---

GAIA AND HOMOSAPIENS

NEW ***** "Where We Are Today" - The Richard Dimbleby Lecture, titled �Facing the Future�
St James�s Palace State Apartments, London, 7th July 2009
An Exceptional In-Depth Holistic Call to Wake Up and Act Before It Is Too Late
- Video

---

Note:The symbol ^ denotes that that article continues at the link.

Imaging Life

***** Alert | The Blue Dogs, The Money Man's Best Friend
The Nation - By William Greider - November 11, 2009
- LINK ^

The Obama administration promised to reform the financial system and make it safe for the rest of us, but recent Congressional action is more likely to reset the fuse for another explosive calamity. The time bomb in this case is that arcane financial instrument known as derivatives--the hedging devices that the big banks sell to investors, corporations and other banks to reduce risk or evade the requirements to hold adequate capital on their books.

But the "reform" legislation approved by the House Financial Services Committee on October 15 is a fiesta of exemptions, exceptions and twisted legalese that effectively defeat the original purpose. If Congress does not disarm derivatives, veteran financier Robert Johnson warned, it could lead to another cascade of failure that would give regulators no choice but once again to rush to the rescue of the banks dubbed "too big to fail."

"The conduit for the draft text was Blue Dogs and conservative Democrats," my source explained. "The committee could not do anything without them," since the Republicans were committed to voting against whatever the Democrats proposed. Chairman Barney Frank made a deal to accept the Blue Dogs' original draft as the starting point, hoping to improve on it with amendments. The chairman made progress, but the finished bill is still vulnerable to whatever evasive games Wall Street decides to play.

Dr. Lyly Rojas teaches peace to business students
Ode Magazine Magazine - By Amanda TWW - October 2, 2009
- LINK ^

Humanitarian Dr Lyly Rojas is teaching the culture of peace to business students at the University of Applied Sciences and Technology in Vienna, Austria. Her challenge to future business leaders is to make waves in the corporate world and drive a culture change.

In the current economic climate, her message to the business world is particularly poignant. �I don�t think of the financial recession as a financial crisis, but as a human crisis,� she states. Rojas explains �The current economic situation is a consequence of the way the business world has conducted itself; economic greed has eroded the quality of human life and unraveled many of society�s structures. Now is a transformational moment�.

Breaking News Alert

The AfPak War - U.S. ambassador in Kabul dissents on Obama Afghan troop increase
Strongly worded cables urge a pause until Kabul government shifts course
Washington Post - By Greg Jaffe, Scott Wilson And Karen DeYoung - Wednesday, November 11, 2009
- LINK ^

UK | War in Afghanistan: Not in our name
71% of Britons back IoS call for withdrawal of forces within a year
The Independent - By Jane Merrick and Brian Brady in London and Kim Sengupta in Kabul - Sunday, 15 November 2009
- LINK ^

Seven out of 10 Britons back The Independent on Sunday's call for a phased withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan as a landmark report by Oxfam this week exposes the real human cost of the war. The powerful dossier by the aid agency reveals how women and children in Afghanistan are bearing the brunt of the ongoing conflict, undermining the international community's claims that they are the very people being helped by the West's activities. Its contents will add to mounting concerns among the public, and in some quarters of the military and the House of Commons, that the US and the UK are fighting an ill-conceived and ill-judged war that has left as many as 32,000 Afghans dead and 235,000 displaced.

How the US Funds the Taliban in Afghanistan
The Nation - By Aram Roston - November 11, 2009
- LINK ^

Welcome to the wartime contracting bazaar in Afghanistan. It is a virtual carnival of improbable characters and shady connections, with former CIA officials and ex-military officers joining hands with former Taliban and mujahedeen to collect US government funds in the name of the war effort.
In this grotesque carnival, the US military's contractors are forced to pay suspected insurgents to protect American supply routes. It is an accepted fact of the military logistics operation in Afghanistan that the US government funds the very forces American troops are fighting. And it is a deadly irony, because these funds add up to a huge amount of money for the Taliban. "It's a big part of their income," one of the top Afghan government security officials told The Nation in an interview. In fact, US military officials in Kabul estimate that a minimum of 10 percent of the Pentagon's logistics contracts--hundreds of millions of dollars--consists of payments to insurgents.

The Afghanistani Quagmire

Op-Ed | Afghanistan and the "Other" Vietnam War
Truthout - By Dallas Darling - Saturday. November 14, 2009
- LINK ^

When discussing the Vietnam War or comparing it to America's other conflicts, such as the current one in Afghanistan, the "other" Vietnam War is rarely mentioned. This is very unfortunate, because it might be just the correct path to pursue in seeking a peaceful solution.

And much like President Barack Obama, who inherited the hostilities in Afghanistan, then-President Johnson inherited the Vietnam War. As the war dragged on, some personal aides claimed Johnson was never more ecstatic over Vietnam than when pledging to send billions of dollars to help toward construction and agricultural projects and the economic growth of Southeast Asia and the Mekong River region.

In a speech in 1965, Johnson said that "impressive power" was not the guns and bombs, the rockets and the warships, for they are all symbols of human failure and a witness to human folly. Instead, what is impressive is a dam built across a great river, or providing electricity, or a rich harvest in a hungry land, or the sight of healthy children.

US demands Afghan 'bribery court'
BBC - November 15, 2009
The Afghan president must set up a "major crimes tribunal" and an anti-corruption commission, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says.
- LINK ^

Editor - This corruption in its depth and meaning is not all that different from non-democratic American corporations throwing, over time, billions of dollars at Congress to subvert and pervert the legislative process which should be decided by congressmen elected through the electoral process and responsible to citizens, not corporaions?

Congress | In House, Many Spoke With One Voice: That of Lobbyists�
The New York Times - By Robert Pear - November 14, 2009
- LINK ^

WASHINGTON � In the official record of the historic House debate on overhauling health care, the speeches of many lawmakers echo with similarities. Often, that was no accident. Statements by more than a dozen lawmakers were ghostwritten, in whole or in part, by Washington lobbyists working for Genentech, one of the world�s largest biotechnology companies.

Report: US Troop Morale Down in Afghanistan
Army surgeon general says soldiers continue to face stress from multiple deployments into combat.

HS Editor - Inexplicably, this article seems to have been removed from internet access as no link is provided.

---

Carrumpah-Lobo - The Homosapiens.ki Blog
- GO

---

International

Denmark
Email from Mo, a Danish reader of Homosapiens.ki, following a recent referenced article on HS noting that Danes consistently score highest among all countries on "happiness" --- quote:

In my opinion, Danish happiness reflects five building blocks
- Transparent multi-faceted democracy with trust in Government
- A blend of individual idealism and realism
- Respect for the common good (few are rich and fewer are poor)
- Security (universal medical care, free education and good social security benefits)
- Cohesiveness (resulting from a unique language and a long history),

United States

An Historical Shift: American Jews Rethink Israel
The Jewish push for peace is surging through the grassroots, but leaders and policy-makers are still turning a deaf ear.
Alternet / The Nation - By Adam Horowitz and Philip Weiss, October 23, 2009.
- LINK ^

Commentary - How Can the U.S. Be an Empire and a Democracy at the Same Time?
Alternet / Moyers Journal - By Bill Moyers - October 20, 2009
- LINK ^

An interview with Mark Danner, whose new book, Stripping Bare the Body, explores the strange notion of a democratic empire and the wars it wages. The article is a transcript from Bill Moyers' interview with journalist Mark Danner on his new book, Stripping Bare the Body broadcast on PBS's Bill Moyers Journal

United States Government

Defense | Gates Invokes New Authority to Block Release of Detainee Abuse Photos
Truthout - By Jason Leopold - November 2009
- LINK ^

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has blocked the release of photographs depicting US soldiers abusing detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan, invoking new powers just granted to him by Congress that allows him to circumvent the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and keep the images under wraps on national security grounds.

Editor - Ladies and Gentlemen, this act of removing information from the effects of the Freedom of Information Act now legalizes the right of goverment to block Americans from knowimg what their goverment is doing in their name. It goes without saying that this is an attack against the principle of democracy. If citizens are unaware of what their government isdoing, how can they bring their goverment to accouni? This is no inconsequential matter.

ACLU pledges to fight on after photos release blocked
ABC13 / AP - November 15, 2009

WASHINGTON -- The American Civil Liberties Union says it will continue to fight for the release of photographs of foreign detainees being abused by their U.S. captors, after Defense Secretary Robert Gates invoked new powers to block them from public view. ACLU spokesman Jameel Jaffer says the photos are "an important part of the historical record." And he says preventing their release "sets a bad precedent for the government to be suppressing information that relates to government misconduct."

A Morally Bankrupt Military: When Soldiers and Their Families Become Expendable
Atlantic Free Press - By Dahr Jamail - November 14, 2009
- LINK ^

The military operates through indoctrination. Soldiers are programmed to develop a mindset that resists any acknowledgment of injury and sickness, be it physical or psychological. As a consequence, tens of thousands of soldiers continue to serve, even being deployed to combat zones like Iraq and/or Afghanistan, despite persistent injuries. According to military records, over 43,000 troops classified as "nondeployable for medical reasons" have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan nevertheless.

Afghan troop surge to cost up to $54 bn per year
PressTV - November 15, 2009
- LINK ^

The cost of sending 40,000 additional American troops to Afghanistan is estimated to be between $40 billion to $54 billion annually, a new report says. The New York Times cited top administration officials on Saturday that budget projections for the Afghan war will cost US taxpayers at least $1 million per soldier, per year.

Congress | Billy Carter's old gas station: a national site?
Legislation calls for the National Park Service to take over the storied building, making it part of the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site. Some question such a use of taxpayer money. In the age of the $787-billion stimulus package, it is, perhaps, a modest question:
Los Angeles Times - By Richard Fausset - November 15, 2009
- LINK ^

Should the American taxpayer foot the bill to enshrine the gas station run by the late Billy Carter -- the beer-swilling, wisecracking, self-professed redneck brother of our 39th president?

Located in the middle of tiny Plains -- still the world's most famous peanut town some 28 years after the Carter presidency -- the station was transformed into a museum last year by a civic group that owns the property. Most locals agree it has been rendered cleaner and more pleasant than it was under Billy's proprietorship, when it served as an improvised beer joint, gambling hall and grease-stained agora for homespun philosophizing.

Its claim to historical significance came during Jimmy Carter's 1976 presidential run, when reporters mobbed Plains and transformed the station into a sort of unofficial headquarters. It became the setting for story after story about Jimmy's little brother, Billy, his down-home manners and epigrammatic wit (e.g., "Beer is not a good cocktail-party drink -- especially in a home where you don't know where the bathroom is") and the candidate's rural roots.

Last month, the House approved a measure that would incorporate the station into the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site, a National Park Service operation that runs a number of Carter-related buildings in Plains. A similar bill is under consideration in the Senate's Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that it will cost $17 million to upgrade and maintain the sites over the next five years. That was enough to elicit an objection from Steve Ellis, vice president of the Washington-based Taxpayers for Common Sense.

Editor - One is speechless to contemplate this congressional idiocy. Nuff said.

Commentary | Health Care, Not Assimilation: American Indians and Alaskan Natives in the Wake of Health Care Reform
Truthout - By Frank Joseph Smecker - November 14, 2009
- LINK ^

"While the health care reform debate continues throughout the country, America's indigenous peoples suffer from some of the worse conditions imaginable. Comprising only 1.6 percent of the general population, American Indians and Native Alaskans have not, do not, and more than likely will not receive adequate, if any, health care by the time the Democrats and Republicans are finished."

Commentary | Peru Will Hold Torturers Accountable: Why Can't the U.S. Do the Same?
The door will be left open for future abuses as long as the U.S. skirts the issue.
Alternet - By Allison Kilkenny - October 20, 2009
- LINK ^

The Citizens / Civil Organizations / Activism

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter" - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Topical Sections

Art and Culture

Leonard Cohen | "First We Take Manhattan, Then We Take Berlin" | Music Video
- LINK ^

Communities and Species

Rats can save human lives
0de MAGAZINE - By Carmel Wroth - Sept/Oct 2009 issue
- LINK ^

As a child, Bart Weetjens, from Belgium, bred rodents to sell to pet shops. Now he�s the founder and director of APOPO, an NGO operating from Tanzania that trains rats to detect landmines. APOPO�s team of mine-sleuthing rats is active in Mozambique, and will begin mine-detection operations in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Colombia.

Constitutional and Legal Issues

US | 800,000 Americans Busted Annualy for Pot
Atlantic Free Press - By Sherwood Ross - November 14, 2009
- LINK ^

Seven million Americans have been arrested since 1995 on marijuana charges and 41,000 of them are rotting in federal and State prisons---but the public is starting to rebel against �the preposterous war on pot,� two political scientists say. Thousands of other pot users and sellers are confined in local jails as well.

Corporate "Crooks"

US | Hillary Clinton Gives "Shameless Pitch" for Crooked US Corporation in Russia
Alternet / Rebel Reports - Posted by Jeremy Scahill - October 19, 2009.
Boeing is the third largest U.S. government contractor, with some $24 billion in annual federal contracts. It is also a major recidivist corporate crook.
- LINK ^

Corporate Crime and Government - The Linkage

"The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government of the U.S. since the days of Andrew Jackson.�
--- Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1933-Nov-21, in a letter to Colonel E. Mandell House

UK | 'Reckless' bankers face bonus cut
BBC - November 15, 2009
Bankers who take "reckless" risks with investments could be stripped of future bonuses, the government has said. City minister Lord Myners said banks must be "more secure", with taxpayers "never again" bailing them out.
- LINK ^

Economy and Finance

Bloomberg Economic News
- LINK ^

Bloomberg Current Worldwide Financial News
- LINK ^

US | The Betrayal - There was once a political party that came out against concentration of wealth.
They called for regulation of food, drugs, and big corporations. Called for �square deal� for the average American. And their robust spokesman, the leader of their party, said this of his countrymen:

�There is not in the world a more ignoble character than the mere money-getting American, insensitive to every duty, regardless of principle, bent only on amassing a fortune.�

That party was the Republicans, a bit more than century ago, led by Teddy Roosevelt.

If Congress steers through the Great Recession without responding to the thousand points of pain among average Americans, people will see them for what they are in bottom-line terms: an insulated club. Proof, just recently, came from a Center for Responsive Politics report that 237 members of Congress � 44 percent � are millionaires, compared to just 1 percent for the country as a whole.

Health and Fitness

10 Easy Ways to Boost Your Immunity
Green Living - Posted by Megan - November 13,2009
- LINK ^

Flu season is here. With all the concern and worry surrounding the Swine flu, we may be forgetting that we are also more susceptible to the common cold and other illnesses during the winter months. There are many natural ways you can help to boost your immune system with food choices and healthy regimens. Of course, as you have seen in many articles, the first course of action is to wash your hands regularly for at least 20-30 seconds. By adding the following foods and healthy behaviors to your regime, you can help your body build its resistance to germs and help yourself stay healthy this winter.

Mutant genes 'key to long life'
There is a clear link between living to 100 and inheriting a hyperactive version of an enzyme that prevents cells from ageing, researchers say.
- LINK ^

Legal and Constitutional Issues

Bloomberg Index of Current Legal News
- LINK ^

Rights and Freedom

The doctrine of blind obedience and unqualified submission to any human power, whether civil or ecclesiastical, is the doctrine of despotism, and ought to have no place among Republicans and Christians."
--- Angelica Grimke - (1805-1879) Source: Anti-Slavery Examiner, September 1836

"Yes, we did produce a near-perfect republic. But will they keep it? Or will they, in the enjoyment of plenty, lose the memory of freedom? Material abundance without character is the path of destruction."
--- Thomas Jefferson - (1743-1826), Source: in a letter to John Adams as quoted in John A. Stormer, None Dare Call it Treason (Florissant, MO: Liberty Bell Press, 1964)

Science & Technology

Bloomberg Index of Current Science News
- LINK ^

Social Issues

One in six Americans felt pangs of hunger in '08
Is it possible that five in six eat too much?
USDA report on food access shows dire situation caused by faltering economy.
Washington Post - By Amy Goldstein, Staff Writer - Tuesday, November 17, 2009
- LINK ^

The nation's economic crisis has catapulted the number of Americans who lack enough food to the highest level since the government has been keeping track, according to a new federal report, which shows that nearly 50 million people -- including almost one child in four -- struggled last year to get enough to eat. The number of Americans who lack dependable access to adequate food shot up last year to 49 million, the largest number since the government has been keeping track, according to a federal report released Monday that shows particularly steep increases in food scarcity among families with children.

Violence - Civil and Governmental

Iraq | Huge rise in birth defects in Falluja
- LINK ^

Iraqi former battle zone sees abnormal clusters of infant tumours and deformities. Doctors in Iraq's war-ravaged enclave of Falluja are dealing with up to 15 times as many chronic deformities in infants and a spike in early life cancers that may be linked to toxic materials left over from the fighting (American siege of the city).

US | Will the Soldiers We Train in Afghanistan End Up Trying to Kill Us in the Future? It's Happened Before
Altrnet / Tom Dispatch - By Tom Engelhardt - Otober 20, 2009
- LINK ^

For 30 years we've been deeply involved in creating, financing, and sometimes arming a part of the world that has shown willingness to create violence on our own soil.

UK | British Authorities Probing New Claims Soldiers Tortured, Raped Iraqi Prisoners
Truthout - By Jason Leopold - Saturday 14 November 2009
- LINK ^

Britain's Ministry of Defense has launched an investigation into new claims that soldiers sexually abused Iraqi detainees and subjected them to mock executions, hooding, and used dogs to incite fear--interrogation methods that were also used by US soldiers and personally approved by former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

Sound and Fury

Photography - US | Photos from the Book, Who We Were: A Snapshot History of America
- Slide Show / Audio

Hip Hop | Maestro Fresh Wes - Drop The Needle
- Video

Bouncing barefoot on the sidewalk
- Video

A Song for the Times - Bing Crosby (1932) �Brother, Can You Spare A Dime�
- Audio

The History of A Great Depression-Era Anthem For Our Time
- Audio/Text

Yip Harburg (1970)
- Audio

The Internet Press Room

Not on the homosapiens.ki free email subscription list? Get aboard here.
- SUBSCRIBE / UNSUBSCRIBE

Music Video | Leonard Cohen | "Democracy Is Coming to the USA"
- LINK

About Homosapiens.ki

This website incorporates clips from mainstream and alternative media and, less frequently, blogs, and even obviously biased and counter-point-of-view sources. The clips are taken directly from the websites noted in each source link. Quotation marks are used where they appear in the cited source. All linked articles not noted as "Complete here" are continued at "LINK" citations.

Convert webpages on this site to PDF, print or e-mail by selecting the associated mini-icon at bottom right of each page.

Homosapiens.ki has been developed on the XOOPS website production program.

Subscribe to the email notification as each issue of this site is posted. See top, left of any page.

The editorial offices of Homosapiens.ki are located in New York City and Nelson BC Canada. Website hosting and technical services are provided from Sydney, Australia. The domain name registration ( .ki ) is a service of the Republic of Kiribati ( South Pacific ) domain registrar. Special thanks are due to all those who have assisted in bringing this site to life on the internet.

You may email the editor at
editor@homosapiens.ki

In accordancee with TITLE 17 U.S.C. Sectopm 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes, Homosapiens.ki has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this content nor is Homosapiens.ki endorsed or sponsored by the originator.

Links are provided for access to source articles and for verification of authenticity. However, as originating pages are sometimes updated by their host sites, a version posted here may not match the version our readers view when clicking the source link on this site.

Privacy - we will not sell, rent, or give your name, address or any other personal information to any entity or person whatsoever at any point in time.

---