GAIA AND HOMOSAPIENS

CBC Hourly News
- LINK ^
CBC World at Six News - "What's Going On Out There?"
- LINK ^
Keith Olbermann TV Issues Program
- LINK ^
Alert | Countdown with Keith Olbermann | The Supreme Court Decision to Gift US Democracy to Corporate America
- LINK ^
Music to accompany you on your cyber-visit
- LINK ^

---

Note-- The symbol ^ denotes that that article can be read in full at the link. Articles with two ^^ are from a recent issue.

---

Opinion | Commentary | Editorials | Op-Eds

Commentary | St. Patrick's Day - Bless the Irish | Turning Green With Literacy
The New York Times - By Thomas Cahill - March 16, 2010
- LINK ^

WHY should we celebrate the Irish? No doubt, several reasons could be proffered. But for me one answer stands out. Long, long ago the Irish pulled off a remarkable feat: They saved the books of the Western world and left them as gifts for all humanity.

Opinion | In Praise of Shared Outrage
Truthout - By Roy Eidelson - March 16, 2010
- LINK ^

"We have to tolerate the inequality as a way to achieve greater prosperity and opportunity for all." These were the words of Lord Brian Griffiths, Goldman Sachs international adviser, when he spoke at London's St. Paul's Cathedral last fall. With inequality at historic levels here in the United States and around the world, it's a reassuring message we all might wish to be true.

Unfortunately, scientific research reveals a sharply different reality: inequality is a driving force behind many of our most profound social ills. The Equality Trust reviewed thousands of studies conducted by the US Census Bureau, the World Health Organization, the United Nations and the World Bank. Consistent patterns emerged, both among and within countries. Inequality is associated with diminished levels of physical and mental health, child well-being, educational achievement, social mobility, trust and community life. And it is linked to increased levels of violence, drug use, imprisonment, obesity and teenage births. In short, Lord Griffiths' claim - despite the venue - was a self-serving fiction.

***** A Profound Analysis | Book Excerpts from ‘Ill Fares the Land’
The New York Times - By Tony Judt - March 16, 2010
- LINK ^

Introduction: A Guide for the Perplexed
“I cannot help fearing that men may reach a point where they look on every new theory as a danger, every innovation as a toilsome trouble, every social advance as a first step toward revolution, and that they may absolutely refuse to move at all.” — Alexis de Tocqueville

Something is profoundly wrong with the way we live today. For thirty years we have made a virtue out of the pursuit of material self-interest: indeed, this very pursuit now constitutes whatever remains of our sense of collective purpose. We know what things cost but have no idea what they are worth. We no longer ask of a judicial ruling or a legislative act: is it good? Is it fair? Is it just? Is it right? Will it help bring about a better society or a better world? Those used to be the political questions, even if they invited no easy answers. We must learn once again to pose them.

Opinion | Is the U.S. Following in Rome’s Footsteps?
Editor - Seriously, Don't bother to read this. And these media are mainline, top journalist-Opinionators!
The New York Times - By David Brooks and Dick Cavett - March 12, 2010
- LINK ^

Opinion | Congress | The Democrats' scam on health care now becomes more transparent
Salon - By Glenn Greenwald - March 12, 2010
- LINK ^

Now the scam is getting even more extreme, more transparent. Faced with the dilemma of how they could possibly justify their year-long claimed support for the public option only now to fail to enact it, more and more Democratic Senators were pressured into signing a letter supporting the enactment of the public option through reconciliation; that number is now above 40, and is rapidly approaching 50. In other words, there is a serious possibility that the Senate might enact a public option if there is a vote on it, because it's very difficult for these Senators to vote "No" after pretending all year long -- on the record -- that they supported it. In fact, The Huffington Post's Ryan Grim yesterday wrote: "the votes appear to exist to include a public option. It's only a matter of will."

Editorial | It's time for Netanyahu to say yes to Obama
Haaretz
- LINK ^

Instead of fanning the flames with irresponsible declarations about the continuation of construction in East Jerusalem, the prime minister would do well to say yes to the American demands. Stagnation in the diplomatic process, in the shadow of a deepening crisis with our greatest ally, is a strategic threat Israel can by no means afford.

Fear of peace will be the death of Israel
Haaretz - By Bradley Burston
- LINK ^

SHEIKH JARRAH, Jerusalem - As the grandson of anarchists, I've always had a soft spot in my heart for fanatics. Expressions of extremism, and passionately reasoned, exquisitely twisted world views make me feel, how shall I put this, at home.

So it was with a certain relish that I approached the cover story of a recent issue of Commentary, "The Deadly Price of Pursuing Peace," written as it was by a talented colleague and friend, Evelyn Gordon.

The thrust of the piece, which Commentary Editor John Podhoretz understandably calls "groundbreaking," is that Israel's international standing has plummeted to an unprecedented low - and the number of Palestinians killed by Israel has concurrently soared - specifically because of Israel's having done much too much for peace.

"The answer is unpleasant to contemplate, but the mounting evidence makes it inescapable," she writes. "It was Israel's very willingness to make concessions for the sake of peace that has produced its current near-pariah status."

The essay has the seamless, compellingly elegant, hyper-lucid, parallel universe logic of a hallucination - or a settlement rooted in the craw of the West Bank. Until I read it, it was difficult for me to comprehend the current runaway-freight recklessness of Israeli authorities and a certain segment of the hard right, bolstered by shady funding from abroad.

It was hard to fathom why Israeli police in this quiet hollow of the Arab half of Jerusalem, would choose to openly flout and violate the rulings of an Israeli court. I was unable to grasp why they would manhandle and arrest non-violent demonstrators - among them the executive director of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel - for protesting the official expulsion from their homes of more than two dozen Palestinian families here, driven out and into the street, so that subsidized and sheltered settlers could move in.

It was beyond my understanding why an Israeli government which views the idea of a Palestinian Right of Return as tantamount to annihilation of the Jewish state, would set a legal precedent that paves the way for just such a right.

Just as I was clueless as to why the Knesset was to vote Wednesday on a bill that would make aiding asylum seekers fleeing African genocide, granting them shelter, medical care, food, a crime subject to up to 20 years in prison.

Or why there were vigorous new campaigns to increase gender segregation at the Western Wall and on public buses, and why women have been arrested and interrogated on suspicion of having worn prayer shawls while praying on their side of a barrier raised so that they would no longer be able to watch their sons' bar mitzvah on the mens' side.

Or why a sudden and ferocious campaign against human rights organizations and charity work agencies in Israel is coinciding with new human rights outrages against Palestinians and foreigners, some of them unable to leave, others forced to.

It was not until I saw the title of the Commentary piece that it all made sense.

The right is terrified of peace. And, in the end, the right's fear of peace will be the death of Israel.

BreaKing News

The Vatican | Abuse Scandal in Germany Edges Closer to Pope
The New York Times - By Nicholas Kulish and Rachel Donadio - March 12, 2010
- LINK ^

The Vatican Speaks as Abuse Details Emerge
The New York Times - By Rachel Donadio and Nicholas Kulish - March 13, 2010
- LINK ^

The Vatican | Pope being set up over Munich sex abuse case, says Vatican
Benedict XVI's spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, suggests 'tenacious' plot to implicate pontiff in cover-up
The Guardian - March 13, 2010
- LINK ^

Germany | German Catholics fume at pope's 'silence'
German Catholic groups have hit out at the pope's silence over a snowballing paedophilia priest scandal rocking his native country's Church
Sydney Morning Herald - March 16, 2010
- LINK ^

The Vatican | Germany's Catholic sex abuse scandal reaches Pope Benedict
Salon - March 15, 2010
- LINK ^

Complete here.
A CATHOLIC MASS ISN'T normally a debating society, but sometimes enough is simply enough. At Sunday mass at the parish church in the Bavarian town of Bad Tölz, a pastor’s unspeakable past finally caught up with him. It was revealed last Friday that sixty-two year-old Pastor Peter H., who had been providing pastoral care at the church for the past two years, had been tried and convicted of sexual abuse in 1986. Not only had this conviction been kept secret, but the priest’s superior at one time – Joseph Ratzinger, the former Archbishop of Munich who is today better known as Pope Benedict XVI – had knowingly moved this known pedophile from parish to parish. He was finally sent to Bad Tölz in 2008 under the condition that he engage in no “children’s, youth, or altar boy work.” However, he did end up conducting two children’s services at the church and also took part in youth retreats.

As far as anyone knows, Peter H. did “nothing, absolutely nothing” wrong during his previous twenty-one year tenure in the town of Garching, nor is anything known about any inappropriate activities in Bad Tölz. Even so, Peter H.'s colleague, Pastor Rupert Frania, told the Süddeutsche Zeitung, “I would like to have known about this earlier.”

At yesterday’s mass, Pastor Frania substituted for Peter H. and began a homily regarding his friend’s case. But as soon as he cited the example of the Prodigal Son and the need for forgiveness, the congregation rebelled. A young couple that was scheduled to be married by the disgraced priest got restless. It appears that they had just learned about the priest’s past from the media. “I can’t listen to this anymore!” the man shouted. “You can’t keep changing the subject!” According to the Süddeutsche, some of the mass goers applauded, others told him to shut up. A debate ensued. For several minutes the congregation discussed the case, and continued after the mass was over. Peter H. has been suspended, effective immediately. His supervisor has submitted his resignation.

The newspaper recently discovered that in 1980 Bishop Ratzinger approved the transfer of the pedophile priest to Bavaria to work in a new parish. The man had gotten an eleven year-old boy drunk and forced him to fellate him. Once in Bavaria he was once more caught in the act and put on trial. Peter H. was sentenced to eighteen months in prison and fined €4,000. In 1982, Ratzinger moved to Rome to become head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and essentially washed his hands of the matter.

This revelation is only the latest in an avalanche of appalling - and frankly mind-boggling - news for the Catholic Church in Germany and the rest of Europe. Ever since reports emerged of systematic sexual abuse at Berlin’s elite Canisius-Kolleg high school last January, stories of rape and fellatio perpetrated by Catholic priests in church-run institutions throughout the country have been bombarding the newspapers on a daily basis. It seems as if anyone who had ever been sodomized by a priest in the past fifty years has suddenly found his voice, making the Holy Catholic Church in this country appear like little more than a stiff-lipped pedophile ring.

But as usual in these cases, the cover-up is even worse than the crime, and for the first time the Pope himself has been implicated. The Church is closing ranks. Today, Archbishop Rino Fisichellal, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, told the Corriere della Serra that “any attempt to draw the Pope and the entire Church into the abuse scandal is an act of violence and a sign of incivility. Benedict's story, his life and his writings, speak for themselves.”

The pontiff is remaining silent on the charges against him, and this is probably a wise choice under the circumstances. There’s no knowing how much longer this crisis will last… and where it will stop. Just yesterday, new accusations were levelled at the management of the celebrated Regensburger Domspatzen boys’ choir, where it was reported that the endemic physical and sexual abuse the choirboys suffered there did not terminate in the 1960s, as previously believed, but continued at least until 1992. And who was the choir’s “extremely choleric and hot-tempered” director in those years? None other than Georg Ratzinger, the Pope’s elder brother.

The Vatican sees bid to t arnish Church amid abuse row
Reuters - March 16, 2010
- LINK ^

The Vatican criticized on Tuesday what it said was a bid to undermine the Church, which is facing a deepening scandal over child abuse by priests in Europe. As fresh allegations mounted against clergy in Austria, adding to hundreds of cases in Germany and the Netherlands, Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone acknowledged that confidence in the Church had declined.

Canada wanted Afghan prisoners tortured: lawyer
If these documents were released [in full], what they will show is that Canada partnered deliberately with the torturers in Afghanistan for the interrogation of detainees," he said.
CBC News - March 5, 2010
- LINK ^

France | French bread spiked with LSD in CIA experiment
A 50-year mystery over the 'cursed bread' of Pont-Saint-Esprit, which left residents suffering hallucinations, has been solved after a writer discovered the US had spiked the bread with LSD as part of an experiment.
The Telegraph - By Henry Samuel - March 11. 2010
- LINK ^

US / israel | The Petraeus briefing: Biden's embarrassment is not the whole story"
The Jerusalem Fund - By Mark Perry - March 13, 2010
- LINK ^

The Mullen briefing (at the Pentagon) and Petraeus's request hit the White House like a bombshell. While Petraeus's request that CENTCOM be expanded to include the Palestinians was denied ("it was dead on arrival," a Pentagon officer confirms), the Obama administration decided it would redouble its efforts -- pressing Israel once again on the settlements issue, sending Mitchell on a visit to a number of Arab capitals and dispatching Mullen for a carefully arranged meeting with the chief of the Israeli General Staff, Lt. General Gabi Ashkenazi. While the American press speculated that Mullen's trip focused on Iran, the JCS Chairman actually carried a blunt, and tough, message on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: that Israel had to see its conflict with the Palestinians "in a larger, regional, context" -- as having a direct impact on America's status in the region. Certainly, it was thought, Israel would get the message.

Israel didn't. ( the gene pool failed them ) When Vice President Joe Biden was embarrassed by an Israeli announcement that the Netanyahu government was building 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem, the administration reacted. But no one was more outraged than Biden who, according to the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, engaged in a private, and angry, exchange with the Israeli Prime Minister. Not surprisingly, what Biden told Netanyahu reflected the importance the administration attached to Petraeus's Mullen briefing: "This is starting to get dangerous for us," Biden reportedly told Netanyahu. "What you're doing here undermines the security of our troops who are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. That endangers us and it endangers regional peace." Yedioth Ahronoth went on to report: "The vice president told his Israeli hosts that since many people in the Muslim world perceived a connection between Israel's actions and US policy, any decision about construction that undermines Palestinian rights in East Jerusalem could have an impact on the personal safety of American troops fighting against Islamic terrorism." The message couldn't be plainer: Israel's intransigence could cost American lives.

US / Israel | Mitchell Mideast Travei in Flux Amid US-Israel Row
A U.S. envoy's plans to visit the Middle East were up in the air on Monday, the State Department said, as it waited for Israel to respond to U.S. demands it show that it is serious about peace talks with the Palestinians.
Reuters - March 15, 20100
- LINK ^

East Jerusalem | U.S. envoy cancels Mideast trip - Clashes in east Jerusalem as diplomatic crisis deepens
MSNBC / AP - March 16, 2010
- LINK ^

JERUSALEM - A U.S. envoy's postponement of his Mideast trip appeared Tuesday to deepen one of the worst U.S.-Israeli feuds in memory — even as Israel's foreign minister signaled his government had no intention of curtailing the contentious construction at the heart of the row.
Hundreds of Palestinians hurled rocks at police and set tires and garbage bins ablaze across the holy city's volatile eastern sector, where the construction is planned. Plumes of black smoke billowed and the air reeked of tear gas in the heaviest clashes in the city in months. Youths in one east Jerusalem neighborhood hoisted a giant Palestinian flag and shouted, "We'll die in Palestine, Palestine will live."

Israel objects to US housings constructions demands
The New York Times - By Ethan Bronner - March 16, 2010
- LINK ^

JERUSALEM — The discord between the United States and Israel over Jewish building in East Jerusalem deepened Tuesday with Israeli officials saying they would reject demands by Washington and expressing anger over the public upbraiding of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by the Obama administration.

Video | Italy sees purple over politics - Anti-Belusconi protest in Rome
Italians fed up with the political parties on offer have begun their own pressure group, the Purple People Movement.. Supporters, who wear purple, say Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has brought shame on the country with a series of scandals, while the official opposition is doing little to tackle the problem.
BBC News - By Duncan Kennedy - March 11, 2010
- LINK ^

US | Final destination Iran?
The Sunday Herald-Scotland - By Rob Edwards - March 14, 2010
- LINK ^

Hundreds of powerful US “bunker-buster” bombs are being shipped from California to the British island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in preparation for a possible attack on Iran. The Sunday Herald can reveal that the US government signed a contract in January to transport 10 ammunition containers to the island. According to a cargo manifest from the US navy, this included 387 “Blu” bombs used for blasting hardened or underground structures. Experts say that they are being put in place for an assault on Iran’s controversial nuclear facilities. There has long been speculation that the US military is preparing for such an attack, should diplomacy fail to persuade Iran not to make nuclear weapons.

US | Enthusiasm for war crosses party lines
Yhe Huffington Post - By Doug Bandow - March 15, 2015
- LINK ^

Robert Kagan recently wrote approvingly of the militaristic alliance between "liberal interventionist Democrats" and "hawkish internationalist Republicans" -- both groups which have never met a war they didn't want to fight. However, support for peace also is transpartisan. Such sentiments are perhaps strongest on the Democratic left, which increasingly feels disenfranchised by President Obama. A smaller contingent of libertarians, traditional conservatives, and paleo-conservatives has resisted the conservative movement's adoption of war-mongering intervention as a basic tenet.

Heldover News

Major Documentary Film | Why Did George Bush Buy Large Tracts of Agricultural Land in Paraguay?
The World According to Monsanto – Full Documentary. Scroll down. Click white icon to enlarge.
Twillight Earth, a name that is well chosen - Current
- LINK ^^

US | Corporate Criminal Mischief | Rising food prices may start with seeds
Los Angeles Times - By P.J. Huffstutter - March 11, 2010
- LINK ^^

Video | "Show" | Homenaje al Espiritu de Chile
US Stream-TV - February 26. 2010 - Antes el Terramoto
- LINK ^^

The Cyberworld and the Real World | Game Over - A baby starves to death while its parents play games online.
It has come to this: A child starved to death while her parents cared for an imaginary child instead.
Slate
- LINK ^^

International / Bi-National Issues

UK / US | Blair courts controversial US pastor Rick Warren in bid to unite faiths
Coming down the track
Former prime minister builds network of Christian allies as he prepares to launch a religious 'offensive' in North America
The Observer - By Jamie Doward and Paul Harris - March 15, 2010
- LINK ^

US | Clinton rebukes Israel over East Jerusalem homes
BBC News - March 12, 2010
- LINK ^

US / Israel | US diplomatic rift with Israel widens after settler plan
The United States thwarted an Israeli attempt to play down a diplomatic rift between the two countries on Sunday by renewing its condemnation of plans to build new settler homes in occupied East Jerusalem.
The Telegraph - By Adrian Blomfield in Jerusalem - March 14, 2010
- LINK ^

US | Jew vs. Jew? Protests, Threats Reach Fever Pitch over Israel
This week, New York City's Jewish community is riven by protests, counterprotests, and now, Jew-on-Jew threats over the question of Israel and the Palestinians.
The Huffington Post - By Michael Gould-Wartofsky - March 11, 2010
- LINK ^
Israel / West Bank | Spain predicts Israeli annexation of entire West Bank

Madrid has warned that, if continued at the current rate, the Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied Palestinian lands would bring about the annexation of the entire occupied territories.
Press TV - March 13, 2010
- LINK ^

Nstional News

Video | China's migrant families suffer under hukou
Hereditary household registration system limits families' access to basic services.
The Guardian - By Dan Chung and Tania Branigan - v March 2010
- LINK ^

United States Government

"In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a congress." -- John Adams

"Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself." -- Mark Twain

Opinion | Battling the Bipartisan Consensus for War
The Mindless American High and Armaments for Death and War Profits.
The Huffington Post - By Doug Bandow - March 15, 2010
- LINK ^

The U.S. is rarely at peace. It doesn't matter which party or which politician is in power: American military forces will be on the move, invading a Third World nation here and threatening an emerging power there. In January 2009 Republican George W. Bush yielded to Democrat Barack Obama, and the U.S. government increased military spending and expanded the war in Afghanistan. If a Republican is elected in 2012, recent history suggests that defense outlays will grow further, as Washington attacks another nation or two.

Enthusiasm for war crosses party lines -- Robert Kagan recently wrote approvingly of the militaristic alliance between "liberal interventionist Democrats" and "hawkish internationalist Republicans" -- both groups which have never met a war they didn't want to fight. However, support for peace also is transpartisan. Such sentiments are perhaps strongest on the Democratic left, which increasingly feels disenfranchised by President Obama. A smaller contingent of libertarians, traditional conservatives, and paleo-conservatives has resisted the conservative movement's adoption of war-mongering intervention as a basic tenet. n;;;;;;xegg

Report Faults U.S.’s Efforts at Transparency
The New York Times - By Eric Lichtblau - March 14, 2010\
- LINK ^

WASHINGTON — In his first full day at the White House almost 14 months ago, President Obama declared openness and transparency to be touchstones of his administration, and he ordered federal agencies to make it easier for the public to get information on the workings of government. Indeed, Mr. Obama’s administration has posted White House visitor logs online, it has made public the once-classified memorandums on torture policies in the George W. Bush administration, and it has developed an internal system for archiving its own unclassified e-mail messages.

But a new report released Sunday by a private research group, the National Security Archive, suggests that the results of Mr. Obama’s push for transparency have been decidedly mixed across the federal government, with progress slow and erratic.
Editor - Question. Where is the Executive Order instructing his administration to go 'Transparent'?

Obama losing chance to reshape judiciary
Liberals had hoped he would counter a slew of conservative appointments in federal courts made by his Republican predecessors. But that hasn't happened.
Los Angeles Times - By James Oliphant - March 15, 2010
- LINK ^

Congress | US House rejects bid to end Afghanistan stay
Press TV
- LINK ^

GAO blocks contract to firm formerly known as Blackwater to train Afghan police
Federal auditors on Monday put a stop to Army plans to award a $1 billion training program for Afghan police officers to the company formerly known as Blackwater, concluding that other companies were unfairly excluded from bidding on the job.
Washington Post - By Joby Warrick - March 16, 2010
- LINK ^

CIA | Did the CIA test LSD in the New York City subway system?
Shades of Nazi medical experiments on Jews and others.
The New York Post - By Philip Messing - March 14, 2010
- LINK ^

On Nov. 28, 1953, Frank Olson, a bland, seemingly innocuous 42-year-old government scientist, plunged to his death from room 1018A in New York’s Statler Hotel, landing on a Seventh Avenue sidewalk just opposite Penn Station. Olson’s ignominious end was written off as an unremarkable suicide of a depressed government bureaucrat who came to New York City seeking psychiatric treatment, so it attracted scant attention at the time.

But 22 years later, the Rockefeller Commission report was released, detailing a litany of domestic abuses committed by the CIA. The ugly truth emerged: Olson’s death was the result of his having been surreptitiously dosed with LSD days earlier by his colleagues. The shocking disclosure led to President Gerald Ford’s apology to Olson’s widow and his three children, who accepted a $750,000 civil payment for his wrongful death.

But the belated 1975 mea culpa failed to close a tawdry chapter of our nation’s past. Instead it generated more interest into a series of wildly implausible “mind control” experiments on an unsuspecting populace over three decades. Much of this plot unfolded here, in New York, according to H.P. Albarelli Jr., author of “A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA’s Secret Cold War Experiments.”

“For me, in countless ways the Olson story is a New York City story,” said Albarelli, a former lawyer in the Carter White House, who has written extensively about biological warfare and intelligence matters. “The CIA itself was created and initially composed of wealthy men who came from Wall Street and New York City law firms.”

The shocking disclosure led to President Gerald Ford’s apology to Olson’s widow and his three children, who accepted a $750,000 civil payment for his wrongful death.

But the belated 1975 mea culpa failed to close a tawdry chapter of our nation’s past. Instead it generated more interest into a series of wildly implausible “mind control” experiments on an unsuspecting populace over three decades.

---

Activism at the Ground Level

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog." -- Mark Twain

The people's history reading list for Activists
Socialist Worker - February 5, 2010
- LINK ^^

ACLU Demands Disclosure Of Basic Facts About Bagram Detainees
NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union today asked a federal court to order the government to stop suppressing key information about the hundreds of prisoners at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Government Continues To Suppress Key Information About Hundreds Detained At Secretive Prison
ACLU Press Release - March 11, 2010
- LINK ^

ACLU et al | US rights groups demand release of young Canadian Gitmo inmate
Press TV - March 13, 2010
- LINK ^

Human Rights organizations have demanded that Washington drop military charges against a Guantanamo Bay detainee captured by the Americans at the age of 15. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Human Rights Watch, and Juvenile Law Center organizations have issued a joint letter to US Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, urging the release of Omar Khadr, a Canadian national arrested in Afghanistan in 2002 for allegedly throwing a grenade at a US army officer. They also say that Khadr should be prosecuted in accordance with international juvenile justice and fair trial standards in a federal court.

---

Global | Alert - ***** - Stop Violence Against Women
The International Rescue Committee - Current
- LINK ^^

Canada | Tell British Columbia’s government to protect Spirit Bears and end trophy bear hunting
Your message will be sent to: Gordon Campbell, Premier of British Columbia
Natural Resources Defense Council
- LINK ^

Canada | Tell British Columbia’s government to protect Spirit Bears and end trophy bear hunting
Your message will be sent to: Gordon Campbell, Premier of British Columbia
Natural Resources Defense Council
- LINK ^

US| Take Action | Anti-War Activists Plan Nationwide Protests to Mark Seventh Anniversary of Iraq Invasion
Truthout - By Mary Susan Littlepage - March 13. 2010
- LINK ^

US | Alert - Take Action Now - US | Don’t Let Corporations Buy Congressional Elections
Sponsored by: Common Cause - Current
- LINK ^^

Study shows money flooded into campaigns for state judgeships
Justices Ginsburg, O'Connor Say Fundraising Could Corrupt System, Reform is Needed.
ABC News - By Matthew Mosk - March 17. 2010
- LINK ^

In rare public remarks last week, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the money involved in electing judges remains one of the most pressing concerns facing the American court system. And she joined her former colleague, Sandra Day O'Connor, in calling for reform.

Concerns about the expanding role of money in judicial elections achieved widespread attention two years ago when ABC News and other outlets documented contributions from West Virginia mining executive Don Blankenship to fund an advertising campaign for a candidate for that state's high court. The CEO of the country's fourth largest coal company helped raise more than $3.5 million for ads aimed at getting a new judge elected, all while his company was appealing to the State supreme court a $70 million judgment against it.

Video | Let's Fight for Our Freedom
Democrats.com - Current
- LINK ^

US | Stop Big Agriculture Lobbyists from Killing Food Safety Reforms
Change.org - Sponsored by: Consumers Union of United States - Current
- LINK ^

---

Sound and Fury

Sound off at Carrumpah-Lobo - The Homosapiens.ki Blog
- Check in.

---

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.

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

Subscribe to a brief email notification as each issue of this site is posted. See top, left of any page io subscribe - no fee.

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
orchill@earthlink.net

In accordancee with TITLE 17 U.S.C. Sectopm 107, this material is distributed free 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 any 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.

---