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TAKE oVEr! (\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/) the UP//:-) la - la - la - lap-toppling da system! (\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/) WORK SUCKS! "STUPID" STAYS AT #1 p 6 NEW! LITERATURE SECTION - at end * SHAR HARRY’S HARD: Night Two of BRIAN BARRITT’S RABELAISIAN SCI FI ROMP * ROUGH LANDING ONGOING DIARY OF AN AMERICAN IN LONDON U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U UP P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P The UPGRADEmag (or just the "UP") is a global edutainment round-up, ‘broadcast’ weekly to =[10,435]= Alternative// Activist// Zippy// Trance// New Age folks who’ve been recommended to the Parallel YOUniversity//Megatripolis Dance Dept as "showing signs of life". Since many recipients choose to forward it to their own lists, we estimate 28,000+ recipients. Further, because of its less 'specialist' content, it's increasingly being posted on a variety of sites worldwide, making a total weekly ‘readership’ of 275,000+ U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U UP P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
* * * * * * * * * * * * * ASTRO ENERGY ANALYSIS APRIL24-30* * * * * * * * * * * * *
UP - The sun has been worshipped as a symbol of life itself in many cultures since the dawn of humanity. The bonfires that our ancestors lit at Midsummer, Beltane and Samhain were intended as rituals to encourage and strengthen the sun on its journey throughout the year.WHERE DOES OUR ENERGY COME FROM? There’s much talking this week, but when Scorpio Full Moon culminates on Friday, we want action and tangible results. Energy is the hot topic. Where does it come from? How do we use it? How do we recycle it? It’s time to take a look at resources, and ask some tough questions. For a detailed daily guide, see www.daykeeperjournal.com * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * WORKING SUCKS, HOWEVER U LOOK ATTIT! by Tim Righteous "No matter how much I hated it, I had to face up to the fact that I would have to earn some money. I was like many fullbloods. I didn't want to work in an office or a factory. I thought myself too good for that, not because I was stuck up, but because any human being is too good for that kind of no-life, even white people. I trained myself to need and want as little as could be so that I wouldn't have to work except when I felt like it. That way, I got along with plenty of time to think, to ask, to learn, to listen, to count coup with the girls." - John Lame Deer Day after day we get up early and trudge to work. We swallow our pride and put up with being ordered around by the boss. We sweat and toil at jobs we hate, wasting away our lives. Why do we do it? Because we have to? Because we need the money? Or because we don't know how to live any other way? We work way too hard. Most of us work 40 or more hours a week from when we are 18 years old until after we turn 60. One in four western workers works more than 49 hours a week. One in eight works more than 60 hours a week1 And one in ten holds down more than one job. And we keep working more and more. Americans have added 20 extra work days to our work year since 1970. Factory workers work an average of five weeks a year in overtime alone. Americans work two months more per year than the French and Germans. Working this hard is crazy and unnatural. For thousands of years before the dawn of history, people lived as hunter-gatherers and simple farmers. Hunting and gathering is a pretty relaxed way to make a living. Modern hunter-gatherers like Native Australians "work" less than four hours a day. Even after we gave up the forests and built cities, we still didn't work very hard. During medireview times in Europe, people worked as few as 120 days a year. There’s no reason for us to be working so hard. As advances in technology help us work more productively, we should be able to work less. Today’s workers are ten times more productive than 100 years ago. That means, for every hour we work today, we produce as many goods and services as workers produced in ten hours in 1890. That also means we should be able to work one tenth as much, and live just as well, as people did back then. That would be less than eight hours of work a week. Since we don't work eight hours a week, where did all that extra productivity go? A lot of it went as profits into the pockets of the rich. The rich in America are richer than any other group of people EVER in the history of the world. If we work harder or better, our bosses aren't under any obligation to pay us more or let us work less. Sadly, that's how capitalism works. (Capitalism REALLY sucks, but that's beyond our scope at this moment. Books are listed at the end that go into some depth about how capitalism sucks and what we can do about it.) The rest of that productivity went into "improving" our standard of living. We made a decision to buy more rather than work less. Some of the things we bought really did improve the way we live. Very few homes in 1890 had running water, electricity or flush toilets. But most of what we bought were fluff consumer products like big cars and color TVs that are fun to own, but that we don't really need. The question is: why did we make this choice? Why did we choose to buy more crap instead of working less? We didn't. Gigantic corporations made the choice for us by brain-washing us with advertising. Advertisements are everywhere, telling us we will be happier, better looking, admired, respected and even loved, if we just buy this or that product. Of course, we all know we can't buy happiness or love, but with advertising poking into every part of our lives, it's hard not to give in to the idea that we can buy a better life. Eventually almost everyone does give in to the dull, exhausting trap of work and spend, work and spend, produce and consume. The price for this choice is high. Work saps our spirit and crushes our sense of freedom. Kissing our boss's ass all day is humiliating. The worst is when we actually get used to being pushed around. Human beings need to be free to develop our independent selves. The more we work, the less we think like free people. Work takes time from other, better things like being with our families and friends, travelling, making love, drinking beer, painting, writing, reading, playing music, cooking and eating good food, etc. These are the things that make life rich and interesting. Work makes life boring, short and gray. Work is also killing us. 25,000 American workers are killed each year on the job. 2 million more are disabled, and 25 million are injured. These numbers don't include the 50,000 Americans who are killed each year in car crashes, many of whom are traveling to or from work. Finally, we can't afford to keep consuming things the way we do. Americans, only 5% of the world's population, consume more than 25% of the world's resources and energy. Soon those resources will run out. Our over-producing industries are filling the sky and water with smoke and sludge. Most of the smog in the air comes from people commuting to work in cars. Our consumption habit is ruining the earth. QUESTIONS: If I work less, won't I starve? Most westerners have a terrible fear that if they stop working all the time, they won't be able to afford food and rent. The trick is learning how to work less by learning how to spend a lot less. Living cheap doesn't mean suffering and starving. You can live cheap and also enjoy a comfortable, plentiful life. But I like my job. Some lucky people have better jobs, or work at jobs where they do something they like. If you’re one of them, you still have to ask yourself: Do I really like my job, or do I just hate it less than most people? If you had a choice, would you choose to work at your job for 40 hours a week? Even sex would get boring going at it for 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year. Work can spoil anything. Many people love gardening, but farm-work is hot and back-breaking. Cooking can be fun, but working as a cook in a busy resturant is hell. If you like your job now, you will like your job even more if you work less. If I don't work, what will I do? Working less doesn't mean being unproductive. Take gardening again: Gardening doesn't pay. To make gardening pay, you would have to work like a farmer. But you can easily grow lots of vegetables, possibly enough to live on, simply by goofing around in your garden. Why work? Life is an adventure if you have the time. There are so many things to do in the world, one person couldn't possibly do them all. It's sad: we get so caught up in our jobs, that when we get home, we can't think of anything better to do with ourselves than watch TV. Don't be a zombie slave - quit your job! "I do not like work, even when another person does it." - Mark Twain "Work is the refuge of people who have nothing better to do." Oscar Wilde NEXT UP HOW TO LIVE CHEAP & WORK LESS... UP - In common with most other heavenly bodies and phenomena, it is unlucky to point at the sun, and in Hungary if a girl threw house dust from the broom towards the sun, it was said that she would never marry. In Mideast, both sides charge reporters with bias Hi Fraser, Just a little blurb that's not very shocking, but I just want to say how TIRED I’ve been of the primarily Jewish-owned, longstanding pro-Israeli bias in the U.S. news. But now, for the first time ever, news outlets are actually showing that it's not just the Palestinian "terrorists" who are completely at fault in their independence struggle. Finally, networks like CNN and MSNBC are giving more airtime to Palestinian advisers and representatives, whereas before we saw mostly Israeli representatives (who most of the time could pass for Americans - and gives a subliminal effect to the viewer when contrasted with the very Arab Palestinian representatives) given more airtime and allowed to cut off the Palestinians in mid-sentence. Now 1000 LA Times subscribers have cancelled their subscriptions in protest at what they call "Pro-Palestinian reporting". Do you really think we would have heard about this if those 1000 (a meager number) weren't part of the Jewish community? Are they afraid that any pro-Arab reporting will diminish their social stature and advantages? In France, at least, when you choose a daily newspaper, you KNOW that one leans to the left, another to the right, etc. Does any American REALLY think that the news here is unbiased? They're living obliviously, that's for sure. There should be no more hiding behind the horrible genocide of their past as a false shield showing them all to be suffering angels. Do we see or hear any Bosnians using their genocide (which lasted many more years) in the same way? ENOUGH. Let the reporters report what they see, and take it for truth that NO NEWS IN THE US IS WITHOUT BIAS. That's all, thanks for listening. niki /new york UP- san francisco area FRI APRIL 26 B.L.I.S.S. A sweet night, with a full moon ritual, a fierce drum corp, lovely decorations, yummy food, gruuvin' DJs http://www.blissspace.com/
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Our very reasonable prices and other tantalising tidbits are at www.aladdin-travels.com A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A ADVERTISINGG G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G Michel Moore writes 4/15/02 Dear Friends, I woke up in Tampa, Florida, yesterday, picked up the Sunday newspaper, and there it was: the New York Times today had declared that, for the fourth week in a row, "Stupid White Men" is the #1 book in the country. I am out of explanations at this point as to how this thing has stayed atop on the Times bestseller list for a month. I've been informed that the book is now in its 19th printing. Also, it remains #1 in Canada, and it has gone to #1 this week in Britain and Ireland, according to the Sunday Times of London. All this has occurred in spite of a virtual press blackout on the book. Or maybe because of it. The more the book is ignored by the media, the better it does. So, if you are a newspaper editor or a TV producer, PLEASE DO NOT PAY ANY ATTENTION TO THIS BOOK! Just because more Americans are reading it than any other book in the country for the past month should NOT persuade you to ask crazy questions of yourselves like, "How can this be happening when the 'President' has the highest approval ratings ever?" Just concern yourselves with repeating your mantra of the past 7 months -- "America Loves Bush! America Loves Bush!" It's a comforting mantra, one that seems to bring you solace at a time of journalistic confusion. It's also simple and easy to repeat -- and it means that you don't have to go out and do the work you’re supposed to do (like rooting out the Enron-backed criminals in the White House or finding out what really happened before and after September 11th ). The front page of the Tampa Tribune yesterday was all ablaze with the news about the convention of Florida's Democrats on Saturday in Orlando. There was a color photo of a smiling, waving Al Gore. Lieberman was there and so was Kerry and a host of other stars of the Democratic Party. About 2,500 Floridians were in attendance. But in Tampa that same night I was looking out from the stage at the Sun Dome at a crowd of nearly 7,000 Floridians who’d come to the "DEMOCRACY RISING" rally organized by Ralph Nader! Tampa has now produced the largest crowd of the book tour (I signed the 2000th book of the evening somewhere around 2am). This is 3 times the crowd that the Democrats got and, again, there is virtually no coverage. But remember -- it NO LONGER MATTERS that most of the media ignores the real news. It no longer matters because much of the media has chosen to make itself irrelevant through its lazy reporting, sleazy presentation, its obedience to the corporate agenda, and all the blowhard pundits who scream out their useless opinions. A political shift has occurred in the country and the media has completely missed it. We have become a nation where the majority of citizens are very liberal and progressive on the issues. The majority of Americans now call themselves pro-environment, pro-choice, pro-labor, and anti-Big Business. 154 million out of the 200 million voters in this country did NOT cast a vote for George W. Bush. That’s the America in which we now live. Liberal, progressive, and sick of the stupid white men who run the country. Hey, here's something that you haven't seen on the Fox Nuisance Channel - there are now over 140 college campuses in the U.S. with an active student Green organization. The Green kids in Florida are everywhere and their numbers are among the largest. You wouldn't think so, not after the blame that was heaped on the Greens for causing Gore to "lose" Florida. But they’re building a mass movement, and the turnout I saw in Tampa was proof to me that there’s a ruckus afoot in America, and if it's rockin' in a place like central Florida, then it's happening just down the street from where you live. The Democrats could have stopped this. They could have spent the past two years fighting to raise the minimum wage or to lower the amount of pollutants spewed into the air or to call for a Special Prosecutor to investigate Bush and Enron. But, no, they’ve spent their time trying to act like Republicans, thinking that's how they will win back the House this November. Note to Democrats: You will not win the House by being your usual weak, lame-o selves. The Greens will deny you the chance you have had to take charge. Until you get a clue, the Greens will thrive and grow. You want to avoid a repeat of 2000? Fight for the working people of this country! You want to stop the Greens? Act like a real Democrat! Stand up for something! Do the math: A couple of thousand in Orlando come to see the stars of the Democratic Party, while, at the same exact moment, nearly three times that number is in Tampa to cheer on a progressive agenda -- which is greater? If the Democrats can't add 2+2, then they are doomed. I should also mention that Tampa is the command headquarters for the war on Afghanistan. It's all done via remote control from the comfort of Florida's beautiful Gulf coast. How many civilians have we killed now? I believe the last number I read, it was more than the civilians who died on September 11th. Oh, I know the Bush boys over at Macdill Air Force Base have their rationalization as to why, in wartime, sometimes civilians have to die. The terrorists of 9-11 had their rationalizations, too. Everybody's got their rationalizations. Well, here's mine -- there is NO rationalization for the killing of other human beings except in the rare and extreme cases of true self-defense. Thanks again to everyone for your support. I'll be in the Northwest later in the week. Hope to see many of you there. Michael Moore / Author / Filmmaker / Detroit Tigers fan PS. I‘ve just landed in Dallas and turned on the TV. A representative from Oxfam, is describing the massacre of Palestinian civilians and children by the Israeli army in the Jenin refugee camp. It’s shocking and horrifying when terrorism is committed by desperate suicide bombers. It's beyond belief when that terrorism is committed as an organized act by an avowed democratic state. Twenty Palestinians lined up against a wall and executed? Ten-year old children burned to death after soldiers set their homes on fire? Are we funding this? Yes, bring to justice those specific individuals who have committed acts of murder against Israelis citizens. But execute the innocent? Has everyone gone insane? What are we going to do to put a stop to this? For God's sake, we can't wait for Bush to find out where the West Bank is located on a map. UP - It is a fortunate omen to be born at sunrise, and also considered to be lucky for a bride if sunlight surrounds her: 'Happy is the bride the sun shines on'. IN THE SAME MONTH AS THE ABORTED VENEZUELAN COUP COMES NEWS OF PREVIOUS CIA OBSCENITIES IN CHILE london WED APRIL 24 Mr Kissinger's planned speech to the terminally misguided Institute of Directors at the Royal Albert Hall, on GLOBALISATION-THE THEME, KISSINGER-THE GURU, will be met by a mass protest of human rights campaigners and anti-capitalist demonstrators over his alleged connivance at General Pinochet's 1973 coup in Chile, as well as his part in the Vietnam War and the secret bombing of Cambodia. Meanwhile the Chilean judge Juan Guzmán prosecuting Pinochet for crimes committed during his 17-year dictatorship, is seeking to extradite the former US Secretary of State to Chile. On 4 July last year, Guzman submitted 30 questions to Mr Kissinger about his relationship with Gen Pinochet; the questionnaire was passed on by the US State Department, but he has not so far chosen to reply, nor is he expected to do so. Neither is Washington likely to hand over to an international criminal tribunal a man who served as secretary of state to two presidents. Any application for his extradition, however, would increase the embarrassment and pressure on our Henry, who last year quit France in a hurry rather than submit to a summons to appear before judge Roger Le Loire, who was looking into the disappearance of five French citizens in Chile during the Pinochet years. Mr Guzmán has said he will be pressing for Mr Kissinger's replies this month and, fasiling their arrival, extradition proceedings would follow. This would mirror the move by the Spanish judge, Baltasar Garzón, which led to the arrest of Gen Pinochet in London. "I have been in touch with the US embassy here in Santiago” said Mr Guzmán, ”and they say they’ve no idea why replies have not been sent.” Guy Taylor, of the anti-capitalist movement Globalise Resistance, said there would be a "direct action blockade" when our Henry appears at the Albert Hall. "We are calling on the Home Secretary not to allow him into the country," he said. "He presided over one of the most brutal eras of US foreign policy in history." 8.30am @ Royal Albert Hall (South Kensington tube) http://www.resist.org.uk/diary/kissinger.html http://www.bilderberg.org/kissing.htm UP - Primitive peoples, who worried that the source of light and warmth was being devoured forever, feared an eclipse of the sun. From this arose the idea that an eclipse heralded a prominent death or a great disaster such as war, plague or famine. //YOU FEEDBACK: PERPETUAL MOTION I have done some research in this field. My data suggests that there is a critical height limit (CHL)from which a cat can be dropped. Upon experimentation with 3 different cats (many thanks to Anthony's mum whose cats volunteered) I discovered this CHL to be 3.14m. A value similar to pi. From further reading I have gleaned that a cat's ability to land on its feet is controlled by its proximity to the moon. Some further research in this field is required. Needless to say when a cat is dropped from above the CHL (whether or not it has any carpet polarised substance smeared on it) it will land in its head in 95.6% of cases. An interesting phenomenon was also discovered during the experiment, namely that a cat has a finite number of drops from above CHL before it perishes. This relationship is described by: 17(c>CHL) <=> 0 where c = cat the figure of 17 is hereby claimed by myself as the MFA Constant (Mark's Feline Atrocities). ed chanter / uk //YOU INTERVIEWS GREG PALAST ABOUT VENEZUELA A MONTH BEFORE THE COUP MARCH 23,at the Think Twice seminar, Trinity College, Cambridge http://think-twice.org.uk //YOU Q: i've heard u mention about Venezuela being at stage 4 in the IMF’s four-stage program. this seems to be a story that’s going on right now, i mean Argentina is obviously going on right now, but i wondered if u had anything to say about that. Greg Palast: Venezuela, yeah shit man, i was arranging to go down there, trying to talk Newsnight into it, cos after they missed the Argentine story, i'd told them Argentina's going to be in flames, and they waited until the day i was leaving on my vacation, then they said: it's in flames, get down there! i said, i'm on vacation. they said, ok, where's the next place? Venezuela! and they said, what date? i said , february 27th. it's true, i told 'em, cos i was getting information that a coup attempt was going to be made. and then the coup was delayed, and instead they set up a one-day general strike against Hugo Chávez, the elected president. i spoke to Hugo Chávez' aide, and she said, do you really want to be next to Chávez cos they're probably gonna assassinate him in the next coupla weeks? and this is his aide, she said, do u wanna be in the room with him? so what's happening in Venezuela is that Hugo Chávez took Joe Stiglitz' advice [World Bank’s ex-chief economist see previous UPs], as opposed to the World Bank's advice. Stiglitz actually did have two suggestions. one, change the terms of trade. Venezuela was the biggest seller of oil to the United States. he doubled the royalties, not the price to be paid, but the royalties to be paid by the oil companies, mainly British Petroleum and Chevron, from 16% to 30%. and to an oil man like George W Bush that was virtually an act of war; they're talking about going after Saddam Hussein, but it's really Hugo Chávez, that's just the magic show over there, the real war is against Hugo Chávez for doubling the price of oil. two, what Stiglitz called "putting an end to landlordism". the thatcherites talk about 'excessive taxes' being a drain and discouraging businesses; the worst tax on this planet, which is driving this planet economically into the ground, the reason there is poverty by the millions, for the millions, is landlordism - most productive property on this planet is owned by people who are not the tillers. Stiglitz said, that's gotta end. they take 50% of the crops, it's the worst, most horrendous tax in this planet. so Chávez said any land which is left fallow for two years, and there's lots of that in Venezuela, giant plantations where properties are not touched, that unused land goes to the landless. it's a simple law. so two laws is all that Chávez has been able to pass as president, and even though he's controlled congress. and those two laws, land for the landless and higher taxes on foreign oil companies meant that he's in an economic war with America, Britain and his own elite. my lunch when i read the headlines about Hugo Chávez. the whole line that's being put out is that "he's a dictator". a dictator?! not George W Bush, elected by a computer in Florida, but Hugo Chávez, elected, like, by 70% of the popular vote, and no-one says that about that election, no-one questions the validity of that election. this is a popularly elected president, with a popularly elected congress. and they keep talking about "the dictator", and i was stunned and sickened that The Guardian would just take this stuff and swallow it whole, and what i'm concerned about is word that the IMF has said such shaded things as "we're not gonna get involved in the politics of Venezuela, we don't touch local politics, but if there were a 'transition government' we would be willing to fund its operation." basically the IMF is saying, "we'll pay for the coup détat!" "jeez, no-one is covering this!" well i was trying to cover this, but i cant put Chávez in too many times! but the other thing is that Chávez himself invited me down. that was a bit of a problem, because as a reporter i can’t have a subject pay for me ... but i'm very concerned about what's happening there, i'm concerned not only with what's happening, but i'm concerned about the the lack of coverage, the non-coverage, what we read in The Guardian, let alone the other papers, the false, phoney, fake propagandistic bullshit coverage, and also i'm very concerned because we're not getting the kind of support from progressive forces worldwide that u normally would see, and again that has to do with the fact that Chávez is not necessarily a loveable character, a good character, a sophisticated character, he's just ... but it's not him, it's a question of supporting the poor, who finally, through democratic means, said "we'd like to have some of our economy, we are an oil exporting nation, why are we poor? we are a nation, a gigantic nation several times the size of Britain, with extraordinarily productive land, why are we landless? why are we hungry? why are we poor?" and Chávez said, "there's no reason." and for that, basically, the European and international financial community in America is basically in economic war with this guy. we're talking about Iraq but we really should be talking about Venezuela, because i don't think, i actually don't think there's going to be an attack on Iraq. i mean that's just sabre-rattling bullshit to keep u away from where the action is. so we'll see what happens, but thank u for bringing that up, that's very important. http://www.democraticunderground.com/cgi-bin/duforum/duboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=20258&forum=DCForumID5 YOU-
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US MILITARY ATTACHE WITH PLOTTERS ON COUP NIGHT!CARACAS, April 18 (AFP) - The US military attache in Caracas was actually with the planners of last week's aborted Venezuela coup, both during the planning and up until the coup against President Hugo Chavez, a source in the president's office told AFP privately
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YOU- FILM-MAKER DESCRIBES CHAVEZ OVERTHROW / RETURN Kim Bartley, who has spent the past three months filming a documentary on the Venezuelan President for Power Productions, an independent film company based in Galway, witnessed last weekend's coup attempt. "I arrived in the town centre just as the shooting started, filmed a while, then took cover in a doorway. Whoever was firing aimed directly at the crowd, which was pro-Chavez. I filmed two dead bodies, both beside the podium set up to rally Chavistas to defend the presidential palace. "A woman working in the vice-president's office identified the bodies as a legal secretary and an archivist, both working inside the building. A 10-year-old girl was then taken away, fatally injured. "More shots. We ran for cover like everyone else. We made it to the palace through back streets as the firing continued, and as soon as we got in the gate another sniper started aiming at the crowd. We were all thrown to the ground behind a wall and later ran for cover into the building. Three of the snipers were arrested . . . "Chavez was about to explain what was happening in a live tv broadcast but the state channel's signal was cut just as he began to speak. "The generals arrived and went off for a meeting with Chavez. The evening passed in a flash as we waited for news inside the presidential palace. A tearful Environmental Minister, Ms Analisa Osorio, emerged in the early hours of Friday, announcing the end of an era. 'He's under arrest,' she said. Chavez emerged, barely visible behind the bodyguards and junta soldiers jostling both to protect and arrest him. "The atmosphere turned ugly. Radio and television immediately announced Chavez resignation of, and began broadcasting upbeat messages: 'VENEZUELA IS FINALLY FREE' was the banner across all private TV channels. "The government went into hiding. Everyone fled for their lives. The witch-hunt began. We decided not to go home, checking into a hotel instead, for safety . . . "The media kept repeating footage of the swearing-in ceremony of interim president [Pedro Carmona] which was followed by images of empty streets, everything in perfect tranquillity. “We were about to book a ticket to Panama when a well-dressed passer-by told us to get off the streets. 'The Chavistas are coming' he said. It was Saturday afternoon. "We took a taxi to the centre, where huge crowds surrounded the palace, demanding the return of Chavez. We managed to get inside and found several Chavez deputies calling round the country to find out what was going on. A dozen people who were working for the interim government had been taken to a room in the basement for their own safety. "Reports came in from around the country, barracks by barracks, like a Eurovision song contest, that the military was rebelling against the coup. Rumours came that a commando had been sent to kill Chavez at the army base where he was being kept. "The television continued broadcasting a steady diet of soap operas, saying nothing about the huge mobilisation which was now making a deafening racket outside. “Then came the news that Chavez had been freed and was taking a helicopter to Miraflores. The crowds went wild. The presidential guard made a tunnel from the palace gates to a helicopter pad across the street. The sound of choppers buzzing overhead. "Then he was there, striding toward the palace, mobbed by supporters. It was like a dream, it's still hard to believe it really happened." http://scripts.ireland.com/search/highlight.plx?TextRes=venezuela&Path=/newspaper/world/2002/0416/1207025496fr16mmcinter.html UP - It was believed unlucky to view an eclipse directly (as well as bad for the sight). los angeles FRI APRIL 26-28 outdoor tree planting & dance gathering newmoongatherings@yahoo.com UP - When the sun appears hazy with a thin, watery light, bad weather is on the way. "For he that is not against us is for us" Luke Chapter 9, verse 50 May the leader of the most powerful Christian country consider Jesus's own words, the exact opposite of Bush's mantra for the current war: "He that is not for us is against us" I'm not a practising Christian, but it's easy to see how Jesus's path leads to peace and Bush's to war. This is not an anti-American diatribe! Love, Paul Dennis / uk UP - If the sun looks like a large bright ball as it rises, that day will be fair and warm. KARMA REPAIR KIT 1. Find enough food to eat and eat it. 2. Find a place to sleep that is quiet and sleep there. 3. Reduce intellectual & emotional noise until you arrive at the silence of ourself, and listen to it. 4. Nothing. [byRichard Brodigan] UP - If the sun comes out while it's raining, the showery weather will continue for a few more days. Fraser, Thanks for your open-minded attitude. I guessed you were that kind of person. I wasn't aware that the UP only started being war-oriented since 911. For me it's all about solutions. How can we build and strengthen our culture so that our values have a powerful influence over the collective? We need to focus more on us, on pushing our personal and tribal evolution further. How many "rave culture" kids go home, watch TV, drink beer, have normal jobs and otherwise live normal lives? If we live like everyone else, are we really that different? Just because we occasionally take E and dance all night to electronic music? This is not enough of a different lifestyle to justify being called a tribe or a new culture. The battle for thinking differently starts with ourselves; our minds, our lifestyle, the products we consume and the people we support when we spend our money. Just read your latest UP.... I like the new tone... I've been preparing a talk on these issues for the upcoming GOTT conference. I'll send you essays and pointers to relevant projects as I come across them. Cheers, Dlight :) UP - A ring around the sun during rainy weather indicates a period of sunny weather and clear skies to come. AN AMERICAN IN LONDON Rough Landing It's been three weeks, and so much has already happened that I've begun to lose track. Not that I was "tracking" all that well to start with, given the ordeal of a semi-formal separation from the first half of my life. Arrival day was the worst London had to offer - freezing, rainy, windy, and costly. After losing a night of sleep on the plane, we landed in gale-force winds and dreary conditions. The flat wasn't arranged, so we had to do an emergency maneuver into a hotel/pub. So then, an empty flat with a couple beds, a dining room table, chairs, and a sofa. The location is wonderful. Quite rustic, with gardens and a wooded walk out back, birds chirping away at all hours. The Money Mystery One of my observations from the first trip to London in November concerned the British pound. Is the UK the only country where the basic monetary unit is larger than the US dollar? It says a lot. People do spend pounds like dollars, and hence the impression that living in the UK is expensive. Let's not forget that the UK opted out of the Euro. However, I have found a completely alternative vein of life. I believe the UK is clinging to its former world dominance that started with the industrial revolution. Like other countries with a long history, the social structure is descended from a feudal organization of royalty and an upper class, then the masses. In the modern age common folk could rise up to the middle class, through industry. So today you see a professional class that lives the high life, and lots of basically poor people on the dole welfare) or eeking out an existence in an alternative vein. This is apparently easier to do in the UK than other European countries, though most have a socialist bent in terms of public services and welfare. So the alternative scene here is extensive, established and, contrary to popular belief, even the "high life" is less expensive than rumored. The flat I rented through the Internet is less than a comparable place in San Francisco. Granted, there are quite pricey places as well. A week ago I bought a car for the equivalent of $450. It's an 86 Vauxhall (British make), quite good on gas. The petrol is, however, about twice as expensive as in SF. And they have road tax on top of registration fees, and there's council tax (sort of a property tax) even on rental properties. So in conclusion, England seems to want to hold onto a dominant economic position, but because it's not the economic powerhouse it once was, it has a large population that can't, or doesn't want to, make that grade. Squat, Squat, Squat! At the base of the alternative scene here is the squat. In addition to free rent, the word also signifies a way of life. Squats in certain parts of New York are really quite seedy, but here the system somehow allows for temporary occupation of spaces on a fairly widespread basis. A friend of ours lives in a squatted mansion in a nice part of town. Most squats are temporary, lasting three to four months, and they can become party zones, and vary widely in flavor and intent. One squat has become a gallery and performance art space, another a politically dissident publishing office, and another charges $3 for underground parties with bizarre "music." One nice thing about squat parties is they usually offer cheap drinks and food as well as cheap refreshments of another sort - surprisingly cheap. British Mores In Britain, B stands for Bureaucracy. This is probably the single biggest impediment to achieving the economic firepower of a place like America. I had a conversation with a young chap at a party who made the following prescient observation: "What if you could take London and put it in the middle of America?" In other words, if you had British education and creativity and gave it a reasonable infrastructure for growth, what an amazing marriage that would be! Of course, it would be nice to get some of the manners and culcha as well. view of B. Most Brits are a combination of aggressive and polite, and often erudite, so they acknowledge that the system can be quite fucked and do their best anyway. As observed above, quite a few do their best to live outside the system, or to feed off it, as it were. Britain. It's the same language ferchrissakes, but with more color. Take some of these shop names: Settle Inn, Eataly, Wet 'n Wild (a pet shop). Yes, girls with British accents are pretty alluring - it's funny remembering how American guys complain about British and Irish guys wooing American girls all the time with their accents. how people in London accepted you no matter where you came from. I think as recently as 10 years ago there was a pretty ingrained anti-American sentiment here. Nevertheless, his point is that in other parts of Europe society is more rigid - he cited the tension between North Africans and native French in Paris. It's true that you get a potpourri of nationalities all blending together in London. Well, I agree with this guy. Not only that, as an Asian guy I feel more attractive to women here than I ever did in America :) Phil Inje Chang / london / san francisco UP - A bank of heavy dark clouds at sunset indicates that the next day may be stormy. london SUN APRIL 28 A radical history ramble through New Cross and Deptford, starting at 3 pm sharp outside the Hobgoblin Pub (opp New Cross Gate station) and ending up at another pub or maybe on the beach, tide permitting. Peasants Revolt 1381 - Cornish Uprising 1487- Christopher Marlowe 1593 - demonic possession in Deptford 1684 - Deptford Bread Riot 1867 - New Cross 'bomb outrage' 1884 - Gas workers strike 1889 - General Strike 1926 - V2 attack 1944 - Malcolm McClaren and the Goldsmiths Free Festival 1969 - Jah Shaka and the Moonlight Club 1970s - anti-National Front march 1977 - Alternative TV and Deptford punk 1977 - New Cross Fire 1981 - Slavery, Slaughteryard and Shipbuilding and more... wot no hippies?! practicalhistory@hotmail.com UP - A red sunrise means rain, but a red sunset means fine weather the next day. 'Red sky at night, shepherd's delight, Red sky at morning, shepherds’ warning' THE 10 WORST CORPORATIONS OF 2001 <a penny gray remix of original text from Multinational Monitor, Dec 2001> No.9: SOUTHERN: For filthy, dirty business practice One of the dumber provisions in U.S. environmental law is the "Grandfather Clause" in the Clean Air Act which exempts power plants built before 1970. At the time of adoption, it was viewed simply as a transition mechanism, with utilities arguing that old, grandfathered plants would rapidly be replaced. That hasn't happened. Instead, utilities like Southern Company - the largest in the US - continue to rely on grandfathered facilities, especially dirty coal plants, to generate substantial portions of their electricity. According to the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), grandfathered plants represent approximately 40% of Southern's generating capacity. By now, three decades after passage of the Clean Air Act, the grandfather clause is a major loophole in the clean air rules. Its persistence in the U.S. code is a prime example of the nexus between dirty money and dirty air. And Southern is at the center of this morass. Southern was the most polluting utility in the United States in 1999, according to U.S. PIRG, emitting more sulfur dioxide, more nitrogen oxides and more carbon dioxide than any other power company. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides cause or exacerbate an array of respiratory ailments such as asthma, and are associated with tens of thousands of deaths in the United States annually, and are the principle components of acid rain. Carbon dioxide is the most significant greenhouse gas. Southern is the largest utility polluter because, not only is it the largest company, it pollutes at higher rates than other utilities. For example, according to U.S. PIRG, it emits sulfur dioxide at a rate nearly 50% higher than the national average for utilities, and more than 400% higher than it would with new facilities. The company itself reports that it has the seventh highest sulfur dioxide emission rate in the country. The company says it’s doing everything it reasonably can to reduce emissions, alleging it has spent $4 billion on environmental improvements in the last decade. It says it’s gradually shifting to natural gas and de-emphasizing coal. It brags it has reduced sulfur dioxide emissions by a third and nitrogen oxides by more than 20% since 1990. (It admits major increases in carbon dioxide emissions, however, and even an increase in its carbon dioxide emission rate.) It says it’s taking steps to reduce future emissions And it touts its support for various environmental initiatives, notably sponsorship of the Nature Conservancy's 2001 annual meeting, marking the group's fiftieth anniversary. (What is the president of the Nature Conservancy doing praising Southern Company's "commitment to environmental stewardship"?) It doesn’t just happen that Southern can get away with polluting the U.S. skies and the atmosphere so badly. It takes a lot of work, and money. Southern dumps more money into the political process than any utility, according to U.S. PIRG. In the first six months of the 2002 election cycle, according to U.S. PIRG, Southern has outdistanced every energy company in the United States, including the profligate political spenders in the oil and gas industry. The company spends millions on lobbyists, and employs nearly a dozen outside lobby firms. It runs a network of political action committees to funnel money to candidates. Its campaign cash targets key members of energy and environment committees, who work hard to deliver the goods. Using the leverage gained from its political investments, Southern has enmeshed itself in an array of legislative and administrative battles over air pollution rules. When it has faced enforcement actions for clean air violations, it has sought to change the clean air rules. When legislators have sought to tighten pollution rules and to eliminate the grandfather clause to protect public health and the environment, Southern has reliably been in opposition. It has fought against a global warming treaty and restrictions on mercury emissions. Place Southern on the 10 Worst Corporations List for the swirl of campaign cash and toxic ash surrounding it. UP - "OUR OVERRIDING PURPOSE, from the beginning right through to the present day, has been world domination -- that is, to build and maintain the capacity to coerce everybody else on the planet: nonviolently, if possible; and violently, if necessary. But the purpose of [U.S.] foreign policy of domination is not just to make the rest of the world jump through hoops; the purpose is to facilitate our exploitation of resources." Ramsey Clark, former U.S. attorney general, Aug. 2001. UP - 'If red the sun begins his race, be sure the rain will fall apace, If the sun goes pale to bed, 'twill rain tomorrow, it is said'. UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP //YOU FICTION SECTION We continue our new section with a work-in-progress from the master, Brian Barritt, author of Whisper and The Road Of Excess, intimate traveling on-the-run companion of the late Tim Leary, alternative elder statesman and drug aficionado, currently resident in London and Switzerland. SHAR HARRY’S HARD is a hilarious hardcore Rabelaisian Romp through cyber space which looks destined to be an outrageous and controversial best seller about sex, drugs, rave culture, clubland, mysticism and science fiction. WARNING: ADULT MATERIAL UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP SHAR HARRY’S HARD (SHAREARIZARD) Brian Barritt A pillow book Of One Thousand And One Tales whispered by a concubine into the ear of a galactic potentate between orgasms, to amuse, stimulate and offer condolences at the loss of his head. Night 2. “Meanwhile; in the opulent palace of Bombasta in the Land of Krutch, the Nabob paced back and forth thundering in fury at the fate of his beloved chattels, with Sod, the dwarf who acted as his stomach support, preceding a few paces before him. “Three nanoseconds out! Three fuckin’ nano’s out of hyperspace and the stratocruiser warps and loses my lovely pets." Sobbing with frustration, he threw up his arms in despair. "What shall I do, whom shall I kill?" By keeping in step and performing a little hopping dance whenever his master stopped, or a sideways skid when he made a turn, Sod managed to keep out of range of the Nabobs bejewelled slippers. "A vile scam Master," he panted, hoisting the belly further onto his shoulders as he staggered under the weight of the massive gut, "engineered by a common disc jockey, who has ripped off the exquisite darlings that it has taken you a whole year to collect. He is, no doubt, at this very moment, opening the petals of a rare virgin, and initiating her into the intimate delights of her first fuck. An occasion, Oh Great One, never to be repeated or forgotten by her innocent young mind, and against which all her following fucks will be compared. The DJ is not only deflowering your pussy, Oh Great One, but castrating you in the process!" The Nabob kicked out at him, missed, decided he wasn't worth the trouble and vented his spleen on the ferret-faced captain of the Emperor of Sin who, stripped to the waist, stood trembling before him. "Where are they?" he demanded, stabbing the lacquered nail of a bejewelled forefinger against the man's chest. "Where is my cargo, where are my pets?" “Agents already despatched, Oh Benevolent One, report almost arriving.” “REPORT!? A report is not going to get my nose up the cunt of that Sadian darling, a REPORT is not going to dangle her tits in the palms of my fat sweaty little hands!” The captain was as good as dead; he was standing with bowed head, a single bead of blood crawling slowly down his chest, helplessly awaiting the axe, when the readout saved his neck ‘HAREM EJECTED ON PLANET EARTH.’ Red faced and fuming, the Nabob kicked at Sod, missed again, then swung on his heel, sending his dwarf skidding sideways in a ninety degree arc and flying off across the chamber. The poppy season filled in the space before the mushrooms bloomed, and many a balmy autumnal night was passed with the DJ and his ladies bathing in the dreams of rich brown opium, before the scarlet heads of the fly agaric dotted the landscape. The mushrooms poured down the side of the mountain like a river, till they touched the meadows and the psilocybin carried on the psychedelic tide. Throughout the mushroom season the DJ interfaced his consciousness with a wide variety of psychedelicacies. With the lust of the woman to launch his spirit on its journey and look after his body with tender care while he was away, he was free to ravish the universe. There were infidelities, of course, with other females on other worlds. But that was in a different medium while the girls on the island had the prerogative of owning his physical body and considered his ‘internal amores’ to be little more than hallucinations. One night, returning from an orgy in Seismic Minor, he found Pubia, a truly exotic looking bird, with her back turned to him, seated on his penis, slowly rotating her behind. Coming in from more refined regions he had found the tightness of her arse almost too pleasurable to bear as she rippled her muscles up and down his stem, while the hot juices of her cunt slobbered all over his balls. He was lying on a carpet woven from finest cannabis fibre that had been brushed to a silken sheen, patterned by entoptics and died in the glowing hues of opionic vision. Tazi was caressing his head between the strange breasts peculiar to her species, feeding him so many nectars from her many nipples that his jism, when it came, spurted with such force that the impact lifted Pubia a few inches up his stem, causing her to flap her wings and cluck with abandon, before sinking once more. Sprawled back on a plush divan at Buckingham Palace, the Nabob of Bombasta wrinkled his nose at the atrocious decor. He’d been told it was as civilised as could be expected for a Third World, so he’d abandoned his usual retinue and left it to the Royal Family to entertain him, only to find the conversation banal, the accommodation abysmal, and the weather foul. It was certainly a far cry from his usual receptions, where he sprawled about wallowing in decadence and flogging his knob in public. “This place would be a hovel in the terminal slums of Kataract” he spat, slapping the Queen rudely across the face. "Where’s the grandeur, the flamboyance, and WHERE ARE MY GIRLS?” “We have searched all the planet’s cesspools with a telepathic magnifying glass, Oh Great One, and there is not a single thought to pick up on. The Royal Family have personally investigated the filth, the sado macho gear, and the screams and sobs, without finding a single clue, how do we find your harem when there is nothing to go on? “ The Nabob could ordinarily have despatched Sod with a wave of his hand, but he dared not ignore the dwarf's superior guile; so, driven by desperation, he decided to find a quiet place and seek his advice. Absent-mindedly prodding him with the toe of his slipper he waited for his massive belly to be heaved upward, pointed to the garden and followed the staggering Sod across the floor. “How sweet of you to need the answer to such a simple question, Master. If you can’t find your chicks amongst the sordid crap, then they are obviously residing in some transcendental realm to which you do not have access. The past record of the man who pulled this foul stroke, shows he was employed as a DJ on the starcruiser The Emperor of Sin. He has no doubt captured your ladies on a lust-loop and transported them to a paradisiacal realm. The music holds the key to the paradise in which your ladies reside Sire. Therefore I suggest we employ his own music to detect him. AlI we need to do is track the tracks on the CDs until we locate the most sublime sounds, then take the Psychedelic Elevator to that level, and retrieve them." So it was that the search for the missing harem reached the clubland of London, and began to converge on a club called Heaven, and a maestro called Laser Quark who conducted a rave where shamans and wizards dwelt, and vast roomfuls of earthlings danced entranced to ecstatic sounds. It was from there, analysing the tracks of Youth, Mark Pendragon, Sequenci, Scandali and Mixmaster Morris that the emissaries of the Queen of England learned of the transcendental realms. The Royal Family had done their best, but even wearing their crowns they still looked rather dowdy in Megatripolis, and even the Nabob himself (resplendent in turban and robes of Sirian silk matching his jewel encrusted bobby-sox) failed to stand out amongst the colourful attire of the other dancers. They were not all earth people; he recognised an Ursian bitch who’d turned him over for a flying saucer full of Alfa Weed, and an android he’d nodded to on several worlds. “The Baron” was there, tall and gaunt, with a lineage that reached back to Sirius 4, accompanied by a beauty called Jiya. Mahesh “The Sage of Mysore” with his hair like a blond waterfall running down each side of his face, Zana the Nymph, Alan the Barrister, Jami-boy, dragging his endlesss autobiography behind him, and beyond and around them all was the fabulous dancing figure of “Rosy, Queen of Clubs” throwing a massive archetypal shadow against the orchestra of lights, as if enfolding the very room itself in her all-embracing arms. All wearing earth bodies to fit in with the crowd. “Forget about anyone watching and do your own dance, Master. If you can't do that, imagine you are dancing with an invisible partner”. The Nabob kicked Sod out of the way, and, with a remarkable effort for a man of his width, breadth and girth, began to dance. He started with vigour but soon found the music too fast, the blats of current hitting his nervous system so intensely that his body could only react, and he felt like a puppet pulled by invisible strings. Then, at the very instant that he lost his awareness of the other dancers, he found himself, without even trying, not only doing his own dance but simultaneously dancing with the rest of the room! The chi was as thick as smoke, the sounds that were twisting through his body morphed into hieroglyphs that spelled out a magical message of awe and wonder. He saw his Higher Self and suddenly the words on the Guest List took on a tremendous significance: "The Nabob of Bombasta + One." Tecno-birds flew over a sea of shimmering static as he rose and fell in a psychedelic-tinted ocean, his mind a fleck of foam flying from every cascading wave. Around him people were flipping and squiggling, some running a hundred yard race on the spot while others barely moved just stood there, hanging on the strength of the vibe. Caught in this whirl-y-gig of sensations, the Nabob began to feel unusually light, and, like it or no, had to admit he was feeling ... extremely pleasant. His fury at the loss of his harem seemed... distant, while a feeling he could only describe as good was pervading his system. Vaguely he realised that his ego stood no chance of combating this communal onslaught of good vibes, but by then he didn’t care anyway, and a huge open smile had taken control of his face. As the night progressed, the intensity increased; the ravers - so much in touch with the music that they seemed to be playing the DJ rather than the other way around. A man with wild hair and the face of a hero was throwing his arms and legs away from his body, a motionless black cut-out stuck on the blat of a strobe, biological origami trembling to the whims of the music. And the music itself seemed thrown out like the limbs of the dancer - man, light and sound stuck together in sheer delight, heedless of considerations but right out-front NOW! During a break in the intensity the strains of a symphonic version of “Stairway to Heaven” reached his ears from the chill-out room upstairs, a phrase he’d half heard before but was only now catching its meaning. In a flash he realised he was already ON the stairway walking up the steps - now was the time to use the 'Psychedelic Elevator!'. Without wasting a further nanosecond, the Nabob dropped a tab of E some blond nymphet called Shamanarchy had handed him earlier and closed his eyes. The cannabis leaves were rustling slightly and the sun just beginning to set over the island when the DJ whispered the last endearment to a lover from Ursius and flowed back into his body again. To his surprise there were no girls in sight, but he could hear laughter in the meadow by the thermal lake. Moseying down through the cannabis plantation, checking the buds, thick and luscious with resin, he was suddenly all agog to discover the Nabob carousing with his harem in the shade of the pot plants. Lying back, turban askew, silken robes in disarray and sexual organs fully exposed, any pretence the Nabob had adopted of being of human origin was instantly dispelled. Fifty two pricks stuck out at angles from his rumpled garments with a woman of exquisite beauty spinning round on each. “Just perfect for a good satisfying screw.” he laughed, winking conspiratorially. “I only need one a year and tonight's the night!" Then, without further ado, he ejaculated simultaneously from all his organs, sending the girls shooting off like comets to their homes in the stars." UP - 'Evening red and morning grey sets the traveler on his way, Evening grey and morning red brings the rain upon his head'. U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U UP P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P the UP//:-) la - la - la - lap-toppling da system! TEXT JOCKEY // TJ PHRASER (fraser clark) cyberslut // TJ PHRASER & THE MEDIA EVOLUTION MIXING THE TRACTS LIVE ON THE KEYBOARD @ A MEDIA-MEME RATE OF 160 IPP * * Ideas Per Paragraph U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U UP P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P FEATURING exclusive rewrites re-takes & re-productions of da freshest deepest hacks ancient and modern, SAMPLES from media & mentalities all over, & bubbling up from da public DNA herself! |