Urge the government of Myanmar to cooperate

				AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA
			A cyclone devastated the lives of over a million Myanmar residents. However, the government of Myanmar is slow to help pick up the pieces. Urge the government of Myanmar to cooperate with the international community in the distribution of humanitarian aid.
			We've been closely watching the devastation in Myanmar caused by Cyclone Nargis for nearly a week now. Despite the disaster, Myanmar's government keeps the country on lockdown. Only a handful of flights offering assistance have been allowed in. Relatively few resources like food, water, medicine, blankets and tents have been given out. Call on the government of Myanmar to distribute humanitarian aid to victims of Cyclone Nargis. Our hearts go out to the victims of this terrible tragedy. The cyclone has killed thousands of people and more than a million have been displaced from their homes. Myanmar's government must work with international relief efforts to help the victims of Cyclone Nargis by:			Children sit outside their damaged house in a cyclone-hit area of Burma. © KHIN MAUNG WIN/AFP/Getty Images
			granting access to humanitarian aid workers into Myanmar by easing visa restrictions and customs procedures allowing professional relief workers to offer assistance without restriction or interference establishing clear and transparent guidelines for delivering aid that are based on need; not race, gender, national or social origin, political opinion, or religion The people of Myanmar must focus on putting their lives back together. Tell the government of Myanmar to help pick up the pieces - ensure that cyclone victims receive humanitarian aid. Sincerely, Larry Cox Executive Director Amnesty International USA

Stop Violence Against Women campaign

This Mother's Day, honor the mothers, sisters and daughters in your life by making a gift to our Stop Violence Against Women campaign.

		Help us halt the global epidemic of violence against women. Kavira Muraulu survived rape and violent attacks by government soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. ©AI Honorata Barinjibanwa was just 18 years old when she was kidnapped from her village in the Democratic Republic of Congo by Rwandan outlaw fighters last April. She spent five long months tied to a tree - her captors untied her only to gang rape her. She survived to tell her story, but remains deeply wounded by the attacks. Rape is a weapon of war in so many countries around the world, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia and Sudan. And one thing is clear - the problem of violence against women vastly exceeds the resources currently devoted to stopping it. Through our Stop Violence Against Women campaign, Amnesty International is leading an effort to end this systematic violation of women's basic human rights. But we have a long road ahead of us to ensure that our work brings real changes for women. Despite overwhelming barriers, none of this is inevitable or irreversible. Your gift today can bring urgently needed funds to Amnesty's grassroots efforts to end the most brutal forms of violence against women in more than 36 countries around the world. Amnesty and its coalition partners were the driving force behind the International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA) introduced in Congress last October. This bill would authorize nearly $700 million for local programs and services to help end the most brutal forms of violence against women, including honor killings, bride burnings, genital mutilation, mass rapes in war and domestic violence. Its passage is a critical first step in improving the lives of millions of women and girls around the world - women just like Honorata Barinjibanwa. Please join me today in honoring our mothers, sisters and daughters by making a tax-deductible gift to support Amnesty's Stop Violence Against Women campaign. Together, we can put an end to the horrors women face every day around the world. Thank you for your continued commitment to advancing the human rights of women and girls worldwide. Sincerely, Irene Khan Amnesty International Secretary General

Canadian Union of Postal Workers joins the boycott of Israel

For Immediate Release

Ottawa – The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) joined the international campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel during their national convention this month.

Hundreds of delegates to CUPW’s convention passed a resolution supporting sanctions and calling on the union to work toward an end to suicide bombings, military assaults and other acts of violence that take the lives of innocent people.

“It’s time to push for a fair and just settlement so that both Palestinians and Israelis can live in peace,” said Denis Lemelin, CUPW National President. “There can’t be a solution while settlements exist on Palestinian land and while a security barrier restricts the movement of Palestinian workers.”

CUPW is the first national union in North America to pass a resolution supporting the boycott, divestment and sanctions. However, a number of international and Canadian organizations support the campaign.

“Delegates at our convention listened to the call from Palestinian unions and organizations in joining this campaign,” said Lemelin. “This is a non-violent tactic aimed at reaching a just peace,” he added.

Over 170 Palestinian political parties, unions and other organizations issued a call in July 2005 for a global campaign of boycott and divestment against Israel similar to the one applied to South Africa in the apartheid era. These measures are intended to continue until Israel recognizes the right of Palestinian people to self-determination and fully complies with international law.

CUPW represents 56,000 workers in the postal sector. From April 13-17, postal workers voted on a vast array of resolutions at their national convention held in Ottawa.

We're not celebrating Israel's anniversary

• The Guardian,
• Wednesday April 30 2008
• Article history

This article appeared in the Guardian on Wednesday April 30 2008 on p33 of the Leaders & reply section. It was last updated at 12:44 on April 30 2008.

In May, Jewish organisations will be celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel. This is understandable in the context of centuries of persecution culminating in the Holocaust. Nevertheless, we are Jews who will not be celebrating. Surely it is now time to acknowledge the narrative of the other, the price paid by another people for European anti-semitism and Hitler's genocidal policies. As Edward Said emphasised, what the Holocaust is to the Jews, the Naqba is to the Palestinians.

In April 1948, the same month as the infamous massacre at Deir Yassin and the mortar attack on Palestinian civilians in Haifa's market square, Plan Dalet was put into operation. This authorised the destruction of Palestinian villages and the expulsion of the indigenous population outside the borders of the state. We will not be celebrating.

In July 1948, 70,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes in Lydda and Ramleh in the heat of the summer with no food or water. Hundreds died. It was known as the Death March. We will not be celebrating.

In all, 750,000 Palestinians became refugees. Some 400 villages were wiped off the map. That did not end the ethnic cleansing. Thousands of Palestinians (Israeli citizens) were expelled from the Galilee in 1956. Many thousands more when Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza. Under international law and sanctioned by UN resolution 194, refugees from war have a right to return or compensation. Israel has never accepted that right. We will not be celebrating.

We cannot celebrate the birthday of a state founded on terrorism, massacres and the dispossession of another people from their land. We cannot celebrate the birthday of a state that even now engages in ethnic cleansing, that violates international law, that is inflicting a monstrous collective punishment on the civilian population of Gaza and that continues to deny to Palestinians their human rights and national aspirations.

We will celebrate when Arab and Jew live as equals in a peaceful Middle East.

Seymour Alexander
Ruth Appleton
Steve Arloff
Rica Bird
Jo Bird
Cllr Jonathan Bloch
Ilse Boas
Prof. Haim Bresheeth
Tanya Bronstein
Sheila Colman
Ruth Clark
Sylvia Cohen
Judith Cravitz
Mike Cushman
Angela Dale
Ivor Dembina
Dr. Linda Edmondson
Nancy Elan
Liz Elkind
Pia Feig
Colin Fine
Deborah Fink
Sylvia Finzi
Brian Fisher MBE
Frank Fisher
Bella Freud
Catherine Fried
Uri Fruchtmann
Stephen Fry
David Garfinkel
Carolyn Gelenter
Claire Glasman
Tony Greenstein
Heinz Grunewald
Michael Halpern
Abe Hayeem
Rosamine Hayeem
Anna Hellman
Amy Hordes
Joan Horrocks
Deborah Hyams
Selma James
Riva Joffe
Yael Oren Kahn
Michael Kalmanovitz
Paul Kaufman
Prof. Adah Kay
Yehudit Keshet
Prof. Eleonore Kofman
Rene Krayer
Stevie Krayer
Berry Kreel
Leah Levane
Les Levidow
Peter Levin
Louis Levy
Ros Levy
Prof. Yosefa Loshitzky
Catherine Lyons
Deborah Maccoby
Daniel Machover
Prof. Emeritus Moshe Machover
Miriam Margolyes OBE
Mike Marqusee
Laura Miller
Simon Natas
Hilda Meers
Martine Miel
Laura Miller
Arthur Neslen
Diana Neslen
Orna Neumann
Harold Pinter
Roland Rance
Frances Rivkin
Sheila Robin
Dr. Brian Robinson
Neil Rogall
Prof. Steven Rose
Mike Rosen
Prof. Jonathan Rosenhead
Leon Rosselson
Michael Sackin
Sabby Sagall
Ian Saville
Alexei Sayle
Anna Schuman
Sidney Schuman
Monika Schwartz
Amanda Sebestyen
Sam Semoff
Linda Shampan
Sybil Shine
Prof. Frances Stewart
Inbar Tamari
Ruth Tenne
Martin Toch
Tirza Waisel
Stanley Walinets
Martin White
Ruth Williams
Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi
Devra Wiseman
Gerry Wolff
Sherry Yanowitz

Tax the Super Rich

"Tax the Super Rich" was an essay I wrote years ago. I think it's highly appropriate now as we see Warren Buffett throw his weight around in the Klamath dams controversy and as we see the Fisher family, Mr. Beal and Mr. Emmerson, weigh in to clobber any sort of local control of Palco.

Here's the essay including an update that actually praised Buffett and Gates for their beginnings of consciousness about their role in world society.


End Poverty, hunger and despair for millions of human beings in America and throughout the World: Tax the Super Rich and create an Economic Boom in the process.

The Super Rich are an abomination before God. They are an abomination to any decent society. They are a serious threat to the Nation's international trade relationships. And they are supreme evidence of a dysfunctional social system guaranteeing social destabilization caused by enormous disparities in the distribution of socially produced goods and services.

The Super Rich get that way by unconscionable conduct. By using unfair economic advantages over less economically fortunate or less aggressive individuals, the Super Rich are those individuals and families who run monopoly empires, ruling like kings over mass distribution systems such as energy, computers, drugs, weapons, sports, entertainment, communications, any systems or products that have gigantic mass markets.

Once an enterprise or an individual reaches the multi-million dollar bracket, further gains become almost automatic. Bank interest payments alone will continually add gigantic amounts of new wealth to these few individuals and families.

Our current legal and business system favors Big Money enterprise over smaller enterprises. Competition gets reduced and eliminated as corporate monopoly players team together to force out competition from smaller enterprises. It's time to put a stop to the social irresponsibility of letting the Super Rich system continue.

Putting enormous fortunes into the hands of a privileged few who earn as much as the combined earnings of 90% of American citizens cannot be tolerated. Putting enormous fortunes in the hands of these few Super Rich while millions upon millions of people live in constant threat of starvation is barbaric behavior and totally unconscionable in any civilized society worthy of the name.

We must end the Super Rich socially criminal behavior like we ended Al Capone's criminal career. We tax them out of existence. We regain our economic strength by having Congress legislate either an Act of Congress or an Amendment to the Constitution that simply states:

1) All U.S. citizen will be taxed at a rate of 100% for any income exceeding one million dollars per year, with no exceptions, no loopholes, no way for any individual to acquire over one million dollars per year.

2) No individual or corporation can hold assets exceeding one million dollars per year or transfer assets exceeding a million dollars per year into foreign bank accounts without the same tax law applying.

3) All taxed income over one million dollars per year is to distributed to Social Security programs, Medicare programs, educational grants, low interest home and business loans to low and moderate income families and individuals, and environmental protection projects.

4) A fund will be established for United Nations and various church and charitable organizations' for bringing food, clothing, shelter, and cooperative community self-sufficiency programs and advisers to the world's desperately poor.

Taking this action will only effect the illegitimate prosperity of a very few number of individuals while it will bring the middle-class back into its rightful prominence as the stable economic and social backbone of America.

This action will also begin an Economic Boom era for America's economy as the Super Rich are forced to divest their holdings and companies. With divestment mandatory, re-investment will occur and hundreds, if not thousands of new businesses and jobs will be opened up.

This action will rightfully gain America new productive members of society as well as opening up huge new markets both within the U.S. and throughout the world.

This action will start a worldwide precedent for all nations laboring under the thumbs of about 250 Super Rich individuals who's combined yearly incomes could feed and house the majority of the world's people and allow them the opportunity to rise out of unnecessary poverty and hopelessness.

And this action won't stop the benefits of entrepreneurism. There's still plenty of room left for enterprising individuals to prosper with every year with the opportunity to become multi-millionaires.

Society should rightfully honor those individuals who organize economic enterprises that service and enhance our lives. But the economic rewards of entrepreneurial creation must not become ends in themselves or society suffers.

A taxation system like this will return us pride in being Good Americans--giving as we receive--just as this taxation system will brings us new days when to be a "millionaire" will really mean something special once again.

* * *

Below is reprinted an open letter to Bill Gates by Ralph Nader written in 1998.

With amazing restraint Nader says what Gates needs to hear. We must take legislative action to make sure Gates and the Super Rich get the message. Literally millions of lives are at stake.
But recently this year, 2006, the surprise of surprises happens: Bill Gates gets the message! He and his wife form the Gates Foundation with a public goal of divesting the majority of the Gates wealth in support of humanitarian aid causes.

Then, Warren Buffett, the second richest man in America, follows the Gates example and also agrees to divest most his wealth in support of the Gates Foundation good cause efforts. It's enough to make you think people really can change! Now what do I do with my harsh criticism of billionaires?

Nader Sends Public letter to Billionaire Bill Gates About Wealth Disparities
For Immediate Release
July 27, 1998

"Mr. William H. Gates
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Microsoft Corporation
1 Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052

Dear Mr. Gates:

An astonishing calculation comes from Professor Edward Wolff of New York University and presents an important opportunity for you. Professor Wolff, a wealth economics specialist, estimated that your net wealth is greater than the combined net worth of the poorest 40 percent of Americans (106 million people). That includes their home equity, pensions, mutual funds and 401(k) plans, but excludes their personal cars.

When Professor Wolff made his analysis, your net worth was only $40 billion. Now, according to the latest Forbes listing of billionaires, your assets exceed $51 billion and that may be outdated, given the most recent surge in Microsoft stock. So it is fair to assume that the mostly secondhand cars of these 106 million Americans can now be included and then some.
All this wealth makes you the world's number one working rich person. Apart from the more than medieval size gap between your wealth and theirs, it is more than a little worrisome that tens of millions of Americans have so little net property worth, some after a lifetime of labor. As Jeff Gates, author of the new book - The Ownership Solution - says: "Capitalism is very good at creating capital but terrible at creating capitalists."

The United States now has the sharpest wealth disparity of any western nation. The wealth of the top one percent is greater than that of the bottom ninety percent of Americans. As author Gates observes: "The implications attending inaction are staggering fiscally, socially, politically and even environmentally." If you knew the range of Gates' experience in Washington and the business community, you would conclude that his normative conclusion was not "a random thought."

As might be expected, on a worldwide plane, wealth disparities are staggering. According to the United Nations Development Program, the assets of the world's 358 billionaires were greater than the combined incomes of countries with 45 percent of the world's people (about 3 billion human beings)!

All these chasms are widening against a background of modern and accelerating technology, declining trade barriers, mobility of capital, medical advances and presumably a greater awareness of what history's most tragic mistakes, avarice, monopolies and cruelties can produce.
As one illustration, last year, more people in the world died (nearly six million) from Tuberculosis and Malaria than in any previous year. The growth in gross global GNP and capability did not stop these diseases of poverty from their mass destruction. Concentration of power and wealth and the gross insensitivity of economic and political leadership had a good deal to do with these preventable casualties.

There is obviously a problem of distributive justice that has not been given the attention it deserves by the leaders of global capitalism. I saw a T-Shirt being distributed at a conference recently with the message: "A Rising Tide Lifts All Yachts." A telling phrase for our times.
Warren Buffett, possibly the world's number two working rich person with assets exceeding $33 billion, is your dear friend and fellow card player. Let me suggest that you team up with him to sponsor, plan and lead a conference of billionaires and multi- billionaires on the subject of National and Global Wealth Disparities and What to Do About It. The quantity, quality and distributional dimensions of economic output will drive participants to come to grips with the fundamental purposes of economic systems and their economic indicators.

With the dual sweep of the Gates-Buffett hands, the serious and consequential plight of humanity would become a matter of high alert for those business colleagues and acquaintances of yours who aspire to move from success to significance.

During our brief meeting earlier this year at the Time-Warner 75th anniversary dinner in New York, you replied that you were open to communication (by E- Mail, you smilingly suggested). I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,
Ralph Nader
P.O. Box 19312
Washington, D.C. 20036"

Bill Gates may be listening, at least with one ear. He is giving away millions and says he will give all away except enough to support his family. We'll see, so far Gates donations are far less than the Christian tithe of 10% of income and may only mainly p.r. window dressing and tax avoidance tactics.

And poor Nader, running for President on the Green Party ticket, forgot his ethical stance and became one of the pols ending up putting George Bush in office by taking just enough votes away from the Democratic contender to win.

* * *

Inside the World's First Billion-Dollar Home

by Matt Woolsey

Friday, May 2, 2008
provided by
Forbes

While visiting New York in 2005, Nita Ambani was in the spa at the Mandarin Oriental New York, overlooking Central Park. The contemporary Asian interiors struck her just so, and prompted her to inquire about the designer.

Nita Ambani was no ordinary tourist. She is married to Mukesh Ambani, head of Mumbai-based petrochemical giant Reliance Industries, and the fifth richest man in the world. (Lakshmi Mittal, ranked fourth, is an Indian citizen, but a resident of the U.K.)

Forbes estimated Ambani's net worth at $43 billion in March. Reliance Industries was founded by Mukesh's father, Dhirubhai Ambani, in 1966, and is India's most valuable firm by market capitalization. The couple, who have three children, currently live in a 22-story Mumbai tower that the family has spent years remodeling to meet its needs.

Like many families with the means to do so, the Ambanis wanted to build a custom home. They consulted with architecture firms Perkins + Will and Hirsch Bedner Associates, the designers behind the Mandarin Oriental, based in Dallas and Los Angeles, respectively. Plans were then drawn up for what will be the world's largest and most expensive home: a 27-story skyscraper in downtown Mumbai with a cost nearing $2 billion, says Thomas Johnson, director of marketing at Hirsch Bedner Associates. The architects and designers are creating as they go, altering floor plans, design elements and concepts as the building is constructed.

The only remotely comparable high-rise property currently on the market is the $70 million triplex penthouse at the Pierre Hotel in New York, designed to resemble a French chateau, and climbing 525 feet in the air. When the Ambani residence is finished in January, completing a four-year process, it will be 550 feet high with 400,000 square feet of interior space.

The home will cost more than a hotel or high-rise of similar size because of its custom measurements and fittings: A hotel or condominium has a common layout, replicated on every floor, and uses the same materials throughout the building (such as door handles, floors, lamps and window treatments).

The Ambani home, called Antilla, differs in that no two floors are alike in either plans or materials used. At the request of Nita Ambani, say the designers, if a metal, wood or crystal is part of the ninth-floor design, it shouldn't be used on the eleventh floor, for example. The idea is to blend styles and architectural elements so spaces give the feel of consistency, but without repetition.

Antilla's shape is based on Vaastu, an Indian tradition much like Feng Shui that is said to move energy beneficially through the building by strategically placing materials, rooms and objects.

Pricey Pad

Atop six stories of parking lots, Antilla's living quarters begin at a lobby with nine elevators, as well as several storage rooms and lounges. Down dual stairways with silver-covered railings is a large ballroom with 80% of its ceiling covered in crystal chandeliers. It features a retractable showcase for pieces of art, a mount of LCD monitors and embedded speakers, as well as stages for entertainment. The hall opens to an indoor/outdoor bar, green rooms, powder rooms and allows access to a nearby "entourage room" for security guards and assistants to relax.

Ambani plans to occasionally use the residence for corporate entertainment, and the family wants the look and feel of the home's interior to be distinctly Indian; 85% of the materials and labor will come from outside the U.S., most of it from India.

Where possible, the designers say, whether it's for the silver railings, crystal chandeliers, woven area rugs or steel support beams, the Ambanis are using Indian companies, contractors, craftsmen and materials firms. Elements of Indian culture juxtapose newer designs. For example, the sinks in a lounge extending off the entertainment level, which features a movie theater and wine room, are shaped like ginkgo leaves (native to India) with the stem extending to the faucet to guide the water into the basin.

On the health level, local plants decorate the outdoor patio near the swimming pool and yoga studio. The floor also features an ice room where residents and guests can escape the Mumbai heat to a small, cooled chamber dusted by man-made snow flurries.

For more temperate days, the family will enjoy a four-story open garden. In profile, the rebar-enforced beams form a "W" shape that supports the upper two-thirds of the building while creating an open-air atrium of gardens, flowers and lawns. Gardens, whether hanging hydroponic plants, or fixed trees, are a critical part of the building's exterior adornment but also serve a purpose: The plants act as an energy-saving device by absorbing sunlight, thus deflecting it from the living spaces and making it easier to keep the interior cool in summer and warm in winter. An internal core space on the garden level contains entertaining rooms and balconies that clear the tree line and offer views of downtown Mumbai.

The top floors of entertaining space, where Ambani plans to host business guests (or just relax) offer panoramic views of the Arabian Sea.

Thoroughbred racehorse ankles are not strong enough to take the pressure of horse racing.

By JOE DRAPE
Published: May 4, 2008

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Both came here chasing racing history and hinting at greatness. Big Brown was undefeated and trying to become the first horse in 93 years to win the Kentucky Derby after only three lifetime races. Eight Belles had ticked off four victories, emboldening her owner to run his spirited filly against the boys in the 134th running of America’s greatest horse race.

When Big Brown entered the homestretch, seemingly finding a gear only seen on sci-fi rocket ships, the 157,000 people here to celebrate thoroughbred racing and the millions more watching on television, had their breath taken away by the big colt’s extraordinary burst. When Eight Belles broke from the pack in the stretch to give determined chase, many checked their programs, “Was that really the filly?”

Big Brown hit the wire four and three quarter lengths ahead of Eight Belles, but moments later, there was heartbreak. While Kent Desormeaux was galloping out the triumphant Big Brown, Eight Belles fell to the ground.

She had fractured both of her front ankles, said the American Association of Equine Practitioners’ on-call veterinarian, Dr. Larry Bramlage, and was euthanized on the racetrack.

“You could tell when Kent came back that he didn’t look like he just won the Kentucky Derby,” said Larry Jones, Eight Belles’s trainer. “He was a little bit solemn.”

...James Clemons, 58, a machine operator, was in line waiting to cash his $2 bet to place on Eight Belles, a ticket worth $10.60, when he heard about her death.

“Oh, man,” he said, beginning to choke up. “She’s one of the best fillies around. She showed she could run with the boys. She could have run with the boys again. It’s really a shame.”

For Jones and the grooms and exercise riders that had cared for Eight Belles, it was a devastating end to what had been a wonderful weekend. In the Kentucky Oaks on Friday, he captured the Kentucky Oaks with the filly Proud Spell. With Eight Belles, he was trying to join Ben Jones and H. J. Thompson as the only trainer to win the Oaks and Derby in the same year.

Before they began the long walk to the paddock here for the Derby, Jones told his staff that no matter where she finished to remember that they already had an experience of a lifetime. “As long as she comes back to the barn, we’ve had a good weekend,” he said.

Then Jones’s voice trailed off. Beneath the brim of his ever-present white cowboy hat, tears welled.

“She went out in glory,” he said, his voice breaking. “She went out a champion to us.”



These racehorses have been bred to the point where their muscular bodies are far too heavy for their ankle bones. They break their ankles in these horseraces and have to be put down like in the movie "Ruffian".

It's not fair to the horses to be used in this manner. They are over-bred and mis-bred at that. Somewhere along the line horses with much sturdier ankle bones must be added to thoroughbred race horsing lines in order to protect the horses from needless injury.

Eutopia or Bust bumpersticker circa 1968

Gazan Mother and 4 Children Killed During Israeli Operation

Mohammed Salem/Reuters

Relatives of four children and their mother killed during an Israeli operation against militants in Gaza mourned during their funeral on Monday.

Published: April 29, 2008

JERUSALEM — A Palestinian mother and her four young children were killed in northern Gaza on Monday during an Israeli operation against militants there, and a dispute quickly arose over exactly how they had died.

The New York Times

Suhaib Salem/Reuters

The children and their mother were buried in Gaza on Monday.

The Israelis said they shot a missile from the air that hit two armed men who were carrying heavy explosives, which blew apart the family’s house behind them. Palestinian witnesses said they believed an Israeli tank shell or a missile from an unmanned drone flew into the small house, killing the four as they were eating breakfast. Two other children from the same family were badly wounded and hospitalized.

The killings prompted vows of revenge and seemed likely to complicate Egyptian efforts to mediate a cease-fire between Hamas, the militant Islamist group that rules Gaza, and Israel.

Shortly afterward, seven rockets and nine mortars were fired at southern Israel from Gaza. No one there was wounded, although a building was damaged.

Dr. Muawiya Hassanein, director of emergency medical services in Gaza, said at least 10 were wounded in Gaza from the fighting.

Outside the destroyed Gazan house, where the Abu Maatak family lived, in the town of Beit Hanoun, pots, children’s clothes and shoes lay scattered on the ground, a scene shown repeatedly on Palestinian and other Arab television channels, along with photographs of the swathed dead bodies, including that of a baby, lying on metal trays in a Gaza morgue.

The dead were named by relatives as Rudayna and Hana Abu Maatak, aged 6 and 3, sisters; their brothers Saleh, 4, and Mousad, 15 months; and their mother, Miyasar, the youngest of three wives of Ahmed Abu Maatak, 70, who said he had gone to the market when the missile hit.

Palestinian security officials said that several Israeli tanks, armored vehicles and bulldozers backed by helicopters stormed Beit Hanoun early on Monday. Militant groups said in separate leaflets sent to reporters that they confronted the Israeli forces with bombs and grenades, adding that Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants exchanged fire.

Maj. Avital Leibovich, the Israeli military’s chief spokeswoman for the foreign press, said that while the army was still investigating, an initial inquiry into the events showed that several Israeli armored personnel carriers had entered the area of Beit Hanoun in what she described as a routine search for rocket launchers, snipers and terrorists.

Two heavily armed men approached the Israelis, she said, leading an Israeli aircraft to fire a missile at them, killing them. On their backs, she said, were rucksacks apparently holding large amounts of explosives, which caused the nearby house to tumble and kill those inside. She said the analysis was based partly on images taken from the air.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak placed the blame squarely on Hamas.

“We see Hamas as responsible for everything that happens there, for all injuries,” he said while on a tour of an Israeli weapons factory, Israeli radio reported. “The army is acting and will continue to act against Hamas, including inside the Gaza Strip.”

The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, a bitter rival of Hamas, condemned the killing of the mother and her four children. It said in a statement that the Israeli army escalation in Gaza "would harm the efforts to agree on a cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians."

After Hamas took over Gaza last June in a battle with Fatah forces, Israel imposed a blockade on the area, severely limiting supplies into it. Thousands of crude rockets have been launched against southern Israeli towns and communities in recent years by Hamas and smaller factions, which oppose Israel’s existence.

Militants have tried to infiltrate the border crossing into Israel five times in recent weeks. That has led Israel to keep the border closed more often, further reducing supplies and worsening the already severe humanitarian crisis there. Cooking gas has essentially run out since the supplier became too afraid to deliver, Israeli security officials and Gazans say, closing most bakeries.

The United Nations agency that provides the most aid in Gaza suspended its work for four days because of fuel shortages. And while United Nations and other international officials complain angrily about Israel’s policies, the attempted infiltrations have recently prompted criticism of Hamas by the European Union, which accused it of actions that “lead to further suffering of the population.”

The aid agency, United Nations Relief and Works Agency, announced on Monday that it had just obtained enough fuel to resume its work in Gaza for five more days.

Egypt has been negotiating with Hamas officials on establishing a six-month cease-fire with Israel. On Monday, representatives of smaller factions associated with Hamas, including Islamic Jihad, left for Egypt to discuss their participation in such a cease-fire. If that effort succeeds, Egypt’s intelligence minister, Omar Suleiman, is expected to come to Jerusalem next week to get Israel’s response.

Israeli officials have been exceedingly cautious in their public statements about such a truce offer because they do not trust Hamas and fear that it seeks a truce simply to give itself the time and breathing room to arm more heavily. They have added that if Hamas wants a cease-fire, it must first stop all rocket fire, attacks on Israel from Gaza and the West Bank, and arms smuggling into Gaza from Egypt.

Nonetheless, with President Bush due here in two weeks for Israel’s 60th anniversary celebrations and efforts to reach a real agreement with the Palestinian Authority based in the West Bank, there is a strong incentive to obtain a period of calm.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due back in Jerusalem this weekend to push the Israelis and West Bank Palestinians closer together in the hope that by the time Mr. Bush arrives there will be some peace framework document.

Rep. Kucinich statement on the Nakba (Palestinian Holocaust)

Congressional Record, April 22, 2008, Page: H2522

Mr. KUCINICH.

Mr. Speaker, today I join my colleagues in Congress in celebrating Israel's accomplishments over the past 60 years. I am happy to be co-sponsor of this congratulatory resolution. However, like many Israelis and Palestinians, I have concerns about Israel's future, its stability, its security and the prospect for peaceful coexistence for both Palestinians and Israelis. One of those concerns relates to the ongoing lack of resolution on the dispossession of Palestinian property and the dislocation of Palestinians after Independence. It must be remembered that about 700,000 Palestinians became exiled. Much Arab property was appropriated. And about 500 Arab villages were destroyed. On December 11, 1948, the United Nations passed Resolution 194, affording Palestinian refugees the right to return to their homes in Israel, or to compensation for their property should they choose not to return. To this day, the mandate of U.N. Resolution 194 has not been fulfilled. Unfortunately, this failure remains as one of the most significant barriers to the realization of a two-state negotiated solution.

I am also concerned for those Palestinians who did not flee and who became Israeli citizens after Independence. According to the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, today there exist 20 Israeli laws which explicitly discriminate against the Palestinian minority in Israel, who constitute 20 percent of its population. In its 2005 Annual Report, the U.S. State Department said that ``[There is] institutionalized legal and societal discrimination against Israel's [Arab] Christian, Muslim and Druze citizens. The government does not provide Israeli Arabs with the same quality of education, housing, employment and social services as Jews.''

Finally, Israel has a right to security and a right to defend itself. Accordingly, I am concerned that the 40 year military occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem has been and continues to be brutal and unjust and undermines the security of Israel. It is a fact that the government of Israel continues to support the construction of settlements on Palestinian land, perpetuating the consequences of dispossession and exile. Additionally, I am concerned that the government of Israel has increased the number of checkpoints which destroy a viable Palestinian economy and a vibrant civil society. I am concerned that the Israeli government has erected a wall, often on Palestinian land, that divides Palestinians from Palestinians, rather than divide Israel from the West Bank. As stated by Judge Elaraby of the International Court of Justice in his 2004 Advisory Opinion on the legality of Israel's separation barrier, ``The fact that occupation is met by armed resistance cannot be used as a pretext to disregard fundamental human rights in the occupied territory.'' This conundrum of a dialectic of conflict further separates Israelis and Palestinians alike from hopes for peace.

H. Con. Res. 322 eloquently states the many reasons why I celebrate Israel's accomplishments and I sincerely wish it a bright future. I only wish to add that, in my opinion, and in the opinion of many Israelis and Palestinians as well, Israel's future will be bright only if it includes an open dialogue with Palestinians, a respect for human rights and international law, and a society built on coexistence and tolerance. Israelis and Palestinians deserve to live in peace with justice and I encourage the United States government to help Israel achieve that so the joy of future anniversaries will be unalloyed.
I support the resolution in the spirit of reconciliation to which we must all inevitably turn, to achieve peace and justice with our brothers and sisters from whom we may be estranged.

You will be missed, Roger!

A great big personality in our Humboldt County community and a friend of mine died yesterday. Roger Rodoni will be greatly missed.

The best tribute I can make is to continue Roger's independent mindset that just would not allow bullshit to enter into County politics.



Stephen

The fear factor that silences

By Paul Findley

Published: April 16, 2008, 00:17

Candidates for public office, high and low, are bewitched -frightened is the more accurate word - by an unwarranted but costly fear of the US lobby that functions on behalf of the State of Israel.

Comb through the millions of words expressed by the "final three" in the presidential sweepstakes - Barak Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain - and you will not find a word, not even a syllable, of criticism of the longstanding US policy bias that heavily favours Israel, a policy that imposes a staggering burden on US society and infuriates Muslims worldwide, including eight million who are US citizens.

A search of the millions of words of analysis of talking heads and other commentators who make a living examining day-by-day the impact of presidential candidate behaviour discloses the same empty-headed silence. They don't even mention candidate silence on this topic that should be a fundamental and continuing focus of discussion.

A search of major media -print, radio and television - has virtually the same result: silence. The internet is one of the few places where one can find thoughtful and candid examinations of Israel's dominance of US society.

This silence is a phenomenon unknown elsewhere in the world. Discussion of the US bias and its terrible consequences are common in periodicals in Britain, France, Germany, all Arab countries, and most other nations, even in Israel, whose Hebrew newspapers and journals regularly discuss candidly and deeply the bad behaviour of Israel's government.

Because of this silence, the American people are denied the benefit of civilised discussion of the grievances that are believed to be the main factor leading to the dreadful assault on 9/11, the tunnel vision that prompted President George W. Bush to order war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and now the drumbeat for war against Iran.

The silence obscures US complicity in the awful, worsening Palestinian plight. The news coverage that reaches the US public tends to demonise Muslim insurgents who protest, sometimes with terrible violence, against US attempts at military occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, and similar protests by Muslim and Christian Palestinians against Israel's US-supported suppression of what is left of Palestine.

Media coverage

US citizens seldom see reminders that Israel, with US encouragement, came into being in 1948 by the sword and has expanded its domain and carried out its destruction and humiliation of Palestinian society the same way ever since. The bias in media coverage leads uninformed people to view Israelis, not Palestinians, as the victims.

A few salient facts:

- According to the Christian Science Monitor, grants to Israel have cost US taxpayers over $1.2 trillion since 1975. That sum includes, as it should, the cost of servicing the annual outlays as new debt.

- In 1982, Israel, using US-donated arms, killed over 17,000 people in the environs of Beirut, Lebanon. In addition to the death toll, according to data compiled by journalist Alison Weir surgeons amputated over 1,000 limbs in the aftermath of just one day's assault. Two years ago, Israeli forces killed over 1,000 people in another invasion of Lebanon. Most of the dead in both invasions were civilians.

- Israel now keeps 1.5 million Palestinians imprisoned in the desolate Gaza Strip, because, in a well-monitored election, they voted into power Hamas, an organisation hostile to Israel's conquests. Another two million are cordoned off like cattle behind 20-foot walls and fences in the West Bank.

- In recent years, Israelis have destroyed over 10,000 Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem and elsewhere in occupied Palestine.

The invasions of Lebanon, the mistreatment of Palestinians, and the destruction of homes are crimes under international law. None of this would have happened if any US president in the last 30 years had the courage to refuse to finance Israel's conquests. If the US government had suspended financial, military, and political support Israel could not have carried out these monstrous crimes.

None of the three candidates seriously contending for the presidency says a word about suspending aid until Israel stops its criminal acts. Not even the slightest hint. Indeed, each mentions Israel only with peons of praise and pledges of unqualified support. Why? Fear.

Is the US fated to have another president take office next January who is afraid to challenge the lobby for a small scofflaw country the size of New Jersey?



Paul Findley served as a Representative of Illinois from 1961 to 1983. He was a chief author of the 'War Powers Resolution'. Since leaving Congress, he has written three books on the Arab-Israeli conflict, including the Washington Post best-seller, 'They Dare to Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby'. He resides in Jacksonville Illinois.

Man found in Lady Bird Lake was teacher, FBI target

It saddens me to report in this weekly message the death under very suspiscious circumstances of an important activist for Palestine/for peace. Riad Hammad visited us in CT twice and we have met many times and exchanged lots of conversations by email and phone. He will be missed by his family, by the hundreds of Palestinian children and families he helped, and by all of us who knew him.

Obituary as Published in Austin American Statesman

Riad Elsolh Hamad

Longtime peace activist, beloved father, partner, soul mate, and educator

Riad Elsolh Hamad died tragically on April 14, 2008. Riad was born on September 20, 1952 in Beirut, Lebanon, but called Austin home since 1970. A lifelong scholar, Riad received the first of many degrees from the University of Texas, Austin. At the time of his death, he was pursuing a PhD in Educational Technology. Riad touched many lives as an educator and friend. He was a computer technology instructor at Clint Small Middle School. He was a selfless individual who focused on helping students realize their potential. He was also a champion of human rights and worked tirelessly for peace and justice. He founded the Palestinian Children's Welfare Fund to aid Palestinian children, women, and families in need.

Riad is survived by his loving partner, Diana; his daughter, Rita; his son, Abdullah; his brother, Omar; and other siblings and family across the world. He leaves behind countless friends who will miss him dearly and a legacy of love and peace. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Palestinian Children's Welfare Fund (http://www.pcwf.org, or by mail at PCWF - Riad Hamad Memorial, 405 Vista Heights Road, El Cerrito, CA 94530).
An interview with Riad can be found here

I think the best way to honor Riad and all who preceded him (Rachel Corrie, Tanya Reinhardt etc) is by getting more involved and doubling our efforts including donating more. Towards this, I wanted to focus in this week's message on Asking for your support for Peace Action.

Police said that victim, who taught at a Southwest Austin middle school, may have committed suicide.

By Tony Plohetski, Sue Banerjee
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, April 18, 2008

Austin police said Thursday that they are leaning toward a ruling of suicide in the death of a middle school teacher and activist whose body was found Wednesday in Lady Bird Lake with his hands and legs bound and tape over his eyes.

Police identified Riad Hamad, 55, at a news conference Thursday and said the binding of his limbs and the placement of the tape was consistent with Hamad having done it himself.

Austin police homicide Sgt. Joe Chacon said family members told investigators that the Clint Small Jr. Middle School teacher had "several stressors" in his life and had talked about possibly killing himself. Police said that they think Hamad walked from his car to the lake, based on evidence they gathered at the scene.

"The car was found on the south shoreline with no signs of mysterious activity," Chacon said.

Police said that they found Hamad's car along Lady Bird Lake on Tuesday and searched but did not find him.

Joggers found Hamad's body about 2 p.m. Wednesday near Comal Street and Nash Hernandez Sr. Road. Investigators said they found no signs of trauma or a struggle.

Debbie Russell, president of the local American Civil Liberties Union chapter, sent an e-mail Thursday to dozens of activists throughout the city saying that Hamad's death had been ruled a homicide. Russell said in a later interview that she wrote that e-mail after she thought she had heard media reports that Hamad had been killed.

She said in the e-mail that Hamad had recently been under investigation by the FBI — federal officials confirmed the investigation — and described him as "NOT a terrorist but a peaceworker." Hamad was serving as an official for the Austin chapter of the Palestine Children's Welfare Fund.

FBI spokesman Erik Vasys said that Hamad had been a "person of interest" in a criminal investigation but that he could not elaborate.

Austin police said Hamad's family reported him missing Monday. Family members released a statement Thursday saying that he disappeared after going to pick up a prescription at a local pharmacy.

Hamad's body was taken to the Travis County medical examiner's office for an autopsy. The office did not respond to an open records request Thursday for information about the case and would not confirm that Hamad's body was there.

According to the family's statement, which was released through an attorney, Hamad was a University of Texas graduate and had taught in the Austin school district for a decade.

The family's statement described him as a "peace activist who worked tirelessly on behalf of those less fortunate than him and was loved and admired by many members of the local, as well as international community."

"Mr. Hamad's family and friends are obviously devastated over their loss," the statement said.

Hamad had taught at Austin Community College but was fired in June 1998 after officials said he violated the school's nondiscrimination policy by making "sexist and off-colored jokes" in class, school officials said.

Small Middle School Principal Sheila Anderson sent a letter to parents at the Southwest Austin school Thursday informing them of Hamad's death and saying that grief counselors were available for students and teachers.

"Mr. Hamad was a longtime and valued member of the Small Middle School faculty, and his love and passion for education touched us all," Anderson said in the letter.

tplohetski@statesman.com; 445-3605

Additional material from staff writer Molly Bloom.

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Earlier this year I was nominated for, and accepted an appointment to the Board of Directors the Peace Action Education Fund (PAEF).

The board has since endorsed our Wheels of Justice Bus tour. Peace Action had previously also supported the Palestinian Refugees Right to Return. Peace Action Education Fund's work is an excellent compliment to the Wheels of Justice work, and I expect my role on the Board of Directors will provide great opportunities for cross-fertilization and potential partnership with both organizations. As a grassroots membership organization of 50,000 members the Peace Action Education Fund can provide an excellent opportunity for outreach for the Wheels of Justice Tour.

As one of my first acts of Board of Directors I'd like to invite you to visit the Peace Action Education fund website and consider join the Peace Action Education Fund, with a tax-deductible contribution of , $100 $50 or $15.

I am working to raise $1,000 over the next two month, and your contribution will go directly to support work educating voters about our issues, during campaign season and promoting a more diplomatic foreign policy.

If you are not ready to join with a membership, but would like to support their work you can take action to end the occupation of Iraq by visiting here.

The Peace Action Education Fund works to achieve the abolition of nuclear weapons, promote government spending priorities that support human needs and encourage a foreign policy that embodies respect for human rights. Their work includes supporting the Student Peace Action Network, and voter education to elect pro-peace candidates, through their Peace Voter campaign.

If you have any questions about the Peace Action Education Fund's work or ways you can get involved, please contact Development Associate Seth Long at 301-565-4050 x 308 or by email at slong@peace-action.org

Sincerely,

Mazin Qumsiyeh
http://peace-action.org
http://justicewheels.org
http://qumsiyeh.org

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The Other Side of the Picture that Rose and Fred left out

Israel strikes after Hamas raid
A car burns after an Israeli air strike near Beit Lahyia, Gaza Strip, on 16 April
An air strike also killed a man in a car near Beit Lahyia


An Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip has reportedly killed nine Palestinians after a Hamas attack which left three soldiers dead.

Two children were among the nine people killed by the strike near Bureij refugee camp, Palestinian doctors say.

Confirming the air strike, the Israeli military said it had been attacking gunmen, and the target had been hit.

The overall death toll for the day has risen to 19, including a cameraman working for Reuters news agency.

Fadel Shana, 23, was killed along with two bystanders by an explosion as he got out of a vehicle in central Gaza, the agency said.

Local residents said an Israeli air strike had caused the blast but Israel's military said it had no knowledge of any strikes on vehicles in the area.

Three blind women at a checkpoint

Three blind women at a checkpoint, notes by Rana Qumsiyeh, April 13, 2008

[While reading this remember that a) all here are the lucky 0.1% of the population of Bethlehem who have a "permit" to get to Jerusalem and b) that this is the mild forms, many died at checkpoints while refused to get to medical facilities and many are starving because their lands and jobs are on the other side of the Apartheid wall. Mazin Q]

Yesterday was not the first time I see those three blind women at the checkpoint. They are familiar to many who cross the Bethlehem checkpoint on daily basis to get to Jerusalem. Two middle-aged Palestinian women and one elderly woman who seems to be a foreigner; could be German, as I have heard them talk to each other in German at times. I have always wondered how they manage to make their way through this maze, being blind, when most people with perfect eye sight struggle to find their way through, when crossing this checkpoint for the first time, and have to ask for directions.

So, yesterday, despite that it was a Saturday, there was a long line forming when those three blind women walked in, and it was taking too long for the door to open and let people in one by one. As usual, they were let through ahead of everyone because of their situation. A few minutes later, they got inside and it seems two of them got through the metal-detector door and the third one “beeped”. The female soldier on duty screamed at her in Hebrew to take her shoes off. This female soldier is known to all of us, the crowds who go through everyday, we call her the screamer. We know she is on duty before we even get into the terminal, because her yelling reaches outside the Wall! Of course, standing in line outside, we barely can see anything of what is happening inside, we just hear and try to understand what is going on. Thus, we assumed that the blind woman took off her shoes and passed again and she still “beeped”, the soldier screamed again, now louder, in Hebrew, ordering her to take her jacket off. One more time, we hear beeping, then we hear crying. Apparently, the blind woman started to cry at that point. The soldier screamed louder, and this time, I didn’t understand what she was saying.

Half an hour had passed since I got in line and I was still there, and the line was not moving. People started complaining, calling, so a male soldier’s voice came through the loud speaker saying “You have to wait, we have ‘problems’ inside”. We heard more beeping and then a loud laugh from the “screamer”.

Eventually, they opened the door and I got to the ID and permit inspection point, there were the two other blind women, apparently still waiting for their companion, who had been forced into one of the “further investigation” rooms. I went outside and got on the bus, and soon after the three women followed. The third one was very stressed out and in tears. It turns out; her skirt zipper was the problem. I am not sure if she was forced to take her skirt off in that closed 'cell', no one dared ask. As the bus drove off, I watched her cry all the way from the checkpoint to Jerusalem…

Tribute to Phil Ochs

This painting done in 1968 contains all the words to Phil Och's song, "Changes".