Read this interesting article published by the World Security Network talking about a plan for peace in the Middle East.

This is a pretty intelligent and thought out plan for Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine to come to a peaceful resolution. The short story:

• Common values for all sides need to be established. i.e economic interdependence
• Israel, USA, and EU need to implement a policy of reconciliation in addition to power politics
• For instance, rebuilding the damaged infrastructure in Lebanon.
• Through compassion and interdependence, the pools of hatred and terrorism from which groups like Hezbollah, Hamas, and Fatah draw their power will dry up.
• Syria will be isolated from its neighbors as the only terror-sponsoring dictatorship and will have to transform itself in order to survive, probably changing into a democracy of some sort.
• Palestine needs a new pragmatic leadership to step up and make decisions that enable the state to have a purpose other then the destruction of Israel.

Anyway, and interesting article I thought. I did not know that Israel's attacks on Lebanon were actually done with the blessing of the UN - Resolution 1559 apparently allows another nation to come in and open up a can of whoopass on possible terrorist threats. Hmm sounds familiar... US is to Iraq as Israel is to Lebanon? Of course without the reconstruction, occupation, and endless world policing.

Source: World Security Network Newsletter

I encourage you all to give this a quick read for some 'common myths' regarding immigration

http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Documents/CommonMyths-Immigrants-FINAL.pdf

And a personal anecdote -

My girlfriend right now is Colombian, currently involved in a legal immigration process to get her greencard. She owns a house, holds a job, and pays the same taxes everyone else does. She is applying for legal 'US Residency' which you think would be easy for an educated electrical engineer.

Well here are some things you may not know about the legal prcoess of being allowed to live in the USA as a non-citizen (as a worker, not a college student):

* she has to work for a company willing to sponsor her H1-B VISA. It costs her employer $3000 to sponsor the VISA, and it will cost her $3000 more in the end to foot the bill for the immigration lawyers. I have a hard time picturing a job for an immigrant w/out a college education finding someone to pay $3000 for someone to start working for them, or to have the other 3 grand on hand to pay 'the man'.

* if she gets fired or quits, she has to leave the USA in 30 days. Imagine if someone told you that by law you had to sell your house and leave all your friends/other immigrant family members in the US within 30 days due to problems at work. Imagine having to stick w/ your job even if it is not what you want to do, just because you want to live in this country.

* if she gets into any legal trouble, it means exportation. The same offense that would land a frat-boy a $200 fine and a slap on the wrist for possession of marjiuana or the like would kick my giflreind out of the country!

anyway, i'm only writing this because i think that it is worth cutting the illegals a little bit of slack - they are doing jobs that most americans don't want to do, and they're paying taxes just like the rest of us. In reality, this helps both sides: US economy benfits because outsiders help the economy keep going, and the international person gets to live in a country that offers higher quliaty of life.

anyway, please leave comments about this if you feel compelled...

Oh gosh, now this it too much. The US government Department of Homeland Security has just launched ready.gov - a new site created to help American families prepare for terrorist attacks. First off, just surfing the site is funny enough to me.

• Check out this comic strip I downloaded from the 'Ready Kids' section: Comic Strip (PDF file)
• But really the funniest part are these 'warning symbols' created to help people stay on alert. Check out this hilarous critique of the warning symbols(PDF file) sent around the NI office here today!

Source: Erin, Thanks

In case you wanted another world issue to worry about, here ya go: The monoculture in Uzbekistan – the production of cotton – is the source of the huge environmental problem in Central Asia. The production of cotton requires a lot of water. This was taken from the two rivers – the Syrdar'ya and the Amudar'ya – that used to fill the Aral Sea. However in recent years and decades, the Aral Sea is drying up. Check out this crazy photo!

Moral of this story: Buy polyester striped shirts instead of cotton striped shirts?

Source: World Security Network Newsletter

Check out this yahoo news article. Brazil is showing very low AIDS rates -- much lower than were expected from a country with such free sexual attitudes. The US offers money to countries around the globe to help curb the spread of AIDS. Interestingly, Brazil has decided to turn down the $40 million that the US offered them -- because of a conservative clause in the contract that the money had to be used to badmouth the sex working industry in Brazil and promote abstinence. Way to go Brazil, way to not sell out :) Maybe governmental conservatives should start paying attention to our Brazilian counterparts and stop being so damn uptight, especially with regard to sex. Stupid Americans!

Source: Tom, yahoo.com

Click here to Disuss Gas. I recently got an email from Jennie L. telling me to 'strike' by not buying gas on a certain date. I will attach the contents of that note. My question is, wouldn't this just hurt small town gas stations and not the big wig oil outfits it is geared to attack? I find it hard to believe the trucking industry will pass on gas for one day out of the year.

Don't buy gas on May 19th IT HAS BEEN CALCULATED THAT IF EVERYONE IN THE UNITED STATES DID NOT PURCHASE A DROP OF GASOLINE FOR ONE DAY AND ALL AT THE SAME TIME, THE OIL COMPANIES WOULD CHOKE ON THEIR STOCKPILES.

AT THE SAME TIME IT WOULD HIT THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY WITH A NET LOSS OF OVER 4.6 BILLION DOLLARS WHICH AFFECTS THE BOTTOM LINES OF THE OIL COMPANIES.

THEREFORE MAY 19TH HAS BEEN FORMALLY DECLARED "STICK IT TO THEM" DAY AND THE PEOPLE OF THIS NATION SHOULD NOT BUY A SINGLE DROP OF GASOLINE THAT DAY.

THE ONLY WAY THIS CAN BE DONE IS IF YOU FORWARD THIS E-MAIL TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN AND AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN TO GET THE WORD OUT.

WAITING ON THIS ADMIINSTRATION TO STEP IN AND CONTROL THE PRICES IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE REDUCTION AND CONTROL IN PRICES THAT THE ARAB NATIONS PROMISED TWO WEEKS AGO?

REMEMBER ONE THING, NOT ONLY IS THE PRICE OF GASOLINE GOING UP BUT AT THE SAME TIME AIRLINES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES, TRUCKING COMPANIES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES WHICH EFFECTS PRICES ON EVERYTHING THAT IS SHIPPED. THINGS LIKE FOOD, CLOTHING, BUILDING MATERIALS, MEDICAL SUPPLIES ETC. WHO PAYS IN THE END? WE DO!

WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. IF THEY DON'T GET THE MESSAGE AFTER ONE DAY, WE WILL DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN.

SO DO YOUR PART AND SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW. MARK YOUR CALENDARS AND MAKE MAY 19TH A DAY THAT THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES SAY "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH"

To briefly elaborate on the WalMart Society we live in, the whole 'consumer attitude' in this country is part of a more fundamental problem that goes way beyond politics -- consuming whatever big corps throw at us makes us lazy and unable fend for ourselves in the modern world. Consuming mass produced everything stunts our collective creativity and decreases our productivity in the long run. This problem forces the US population to meet the stereotype that we currently face (US folks are fat and lazy).

I'm worried that much of america has become enslaved to the cheapest, mass-produced solution offered. I love being a part of this society in the past 50 years: Ingenuity and Creativity and Success have been integral to our collective character. I don't want to see it change because we all start buying the same blender at Target and it starts us down the slippery slope of lazy consumerism. Help USians to not lose our creative ingenuity in this mess; buy your blenders elsewhere.

I just don't get it. Am I out of touch with the rest of America? How could the US put Bush back in for 4 more years? How could the majority of the country be in favor of consersative social values and unecessary wars? I'm sick and tired of being associated with a country that doesn't align with my thinking. While travelling, I'm tired of explaining that I don't agree with nearly every action our republican government takes. I'm tired of seeing environmental protection dissappear.

Are these the types of Wal-Mart buying consuming Americans that are left in this rural areas of this country? Who are Americans - do they like wars and big military cause they like kicking ass? Do they like having Christianity shoved down their throat and the throats of their children by the highest governmental officials? Are they afraid of peace? Afraid of change?

I think it is sad.

I got an email this morning from a friend in Norway that was empty except for a link to a site for getting visas to live/work in his country. It is tempting... The blurring of the line separating church and state really scares me. The separation of church and state is one of the principles built into our government that helps us be united and strong. Bush will probably appoint several supreme court justices. Their approval will be easier than ever since the Congress is even more heavily Republican now. For those of us who aren't evangelical, and consider religion and spirituality a private matter like Kerry does, these justices will produce many years of aggravating rulings. Roe v. Wade could be at risk, etc. What will be scary is if the democrats make adjustments to try and win and incorporate evangelical Christian "values" and neo conservative foreign policy into their party. Like the Republicans, Democrats will be trying to tell people how to live their personal lives. They'll be for spreading democracy throughout the world at gunpoint. The democrats have given up on gun control, the death penalty, etc. How will they become distinguishable from the Republicans if they lose every last liberal ideal? They won't, and democracy will be dead. I'm trying not to get too depressed about this election. The good news is that our community, Travis County, is pretty friendly to our viewpoint. 56% voted for Kerry here.

Oh well, I guess I didn't explain why Bush won the popular vote. Here comes the really jaded analysis:
1. People are dumb and therefore had a closer psychological link to the president who is also dumb. I mean, don't say he's not dumb. Looks dumb. Talks dumb. *IS* dumb. Just like the multi-billion dollar pro-wrestling industry.
2. Latino votes for Bush grew big time because of the evangelical Christianity of Bush.
3. Uneducated people are afraid because they don't understand terrorism and Bush exploited that fear effectively by bringing up 9/11 all the time and claiming we would be all be killed if Kerry were elected. New Yorkers were the ones attacked and killed in the 9/11 attacks, and therefore would have the best excuse for being afraid, but who did they vote for? Kerry. Because they have educations. Lot of them have degrees. Who gave Bush big landslides? All those states that rank low on education scales and voted 90% to prevent gays and lesbians from having civil unions. All those red rural states? Uneducated fools that couldn't even follow Kerry's eloquent talk about his faith.
4. Money. Bush gave like $1000 to every voter in 2001 with his tax break and people liked that. Like dogs given scraps or junkies given a free fix. Ironically massive #s of people who make minimum wage and could have benefited from Kerry, who said in the debates that he would raise the minimum wage a buck or so, voted for Bush because they are uneducated and therefore followed analysis points numbers 1 and 3 above.

Here's the content of an interview w/ a respected NASA scientist that spent his off-hours analyzing a video of the president with Photoshop. He stakes his 'repuation' that Bush had some type of device on his back during the debate.

Quote from the article:

For the past week, while at home, using his own computers, and off the clock at Caltech and NASA, Nelson has been analyzing images of the president's back during the debates. A professional physicist and photo analyst for more than 30 years, he speaks earnestly and thoughtfully about his subject. "I am willing to stake my scientific reputation to the statement that Bush was wearing something under his jacket during the debate," he says. "This is not about a bad suit. And there's no way the bulge can be described as a wrinkled shirt."

Source: Erik B: Link to Salon.com's article