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The Blogmanac: "On This Day" ... and much more
Think universally. Act terrestrially.
For in a hard-working society, it is rare and even subversive to celebrate too much, to revel and keep on reveling: to stop whatever you're doing and rave, pray, throw things, go into trances, jump over bonfires, drape yourself in flowers, stay up all night, and scoop the froth from the sea.
Anneli Rufus*
*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
"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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
"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
"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
"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."
*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.
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.
"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.
[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."
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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]
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’
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.
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.
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Investigative documentary into corporatized prisons
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. 
Father Gill's close encounters
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.
What shall we do about mother's little helper?
"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.
"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.
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. 
Bonfires and a magickal herb
Pentagon releases interrogation memo
What are the solstices? 
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."
Bill Clinton had great charm, great PR, and the heart of a Republican. 
We have spoken here before of the 
A place to call home: