JUNE 2006
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
INTERNET GATEKEEPERS PROPOSED TO KILL INTERNET FREEDOM
Dear jocelyn,
Congress is about to sell out the Internet by letting big phone and cable companies set up toll booths along the information superhighway. Companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast are spending tens of millions in Washington to kill "network neutrality" -- a principle that keeps the Internet open to all.The issue moving quickly through Congress would let these companies become Internet gatekeepers, deciding which Web sites go fast or slow -- and which won't load at all -- based on who pays them more. The rest of us will be detoured to the "slow lane", clicking furiously and waiting for our favorite sites to download.
Don't let Congress ruin the Internet:Tell Congress to Save Net Neutrality Now. To send your message to your representative, click "Reply" and "Send". If you'd like to edit the letter to your representative or were forwarded this message, visit the following site to take action:
The best ideas never come from those with the deepest pockets. If the phone and cable companies get their way, the free and open Internet could soon be fenced in by large corporations. If Congress turns the Internet over to giants like AT&T, everyone who uses the Internet will suffer.
Here are more details on the Net Neutrality issue.
Thanks for all you do,
Matt Holland
TrueMajority Online Director
USA SCHOOL OF AMERICA
:Hi,A project I have worked on for years is finally
coming to fruition. You can help give it the final push
it needs right now by making a phone call.
As many of you know I am one of the production managers
at an annual demonstration at Ft Benning Georgia to close
down the school of the Americas. (for more info on what
that is http://www.soaw.org)
(SEE 2nd Letter below*)
Well, we may be getting our wish. (really)
I am optimistic - but really I don't know why. Last time
we got Congress to stop funding this EVIL training ground
for War lords in South and Central America they Just
Renamed the thing an hour later and it was right back to
full funding. (really!)
Thanks for your help!
- chandler
June 7, 2006
Dear Friends in the Struggle,(*)
This week marks a major milestone in the campaign to
close the School of the Americas and a major victory for
all of you who have contributed so much to this work.
This is the time when we really need to keep the pressure
on Congress.
Please take a few minutes today to call your Member of
Congress and to ask them to support the McGovern
Amendment to cut funding to the Western Hemisphere
Institute for Security Cooperation, the place the world
knows as the School of the Americas (SOA/WHINSEC). You
can reach Congress at 202-224-3121 or toll free at
888-355-3588.
You can also email and fax your Representative right from
the SOA Watch website: http://www.soaw.org/legislative
Right now and all day today, many SOA Watch activists and
our partner organizations are on Capitol Hill, talking
with Legislative Aides and Members of Congress and
distributing information about the McGovern Amendment
that will be introduced this week with the Foreign
Operations Bill. Some of the groups that are walking the
halls of Congress today are my order, Maryknoll, the
Torture Abolition Survivors and Support Coalition
(TASSC), the staff of the Methodist Church, the SHARE
Foundation, Voices on the Border, Sister Parish, Voices
on the Border, Pax Christi USA, Sisters of the Precious
Blood, the RFK Center for Human Rights and others.
Labor unions and members are mobilizing this week to
continue to build support for the McGovern Amendment. The
United Auto Workers and the Steelworkers are both faxing
Members of Congress to let them know how important a vote
to cut funding to the SOA/WHINSEC is to union members.
Yesterday, veterans from around the country were flooding
the phone lines of Members of Congress asking for them to
take a real stand for human rights and military
accountability by voting to cut funding to the School of
the Americas/WHINSEC.
Please join us this week and add your voice to the
growing wave of people speaking up for a more just world.
Thank you for giving me hope.
For a victory,
Fr. Roy Bourgeois
School of the Americas Watch
DEPLETED URANIUM USA TROOPS AND
IRAQ CIVILISATION
Hi,Please be sure to review the guests scheduled to
appear on this radio show. Why, why, why do our leaders
continue to nuke our troops as well as innocent Iraqis?
And why do we do nothing about it???? Don
Stacey
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
ASSEMBLYMAN
JEFFREY DINOWITZ, NY - 11:30 -
12:00 Midnight EASTERN Responsible for introducing
the Vets' Health Bill into the Assembly in New York where
it came out of Committee yesterday and will be sent on to
Ways and Means and subsequently the Rules Committee,
before coming onto the Floor. The Vets'
Health Bill provides for research and testing of
Vets thought to be exposed to Depleted Uranium.
Major
Doug Rokke, Ph.D. Ret --
12:00 Midnight - 12:30 AM EASTERN
dlind49@aol.com Dr. Doug Rokke is a retired
and disabled Army Reserve officer who served in the
military since 1967 and A Warrior. He
is an expert on the health and environmental effects of
nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare. During Gulf
War 1 he served as member of "Bauer's Raiders"
the 3rd U.S. Army Medical Command's nuclear, biological,
and chemical warfare special operations, teaching, and
response team. He was the Pentagon's man in
charge of Depleted Uranium Project and clean up. Till he
said "Oh my God, we can't use uranium weapons. It
kills our own troops." SUSAN RIORDAN, Canada
Famous
Canadian uranium weapons celebrity. Her
husband, Captain Terry Riordan, was internally
contaminated by ceramic uranium oxide gas and dust in the
First Gulf War. Terry died in 1996. 12,000,000 pounds of
Uranium weapons [Ramsey Clark number.] later Susan asks
the American Generals "Why are you doing this? It is
insane!" She is, herself, now
contaminated and ill, but is active in helping the
awareness of the public to the DU Toxicity problem.
Robert
"Bob" G. Smith, Jr. , VET Born a Texan living in New
Orleans for 30 years. Retired after 20 years from
US Army/Louisiana Army National Guard at rank of Command
Sergeant Major. Mobilized for Desert Storm.
Three tours in Viet Nam as a Special Forces Green
Beret. Educated with degrees of a Bachelor of
Arts in Sociology and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical
Engineering. Currently employed as an
engineer. Lives with wife Julie and our dog.
Member of Veterans for Peace and Viet Nam Veterans
Against the War. 'Bob' almost single-handedly
walked the Vets' Health Bill through the Louisana
Legislature.
RAY
RAMOS (VET) A member of the National
Guard for 21 years and now a NYC police Officer
for the last 13 years. Served in Iraq from April
2003 to September 2003 - became ill and was sent
back. His symptoms include: Heat
stroke, migraines, total weakness, weight loss,
fatigue, breathing problems, joint pain and
more. All symptoms have been persistent...Ray
has tested Postive for U238 U235 .....He
recently had a vasectomy so there is no risk
of children with possibility of birth
defects. He has been active in the movement to
pass the Vets' Health Bill in the New York Legislature. =================================
You can listen live via the internet at http://www.xzone-radio.com/ and click on the red flashing “ON AIR” sign, or check your local radio station.
FOR MORE DEPLETED URANIUM INFORMATION GO TO:
The 'X' Zone Radio Show - Depleted Uranium Effects http://www.xzone-radio.com/uranium.htm
If you have
any comments, opinions or guest suggestions, please email
them to xzone@xzone-radio.com .
Your email is always appreciated.
ISRAEL:
Reflections
Dear Friends,
I find it difficult after news of yesterday’s and
today’s killings in Gaza to veer to mundane
things. Yet, it might still be of some small value
to relate some contrasting experiences I’ve had in
recent days in the West Bank.
Wednesday 2 women and I visited the Salfit area of the
West Bank to try to understand, for instance, what it is
like to be a Palestinian woman under living under
occupation, to take note of the fences now surrounding
many villages, the recently added gates to the entry/exit
roads from/to the villages that can be closed by the IOF
at will. We also drove into and through Ariel to
see what a settlement looks like, and noted how this one
sits high on the hill overlooking the picturesque village
of Marda, on whose lands and those of 5 additional
villages Ariel is constructed, and to observe how
construction of the fence around Ariel is now stealing
more of Marda’s lands and has already devoured some
2000 of its olive trees.
At the end of the day, on the return trip, we drove from
the village of Hares towards Qalqilya—a picturesque
winding 2-lane road, with a number of Palestinian
villages dotting the hills on either side, and containing
areas in which the olive groves still look tended (by
contrast to the many areas in which Palestinians are not
permitted to tend their trees). This is a road on
which Palestinian cars are allowed, and which has no
permanent checkpoints. But, ‘flying’ ones
(i.e. ones that are not permanent, but which can crop up
wherever and whenever the military decides) can suddenly
appear. That day one did, about 10 minutes from
Hares. Palestinians who had planned on arriving
somewhere at a given time, believing that they would not
be detained at a checkpoint, suddenly found their plans
gone awry.
The checkpoint was on the other side of the road, in the
opposite direction from the one in which we were
headed. I pulled over to the narrow shoulder on the
road, and stopped and we watched. To the left of the
checkpoint were about a dozen Palestinians sitting on the
side, near a transit (a mini-bus taxi) with a driver in
it but otherwise empty. To the right of the
checkpoint, but about 50 feet down the road, about 10
Palestinian cars were lined up, waiting. Israeli
cars sped past them unconcerned. Overlording the
scene were three young soldiers, 2 males, one
female. We sat there and watched while the three
casually chatted, one scratching his stomach. The
Palestinians who were on their individual ways to
wherever they were going had no choice but to bide their
time until the soldiers decided to take notice of
them.
We watched from the car for about 5 minutes.
Nothing moved. The soldiers continued chatting, oblivious
of those waiting. I then got out of the car and
walked over to the soldiers, who did not chase me away,
and even listened (not always the case). I asked
them if this is the way they would want their parents,
grandparents, brothers and sisters to be treated.
Reminded them that they were dealing with human
beings. The soldiers responded that they were
obligated to check IDs, and that the people had been
sitting there for no longer than 10 minutes (but,
remember, the soldiers had not been checking IDs while
we’d been watching them from the car). One of
the soldiers tried to convince me how necessary the
checkpoint was, how much it aided security. I in
turn reminded them that although they undoubtedly had
conscripted to defend their country, what they really
were doing was helping their government steal land from
the Palestinians and make their lives unbearable. I
also told them that checkpoints would not bring
security. I should have reminded them that
collective punishment is not acceptable. After all,
in Israel murders occur almost daily. Do the
authorities then put up checkpoints in Israeli cities to
stop all murderers?
The people waiting near the transit told me (by contrast
to what the soldier had said), that they had been there
between 30-45 minutes. But miracle of
miracles—2 minutes after I complained, one of the
soldiers returned the IDs, and most of the people (as
many as the transit could accommodate) went off on their
way, grateful to have been released, and good-humouredly
thanking me, as if I’d done something important,
when, in fact, it was something that should never have
had to be done at all. Checkpoints should be, like
the occupation, abolished!
We continued to sit there for about 40 minutes, watching
to see if the soldiers would let the cars come
through. They did, one at a time, taking about 5
minutes with each car. Initially the soldier
signals with his finger for the driver to move the car to
a stop sign (part of the checkpoint). There the driver
gets out, hands his ID to the soldier, who stands arms
length away, and if the soldier oks the ID, the driver
gets back into the car, drives it a few feet further,
again stops, this time for soldiers to check the car and
baggage compartment. If the soldiers approve, the
driver is then permitted to go on his way.
After about 30 minutes the soldiers began to fold up the
checkpoint. Only then, when a soldier on the road
signaled to someone on the hill, did we realize
that a 4th soldier had been hiding among the brush behind
us. During the 10 minutes it took to fold up the
checkpoint, the soldiers continued to check cars (some
cars had arrived while we’d been there).
Whether the soldiers disbanded the checkpoint for the
day, or merely moved it up the road out of our sight, I
do not know. We could not stay longer, and so drove
off.
It is sad and infuriating to know that there is nothing
that we can do to stop this injustice, to know that
tomorrow it will be the same, maybe not at that location,
but at numerous other ones across the West Bank. It
is sad and infuriating to know that 18-20 year olds who
lord it over other human beings, worse even than had they
been cattle or goats, are not likely to turn into angels
when they doff their uniforms for jeans. Three
years of behaving to other human beings as though they
are subhuman cannot but leave its print on the psyches of
these kids who behave as though they are gods.
As we were driving down the road, one of my passengers
burst into tears. The day had been emotionally
draining. I understood her feelings. I come
home after days like these fuming. The doors of our
house, fortunately have withstood the occasional bangs
they get as I vent my feelings.
What we saw and experienced that day is nothing compared
to what Palestinians undergo during IOF incursions and
detentions. My anger is from my utter helplessness
to change the situation, to end the occupation, the
injustice, the harassment, the horror.
But then there was Thursday. It brought an entirely
different experience and feelings. We had been
invited to a wedding in Qira. Two of Amina’s
(Lina’s mom) brothers are getting married. We
had already been to the village several times visiting
the family, and had been to the celebration in Qira when
Lina came home from the hospital with a new kidney.
So we were familiar faces to many in the village and they
to us. The affair began about 9 in the evening.
The males and females were in separate areas. I of
course joined the women. The older women were dressed
traditionally sitting on the side. But the younger
ones wore sexy dresses; some of the women were bejeweled
and beautifully coiffured. The dancing was very
sensual. And although given my age I should have
been sitting with the older women, the younger ones
dragged me into the circle to dance. I felt like an
elephant among the daisies. The young women are
very limber and graceful. But everyone accepted me
as a natural part of the festivities, and took pains to
make me feel very much wanted. They
succeeded. I felt utterly at home. That is
Palestinian hospitality.
One woman related, after I’d asked her about her
experience crossing the Huara checkpoint to attend the
wedding, that it had taken her 2 hours to get
through. My spouse (Israel) told me that the
professional male debka dancers who had entertained the
men had also spent a couple of hours getting through
checkpoints on their way to Qira. But the
festivities went on, checkpoints not withstanding!
On the way home, as spouse and I expressed our mutual
happiness at having been invited and having attended the
wedding festivities, I thought to myself on how much
Israelis are missing out. We and Palestinians could
so profitably live among one another, could learn from
one another. How vibrant an experience we’d
had that evening. More the pity that occupation and
self-satisfaction and fear prevent Israelis from
friendships with people who, after all, have a rich
cultural tradition to share.
More the pity that most people do not realize that not
Zionism, not colonialism, not occupation, not unilateral
political moves will bring security and happiness to
Palestinians or to Israelis. More the pity that
most people do not realize that this land, instead of
being a killing field, could be a land of milk and honey,
if only we could find and elect leaders to end the
occupation and to replace it with cooperation.
Dorothy
FROM MAISOON:
my water bowl
A man and
his dog were walking along a road. The man was enjoying
the
scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was
dead.
He remembered dying, and that the dog walking beside him
had been dead
for
years. He wondered where the road was leading them.
After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall
along one side of
the
road. It looked like fine marble. At the top of a long
hill, it was
broken
by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight.
When he was standing before it he saw a magnificent gate
in the arch
that
looked like mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to
the gate looked
like pure gold. He and the dog walked toward the gate,
and as he got
closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side.
When he was close enough, he called out, "Excuse me,
where are we?"
"This is Heaven, sir," the man answered.
"Wow! Would you happen to have some water?" the
man asked.
"Of course, sir. Come right in, and I'll have some
ice water brought
right
up."
The man gestured, and the gate began to open.
"Can my friend," gesturing toward his dog,
"come in, too?" the
traveller
asked.
"I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets."
The man thought a moment and then turned back toward the
road and
continued the way he had been going with his dog.
After another long walk, and at the top of another long
hill, he came
to a
dirt road leading through a farm gate that looked as if
it had never
been
closed. There was no fence.
As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning
against a tree
and reading a book.
"Excuse me!" he called to the man. "Do you
have any water?"
"Yeah, sure, there's a pump over there, come on
in."
"How about my friend here?" the traveller
gestured to the dog.
"There should be a bowl by the pump."
They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an
old-fashioned
hand pump with a bowl beside it.
The traveller filled the water bowl and took a long drink
himself, then
he gave some to the dog.
When they were full, he and the dog walked back toward
the man who was
standing by the tree.
"What do you call this place?" the traveller
asked.
"This is Heaven," he answered.
"Well, that's confusing," the traveller said.
"The man down the road
said that was Heaven, too."
"Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and
pearly gates? Nope.
That's hell."
"Doesn't it make you mad for them to use your name
like that?"
"No, we're just happy that they screen out the folks
who would leave
their best friends behind."
Soooo...
Sometimes, we wonder why friends keep forwarding jokes to
us without
writing a word.
Maybe this will explain.
When you are very busy, but still want to keep in touch,
guess what you
do? You forward jokes.
When you have nothing to say, but still want to keep
contact, you
forward jokes.
When you have something to say, but don't know what, and
don't know
how, you forward jokes.
Also to let you know that you are still remembered, you
are still
important, you are still loved, you are still cared for,
guess what you
get?
A forwarded joke.
So, next time if you get a joke, don't think that you've
been sent just
another forwarded joke, but that you've been thought of
today and your
friend on the other end of your computer wanted to send
you a smile.
You are all welcome @ my water bowl anytime
