|
|
Blogmanac team
Jeannine Wilson (USA)
Veralynne Pepper (USA)
Pip Wilson (Australia)
Carpe diem!
Seize the day with more than 150 articles at Wilson's articles department
This blog is dedicated to the 353 victims of the SIEVX disaster,
and casualties of poverty and authority all around the planet
Subscribe free to Almanac and Blogmanac ezines
Saturday, July 17, 2004
*Ø* The Summer of Truth
The Summer of Truth Campaign of http://911truth.org intends to build a powerful grassroots movement for full 9/11 truth disclosure and legal-political redress based on existing proof of this government's misrepresentations, exploitation and investigative obstruction of the events of September 11, 2001. Given the enormous body of evidence refuting the "official 9/11 story," we can now lay out a prima facie case for foreknowledge, complicity and/or obstruction of justice that can then feed grand jury proceedings, impeachment hearings, or a People's 9/11 Truth Commission.
"Rethinking 9/11 as a yet unsolved crime and marshaling the known facts in terms of Motive, Means and Opportunity will greatly clarify public understanding of our leaders' role in this tragedy and empower millions now fed up with the fear, wars and fiscal ruin it has engendered. The campaign will employ collaborative networks, high-profile events, and a grassroots media campaign to publicize this evidence, debate its legal and political implications, and decide whether the next step should be indictments, impeachments, or a fresh independent inquiry." When you look at the strategy outline, you will see how the following campaigns fit into this scenario and maybe even think of deft new tactics of your own.
CONTINUE
SOURCE
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* My First (and Last) Time With Bill O'Reilly
From AlterNet:
A guest on 'The O'Reilly Factor' violates the rules of Fox News 'spin-free zone.'
A good read!
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Smile Awhile
Mothers in Law! Tsk tsk
 "MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian taxi driver got a rude shock when he discovered his blind ex-wife, who thought he had died in an explosion, had him buried in a Moscow cemetery, a newspaper reported on Thursday.
"Oleg Lunkov learned of his apparent death when he applied for a passport and was told he died in a bomb blast on Moscow's metro on February 6. His ex-wife thought he was on the train, but being blind, she got her mother to identify the remains."
Full text
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Murdoch stands accused
From the Guardian:
"Its slogan is: 'We report, you decide'. But according to one former employee, interviewed in a new documentary, a more accurate motto for Rupert Murdoch's US television channel Fox News might be: 'We opine, you recline'.
The comment is one of many included in Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism, a documentary that aims to expose what it sees as the bias behind Fox News. Its director, Robert Greenwald, says his aim is that 'everybody in America turns off Fox News' ...
"The documentary, a fast-paced montage of clips from the channel and interviews with former employees and media experts, portrays a television news station where editorial positions are handed down from on high in a daily briefing note and presenters are encouraged to accentuate points that might be helpful to the Bush administration.
"According to a former Fox contributor, one such note concerning presentation of the latest news from Iraq said: 'Remember when you're writing about this, it's all good. Don't write about the number of dead ... Keep it positive. Emphasise all the good we're doing.'
Full text
* Ø * Ø * Ø *
"Media Matters for America has analyzed 33 such internal FOX memos, issued by FOX News Senior Vice President, News Editorial John Moody and Los Angeles Bureau Chief Ken LaCoste between May 9 and June 3, 2003 and March 12 and May 5, 2004 ...
"The following is a sample of reporting instructions issued by Moody to the FOX News staff." Click here to read the examples
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Allawi shot inmates in cold blood, say witnesses
[Posting this at Pip's request as he's having major tech problems]
Sydney Morning Herald:
 "Iyad Allawi, the new Prime Minister of Iraq, pulled a pistol and executed as many as six suspected insurgents at a Baghdad police station, just days before Washington handed control of the country to his interim government, according to two people who allege they witnessed the killings.
"They say the prisoners - handcuffed and blindfolded - were lined up against a wall in a courtyard adjacent to the maximum-security cell block in which they were held at the Al-Amariyah security centre, in the city's south-western suburbs.
"They say Dr Allawi told onlookers the victims had each killed as many as 50 Iraqis and they 'deserved worse than death'.
"The Prime Minister's office has denied the entirety of the witness accounts in a written statement to the Herald, saying Dr Allawi had never visited the centre and he did not carry a gun.
"But the informants told the Herald that Dr Allawi shot each young man in the head as about a dozen Iraqi policemen and four Americans from the Prime Minister's personal security team watched in stunned silence."
Full text
* Ø * Ø * Ø *
Lateline: Iraqi PM accused of executions
Paul McGeough tells ABC TV's Lateline about witnesses' claims to have seen the Iraqi Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, kill six prisoners.
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* 'Young Iraq prisoners sodomised'
From the Independent:
"Young male prisoners were filmed being sodomised by American soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, according to the journalist who first revealed the abuses there.
"Seymour Hersh, who reported on the torture of the prisoners in New Yorker magazine in May, told an audience in San Francisco that 'it's worse'. But he added that he would reveal the extent of the abuses: 'I'm not done reporting on all this,' he told a meeting of the American Civil Liberties Union.
"He said: 'The boys were sodomised with the cameras rolling, and the worst part is the soundtrack, of the boys shrieking. And this is your government at war.'
"He accused the US administration, and all but accused President George Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney of complicity in covering up what he called 'war crimes'. "
Source
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us Friday, July 16, 2004
*Ø* Voudon pilgrimage of Saut D’Eau, Haiti
 Today, thousands of Voudon (Voodoo) believers from Haiti and abroad will make a pilgrimage to the sacred waters of Saut D’Eau, a waterfall where Erzulie Freda – the Voudon spirit of love, art, romance and sex – appeared twice in the 19th century.
Freda (her veve, or symbol, is pictured) is a beautiful, wealthy white woman, a promiscuous love goddess-seductress, difficult and demanding, who loves luxurious items such as perfume, champagne and gold. She wears three wedding bands, one for each husband: Damballa, Agwe and Ogoun.
Her sister, the dark-skinned Erzulie Dantor, is the spirit of motherly love, cognate of Saint Barbara Africana in the Roman Catholic Church. Dantor is heterosexual in the sense that she has a child, but she is also the patron loa, or saint, of lesbians. Her Roman Catholic counterparts are the aspects of Mary, Our Lady of Czestochowa and Our Lady of Mount Carmel. When Erzulie Dantor appears at a ceremony via possession, she speaks a stuttering monosyllable, “ke-ke-ke-ke-ke!” ...
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with many more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Bloodshed in Baghdad
So that's all right then
Robert Fisk, 15 July:
 "Lord Butler told us yesterday that Tony Blair acted in good faith. So that's all right then. At the al-Yarmouk hospital in Baghdad yesterday morning, there was blood on the walls, blood on the floor, blood on the doctors, blood on the stretchers. In the dangerous oven of Baghdad, 10 more lives had just ended. So what was it Tony Blair said in the Commons yesterday afternoon? 'We are not killing civilians in Iraq; terrorists are killing civilians in Iraq.' So that's all right then. Question: Are Baghdad and London on the same planet? ...
"[But] the real reason for yesterday's little bloodbath was about the isolation of Iraq's new government. This is the fourth checkpoint bombing around the same compound and the purpose is obvious. Iraqi officials cannot leave their Crusader-style fortress with its massive ramparts and walls. Ordinary Iraqis must go to them. And queue. And wait. And walking up to those checkpoints is becoming a macabre, frightening experience.
"If the insurgents cannot get inside the walls, they can at least imprison those inside by attacking the perimeter, cut them off from the rest of Iraq, make the government's presence irrelevant to the millions of Iraqis who, so Mr Blair was assuring us yesterday, are going to enjoy 'democracy'.
"But in truth, the authorities here are already cut off from the rest of Iraq. Baquba is run by armed men. Insurgents control Samara and Fallujah and Ramadi, and Muqtada Sadr's militia control the centre of Najaf ...
"But we acted in good faith. Invading Iraq was the right thing to do. And over and over again, in London yesterday, officials and ministers referred to the Iraqi war in the past tense. About the only thing Iraqis could have agreed with was Lord Butler's remark about the search for Saddam's weapons, that 'Iraq is a very big place and there is lots of sand ...'
"The al-Yarmouk hospital, needless to say, was the one place not to quote Tony Blair's assertion that although terrorists were killing Iraqis today, 'people were being killed in Iraq, thousands of them, under Saddam'.
"Forgetting that up to 11,000 Iraqis appear to have been killed since our invasion, it seems that it's better to be killed post-Saddam than pre-Saddam. So that's all right then."
Source: Information Clearing House
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Butler: already labeled another whitewash
From the Independent:
"The intelligence: flawed
The dossier: dodgy
The 45-minute claim: wrong
Dr Brian Jones: vindicated
Iraq's link to al-Qa'ida: unproven
The public: misled
The case for war: exaggerated
And who was to blame? No one"
Full text
Andrew Gilligan and Greg Dyke formerly of the BBC are also vindicated by this report, but they're gone. Blair isn't. Yet.
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us Thursday, July 15, 2004
*Ø* Possiblity of Irish as official EU language welcomed
From the Irish Times:
"The Irish language campaign group Stadas has expressed 'delight' at the Government's decision to seek approval for Irish as an official EU language, writes Lorna Siggins, Western Correspondent
"The decision taken at Cabinet yesterday is seen as a victory for the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Mr Ó Cuív, who said that there was 'unanimous' support among his colleagues for the move. 'This will put Irish on a par with Finnish, Swedish, Danish and Maltese, if it is successful, and we are confident that it will be,' he said.
"Currently, Irish is given treaty status, which only obliges the EU to translate all major treaties into the language. Irish and Luxemburgish are the only national languages in the EU which do not enjoy official status in European institutions. Such status would require EU laws and official documents to be issued in Irish, although the main languages for negotiations at Commissioner-level will still be English, French and German."
Full text
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Watch the weather today
 St Swithun’s Day, if thou dost rain,
For forty days, it will remain:
St Swithun's Day, if thou be fair,
For forty days 'twill rain nae mair.
English traditional
Feast day of St Swithin (Swithun), England, confessor, patron of Winchester(Small Cape marigold, Calendula pluvialis, is today’s plant, dedicated to this saint. The esoteric meaning of this plant is ‘omen; sign’.)
Our story today takes us back more than a millennium, to the days when the British Isles were beset by Viking raids and Charlemagne's empire ruled supreme in Europe.
St Swithin (or Swithun) was Bishop of Winchester, England, and adviser to King Egbert of Wessex (died 839) and probably tutor to his son Ethelwulf. He was called the 'drunken saint', but no such behaviour is recorded of him.
Swithin was the one who introduced tithing into England: he persuaded King Ethelwulf to enact a law, by which he gave a tenth of his land to the church, on condition that the king should be prayed for every Wednesday in every church forever. Among other miraculous feats was his restoration, on a bridge, of a basket of eggs that workmen had maliciously broken.
Swithin's consecration by Ceolnoth, Archbishop of Canterbury, seems to have taken place on October 30, 852. We don't know the date of his birth, but he died on July 2, 862.
An old English legend says that the good bishop wished to be buried in the churchyard of the cathedral, in a humble grave outside the north wall, so that the 'sweet rain of heaven might fall upon his grave'. Nine years later his monks tried to move his remains inside the cathedral but there was a violent thunderstorm and rain for the following 40 days and 40 nights. Believing their beloved late bishop to be weeping in distress, they abandoned the venture. Miraculously, two rings of iron, fastened on his gravestone, came out as soon as they were touched, and left no mark of their place in the stone. When the stone was taken up, and touched by the rings, by themselves they fastened to it again.
A century passed and 971 came around (the year Eric Bloodaxe became the second king of Norway, by the way, not that Eric has anything to do with our tale, sorry, but it's such a great handle). Swithin was canonized (declared a saint – St Swithin was never actually canonised by a pope; he is a 'home-made saint') and, following a vision by St Aethelwold (909 - 984), the monks decided to honour him by placing his body in the Winchester Cathedral choir rather than outside amongst the common folks' graves. So ... They booked July 15 for the ceremony of the 'translation' of his relics (bones), and this time it was successful ...
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.
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Helen Clark socks it to Israel over spies
 NZ fury over Israel 'secret two'
"NEW Zealand's Prime Minister launched a blistering verbal attack and slapped diplomatic sanctions on Israel Thursday after two suspected Mossad agents were imprisoned for six months for illegally trying to obtain a New Zealand passport.
"'New Zealand condemns without reservation these actions by agencies of the Israel government,' Prime Minister Helen Clark said after the pair were sentenced to prison terms.
"'The New Zealand Government views the act carried out by the Israeli intelligence agents as not only utterly unacceptable but also a breach of New Zealand sovereignty and international law,' she said.
"Ms Clark said the action of the men and those of the Israeli Government had 'seriously strained relations' with New Zealand.
"The pair, Urie Zoshe Kelman, 30, and Eli Cara, 50, both admitted a charge of illegally trying to obtain a New Zealand passport at an earlier hearing.
"They were arrested in March after they tried to collect a passport in the name of a New Zealand national who is a wheelchair-bound cerebral palsy victim."
Source: The Australian
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us Wednesday, July 14, 2004
*Ø* Coooool clock
Money is time
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Protesting Too Little?
 Homeland Security wants to cage dissent at this summer's political conventions
"Recent U.S. protests against the Bush administration, war and globalization may have been disappointingly small, but don't write off the movement. Activists are planning big things for the two conventions this summer – especially the marches, demonstrations and actions slated for the Republican convention August 30-September 2 in New York.
"'Of course it's still early. We have more than two months of organizing left,' says Leslie Cagan, veteran organizer and national coordinator with United for Peace and Justice (UPJ), one of the major organizers of Republican National Convention protests. 'But I think the August 29 march and demonstration will be one of the biggest protest events we’ve seen in New York.'"
Source: In These Times (thanx Zenzibar)
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* The Emperor needs clothes
That's my quickie effort. Click here and dress him yourself!
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Parades provoke violence yet again
 "Belfast (Reuters) - A train carrying Protestant marchers to a parade has been pelted with petrol bombs as violence grips Northern Ireland's 'marching season'.
"On Monday, 25 police officers were injured in sectarian clashes surrounding a bitterly contested 'Orange' parade in Belfast ...
"Monday night's clashes broke out after Orangemen marched past the Catholic Ardoyne neighbourhood in a parade celebrating Protestant William of Orange's victory over Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne on July 12, 1690.
"Protestants were angry the authorities had restricted the number of people who could march on the route while Catholics, who view the yearly parades as triumphalist and provocative, said the march should be banned altogether."
Full text
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Fête Nationale (Bastille Day), public holiday, France and all French dependencies
 July 14, 1789 French Revolution: Parisians stormed the Bastille Prison in Paris and freed seven political prisoners.
When the revolutionary mob stormed the French prison they were surprised to find most of the cells empty but for the miserable scratchings of prisoners on the walls.
Only seven prisoners were resident, under the relatively (for his time) lenient penal policies of King Louis XVI. Among those inmates, Marquis de Sade is believed to have triggered the assault by crying that people were being executed inside ...
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.
[The Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame de Paris webcams on today's page should be cool after nightfall. Trouble is, I don't get to check it out till July 15 because I'm in the Eastern hemisphere. :( ]
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Waiting for Butler
From the Guardian:
A government cannot go to war on a false pretext. Either Blair apologises - or there must be a change of leader
"We're in the middle of what they said would be Tony's week from hell. Whether it's turning out that way, we'll know better at lunchtime today, when former cabinet secretary Robin Butler delivers his ruling on the way intelligence was used in the lead-up to the war against Iraq. We'll have an even clearer idea in the small hours of Friday morning, thanks to the results of two by-elections in what should be safe Labour territory, in Leicester and Birmingham. If Butler and the Midlands electorate give the prime minister a kicking, he might respond by doing some kicking of his own - by booting out a minister or two and engaging in that great summer sport: the reshuffle ...
... "The plain truth is this: British troops went to kill and be killed last year on a false premise. We were told Saddam had WMD and he did not; we were told he was a threat to us and he was not. So far that act has brought no consequences on its perpetrators.
"Those who made bad errors in shedding light on the act - at the BBC and the Daily Mirror - have paid for their errors. But for the act itself, there has been no punishment. This suggests a failure of our very system of governance: it allowed a government to go to war in defiance of its people and on a false pretext and get away with it. The system needs to prove that it can correct itself - and to do it soon." [My emphasis - N]
j.freedland@guardian.co.uk
Full text
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Taking it with you – Not
 "Lille, France (Reuters) - Thieves dug up a Frenchwoman's grave and stripped her corpse of thousands of euros (dollars) worth of jewelry she had asked to be buried with to avoid arguments between her five children.
"Police said Monday the former partner of the woman, who died aged 82 in April, found her coffin abandoned in an alley near the cemetery in the village of Haulchin in northern France Monday."
Source
Not to be nitpicking, but I don't know why the Reuters reporter wrote "euros (dollars)" like that. As of now, 1 euro = 1.25 USD and 1.70 AUD. Maybe CAD? No, 1 euro = 1.63 Canadian. I've even checked Barbados, Brunei, Bermuda, Jamaican, Namibian, New Zealand and Singapore dollars. Nope. Odd!
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us Tuesday, July 13, 2004
*Ø* Bucky's birthday
 With the Esmeralda problems yesterday, I didn't get much of a chance to note the near-centenary of one of the great avatars of the 20th century.
Happy 99th birthday to the late, great, R Buckminster Fuller. There's some stuff about him in the July 12 page at the Book of Days. Not enough, but I hope that for his centenary next July I'll find time to write some more. Anyway, there are some good linx there.
The Pacific island nation of Palau had a Bucky stamp a few years ago, and it's great to see the land of his birth do the same this year. The US Postal Service launched a stamp on July 12.
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us Monday, July 12, 2004
*Ø* Esmeralda needs a good spanking
I've had a few problems with Esmeralda Computer this evening, so no Almanac ezine today and the Book of Days is running late. If I disappear, please obey Esmeralda's ransom demands. Thank you.
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Talking Jesus Christ Action Figure
No kidding. Speakers on.
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us Sunday, July 11, 2004
*Ø* 'Flying Dutchman' seen by future king
 July 11, 1881 Sixteen-year-old Prince George, the future King George V of the United Kingdom, as a young midshipman on HMS Bacchante, wrote in his journal that he had seen that day (4:00 am) the phantom ship, the Flying Dutchman, off the port bow.
With George was the heir to the throne, his elder brother, the mentally deficient Prince Albert Victor Christian Edward (Eddie) who later mysteriously died before becoming king, much to the relief of the British Royal Family.
Eddie, who was later a modern and unlikely suspect in the Jack the Ripper case, also recorded in his journal the sighting of the Dutchman which was seen by thirteen witnesses including the lookout on the Bacchante's forecastle (who fell and died within seven hours – 10:45 am), and the officer of the watch ...
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.
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Australia to spend $600 million to combat AIDS
 [For once the Australian government and Head Prefect Downer seem to have their heads screwed on right. Eight million people are living with HIV/AIDS in the Asia/Pacific region, and the rate of growth is rising.]
"Australia will more than double to $600 million the amount of money it gives to fight the global HIV-AIDS pandemic.
"The announcement was made by Foreign Minister Alexander Downer on the eve of the 15th World Aids Conference in Bangkok.
"Until now Australia had earmarked $250 million in foreign aid to combat the virus.
"But the government has set aside a further $350 million of spending.
"The recipients will be countries in Asia and the Pacific region where there are an estimated 7.5 million people living with HIV/AIDS.
"The bulk of Australia's new commitment will go to Papua New Guinea to set up 38 new disease treatment clinics and improve prevention and education campaigns."
Source: ABC (Oz) News
>Annan warns of AIDS crisis in Asia-Pacific
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
| |
|
Pages
of Days
Almanac
President