Yulia Latynina writes: At the end of the 20th century, everything came full circle. The infrastructure of post-industrial society reached such a level of complexity that it became a weapon in itself. The weapon of the third world war is not the nuclear bomb, but the civilian airliner and the theater. This is a guerrilla war in which Islamic extremists are using the civilized world’s own infrastructure against it. The guerrillas believe that Islam should assume a leading position in the world, and that their enemies are enemies of Allah. But the real convictions of the shakhidy are very similar to those laid out by Ataulphus 16 centuries ago: “Why do these pampered cowards in their skyscrapers have everything, while we, who are prepared to die, have nothing?” I have no intention of indiscriminately knocking Islam, but for some reason we haven’t seen Shintoist terrorists. The snipers captured in Washington had accepted Islam, not Buddhism. The paradox of the third world war is that the terrorists cannot win. If they did, there would be no one to produce the weapons they like to use –airplanes and musicals. (10/31/02)
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New York Times – Dr. Kazmi doesn’t drink the water in Karachi, Pakistan. Enough said? Well, not really. Plenty of cities have water problems. Few have water problems to rival Karachi’s. One scientist here tied Karachi water a few years ago to 50 separate ailments. A second recent analysis by government water experts found at least 70 percent of all Karachi water samples fouled by microbes, chemical pollutants, or both. “It can cause skin problems and gastrointestinal problems,” Dr. Kazmi said. “It can cause an infection if it gets into a cut. It can cause hepatitis A and hepatitis E. It can cause rotovirus.” … Fifty years ago, Karachi was a placid port town of 435,000 souls. Twenty years ago, it had 5 million. Today it is 14 million strong, an awesome jumble of sepia-toned slums and high-rises. In Karachi, people either boil their tap water, boil water taken from grimy trucks roving the streets, boil water lifted from brackish, sewage-fouled wells — or, if they are lucky enough to afford it, buy bottled water. They should boil that, too: the government says that 11 of 21 brands of bottled water are themselves too contaminated for safe drinking. … The population explosion has created a water shortage totaling nearly 170 million gallons a day. The constant emptying and refilling of mains — in flat Karachi, all water must be pumped under pressure — strains 40-year-old pipes and creates bacteria-attracting leaks. Unable to wait for city services, thirsty new slums plug their own dirty pipes into city networks, spreading contamination. (Only 1.25 million customers are formally hooked up, and only 250,000 of those pay their bills.) Residents have taken to storing water in underground tanks that, seldom, if ever, cleaned, turn into huge petri dishes. High-rise clusters overtax the sewage system, which then overflows into wells and into the leaky water mains. Only seven in 10 gallons of water actually reaches the tap. Nobody knows the consequences of all this with precision. But the anecdotal evidence is sobering. When tap water becomes turbid, as it periodically does, hospitals swell with sick babies and the elderly, who lack the immunity induced by regular exposure to stomach bugs. (10/31/02)
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Yahoo! News – COVENTRY, England (Reuters) – A new test that detects a group of molecules in cancerous cells could revolutionize cancer screening by picking up early signs of bowel, cervical and other common forms of the disease. Professor Ron Laskey of the University of Cambridge and his colleagues have developed a simple, non-invasive test that pinpoints a group of molecules called MCMs which are found in rapidly dividing cancerous cells but not in healthy cells. If further studies confirm the results of early trials, he believes the molecular markers could form the basis for screening tests for bowel and other types of cancer such as cervical, bladder, oral, lung and breast. “It is affordable, non-invasive and it has the potential to revolutionize cancer screening,” Nobel Prize winner Sir Paul Nurse told a science conference. (10/31/02)
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Timothy Wilken, MD writes: 1) A Synergic Guardian may not injure the EARTH or, through inaction, allow the EARTH to come to harm. … 2) A Synergic Guardian may not injure LIFE or, through inaction, allow LIFE to come to harm, except where that would conflict with the First Law. … 3) A Synergic Guardian may not injure HUMANITY or, through inaction, allow HUMANITY to come to harm, except where that would conflict with the First or Second Laws. … 4) A Synergic Guardian may not injure an individual HUMAN, or through inaction, allow an idividual HUMAN to come to harm, except where that would conflict with the First, Second or Third Laws. … 5) A Synergic Guardian may not injure the Time-binding Trust and/or Primary or Secondary Property, or through inaction, allow the Time-binding Trust and/or Primary or Secondary Property to come to harm, except where that would conflict with the First, Second, Third or Fourth Laws. (10/30/02)
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Peter Russell writes: It is this belief that what we have or do determines our inner happiness that drives consumerism. We believe that buying things can make us happy. I don’t think that is the case. It may appear on the surface that things make us happy, but if you look more deeply at what’s actually going on, it is clear that we are being told by the advertisers and marketers that we’re missing something–the Channel dress or whatever it is–and that we cannot be happy without it. They create an artificial sense of missing something, and with it an artificial sense of unhappiness. We want something we haven’t got, and when we do go and buy it that wanting goes, and we feel happier again. You feel a wonderful relief, because the wanting has ceased. But it does not last for long. Soon there is something else we believe we need, and again we feel dissatisfied. The point is that it is not the buying of something that makes us happy, but buying it relieves us of the feeling of dissatisfaction that we have created for ourselves. Much of what we consume we consume not because of some physical need. We consume in order to satisfy some inner need. But since no external thing can ever really satiate an inner need, we keep on seeking, keep on buying, in the vain hope that if only we bought enough of the right things we will eventually find fulfillment. But all along we are looking in the wrong place. This is a brought out in a popular Sufi tale in which the character Nasrudin is out at night on his hands and knees underneath a street lamp in front of his house. His neighbour comes by and asks what he’s doing. “Looking for the key to my house”, says Nasrudin. So the neighbour gets down to help him look for it. After a while, when they still haven’t found the key, the neighbour asks where exactly Nasrudin had dropped it. “Somewhere in my house”, he replies. “Well why are you looking for it out here?” “Ah” says Nasrudin “there’s more light out here”. We may laugh, but that in a way is exactly what our society would have us do? We’ve lost the key to inner fulfillment. But rather than search for the answer inside ourselves we look out to the world around us because there is indeed more light out there. The human mind is still such a mystery. But the external world is a different matter. There’s more light there. We know how that works and how to change it. We can reshape it into computers, wonderful clothes, cars, almost anything we can imagine. This is the world we can manage. So we set about controlling it in some way or another, in the hope that we’ll create the right circumstances for inner peace. (10/30/02)
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New York Times – Maureen Dowd writes: After Saddam wakes at 5am and has coffee, the narrator says of the dictator, he moves on to personal hygiene: “This is especially important because Saddam prefers to be greeted with a kiss near the armpit.” As Saddam says, “It’s not appropriate for someone to attend a gathering or to be with his children with his body odour trailing behind him emitting sweet or stinky smell mixed with perspiration.” “It’s preferable to bathe twice a day, but at least … once a day,” continues the clean freak who craves dirty bombs. “And when the male bathes once a day, the female should bathe twice a day. The reason is that the female is more delicate and the smell of a woman is more noticeable than the male.” He’s a cross between Mohamed Atta and Pithecanthropus erectus. A former Iraqi minister observes: “If you want to meet with Saddam Hussein, there are many protocols: Pat you down, check your body, you have to clean. Saddam is scared to be contaminated by people.” No doubt the feeling is mutual. “Germs terrify the great leader,” the minister says. “The smallest cut is dealt with immediately.” Odd in a man whose stock in trade is germs. In the documentary, shot a couple of years ago, Saddam obsesses over his image. “He has a huge collection of hats for every occasion, even bulletproof hats for those pesky assassination attempts,” the narrator notes snidely. “He’s fastidious about his nails, and he regularly dyes his moustache a rich and regal black. Looking young … is one of his greatest concerns. Iraqis joke privately that there are 20 million Iraqis and 20 million portraits of Saddam. As if this isn’t enough, every day the cover of Iraq’s biggest newspaper features a photo of his excellency in a dashing new pose.” Saddam jokingly tells his people, that if a television breaks, just put a poster of him over it. There’s something chilling about the anti-Semitic head of a military power who gasses people, obsessing about his moustache. Heil Hussein. (10/30/02)
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UPI News – The Consumer Confidence Index in October fell more than 14 points to 79.4, its lowest level in nine years and its fifth consecutive monthly decline, the Conference Board said Tuesday. The group said its index, which uses 1985 as a base of 100, fell 14.3 percentage points from its 93.7 level for September, rattling the financial markets and indicating that the holiday season will be less than festive. “A weak labor market, the threat of military action in Iraq, and a prolonged decline in the financial markets have clearly dampened both consumers’ confidence and their expectations for the near future,” says Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board’s Consumer Research Center. “The outlook for the holiday retail season is now fairly bleak. Without the likelihood of a pickup in consumer spending, an already weak economic recovery could weaken further,” she added. The Present Situation Index fell to 77.5 from 88.5, and the Expectations Index declined to 80.7 from 97.2. Consumer Confidence is now at its lowest level since November 1993, when it stood at 71.9. (10/30/02)
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This is a transcript of a speech delivered on August 8, 2002 by Saddam Hussein to celebrate the 14th anniversary of the “great victory” over Iran in the war that ended in 1988. It provides an opportunity for Westerners to see into the mind of this middle east dictator. (10/30/02)
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The Washington Times – The incapacitating chemical the animals are darted with is etorphine, known to animal researchers as M99. M99 is a synthetic opiate more than 500 times as powerful as morphine and more than 250 times as powerful as heroin. The great danger with M99 is that the lethal dose is only a few (normally three to six, depending on the animal) times higher than the effective incapacitating dose. M99 is widely and commercially available. The Russian’s “secret” is that they made an aerosol spray out of M99 (normally a powder dissolved in water), converting it into a gas. Their grave mistake was that they guessed too high on what they effective dose would be. Too much M99 causes respiratory paralysis. The muscles of your lungs and diaphragm can’t move. Death from hypoxia — no air, no oxygen — comes quickly. And that’s what happened to the hostages: They stopped breathing. (10/30/02)
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Timothy Wilken, MD writes: Within synergic community, actions that injure humanity as community and/or humanity as individuals are prohibited. … Further, it is understood that actions that injure the EARTH and environment—the natural resources, fertile soils, waters, minerals, ores, metals, and the very air we breathe—also injures humanity. It is understood that actions that injures LIFE—the plants and animals and the biodiversity of all non-human Life—also injures humanity. It is understood that actions than injures the wealth produced by human action—whether in the form of Time-binding Trust or Property of living humans—also injures humanity. (10/29/02)
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Peter Russell writes: Sustainability must be understood in terms of the larger system of ecology, economy and society. I would like to take things a step further and expand our discussions to include another critical part of the total system — one that is usually ignored or forgotten — the human mind. It is not hard to see that most of the problems facing us today are partly caused by the actions of human beings. These actions are the result of human thinking and decisions, which in turn are based on human attitudes, needs and values. In many cases these are guided by greed, the love of money, the desire for power, self-centredness or other such qualities of human character. Thus the roots of our various environmental crises lie in the human mind as much as in technology, or economy. Yet we seldom, if ever, explore this critical aspect of the system. Part of the reason is that we still know very little about the human mind. We understand much more about the material world around us than we do of what goes on inside our own heads. As a result we tend to deal mainly with the external aspects of the system and do not concern ourselves with the human psychological aspects. If we fail to take into account the human roots of our crises it is unlikely we will ever find any lasting solutions. If you had a stomach ache and went to a doctor for treatment, you would not only want the doctor to give you something to ease the pain, you would expect him to look for the cause. Perhaps it is something you have eaten, or a viral infection, or possibly just stress. But if all the doctor did was to treat the symptom and not the root cause, the same problem is likely to recur. In a similar way, our efforts to halt deforestation, reduce carbon emissions, conserve resources, and take care of other aspects of the global system are all very important, but if that is all we do we are only treating the symptoms of a deeper problem. So long as the root cause is not attended to problems of one form or another will keep emerging. (10/29/02)
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Yahoo! News — Murder, rape and every other violent criminal act except aggravated assault rose last year, the FBI said Monday in reporting the first year-to-year increase in overall crime in a decade. The 15,980 murders represented a 2.5 percent increase over 2000, while forcible rapes were up less than 1 percent and robberies rose 3.7 percent. The FBI did not include the Sept. 11 deaths at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the plane crash in Pennsylvania. These deaths, the FBI said, “are different from the day-to-day crimes committed in this country.” The report listed the total number of Sept. 11 murder victims reported by law enforcement agencies as 3,047. Of those, 2,823 occurred at the World Trade Center, 184 at the Pentagon and 40 in Somerset County, Pa., the FBI reported. … Firearms accounted for 8,719 slayings, or about two-thirds, followed by knives, “personal” weapons such as fists and feet, blunt objects and such methods as drugs, strangulation and drowning. There were 10 murders-by-poison in the United States last year, according to the FBI. Police were unable to make arrests in about 80 percent of all cases. They did better with violent crimes, solving 46 percent, including two-thirds of all murders. Burglaries remain the toughest cases to crack, with just 13 percent of offenses resulting in arrests. (10/29/02)
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