that none of the 300 soldiers and civilians who may have had contact with prisoners knew about claims of serious mistreatment until the issue became public in April.

"But defence secretary Ric Smith has today told a Senate committee that he was wrong ..."
Source: ABC [Oz] News

*Ø* June 1, 1857 | The Fartist: Le Petomane

1857 Le Pétomane (Joseph Pujol; d. 1945), 'The Fartist', French vaudeville star whose highly popular act consisted mainly of playing music and doing sound effects by the expulsion of flatulence.

After a successful debut in Marseille in 1887, he took his bizarre act to Paris, where he was a smash hit at the Moulin Rouge. For a time, he put more backsides on seats and made more money than France’s sweetheart, the actress Sarah Bernhardt ...

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

*Ø* June 1 | Festival of Carna, or Cardea, Roman Goddess of Doors

Today is the kalends of June, and we should repair doors, door hinges and locks today (they might be tested by Tempestas, the weather goddess, whose day this also is.)

In the Green Rose tradition this day is sacred to Circe. The Romans, always good at having a deity for almost any aspect of life, had Carna as a tutelary domestic goddess of door hinges.

However, it seems the Romans themselves might have been confused about this goddess. The Roman writer, Ovid, in Fasti, his work on the Roman calendar writes: "June 1st. The first day is given to thee, Carna. She is the goddess of the hinge: by her divine power she opens what is closed, and closes what is open.” One source, though, mentions that the goddess was Cardea, and says “It is doubtful whether she is to be identified with the goddess Carna, who is said to have taken the larger organs of the body – heart, lungs, and liver – under her special protection."

June folklore and customs; Goddess Juno

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.