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Thursday, September 12, 2002
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Thank God for a relatively quiet September 11 anniversary. Perhaps now we can focus on solving our problems instead of just reacting to them. Here's the links from this morning's and yesterday's SynEARTH.
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Steve Taylor writes: At first sight the human race’s future seems so bleak that a pessimist might be forgiven for believing we might not have much of a future. ... Since the fundamental problem is our state of being, we need to collectively develop a new state of being to ensure our species’ survival. We need to overcome our sense of ego-separation, develop a new sense of connection to the world and a new sense of spirituality—to develop a state of being similar to that of native peoples and of the old Neolithic peoples. ... The responsibility for the human race’s future doesn’t, therefore, just lie in the hands of governments, global corporations or environmental groups; it lies with every one of us. We all have a choice to make. If you like you can forget about the future and just spend your life enjoying the spoils of capitalism, earning and spending money and trying to become more and more successful so that you can earn and spend even more, in which case you’ll be adding your signature to the human race’s death warrant. On the other hand you can make spiritual development the main purpose of your life, knowing that by changing yourself you’re helping the whole human race to change; in which case you’ll be helping to lead our species away from a catastrophic future, and towards a new harmonious one. (09/12/02) | |
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Yesterday, Teodar Shanin offered us hope that informal economies can develop in the most stressed populations of humans that make survival possible. This morning lets take another look at Argentina and hope that such an informal economy is evolving there. (09/12/02) | |
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New York Times -- Maureen Dowd writes: At 4 a.m., I was awakened by the roar of F-16's, once more patrolling. At 8 a.m., I packed khakis and a sweater, because a TV expert was warning that those working near the White House should have a change of clothes in case of a smallpox, anthrax or nerve agent attack. At 12:30 p.m., Dick Cheney canceled his appearance at a dinner honoring Henry Kissinger and hurried back to his Secure Undisclosed Location. At 1:35 p.m., John Ashcroft revealed that Al Qaeda "chatter" was back; the color-coded chart was back, ascending to a "high risk" orange alert; the fear of "dispersion of radiological contaminants" was back; the oxymoronic exhortation to be fearful and fearless was back. At 1:40 p.m., federal workers wheeled "Break glass in case of emergency" gas mask cabinets into a Congressional press gallery. At 2:30 p.m., Representative Billy Tauzin declared he was at the end of his rope with Martha Stewart and the president declared he was at the end of his rope with Saddam Hussein. At 4:26 p.m., Donald Rumsfeld had live ammunition readied for loading into anti-aircraft batteries around Washington. As the East Coast grew more rattled, veering between the sad, endless loop of Al Qaeda's past depredations and the scary, endless loop of Al Qaeda's future machinations, Mr. Bush seemed calm, confident. The first President Bush has told people lately how impressed he is that his son goes to bed every night without a worry in his head. Should the nation really take comfort in this fact? (09/12/02) | |
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Sounding like he is describing an alternative history of the modern world, Norman D. Livergood writes: The American and British ruling circles have been engaged in a policy of military imperialism for several centuries. The American revolution was fought to bring the United States under new, non-British rulers, with the new regime sold to the public as a democracy. In the twentieth century, these American ruling elites have revolved around the Rockefeller, Brown, Harriman, and Morgan family dynasties. The Bush family, beginning with Prescott Bush, have served as satraps of the Rockefeller, Brown, and Harriman interests. The British and American ruling cabals decided that the energy of choice for the world would be oil and natural gas (not coal)--just as the drugs of choice would be alcohol and tobacco. (09/12/02) | |
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Webster G. Tarpley & Anton Chaitkin writing in 1991: "In the case of George Herbert Walker Bush, as many who have known him personally have noted, the network looms much larger than George's own character and will. The reader will search in vain for strong principled commitments in George Bush's personality; the most that will be found are a series of characteristic obsessions, of which the most durable are race, vanity, personal ambition, and settling scores with adversaries. What emerges by contrast is the decisive importance of Bush's network of connections. His response to the Gulf crisis of 1991 will be largely predetermined, not by any great flashes of geopolitical insight, but rather by his connections to the British oligarchy, to Kissinger, to Israeli and Zionist circles, to Texas oilmen in his fundraising base, to the Saudi Arabian and Kuwaiti royal houses. If the question is one of finance, then the opinions of J. Hugh Liedtke, Henry Kravis, Robert Mosbacher, T. Boone Pickens, Nicholas Brady, James Baker III and the City of London will be decisive. If covert operations and dirty tricks are on the agenda, then there is a whole stable of CIA old boys with whom he will consult, and so on down the line. During much of 1989, despite his control over the presidency, Bush appeared as a weak and passive executive waiting for his networks to show him what it was he was supposed to do. When German reunification and the crumbling of the Soviet empire spurred those --primarily British- networks into action, Bush was suddenly capable of violent and daring adventures." ... Tarpley's book provides some basis for us to test the old homily -- "the fruit does not fall far from the tree." (09/12/02) | |
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USA Today -- Hotel employees in California. Airline workers in Illinois and Texas. Aircraft manufacturing plant staffers in Washington. And hotel and airline workers in Florida. These dominate the nearly 129,000 people who were put out of work for months — or longer — in 462 mass layoffs caused by the terrorist attacks, federal labor statistics show. While New York's financial industry absorbed most of the initial economic impact, its hotel and restaurant workers were among the hardest hit. More than 5,200 workers lost their jobs at least temporarily in the aftermath of Sept. 11, according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics analysis. ... That comes to roughly one of every five members of the 25,000-strong New York Hotel Trades Council, says union spokesman John Turchiano. Although the economic outlook has brightened as visitors trickled back to New York City this year, 976 hotel and restaurant union workers remained out of work as of August. That's 20% more unemployed workers than in the preceding three summers, "when business was booming," says Turchiano. (09/12/02) | |
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Drudge Report -- CHINA -- As incredible as it may be to believe, three years before the Sept. 11 bombing of the World Trade Center a Chinese military manual titled Unrestricted Warfare touted such an attack – suggesting it would be difficult for the U.S. military to cope with. Here is an excerpt: “Whether it be the intrusions of hackers, a major explosion at the World Trade Center, or a bombing attack by bin Laden, all of these greatly exceed the frequency bandwidths understood by the American military...” Surprisingly, Osama bin Laden is mentioned frequently in this book. Chinese military planners believe that terrorism is just one of the many tools at the hands of nations and their terrorist allies to wage total war against the United States. You will be surprised to learn: 1) The two PLA colonels who authored Unrestricted Warfare have been hailed as heroes in China since Sept. 11. 2) The Chinese state-run propaganda machine is cashing in on the terror attacks ... producing books, films and video games glorifying the strikes as a humbling blow against an arrogant nation. 3) Chinese Communist Party officials are saying that President Jiang Zemin has obsessively and gleefully watched and re-watched pictures of the aircraft crashing into the World Trade Center. 4) The CIA’s own translation agency reported that this book identifies the U.S. as China’s main enemy, and details how a weak nation can destroy America using unorthodox attacks – like the 9-11 attacks. 5) China is preparing itself and encouraging others to engage the U.S. in total war. ... The book is chock full of plans and strategies, from using computers, to smuggling illegal immigrants, to manipulating the stock markets, to influencing the U.S. media, to using weapons of mass destruction – all to destroy America. Recent press reports indicate that China has assisted and continues to assist militarily and economically the Taliban and al-Qaeda – even after Sept. 11. (09/11/02) | |
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Michael Shermer writes: Science has made the modern world. It gives us plastics and plastic explosives, cars and tanks, Supersonic Transports and B-1 bombers. Science has put a man on the moon and missiles in the silos. Developments in the medical sciences allow us to live twice as long as people did a mere 150 years ago. But we now have an overpopulation problem, without a corresponding overproduction solution, threatening us more than any single disease in history. Growth in the physical sciences have given us electricity, computers, lights, automobiles, and lasers. But for the first time we have the combined nuclear, chemical, and biological potential to cause the extinction of the human species. Discoveries and theories in evolution and cosmology have given us insights into the origins of life and humans. But for many people these ideas and their corresponding ideologies are threatening to traditional personal and religious beliefs and comfortable status quo. The part of the world known as the Industrial West could, in its entirety, be seen as a monument to the Scientific Revolution begun over 400 years ago, succinctly captured in a single phrase by one of its initiators: “knowledge itself is power.” (09/11/02) | |
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Most of the world's population live independently of the formal economy. Recognising this, says Teodor Shanin, is the key to removing poverty and inequality. He invented "peasantology" - the study of how people survive in the "informal economy". ... The modern formal economy needs only about a quarter of the global workforce. The other three-quarters are engaged in survival through the informal economy. It is a necessity for polarised, unjust societies. It happens in urban as well as rural areas, especially squatter settlements. The core of the informal economy is not peasant farming, but family and neighbourhood relationships of mutual support. So while the informal economy is seen - if it is seen at all - as the political economy of the margins, when you put it all together you can see it is not marginal at all. (09/11/02) | |
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New York Times -- Many Brazilians have regarded the Amazon jungle as a barrier to progress that should be replaced as quickly as possible with ranches and farms. But in this remote corner of Brazil's most isolated state, people increasingly see the rain forest as a solution to the region's chronic poverty. In one sign of that change, peasants are again being encouraged to cultivate rubber and Brazil nut trees, the twin pillars of the economy here before major deforestation began in the 1970's. Seeking to capitalize on the growing market in Brazil and abroad for environmentally friendly products, forest dwellers have also formed cooperatives that have begun to produce high-end furniture, medicines derived from local plants, and even condoms. "We're going back to the future," said Carlos Vicente, secretary of forestry and extractive activities for the government of Brazil's most isolated state, Acre. "We recognize that the forest can be a source of wealth if used wisely but that the success of economic activities based on the forest is directly linked to the viability of the forest itself." (09/11/02) | |
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New York Times -- Some scientists and conservationists are now saying that cattle ranches may be the last best hope for preserving habitat for many native species. The ranches could also be the best way to preserve grasslands and the periodic fires that keep brush and cactuses from taking over. ... When ranches are subdivided into "ranchettes" of 40 acres or less — a runaway trend — invasive species move in along with people and their pets, and fewer native species can live on the land. And it becomes much harder, if not impossible, to let fires burn across the land periodically, a process that is now thought to be essential in many ecosystems. ... Dr. Richard L. Knight, a professor of wildlife biology at Colorado State University, recently did just that, comparing 93 sites on ranches, in wildlife refuges and in subdivisions with about one house per 40 acres. He found that the ranches had at least as many species of birds, carnivores and plants as similar areas that are protected as wildlife refuges. Ranches also had fewer invasive weeds. More important, the ranches provided a better habitat for wildlife than the ranchettes, which had fewer native species and more invasive species than ranches and refuges. Like many ecologists, Dr. Knight had assumed that grazing hurt wildlife. "It finally dawned on me," he said. "We made a mistake." (09/11/02) | |
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New York Times -- The murky air has become the talk of Hong Kong. Yin Yuk-kwang, a 62-year-old retiree, clutched his 2-year-old grandson to his chest protectively this afternoon as he walked to the supermarket, passing one of the government's air-quality monitoring stations — a pair of grime-coated, white boxes the size of curbside mailboxes, sitting next to a six-lane road in the Causeway Bay neighborhood. "Hong Kong has become a horrible place for children, and sometimes I just don't want to walk in the city with my grandson," Mr. Yin said. "He is so small, and I feel the bad air is eating him." The smog has been a concern for tourism, which accounts for 5 percent of the economy. When the Hong Kong Tourism Board asked visitors in 2000 for their biggest complaints, pollution led the list, cited by 11 percent of the survey's respondents. (09/11/02) | |
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MSNBC -- Nelson Mandela speaks: We must understand the seriousness of this situation. The United States has made serious mistakes in the conduct of its foreign affairs, which have had unfortunate repercussions long after the decisions were taken. Unqualified support of the Shah of Iran led directly to the Islamic revolution of 1979. Then the United States chose to arm and finance the [Islamic] mujahedin in Afghanistan instead of supporting and encouraging the moderate wing of the government of Afghanistan. That is what led to the Taliban in Afghanistan. But the most catastrophic action of the United States was to sabotage the decision that was painstakingly stitched together by the United Nations regarding the withdrawal of the Soviet Union from Afghanistan. If you look at those matters, you will come to the conclusion that the attitude of the United States of America is a threat to world peace. Because what [America] is saying is that if you are afraid of a veto in the Security Council, you can go outside and take action and violate the sovereignty of other countries. That is the message they are sending to the world. That must be condemned in the strongest terms. And you will notice that France, Germany Russia, China are against this decision. It is clearly a decision that is motivated by George W. Bush’s desire to please the arms and oil industries in the United States of America. (09/11/02) | |
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Washington Post -- The Bush administration raised the nationwide terror alert to its second highest level, closed nine U.S. embassies overseas and heightened security at federal buildings and landmarks in America as new intelligence warned of car bombings, suicide attacks and other strikes linked to the Sept. 11 anniversary. ... "The threats that we have heard recently remind us of the pattern of threats we heard prior to September the 11th," President Bush said on the eve of the anniversary. "We have no specific threat to America, but we're taking everything seriously." Security precautions in the nation's capital rivaled measures taken immediately after last year's attacks. For example, Vice President Dick Cheney canceled a Tuesday night speech and was taken to a secret location to protect the presidential line of succession in case of an attack. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld ordered that live anti-aircraft missiles be stationed near launchers that had been deployed around Washington for a training exercise. Across the country, access was restricted to public places and events. Colorado Gov. Bill Owens, announcing security measures at the state capitol, told residents, "You should probably bring your driver's license" to the building. (09/10/02)
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REUTERS -- The U.S. military began deploying anti-aircraft missiles at the Pentagon and bases around Washington on Monday for an exercise to test a multi-layered defense of the national capital region, defense officials said. "Avenger" anti-aircraft systems -- heat-seeking Stinger missiles on wheeled Humvee military jeeps -- will be stationed at the bases for at least four days beginning on Tuesday, including Wednesday's anniversary of Sept. 11 hijack airliner attacks on America. ... The exercise, similar to one held in the summer, will test the integration of F-16 fighter jets protecting Washington with missiles, radar and emergency communications between the military and civilian agencies. (09/10/02) | |
4:20:22 AM 
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© TrustMark
2002
Timothy Wilken.
Last update:
10/1/2002; 6:08:23 AM.
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