Thursday, April 24, 2003
-Bush Nominee Refuses to Condemn Japanese Internment
WASHINGTON - April 21 - A controversial presidential nominee to the board of a government-funded think tank today refused to condemn the internment of Japanese-Americans and reaffirmed his call for the destruction of Palestinian villages.
http://www.commondreams.org/news2003/0421-06.htm
-Kraft Investors and Celebrities Raise Concerns about Genetically Engineered Foods at Shareholder Me
EAST HANOVER, NJ - April 22 - Kraft?fs continued use of genetically engineered ingredients was a major topic of concern today among investors inside Kraft?fs annual shareholders meeting.
Kraft shareholders, including actor Chevy Chase and his wife Jayni Chase, spoke out at the meeting raising concerns about the public health, environmental, and financial risks posed by genetically engineered ingredients.
http://www.commondreams.org/news2003/0422-01.htm
-Elderly Couple Fined For Having Boat Repaired in Cuba After Storm Left Them Stranded
.....Remarkably, after disclosing that they gave band-aid to a local cook who had burned his finger in an accident, The Taylors were charged with provision of “nursing services to a Cuban national”—a transaction forbidden by the embargo. For the next four and a half years, the Taylors—who are on a fixed income—requested a reconsideration of the penalty or a hearing, without success. In April, 2001, Patrick Taylors?Etax refund, needed to pay for urgent medical expenses, was frozen and applied to the Taylors?Edebt....
http://www.commondreams.org/news2003/0422-05.htm
-Kraft Foods Censors Tobacco Talk at Annual Meeting
EAST HANOVER, NJ - April 22 - At Kraft Foods annual shareholders?f meeting, Infact activists representing a Kraft shareholder were refused timely entry into the meeting, preventing the corporate accountability group from addressing shareholders and executives. Last year Infact representatives were the only people to speak directly to Kraft?fs tobacco connection at the annual meeting. This year, Infact representatives were held at the door with questionable claims of concerns about their paperwork until the meeting was nearly over.
http://www.commondreams.org/news2003/0422-09.htm
-US Sugar Industry Threathens World Health Organization Over New Healthy Eating Guidelines
The sugar industry in the US is threatening to bring the World Health Organization to its knees by demanding that Congress end its funding unless the WHO scraps guidelines on healthy eating, due to be published on Wednesday.
The threat is being described by WHO insiders as tantamount to blackmail and worse than any pressure exerted by the tobacco lobby.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0421-06.htm
-Local Officials Rise Up to Defy The Patriot Act
ARCATA, Calif.—This North Coast city may look sweet—old, low-to-the-ground buildings, town square with a bronze statue of William McKinley, ambling pickup trucks—but it acts like a radical.
Arcata was one of the first cities to pass resolutions against global warming and a unilateral war in Iraq. Last month, it joined the rising chorus of municipalities to pass a resolution urging local law enforcement officials and others contacted by federal officials to refuse requests under the Patriot Act that they believe violate an individual’s civil rights under the Constitution. Then, the city went a step further.
This little city (pop.: 16,000) has become the first in the nation to pass an ordinance that outlaws voluntary compliance with the Patriot Act.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0421-07.htm
-Rumsfeld Calls for Regime Change in North Korea
A secret Donald Rumsfeld memorandum calling for regime change in North Korea was leaked yesterday, opening a fresh foreign policy split in the Bush administration.
The classified discussion paper, circulated by the defense secretary, appears to cut directly across State Department plans to disarm Kim Jong-il, the North’s dictator, through threats leavened by promises that his regime is not a target for overthrow.
The paper does not call for military action against North Korea, but wants the United States to team up with China in pushing for the collapse of Kim Jong-il’s bankrupt but belligerent regime, the New York Times reported.
In a sign that Washington is girding itself for a repetition of the bitter rows that preceded the Iraq conflict, the memorandum was leaked on the same day that a senior State Department negotiator flew to Beijing for three-way talks with China and North Korea.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0421-08.htm
-US Plan to Bomb North Korea
THE Pentagon has produced detailed plans to bomb North Korea’s nuclear plant at Yongbyon if the communist rogue state goes ahead with reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel rods that would yield it enough plutonium for half a dozen nuclear weapons within six months.
According to well-informed Canberra sources close to US thinking, the elaborate Pentagon plan also involves a US strike against North Korean heavy artillery nestled into the hills above the border with South Korea. The artillery directly threatens the giant city of Seoul, as well as about 17,000 US troops stationed just south of the Demilitarized Zone.
North Korea sent shockwaves around the world this week when a report on its government website said it was “successfully reprocessing more than 8000 spent fuel rods at the final phase”.
It was accepted later that this could have been a mistranslation, the Korean version suggesting it was moving towards reprocessing but had not yet started.
Western intelligence believes no reprocessing has yet taken place.
In the Pentagon plan, the US strike would come as a response to North Korea beginning such reprocessing.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0422-04.htm
-Blix: ‘US Undermined Inspectors’
American officials tried to discredit the work of inspectors in Iraq to further their own case for war, the chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix has charged.
Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix speaks to the media at the United Nations, Monday, April 21, 2003. (AP Photo/Diane Bondareff)
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Blix said American officials leaked suggestions that inspectors had deliberately suppressed information to the media in an attempt to undermine their work in Iraq.
Excerpts of the interview were released just before Mr Blix was due to address the Security Council later on Tuesday in a meeting that could begin to determine whether he and his team are ever to return to Iraq.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0422-02.htm
Friday, April 18, 2003
-Tim Robbins Censored on the NBC TODAY TV show
Reprinted from the Internation Green Network Japan mailing list
“A conversation about free speech and free expression was cut off mid sentence as the network went to black. Television history was made, as million of American’s got to watch in real time just how powerful and inescapable censorship can be. Robbins wasn’t revealing troop locations, or giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Remember, the war has been won - by all accounts. He was discussing freedom, free speech, and why his appearance has been canceled at the Baseball Hall of Fame. “
Today Show goes “black” on Tim Robbins At 8:15 Monday Morning, Today Show host Mat Lauer introduced the controversy that has been kicked up by the cancellation of the 15th anniversary of Bull Durham at the Baseball Hall of Fame. In a letter made public on Wednesday - Dale Petroskey, the President of the Hall suggested that his venue was not the appropriate venue for a highly charged political expression.
Lauer then introduced Tim Robbins, who along with his wife Susan Sarandon, had had their initiations revoked.Lauer quizzed Robbins on free speech, and pointedly asked Robbins if he hadplanned to use the Hall of Fame event as a platform for a political statement. Robbins said ‘of course not.’
The discussion went back in forth for a few minutes, with Lauer being neither accommodating or confrontational. And Robbins’ responses were equallymeasured. But Robbins did end up saying things that have hardly been heard before since the war began. “The message is if you speak out against this administration you can and will be punished” Robbins explained.
“We’re sending out messages on an almost daily basis that they have no right to protest against this President” said Robbins. To which Lauer responded with a question about the Dixie Chicks and their controversial comments against the President. Robbins responded - pointing to the fact that the protest and banning of the Dixie Chicks was by Clear Channel Radio and its connection with the Bush Administration. This conversation was unheard of in the current environment. Robins was talking serious politics on a morning chat show - and clearly hackles went up. By 8:24 Robins was explaining “We’re fighting for freedom for the Iraqi people right now so that they can have freedom of speech, yet we’re telling our own citizens they have to be quiet.”
Lauer could have called it quits there, but he went on: “When you see picture of Iraqi’s dancing and celebrating -does it change your mind?” “No” said Robbins. “I’m ecstatic that they feel this freedom, I hope we have the resolve to get in their and make it work.” It was at this point that something happened that has perhaps never happened before in the history of morning television.
The music swelled under Robbins… Mid sentence answering a question that had been asked just 10 seconds earlier… “We have a terrible track record” said Robbins, clearly not able to hear that music was coming up to literally ‘play him off the stage’.
The camera cut to a wide shot. Lauer was leaning in and very much in conversation. Either Lauer was ignoring what must have been the deluge of invectives in his earpiece, or he just determined that he wasn’t finished with this line of questioning.
But the music ended. The bumper music ended and the studio was in the two- shot as Robbins said..."It’s for some reason not in our best interest to keep it going and pursue it to the next level.” Lauer nodded, and the camera faded to black as Robbins - mid sentence - had his microphone turned down.
A conversation about free speech. An anchor asking reasonable questions. A guest responding in equally reasonable tones. No attempt to close out the discussion - to say “Well thank you Tim”. This was not a filibuster. Robbins was not hogging the spotlight. Someone in the control room simply decided that it was time to pull the plug. And without grace or ceremony, or even the face saving of letting Lauer say “We’re out of time” as morning shows do on so many occasions.
A conversation about free speech and free expression was cut off mid sentence as the network went to black.
Television history was made, as million of American’s got to watch in real time just how powerful and inescapable censorship can be. Robbins wasn’t revealing troop locations, or giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Remember, the war has been won - by all accounts. He was discussing freedom, free speech, and why his appearance has been canceled at the Baseball Hall of Fame.
NBC should invite him back and let him finish his thought - or admit at least who was on the phone to master control demanding that they pull the plug.
Jerry Landay
-IGN ECOSTUDY GROUP (May 9): Ethnic Minorities in Japan”
THE NEXT MEETING OF THE IGN ECOSTUDY GROUP WILL BE FRIDAY, MAY 9, 2003
DATE: Friday, May 9, 2003
TIME: 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
PLACE: Aoyama Gakuin University, Shibuya (Tokyo) Campus, Building
#8, 3rd floor (10 minutes walk from Shibuya station; 5 minutes walk from
the Omote-sando subway station)
DIRECTIONS: Come in the main entrance to the university (with the
statue of John Wesley at the second floor level of the the building just to
the right), walk down the tree-lined walkway until you reach the chapel (on
your right). Building #8 is the next building after the chapel (between
the chapel and the library). Take the elevator to the 3rd floor. As soon
as you come out of the elevator follow the signs to the meeting room.
PRESENTER: Teresa Schulze and Yuki Takahashi
TOPIC: “Ethnic Minorities in Japan”
FUTURE PRESENTATIONS:
June 13: Dan Wolf, “The Role of Personal Growth in the Political
Realm”
July 11: Erik Kaye, “A System for Non-violent Confrontation, Part II”
August: Summer vacation—no meeting
September: Corinne Sutter, “Working Class Life”
David Loy has also volunteered to possibly give a presentation
sometime in the autumn and an invitation has also been extended to Hilary
Nicholson to do a presentation in the autumn if she can. Richard Evanoff’s
presentation “In Defense of Anarchism” will be postponed until there’s an
opening.
If you would like to give a future presentation or have any
questions about the EcoStudy Group, please contact Richard Evanoff at
1933-8 Hazama-cho, Hachioij-shi, Tokyo 193-0941 or
ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL GREEN NETWORK ECOSTUDY GROUP: The IGN EcoStudy
Group was started in January, 1997 by a small group of people interested in
meeting informally to discuss current social and ecological issues.
Meetings are held on a more or less monthly basis, usually on the third
Friday, although the date varies from month to month depending on the
participantsĠ schedules. The group focuses mainly on Green issues widely
construed, including environmental problems, human rights, feminism,
anti-racism, globalization, alternative politics / economics, labor issues,
fair trade, cooperatives, indy media, and the like, but there are no
limitations on themes. Anyone is free at any time to volunteer to give
presentations or to propose possible topics for future discussion (although
there are no obligations to do so). The usual format is for the person
proposing a topic to give a brief introduction to the topic and then open
the floor for discussion. If there are any readings, cassettes, videos,
etc. that you would like people to familiarize themselves with beforehand,
please make them available for circulation. Since this is a discussion
group, you donƒ†t need to be an ƒ?expertƒ‚ on the topic to give a
presentation; it is perfectly acceptable to either share something you
already know about a particular topic with the group, to present reading
materials or videos instead of giving an oral presentation, or to simply
propose a topic that you would like to find out more about and discuss with
others. The International Green Network is not affiliated with any
political party (although political parties are welcome to participate in
its activities) and has no particular ideological stance (although
individual members often do!). The group is open to everyone, regardless
of nationality, educational, ideological, and occupational background (or
anything else!). Please feel free to invite anyone who may be interested
to join us! There is no formal membership or dues. Announcements of
meetings are publicized in the International Green Network Newsletter. The
International Green Network also welcomes individuals to form groups in
their own local areas, which we will also be happy to publicize in the IGN
Newsletter. To receive the IGN Newsletter send your name and mailing
address (e-mail preferred) to Richard Evanoff at 1933-8 Hazama-cho,
Hachioji-shi, Tokyo 193-0941 or e-mail
to see you at a future meeting!
Thursday, April 17, 2003
-Hasbro to Make “Family” War Game
http://www.ridiculopathy.com/news_detail.php?id=795
PAWTUCKET, RHODE ISLAND- On Friday, representatives for the Hasbro Corporation unveiled the newest addition to their line of family-friendly board games: a play-at-home version of current TV hit The War on Iraq.
According to the family Hasbro used to test the product, the game is sure to be a winner. “You watch the war on television, and it’s all just dots on the screen. It just doesn’t seem real,” said test family mother June Patterson. “But with bits of plastic moving around on a board, the war comes alive for us.”
“We love the game,” said test father Ward Patterson. “It’s educational, topical, and fun. Besides, it gives us something to do in our duct-taped bunker of a home while we watch 24-hour war updates and await the apocalypse.”
The company says it developed the game in response to what they saw as a direct need in the marketplace. Parents wanted a means of explaining the conflict without scaring young ones, and kids wanted an escape from the non-stop war coverage.
Game makers say they developed “The Battle for Baghdad” in less than four weeks, haste the company now says was necessary to keep it fresh- and saleable. “This game’s got the shelf life of a banana. We’ve got to get this bitch out the door fast.”
Hasbro estimates that an early run of ten thousand games should sell out before the end of the conflict, after which time they expect interest to drop precipitously.
The Defense department has reportedly put in an order for several thousand units, figuring that the game would make a lovely parting gift for Iraqi Republican Guard soldiers.
The game’s rules, while somewhat overly complicated, add an interesting twist to what could otherwise look like a Stratego clone.
At the start of the game, troops, munitions and supplies are divvied up unevenly, placing the Iraq side at an apparent disadvantage. American and British ground forces march toward the capitol city while air strikes devastate targets ahead of them.
This would lead one to believe that the game is unwinnable from the Iraqi side, but all is not what it appears.
Each side begins with the same amount of Public Relations chips. For each incident of Iraqi civilian death, the Coalition loses a chip. For every misfired Bunker Buster or friendly fire episode, the Coalition loses a chip. If the Americans lose enough PR, skiddish countries could begin to leave the coalition, removing troops from the board and leaving billions of dollars of unshared war debt.
The Coalition could choose to search for banned Iraqi weapons in an effort to earn back PR, but it wastes precious turns and even then a six-sided dice roll decides if anyone believes the discovery.
At the end of the game, Iraq could still win the game with a clear majority of PR chips and enough Jihad cards, regardless of who actually occupies Baghdad.
Like many board games of this type, group tension, dysfunction, and genuine ugliness can emerge if played for any length of time. The test family we observed during the press event was no exception.
The Pattersons had clearly been playing too long, and the Iraqi forces had dwindled to a handful of loyalists backed into a corner of the board. The ladies were desperate to find a way out or at least some way to silence their jeering enemies. After consulting with her mother, Katie picked up the card she had been lightly stroking since play began. With a sense of drama typical to five-year-old girls, she flipped over the palm-sized piece of card stock and scanned her opponents’ faces for their horrified expressions.
“Eat hot Anthrax, infidels!” she shouted. “Booyah!”
Both she and her mother understood the price associated with such a move. They forfeited all their PR chips to the Americans and waited for the next move. After a quick recount of the Coalition PR stockpile, the Americans discovered they now had just enough to afford to play their own trump card: Sheet of Glass.
In a few moments it was all over. The entire board was blackened and scorched with a glowing green haze hanging over the landscape. Both Ward and June agreed to call the game a tie since both sides had officially lost.
In the end none of that mattered because just then Ward’s wrist watch alarm sounded, signaling that another CentCom briefing would begin to air in thirty seconds.
SEND LETTERS OF PROTEST SUCH AS THIS ONE TO HASBRO
Hasbro with its game, War on Iraq, has decided to create a game that
insults the memory of those who died due to the war crimes of Geogre
Bush and Tony Blair. It is bad enough that thouands of civilians have
died, but now you are going to make a game out of it. HASBRO will be
boycotted and/or targeted in the media, through picket lines and other
direct action in front of stores and your corporate headquarters and
distributors as a result of this horrible decision. You are urged to
rethink this disgusting move.
Follow SONY’s move or kiss your Japanese customers goodbye.
We will not rest until you have abandoned this nonsense.
Paul Arenson
Japan Human Rights Appeal Co-founder
------->
