When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.
– Helen Keller
Former Vice President and environmental activist Al Gore is planning to address Wal-Mart Stores Inc. executives next week at the retailer’s quarterly conference on sustainability, part of the company’s recent efforts to become an environmental leader, a Wal-Mart spokesman confirmed.
Gore will speak on global warming, the subject of his recently released documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.” The conference is an outgrowth of Wal-Mart’s mission, outlined by Chief Executive Lee Scott last November, to minimize its negative impact on the environment. At the time, Wal-Mart committed to, among other things, reduce energy use in its stores, improve the fuel efficiency of its truck fleet and substantially cut down on solid waste produced by its stores.
It’ll be a bit latish, probably closer to to the Saturday morning edge for those east of the Central time zone. I’ve got some YouTube clips I have bookmarked at the other computer.
to take these ‘foiled terrorist plots’ seriously: AP/Yahoo
Authorities have disrupted planning by foreign terrorists for an attack on the transportation network, including tunnels, in the New York City-New Jersey area, two federal agencies announced Friday.
“We have disrupted a terrorist network that was in the planning stages of an attack,” said a statement released jointly at midmorning by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security…
…The Daily News reported that the plotters wanted to blow up the Holland Tunnel, the southernmost link between Manhattan and New Jersey, in the hopes of flooding New York’s financial district. The desired effect would be akin to the flooding that ravaged New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the newspaper said.
A government official with knowledge of the investigation said while the alleged plot did focus on New York’s transportation system, it did not target the Holland Tunnel. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is ongoing, would give no further details about the intended targets.
It’s unlikely that any plan to flood the financial district would work because it is above the level of the Hudson River.
Is BushCo looking for a boost in the wake of their North Korea missile testing debacle, or am I too cynical?
Yesterday on Flashpoints: Calderon squeeks by Obrador by less than one-half of one percent of the vote in Mexico – we’ll have a live report from John Ross in Mexico City; also Israeli occupiers push deep into Gaza, killing more than 24 and wounding many more; and the first in our series of women resisting war – we interview performance artist Sherry Glaser.
01:20 Mexico Election, 2006
John Ross, long an observer of politics in Mexico, interviewed by Dennis Bernstein, discusses the significance of this election as a choice between North and South, rich and poor. Computerized vote machine irregularities, “lost” votes and unexplained patterns in vote counts raise questions about the validity of the results. Andrés Manuel López Obrador has vowed to challenge the count and has called for a rally of supporters in Mexico City on at 5PM on Saturday July 8.
For more on the vote anomalies, read the article by Al Giordano on NarcoNews.com
17:30 Israeli Armed Assault on Gaza Escalates
In what is clearly a campaign of illegal destruction of infrastructure, kidnapping of political leaders, and collective punishment of Palestinian civilians that is designed to undermine, disrupt and dismantle the elected Hamas government, ongoing daily Israeli attacks continue to kill dozens of civilians and destroy the property and livlihoods of thousands more, carried out under the pretext of reaction to the military capture on one Israeli soldier.
July 13 – Emergency Protest in San Francisco:
At the Israeli Consulate, with Al-Awda – the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, and endorsed by ANSWER and many others.
July 13, 4:30pm
456 Montgomery St. SF
Contact 415-821-6545 for more information
32:00 Women Resisting War – Sherry Glaser
Actress, radical performance artist and activist Sherry Glaser, interviewed by Dennis Bernstein discusses the rationale for the guerilla action group Breasts Not Bombs, which contrasts the indecency and obscenity of war with the natural grace and beauty of the human body. Many who calmly accept war find the sight of an exposed breast intolerable obscenity.
Sherry Glaser is currently performing her one-woman show Oh My Goddess! at the Marsh Theater in San Francisco through July 15. For information, call (800) 838-3006
Politicians and the army acknowledge that now the tanks and troops are in again it may be politically impossible to withdraw them swiftly even if the captured Israeli soldier, Corporal Gilad Shalit, is freed.
Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a former defence minister and member of Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert’s security cabinet, said Israel had no intention of returning permanently to the Gaza Strip.
“The entries and exits will take place from time to time. There is no motivation to stay there. We have no interest in returning. We have a simple interest to prevent the continuation of firing at our communities,” he said. link
In – out, in – out; he’s saying the Palestinians are going to get fucked — just enough to keep ’em under thumb, mind you.
Global warming may be largely to blame for the increasingly destructive wildfires in the Western United States in the last two decades, new research suggests.
Longer and fiercer wildfire seasons since 1986 are closely associated with warmer summer temperatures, earlier arrival of spring, and earlier snowmelts in the West, scientists reported yesterday in the online edition of the journal Science.
Five United Nations human rights experts on Thursday called on international agencies and UN member states to assist the US in closing the Guantanamo Bay detention centre as soon as possible.
The US should consult with the international community to develop a detailed action plan with timeframes for closure of the US naval base in Cuba, and charge or release the 450 or so terrorist suspects being held there, the experts said.
Those charged should be transferred to the US and given a “fair and expeditious trial, in accordance with international law”. Detainees not subject to trial, who would be at risk of torture if repatriated to their countries of origin, should be resettled in third countries, they said.
The call follows last week’s US Supreme Court decision striking down the military tribunal system set up by the Bush administration to try Guantanamo prisoners as contrary to the Geneva Conventions and US military rules.
YAOUNDE, Cameroon (Reuters) — Worried that her daughters’ budding breasts would expose them to the risk of sexual harassment and even rape, their mother Philomene Moungang started ‘ironing’ the girls’ bosoms with a heated stone.
“I did it to my two girls when they were eight years old. I would take the grinding stone, heat it in the fire and press it hard on the breasts,” Moungang said.
“They cried and said it was painful. But I explained that it was for their own good.”
“Breast ironing” — the use of hard or heated objects or other substances to try to stunt breast growth in girls — is a traditional practice in West Africa, experts say.
A new survey has revealed it is shockingly widespread in Cameroon, where one in four teenagers are subjected to the traumatic process by relatives, often hoping to lessen their sexual attractiveness.
Read the rest of the piece…just one more incident of blaming the woman for men being attracted to them…
of Wal-Mart begins: WSJ
Al, how could you?
I’m so depressed I can’t blog.
Actually, I can’t blog because Mrs. K.P. and I are heading up to Asheville, NC and Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest for the weekend.
BTW, someone will need to fill in for Jazz Jam tonight. Sorry for the short notice – kind of a last-minute getaway trip.
I am so envious of you and Mrs. KP that I’m depressed. Guess I’ll just have to make myself feel better by going to Long Island… 🙂
It’ll be a bit latish, probably closer to to the Saturday morning edge for those east of the Central time zone. I’ve got some YouTube clips I have bookmarked at the other computer.
Have a fun trip. Drive cheerful!
I just put one in the queue…want me to post it early or should one of us wait till Sat or Sun?
I’m cool either way. Ya got something cool, go for it.
Susie at Suburban Guerilla points out that even the DOD haas noticed a problem with the new recruits: Link.
Way to go guys. Can’t wait to see what those Aryan Nation guys do here at home with all they’re learning in Iraq.
to take these ‘foiled terrorist plots’ seriously: AP/Yahoo
Is BushCo looking for a boost in the wake of their North Korea missile testing debacle, or am I too cynical?
Thursday, July 6, 2006
Listen D’load Podcast
Yesterday on Flashpoints: Calderon squeeks by Obrador by less than one-half of one percent of the vote in Mexico – we’ll have a live report from John Ross in Mexico City; also Israeli occupiers push deep into Gaza, killing more than 24 and wounding many more; and the first in our series of women resisting war – we interview performance artist Sherry Glaser.
01:20 Mexico Election, 2006
John Ross, long an observer of politics in Mexico, interviewed by Dennis Bernstein, discusses the significance of this election as a choice between North and South, rich and poor. Computerized vote machine irregularities, “lost” votes and unexplained patterns in vote counts raise questions about the validity of the results. Andrés Manuel López Obrador has vowed to challenge the count and has called for a rally of supporters in Mexico City on at 5PM on Saturday July 8.
For more on the vote anomalies, read the article by Al Giordano on NarcoNews.com
17:30 Israeli Armed Assault on Gaza Escalates
In what is clearly a campaign of illegal destruction of infrastructure, kidnapping of political leaders, and collective punishment of Palestinian civilians that is designed to undermine, disrupt and dismantle the elected Hamas government, ongoing daily Israeli attacks continue to kill dozens of civilians and destroy the property and livlihoods of thousands more, carried out under the pretext of reaction to the military capture on one Israeli soldier.
Richard Becker, a member of the National Steering Committee for the International ANSWER Coalition and West Coast Coordinator of the International Action Center, is interviewed by Dennis Bernstein.
Find out about protest and boycott actions across the USA. For up-to-the-minute news, visit the International Middle East Media Center, and read weekly summaries of human rights violations at the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights.
32:00 Women Resisting War – Sherry Glaser
Actress, radical performance artist and activist Sherry Glaser, interviewed by Dennis Bernstein discusses the rationale for the guerilla action group Breasts Not Bombs, which contrasts the indecency and obscenity of war with the natural grace and beauty of the human body. Many who calmly accept war find the sight of an exposed breast intolerable obscenity.
Sherry Glaser is currently performing her one-woman show Oh My Goddess! at the Marsh Theater in San Francisco through July 15. For information, call (800) 838-3006
In – out, in – out; he’s saying the Palestinians are going to get fucked — just enough to keep ’em under thumb, mind you.
Study links increase in wildfires to global warming
US urged to close Guantanamo Bay prison
From CNN:
‘Breast ironing’ to stunt girls’ growth widespread
1 in 4 girls in Cameroon suffer this abuse to protect against rape
YAOUNDE, Cameroon (Reuters) — Worried that her daughters’ budding breasts would expose them to the risk of sexual harassment and even rape, their mother Philomene Moungang started ‘ironing’ the girls’ bosoms with a heated stone.
“I did it to my two girls when they were eight years old. I would take the grinding stone, heat it in the fire and press it hard on the breasts,” Moungang said.
“They cried and said it was painful. But I explained that it was for their own good.”
“Breast ironing” — the use of hard or heated objects or other substances to try to stunt breast growth in girls — is a traditional practice in West Africa, experts say.
A new survey has revealed it is shockingly widespread in Cameroon, where one in four teenagers are subjected to the traumatic process by relatives, often hoping to lessen their sexual attractiveness.
Read the rest of the piece…just one more incident of blaming the woman for men being attracted to them…