Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Of course you know this means war.

So now we know where we stand. A total ban on hunting with hounds, forced through by the use of the Parliament Act, will come into force on 19th February 2005. From that date it will be illegal to let your dog kill a mouse, but not a rat: it will however be legal to let your cat kill a mouse. It will remain legal to use terriers underground to kill a fox, but only for the protection of pheasants, not lambs. Beagles can hunt rabbits but not hares, and it will be legal to use foxhounds to drive foxes towards waiting guns in Scotland but not England or Wales. This is probably the worst piece of legislation to be enacted since the Dangerous Dogs Act, and all concerned should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. [...] http://www.votehunting.com/

Your data does not co-ordinate

without coercion and with alcohol. Non sequitur!

How the mighty fall

http://savetheipod.com/ 300 Million Europeans, One Billion residents of China...and a whole bunch of other people, will not be touched by INDUCE. We will leap forward as they are retarded. Skype is based not in the USA, but in Estonia and it has tens of millions of users in the USA. 3 Billion minutes served, a new deal with Logitech, veryy cool periferals released and under development, they have captured this world market, from another country. The USA is left behind on this one; its already too late. If INDUCE passes into law, the iPod may die, but this will give a golden opportunity to SONY or some other non-USA company to steal the momentum and rise to the top of the portable music player market. Kill the iPod? "Go ahead; make my day"

This is how you do it!

Italy slows down as strike bites
Italy faces a standstill as millions of workers take part in a general strike against the economic policies of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Travellers face chaos and hospitals are only providing emergency services.

Trade union leaders are furious with $8bn in public sector spending cuts in next year's budget, pushed through last week by Mr Berlusconi.

The European Commission had warned Italy to reduce its public debt, which is the third largest in the world.

But economists say the planned reforms - tax cuts and a squeeze on spending - give little relief to industry and are unlikely to boost the sluggish Italian economy.

Flights cancelled

"[This] general strike is the best response to the social massacre of this well-to-do government which gives to the rich while heavily cutting services to citizens," Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, the head of Italy's Green party, told Reuters.

The stoppages will hit air traffic, especially between 1200 and 1600 (1100 and 1500 GMT). National airline Alitalia has cancelled over 100 flights.

Trains have stopped running and will not start again until 1300, while post offices and government buildings will be closed all day.

The protest marks the fourth general strike in Italy since Mr Berlusconi took power in 2001.

Industrial action in Italy may be inconvenient, says the BBC's Tamsin Smith in Rome, but it is always flamboyant.

Banners, balloons and marching bands will fill city streets and squares across the country, our correspondent says.

The largest demonstrations are expected to take place in Turin, Milan and Venice, where leaders from the country's three main unions will address the crowds. [...]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4053809.stm

This is the only way to attack a rogue government that takes your money and abuses it, and your trust. Shut the whole country down, and have a USEFUL party!

Monday, November 29, 2004

Esther Venrooy: Duplex

Saturday December 4th Esther Venrooy & Simon Ladefoged: DUPLEX Klara in Het Paleis, Bozar, Ravensteinstraat 23, 1000 Brussels, Belgium 14.00h & 17.00h in Terarkenzaal 1 Duplex is an audiovisual stage production that combines the music of Esther Venrooy with moving images by Simon Ladefoged. The title suggests the duality of sounds versus images as well as a division between mental and physical space. Duplex is a creation by two artists working from their own field, yet at the same time crossing into each other's: the photographical compositions of Ladefoged and the aural landscapes of Esther Venrooy. The result of this synergy is a mesmerizing nocturnal journey through places from which human activity seems to have been erased. Tickets: 02 507 82 00 / info@bozar.be www.simonladefoged.com www.klara.be www.bozar.be

www.esthervenrooy.com

Know Your Rights

Subsystence: Volume 4 is now online.

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

the facts of life

adult contemporary house/techno architecture design music = sterile anonymous/vitality-less music numb death!!!

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Government Uses Color Laser Printer Technology to Track Documents

Government Uses Color Laser Printer Technology to Track Documents According to experts, several printer companies quietly encode the serial number and the manufacturing code of their color laser printers and color copiers on every document those machines produce. Governments, including the United States, already use the hidden markings to track counterfeiters. Unlike ink jet printers, laser printers, fax machines, and copiers fire a laser through a mirror and series of lenses to embed the document or image on a page. Such devices range from a little over $100 to more than $1000, and are designed for both home and office. The United States is not the only country teaming with private industry to fight counterfeiters. A recent article points to the Dutch government as using similar anticounterfeiting methods, and cites Canon as a company with encoding technology. Canon USA declined to comment [...]

December in Chicago

Monday, November 22, 2004

Distributed energy production = political & economic autonomy

World Potential Renewable Energy

Being Sucked In Again

inventing new technologies Three words, that are the sole block to this perfectly sensible idea. These people couldn't invent themselves out of a paper bag. They couldn't organize a barbeque on the surface of the sun (hmmm more solar energy). They couldnt organize a piss up in a brewery.
Mohsen Moradi, 25, clergyman

Iran must continue its nuclear activities. We have nuclear weapons already, but don't want to start a war.

The US is just the arrow head in the attack on Iran. Behind it is Israel. America may well attack us, but we aren't afraid of this because God will protect us. We are not talking here about a war between countries, but a war between religions.

There are commands in Holy Koran that we must keep up to date with technology and weaponry. [...]

Oh really? How busy is your patent office I wonder?! The fact is, everything Iran uses now, was invented outside of their country. All the nuclear technology they have is from manufacturing processes and concepts invented and developed outside of their country. They wouldnt have concrete if someone hadnt told them how to mix it. If they had some imagination and ability to innovate, of the sort they used to display hundreds of years ago, they would be selling everyone else solar technology and not begging for stolen plans to death reactors. They wouldnt be importing cellular phones, cars, computers, anything made of plastic, metal alloys and anything that uses electricity. These people take, take, take; thats all they do decade after decade. They take other peoples technology and use it to kill. Their "dissidents" leave Iran and try and persuade "our" governments to take the lives of our sons so that they can live in a sort of country that they cannot build themselvs. Enough is enough with these people. If these people need cellular telephones, let them invent their own. If they want sattelite TV, let them learn how to build rockets. Let them invent TV. They need to muster whatever creative forces they have and build their own systems, or do without. As for nuclear reactors, if someone didnt go there and tell them, they would have thought that pitchblende was something you do on a Barbat, and not a source of Uranium. They want these goods, these technologies to prove that they are "civilized"
Sanaz Maserrat, 29, teacher

We have to continue with our nuclear programmes. If we don't pursue this technology we will fall behind other countries in the scientific field. We need nuclear energy because our oil is going to run out. Why are the powerful countries allowed nuclear energy and not us?

I think there is a good chance that the US will attack Iran, if the programmes are continued. Do we have to obey America? I'm not sure if we have nuclear weapons already. [...] my emphasis

and modern, but the fact is all of these things (anything that can use electricity) are just trappings; a thin layer of makeup, under which is a very silly and backwards mentality, with no real understanding of anything 20 century or why any of it matters. Or doesnt matter for that matter. If that were not the case, they would not be trying to install the worst technology ever unleashed by man. They would thank their lucky stars that their country will never have the problem of how to clean up a Nuclear reactor. What is so astonishing is that every other country wants to be rid of these reactors, but the Iranian intelligencia are seemingly not aware of this, or even worse, they dont care about the risks. They just think its their right to bristle with warheads, and so they will bristle. It certainly may be the case that they have this right, but it certainly is not the right thing to do, no matter what weapons any other country has. Iran cannot compete with the technological world. They need to find their own space and level, live and thrive within it and at it, and turn away from everything that they cannot repair and create themselvs. If they do not do this, then they will be forced to obey other countries forever, and they will deserve this life of servitude, because they failed to use their imaginations, ingenuity and common sense.

BBC News: Professional Liars

More Anonymous Lies From BBC NEWS Iran 'rushing nuclear enrichment'
Preliminary installation of a turbo generator at Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant
Iran denies claims that it wants to build nuclear weapons
Iran is producing a gas that can be used to make nuclear arms, days before its promise to freeze such activities takes effect, Western diplomats say.

Tehran has agreed to suspend uranium enrichment from Monday in a deal reached with the European Union.

But the diplomats say it recently started producing uranium hexafluoride, which can be enriched into weapons-grade uranium.

A senior Iranian envoy has denounced the accusation as a "sheer lie".

Iran agreed last Sunday that it would freeze its enrichment programme after talks with the EU.

The agreement is designed to ease concerns that Iran's nuclear programme aims to produce atomic weapons - a charge Tehran denies.

But the diplomats said Iran was exploiting the window until Monday to produce the uranium hexafluoride, at a processing facility in Isfahan.

"I strongly reject it," Iranian spokesman Hossein Mousavian told Reuters. He said Iran was preparing to suspend production.

US accusations

These latest reports are likely to disappoint the Europeans and raise doubts about Tehran's goodwill, says the BBC's Bethany Bell in Vienna, where the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Authority, is based.

The US has frequently accused Tehran of using its nuclear energy policy as a front for developing atomic weapons.

Washington has been at the forefront of moves to refer the country to the UN Security Council - which has the power to impose sanctions - when the IAEA meets on 25 November.

The US said on Friday it was "seriously concerned" by the claims.

"These allegations only heighten our concerns that Iran continues to pursue nuclear activities and does not honour its commitments," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters.

Iran has huge reserves of raw uranium and has announced plans to extract more than 40 tons a year.

Iranian officials say the Isfahan plant can convert more than 300 tons of uranium ore a year. [...]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4026835.stm

We all remember Tariq Aziz saying that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruciton, and that what the americans were saying about them was nothing but lies. It turned out that Colin Powell was and is a liar, and that the entire american administration (now re-elected) was lying.

Now the BBC is spreading more warmongering lies about Iran, with thier uncredited, unconfirmed LIES relayed direct from NeoCon HQ without any proof whatsoever.

This is totally against the BBC charter. The BBC is meant to work in the interest of the British public, not NeoCon central. Warmongering and lie spreading is against the British public's interest.

I want to know:

1 who said "Iran is rushing nuclear enrichment" 2 the names and nationalities of the diplomats who said Iran is producing Uranium Hexaflouride. 3 the names of any diplomats who know what Flourine is. 4 who the fuck "Bethany Bell" REALLY works for. 5 why this warmongering shitstirring report is not credited to any author.

Saturday, November 20, 2004

Friday, November 19, 2004

To the death for life

what are the benefits of joining 'grroup irdial' I don't keel you.

irdidial grroupscrob

Irdial-Discs Group Details Top Artists 1 Marin Marais 358 2 Captain Beefheart 272 3 Johann Sebastian Bach 195 4 Pixies 159 5 Hans Reichel 138 6 Bob Dylan 137 7 Ricardo Villalobos 124 8 Patsy Cline 121 9 Brian Eno 117 10 Conlon Nancarrow 116 11 The Knife 113 12 This Heat 110 13 Wire 105 14 Spacemen 3 105 15 Sun City Girls 103 16 Autechre 101 17 The Beach Boys 95 18 Gustav Leonhardt, Sigiswald Kuijken, Wieland Kuijken 92 19 My Bloody Valentine 90 20 Pavement 88 21 Jimi Hendrix 83 22 The Byrds 82 23 Syd Barrett 76 24 John Fahey 74 25 LFO 72 26 M83 71 27 Andrés Segovia 71 28 Faust 71 29 The Beach Boys 69 30 Safety Scissors 68 31 The Flaming Lips 68 32 Moles 67 33 The Fall 67 34 Red Krayola 66 35 Fennesz 65 36 Akufen 64 37 Henry Flynt 64 38 Claudio Arrau 62 39 Set Fire To Flames 60 40 Talking Heads 60 41 kanye west 59 42 Piano Magic 58 43 Outkast 58 44 Richie Hawtin 57 45 Matthew Dear 57 46 WeekendWindow 56 47 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band 56 48 Thelonious Monk 56 49 King Crimson 52 50 Sonic Youth 50 Alun; the same is gained through an audioscrobbler group, that is gained by an individual audioscrobbler account, save for the fact that all members' track totals are tallied and compiled for statistical viewing and learning. For instance, with 5 members present, the group has listened to a Beach Boys track 1 more time then a Flaming Lips track. This is fun and satisfying for the urge of understanding group taste, and the connection between musical forms. Conlon Nancarrow has 116 plays between us. For the record, I'm oaeoeao, scrobbling.

Coupez!

Urologe A. 1993 May;32(3):254-9. Related Articles, Links
[Tableau de l'opération de la taille by Marin Marais (1725)--a bladder calculus operation represented in music] [Article in German] Evers S. The piece "Tableau de l'operation de la taille", written for viola by the French composer Marin Marais in 1725, presents an operation for removal of a stone in the bladder in musical form. Musicological analysis shows that in the early 18th century the lateral perineal approach was normally used for such operations in France. Medico-historical annotations complement the musicological analysis. Publication Types:
  • Biography
  • Historical Article
MeSH Terms:
  • Bladder Calculi/history*
  • English Abstract
  • France
  • History of Medicine, 18th Cent.
  • Human
  • Medicine in Art
  • Music/history*
  • Paintings/history
  • Perineum/surgery*
  • Surgical Instruments/history
Personal Name as Subject:
  • Marais M
PMID: 8511837 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
[...]
1: Allergy Asthma Proc. 1996 Jan-Feb;17(1):40-42. Related Articles, Links
Allemande l'Asthmatique by Marin Marais (1656-1728), French composer and virtuoso. Cohen SG. Publication Types:
  • Biography
  • Historical Article
Personal Name as Subject:
  • Marais M
PMID: 8814939 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
[...] The more I find out about Marin Marais the further I fall. Extraordinary!

Thursday, November 18, 2004

Ivory Coast Shenanigans, unreported

ATTAQUE FRANCAISE CONTRE LA CÔTE D'IVOIRE

LES PHOTOS DES BLESSES ET DES MOTRS SUITE AUX MANIFESTATIONS DES 9 NOVEMBRE 2004

"The insecurity organised by the French army in Abidjan and the inner of the country was an excuse for Chirac to increase his military staffs on the Ivoirian territory. The Licorne was supposed to protect the French nationals, but they were not able to prevent them from being stolen their goods by some of the 4000 prisoners who had been released by RDR minister, Henriette Diabaté. They couldn’t anyway, since they too much busy with slaughtering the unarmed Ivoirian patriots." [...] http://www.presidence.ci/ http://users.skynet.be/liberationci/ http://www.laurentgbagbo.net/

Tyranny

I respect your freedom to choose to ID yourself to the state. Do you respect my freedom to not do so. No, I didn't think so. You're the one choosing the side of tyranny. Thank God there is at least one person who understands clearly what this is all about; Tyranny. It makes me sick to my stomach to read the robotic stock replies, "I havent got anything to hide", "They already use SSN, so why not", and all of these other assemply line arguments from these pathetic drones who couldnt think themeselvs out of a paper bag. They are unprincipled, stupid and are very much the cause of the problem, because if they refused to comply with a national ID card scheme, ANY scheme, it would die instantly. The ones I despise the most are the inured from birth saying, "It doesnt hurt me, Im used to it". Let me spell it out for you; The State is not the definer of your identity. You do not even have one sole identity; that is an artificial idea created by the state; people have reinvented themselvs since man walked on two legs; what you call yourself in your interaction with anyone else is your afffair, and it is not the right of the state to indellably brand you with a single identity, which of course, is entirely for their own purposes. Anyone that acceps the state being the arbiter of their identity is a servant, a piece of property, and should be flushed down the toliet with the rest of the shit. [...]
Comments in response to this absurd article where the "The Blind Man" half wittedly makes the argument against ID cards:
"There should be more checks on the use of information collected through supermarket loyalty cards, Home Secretary David Blunkett has suggested. In a speech, Mr Blunkett said the cards produced key details about people's shopping habits but were accepted because they were run by private firms. People should not distrust ID cards because they are a state idea, he said. Mr Blunkett later said he had no loyalty cards himself and had borrowed the Nectar card to illustrate his point."

Well well well. Firstly, a Nectar card is VOLUNTARY. You can fill in any name and address you want on it. You can, after having used it, get out of it. No one will DEMAND that you show it in order to buy food. When you sign up to it, voluntarily, you get ACTUAL, IMMEDIATE MONETARY BENEFIT FROM IT, wheras, THE STATE IS THE ONLY ONE WHO BENEFITS FROM AN ID CARD, them and THE CONTRACTOR WHO RUNS THE SYSTEM. If the intruduction of an ID card guaranteed every taxpayer a 10% reduction, it would be universally adopted overnight. The fact is, you LOOSE PRIVACY and LOOSE MONEY when you accept an ID card, AND you dont benefit from any of the imaginary savings the state is going to make from, for example, people getting healthcare "for free".
"Such a database would prevent people travelling to America having to pay $100 on every visit for a biometric visa, he suggested."
So, everyone in the UK must get a biometric ID card...because the USA says so? If you want to travel to the USA that is a VOLUNTARILY chosen destination; some people might never want to travel to the USA, or they might want to go somewhere else; should they be made to do this because some people want to holiday in Florida, and it would save those few from paying the visa fee? I think not. If this is the best argument this "man" can come up with, honestly, in a country run on common sense, this should die a death....uh oh!

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

The New York Times > Technology > In Texas, 28,000 Students Test an Electronic Eye

" In front of her gated apartment complex, Courtney Payne, a 9-year-old fourth grader with dark hair pulled tightly into a ponytail, exits a yellow school bus. Moments later, her movement is observed by Alan Bragg, the local police chief, standing in a windowless control room more than a mile away." The New York Times > Technology > In Texas, 28,000 Students Test an Electronic Eye

This is not Porn

http://www.thisisnotporn.com

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

The Grey Video

The Grey Video

Bet the farm on....a party?

CSI: Entertainment and Hospitality Experts

CSI is and independent insurance management co with access to dozens of insurance companies and a focus on Entertainment and Hospitality businesses. CSI can help package coverage specifically for each client while guaranteeing the most competitive prices available.

Over the last 10 years the CSI team has place insurance coverage for over 3200 Including; Live music venues, nightclubs, bars, restaurants, concert promoters, touring artists, trade shows / expos, conferences, film and television, festivals, community events, sports, and dozens of others.

Quick Links: Event Insurance Restaurant & Bar Insurance Trade Shows/Expos

We provide full access to hundreds of coverages including: general liability; excess liability, non-owned and hired auto; rain and weather insurance; event cancellation; nonappearance; liquor liability; workers compensation; equipment and property; accident medical, prize promotion payout, directors and officers coverage, employment practices liability and dozens of others.

CSI Online has been designed to provide easy access to information and applications to clients. Just click on your class of business for more details.

In addition to our entertainment and hospitality lines of business, CSI is continually adding new niche programs and companies. Please check under other programs or email info@csicoverage.com and ask if we can cover your class of business. [...] Event Cancellation Insurance would have kept them alive...lots of bad news this month.

Monday, November 15, 2004

Crowds

Dear NO2ID Supporter, Can you spare a couple of hours in Central London on the morning either of Wednesday 17th or Tuesday 23rd November? On each of those days, NO2ID will be arranging a photo-opportunity to help publicise the campaign that requires a small crowd. If you are available on either day and would like to take part--and don't mind having your picture in the press or (with luck) on television--please contact: volunteer@no2id.net and we will forward details. Sincerely Guy Herbert General Secretary, NO2ID

No Mira No!!!

Ladytron play China!!!!!!!!!!!!!! http://www.ladytron.com/chinatour.htm

Unrepentants, you will be made to pay!

http://www.werenotsorry.com This is like the people who elected $your_guess_here in $your_guess_here, saying they are not sorry after the $your_guess_here ended. And just as outrageous.

RTFB RiF RaF!

RIF

The Meme of Libraries

Tweedy: If they succeed, it will damage the culture and industry they say they're trying to save.

What if there was a movement to shut down libraries because book publishers and authors were up in arms over the idea that people are reading books for free? It would send a message that books are only for the elite who can afford them.

<>Stop trying to treat music like it's a tennis shoe, something to be branded. If the music industry wants to save money, they should take a look at some of their six-figure executive expense accounts. All those lawsuits can't be cheap, either. [...]

http://wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,65688,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_1

*******

:02 David Byrne/ My Fair Lady

WIRED: What's your take on this whole copyright controversy? Is file-sharing out of control?

<>BYRNE: Not really. Imagine if book publishers decided they were against public libraries: Oh no, we don't like this because people can read books without paying for them and it's killing our sales. It's just not true. They might lose a tiny percentage, but they actually gain a lot more. [...] http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.11/beastie.html?pg=3&topic=beastie&topic_set=

Its all kicking off today; this article about Numbers Stations was on the front cover of WiredNews, beneath the interview qouted (yes, "qouted") above. Then, there is an interview with the Beastie Boys who are on the cover of the waste paper waster which has the quote emphasized from a former Talking Head.

The infection spreads. The analogies replicate.

Saturday, November 13, 2004

The Conet Project on NPR

Music by the 'Numbers Stations'

All Things Considered, November 12, 2004 Akin Fernandez's obsession with "numbers stations" -- broadcasts of seemingly random numbers sequences that still remain officially a mystery -- led to a CD set compiling off-air recordings. It's become a cult hit. Matt Cowan reports. [...]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4167689

Top 25 e-mailed stories for the past 24 hours

1 - Music by the 'Numbers Stations' 2 - Music by the Numbers 3 - Kids' Books with Lessons for Life 4 - Johnny Depp: 'Finding Neverland' 5 - Ricing Time: Harvesting on the Lakes of White Earth 6 - 'World 2004': A Global Music Tour with Charlie Gillett 7 - The Guru of Googlewhack [...] There has just been a programme about TCP on NPR. It has caused a flurry of website traffic, blog posts and emails. Downloads at archive.org shot up by around one thousand and are still rising: Top Downloads
1. The Conet Project - Recordings of Shortwave Numbers Stations [ird059] Irdial 6,672 downloads
2. Lackluster - You Are On My Mind EP [mtk119] Monotonik 3,736 downloads
Now, if we had one t-shirt sold for every 10 downloads...that would be cool!

Friday, November 12, 2004

Inns and Taverns of Old London

For all races of Teutonic origin the claim is made that they are essentially home-loving people. Yet the Englishman of the sixteenth and seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, especially of the latter, is seen to have exercised considerable zeal in creating substitutes for that home which, as a Teuton, he ought to have loved above all else. This, at any rate, was emphatically the case with the Londoner, as the following pages will testify. When he had perfected his taverns and inns, perfected them, that is, according to the light of the olden time, he set to work evolving a new species of public resort in the coffee-house. That type of establishment appears to have been responsible for the development of the club, another substitute for the home. And then came the age of the pleasure-garden. Both the latter survive, the one in a form of a more rigid exclusiveness than the eighteenth century Londoner would have deemed possible; the other in so changed a guise that frequenters of the prototype would scarcely recognize the relationship. But the coffee-house and the inn and tavern of old London exist but as a picturesque memory which these pages attempt to revive. Inns and Taverns of Old London

Sonasphere

Sonasphere

The new version of Nao Tokui's Sonasphere is out and is compatible with OS X 10.3. It has a few bugs, but it is a beta after all. Anyway, a nice, principled compositional system. Obviously limited by its narrowly defined scope (sometimes this can be a very good thing), it does its job quite well. [...] From the very good blog Aposteriori.org.

Thursday, November 11, 2004

BT Payhpones run Windows!

This BTinternet payphone: has crashed, with the usual windoze text about pressing F7 and the up arrow key, configuration changes, hardware profiles etc etc: BT, with all of its resources, has not got the sense to develop its own software built on linux to operate its internet payphones. No surprise there!

There is nothing wrong with us

If the ways we have been trying to affect change were going to work, they would have by now. If "changing" and "doing" and "improving" worked, we would be a world of perfected beings living in Utopia, and the idea of publishing a book like this would never have occurred to the folks at Conari Press. But that is clearly not our experience of ourselves and the world. The great majority of us are still struggling to become who and what we believe we should be. There is nothing wrong with us Are we really determined to do things differently in the next millennium, or are we going to continue the same tired old ineffective processes, changing only the content to fool ourselves into thinking we are doing something different? Will we continue to try to fix ourselves and the world, or will we find the willingness to sit down and be still long enough to see through the illusion – yes, it is an illusion – that anything needs to be fixed? Will we accept that our beliefs, not the world as it is, is causing our suffering? In my experience, there is much to be sad about. But I am well aware that something that makes me sad might thrill someone else. What I see as the senseless death and destruction of war, another sees as just and righteous retaliation. If I believe my view is the correct one, and that those who do not agree are wrong, I am perpetuating the violence just as surely as if I held a gun. Centuries ago, Zen Master Bunan said, "Die while you are alive and be absolutely dead, then do whatever you want; it's all good." He was talking about dying to our beliefs and assumptions, letting go of our better ideas about how the universe needs to be, and getting really clear that compassionate action comes only from being in the present moment, unencumbered by the dictates of conditioned mind. ...

Immigration & Nationality Directorate

A Stark Contrast

Hotel California

"You can check out any time you like... but you can never leave" "Hotel California", The Eagles There has been some talk from americans about leaving the usa if bush gets in. There was even a rumor (denied) that Rober Redford was going to quit the usa. I have some news for the people who want to give up their US citizenship. If you dont give up your US citizenship in a carefully prescribed manner, it doesnt count. If you do decide to go throught the process, then several things happen: First of all, when we say prescribed manner, we mean precisely:
...a person wishing to renounce American citizenship must appear in person and sign an oath of renunciation before a U.S. consular or diplomatic officer abroad, generally at an American Embassy or Consulate. Renunciations which are not in the form prescribed by the Secretary of State have no legal effect. [...] Americans cannot effectively renounce their citizenship by mail, through an agent, or while in the United States. [...]

(5) making a formal renunciation of nationality before a diplomatic or consular officer of the United States in a foreign state, in such form as may be prescribed by the Secretary of State; or

(6) making in the United States a formal written renunciation of nationality in such form as may be prescribed by, and before such officer as may be designated by, the Attorney General, whenever the United States shall be in a state of war and the Attorney General shall approve such renunciation as not contrary to the interests of national defense.

And you have to pay federal income tax for ten years from the date that you renounce:

Renunciation of U.S. Citizenship & Taxation Issues

P.L. 104-191 contains changes in the taxation of U.S. citizens who renounce or otherwise lose U.S. citizenship. In general, any person who lost U.S. citizenship within 10 years immediately preceding the close of the taxable year, whose principle purpose in losing citizenship was to avoid taxation, will be subject to continued taxation. For the purposes of this statute, persons are presumed to have a principle purpose of avoiding taxation if 1) their average annual net income tax for a five year period before the date of loss of citizenship is greater than $100,000, or 2) their net worth on the date of the loss of U.S. nationality is $500,000 or more (subject to cost of living adjustments). The effective date of the law is retroactive to February 6, 1995. Copies of approved Certificates of Loss of Nationality are provided by the Department of State to the Internal Revenue Service pursuant to P.L. 104-191. Questions regarding United States taxation consequences upon loss of U.S. nationality, should be addressed to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

They can draft you into the army, and if you are in the army, you cannot leave:

Other Obligations

Persons considering renunciation should also be aware that the fact that they have renounced U.S. nationality may have no effect whatsoever on their U.S. military service obligations. Nor will it allow them to escape possible prosecution for crimes which they may have committed in the United States, or repayment of financial obligations previously incurred in the United States. Questions about these matters should be directed to the government agency concerned.

And you can never come back:

...a person who has renounced U.S. nationality will be required to apply for a visa to travel to the United States, just as other aliens do. If found ineligible for a visa, a renunciant could be permanently barred from the United States. Renunciation of American citizenship does not necessarily prevent a former citizen's deportation from a foreign country to the United States. [...]

And finally, one for the children:

Parents cannot renounce United States citizenship on behalf of their children.
This means that if you have childdren and make them US citizens, you cannot undo this act even though you are their parent, and you are the one that made them citizens in the first place.

So. To sum up, you can renounce your american citizenship, but only in the way that they say and in places specified by them. You have to keep paying them your money for ten years after you quit them, if you have children that are american, you cannot free them, you can expect to never be allowed back into the usa, if you are in the army you cannot quit, and you can be drafted into the army if they want you, and they can extradite you back to the usa at anytime they like. In other words, you have all the responsibilities of being a us citizen, but none of the "priveledges".

After finding all of this out, you can be sure that no american citizen with a brain is going to give up their citizenship; its just not worth it on every level. And of course today, with the entire country steeped in a hypnotic state of paranoia, you can bet that you wont be able to escape without a fight.

What this means in practical terms is that all americans are the property of the american government - slaves if you will - because they control both your exit from being bound to them, and all of your property. If americans really were free, you would be able to renounce by letter, with your passport enclosed and that would be the end of it.

In the end, whilst people are very upset about this election, dont expect a torrent of people cutting the cord for good. Once they calm down and have read the slave contract that they were born into, any idea of escaping will evaporate instantly.

37!

AVG IQ                                  AVG Income     '04 Electoral
(1) Connecticut..................113      $26,979          Kerry
(2) Massachusetts................111      $24,059          Kerry
(3) New Jersey...................111      $26,457          Kerry
(4) New York.....................109      $23,534          Kerry
(5) Rhode Island.................107      $20,299          Kerry
(6) Hawaii.......................106      $21,218          Kerry
(7) Maryland.....................105      $22,974          Kerry
(8) New Hampshire................105      $22,934          Kerry
(9) Illinois.....................104      $21,608          Kerry
(10) Delaware....................103      $21,451          Kerry
(11) Minnesota...................102      $20,049          Kerry
(12) Vermont.....................102      $18,834          Kerry
(13) Washington..................102      $20,398          Kerry
(14) California..................101      $21,278          Kerry
(15) Pennsylvania................101      $20,253          Kerry
(16) Maine.......................100      $18,226          Kerry
(17) Wisconsin...................100      $18,727          Kerry
(18) Virginia....................100      $20,629          Bush
(19) Iowa.........................99      $18,287          Kerry
(20) Oregon.......................99      $18,202          Kerry
(21) Colorado.....................99      $20,124          Bush
(22) Michigan.....................99      $19,508          Bush
(23) Nevada.......................99      $20,266          Bush
(24) Ohio.........................99      $18,624          Bush
(25) Alaska.......................98      $21,603          Bush
(26) Florida......................98      $19,397          Bush
(27) Missouri.....................98      $18,835          Bush
(28) Kansas.......................96      $19,376          Bush
(29) Nebraska.....................95      $19,084          Bush
(30) Arizona......................94      $17,119          Bush
(31) Indiana......................94      $18,043          Bush
(32) Tennessee....................94      $17,341          Bush
(33) North Carolina...............93      $17,667          Bush
(34) West Virginia................93      $15,065          Bush
(35) Arkansas.....................92      $15,439          Bush
(36) Georgia......................92      $18,130          Bush
(37) Kentucky.....................92      $16,534          Bush
(38) New Mexico...................92      $15,353          Bush
(39) North Dakota.................92      $16,854          Bush
(40) Texas........................92      $17,892          Bush
(41) Alabama......................90      $16,220          Bush
(42) Louisiana....................90      $15,712          Bush
(43) Montana......................90      $16,062          Bush
(44) Oklahoma.....................90      $16,198          Bush
(45) South Dakota.................90      $16,558          Bush
(46) South Carolina...............89      $15,989          Bush
(47) Wyoming......................89      $17,423          Bush
(48) Idaho........................87      $16,067          Bush
(49) Utah.........................87      $15,325          Bush
(50) Mississippi..................85      $14,088          Bush

Bush..... IQ:  91
Kerry.... IQ: 128


*	Retarded is considered 75-85.

http://www.commonalty.com/iq.txt


John Burke | Principal

the world famous 1104.ca

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

This is historic times...

: : Speak Up > "This is historic times."
-George W. Bush, April 20, 2004 : :
In the past five days since the U.S. Presidential elections there probably has not been a person connected to the internets who has not received some sort of graphic in their email. Following is an overview of just five days of work. And you thought you worked fast…

Feel the split energy

The next dickwad who says, "It’s your money, not the government's money" is gonna get their ass kicked. Nine of the ten states that get the most federal fucking dollars and pay the least... can you guess? Go on, guess. That’s right, motherfucker, they're red states. And eight of the ten states that receive the least and pay the most? It’s too easy, asshole, they’re blue states. It’s not your money, assholes, it’s fucking our money. What was that Real American Value you were spouting a minute ago? Self reliance? Try this for self reliance: buy your own fucking stop signs, assholes. [...]
http://www.fuckthesouth.com/

Sugar Kills!

Coke adds life ... to cotton crops

Indian villagers find sugary fizzy drinks are the real thing

Tuesday, November 9, 2004 Posted: 0422 GMT (1222 HKT)

story.india.cotton.jpg
An Indian street worker recycles old cotton in Kolkata.

GUNTUR, India (Reuters) -- Cotton farmers in some Indian villages are flocking to buy Coca-Cola and Pepsi, believing that the sugar in the fizzy drinks kills pests.

Farmers say scientists advised them to mix pesticides with a sugary syrup to control pests, and they found the mixture cheaper and more effective than pure chemicals.

N. Hamunayya, who has become a celebrity in his village in the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh, said his crop survived an attack of pests that had resisted other remedies.

"We found that all the colas had uniform effect on pests. The pests became numb and fell to the ground," he said.

[...]

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/11/08/india.coke.reut/index.html

Agent Orange and Coca Cola.

Gotta Love it!

The Mission Accomplished Syndrome

'The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved.' John Asscroft says, as he resigns from office. "Mission Accomplished"? So, no more police needed, an dno more PATRIOT act needed, no more USVISIT need etc etc. Honestly. "an dno".

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Factoring the Past their Primes

And take ~that~, Irdial! Yes indeed, which is precisely why we dont read lists like that. On a "Robbie Williams" related note:
1. The Conet Project - Recordings of Shortwave Numbers Stations [ird059] Irdial 5,109 downloads
2. Lackluster - You Are On My Mind EP [mtk119] Monotonik 3,690 downloads
3. Aleksi Virta - ..Meets Torsti At The Space Lounge [mtk123] Monotonik 3,067 downloads
[...] http://www.archive.org/audio/netlabels.php Ahem: 5,109 free downloads at archive.org, which is more than we pressed of this release, downloaded gratis, as TCP has been since 1999. This number does not take into account the Hyperreal archive, and the soulseek mirror, and John and Mary's mirror, At's mirror, and all the other mirrors there have been. Anyone who knows what they are talking about couldnt cop crap words like that. But you know this. There will always be idiots. You have to live with them, and their soft focus attention nonsense from day one to the last day you are alive. Thats the flop. The question is, why on earth would one seek them out? As for needing more "labels like Irdial", think about it; there are people, people who are so STUPID and inured to corporate culture (whilst completely convinced that they are part of some imaginary "underground") that you have to FIGHT to WIN their support on something that should be obvious even to the dullest witted dishwater head. These people, who in any other era would understand instantaneously the difference between us, and say, AOL Time Warner, are now a part of the group that before supported labels out on a limb. The fact of the matter is "labels like Irdial" cannot emerge, in the same way that intelligent life has not re-emerged amongst the CD/Record buying public of the more recent generations, at least, on a scale large enough to support "labels like Irdial". Decades ago, it was possible to run a very far out label because people were not so incredibly dumb, and the enemy and its vile cancerous tentacles were not right in here amongs us, in the way that they are now, to the extent that these morons will run to the defense of the enemy whilst believing that they are on the side of the good. It was also possible to sustain many different labels and their related artists, such were the numbers of brain enabled humans with a few pounds to spend and unquenchable thirst for progress and the curious/original. This was before it was easy to get information on just about anything; before everything we take for granted today. What is so interesting is that in this time, where you can find out anything instantly, the dullards are so dim that they dont have the sense to use Google; but then again, no amount of Googling can create a brain from a vacuum; its still surprising though - information about everything right in your (inter)face the same one used to prove how thick you are! These simpletons, who cannot grasp scale, who have no understanding of context, who cannot see beyond next week, stupid, uninspired and a piss poor replacement for the generations of the past 5 decades, are sadly, what we are left with. A gnarled festering inoperable cancer that believes it is real flesh. Even if a ground breaking, mind blowing label were to emerge, and we were to be aware of it, it would not be able to thrive. It would be as a drop of water skittering on a hot griddle as it exuberantly boiled away to nothing...or maybe not. Optimism; the only drug worth overdosing on. Chemotherapy? Lastly, picture this; you are in a field full of cows, playing a piece of music that took you three years to compose and two years to record, after having built your own instruments to play the pieces. Its the most amazing thing EVER to move molecules of air. The reaction? Mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! In the next field over, another person is making a noise that the first person has never ever heard before, let alone thought could be real. He is standing in a field of sheep. They react: Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! The two sound crafters look at each other across the fields. Each raises an eyebrow. They seek out and find the other people like them. Very few, and very far between. They share their works. They eat steak. They wear woolen jumpers.

historical perspectives

From the "suitable reading" files comes Designing Pacifist Films, by PAUL GOODMAN 1961 I present the following excerpt from this complete text; What, then, are the available resources of pacifist persuasion that can be used for a pacifist film? They can be roughly classified as: (1) Factual education (2) Analyses of character-neurotic and social-neurotic war ideology, and the withdrawal of energy from the causes of war spirit (3) Opportunities for positive action, and pacifist history and exemplars. (1.a) As a strictly prudential argument, pacifism has an easy case, perhaps too easy a case, so that people do not take it seriously, it is too obvious. People have always known that war is a poor expedient, inefficient for any plausible purpose. And “present-day war,” not only our present-day war, has long been out of the question. It is best if the facts, of the senselessness of it, are allowed to speak for themselves, without admixture of moral or emotional appeal or any grandiose references to saving the human species. The matter is much simpler. War talkers are pretty close to fools or else not a little crazy; their postures and remarks are not proper to normal grown men. This can be simply demonstrated, relying on logic, statistics, and history. The framework must be an irrefragable and unmistakable structure of verbal propositions, even printed subtitles, however “uncinematic”; for we are dealing with a deeply neurotic and even schizophrenic phenomenon, and the reality of ordinary reasoning, and ordinary dismissal of stupidity, must be strongly affirmed. (b) On the other hand, the dangers of pacifist action — e.g., the risks involved in unilateral disarmament — should also be dispassionately and fully presented, so far as they can be fairly estimated. It is not necessary to have an answer for every argument, even grave arguments, for we cannot do what is senseless and unworthy of men anyway. Pacifism is a decision. The “serious” position is not, as Niebuhr, for instance, seems to think, to choose a lesser evil; it is to realize that we cannot have been so wrong for so long without purgatorial suffering. (c) The facts of war policy, war makers, and war economy ought to be exposed with unsparing honesty and detail, at the risk of inevitable censorship. E.g., delineating the personalities — a Teller, Kennedy, or J. Edgar Hoover — on whom so much is allowed to depend. But further, the immense network of the power structure must be made clear and diagrammed, so that a person comes to realize how nearly every job, profession, and status is indirectly and directly involved in making war. (2.a) Psychologically, our “tough” warriors live by a conceit of themselves as strong, to ward off the anguish of their spirits broken by authorities they could not face up to; and a conceit of themselves as hard, to ward off loss of love and fear of impotence. A film might profitably analyze the military posture, pelvis retracted, belly kept hard, exhalation restricted; the military ethos of inhibited feeling; the conceit of superiority by slavish identification with authority symbols. For comparison, analyze the social and family genesis of an underprivileged gang tough. Explain the details of Marine discipline as a means of destroying manliness. The system of griping fostered in armies as a means of maintaining childish dependency and avoiding mutiny. But further, show how in our times the classical sociology of the armed services as a substitute for civilian responsibilities is combined with the use of the services as complements of, and training for, organizational civilian life. The soldier seeks for ratings like a junior executive, while the Organization Man has a tough as his secret ideal. A thorough social and psychological analysis of these types might immunize the young. (b) Analyze the notion of the Enemy as a projection (scapegoat) and also as a political red herring. Show in detail how Enemies have been manufactured and miraculously reformed by techniques of press and promotion. Show also how foreign nations have thus manufactured the Americans as the Enemy and assigned to us Enemy traits and wishes. (c) But probably the chief factor of war spirit that must be analyzed is not the military character nor the projection of the Enemy, but the paralysis with which the vast majority of people of all countries accept the war that they oppose both by conviction and feeling. This must betoken an inner, fatalistic attachment to the feared disaster, and it is best explained as “primary masochism” (Reich): the hypothesis that, because of their rigid characters, people are unable to feel their pent-up needs, especially of sexuality and creative growth, and therefore they dream up, seek out, and conspire in an external catastrophe to pierce their numbness and set them free. The prevalent conditions of civilian peace and meaningless jobs tend to heighten this lust for explosion. (My experience, however, is that in analyzing this factor of war, one is opposed precisely by the more moralistic pacifists themselves. Rather than condone normal homosexuality or encourage the sexuality of their children, they would, apparently, accept the brutality of armies and see people blown to bits. One is dubious about the sanity of their pacifism, which seems to be rather a defense against their own hostile fantasies.)

Boners on Patrol

via the well-past-its-prime IDM mailing list: Date: Tue, 9 Nov 2004 08:27:05 -0800 To: From: "seek" Subject: Re: [idm] Irdial vs Wilco vs Ice Cream Conet Project Remix Session Message-ID: <035d01c4c678$f3f2b040$1d45a443@obelisk> ----- Original Message ----- From: "thorsten Sideb0ard" > > and i think electronic music would be waaaay better if there > > were more labels like irdial. > > much much much respect to the irdial! > > www.irdial.com > Actually, i think their actions are pretty questionable and sounds like > they are just trying to make a buck of someone elses work: > http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,63952,00.html Yeah, that was a lame-o move on Irdial's part: "In 1998, London-based Irdial-Discs put out a four-CD collection of broadcasts from so-called numbers stations -- mysterious shortwave transmissions, allegedly sent by the worlds' intelligence agencies, of monotone readers spewing alphanumeric streams. On the first of the discs, a woman in an indecipherable accent -- a Mossad agent, according to legend -- keeps repeating three words: "Yankee ... hotel ... foxtrot." It's the same recording that loops for a minute and a half during "Poor Places," the 10th track on Wilco's 2002 album. After a two-year legal fight, Tweedy agreed in an out-of-court settlement to give Akin Fernandez, Irdial's owner and sole employee, a substantial royalty for the recording. It's unclear whether Fernandez even recorded the "Yankee" shortwave broadcast himself. Simon Mason, a spycast enthusiast and author of Secret Signals: The Euronumbers Mystery, said he gave Fernandez the captured transmission -- one of many -- in an informal deal. "All that money I could have made if I had copyrighted them!" Mason wrote. "Since I gave Akin the recordings willingly for nothing, I don't have any come back. But in hindsight I would have come to some sort of deal that meant I would get a cut, but life is too short to get upset about it now."" Washington Post article about the Conet Project: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35647-2004Aug2.html (courtesy of David Hodgson, Playing By Ear.) On a related Conet note: can anyone reveal the source for the 'Conet Project Remix Session' for us? I've passed a few dozen copies of that one around (some of them to idm list members), and would love more info re: that recording from anyone out there. Also, if anyone would like a copy/burn of the 'Conet Project Remix Session', see me for more info. (And take ~that~, Irdial! ;)) seek np: Machinedrum - Bidnezz (on the mighty Merck of Miami)

Subsystence: Coming Soon

Dumb and Dumber

2. You didn't convince me that you would defend America against the threats of terrorism. Kerry seemed to think that terrorism is like any other crime. You catch the people responsible and put them in jail, and that's that. After seeing the destruction – physical, financial, psychological, and emotional -- wrought by the September 11th attacks, I do not understand how he could believe this. The hijackers lived among us, ate at our restaurants, shopped in our malls, and wounded us worse than we have ever been wounded before. How Kerry saw this as a crime, and not as a paradigm-shifting event that deserved a military response, both in direct retaliation and to keep it from ever happening again by going on the offensive, is something I don't understand. [...] http://fromasadamerican.blogspot.com/2004/11/how-you-could-have-had-my-vote.html ah yes, a pure case of "37"

The dollar sell-off continues

Dollar expected to fall amid China's rumoured selling By Steve Johnson in London and Andrew Balls in Washington Published: November 7 2004 19:43 | Last updated: November 7 2004 19:43

Euro and dollarThe dollar could slide still further, in spite of hitting an all-time low against the euro last week in the wake of George W. Bush's re-election, currency traders have said.

The dollar sell-off has resumed amid fears among traders that Mr Bush's victory will bring four more years of widening US budget and current account deficits, heightened geopolitical risks and a policy of "benign neglect" of the dollar.

Many currency traders were taken aback on Friday when the greenback fell in spite of bullish data showing the US economy created 337,000 jobs in October.

"If this can't cause the dollar to strengthen you have to tell me what will. This is a big green light to sell the dollar," said David Bloom, currency analyst at HSBC, as the greenback fell to a nine-year low in trade-weighted terms.

The dollar's fall comes as the Federal Reserve is widely expected to raise US interest rates by a quarter point to 2 per cent when it meets on Wednesday and to signal that it will continue with a measured pace of rate increases.

Speculative traders in Chicago last week racked up the highest number of long-euro, short-dollar contracts on record. Options traders have reported brisk business in euro calls - contracts to buy the euro at a pre-determined rate.

However, the market has been rife with rumours that the latest wave of selling has been led by foreign governments seeking to cut their exposure to US assets.

India and Russia have reportedly been selling US assets, as well as petrodollar-rich Middle Eastern investors.

China, which has $515bn of reserves, was also said to be selling dollars and buying Asian currencies in readiness to switch the renminbi's dollar peg to a basket arrangement, something Chinese officials have increasingly hinted at. Any re-allocation could push the dollar sharply lower and Treasury yields markedly higher. [...]

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/257979a6-30f4-11d9-a595-00000e2511c8.html

More cartographic crap

The guilty cartographers are at it again: They think that this:
is a lie and that this:
Is more like it. The irony escapes them that this map looks like the united states CRUSHED by the hand of....someone with enough power to crush an entire country with their hand :o Honestly. http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/ And while we are on the subject of maps.... Chorus!

Speech of an AC20 organizer in 2005

Tonight I come to you to speak about the world – the world after war. The recent challenge could not have been clearer. America was the villain, Iraq the victim. To the aid of this country came the peoples from North America and Europe, from Asia and South America, from Africa and the Arab world, all united against aggression. Our uncommon people powered financial warriors must now work in common purpose to forge a future that should never again be held hostage to the darker side of human nature. Tonight in America, Bush walks amidst economic ruin. His war machine is crushed. His ability to threaten mass destruction is itself destroyed. His people have been lied to, denied the truth. And when his defeated legions come home, all Americans will see and feel the havoc he has wrought. And this I promise you: for all that Bush has done to his own people, to the Iraqis, and to the entire world, Bush and those around him are accountable. All of us grieve for the victims of war, for the people of Iraq and the suffering that scars the soul of that proud nation. We grieve for all our fallen soldiers and their families, for all the innocents caught up in this conflict. And, yes, we grieve for the people of America, a people who have never been our enemy. My hope is that one day we will once again welcome them as friends into the community of nations. Our commitment to peace in the World does not end with the liberation of Iraq. So tonight let me outline four key challenges to be met. First, we must work together to create shared disarmament arrangements in the world. Our friends and allies in the world recognize that they will bear the bulk of the responsibility for disarmament. But we want them to know that just as we stood with them to repel aggression, so now the world stands ready to work with them to secure the peace. This does not mean stationing EU/UN ground forces anywhere on earth, but it does mean our participation in joint disarmament involving all militaries and the businesses that feed them. It means maintaining a capability to cut off funds to rouge governments at the level of the individual, just as we have against the rogue American state. Let it be clear: our vital national interests depend on a world free of the military and the war machine. Second, we must act to end the proliferation of weapons of war and the companies used to develop them. It would be tragic if the nations of the world were now, in the wake of war, to embark on a new arms race. America requires special vigilance. Until America convinces the world of its peaceful intentions – that its leaders will not use new revenues to re-arm and rebuild its menacing war machine – America must not have access to the instruments of war. And third, we must work to create new opportunities for peace and stability in the world. Previously, I expressed my hope that out of the horrors of war might come new momentum for peace. We have learned in the modern age geography and national sovereignty cannot guarantee security and security does not come from military power alone. All of us know the depth of bitterness that has made the dispute between Israel and its neighbors so painful and intractable. Yet, in the conflict just concluded, the Arab states have for the first time found themselves confronting the same aggressor. By now, it should be plain to all parties that peacemaking in the world requires disarmament. At the same time, peace brings real benefits to everyone. We must do all that we can to close the gap between nations with weapons and military industries and those without – so that all are equally disarmed. The tactics of terror lead nowhere. There can be no substitute for disarmament. A comprehensive peace must be grounded in complete disarmament and the complete dismantling of the companies that supply arms. This principle must be elaborated to provide for the disarmament of all nations, and at the same time for legitimate business and financial rights. Anything else would fail the twin tests of disarmament and freedom. The time has come to put an end to the war machine. The war with America is over. The quest for solutions to the problem of war, must go forward with new vigor and determination. And I guarantee you: no one will work harder for a stable peace in the region than we will. Fourth, we must foster economic development for the sake of peace and progress. The Persian Gulf and Middle East form a region rich in natural resources with a wealth of untapped human potential. Resources once squandered on military might must be redirected to peaceful ends. We are already addressing the immediate economic consequences of America’s aggression. Now the challenge is to reach higher – to foster economic freedom and prosperity for all people of the world. To all the challenges that confront this region of the world, there is no single solution, no solely AC20 answer. But we can make a difference. AC20 will work tirelessly as a catalyst for positive change. But we cannot create a new world if, it’s politics as usual on American defense and diplomacy and military expenditure. It’s time for America to turn away from the temptation to produce unneeded weapons systems and obsolete bases. It’s time to put an end to micro-management of foreign and security assistance programs, micro-management that humiliates the people of the world friends and allies and hamstrings our efforts for peace. It’s time to rise above the parochial and the pork barrel, to do what is necessary, what’s right and what will enable this people of the world to play the leadership role required of them. The consequences of the conflicts in the Gulf reach far beyond the confines of the Middle East. Twice before in this century, an entire world was convulsed by war. Twice this century, out of the horrors of war hope emerged for enduring peace. Twice before, those hopes proved to be a distant dream, beyond the grasp of man. Until now, the world we’ve known has been a world divided – a world of barbed wire and concrete block, conflict and cold war. Now, we can see a new world coming into view. A world in which there is the very real prospect of a new world order. In the words of Winston Churchill, a "world order" in which "the principles of justice and fair play ... protect the weak against the strong ..." A world where the individual, freed from the penury of the military industrial complex , is poised to fulfil the historic vision of his nature. A world in which freedom and respect for human rights find a home among all nations. For the sake of our principles, for the sake of the American people, we stood our ground and resolutely refused to feed the war machine. Because the world would not look the other way, to-night, America is free. Tonight our troops are sitting at home, from where they waged and won this war. Let us recognize that the hard work of freedom still calls us forward. We’ve learned the hard lessons of history. The victory over America was not waged as "a war to end all wars", but that is what it has become. Even the new world order cannot guarantee an era of perpetual peace. But enduring peace must be our mission; the mission of the billions of individuals that have refused to feed the war machine, and brought a better chance for peace to the world. [...] Yes indeed.

Could you be more ....specific?

Garrison Keillor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Image:GarrisonKeillor.jpg

Garrison Keillor (born August 7, 1942) is an author and radio host.

He is best known as the founder and host of the Minnesota Public Radio show A Prairie Home Companion (also known as Garrison Keillor's Radio Show on BBC 7 and in Ireland). Keillor's trademark storyline is the weekly News from Lake Wobegon monologue, a fictional town somewhere in Minnesota, "where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average."

Keillor's work includes:

Keillor has also written several articles for The New Yorker and The Atlantic Monthly. Keillor is the host of The Writer's Almanac, a five-minute program which is broadcast daily on some public radio stations in the United States.

Mr. Blue

He also authored an advice column on Salon.com, titled "Mr. Blue". Following a heart operation, he resigned on September 4, 2001 in an article entitled "Every dog has his day" (http://www.salon.com/books/col/keil/2001/09/04/adieu/index.html):

Illness offers the chance to think long thoughts about the future (praying that we yet have one, dear God), and so I have, and so this is the last column of Mr. Blue, under my authorship, for Salon.
Over the years, Mr. Blue's strongest advice has come down on the side of freedom in our personal lives, freedom from crushing obligation and overwork and family expectations and the freedom to walk our own walk and be who we are. And some of the best letters have been addressed to younger readers trapped in jobs like steel suits, advising them to bust loose and go off and have an adventure. Some of the advisees have written back to inform Mr. Blue that the advice was taken and that the adventure changed their lives. This was gratifying.
So now I am simply taking my own advice. Cut back on obligations: Promote a certain elegant looseness in life. Simple as that. Winter and spring, I almost capsized from work, and in the summer I had a week in St. Mary's Hospital to sit and think, and that's the result. Every dog has his day and I've had mine and given whatever advice was mine to give (and a little more). It was exhilarating to get the chance to be useful, which is always an issue for a writer (What good does fiction do?), and Mr. Blue was a way to be useful. Nothing human is beneath a writer's attention; the basic questions about how to attract a lover and what to do with one once you get one and how to deal with disappointment in marriage are the stuff that fiction is made from, so why not try to speak directly? And so I did. And now it's time to move on.

Personal information

Garrison Keillor was born in Anoka, Minnesota. He is of Norwegian ancestry, he is a Lutheran, and he is a Democrat.

[...]

Lets be clearer....if needed!