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UP- Life’s greatest asset ........... FaithThe UPGRADEmag (or just the "UP") is a global edutainment round-up, ‘broadcast’ weekly to =[10,441]= 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 MAY 15-21 * * * * * * * * * * RE-SHAPING THE PAST Mercury is retrograde, and the past overtakes us as we forge a new future. Perhaps we can manage to see and re-work past mistakes. Sunday heralds a life-changing week. Money is one focus. Check Maya’s Daily Success Guide at www.daykeeperjournal.com * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * HUBBLE NIGHT VIEW OF EARTH FROM SPACE http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0011/earthlights_dmsp_big.jpg The image is a panoramic view of the world from the new space station. It’s a night photo with the lights clearly indicating the populated areas. You can scroll East-West and North-South. Note Canada's population - almost exclusively along the U.S. border. Moving east to Europe, there’s a high population concentration along the Mediterranean Coast. It's easy to spot London, Paris, Stockholm and Vienna. Check out the development of Israel compared to ... Arab countries. Note the Nile River and the rest of the "Dark Continent". After the Nile, the lights don't come on again until Johannesburg. Look at the Australian Outback and the Trans-Siberian Rail Route. Moving east, the most striking observation is the difference between North and South Korea. Note the density of Japan. What a piece of photography!! It’s an absolutely awesome picture of the Earth taken from the Boeing built Space Station on a perfect night with no obscuring atmospheric conditions. [BB Martin] UP- Life’s most incredible computer... The brain los angeles SUN MAY 19 Mixmaster Morris aka 'THE IRRESISTIBLE FORCE' famous globe-trotting ambient dj-producer-zippie philosopher, will be spinning his always eclectic and envelope pushing mix of chilled experimental and dance music at the opening night! PLUS loadsa other great stuff! www.zoaworld.com. UP- u.k. AUTHORS’ MILK SOUR? Nestle, the mass-killers of children in the so-called 'Third World', are sponsoring the children's tent at the Hay On Wye Literature Festival which runs May 31-June 9. The Festival organisers have been made well aware of Nestlé’s track record, and have been referred to the Babymilk Action Group's website, but have fallen for the lies sent to them by Nestle and have not bothered to fully look into the company’s actions itself. Some people are trying to contact as many of those writers and performers booked to appear as possible to try to encourage them to stay away and make their reason for doing so public. The Festival's main sponsor is the Guardian, which also has been approached and asked to do something about it, but as yet does not appear to have done anything. Will Self, Jeremy Hardy and Mark Thomas have called for a boycott in an article in last weekend's Independent. Help make them regret their acceptance of this dirty money! Babymilk Action Group http://www.babymilkaction.org/ e-mail The Guardian letters@guardian.co.uk Independent Article http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=289765 Secretaryof Hay Festival - Peter Florence http://www.hayfestival.co.uk International Baby Food Action Network report on 'Breaking The Rules' http://www.ibfan.org/english/codewatch/btr01/MAIN-en.HTM Dear Frase, A quick review of the UPstuff I've read so far (which I know you'll shove in the bottom drawer and let your Dog pee all over): I love all the News info and Paganisms (isn't it strange how superstitious we are, I never do ANYTHING until the Moon is waxing).... But I can’t say I liked the "Rabelaisian" Sci-Fi Romp very much .... (I guess I just don't like other peoples sexual fantasies!) ... I'm all for free statement etc. but it seemed to bring the tone of the UP down by a few degrees.... in the sense that it’s badly written and the content is the exact opposite, in my view, of what you (we) are trying to achieve.... I'm also wondering if it might offend like 52% of your correspondents.... is the author trying to recapture some of his lost youth? I say the same about the piece on the lackadaisical cruelty to animals, namely Cats (I know you’re a Dog Lover).... which just wasn't funny at all and hardly entertaining... it just makes me think that people might not take you seriously regarding all the other good stuff which you deliver with such aplomb, and lets face it people here in America really need to know... but that’s just my badly written point of view... anyway, may all the Goddesses shower you with blessings on an hourly basis...... Matthew / los angeles you’ve been in america too long, matthew! some people loved the cat piece and i confess i never even noticed any cruelty. and, IMHO, brian barritt, the Rabelaisian author, comes about as close to a zen master lunatic as the west has to offer. i do confess, tho, that i thought it might severely shake a few muslim ladies who've been coming to the UP recently because we've given their cause a fair hearing. but they must also now see that WE are not puritan and, while we fight to maintain their rights and dignity, we also insist on our own :) (remember that many people accused me of being pro-taliban for giving the muslim cause such positive coverage). know i’m a low level pornographer. eventually, hopefully, people accept that there’s a very wide yet wholistic perspective going on here :) UP- Life’s greatest "shot in the arm"... Encouragement THE BOOING OF WOLFOWITZ New York Times columnist Frank Rich, hardly a progressive on Middle East issues, nevertheless criticises, in Saturday's lead Op-Ed, the growing willingness of American Jews and Jewish organisations to attack anyone or any utterance deemed insufficiently "pro-Israel." As examples, he cites the heckling of Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz at the pro-Israel rally in Washington in April, and the death threats made against the family of Adam Shapiro in New York. More disturbingly than either of these examples, however, are the strident criticisms and boycott campaigns organised by Jewish groups against a raft of major American newspapers, such as the New York Times, the LA Times, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, the Miami Herald and others. The San Francisco Chronicle has also been targeted by the local Jewish Community Relations Council, which claims to have discovered "a pattern of bias" in the Chronicle's reporting Rich says that such sweeping indictments of major American newspapers are a disturbing sign of the political and rhetorical excesses of those who piously claim to be Israel's sole defenders. He criticises the resultant squelching of free political discourse, arguing that "the dictates of what constitutes politically correct conversation about the Middle East are being tightened to the point that American leaders of all stripes increasingly seem to be in a contest to see who can pander most to American Jews." Rich is correct on this point: the political harm done to the American Jewish community will be deep and lasting if there is a continuing trend toward such extreme sectarianism. The harm will be just as serious to Israel, which risks contracting incurable political ills from the kinds of bed-partners solicited by this new Jewish parochialism. shlensky@socrates.Berkeley.EDU UP- Life’s ugliest personality trait.... Selfishness YOU’VE GOT MALES! A woman was in her front garden mowing the grass when her neighbour emerged from the house and went straight to the mailbox. He opened it then slammed it shut, and walked quickly back in the house. A little later he came out again, went to the mailbox and again opened it and then slammed it shut. Angrily, back into the house he went. As the woman was getting ready to edge the lawn, he came out again, marched to the mailbox, opened it and then slammed it closed harder than ever. Puzzled by his actions the woman asked him, "Is something wrong?" To which he replied," There certainly is! My stupid computer keeps saying, "YOU'VE GOT MAIL!" - confession: this was sent in with the gender roles reversed. i spotted that and changed them to what u just read. did it make a difference? tell me! "Every time anyone says that Israel is America's only friend in the Middle East, I can't help but think that, before Israel, America had no enemies in the Middle East" Fr. John Sheehan of the Jesuit order UP- Life’s most crippling failure disease.... Excuses APRIL 16, 2002 COULD ISRAEL BE RIGHT & THE WHOLE WORLD BE WRONG? YOU BET YOUR LIFE! a speech by Rabbi Ed Feinstein I want to talk to the children tonight. Because I'm concerned for your souls and your faith. You've heard that we are aggressors savagely invading, occupying, oppressing a sovereign people. You've heard we have brutally destroyed their cities and towns, their homes and shops, desecrating holy places, turning once-thriving centers of life into fields of destruction and death. You've heard that we have committed atrocity; that we have massacred hundreds of innocents, bull-dozed living people into rubble, shot pregnant women and little children, halted ambulances from attending to the wounded. They say we've even prevented the burial of their dead. And when we did bury the dead, it was only to cover up the mass murder. And it seems that everyone says it. You hear it on CNN and ABC and NPR, you read it in the LA Times, you hear it from world leaders and organizations devoted to humanitarian causes. The Portuguese Nobel Laureate, Jose Saramago visited the Palestinian West Bank as one of a group of famous authors, called the International Parliament of Writers, and declared that "what is happening here is a crime that may be compared to Auschwitz". Robert Sheer, in this morning's Los Angeles Times, compares Ariel Sharon to the Serbian butcher, Slobodan Milosevic. This, after a weekend of prominent, front page articles describing the wanton destruction and ruthless mass murder carried out by Israeli soldiers against Palestinian civilians in Nablus and Jenin. (And you had to read to the fifth paragraph of the story to discover that none of the reports were independently confirmed, verified, or corroborated.) The annual session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, last week, condemned Israel for "mass killings" of Palestinians, "gross violations of humanitarian law" and affirmed the "legitimate right of Palestinian people to resist." Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch condemned Israel's "brutal practices in the occupied Palestinian territories." UNESCO issued a resolution condemning the Israeli attacks on the cultural centres and holy sites in Palestine. (Strangely, they said nothing of synagogues burned in France or exploded in Tunisia.) - one was done by a state government, rabb. The European Parliament adopted a resolution last week that called on the European Union to suspend its 6-year-old trade Treaty with Israel. You, our children, you hear these things, you read these things. You witness demonstrations on college campuses and in the great cities of the world. And you have to wonder: Is this the truth? Are these really my people? What kind of people are we? What kind of society is Israel? What happened to the dream that once was Zionism? Koffi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations put it succinctly when he asked: "Is it possible that Israel is right and the whole world is wrong?" As long as you live, I want you to remember this night. Tonight, something extraordinary is happening. Tonight, we have come, your parents and grandparents, your rabbis and teachers, distinguished leaders from every corner of the Jewish community - Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, religious and secular, right-wing and left-wing, to say one thing: Is it possible that Israel is right and the whole world is wrong? YOU BET YOUR LIFE IT IS! THEY FORGET, BUT WE REMEMBER. In 1947 the United Nations voted to partition Palestine and to create two states between the Jordan and the Mediterranean: One, the Jewish state of Israel. The other, a homeland for Palestinian Arabs. The Zionist leadership, the acting government of the Yishuv, accepted the plan. In 1947, we affirmed our desire to live in peace, side by side with a Palestinian State. But the armies of nine Arab states came pouring over the borders to extinguish the nascent state of Israel and to murder yet another million Jews. When a truce came, the territory for the Palestinian Arab State had been devoured by Egypt and Jordan and Syria. THEY FORGET, BUT WE REMEMBER that thousands of Palestinian Arabs fled in the face of that Arab invasion. But when they reached the borders of Jordan and Egypt, they were not permitted to enter. Israel, tiny beleaguered Israel managed to absorb and settle millions of Jewish refugees from Europe and the Middle East. But the entire Arab League and all 26 Muslim nations, with all their oil-wealth, couldn't find room for their poor Palestinian brothers and sisters - and left them to rot in squalid refugee camps, festering in hatred and rage. THEY FORGET, BUT WE REMEMBER every time they came across our border to murder and to destroy. We remember 1948, 1967, 1973. We remember the Olympics in Munich and the school in Maalot. THEY FORGET, BUT WE REMEMBER that when Sadat came to Jerusalem, we dismantled settlements, and relocated whole cities, and gave Egypt back the entire Sinai, in return for peace. THEY FORGET, BUT WE REMEMBER Yitzchak Rabin and his dream. And we remember that his protégé, Ehud Barak went to Camp David and then to Taba, and offered, for the second time in 50 years, to create a Palestinian State, comprised of 97% of the West Bank and all of Gaza with sovereignty over half of Jerusalem including the Temple Mount, and $30 billion in world economic aid. And we remember the answer. - 97%? come on! THEY FORGET, BUT WE REMEMBER, just months ago, a bomber in the Dolphinarium Disco in Tel Aviv killed 21 teens. And what did we do in retaliation, what did we hit? Nothing. We practiced restraint. And months later when another bomber destroyed Sbarro's Pizza and dozens more were killed. What was our retaliation? Nothing. We practised restraint. And the Bat Mitzvah in Hadera and the mall in Netanya and the restaurants and cafes in Jerusalem and Afula and in Haifa we retaliated by destroying buildings. Empty buildings. Because we called them hours in advance of each mission, to warn them to evacuate. And then came Pesach. This year, the Angel of Death did not pass over. Whole families were murdered at the Seder table. But even now, do we bomb from the air, like America? Risk hitting hospitals and schools and embassies like America did in Bosnia and Afghanistan? No. We send our kids through the alleyways and byways - to face booby traps and snipers and mines. Tonight, your parents and grandparents, your rabbis and teachers, your community have gathered here in the thousands to testify that the whole world is wrong and Israel is right. And we will not apologize for doing what's right - for defending our children and their dreams from murderers. We mourn for innocents, Palestinian and Israeli, who are caught in the struggle. We take no pleasure in the suffering of any human being, but we will not apologize for taking steps to survive in that vicious corner of the world where, mesmerized by murder and blood, they dance and sing when their children blow themselves up. We will not apologize for demanding our land and our freedom and our security in this world. Jews no longer apologize for surviving. You must not be apologetic for Israel or ashamed of Israel. You must not be embarrassed by Israel or afraid to stand up for Israel. And you must never, ever grow bitter, cynical, or dark. Amen. UP- Life’s greatest problem to overcome.... Fear brighton, uk SAT MAY 18 Magpie and its followers are the cool people of Brighton and have a one day festival in the park. During this time you will also find the streets and venues of Brighton full of cool things. 2 stages and sounds, bring a picnic. FREE! @ Saunders Park. http://www.guilfin.net/database/showevent.php3?ev_id=evINET1438 UP- Life’s most powerful force..... Love israel MON MAY 13 The courageous hero Mordechai Vanunu made a rare court appearance Monday to request that secret documents from his trial be made public and to seek permission to meet with his British attorneys. The gray-haired, tanned Mordechai arrived in handcuffs, wearing brown prison garb he’s spent several years in solitary confinement serving an 18-year prison term for treason. Recently, though, he’s been granted permission to spend outdoor recesses with other inmates. A former nuclear technician, Mordechai was sentenced in 1988, two years after he gave The Sunday Times of London pictures of Israel's nuclear reactor. Israel, employing a policy it describes as "nuclear ambiguity," has never confirmed its nuclear capability. Yeah, right. Based on Vanunu's pictures, experts concluded Israel had the world's sixth-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons. The CIA estimated more recently that Israel has 200 - 400 nuclear weapons. Monday's Supreme Court hearing dealt mostly with a lower court ruling that Mordechai is not even allowed access to the protocols of his own trial! No decision was made at the closed-door hearing. "The decision is absurd. The trial is about him, he was the defendant in the trial. Just as he was present at the trial, he should be allowed to read the protocols," his attorney told Israel Army Radio afterwards. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020513/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_vanunu_3 UP- Life’s most destructive habit ...... Worry //YOU FEEDBACK THE GREAT WIRED ZIPPY HOAX dear david... i'm sorry i have no idea who you are... but the record needs to be put straight. - for history’s sake, i publicly ended “all associations” with these guys’n’gals long before that, it’s on the public record. whatever you felt about fraser and whatever went on in San Francisco, where fraser returned after the split, the original zippy pronoia teamhad nothing to do with that... let me assure you that the pronoia team that accompanied fraser across america were (and probably still are in all it's evolving forms)a bunch ofdevoted ravers who lived together on the road with very little money,on shared re-fills of coffee and the odd banana in thedriest times, but collectively we worked hard at every stop and venue to put on some kickass raves... there's too much bullshit going on in the world... keep working for the collective spirit of good... high regards... 3t Vakil / wanderwoman UP- Life’s two most power-filled words .... "I Can" THE MORE YOU WATCH, THE LESS YOU KNOW OR WHO’S DUMMER, PEOPLE OR THE NEWS ITSELF? People who relied most on television news coverage knew least about the Gulf War and its origins, according to a University of Massachusetts study. "Many of them also had the strongest opinions, which not coincidentally echoed precisely what they’d been hearing. Like the media they depended on, they were virtually of one mind in uncritically embracing the US government position." "We are bombarded with information, although if you look closely, most of it has a similar grammar, a similar focus and similar sources, all revolving around institutions and topics that most viewers admit in survey after survey they don't really understand. Politicians speak politician-speak; and people who hold real power or who make critical investment decisions or formulate behind-the-scenes strategies rarely speak at all. The world of news and the world of truth are often worlds apart." IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH: THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA AND THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT In similar vein, Greg Philo of Glasgow University Media Group, reports research conducted into the effects of television reporting on public understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A cross-section of people were asked a series of questions about the conflict and what they had understood from TV news. The research showed that many people had little understanding of the reasons for the conflict and its origins. It was apparent, Philo reports, "that this lack of understanding (and indeed misunderstanding) was compounded by the news reports". The research focused on the lunchtime, early evening and late night news bulletins on BBC1 and ITN from September 28 until October 16. 2000 were transcribed and the number of lines of text that were devoted to different themes were counted. Of 3,536 lines of text, just 17 explained the history of the conflict. As a result, "it was apparent that many people did not understand that the Palestinians were subject to a military occupation and did not know who was 'occupying' the occupied territories". TV news journalists sometimes used the word 'occupied' but did not explain that the Israelis were involved in a military occupation. In the sample of 300 young people - 71% did not know that the Israelis were occupying the territories. - 9% knew it was the Israelis and that the “settlers” were Israeli. - 11% (the majority!) believed the Palestinians were occupying the territories and that the “settlers” were Palestinian. Because only 17 of the 3,536 lines of text described the origins of the conflict, the public were unaware that Palestinian refugees were displaced from their homes and land when Israel was established in 1948. They did not know that war between Israel and its Arab neighbours in May 1948 forced more people to flee, and that many of the refugees moved to Gaza (which came under the control of Egypt) and to the West Bank of the Jordan river (under Jordanian control). Nor did they know that Israel fought a further war in 1967, occupying Gaza and the West Bank, thus bringing the Palestinian refugees under its military control. East Jerusalem, which has great religious and cultural significance for both Israelis and Palestinians, was also occupied (taken from Jordan). These military occupations were bitterly resisted by the Palestinians, in part because Israel built “settlements" all across the militarily occupied territories. The settlements give strategic and military control of the area and its water, the crucial resource in the occupied territories. Philo summarises: "Without the discussion of origins and causes, we are left with accounts on the news of day-to-day events, in which it can appear that the 'normal' world is disrupted only when the Palestinians riot or bomb. This is of course the view of the Israeli government, and the news tended to oscillate between this and the view that violence was perpetrated by both sides in a 'cycle' of 'tit-for-tat' killings. The Palestinians believe that they are resisting an illegal and violent occupation." US THE PEACEMAKER NOT! As with the origins of the conflict, TV viewers are likewise unaware that the ceaseless media portrayal of the US as a frustrated peacemaker seeking an honourable solution is a deception. A typical, recent example of this casual propagandising appeared in the Guardian: "Hopes for peace in Israel were firmly pinned on the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, as he prepared to travel to Jerusalem today after receiving the backing of Russia, the EU and the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, during a day of intense diplomacy in Madrid yesterday." In fact, the US has consistently opposed a peaceful resolution. At the Fifth Emergency Session of the General Assembly, convening in the aftermath of the 1967 war, there was "near unanimity" on "the withdrawal of the armed forces from the territory of neighbouring Arab states occupied during the recent war" since "everyone agrees that there should be no territorial gains by military conquest." Beginning in the mid-1970s, a modification of UN Resolution 242 provided for the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza once Israel withdrew to its pre-June 1967 borders. The US cast the only veto of Security Council resolutions in 1976 and 1980 calling for a two-state settlement that was endorsed by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and front-line Arab states. And again in December 1989, a General Assembly resolution along similar lines passed 151-3 (no abstentions), the three negative votes cast by Israel, the US, and Dominica. "The problem with the Bush administration, we are repeatedly told, is that it has been insufficiently engaged with the Middle East, a diplomatic void Colin Powell's mission is supposed to fill. But who gave the green light for Israel to commit the massacres? Who supplied the F-16s and Apache helicopters to Israel? Who vetoed the Security Council resolutions calling for international monitors to supervise the reduction of violence? And who just blocked the proposal of the United Nation's top human rights official, Mary Robinson, to merely send a fact-finding team to the Palestinian territories? "Consider this scenario. A and B stand accused of murder. The evidence shows that A provided B with the murder weapon, A gave B the "all-clear" signal, and A prevented onlookers from answering the victim's screams. Would the verdict be that A was insufficiently engaged or that A was every bit as guilty as B of murder?" Daniel Finkelstein MASSIVE ENDEMIC US PRESS BIAS Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (www.fair.org) also highlights massive bias in the US press. 300 Israelis and 1,200 Palestinians have been killed since the current Intifada began in September 2000. Yet, during this period, the three major US networks' nightly news shows used some variation of the word 'retaliation' 150 times to describe attacks in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. About 79% of those references were to Israeli 'retaliation' against Palestinians. Only 9% referred to Palestinian ‘retaliation' against Israelis. "The term 'retaliation' suggests a defensive stance undertaken in response to someone else's aggression. It also lays responsibility for the cycle of violence at the doorstep of the party being 'retaliated' against, since they presumably initiated the conflict." (FAIR, April 4, 2002) "The Israeli line - that Palestinians are essentially responsible for 'violence' and responsible for refusing to make concessions for peace - has been accepted almost totally by the media." (Robert Fisk, Independent, Nov 14, 2000) TV REPORTING INCOMPREHENSIBLE Greg Philo's report makes a mockery of the casual assumption, made by many mainstream commentators, that the media does not 'dumb down', because the public are already dumb. As Philo's report indicates, the level of intelligence in TV reporting is at rock-bottom - with almost no historical background or meaningful context, it is often literally incomprehensible. It is not possible to demand less than this. Moreover, journalists especially political journalists - often write largely for themselves, says Schechter. "For years, political journalists have been reporting primarily for themselves and have been doing so in a language ('spinmeisters,' 'soft money,' 'tracking polls') that a great many readers find foreign and alienating.” So in Western democracies, we the people had better busy ourselves with voting for Pop Idols, mourning royalty and watching Reality TV, because politics is none of our business. But actually this is as it should be, or so our cultural elites tell us. "In defence of political apathy - voter disillusion with polls and politicians is little more than a sign of peace and prosperity." (Barry Cox, Observer, July 16, 2000) "Let's be honest, who cares much about politics beyond a small elite of professional politicians, commentators, policy wonks and a rump of party activists? When did you last have a raging row - or even brief conversation - with anyone about politics?" (Madeleine Bunting, Guardian, May 15, shortly after street protests by hundreds of thousands of US, British, and other passionately concerned citizens in Seattle (November 1999) and Washington (April 2000)) BUT IT’S CHANGING, IT’S FINALLY FINALLY CHANGING! Despite the standard promotion of apathy in the mainstream, things are changing. Robert Fisk, a brilliant and courageous critic of US policy in the Middle East, naturally expected a hostile reception when he recently paid his first visit to the American Midwest since 11 September, especially given that the theme of his talks was: "the cowardly, idle, spineless way in which American journalists are lobotomising their stories from the Middle East". This was what Fisk experienced: "Three years ago, I managed to fill a Washington auditorium seating 600 with just 32 Americans. But in Chicago, Iowa and Los Angeles this month, they came in their hundreds - almost 900 at one venue at the University of Southern California - and they sat in the aisles and corridors and outside the doors. It wasn't because Lord Fisk was in town. Maybe the title of my talk - 'September 11: ask who did it, but for heaven's sake don't ask why' - was provocative. But for the most part they came, as the question-and-answer sessions quickly revealed, because they were tired of being suckered by the tv news networks and the right-wing punditocracy. "Never before have I been asked by Americans: "How can we make our press report the Middle East fairly?" or - much more disturbingly - "How can we make our government reflect our views?" The fact that these questions could be asked - usually by middle-aged Americans with no family origins in the Middle East - suggested a profound change in a hitherto docile population." http://www.medialens.org UP- Life’s deadliest weapon ............ The tongue MORE THAN A DOZEN COFFEE SHOPS IN THE UK THIS YEAR! The first Dutch coffee shops, which opened *before* decriminalisation, were crucial to getting Dutch law relaxed. "The movement has taken its cue from the Dutch Experience, Britain's first cannabis coffee shop in Stockport, which has been raided by police three times since opening last September. However, repeated mass protests made the police back off, and the coffee shop still attracts around 200 people a day. In the next fortnight, Dutch Experience 2, which is in the process of being decorated, is to open its doors in Bournemouth. Other coffee shops are set to follow in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Cumbria, Liverpool, Rhyl, Anglesey, Milton Keynes, Braintree, Brighton, Taunton, Worthing, and Lambeth and Hoxton in London. Britain is on course to follow the Netherlands in having a public cannabis café culture." The Observer. A Bournemouth coffeeshop owner who’s recruited pensioners to grow cannabis for him, supplying them with seeds and growlights, has had expressions of interest from dozens more. 'It helps them pay the winter fuel bills. They’re angry about being lied to all these years about how dangerous cannabis is,' he said. “A report last week from the Government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs concluded cannabis was less dangerous than alcohol or tobacco." The Deputy Mayor of Rhyl said the plan 'beggars belief', prompting the prospective coffee shop owner to name his coffee shop 'The Beggars Belief'. The Chief Constable of North Wales, Richard Brunstrom, has publicly called for drugs to be legalised. It’s worth noting that, after the Netherlands decriminalised cannabis, Dutch consumption went down for six years. Today, Dutch youngsters are just over half as likely to use cannabis as British. [merrick] http://www.rebelinccoffeeshop.com/show_article.php?id=19 UP- Life’s most effective sleeping pill.... Peace of mind "WHEN LEADERS SPEAK PEACE, THE PEOPLE EXPECT WAR” We were originally told it was necessary to launch a military attack on Afghanistan to get rid of the Taliban and to arrest Osama bin Laden. Remember him? Yet as far back as December, Undersecretary Jones said something quite different in the media-free privacy of the U.S. Senate. She explained that no matter what happened in Afghanistan, the US and its allies would stay and "assist" the Central Asian Republics. However: "that assistance is conditional on economic and democratic reforms and the observance of human rights”. Jones outlined US priorities in the region as “combating terrorism; reform; the rule of law; Caspian Sea energy resources." SAY THAT AGAIN!? Many who oppose US policy will see the phrase "Caspian Sea energy resources" and think, "Aha! They were after the oil again!" However, that’s not very useful for understanding US policy. As Mr Castro has said, if the US Establishment needed oil then they could buy it. Or buy the oil wells. Or buy the local oil companies. There really is nobody interested in standing in the way of the US having a reasonable supply of oil. Rather, the US establishment, and the Empire of which it is a leading part - perhaps we should call it the New World Empire - is very much interested in protecting its current hegemonic position in the world from possible future challenges from Eurasia - namely, from the still-nuclear-armed former Soviet Union. Hence the drive into Central Asia. In her Senate testimony, Undersecretary Jones made it clear she wishes to transform the Central Asia Republics into US protectorates. She didn't say it outright, of course, but she used decipherable code: "The USA believes that certain countries in the region should noticeably step up their economic reforms and democratic processes, the observance of human rights and the formation of a strong civil society." “A strong civil society”? Now that has a definite meaning in the New World Empire. "Civil society" is strengthened when USAID, the National Endowment for Democracy and other government agencies in the U.S., Norway, Holland and Germany, as well as seemingly private groups, like the CIA-connected Open Society Foundation of George Soros, move in. What these agencies do is fund people, people who work for the Empire in the guise of “democratic" this and "human rights" that, and "institutes for economic reform" and "independent media." (like in Venezuela, the ones that backed the coup) In the words of Allen Weinstein, the man who conceived the National Endowment of Democracy: "A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA” Washington Post, Sept 22, 1991. To "strengthen civil society" these fake democracy-funding agencies set up NGOs, newspapers and TV stations and political parties as a Fifth Column to destabilize local societies along vulnerable lines of conflict. Or they inflame regional conflicts in the guise of "peace" and "mediation" groups. Ultimately they attempt to stage coup d'états, always under the guise of democratic reform, thus putting US operatives in power. This happened in Yugoslavia and the Philippines. It was attempted in Belarus and Venezuela. The basis is being laid for such coup d'états all over the former Soviet Union. Since Ms. Jones’ testimony, the former Soviet Central Asian Republics have become closely involved with the US military, turning over their territory for military bases and allowing NATO forces to train their troops. This situation poses a grave threat to national sovereignty and increases the potential of war and massive destruction all over the world. This Empire is living on the edge. More than once Ms. Jones explains that the US drive into Central Asia, which is Russia's backyard, does not conflict with Russian interests. Does she mistake the Russians for morons? Does she mistake us all for morons? This preposterous statement calls to mind the famous words of the German playwright, Mr. Brecht: "When the leaders speak of peace the common people know war is coming." Jared Israel UP- Life’s most dangerous pariah ....... A gossiper holland PIM FORTYN I don't know how much attention was given to the assassination of the Dutch independent politician Pim Fortyn. I read in several newspapers that he was mostly regarded as right wing, but not extreme right wing. English papers saw him as the dutch Le Pen. I started seeing a lot of interviews with him in the last weeks. He had the disadvantage of getting emotional, which made him make unbalanced remarks, but if people let him speak then everything he said made complete sense. He has a lot of good intuition, is the opposite of hypocrisy (somethingvery new in politics). Only his remarks on Islam being a backward culture leaves us with not much chances for them. On the other hand, when we asked what he meant, everything he said made sense. He worked as a worldcitizen, and did not feel one race superior than the other. He was only warning of increasingly bad habits coming over from small villages in Islamic countries to Werstern civilisation, like men getting their women from small villages in Morocco/Turkey, and imprisoning them in their house, almost as slaves, which happens too often in Europe, more than it happens in the Islamic countries themselves! That's all. Almost criminal in fact. For the rest, he warned and was aware of so many problems whichwere not solved by politicians yet, or about wrong methods. I think it's sad he died, not for democracy’s sake, like people say here, but because he tried with honest openness for everybody to find truths in everything. Gerald Van Waes / Belgium UP- Life’s most satisfying work ........ Helping others Hi Fraser, I thought you might be interested in this news release I came across: Ladies, in today's consumer focused markets the sheer range of cosmetics you have to choose from is astonishing. Blushers, foundations, eyeliners, every whim is catered for. The range of perfumes are specially impressive, some seem to have magical abilities to attract the opposite sex (I myself can't resist the smell of Emporio Armani.)Not that I would assume that the sole reason for the purchase or wearing of perfume is to attract a partner, but it is certainly a factor in many purchase decisions. This range of products hasn't, until now, catered for the technologically advanced male. Do not despair if your current range of scents is not attracting the hunky IT operator in your offices because the ultimate computer geek fragrance is about to be launched. Developed by Coty Scents, the new limited addition perfume has been specifically designed to smell like?... a computer! The scent was partly created by the overheating of polyester and samples from static from computer screens. Unbelievable! The scent will, not surprisingly, be released in a limited edition, available on?... the internet! ????????????? Suade / Adapted Vinyl / UK - let me get this straight, girl. u mean i can smell the stuff from a continent away thru me modem? i can think of a few people i could give it to for xmas. UP- Life’s most worthless emotion ....... Self-pity london SAT JUNE 1 & SUN JUNE 2 Held on the “first weekend in June” every year since the launch of the Encyclopaedia Psychedelica, this year Hampstead sees the 14th legendary Zippy Picnic on Bank Holiday Weekend. It’s varied in size from several thousands to a score or so, but last year’s was great, and this year we hope to make it even better. A collective is being formed to plan and co-ordinate events this time, and help bring as much positive energy, talent, inspiration and plain old relaxation as possible to the leafy party, but of course at its heart it will remain a spontaneous, participatory event. A true community event. Expect Music, Free Jams, Ritez, Improvisation, Poetry, Cabaret, Dance, Food, Drinksmokes, and all kindsa Unexpected Madness. Or as the Zippies always say: “BRING WOT U EXPECK 2 FIND”. Provisional Plans include a ‘Vizionary Space’ to warm things up on SATURDAY, an unstructured and (let’s be honest) unplanned region of space-time dedicated to your creativity and imagination. A place in which to play out YOUR ideal Zippy Picnic + an all-nite bonfire party for those with no rave to go to. And a SUNDAY climax with the main yet to be planned Zippy Picnic Happening. WHERE? Viaduct Pond on the West Heath. But all this is still emerging from the womb of Potentia. If you want to be involved with the emergence of this event, join the organising collective, or just attend as a spectatorial participant, email Steve Ash Steveash1@hotmail.com More details here soon. UP- Life’s greatest joy ................ Giving
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Is Taking Psychedelics the Answer to the War on Terror?//YOU LITERATURE SECTION UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP The Sept. 11 disturbances have driven many to seek relief from anxiety and depression through socially sanctioned psychotropics such as Prozac, Xanax, and alcohol. But some of the so-called psychedelic drugs (cannabis, LSD, peyote, psilocybin, ayahuasca, and MDMA or Ecstasy) could have a more profound and healthful effect, if used responsibly. The very idea of going off on a psychedelic " trip" amidst a national crisis strike you as self-indulgent folly, or worse, an act of cerebral sedition. Yet a cold and sober look through the smoldering smoke of Ground Zero leads me to believe that, depending on individual circumstances, there are now even more compelling reasons to sanction the practice of judicious psychedelic use. Of course, if combat readiness is an issue, if your function is to evacuate a building in a hurry, screen airline passengers, detect the presence of microscopic pathogens, analyze forensic evidence that could lead to the apprehension of culpable or would-be terrorists, or execute a commando raid on an Afghan mountain, psychedelics are probably contra-indicated. But if you're uncertain who the real enemy is, if you're inclined to ask more questions about the nature of the reality that's just swung out into a broad new arc, or if you're seeking healing from debilitating stress, it could well be the time to venture out into new psychical frontiers. In fact, for some especially scarred, it might even be foolish not to, given that there might not be as much time to lose as we thought we had. Perturbing the Brain The removal of base concerns for food, shelter, and bodily safety has been a key factor in the evolution of human consciousness from such immediate distractions to plans for future (inner and outer) space exploration. The Great Beyond If death is another name for the process of undoing to which all of our doings must and do lead, then the psychedelic experience is most certainly concerned with death, with endings that, if we could only see, become beginnings in other forms. McKenna once wrote that psychedelics anticipate the dying process, and just four months from his own passage, he told a group at Esalen, "If psychedelics don't prepare you for the Great Beyond, I don't know what really does." Israeli Raves A 30-year belief in the power of psychedelics to confer such transformations spurred Rick Doblin, president of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS; see www.maps.org) to submit an historic protocol for MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in the treatment of patients afflicted with chronic post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) brought on by criminal deeds. The protocol, approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on November 2, 2001, will be used for the first U.S. study ever to evaluate if MDMA can have actual mental health benefits. "On E, lies are inefficient," he writes, "and the peculiarities and weaknesses they are meant to obscure no longer seem like offenses against nature." Hence the doors of perception are cleansed, but without blowing them off their hinges. MDMA is unique among so-called psychedelics for leaving the ego unthreatened by inducing a pervasive sense of peace and trust that enables fruitful self-inventory, therapeutic healing, and a powerful feeling of appreciation for one's fellows. Ironies of the Drug War Prior to Sept. 11, the nation was beginning to enjoy an increasingly rich dialogue about the role of psychoactive drugs and the impact of the War on Drugs, led most notably by Bill Maher of ABC's "Politically Incorrect," whose comic quips roasting government drug policy complemented the dignified propriety of calls for reform by the Republican Governor of New Mexico, Gary Johnson. Nick Bromell, author of Tomorrow Never Knows: Rock and Psychedelics in the 1960s (University of Chicago Press), observed, optimistically, in a June 2001 essay on the "New Cultural Assent to Drug Use" in The Chronicle of Higher Education that "more and more Americans are unwilling to take a hard line against drugs if that means simplistically refusing to consider why people actually take them." Peak Experiences Nor should we discount drug-abetted awakenings because they're one-time affairs. Echoing the great religion scholar William James, Smith notes that the ephemeral nature of peak experiences sparked by psychedelics makes them no different from any other sort of mystic encounter with the mysterium tremendum. Such soul-rocking events are indelible in spite of their transient nature, whether you're a born-again Christian or an acid mystic turned Buddhist monk. But the degree to which they will affect you over time, and the tenacity of your newfound conviction, depend on how well you integrate the often alien or otherly vision into your daily life. Orchestrated Cataclysm In a subtle sense, Sept. 11 has had the effect of a virtual psychedelic experience, breaking up the world and reorganizing it. In this respect, says Krassner, the event was "an instant trip for many who are now face to face with what to do with their lives, what their concept of God is." In the wake of the attacks, we have witnessed that a cataclysm can have a positive outcome. A tangible new sense of tighter community has come into being, woven from the supplest fibers of the human spirit rebounding from the obliteration of the old order. Psychedelic sessions would then be structured and guided by the collective wisdom generated from centuries of shamanic ritual, as well as from modern clinical research and lessons learned from more informal practices. Select, certifiably pure psychedelics could then be placed once again in the service of private therapy for individuals, couples counseling, and the treatment of drug or alcohol dependency, depression, and other mental maladies. On a more massive scale, I can envision devoting a single day in the near future on which, say, five million people worldwide took a good healthful dose of MDMA (or hashish, psilocybin) and opened up their hearts and minds to each other and to the universe. Such a rite of pure Dionysian grace, involving communal song, dance, and invocations of prayer, would strum the invisible wires of the emergent global consciousness network, striking a harmonious chord from Chicago to Bangkok, Sydney to Sao Paolo, London to Delhi, Durban to Tehran. Charles Hayes - author of Tripping: An Anthology of True-Life Psychedelic Adventures (Penguin) www.psychedelicadventures.com. UP- Life’s most endangered species ..... 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