Please send as far and wide as possible. Thanks, Robert Sterling Editor, The Konformist http://www.konformist.com If you are interested in a free subscription to The Konformist Newswire, please visit http://www.eGroups.com/list/konformist/ and sign up. Or, e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject: "I NEED 2 KONFORM!!!" (Okay, you can use something else, but it's a kool catch phrase.) Visit the Klub Konformist at Yahoo!: http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/klubkonformist The Konformist 26 March 1999 Index INDONESIA NEARS REVOLUTION MEDIA HIDES STORY Jerry Schmidt ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) How Do They Do It? Barry Chamish ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ANOTHER CROP FORMATION IN JEZREEL VALLEY Barry Chamish ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) April Fools: MAXXAM COULD CUT NEWLY ACQUIRED "HOLE IN OF THE HEADWATERS" Know Your Customer Victory? THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY Rights Groups Ask Court to Free Lebanese From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] INDONESIA NEARS REVOLUTION MEDIA HIDES STORY by Jerry Schmidt The following important news was either totally blacked out by the U.S. corporate media or was reported in such a fragmented manner that the whole story is all but impossible to comprehend. The SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST (SCMP) reports from Borneo, a major Indonesian island-state, that "Indonesia's police and armed forces appear unable or unwilling to intervene, confining their role to the provision of refuge for frightened families." and further "The apparent inability of the armed forces to stem such unrest when it first breaks out is becoming predictable. Despite the military's dominant role in elite politics in Jakarta, they remain relatively thinly spread across Indonesia's vast archipelago." Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world and sits in the middle of the most important trade routes in Asia. Japan and the west have countless billions invested there and it now is all but lost. The International Monetary Fund is also conspicuously silent on the current volatile situation in Indonesia. It looks now that the planned early June elections will also go down the tubes. A local priest reports, for example, that every farm in his parish has been vandalized. Their has been no government ability to stop this. The farms are owned by Indonesian elite and the attacks are by agricultural workers. The current rebellion, in some Indonesian states, by Muslims, who are mainly workers , is against predominantly middle and upper class Christians. The government, while pretending to be neutral, is of course, backing the Christians who are their economic and political allies. Over 1000 have been killed this year in this on-going conflict. The U.S. corporate media consistently bills it as a "religious" battle. The WALL STREET JOURNAL Put it this way on March 3rd, 1999- (Jakarta, Indonesia) "Rather than cooling down religious-based violence here may be heating up." A day earlier the same paper reported " Daily life in Indonesia's countryside turns to tatters. Rural ills exert nationwide effects." Some who follow the area's political destiny say that civil war there can be contagious for all of South East Asia.and will, of course, have severe adverse repercussions worldwide. The current rebellion, in some Indonesian states, by Muslims, who are mainly workers , is against predominantly middle and upper class Christians. The government, while pretending to be neutral, is of course, backing the Christians who are their economic and political allies. Over 1000 have been killed this year in this on-going conflict. The U.S. corporate media consistently bills it as a "religious" battle. The WALL STREET JOURNAL Put it this way on March 3rd, 1999- (Jakarta, Indonesia) "Rather than cooling down religious-based violence here may be heating up." A day earlier the same paper reported " Daily life in Indonesia's countryside turns to tatters. Rural ills exert nationwide effects." Some who follow the area's political destiny say that civil war there can be contagious for all of South East Asia.and will, of course, have severe adverse repercussions worldwide. The SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST (SCMP) 3-16-99) states " That joblessness in Hong Kong is now at a 25 year high of 6% and might go to 8 or 9% in the coming months." The SCMP (3-15-99) States " China's urban unemployed is at 3.1% not counting 6 million laid off workers being cared for by their State employers. But even state media acknowledges the rate is closer to 11%. If China's 130 million rural workers are counted the rate tops 17%." At the recent meeting of the National People's Congress Premier Zhu warned finance trade officials of "The negative impact of the regional financial crisis on the national economy and to prepare for difficult years ahead." China with 1/4 0f the world's population, is in danger of having to devalue its currency. Many believe this will have drastic consequences to the U.S. and the rest of the world economy. Many believe such an action would really shake our stock market which has been immune to other normally adverse factors so far. This, in turn, some indicate, could catapult the world into a long lasting depression reminiscent of the thirties. With most people living economically near the edge now such a phenomenon could initiate a social upheaval with currently unpredictable dimensions. China already is showing dangerous social instability with almost weekly worker street protest demonstrations some place in the country that necessitate the calling out of large police reserves and occasionally even army troops. Premier Zhou recently urged local law enforcement officials to handle such situations with less brutality so as not to arouse the workers to greater anxiety levels. Ten million more workers are expected to be separated from their jobs this year. On one recent protest gathering the demonstrators said "We don't demand fish or meat, just some rice porridge!" Unemployment statistics are one of the best economic indicators available. In ALL Asian and Latin American countries unemployment now is reported to be rising. The USA is not an island and is gradually being affected by the declining world economy. Los Angeles, in particular, is very much involved in world trade and therefor affected daily by it. Manufacturing, in February, in the U.S. ran at only 80 of capacity vs over 90% in the like month of 1998. Under these conditions industrial expansion, new machine tools, and hiring are all adversely effected and will eventually hit the unrealistically high stock market. From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] How Do They Do It? by Barry Chamish Here is the media reaction to the police request to investigate the legal contradictions between the State Pathologist's report on the condition of Yitzhak Rabin's body and those of the doctors and nurses who attended him; and to investigate the police criminal laboratory's findings that Rabin was shot point blank, rather than the 30-50 cm. range concluded by the Shamgar Commission. 1. Dror Sknolnick of Makor Rishon prepared a detailed and sympathetic report about the requested investigation and interviewed many of the 25 people who came to sign or witness the complaint. He called to tell me his "editors are too worried about the reliability of the documents submitted." Needless to say, that was an excuse. The documents are unequestionably genuine. 2. Sheike Rosenfeld of Radio Kol Chai phoned to tell me I'd be on the air in five minutes. I never heard from him again. 3. Yehudit Yeheskieli of Yediot Ahronot was most impressed with the documentation and promised to send a photographer to my home for her story. He never arrived, her story was never published. 4. Emmanuel Halperin of Channel One Television News spoke to me by phone and promised to interview me by the end of the week. He never called back. 5. Finally, Yerushalayim Magazine prepared an article that was to be released on March 20th. It never was. This, after I travelled to Jerusalem for our interview and promised to grant the editor first publication of the Ichilov Surgical Summation report. After Halperin spoke to me, I even called Yerushalayim's editor to ask permission to show the report on camera. He requested that I wait until the magazine was published and I agreed. I don't know how the security services manage to control the media so thoroughly, but they do. Like us, the reporters immediately understood the importance of the police complaint and the supporting documents. But one after another, they were neutralized from higher up. There is not a modicum of a free press in Israel. All I can suggest is putting out a one time brief newspaper of our own headlining the complaint and printing the supporting documentation. If distributed widely, stuffed in mailboxes etc., maybe there's a way to bypass this very ugly media coverup. If anyone thinks this is a good idea, let me know. Raising funds to put out the paper is the main difficulty. Meanwhile, be aware that the Israeli media is guilty of being accomplices to Rabin's murder after the fact. They are deliberately misleading the public about the circumstances of the murder and by doing so, are maintaining the myth that Rabin was assassinated by the Right and Religious communities of the country. I admit, it is highly discouraging to see how low our institutions have sunk. The final blow to our beliefs will come when the police close the investigation over some transparent excuse. If the police do find a pretext for closing the file, be prepared to lose faith in all of Israel's most trusted public institutions. Unless there is a way to outsmart them, those in charge of the coverup of Rabin's murder will simply outlast and exhaust those seeking the truth for the sake of their country's honor. And they will have done so with the media's criminal compliance. From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ANOTHER CROP FORMATION IN JEZREEL VALLEY by Barry Chamish On the afternoon of March 20, a significant crop formation was discovered in the Jezreel Valley village of Betlekhem Hagalili. It was the third formation found in the Jezreel Valley in the past year. The formation was barbell-shaped with two circles of 9 meters diameter joined by a straight line also 9 meters long and 90 cm. wide. Eight hundred meters away an 11 meter diameter circle was found. The formations were made in a large wheat field and the circles were spun counterclockwise. In classic crop formation fashion, the nodes of the wheat were bent but the stems were not broken. No physical residue was found in the formations. It is not known if the barbell and circle are part of one huge formation or if the circle is a more modest afterthought. Over seventy photos of both were shot by Gil Bar and Shaul Burgman. Betlekhem HaGalili is located barely a mile from Bet Zarzir, site of the first formation last April 12th. The next formation was created six months later on October 20 in Tel Adashim, some twelve miles distance. Both the timing and locations of the formations might be significant. The Jezreel Valley boasts numerous important biblical sites including Har Megiddo (Armageddon) where the final battle before Judgement Day is prophesized and Mount Tabor, where Jesus meditated for forty days before beginning his ministry. The circles were formed in an approximate six month cycle. The first circle was formed on Passover evening last year, the latest was left a week before the beginning of this year's Passover festival. For pictures and information on the Jezreel Valley crop formations, please visit: http://members.tripod.com/~ufoisrael From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] MAXXAM COULD CUT NEWLY ACQUIRED "HOLE IN OF THE HEADWATERS" AS SOON AS APRIL 1 Call these people at once: GOVERNOR DAVIS: 916 445-2841 MARY NICOLES: 916 653-5656 ANDREA TUTTLE: 916 653-5305 AS A RESULT OF A MEETING BETWEEN WQ AND CDF ON FRIDAY, CDF HAS USED ITS DISCRETION TO DETERMINE THAT THP 520, OR THE HOLE IN THE HEADWATERS, DOES NOT NEED TO CONFORM WITH HCP STANDARDS AND RE-APPROVAL IS PENDING. ANONYMOUS SOURCES HAVE STATED CLEARLY THAT IF CDF ONLY CONSIDERS THE "CHANGE OF TIMBER LAND OWNER" AND NOT ANY FURTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES (SUCH AS A NEW FEDERAL AND STATE PRESERVE ESTABLISHED SINCE THE THP WAS FIRST APPROVED) THE PROCESS WILL ONLY BE A MINOR AMENDMENT AND OPERATIONS COULD BEGIN AS EARLY AS MID NEXT WEEK. THP 520 IS MORE THAN A SQUARE MILE OF 80 YEAR OLD SECOND GROWTH REDWOOD FOREST LOCATED SQUARELY WITHIN THE BORDERS OF THE NEWLY ESTABLISHED HEADWATERS RESERVE. THE SOUTH FORK OF THE ELK RIVER WHERE THIS THP IS LOCATED, IS ONE OF THE 5 BEST COHO SALMON SPAWNING RIVERS IN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA. THP 520 PRECARIOUSLY HANGS ABOVE THE RIVER FOR MORE THAN 2 MILES AND CALLS FOR 103 STREAM CROSSINGS. IT BORDERS THE NEW HEADWATERS FOREST PRESERVE FOR 5 MILES. THIS THP IS AN EXTREMELY CONTENTIOUS LEGACY LEFT OVER FROM THE WILSON ADMINISTRATION AND WILL BE A HUGE EMBRACEMENT TO GOVERNOR GRAY DAVIS, RESOURCES SECRETARY MARY NICOLES AND NEWLY APPOINTED DIRECTOR OF CDF, ANDREA TUTTLE. PLEASE CALL THEM IMMEDIATELY AND LET THEM KNOW APPROVING THIS PLAN WOULD BE A BIG MISTAKE. ALSO, GET READY TO PROTECT THE FOREST ON THE GROUND BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. LEGAL BASECAMP IN THE OUTSKIRTS OF THE NEWLY ACQUIRED PRESERVE. SEE YOU THERE!! Send by Darryl Cherney on behalf of: David M. Walsh P.O. Box 903 Redway, CA 95560 Office and Fax(707) 923-3015 Home (707) 986-1644 Environmentally Sound Promotions PO Box 2254 Redway, CA 95560 http://www.jailhurwitz.com/ Subj: LP RELEASE: Know Your Customer Victory? Date: Wednesday, March 24, 1999 03:47:08 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----------------------------------------- NEWS FROM THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY 2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 100 Washington DC 20037 World Wide Web: www.LP.org ----------------------------------------- For release: March 24, 1999 ----------------------------------------- For additional information: George Getz, Press Secretary Phone: (202) 333-0008 Ext. 222 E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----------------------------------------- FDIC withdraws Know Your Customer WASHINGTON, DC -- The FDIC's decision to formally withdraw the proposed Know Your Customer rule is great news for Americans' privacy, said the Libertarian Party today -- if the frightening regulation is truly dead. "It took 257,000 outraged Americans to get the bureaucrats to back down -- but we did it," said Steve Dasbach, the party's national director. "Now, our challenge is to make sure that Know Your Customer doesn't pull a Frankenstein, and come back to life in another form." On Tuesday, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and three other federal agencies announced they would officially "withdraw" Know Your Customer. The regulation, which was widely derided as "Spy on Your Customer," would have required banks to monitor transactions, determine where customers get their money, and report any "unusual activity" to federal law enforcement agencies. In a statement, the FDIC said the "unprecedented number of comments" from Americans expressing privacy concerns convinced them to drop the rule. If anything, "unprecedented" was an understatement. Know Your Customer generated a tidal wave of outrage, drowning the FDIC in e-mail messages, letters, and faxes during the public comment period which ended on March 8. The agency said it normally receives "a couple of hundred" comments about bank regulations; Know Your Customer generated over 257,000 comments. However, in its statement, the FDIC also cautioned that its bureaucrats would "not diminish" their "long-standing support for the anti-money-laundering provisions" of federal law, and would have to strike an "appropriate balance" between privacy and monitoring Americans' banking habits. It's that sneaky rhetoric about "balance" that has Libertarians worried. "The FDIC and other federal agencies want to spy on your bank account, and the American public doesn't want them to," said Dasbach. "If the FDIC really got the message, they wouldn't be talking about balance -- they would simply agree to give us back our financial privacy, and agree to stop spying on us." The March 23 decision also doesn't prevent the FDIC from bringing Know Your Customer back tomorrow, or reintroducing it under another name, or getting a different federal agency to sponsor a similar regulation, or simply imposing it as a "policy," Dasbach noted. In fact, the Federal Reserve's Bank Secrecy Act compliance manual still has a section detailing why every bank "needs" to have a Know Your Customer-style policy, giving it the force of an informal federal requirement. That's why the Libertarian Party will soon shift into Phase Two of its anti-Know Your Customer campaign, said Dasbach. "There are several bills in Congress, such as HR 516 and HR 518 from Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX), that would not only prohibit any federal agency from implementing such regulations, but would also repeal the Nixon-era laws that give the FDIC such vast power over America's banks," he said. "So, we're going to shift our DefendYourPrivacy.com website into a lobbying engine for those bills. Until HR 516 and HR 518 become law, we can't claim complete victory over Know Your Customer. "Remember: Our goal was not to give Know Your Customer a near-death experience, but to kill it completely. HR 516 and HR 518 will accomplish that goal." Ha'aretz, March 23, 1999 Rights groups ask Court to free Lebanese They say four prisoners have been repeatedly tortured and denied medical help By Moshe Reinfeld, Ha'aretz Supreme Court Correspondent A pair of human rights organizations have asked the Supreme Court to force Defense Minister Moshe Arens to immediately release four Lebanese men being held at the El Khiam detention center in South Lebanon. Petitioning the court on behalf of the prisoners, two of whom are minors, the Center for the Defense of the Individual and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel also asked that the prisoners be allowed to meet with Israeli attorneys and representatives of the two organizations. The two groups argued that the detentions are illegal and arbitrary. They noted that the four men have never been brought before a judge and have not been charged. Furthermore, the petitioners argued, the four have not been allowed legal counsel and have reportedly been tortured. The petition is based largely on information collected by the International Red Cross and Amnesty International, and on newspaper reports in Israel and abroad. >From these reports, it appears that the four have serious health problems stemming from the conditions of their detention and from lack of medical care. One of the detained is Suleiman Ramdan, from the village of Ba'al Beq, arrested in 1985 by a combined IDF and South Lebanese Army (SLA) force. He was wounded during his arrest but did not receive proper medical treatment and developed gangrene in his leg, resulting in an amputation in an Israeli hospital. Ramdan has reportedly been whipped, subjected to electrical shocks, and tied to a beam. He has been kept in solitary confinement in a dark cell for three years. Another detainee was identified as Mustafa Taubah from the village of Arnoun, who has been under arrest since October 1997. His wife, Zena, who was held for several weeks, says he was apprehended for refusing to cooperate with Israel. He was hospitalized several weeks ago after collapsing from high blood pressure. The third detainee is the couple's son, Ali Taubah, 16, who was arrested to put pressure on his father. He told his mother he was tortured with electric shocks. The fourth detainee was identified as Rabakh Abu-Fuar, 16, who has been imprisoned for a year. http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?id=42927&mador=1&datee=3/2 3/99 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ eGroup home: http://www.eGroups.com/list/konformist Free Web-based e-mail groups by eGroups.com
