Columnist Guild News Bureau

The Loss of My Friend: by Mark Dankof

2007-05-06T21:13:00.000-04:00

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Original Investigative Journalism from the
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Hansel Dankof
Born (circa): February 14, 1992/place unknown
Death: April 26, 2007 in San Antonio, Texas

Hansel Dankof was a German Long-Haired Dachshund discovered abandoned in the summer of 1993 on Fredericksburg Road in San Antonio, in somewhat emaciated condition. His benefactor, a young man whose name is unknown, named him "Ansel," due to the former's love of Ansel Adams photography. "Ansel " was then turned over to a San Antonio-based paralegal named Lisa Jackson, who owned Dachshunds and was involved informally in the Dachshund rescue movement in south Texas.

Lisa Jackson turned "Ansel " over to Mark Dankof, a Lutheran pastor then residing in the Texas Hill Country between Kerrville and Medina on 18 acres of rented rural property off Texas Highway 16. The pastor adopted "Ansel" for several good reasons, including the fact that his fiance's English Springer Spaniel--Miniature Schnauzer mix, Zeta, needed a good companion in the convalescence that followed a Gran Mal seizure. There was another facet to the story: "Ansel " was the spitting image of the pastor's first Long Haired Dachshund, Dutchess, obtained in the summer of 1960 in Sacramento, California.

"Ansel " became forever known thereafter as "Hansel." The initial H was added to "Ansel" to Germanicize the name. Because of this fact, a nickname ensued that would also stick. The nickname was, "Mister H." It fit Hansel's quiet dignity and unique combination of princely demeanor and extroverted love for people and animals alike.

Hansel followed his family from Kerrville to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where the rural beauty of the Hill Country of Texas was replaced by the urban atmosphere of the Northeastern United States for 8 years. He managed to accompany them on trips to New York, New Haven, Baltimore, Delaware, and Washington, D. C. As was the case in Texas, he was beloved by all, and made dozens of friends over the years, human, canine, and feline alike.

Hansel's companion, Zeta, preceded his passage, on January 16th, 2006 in suburban Philadelphia. Hansel returned to his native Texas with his family, departing Philadelphia on March 20th, 2006, the first day of spring that year. He enjoyed the return drive of 1800 miles through the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, and the I-35 corridor between Dallas and San Antonio. God would grant him 1 more year of life before passing away at the Emergency Pet Center of San Antonio (410 and Broadway), on April 26, 2007, the apparent result of the metastasizing of a tumor which began to affect the left eye and the left nostril over time. In that last year of life, Hansel quietly joined his master every morning in the radio studio for the latter's 3 hour broadcast for the Republic Broadcasting Network.

He will be rejoined by family members on the Rainbow Bridge, along with Zeta, at a time of God's sovereign choosing. Thanks are in order for the loving care Hansel received from his doctors over many years. These fine people include Dr. William Hoegemeyer of Kerrville, Texas; Dr. Jane Kirchhoffer of the Rau Animal Clinic in Glenside, Pennsylvania; Dr. Michelle Bammel of the Austin Highway Animal Clinic in San Antonio, Texas; and Dr. Young and Staff at the Emergency Pet Clinic in San Antonio.

The photo of Hansel was taken in these last 6 months of his life in front of his home in Northeast San Antonio, by Mark Dankof.

The USS Liberty Case: The Israel Who Attacked Us Then is Destroying Us Now by Mark Dankof

2007-04-16T22:12:00.000-04:00

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Original Investigative Journalism from the
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Every once in a while, one runs across a story that stimulates tears, anger, and contemplative reflection at the same time.

I don't think I've ever encountered anything quite like the story of the USS Liberty and what happened to it on June 8th, 1967. Eric Margolis's tome on the subject in 2001, entitled, "The USS Liberty: America's Most Shameful Secret," and James Ennis's June 1993 piece entitled, "The Assault on the USS Liberty Still Covered Up After 26 Years" for the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, will provide the uninitiated with the synopsis of what happened.

In short, Israel deliberately attacked the USS Liberty, knowing full well who and what it was. 34 dead Americans and 171 wounded was the result.

Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara deliberately ordered the American naval fighters scrambled to help the Liberty, launched from the USS America and the USS Saratoga, to stand down. Captain Ward Boston, the legal counsel for the U. S. Navy Board of Inquiry that "investigated" the Liberty tragedy, now admits to Mark Glenn of the American Free Press that the former was ordered to cover up the voluminous data which proved the Israeli assault was not an "accident," as claimed by the Zionist State. Compounding the outrage, Jewish U. S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Jay Cristol, wrote a book with the assistance of the Israeli government and intelligence community, entitled "The Liberty Incident," the transparently fraudulent character of which is fully exposed by William Hughes in the latter's online article, "USS Liberty Smearing Backfires."

Cristol is neither a professional historian, combat veteran, or intelligence analyst. His data and simian analysis in The Liberty Incident contradicts the sworn testimony of Liberty survivors, Dean Rusk, Admiral Moorer, and 3 different CIA reports from the period--one of which fingers Israeli General Moshe Dayan as the one who ordered the brutal assault on the American naval vessel--which even included the strafing of lifeboats and their occupants, a criminal act in complete violation of the Geneva Convention.

But what is new or startling about this? After all, Israel's ethnic cleansing of Palestine, chronicled by Ilan Pappe's definitive work on the subject, has involved acts of terror and murder on an ongoing basis that include the laundry list of such deeds emanating from luminaries like Menachim Begin, Yitzhak Shamir, and Ariel Sharon. The bombing of the King David Hotel in 1946, the assassination of Count Bernadotte, the pogram at Deir Yassin, and the Sabra and Shatila refugee camp slaughters in Lebanon in 1982, are but the tip of the iceberg. But in an America where Corporate Media, Capitol Hill, the Bush Administration, and the State-run Educational Establishment are Zionist-Occupied Territory, such bloody blights on history are not the work of terrorists, but "freedom-fighters." Just ask the Zionist mouthpieces for the ersatz American Right at Murdoch's Fox News.

But now comes America's War on Terror in Iraq--and maybe Iran. After running a tab currently at $500 billion, with 655,000 Iraqi dead and the United States death toll continuing to mount steadily each day, signs indicate that the American Natives Are Restless. The talk--chronicled by Sy Hersh in The New Yorker--that the Bush Administration is contemplating the utilization of tactical nuclear weapons against Iran, is giving pause to even the marginally sane. Present extension of Army tours in Iraq and cannibalization of National Guard units for the same, may be followed by a return to military conscription if a preemptive attack on Ahmadinejad's regime ignites a conflagration throughout the Islamic world, followed by Iranian asymmetrical military attacks against American assets at home and abroad. Is an apocalypse unveiling before the eyes of a public still mesmerized by the World Series, the Super Bowl, and Anna Nicole Smith?

The restless natives need to become the Angry American Natives, steamed by a government run by an evil foreign lobby, that has sent its children to die in a war dictated not by the Constitution of the United States or the legitimate national security agenda of the Nation--but by the denizens of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem who epitomize the radical evil of the clinically demonic ideology known as Zionism. When the Angry American Natives figure out that Israel has been pushing the buttons of this war, along with driving the American foreign and domestic policy agenda since 1948, they will be driven to act in the interest of national survival and the recovery of the Old Republic. The clock is ticking. Time is running out.

And what should be the rallying cry of patriots euphemistically known as Angry American Natives, in the prosecution of a real War that involves family, church, home, and hearth in a fight-to-the-death struggle against Globalist Internationalism, Zionism, and the New World Order?

Remember the Liberty!

Mark Dankof's New Year's Advice for 2007: Get Your Priorities in Order: Our CFR/Trilateralist/Likudnik Establishment Won't (or Can't)

2006-12-29T17:37:00.000-05:00

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Original Investigative Journalism from the
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As we get ready to enter the new year of 2007, one thing is abundantly clear: the national political leadership of the government of the United States--and its Israeli and Corporate Allies--have no idea as to how to extricate themselves from the mess that is Iraq. The economic cost of the war approaches $1 billion; the American death toll approaches 3,000 and counting; the British medical journal Lancet has credibly demonstrated that 655,000 Iraqis have lost their lives since March of 2003; there is no emerging credible plan to establish a political infrastructure that Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds can achieve consensus with; and the burgeoning totals of national debt to Asian bankers to finance the Project for a New American Century's plan to Secure the Realm virtually guarantee a catastrophic declension in the fortunes of the dollar, along with the fortunes of the American Empire across the board.

A second thing is also abundantly clear: the lunacy that has resulted in what CFR/Trilateralist and Kissinger protege Laurence Eagleburger freely acknowledged on the day of the release of the findings of the Iraq Study Group as an "unprecedented crisis of confidence in American leadership and political institutions" is about to escalate. My prediction: the United States and/or Israel will attack Iran within the next 12 months. The results will be even more catastrophic than the invasion of Iraq 46 months ago.

The American National Security State will discover Iran to be a more powerful opponent than imagined. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that cut its teeth in the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-88 will turn the American--British purgatory with Iraqi Shiites into a living hell. There will be unprecedented asymmetrical attacks on the worldwide assets of the United States and the UK in the aftermath of a preemptive military action against Tehran. American/Israeli aerial strikes on Iranian nuclear power stations throughout Iran will fall short of success due to the hardened character of the sites in question, even as massive numbers of Iranian civilian casualties will result. The attacks will strengthen, not weaken the support of Iranians for the IRI regime in Tehran, as a result of Western interventionism. And as Lt. General William Odom indicated the other day to the Nieman Journalism Foundation of Harvard University, the failed character of the ill-fated American/Israeli air attacks will most surely be followed by the draconian decision to commit massive numbers of ground troops to Iran.

This will be the straw that breaks the proverbial back of the Empire's camel. The inevitable reinstitution of military conscription in the United States will produce domestic political blowback comparable to that in the Islamic world from Somalia to Indonesia. And when American debt instruments are jettisoned on the international currency markets by Asian banks protesting the latest War for the Empire, the free fall of the dollar and the ensuing economic collapse will combine with the Draft to provide a spontaneous response of political combustion on the part of the American people against the internationalist, Likudnik cabal clearly responsible for the greatest debacle in the storied history of what was the American Republic.

Will the inflammatory situation destroy the country? Or will it restore its fortunes after massive tragedy and tumult? That is the $64,000 question. Only God literally knows.

In the meantime, my recommendation is to get your own priorities and house in order. Put love of God first in life, followed by family members and friends. Read good books. Avoid Corporate Media like the plague. Find good sources of alternative news and information like BATR News, the Republic Broadcasting Network, and American Free Press. And pray for the courage to resist the Empire to the point of martyrdom, in the spirit of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Adams. The clock is ticking. The absolute arrival at the ultimate crossroad is near.

Oh, yes, one other quick recommendation before New Year's Day. Enjoy my December 29th RBN interview with Mark Weber of the Institute of Historical Review. Click here for his web site.

Update on "Runaway Major" in Kyrgyzstan (U.S. Air Force)

2006-09-30T11:51:00.000-04:00

PREGNANCY IN THE AIR FORCE

http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=22379

Friday, September 29, 2006 - FreeMarketNews.com

The story of a U.S. Air Force officer, who apparently became pregnant while on duty in Kyrgyzstan, has now hit the public airwaves. According to a story in SiaNews.com [http://www.sianews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3002], Jill Metzger, a Major in the force, is indeed pregnant, and sought an abortion to deal with the problem.

Previously, Metzger had apparently attempted to cover her absence from duty, with a story about being kidnapped. The report was broadcast on a Kyrgyz television station, which noted that "U.S. militaries are not allowed to be pregnant during the service." It interviewed the physician who performed the procedure, and who verified the information, as did the cab driver who reportedly delivered Ms. Metzger to the clinic.

The article speculates over her motivation for seeking such a low-standard clinic, where almost nobody even spoke English, for the procedure, and concludes she was probably hoping to avoid discovery, either by her husband or her superiors in the service. Now, it notes, all is out in the open, with far worse results. - ST

Staff Reports - Free-Market News Network

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Original Investigative Journalism from the
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Mark Dankof's Open Letter to Reza Pahlavi: A Triune Strategy for Saving Iran

2006-09-03T09:49:00.000-04:00

H. I. M. Reza Pahlavi
Virginia
U. S. A.

Dear Sir:
At the risk of being presumptuous, since we are not acquainted with one another, I write you as a friend with well-intentioned advice regarding the present situation between the United States and Iran, and your own possible future role as a restored and repatriated Shah of Iran. This letter is prompted by your recent appearance on Fox News, which I watched from my home in Texas, but also by my own fond memories of your country when I spent time there in the 1970s. My father was a director of logistics for your father's Imperial Iranian Air Force. Both men were well acquainted with each other.

Let me speak openly and frankly with you. I have lost much sleep in recent months while considering the three (3) things that it is my conviction must be in the forefront of your mind at this present moment in history. I offer these ideas to you now in the proper spirit, in the hope that they will be received by you in the spirit of the King in possession of what the ancient Zoroastrians of your Persian Nation termed the Divine "Farr", or favor of God.

The first is simply this. I believe that you and your fellow Persian expatriates working for the recovery of your nation are in mortal danger---at the hands of the Neo-Conservatives who are attempting the co-optation of your movement for their own purposes, which involve the oil consortiums, the Western armaments industry, and the Israeli lobby. This idea does not originate with me. Ismail Hossein-zadeh's August 31st piece for the Asia Times entitled, "Behind the Plan to Bomb Iran," clearly identifies what Old Right American conservatives and Taft Republicans like me have been saying for months: that both American and Iranian foreign policy are being manipulated by the forces delineated in Mr. Hossein-zadeh's piece, to the present--and potentially catastrophic future detriment--of the innocent people on both sides. Evaluate your relationships with the people and organizations mentioned in the article with the discernment of King Cyrus. And beware. What is happening in Lebanon and Gaza today may well happen to your country tomorrow, at the hands of those who talk the correct talk about Persian human rights and autonomy today, but who may well be covertly planning the end of Iran as we have known it--if the minions of Big Oil and Zionism have their way. You and your subjects must avoid this trap and crossfire in any way possible. Your individual and collective lives depend upon it.

Point number two is simply this: I do not believe that a Persian human rights movement with an emphasis on restoring the Monarchy is credible, aside from concrete evidence that Iranians themselves under your direction are developing an expatriate military force with training, logistics, and proper funding for a future confrontation with the Islamic theocratic regime in Iran. Put another way, the perception that the Monarchy is simply waiting for the day when outside forces and powers restore its fortunes, must be replaced by the perception that those who wish the end of Islamic theocracy and fundamentalist government in Tehran are actively putting their own lives and fortunes in harm's way to achieve liberty for an entire people. Iran must be liberated by Iranians. It is their fight to win or lose. It cannot be won for the Iranian people by anyone else. The anti-Castro Cuban exiles would tell you exactly what I have. This is where it is.

And finally, I close with a third point. You must put together a team of advisors that has already proven their respective abilities to place the interests of Iran, and your best interest, ahead of their own. This team must be comprised of people whose sacrifice and suffering on the part of your country is beyond question. You will not find such individuals walking the corridors of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).

I believe that one such person is Shirin Neshat of Sarbazan, the daughter of the late General Ali Neshat, the last Commander of your father's Imperial Guard, who willingly lost his life in the service of Iran and the Peacock Throne 3 months after your Father and Mother left on January 16, 1979. She has absolutely no ties to the forces mentioned in the Asia Times expose. Her integrity is known to Iranians throughout the world as on a par with that of her late father and mother. And most importantly, as the carrier of the torch and the keeper of the flame regarding the memory of those who lost their lives for your family and Iran while in the service of the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces, she has the committed contacts with the ideas and the personal courage to assist you with the creation of the expatriate force discussed in my second point. Yet I hear from many of these same people that they have a profound sense of discouragement, compounded by a sense that they lack the leadership and resources to ever recover their Nation after a 28 year exile. They need encouragement, organization, and financial backing as never before. And most importantly, they need you, and now.

These are my thoughts in these dark days. Only God and time will tell the final story on the outcome of these matters in human history.

Sincerely,
Mark Dankof

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Original Investigative Journalism from the
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North Korea to Launch ICBM at 5:00am (World Cup time) by Todd Brendan Fahey

2006-06-18T09:57:00.000-04:00

(Seoul) - Reports via mainstream media, military and undisclosed sources signal an imminent launch of a Taepodong-2 intercontinental ballistic missile at approximately 5:00am Greenwich Mean Time--to coincide with the South Korea's World Cup match against France.

The range of North Korea's ICBM is unknown. According to GlobalSecurity.org, the 3-stage device is estimated to travel between 4,000 and 15,000 kilometers--the outer distances putting it within easy striking range of Alaska and Hawaii.

Military sources tell SiaNews that: "USS Lake Erie, the SM3 test ship, is supposedly somewhere near Hawaii (though I wouldn't be surprised to hear that it's been repositioned).

As of 15 Feb, USS Shiloh was supposed to take up station off Japan 'later this year,' and she was supposed to have been rearmed with SM3s. According to the Navy, she's supposed to be deployed there in August 2006 - which explains why Kim Jong Il decided to go now before the SM3 arrives to ruin his day.

We currently have USS Vandegrift (FFG 48) and USS Chancellorsville (CG 62) in the area, with the capability to datalink to our ground based interceptors at Vandenberg (CA) and Fort Greeley (AL). We have at least ten ground based interceptors deployed and ready to go. However, mass production is ramping up and we're going to have even more soon."

Another source, citing Japan Maritime Self Defense Force reports, writes: "U.S. Navy surveillance ship is also out of Sasebo, Japan. Aegis destroyers are deployed. Cobra Ball is up and running [http://meta.cdn.yahoo-streaming.jp/cgi-bin/yahoo/news.asx?cid=20060617-00000014-nnn-soci-movie-000&media=wm300k]."

South Korea's Yonhap News Agency is reporting that the United States is considering shooting down the Taepodong-2 ICBM upon launch.

In 1998, North Korea fired a Taepodong-1 ballistic missile over northern Japan, its legitimacy based on a claim of a satellite launch. Japan reportedly dispatched, in response, two Aegis destroyers to encircle North Korea.

Defense analyst Harold C. Hutchison writes: "Japan and the United States are both fielding the SM-3 missile, which has already proven it can intercept incoming ballistic missiles. The SM-2, also in use by both the U.S. Navy and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, recently carried out a successful intercept of a ballistic missile in the terminal phase. Both Japan and the United States also use land-based Patriot PAC-3 missiles. The result is a multi-layered system that will be able to blunt any North Korean attack."

According to news reports, Japan¡¯s Foreign Minister Taro Aso and US Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer met on Saturday evening to discuss the potential ICBM launch.

South Korea media has been unsurprisingly quiet on the issue, with former President Kim Dae-jung about to meet for a second time with North Korean (DPRK) leader Kim Jong-Il, toward "unification talks."

The former South Korean President won a year-2000 Nobel Peace Prize for his summit efforts with the DPRK dictator--only to have it revealed that he had funneled US$400,000,000 into North Korea, via a Macao, China-based bank, to pave the way for his "peace efforts." Kim Dae-jung went into a long period of silence, following his exit from the Presidency, and ducked investigations into the money-laundering scheme--which he quietly admitted--by claiming ill-health.

South Korea's current leftist administration has, to date, not pressed ex-President Kim on the scheme, and no charges have ever been filed. [Note: SiaNews, in a five-part series, broke the story of Kim Dae-jung's treason in 2004: http://www.sianews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1609]

The Macao-based bank which processed money from South Korea's Hyundai Corp., on orders of Kim Dae-jung, is one of the North Korean institutions currently under U.S. and international sanctions for its efforts to assist the DPRK.

With the U.S. economy linked inextricably to China, via dollar reserves held, and with China the de-facto controller of North Korea, DPRK "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-Il figures probably that he holds a free pass on any ICBM launch--and which will almost certainly be claimed as a harmless satellite dispatch. With enough short-range artillery aimed at Seoul to level the capitol of South Korea within 90 minutes, he knows that the U.S. will continue to tread lightly via the 6-party negotiation talks. Each day that passes brings strength to his bluff, breeds further misery to his nation's serfs and, unlike Iraq, verified weapons of mass destruction.

Even isolationist Old Right voices of America are worried about this World Cup blast.

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Original Investigative Journalism from the
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A Mormon Takeover for LibertyForum.org? by Todd Brendan Fahey

2006-06-06T05:42:00.000-04:00

LibertyForum.org "Administrator" "CubicleGuy" is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon). Having been involved in LibertyForum.org since its inception in early 2002, I have always wondered why LF founder "John Deere" entrusted "CubicleGuy" with the powers both to access the LibertyForum database and to ban members at will.

To be a Mormon and to be a Libertarian is an oxymoron, to put it mildly. The Mormon Church is vigorously opposed to many fundamental tenets of a libertarian "pursuit of happiness," as our nation's Declaration of Independence would have it.

On June 5th, 2006, a thread broke out concerning a passage in the Doctrine and Covenants (a set of supposed "revelation" from God to LDS founder Joseph Smith in the early-1800s). The passage concerns "plural marriage" (or, polygamy). Mormon Church founder Joseph Smith was a polygamist; but, years later, facing an announced onslaught of the state of Utah on the Mormon Church hierarchy by U.S. Marshalls and the United States Army, then-"Prophet" Brigham Young decreed that he had had a "revelation"--in which, he claimed, God had spoken to him and forbade polygamy.

As luck would have it, the rescinding of polygamy in the Utah territory led to the granting to Utah of official statehood within the United States. Talk about "divine revelation."

A-hem.

Another aspect of the Mormon Church that has always concerned me is, that in the early-1980s, an LDS member forged very exquisitely some old Egyptian papyrus (paper scrolls), in which Joseph Smith is supposed to have listened to a magic salamander telling him where to find the golden plates that are the very basis for the founding of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. According to the bogus scrolls, the salamander told Smith to dig at the base of a certain tree in a region of New York, year Rochester, and young Joseph would find a set of tablets that, discerned, would reveal God's plans for humanity and for the future of Christianity and the United States.

The scrolls turned out, of course, to be hokum, and the forger convicted to very hard time in the state of Utah on multiple charges...but not before the Quorum of the Twelve (the Mormon 'High Command') and its legal team would pay off said forger to the tune of $280,000. Apparently, many in the Mormon hierarchy knew Joseph Smith to have been a fraud (and, perhaps, a nutcase).

This is all matter of public record. Books, magazine articles, newpapers have revealed the story of the forgery (do a Google search for: "Salamander Letters"). But at LibertyForum.org, it is rendered verboten.

Nearly two-dozen posts on the subject were "Deleted by CubicleGuy" today, June 6, 2006. Which begs the question: In the absence of LF founder "John Deere" (who abandoned the site, sans explanation or communication on July 14, 2004), who is running this ship? And why is a Mormon allowed to be the "Administrator" with keys to LF's database?

[Deleted section of the thread begins here; to read the full thread, backtrack up to the top.]

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Original Investigative Journalism from the
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Veterans Records Stolen by Tim Bates

2006-05-25T07:31:00.000-04:00

Today we heard the story of millions of veterans records being stolen
from the home of a data analyst employee. The employee of the
Department of Veterans Affairs took the information home without authorization and against the Department policy. The employee that has not been identified has been placed on leave pending review of the incident. The Department of Veterans Affairs will be sending out a letter notifying all the affected vets. This includes all veterans discharged after 1975, some of their spouses and anyone that has submitted a claim after 1975.

This means almost all veterans have had their personal information
lost. The Washington Post states “The theft represents the biggest
unauthorized disclosure ever of Social Security data…” If the truth is known,
the information lost is probably much more. Fox News reported that
“The material represents personal data of all living veterans who served
and have been discharged since 1976, according to the department. The
information was included in the veterans’ discharge summary that goes
into a government database.” This almost sounds like the information on a
DD 214, for all the non-military that’s Department of Defense Form 214
or your discharge record. If it was the DD 214 files, that includes
much more than just name and Social Security number. The reason I
believe it may be much more than is being said is the “VA’s Notification
Letter to Veterans” states “The data contained identifying information
including names, social security numbers, and dates of birth for up to 26.5
million veterans and some spouses, as well as some disability ratings.”

My DD 214 states my FULL name, Social Security number, date of birth,
address of record, type of discharge, length of service and date of
discharge, job title, type of security clearance, medals, blood type,
training and more. With this much information you could become me.
Several cases of “misplaced information” have happened in the past. In
2004, ChoicePoint Inc. sent several thousand records to people in the
LA area posing as a debt collection agency. Many people had their
addresses changed to reroute mail like checks and credit card offers. In
the ChoicePoint case, the company offered credit reports and credit
monitoring for one year.

Fox News quoted Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., a veteran himself, as saying
he would introduce legislation requiring the VA to provide credit
reports to the vets. My question to Sen. Kerry is for how long do we get
free credit reports and if something goes wrong shouldn’t the VA
supervisors be responsible to correct the problem?

Could this be just a slight of hand to focus our attention elsewhere?
As I researched for this article I went to Veterans Against the Iraq
War, www.vaiw.org and much to my dismay, the House of Representatives is
voting on cutting the VA budget! The headline reads “Republicans Seek
To Slash VA budget!” In the second paragraph it states the House
Budget Committee is reducing President Bush’s proposed budget by about $844 million in health care and an additional $463 million in benefit programs including disability compensation, vocational rehabilitation, education survivor’s benefits and pension programs in next years budget. In addition, the Good Old Party is planning to cut $15 BILLION over the next 10 years from veterans programs. Can you say “Support The Troops”?

All the staunch Republican Conservatives who decried President Clinton
bombing a pharmaceutical factory to draw attention away from his sex
scandal are now hurting the veterans they sent into this illegal, immoral
war. Edward Heath, National Commander of the Disabled American
Veterans stated this could mean the loss of 19,000 nurses. This is equal to
6.6 million outpatient visits or more than three-quarters of a million
hospital bed days. All of this comes at a time when 209,000 Gulf War
veterans have submitted claims to the VA for disability.

Now back to Sen. Kerry and his legislation to require the VA to supply
credit reports to the affected veterans. If the credit reports are
only $5 each mailed to the vet each time, the first round of reports will
cost $132,500,000! Take that much more away from the slashed budget
and the vets will be lucky to get one aspirin at government rates!
This could be slight of hand or maybe have an even more ominous cause.
Many more recently discharged military personnel have told me of the
DNA database compiled to identify bodies. Could this be a plot to get
all the vets in a biometric database? So many of our Servicemen are so
disabled they can’t work to get any other healthcare. This captive
audience may even have to be even chipped to get what little this
government will allow them to have. The retired vets that want the pension they earned will have to submit to the Big Brother database just to get what
is theirs.

And now to the really scary part. This may be just a way to make all
the vets sign up for benefits again and do an evaluation on them. This
is the best way to force all servicemen to update their information.
This gives the government the chance to obtain even deeper profiles to
ensure identity theft can’t happen again. By the way, do you know that
a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C.
ruled that the government does NOT owe free lifetime medical care to World
War Two and Korean War veterans? This ruling saved the government
Billions in health care costs. When do you think the fair and unbiased
black-robed tyrants will rule the same way for all other vets? The court
majority said “Because [the law] at most authorizes space available
treatment and not free health insurance for life, we hold that the Air
Force Secretary lacked the authority in the 1950’s when plaintiffs joined
to promise free and full medical care.” Now just extend this to today
with the budget cuts and you may die before there is space available at
the VA center 500 miles from your home.

With the Depleted Uranium, experimental vaccines and all the diseases
and illnesses we expose our troops to, when will we demand that the ones
that declare war must fight the war? When will we stop big business
from getting rich from the lives of our young men and women? When will
we stop invading other countries just so the bankers can steal our
life’s blood? This must stop here and now! Tell your representatives to
turn around or pick up a gun and fight the war themselves!

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Original Investigative Journalism from the
Columnist Guild News Bureau

Article 78 filed in Canandaigua, NY against Town of Cohocton

2006-05-17T16:50:00.000-04:00

IMPORTANT NEWS !!!!

The Town Board of Cohocton did not follow correct and prescribed procedure when the Windmill Local Law No 1 was passed in January 2006. An “Article 78” action was submitted to the Seventh Judicial Court District on May 16, 2006 to challenge the passage of this law. James Hall filed the suit against the Town Board of Cohocton. David Miller, attorney from Naples, NY, represents Mr. Hall in this suit.

Cohocton Supervisor – Jack Zigenfus was duly served notice of this Supreme Court action at the regular town board meeting by Cohocton Wind Watch President Steve Trude.

Mr. Zigenfus asked Cohocton Town Attorney, Pat McAllister, if he had to accept the notice. When the town supervisor was asked if he had any comments for the citizens in attendance or the press covering this meeting, he declined to make a statement.

The Town of Cohocton will need to defend their actions in court. Upon a successful ruling, the Town of Cohocton would need to start the process over for any passage of a new Windmill Local Law.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Breaking News - Town of Cohocton Windmill Local Law

After an “Article 78” was filed against the Town of Cohocton Windmill Local Law and service upon the Cohocton Supervisor – Jack Zigenfus, the board acknowledged the serious nature of the action by passing a motion to re-write a new windmill local law.

Daniel A. Ruzow a Senior Partner of Whiteman Osterman & Hanna was introduced as representation for the Town of Cohocton in order to recommend correct procedures in writing a new addition to the zoning law. Mr. Ruzow’s Albany, NY firm has represented state agencies and authorities in the SEQRA process.

The Town Board of Cohocton’s action opens the door to a complete restart of the Cohocton Wind Power Project. The clear implication is that the current law has no legal standing and that any town board law would need to follow proper procedure for enactment of a new local law.

Citizens are urged to interact and involve themselves at every stage of this process.

It is imperative to voice your concerns and put them in writing to the Town and Planning Boards.

The question now is “WHERE is the entire wind project”? How can you have an EIS when you don’t know what the regulations governing the project are? Or are the Boards still ignoring the health, safety and financial well being of the citizenry?

James Hall

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Original Investigative Journalism from the
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Will US Dollars & Rands become Zimbabwe's Currency? by Jan Lamprecht

2006-05-13T18:37:00.000-04:00

Tonight on eTV news I heard them mention that Zimbabwe's inflation is now at 1042% (officially). Remember, previously, the unofficial (real) inflation rate was much higher than the official rate. So I assume, the reality could be even worse than the official rate. But even so... the official rate is incredible...

Another white guy from Zimbabwe was telling me at work yesterday that he has seen Zimbabwe currency which has an EXPIRY DATE printed on it! He said it must be the only currency in the world where some of the notes actually have expiry dates.

On eTV they mentioned tonight that the biggest currency is a Z$50,000 bearer cheque, which translates into about R3 (50 American cents!).

Zimbabwe's economy would have collapsed completely were it not that 1/4 to 1/3rd of the black population left the country and they now work in S.Africa. They work here, and buy food here and it is sent back to Zimbabwe. This lifeline from S.Africa keeps Zimbabwe alive - otherwise, the inflation could easily have been 100 times worse and millions would have died by now.

Another negative effect is that nowadays criminals from Zimbabwe are engaging in violent crime in S.Africa in order to get money.

Economists predict that by the end of this year Zimbabwe's inflation will be an unbelievable 1800%.

This is much worse than Brazil was I think. I think Brazil at one time had about 300% inflation. They also changed their currency to create stability. But with Zimbabwe ... the economic fundamentals are gone... so there is no hope of stopping this. God alone knows where this will end...

I thought I'd put 1000% inflation in perspective. Consider that you start off the year with $100 in your pocket. By year end, it will now only be worth $10. And by the end of the next year it would be worth $1. So in 2 years, your money would have lost 99% of its value!

I think they are going to run into a serious problem in that their money will be completely worthless within a year or two - so worthless that it will be pointless printing it.

The value of the raw paper is probably worth more than the denomination printed on it. Consider that a Z$500 bill is worth 1/2 an American cent. Within a few years, Z$500 will be worth less than the paper itself!

They could invent a new currency, and let's say they called it "The Mugabe" and 1Mugabe was worth say Z$1 billion. It could keep the Govt afloat for a few years. The problem though is that the Govt struggles to even pay for the ink to print new notes. So to reissue a totally new currency is a waste of time.

I think the next step for Zimbabwe will be to simply leave its currency to become completely worthless. It can then simply use S.African Rands and US Dollars. Zimbabweans already bring in Rands and US Dollars. So they can simply leave their currency to become so utterly worthless that entire truckloads of notes won't allow you to buy a loaf of bread. Then the currency will die a natural death by itself. Then, the people in Zimbabwe can merely quote all their prices in Rands and US Dollars. Hotels in Zimbabwe have been quoting their prices in US Dollars for years. And since about 1/3rd of the population is already residing in neighbouring states (mostly S.Africa), there will be a steady flow of S.African forex into Zimbabwe.

If the Zim Govt leaves the currency to die by itself, and they don't replace it with anything new, then it actually won't cost them a cent. It would be the simplest solution.

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Original Investigative Journalism from the
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Steuben Industrial Development Association (IDA) and UPC Wind Project by Robert C. Strasburg II

2006-05-11T08:28:00.000-04:00

After receiving the letter from UPC suggesting revenues in the “range” of $660,000 for the payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) program offered to the Town of Cohocton, Steuben County and Wayland Cohocton Central School in return for favorable legislation allowing the placement of commercial wind turbines in the Town of Cohocton, I went to the IDA myself to ask some questions.

Since I have not been able to get a strait answer from the Town Board or the Planning Board as to what the formula was for determining potential income to our Town from the installation of these wind turbines, i.e. (how much were they selling our viewscape for) I decided to ferret out the data myself.

I met with James P. Sherron the Executive Director and found his information to be quite enlightening. Following is a summary of what I learned today:

The IDA is not able to get involved in a PILOT program such as the one proposed by the European fostered wind company known as UPC unless a Town formally invites the IDA.

In order to introduce government subsidies into a project in Steuben County, the IDA must be directly involved.

The IDA attaches ownership to properties where these proposed wind mills will go by taking Title or lease of these properties and thus removes these properties from the tax roles. This allows the PILOT program to then commence.

The terms and amounts of revenue from the PILOT program that will govern the wind turbine project in Cohocton are negotiable. Negotiations of these terms are done by the Lead Agency; in this case it is the Cohocton Planning Board.

The PILOT revenue is based on the potential sale of electricity and is not a guaranteed revenue amount.

The $660,000 as the suggested amount by UPC that Cohocton Town, Steuben County and the school may receive from this PILOT program is determined by a formula based on an assumed constant output of 30% of the actual wind turbine rating. (I was not able to verify this number and it does not conform to other studies I am familiar with, other studies suggest a much lower output in the range of 10-20%)

Here are the separate factors that combine to produce the formula used by UPC in their projection:

A 2MW turbine has a supposed potential output of 2 Megawatts per hour

UPC assumes a actual output of 30%* capacity

A Megawatt is 1000 kilowatts

The IDA used .04 to represent what a kilowatt of wind generated electricity can be sold for on the electrical grid

Formula:

2MW wind turbine reduced to assumed actual production of 30% = 600 kilowatts per hour x .04 per kilowatt = $24 per hour x 24 hours in a day = $576 x 365 days per year = $210,240 per year per 2MW wind turbine gross revenue from the sale of electricity.

$210,240 per year per 2MW wind turbine x 58 proposed wind turbines in Phase 1 & Phase 2 of the Cohocton wind turbine project = $12,193,920 gross revenue for UPC per year.

Proposed $660,000 in total PILOT payments by UPC to Cohocton Town, Steuben County and the school ÷ $12,193,920 = 5% of gross revenue expensed by UPC in PILOT funds.

In summary, using the numbers provided to me by UPC and the IDA, 95% of the gross revenue generated from the sale of electricity from these 58 wind turbines included in the first two phases of the Cohocton wind project is in the control of a Privately held Corporation that has refused to disclose to me the identity of their investors. Has our Town sought to discern where this money is going? Does it stay in our Town? Our County? Our State? Our Country?

If the IDA did not remove these properties from the tax roles and UPC was obligated to pay the taxes that would then be levied on all 58 of these 2 Million dollar structures, these unknown investors would then flee our hills and Cohocton could then consider strategically placing 5 of these wind turbines throughout the Town in places chosen for their minimal impact and enjoy the $1,051,200 in revenue from the sale of electricity. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that we can service the debt, improve our Town, reduce our environmental and health impact and keep 100% of the revenue in our control with that kind of revenue. If they insist on having wind turbines, they should at least be smart about it.

I am all for alternative safe energy, but a study of the facts quickly reveals that this wind turbine industry is corrupt with corporate greed bilking tax subsidies, raping viewscapes, funneling American money out of local economies and worst of all, our Town Board has become victim to their seduction.

RE: Results of inquiry to Steuben Industrial Development Association (IDA) on 5/9/06 for confirmation of revenue formula presented by UPC Wind Management, LLC.

*30% IDA assumption may be high

Robert C. Strasburg II
60 Maple Ave.
Cohocton, New York 14826
Email rcs2nd@frontiernet.net
Phone 585-384-9318
Cell 585-703-1299
Fax 585-384-9318

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Original Investigative Journalism from the
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What to do about 'the elderly in Korea"?: A Foreigner's Viewpoint by Todd Brendan Fahey

2006-05-09T15:26:00.000-04:00

The problem of the dwindling birthrate in the Republic of Korea is, doubtless, a serious one. The assumptions and suggestions posed by the Chosun Ilbo in a May 9th editorial are equally problematic. True--a nation cannot survive if its population fails to reproduce; however, the cause of the low birthrate and the burden posed by an elderly population must be reexamined, should this nation escape the grip of Government playing the role of parent.

The primary error of your editorial is the omission of precisely why the "elderly population" will need to be "supported." I found this glaring.

Neither of my two grandfathers--both United States "Depression-era babies" (raised during the Great Depression of the 1930s)--went to college. Both worked blue-collar jobs to support direct and extended family. Both died near-millionaires, due to stringent savings, tireless hours at work, and the habit of taking stock options in their companies, as opposed to "raises" in salary. My father's father, who died at age 93 and did not retire from full-time (40-hour/week) labor until he was 75, put me through my Bachelor's degree and paid for a year of my Master's. His house--a modest two-bedroom, one-bath residence in a Latino section of Los Angeles (even though he was Irish)--was also paid for in cash; as was his vintage 1965 Chevrolet Impala, which he would repair as needed, so as to never need to buy a new one. It was a beautiful old car.

"Grandpa Fahey" was the son of an alcoholic father, and had to give up a full scholarship in electrical engineering to a good university in Pennsylvania, to work in steel mills for most of his 20s and early 30s. He was finally able to break free of both the Depression and the grind of the steel mill, and went to work as Head electrician for a new department store franchise which saw the value in his expertise and diligence. He was the only "blue-collar" member of the Board of Directors of the May Company--then one of America's leading department store chains.

"Grandpa Porter"--my mother's dad--worked by the sweat of his brow as an Arkansas dust-bowl (a drought that afflicted the American southern states for several years) survivor. He, too, picked oranges, slept in wooden barracks with fellow pickers, for pocket change and a meal. This uneducated man later went to work for the Standard Oil company, as a field laborer--a hard, sweaty job that wrinkled the back of his neck by the time he was 45. Never taking a sick day, a non-drinker, he pressed and made it to a (still-lowly) field foreman--and socked away a half-million dollars in Standard Oil (now Chevron Corp.) stock options, never making more than $18,000/yearly.

The Republic of Korea has been through incredible hardship, from 1910 to 1954--from the Japanese invasion and occupation period to the North/South split and civil war. I've lived here for five years, and know of and feel for your history.

The circumstances of my grandfathers' times weren't sunny, either. They exceeded their relatives' and friends' expectations, and succeeded beyond what most of my generation will accomplish financially and in terms of sheer respect. Sometimes a human must simply want something so badly, that he or she is willing to achieve whatever it is--and damn the naysayers.

The alternative is, to treat "the elderly" as an entire class of incapable semi-humans, and for Government to suck the tax dollars from the "younger generation" to pay for those of their advanced bloodline.

Perhaps "the elderly" need to be encouraged and offered jobs and situations that the "new generation"--sitting in air-conditioned PC cafes and playing "Starcraft" and "Force One"--are unwilling to take.

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Original Investigative Journalism from the
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Black Zim Woman writes to me about Blacks, Whites & Asians by Jan Lamprecht

2006-05-07T10:03:00.000-04:00

Now here is another brilliant email from a black woman in Zimbabwe.

I do very much appreciate it when black people are forthright and honest. It takes character, and I appreciate that. If there were more people with this kind of attitude, then I would indeed have hope for multiracial societies in Africa.

I can't disagree with this woman's comments and observations. She sets me straight on some issues, and I have no problem with that.

There is a lot of information in this, which is well worth reading. And there are some excellent observations, like for example, that Mugabe needed to break the black electorate (i.e. the Black Farm workers, who were living on White-owned farms, who were against Mugabe). This is very true. The influence of the White people on the black voters, was threatening to destroy Robert Mugabe. There is no question about this. That was the real motivating force behind the so-called "Land Reform" nonsense.

Let me explain this a little bit more. Nobody truly believes or trusts Black African leaders, and that includes the black people who live under them!! This may sound strange, but it is completely true, and you are going to see some strange things here in Africa which completely defy Liberal logic and Liberal predictions.

I have a little theory of my own that black Africans could team up with WHITE CONSERVATIVES (normally referred to as "racists" by the rest of the world), and that they could end up forming quite a formidable force in the decades to come. This kind of partnership is what created the British, French and German Empires in the past, and I think the same type of partnership could work again - except that this time, it does not need to be driven from London, because there are lots of Whites here who are "native" to Africa.

White people in Africa have a long tradition of being quite blunt and downright honest. Our method of dealing with black people is VERY DIFFERENT - indeed, quite the opposite - of the Liberal mindset in the West these days. People might be shocked by this, and may struggle to understand this. But we white people in Africa are quite honest, and this honesty is one of our biggest secrets. It has enabled us to survive on a continent where dishonesty is common. Indeed, our honesty is the reason why we ended up leading large numbers of black people - because in the end, with their divisions, historical hatreds, etc - they ended up TRUSTING us more than they trusted their own kind. This, along with our skills, and our leadership capabilities, is how we took over this entire continent in the first place. In Africa, everybody knew that you could TRUST a white man. And TRUST is the reason we came to be the law-makers, the arbitraters, etc.

A strange thing is happening. History is starting to repeat itself. The new breed of black leaders, most of whom are socialists, have been quick to lie at the drop of a hat, about just about everything. Now the black people have progressively been losing faith in their own leaders.

The biggest danger facing Black African leaders is that due to their own propensity for lying, that they will discredit themselves, not only on the world stage - before the entire planet's audience - but even in their own countries. Despite censorship and media manipulation, Black people here are seeing, more and more, that the "original lie" about White people being bad for them, is complete nonsense, and that the statements and opinions of the "Colonialists" have a value which lasts much longer than the political careers of their newly elected officials.

For me, these are signs of hope.

White people in Africa are different to White people who come here from Europe and America. The Whites from Europe and America are here to protect their economic interests, whereas the Whites from Africa actually care about the long-term future of Africa - which is the same thing the Blacks here will also be caring about. So in the end, Blacks and Whites from Africa itself, have a common interest. And as history has shown, Whites from Africa have often, in the past, told the world where to get off. We paid the price for doing that - but we did do it. And its something we need more of.

America only cares about access to cheap raw materials (bought from anyone including Dictators and communists), whereas those of us who live here actually care about the viability of our society, and the quality of life here.

Sadly, due to a screw-up on my part, the formatting of the original email is lost, and the paragraphs are not as they were when they were sent to me. But have a read of Patience's email below. This is as direct, honest and observant as it can possibly be.

The only thing I would like to see, is Robert Mugabe's filthy Zanu(PF) being SHOT OUT OF ZIMBABWE. I'd like to see those bastards running for their lives. My own personal view is that they should be executed for what they did to that country and its people. And their families and cronies should be stripped of the enormous wealth which they stole.

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Original Investigative Journalism from the
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ANCHORAGE'S PRO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT RALLY by William Topel

2006-05-02T06:07:00.000-04:00

(Anchorage, Alaska) The largest city in Alaska had its own pro-illegal immigrant rally on May 1, the traditional Socialist holiday. Advertised as a "Peace Rally", the demonstration was to start at 5 PM while the gusty winds kept the 50 degree Fahrenheit temperature cooler than the sunny day would have been otherwise. The protestors were small in numbers initially but grew to between 250-300 by the 7 PM closing, by this reporter's estimate.

On Anchorage's Park Strip underneath the U.S. Flag dedicated to military veterans, small white signs in English & Spanish were prevalent. "Si Se Puede" ("Yes We Can") was the most prominent, along with "Yes to the Dream Act", referring to proposed Senate bills authorizing amnesty & an expanded guest worker program to illegal immigrants, & "No to H.R. 4437", referring to the House bill that passed in April. An American Friends Service Committee (Quaker) poster was paraded by a scheduled speaker.

There were mostly American flags present but a larger Mexican flag could be spotted. The crowd was about 1/3 children & teenagers shouting "Si Se Puede" all during the rally.

Local TV channels KTUU 2 (NBC affiliate) & KTVA 11 (CBS affilate) were visible with their video cameras and a reporter for Anchorage's only daily newspaper was taking notes.

Before the speakers began, event organizer Daniel Esparza told a Democratic Party volunteer to take down his large Alaska Democratic Party banner he was erecting next to a Voter Registration table.

The speakers began at 6:05 PM with Master of Ceremonies (M.C.) Angelina Estrada-Burney of the Hispanic Affairs Council of Alaska (HACA) greeting the crowd & ultimately leading the Pledge of Allegiance & the National Anthem, all in English.

The next speakers were Norma Lucero, also of HACA, and Lee Stephan, CEO of the Eklutna Village Corp. The latter remarked, "Treat everybody with dignity & respect or go back where you came from," referring to all immigrants whocame to North America to live with indigenous native peoples.

The invocation was given by father Don Bramble of the Holy Family (Catholic) Cathedral. He was followed by Robin Bronen, an immigration attorney, who said they were seeking "fairness for undocumented youth & farm workers, too." She wants "no militarized borders" and "no city or state police to enforce immigration laws." She demanded Congress" heed our pleas for equitable inclusion into our society."

Mara Kimball, also an immigration lawyer & wife of Ethan Berkowitz, liberal Democratic state legislator, read prepared remarks by her husband who was absent campaigning for Governor.

Marvin Jones, President of the Hotel & Restaurant Union Local 878 spoke. Then Simon Hernandez sang a mariachi song is Spanish. Father Jose Sanchez-Salcedo, of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish (Catholic), followed with remarks only in Spanish.

Two unlisted "members of the community" also spoke. Ugo Flores said, "No son criminales" ("we are not criminals") & Maria Soto gave their remarks only in Spanish.

Before introducing the closing speaker, the M.C. said they counted 1,000 attendees, which garnered a loud applause. Daniel Esparza gave his closing remarks in Spanish.

When asked if he was pleased with the attendance of the rally, organizer Esparza answered, "Very happy. We expected 600 people. It's beautiful."

Two anti-illegal immigration protestors were visible with their signs. One of them was a member of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a volunteer border patrol group that monitors illegal border crossings. With Alaska's 600,000 population it's estimated there are between 5,000-6,000 illegal immigrants.

After the final speaker, the protestors marched around the sidewalk that borders the grassy Park Strip section, shouting,"Si Se Puede".

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Original Investigative Journalism from the
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U.S. makes plans for a hostile China by Jan Lamprecht

2006-04-24T17:10:00.000-04:00

Asia is awesomely powerful. China is not the only major power in the region. India is also very powerful, and Japan is almost a potential super-power in its own right. Many commentators seem to ignore the fact that Japan is sitting there with over 100 million people and the world"s second strongest economy. In World War II, Japan invaded China and socked it to them. I would not write Japan off so easily. If the Japanese build up their military, and remain friendly to the USA they could be an excellent ally in the region.

China is also very interested in Africa though and the Western world and China may yet clash in Africa in this century. Keep watching this space. Jan]

The Chinese military buildup has South Korea, Japan and the U.S. planning for a possible confrontation.

WASHINGTON - An important subtext of Chinese President Hu Jintao"s visit to the White House is the growing U.S.-China military competition.

As China"s defense spending surges, the Pentagon is pursuing a strategy of strengthening its forces in the Asia-Pacific region as a hedge against the possible emergence of a hostile China.
The Navy is putting a larger proportion of its submarine fleet in the Pacific, plans to add one aircraft carrier battle group in that region and is outfitting strategic missile submarines with nonnuclear cruise missiles.

The Air Force has been improving its ability to deploy B-2 stealth bombers from Guam, a U.S. territory in the Pacific; the Marines are shifting some troops to Guam; the Army has talked of moving the headquarters of its I Corps, which focuses on potential conflicts in the Pacific, from Fort Lewis to Japan.

The Pentagon has made no secret of its increasing focus on China as a potential threat to stability in Asia and the Pacific, where U.S. alliances with Japan and South Korea have been key underpinnings of the region"s economic growth. At the same time, the U.S. has been careful not to describe the Chinese as an adversary.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chief of naval operations, said this week that China"s military buildup is a serious concern.

Japan has scrambled fighter jets 107 times so far this year to intercept suspected Chinese spy planes, a top general said Thursday amid growing concern in Tokyo over China"s arms buildup. The 107 alerts in the first three months of 2006 - the most in at least a decade - were a dramatic increase from the previous year, when fighters scrambled only 13 times against Chinese planes, Gen. Hajime Massaki said. "We believe these planes to be engaging in information-gathering activity, and behind the trend is the rapid modernization of China"s military," he said. "They"ve got an economy which is booming," he said. "They"ve also invested heavily on the military side, so we"re watching both."

He said the United States hopes that China"s goal is to promote world peace and prosperity.
"On the other hand, if there are other motivations there, that certainly would be a concern," Mullen added.

The Washington Times reported Thursday that its three-month investigation of the U.S. military buildup in Asia showed that it is part of a covert strategy in which the U.S. military position in that region is being strengthened in ways designed to avoid provoking the Chinese and to dissuade them from becoming a hostile power.

Source: Associated Press

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Original Investigative Journalism from the
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wind power project generates resistance ~by staff

2006-04-22T12:13:00.000-04:00

Electricity generating wind turbine "farms" proposed in rural upstate New York are moving forward despite heavy public opposition. Residents of Prattsburg, New York and surrounding communities assert the projects were initiated and have proceeded in relative secrecy, and question environmental and economic impact statements made by developers of the projects.

Two separate but similar "wind farms" are being developed in the area by EcoGen and Global Winds Harvest, Inc. The lead agency promoting the turbines is the Steuben County Industrial Development Agency, with the help of a state chartered corporation, NYSERDA, created in 1975 to facilitate energy development in the state.

EcoGen has won approval for it's project in Prattsburg. Global Wind Harvest is filing a final environmental impact study soon for it's Prattsburg project, and is involved in a broader array of similar projects across in the region. Some of these others are more ambitious in overall scope than the company's plans in Prattsburg.

Opponents show NYSERDA, SCIDA and others promoting wind power are not bound by state environmental and other regulations pertaining to energy production. Wind power generation was nonexistent when such regulations were drawn, therefore wind farms are not required to be located in industrial zones as are all other means of energy production such as by coal or oil.

Opponents also assert environmental impact studies are flawed at best, but given the lack of regulation this fact may be legally moot.

Nonetheless, many negative environmental impacts have been glossed over by developers of wind farms wherever they are proposed.

EcoGen's approved turbines are approximately 370 feet tall in total, combining the 235 foot tower height and 135 foot blade length. Between EcoGen and Global Wind Harvest, over 100 such turbines are slated for Prattsburg and the surrounding area. Such densities of wind turbines have been shown to kill substantial numbers of migratory birds.

Global Wind Harvest plans to use taller units in it's plans elsewhere in the region.

The turbine blades also throw ice which builds up in winter, demonstrably as far as 1600 feet from the structure. Opponents say the property rights issue is "tricky," especially as there is no zoning in the project area. But they assert some property owners have been somehow convinced to sign waivers allowing the placement of turbines in close enough proximity to homes and roads that an ice related incident will be simply a matter of time.

The turbines are also noisier than developers claim, are subject to lightning strikes and fires, and beside being an eyesore cause a disconcerting "flicker effect" for those living in their shadows. Other concerns are that blades themselves are sometimes thrown off, and impacts to water tables from construction of the massive bases required to hold the turbines.

Details of finances surrounding the project have also not been forthcoming from local officials, when questioned on who the project's ultimate beneficiaries will be.

Opponents quickly found approaching local elected officials with their concerns to be fruitless. They have since organized the Advocates For Prattsburg (AFP) to focus their efforts.

The first order of business for AFP was to insure all property owners in the effected area were even aware of the project. AFP notes some 35% of landholders are "absentee;" not residing permanently within the area. It is unknown what percentage of absentees had been aware of the project before AFP contacted them.

Last year AFP petitioned for a moratorium on the project until legitimate studies of economic and environmental impacts could address their concerns. The petition was summarily ignored by local officials.

In March of this year, a broad coalition of opponents to wind power provided comment to the New York Assembly Committee on Energy. Mentioning the lack of regulation and questionable practices of NYSERDA, they added "Due to federal and state tax credits... accelerated depreciation and relief from property taxes through PILOTs, (payment in lieu of taxes) an irresistible enticement has been created, attracting wind developers to New York State."

SCIDA stands to gain over $300,000 from PILOTS related to the Prattsburg project.

The commentary continued "In their pitch to potential investors, developers routinely suggest that double-digit returns can be predicted over the 15-year period from a project's inception through the final expiration of its tax exemption. Wind farms are considered nothing but short-term investments by firms like Goldman Sachs and J. P. Morgan Chase," suggesting finance and construction are the prime motive behind such projects.

AFP says it can't be about power, citing existing, landlocked wind farms are typically "out of phase" with peak power demands, meaning they typically do not add power to the grid at times when it is especially needed. Promoters also use maximum potential power output in their calculations of bottom lines, but AFP has shown existing wind farms in similar locations operate only at 10% efficiency on average.

AFP has recently initiated a so called "article 78" action in the attempt to stop the approved EcoGen project. This law allows people to challenge their government when a final decision does not appear to be supported by available data.

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Original Investigative Journalism from the
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Ex Prez PW Botha Intro for me to top notch Tv Journalist: Cliff Saunders

2006-04-21T17:25:00.000-04:00

When I chatted to PW Botha the other day, he told me that I must speak directly to Cliff Saunders, who did those two interviews with him.

So today I phoned Cliff and we had a lovely discussion - and what a mind-boggling one too!!

For those who don"t know, Cliff Saunders is a household name in S.Africa. He was an award-winning journalist. He even did documentaries in Rhodesia during the war there.

PW Botha told me that I must speak to Cliff because he is a brave man who is not afraid to speak his mind.

Cliff and I had a fantastic chat. He told me his current way of venting and saying his say, is to write letters to newspapers (all of whom know him!), even if they hate him. He said, so far, over 300 of his letters have been published.

There is one juicy thing which Cliff did tell me which I really must pass on to people. He told me that he knows for a fact that the head of our TV News is constantly on the phone, daily, to Government and clearing with them which stories can and can"t be run.

It shouldn"t be news to any of us, that the Govt is secretly influencing our media - or CENSORING it - even if it is "unofficial" or "by word of mouth".

I will be chatting with Cliff again, and I have proposed some ideas to him - but more on that later.

Cliff has an idea which I think could turn the media in this country on its head. The company he is in business with has the ability to broadcast on Tv - across this country.

Cliff said to me that he is looking for local or foreign investors, who will put up about R6 million (US$1 million), to start a White Tv Channel.

Now he points to the success of "Ethnic Tv" in the USA where you have Black Radio and Black Tv Channels, and he says, "Why can"t we have a White Tv Channel" in S.Africa?

Being an award-winning Tv Documentary producer, Cliff wants to produce REAL NEWS documentaries and wants to air them to a mass audience in this country. Of course, as he says, Black people will also listen in, and that"s not a problem. But the target market, and the purpose of the Tv station will be to broadcast to whites.

He suggested starting off by broadcasting say 3 hours a night!

I think this is fantastic.

Cliff also told me that when he launched the PW Botha Interview, that he invited all the Mass Media to be there because it was the first time in over a decade that PW Botha had spoken publicly. PW gave a speech, and he was going to field questions from journalists. Cliff said that nobody pitched up because the current Govt railroaded the whole thing. He told me the SABC was going to air the documentary, and was about to sign the contract when an order came from somewhere on high, to cancel it. Hence, no TV Station in S.Africa would run the documentary.

I told Cliff that in the USA the "Alternative Media" was already well-entrenched and was taking on the established mass media and that I believed that here in S.Africa we could do the same.

I said that in my view people want real news, and the truth, and people are tired of Politically Correct nonsense. People inside and outside the country wanted the real news.

Another juicy story that Cliff told me... was that the Belgians are actually thinking about bringing some kind of enquiry with the threat of some kind of sanctions against the S.African Govt over the issue of the Farm murders!

But the real bee which Cliff has in his bonnet is the White Tv Channel. So if anyone out there is interested, or knows a foreign or local investor who might be interested in meeting with Cliff and seeing their business plans, etc, then drop me a line. I will actually be going to their studios to take a look in the near future.

By the way, Cliff"s business partners have ORIGINAL INTERVIEWS WITH IAN SMITH... which have not seen the light of day in DECADES!!! This is history... of the highest order, which needs to be preserved and disseminated.

I would love MODERN BLACK ZIMBABWEANS to see such things and to compare what Ian Smith said then, with what Zimbabwe is like today.

In my view, we must just carry on with our struggle for FREE SPEECH - real FREE SPEECH - which we have a right to. I think our Govt will of course try in every way they can to railroad these projects - but I think it is an awesome idea to pursue.

Some years ago, Jani Allan and I discussed (before she was fired from Cape Talk for the shows we did), the idea of the two of us doing a nationwide radio show together. I still think ideas like these can *FLY* BIG TIME... and one would find MANY BLACKS ALSO LISTENING IN... make no mistake! But the Govt has an obsession with shutting us whites up.

You see, our Govt"s whole Political stance is based on a twisted and exaggerated pack of lies, and if people are allowed to THINK FREELY and SPEAK FREELY then this whole edifice is going to come crumbling down around them. Our Govt"s own RACISM and TOTALITARIANISM will be exposed. I can"t see them allowing it.

But... this must not deter us. We must just push on, and deal with their tricks as best we can.

Let me tell you all something:
We have many very talented White people, take for example, my good friend and mentor, Dr Chris Jordaan. These are people with real skills and talent and with decades of sound experience behind them. But these people are not able to reach their full potential because they are strangled through a lack of MONEY. All we have to do is to soldier on, and if one day, small groups of us start making money, and generating BUSINESS and CASH... then our thing is really going to take off. We can even have an influence which stretches far beyond the borders of this country. But we need to get going, and we need to help those who are the most talented, to get going, and to pave the way forward. Of course, we will be faced with DIRTY TRICKS. Make no mistake. But we have a job to do. We must start playing our role in this country, whether this Govt likes us or not. What this Govt fears the most about us... are our minds... because when we say what we think... the Govt"s house of cards starts trembling and shaking. Free Speech is one thing, which they will *HATE* to see us get. But Free Speech, is the one right we must fight for tooth and nail with everything we have because it is a univeral right, and more importantly, Free Speech could save our lives and give us a real future.

Jan Lamprecht

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IS COUNTRY MUSIC MORE IN TOUCH THAN OUR POLITICAL LEADERS? by William Topel

2006-04-18T05:36:00.000-04:00

Some of today's country music is following in the footsteps of yesterday's patriotic country & western stars. Besides Merle Haggard's recent album reviewed for this website, "Chicago Wind", featuring two patriotic singles, rising new country vocalist sensation Gretchen Wilson, hailing from heartland America small town Pocahontas, Illinois, has her new album, "All Jacked Up". This sophomore CD, from Sony BMG Music Entertainment/Epic Records, exhibits blends of traditional country, southern rock, & even jazz.

Her 2004 debut album, "Here For The Party", debuted at #1 on the Billboard Country album charts & #2 on the Top 200 Chart, setting unprecedented first week sales for any music artist of any genre in history (quadruple platinum also). This new album has debuted at #1 on both charts already. Gretchen co-wrote seven of the twelve songs on the new CD.

This second album has already produced two number one singles, "All Jacked Up" and "I Don't Feel Like Loving You Today", but it's her next single that is now climbing the charts & garnering more radio airplay, "Politically Uncorrect". This song, written by Leslie Satcher, Danny Steagall, & Billy Henderson, summarily represents the feelings of many Americans & may be at odds with the practices of many of today's political leaders of both major parties. Long-time country singer-songwriter Merle Haggard joins Gretchen on this song, giving it more authenticity, as there is no doubt in people's minds where Merle stands about his love of America & it's working people. Here are this song's lyrics:

POLITICALLY UNCORRECT

I'm for the low man on the totem pole
And I'm for the underdog God Bless his soul
And I'm for the guys still pulling third shift
And the single mom raisin' her kids
I'm for the preachers who stay on their knees
And I'm for the sinner who finally believes
And I'm for the farmer with dirt on his hands
And the soldiers who fight for this land

(Chorus:)
And I'm for the Bible and I'm for the flag
And I'm for the working man, me and Ol' Hag
I'm just one of many
Who can't get no respect
Politically uncorrect.

I guess my opinion is all out of style
Aw, but don't get me started cause I can get riled
And I'll make a fight for the forefather's plan
And the world already knows where I stand

(Repeat Chorus:)

Nothing wrong with the Bible, nothing wrong with the flag
Nothing wrong with the working man, me and Ol' Hag
We're just some of many who can't get no respect
Politically uncorrect
Politically uncorrect.

(Copyright 2006 EMI April Music Inc./Sound Island Publishing
(ASCAP)/Mop Up Music, Inc./Admin. By Bluewater Music
Services (BMI)/Ensign Music Corp./Lightwood Music (BMI). All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured.)

The "Redneck Woman" has been nominated for numerous music industry awards, winning several, & is now headlining her "Redneck Revolution Tour 2006" with Van Zant & Blaine Larsen. Her critics call her unpretentious & "the real deal". Buy her new album & judge for yourself if she speaks for the average American or not.

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UN Report: Zimbabweans have the shortest lives by Jan Lamprecht

2006-04-17T14:06:00.000-04:00

This is quite shocking. But it shows once more, the living hell that Robert Mugabe has unleashed on Zimbabwe. We whites said all along, that these PRETENDERS to the throne, in Africa really did not have the interests of their own people at heart. But nowhere is this more evident, than in Zimbabwe.

One key sentence in the report below is this one: "According to the BBC's Africa editor, David Bamford, the latest figures are extraordinary for a country like Zimbabwe, which until 20 years ago, had a relatively high standard of living for Africa."

Let this just be a reminder to people that as we whites have stated time and again, blacks were not as bad off under Colonial rule as the Leftist propagandists have stated. And exactly the same can be seen here in S.Africa where a recent study showed that black poverty had DOUBLED since 1994 when Mandela came to power.

The FACTS (as opposed to the Left/Liberal propaganda theme for decades), are that both Colonialism and Apartheid were economically more efficient than anyone dares to admit, and that every single African country, which moved from Colonial/White rule to Black rule suffered a drop in living standards for the blacks. In each case, in each black country, a small, elite were the only ones who got rich - super-rich. But the Black masses all got poorer.

The simple fact is that White Rule in Africa was the most efficient form of government this continent has ever known. But ssshhh... that is a big secret, which nobody out there in the world dares to say! In the PC world, it is completely UNTHINKABLE that White people ever did anything truly good for Black people - LEAST OF ALL, these White Racists who live in Africa!! Jan]

Life in Zimbabwe is shorter than anywhere else in the world, with neither men nor women expected to live until 40, a new UN report says.

Zimbabwe's women have an average life expectancy of 34 years and men on average do not live past 37, it said.

The World Health Organisation report said women's life expectancy had fallen by two years in the last 12 months.

Correspondents say poverty, because of the crumbling economy, and deaths from Aids are responsible for the decline.

Zimbabwean women have the lowest life expectancy of women anywhere in the world, according to the report.

Women in the country are also more likely than men to be infected by the HIV virus.

'Economic meltdown'

According to the report, all 10 countries with the world's lowest life expectancy were in Africa.

People in Swaziland and Sierra Leone are also expected to die before they reach the age of 40, the report said.

Japan was said to have the highest life expectancy in the world, with people there living on average until 82.

According to the BBC's Africa editor, David Bamford, the latest figures are extraordinary for a country like Zimbabwe, which until 20 years ago, had a relatively high standard of living for Africa.

The HIV/Aids epidemic sweeping across southern Africa cannot alone be blamed for this - especially as recent figures show a slight drop in HIV infection rates in Zimbabwe.

Our correspondent says the key reason behind the drop in Zimbabwe's average life expectancy is the fall in the standard of living, triggered by an economic crisis.

Zimbabwe's economy has shrunk by an estimated 40% in the last seven years under President Robert Mugabe.

Story from BBC NEWS: URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/africa/4890508.stm

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Mid-term Parliamentary Elections Set Stage for Next South Korean President by Todd Brendan Fahey

2006-04-16T08:06:00.000-04:00

(Seoul) - Late-May elections to determine the newest Parliamentary mix could also likely determine who will succeed current President Roh Moo-hyun as the next President of the Republic of Korea. South Korea's Constitution--designed to avoid a continuous reign of any single leader--restricts a President to one 5-year term. Mr. Roh, elected in 2002, will, therefore, end his rocky tenure in December 2007.

If the two previous "by-elections" and special elections to replace House members who had resigned or been convicted of crimes are any indication, the conservative Grand National Party (Hanara Party) will overtake the left-of-center Uri Party this year. The GNP picked up seven seats in Parliament and, previously, two more (a 9-0 sweep, respectively), over the last two regional and special campaigns.

The legislature currently has 299 seats, of which 243 are elected by regional vote and the remainder are distributed by a proportional representation ballot. Uri Party members hold a bare two-seat majority over its opposition Grand National Party, with a number of seats held by independent or minor party members.

Good news if you are a conservative? Not according to Korean voter habits.

"We Koreans root for the underdog," said the President of a large television manufacturing company recently, and who wished to go unnamed. "The business community is worried about a [Grand National Party] victory in the May elections. This would energize the younger voters and the liberals in the teachers and agriculture unions."

President Roh Moo-hyun has been mired at sub-35% public approval ratings for many months. Coupled with the recent resignation of Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan, over a betting-on-golf scandal, and a strong Korean won that is affecting negatively the country's exports of everything from cellular phones to flat-panel display devices, many South Korean businessmen are looking to Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak as the nation's savior.

Lee rose from poverty to become CEO of Hyundai Heavy Construction, specializing in mass-transit construction, and is enjoying nationwide applause for having redesigned the chaotic bus routes of Seoul and for renovating the polluted and unsightly Cheonggye river district. But a chilly relationship with Grand National Party chair Park Geun-hye--daughter of assassinated President Park Chung-hee, who, despite his hard-handed, autocratic methods, is credited with "the Korean economic miracle" of the 1970s-to-present--, herself a Presidential aspirant in 2007, threatens to wedge a fissure in South Korea's right wing.

Fortunately, for political conservatives, there has appeared no underdog in South Korean politics.

The probable Uri Party nominee will be former MBC news anchor Chung Dong-young--a handsome, stylish millionaire in his own right. Formerly the Minister of Unification (between North and South Korea) and currently Uri Party chair, Mr. Chung is closely associated with the unpopular Roh Moo-hyun, who is gaining no new support as the days roll by.

After a 35-year occupation by Japan and a rancorous four-year war with the communist North, South Korea has defied all economic expectations.. The upcoming Parliamentary elections and an imminent change of Presidents will likely see continue this trend into the unknown.

Todd Brendan Fahey has served as aide to former Arizona Governor Evan Mecham and to former Congressman John B. Conlan (R-AZ).

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Good Friday Observations on William Sloane Coffin by Mark Dankof

2006-04-14T19:06:00.000-04:00

The British Telegraph chronicled the life of the Reverend William Sloane Coffin this week, in the wake of his final passage into eternity at age 81. Columnist Guild readers will want to access this piece on the above link.

Coffin's career was as colorful and mercurial as his impact on the American political landscape of the Sixties and Seventies. His resume included bona fides as a linguist, concert pianist, CIA agent, clergyman, and political activist at both Yale University and the Riverside Church.

It is no recommendation of my own past inadequacies as a thinker and analyst to confess that in the 1960s, I simply dismissed the Reverend as one of the decade's premier Pinkos for his opposition to the Vietnam War. This visceral judgment was made without knowledge of any of the biographical information contained in this week's Telegraph tribute. The irony of this admittedly simplistic mentality which manifested itself 40 years ago is threefold. First, Coffin's analysis of the futility of Vietnam proved ultimately correct. My own support of American interventionism in Southeast Asia at the time, however, was ultimately exposed in history as disastrously simian. Second, Coffin's dyspepsia over United States policy in the region was shared by some of the Right's leading icons of the period, including Douglas MacArthur and Robert Welch. Third, the repristination of American mistakes made from 1965-73 is now visible in the Great Mesopotamian and Persian Disaster being visited upon the Republic by one George W. Bush. To the extent that Coffin and other critics of Vietnam were proven correct, the Great Paradox of 2006 is that legitimate Paleo-Conservative critics of the Neo-Conservative tragedy being made manifest today, must acknowledge that this denizen of Yale and Riverside Church had something to tell us--then and now.

One especially poignant fact from the Telegraph tribute to Coffin must be highlighted. His own personal witness of the brutal sellout of anti-Stalinist Soviets to their evil regime in a forced repatriation scheme aided and abetted by the American and British political establishments, was seminal to his later career development and personal odyssey. The Reverend's subsequent CIA employment was dedicated to combating Stalinism and atoning for American participation in the incarceration and deaths of Soviets not enamored of Uncle Joe. He would later conclude that the American defense and intelligence establishments posed their own threat to personal liberties at home and abroad, a wry twist similarly acknowledged by my old libertarian pal, Karl Hess, who once said that any apologist for Big Government, Right or Left, ended up being an apologist for mass murder.

But as is the case with all gifted and complex individuals, William Sloane Coffin had a downside. He failed to see in his wholesale support for the Civil Rights Movement of the Sixties that the Imperial Government which brought us the Vietnam War was also introducing Leviathan Tyrannies in the American Left's destruction of the Constitutional doctrine of enumerated powers in the name of collective social progress as defined by the latter. Johnson's Great Society was premised on the foundational doctrine of Statism and Centralized Government, in continuation of Roosevelt's New Deal. To the extent that the Reverend sympathized with employing State Coercion in the achievement of what he saw as the laudable social goals of the Left, he became an unwitting participant in the formulation of a Politically Correct Portside Dogma which now visits itself upon the advocate of individual liberty and Constitutionalism as a new form of either Stalinism or Fascism. The Warfare State is joined in marriage to the Welfare State. Take your pick. The endgame is identical in either case. Like Benjamin Spock, the Reverend missed this one.

On this Good Friday, I engage in one more constructive criticism of the Reverend William Sloane Coffin, this time from the vantage point of orthodox Christianity and theism. From this latter perspective, the pulpit voice of Riverside Church seemed devoid of an understanding of Biblical anthropology, linked to the doctrine of original sin through Adam. This theological weakness apparently led to a theology long on Social Gospel, and perilously devoid of preaching and teaching based upon the truths of redemption and eternal life offered to all of humanity through the active and passive obedience of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. The Theology of the Cross, the Resurrection, and the Parousia are the center of life, presently and beyond. To the extent that the Yale University activist's temporal fight for what he believed correct in the political and social arenas obscured the theological center of the Apostolic Witness, he failed to connect the dots between his own burning desire to alleviate worldly suffering, and a perception of the foundational, transcendent, and eternal significance of the suffering of the Word who Became Flesh, and Who Dwelt Among Us.

A good and faithful, if flawed Race, Pastor Coffin. May you rest in peace on this weekend which commemorates the Resurrection of your Lord and mine.

(Mark Dankof is an orthodox Lutheran pastor, paleo-conservative columnist for BATR's Columnist Guild and Old Right Topic News, and maintains his own site known as Mark Dankof's America at http://www.MarkDankof.com. His Broadcast Interview Source profile (Washington) may be accessed at http://www.ExpertClick.com/19-2281.)

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Zim Govt Warns: Opposition Leader & Demonstrators will be shot dead by Jan Lamprecht

2006-04-14T16:07:00.000-04:00

[Once again, I am impressed that Morgan Tsvangirai has the courage to say that he will lead from the front even if he is shot dead. I am very impressed with those sentiments, and I take my hat off to him. That is EXACTLY the kind of sentiments we need from any leader who wants to take on that bastard Mugabe.

The only thing that makes me sad though, is that the CIA and MI6 Intelligence agencies who are secretly supporting the MDC, are still not helping to arm them. I still urge American and British citizens to write emails to their Govt &/or intelligence agencies asking them to please help to arm the opposition in Zimbabwe. I am sure that the US & British Military have tens of thousands of weapons captured in Iraq which could be given to the MDC to help them build up an armed wing.

One cannot expect people to fight with their bare hands against a hail of machine-gun bullets. At the very least, if people like Tsvangirai are willing to risk their lives, then they should be helped so that they at least stand a fair chance.

Mugabe is ruthless, and there is no doubt in my mind that his troops and Police would absolutely mow down the black opposition. Do any of you still remember Tianamen Square - back in 1989 I think - when the Chinese killed 7,000 students early one morning? Robert Mugabe also got his lessons from those Chinese Marxists, and DO NOT BE SURPRISED, if Robert Mugabe one day mows down thousands of black protesters in the streets. I keep reminding people that Robert Mugabe is a mass murderer, and he will happily kill hundreds of thousands if not millions when given a reason for it. I do have sympathy for people who are trying bravely, with no weapons at all, to stand up to that megalomaniac.

These people need every ounce of support we can give them. But the only people who can give them that support are the CIA and MI6 who have the means and the skills to pull this off. All they need is one plane-load of weaponry captured from Iraq, and the revolution to free Zimbabwe from that maniac can begin. Maybe people should consider starting petitions and emailing it to CIA Headquarters, as well as to British Military Intelligence. Jan]

The GOSA Comments: "This is what happens when only the government has guns."

From Zim Online (SA), 12 April - Zimbabwe Security Minister threatens to shoot protesters.

Harare - Zimbabwe State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa on Tuesday ratcheted up pressure against the opposition threatening to "use guns" to thwart anti-government protests and warning its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, he will pay with his life if he called such protests.

Mutasa, in charge of the government's spy Central Intelligence Organisation and probably the most powerful of President Robert Mugabe's lieutenants, boasted that Mugabe and his ruling Zanu PF party had "shed blood before" to free Zimbabwe from colonialism.

The Security Minister, who was responding to questions by Zim Online on whether the government would permit peaceful protests by the opposition, said Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party would "pay dearly" if they tried to take to the streets against Mugabe's government.

Mutasa said: "Anyone, particularly Tsvangirai who threatens peace and stability in this country will get capital punishment and we mean it. We maintain organs of national security such as the army to protect the stability and integrity of our country. They will be instructed to use all resources at their disposal, including guns (to stop protests)."

In a most chilling reminder to the opposition, Mutasa added: "We have shed blood before to achieve independence. So let no one be fooled that we will fold our arms while they (the opposition) cause mayhem and violence to remove democratically elected governments.

"They will pay and pay dearly." Tsvangirai, who says the MDC has lost faith in elections as a democratic tool to change the government because Mugabe always rigs polls, has vowed to call mass anti-government protests this winter to force the government to accept a new and democratic constitution that would ensure free and fair polls.

The MDC leader last Sunday told thousands of supporters at a rally in Zimbabwe's second largest city of Bulawayo that he was ready to lead from the front in street protests to force Mugabe to accept democracy even if it could lead to his own death.

The rally attended by more than 5 000 supporters was the fourth the opposition leader has held in major cities in the last two weeks to mobilise Zimbabweans for mass anti-government protests whose date he has not yet announced.

Mutasa's outburst is the latest in a series of similarly strongly worded threats by the government against Tsvangirai and the MDC with Mugabe having warned the opposition leader last month that he would be "dicing with death" if he tried to instigate a mass revolt against the government.

The State Security Minister last month threatened to "physically eliminate" opposition leaders if they attempted to remove the government from power through mass protests. Zimbabwe has been on edge since Tsvangirai and his MDC party resolved at a congress last month that they would no longer limit themselves to elections but would use what they called "people power" to pressure Mugabe to embrace democracy.

Political analysts say the MDC that enjoys strong support in urban areas is best placed to organise streets protests against the government. But they also caution that the opposition party is at the moment too weakened to confront the government and its army in the streets after it split into two rival political parties last year.

Besides, the Tsvangirai-led MDC - that is widely seen as the main rival to Mugabe and Zanu PF - there is another faction of the opposition party that is led by former student activist Arthur Mutambara.

Source: SALGO@yahoogroups.com

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Zimbabwe: Popular New Song encourages Revolution by Jan Lamprecht

2006-04-12T06:49:00.000-04:00

[Songs are very important in Africa. The Liberation Movements used songs to communicate serious political messages. The words of this song encourage people to stop waiting for change because change will never come (I agree). It encourages action now.

So to me, this is another sign that people are sick to death of the ILLEGAL Mugabe Regime which has stolen all the elections since 2000. People are giving up hope. But they can get hope again - through their own ACTION.

The only hope now lies in ACTION. I am delighted by this.

I hope that the CIA and MI6 agencies will take note of this song and actually help to arm these people. After all they are giving money to the MDC already, so they can just as well help the Zimbabweans to create an armed wing. Unfortunately, both the CIA and MI6 are completely pathetic when it comes to taking action in Zimbabwe. They seem to be brain-dead when it comes to Zim.

The only thing I can think of is for all Zimbabwean expatriates - there are hundreds of thousands of them in Britain alone - along with American and British citizens - should write letters to their Government, and better still, directly to the CIA or to MI6 HQ and actually request financial and military assistance for the Zimbabweans.

I'm all in favour of Zimbabweans getting up and running Mugabe and his cretins out of office. But you can't expect people to fight against machine-guns and tanks with their bare hands. Its all nice and romantic, but in reality, it really can't work. They need more than pitch-forks in order to save themselves. With rudimentary military weapons they could win. If they were armed, with AK47's alone - they could take Mugabe.

I'm sure that both Britain and the USA have vast amounts of Russian weaponry captured from their ops in the Middle East. If they could divert that to Zimbabwe, then the Zimbabweans can save themselves and one of the most evil men in the world could be removed from power.

I believe that if a successful Armed wing could be started, that you would see people flocking to it by the hundreds of thousands - even millions. And I am sure even white people who left Zimbabwe would find a way to return to fight. This is one fight, where Blacks and Whites would happily stand by each other and fight this bastard to the death. Of that, I am certain.

Below is the Press Release from a Zimbabwean Civic group. Jan]

Mann Friday has released a new song about Zimbabwe called Rise. All proceeds from sales of the single will be donated to the health charity Shared Health Empowerment (SHE). You can contribute to this worthy charity by buying a copy of the single online. To read more about the charity and to listen to the song online, click here

Rise

Come near me, hear me, take a little time to stare me in the eyes, and realise this current state of hate wont wait for the change from another life. So lift your hands and understand this land though dry just needs your tears and cries, when every back that is broken has spoken, the angel awoken, bring kings of another time.

Backbeat the word is on the street, that the fires in our hearts are out, but battered and bruised people never choose to shout out unless their own lives feel the blues. Whose shoes do you wear when you stare, with your diplomatic airs, cos I don't care for statements, things won't ease with a press release. And the man on the street can't eat the pretense.

Fence me in but don't begin to deny - that as time slips by you grow a little tired of the same old issues, longer food queues the way you live a poor and lonely life. An eye for an eye but what if the enemy's blind and has no heart or mind, you gotta fight with your head instead, forget your reddened past you left behind.

No matter what result the cult will quote the vote is soaked in years of tears streaming out the eyes of a people trying to rise just to realise they're dreaming of freedom if even the price is too high to justify the next child that dies, next prison cell cries, the way to stop or start the very motherland's heart, but you can be a part and face the fear in your eyes ... its time to rise.

Source: www.kubatana.net ~ Zimbabwe's civic and human rights web site

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Original Investigative Journalism from the
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MAYORAL RACE: ANOTHER STEP-LADDER RUNG TO NATIONAL PROMINENCE OR LOCAL SMACK-DOWN? by William Topel

2006-04-04T17:53:00.000-04:00

Today is election day in Alaska's largest city. Anchorage voters will vote on its Mayor, three school board candidates, and several bond propositions. The most heated of the races is the mayoral campaign between incumbent liberal Democrat Mark Begich and challenger conservative Republican Jack Frost. That race could have statewide and national implications should the incumbent win.

Radio and advertising personality Jack Frost has his main theme as the out of control spending by the current mayor. Per Frost's campaign mailer, from 2003-2005, the rezoning fee (less than 1.75 acres) is up 433%, underground utility variance application (temporary variance) fee is up 2,140%, site plan review fee is up 540%, platting fee (per lot) is up 2,258%, lost front license plate fee is up 350%, cremation interment fee (single niche) is up 57%, pet license fee is up 53%, improper tree planting fine is up 500%, expired parking meter fine is up 100%, and overall spending is up more than $75 million compared to three previous administrations combined for the city's population of about 260,000.

Mayor Begich counters that property taxes increased only 4.2 percent during his tenure in 2004 and 2005 while some campaign material reads 4.5%. Begich was first elected to the Anchorage Assembly in 1988 at age 26 and served three terms (1988-1991, 1991-1994, and 1994-1997). He had not won an area-wide race for Mayor until 2003. He lost in 1994 to Rick Mystrom and in 2000 to George Wuerch Begich was elected against incumbent mayor Wuerch in 2003 due to the Anchorage Assembly, then dominated by liberals, passing Proposition 2 to be placed on the ballot to change run-off election requirements from less than 50% to less than 45%. The voters passed the new ordinance with 54.99% which was written to be effective with that same current mayoral race, not an orthodox practice, as most new election changing ordinances or laws are set to become effective for the following future ection. Begich was elected mayor, receiving 45.03% of the vote. His closest competitor, George Wuerch, received 37.18% of the vote, because two conservatives had challenged Begich, Wuerch and former mayor Rick Mystrom. The election was later challenged in state courts but the Alaska State Supreme Court, under DeNardo v. Municipality of Anchorage (1/14/2005), finally refused to overturn the results of the April 1, 2003 election, citing no evidence of malconduct or violation of the Anchorage Charter as reasons to do so.

At a fundraiser for Jack Frost on April 1, 2006, Larry Baker, former Anchorage Assemblyman in 1983 who authored the city’s tax cap initiative, said that Begich has misused the tax cap as written and passed by the voters as Proposition 24 on Oct. 4, 1983. Frost reiterated that the city’s spending has increased more than the combined increases under former conservative mayor’s Tom Fink (1987-1994), Mystrom (1994-2000), and Wuerch (2000-2003) and he will restore the tax cap (Title 12.25) and lower property taxes if elected.

That same evening Frost’s campaign manager Steve Medina said one poll has Frost up 3% and another poll as Begich up 3% as of April 1. “Our campaign has gone from 40 points back when our campaign started to dead even and we are peaking at the right time”.

If Begich is re-elected and serves his full 3 year term until 2009, then the “new small star” of the Alaska Democratic Party could contend for the next U.S. House of Rep. election in 2010 for Don Young’s seat, or the next U.S. Senate election in 2010 for Lisa Murkowski’s seat, or the next Alaska Governor’s election in 2010. Begich would then be eligible for extra campaign funds from outside of Alaska from several liberal and national Democratic Party sources.

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(Disclosure: The writer supports Jack Frost because his own utility fees and property taxes have increased more than 4.5% in the last three years).
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Original Investigative Journalism from the
Columnist Guild News Bureau

The Insane South African Business Scramble for Africa by Jan Lamprecht

2006-04-02T15:04:00.000-04:00

Our ANC Govt has been pushing an idea which may sound logical at first, but in reality is a definite losing game. Big businesses have been encouraged to expand into the rest of Africa on a large scale.

I have personal experience of how stupid such a thing really is! The huge company I am currently working for is also now setting its sights on expanding into Africa, and you know what, I think it is a silly idea.

In 2001, I worked for a company which was an off-shoot of Western Union, an international company which does money transfer. This South African off-shoot was funded by a wealthy white man who had been in the money transfer business for years. He decided that money transfer, and micro-lending were the perfect business to expand into Africa. His rationale was perfect. There is a real demand and need for this in Africa. He saw a niche, and pumped in millions of rands into this company.

They created a company called eSave, and I was one of those recruited to design and write the software to enable us to do some serious business in Africa.

I worked for them for 18 months. During that time we wrote a system and got it working to Botswana. That went quite well. Then we expanded into Namibia - but we began experiencing problems with distance, and slow lines. Then my bosses got bolder. We'd expand into Tanzania, Kenya and Rwanda. And that's when this whole thing started unravelling. They spent lots of money - they even gave them computers! People from our company travelled up into Africa. Then, the black Africans started reneging on their deals which they had signed! We hit one wall after another as the black Africans failed to deliver on promises.

One day my bosses walked into the office and announced to us: "You are working for us at your own risk. We are not sure if we will have the money to pay you at the end of the month!" I was shocked beyond belief! I was the luckiest of all... because I was extremely lucky, and a friend was able to offer me a job within a weekend, and on the Monday morning I walked in, and told my bosses, "Thanks, but I am leaving now!" No notice, no nothing. I just walked out! Many other people suffered a lot in the later months as they got paid a pittance for doing their work - simply because they could find no other jobs. The whole business went BANG! End of eSave!

I heard a story, some years ago about a wealthy American woman in the cell phone industry who tried to expand into Africa. She also lost millions and was furious with the blacks. It really hurt her badly. She left Africa an extremely bitter person. I think she lost about US$10 million.

Expanding into Africa is a very dicey thing to do. Africa, north of our borders is more messed up than you can believe. If you think you can waltz in there and start doing business, you're wrong. In Africa: Things don't work. Normal things, which do work in other countries - do not work in Africa. People lie, people steal, people make bold promises which they don't keep; services which you are told do work, actually don’t work!

All this talk of "expanding into Africa"... is crazy talk. Few know how to do it. The White Farmers from Zimbabwe... did well... but in the end, they may lose. The only business that ever achieved it, and did excellently was a British Business called: LonRho - an acronym for "London-Rhodesia". LonRho was headed by Tiny Rowland, and it made stacks of money out of post-Colonial Africa. But, they did so by playing African politics, bribing the necessary people, etc. LonRho is the only International Company that really knew how to do business in Africa. It was filthy, but it worked because that is the only way to do business. And it kept parts of Africa running for quite a while.

The only recent business success in Africa, which originates from South Africa is MTN which is a large cell phone company. Cell phones are a hot product in Africa because there is virtually no infrastructure. But other than MTN, I know of no other success stories.

I would never advise people in America, or Europe, to invest in Africa. It is a very dicey game, and you can come out of it a big loser.

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Original Investigative Journalism from the
Columnist Guild News Bureau