Global
As religious leaders and organizations from the United States of America,
we join the global call for the timely establishment of an international
tribunal for East Timor.
We remember the tragedies endured by the people of East Timor and have heard their cries for justice. We agree that an international tribunal is necessary to hold accountable those most responsible for the war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed throughout the 24 years of brutal Indonesian military occupation.
The initial years of Indonesia's illegal occupation saw the deaths of more than one-third of East Timor's pre-1975 population. The occupation ended in 1999 amid a wave of terror and violence unleashed upon civilians countrywide. The Indonesian military committed countless atrocities in East Timor, including torture, rape, forced sterilization, disappearance and murder. Justice for such egregious crimes cannot be denied without serious repercussions. Indeed, peace in East Timor and the rule-of-law in Indonesia have already been seriously compromised.
We remember the tragedies endured by the people of East Timor and have heard their cries for justice. We agree that an international tribunal is necessary to hold accountable those most responsible for the war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed throughout the 24 years of brutal Indonesian military occupation.
The initial years of Indonesia's illegal occupation saw the deaths of more than one-third of East Timor's pre-1975 population. The occupation ended in 1999 amid a wave of terror and violence unleashed upon civilians countrywide. The Indonesian military committed countless atrocities in East Timor, including torture, rape, forced sterilization, disappearance and murder. Justice for such egregious crimes cannot be denied without serious repercussions. Indeed, peace in East Timor and the rule-of-law in Indonesia have already been seriously compromised.
STOMP is a hell of a kick. It's the Oltatunji of the Ashcans. The Kodo Drumming of the Alleyways. It is offbeat, imaginative, relentlessly unique in its working-class creativity, and, at its best, downright inspirational.
Gotta admit---it starts slow. You have to adjust to a set cobbled together from trashcans and hubcaps, discard signs and scrap metal. There's no orchestra and no lyrics. Marcel Marceau would get mugged in this neighborhood.
Festivities open with a guy pushing a broom. Soon there's a chorus line of broomsters, somehow making it all musical. And from there it goes...
Other "instruments" range from paperbags and daily newspapers to bottleopeners and kitchen utensils, from actual basketballs to apparently random trash.
Slowly, the cast establishes their characters. The sad sack. The macho muscle man. The Earth Mother. The firefly.
Gotta admit---it starts slow. You have to adjust to a set cobbled together from trashcans and hubcaps, discard signs and scrap metal. There's no orchestra and no lyrics. Marcel Marceau would get mugged in this neighborhood.
Festivities open with a guy pushing a broom. Soon there's a chorus line of broomsters, somehow making it all musical. And from there it goes...
Other "instruments" range from paperbags and daily newspapers to bottleopeners and kitchen utensils, from actual basketballs to apparently random trash.
Slowly, the cast establishes their characters. The sad sack. The macho muscle man. The Earth Mother. The firefly.
NEW YORK CITY -- Much as I hate to interrupt what is apparently
a deeply felt triumphalism on the American right, now that it's over, does
anyone see any reason for our having invaded Iraq?
I realize that's what we all kept trying to figure out before the invasion, but don't you think it should at least be visible in hindsight? Good thing we won the war, because the peace sure looks like a quagmire.
These are early days, certainly, to attempt a full historical evaluation. Could be a case of the forest and the trees. Perhaps we're well along the road to having everything work out magnificently, and I'm just missing it. Still, I can't see anything that's going right.
I realize that's what we all kept trying to figure out before the invasion, but don't you think it should at least be visible in hindsight? Good thing we won the war, because the peace sure looks like a quagmire.
These are early days, certainly, to attempt a full historical evaluation. Could be a case of the forest and the trees. Perhaps we're well along the road to having everything work out magnificently, and I'm just missing it. Still, I can't see anything that's going right.
AUSTIN, Texas -- This is a gross scandal. The Center for Public
Integrity has a stunning study out on the concentration of ownership in
telecommunications. The even more stunning news is that the Federal
Communications Commission, which theoretically represents you and me, is
about to make all of it even worse. And behind this betrayal of the public
trust is nothing but rotten, old-fashioned corruption. It's the old
free-trip-to-Vegas ploy, on a grand scale.
The Public Integrity people examined the travel records of FCC employees and found that they have accepted 2,500 trips, costing nearly $2.8 million over the past eight years, paid for by the telecommunications and broadcast industries, which are, theoretically, "regulated" by the FCC. The industry-paid travel is on top of about $2 million a year in official travel paid for by taxpayers.
The Public Integrity people examined the travel records of FCC employees and found that they have accepted 2,500 trips, costing nearly $2.8 million over the past eight years, paid for by the telecommunications and broadcast industries, which are, theoretically, "regulated" by the FCC. The industry-paid travel is on top of about $2 million a year in official travel paid for by taxpayers.
Don't waste your time fretting over the fortunes of the "road
map" to peace in the Middle East. It's all a fraud, following the contours
of all the other frauds down the years, back to such museum pieces as the
Rogers Plan, conceived in Nixon time.
The recipe is unvarying. The Palestinians are required to pledge that they will instantly abandon all vestiges of resistance to Israel's onslaughts on their persons, children, houses, land, crops, water, trees, livestock, roads, schools, universities, graveyards and public buildings.
In return Israel agrees that a few years down the road the government of Israel will begin to ponder the outlines of a dim possibility of formal ratification as a Palestinian statelet of whatever tiny sliver of territory they haven't already appropriated.
The recipe is unvarying. The Palestinians are required to pledge that they will instantly abandon all vestiges of resistance to Israel's onslaughts on their persons, children, houses, land, crops, water, trees, livestock, roads, schools, universities, graveyards and public buildings.
In return Israel agrees that a few years down the road the government of Israel will begin to ponder the outlines of a dim possibility of formal ratification as a Palestinian statelet of whatever tiny sliver of territory they haven't already appropriated.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is planning to vote next week on a
proposal to weaken rules that protect the public from media monopolies – even
though it hasn't released the proposal publicly. From the details that have
emerged, this proposal would weaken rules governing how many TV stations one
company can own, and may even permit a company to own newspapers and television
stations in the same local market. This would allow a few huge conglomerates to
monopolize what we see, hear and read in the media.
Please take a moment to tell the FCC and your members of Congress that you oppose the FCC's proposal to deregulate media ownership rules. Then, forward the informationto your family and friends.
Take action now: pirg.org/alerts/route.asp?id=467&id4=OHFreep
Background:
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has already deregulated radio, where the massive Clear Channel now owns at least 1200 stations, including multiple stations in the same markets. Now the FCC has scheduled a vote for Monday, June 2, to deregulate television as well.
Please take a moment to tell the FCC and your members of Congress that you oppose the FCC's proposal to deregulate media ownership rules. Then, forward the informationto your family and friends.
Take action now: pirg.org/alerts/route.asp?id=467&id4=OHFreep
Background:
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has already deregulated radio, where the massive Clear Channel now owns at least 1200 stations, including multiple stations in the same markets. Now the FCC has scheduled a vote for Monday, June 2, to deregulate television as well.
Call for International Tribunal, Regardless of Indonesian Court Verdicts
May 26, 2003 More than ninety leading religious leaders and organizations from across the U.S. released a statement today urging the U.S. government to support the establishment of an international tribunal for East Timor. The statement follows the last week's acquittal by an Indonesian court of former Indonesian military commander Brigadier General Tono Suratman for crimes against humanity committed in East Timor in 1999.
The religious figures called the Indonesian ad hoc Human Rights Court for East Timor a "sham" and said: "The U.S. and other governments must not pretend the Indonesian judicial process is in any way acceptable. We call on the U.S. Mission to the UN to actively work with its Security Council colleagues to pass a resolution establishing an international tribunal for East Timor. The world's powers must not again turn a blind eye to East Timor's suffering."
May 26, 2003 More than ninety leading religious leaders and organizations from across the U.S. released a statement today urging the U.S. government to support the establishment of an international tribunal for East Timor. The statement follows the last week's acquittal by an Indonesian court of former Indonesian military commander Brigadier General Tono Suratman for crimes against humanity committed in East Timor in 1999.
The religious figures called the Indonesian ad hoc Human Rights Court for East Timor a "sham" and said: "The U.S. and other governments must not pretend the Indonesian judicial process is in any way acceptable. We call on the U.S. Mission to the UN to actively work with its Security Council colleagues to pass a resolution establishing an international tribunal for East Timor. The world's powers must not again turn a blind eye to East Timor's suffering."
Thanks for the terrific article by Mr. Wasserman. A real honest comparrison to the "MATRIX". We need writers like him if there is any hope of saving our damaged nation.
PEACE!!
GUY FALGOUT
TERRYTOWN,LOUISIANA.
PEACE!!
GUY FALGOUT
TERRYTOWN,LOUISIANA.
AUSTIN, Texas -- It was horrible and sickening, but I could not
stop watching the final days of the Texas Legislature. Fellow Texans, the
ripple effects of this disaster will come to haunt us all.
Just for starters, this budget is going to cost about 144,000 jobs. Perhaps its most serious effect is on public hospitals. A health-care system so fragile that it is almost overwhelmed now -- turning away ambulances for hours at a time, unable to admit a single patient -- will be swamped after this. The counties will be desperate, the cities not much better. Every area of social service has been cut, not because we have a $9 billion deficit but because House Republicans do not believe government SHOULD help people.
Just for starters, this budget is going to cost about 144,000 jobs. Perhaps its most serious effect is on public hospitals. A health-care system so fragile that it is almost overwhelmed now -- turning away ambulances for hours at a time, unable to admit a single patient -- will be swamped after this. The counties will be desperate, the cities not much better. Every area of social service has been cut, not because we have a $9 billion deficit but because House Republicans do not believe government SHOULD help people.