AIM
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Special interests' on both sides in health fight
By DAVID ESPO (AP) – 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON — As public pitchman, President Barack Obama accuses special interests of fighting to block his health care overhaul. "They run their ads. And let's face it, they scare people," he told one weekend audience. Yet Obama has spent months assembling a formidable lineup of special interests of his own, an essential element of a plan to remake the health care system and succeed where President Bill Clinton memorably failed. "We have the American Nurses Association, we have the American Medical Association on board," Obama told the weekend crowd in Grand Junction, Colo. "We have an agreement from drug companies to make prescription drugs more affordable for seniors. ... The AARP supports this policy." In the parlance of Washington, the organizations on both sides are special interests — the insurance industry and business groups strongly opposed to the direction health care legislation is taking in Congress, as well as the groups of doctors, nurses, drug makers and labor unions working to pass an overhaul despite any misgivings they may have. Part of the permanent landscape in the capital, they all lobby Congress and federal agencies on the issues they care most about. Many purchase political ads in campaign season or try to turn out their own memberships to vote for preferred candidates. They have enormous sums at stakes in the outcome of the struggle over Obama's proposed remaking of the health care system.
Take just two:
_ America's Health Insurance Plans has emerged as a leading opponent of the portion of Obama's plan that calls for the government to sell insurance in competition with private companies.
_ The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association is unhappy about the same provision but has pledged to spend a staggering $150 million on television commercials in support of the administration's quest for legislation.
What's the difference?
"They're stakeholders when they're with you, and they're interest groups when they're against you," Mary Matalin, a Republican, said recently, a tongue-in-cheek explanation that hints at the unappealing aroma associated with the label "special interests." White House spokesman Robert Gibbs seemed to understand as much when he said the administration is benefiting from the help of "interest groups," avoiding the more unsavory term "special interests." "It'd be sort of odd to go to a town hall meeting and rail against interest groups that are supporting reform ... who have acknowledged that it's time for health care reform," he said. The president's criticism is aimed at "interest groups that are aligned to keep the status quo either because it benefits them or they have a vested interest."
Far more than semantics is involved.
Eager to succeed where Clinton failed, Obama nailed down agreements with deep-pocketed drug makers and others. The effect was not only to secure allies who could pay for grass-roots and advertising campaigns but also to drive a wedge between Republicans and organizations that have supported them in the past. Despite the obvious turbulence surrounding Obama's proposals, there is evidence the strategy is working. GOP discomfort was obvious when Rep. John Boehner, the House Republican leader, accused the drug industry of trying to protect its own profits by "cutting a deal with the bully" on health care. It marked a turnabout from the days when congressional Republicans received two-thirds of the political contributions handed out by the pharmaceutical industry. Ken Johnson, a senior vice president at PhRMA, sought the high ground in response. "We have been working diligently for more than a year to advance bipartisan health care reform. We're proud of those efforts, and they are completely consistent with our core principles." The drug makers went first in making a deal with the White House, agreeing to pick up $80 billion in additional costs over the next decade to help defray the expenses of the legislation.
The American Hospital Association agreed to shoulder an additional $155 billion.
In exchange, both won assurances the White House would protect them against attempts in Congress to seek additional cuts in their projected Medicare and Medicaid payments. The American Medical Association's key issue was different. Doctors hope the legislation will allow them to avoid a looming 21 percent cut in payments under Medicare. The cost to the government for that would be about $230 billion over a decade. Obama also agreed to require individuals to purchase insurance, reversing a position he held during his campaign. "My thinking on the issue of mandates has evolved. And I think that that is typical of most people who study this problem deeper," he said. It was a bow to the special interests — some now with Obama, others not — that suddenly opened up the possibility of millions of new customers with insurance to help pay for their health care.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
By DAVID ESPO (AP) – 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON — As public pitchman, President Barack Obama accuses special interests of fighting to block his health care overhaul. "They run their ads. And let's face it, they scare people," he told one weekend audience. Yet Obama has spent months assembling a formidable lineup of special interests of his own, an essential element of a plan to remake the health care system and succeed where President Bill Clinton memorably failed. "We have the American Nurses Association, we have the American Medical Association on board," Obama told the weekend crowd in Grand Junction, Colo. "We have an agreement from drug companies to make prescription drugs more affordable for seniors. ... The AARP supports this policy." In the parlance of Washington, the organizations on both sides are special interests — the insurance industry and business groups strongly opposed to the direction health care legislation is taking in Congress, as well as the groups of doctors, nurses, drug makers and labor unions working to pass an overhaul despite any misgivings they may have. Part of the permanent landscape in the capital, they all lobby Congress and federal agencies on the issues they care most about. Many purchase political ads in campaign season or try to turn out their own memberships to vote for preferred candidates. They have enormous sums at stakes in the outcome of the struggle over Obama's proposed remaking of the health care system.
Take just two:
_ America's Health Insurance Plans has emerged as a leading opponent of the portion of Obama's plan that calls for the government to sell insurance in competition with private companies.
_ The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association is unhappy about the same provision but has pledged to spend a staggering $150 million on television commercials in support of the administration's quest for legislation.
What's the difference?
"They're stakeholders when they're with you, and they're interest groups when they're against you," Mary Matalin, a Republican, said recently, a tongue-in-cheek explanation that hints at the unappealing aroma associated with the label "special interests." White House spokesman Robert Gibbs seemed to understand as much when he said the administration is benefiting from the help of "interest groups," avoiding the more unsavory term "special interests." "It'd be sort of odd to go to a town hall meeting and rail against interest groups that are supporting reform ... who have acknowledged that it's time for health care reform," he said. The president's criticism is aimed at "interest groups that are aligned to keep the status quo either because it benefits them or they have a vested interest."
Far more than semantics is involved.
Eager to succeed where Clinton failed, Obama nailed down agreements with deep-pocketed drug makers and others. The effect was not only to secure allies who could pay for grass-roots and advertising campaigns but also to drive a wedge between Republicans and organizations that have supported them in the past. Despite the obvious turbulence surrounding Obama's proposals, there is evidence the strategy is working. GOP discomfort was obvious when Rep. John Boehner, the House Republican leader, accused the drug industry of trying to protect its own profits by "cutting a deal with the bully" on health care. It marked a turnabout from the days when congressional Republicans received two-thirds of the political contributions handed out by the pharmaceutical industry. Ken Johnson, a senior vice president at PhRMA, sought the high ground in response. "We have been working diligently for more than a year to advance bipartisan health care reform. We're proud of those efforts, and they are completely consistent with our core principles." The drug makers went first in making a deal with the White House, agreeing to pick up $80 billion in additional costs over the next decade to help defray the expenses of the legislation.
The American Hospital Association agreed to shoulder an additional $155 billion.
In exchange, both won assurances the White House would protect them against attempts in Congress to seek additional cuts in their projected Medicare and Medicaid payments. The American Medical Association's key issue was different. Doctors hope the legislation will allow them to avoid a looming 21 percent cut in payments under Medicare. The cost to the government for that would be about $230 billion over a decade. Obama also agreed to require individuals to purchase insurance, reversing a position he held during his campaign. "My thinking on the issue of mandates has evolved. And I think that that is typical of most people who study this problem deeper," he said. It was a bow to the special interests — some now with Obama, others not — that suddenly opened up the possibility of millions of new customers with insurance to help pay for their health care.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
The PUBLIC OPTION
Greater than the New Deal
In the face of a government that relies on a laissez faire economy; the opportunity for a tax based, government run health insurance plan is the best approach to maintaining the pecuniary economy that health insurance providers thrive on. The Public Option would add a competitive nature to a health care system that is driven by profit and cares very little for the overall well being of those who finance its very existence. The current system allows for the provider to set the standards regardless of the current market trends. Those very same market trends are less forgiving to the consumer who have absolutely no say in the health care process. The multinational corporations that run the health care system are in the business of pecuniary outcomes. Co-ops and Check-offs are a small example of how big industries may streamline their competition in order to dictate the market trends that they survive on.
The Public Option serves both the provider and the consumer. The Public Option falls far short of the government privatization of the health care industry. The health care providers are able to continue to swim in the cesspool of the pecuniary world. The blessing for the poor consumer who can not compete with the profit margins and stock options, is the creation of competition in the pecuniary market. The Public Option, in theory, is similar to what the large corporations enact when they deem it necessary to take control of their respective markets, despite their earnest call for a laissez faire economy. Large companies will pool a percentage of yearly profits, in order to create a common board or trust. This board or trust creates a hegemony within the respective industry which allows for a despotic rule in the guidance of said industry. The Public Option would be a check off for every tax payer. The payoff will entail a health care system that is centered around the ideas of adequate public health for everyone, not just those who can afford it.
Greater than the New Deal
In the face of a government that relies on a laissez faire economy; the opportunity for a tax based, government run health insurance plan is the best approach to maintaining the pecuniary economy that health insurance providers thrive on. The Public Option would add a competitive nature to a health care system that is driven by profit and cares very little for the overall well being of those who finance its very existence. The current system allows for the provider to set the standards regardless of the current market trends. Those very same market trends are less forgiving to the consumer who have absolutely no say in the health care process. The multinational corporations that run the health care system are in the business of pecuniary outcomes. Co-ops and Check-offs are a small example of how big industries may streamline their competition in order to dictate the market trends that they survive on.
The Public Option serves both the provider and the consumer. The Public Option falls far short of the government privatization of the health care industry. The health care providers are able to continue to swim in the cesspool of the pecuniary world. The blessing for the poor consumer who can not compete with the profit margins and stock options, is the creation of competition in the pecuniary market. The Public Option, in theory, is similar to what the large corporations enact when they deem it necessary to take control of their respective markets, despite their earnest call for a laissez faire economy. Large companies will pool a percentage of yearly profits, in order to create a common board or trust. This board or trust creates a hegemony within the respective industry which allows for a despotic rule in the guidance of said industry. The Public Option would be a check off for every tax payer. The payoff will entail a health care system that is centered around the ideas of adequate public health for everyone, not just those who can afford it.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Arhat (Sanskrit) or arahant (Pali), in the sramanic traditions of ancient India (most notably those of Jainism and Buddhism), signified a spiritual practitioner who had – to use an expression common in the tipitaka – "laid down the burden", realising the goal of nirvana, the culmination of the spiritual life (brahmacarya).
Monday, August 10, 2009
- redorbit.com -
A four-day meeting of leading health experts on Monday will seek to repeal many outdated laws criminalizing prostitution and homosexuality as an effort to secure medical treatment for people who are at risk or suffering from HIV/AIDS, Reuters reported. Prasada Rao, director of the UNAIDS Asia Pacific regional support team, said on the margins of an HIV/AIDS conference that the main challenge is overcoming the whole issue of stigma and discrimination and repealing many countries outdated laws and legislation on such issues. While progress has been made in research and getting people treated for AIDS, huge challenges lie ahead and much more needs to be done, according to Rao and a panel of other experts. Rao told the conference that the AIDS movement’s progress is not meaningful if they don't address the stigma and discrimination in their region. “Young children, whether infected themselves or have family members who are infected, are still being evicted from schools. This must change. Without this, progress is not possible," he said.
The world saw an increase of fear and strong waves of prejudice against high-risk groups such as gay and bisexual men and prostitutes after HIV/AIDS was first identified in the early 1980s. Experts say little appears to have changed after more than 20 years. Experts around the world who are dedicated to helping these people agree that criminalization of behavior involving illicit drug use, sex work and sex between men is seriously hampering effective prevention and support programs. Loretta Wong, who heads the Hong Kong-based help group AIDS Concern, said gay men are among the groups that need the most outreach support. “But if their behavior is criminalized, they are not going to come to you and say hey I need help. This is a classic case of a clash between public health and public security," she said.
Wong cautioned that if they don't get access to services and treatment, their health can’t be monitored and they wont get tested. “They will instead be driven underground and there will be the risk of infections increasing,” she added. Experts said the conference also heard strong calls for more access to treatment, as women and children were particularly left out of the loop. David Cooper, professor of medicine and director at the National Center in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research in Sydney, said efforts are supposed to be achieving universal access by 2010, but added they are not likely to reach treatment goals at the current rate.
While some 3 million people by the end of 2007 were receiving drugs to control HIV (nearly 950,000 more compared with the end of 2006) only 31 percent of people who were in need of drugs were getting them. Children and pregnant women in low and middle-income countries need better and adequate drugs, Cooper said. He added that there is incontrovertible new evidence that treating women with antiretroviral therapy in pregnancy and during their breastfeeding period will almost eliminate HIV infection in their infants. "But we are not getting access to these women and we are not treating them with proper antiretroviral therapy. We are just giving them single-dose drugs," Cooper said.
Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports
A four-day meeting of leading health experts on Monday will seek to repeal many outdated laws criminalizing prostitution and homosexuality as an effort to secure medical treatment for people who are at risk or suffering from HIV/AIDS, Reuters reported. Prasada Rao, director of the UNAIDS Asia Pacific regional support team, said on the margins of an HIV/AIDS conference that the main challenge is overcoming the whole issue of stigma and discrimination and repealing many countries outdated laws and legislation on such issues. While progress has been made in research and getting people treated for AIDS, huge challenges lie ahead and much more needs to be done, according to Rao and a panel of other experts. Rao told the conference that the AIDS movement’s progress is not meaningful if they don't address the stigma and discrimination in their region. “Young children, whether infected themselves or have family members who are infected, are still being evicted from schools. This must change. Without this, progress is not possible," he said.
The world saw an increase of fear and strong waves of prejudice against high-risk groups such as gay and bisexual men and prostitutes after HIV/AIDS was first identified in the early 1980s. Experts say little appears to have changed after more than 20 years. Experts around the world who are dedicated to helping these people agree that criminalization of behavior involving illicit drug use, sex work and sex between men is seriously hampering effective prevention and support programs. Loretta Wong, who heads the Hong Kong-based help group AIDS Concern, said gay men are among the groups that need the most outreach support. “But if their behavior is criminalized, they are not going to come to you and say hey I need help. This is a classic case of a clash between public health and public security," she said.
Wong cautioned that if they don't get access to services and treatment, their health can’t be monitored and they wont get tested. “They will instead be driven underground and there will be the risk of infections increasing,” she added. Experts said the conference also heard strong calls for more access to treatment, as women and children were particularly left out of the loop. David Cooper, professor of medicine and director at the National Center in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research in Sydney, said efforts are supposed to be achieving universal access by 2010, but added they are not likely to reach treatment goals at the current rate.
While some 3 million people by the end of 2007 were receiving drugs to control HIV (nearly 950,000 more compared with the end of 2006) only 31 percent of people who were in need of drugs were getting them. Children and pregnant women in low and middle-income countries need better and adequate drugs, Cooper said. He added that there is incontrovertible new evidence that treating women with antiretroviral therapy in pregnancy and during their breastfeeding period will almost eliminate HIV infection in their infants. "But we are not getting access to these women and we are not treating them with proper antiretroviral therapy. We are just giving them single-dose drugs," Cooper said.
Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports
Hundreds Of New Species Found In Himalayas
Posted on: Monday, 10 August 2009, 09:35 CDT
-redorbit.com-
Posted on: Monday, 10 August 2009, 09:35 CDT
-redorbit.com-
More than 350 new species including the world’s smallest deer, a flying frog, a 100 million-year old gecko, and the first new monkey to have been discovered in over a century have been found in the last ten years located in the Eastern Himalayas. Now, climate change threatens this biologically rich habitat. An environmental group says the growing pressures from unsustainable development in the area is confronting the vital habitats of the mountain range spanning across Nepal, China, India, Bhutan and Myanmar with immense pressures.
A new report claims that climate change, deforestation, overgrazing by domestic livestock and illegal poaching and wildlife trading were the greatest threats to one of the most biologically rich areas on Earth. The WWF is requesting that the governments of Bhutan, India and Nepal make a commitment to work with conservation efforts in the geographic region that goes beyond the borders of the three countries in order to protect and preserve the landscape and the livelihoods of those living in the Eastern Himalayas. "In the last half-century, this area of South Asia has faced a wave of pressures as a result of population growth and the increasing demand for commodities," said the report, "The Eastern Himalayas -- Where Worlds Collide." "Only 25 percent of the original habitats in the region remain intact. For the unique species of the Eastern Himalayas, this means that today 163 are considered globally threatened," it said.
According to the WWF, 353 new species were discovered in the region in the past decade, such as a red-footed tree frog known as a "flying frog”, which got its name because of its large webbed feet that allow it to glide rather than fall. Another new species was a kind of caecilian, an amphibian without limbs that looks like a big underground earthworm. This is an important find because caecilians are one of the least-studied creatures in the world. Also living there is the world's smallest deer. It is a miniature muntjac only 25-30 inches tall and was found in northern Myanmar. And one of the more interesting finds is the first new monkey species to be discovered in over 100 years. The new species of macaque is one of the highest-dwelling monkeys in the world, living in India's Arunachal Pradesh state at between 5,000 and 11,500 feet above sea level, according to WWF. There were also 242 new plant varieties discovered, including an ultramarine blue flower that two Chinese botanists found when they went down into a Tibetan gorge twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in some places.
The incredibly rare flower was described by WWF as "dramatic in both color and form". The flower is perhaps the best symbol of the effects of climate change in the region as its color changes according to temperature and exposure. As the temperatures drop, its color becomes pure blue, but darkens to a purple when the temperature rises. The eastern Himalayas has 10,000 plant species, 300 mammal species and nearly 1,000 bird species, and is the only place on earth that the greater one-horned rhino exists. "This enormous cultural and biological diversity underscores the fragile nature of an environment which risks being lost forever unless the impacts of climate change are reversed," said Tariq Aziz, leader of the WWF's Living Himalayas initiative. The report's findings will be taken into consideration as world leaders get ready for the climate meeting in Copenhagen in December where they must make a new treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol that expires in 2012.
Serge and Beate Klarsfeld -wiki-
French activists known for engaging in Holocaust documentation and anti-Nazi activism. Serge Klarsfeld, a Jewish person, spent the war years in France. In 1943, his father was arrested by the SS in Nice during a roundup ordered by Alois Brunner, and deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where he died. Young Serge was cared for in a home for Jewish children operated by the OSE (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants) organization; his mother and sister also survived the war in Vichy France, helped by underground French Resistance after late 1943. Beate was born Beate Künzel, the daughter of a Christian, German-born, regular Wehrmacht soldier. The couple were married in 1963 and made their home in Paris. Their son, Arno Klarsfeld, born 1965, is a human-rights attorney and he has worked with French president Nicholas Sarkozy during his tenure as minister of the interior.
In 1966 Beate was fired from her job at the Deutsch-Französisches Jugendwerk (Franco-German Alliance for Youth), simply for denouncing the West German Chancellor, Kurt Georg Kiesinger, for his involvement in Nazi propaganda during the Third Reich. At that time, several leading West German politicians had Nazi backgrounds which, during the first two decades after the war, had been conveniently forgotten.
In August 1970, Beate was arrested in Warsaw by the Polish authorities and deported for having protested against what she perceived as Polish antisemitism (which was officially known rather as anti-Zionism in the Soviet bloc). This was considered as a direct insult to the Polish socialist state and to Polish nationhood; she was accused of being a German spy trying to cause uproar in the People's Republic of Poland.
In 1971, Serge and Beate tried to abduct Kurt Lischka, a former Gestapo chief, and hand him over to the French authorities (his prosecution in Germany being prevented by legal technicalities resulting from a prior conviction). The Klarsfelds were convicted of felony charges and sentenced to two months in prison in 1974. Due to international protests, the sentence was suspended. This incident, and later activities by the Klarsfelds and by descendants of Lischka's victims, eventually resulted in a revision of the legal situation and, in 1980, in Lischka's felony conviction and sentence.
The Klarsfelds campaigned against former United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim, elected President of Austria in 1986 amid allegations that he covered up his war time activities as an officer in the Wehrmacht.Beate Klarsfeld was arrested and deported from Syria in 1991 after she traveled to Damascus to publicize Syria's (alleged) harboring of Alois Brunner, who, as commander of the Drancy internment camp outside Paris from June 1943 to August 1944, was responsible for sending some 140,000 European Jews to the gas chambers. Brunner was condemned in absentia in France in 2001 to a life sentence for crimes against humanity.
In 1996, they joined the outcry against Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić for alleged war crimes and genocide in the former Yugoslavia.
French activists known for engaging in Holocaust documentation and anti-Nazi activism. Serge Klarsfeld, a Jewish person, spent the war years in France. In 1943, his father was arrested by the SS in Nice during a roundup ordered by Alois Brunner, and deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where he died. Young Serge was cared for in a home for Jewish children operated by the OSE (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants) organization; his mother and sister also survived the war in Vichy France, helped by underground French Resistance after late 1943. Beate was born Beate Künzel, the daughter of a Christian, German-born, regular Wehrmacht soldier. The couple were married in 1963 and made their home in Paris. Their son, Arno Klarsfeld, born 1965, is a human-rights attorney and he has worked with French president Nicholas Sarkozy during his tenure as minister of the interior.
In 1966 Beate was fired from her job at the Deutsch-Französisches Jugendwerk (Franco-German Alliance for Youth), simply for denouncing the West German Chancellor, Kurt Georg Kiesinger, for his involvement in Nazi propaganda during the Third Reich. At that time, several leading West German politicians had Nazi backgrounds which, during the first two decades after the war, had been conveniently forgotten.
In August 1970, Beate was arrested in Warsaw by the Polish authorities and deported for having protested against what she perceived as Polish antisemitism (which was officially known rather as anti-Zionism in the Soviet bloc). This was considered as a direct insult to the Polish socialist state and to Polish nationhood; she was accused of being a German spy trying to cause uproar in the People's Republic of Poland.
In 1971, Serge and Beate tried to abduct Kurt Lischka, a former Gestapo chief, and hand him over to the French authorities (his prosecution in Germany being prevented by legal technicalities resulting from a prior conviction). The Klarsfelds were convicted of felony charges and sentenced to two months in prison in 1974. Due to international protests, the sentence was suspended. This incident, and later activities by the Klarsfelds and by descendants of Lischka's victims, eventually resulted in a revision of the legal situation and, in 1980, in Lischka's felony conviction and sentence.
The Klarsfelds campaigned against former United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim, elected President of Austria in 1986 amid allegations that he covered up his war time activities as an officer in the Wehrmacht.Beate Klarsfeld was arrested and deported from Syria in 1991 after she traveled to Damascus to publicize Syria's (alleged) harboring of Alois Brunner, who, as commander of the Drancy internment camp outside Paris from June 1943 to August 1944, was responsible for sending some 140,000 European Jews to the gas chambers. Brunner was condemned in absentia in France in 2001 to a life sentence for crimes against humanity.
In 1996, they joined the outcry against Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić for alleged war crimes and genocide in the former Yugoslavia.
Operation Condor (Spanish: Operación Cóndor) -wiki-, was a campaign of political repressions involving assassination and intelligence operations officially implemented in 1975 by the governments of the Southern Cone of South America. The program aimed to eradicate socialist/communist influence and ideas and to control active or potential opposition movements against the governments. Due to its clandestine nature, the precise number of deaths directly attributable to Operation Condor will likely never be known, but it is reported to have caused over sixty thousand victims, possibly even more. Condor's key members were the governments in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil, with Ecuador and Peru joining later in more peripheral roles.
CIA documents show that the CIA had close contact with members of the Chilean secret police, DINA, and its chief Manuel Contreras.[citation needed] Some have alleged that the CIA's one-time payment to Contreras is proof that the U.S. approved of Operation Condor and military repression within Chile. The CIA's official documents state that at one time some members of the intelligence community recommended making Contreras into a paid contact because of his closeness to Pinochet; the plan was rejected based on Contreras' poor human rights record, but the single payment was made due to miscommunication.
A 1978 cable from the US ambassador to Paraguay, Robert White, to the Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, was published on March 6, 2001 by the New York Times. The document was released in November 2000 by the Clinton administration under the Chile Declassification Project. In the cable Ambassador White reported a conversation with General Alejandro Fretes Davalos, chief of staff of Paraguay's armed forces, who informed him that the South American intelligence chiefs involved in Condor "[kept] in touch with one another through a U.S. communications installation in the Panama Canal Zone which cover[ed] all of Latin America". According to Davalos, this installation was "employed to co-ordinate intelligence information among the southern cone countries". Robert White feared that the US connection to Condor might be publicly revealed at a time when the assassination in the U.S.A. of Chilean former minister Orlando Letelier and his American assistant Ronni Moffitt was being investigated. White cabled that "it would seem advisable to review this arrangement to insure that its continuation is in US interest."
CIA documents show that the CIA had close contact with members of the Chilean secret police, DINA, and its chief Manuel Contreras.[citation needed] Some have alleged that the CIA's one-time payment to Contreras is proof that the U.S. approved of Operation Condor and military repression within Chile. The CIA's official documents state that at one time some members of the intelligence community recommended making Contreras into a paid contact because of his closeness to Pinochet; the plan was rejected based on Contreras' poor human rights record, but the single payment was made due to miscommunication.
A 1978 cable from the US ambassador to Paraguay, Robert White, to the Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, was published on March 6, 2001 by the New York Times. The document was released in November 2000 by the Clinton administration under the Chile Declassification Project. In the cable Ambassador White reported a conversation with General Alejandro Fretes Davalos, chief of staff of Paraguay's armed forces, who informed him that the South American intelligence chiefs involved in Condor "[kept] in touch with one another through a U.S. communications installation in the Panama Canal Zone which cover[ed] all of Latin America". According to Davalos, this installation was "employed to co-ordinate intelligence information among the southern cone countries". Robert White feared that the US connection to Condor might be publicly revealed at a time when the assassination in the U.S.A. of Chilean former minister Orlando Letelier and his American assistant Ronni Moffitt was being investigated. White cabled that "it would seem advisable to review this arrangement to insure that its continuation is in US interest."
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Acteal Massacre
Massacre of 45 people attending a prayer meeting of Roman Catholic indigenous townspeople, including a number of children and pregnant women, who were members of the pacifist group Las Abejas ("The Bees"), in the small village of Acteal in the municipality of Chenalhó, in the Mexican state of Chiapas. It was carried out on December 22, 1997 by unknown paramilitary forces.
The Las Abejas activists professed support for the goals of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, including their rejection of applying violent means. Many suspect this affiliation as the reason for the attack, and government involvement or complicity. Soldiers at a nearby military outpost didn't intervene during the attack, which lasted for hours, and the following morning, soldiers were found washing the church walls to hide the blood stains.
Names of Those Killed at Acteal Massacre
Lucia Mendez Capote 13
Vicente Mendez Capote 5
Manuel Santiz Culebra 57
Loida Ruiz Gomez 21
Victorio Vazquez Gomez 22
Graciela Gomez Hernandez 3
Guadalupe Gomez Hernandez 2
Roselia Gomez Hernandez 5
Miguel Perez Jimenez 40
Antonia Vazquez Luna 27
Rosa Vazquez Luna 14
Veronica Vazquez Luna 20
Margarita Vazquez Luna 3
Juana Vazquez Luna 8 months
Ignacio Pukuj Luna unknown
Micaela Pukuj Luna 67
Alejandro Perez Luna 16
Juana Perez Luna 9
Silvia Perez Luna 6
Maria Luna Mendez 44
Nanuela Paciencia Moreno 35
Maria Perez Oyalte 42
Margarita Mendez Paciencia 23
Daniel Gomez Perez 24
Susana Jimenez Perez 17
Josefa Vazquez Perez 27
Maria Capote Perez 16
Martha Capote Perez 12
Micaela Vazquez Perez 9
Juana Gomez Perez 61
Juan Carlos Luna Perez 1
Antonia Vazquez Perez 30
Lorenzo Gomez Perez 46
Sebastian Gomez Perez 9
Daniel Gomez Perez 24
Juana Perez Perez 33
Rosa Perez Perez 33
Marcela Luna Ruiz 35
Maria Gomez Ruiz 23
Catarina Luna Ruiz 31
Marcela Capote Ruiz 29
Marcela Capote Vazquez 15
Paulina Hernandez Vazquez 22
Juana Luna Vazquez 45
Alonso Vasquez Gomez 46
The difference between government terrorism and international terrorism is:
Asymmetric Warfare vs Guerrilla Warfare: the power of labels
Orlando Bosch is a Cuban exile terrorist and former Central Intelligence Agency-backed operative, head of CORU organization, which the FBI has described as "an anti-Castro terrorist umbrella organization." Former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh called Bosch an "unrepentant terrorist." He has been accused of taking part in Operation Condor and several other terrorist attacks, including the October 6, 1976 bombing of a Cuban civilian airliner in which all 73 people on board were killed, including many young members of a Cuban fencing team and 5 North Koreans. The bombing is alleged to have been plotted at a 1976 meeting in Washington, D.C. attended by Bosch, Luis Posada Carriles, and DINA agent Michael Townley. At the same meeting, the assassination of Chilean former minister Orlando Letelier is alleged to have been plotted.
Luis Clemente Faustino Posada Carriles (born February 15, 1928) A former CIA operative, Posada has been convicted in absentia of involvement in various terrorist attacks and plots in the Western hemisphere, including involvement in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed seventy-three people and has admitted to his involvement in other terrorist plots including a string of bombings in 1997 targeting fashionable Cuban hotels and nightspots. In addition, he was jailed under accusations related to an assassination attempt on Fidel Castro in Panama in 2000, although he was later pardoned by Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso in the final days of her term. In 2005, Posada was held by U.S. authorities in Texas on the charge of illegal presence on national territory before the charges were dismissed on May 8, 2007. His release on bail on April 19, 2007 had elicited angry reactions from the Cuban and Venezuelan governments. The U.S. Justice Department had urged the court to keep him in jail because he was "an admitted mastermind of terrorist plots and attacks", a flight risk and a danger to the community. On September 28, 2005 a U.S. immigration judge ruled that Posada cannot be deported, finding that he faces the threat of torture in Venezuela.
Félix Ismael RodrÃguez Mendigutia (born 1941 in Havana, Cuba) is a former Central Intelligence Agency officer famous for his involvement in the Bay of Pigs Invasion, in the interrogation and execution of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara, and his ties to George H. W. Bush during the Iran-Contra Affair. He is Cuban of Spanish Basque ancestry. In 2004 Rodriguez became President of the Brigade 2506 Veterans Association, a group for Bay of Pigs Invasion survivors. During the 2004 US Presidential election, Rodriguez was highly critical of Democratic candidate John Kerry, due in part to their previous meeting at a Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism and Narcotics hearing in 1987 where Rodriguez felt his testimony went unpublicized in order to help smear the Reagan administration. Rodriguez referred to Kerry as "a liar and self-promoter" and said he "should not be President". In 2005, Rodriguez oversaw the opening of the Bay of Pigs Museum and Library in Little Havana, Florida, and also became Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (born July 15, 1952) is a Republican United States Representative for Florida's 18th congressional district[1] having held that office since 1989. She is currently the most senior Republican woman in the U.S. House, and is the first Republican woman elected to the House of Representatives from Florida. Ros-Lehtinen is the Ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee for the 111th Congress. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has defended former fugitive Velentin Hernández, convicted of murdering Luciano Nieves, a fellow Cuban exile who supported negotiations with the Cuban government, In the 1980s Ros-Lehtinen lobbied for the release and pardon of Cuban exile Orlando Bosch, who had been convicted of terrorist acts and has also been accused of involvement in the 1976 bombing of Cubana Flight 455, which killed 73 people, helping organize an "Orlando Bosch day" to gain support for his release. Ros-Lehtinen played a prominent role in the failed attempt by relatives of Elian Gonzalez to gain custody of six year old from his Cuban father, describing Cuba as "that system of godless communism". She also attempted to block Jimmy Carter's visit to the island in 2002
“I welcome the opportunity of having anyone assassinate Fidel Castro and any leader who is oppressing the people.”
a quote from Ileana Ros-Lehtinen courtesy of the film 638 ways to Kill Fidel Castro
Asymmetric Warfare vs Guerrilla Warfare: the power of labels
Orlando Bosch is a Cuban exile terrorist and former Central Intelligence Agency-backed operative, head of CORU organization, which the FBI has described as "an anti-Castro terrorist umbrella organization." Former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh called Bosch an "unrepentant terrorist." He has been accused of taking part in Operation Condor and several other terrorist attacks, including the October 6, 1976 bombing of a Cuban civilian airliner in which all 73 people on board were killed, including many young members of a Cuban fencing team and 5 North Koreans. The bombing is alleged to have been plotted at a 1976 meeting in Washington, D.C. attended by Bosch, Luis Posada Carriles, and DINA agent Michael Townley. At the same meeting, the assassination of Chilean former minister Orlando Letelier is alleged to have been plotted.
Luis Clemente Faustino Posada Carriles (born February 15, 1928) A former CIA operative, Posada has been convicted in absentia of involvement in various terrorist attacks and plots in the Western hemisphere, including involvement in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed seventy-three people and has admitted to his involvement in other terrorist plots including a string of bombings in 1997 targeting fashionable Cuban hotels and nightspots. In addition, he was jailed under accusations related to an assassination attempt on Fidel Castro in Panama in 2000, although he was later pardoned by Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso in the final days of her term. In 2005, Posada was held by U.S. authorities in Texas on the charge of illegal presence on national territory before the charges were dismissed on May 8, 2007. His release on bail on April 19, 2007 had elicited angry reactions from the Cuban and Venezuelan governments. The U.S. Justice Department had urged the court to keep him in jail because he was "an admitted mastermind of terrorist plots and attacks", a flight risk and a danger to the community. On September 28, 2005 a U.S. immigration judge ruled that Posada cannot be deported, finding that he faces the threat of torture in Venezuela.
Félix Ismael RodrÃguez Mendigutia (born 1941 in Havana, Cuba) is a former Central Intelligence Agency officer famous for his involvement in the Bay of Pigs Invasion, in the interrogation and execution of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara, and his ties to George H. W. Bush during the Iran-Contra Affair. He is Cuban of Spanish Basque ancestry. In 2004 Rodriguez became President of the Brigade 2506 Veterans Association, a group for Bay of Pigs Invasion survivors. During the 2004 US Presidential election, Rodriguez was highly critical of Democratic candidate John Kerry, due in part to their previous meeting at a Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism and Narcotics hearing in 1987 where Rodriguez felt his testimony went unpublicized in order to help smear the Reagan administration. Rodriguez referred to Kerry as "a liar and self-promoter" and said he "should not be President". In 2005, Rodriguez oversaw the opening of the Bay of Pigs Museum and Library in Little Havana, Florida, and also became Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (born July 15, 1952) is a Republican United States Representative for Florida's 18th congressional district[1] having held that office since 1989. She is currently the most senior Republican woman in the U.S. House, and is the first Republican woman elected to the House of Representatives from Florida. Ros-Lehtinen is the Ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee for the 111th Congress. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has defended former fugitive Velentin Hernández, convicted of murdering Luciano Nieves, a fellow Cuban exile who supported negotiations with the Cuban government, In the 1980s Ros-Lehtinen lobbied for the release and pardon of Cuban exile Orlando Bosch, who had been convicted of terrorist acts and has also been accused of involvement in the 1976 bombing of Cubana Flight 455, which killed 73 people, helping organize an "Orlando Bosch day" to gain support for his release. Ros-Lehtinen played a prominent role in the failed attempt by relatives of Elian Gonzalez to gain custody of six year old from his Cuban father, describing Cuba as "that system of godless communism". She also attempted to block Jimmy Carter's visit to the island in 2002
“I welcome the opportunity of having anyone assassinate Fidel Castro and any leader who is oppressing the people.”
a quote from Ileana Ros-Lehtinen courtesy of the film 638 ways to Kill Fidel Castro
Five Ways To Save The World
Last Updated: Tuesday, 20 February 2007, 08:55 GMT
bbc.co.uk
Climate change is being felt the world over and if global warming continues to increase the effects could be catastrophic.
Could these men reduce the amount of sunshine hitting earth? Some scientists and engineers are proposing radical, large-scale ideas that could save us from disaster. The first three proposed ideas featured in the film, look at reducing the power of the sun - thereby cooling the planet.
Professor Roger Angel from Arizona - the designer of the world's largest telescope - is proposing to put a giant glass sunshade in space.
Professor Angel's sunshade will deflect a small percentage of the sun's rays back into space.
Dutch Professor Paul Crutzen won the Nobel Prize for chemistry when he discovered the causes of the hole in the ozone layer. His plan is to fire hundreds of rockets loaded with tons of sulphur into the stratosphere creating a vast, but very thin sunscreen of sulphur around the earth.
British atmospheric physicist Professor John Latham and engineer Stephen Salter, have designed a fleet of remote-controlled yachts. These will pump fine particles of sea water into the clouds, increasing the thickness of the clouds and reflecting the suns rays.
Carbon dioxide debate
The other two men in the programme want to tackle the problem of excess carbon dioxide - the cause of global warming. Ian Jones (L) and Klaus Lackner (R) are tackling carbon dioxide head-on
Sydney engineer Professor Ian Jones proposes to feed plankton with gallons of fertiliser. This will make the plankton grow and absorb carbon dioxide from the air.
And New York-based Professor Klaus Lackner has designed a carbon dioxide capturing machine and his plan is to locate more of them across the globe. They would suck in carbon dioxide, turn it into a powder and he would bury it deep under the ocean in disused oil or gas fields. Most of the scientists are reluctant advocates of these ideas, and all believe we should be cutting down on our use of fossil fuels to heat our homes and drive our cars. But is time running out for planet earth? Although these ideas might have unknown side effects, some scientists believe we may soon have no choice but to put these radical and controversial plans into action. Five Ways To Save The World was broadcast on 19 February 2007 at 2100 GMT on BBC Two.
Producer/director: Jonathan Barker
Directors: Cecilia Hue & Anna Abbott
Executive producer: Karen O'Connor
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Healthcare: A Blueprint for the U.S.
Posted: 27 Jun 2009 05:40 AM PDT
Latest from the Peace and Freedom Party website
The Peace and Freedom Party believes that access to quality medical and dental care is a basic human right. We stand for a democratically-controlled, publicly-funded health care system. We support health practices that emphasize education, prevention and nutrition. We demand:
-Free, high-quality health care for everyone.
-Eliminate for-profit health care.
-Free immunization programs.
-No private patents on drugs developed through publicly-funded research.
-Price controls on drugs and medical technology.
-Safe pre-natal care, including women's choice of birth alternatives.
-More medical facilities to provide services and education in low-income neighborhoods and rural areas.
-More substance abuse treatment and needle-exchange programs.
-More research into diseases and disorders caused by man-made substances.
-More community health care facilities.
-Support non-standard proven methods.
-Special attention to preventing epidemics of communicable diseases, such as AIDS.
Posted: 27 Jun 2009 05:40 AM PDT
Latest from the Peace and Freedom Party website
The Peace and Freedom Party believes that access to quality medical and dental care is a basic human right. We stand for a democratically-controlled, publicly-funded health care system. We support health practices that emphasize education, prevention and nutrition. We demand:
-Free, high-quality health care for everyone.
-Eliminate for-profit health care.
-Free immunization programs.
-No private patents on drugs developed through publicly-funded research.
-Price controls on drugs and medical technology.
-Safe pre-natal care, including women's choice of birth alternatives.
-More medical facilities to provide services and education in low-income neighborhoods and rural areas.
-More substance abuse treatment and needle-exchange programs.
-More research into diseases and disorders caused by man-made substances.
-More community health care facilities.
-Support non-standard proven methods.
-Special attention to preventing epidemics of communicable diseases, such as AIDS.
The Zapata Corporation
Trading under the abbreviation (ZAP) on the New York Stock exchange, the Zapata corporation was founded by former President George H.W. Bush. The company is based in Rochester, New York. Pres. H.W. Bush's company was originally founded as a Oil company based out of Texas in 1953. President H.W. and his fellow investors were known for by their industry applied term "wildcatter". The term refers to drilling oil wells in unconventional areas; it would also become applicable for certain banking practices. The alleged ties between the former President while he was vice-president and president of various subsidiaries of the Zapata Corporation and the CIA are well documented. The fact that the company drilled most of its oil from Central and South America further adds to the bitter irony of its namesake.
Trading under the abbreviation (ZAP) on the New York Stock exchange, the Zapata corporation was founded by former President George H.W. Bush. The company is based in Rochester, New York. Pres. H.W. Bush's company was originally founded as a Oil company based out of Texas in 1953. President H.W. and his fellow investors were known for by their industry applied term "wildcatter". The term refers to drilling oil wells in unconventional areas; it would also become applicable for certain banking practices. The alleged ties between the former President while he was vice-president and president of various subsidiaries of the Zapata Corporation and the CIA are well documented. The fact that the company drilled most of its oil from Central and South America further adds to the bitter irony of its namesake.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Wade in the Water
(Spiritual Song from the Underground Railroad)
Wade in the water
Wade in the water, children,
Wade in the water
God's a-going to trouble the water
See that host all dressed in white
God's a-going to trouble the water
The leader looks like the Israelite
God's a-going to trouble the water
See that band all dressed in red
God's a-going to trouble the water
Looks like the band that Moses led
God's a-going to trouble the water
Look over yonder, what do you see?
God's a-going to trouble the water
The Holy Ghost a-coming on me
God's a-going to trouble the water
If you don't believe I've been redeemed
God's a-going to trouble the water
Just follow me down to the Jordan's stream
God's a-going to trouble the water
(Spiritual Song from the Underground Railroad)
Wade in the water
Wade in the water, children,
Wade in the water
God's a-going to trouble the water
See that host all dressed in white
God's a-going to trouble the water
The leader looks like the Israelite
God's a-going to trouble the water
See that band all dressed in red
God's a-going to trouble the water
Looks like the band that Moses led
God's a-going to trouble the water
Look over yonder, what do you see?
God's a-going to trouble the water
The Holy Ghost a-coming on me
God's a-going to trouble the water
If you don't believe I've been redeemed
God's a-going to trouble the water
Just follow me down to the Jordan's stream
God's a-going to trouble the water
Go Down, Moses
When Israel was in Egypt's land,
Let my people go.
Oppressed so hard they could not stand,
Let my people go.
Go down, Moses,
'Way down in Egypt land.
Tell old Pharaoh:
Let my people go.
“Thus spoke the Lord”, bold Moses said,
Let my people go.
“If not I'll strike your firstborn dead,”
Let my people go.
“No more shall they in bondage toil”,
Let my people go.
“Let them come out with Egypt's spoil”,
Let my people go.
Let my people go.
Oppressed so hard they could not stand,
Let my people go.
Go down, Moses,
'Way down in Egypt land.
Tell old Pharaoh:
Let my people go.
“Thus spoke the Lord”, bold Moses said,
Let my people go.
“If not I'll strike your firstborn dead,”
Let my people go.
“No more shall they in bondage toil”,
Let my people go.
“Let them come out with Egypt's spoil”,
Let my people go.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Nicaragua's Miskitos seek independence
By Stephen Gibbs
BBC News, Puerto Cabezas
14:21 GMT, Monday, 3 August 2009 15:21 UK
The Mosquito Coast: Still feels like an isolated outpost today
It takes an hour and a half in a light aircraft to reach the Mosquito Coast from the Nicaraguan capital, Managua. By road it is a journey of almost 20 hours. You cross 450km (280 miles) of remote terrain; forested mountains and then deserted swampland. It feels like travelling to another country. And that is precisely what many of the people who live here say it should be. For centuries, the Miskito people have made up the majority indigenous population on this bleak, flat coastline. Last April, a group of their elders formally declared independence. No more, they said, would they pay any heed to the government in Managua. No longer would they pay taxes. Instead their loyalty would be to the "Community Nation of Moskitia". A flag was designed, and a national anthem composed. "Every nation has the right to independence," says Oscar Hodgson, a lawyer for the independence movement. "And we are a nation." His surname, like many in the Miskito community, reveals something of the history of this isolated outpost.
British protectorate
Throughout most of the 18th and 19th Centuries, the Miskitos were allied to the British. The English navy provided them with weapons, and encouraged them to launch raids on neighbouring Spanish bases. Their land, which stretched from what is now Honduras in the north, almost to Costa Rica in the south, became an informal British protectorate.
Lawyer Oscar Hodgson says the Miskitos should be independent
But in 1894, by which time the protectors had other priorities, the territory was annexed by Nicaragua. The current leader of the Miskitos is an affable, avuncular man called Hector Williams. His Miskito title is Wihta Tara, or Great Judge. "The people asked me to lead them, and that is what I shall do," he says, as he stands in the warm evening sun overlooking the Caribbean sea. The relationship between the Miskito people and the government in Managua has never been easy. After the Sandinista revolution led by Daniel Ortega succeeded in 1979, many Miskitos were quick to join the US-backed counter-revolutionaries or "contras". Some found the Marxist route they saw President Ortega following as offensive to their religion and their culture.
Lobsters
But the latest catalyst for conflict is not primarily ideological, but economic. Specifically, it is the price of lobster. Boats in port show the downturn in the fishing industry. Miskitos have traditionally been employed as hired hands on government-licensed lobster fishing vessels along this coast. In the last few months, their wages have been cut. The foreign owners of the boats say that they are reacting to the fall in global markets. The Miskitos suspect a rip-off. "They pay us less and take a bigger cut," says Mario, a lobster diver. He is standing on the scrubbed wooden deck of the Puerto Cabezas port. Behind him are dozens of boats, all in harbour because business is so bad. "The lobsters should be ours anyway," he adds. His discontent, and that of hundreds of divers like him, has been seized upon by the Miskito leadership in their latest bid for independence.
Unemployment
The movement appears to have been given a sense of urgency by the fact that two oil drilling concessions have recently been granted off the coastline. "They take everything from us, and give nothing back," says Oscar Hodgson. The region is the poorest part of one of Latin America's poorest nations. But the mayor of Puerto Cabezas, Guillermo Espinozo, doubts that the independence movement is as popular as it claims. "It's all connected with the lack of employment," he says. "If I called these people...and offered them jobs, they would come here and work. They would soon stop talking about independence."
Puerto Cabezas is the poorest corner of Nicaragua. Unemployment stands at around 80%. In its municipal square, grown men sit aimlessly on the children's swings. On a concrete block across the road there is a fading poster calling for Daniel Ortega's election in 2006. It is covered with insulting graffiti. A few blocks away hundreds of Miskitos gather at the indigenous people's community centre. "Long live independence," they chant. And they sing their national anthem.
By Stephen Gibbs
BBC News, Puerto Cabezas
14:21 GMT, Monday, 3 August 2009 15:21 UK
The Mosquito Coast: Still feels like an isolated outpost today
It takes an hour and a half in a light aircraft to reach the Mosquito Coast from the Nicaraguan capital, Managua. By road it is a journey of almost 20 hours. You cross 450km (280 miles) of remote terrain; forested mountains and then deserted swampland. It feels like travelling to another country. And that is precisely what many of the people who live here say it should be. For centuries, the Miskito people have made up the majority indigenous population on this bleak, flat coastline. Last April, a group of their elders formally declared independence. No more, they said, would they pay any heed to the government in Managua. No longer would they pay taxes. Instead their loyalty would be to the "Community Nation of Moskitia". A flag was designed, and a national anthem composed. "Every nation has the right to independence," says Oscar Hodgson, a lawyer for the independence movement. "And we are a nation." His surname, like many in the Miskito community, reveals something of the history of this isolated outpost.
British protectorate
Throughout most of the 18th and 19th Centuries, the Miskitos were allied to the British. The English navy provided them with weapons, and encouraged them to launch raids on neighbouring Spanish bases. Their land, which stretched from what is now Honduras in the north, almost to Costa Rica in the south, became an informal British protectorate.
Lawyer Oscar Hodgson says the Miskitos should be independent
But in 1894, by which time the protectors had other priorities, the territory was annexed by Nicaragua. The current leader of the Miskitos is an affable, avuncular man called Hector Williams. His Miskito title is Wihta Tara, or Great Judge. "The people asked me to lead them, and that is what I shall do," he says, as he stands in the warm evening sun overlooking the Caribbean sea. The relationship between the Miskito people and the government in Managua has never been easy. After the Sandinista revolution led by Daniel Ortega succeeded in 1979, many Miskitos were quick to join the US-backed counter-revolutionaries or "contras". Some found the Marxist route they saw President Ortega following as offensive to their religion and their culture.
Lobsters
But the latest catalyst for conflict is not primarily ideological, but economic. Specifically, it is the price of lobster. Boats in port show the downturn in the fishing industry. Miskitos have traditionally been employed as hired hands on government-licensed lobster fishing vessels along this coast. In the last few months, their wages have been cut. The foreign owners of the boats say that they are reacting to the fall in global markets. The Miskitos suspect a rip-off. "They pay us less and take a bigger cut," says Mario, a lobster diver. He is standing on the scrubbed wooden deck of the Puerto Cabezas port. Behind him are dozens of boats, all in harbour because business is so bad. "The lobsters should be ours anyway," he adds. His discontent, and that of hundreds of divers like him, has been seized upon by the Miskito leadership in their latest bid for independence.
Unemployment
The movement appears to have been given a sense of urgency by the fact that two oil drilling concessions have recently been granted off the coastline. "They take everything from us, and give nothing back," says Oscar Hodgson. The region is the poorest part of one of Latin America's poorest nations. But the mayor of Puerto Cabezas, Guillermo Espinozo, doubts that the independence movement is as popular as it claims. "It's all connected with the lack of employment," he says. "If I called these people...and offered them jobs, they would come here and work. They would soon stop talking about independence."
Puerto Cabezas is the poorest corner of Nicaragua. Unemployment stands at around 80%. In its municipal square, grown men sit aimlessly on the children's swings. On a concrete block across the road there is a fading poster calling for Daniel Ortega's election in 2006. It is covered with insulting graffiti. A few blocks away hundreds of Miskitos gather at the indigenous people's community centre. "Long live independence," they chant. And they sing their national anthem.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Karl Menger, the Menger Sponge, and the Institute for Figuring
Intro Courtesy from the Institute For Figuring
"In the 1920’s a young Austrian named Karl Menger extended the work begun by his mathematical predecessor Siepinski. Menger attended a course of lectures by Professor Hans Hahn at the University of Vienna entitled What’s New Concerning the Concept of the Curve; under Hahn’s encouragement he embarked on an exploration of the concept of dimension that him to an expanded definition of this seemingly obvious term. Several years later Menger reported his discovery of a three-dimensional version of Sierpinski’s Carpet, which came to be known as the Menger Sponge. Where the Carpet is poised between a line and a plane, the Sponge hovers of the boundary of the plane and the solid - its fractional dimension is 2.73.
Though it manifestly occupies a volumetric space, the Menger sponge is essentially a linear object – it possesses a topological dimension of 1. Menger proved that it is indeed the universal curve - that is, any possible one-dimensional curve is mathematically identical to some part of its infinitely complex internal morphology. Though the classical Menger sponge is constructed in three-dimensions, it can be embodied in any number of higher dimensions; consequently any geometry of loop quantum gravity can be embedded in a Menger Sponge. Interestingly then, the structure of spacetime may be allied with this foam-like form."
The Menger Sponge is the 20th century adaptation to the 17th century idea of "Spissitude". Henry More described Spissitude as the fourth spacial dimension. In More's view length, breadth, height, and then spissitude would be the unit of measurement for any object.
Spissitude would find a sound scientific basis in the Minkowski Space theory. Hermann Minkowski, using Einstein's theory of special relativity, acknowledged a single dimension of time, which engulfs the the three known dimensions of space; the effect is a "four-dimensional manifold for representing spacetime. Charles H. Hinton coined the word "tesseract". The physical representation of the fourth dimension, the tesseract was linguistically created in addition to kata/ana. Greek in origin, kata means down from and ana means up toward, kata/ana are similar to the theory of vectors and matrices in their nature.
Intro Courtesy from the Institute For Figuring
"In the 1920’s a young Austrian named Karl Menger extended the work begun by his mathematical predecessor Siepinski. Menger attended a course of lectures by Professor Hans Hahn at the University of Vienna entitled What’s New Concerning the Concept of the Curve; under Hahn’s encouragement he embarked on an exploration of the concept of dimension that him to an expanded definition of this seemingly obvious term. Several years later Menger reported his discovery of a three-dimensional version of Sierpinski’s Carpet, which came to be known as the Menger Sponge. Where the Carpet is poised between a line and a plane, the Sponge hovers of the boundary of the plane and the solid - its fractional dimension is 2.73.
Though it manifestly occupies a volumetric space, the Menger sponge is essentially a linear object – it possesses a topological dimension of 1. Menger proved that it is indeed the universal curve - that is, any possible one-dimensional curve is mathematically identical to some part of its infinitely complex internal morphology. Though the classical Menger sponge is constructed in three-dimensions, it can be embodied in any number of higher dimensions; consequently any geometry of loop quantum gravity can be embedded in a Menger Sponge. Interestingly then, the structure of spacetime may be allied with this foam-like form."
The Menger Sponge is the 20th century adaptation to the 17th century idea of "Spissitude". Henry More described Spissitude as the fourth spacial dimension. In More's view length, breadth, height, and then spissitude would be the unit of measurement for any object.
Spissitude would find a sound scientific basis in the Minkowski Space theory. Hermann Minkowski, using Einstein's theory of special relativity, acknowledged a single dimension of time, which engulfs the the three known dimensions of space; the effect is a "four-dimensional manifold for representing spacetime. Charles H. Hinton coined the word "tesseract". The physical representation of the fourth dimension, the tesseract was linguistically created in addition to kata/ana. Greek in origin, kata means down from and ana means up toward, kata/ana are similar to the theory of vectors and matrices in their nature.
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