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TAKE OVER! (\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/) the UP! //:-) 121 july 2, 2002 la la la lap-toppling da system! (\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/) TIGHT LIKE THAT GAGE - Louis Armstrong on his pot smoking daze p14. FREEDOM LUVVIN MASSACRE IN AFGHANISTAN? izzit worse than we expected? p8. Butterfly Magic and the Moody Blues p11. Against Israeli Apartheid - Desmond Tutu p16. 25,000 @ STONEHENGE FESTI- eh. VIGIL :) p7. AL-QAIDA'S FUTURE GUARANTEED BY BUSH? p5. 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 =[10,499]= 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 july 3-9 * * * * * * * * * *
UP!ACTION IN THE NAME OF SECURITY Read the Bill of Rights for starters this week. The planets now encourage autonomy and taking the initiative. The spiritual warrior is on the prowl. A wealth of plans are on the boards now, and we have the vision to put together something on a large scale. Begin now a project to organise your information. See Maya's Daily Success Guide at www.daykeeperjournal.com * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Longing, The Longing, Follow The Longing! 'For it is written I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,' - the investment gurus, shallow celebrities, trendy psychotherapists and will bring to nothing the understanding of the 'prudent' - the accountants, the bankers God hath chosen the foolish things of the world - the lovers, poets, the creative to confound the knowledgeable, - the information-heavy, "price of everything, value of nuttin" cynics and hath chosen the weak things of the world - the sweet of heart, the open people, the oppressed, the Palestinians to confound the things that are mighty.' Saint Paul. "The above is a familiar passage from what is now an oppressively respectable source. Indeed, it's so familiar and so respectable that we easily lose sight of how aggressively perverse a declaration it is ... how loaded with unabashed contempt for a well established culture rich with 'achievement'. "And whose contempt was this? That of absolute nobodies, the very scum of the earth, whose own counter-culture was, at this early stage, little more than a scattering of suggestive ideas, a few crude symbols, and a desperate longing. IT WAS THE LONGING WHICH COUNTED MOST, FOR NOT ALL THE GRANDEUR OF GRECO-ROMAN CIVILISATION COULD FILL THE DESOLATION OF SPIRIT WHICH CHRISTIANITY BRED ON." Theodore Rozak: The Making of a Counter Culture. - my caps - with the Dinosaurs' Last Stand falling apart with every new missing tax return and voting chad, "you don't need a weatherman" as bobby dylan said, "to know which way the wind blows." It's this Longing, rather than all the charts and information, which will lead us through. It's the Longing, follow the Longing! UP! HUMAN BE-IN UPDATE: IN THE TEACH-INN "OUR ANCIENT COMPANIONS & FUTURE ALLIES - MUSHROOMS, AYAHUASCA AND DMT" Piers Gibbon raving about the delights'n dangers of studying the power plants... Piers is a broadcaster/teacher who's learnt about shamanism, overtone chanting & plant hallucinogens at university and in the woods. Channel 4's "JUNGLE TRIP" last year followed him on a plant hunt to Peru, drinking ayahuasca every night for a month, meeting evil toads and naked nettle whippers, and scrying simultaneously into the primordial Past & the near and distant Future. He poses the question: It can be scary out there in psychedelia... is it worth the admission price? UP! alamo, usa REMAINING AMERICAN CEOs MAKE A BREAK FOR IT Band of Marauding Chief Executives Spotted Near Mexican Border San Antonio, Texas -- Unwilling to wait for their inevitable indictments, the 10,000 remaining CEOs of public U.S. companies made a mass break for it yesterday, heading for the Mexican border, plundering and "developing" towns and villages along the way, and writing off the entire rampage as a marketing expense. "They came into my home, made me pay for my own TV, then double-booked the revenues," said Rachel Sanchez of Las Cruces, just north of El Paso. "Right in front of my daughters." Calling themselves the CEOnistas, the chief execs were first spotted last night along the Rio Grande River near Quemado, where they bought each of the town's 320 residents by borrowing against pension fund gains. By late this morning, the CEOnistas had arbitrarily inflated Quemado's population to 960, and declared a 200% profit for the fiscal second quarter. This morning, the outlaws bought the city of Waco, transferred its under-performing areas to a private partnership, and sent a bill to California for $4.5 billion. Law enforcement officials and disgruntled shareholders riding posse were noticeably frustrated. "First of all, they're very hard to find because they always stand behind their numbers, and the numbers keep shifting," said posse spokesman Dean Levitt. "And when we yell 'Stop in the name of the shareholders!', they refer us to investor relations. I've been on the phone all damn morning." "YOU'LL NEVER AUDIT ME ALIVE!" The pursuers said they have had some success with sting operations, however, preying on a common executive weakness. "Last night we caught about 24 of them by disguising one of our female officers as a CNBC anchor," said U.S. Border Patrol spokesperson Jae Lewis. "It was like moths to a flame." Also, teams of agents have been using high-powered listening devices to scan the plains for telltale sounds of the CEOnistas. "Most of the time we just hear leaves rustling or cattle flicking their tails," said Lewis, "but occasionally we'll pick up someone saying, 'I was totally out of the loop on That one.'" So far, about 50 chief executives have been captured, including Martha Stewart, who was detained south of El Paso where she had cut through a barbed-wire fence at the Zaragosa border crossing off Highway 375. "She would have gotten away, but she was stopping motorists to ask for marzipan and food coloring so she could make edible snowman place settings, using the cut pieces of wire for the arms," said Border Patrol officer Jennette Cushing. "We put her in cell No. 7, because the morning sun really adds texture to the stucco walls." While some stragglers are believed to have successfully crossed into Mexico, Cushing said the bulk of the CEOnistas have holed themselves up at the Alamo. "No, not the fort, the car rental place at the airport," she said. "They're rotating all the tires on the minivans and accounting for each change as a sale." UP! END OF THE DINOSAUR ERA? OR THE END OF US? The global population exhausts a supply of natural resources equivalent to that produced by 1.2 earths each year, thus eroding nature's ability to regenerate. This Dinosaur Era of unbounded exploitation may soon be forced to a screeching halt... http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=1062&m=105 UP! HUMAN BE-IN UPDATE: RAINBOW PUDDLE FLYING IN FROM CALIFORNIA TO JOIN BE-IN! Some maintain that Ocean is just a wee bit TOO hi-tec. Well, envision that vast cyber temple blobbing biologically and mooshing molecularly with the greatest living light show on planet earth! "Phoenix's organic rainbow puddles - moving liquid on the walls - a mind bending and always morphing multi coloured trip done in real time to the music." (San Francisco Chronicle) The "old San Francisco style lightshow" evolved with The Merry Pranksters in the 1960's and was subsequently perfected in places like The Avalon Ballroom and the Fillmore Auditorium. Rainbow Puddle is a Living Legend whose San Francisco style analog lightshow has been a crucial atmospheric element in shows of The Grateful Dead, The Pranksters, The Steve Kimock Band, Bill Graham, Leftover Salmon, David Nelson Band, The Zen Tricksters, Flying Other Brothers and Wavy Gravy's Hog Farm Picniks and, oh, dozens of other acts. Check it out at www.rainbowpuddle.com UP! vermont, usa SAT JULY 13 14 SOLARFEST'S 8TH SOLAR-POWERED MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SUSTAINABLE FUTURE FAIR A Totally Solar-Powered Festival is an intimate festival held on 40 acres of pristine, private land. With no power lines to the site, the entire festival is powered by solar panels and batteries and is itself an exciting demonstration of solar power's effectiveness. The arts (over 25 performers on two solar-powered stages and more than 26 workshop on sustainable living and renewable energy) the natural setting and inspiring renewable energy presentations make up the unusually engaging mix for which SolarFest is recognized. Something for everyone. This year's line-up features Entrain, Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams, guitarist Jeff Lang, Bluegrass band Gopher Broke, and many more. SolarFest's unique goal is to inform and inspire people about renewable @ Middletown Springs, Vermont. $40 for weekend, day rates available, children under free Gates open 9am both days. No dogs (it sez ere) no glass bottles, no open fires. (802) 235-2866. http://www.solarfest.org UP! Hi Fraser Love the newsletter My mother in law (!) lived with Timothy Leary for a number of years and was his official spokesperson when he was arrested. Her name is Joanna Harcourt Smith and she now lives in Sante Fe. I hope to come to the London BE-IN in September and have forwarded your newsletter to Joanna She is soon to publish her memoirs Thanks for being a contribution to us all Christopher Pulford UP! WHO AM I? WHERE AM I? WHAT THE HELL WAS IN THAT STUFF?! The Activity Compass, a Palm handheld with a GPS receiver and wireless modem, will memorise an Alzheimer's patient's daily routine and offer them directions when they becomes lost or confused.... http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=1065&m=105 UP! H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H
AL-QAIDA'S FUTURE GUARANTEED BY BUSH?YOUR VERY OWN BUSINESS WEB SITE OR HOME PAGE FOR £100 by the YOUniversity's very own cyber profs! (STICK IT ON YOUR BIZNESS CARD, APPEND IT TO YOUR EMAIL, FLAUNT YOUR LOGO / MISSION, OR ANNOUNCE YOUR PLANS FOR SOCIETY TO THE WORLD!) INCLUDES: - ORDERS & ENQUIRIES: fraser@parallel-youniversity.com H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H There's been some surprise by security analysts that the al-Qaida network has not staged another major attack on the United States, given that it's clearly active in a number of countries and almost certainly has the capability to mount a substantial paramilitary operation. Possibly it's due to the much increased levels of security in the US, the degree of intelligence cooperation between the US and some allies, and the disruption to the al-Qaida network caused by the war in Afghanistan. This may all be true, but it does not fit in with al-Qaida's ability to mount attacks in Pakistan and Tunisia, its evident activity in Morocco and Saudi Arabia, and repeated warnings by US officials about further attacks. There's a quite different explanation, much less appealing to Western officials, but maybe more accurate. Put simply, al-Qaida does not need to stage more attacks at present because the United States is doing an effective public relations job on its behalf. The reasoning is clear-cut. The network's long-term aim is to develop a sustained movement based on radical Islamic ideas but politically directed against the United States and its allies, especially states like Saudi Arabia in the Middle East. Such a movement is enhanced if a) al-Qaida can show itself to be a significant force able to have a severe effect on the US b) America persists with policies in the Middle East that tend to encourage anti-American radicalism. From al-Qaida's point of view, the Bush administration is performing both of these functions with admirable skill and commitment. It's delivering frequent warnings about the danger of further terrorist attacks - the "dirty bomb" story being a prime example. Such warnings, reported around the world, present al-Qaida as highly active and even to have the US "on the run". While this may not be the case, it's the impression that counts, especially in the Middle East. Furthermore, both of Bush's main Middle East policy planks play to al-Qaida's support in the region. While an attack on Iraq may not happen for many months, the very idea of the US gearing up for military action is a strong reminder of its determination to keep the Gulf secure for what are perceived to be its own narrow interests. Even more useful to al-Qaida is the Bush stance on the IsraeliPalestinian confrontation, with this week's policy speech making it absolutely clear that Israel's war against the Palestinians is seen as part of the worldwide war on terror. It's probable that al-Qaida is currently capable of another major attack, and it could happen at any time. Even so, from al-Qaida's perspective, it may be unnecessary in relation to its long-term aims. A further attack could happen at some stage but, for now, the policies of the Bush administration may actually be making it unnecessary. Paul Rogers UP! Hi Fraser, Many thanx for your excellent thoughts and writings. We're getting there. Bit by bit the conspiracy is collapsing. And as long as more and more people get 'tuned in' it will continue to collapse! Keep up the good work and all the best from, Jan Hendrik / Amsterdam UP! stonehenge, uk 25000 @ STONEHENGE FESTI- eh. VIGIL An estimated 22,500 celebrated a night vigil at Stonehenge from 8pm 7am, June 21st, and had a jolly time, even though dense high cloud ensured the sun was not seen to rise http://www.greenleaf.demon.co.uk/tribes.htm for further comments on this topic. Attempts to create activities outside the stones featured two solid fuel braziers which at least provided some refuge for those who were cold, and at least one singalong session. The Hare Krishna people set up on a high part of the bank near the Hele stone and kept a crowd going with their music. The Kings Drummers were authorised to move their dancers drummers and torches in a cordon around the site, and close to dawn they advanced to the Hele stone. Shamus Joy held a poetry corner. confrontation is slowly diminishing and the level of celebration is slowly increasing. But there will be a great deal of discussion about the future management of the access, to cope with increasing numbers, and deal with various irritations and errors which arose from the necessity to carry out searches upon entry, for prohibited items, such as camping equipment, glass, firemaking tools, knives and so on. george firsoff (secretary RGG, PADRAS, SPP & TRC) UP! HUMAN BE-IN UPDATE: "The Warp" playwright Neil Oram has recorded a video statement as part of the BE-IN's ALTERNATIVE. FYOUTURE ARCHIVE to be shown on Sept 27th, along with scores of other such Statements from British and Californian luminaries. The play was part of the renowned 24 hour Warp Experience presented by Parallel YOUniversity @ The Drome under London's Charing Cross station. UP! "I've openly said to many people that it was our misguided enthusiasm for all things progressive that led us all up a bit of a blind alley - too much enthusiasm, not too little." Muzik editor Conor McNicholas (soon to be NME chief) <skrufff@younguknet.co.uk> UP! new york July 12-13, 19-20th COMPLACENT & DUMBOLUNA FOUR DAY EVENT complacent.org and the Lunatarium crew are putting together what will be the biggest warehouse event in NYC of the summer. Tons of crews, DJs, artists and performers will be turning it out for this one. 3 floors, 80 000 sq ft, virgin spot.... Blackkat's night will be Saturday the 20th.... among the performers will be Adam X and a live set from the Atomic Babies.... much more TBA--- www.complacent.org/2002 UP! HOT! HOT! HOT! By 2010, scientists predict, a single chip may hold more than a billion transistors, giving off 1,000 watts of thermal energy - far more heat per square inch than a nuclear reactor. http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=1068&m=105 UP! FREEDOM LUVVIN MASSACRE IN AFGHANISTAN? Irish documentarian Jamie Doran says he has evidence of American complicity in a massacre in Afghanistan, and he's been showing his rough footage to European leaders in the hope of preventing a cover-up. Doran, who worked at the BBC for more than seven years and has made documentaries about human rights abuses throughout the world, screened 20 minutes of his unfinished feature documentary, "MASSACRE AT MAZAR," to the European parliament and the German parliament on Wednesday. After witnessing the screening, Andrew McEntee, former head of Amnesty International in the U.K., called for an independent investigation. Doran has yet to release the footage to the public because he says his eyewitnesses' identities need to be obscured for their own protection. But Doran felt he had to get some of the information out immediately because the mass graves he secretly filmed are in danger of being tampered with, which would make an independent inquiry into his film's allegations of Northern Alliance and American war crimes impossible. According to Doran, of the approximately 8,000 Taliban prisoners taken after the fall of Kunduz in late November 2001 to Gen. Rashid Dostum, around 5,000 are unaccounted for. He says he's filmed eyewitnesses testifying that many of those prisoners suffocated in the metal containers used to transport them between Qala-I-Zeini fortress and Sherberghan prison, and that Northern Alliance troops fired into the containers, killing and wounding other prisoners. One witness claims that an American officer ordered the bodies dumped in the desert of Dasht-I-Leili, and that living people were taken there as well and executed. Furthermore, Doran says he has witnesses claiming to have seen American special-forces soldiers torturing prisoners who made it to Sherberghan. In all, six witnesses appear in the film: two truck drivers who drove the trucks filled with corpses and living men to Dasht-I-Leili; a taxi driver who saw the blood-dripping trucks; two soldiers, including one who admits he shot into the containers; and a Northern Alliance general. Doran says other witnesses may be ready to come forward as well. Doran says that his sources had no agendas and in fact were putting their lives at risk by appearing in the film. He said that one of his collaborators on the film, as well as one of the witnesses, have had their lives threatened. *YOU BELIEVE THERE WAS A MASSACRE. HOW DID IT HAPPEN?" - First, the history. The Taliban was surrounded at the town of Kunduz. One man, Amir Jhan, agreed to negotiate their surrender. He had fought alongside the Taliban and was trusted by both sides. He was respected even by people like Dostum. In the process of negotiating the surrender, Jhan counted the number of prisoners. He says there were 8,000. Now there are only 3,015 left. Where are the rest? 470 prisoners were suspected al-Qaida members. They were taken to Qala Jangi, and that was where the press focused attention. That's where the prison revolts started and where CIA agent Johnny Spann was killed. What no one was aware of was that the other 7,500 prisoners were being processed through another fort, Qala-I-Zeini. They were transported to Sherberghan in shipping containers - one of my witnesses said that 200 to 300 people were loaded into each container. The Taliban were suffocating. They cried out for air. In the film it says the answer came quite swiftly when Northern Alliance soldiers fired into the containers. One witness implicates himself by admitting to shooting into containers and killing prisoners. He was ordered by his commanders. The containers were loaded onto trucks and moved towards Sherberghan. On that road, a taxi driver saw them in a makeshift gas station. He smelled something horrific and asked the attendant about it. The attendant said look behind you, and he turned around to see blood pouring out of three containers on the back of a truck. When they arrived, one witness - another soldier - talks about how an American officer, on seeing the carnage, told them to get the bodies out of the town of Sherberghan. Two drivers who were interviewed separately talk of being forced to take container loads of the dead, wounded and unconscious into the desert of Dasht-I-Leili, where the bodies were taken from the containers. Some of them were alive. One of the drivers described some of them as being perfectly healthy. Others were wounded. They were lined up and summarily shot by machine-gun fire by the Northern Alliance. *DO YOU HAVE OTHER EVIDENCE OF AMERICAN COMPLICITY? Crucially, one of the drivers was asked, "Were there any American soldiers present at Dasht-I-Leili?" He says yes. He was asked, "Do you mean right here where the killing took place?" He says, "Yes, here." He was asked how many, and he says lots of them, 30 to 40. He's saying that 30 to 40 American soldiers were witness on at least one occasion to these events. *WHY DID YOU COME FORWARD WITH THE FOOTAGE BEFORE YOUR DOCUMENTARY WAS FINISHED? There is a mass grave with very many bodies in it at this moment, and I had received the word from Afghanistan that there was possibly tampering going on. By breaking the story, my hope is that this evidence is not removed and that an independent inquiry of some kind can take place. What do innocent people have to fear from an inquiry? *IN YOUR DOCUMENTARY, THERE ARE ALLEGATIONS THAT AMERICAN SOLDIERS TORTURED TALIBAN PRISONERS. WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN? The torture took place after those prisoners that were left arrived at Sherberghan. According to eyewitnesses, these were fairly isolated instances. They included the breaking of necks, the cutting of tongues, the cutting of beards -- a great insult in the Islamic faith - and the cutting of fingers. *I READ THAT YOUR FILM ALSO CLAIMS THAT ONE PRISONER HAD ACID POURED ON HIM. Yes, that's an allegation from one of the eyewitnesses. *YOU SAID BEFORE THAT SOME OF YOUR WITNESSES IMPLICATED THEMSELVES. HOW DID YOU GET THEM TO TALK TO YOU? The most important thing in this is that these witnesses have absolutely nothing to gain. They don't get a single cent and they put themselves in immense danger by agreeing to take part in this. *SO WHAT WERE THEIR MOTIVES? With the soldiers, I spent hours talking to them, negotiating and cajoling. They did not want to do interviews. They were happy to tell me things, they just did not want to do interviews [on camera]. I spent hours persuading them. As for the drivers, it was perfectly clear from the way they talked and the expressions on their faces: They were frankly disgusted by what they'd been forced to do. Michelle Goldberg (salon.com) UP! Thanks Fraser - keep up the great work. Say hi to London - I'll be over there in November to see family and friends. Cheers Glyn Walters / Greenpeace NZ UP! DON'T WRING ME UP? Radiation from mobile phones damaged the blood-brain barrier in lab tests conducted by Finnish scientists on human cells. The exposure caused the cells in blood vessel walls to shrink, which enabled molecules to pass through the safety barrier into brain tissue. http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=1072&m=105 UP! Butterfly Magic and the Moody Blues
On August 5, 1993, I was invited to a butterfly garden at the Green Lane Nature Center near Allentown, Pennsylvania after attending a composting conference for two days. There were hundreds of butterflies fluttering about, a profusion of fragrant flowers, shrubs, and herbs. I suddenly felt connected to nature through the wonder of all that was around me. Something was stirring my deepest emotions. I felt like a child again and began likening this scene to one right out of Alice in Wonderland. I left, determined to create similar gardens for children everywhere. Beautiful butterfly gardens for children of all ages. (Curiosity got the best of me four years later and I rented the video Alice In Wonderland, which I hadn't seen in 40 years. By then I wasn't at all surprised to be watching Alice chasing her white rabbit down into a hole and finding herself in a field of flowers with hundreds of butterflies everywhere. I was surprised though to realize how long our minds can retain an image with its associated emotions and feelings). On my way home from this garden experience I was listening to a new tape I'd just made - a mix of Lennon, Baez, Moody Blues, and other '60s artists - when I suddenly realized there were butterflies in the music I never heard before. I'd made a butterfly tape before I ever had the experience! The music and the image of the butterflies was like an epiphany. A thousand lights all lit at once. My whole life flashed before my eyes as I suddenly had a brainstorm of an idea to use the butterfly as a symbol for the environment. Better than "Save The Whales" I told myself, you can't take a whale to a schoolyard, but you can plant a butterfly garden there. Everybody could attract butterflies to their homes, schools, and parks, and have a personal experience with nature like I had. I'd worked in many organizations like Common Cause, the Sierra Club, Solar Lobby and Earth Day, but there was always assistance and backing from the national office. But now my notion was to work backwards, to set up a national group from the grassroots level with no help or funding. A challenge for sure, but I was up for something new. An impossible dream, perhaps, I didn't care, I somehow knew it could be done. "It's going to be hard" I told myself, but who else will do it?" Ever have that feeling? Besides, I was looking for something new and positive, and if it had the potential to change the world, how could I say no? Soon my mind was full and somewhat pregnant with the possibilities, potentialities, and probabilities of such an endeavor. I was ready to commit myself to whatever it was. And then I sensed such a feeling of sacredness and urgency that I broke out in goose bumps. Actually I broke out in tears. Why this feeling of sacredness? I'd never used this word before, not even to describe anything I had done or ever thought I might be doing. Next it suddenly came to me that it was necessary to get my ego out of the process. No room for ego if you're dealing with something sacred. Next an intuitive voice or something deep inside told me to stand back and let this whole thing just flow and unfold on its own. I felt this was rather a strange experience, perhaps even mystical. My rational mind told me I was only day dreaming, but something in me felt like disagreeing. If my vision was true, if it was out there in the universe, it would all manifest itself. It would all just happen if I believed and had faith that it was real. How long it all would take was of no importance. I cried most of the way home, perhaps in mourning for the old self I felt was now dying, making way for something new that was to be reborn, perhaps as a purifying sacrament to cleanse away what I thought was my past, or perhaps out of nothing less than the sheer joy of feeling so wonderful and radically alive. When I arrived home I told my wife, "There's a renaissance going on and it's happening all over." "What's happening?" she asked. "What are you talking about?" I realized I didn't have a clue, at least not consciously. But within an hour I told her I was leaving my job. I was shedding my responsibilities like a butterfly shedding it's skin. I was getting rid of the old in preparation for the new. By the end of the day I had all of the goals for a new organization down on paper, the Butterfly Gardens Association, or Bee Gees for short. I went from self-employed to unemployed in what seemed like an instant. Everything began to just fall into place - intuitive, synchronistic, mystical, and magical stuff began happening every day. This went on for three years until I'd achieved most of the goals I'd set out to do. I proved the hypothetical can work, and everything became a model of action for other people to follow. This continued to February 1996. I spent everything I had saved and went into debt. It was then I had to put my project into a cocoon. When I didn't work on butterflies and went back to work to earn money all the magic stopped. "and then the magic. started again." In October of 1996 I brought butterflies back into my life and the magic started again. My daughter was dating a boy named George and on Sunday morning I got a call that his father had died. That afternoon, as I was strolling in my garden, I came across a Monarch. It was late in the season for a Monarch. They should have all migrated by now. It must be one of the last Monarchs. I thought about doing a butterfly release for the funeral. In the past I had raised Monarchs for other people who released them at funerals. The butterfly is a symbol of the soul passing on. The funeral was on Wednesday and I thought this could be the last Monarch I would see, but I didn't want to catch it and keep it imprisoned in a box for three whole days. So I took a chance and let that one go, determined I'd find another butterfly on Tuesday. Now on Tuesday I went out looking for any kind of butterfly. The whole day was gone and no butterfly. The sun was getting low in the sky. My wife drove home then and both of us looked around for the last time. We realized that nothing was going to happen. You don't find butterflies at night. I followed my wife toward the house. She went in. I stopped and closed my eyes and the thought was something like, "Please God I need a butterfly by tomorrow." Right after that I knew I would be out in the morning and it would show up. It might be magic, but it would be back. Then I dismissed the thought and feelings going through my head and went in the house. My wife was on the phone with a woman who was telling her that she'd just found a Monarch Butterfly at her doorstep, was concerned because it was so late in the season, and was calling people to find out how to care for it. She'd called me to take care of it for her! My wife, who'd been skeptical about all this butterfly magic, was amazed, and had now become a part of this process! I threw on a Monarch T-shirt and went to pick up my Monarch. When I arrived the first thing she said was "I have the same T-shirt!" She also had a butterfly cage in her house and had taken care of them two years ago. The magic was back. I took the butterfly home, made it a sugar/water solution and hand fed it. It became active after eating and flew around the house. I put it to sleep for the night in a dark cage of its liking. The next day at the funeral I released the Monarch while reciting a prayer from Marianne Williamson's book Illuminata about spirit flying free. The butterfly took off straight up in the air and disappeared in a flash. People came up to me later and said it was the most beautiful service ever. People felt that the soul had left on the wings of that butterfly. George said he needed to be alone for an hour at the graveside. As I was walking to the car I kept looking back wishing that butterfly would appear again. We left and it didn't appear. I thought, "Oh, well, nice thought. I can't have everything I wish for." But on the way home I told my wife something's going to happen. I'm thinking that the night after I lost my aunt I felt my aunt walking down the hall and that something like that was going to happen. Here's what happened. George called us. On his way home he'd stopped at a light and a Monarch had landed next to his car. This was an area under construction, not a place where you'd normally see a butterfly. When the light turned green, the butterfly flew right along with his car and kept pace with him. As the butterfly followed him, he broke into tears, beautiful bittersweet tears. When he got home he opened his door. He saw his father sitting there. I had only felt my aunt's presence the day after her funeral, George said he actually saw his father. Whether you believe George saw his father or not, is not important. What is important is that butterfly meant something to George that absolutely healed his pain. George knew then that his father was with him and always would be. http://butterflyspirit.org UP! SIMPLE BRAINED DINOSAURS DOOMED OFFICIAL Neo-Darwinian establishment figures like Stephen Hawkings get uncomfortable with the idea of large-scale trends in the evolution of biological organisms, such as increasing complexity. But Peter Turney presents a simple computational model showing that local adaptation to a dynamic, randomly changing environment results in a global trend towards increasing evolutionary versatility, which implies an accelerating evolutionary pace. He also proves that this trend can continue without bound if there is sufficient ongoing change in the environment. http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/artRedirect.html?artID=505&m=105 UP! TIGHT LIKE THAT GAGE Louis Armstrong (excerpted From "Louis" by Jones & Chilton Little, Brown and Company, Boston/Toronto) Speaking of 1931 - we did call ourselves Vipers, which could have been anybody from all walks of life that smoked and respected gage. That was our cute little name for marijuana, and it was a misdemeanor in those days. Much different from the pressure and charges the law lays on a guy who smokes pot - a later name for the same thing which is cute to hear nowadays. We always looked at pot as a sort of medicine, a cheap drunk, and with much better thoughts than one that's full of liquor. But with the penalties that came, I for one had to put it down though the respect for gage will stay with me forever. I have every reason to say these words and am proud to say them. From experience.... I'm back in the club, and everything's running along very smoothly when one night the washroom boy comes up to the bandstand and says there is a white boy in the washroom who wants to see me in there. I asked who it was, and he said, I don't know but he just came up from the south and he has a large croaker sack (meaning Burlap bag) full of something that he said is especially for you. (Hmm). I went into the men's room and there was this fine ofay musician (a good one) who's father was a big judge down south, so you can easily see he was well off. He led me to the corner and showed me this sack. It was full of gage in the rough-dirty looking and had to be cleaned. Had a sleep up into the afternoon, then had my supper while listening to some of my records. Lil was out visiting some place. The door bell rang. I went to the door and found one guy standing there, pointing towards four other youngsters getting out of the car. I said Boys, I'm very glad to see you. It's been a long long time. The minute they came in they told me, "Pops, we came to serenade you." Those boys pulled out their guitars, ukes etc. and wailed awhile with a perfect beat which lifted me up just beautifully. Then they put up their instruments, one cat pulled out a big `bomber' - lit it - took two drags and looked straight into my eyes as he passed it to me, saying, "Pops, we all feel you could use this stick after all you've been through." I said, "Aw boys, Y'all didn't have to do this," reaching for that joint at the same time. Each of them pulled out a stick a piece and started blowing and talking about a lot of interesting things. That moment helped me to forget a heap of ungodly things. Made me have the right frame of mind for my opening day at the theatre on the South Side, which was really something else... As we always used to say, gage is more of a medicine than a dope. But with all the riggermaroo going on, no one can do anything about it. So we had to put it down. But if we all get as old as Methuselah our memories will always be of lots of beauty and warmth from gage. Well, that was my life and I don't feel ashamed at all. Mary Warner, honey, you sure was good and I enjoyed you 'heep much'. But the price got a little too high to pay (law wise). At first you was a 'misdemeanor'. But as the years rolled on you lost your misdo and got meanor and meanor. (Jailhousely speaking). Sooo "Bye Bye, I'll have to put you down, Dearest." Soul Foodly, Satchmo' Gage, tea, muggles, reefers, and a dozen more names for marijuana, were common parlance among jazz musicians and friends who were 'Vipers.' This word has a period ring today, but was much used (as was tea) in some jazz circles during the `30s. It found its way into quite a few tune titles, among them Mezzrow's "Sendin' The Vipers," Snuff Smith's "If You're a Viper" and Fats Waller's "Viper's Drag." The rest of the marijuana-smokers' jargon infiltrated respectable society by way of record labels and catalogues and music publishers' lists. "Golden Leaf Strut," "Muggles," "Texas Tea Party," "Chant of the Weed," "Song of the Vipers" and "Smokin' Reefers" are random examples of `celebratory' recordings made in the `20s and `30s. UP! Against Israeli Apartheid Desmond Tutu and Ian Urbina Apartheid's end stands as one of the crowning accomplishments of the past century, but we would not have succeeded without the help of international pressure - particularly the divestment movement of the 1980s. Over the past six months a similar movement has taken shape, this time aiming at an end to the Israeli occupation. Divestment from apartheid South Africa was fought by ordinary people at the grassroots. Faith-based leaders informed their followers, union members pressured their companies' stockholders and consumers questioned their store owners. Students played an especially important role by compelling universities to change their portfolios. Eventually, institutions pulled the financial plug, and the South African government thought twice about its policies. Similar moral and financial pressures on Israel are being mustered one person at a time. Students on more than 40 US campuses are demanding a review of university investments in Israeli companies as well as in firms doing major business in Israel. From Berkeley to Ann Arbor, city councils have debated municipal divestment measures. These tactics are not the only parallels to the struggle against apartheid. Yesterday's South African township dwellers can tell you about today's life in the occupied territories. To travel only blocks in his own homeland, a grandfather waits on the whim of a teenage soldier. More than an emergency is needed to get to a hospital; less than a crime earns a trip to jail. The lucky ones have a permit to leave their squalor to work in Israel's cities, but their luck runs out when security closes all checkpoints, paralysing an entire people. The indignities, dependence and anger are all too familiar. Many South Africans are beginning to recognize the parallels to what we went through. Ronnie Kasrils and Max Ozinsky, two Jewish heroes of the antiapartheid struggle, recently published a letter titled "Not in My Name." Signed by several hundred other prominent Jewish South Africans, the letter drew an explicit analogy between apartheid and current Israeli policies. Mark Mathabane and Nelson Mandela have also pointed out the relevance of the South African experience. To criticise the occupation is not to overlook Israel's unique strengths, just as protesting the Vietnam War did not imply ignoring the distinct freedoms and humanitarian accomplishments of the United States. In a region where repressive governments and unjust policies are the norm, Israel is certainly more democratic than its neighbours. This does not make dismantling the settlements any less a priority. Divestment from apartheid South Africa was certainly no less justified because there was repression elsewhere on the African continent. Aggression is no more palatable in the hands of a democratic power. Territorial ambition is equally illegal whether it occurs in slow motion, as with the Israeli settlers in the occupied territories, or in blitzkrieg fashion, as with the Iraqi tanks in Kuwait. The United States has a distinct responsibility to intervene in atrocities committed by its client states, and since Israel is the single largest recipient of US arms and foreign aid, an end to the occupation should be a top concern of all Americans. Almost instinctively, the Jewish people have always been on the side of the voiceless. In their history, there is painful memory of massive roundups, house demolitions and collective punishment. In their scripture, there is acute empathy for the disfranchised. The occupation represents a dangerous and elective amnesia of the persecution from which these traditions were born. Not everyone has forgotten, including some within the military. The growing Israeli refusenik movement evokes the small anti-conscription drive that helped turn the tide in apartheid South Africa. Several hundred decorated Israeli officers have refused to perform military service in the occupied territories. Those not already in prison have taken their message on the road to US synagogues and campuses, rightly arguing that Israel needs security, but that it will never have it as an occupying power. More than 35 new settlements have been constructed in the past year. Each one is a step away from the safety deserved by the Israelis, and two steps away from the justice owed to the Palestinians. If apartheid ended, so can the occupation, but the moral force and international pressure will have to be just as determined. The current divestment effort is the first, though certainly not the only, necessary move in that direction. 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! 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