Flyby News
"News Fit to Transmit in the Post Cassini Flyby Era"
US Threat * Buffalo Soldiers * Malik Free * ENVY
16 June 2006
"George Bush's six years in office have so damaged the image of the US
that people worldwide see Washington as a bigger threat
to world peace than Tehran, according to a global poll.”1) US Seen as a Bigger Threat to Peace Than Iran- - U.S. insists on right to develop arms for outer space
- - U.S. Lays Waste to Another Iraqi City
- - Sexually Harassed Soldier is Arrested
- - Keeping Iraq's Oil In the Ground
- - Feingold Addresses Group, Criticizes Bush
2) Massacre of the Buffalo Soldiers - - 9/11 Revolutionary Call To Action
3) Message of Liberation by Malik Abdullah Akili- - Personal Invitation to testify on the ENVY uprate
Editor's Notes:Based on what is happening on Earth and outer space, it is no wonder that a world-wide poll found the US a bigger threat than Iran. The articles in item one back this up. The last one was published by AP on Senator Russ Feingold at the Take Back America conference. He received a "raucous, enthusiastic greeting ..as he criticized President Bush for the Iraq war and a secretive domestic wiretapping program. The same crowd had booed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., the presumed 2008 front-runner..”
Item 2 opens with a special Greg Palast article about how Black soldiers, who, while risking their lives in Iraq, had their votes ripped off in the US. The second part of the item is an update from the recent 9/11 conference, and on the film, “America Freedom to Fascism,” which has a mainstream theatrical release date - July 28th.
Item three opens with a message of liberation from my dear friend, Malik Abdullah Akili. On June 24, 2006, Malik will be walking free outside a prison cell while holding on to his principles and integrity. Now for the release dates for
Mumia, Leonard, Lori, Jehan, Richard, and other political and prisoners of conscience.The second part of item 3 is a personal appeal by Ray Shadis to friends of New England. “Please set aside either the evening of the 26th of June or the day of the 27th of June per the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission press release appended below, to come to Brattleboro and testify regarding the Extended Power Uprate of Entergy Nuclear's Vermont Yankee.”
O eons of darkness, eternal night,
you are only a backdrop for wondrous light..
and here I might find through the core of self,
the entrance, to illuminate, to perceive,
to flow with atoms expelling light
as a river of purity in the deepness of night.
1) US Seen as a Bigger Threat to Peace Than Iran- - U.S. insists on right to develop arms for outer space
- - U.S. Lays Waste to Another Iraqi City
- - Sexually Harassed Soldier is Arrested
- - Keeping Iraq's Oil In the Ground
- - Feingold Addresses Group, Criticizes Bush
U.S. insists on right to develop arms for outer spaceTue, Jun 13, 2006
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday reasserted its right
to develop weapons for use in outer space to protect its military and
commercial satellites and ruled out any global negotiations on a new
treaty to limit them.
For the complete article, see:
U.S. insists on right to develop arms for outer space= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - US Seen as a Bigger Threat to Peace Than Iran,
Worldwide Poll SuggestsPublished June 15, 2006 by the Guardian / UK
· Findings also show fall in support for war on terror
· Decline in America's image 'all to do with Iraq'
by Ewen MacAskill
George Bush's six years in office have so damaged the image of the US that people worldwide see Washington as a bigger threat to world peace than Tehran, according to a global poll.
The Washington-based Pew Research Centre, in a poll of 17,000 people in 15 countries between March and May, found more people concerned about the US presence in Iraq than about Iran's alleged nuclear weapons ambitions.
The Pew Centre said: "Despite growing concern over Iran's nuclear ambitions, the US presence in Iraq is cited at least as often as Iran - and in many countries much more often - as a danger to world peace."
The survey, carried out annually, shows a continued decline in support for the US since 1999. The US image for most of the 20th century has been relatively positive, being regularly identified with democracy, human rights and openness in spite of criticism from the left, which reached a height during the Vietnam war, and a residual suspicion in the Muslim world.
But even in the UK, Washington's closest ally, favourable ratings have slumped from 83% in 1999 to 56% this year. The pattern is similar in France, down from 62% to 39%, Germany 78% to 37%, and Spain 50% to 23%.
In Muslim countries with which the US has traditionally enjoyed a good relationship, such as Turkey - a member of Nato - and Indonesia, there have also been slumps. In Indonesia favourable ratings for the US have dropped from 75% to 30%, and in Turkey from 52% to 12%.
Truncated, for the complete article, see:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0615-02.htm= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - U.S. Lays Waste to Another Iraqi CityBy Dahr Jamail, AlterNet
Posted on June 15, 2006, Printed on June 15, 2006
[EXCERPT]
Fearful residents are now pouring out of Ramadi after the U.S. military has been assaulting the city for months with tactics like cutting water, electricity and medical aid, imposing curfews, and attacking by means of snipers and random air strikes. This time, Iraqis there are right to fear the worst -- an all-out attack on the city, similar to what was done to nearby Fallujah.
The media blackout on Ramadi is already rivaling the blackout on the draconian measures employed by the military during the November 2004 siege of Fallujah, if not surpassing it. Thus far, the military have remained reluctant to allow even embedded reporters to travel with them in Ramadi. With each passing U.S. assault on an Iraqi city, the media blackout grows darker -- and with Ramadi, it is the darkest yet.
Dahr Jamail is an independent journalist who reports from Iraq.
View the complete article online at:
www.alternet.org/story/37576/= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - Sexually Harassed Soldier is Arrested
After Refusing to Redeploy to IraqPolice in Eugene, Oregon have arrested 21-year-old Army Specialist Suzanne Swift for refusing to return to fight in Iraq.
Swift served in Iraq for a year but decided she could not return and went AWOL. Not only did she feel the war lacked purpose,
Swift said her superiors repeatedly sexually harassed her while serving in Iraq.
Democracy Now! speaks with her mother, Sara Rich.
Listen/Watch/Read:
www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/06/15/1410258= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - Keeping Iraq's Oil In the GroundBy Greg Palast, AlterNet
Posted on June 14, 2006, Printed on June 15, 2006
[EXCERPT]
World oil production today stands at more than twice the 15-billion a-year maximum projected by Shell Oil in 1956 -- and reserves are climbing at a faster clip yet. That leaves the question, Why this war?
Did Dick Cheney send us in to seize the last dwindling supplies? Unlikely. Our world's petroleum reserves have doubled in just twenty-five years -- and it is in Shell's and the rest of the industry's interest that this doubling doesn't happen again. The neo-cons were hell-bent on raising Iraq's oil production. Big Oil's interest was in suppressing production, that is, keeping Iraq to its OPEC quota or less. This raises the question, did the petroleum industry, which had a direct, if hidden, hand, in promoting invasion, cheerlead for a takeover of Iraq to prevent overproduction?
It wouldn't be the first time. If oil is what we're looking for, there are, indeed, extra helpings in Iraq. On paper, Iraq, at 112 billion proven barrels, has the second largest reserves in OPEC after Saudi Arabia. That does not make Saudi Arabia happy. Even more important is that Iraq has fewer than three thousand operating wells... compared to one million in Texas..
The following was written three decades ago:
Although its original concession of March 14, 1925, cove- red all of Iraq, the Iraq Petroleum Co., under the owner- ship of BP (23.75%), Shell (23.75%), CFP [of France] (23.75%), Exxon (11.85%), Mobil (11.85%), and [Calouste] Gulbenkian (5.0%), limited its production to fields constituting only one-half of 1 percent of the country's total area. During the Great Depression, the world was awash with oil and greater output from Iraq would simply have driven the price down to even lower levels.
For the complete article, see:
www.alternet.org/story/37371/Also posted:
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/061406J.shtml= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - Feingold Addresses Group, Criticizes BushBy Frederic J. Frommer
The Associated Press
14 June 2006
Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold
(news, bio, voting record), a potential 2008 presidential candidate, received a raucous, enthusiastic greeting Wednesday from a liberal group as he criticized President Bush for the Iraq war and a secretive domestic wiretapping program.
The same crowd had booed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., the presumed 2008 front-runner, a day earlier for opposing a set date for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.
Feingold was the first senator to call for a timetable to bring back troops, a popular position at the Take Back America conference.
"Run, Russ, run," some chanted as the Wisconsin senator stepped to the podium. Others wore buttons and stickers with the same sentiment.
"They got it wrong in Iraq," Feingold said to applause. "Iraq was a mistake."
And he reiterated a theme he's made in recent speeches, exhorting Democrats to show some backbone. Everywhere he goes, Feingold said, people ask him the same question: "When are you guys going to stand up?"
Many in the crowd responded by doing just that, greeting the challenge with a standing ovation.
Feingold said that Democrats are wrong to play it safe this year, in the hopes that they can pick up seats in Congress simply because of sinking Republican popularity.
"There will not be progressive change in this country this year or any other year if we think we can win by default, or by running out the clock," he said.
Feingold got one of his loudest responses when he reiterated his view that Bush's wiretapping program falls in the "strike zone" of impeachable offenses. Feingold has proposed censuring Bush over the program.
"There has to be some accountability," Feingold said. "... The president must follow the law."
Although his censure proposal has yet to catch on in Congress, Feingold said, "We've got 2 1/2 years."
-------
For original posting, see:
Feingold addresses group, criticizes Bushalso, posted at:
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/061506D.shtmlTo learn more on Feingold, see FN’s:
Campaigns for reclaiming a lost USA democracy
2) Massacre of the Buffalo Soldiers - - 9/11 Revolutionary Call To Action
Massacre of the Buffalo Soldiers
June 16, 2004
African-American Voters Scrubbed by Secret GOP Hit List
by Greg PalastAs reported for Democracy Now!
Palast, who first reported this story for BBC Television Newsnight (UK) and Democracy Now! (USA), is author of the New York Times bestseller, Armed Madhouse.
The Republican National Committee has a special offer for African-American soldiers: Go to Baghdad, lose your vote.
A confidential campaign directed by GOP party chiefs in October 2004 sought to challenge the ballots of tens of thousands of voters in the last presidential election, virtually all of them cast by residents of Black-majority precincts.
Files from the secret vote-blocking campaign were obtained by BBC Television Newsnight, London. They were attached to emails accidentally sent by Republican operatives to a non-party website.
One group of voters wrongly identified by the Republicans as registering to vote from false addresses: servicemen and women sent overseas.
*******
For Greg Palast's discussion with broadcaster Amy Goodman on the Black soldier purge of 2004, go to
http://gregpalast.com/armedmadhouse/palastDN6-14-06.mp3*******
For the complete article by Greg Palast, posted June 16th, 2006, see:
www.gregpalast.com/massacre-of-the-buffalo-soldiers#more-1418= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - 9/11 Revolutionary Call To Actionby Mia Hamel
..Aaron Russo was unable to attend the [Chicago, 9/11] conference due to illness. Watch this Interview of the film maker about his documentary "America--Freedom To Fascism". This is a very powerful and timely message. Please circulate to everyone you know.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3254488777215293198&q=freedom+to+fascism "America--Freedom To Fascism" rated "FOUR STARS" (Highest Rating). Standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival
"The scariest goddamn film you'll see this year. It will leave you staggering out of the theatre, slack-jawed and trembling. Makes 'Fahrenheit 9/11' look like 'Bambi.' After watching this movie, your comfy, secure notions about America -- and about what it means to be an American -- will be forever shattered. Producer/director Aaron Russo and the folks at Cinema Libre Studio deserve to be heralded as heroes of a post-modern New American Revolution. This is shocking stuff. You'll be angry, you'll be disgusted, but you may actually break out in a cold sweat and feel a sickness deep in your gut; I would advise movie theatre managers to hand out vomit bags. You may end up needing one." --- Todd David Schwartz, CBS
More conference related news coming out every day:
911truth.org/911rtt/ Many fascinating people are now communicating with me via email about a variety of topics. In the interest of sharing these insights and ideas publicly, I propose posting them at the 911RevealingTheTruth.org Forums
911truth.org/phpBB2/ . I don't have much experience in doing such things but the dialoguing is so important! Let's make the forum come alive with a ferment of new initiatives!
'Resources' already has posts of audio, video, photos and links, for instance, Strategy for the 9/11 Truth Movement
www.communitycurrency.org/plenary.html In 'Community & Action' there is a Call to Nonviolent Civil Disobedience that resonates with me.
911truth.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9&highlight= You can now buy the Keynote Speeches here:
911truth.org/911rtt/presentation-dvds.html What does a thinking, ethical person do with the nightmare facts of 911? Check out this link I found on 911blogger :
www.stoplying.ca/articles/june06/justdoit061406.htm Another source of 911 Videos & Links
www.911busters.com/ Audio/Video Archives of past 911 Truth Conferences & Inquiries, Evidence, Humor
Listen to 911 ballad "Conspiracy Theory"
www.myspace.com/skeptosis Did anyone else catch the reference to 9/11 in Kucinich's speech? Congressman Kucinich (D-OH),
www.kucinich.us who has led opposition within the Congress to the war from the beginning, issued the following statement on the war Supplemental Funding bill on the House floor Monday evening:
"Mass death on the installment plan. That's what this supplemental vote to keep our troops in Iraq is all about.
"Today Iraqi civilian casualties number well over 100,000. Iraqi civilian injuries could be over one million, but who is keeping track? Some act as though the Iraqis are not real people, with real families, real hopes and real dreams and loves of their own.
"We have lost nearly 2,500 of our own brave soldiers. Up to 48,000 troops have suffered physical or emotional injuries that could scar them and their loved ones for life.
"Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Steiglitz says the war could cost $2 trillion dollars. Two trillion dollars for war while the American people are told we don't have enough money for job creation, education, health care and social security.
"The Administration went into Iraq without an exit strategy not because they are incompetent, but because they have no intention of leaving.
"We are spending hundreds of millions building permanent bases in Iraq. The Administration recently announced deployment of no less than 50,000 troops in Iraq far into the future. We are looking at the permanent occupation of Iraq.
"And so the long cadence of lies has led to Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and Haditha, soon to be replaced by more lies and more tragedies.
"What can you say when you are watching your nation descend, sleep walking, into something like the lower circles of hell in Dante's Inferno?
"You can say stop it ! You can say enough blood is enough blood !
"You can stop it ! Bring our troops home !
"You can say no to any more funds for this war ! And then we can begin a period of truth and reconciliation about 9/11 and Iraq. Begin the healing of the soul of America.
The Bible says, 'He who troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind.' Our house has been troubled by this war based on lies. What will our inheritance be?"
The White Rose Lives!
Mia
911Truth.org^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^
America - Freedom to Fascism New Trailer -
America Freedom to Fascism will open
as a mainstream theatrical release on July 28
AMERICA: FREEDOM TO FASCISM
Cinema Libre Studio 3 min 10 sec ...
v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v
For more resources to get the truth out, see:
Films that Make a Difference!
3) Message of Liberation by Malik Abdullah Akili- - Personal Invitation to testify on the ENVY uprate
Message of Liberation
by Malik Abdullah Akili
June 4, 2006
My prison experience is a good example that the truth crushed to the ground shall rise again. Many of you on the outside do not understand that prison is a microcosm of the outside world, and the same oppression that goes on inside prison goes on out there; and, so, from the beginning of my sentence I defied the authorities by refusing to cooperate. As a result, I was shipped to every Prison around the State. I was confined to “lock-up” a solitary cell. As the years passed and I remained steadfast, they came to regard my behavior as that of a revolutionary. I was told that I would crack and break under the strain. I did not break, nor did I retreat from my position. In fact, I grew even stronger, and more defiant. If I had submitted to exploitation and did what they wanted, it would have killed my spirit and condemn me to a living existence here in hell.
They didn’t understand politically that to cooperate in prison meant reactionary suicide to me. While solitary confinement can be physically and mentally destructive, I took actions with an understanding of the risk; because to cooperate would have been my going against all the revolutionary principles I stand for. I had to suffer through certain situations; yet my resistance told my enemies that I rejected all they stood for. Even though my struggle might have harmed my health, and could have killed me, I also view my time inside as a way of raising the consciousness of other prisoners; a way of supporting my defense committee, Flyby News, the people of my community, to all those who have been supportive throughout the years, and the movement as a whole.
Only resistance can destroy the pressures that cause repression. I have come to believe that it’s very important for us not to give up hope, or the principles that we are our own liberators. In my darkest hour, I have never lost sight of the possibility of hope, or a reality based on a resolute determination to bring about our true liberation. . . My life here draws to a conclusion. The Supreme has told the Department of Correction to release me from prison on June 24, 2006.
It has been a very long and difficult struggle for my Attorney, Harold V. Ferguson and me, but we were firm, steadfast, and never lost hope. He believed in me, and in return I never lost faith in him. The time has come to open the gates to let me step out to the other side to be among the masses, and so, let me say that we must not forget about Mumia Abu Jamal ~ in the same fashion that we did not forget about Elmer Gerard (Geronimo) Ji Jaga. Please put more effort, strength, and energy in your push to make us our own liberators by liberating Mumia.
With warm and much revolutionary love,
Malik Abdullah Akili
For more on Malik Abdullah Akili,
Mumia Abu-Jamal, and friends, see:
A Nation Behind Bars: the buried talents of a population= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - Personal Invitation to testify on the ENVY uprateYou are needed to testify on the ENVY uprate
by Raymond Shadis
[EXCERPT]
Dear Friends of Vermont,
This is my personal invitation to stand and be counted in the fight to protect the Connecticut River Valley, indeed all of New England, from the threat of yet another nuclear accident . Please set aside either the evening of the 26th of June or the day of the 27th of June per the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission press release appended below, to come to Brattleboro and testify regarding the Extended Power Uprate of Entergy Nuclear's Vermont Yankee.
I thank you for your generosity and support and I am asking that you yet again take part in the struggle.
WHAT TO SAY?
We can help. Please contact me directly via e-mail for a general list of suggested topics and references. Once you have , with or without help, selected a topic, I am here to assist with information and suggestions and to answer questions.
Raymond Shadis
Staff Technical Advisor
New England CoalitionPost Office Box 98
Edgecomb, Maine 04556
207-882-7801
shadis@prexar.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ORAL COMMENTS TO BE ACCEPTED ON JUNE 26 AND 27REGARDING PROCEEDING ON VERMONT YANKEE POWER UPRATE
www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/news/2006/06-036i.htmlNRC NEWS
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs, Region I
475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406
www.nrc.gov - No. I-06-036
June 9, 2006
CONTACT:
Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330
Neil A. Sheehan (610) 337-5331
E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov
Individuals who are not a party to the Atomic Safety & Licensing Board Panel (ASLBP) hearing regarding the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant power uprate will have an opportunity to offer comments on matters of concern related to the proceeding on Monday, June 26, and Tuesday, June 27. The remarks, which will be transcribed, will be received by the three-member ASLBP handling the hearing.
Known as “limited appearance statements,” the comments will be accepted from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m., as needed, on June 26 at the Latchis Theatre, at 50 Main St. in Brattleboro, Vt. (Directions are available on the theatre’s web site at:
http://www.latchis.com/location.html .) They will also be accepted at the same location from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1:30 to 4 p.m., as needed, on June 27.
“The purpose of the limited appearance statements is to allow members of the public to alert the Board and the parties to areas relating to the uprate and the admitted contentions in which evidence may need to be adduced (brought forward), and to assist the Board in its consideration of these issues,” a notice on the sessions issued by the ASLBP states.
Persons wishing to make an oral statement who have submitted a timely written request to do so will be given priority when it comes to the speaking order at the sessions. To be considered timely, a written request must either be e-mailed, faxed or sent by regular mail so as to be received by 5 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, June 20. Requests can be e-mailed to: hearingdocket@nrc.gov; faxed to: (301) 415-1101; or mailed to: Office of the Secretary, Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C. 20555-0001. Copies of requests should be e-mailed to: jmr3@nrc.gov and ksv@nrc.gov; faxed to: (301) 415-5599; or mailed to: Alex S. Karlin, Chairman, c/o: Jonathan Rund, Esq., Law Clerk, Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, Mail Stop T-3 E2C, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C. 20555-0001.
In September 2003, Entergy Nuclear applied to the NRC for a 20-percent power uprate for Vermont Yankee, which is located in Vernon, Vt. Subsequently, the Vermont Department of Public Service (DPS) and the New England Coalition (NEC), a public interest group, filed requests for a hearing on the proposal. An ASLBP was formed to hear the requests and ruled in November 2004 that the DPS and NEC had established standing and that each had submitted admissible contentions.
On March 2, 2006, the NRC staff announced that it had approved the power uprate after more than two years and more than 11,000 staff-hours of review.
The Vermont DPS notified the ASLBP on May 2, 2006, of its intention to withdraw from the hearing and seek dismissal of its contentions. The ASLBP has since granted that request.
As such, there are currently two NEC contentions still under consideration in the hearing process. One has to do with large transient testing as a condition of the power uprate; the other pertains to the ability of the plant’s cooling towers to withstand an earthquake and other natural phenomena without loss of capability to perform its safety functions at the higher power level.
In addition to receiving limited appearance statements, the board intends to conduct an evidentiary hearing on the remaining contentions. That hearing will take place during the weeks of Sept. 11 and Oct. 16 at a location still to be determined.
Translate this Page!
The views expressed herein are the writers' own and not necessarily those of Flyby News.
A "Fair Use Policy" that describes FNs' use of copyrighted material is posted at FlybyNews.com.
Your feedback for story suggestions and networking Flyby News are welcomed and appreciated.
You can write to the publisher/editor Jonathan Mark via email: info@flybynews.com
If you would like to receive more Flyby News alerts for the New England
region, send an email to flyby@mtdata.com & insert "subscribe" in subject
Flyby News is educational and nonviolent in focus, and has supported critical campaigns
for a healthy environment, human rights, justice, peace, and nonviolence,
since the launching of NASA's Cassini space probe in 1997.=====News Fit to Transmit in the Post Cassini Flyby Era====> = = = = = = www.FlybyNews.com = = = = =