Aum Gung Ganapathaye Namah

Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma-sambuddhassa

Homage to The Blessed One, Accomplished and Fully Enlightened

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

News Clips

A Collection of Articles, Notes and References

References

 (Revised: Tuesday, January 11, 2005)

References Edited by

An Indian Tantric

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet.

- William Shakespeare

Copyright © 2002-2010 An Indian Tantric

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8 "... Freely you received, freely give”.

            - Matthew 10:8 :: New American Standard Bible (NASB)

 

1 “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.

2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,

3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,

4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God

5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires,

7 always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.                                                                  

8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth--men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected.

9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.”

            - 2 Timothy 3:1-9  :: New International Version (NIV)

 

6 As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

            - Hebrews 5:6 :: King James Version (KJV)

 

Therefore, I say:

Know your enemy and know yourself;

in a hundred battles, you will never be defeated.

When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself,

your chances of winning or losing are equal.

If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself,

you are sure to be defeated in every battle.

-- Sun Tzu, The Art of War, c. 500bc

 

There are two ends not to be served by a wanderer. What are these two? The pursuit of desires and of the pleasure which springs from desire, which is base, common, leading to rebirth, ignoble, and unprofitable; and the pursuit of pain and hardship, which is grievous, ignoble, and unprofitable.

- The Blessed One, Lord Buddha

 

Contents

Color Code

A Brief Word on Copyright

References

Educational Copy of Some of the References

          Abstracts

 

Color Code

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Color Code                                                               Identification

 

Main Title                                                                  Color: Pink

Sub Title                                                                   Color: Rose

Minor Title                                                                Color: Gray – 50%

 

Collected Article Author                                       Color: Lime

Date of Article                                                          Color: Light Orange

Collected Article                                                      Color: Sea Green

Collected Sub-notes                                              Color: Indigo

 

Personal Notes                                                       Color: Black

Personal Comments                                             Color: Brown

Personal Sub-notes                                              Color: Blue - Gray

 

Collected Article Highlight                                    Color: Orange

Collected Article Highlight                                    Color: Lavender

Collected Article Highlight                                    Color: Aqua

Collected Article Highlight                                    Color: Pale Blue

 

Personal Notes Highlight                                     Color: Gold

Personal Notes Highlight                                     Color: Tan

 

HTML                                                                         Color: Blue

Vocabulary                                                               Color: Violet

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A Brief Word on Copyright

Many of the articles whose educational copies are given below are copyrighted by their respective authors as well as the respective publishers. Some contain messages of warning, as follows:

Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited

without the written consent of “so and so”.

According to the concept of “fair use” in US copyright Law,

The reproduction, redistribution and/or exploitation of any materials and/or content (data, text, images, marks or logos) for personal or commercial gain is not permitted. Provided the source is cited, personal, educational and non-commercial use (as defined by fair use in US copyright law) is permitted.

Moreover,

  • This is a religious educational website.
    • In the name of the Lord, with the invisible Lord as the witness.
  • No commercial/business/political use of the following material.
  • Just like student notes for research purposes, the writings of the other children of the Lord, are given as it is, with student highlights and coloring. Proper respects and due referencing are attributed to the relevant authors/publishers.

I believe that satisfies the conditions for copyright and non-plagiarism.

  • Also, from observation, any material published on the internet naturally gets read/copied even if conditions are maintained. If somebody is too strict with copyright and hold on to knowledge, then it is better not to publish “openly” onto the internet or put the article under “pay to refer” scheme.
  • I came across the articles “freely”. So I publish them freely with added student notes and review with due referencing to the parent link, without any personal monetary gain. My purpose is only to educate other children of the Lord on certain concepts, which I believe are beneficial for “Oneness”.

 

References

Some of the links may not be active (de-activated) due to various reasons, like removal of the concerned information from the source database. So an educational copy is also provided, along with the link.

If the link is active, do cross-check/validate/confirm the educational copy of the article provided along.

  1. If the link is not active, then try to procure a hard copy of the article, if possible, based on the reference citation provided, from a nearest library or where-ever, for cross-checking/validation/confirmation.

 

References

 

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Educational Copy of Some of the References

FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY

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Reference

Malkin, Michelle. (Friday, December 27, 2002) Whistleblower of the year. USA: Jewish World Review.

 

Consular officials ignored a basic provision of immigration law known as 214(b), which holds that almost all non-immigrant visa applicants are presumed to be would-be immigrants and must prove to interviewers that they won't break the terms of their visas.

 

Mowbray concluded: "[I]f the law had been enforced, most of the 9/11 terrorists never would have entered the United States. Most of them were young, single men with no demonstrated means of support, and with few or no ties to their home country-meaning that they were classic 'overstay' candidates. Given that visa applicants have the burden of proving their eligibility, this raises the question: How did they clear the hurdles the law is intended to put in their path when they were already saddled with forms that could generously be described as sloppy?"

(Reference: Malkin, Michelle. (Friday, December 27, 2002) Whistleblower of the year. USA: Jewish World Review.)

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Reference

Pavic, Aleksandar. (Saturday, December 28, 2002) Instrumentalization of justice at the Hague. USA: WorldNetDaily.com.

 

…ask not tomorrow for whom the bell tolls anywhere on this earth. It will toll for thee.

(Reference: Pavic, Aleksandar. (Saturday, December 28, 2002) Instrumentalization of justice at the Hague. USA: WorldNetDaily.com.)

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Reference

Lack of Arabic hampering effectiveness of Israeli troops. (Friday, December 20, 2002) USA: WorldTribune.com.

 

ISRAELI TROOPS LACK ARABIC SKILLS IN WAR AGAINST PA TEL AVIV — Israeli troops lack basic skills in Arabic required for the insurgency war against the Palestinians, experts say.

 

The experts, former and current members of the military and security forces, said Israeli troops operating in Palestinian communities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have virtually no knowledge of Arabic and fail to understand the civilian population they deal with in raids and operations. They said the result is a needless increase in friction with Palestinian civilians and vulnerability of attacks by insurgents.

 

Israeli military forces are being urged to deploy Druse soldiers in every combat unit operating in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. At the same time, the military was urged to expand its Arabic-language courses and make them mandatory for every officer.

 

"In the last few months, the problem is becoming worse," [Res.] Brig. Gen. Ephraim Lapid, who spent most of his career in military intelligence, said. "The more hostility and antagonism, there is less willingness to learn Arabic."

 

Lapid, who as spokesman for the Education Ministry is urging expanded Arabic courses in Israeli schools, said for decades the military had a pool of Jewish immigrants from Arab countries who spoke fluent Arabic. He said military intelligence provides intensive Arabic courses for its analysts and officers but the failure to use the language in civilian life has led many to forget the language after they end service.

 

[Res.] Brig. Gen. Aryeh Neiger, a military analyst, said the lack of Arabic has led to needless confrontation between Israeli troops and Palestinians. Neiger said Israeli soldiers and officers have no idea what Palestinian civilians are saying to them or each other and cannot read slogans and signs on the wall that could provide information about their surroundings.

 

"The soldiers enter the refugee camp and have no idea what's written on walls or the screams across the street," Neiger said. "The officers have no idea what's going on. In general, Israelis only know what Arabs are saying through Israeli commentators rather than the popular Arab media such as A-Jazeera."

(Reference: Lack of Arabic hampering effectiveness of Israeli troops. (Friday, December 20, 2002) USA: WorldTribune.com.)

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Reference

Vice on the rise in Iran. (Tuesday, November 26, 2002) UK: BBC News.

 

Our analyst says economic hardship is mainly blamed for the increase in prostitution and Iranian women are also smuggled to Persian Gulf countries for the sex trade.

(Reference: Vice on the rise in Iran. (Tuesday, November 26, 2002) UK: BBC News.)

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Reference

Sue Lloyd-Roberts (Tuesday, December 10, 2002) Iran's youth reveal anger and sadness. UK: BBC News.

 

She did, however concede that the stoning of women to death for adultery was an "inefficient" means of dealing with the problem.

(Reference: Sue Lloyd-Roberts (Tuesday, December 10, 2002) Iran's youth reveal anger and sadness. UK: BBC News.)

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Reference

James Whittington. (Tuesday, December 03, 2002) Youth shapes Iran's economy. UK: BBC News.

 

Frustration

 

While a well educated young population is an incredibly important asset for Iran, it also poses a risk if economic and political reforms do not provide them with better opportunities.

 

Hamid Varzi, a local banker, says youth is always the sector of the population which reacts most fiercely and most violently to their aspirations not being fulfilled.

 

"If somebody's at retirement age and doesn't like what's going on, well he just keeps quiet and sits at home," he said.

 

"But with the youth you can't expect that," he warns.

(Reference: James Whittington. (Tuesday, December 03, 2002) Youth shapes Iran's economy. UK: BBC News.)

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Reference

Muir, Jim. (Wednesday, March 20, 2002) Tackling Aids in Iran. UK: BBC News.

 

They explain that the virus can also be transferred through innocent everyday practices such as ear-piercing, shared razor blades, tattooing or even borrowing a toothbrush.

But Iran has led the way in the region in adopting a frank, realistic and humane approach to a problem that is all too often swept under the carpet, but will not go away.

(Reference: Muir, Jim. (Wednesday, March 20, 2002) Tackling Aids in Iran. UK: BBC News.)

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Reference

Sadeq Saba (Sunday, December 09, 2001) Iran announces jump in HIV figures. UK: BBC News.

 

Dr Sayyari also complained that the practice of temporary marriage in Iran does not help to fight the spread of Aids.

Shia Islam allows men to have numerous temporary wives - a practice known as Sigha - sometimes for only a very short period of time.

But Iranian officials point out that a major cause of HIV transmission is the use of unclean needles for drug use, especially in jails.

The director of prisons in Iran has recently warned about the spread of Aids in Iranian jails and called on the government to take urgent measures to fight it.

(Reference: Sadeq Saba (Sunday, December 09, 2001) Iran announces jump in HIV figures. UK: BBC News.)

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Reference

Jim Muir. (Thursday, December 14, 2000) Iran's girl runaways. UK: BBC News.

 

There is growing concern in Iran over the rising number of young girls who run away from home.

It is one of a number of burning social problems the Iranian government is starting to address.

This is the seedy side of life in Iran, where drug abuse and prostitution are constantly on the increase.

One 17-year-old from Tehran has a violent mother, divorced from her drug-addict father. She spent 11 days and nights living in parks and streets before she was brought in.

"There are many wolves out there," she told me.

"A girl has to be strong, but if she has no money, she may be forced to do things, illegal things, so that she can eat, and find somewhere to sleep."

Atina's story, like so many others, involves drugs, and a broken home.

But Fahimeh Eskanderi, who runs the Reyhaneh House, says that social change and rising expectations are also a factor spurring girls to run away in search of a better life.

"This problem only began in the last few years. It didn't exist before in Iranian society, even before the revolution, because there was a strong traditional culture.

"But now, our children's minds are much more open, and exposed to foreign culture. There's no comparison between the children of today and those of even just 10 years ago. They claim their rights, and they're determined to have them."

(Reference: Jim Muir. (Thursday, December 14, 2000) Iran's girl runaways. UK: BBC News.)

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Reference

Chechnya suicide bombers 'used Russian military links'. (Sunday, December 29, 2002) UK: Guardian Unlimited Observer.

http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,866123,00.html

 

Corruption is widespread among both the administration and the Russian military in Chechnya, where allegiances are made more to an individual leader's 'clan' than to a specific government.

(Reference: Chechnya suicide bombers 'used Russian military links'. (Sunday, December 29, 2002) UK: Guardian Unlimited Observer.)

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Reference

Massive quarantine if terror strikes UK. (Sunday, December 29, 2002) USA: WorldNetDaily.com.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=30225

 

"There will certainly be some panic, with people jumping into their cars with their families to try to flee the city and avoid contamination, but they would be stopped," he told the Times.

 

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Cross-reference

15   When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

16   Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:

17   Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:

18   Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.

19   And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!

20   But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:

21   For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

22   And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

- Matthew 24:15-22 :: King James Version (KJV)

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(Reference: Massive quarantine if terror strikes UK. (Sunday, December 29, 2002) USA: WorldNetDaily.com.)

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Reference

US military denies torturing Al-Qaeda suspects in Afghanistan. (Sunday, December 29, 2002) India: Hindustan Times Ltd.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_128369,00050001.htm

 

"stress and duress" techniques.

These include forcing them to maintain awkward, painful positions for long periods and depriving them of sleep with a 24-hour bombardment of lights.

The Post article also claimed that those who do not cooperate at Bagram are turned over to foreign intelligence services whose practice of torture has been documented by the US government and human rights organizations.

(Reference: US military denies torturing Al-Qaeda suspects in Afghanistan. (Sunday, December 29, 2002) India: Hindustan Times Ltd.)

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Reference

Paul Harris and Burhan Wazir. (Sunday, December 29, 2002) Briton tells of ordeal in Bush's torture jail. UK: Guardian Unlimited Observer.

http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,866235,00.html

 

US officials have admitted that suspects captured in the region are 'softened up' on their way to detention by brutal beatings from US military police and special forces soldiers. They are confined to tiny rooms, blindfolded and thrown into walls. They are tied up in painful positions, subjected to loud noises and deprived of sleep by having lights shone on them all day and night. Sometimes they are forced to stand for long periods in black hoods or wearing goggles which have been spray-painted so as to render them blind.

 

The aim is to disorientate and confuse the suspects, as they face a barrage of questions about their activities in Afghanistan and elsewhere. It is believed that some, who had battle wounds when captured, are denied painkillers as a further way of coaxing information from them.

 

'Pain control is a very subjective thing,' one US official said, deadpan, to the Washington Post last week.

 

Those who do not crack, or perhaps have nothing to tell, are often handed over to foreign intelligence services such as those of Morocco or Saudi Arabia, where less sophisticated and bloodier torture techniques are regularly employed.

(Reference: Paul Harris and Burhan Wazir. (Sunday, December 29, 2002) Briton tells of ordeal in Bush's torture jail. UK: Guardian Unlimited Observer.)

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Reference

Associated Press. (Friday, January 03, 2003) Strippers becoming activists in Las Vegas. USA: HoustonChronicle.com.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/1723636

 

County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates first proposed cleaning up steamy lap dances after an undercover police investigation found that sexy dancing can progress to "excessive grinding," simulated sex acts and, finally, sex for money.

Under the new law, effective Sept. 1, 2002, lap dances are legal, but dancers are specifically barred from touching or sitting on the customer's genital area. Commissioners initially banned stuffing dollar bills in G-strings, but later decided to OK the practice. Lap dances remain legal in the city of Las Vegas.

 

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Cross Reference

 

Lastly, the Vinita Vatthu to this rule includes an interesting case that formed the basis for an additional rule:

"At that time a certain monk had gone to the Gabled Hall in the Great Wood at Vesali to pass the day and was sleeping, having left the door open. His various limbs were stiff with the 'wind forces' (i.e., he had an erection). Now at that time a large company of women bearing garlands and scents came to the park, headed for the vihara. Seeing the bhikkhu, they sat down on his male organ and, having taken their pleasure and remarking, 'What a bull of a man!' they went on their way, taking up their garlands and scents."

The bhikkhu incurred no penalty, but the Buddha gave formal permission to close the door when resting during the day.

(Reference: Thanissaro Bhikkhu (Geoffrey DeGraff) The Buddhist Monastic Code Volume I The Patimokkha Training Rules Translated & Explained. Chapter Four. Parajika.)

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"Young people have a lifestyle that needs a little bit more attention to what is appropriate," said Bobby Siller, Nevada Gaming Control Board member. "People are having a great time, and sometimes it gets a little bit carried away."

"There's a million and a half people that live in Clark County, and I think they are entitled to a quality of life that doesn't include having to explain to your kids what that's all about," said prosecutor Mike Davidson.

The County Commission has not addressed the issue, and new District Attorney David Roger has said it is not a priority.

The crackdown on strippers doesn't make sense to many tourists.

"That's why people come here. They think of it as Sin City. I think it's asinine to try and regulate it. Vegas is Vegas," Drake Hanson of Palm Springs, Calif., said as he watched the strippers at Deja Vu.

Hal Rothman, a history professor at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, said he suspects the trend has something to do with Las Vegas trying to become a community, not just a tourist destination.

"There's no doubt that our traditions and our future are somehow at odds," Rothman said. "We're going to have to renegotiate the boundaries."

(Reference: Associated Press. (Friday, January 03, 2003) Strippers becoming activists in Las Vegas. USA: HoustonChronicle.com.)

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Reference

Reuters. (Friday, January 03, 2003) Police Apologize to Porn-Watching Detainee.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=1987987

 

BEIJING (Reuters) - Police in northwest China have made a rare apology to a man they surprised at home and dragged to jail for watching pornographic videos with his wife, state newspapers said Friday.

The case, reported widely by newspapers, prompted intense debate among Chinese about privacy in a country struggling to balance traditional morality and personal freedom.

Four officers burst into the house Zhang Lei, 24, shared with his wife and parents on August 18 to confiscate pornographic videos after a tip-off, the newspaper said.

The police tried to take Zhang's video player and television as well, it said, resulting in a brawl with family members.

Authorities hauled Zhang and his father to jail for spreading pornography and obstructing justice.

(Reference: Reuters. (Friday, January 03, 2003) Police Apologize to Porn-Watching Detainee.)

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Reference

United Press International. (Friday, January 03, 2003) Yemeni soldiers have a close shave.

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030103-015349-9843r

 

In recent months, there has been a sharp increase in the number of military personnel who have grown beards as a sign that the wearer is a Muslim fundamentalist, or a sympathizer, the source said.

Yemen's Bahari community, a sect connected with the Shitte Muslims.

(Reference: United Press International. (Friday, January 03, 2003) Yemeni soldiers have a close shave.)

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Reference

Miller, Joel. (Saturday, January 04, 2003) Defending the castle. USA: WorldNetDaily.com.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=30327

 

Laws that prevent people from protecting their properties empower crooks, because the Freamons of the world cannot otherwise ward them off. Put guns in the hands of homeowners, however, and they are empowered to repel the barbarians from their castle gates.

 

Unfortunately, people who push for laws like those that Freamon ran afoul of don't see it that way. They see citizens as mainly reliant upon government for protection.

 

"The government-control advocates want us to place our fate in the hands of the state," writes WND Editor in Chief Joseph Farah in his new book, "Taking America Back." "Our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor should be entrusted to the police for protection, they say."

 

Farah sets up his discussion of firearms ownership with a case in which a burglary was underway when police were called. Officers responded, checked out the scene and left – completely unaware that the burglars and victims were still in the building. The intruders, beyond looting the family silver, also raped and abused the people present – even a little girl.

 

Devastated that the police hadn't protected them, the victims sued the authorities. Their devastation was made complete when they lost their case. The court basically ruled that the police cannot be held liable for not protecting people.

 

So here's the double whammy: Americans are increasingly being bullied by gun-grabbers to resign their home and personal defense to the police. But the courts say the police can't be held responsible if citizens get the shaft for putting their trust in the cops for naught. In other words, damned if you do, damned if you don't.

 

The police couldn't have protected Freamon. The attack on his home was sudden. It needed a sudden response – something police are usually in no position to give (it's not as though thugs give law enforcement their itineraries).

 

So where does that leave people afraid of getting screwed with no recourse? Illegally owning guns.

 

Free people must defend their own property, and the government must not hinder them. If it does, many otherwise law-abiding citizens will simply break the law. Thus, in the name of stopping crime, gun-grabbers turn innocent people into lawbreakers. And they're fine with that – after all, they hate guns. It's not much of a stretch to assume they care little for those who own them.

 

But own them we must. As Farah says in "Taking America Back," "Safety and security can only be achieved when individuals take responsibility for themselves." In most cases, no one else can, no one else will. Individuals must have access to firearms and must be able to use them in defense of their lives and properties.

 

Not allowing such is like giving intruders engraved invitations to storm our castles.

(Reference: Miller, Joel. (Saturday, January 04, 2003) Defending the castle. USA: WorldNetDaily.com.)

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Reference

Kovacs, Joe. (Thursday, January 09, 2003) Multiple Miranda. USA: WorldNetDaily.com.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=30396

 

"First, it is not the job of an arresting officer to diagnose a suspect for possible and existent mental disorders," Ackerman said.

 

"Second, even if it were their duty, they have no duty to determine the number of possible 'personalities' that they are about to arrest. A rational approach to Miranda suggests that only one 'person' is being arrested. If, in fact, the person is mentally ill, they have no concerns to begin with, since insanity is a complete defense to an intentional crime. What's the point in giving Miranda advisements if there is no assurance that a 'personality' hears it at all?

(Reference: Kovacs, Joe. (Thursday, January 09, 2003) Multiple Miranda. USA: WorldNetDaily.com.)

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Reference

Vinod Kumar. (Friday, November 01, 2002) God's own country; Devil's own people. Kerala, India: Kerala Kaumudi.

http://www.kaumudi.com/news/lens/lens.stm

 

God's own country; Devil's own people

a bankrupt state, headed to virtual collapse.

Industrial growth is almost zero,

the real bourgeoisie today are their own foot soldiers - the highly paid but highly unproductive government employees.

In a state with high level of unemployment, head load is the easiest way, next to crime, for the healthy, educated, but unskilled unemployed youth to make some quick buck. If crime is anti-social, then this low effort, but highly paid occupation gives them enough political and social legitimacy to resort to means and ends, which may to the rest of the world seem to be daylight robbery. Political parties nurture this highly disillusioned, but motivated workforce, because other than being their frontline soldiers in their political endeavors, they also service their criminal constituency in the background. Little does these bands of warriors, mostly graduates in history and political science, know that their own leaders have cut off in the bud any project that can feed their stomachs.

being judged 'a-once-in-a-lifetime destination', god's own country

(Reference: Vinod Kumar. (Friday, November 01, 2002) God's own country; Devil's own people. Kerala, India: Kerala Kaumudi.)

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Reference

"No Name". (April 2001) Is Tehelka All or More to Come? USA: The Indian Programmer.

http://www.theindianprogrammer.com/leisure/tehelka.htm

 

Let us have a look at recent history and start with Nehru. What were the insurmountable constraints which forced him to stop the armed forces from their patriotic duty to vacate aggression which commenced in Kashmir on 22 October 1947? Who controlled those constrains? There are many answers but the truth is different. For the truth, ask any illiterate villager in India. I asked one in 1972 after the break up of Pakistan and got a reply which won a Pulitzer Prize to Jack Anderson, a US journalist, for investigative reporting. I asked the villager. "Why are we against America?" "Ajee aaj tak Amreekaa nai hamaaray kandhay par dostee kaa kabhee haath rakhaa hai." (Has the US ever put its hand of friendship on our shoulder?) Jack Anderson showed that Nixon and Kissinger were against India but always maintained that they were not.

 

The mystery of the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri at Tashkent after the defeat of Pakistan still remains a mystery. So also that of our inability to regain after the 1965 war, practically even an inch of the Pakistan occupied Kashmir from the invaders and yet forced to give up what India occupied of Pakistan territory?

(Reference: "No Name". (April 2001) Is Tehelka All or More to Come? USA: The Indian Programmer.)

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Reference

Women of Enron blast TV movie. (Friday, January 10, 2003) USA: HoustonChronicle.com.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/business/1730932

 

"People tend to believe what they see on TV."

(Reference: Women of Enron blast TV movie. (Friday, January 10, 2003) USA: HoustonChronicle.com.)

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Reference

Vestad, Jon Peder. (Wednesday, May 02, 2001) Media in India as independent as in the US. Volda University College, Norway: Vestads Journal.

http://www.hivolda.no/jpv/mediainindia.htm

 

-  Journalists who investigate corruption will have to face many odds. I think that is the situation in many countries.

- Does it happen that journalists also receive bribes?

- I don't think so. Any journalist who receives bribes will not be trusted. But, they may receive other benefits like subsidized housing, free trips to certain places etc. I have not heard of any journalist of national fame who has received bribes from either politicians and bureaucrats. Once a journalist is found receiving bribe his journalistic career ends there. As I said before they have certainly received gifts. 

Difficult to get information

One of the problems that a journalist faces in India is getting the information he wants. The Indian bureaucracy, which is a legacy of the British colonial rule, refuses to share information with the common people. Giving information has never been the culture of Indian bureaucracy. The journalist has to do a lot of work to get the information, Poornananda tells. 

International affairs

After having stayed in Norway for a couple of weeks in the winter of 2001, Poornananda have got an impression of Norwegian media as quite uninterested in international affairs, at least when compared with Indian media. But as a huge country, and an important nation, India of course has close ties to more countries than Norway. 

 

- Which countries and themes from the international scene would you say are given most attention in Indian mass media?

- United States, United Kingdom, and the Asian countries receive the highest coverage in the Indian newspapers. A majority of the stories are on politics, economic matters and  culture. Western culture has been a great attraction for the youth in India. The media have an obsession with Pakistan. All developments in that country get prominent coverage. I rarely find Scandinavian countries in the news. 

(Reference: Vestad, Jon Peder. (Wednesday, May 02, 2001) Media in India as independent as in the US. Volda University College, Norway: Vestads Journal.)

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Reference

Sengupta, Hindol. (Sunday, March 18, 2001) Irreverent Internet journalism is India's new crusader. India Abroad News Service; Australia: Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC).

http://www.apnic.net/mailing-lists/s-asia-it/archive/2001/03/msg00028.html

 

"We have pushed the borders of journalism. In this way, we are police, prosecutor and journalist," said Aniruddha Bahal, one of the Tehelka reporters who led the defense deals expose.

 

Analysts agree, saying traditional media has increasingly become cozy with the establishment over the years, partly due to laziness and partly fearing losing special favors.

 

"They (the traditional media) are really bothered about profits, which are no doubt important, but it has meant increasingly cozying with the government and taking public credibility for granted," said Bhaskar Rao. "There is a void in constructive criticism of the establishment."

 

This is the void that upstart online news organizations are filling. "What Tehelka has started to do is an example for all (Web) sites to follow, if they want to draw public attention and gain credibility," said M. K. Venu, who quit his job as financial editor of The Economic Times newspaper to lead e-indiabiz.com, a business news portal.

 

"Can you ever imagine any newspaper in India doing what Tehelka is doing?" asked Venu, adding, "They are far too lazy and inclined to maintain the status quo policy of never doing anything to upset the establishment, fearing stoppage to favors."

 

Nearly 2,000 dotcoms, all needing journalists to fill news sections, have mushroomed in India during the last year. Higher salaries and, often, stock options, have lured journalists away from newspapers, who for years paid most of them a pittance.

 

Now the same newspaper hacks are donning a new avatar as "content managers." Analysts say a hit combination of new technology, new attitude and an unshackled atmosphere is what makes Net journalism so appealing, though it is also pointed out that there are any number of news Web sites which have been affected badly in the past years as the Internet business slumped worldwide.

 

India currently has an estimated 4.5 million Internet users, projected to double every year for the next four years. This means an approximate 100 million users by 2008. The numbers have meant international Internet portals like Yahoo!, Lycos, Alta Vista and MSN launching Indian portals and tying up with Indian content providers.

 

And as the market grows online journalism thrives. "The Web as a serious news medium has certainly arrived in India," said Madan Mohan Rao.

 

But some remain skeptical. "Two exposes by a Web site do not mean you can write off the newspapers and television. Remember the Tehelka tapes gained prominence only after they were highlighted by the traditional media," said Ajit Bhattacharjea, director of the Press Institute of India.

 

"Also, it is good if they use the new technology for public service, but if they fall to the temptation of probing private lives, it will be unfortunate," Bhattacharjea added.

(Reference: Sengupta, Hindol. (Sunday, March 18, 2001) Irreverent Internet journalism is India's new crusader. India Abroad News Service; Australia: Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC))

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Reference

Clark, Drew. (Monday, January 20, 2003) Bowdlerizing for Columbine? Why American directors have no moral rights to their movies. USA: Slate, MSN.

http://slate.msn.com/id/2077192/

 

The French term droit moral, or "moral rights," is perhaps better translated as the right of personality. It implies that the artist's personal integrity is at stake in the way his works are seen and heard. It means that Steven Spielberg is personally harmed whenever someone knowingly views an altered copy of Saving Private Ryan. Theoretically, these rights stem from continental European philosophies, in which a copyright is a property right or a personality right of the artist, justified because his artwork springs from his creative genius. France has taken this to an extraordinary degree: An artist who sells a painting can still stop its owner from destroying it, and an author can force his publisher to stop selling a book if he no longer believes in it.

 

Traditionally, America has had little patience for such airy theories of copyright. Our law explicitly grounds copyrights (and patents) in the utilitarian bargain between a creator and her public—not in theories of intrinsic moral rights. Authors write books for the enjoyment of readers and for the advancement of public knowledge. In exchange for this benefit to the public, the Constitution empowers Congress to grant them certain exclusive rights for a limited period of time, so as to make money for their efforts. While the First Amendment protects artists from government censorship, it also protects those who would criticize or mock an artist's vision. The United States acceded to the Berne Convention —the main international copyright treaty in 1988—which subsequently granted limited moral rights to painters and sculptors, and this approach to copyright has in recent years been creeping into U.S. court decisions. This notion took another step forward last week when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Eldred v. Ashcroft that Congress' 20-year extension of copyright terms did no injustice to the copyright bargain. In a 7-2 decision, the court barely addressed First Amendment concerns about an expansive reading of copyright law.

 

The tensions between moral rights and free speech can't be avoided in the Clean Flicks lawsuit, where rival worldviews—copyright for "authors" versus copyright for "readers"—butt heads. Although the studios and directors charge all 11 companies with copyright and trademark infringement, the editing and filtering companies make different arguments in their defense. The Clean Flicks folks say they respect those copyrights by only making a single edited copy for each original video or DVD they purchase. Moreover, certain acts of copying can be excused under the "fair use" doctrine, which permits individuals and companies to make limited uses or noncommercial copies of others' copyrighted works. But recent court decisions have limited businesses' ability to claim "fair use" as a defense. In other words, it may be legal for a consumer to cut offensive scenes out of her own videotape, but illegal for a company to do it for her—even though Clean Flicks claims that it is merely offering a service for its "members."

(Reference: Clark, Drew. (Monday, January 20, 2003) Bowdlerizing for Columbine? Why American directors have no moral rights to their movies. USA: Slate, MSN.)

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Reference

Botkin, Richard. (Tuesday, January 28, 2003) The very best men. USA: WorldNetDaily.com.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=30715

 

He is the living embodiment of Marine Corps virtues. He is the grizzled, sagacious warrior-father to all Marines. His wisdom and insight is considered as near gospel. On that spring day, Gen. Barrow – a three-war veteran and Navy Cross recipient – mused in his manly and mild drawl that in all the combat in which he had participated, he had never seen a crowded battlefield. The auditorium was silent as he delivered counsel which I will never forget: "It is not how many you have. It is who you have that determines every battle's outcome."

(Reference: Botkin, Richard. (Tuesday, January 28, 2003) The very best men. USA: WorldNetDaily.com.)

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Cross Reference

Mahabharata war - Lord Krishna on one side and the Yadava army on the other side.

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Reference

Andrei Zolotov Jr. (Wednesday, February 05, 2003) Orthodox Church Takes On Rasputin. Russia: The Moscow Times.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2003/02/05/003.html

 

"Those demanding the canonization of Ivan the Terrible and Rasputin are a small but very noisy group," said Alexander Dvorkin, the church's leading expert on sects. "This will be followed by demands to canonize Stalin -- there is already some so-called research showing that he was secretly a monk. It is impossible to disprove all of these myths.

"Religious hysterics are the basis of this pseudo-Orthodox sect acting within our church."

(Reference: Andrei Zolotov Jr. (Wednesday, February 05, 2003) Orthodox Church Takes On Rasputin. Russia: The Moscow Times.)

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Reference

Farah, Joseph. (Thursday, February 06, 2003) 'Gods and Generals'. USA: WorldNetDaily.com.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=30902

 

Starring Robert Duvall as Robert E. Lee and Stephan Land as Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, it is a must-see – as perfect a movie as fallen human beings are capable of producing.

 

Uniquely, this film recognizes the deep spiritual values of those involved in this conflict – on both sides. Soldiers pray in this movie. They pray heartfelt, sincere prayers. They read scripture. They make great personal sacrifices to carry out their duty. They love and revere their wives.

(Reference: Farah, Joseph. (Thursday, February 06, 2003) 'Gods and Generals'. USA: WorldNetDaily.com.)

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Reference

Casey, Doug. (Thursday, February 13, 2003) Radiological weapons. USA: WorldNetDaily.com.

 

While getting more radiation statistically leads to more cancer, it also creates an effect known as hormesis. Hormesis is a phenomenon whereby a little bit of something that's poisonous actually has a beneficial effect; it appears true of almost everything – mercury, lead, arsenic, dioxin, radiation, you-name-it. The mechanism for this effect is debated, but it seems likely that it's a result of the stimulation of the immune system in a way peculiar to each poison. It's likely why, for instance, kids that fearlessly play in dirt tend to be healthier than those whose parents try to insulate them in sterile bubbles.

(Reference: Casey, Doug. (Thursday, February 13, 2003) Radiological weapons. USA: WorldNetDaily.com.)

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Reference

Graves, Rachel. (Monday, February 24, 2003) `I'm trying to get off death row' - Inmate seeking stay with retardation claim. USA: HoustonChronicle.com.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metropolitan/1791715

 

…the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that executing the mentally retarded is cruel and unusual punishment.

A victims advocate called mental retardation the "brass ring" for death row defendants.

At least seven Texas death row inmates have had their executions postponed on the grounds that they may be mentally retarded. The latest was Gregory Van Alstyne, who was scheduled to be executed last Tuesday. Several more appeals on the grounds of mental retardation are pending.

A bill before the Texas Legislature, which is trying to make the state's death penalty law agree with last year's Supreme Court decision, would classify defendants with an IQ of 70 or below as mentally retarded.

"One of the traits of mentally retarded people is that they're very easily led ... or persuaded by others," Marcus said. "It could be that he's an extremely limited and vulnerable individual."

(Reference: Graves, Rachel. (Monday, February 24, 2003) `I'm trying to get off death row' - Inmate seeking stay with retardation claim. USA: HoustonChronicle.com.)

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Reference

Borin, Elliot. (Monday, September 16, 2002) Private Info Becoming Plane Truth. USA: Wired News.

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,55037,00.html

 

"A basic issue in privacy is 'function creep,'" said Lee Tien, senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Once a surveillance system is put in place for a particular function, for example, aviation security ... it can be used for many other functions as well. We've seen this with Social Security numbers on the government side and, of course, with customer databases on the private side.

"The trick is to tie this kind of surveillance to some kind of benefit or transaction that large numbers of people must periodically sign up for or renew, like car registration or renewing a driver's license. You don't have to chase people down; they come to you."

Tien notes that CAPPS II also raises backend issues such as an individual's right to view and correct errors in files and securing the database against hacking by outsiders and misuse by insiders.

(Reference: Borin, Elliot. (Monday, September 16, 2002) Private Info Becoming Plane Truth. USA: Wired News.)

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Reference

Casey, Doug. (Thursday, March 06, 2003) Privateers and mercenaries. USA: WorldNetDaily.com.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=31378

 

As long as the U.S. still has something that passes for a constitution (notwithstanding the fact that it's mostly a dead letter), I would prefer to do something constitutional. The rarely read document contains, almost unknown to Boobus Americanus, a provision (Article I, Section 8) allowing for "Letters of Marque and Reprisal," which is to say, privateers – units licensed by their own governments to fight a war. Privateering, which has been around (in a modern context) since at least the 16th century, originated as a way for merchants and shippers to recover value if their property was stolen by a foreign country. Ships flying that nation's colors would be captured, taken to a neutral port, and have the action adjudicated. The incentive for the privateer was a fat commission on the auctioned vessel and its contents.

Eight hundred privateers were licensed in the Revolution. In the War of 1812, the 500-odd licensed American privateers took about 1,750 British ships.

Why, if privateering was so successful, has it disappeared? Governments of the time considered privateers to be the terrorists of their day, and they were abolished by international agreement in the mid-19th century. The increasingly large-standing armies and navies of the time, like the Post Office, or any other government agency, didn't like to be compared with entrepreneurs. But entrepreneurial privateers, mercenaries, private detectives and bounty hunters were then, and are now, by far the best way to rid the world of undesirable elements.

In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, a group of American businessmen, headed by one Edward Lozzi of Beverly Hills, Calif., was apparently intending to offer a $1 billion bounty to any private citizens who brought in the perpetrators, dead or alive. Ross Perot used private forces to free his employees trapped in Iran in 1979. The only really successful military force in Sierra Leone was Executive Outcomes. If the mercenaries had been left alone, and the U.N. had been kept out, Katanga would have split off from the Congo in the '60s, and things could only have been better than they turned out.

Are mercenaries effective as soldiers? Extremely. The best fighting force in the world, man for man, has always been the French Foreign Legion. Although the examples from history are legion, it's possible to get an even better idea of how things might be from literature.

I submit Ragnar Danesjold from "Atlas Shrugged," and Captain Nemo from "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" as two examples. Television offers "Paladin" from "Have Gun, Will Travel." An excellent (and very funny) movie illustrating what would likely happen if soldiers are on commission is Clint Eastwood's movie "Kelly's Heroes." Those who think war can be fun will be especially entertained.

I'm quite anti-war in general principle, of course – war is the health of the state. That's not to say, however, I don't think there are many individuals and groups that need killing – although reasonable men can differ about who they might be. That being the case, I believe that if someone (like Bush, say) wants to go out and do some killing, he ought to do it for his own account. I certainly don't want to be forced to pay for his notions, or be considered guilty of them simply because I'm an American.

For those of you who are interested in a complete explanation of how all this would work in practice, I suggest "The Market for Liberty," by Morris and Linda Tannehill ($11.50, Laissez Faire Books, telephone number: 415-541-9780.     

(Reference: Casey, Doug. (Thursday, March 06, 2003) Privateers and mercenaries. USA: WorldNetDaily.com.)

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Reference

Abortion on the rise in Philippines. (Thursday, December 13, 2001) UK: BBC News.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1709313.stm

 

"Women who have no education and control over their minds and bodies often submit to their male partners' decisions and sexual needs, even if it runs against their wishes," the commission (the Philippines Population Commission) said.

(Reference: Abortion on the rise in Philippines. (Thursday, December 13, 2001) UK: BBC News.)

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Reference

Associated Press. (Sunday, March 09, 2003) Report: Mel Gibson is building church for his Catholic movement. USA: MercuryNews.com.

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/5353470.htm

 

"Go and ask an undertaker or the guy who operates the crematorium what it takes to get rid of a body," the elder Gibson says in Sunday's editions of The New York Times Magazine. "It takes one liter of petrol and 20 minutes. Now, six million?"

Gibson and his son, the star of blockbuster films like "Braveheart" and "Lethal Weapon," are practitioners of an ultraconservative Catholic movement known as traditionalism. The small splinter group seeks to revive orthodox practices that were abandoned several centuries ago by mainstream Catholicism.

In addition, Gibson is directing a film that depicts the last 12 hours in the life of Jesus Christ. The movie, "The Passion," is in production in Rome, with the actors speaking only Latin and Aramaic.

Gibson declined comment for the Times article, but at a news conference to announce the film last September, he acknowledged the difficulty in finding a U.S. studio or distributor for the project.

"Obviously, nobody wants to touch something filmed in two dead languages. They think I'm crazy, and maybe I am. But maybe I'm a genius," Gibson said.

(Reference: Associated Press. (Sunday, March 09, 2003) Report: Mel Gibson is building church for his Catholic movement. USA: MercuryNews.com.)

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Reference

Buchanan, Patrick J. (Monday, March 10, 2003) The case for torture. USA: WorldNetDaily.com.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=31437

 

Before America had its vast prison system, petty criminals were locked in stocks in the town square as humiliation. Others were flogged. Barbaric, we now say. But was flogging immoral?

Today, many believe that public caning of young criminals, and their return to society for a second chance, would be far better for them and us. It might be a superior deterrent to crime than dumping them into the animal cages that are too many of American prisons, where young offenders face sexual abuse and are exposed to the daily example of how incorrigible criminals succeed and fail.

Who would not prefer a thrashing that might even put one in a hospital for a week to spending years in such a prison?

(Reference: Buchanan, Patrick J. (Monday, March 10, 2003) The case for torture. USA: WorldNetDaily.com.)

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Reference

Zwartz, Barney. (Wednesday, March 12, 2003) Pope offers Saddam 72 hours to go into exile. Australia: The Age.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/03/11/1047144971917.html

 

"A mountain of surface mail, email, faxes and phone calls are our devices to inspire him."

Yesterday she said she was getting hundred of emails daily.

She said the Pope had been active in opposing war. "I think he feels passionate. He's an old man who is very sick with nothing to lose."

(Reference: Zwartz, Barney. (Wednesday, March 12, 2003) Pope offers Saddam 72 hours to go into exile. Australia: The Age.)

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Reference

Davidson, Kenneth. (Thursday, March 20 2003) The real reasons America is invading Iraq. Australia: The Age.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/03/19/1047749824415.html

 

It would be fatal to America's global strategic ambitions if countries in Europe began to ask for euros instead of US dollars for their exports, or if China demanded settlement of their accounts with the US in yuan instead of US dollars. The US would have to redirect domestic demand for imported goods paid for in dollar-denominated IOUs into exports to earn yuan and euros to pay for US imports.

 

It is difficult to see how the US could develop new, internationally competitive industries and run a military machine on the scale envisaged by the think tank without a massive increase in taxation and redistribution of wealth to the productive elements in the economy without precipitating a global recession.

 

In 2000, Saddam's regime had the temerity to demand payment in euros for the trickle of Iraqi oil the US has allowed onto the international market. Iran and Venezuela are following Iraq's example. This is the real threat to US hegemony.

Bush personifies the American quest for absolute security. Americans don't yet understand or care that this status can only be achieved by making everybody else absolutely insecure.

 

This is why the most lasting thing to come out of the war with Iraq is likely to be the faster development of a unified Western Europe and an economically powerful China to challenge US hegemony.

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Reference

War trumps sex online: Conflict in Iraq overtakes most popular search term. (Friday, March 21, 2003) USA: WorldNetDaily.com.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=31651

 

British Web surfers are at least temporarily more interested in war than the subject that has long ruled the Internet.

 

"War was our top search term today, taking over from perennial favorites -- sex, Britney and travel," said Nadia Schofield, a spokeswoman for Freeserve, the UK's largest Internet service provider.

 

Reuters said Freeserve tracks day-to-day changes in popular search terms and notes, to no one's surprise, that sex-related terms long have been the most dominant.

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Reference

Anna McDermott. (Saturday, March 29, 2003) Iraq's female health crisis. UK: BBC News.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2896945.stm

 

UNFPA has worked in Iraq since 1972 providing training and supplies to meet the reproductive health needs of this very young population, with a large number of young women entering their childbearing years.

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Personal Note

The second Gulf war. By land…the coming of the US army. The elite troops. Cross pollination…for a mightier race…

The concept is similar to having a lot of cows in a land. For a long time, native bulls used to fertilize them. As time went on, the quality of milk and that of the off-spring began to DECREASE. So what you do is bring in a foreign bull or bulls, which are hand-picked and the best, to fertilize the native cows. The next off-springs will be more better and milk quality will be more.

Need not be cows alone. Can be any female entity – horses, animals, flowers, plants etc.

For example, the best racing horses are selectively cross-bred.

In any society, due to social restrictions, status etc. such cross-breeding in humans is frowned upon. Normally man marries from within his community or religion. But in the event of war, the natural process of better offspring have to occur, and it occurs voluntarily or by means of force. Voluntary can be due to poverty. Society terms it prostitution. The other, the use of force, society ignorantly term it as rape or military atrocities in occupied territories.

Also refer:

Myers, Peter. Neither Aryan Nor Jew. Australia.

Written around 03:25 pm Sunday, March 30, 2003

Revised around 02:25 pm Tuesday, April 22, 2003

 

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Reference

Catherine Armitage. (Saturday, March 29, 2003) Unlikely Chinese hero. Australia: The Age.

http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,6204242%255E401,00.html

 

The industry bible also describes the camerawork of Australian cinematographer Chris Doyle as sensational, with "one after another succulent composition". In another Australian link, post-production (sound and editing) was completed by Atlab Australia at Fox Studios in Sydney.

 

Doyle, whose credits include Rabbit-Proof Fence and The Quiet American, says the film's beauty came from his being forced to let the stunning but logistically challenging natural settings – a lake in Sichuan, a desert in Xinjiang, a forest in Inner Mongolia – tell their own story. For him, much of the battle was accepting that "I can't light the desert, I can't make the water still".

 

Like others involved in making the film, Doyle denies knowledge of any intentional political undertones.

 

Even in Chinese newspapers, Zhang was criticised for failing to present the Qin king's true monstrosity. He was accused of focusing instead on a message the present leadership likes – the supreme importance of a unified China.

 

Says Doyle of Zhang: "Whether he is pandering to the Government, only he knows. In my mind he has opened a lot of doors. Maybe in 10 years we will see it as a brilliant strategy to make more art films, so all of us can do more films [in China] in the future."

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Reference

Gay, Lance. (Wednesday, April 02, 2003) Saddam's tactics could allow him to survive war. USA: Scripps Howard News Service.

http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=WHATIF-04-02-03&cat=II

 

Military strategists say that Saddam seems to be following the advice of Mao Zedong, who wrote the mother of all textbooks in 1928 on how a weaker force can paralyze well-equipped and far superior armies.

 

Mao's recipe was to avoid conventional battles, relying instead on mobile forces and a protracted form of skirmish warfare that wins by harassment. It worked for Mao, who fought off an invading Japanese army, and later defeated the Chinese Nationalist government.

Vickers said Saddam is acting this time more like Serbia's Slobodan Milosevic, who also chose not to confront United States air power. Since the Iraqi war started March 19, the Pentagon said not a single Iraqi warplane has been launched.

 

Vickers bets Iraq's strategy is to count on the main fights to come in the wooded areas south of Baghdad, where U.S. forces will be forced into a bottleneck by the narrowing of the plain between the Tigris and Euphrates River. With the arrival of Iraq's summer killer heat, fighting will become more traditional with Iraqis using Russian-made Kornet anti-tank missiles smuggled in from Syria to knock out American M-1 tanks.

 

"He's hoping to blood the United States, and stall for time," Vickers said.

 

Iraq's strategy is not a surprise to U.S. war planners. In speeches and interviews before the war, Iraq's military leaders said their strategy was to drag America into a Vietnam quagmire.

 

"Let our cities be our swamps and our buildings our jungles," said Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, detailing the strategy to turn Baghdad into a "Saddamograd," a play on the Stalingrad siege of World War II.

 

Some analysts forecast before the war erupted that the U.S. strategy for the war in Iraq was flawed, and Saddam might win.

 

Before the war started, Joseph Balkoski, author of the Normandy invasion book "Beyond the Beachhead," posted an article on the History News Network, predicting the swift advance of U.S. forces toward Baghdad, and then trouble.

 

"There will be chaos in civil strife within the areas overrun by the U.S. Army," Balkoski wrote. "We will not attack Baghdad directly by land (aside from the insertion of special forces), but encircle it and commence a protracted period of surgical air strikes within the city to destroy completely its infrastructure. We will endeavor at this point to submit the encircled population to tremendous psychological warfare: turn against Saddam and his henchmen or face a protracted (and horrible) siege. It won't work."

 

In the posting, Balkoski predicted eventually that public outrage in Europe and the Arab world at the effect of the war on Baghdad's civilian population would become so intense, it would force the United States to withdraw, and Saddam would emerge from the war alive.

 

Balkoski said his predictions were simply based on reading military histories that show that armies faced with overwhelming force devise some simple technique to confront it.

 

"Saddam saw us coming for months and years, and he's not as stupid to allow the same thing that happened in 1991 to happen again," he said.

 

Balkoski said the problem facing Iraq now is keeping the momentum up and supplying its insurgent forces with food and fresh ammunition. "Keeping them armed, fed and in action is going to be a major problem for them."

 

He said the U.S. war plan looks like it is changing, and he now expects the Pentagon to order Baghdad taken rather than putting the city and its 5 million residents under siege. He said this sort of warfare is something the Pentagon sought to avoid, and would result in high casualties from house-to-house fighting. While he expects this strategy to be successful, Balkoski said it's still possible for Saddam, a former Baath Party intelligence officer, to slip into a disguise, escape the destruction of Baghdad, and hide out in Iraq's mountains to raise another army, and fight another day.

 

Middle East experts say the Bush administration has not done enough to try and blunt Iraqi nationalism, and contend the Pentagon has given Saddam a moral victory by arrogantly assuming Iraq's armies would collapse when confronted by forces that have so many technological-advances.

 

"Iraqi's are very nationalistic, and if they perceive this as being the United States versus Iraq, and not Saddam, then we are in trouble," said Iranian-born Guity Nashat, an associate professor of Middle East history at the University of Illinois in Chicago. "Obviously, we have miscalculated how easy it would be to get rid of Iraqi forces."

 

Nashat said the key to American success in Iraq is ensuring Saddam's speedy death. Although Iraq has called for a jihad, or holy war against America, she doubts that Saddam will find many supporters in the Middle East, where his 23-year regime has made so many enemies.

 

University of Michigan professor Juan Cole said he worries the Baath Party will be able to claim a victory by forcing U.S.-led forces heading toward Baghdad to adopt aggressive tactics and brutal bombings that will bring higher levels of civilian casualties and provoke a public relations nightmare. "That is within Saddam's reach," he said.

 

Qubad Talabany, deputy representative of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, said so much is riding on American success in this war, that democracy throughout the Middle East could be damaged if it doesn't come out well.

 

A defeat, Talabany warned, would only fuel the rise of anti-American Islamic clerics "If we fail, you can kiss goodbye to secular democracy in the Middle East."

 

On the Net: www.hnn.us

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Reference (Key points only)

Ellen Ratner. (Friday, April 04, 2003) Embed or in bed? USA: WorldNetDaily.com.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=31878

 

Lawyers have an old saying: "Always make sure that it's the client who goes to jail." The counterpart for journalists is to make sure that they should never become the story. They're not sent overseas to write their autobiographies – they're over there to report, period.

The old adage, "When in Rome do what the Romans do," has no greater force than with reporters who travel with military units.

Like it or not, whether you're male or female, Democrat, Republican, Independent or pop-goes-the-weasel, when embedded, you become one of the Band of Brothers. And that means discipline, prudence, and the absolute necessity of engaging the brain before any other bodily organ.

 

And that brings me to the central question: Are embedded reporters too much "in bed" with the military units they cover? This criticism has been raised, and there is an important psychological basis for it. Out "there" reporters are non-combatants against an enemy that doesn't really recognize non-combatants. A reporter is guarded by the soldiers he or she is sent to report about – his or her life depends on them. The reporter eats, sleeps and answers nature's calls with them; they ride, march and hikes with them; tolerates freezing desert nights, sweaty NBC suits and the lack of hygiene and privacy with them. Fear, boredom, anger and sadness are also part of the shared experience. Who could possibly be "objective" in these circumstances? Who would even want to be objective?

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Reference (Key points only)

Saddam trains kids to kill. (Thursday, April 04, 2003) USA: WorldNetDaily.com.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=31869

 

Keni Thomas, an Army Ranger who fought in Somalia, said that in the heat of battle, a soldier is a soldier.

 

"At the time, it is not a difficult decision to make," he told the paper. "In the end, only you know what you see down your sight. Whether it's a man, woman, child or machine firing at you, it's a threat."

 

In a December 2002 report titled "Iraq: A Population Silenced," the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor disclosed that Saddam Hussein forces "children between the ages of 10 and 15 to attend 3-week training courses in weapons’ use, hand-to-hand fighting, rappelling from helicopters, and infantry tactics. These children endure 14 hours of physical training and psychological pressure each day." If families object to having their children turned into soldiers for Saddam, said the State Department report, they're "threatened with the loss of their food ration cards."

 

Saddam's recruitment and cultivation of child warriors is not surprising considering his close ties with the Palestinian Authority. As WorldNetDaily has reported, under the direction of PA leader Yasser Arafat, Palestinian children are commonly taught to hate Jews, to glorify jihad, violence, death and child martyrdom almost the earliest ages. Use of children as warriors, human shields and as suicide bombers is an essential part of the Palestinians' war strategy against Israel.

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Personal Note

 

"…children between the ages of 10 and 15 to attend 3-week training courses in weapons’ use, hand-to-hand fighting, rappelling from helicopters, and infantry tactics. These children endure 14 hours of physical training and psychological pressure each day."

 

THAT is the age of physical and psychological changes for any human child – puberty, adolescence, youth – the age from 10 to 15. In society, with current Westernization and promiscuity many a small kid, boy or girl, yearn to explore the forbidden fruit at that small age…THAT bad habit is effectively countered by COMPULSORY military training…

Very praise worthy!

Written around 01:55 pm Friday, April 04, 2003

Revised around 02:00 pm Friday, April 04, 2003

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Reference

Alford, Roger. (Saturday, April 19, 2003) Auto accident serves as spiritual wake-up call. USA: Associated Press.

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20030419-79411282.htm

 

"I've known him all his life," he said. "If something hadn't changed his life, he would have fought those charges as far and as long as he could. He's strong-headed."

     Defense attorney Scott Lisenbee said this tiny eastern Kentucky community is standing behind Mr. Braithwaite, despite previous concerns that he may have feigned religion to avoid prosecution.

     "Everyone seems convinced that's not the case," Mr. Lisenbee said.

Mr. Braithwaite, 42, said an automobile accident served as a spiritual wake-up call. He said he was fortunate to come away with scrapes, bruises, torn ligaments and four ruptured discs in a crash so severe that he could have been killed.

     Had that happened, Mr. Braithwaite asked himself, "Where would I spend eternity?"

     Mr. Braithwaite said he wrestled with the question for the next two months, then headed to services at a little country church.

     "They were kind of surprised when I walked in," he said, chuckling at the memory. "A lot of them were happy to see me there. A lot of others wondered what in the world I was doing there."

     After his baptism, Mr. Braithwaite dropped his business' old name, Love World, and now calls his store Mike's Place. He covered the red outer walls with a fresh coat of white paint and the words "Jesus Saves." Inside, shelves of Bibles and other Christian books are displayed where pornographic magazines and other merchandise used to be.

Marcia Bartenhagen, news editor of Christian Retailing Magazine in Lake Mary, Fla., said Bible suppliers were so touched by Mr. Braithwaite's story that several sent him books and materials to help stock his store.

     "It was just a complete 180-degree turn for someone who had been selling sex products to be so passionate about his Christian faith," Miss Bartenhagen said. "He took a chance on a completely new business, not knowing if there was a market for it, just to say he's following God now. It was such an encouragement."

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Reference

Liedtke, Michael. (Saturday, April 19, 2003) Some see cronyism in success of Bechtel. USA: Associated Press.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/1874522

 

"It's our business to have knowledgeable people so we can have the breadth and depth of talent to tackle the things that most other people in the world can't," Bechtel spokesman Jeff Berger said.

The company has backed its contacts within Washington with sizable campaign contributions. Bechtel gave $1.3 million to political candidates from 1999 through 2002, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

 

That's a lot less than other influential businesses. The donations look like small change compared with the money Bechtel earns from the government.

The Iraq contract is just the latest example of Bechtel winning a big government job from a friendly administration.

 

After serving as treasury secretary in the Nixon administration, George Shultz was Bechtel's president for seven years before he left in 1981 to become secretary of state in the Reagan administration.

 

While Shultz was America's top diplomat, the U.S. government tried unsuccessfully to persuade Saddam Hussein to let Bechtel build a pipeline to carry Iraqi crude oil through Jordan to the Red Sea port of Aqaba.

 

In 1983, Rumsfeld, while working as a special U.S. envoy in the Middle East, traveled to Baghdad to discuss the pipeline with Saddam and Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, according to memos in the National Archives.

 

Iraq nixed the pipeline idea in 1986. Shultz has since returned to Bechtel's board of directors.

 

Bechtel exemplifies "the revolving door between government and business that Washington has helped perpetuate for years," said Jim Vallette of the Institute for Policy Studies, a Washington think tank. "We should have a separation between the state and corporations. Instead, they're acting more like partners."

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Reference

Cheryl Wetzstein. (Sunday, April 20, 2003) Jail time coming for deadbeat dads. USA: The Washington Times.

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20030420-7717031.htm        (De-activated link)

http://www.dadi.org/jailtime.htm                                                             (Alternate link)

 

April 20, 2003

 

Jail time coming for deadbeat dads

By Cheryl Wetzstein

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

 

     CHARLESTON, S.C. — Each week in this picturesque Southern city, around 50 fathers are rounded up and hauled into a crowded jail for the crime of not paying their court-ordered child support. Top Stories

 

     Most are quickly bailed out.

     But when the bailouts stop, the men step onto a well-worn path: Survive the tedium and frustration of months in jail. Upon release, find a job — any job. Keep paying enough child support to avoid the court's attention. Sooner or later, get re-arrested and re-incarcerated. This pattern is repeated often.

     Some men, such as Corey Wright, are now taking a path that is even more personally demanding, but it holds the promise of escaping the child-support merry-go-round.

     Mr. Wright, 34, graduated on Feb. 14 as a member of Class No. 7 of Project Restore, a program of Agape Ministries of Charleston. He has since been released from custody.

     For 16 weeks, he studied about life, parenthood and manhood. He also worked on construction sites, took college classes in carpentry and built houses with Habitat for Humanity.

     About $2,000 of the money he earned during the program went to pay down his child-support debt of $4,696.

     Today, Mr. Wright has a full-time restaurant-cleaning job that pays $8 an hour. He's easily staying current with his $149-a-month child-support bill and he's planning a return to hospital nursing work, which he prefers over carpentry.

     The program "has given me a good outlook on everything — it showed me how I was going about things the wrong way," he said. "Now I've got some plans."

     On the family side, Mr. Wright is reconnecting with the 6-year-old daughter he owes support for and strengthening ties to another son. He's also investing more in sons Corey Jr., 4, and KayMonte, 1.

     Project Restore has "changed Corey a lot," says the boys' mother, Katashia Campbell. "He's been coming to visit them a lot and calling to see what [the baby] needs. I think he'll be a good role model for them."

     'Pay or be incarcerated'

     The federal government estimates that $112 billion was owed in child support in 2001. A record $19 billion in child support was collected, but it barely dented the overall debt owed from previous years.

     Throughout America, state officials chase down and penalize deadbeat parents — garnishing paychecks, intercepting tax refunds and yanking driver's licenses. Jail is an option, but it's usually reserved as a last resort.

     Not so in South Carolina. "Here, it's pay or be incarcerated," says Family Court Judge Paul W. Garfinkel, whose docket is always filled with child-support cases.

     J. Corbitt Hinson III, a child-support official in the South Carolina Department of Social Services, agrees. "This is the wrong place to get a child-support tab. We go to court over $27," he says.

     This no-nonsense attitude, backed up by a dedicated law-enforcement staff and a computer system that keeps close track of child-support debts, means there's a steady stream of fathers jamming into the Charleston County Detention Center.

     The facility was built for around 700 people, but it often holds closer to 1,400.

     Most inmates are in for felonies such as carjacking or child molesting. But a "small but important part of the population" — typically 100 of the men and 10 of the 25 female inmates — are in the facility for not paying their child support, says Keith Novak, chief deputy of the Charleston County Sheriff's Office and administrator of the center.

     The child-support inmates are notorious for recidivism. "It's a revolving door," Mr. Novak says.

     Which is why prison officials, judges, child-support enforcers and the mayor perked up a few years ago when the Rev. Dallas D. Wilson Jr., known as "Brother Dallas," proposed Project Restore.

     It's a combination of work-release, life-skills and relationship programs "but with a faith-based and ownership component," Mr. Wilson says. The unique aspect of the program is its construction company, in which the men can become part owners, he says.

     Restoring hearts of men

     Project Restore begins in the detention center, such as what happened on a rainy November night.

     Several dozen inmates cram into a room with team leaders Kenneth Green and Timothy Grant.

     Project Restore has a buzz — inmates have heard that program graduates get out of jail early — so they are wary but interested.

     Mr. Green and Mr. Grant scan the packed room. They are looking for 18 men for Class No. 8 currently under way. Eligible candidates must be nonviolent, have jail sentences of at least one year, owe child support to the state and have a desire to change their lives.

 "We're not lawyers, judges, legal professionals or attorneys. We're trying to restore the hearts of men back to their children," says Mr. Green, a compact man who sports a neat ponytail, crisp shirt and tailored pants.

     For much of the next 90 minutes, he and Mr. Grant listen patiently to the complaints of inmates: "I owed $9,000. Judge gave me a $100 fine and 90 days to pay," one inmate says indignantly. "I owe $1,200, and got a $400 fine and no time to pay," another says. "We're on a one-way railroad — [the debts are] growing while we sit in here," another growls.

     "You were there before all this started," Mr. Green interjects.

     But the sob stories continue: "A lot of us were paying support to the women, not to the court, then the court said the money was a gift," says one man with dreadlocks. "Garfinkel gave me 21 months. No leniency from him," another jeers.

     When Mr. Green has heard enough, he levels with the men. "I have a wife and six kids. I did three years in the state pen. I got out and did a mistake again and got 18 more months. People wrote me off, too, but I got a second chance.

     "Nothing was given to me," Mr. Green adds, as the men sit silently. "It took six years to get back on my feet. I started as a driver, 5 to midnight, 200 miles a night. It's hard. But I know if you apply yourself, you can help others."

     Mr. Grant, a burly teddy bear of a man with a goatee, steps to the front of the room.

     "I pay child support now," he says. "I've been incarcerated and in the courts. She got welfare and I've got to pay for it. But don't be negative and you can overcome."

     Mr. Green and Mr. Grant collect 40 applications that night. They agree that a few of the men look promising.

     A new beginning

     Class No. 7, which began Nov. 4, has 16 men. In the morning, they are driven from the detention center to the Agape Ministries building, located in a federal enterprise community. At night, they are returned to jail.

     Most of the men are in their 20s or 30s, and owe anywhere from $3,000 to $15,000 in child support. Malcolm, the one white father in the class, owes almost $50,000.

     One middle-age man named Thurmond, who like Malcolm asked that his last name not be used, seems especially grateful to be in the group. He is an Army veteran and a solid worker, and was once happily married to a woman with whom they now have three adult children. Then he found a girlfriend and got her pregnant. His wife divorced him, and his children stepped back from him. The girlfriend dumped him as well and sued him for child support. He now owes between $7,000 and $8,000. Jail was the final disgrace.

     "I tried hard to get into this program," Thurmond explains quietly. "I want this to be a new beginning," he says, tears swelling in his eyes. "I lost a lot in the divorce."

     Mr. Wilson's wife, Janie, organizes and oversees the program. She teaches the men professional etiquette and the value of positive attitudes and adaptability. She insists on being addressed as "Mrs. Wilson."

     "It helps the men to rebuild respect for women," she says.

     The Rev. Jimmy S. Gallant III, a high-energy city council member who seems to know everyone in town, gives the class a pep talk about how they can "transform" themselves and "become a brand-new person in front of the people who know you."

     He also warns them: "In the beginning, you'll feel good, but then it's going to get intense. You're not going to be the same person a few weeks from now."

     Mr. Wilson, a well-spoken, large man, steps forward to lay out the 16-week program: During the week, it's life-skills classes and training on construction sites; on Tuesday and Thursday nights, it's college classes; on Saturdays, it's work with Habitat for Humanity.

     Project Restore pays the men $7 an hour or $224 a week. About three-quarters of these earnings go to their child-support debts. The men keep $8.50 a week, which isn't much, but it beats the $1-a-day they could earn working in jail. The rest of the men's earnings go toward paying for meals and other program costs.

     Participants must abide by the rules. Stealing, substance abuse and unauthorized visitors are cause for dismissal. "No one will send you back [to jail] but yourself," Mr. Wilson says.

     Upon graduation, most men take jobs with contractors or work for Peithos Construction Co., which is owned and operated by Project Restore graduates. If they stay with Peithos, "they can become part-owners and share in the profits," Mr. Wilson says.

     "As a result of their labor, they should own something," he explains. Also, as owners and allies, they can beat the "last hired, first fired" syndrome that felons typically face in the work force.

     But work and child support are only the external goals for the men, says Mr. Wilson, who is candid about growing up in a fatherless home and being "a thug and a hoodlum" before turning his life around and earning a doctorate in theology.

     The deeper goals are to "restore, reclaim and reintegrate" the men with their children, family and society, he says.

     Each class likes to hear these goals, Mr. Wilson says, but they usually have no idea how hard it will be to do it.

     "No one likes change but a wet baby," he says with a chuckle.

     A 'hands-on' program

     Project Restore was started in 1997 and won a federal welfare-to-work grant for 1999. Today, its major funders are the South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families, South Carolina Department of Social Services and the Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina.

     Mr. Wilson's living expenses are underwritten by Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, the Arlington-based philanthropy that supports extraordinary "social entrepreneurship."

     Project Restore ran into funding snags over its payments to the men — which are now resolved, Mr. Wilson says. It also had to maintain its allies in law enforcement, child support, family court and the local business community.

     "There was a time when this program was nearly dead," he says. "If any [of the major players] had said, 'It's over,' it would have been over."

     But Judge Garfinkel says he supports Project Restore because it addresses his two biggest headaches: chronic nonpayment of child support and poor relationships between the men and their children.

     If a noncustodial parent is connected to his children, it's less likely he "will be back in front of me," the judge says. It's also less likely that the child will end up in juvenile court and less likely that there will be neglect and abuse. "I think it's a win-win all the way around," he says.

     Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley, who has helped the program get community development funds, approves of it because it's "hands-on, one human being at a time."

     Child-support prosecutor Pamela Brown says she backs Project Restore because its graduates "rarely" come back through her office — out of 81 graduates so far, about 15 have returned to jail on child-support charges. "I have to do my job of putting 'em away," she says, but supporting Project Restore "is my way of giving back."

     There's a unique accountability in the program, Mr. Novak, the detention center's administrator, said.

     With regular work-release programs, if one man walks off a job site, the other men may not say anything. But once when a Project Restore man walked off a site, "the other guys told on him. Their attitude was, 'You are not going to [mess] this up for us,' and they gave his address to Kenny [Green]," the chief recalls.

     "The men police themselves. The peer pressure goes the right way," Mr. Wilson says.

     The money goes the right way, too: It costs $18,000 to house a parent in jail for a year. Project Restore spends $9,021 per man, with about 38 percent of that going to child-support debt.

     A big downside, however, is Project Restore's capacity: Its current configuration allows for only about three classes a year, or 60 to 75 men.

     In contrast, the Department of Social Services has at least 15,600 child-support arrearage cases in Charleston County.

     'A blessing to me'

     Project Restore has the reputation of working with "the bottom of the barrel," as one child-support worker put it, but one wouldn't think it in meeting Darrell DeVaughn.

     Mr. DeVaughn, 34, graduated from Project Restore's Class No. 3, nearly three years ago.

     He and his wife, Davetta, have three children of their own and each has a child from another relationship. Mr. DeVaughn didn't pay support for his child and ran up a $3,000 debt.

     He says Project Restore helped him become a carpenter's apprentice, repay his entire debt and stay current with child support. He also learned how to overcome "my arrogance" and get along with Davetta.

     "The program lets the men believe in themselves," Mrs. DeVaughn says, tossing a smile at her husband, who smiles back.

     Kevin Evans, 37, is another Project Restore graduate. When he came to the program in 2000, he had a $21,000 debt for children by two women and a three-year jail sentence.

     Today, he works every day as a grounds keeper at a country club and part-time at nights at a restaurant. He is self-sufficient, pays $163 every two weeks to child support and has cut his debt in half.

     "I'm now on good terms," Mr. Evans says about his interactions with the mothers of his children. Working long hours doesn't leave much time for anything else, "but I feel real relief now. Project Restore has been a blessing to me," he says.

     Tall, muscular Kevin Gentile is both a Project Restore graduate and one of the program's employers. Being in jail "was humiliating," he says. "I used to get defensive and get into cursing and all that. I don't stress like that anymore."

     Mr. Gentile, now married and with a toddler, still pays child support for two other children but estimates the debt is down to $1,500 from $10,000.

     One afternoon, Mr. Gentile, who has his own flooring company, and other employers came to meet members of Class No. 7. He draws a respectful audience as he uses his calloused hands to demonstrate the most efficient way to pull lumber from a floor.

     Graduating to cheers

     On Valentine's Day 2003, Class No. 7 graduated to cheers and applause.

     "Overall, it was an exceptional class," Mr. Wilson said. Four of the 16 men exceeded everyone's expectations. One is Thurmond, the middle-aged man who lost his family when he had an affair.

     "He's in church on Sundays and keeps in touch. On one family night, he had the whole staff crying. His big son came — and they had been estranged for years — and they hugged and cried," Mr. Wilson said.

     One graduate has already entered a long-term rehabilitation program to overcome his drug addiction. He's going to be fine, says Mr. Wilson, but he admits he is worried about two other graduates — one is still grappling with his alcoholism and the other battles depression.

     "We are reaching out" for extra services for these men, he says.

     Corey Wright gave everyone a scare when he disappeared after graduating. It turns out that when he went home, his drug-dealing buddies showed up, calling him out. Mr. Wright promptly relocated to a sister's house.

     "When Corey got out, he nearly fell back into the same trap," Mr. Wilson said. "There's a lure, a magnetism, that draws these guys back to the circumstances that defeated them."

     But Mr. Wright seems to be "doing a lot better now; he's on track," Mr. Wilson said.

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Personal Note

A must read article for those men floating around women, how your life can be destroyed or chained forever by paying those women, as maintenance etc. ever after.

 

He also warns them: "In the beginning, you'll feel good, but then it's going to get intense. You're not going to be the same person a few weeks from now."

 

Also refer Lady Chatterley’s lover, the erotic novel by D H Lawrence, especially the conclusion, the advice given by the main character, the gardener, on the role of manual work, and celibacy to control oneself. All those sex romps in the secluded cabin, animal behavior in the open during heavy rain etc just a mental disease; only resulting in disgrace and dishonor. All that was needed was a bit of self-control, to tide over that emotional weak-moment.

 

     Kevin Evans, 37, is another Project Restore graduate. When he came to the program in 2000, he had a $21,000 debt for children by two women and a three-year jail sentence.

     Today, he works every day as a grounds keeper at a country club and part-time at nights at a restaurant. He is self-sufficient, pays $163 every two weeks to child support and has cut his debt in half.

     "I'm now on good terms," Mr. Evans says about his interactions with the mothers of his children. Working long hours doesn't leave much time for anything else, "but I feel real relief now. Project Restore has been a blessing to me," he says.

 

Written around 01:00 pm Sunday, April 20, 2003

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Reference

Samudra Gupta Kashyap. (Monday, April 21, 2003) Ulfa mortar terror turns out to be a 20-yr-old girl. India: Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=22430

 

‘‘Unlike the other ULFA cadre, she travelled by public transport and did not carry any cellphone or call up the leadership from Guwahati after she was sent out on these missions,’’ IGP Sharma said.

 

The IGP said that to carry out the two attacks, one on the Dispur capital complex in October and the other in the busy commercial area of Ambari on Christmas night, Dwipamani travelled with two-inch-long mortars in city buses. ‘‘Her most potent weapon was her complete anonymity and secrecy,’’ Sharma pointed out.

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Reference

S T Beuria. (Friday, April 18, 2003) Animal sacrifice continues in 33 Orissa temples. India: Deccan Herald.

http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/apr18/n1.asp

 

Officials in the law department are of the view that the practice cannot be completely prohibited with the help of laws unless the people voluntarily came forward to stop the practice with both the NGOs and the government playing a greater role in this regard.

(Reference: S T Beuria. (Friday, April 18, 2003) Animal sacrifice continues in 33 Orissa temples. India: Deccan Herald.)

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Personal Note

In a single word, lawlessness. The blase attitude of the bureaucrats. As if the men and women in Indian society are so good, that they voluntarily come forward to stop their criminal activities. Read through the spy devices and stalking material, how long those B******* men and women used those spy devices for cyber stalking, computer hacking and privacy violation! Do you expect these type of predators to reform themselves? Even the law with 1 crore penalty (IT 2000 law) doesn’t stop them. Maybe when some of their body parts are cleaved off…as punishment, THEN maybe the fear of similar harshness will stop copycats.

Also it is no wonder, the law department still retains laws from the 1800’s period, as an example of their blasé and unchanging nature, unaware of how much advanced and criminalized the society has become.

For when you have the scenario,

 

Indian Judicial system is notorious for the delays that defeat the very purpose for which an aggrieved person approaches a court. It is not without reason that there is a proverb in Kannada that in a Court battle, “To win is to lose and to lose is to die!".

(Reference: Na. Vijayashankar. Cyber Laws: Justice delayed is Justice denied India: www.itsecurity.gov.in.)

 

it is natural to say that we have complete lawlessness.

Written around 08:30 pm Monday, April 21, 2003

 

'Perfect' is a relative term. Nothing in this world is perfect. The persons who legislate the laws & by-laws also are neither perfect. The laws therefore enacted by them nor can be perfect. This law has emerged from the womb of globalization. It is at the threshold of development. In due course of exposure through varied & complicated issues it will grow to be a piece of its time legislation.

(Reference: Pati, Parthsarathy. Cyber-Crime Hardships to Curb It. India: Legal Service India.com.)

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Reference

Frances D'emilio. (Sunday, October 06, 2002) Pope Canonizes Opus Dei Founder. USA: Associated Press.

http://www.cin.org/archives/cinjub/200210/0022.html

 

Sainthood for the Spanish priest who founded the group in 1928 came just 27 years after his death -

one of the shortest waiting times in the Vatican's history.

The swift canonization underscored John Paul's support for a group that critics say is too elitist, inculcates unthinking devotion among its followers and encourages secretive practices, including self- flagellation and the wearing of hair shirts.

Some Catholics, including some former Opus Dei members, contended Escriva was unworthy of sainthood because he was ill-tempered and arrogant.

Opus Dei insists Escriva's leadership qualities were sometimes misunderstood and rejects the claims of elitism. Escriva held that sainthood need not require extraordinary deeds but could also be achieved by carrying out everyday tasks well, from being a homemaker to being a lawyer.

Opus Dei - which is Latin for "God's Work" - has more than 80,000 members, most of them from the laity and many of them holding top jobs in professions such as law, medicine, media and banking. It is led by a core of celibate professionals who often live in the organization's residences around the world.

"Certainly, incomprehension and difficulties aren't lacking for one intent on serving with fidelity the  cause of the Gospel," said the pontiff.

Many of those at the canonization came from Latin America, where Opus Dei has a strong foothold and where the Vatican is concerned about Catholics defecting to evangelical sects.

Making the pilgrimage from Fairfax Station, Va., was Austin Schmitt, an Opus Dei member who is deputy director of the Federal Maritime Commission in Washington, D.C.

"Today will help me to go back home and live the message of the saint to sanctify ordinary life," said

Schmitt.

Opus Dei's reputation for elitism started during the 1939-75 Spanish dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco. Many of the technocrats in his later governments belonged to the organization.

(Reference: Frances D'emilio. (Sunday, October 06, 2002) Pope Canonizes Opus Dei Founder. USA: Associated Press.)

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Reference

Silvester, John. (Friday, May 16, 2003) Peak claims elite police commander. Australia: The Age Company Ltd.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/05/15/1052885348380.html

 

Climbers who die in the Himalayas are often left where they fall but the police climbers have asked that their colleague's body be carried off the mountain.

 

The police team had been optimistic last week, explaining how they planned to reach Camp One (6300 metres) on Friday, Camp Two (7100 metres) on Saturday and Camp Three on Sunday before pushing to the summit. During the climb they reported frostbite, lack of circulation, altitude sickness and nightmares.

"Everest is the top of the world and I love climbing. There is nothing more demanding than high-altitude mountaineering," he said.

 

"Above 8000 metres conditions are very, very hard . . . Oxygen is one-third of what it is at sea level . . . It can take you up to two hours to get dressed because you are moving so slowly. The conditions are almost inhuman. Everything's a struggle.

 

"A lot can defeat you . . . It takes a lot of mental toughness."

(Reference: Silvester, John. (Friday, May 16, 2003) Peak claims elite police commander. Australia: The Age Company Ltd.)

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Reference

Revealed: U.N.'s plan for world government. (Tuesday, May 20, 2003) USA: WorldNetDaily.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=32662

 

Remarkable progress has been made toward transforming the United States into this United Nations vision of a "secure planet." Because each plan element operates at the local level, it is difficult to see the ultimate outcome. A picture of the dream is suggested, however, in the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development report authored by Andrew Euston for the U.N. Conference on Human Development meeting in Istanbul in 1996.

 

The report describes in considerable detail how "sustainable" communities of the future will be bounded by growth limits, surrounded by open space, with housing provided by public/private partnerships that require both economic and ethnic integration, and feature live-over shops and services. Transportation in these communities will feature light rail and bicycle, since automobiles will be unnecessary; people are expected to work within walking distance of their employment. Each complex in the community is a "neighborhood" that provides schools and day care, governed by a "neighborhood council."

 

Agriculture and light "sustainable" industry will occur in the buffer zones between the communities and the Biosphere Reserves, under the direction of the government, in public/private partnerships with non-government organizations that oversee day-to-day operations.

 

Policy decisions are to be made by the council closest to the people governed by the policy, providing that the policy is consistent with each of the councils in the hierarchy. The ideal system of governance in this utopian vision would see the government selecting a non-government organization, or NGO, for a particular neighborhood project. The majority of the neighborhood council would consist of board members of the NGO, with a few additional representatives selected by the NGO. The neighborhood council would choose a representative to sit on the community council, which would choose a representative to sit on the watershed council, which would choose a representative to sit on the bioregional council, which would choose a representative to sit on the national council, which would choose a representative to the People's Assembly at the United Nations.

 

Sound familiar? This system parallels the old Soviet system in Russia, in both design and function. It has been under development in the United States since launched in 1993 by the President's Council on Sustainable Development. Progress so far has been mostly voluntary – "to comply with international obligations." But success will come for the U.N. only when it has the power to enforce its international law. That's the next step.

(Reference: Revealed: U.N.'s plan for world government. (Tuesday, May 20, 2003) USA: WorldNetDaily.)

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Reference

Hawker, Philippa. (Thursday, June 26, 2003) The angry green giant. Australia: The Age Company Ltd.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/06/25/1056449290351.html

 

He is an army man, and that's important, too. The military establishment is the dominant institution of power in this film: as the Hulk terrorises California, there's a brief glimpse of a president on a fishing trip being informed of what's going on, but the army makes the decisions about the necessary means of containing the threat offered by the Hulk, and the possibility of exploiting his powers.

(Reference: Hawker, Philippa. (Thursday, June 26, 2003) The angry green giant. Australia: The Age Company Ltd.)

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Reference

Manktelow, Nicole. (Saturday, July 19, 2003) Every step you take. Australia: The Age.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/07/18/1058035190298.html

 

All this is fuel for thought when considering the numerous traffic cameras installed throughout Sydney. A legendary wall of TV screens allows police in the Brisbane Street control room to keep watch on our major roads and intersections.

 

"My personal observation is that there are more and more cameras out there - in streets, in airports - but the trouble is not that they are there but how is it [video surveillance] being used? Is anyone keeping it? What are they doing with it?," asks Crompton.

 

"Let me assure you that there are plenty of police parties where they show the 'best of' footage. I have no evidence of that but I have heard plenty of stories."

(Reference: Manktelow, Nicole. (Saturday, July 19, 2003) Every step you take. Australia: The Age.)

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Personal Note

No one stops anyone from watching anything you want…but it is common sense that certain things if you watch, then you will not be able to control yourself properly.

All the author have to say, is he wrote certain things…by virtue of living a certain way of life…NOT by any other means…

You can’t have opposing sides together at the same time…

So the wise will abandon certain things which distract them, and follow a certain moral manner…

It is upto you, whoever you may be out there…

Written around 10:00 pm Saturday, July 19, 2003

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Reference (Key points)

10,000 try to prove life after death. (Wednesday, August 06, 2003) Australia: The Age.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/05/1060064181835.html

 

Lal Bihari added Mritak (meaning "dead" in the local language) to his name in 1980 after he was a victim of the long-practised land swindle in the densely populated and backward state, where many people subsist on small holdings.

 

He fought for eight years to be declared "alive" again, and a Bombay producer plans to make a film about his struggle.

 

"I finally won the battle and was brought back to life in the revenue records," Mr Mritak said. "But there are thousands who remain 'dead' and it is for them that I am fighting."

 

Court cases can get bogged down for years in the over-burdened and corrupt judiciary. "I haven't had a hearing because I can't afford to pay a bribe," said Mata Prasad, another "dead" petitioner.

(Reference: 10,000 try to prove life after death. (Wednesday, August 06, 2003) Australia: The Age.)

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Reference

Lichfield, John. (Saturday, October 25, 2003) Paparazzi go on trial for invasion of Dodi's privacy. UK: The Independent News.

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=457007

 

A precedent exists in French law that the inside of a car is as private as the inside of a house.

(Reference: Lichfield, John. (Saturday, October 25, 2003) Paparazzi go on trial for invasion of Dodi's privacy. UK: The Independent News.)

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Reference

Delio, Michelle. (Saturday, November 15, 2003) Where Sharing Isn't a Dirty Word. USA: Wired News.

http://www.wired.com/news/roadtrip/0%2C2640%2C61200%2C00.html

 

"We'd like to demonstrate that the best way to protect and preserve so-called intellectual property is to share it freely with everyone," said Jones. "Shared information is enhanced and improved, so its value can only increase. Hoarded knowledge just stagnates."

(Reference: Delio, Michelle. (Saturday, November 15, 2003) Where Sharing Isn't a Dirty Word. USA: Wired News.)

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Reference

Bantick, Christopher. (Friday, February 13, 2004) A quiver through the bookshelves. Australia: The Age.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/02/12/1076548158948.html

 

“The romance market is booming in Australia….

Harlequin dominates the romance fiction market.

Harlequin even has its own profile of its ideal reader: “A 46-year-old woman who is (or has been) married, living in an average-income household. She is more likely to be retired/at home than working, if she does work, it is as likely to be part-time as full-time. She is educated to high-school level and watches television channels Seven and Nine. She reads a tabloid paper (if she reads a paper at all) and women’s gossip magazines. She doesn’t use public transport, preferring to travel by car.”

Although this may be Harlequin’s typical reader, the market for romance is changing.

In the world of Australian fiction, there is no doubt romance writing has a poor reputation. But although romance fiction may be looked down upon by some as inferior, the huge international market for romance makes being published by Harlequin Mills and Boon and other genre publishers highly desirable. Indeed, Harlequin receives 20,000 unsolicited manuscripts a year.

 

According to MacDonald, its authors are acutely aware of just who their audience is.

 

“The majority of our writers do not have literary aspirations. They simply tell stories. This is how they see their role. They are bards of the 21st century.

“I have met writers who have been writing for 15 or 20 years trying to crack this market,” she says.

You need to have a lot of emotional punch. The reader has got to feel that they have to turn the page. They want to know what will happen and how this will be solved.”

Thomas also believes that the popularity of romance writing may be partly due to the strong element of fantasy within it.

 

“Romance fiction taps into the fantasy so dominant in our culture of men and women finding true happiness. People tend to have a set of expectations for a happy ending.”

 

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Cross Reference

Fantasy is always going to be successful. It keeps people's minds out of an often painful reality.

            - Roman Polanski, Polish movie director

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Thomas says the growth in the readership of romance fiction could be partly attributed to the increasing number of people living alone.

 

“What the last census showed was that more people now live alone than ever before and romance publishing is booming. Maybe there is a connection.

 

“I don’t know how many people who live alone are reading romance but maybe the increase is single women looking for the right man.”

(Reference: Bantick, Christopher. (Friday, February 13, 2004) A quiver through the bookshelves. Australia: The Age.)

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Reference

Akram, Ayesha Javed. (Friday, May 21, 2004) A syringe for a syringe. Pakistan: Daily Times.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_21-5-2004_pg7_19

“Those who have been through addiction themselves are better equipped to dealing with those still in the throes of addiction,” says Dr Saeed.

(Reference: Akram, Ayesha Javed. (Friday, May 21, 2004) A syringe for a syringe. Pakistan: Daily Times.)

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Reference

Pollard-Terry, Gayle. (Tuesday, July 20, 2004) For African American rape victims, a culture of silence. Los Angeles, USA: Los Angeles Times.

http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/cl-et-pollard20jul20,1,7440388.story?coll=la-home-style

Remember when then heavyweight champion Mike Tyson was convicted of raping a beauty pageant contestant, Desiree Washington? The nation's largest black religious denomination supported him with a rally and petition drive to keep him out of jail. "Our brother needs us," the Rev. T.J. Jemison, then president of the 8.5-million-member National Baptist Convention, said at the event, which was also sponsored by the Nation of Islam, whose leader, Louis Farrakhan, had plenty to say:

 

"You bring a hawk into the chicken yard and wonder why the chicken got eaten up. You bring Mike to a beauty contest and all these fine foxes just parading in front of Mike. Mike's eyes begin to dance like a hungry man looking at a Wendy's beef burger or something. She said, 'No, Mike, no.' I mean how many times, sisters, have you said 'No' and you mean 'Yes'?"

 

Little help at church

 

"Sometimes going to your pastor can be the worst thing you can do," Robinson says, quoting a minister she interviewed for her book. In "I Will Survive," the Rev. Linda H. Hollies, a United Methodist clergywoman who lives in Grand Rapids, Mich., makes this comment: "Can I say something that will be extremely controversial? Pastors and church folk are often the worst folk in the world to go to for confession and absolution. The average pastor does not have a clue about counseling. And what pastors need to do when they find somebody in a situation like ours is to refer them to a counselor, refer them to a spiritual director, refer them to a chaplain, refer them to somebody who knows what they're doing with somebody's emotions."

 

Hollies, like Robinson, is also a rape survivor.

(Reference: Pollard-Terry, Gayle. (Tuesday, July 20, 2004) For African American rape victims, a culture of silence. Los Angeles, USA: Los Angeles Times.)

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Abstracts

 

The nuns' story

Carol Hogan found the hardest thing about being a nun was the absence of beauty. She loved beautiful things - her degree had been in fine arts - but hher spartan convent had nothing as worldly as paintings or flowers and few books. Hogan herself was no picture, in a shapeless black dress with her hai

The Age 06/10/2001     Cost - $1.65     4000 words

 

Priest sexually abused me, says former nun

A former Catholic nun plans to claim compensation from the archdiocese of Melbourne for a priest's alleged sexual abuse.

The Age 13/07/2002     Cost - $1.65     888 words

 

Churches 'must woo the young'

A need to engage more with young people, other denominations and the wider community is one of the biggest challenges facing Christian churches in Australia, an exhaustive national survey has found.

The Age 22/05/2002     Cost - $1.65     432 words

 

From the ashes of repentance comes the strength to speak out

IN JUST over two weeks' time, churches around Australia will celebrate Ash Wednesday. This sombre day of prayer marks the start of the penitential season of Lent, a soul-searching time when Christians are called to face our personal and communal failure to live out Jesus' teachings, and humbly open our hearts to conversion, charity, penance and reconciliation.

The Age 26/01/2002     Cost - $1.65     1100 words

 

There's plenty of faith in the old church yet

A NOTED 19th-century academic and prelate - it might have been Dr Spooner of Spoonerism fame; I've misplaced my source - once descended from the pulpit after preaching for an hour, stopped, turned, and climbed back up. ``Of course," he told his startled listeners, ``every time I said Aristotle, I meant St Paul."

The Age 30/06/2001     Cost - $1.65     1112 words

 

Inches from death at 265kmh

EVERY boy wants to grow up to be a racing driver, it's said; inside every man is the carnal desire for speed, the Schumacher urge to win, the craving to pit driver and car against the clock.

The Age 20/02/2001     Cost - $1.65     1500 words

 

Hearing the word of the Lord

Many Jews believe anti-Semitism arose from the Christian scripture, the New Testament. But is this truly the case? Barney Zwartz reports.

The Age 23/12/2002     Cost - $1.65     2147 words

 

 The new Messiah is all talk, not much substance

COMEDY FESTIVAL REVIEW: CHRIST ON A BIKE, By Richard Herring, 7 Alfred Place Upstairs, off Collins Street, 8.15pm, until April 21

The Age 09/04/2002     Cost - $1.65     276 words

 

Vatican takes a crystal-clear view on New Age: it has its points, but beware

Catholics should not investigate their ``past lives" or visit the spirit world for healing, according to the Vatican.

The Age 05/02/2003     Cost - $1.65     418 words

 

Beware the new racism

The rise of an ugly new phobia is threatening multiculturalism, writes Robert Manne.

The Age 16/09/2002     Cost - $1.65     1147 words

 

Reflections on the legacy of Eddie Koiki Mabo

Ten years on, Michael Gordon traces the history of a case that changed a nation.

The Age 01/06/2002     Cost - $1.65     4600 words

 

WORKSHOPPING

THEATRE Cortese's no ordinary ranter Raimondo Cortese's Ranter's Theatre was named after a 17th-century mystical group whose members reportedly said whatever was on their minds without fear of consequence. The concept for Ranter's work opening at Chapel off Chapel tonight, Roulette, comes

The Age 14/05/2002     Cost - $1.65     1150 words

 

Copying claim stains Old Masters

HOW many of the most famous European artists from the Renaissance were actually frauds, producing works that were not so much a product of their genius with paintbrush and pencil as the fact they relied heavily on lensbased instruments to produce their socalled masterpieces?

The Age 22/01/2002     Cost - $1.65     1433 words

 

Bringing God back to the church

A new book challenges Anglicans to change how their church is run. Author Caroline Miley spoke to Barney Zwartz.

The Age 08/01/2003     Cost - $1.65     1684 words

 

More a family falling out than a clash of civilisations

William Dalrymple says many links bind Christianity and Islam, beliefs rooted in the same time and place.

The Age 27/12/2002     Cost - $1.65     1188 words

 

Speak no evil

American Catholics are distraught that church leaders failed to protect their children from predatory priests. Is Melbourne's record any better? Peter Ellingsen investigates.

The Age 04/05/2002     Cost - $1.65     2850 words

 

Men's reaction to women who force sex
Source: Psychiatric Times
Author: Cindy Struckman-Johnson and David Struckman-Johnson
Country: United States

"One of the long-standing myths about sexual coercion is that a woman cannot make a man have sex with her." According to this study, "16% of a sample of 268 men at a small Midwestern university reported that they had been forced to have sexual intercourse on a date."
For more like this, see Scholarly and In-Depth Studies; Men's Movement; Global.

Men's Movement Scholarly and In-Depth Studies

http://www.free-market.net/directorybycategory/in-depth/T29.9/index.html#0

 

The machine that leaves you no place to hide.

Source: The Times Online, UK

URL: www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-884810,00.html

 

Britain. November 08, 2003 The machine that leaves you no place to hide By Nigel

Hawkes and Oliver Wright The latest scanner will reveal your deadliest secrets. ...

 

GPS Tracker Blends Satellite, Cellular Technology

Source: Boston Globe

URL: http://www.boston.com/dailynews/140/economy/GPS_tracker_blends_satellite_c:.shtml

 

GPS tracker blends satellite, cellular technology By Associated Press, 5/20/2003 16:37 Biotechnology Sector Company Directory Business Event Listings Venture Capital Database Globe Business Columnists The device that helped put Valiree Jackson's father in prison for her murder is a combination of two now-commonplace gadgets the handheld global positioning system receiver and the cellular phone. Manufactured by LandAirSea.com of McHenry, Ill., the device is primarily sold to businesses that want to keep..

 

GPS Tracker Blends Pair Of Technologies

Source: AP

URL: http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/v-text/story/893575p-6225146c.html

 

The Associated Press (May 20, 2003 4:44 p.m. EDT) - The device that helped put Valiree Jackson's father in prison for her murder is a combination of two now-commonplace gadgets - the handheld global positioning system receiver and the cellular phone. Manufactured by LandAirSea.com of McHenry, Ill., the device is primarily sold to businesses that want to keep track of their vehicles, said Rob Wagner, the company's president. He said LandAirSea has sold about 50 to 100 such systems to law enforcement...

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http://in.geocities.com/anindiantantric/newsclips.html

 

Published on internet: Tuesday, February 24, 2004

Revised: Tuesday, January 11, 2005

 

Information on the web site is given in good faith about a certain spiritual way of life, irrespective of any specific religion, in the belief that the information is not misused, misjudged or misunderstood. Persons using this information for whatever purpose must rely on their own skill, intelligence and judgment in its application. The webmaster does not accept any liability for harm or damage resulting from advice given in good faith on this website.

                                                                                   

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“Thou belongest to That Which Is Undying, and not merely to time alone,” murmured the Sphinx, breaking its muteness at last. “Thou art eternal, and not merely of the vanishing flesh. The soul in man cannot be killed, cannot die. It waits, shroud-wrapped, in thy heart, as I waited, sand-wrapped, in thy world. Know thyself, O mortal! For there is One within thee, as in all men, that comes and stands at the bar and bears witness that there IS a God!

(Reference: Brunton, Paul. (1962) A Search in Secret Egypt. (17th Impression) London, UK: Rider & Company. Page: 35.)

Amen

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