Congratulations to Colin and Julia, Newlyweds!

High School Buddies:

"Citizen's Screwed by High ATM Fees" - Barbara Ehrenreich on Advertising and Media

go to original:

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A few years back, as a columnist for a national magazine, I wrote a piece about direct-to-consumer drug advertising, leading off with a description of the Claritin commercials: blue skies, flowers, and the instruction to ask your physician about this wonder product. The column, which I will admit was a tad sarcastic, was rejected without intelligible explanation. At least there was no explanation until I saw the magazine’s next issue, which featured a two-page advertisement for Claritin.

And note: My column was not called the Schering-Plough Healthcare Products Inc. Column. It would have been separated by many pages from the Claritin ad. But that apparently wasn’t far enough. As Gloria Steinem reported in 1990, advertisers can be very finicky about the editorial content that might appear in the same magazine as their ads. Ms. magazine ran into trouble because it often contained the dangerously upsetting word “lesbian.”
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Raed Jarrar: Oil Law Will Increase Violence in Iraq

From Raed in the Middle:

go to original

An English version of a new Iraqi oil law leaked in mid 2006. This leaked English version shocked a number of specialists, like Erik Leaver from the institute for Policy Studies, because it had some exact text from a previously leaked seminar papers produced by a private contracting company called “Bearing Point”. Taking in consideration that the law privatises Iraq’s oil and opens the doors for U.S. companies to sign long term contracts controlling Iraq’s oil resources and infrastructure, this law is in violation of existing U.S. Public Law No: 109-234 that says: “To provide that no funds made available by title I of this Act may be made available to establish permanent United States military bases in Iraq or to exercise control by the United States over the oil infrastructure or oil resources of Iraq.” U.S. contractors, such as Bearing Point, have been working with the U.S. State Department to draft the Iraqi Oil law and the State Department has been pushing for the privatization of Iraq’s oil in plans dating as far back as 2002.

In February 2007, a leaked Arabic copy of the Iraqi oil law was published on Al-ghad.org, an Iraqi website. I translated this leaked copy to English. My translation was based on the previously leaked English version of the law. From what I can tell, the Arabic language was not native, it looked weak and translated. I have no doubt that the English version of the law is the original one, and that the Arabic one is nothing more than an edited translation of the English origin. The few changes in the content, between the Arabic and English versions show clearly that the Iraqi lawmakers who worked on the law did not change any of the parts that relates to foreign investments. The majority of the changes from the original English version were linked to decentralizing authorities and reducing central powers.

Percival Landing in the Sun with Rain

Which one do you like more?

Red Flowers

These are digitally altered versions of a photograph I posted previously. Which one do you like more? neither? [These flowers are camelias, thanks Mom!]

Peace to be Attained through Understanding

...and Love. Whatever happened by the way?



Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Anti-oil-exploition Nationalist MP's Attacked in Green Zone, Baghdad

From Raed in the Middle [go to original]:

The attack on the Iraqi parliament was very strange. I don't think it was a suicide bomber. Take a look at this video and note that the explosion is way bigger than what an explosive belt would do. Besides, why would anyone blow himself up to kill the only anti-occupation group in the greenzone?

The official spokesman of a secular group that lost an MP in the explosion announced that the attack was aimed at silencing "nationalist MPs who are against splitting
iraq and against the oil law".Looking at who was killed and injured in the attack, it seems like they were ALL nationalists. Also, considering that the parliament was just about to begin debating the oil law this week, the timing of the attack was very convenient for the bush/imf/separatists.
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The only way to stop the growing violence in Iraq is to end all the foriegn intervention and give Iraq back to the Iraqis.

This attack was convenient and it stinks to hell. I wonder if anyone at the CIA knows what happened. I also agree that the best way to stop the violence is to end US maneuvers to dominate and exploit the Iraqi economy.

The 'New Me'

I recently cut my beard off and shaved after almost 11 months of uninhibited facial hair growth (except for a very minor trim of the mustache at about 6 months.)

Here's the new skinny me. After over two weeks, people are still commenting on the change. But I have, for the most part, gotten used to it.

Fastener

Warming Caused by God

This just in from Harper's Magazine: Global Climate Disruption Caused by God!!!



This definitely defeats the "One God" theory. I believe that God is the product of our own minds. If the White House has a God (or is a God) that is intentionally causing climate disruption, then I want no part of it. Further I think that they and their God ought to be opposed at every turn.

The moral bankruptcy of this Bush White House casts a pall over the USA. And it is our duty as citizens of this nation to oppose their efforts to undermine the health and well-being of the world's peoples.