In Florida, US Republicans are following the footsteps of Chairman Mao and are trying to start their very own Cultural Revolution, where students could decide what the teachers teach - or sue them, if they don´t obey the young GOP Guards:
In the Florida legislature, House Republicans, on the Choice and Innovation Committee, recently voted to pass a bill that threatens to restrain academic scholars. The law would allow students to sue teachers for beliefs that do not concur with conservative perspectives. If, for example, professors argue that evolution is a scientific fact instead of a theory, and if they don’t devote equal time to creationism, under this bill, initiated by conservative David Horowitz’s campaign, students can sue the professor for being biased.
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Dying stars could make frozen planets habitable
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...when the star begins to burn its hydrogen in a shell around a growing helium core, it brightens and expands and becomes a "sub-giant". The habitable zone sweeps outward, extending from 2 to 9 AU. The inner edge of this zone remains habitable for several billion years while the outer extreme, where Saturn currently orbits, is habitable for a few hundred million years. The star then fluctuates in brightness for about 20 million years as it switches to burning helium almost exclusively, before becoming a red giant and swelling to 10 times the diameter of the Sun. For about a billion years afterwards, the habitable zone around the red giant extends from 7 to 22 AU, the outer edge of which lies beyond the orbit of Uranus.
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...when the star begins to burn its hydrogen in a shell around a growing helium core, it brightens and expands and becomes a "sub-giant". The habitable zone sweeps outward, extending from 2 to 9 AU. The inner edge of this zone remains habitable for several billion years while the outer extreme, where Saturn currently orbits, is habitable for a few hundred million years. The star then fluctuates in brightness for about 20 million years as it switches to burning helium almost exclusively, before becoming a red giant and swelling to 10 times the diameter of the Sun. For about a billion years afterwards, the habitable zone around the red giant extends from 7 to 22 AU, the outer edge of which lies beyond the orbit of Uranus.
New documents confirm widespread US abuse of Iraqi prisoners, implicate top general
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A new series of documents released over the weekend provides fresh evidence of the pervasive US military abuse of prisoners in Iraq. The documents were released by the Pentagon in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Center for Constitutional Rights and other organizations. “These documents provide further evidence that the torture of detainees was much more widespread than the government has acknowledged,” said Jameel Jaffer, attorney for the ACLU. The actions revealed in the documents are all clear and direct violations of international law on the treatment of prisoners of war. More.
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A new series of documents released over the weekend provides fresh evidence of the pervasive US military abuse of prisoners in Iraq. The documents were released by the Pentagon in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Center for Constitutional Rights and other organizations. “These documents provide further evidence that the torture of detainees was much more widespread than the government has acknowledged,” said Jameel Jaffer, attorney for the ACLU. The actions revealed in the documents are all clear and direct violations of international law on the treatment of prisoners of war. More.
Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem sells Palestinian East Jerusalem to Greater Israel, piece by piece.
Aid struggles to reach Indonesia
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The UN has confirmed 518 were killed in the 8.7-magnitude tremor, but it is thought up to 1,000 may have died.
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The UN has confirmed 518 were killed in the 8.7-magnitude tremor, but it is thought up to 1,000 may have died.
E-1: the end of a viable Palestinian state
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And since the Palestinians will never agree to this, Israel must “create facts on the ground” that prejudice negotiations even before they begin. Last week's announcement that Israel is constructing 3500 housing units in E-1, a corridor connecting Jerusalem to the West Bank settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim, seals the fate of the Palestinian state. As a key element of an Israeli “Greater Jerusalem,” the E-1 plan removes any viability from a Palestinian state. It cuts the West Bank in half, allowing Israel to control Palestinian movement from one part of their country to another, while isolating East Jerusalem from the rest of Palestinian territory. Since 40% of the Palestinian economy revolves around Jerusalem and its tourist-based economy, the E-1 plan effectively cuts the economic heart out of any Palestinian state, rendering it nothing more than a set of non-viable Indian reservations. If there is any silver lining in the E-1 plan, it is that it has highlighted American complicity in Israel's settlement expansion. The Bush Administration, while calling the E-1 plan “unhelpful,” nevertheless formally recognized the Ma'aleh Adumim settlement bloc, together with E-1, in last year's agreement between Bush and Sharon - a fundamental American policy change that was ratified almost unanimously by Congress. This puts the US in the very uncomfortable position of undermining its own Road Map initiative, which stems from the “Bush vision” of an Israeli-Palestinian peace. It also neutralizes completely America's role as an honest broker, and pits it against the other three members of the Road Map Quartet - Europe, the UN and Russia - who deplore the change in American policy. Most tragically, American support for Sharon's settlement project destroys forever the possibility of a viable Palestinian state, dooming the peoples of Israel-Palestine to perpetual conflict. How this squares with American interests in a stable Middle East is anybody's guess.
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And since the Palestinians will never agree to this, Israel must “create facts on the ground” that prejudice negotiations even before they begin. Last week's announcement that Israel is constructing 3500 housing units in E-1, a corridor connecting Jerusalem to the West Bank settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim, seals the fate of the Palestinian state. As a key element of an Israeli “Greater Jerusalem,” the E-1 plan removes any viability from a Palestinian state. It cuts the West Bank in half, allowing Israel to control Palestinian movement from one part of their country to another, while isolating East Jerusalem from the rest of Palestinian territory. Since 40% of the Palestinian economy revolves around Jerusalem and its tourist-based economy, the E-1 plan effectively cuts the economic heart out of any Palestinian state, rendering it nothing more than a set of non-viable Indian reservations. If there is any silver lining in the E-1 plan, it is that it has highlighted American complicity in Israel's settlement expansion. The Bush Administration, while calling the E-1 plan “unhelpful,” nevertheless formally recognized the Ma'aleh Adumim settlement bloc, together with E-1, in last year's agreement between Bush and Sharon - a fundamental American policy change that was ratified almost unanimously by Congress. This puts the US in the very uncomfortable position of undermining its own Road Map initiative, which stems from the “Bush vision” of an Israeli-Palestinian peace. It also neutralizes completely America's role as an honest broker, and pits it against the other three members of the Road Map Quartet - Europe, the UN and Russia - who deplore the change in American policy. Most tragically, American support for Sharon's settlement project destroys forever the possibility of a viable Palestinian state, dooming the peoples of Israel-Palestine to perpetual conflict. How this squares with American interests in a stable Middle East is anybody's guess.
Israeli settlers threaten violent resistance to withdrawal pullout
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...the Yesha Council, the umbrella body representing both Gaza and West Bank settlers, underlined its determination to stop the pullout: "He who believes it is possible to implement the destruction of communities and the expulsion of families is deluding himself," a Council statement said... Arieh Yitzhaki, a resident of the Kfar Yam settlement on Gaza's Mediterranean coast... said settlers were "building the Jewish army" to foil the withdrawal.
Hopefully the settlers make true of their threats; Israeli politicians, soldiers and police officers killed by the settlers could wake up the majority of the Israeli population to sanity.
Quote:
...the Yesha Council, the umbrella body representing both Gaza and West Bank settlers, underlined its determination to stop the pullout: "He who believes it is possible to implement the destruction of communities and the expulsion of families is deluding himself," a Council statement said... Arieh Yitzhaki, a resident of the Kfar Yam settlement on Gaza's Mediterranean coast... said settlers were "building the Jewish army" to foil the withdrawal.
Hopefully the settlers make true of their threats; Israeli politicians, soldiers and police officers killed by the settlers could wake up the majority of the Israeli population to sanity.
The state of the world? It is on the brink of disaster
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Planet Earth stands on the cusp of disaster and people should no longer take it for granted that their children and grandchildren will survive in the environmentally degraded world of the 21st century. This is not the doom-laden talk of green activists but the considered opinion of 1,300 leading scientists from 95 countries who will today publish a detailed assessment of the state of the world at the start of the new millennium. More.
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Planet Earth stands on the cusp of disaster and people should no longer take it for granted that their children and grandchildren will survive in the environmentally degraded world of the 21st century. This is not the doom-laden talk of green activists but the considered opinion of 1,300 leading scientists from 95 countries who will today publish a detailed assessment of the state of the world at the start of the new millennium. More.
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
The bulldozer won
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On April 11, Ariel Sharon will go to a victory party at U.S. President George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. There is nothing politicians enjoy more than to gloat, and Sharon has a lot of reasons for celebrating... But more than anything in Texas, Sharon will celebrate the victory of the bulldozer. At the heart of his conversation with the president will be strengthening the understandings regarding Israel preserving for itself the settlement blocs in the West Bank. Bush already accepted the principle last year. Now Sharon wants to make sure the American promise for an annexation of the blocs in the future is turned into permission to build, in exchange for the evacuation of settlers from Gaza and northern Samaria... Those who thought Sharon had turned into a leftist and began worrying about "the rights of the Palestinians" were very wrong. Sharon still believes the bulldozer and the housing units will set the border, with America's support and backing. The upcoming meeting in Crawford is meant to grant him further strength.
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On April 11, Ariel Sharon will go to a victory party at U.S. President George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. There is nothing politicians enjoy more than to gloat, and Sharon has a lot of reasons for celebrating... But more than anything in Texas, Sharon will celebrate the victory of the bulldozer. At the heart of his conversation with the president will be strengthening the understandings regarding Israel preserving for itself the settlement blocs in the West Bank. Bush already accepted the principle last year. Now Sharon wants to make sure the American promise for an annexation of the blocs in the future is turned into permission to build, in exchange for the evacuation of settlers from Gaza and northern Samaria... Those who thought Sharon had turned into a leftist and began worrying about "the rights of the Palestinians" were very wrong. Sharon still believes the bulldozer and the housing units will set the border, with America's support and backing. The upcoming meeting in Crawford is meant to grant him further strength.
Provocation in Ma'aleh Adumim
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But no matter how strong the desire to support Ariel Sharon at this stage and to postpone debate over the future of the settlements to a later stage, it is difficult to accept the revelation that the government plans to build another 3,500 housing units in the area known as E-1, between Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim, and thus obstruct the territorial contiguity needed for a Palestinian state, something Sharon has already agreed on... The question whether the Americans are winking their agreement or deliberately ignoring Israel's new expansionist intentions is not the point. A demonstration of some sensitivity toward the Palestinians at this fragile state of the relationship is far more important than adding any new territories.
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But no matter how strong the desire to support Ariel Sharon at this stage and to postpone debate over the future of the settlements to a later stage, it is difficult to accept the revelation that the government plans to build another 3,500 housing units in the area known as E-1, between Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim, and thus obstruct the territorial contiguity needed for a Palestinian state, something Sharon has already agreed on... The question whether the Americans are winking their agreement or deliberately ignoring Israel's new expansionist intentions is not the point. A demonstration of some sensitivity toward the Palestinians at this fragile state of the relationship is far more important than adding any new territories.
In the end, if we humans don´t succeed in destroying ourselves (of course), all current states will cease to exist, all current ethnic and religious groups will be replaced by new ones and all that people are now killing and dying for will be ancient history, known by few, as new passions will give humans new excuses to indulgence themselves.
Doom in Hebron
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Hebron is a city in the south of the West Bank inhabited by approximately 150 000 Palestinians. In addition, there are some 400-500 illegal Israeli settlers who have settled in the Old City, in the heart of Hebron. The settlers are protected by approximately 700 Israeli soldiers and many of them are manning the 12 permanent checkpoints which form an iron ring around the Old City. The whole situation resembles a war zone where soldiers sneak along house walls and are posted on numerous roof tops in the Old City.
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Hebron is a city in the south of the West Bank inhabited by approximately 150 000 Palestinians. In addition, there are some 400-500 illegal Israeli settlers who have settled in the Old City, in the heart of Hebron. The settlers are protected by approximately 700 Israeli soldiers and many of them are manning the 12 permanent checkpoints which form an iron ring around the Old City. The whole situation resembles a war zone where soldiers sneak along house walls and are posted on numerous roof tops in the Old City.
The familiar mood of despair
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The Israeli mindset of the continuation of the occupation and the expansion of the Jewish settlements is not changing. Representatives of the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet security service are wrangling endlessly with them about the fate of one roadblock in Jericho and about the control of a village and a half in the Tul Karm district. Most of the roadblocks have remained in place. In the villages in Samaria, there have been increasingly violent confrontations over the separation fence that is taking away their lands and livelihood, and in Jerusalem the authorities are completing the wall and preparing new restrictions on movement... To the project of the thousands of dwelling units in Ma'aleh Adumim and to the incidents involving the separation fence and the walls in Jerusalem has been added in recent days the tempest surrounding the deal by the Greek Orthodox Church, which has sold "hotels and shops that are Arab assets to extremist Jewish settlers" (in a Palestinian formulation). For them, of course, this is another step in Israel's moves to crush the Arab presence in Jerusalem and to judaize the city, to which are added reports of Jewish threats to the Al-Aqsa mosque. All of these are bringing back to the Palestinian street and leadership the old familiar mood of despair and bitterness that presages a new wave of bloody conflict.
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The Israeli mindset of the continuation of the occupation and the expansion of the Jewish settlements is not changing. Representatives of the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet security service are wrangling endlessly with them about the fate of one roadblock in Jericho and about the control of a village and a half in the Tul Karm district. Most of the roadblocks have remained in place. In the villages in Samaria, there have been increasingly violent confrontations over the separation fence that is taking away their lands and livelihood, and in Jerusalem the authorities are completing the wall and preparing new restrictions on movement... To the project of the thousands of dwelling units in Ma'aleh Adumim and to the incidents involving the separation fence and the walls in Jerusalem has been added in recent days the tempest surrounding the deal by the Greek Orthodox Church, which has sold "hotels and shops that are Arab assets to extremist Jewish settlers" (in a Palestinian formulation). For them, of course, this is another step in Israel's moves to crush the Arab presence in Jerusalem and to judaize the city, to which are added reports of Jewish threats to the Al-Aqsa mosque. All of these are bringing back to the Palestinian street and leadership the old familiar mood of despair and bitterness that presages a new wave of bloody conflict.
Who's in favor of a Hamas victory
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Somebody up there, in the new building in the Kirya in Tel Aviv, should have explained that the Palestinian street is becoming convinced that Arafat was the excuse, not the reason, for the freezing of the peace process and the thawing of the construction in the Jewish settlements in the territories... When everyone is talking about how the chief of staff has been sent home because of his reservations about the disengagement plan, it is no wonder that no military source is about to risk saying anything that is liable to be interpreted as criticism of the head of the disengagement government. Let someone else deal with the question of whose hands the decision to establish a new city between Ma'aleh Adumim and Jerusalem is playing into, construction that will complete the suffocation that the fence is inflicting on the Arabs of East Jerusalem. By the time there is a commission of inquiry into the fall of the Palestinian Authority and an investigation of the events of the third intifada - the generals will already be directors general or activists in peace organizations.
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Somebody up there, in the new building in the Kirya in Tel Aviv, should have explained that the Palestinian street is becoming convinced that Arafat was the excuse, not the reason, for the freezing of the peace process and the thawing of the construction in the Jewish settlements in the territories... When everyone is talking about how the chief of staff has been sent home because of his reservations about the disengagement plan, it is no wonder that no military source is about to risk saying anything that is liable to be interpreted as criticism of the head of the disengagement government. Let someone else deal with the question of whose hands the decision to establish a new city between Ma'aleh Adumim and Jerusalem is playing into, construction that will complete the suffocation that the fence is inflicting on the Arabs of East Jerusalem. By the time there is a commission of inquiry into the fall of the Palestinian Authority and an investigation of the events of the third intifada - the generals will already be directors general or activists in peace organizations.
Monday, March 28, 2005
Huge quake hits Indonesian coast
8,2 on the Richter scale, 200 kilometers from the coast of Sumatra. Hopefully no tsunami.
8,2 on the Richter scale, 200 kilometers from the coast of Sumatra. Hopefully no tsunami.
Poisoning the Well: The False Equation of Anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism
It´s a sad thing this equation of anti-zionism with anti-semitism, and these people who make this false equation are either totally ignorant, fanatics or ass lickers. Usually their "logic" is as twisted as that of real anti-semites. In many ways anti-semitism and this modern filo-semitism spring from the same fountain - from the unability to see Jews as normal human beings and the self-proclaimed Jewish state of Israel constrained by the same laws as other states. Where anti-semites have their Jewish conspiracies and other nonsense, the filo-semites have as ludicrous claims of Jewish superiority and special privileges of both Jews and Israel. Usually it seems that the claims of anti-semites have just been turned upside down. Where the Nazis believed that they had the right to murder innocent people because these people happened to be Jews, the filo-semites believe that the state of Israel and it´s representatives have the right to murder innocent people and steal their land because Israel calls itself a Jewish state.
Anyway, if one believes that the history of Jews should give Israel free hand to commit ethnic cleansings and other atrocities, then one also has to believe that because of the death of tens of millions of Chinese and Russians during the last century as a consequence of violence and oppression, China and Russia must have a free hand to do whatever they wish in Tibet, Xinjiang and Chechnya. Because if we believe that past sufferings give some group of people the right to make other people - innocent to their past suffering - to suffer, then we have to conclude that all other groups who have suffered must too have a right to commit atrocities.
The fact that Jews endured a genocide 60 years ago doesn´t give Israel any kind of special privilege to broke international laws or to forget basic human decency. Claiming otherwise is either pure stupidity or evilness. And when all sane people can see the truth about Israel and it´s actions, that it isn´t a poor, innocent little victim of a state, that it is a rogue state if anything, then it doesn´t do any good to Jews to make these kinds of claims of special rights of Jews and Israel. The mantle of a victim doesn´t fit Israel.
It´s a sad thing this equation of anti-zionism with anti-semitism, and these people who make this false equation are either totally ignorant, fanatics or ass lickers. Usually their "logic" is as twisted as that of real anti-semites. In many ways anti-semitism and this modern filo-semitism spring from the same fountain - from the unability to see Jews as normal human beings and the self-proclaimed Jewish state of Israel constrained by the same laws as other states. Where anti-semites have their Jewish conspiracies and other nonsense, the filo-semites have as ludicrous claims of Jewish superiority and special privileges of both Jews and Israel. Usually it seems that the claims of anti-semites have just been turned upside down. Where the Nazis believed that they had the right to murder innocent people because these people happened to be Jews, the filo-semites believe that the state of Israel and it´s representatives have the right to murder innocent people and steal their land because Israel calls itself a Jewish state.
Anyway, if one believes that the history of Jews should give Israel free hand to commit ethnic cleansings and other atrocities, then one also has to believe that because of the death of tens of millions of Chinese and Russians during the last century as a consequence of violence and oppression, China and Russia must have a free hand to do whatever they wish in Tibet, Xinjiang and Chechnya. Because if we believe that past sufferings give some group of people the right to make other people - innocent to their past suffering - to suffer, then we have to conclude that all other groups who have suffered must too have a right to commit atrocities.
The fact that Jews endured a genocide 60 years ago doesn´t give Israel any kind of special privilege to broke international laws or to forget basic human decency. Claiming otherwise is either pure stupidity or evilness. And when all sane people can see the truth about Israel and it´s actions, that it isn´t a poor, innocent little victim of a state, that it is a rogue state if anything, then it doesn´t do any good to Jews to make these kinds of claims of special rights of Jews and Israel. The mantle of a victim doesn´t fit Israel.
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