-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.aci.net/kalliste/ Click Here: <A HREF="http://www.aci.net/kalliste/">The Home Page of J. Orlin Grabbe</A> ---- Fear 2000 Y2K Generates Satellite Phone Shortage Keeping in touch. Fears that the millennium bug will disrupt telephone services over the new year have resulted in a worldwide shortage of satellite phones. Big banks and other multinational organisations have snapped up supplies in a bid to prevent their executives from being cut off at the vital moment. The phones, about the size of a personal computer and capable of being packed into a briefcase, are popular with the armed forces, journalists and explorers. They send and receive signals from geostationary satellites thousands of kilometres miles above the earth's surface. At �2,000 a set they are expensive, but can be relied on when other means of communication fail. But over the past six months, however, banks, airlines and utilities, among others, have been ordering the phones by the hundred. Andrew Marriott, national sales manager for Cell Hire, an international service provider with offices in the US and Europe, said he had never experienced such a situation: "I have never, ever run out of a satellite phone before. The manufacturers cannot keep up with demand." He said Cell Hire will would not be able to supply the most popular model, the Nera Mini-M, in Europe or the US until after Christmas. Nera's phones can handle voice calls, fax and data. According to British Telecommunications, which markets a satellite phone service called Mobique, the number of systems sold has almost doubled in the past month. The shortage of phones is proving of some benefit to Iridium, the US-based satellite phone service which went into Chapter 11 of the US bankruptcy code earlier this year. It is offering a satellite-based service on pocket-sized handsets Customers are buying its handsets at �750 a time as insurance against the bug even though its service cannot transmit faxes or data. The Financial Times, December 10, 1999 Assassination Politics Jury Says Martin Luther King Killing was a Conspiracy More government burial of the truth. THE assassination of Dr Martin Luther King Jr, the revered leader of the American civil rights movement, was the result of a conspiracy involving government agencies and disgruntled Southerners, a jury in Memphis has decided. After four weeks of testimony in a civil suit brought by Dr King's family, the jury's decision means that they did not believe that James Earl Ray, who was convicted of the murder, fired the shot that killed Dr King. Dexter King, Dr King's youngest son, said: "This is a vindication for us." The King family hopes that the decision will lead to a rewriting of the history of the 1968 assassination. The family brought their case after Loyd Jowers, 73, a Memphis cafe owner said in a television interview in 1993 that he had hired a police officer to kill Dr King by shooting at him from the bushes behind his restaurant. The bushes directly overlooked the motel where Mr King was standing when he was killed. They were also below the second-floor room from which Ray was alleged to have fired the fatal shot. Mr Jowers said that he had been paid to hire the killer by a Memphis grocery store owner who had links with the Mafia. Ray confessed to the killing in 1969, but subsequently recanted his confession, hinting at a conspiracy. He died in prison last year. In an improbable alliance, Mr King's family were represented in this latest case by William Pepper, who had been Ray's lawyer. The King family and Mr Pepper both believe that by singling out Ray, the authorities managed to bury the real story of the assassination. The London Telegraph, December 10, 1999 Cattle Market Tony "Mad Cow" Blair Moos at France Declares that frog legs make people jumpy. LONDON - Britain reacted with outrage Thursday to France's decision to maintain its ban on British beef, a move that strained Anglo-French relations and dealt a blow to the pro-European stance of Prime Minister Tony Blair. Mr. Blair lashed out at the French government, saying it was ''totally wrong'' to maintain the ban late Wednesday when European Union scientists have proclaimed British beef safe. He was supported by the European Commission, the EU executive agency, which promised to accelerate legal efforts to overturn the ban. ''It is not just contrary to the science,'' Mr. Blair said. ''It is also totally contrary to the law of the European market. You cannot have a situation where people pick and choose what laws and rules of the European market they obey.'' But officials held out little hope for an early resolution of the dispute as France vowed to take whatever measures were necessary to ensure food safety. ''Today, in all honesty, before the French people, it was not possible for this government to lift the embargo,'' Prime Minister Lionel Jospin said Thursday. He said he was not worried by the prospect of EU legal action, saying, ''I am accountable first and foremost to the French people for what I do.'' The new flare-up of the beef dispute left Anglo-French relations severely strained on the eve of a summit meeting of EU leaders in Helsinki, where one of the main objectives was to win EU backing for a British and French proposal to create a European rapid-reaction force of 50,000 to 60,000 troops. That proposal was expected to win endorsement, but officials said other issues could be affected by the fallout from the beef dispute. The French decision also represented a damaging political setback for Mr. Blair, who had insisted that his government's pro-European stance and its quiet diplomacy to assuage French health concerns offered the best prospects of lifting the ban. Tim Yeo, agriculture spokesman for the opposition Conservative Party, blamed the government for being ''weak and incompetent'' by seeking negotiation rather than confrontation with Paris. ''Now it's humiliation,'' the conservative tabloid Daily Mail said in its front-page headline Thursday. Even the pro-government Daily Mirror called the decision ''an embarrassment for Blair's softly, softly approach.'' David Byrne, the European commissioner for health, said the commission would give Paris five days starting next Tuesday to lift the ban or be sued in the European Court of Justice. The court could take 18 months or more to decide the case. The French rebuff comes at a time when Mr. Blair was on the defensive over growing public opposition to the euro, which the Labour government has said it favors joining. As a result, Mr. Blair was under pressure to take a tougher line with his EU partners. That fact appeared to dim prospects that Britain would agree in Helsinki to a last-minute compromise for an EU withholding tax on savings, a measure that the government fears could harm the international bond business based in London. Hubert Vedrine, the French foreign minister, said Paris would ''do everything to contain the crisis,'' but other officials indicated they were bracing for a protracted battle. ''If the British react badly to this, as we fear, then it will be very damaging for Anglo-French relations and will prevent discussions on the fundamental issues,'' said Agriculture Minister Jean Glavany. To get a sense of the outrage felt in Britain, you only have to look at the measures taken here since the previous Conservative government acknowledged a potential link between bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or ''mad cow'' disease, and the fatal human brain condition Creutzfeld-Jakob disease. At EU request, Britain has spent more than �4 billion ($6.4 billion) to slaughter millions of cattle, impose stricter controls at abattoirs and adopted a computerized animal passport system to trace cattle in a bid to stop the spread of BSE. Those measures persuaded EU scientists this summer to allow Britain to resume exports of beef from young animals demonstrated to be free of BSE. French failure to comply with the EU decision is a humiliating affront to Britain's sense of fair play. ''The French action is astonishing,'' Agriculture Minister Nick Brown told the House of Commons on Thursday. ''They have delivered a blow to the credibility of European law.'' Ben Gill, president of the National Farmers Union, urged British consumers to boycott French produce, while the supermarket chain Asda said it would stop buying �60,000 a week of French potatoes. French officials, however, are hypersensitive to health concerns following the so-called blood scandal, when the government's delay in screening the AIDS virus from the blood supply in the 1980s caused at least 3,600 people to become infected with the virus and 1,200 to die. France's food safety agency failed to give the government any recommendation earlier this week, saying there was no complete assurance that British beef was safe. Officials pointed out that the incubation period for BSE remains uncertain and that Britain has about 40 new cases every week. Before the ban, Britain exported �457 million worth of beef to EU countries, including �179 million to France. International Herald Tribune, December 10, 1999 ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
