-Caveat Lector- [radtimes] # 146 An informally produced compendium of vital irregularities. "We're living in rad times!" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How to assist RadTimes--> (See ** at end.) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contents: --FBI believes remains are missing atheist leader, family members --Going Backwards: US Support for Latin America's Armed Forces Soaring --Tao Of Gun --History Says Eradicating Drug Crops Doomed to Failure --No Human Cloning -- Exploratory Initiative Bulletin #1 --Davos - State of war --When Davos Meets Porto Alegre: A Memoir --Broken Promises =================================================================== > FBI believes remains are missing atheist leader, family members > > By JIM VERTUNO, Associated Press > > CAMP WOOD, Texas (January 28, 2001 > http://www.nandotimes.com > - Investigators unearthed a metal > artificial hip and three skulls at a ranch Sunday, and strongly > believe they have found the grave of atheist leader Madalyn > Murray O'Hair and two family members. > > Roderick Beverly, special agent in charge of the FBI's San > Antonio office, stopped short of confirming the identity of the > bodies, but he said officials believe the nearly 6-year-old > mystery is over. > > Investigators believe O'Hair, her son Jon Garth Murray and the > granddaughter she had adopted, Robin Murray O'Hair, were killed, > dismembered and dumped on the private, 5,000-acre ranch in 1995. > > > O'Hair had a hip replacement operation several years before her > disappearance. > > "The bones indicate three sets of human remains," Beverly said. > "All appeared to have their legs cut off. The remains and the > ground around the bones were charred, indicating a fire at the > scene. > > "The likelihood of three individuals walking around here, one of > which has a hip replacement, and the trauma and marks we see on > the bones, it's a better than even chance" that the remains > belong to the O'Hair family, he said. > > Beverly said investigators also expect to find partial remains > of Danny Fry, who was a suspect in the family's disappearance. > His body was found in the Dallas area, but the head and hands > had been severed. > > Beverly said they expected to finish digging by dark Sunday. > > Beverly said investigators would try to match the serial number > on the metal hip to O'Hair's medical records. DNA tests and > dental records also will be used to confirm the identities of > the victims. > > David Glassman, a forensic anthropologist at Southwest Texas > State University, will take the remains to the university for > analysis. Autopsies could take a week to 10 days. > > As law enforcement officers came and went through the ranch gate > Sunday, a man walked down the road pulling an 8-foot wooden > cross. > > "I'm not doing it for her, I'm doing it for her family," said > Bob Hanus, 35, a self-described Christian missionary. "I said, > 'What better place to go and pray.'" > > Investigators got their break in the O'Hair disappearance on the > eve of the trial of David Roland Waters, who faced kidnapping > and extortion charges in the case. Waters made an agreement with > investigators Wednesday that was ordered sealed by a federal > judge in Austin. > > A law enforcement source who spoke to The Associated Press on > condition of anonymity confirmed that Waters was taken to the > ranch Saturday. His two lawyers also were present. > > A hearing is scheduled Monday to hear objections from The > Associated Press on the judge's decision to seal the agreement. > Waters' attorneys had made the request. > > O'Hair, who was 77 and suffered from diabetes and heart disease > when she disappeared, enjoyed calling herself the most hated > woman in America. She was involved in successful court battles > in the 1960s to ban prayer and Bible-reading in public schools. > > O'Hair, Jon Garth Murray and Robin Murray O'Hair left their > Austin home in August 1995 under mysterious circumstances. > Breakfast dishes were still on the table and O'Hair's medication > was left behind. The family's beloved dogs were left at the > house. > > They were later seen in San Antonio but dropped from sight along > with about $500,000 in gold coins from one of O'Hair's atheist > organizations. > > Prosecutors contend the victims were dismembered at a public > storage shed in Austin, placed in 55-gallon drums and dumped on > the ranch property under Waters' directions. He worked as > O'Hair's office manager before being convicted of stealing > $54,000. He is serving 60 years in prison on weapons charges. > > Last August, U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks sentenced Gary Paul > Karr, 52, a former jailmate of Waters, to life in prison for > extorting money from the O'Hair family. > > O'Hair's disappearance wasn't reported for a year until her > estranged son, William Murray, told Austin police she was > missing. > > Theories ranged from O'Hair having run off with money from her > atheist organization, United Secularists of America. Others said > she went away to die privately where Christians wouldn't pray > over her. =================================================================== Going Backwards: US Support for Latin America's Armed Forces Soaring <http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0119-01.htm> by Jim Lobe Published on Friday, January 19, 2001 by the Inter Press Service WASHINGTON - At a time when still-fragile civilian governments are trying to consolidate their hold in Latin America, the United States is pouring unprecedented amounts of aid and other forms of support to the region's armed forces, according to a new report released here Thursday. In the year 2000, Washington provided well over a billion dollars' worth of training, equipment, weapons and other kinds of support to Latin American military and police - almost twice as much as it provided the region in bilateral development aid. It marked the first time since the winding down of the civil wars in Central America that the United States supplied more military and security assistance than economic or development aid, according to Adam Isacson of the Center for International Policy and co-author of the new report, 'Just the Facts: A Civilian's Guide to US Defence and Security Assistance to Latin America and the Caribbean'. Moreover, that trend looks likely to increase over the next two years at least, especially in light of recent statements by senior officials of the incoming George W. Bush administration who have suggested that US military aid to Colombia's neighbours may figure high on their agenda as Bogota carries through its US-backed army offensive into the southern part of the country to challenge guerrilla control there. "If I were the neighbouring countries, I'd worry about the spillover as well," warned Defence Department Secretary-Designate Donald Rumsfeld during confirmation hearings here last week. The new report, a close look at all US aid to military and police forces in the region, is the third in its annual series and covers mostly 1999 data culled from State Department, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and Pentagon documents. The Pentagon, which is not bound to disclose nearly as much information about its training and other programmes as the State Department, released its relevant 2000 documents only in the past week, after the report went to press. "2000 was an especially busy year for the Pentagon in Latin America," according to Isacson, who cited in particular the appropriation of 1.3 billion dollars in support of 'Plan Colombia,' the US-backed effort to reduce coca and opium production in southern Colombia by training and equipping the army and police to battle the leftist insurgency which controls much of the region where the plants are grown. Under the plan, Washington provided some 950 million dollars in military and police aid to Colombia alone, as well as tens of millions of dollars more to the armed forces of Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador, including the refurbishment of a key air base in Ecuador to be used by US spy planes, as well as Ecuadorean aircraft in Washington's "war against drugs". Indeed, the same four countries - which constitute the drug war's "ground Zero" - accounted for more than 90 percent of all military and police aid Washington provided to Latin America last year, according to Joy Olson, the second co-author and director of the independent Latin American Working Group (LAWG) here. Virtually all of the equipment and weapons supplied to Latin American countries are provided under Washington's counter-narcotics programmes, she said. But US military training in the region has also grown at a spectacular rate in recent years, according to the report. On the basis of recently released documents, the two co-authors concluded that Washington changed between 13,000 and 15,000 Latin American military police personnel in 1999 - up from about 10,000 the previous year. For 2000, they said, the total has almost certainly risen substantially beyond the 1999 level, as a result of the initiation of Plan Colombia which, among other things, called for the training of two new anti-drug battalions for the Colombian army. "The United States trains more military personnel from Latin America than from East and South Asia, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union combined," said Olson. Outside NATO, only South Korea, where Washington permanently deploys 37,000 troops as a deterrent to North Korea, was to receive more military training than Colombia in 2000, she added. In addition, the US military now provides training programmes to every country in the Americas except Cuba. "The training programme in Latin America is huge," according to Olson, who also noted that more than 55,000 US military personnel travelled to Latin America and the Caribbean for training and engagement in 1999. Unlike US equipment, the training is not provided only by anti- drug programmes, according to the report. In 1999, it said, US Special Forces trained with 3,600 Latin American and Caribbean troops under the Pentagon's Joint Combined Exchange Training (JCET) programme which, until the mid-1990s, largely escaped Congressional oversight. The training covered tactics ranging from air assault to sharp-shooting to riot control. In addition, both the Pentagon and the State Department appear to be relying increasingly on private contractors, whose activities are subject to even less regulation and oversight, to provide various services to Latin American militaries, according to the report. These include private corporations, such as Dyncorp, which deployed more than 100 pilots, mechanics and other support staff to conduct spraying operations in Colombia during 1999 at a cost of some 37 million dollars, and Military Professional Resources International (MPRI), a Virginia- based firm of retired senior US military officers, which has trained the armed forces of key US allies, including Croatia and Nigeria on behalf of the Pentagon. All of these training programmes raise serious questions about civilian control, according to the authors. While the Pentagon has insisted in recent years that a primary mission of training is to teach the military respect for civilian authority, the fact of the training itself is cited by the recipient military as a "US seal of approval" in its dealings with its government, "whether it is intended or not", said Isacson. He also noted Washington's approval in principle last week of the 600 million dollar sale of 10-12 new F-16s to Chile as another disturbing sign of US support for Latin American militaries. Not only did the move break a 25-year US ban on introducing high-performance warplanes to the region, but it also raised new questions about the power of the military. "I haven't heard President (Ricardo) Lagos voice strong support for it," noted Isacson. Annual US weapons sales to Latin America have generally not exceeded 300 million dollars in recent years, he said. The sale, which may not be concluded for a year or two, would triple that amount and possibly create pressures on other militaries to buy new systems as well, according to Isacson. The new report also dispels a number of misconceptions about US training activities. Despite the widespread belief that Mexico and the United States had reduced their fast-growing military ties following disclosures which embarrassed Mexico City in 1997, the report notes that training activity remains substantially the same, and that the 73 helicopters that were returned to the US in 1999 have since been replaced by the purchase of 73 Cessna aircraft. It also noted that the School of the Americas (SOA), where thousands of Latin American military officers, including dozens of notorious human rights abusers, received counter-insurgency training during the Cold War, will re-open this month under a new name, the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Co-operation. It remains unclear whether the curriculum will be substantially changed, according to the report. =================================================================== TAO OF GUN: Spiritual Sovereignty and the Hypocrisy of Gun Control by Richard Roberts <http://www.KeepAndBearArms.com/information/tao.asp> Mr. Roberts' work fills a void by bringing a metaphysical/new age/spiritual aspect to the issue of gun rights and human liberty like no other work we are aware of has ever done. Share this with anyone you know who might be touched by this type of approach. =================================================================== History Says Eradicating Drug Crops Doomed to Failure http://www.jointogether.org/jtodirect.jtml?U=83952&O=265861 As far back as the 16th century, the strategy of solving drug problems by eradicating the source has proven unsuccessful. =================================================================== No Human Cloning -- Exploratory Initiative Bulletin #1 EXPLORATORY INITIATIVE ON THE NEW HUMAN GENETIC TECHNOLOGIES HUMAN CLONING -- BULLETIN #1 January 30, 2001 NO HUMAN CLONING The recent announcement that a private consortium of scientists intends to begin cloning human beings is a very serious development. (See URLs below.) These scientists have the skills and resources to create human clones. They are operating outside any structures of public or scientific accountability. In a growing number of countries, their efforts to clone human children would be felonies punishable by imprisonment. Human cloning is a crime against human dignity and humanity. It is a step toward the commodification and brutalization of human life. We must not allow ourselves to be pushed any further down this road. If we can't stop human beings from being cloned, try to imagine what we won't be able to stop next. The Exploratory Initiative on the New Human Genetic Technologies is in discussion with other organizations about what needs to be done, and will report on this soon. In the meantime, here is what people can do: 1. On Saturday and Sunday February 24-25 a major conference on "Globalization and Technology" will be held in New York City. (See the URL below.) The Saturday night plenary, and sessions on Sunday, will focus on genetic engineering, including human genetic engineering. There will be a special session on Sunday on the situation regarding human cloning and what needs to be done. We encourage everyone who can do so to attend these sessions. IF YOU WISH TO ATTEND PLEASE LET US KNOW by reply to this email, so that we can facilitate arrangements. 2. On Monday Feb. 26, from 9:00 am - 3:00 pm, there will be a special strategy meeting on human cloning and the challenge of the new human genetic technologies, also in New York City. IF YOUR ORGANIZATION WOULD LIKE TO HAVE A REPRESENTATIVE THERE PLEASE LET US KNOW by reply to this email. We will be holding similar meetings concerning human cloning in Northern California and elsewhere in the near future. Information about these meetings will be shared in subsequent Bulletins. The Exploratory Initiative is producing materials for people who want to work to stop human cloning. Copies will be available at the meetings noted above, and information on how to obtain copies will be given in future Bulletins. We are setting up a web page and other support activity as well. We believe that humanity's technological abilities are a great gift and a great responsibility. We must take action now to prevent their dangerous misuse and ensure their wise use in the decades and centuries to come. Our common humanity is at stake. INFORMATION ON THE PROPOSAL TO BEGIN HUMAN CLONING: Washington Post: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53307-2001Jan26.html LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/print/20010128/t000008216.html BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1144000/1144694.stm Daily Telegraph: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/et?ac3D001432256857616&rtmo=3DpsQSUeQe&atm=o3D99999999&pg=3D/et/01/1/28/wgen28.html> INFORMATION ON THE "GLOBALIZATION AND TECHNOLOGY" CONFERENCE IN NEW YORK CITY: www.ifg.org. ---- Exploratory Initiative on the New Human Genetic Technologies 466 Green Street, San Francisco, CA 94133 ph: 415-434-1403 fax: 415-986-6779 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe to GENETICS CROSSROADS: [EMAIL PROTECTED] staff: Richard Hayes, Dr. Marcy Darnovsky, Rev. Douglas Hunt M.Sc. Ph.D., Tania Simoncelli =================================================================== Davos - State of war Laurent Jésover. Editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] You'll be able to find photos on the ATTAC website. <http://attac.org> Saturday 27 January about 1,500 protestors against the World Economic Forum were forbidden to demonstrate. Arrested, encircled, violently stopped by military and police forces, their rights to move, their freedom of expression and to associate freely were totally denied. "Is it constitutional to use liquid manure against demonstrators?" During a TV show the day before the demonstration the Grison Chief of Police asked a panel of experts and peasants this question. The peasants answered him that liquid manure is no more liquid and is in fact solid in winter and that for them it is a fertilizer. One of them added that he didn't perceive the relation between manure and corporate globalization. Davos region was militarized. Hundreds of kilometers of barbed wires were placed along the roads at strategic points where demonstrators could escape from controls and along railroads. The WEF protection was so imposing that even the inhabitants finished by expressing their concerns. Guarded metallic fences closed all Davos streets. The last one at the center of the city just 100 meters from the WEF venue was impressive. Military and police all in black were checking every one suspiciously. An ATTAC badge could throw you out the city. The day before in Zurich where an international conference, "The Other Davos" was held and gathered 800 participants during an afternoon and an evening of hard work around workshops on different themes, a real success, I met with a Gamma press agency photographer. He was asked to leave Davos as he was entering. His crime? To carry along with his cameras heavy glasses that he uses to protect his eyes in demonstrations in case of tear gas. His glasses were taken away and him thrown out. His accreditation or phone calls from the Swiss embassy attaché in Paris were of no help. Army and police took power. The Swiss government is no longer ruling. Early Saturday morning seven buses organized by ATTAC Switzerland started to head toward Davos. Nobody was really optimistic. Information received for the last 24 hours were dramatic: buses and cars couldn't pass the borders from all European countries, an highway closed, the one coming from the south, from Italy. Other groups chose to take the train. Since the day before cars and train passengers disguised in normal tourists and willing to be searched upon arrival, were reaching Davos village. After driving 2 hours, the buses were stopped on a small road by an armored vehicle and were encircled by military men all in black their faces covered with a black hood. Some of us stepped out the buses to negotiate as we were all waiting to continue our journey. "I was told to hold the position" said in a more military fashion than a police one the chief of the platoon. We decided also to hold the position and as we stepped out the buses helicopters started flying around. One of them was just above our heads and filmed us. The person in charge on the police side threatened to take away the licenses of the bus drivers, to take away the bus company authorization to operate. We had therefore to send them back, which we did as quickly as we could since the small road was packed with a huge traffic jam caused by the police barrage. Very peacefully and calmly we organized ourselves on the road. The police got nervous. Some of them were facing us while the armored vehicle started to point its machine gun at us. We were between 300 and 400 and we were asked to evacuate quickly. We headed back slowly toward the gas station parking were the buses waited for us. At the same time, in a small town called Lanqvart not far from where we were the train was stopped. The village was encircled by police forces and it was impossible for us to go in. The demonstrators inside the train (400 also) tried to demonstrate, tried to block the highway not far away. There were soon encircled by the police. Later during the day they shot at the small crowd with rubber bullets and water canon. The demonstrators were put back on a train to Zurich. We learned that the demonstration started in Davos as scheduled, 01:30pm. 300 demonstrators succeeded to by-pass the police and army disposal which had cost Swiss taxpayers 10 millions Swiss Francs. Isabelle is giving us information using her cell phone. The demonstrators are very peaceful and the demonstration is quite festive. The security forces are running to block them. The day after a Swiss newspaper will make an headline calling the demonstration the body-guards demonstration since they were outnumbering the demonstrators. It is snowing in Davos. The weather is cold and icy. Suddenly the police are shooting with their water canon. The demonstrators will be pushed toward the train station and put inside one to be sent back to Zurich. Oliver, a friend from ATTAC Germany, and I decided to not take the bus back and to try to reach Davos as we had some people to meet outside the Forum. We waited a while for the buses to leave and for the police to think that we were away. Then we hitchhiked. We will arrive in Davos around 05:00pm after three police stops and checking points. A couple of Davos people that were really fed up with all this police mania and the nearly state of emergency they were endu ring in the region for the past days, took us in their car. During the evening in Zurich some violent actions ended a demonstration that was taking place after all of the demonstrators were pushed away Davos. Use of violence is never a good thing even if it can be explained by some logical reasons. The police arrested 121 persons. but not Mr Smadja. Davos showed the whole day that it was weak, and that all these powerful people were ridiculous and without any idea. The "Bridging the Divide" theme of this year WEF forum is only words afar from reality. The "Forum" changed into a medieval castle, a mean and violent castle. The WEF, a private company called the "World Economic Forum" that organized a private reunion, could use all the state forces, army and police. Responding to small shop owners about the fact that there were loosing money because of the military and police crowding the city and giving Davos a bad image that turned away tourists, the WEF answered that it is not their business and had nothing to do with it. The WEF succeeded to create a state of war with no war at sight but their fears and weakness. The WEF had no problem forbidding the rights of citizens that had opinions that were not pleasing Mr Smadja its director. The Swiss state demonstrate once again that it prefers dealing with rogue transnational companies (some of the invited CEOs are directly involved in corrupting governments and financial crimes) and with dictators than dealing with responsible and peaceful citizens that wished to use their rights normally guaranteed by the laws and constitution of the country. Saturday 27 January between 08:00am and 08:00pm laws no more existed in Switzerland because of the police, the army and transnational companies. =================================================================== When Davos Meets Porto Alegre: A Memoir By Walden Bello* Porto Alegre, Brazil "Hemingway said that the rich are different from you and me. How can anyone expect the people in Davos to understand the crisis that globalization has visited on the lives of people like those of us here in Porto Alegre?" That was going to be my opening line. When I arrived at the university studio for the televised trans-Atlantic debate with George Soros, the financier, and other representatives of the global elite gathered in Davos, Switzerland, a visibly shaken Florian Rochat of the Swiss delegation was waiting for me. Swiss are known for being impassive, but Florian was visibly shaken. "They are arresting protestors in Davos and other places in Switzerland," he told me. "They're killing democracy in our country. Our friends there are asking you to support them in calling for the shutting down of the World Economic Forum." That request drove out any lingering desire to be "nice" in the coming exchange, which had been billed by its producers as a "Dialogue between Davos and Porto Alegre." The ambitious, one-million dollar plus production involving four satellite hookups, aimed to explore if there was a common ground between the annual elite gathering in Davos and the newly launched World Social Forum (WSF) in this southern Brazilian city. Millions of people globally were waiting for the transmission. Since I had been in Davos last year, the producers requested that I make the opening statement for the Porto Alegre side. I obliged with the following: "We would like to begin by condemning the arrests of peaceful demonstrators to shield the global elite at Davos from protests. We would also like to register our consternation that while we in Porto Alegre have painstakingly come up with a diverse panel of speakers, you in Davos have come up with four white males to face us. Butr perhaps you are trying to make a political statement. "I was in Davos last year, and believe me, Davos is not worth a second visit. I am here in Porto Alegre this year, and let me say that Porto Alegre is the future while Davos is the past. Hemingway wrote that the rich are different from you and me, and indeed, we live on two different planets: Davos, the planet of the superrich, Porto Alegre, the planet of the poor, the marginalized, the concerned. Here in Porto Alegre, we are discussing how to save the planet. There in Davos, the global elite is discussing how to maintain its hegemony over the rest of us. In fact, the best gift that the 2000 corporate executives at Davos can give to the world is for them to board a spaceship and blast off for outer space. The rest of us will definitely be much better off without them." The press termed the next 1-1/2 hours not as a debate but as an emotional exchange that, as the Financial Times put it, "sometimes degenerated into personal insults." But I and the other panelists-among them, Oded Grajew of Brazil's Instituto Ethos, Bernard Cassen of Le Monde Diplomatique, Diane Matte of Women's Global March, Njoki Njehu of 50 Years Is Enough, Rafael Alegria of Via Campesina, Aminata Traole, former Minister of Culture of Mali, Fred Azcarate of Jobs with Justice, Trevor Ngbane of South Africa, Francois Houtart of Belgium, and Hebe de Bonafini of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo-were simply reflecting the non-conciliatory mood towards the Davos crowd of most of the 12,000 people who flocked to Porto Alegre. For this constituency, a significant number of whom watched the debate at a huge auditorium at the Catholic University, globalization was a deadly business, and many undoubtedly shared the feelings of Hebe de Bonafini when she screamed at Soros across the Atlantic divide, "Mr. Soros, you are a hypocrite. How many children's deaths have you been responsible for?" That Soros in the course of the debate made some utterances regarding the need to control the negative impacts of globalization hardly endeared him to this crowd, who saw him mainly as a finance speculator who had made billions of dollars at the expense of third world economies. The holding of the week-long World Social Forum was nothing short of a miracle. Proposed by the Workers' Party of Brazil (PT) and a coalition of Brazilian civil society organizations, supported with significant funding by donors such as Novib, the Dutch agency, and provided with strong international support by the French monthly Le Monde Diplomatique and Attac, the European anti-globalization alliance, the event was put together in less than eight months' time. The idea of holding an alternative to the annual retreat of the global corporate elite in Davos simply took off. While there were some glitches here and there, the event was resoundingly successful, despite the massive challenge of coordinating 16 plenary sessions, over 400 workshops, and numerous side events. A major reason for the WSF's success is that it had the organizational support of the government of the city of Porto Alegre and the government of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, both of which are controlled by the PT. Porto Alegre has, in fact, achieved the reputation of being a city that is run both efficiently and with sensitivity to social and environmental considerations. The city is said to be at the top of the quality of life index for Brazil. The sharing in Porto Allegre focused not only on drawing up strategies of resistance to globalization but also on elaborating alternative paradigms of economic, ecological, and social development. Militant action was not absent, with Jose Bove, the celebrated French anti-McDonalds' activist, and the Brazilian MST (Movement of the Landless), leading the destruction of two hectares of land planted with transgenic soybean crops by the biotechnological firm Monsanto. Porto Alegre achieved its goal of being a counterpoint to Davos. The combination of celebration, hard discussion, and militant solidarity that flowed from it contrasted with the negative images coming out of Davos. The Swiss town was the center of Switzerland's biggest security operation since the Second World War. The Swiss police pulled out all the stops to prevent protesters from reaching the Alpine resort, and fired water cannons and tear gas on demonstrators in Zurich, arresting many of them. Even conservative Swiss newspapers condemned the police operation as a threat to political liberties in Switzerland. Perhaps the outcome of the duel between Davos and Porto Alegre was best summed up by George Soros: "The excessive precautions were a victory for those who wanted to disrupt Davos. It was an overreaction. It helped to radicalize the situation." On his performance in the televised debate with Porto Alegre, Soros commented: "It showed it is not easy to dialogue...I don't particularly like to be abused. My masochism has its limits." Observed the Financial Times: "Such uncomfortable experiences seem temporarily to have scrambled his ability to deliver pithy soundbites." But Soros was not alone in flubbing his lines. Soon after my opening statement, Bernard Cassen of Le Monde Diplomatique leaned over and told me: "Walden, it wasn't Hemingway who said the rich are different from you and me. It was Scott Fitzgerald." ---- Dr. Walden Bello is executive director of the Bangkok-based Focus on the Global South and professor of sociology and public administration at the University of the Philippines. =================================================================== Broken Promises By Dr. Yeagley A YEAR AGO, I had a religious experience. No, I didn't speak in tongues. I didn't see an apparition of Mary. And even though I'm Comanche Indian, I didn't commune with my ancestors or hear the eagles talk. All I did was watch a TV infomercial produced by the National Rifle Association (NRA). There I was, sitting in my easy chair, eating chicken soup and watching television. Suddenly, I saw an immense pile of guns, thousands of them, being bulldozed into a metal crusher. The narrator explained. "These weapons had been confiscated from law-abiding citizens, and were being destroyed. The government had first required the people to register their firearms, and promised that no confiscation would ever occur. Then the government broke its promise." According to the voice-over, this happened in Australia, England, and Canada. The United States was next in line. On the screen appeared distraught gun owners, one after another. "They said they would never do this, but they did it! Don't let this happen to you!" they warned Americans. We Comanches don't usually admit to being scared. But I was terrified. I had a sense that I was losing America (and, as an Indian, it wouldn't be the first time). I guess I'd always known, in the back of my mind, that there were people out there trying to take our guns. But those faces on TV drove the point home like nothing else had. They were the faces of a people betrayed. Long ago, the government took away the Indian's weapons and put him on reservations. That is history. Indians know all about broken promises. But why would the White Man betray himself? Why would the U.S. government take the weapons away from its own good citizens? They say they're trying to stop crime. But the more gun laws they pass, the more crime we get. A hundred years ago, we didn't have gun laws and we didn't have much crime either. In his book, More Guns, Less Crime, Yale Law School economist John Lott shows that, across the United States, over an 18-year period, "states experiencing the greatest reductions in crime are also the ones with the fastest growing percentages of gun ownership." So why does the government keep pushing gun control? The warrior in me knows. He who takes my bow is not my friend. He who takes away my ability to defend myself is my enemy. If the government takes our guns, it's not because they are trying to help us. It's because they are trying to control us. Since my "religious experience" of watching that documentary, I've found myself wondering why Indians have not played a bigger role in the gun rights debate. Weapons are an integral part of our culture. In Indian country, it's taken for granted that everyone shoots and hunts. Perhaps the use of arms is so fundamental to us that we don't even think of it as a right that can be lost. Recently, I visited Indian friends of the Salish-Kootenay Reservation in Montana. It was a few days before a funeral. Extra food was needed for the mourners. "I've got to go get a deer," my friend Terry said, as simply as most Americans would say "I've got to go to the store." Among Indians, the weapon is a symbol of honor. In Comanche tradition, the young man grew up with the bow. Its mastery was a test of manhood. The relationship of man and weapon was intimate and lifelong. Every Comanche learned to fight and hunt. If you weren't waging war, you were preparing for war. It was the duty of every member of the tribe to be ready, just in case. In modern America, women seem to have turned against their own men over the gun issue, judging by the polls and the Million Mom March. Indian women have a different mindset. It was the women who taught Comanche boys how to use their weapons. Long before anyone ever heard of Xena the Warrior Princess, a woman called the "adiva," or governess ran the Comanche training camps. Americans nowadays seem to be forgetting what it means to be a warrior. They don't value preparedness. They think the government will always be there to defend them from enemies and criminals. But that's not the Indian way. That's not the way of a man. I'm glad the NRA is out there spreading this message. It has earned this Indian's blessing for helping to keep the warrior spirit alive. ---- Dr. David A. Yeagley teaches humanities and psychology at Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma City. His opinions are independent. He holds degrees from Yale, Emory, Oberlin, University of Arizona and University of Hartford.. He is a member of the Comanche Tribe, Lawton, OK. E-mail him at [EMAIL PROTECTED] =================================================================== "Anarchy doesn't mean out of control. It means out of 'their' control." -Jim Dodge ====================================================== "Communications without intelligence is noise; intelligence without communications is irrelevant." -Gen. Alfred. M. Gray, USMC ====================================================== "It is not a sign of good health to be well adjusted to a sick society." -J. Krishnamurti ______________________________________________________________ To subscribe/unsubscribe or for a sample copy or a list of back issues, send appropriate email to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. ______________________________________________________________ **How to assist RadTimes: An account is available at <www.paypal.com> which enables direct donations. If you are a current PayPal user, use this email address: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, to contribute. If you are not a current user, use this link: <https://secure.paypal.com/refer/pal=resist%40best.com> to sign up and contribute. The only information passed on to me via this process is your email address and the amount you transfer. Thanks! <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions 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, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== 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
