Igor Yopsvoyomatsky, editor-in-chief of paranoiaisfact.com, guest columnist for the Daily Event,
answers readers' questions.

Dear Igor,

When the upcoming terrorist trials were announced my husband Todd rented a back hoe and started digging an underground bunker in our front yard. He's down there now, about sixty feet underground, and won't even come up for cuddles. Todd says the trials are the first step in the terrorist takeover of our country. That Obama is a sleeper agent of Al Qaeda, charged with sowing discord and confusion and leading to the dismantling of democratic institutions in the name of security, forced conversion to Islam and imposition of Sharia on the US. Is this paranoia or fact?

Sara P.
Anchorage, Alaska.

Dear Sara,

This is paranoia with a germ of fact. Obama is not an agent of Al Qaeda. But he is a dupe. The naivete of his administration is matched only by its serene self-assurance. They are like the chess player who makes a move without considering his opponent's response.

Look for three unintended consequences of the trials.

1. SECURITY. The NYPD will establish a security perimeter around the courthouse. Within this perimeter it will be discovered that there are hundreds of Arab, South Asian and African Muslims selling halal food, souvenirs and clothing. Millions of man hours and hundreds of millions of dollars will be spent vetting each of these individuals and a number of them will be questioned because of association with mosques, imams and/or organizations on the watch list. There will be an outcry from the Muslim community. Ethnic profiling will be alleged, lawsuits commenced, predictable positions taken on both sides of the issue. In the end the US will be made to look like the polarized polity that it is fast becoming.

All employees of the NYPD, Corrections Department and Federal Marshall service will be checked. Muslim officers will object, saying they are being singled out, their loyalty questioned. In addition the net will drag up compromising information on all employees. Harassment and invasion of privacy will be alleged. Unions will threaten job actions and litigation.

2. THE JURY. It will not be possible for these men to tried by a "jury of their peers." No normal person would expose him/herself to the inconvenient and perhaps hazardous interruption of their life for months. Not to mention the danger it might pose to their families when (not if, because it will happen) their identities are revealed. Only those with a secret agenda will vie to be accepted---zealots of both persuasions, publicity seekers who will try to profit from their jury service and, last but most troubling, possible terrorist moles. It would only take one recalcitrant juror to force a mistrial, which would be a huge propaganda victory for the enemy. The prosecution, fully aware of this, will try to impanel a foolproof jury. Everybody in the pool will be secretly vetted by the FBI. When (not if, because it will happen) this is disclosed there will be the inevitable reaction. The eventual jury, no matter how diverse, will be labeled as "stacked." Its decision, no matter how carefully deliberated, will be seen as "fixed" by most of the world. Obama's intention to show that the US is a nation of laws will backfire.

3. A SENSATIONAL OUTBURST. Terrorists are master manipulators of the media. This trial will give them the opportunity to take the world stage. Condemning the US is old news. They know they'll need something sensational to dominate the news cycle. Look for one of the defendants, maybe KSM himself, to rise in open court and declare:

"I must clear my conscience. I was recruited, paid and trained by the CIA and Mossad to carry out this operation. The intent was to cause world outrage and justify launching the war against Islam and the invasion of Iraq. I was never waterboarded or tortured in any way. On the contrary I have lived in luxury since my alleged arrest and have been told that the CIA and Mossad will provide plastic surgery, millions of dollars and a new identity for me once this travesty is over."

This cynical confession will ignite an explosion of controversy. There will be violent protests against the US, Israel and the so-called moderate Arab nations that will be seen to have been complicit. Tens of thousands of demonstrators will descend upon the Federal Court Building. New York will suffer paralytic gridlock.

The terrorists know that the first blow is the one that impacts global consciousness. Neither the US nor Israel nor the Saudis will be able to successfully disprove this lie. Tens of millions will be added to the millions who already believe that 9/11 was a US-Israeli plot.

Todd is right, Sara. An ordeal lies ahead. My advice is to keep a low profile. Do not say or do anything to draw attention to yourself. Stay in Anchorage where you'll be safe.

Your friend,
Igor

Five people suspected to be witchcrafts were bruterly murded in kisii Nyamataro Village after the accused them of possession of charms. Video available if one needs the whole footage

The Daily Event is proud to have guest columnist Igor Yopsvoyomatsky, editor-in chief of paranoiaisfact.com, to answers readers' questions.

Dear Igor,

I sell souvenirs to tourists on the Staten Island Ferry and after eight years of Dubya I can't give America away. Nobody wants Statue of Liberty piggy banks,  FBI caps, "Brooklyn Rules" tees...Not even Michael Jackson wind up dolls. People used to be in awe of how cool we were--NYC, DC, the Grand Canyon, Hollywood. Now they come to sneer and feel superior.  Our plunging dollar makes us a cheap date. Our leaders get no respect. After Bush trashed the American brand I thought Obama would turn it around, but his novelty has quickly faded and now I'm stuck with a gross of  "Yes I Can" hoodies.  I'm afraid America will never be cool again. Is this paranoia or fact?

Distressed Peddler
Sunnyside, Queens

Dear Distressed,

This is fact. According to a recent Pew survey,the US ranked 117th on the cool index, right under Tierra Del Fuego. Only Russia, China, the UK and Zimbabwe were considered less cool than the US.

America created the 20th. Century in its own image. Victorious in two wars, innovative in industry and the arts, it was a magnet for the best minds and most energetic workers in the world. Everyone loved Detroit cars, Broadway musicals, Hollywood movies, American cigarettes and Elvis. American Capitalism vanquished Soviet Communism by promising eternal, exponential wealth. 

America was cool.

Now the American financial house of cards has collapsed. General Motors is begging Government handouts, Broadway is ruled by British imports,Hollywood is a limping subdivision of bloated conglomerates, the Marlboro Man died of lung cancer and Graceland is controlled by  Scientology.

Uncool.

In its ascendancy, the US had the coolest leaders. FDR betrayed his class to bring the US out of the Depression. Harry Truman fired MacArthur and stood up to Stalin. Dwight D. Eisenhower, wartime commander and Five Star General, turned on his brethren to warn  about the "Military-Industrial Complex." JFK,  brought hipness, taste and sophistication into the White House and  called Krushchev's bluff in Cuba.  Even Lyndon Johnson had the dignity to withdraw from public life when the people rejected him.

Cool.

During its  slow decline the US has experienced an unbroken chain of bizarre nonentities. Nixon inexplicably recorded his own incriminating statements; Carter, a peanut farmer with delusions of prophecy,  left office with a 19% interest rate; Reagan, an underpaid Warner Bros. contract player, actually believed that the rich would allow a minuscule portion of their wealth to "trickle down" to the working class; Clinton, a glib, small town Lothario, enabled Wall Street to take over the American economy. The Bushes are the greatest argument against ruling class inbreeding since the Hapsburgs. Obama has seen ingratiation turn into antagonism and doesn't know what to do about it.

Uncool.

American celebrities were the coolest in the world. Could anyone top Marilyn or Einstein (he was a citizen), Astaire, Grace Kelly, Jonas Salk, Jackie O, Brando, Duke Ellington, Broadway Joe--the list is truly endless. 

Now you have OJ, MJ, Lindsay Lohan, Elliot Spitzer. You have the dangerous nonentities of reality TV. Sports stars who turn themselves into bionic chimeras with steroids and surgery.

But don't feel too bad, Distressed. At least you can complain. Three quarters of the world must suffer in silence. They live  under the heel of oligarchical thugs who maintain their power by censorship, repression, torture, rape and outright massacre. 

Uncool

China hasn't been cool since Confucius, France since Sartre and Belmondo; the UK since James Bond and he wasn't even real. Italy has a seventy-three year old President who brags to teenage girls about his sexual prowess. Russia was cool with Rasputin, but Putin  poses shirtless like Mr. Universe and  Medvedev,  the little man who wasn't there, makes pronouncements that no one hears.

The entire planet is totally, hopelessly...

Uncool.

After a diplomatic pause enforced by India's lengthy election campaign, the country will soon have a new government after the ruling Congress party won an unexpectedly decisive victory.  But analysts doubt the change of government will bring a significant change of heart in India towards Pakistan.

Despite Pakistan's offensive against the Taliban in the Swat valley, they say India has yet to be convinced the Pakistan Army is ready to crack down more widely on Islamist militants, fearing instead that it will selectively go after some groups, while leaving others like the Afghan Taliban and Kashmir-oriented groups alone.  While Pakistan wants to resume talks broken off by New Delhi after last November's attack on Mumbai, India has said it wants Islamabad to take more action first against those behind the assault, which it blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is expected to remain in office after the Congress election victory, is now likely to come under pressure from the United States to soften India's stance towards Pakistan.  The current stand-off leaves both countries vulnerable to a fresh flare-up of tensions which could torpedo Washington's plans for Pakistan and Afghanistan. It also complicates U.S. efforts to persuade the Pakistan Army to move troops from the Indian border to fight Taliban militants on its western border with Afghanistan.

So how will Singh respond?

Indian analysts are already arguing India must stand up to U.S. pressure to ensure its own interests are not sacrificed to those of the United States. In an editorial in the Times of India, Brahma Chellaney writes that U.S. policy - very much focused on Afghanistan - now runs counter to Indian interests. He argues that Kashmir-oriented groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba are of little interest to the United States. "Instead, Washington intends to goad New Delhi post-election to reduce border troop deployments, a step that would help Pakistan to infiltrate more armed terrorists into India."

It may not be entirely correct to say that Washington is not interested in the Lashkar-e-Taiba.  The group was cited in media reports as a suspect in the London underground bombings in 2005, potentially making it as much of a global threat as al Qaeda. But Chellaney's comments do underline a traditional suspicion in the region - both in India and Pakistan - about what is seen as a ruthless U.S. focus on its own interests.

In an editorial in The Hindu former diplomat M.K. Bhadrakumar says India must galvanise its regional diplomacy, rebuilding its once close relationship with Russia and Iran, to strengthen its hand. But he also writes that, "certainly, resumption of the composite dialogue with Pakistan ought to be a priority."

The other question to ask is whether Pakistan and India would both be better off talking to each other directly, rather than churning their arguments through the prism of U.S. diplomacy. According to some analysts the two countries came close to a breakthrough on Kashmir in 2007 - a subject explored at length by Steve Coll in the New Yorker in March - but were unable to close the deal after then President Pervez Musharraf became embroiled in political problems that eventually forced him to step down last year.  There has been no official confirmation, and the two countries have come close to agreements on other issues before only to see them fall apart on disagreement about the exact terms.

President Barack Obama has so far been a leader in a hurry. His energetic special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, earned a reputation for being able to bang heads together after he brokered the Dayton peace accords in 1995.  How far can, and will, the U.S. administration go to persuade India and Pakistan to talk peace?  And equally importantly, how well will India and Pakistan manage the U.S. administration?

(Photo: Congress leader Sonia Gandhi with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh)

President Barack Obama met recently with the prime ministers of Canada and Britain. This week's meeting with Britain's Gordon Brown, who was pitching a "global New Deal," created a minor flap when the White House downsized a full news conference to an Oval Office question-and-answer session, viewed by some in Britain as a snub. The change was attributed to the weather, with the Rose Garden covered with snow.

  It might have actually related not to snow cover, but to a snow job, covering up the growing divide between Afghanistan policies.

  U.S. policy in Afghanistan includes a troop surge, already under way, and continued bombing in Pakistan using unmanned drones. Escalating civilian deaths are a certainty. The United Nations estimates that more than 2,100 civilians died in 2008, a 40 percent jump over 2007.

  The occupation of Afghanistan is in its eighth year, and public support in many NATO countries is eroding. Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the 2001 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, told me: "The move into Afghanistan is going to be very expensive. ... Our European NATO partners are getting disillusioned with the war. I talked to a lot of the people in Europe, and they really feel this is a quagmire."

  Forty-one nations contribute to NATO's 56,000-troop presence in Afghanistan. More than half of the troops are from the U.S. The United Kingdom has 8,300 troops, Canada just under 3,000. Maintaining troops is costly, but the human toll is greater. Canada, with 111 deaths, has suffered the highest per capita death rate for foreign armies in Afghanistan, since its forces are based in the south around Kandahar, where the Taliban is strong.

  Last Sunday on CNN, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said, "We're not going to win this war just by staying ... we are not going to ever defeat the insurgency." U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently wrote in Foreign Affairs magazine: "The United States cannot kill or capture its way to victory." Yet it's Canada that has set a deadline for troop withdrawal at the end of 2011. The U.S. is talking escalation.

  Anand Gopal, Afghanistan correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor, described the situation on the ground: "A lot of Afghans that I speak to in these southern areas where the fighting has been happening say that to bring more troops, that's going to mean more civilian casualties. It'll mean more of these night raids, which have been deeply unpopular amongst Afghans. ... Whenever American soldiers go into a village and then leave, the Taliban comes and attacks the village." Afghan Parliamentarian Shukria Barakzai, a woman, told Gopal: "Send us 30,000 scholars instead. Or 30,000 engineers. But don't send more troops-it will just bring more violence."

  Women in Afghanistan play a key role in winning the peace. A photographer wrote me: "There will be various celebrations across Afghanistan to honor International Women's Day on Sunday, March 8. In Kandahar there will be an event with hundreds of women gathering to pray for peace, which is especially poignant in a part of Afghanistan that is so volatile." After returning from an international women's gathering in Moscow, feminist writer Gloria Steinem noted that the discussion centered around getting the media to hire peace correspondents to balance the war correspondents. Voices of civil society would be amplified, giving emphasis to those who wage peace. In the U.S. media, there is an equating of fighting the war with fighting terrorism. Yet on the ground, civilian casualties lead to tremendous hostility. Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland, recently told me: "I've been saddened and shocked by virulent anti-American responses to those wars [in Iraq and Afghanistan]. They're seen as occupations. ... I think it's very important we learn from mistakes of sounding war drums." She added, "There's such a connection from the Middle East to Afghanistan to Pakistan which builds on strengths of working with neighbors."

  Barack Obama was swept through the primaries and into the presidency on the basis of his anti-war message. Prime ministers like Brown and Harper are bending to growing public demand for an end to war. Yet in the U.S., there is scant debate about sending more troops to Afghanistan, and about the spillover of the war into Pakistan.

British officials working with US to change madrasa curriculum as a 'common counter-terrorism goal', cables reveal

A leaked diplomatic cable, released on WikiLeaks, has revealed how the Department for International Development (DFID) has been working with the US to change the curriculum of thousands of madrasas as a "common counter-terrorism goal".

In one cable discussing British and American counter-terrorism tactics for Bangladesh, the US ambassador to Dhaka, James Moriarty, notes how their plans involved asking the country's prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, to develop and implement a standardised curriculum for unregulated Islamic madrassah schools.

The moves followed a proposal for a madrasa "curriculum development programme" to the Bangladeshi government by the US government development agency, USAid.

There are around 64,000 Islamic schools in Bangladesh. They are seen as an important part of Bangladesh's education system, often providing free schooling to children whose parents are unable to send them to conventional schools.

However, the 15,000 or so unregulated madrasas have been a constant cause for concern for the current government, which claims the standard of education received is poorer than average.

Some have also blamed madrasas for radicalising children, with claims emerging that they could be used to set up jihadist training camps.

Last week, the Bangladeshi government ordered an investigation into funding for madrasas after claims that banned Islamic militant group Hizb-ut-Tahrir had been establishing bases there.

Dr Ghaysuddin Siddiqui, of the Muslim Institute in London, agreed that DFID's intervention was an attempt to prevent radicalisation of Muslim youths in South Asia. "This is a very old problem," he said. "There has been a need to look at the curriculum in unregulated madrasas for a very long time."

DFID declined to comment.

Rapid Action Battalion, accused of hundreds of extra-judicial killings, received training from UK officers, cables reveal

The British government has been training a Bangladeshi paramilitary force condemned by human rights organisations as a "government death squad", leaked US embassy cables have revealed.

Members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), which has been held responsible for hundreds of extra-judicial killings in recent years and is said to routinely use torture, have received British training in "investigative interviewing techniques" and "rules of engagement".

Details of the training were revealed in a number of cables, released by WikiLeaks, which address the counter-terrorism objectives of the US and UK governments in Bangladesh. One cable makes clear that the US would not offer any assistance other than human rights training to the RAB - and that it would be illegal under US law to do so - because its members commit gross human rights violations with impunity.

Since the RAB was established six years ago, it is estimated by some human rights activists to have been responsible for more than 1,000 extra-judicial killings, described euphemistically as "crossfire" deaths. In September last year the director general of the RAB said his men had killed 577 people in "crossfire". In March this year he updated the figure, saying they had killed 622 people.

The RAB's use of torture has also been exhaustively documented by human rights organisations. In addition, officers from the paramilitary force are alleged to have been involved in kidnap and extortion, and are frequently accused of taking large bribes in return for carrying out crossfire killings.

However, the cables reveal that both the British and the Americans, in their determination to strengthen counter-terrorism operations in Bangladesh, are in favour of bolstering the force, arguing that the "RAB enjoys a great deal of respect and admiration from a population scarred by decreasing law and order over the last decade". In one cable, the US ambassador to Dhaka, James Moriarty, expresses the view that the RAB is the "enforcement organisation best positioned to one day become a Bangladeshi version of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation".

In another cable, Moriarty quotes British officials as saying they have been "training RAB for 18 months in areas such as investigative interviewing techniques and rules of engagement". Asked about the training assistance for the RAB, the Foreign Office said the UK government "provides a range of human rights assistance" in the country. However, the RAB's head of training, Mejbah Uddin, told the Guardian that he was unaware of any human rights training since he was appointed last summer.

The cables make clear that British training for RAB officers began three years ago under the last Labour government.

However, RAB officials confirmed independently of the cables that they had taken part in a series of courses and workshops as recently as October, five months after the formation of the coalition government. Asked whether ministers had approved the training programme, the Foreign Office said only that William Hague, the foreign secretary, and other ministers, had been briefed on counter-terrorism spending.

The US ambassador explains in the cables that the US government is "constrained by RAB's alleged human rights violations, which have rendered the organisation ineligible to receive training or assistance" under laws which prohibit American funding or training for overseas military units which abuse human rights with impunity.

Human rights organisations say the RAB cannot be reformed, noting that its human rights record has deterioriated still further in the last 12 months. Human Rights Watch has repeatedly described the RAB as a government death squad.

Brad Adams, the organisation's Asia director, said: "RAB is a Latin American-style death squad dressed up as an anti-crime force. The British government has let its desire for a functional counter-terrorism partner in Bangladesh blind it to the risks of working with RAB, and the legitimacy that it gives to RAB inside Bangladesh. Furthermore, it is not clear that the British government has ever made it a priority at the highest levels to tell RAB that if it doesn't change, it will not co-operate with it."

Amnesty International has also repeatedly condemned the RAB, while the Bangladeshi human rights organisation Odhikar has painstakingly documented the RAB's involvement in extra-judicial killings and torture since the creation of the force in March 2004.

Asked to comment on the rights groups' concern about the RAB, the Foreign Office said: "We do not discuss the detail of operational counter-terrorism cooperation. Counter-terrorism assistance is fully in line with our laws and values." At least some of the British training has been conducted by serving British police officers, working under the auspices of the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), which was established in 2007 to build policing capacity and standards. Recent courses for RAB have been provided by officers from West Mercia and Humberside Police.

Asked whether it believed it was appropriate for British officers to be training members of an organisation condemned as "a government death squad", and whether courses in investigative interviewing techniques might not render torture more effective, an NPIA spokesman said the courses had been approved by the government and by the Association of Chief Police Officers.

"The NPIA has given limited support to the Bangladeshi Police and the RAB in technical areas of policing such as forensic awareness, management of crime scenes and recovery of evidence. Throughout the training we have emphasised the importance of respecting the human rights of witnesses, suspects and victims."The purpose of our sanctioned engagement is to support the development and improvement of professional policing that supports democratic, human rights-based practices linked to the rule of law in countries that may have different laws, faiths and policing practices from our own."

It is understood that there have been disagreements within the Foreign Office about the British government's involvement with the RAB. Some officials have argued that the partnership with the RAB is an essential component of the UK's counter-terrorism strategy in the region, while others have expressed concern that the relationship could prove damaging to Britain's reputation.

Successive Bangladeshi governments have promised to end the RAB's use of murder. The current government promised in its manifesto that it would end all extra-judicial killings, but they have continued following its election two years ago.In October last year, the shipping minister, Shahjahan Khan, speaking in a discussion organised by the BBC, said: "There are incidents of trials that are not possible under the laws of the land. The government will need to continue with extra-judicial killings, commonly called crossfire, until terrorist activities and extortion are uprooted."

In December last year the high court in Dhaka ruled that such killings must be brought to a halt following litigation by victims' familes and human rights groups, but they continue on an almost weekly basis. Most of the victims are young men, some are alleged to be petty criminals or are said to be left-wing activists, and the killings invariably take place in the middle of the night.

In the most recent "crossfire" killings, the RAB reported that it had shot dead Mohammad Mamun, 25, in the town of Tangail, shortly after midnight on Monday, and that 90 minutes later its officers in Dhaka, 50 miles to the south, had shot dead a second man, Taku Alam, 30. Today the RAB announced it had shot dead a 45-year-old man, Anisur Rahman, said to be a member of the Communist party in the west of the country.

The government is using secretive prison facilities on U.S. soil, called Communication Management Units, to house inmates accused of being tied to "terrorism" groups. They overwhelmingly include Muslim inmates, along with at least two animal rights and environmental activists.

Little information is available about the secretive facilities and the prisoners housed there. However, through interviews with attorneys, family members, and a current prisoner, it is clear that these units have been created not for violent and dangerous "terrorists," but for political cases that the government would like to keep out of the public spotlight and out of the press.

OPENED QUIETLY AND PERHAPS ILLEGALLY

In April of 2006, the Department of Justice proposed a new set of rules to restrict the communication of "terrorist" inmates. The proposal did not make it far, though: during the required public comment period, the ACLU and other civil rights groups raised Constitutional concerns. The program was too sweeping, they said, and it could wrap up non-terrorists and those not even convicted of a crime.

The Bureau of Prisons dropped the proposal. Or so it seemed. Just a few months later, a similar program (now called the Communication Management Unit, or CMU), was quietly opened by the Justice Department at Terre Haute, Ind.

Then, in May of 2008, a handful of inmates were moved, without warning, to what is believed to be the second CMU in the country, at Marion, Il.

Both CMUs are "self-contained" housing units, according to prison documents, for prisoners who "require increased monitoring of communication" in order to "protect the public."

WHO IS HOUSED AT CMUs?

The CMUs are less restrictive than, say, ADX Florence, the notorious supermax prison for the most dangerous inmates. The supermax holds al-Qaeda operative Zacarias Moussaoui and Unabomber Theodore J. Kaczynski.

CMU inmates stand in sharp contrast to the Moussaouis and Kaczynskis of the world, though.

 

• They include Rafil A. Dhafir, an Iraqi-born physician who created a charity called Help the Needy to provide food and medicine to the people of Iraq suffering under the U.S.-imposed economic sanctions. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison for violating the sanctions.
• They include Daniel McGowan, an environmental activist sentenced to seven years in prison for a string of property crimes in the name of defending the environment. He was previously at FCI-Sandstone, a low-security facility, and was transferred without notice to the CMU, and told it was not for any disciplinary reason.
• And, until recently, they included Andrew Stepanian. Stepanian was convicted of conspiring to commit "animal enterprise terrorism" and shut down the notorious animal testing laboratory Huntingdon Life Sciences, in a landmark First Amendment case pending appeal. The government's case focused on a controversial website run by an activist group that published news of both legal and illegal actions against the laboratory. He was sentenced to three years in prison, and is currently on house arrest in New York City. Stepanian is believed to be the first prisoner ever released from a CMU.

 

VIOLATION OF DUE PROCESS RIGHTS

Attorneys and prisoners have said that inmates are transferred to the CMUs without notice and without opportunity to challenge their new designation, in what seems to be a clear violation of their due process rights.

"No one got a hearing to determine whether we should or should not be transferred here," said Daniel McGowan in a letter from the CMU in Marion, Ill.

Similarly, Rafil A. Dhafir said in a letter to his family from the CMU in Terre Haute, Ind., that he was put in isolation for two days before the move. "No one seems to know about this top-secret operation until now," he wrote. "It is still not fully understood... The staff here is struggling to make sense of the whole situation."

"We are told this is an experiment," Dhafir says. "So the whole concept is evolving on a daily basis."

OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND

The CMU "experiment" limits prisoner contact with the outside world through a list of restrictive policies. According to prison documents giving a skeleton of CMU policies, called institution supplements, they include:

 

• Phone calls: Only one phone call per week, limited to 15 minutes, live-monitored by staff and law enforcement (according to attorneys, this includes the NSA) and scheduled one and half weeks in advance. It must be conducted in English. Other prisoners get about 300 minutes a month.
• Mail: All mail must be reviewed by staff prior to delivery to the inmate or processing at the post office. This means significant delays in communications (and, in my personal experience, letters frequently not being received by inmates).
• Visits: Four hours of personal visits per month, non-contact, behind glass, and live-monitored by staff and law enforcement. It must be conducted in English. By comparison, at FCI Sandstone (where McGowan was previously housed) prisoners can receive 56 potential visiting hours per month. I have learned from attorneys and prisoners that when a CMU inmate is transferred to the visiting room, the entire facility goes on lock-down.

 

For many inmates in federal prisons, phone calls, mail and visits are flecks of light in the darkness. Virtually eliminating all contact with family, friends and the outside world can have a devastating psychological impact on prisoners, and raises serious concerns about basic human rights.

WHY ARE THEY THERE?

It is difficult to discern the rationale behind why some inmates are transferred to the CMU and others are not. For instance, John Walker Lindh, the "American Taliban," is housed at the CMU in Terre Haute. He pleaded guilty to supporting the Taliban and carrying a rifle and grenades on the battlefield in Afghanistan. However, the government announced last month it is actually easing restrictions on his communication.

In the case of Andy Stepanian, he was one of six codefendants, and by the admission of prosecutors he was one of the minor players in the case. He is not accused of any violent crime or any property destruction, and had no disciplinary problems while incarcerated. Stepanian received the second-lowest sentence of the group, and his codefendants are not in CMUs.

Daniel McGowan's notice of transfer to the CMU gives some indication of the government's reasoning. It says that he has been identified "as a member and leader in the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and Animal Liberation Front (ALF), groups considered domestic terrorist organizations."

But in a letter from the CMU, McGowan wrote: "It's funny-I have like 13 codefs [codefendants] + there are 11 other eco prisoners and I end up here."

Part of the explanation for his transfer to the CMU, it seems, is that he is a vocal, prominent activist with a large group of active supporters. For McGowan, his near celebrity status within the environmental movement, along with his continued activism, has become a liability. When I attended his sentencing hearing in Eugene, Ore., in 2006, the judge made a point of criticizing his media appearances and his website, SupportDaniel.org.

Attorneys, prisoners and their supporters speculate there may be legal calculations involved as well. The CMUs have been overwhelmingly comprised of people of color since their inception, and lawsuits have been filed alleging discrimination and racial profiling.

"Throwing a few white kids into the mix makes it appear less like an American Guantanamo," said one attorney who did not want to be identified. "And it also sends the message to the prisoners and to the movements that supporter them. It's meant to have a chilling effect."

CONTINUING A TREND

The creation of secret facilities to primarily house Muslim inmates accused of non-violent charges, along with a couple animal rights and environmental activists, marks both a continuation and a radical expansion of the "War on Terrorism."

First, it is a continuation of the "terrorism" crackdown that Arab and Muslim communities have intensely experienced since September 11th. Guantanamo Bay may be closing. But as Jeanne Theoharis beautifully wrote recently: "Guantánamo is not simply an aberration; its closure will not return America to the rule of law or to its former standing among nations. Guantánamo is a particular way of seeing the Constitution, of constructing the landscape as a murky terrain of lurking enemies where the courts become part of the bulwark against such dangers, where rights have limits and where international standards must be weighed against national security."

Second, it is an expansion of the lesser-known "terrorism" crackdown against animal rights and environmental activists by corporations and the politicians who represent them. This coordination campaign to label activists as "terrorists" and push a political agenda-the "Green Scare"-has involved terrorism enhancement penalties, FBI agents infiltrating vegan potlucks, and new terrorism legislation like the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, and it all has proceeded unobstructed and unseen. There has been a near-complete media blackout on the Green Scare, and transferring vocal, public Green Scare prisoners to CMUs sends a clear message that the government hopes to keep it that way.

"SECOND-TIER TERRORISTS"

When the CMU at Terre Haute was created, Dan Eggen at The Washington Post described it as a facility for "second-tier terrorism inmates."

What Eggen was clearly getting at is that the CMU overwhelmingly held Arab Muslim inmates rounded up and smeared by the government as "terrorists," even though they had not done anything violent or "terrorist."

But the CMUs are not "second-tier terrorism" prisons. They are political prisons. All of the defendants-Muslim, environmentalist, animal rights activist-are housed there because of their ethnicity, their religion, their ideology, or all of the above.

The mere existence of the CMUs should be yet another warning call to all Americans concerned about the future of this country. If we allow the government to continue widening the net of who is a "terrorist," and expanding the scope of what punishments are applicable (and what rights are inapplicable) when that word comes into play, it places us all at risk. The reckless expansion of the War on Terrorism didn't stop with Arabs and Muslims, and it won't stop with environmentalists or animal rights activists.

The power to create and maintain secretive prison facilities for political prisoners is antithetical to a healthy democracy. If there is one thing that we should learn from history, from governments that have gone down this path, it is this: If there is a secretive prison for "second-tier" terrorists, it will only be followed by a secretive prison "third-tier terrorists," and "fourth-tier terrorists," until one by one, brick by brick, the legal wall separating "terrorist" from "dissident" or "undesirable" has crumbled.

After days of delaying a report on an investigation into the Mumbai attacks, Pakistan says India has not passed on sufficient information.

"The concrete evidence was not given from India due to which it would be difficult to make any progress in this connection," concluded a meeting of the Defense Coordination Committee at Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's House in Islamabad.

The meeting observed that without substantial evidence from Indian it would be exceedingly difficult to complete the investigation and proceed with the case.

This is the second time that Pakistan has postponed the release of the findings, while unofficial reports said that the investigation has linked the attacks to Sri Lankan militants.

The committee was briefed on the progress on the inquiry based on information provided by Indian authorities concerning the Mumbai attacks.

The meeting decided that on the basis of inquiry conducted by Federally Investigation Authority, the case should be registered and further investigation be carried out so that the perpetrators of the heinous crime could be brought to justice in accordance with the law of the land.

The meeting acknowledged that inquiry had been conducted professionally and endorsed the recommendations of the Interior Ministry to proceed with the registration of the case.

In order to complete the investigation the questions which are arising from the inquiry carried out by the FIA need to be answered by the Indian authorities. The issues are expected to be communicated with the Indian authorities.

India, the US and the UK blame the Pakistani based militant group as well as Pakistan's state intelligence agency (ISI) for involvement in the attacks that left over 164 people killed.

NEW YORK, N.Y., August 18..Leah Schldkraut has a rallying cry: "Interns of the world unite. You have  nothing to lose but your non-paying, exploitative jobs."

Schildkraut, youth labor specialist of the Anarcho-Feminist coalition, issued a call today for "all unpaid interns in all fields" to observe a general strike on August 21st. "Demand an end to this insidious form of bourgeois slavery," she urged. "Withhold your valuable labor until you are given a retroactive minimum wage and shorter hours." 

In a press conference outside the Goldman Sachs headquarters on Maiden Lane in downtown Manhattan, Schildkraut denounced the "pernicious culture of unpaid internship, which not only exploits eager young people but widens the divide between the classes and the races by reducing the dwindling opportunities for middle-class and minority workers." 

Schildkraut harangued an indifferent  lunchtime crowd of  financial workers, who hurried by, immersed in their Blackberries. "Interns have been brainwashed into believing that the corporations are doing them a favor when in truth their labor is needed," she declared. "They are covering seven figure executives on their summer vacations. They are helping to grease the trillion dollar corporate wheels during the dog days, while their mentors"---she paused, then scornfully repeated---"their mentors--- are off on luxurious vacations paid for by the sweat and sorrow of bankrupted, dispossessed and demoralized workers."

"In the newest turn of the exploiter's screw you now have to pay for the privilege of working for nothing," Schildkraut charged. She cited a recent article in the New York Times which revealed the existence of companies that arrange unpaid summer internships for a fee. "Thousands  of families have laid out $8,000 to a company called Universe of Dreams which promises to secure hard-to-get internships at prime employers," she said.  "Many employers allow these companies  to choose their interns, without even bothering to interview all the applicants themselves..." 

The effect of this, Schildkraut said, is to exclude lower and middle class students from the intern market. "Even if they want to work for free their families cannot afford the extortionate fees of the recruiters." 

Schildkraut paused, trembling with indignation, and gathered herself. "Amnesty International, which represents the rights of political prisoners and oppressed peoples all over the world uses these recruiters to find interns, who will work long hours for no compensation. Do they not see the contradiction in this? No, they do not!"

Schildkraut also decried the "phony furlough" tactics of employers and state governments in which they give employees a forced unpaid holiday ostensibly to save money, but really "to get free labor."

"So-called furloughed employees of the state government of California have come to work anyway to keep up with a punishing workload that will pile up and affect their productivity ratings. They know their supervisors are watching. If they don't work for free their chances for promotion and advancement will be compromised..."

A young Asian man carrying bags of takeout Chinese tried to sneak  past Schildkraut into the Goldman Sachs building, but she jumped in front of him. 

"Excuse me, are you an intern?"

The young  Asian man ducked and covered his face. "No intern" he said..."Food delivery..."

Schildkraut pursued him. "But didn't I see you this morning in a suit carrying a laptop?"

A man at the curb called out. "Be careful, dude. Big Brother is watching..."

He pushed her away, muttering through clenched teeth. "Get outta my face, bitch. if the security cameras show me talking to you I'm done..."

The man at the curb laughed scornfully. "You won't sell your revolution on Wall Street, girl." He identified himself as Efraim Durg, a freelance lobbyist.  "These people know they're being exploited and they don't care." 

"They don't understand that corporations are using the downturn as an excuse to institutionalize free labor,"  Schildkraut said. She quoted a study that showed the disparity between is rich and poor is at its greatest since 1917. "The capitalist system is creating an atmosphere of fear in order to have a more pliable work force." 

" They know that, baby," Durg said with a patronizing smile. "This is what they have to do in order to get the plum job that will allow them to support gouging landlords,  eat in overpriced restaurants, become secretive and vindictive and plot against their fellow workers. It's either that or live with their parents, wait tables and sink into dissipation and despair..."

Schildkraut approached him with a suspicious look. "Who do you work for?" she asked.

"Nobody," Durg replied brightly. "I'm on the cutting edge of the New Economy--the unknown intern. I'm lobbying for Goldman, but they didn't hire me and don't even know I exist. I'm hoping Lloyd Blankfein will pass by and say: hey this kid's got originality and initiative. Let's give him a chance to work for nothing."

THE DAILY EVENT FUTURE BEAT

Sparing no expense in its determination to pique the interest of its demanding, easily distracted readership, the Daily Event has sent reporter Dale Arden hurtling at near light speed--and great personal risk--through a space/time wormhole into the future. This is her first dispatch.

EXOPLANET IN DEFAULT BLAMES "EARTHGREED"

SPACE STATION MAMMON, March 27, 2059...Plagued by non-performing loans, fund redemptions and collateral calls the planet Gliese 581c edged closer to bankruptcy yesterday.

Trading on the Gliesian "Astral" was halted after it plunged to As11,000 to the dollar on the Near Space Currency Exchange.

Rhapsodia, which is what Gliesians called their planet, B.C. (Before Contact) had been trying to negotiate bridge loans and an extension on payments due, said Chief Monetizer Etaoin Shrdlu, but "our terrestrial counter-parties have turned their backs on us." He said that Gliese 581c with a mass 1.5 times the size of earth is "too big to fail," and warned that "unless we receive emergency aid we'll all be consumed in a financial super nova that will reduce our bi-solar system to a shantytown of barren asteroids."

In Beijing, Galactic Reserve Bank Chairman Heng Mao agreed that "we cannot easily overcome the gravity of this situation," but accused Gliese of "gamma ray rhetoric."

"The Gliesians have created an unsustainable consumer economy based on easy credit, baseless speculation and chaotic deregulation," Heng said. "To bail them out now would be to throw more money down a black hole."

The Earth-Gliese Articles of Confederation promise "sempiternal harmony" to the peoples of both planets, but in recent years the union has been shaken by accusations of mismanagement, malfeasance and corruption. This is a tragic development to elderly earth scientists who remember the morning of April 24, 2007 when news came from the La Silla Paranol Observatory in Southern Chile that an exoplanet had been discovered orbiting the red dwarf Gliese about 20.5 light years from earth. To the gleeful astronomers who had been "planet hunting" for years it was a possible kindred spirit in the vast, ever-expanding universe. Orbiting in what they called "the Goldilocks zone," not too hot or too cold, it had atmospheric conditions that could support life forms similar to earth' s. The temperature range was between 32 and 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Some computer models posited a rocky, mountainous surface; others detected a "seaworld" of temperate oceans with a profusion of life forms flourishing beneath the surface.

Radio waves were instantly beamed from observatories and satellites all over the planet. For years there was no response, but the scientists persisted. Then on December 24, 2015, a faint wave was received. Some described it as "tentative, almost reluctant." Later it emerged that the Gliesians, a shy people, had been unnerved by this bombardment of signals, not understanding that there was an intense competition on earth to see who would be the first to communicate with them.

Scientists on both planets worked tirelessly to develop a rudimentary code. A technology was perfected to transmit graphics...then photographs...then videos. Linguistics specialists created a new language and soon the planets were conversing with fluent comprehension.

In those heady days the two planets were exhilarated to learn that they were not alone in the universe. Every bit of information was a revelation. The computer models had been half right. Gliese 581c was half-rock, half-ocean. In grainy images transmitted across 20.5 light years the rock people looked like centaurs, half-being, half-vehicle with bulbous heads and four suction casters for climbing. The sea dwellers were like mermaids, half-being, half-motorized tail. Anthropologists were amazed at how closely they resembled creatures from earthly myths. But some were alarmed. On Fox News Network Bill O'Reilly warned that "these Gliesians obviously visited earth in our prehistory, planted commands in our preconscious minds, and now plan to return to enslave us."

In spite of their physical differences the Gliesians were a united people. They were stressless and amiable, each group supplying the needs of the other. They had achieved voluntary immortality, controlling their moments of what they called "inception" and "cessation." Eager to please their new friends on earth they agreed to change the name of their planet to Gliese.

"They live in tranquil cooperation," Dr. Phil said, and was overheard muttering to an assistant: "if this spreads to earth it will put us all out of business."

But analysts soon found that there was one area in which the Gliesians were deficient: They had no economy.

"They were less sophisticated than the most primitive village in the Amazon," says economist Elliot Gruber-Yonge. "They didn't even understand potlatch."

"We had been humbled by their superior lifestyle," adds psychologist Anne Grosspiske. "Now we realized we had something to teach them."

Economists set to work helping the Gliesians build an economic system.

"First, we created a currency, the astral, which would replace barter and capricious generosity as a way of dispensing and acquiring services " says Gruber-Yonge. "Then, we encouraged the Gliesians to value their assets. This was tremendously exciting as they realized that some of them owned property that was more valuable than their neighbors." A flourishing real estate market grew up overnight. Luxurious caves and underwater palaces were built. Earth attorneys helped the Gliesians devise a legal system to enforce contracts and settle disputes.

"The next step was to get the Gliesians to value their own labor," says Gruber-Yonge. "Many were delighted to see that their skills were worth more than their neighbors." Compensation schedules were created. An elite separated itself from the mass. Comparative wealth created rich and poor, upper and lower class..." Gruber-Yonge pauses with a reverent look. "It was alike watching the six days of creation."

The inevitable conflicts of a flourishing economy caused tension and resentment, which the legal system expanded to resolve. Police agencies were created to enforce the laws. Prisons were built.

Meanwhile, bankers on earth created an exchange to trade in Gliesian stocks, property and currency. The Chinese, who had run out of places on earth to invest, were enthusiastic about this new market. Astrals were converted to dollars. Fortunes were made.

"The Gliesians were amazed at how we could create wealth out of thin air," says Gruber-Yonge. "They formed hundreds of corporations for their new stock exchange. They checked the prices every day. Used their astrals to invest in the earth markets."

Earth bankers converted stimulus billions into astrals, which they lent to Gliesian monetizers, who then lent them to their fledgling capitalists and returned the interest to earth in the form of astrals, which were quickly converted into dollars. Earth bankers traded astral futures among themselves and made gigantic bets in the Gliesian markets.

"Gliesians were fascinated by the concept of leverage," Gruber-Yonge says. "To them it was magical. They praised us to the sky."

With the astral pegged at one to two dollars profits were astronomical.

"In a leveraged developing economy there are no losers," Gruber-Yonge says. "A fishtail (we called them rockheads and fishtails) borrowed a milliion astrals to build an underwater yo yo factory and sold it for forty million three months later."

But slowly, imperceptibly a consumer economy took hold.

"Gliesans were purchasing and manufacturing products they didn't really need," says Gruber-Yonge ruefully. "They were caught up in a spending and leveraging frenzy. Then, they woke up one morning and there was nothing left to buy."

With sagging demand factories closed, jobs were lost, loans and mortgages were delinquent. Earth banks began to report losses as Gliesians defaulted. The astral plunged. The dollar was in crisis. The Chinese, enraged that once again their trillion dollar investment had been devalued, called for the creation of "an intergalactic reserve currency that is disconnected from individual planets and remains stable."

Earth governments intervened and nationalized the banks, wiping out the Gliesian shareholders.

Gliese, faced with massive unemployment, plunging property values and social unrest, appealed to earth.

"Your greed has brought us to the brink of this precipice. You will create more credit for your banks and recover your wealth, but we are ruined."

And now the Gliesians learned a new economic concept--the write-off. Earth bankers sent their regrets. There was nothing they could do.

This morning in what was described as an energy-saving move, Earth switched off its communication links with Gliese.

As the signal faded, a Gliesian could be heard lamenting:

"We'll never be able to call ourselves Rhapsodia again."

Residents in the Gaza Strip say Israeli F-16 bombers have launched a series of air strikes into the territory.

Multiple explosions sounded in several places in and around Gaza City, they said. Early reports spoke of dozens of people injured and several killed.

Palestinian sources say Israeli missiles targeted security compounds in the heart of Gaza City belonging to the militant group Hamas.

A truce between Israel and Palestinian militants expired last week.

There was no immediate word on the explosions from the Israeli military.

Offensive planned?

Early casualty reports suggested the death toll from the air strikes would be high: medics in Gaza told the AFP news agency that 18 people had been killed.

Unconfirmed reports from local journalists in Gaza said as many as 200 people may have been injured, says the BBC's Paul Wood in Jerusalem, although there is no way to verify this figure immediately.

Our correspondent says the air strikes are the most intense Israel has launched against Gaza for some time, and may indicate that a ground operation is imminent.

Israeli security officials have been briefing about the possibility of a ground offensive into Gaza for some days now.

They have suggested that a new operation could be launched against Palestinian militants who fire rockets at targets inside Israel.

But it had been expected that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert would not authorise any operation until Sunday at the earliest.

Coral Springs - There were fourteen hundred applications submitted to march at an historical event; the inauguration of the forty-fourth President.  One was chosen from Florida, and it was the Marching Trojans from J.P. Terevella High School in Coral Springs.

On Tuesday, a group of students who will be in the parade practiced in class with their Director Neil Jenkins.  This is not an completely unusual thing for this band to be chosen to play in an amazing place or event.

Terevella has been invited to play in many venues and cities both here in the United States and Europe.  How about London and Rome?  
Now, the new gig.  Marching in our Nation’s Capitol, down Pennsylvania Avenue and for the first African-American President, Barack Obama.

I spoke with the Captain of the band, Ethan Morrison, who says he’s never seen snow.  That in itself will be an experience.

“We have long underwear”, Morrison tells me.  “We should be okay.”.

It’s going to be a long trip for the band as they make their way North to Washington, D.C.  

Source:  Google

Travel Facts: •    4 Buses (2 Drivers Per Bus) •    About 150 Band Members •    1,027 Miles •    15 Hours, 40 Minutes (Google Maps) •    Leaving January 16th •    Returning January 21st

This trip is going to cost about $150,000. 
You can help get these talented young students to Washington, D.C.

"The beat of my heart has grown deeper, more active, and yet more peaceful, and it is as if I were all the time storing up inner riches...My [life] is one long sequence of inner miracles." The young Dutchwoman Etty Hillesum wrote that in a Nazi transit camp in 1943, on her way to her death at Auschwitz two months later. Towards the end of his life, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "All I have seen teaches me to trust the creator for all I have not seen," though by then he had already lost his father when he was 7, his first wife when she was 20 and his first son, aged 5. In Japan, the late 18th-century poet Issa is celebrated for his delighted, almost child-like celebrations of the natural world. Issa saw four children die in infancy, his wife die in childbirth, and his own body partially paralyzed.

"In the corporate world, I always knew there was some higher position I could attain, which meant that, like Zeno's arrow, I was guaranteed never to arrive and always to remain dissatisfied."

 

I'm not sure I knew the details of all these lives when I was 29, but I did begin to guess that happiness lies less in our circumstances than in what we make of them, in every sense. "There is nothing either good or bad," I had heard in high school, from Hamlet, "but thinking makes it so." I had been lucky enough at that point to stumble into the life I might have dreamed of as a boy: a great job writing on world affairs for Time magazine, an apartment (officially at least) on Park Avenue, enough time and money to take vacations in Burma, Morocco, El Salvador. But every time I went to one of those places, I noticed that the people I met there, mired in difficulty and often warfare, seemed to have more energy and even optimism than the friends I'd grown up with in privileged, peaceful Santa Barbara, Calif., many of whom were on their fourth marriages and seeing a therapist every day. Though I knew that poverty certainly didn't buy happiness, I wasn't convinced that money did either.

So - as post-1960s cliché decreed - I left my comfortable job and life to live for a year in a temple on the backstreets of Kyoto. My high-minded year lasted all of a week, by which time I'd noticed that the depthless contemplation of the moon and composition of haiku I'd imagined from afar was really more a matter of cleaning, sweeping and then cleaning some more. But today, more than 21 years later, I still live in the vicinity of Kyoto, in a two-room apartment that makes my old monastic cell look almost luxurious by comparison. I have no bicycle, no car, no television I can understand, no media - and the days seem to stretch into eternities, and I can't think of a single thing I lack.

I'm no Buddhist monk, and I can't say I'm in love with renunciation in itself, or traveling an hour or more to print out an article I've written, or missing out on the N.B.A. Finals. But at some point, I decided that, for me at least, happiness arose out of all I didn't want or need, not all I did. And it seemed quite useful to take a clear, hard look at what really led to peace of mind or absorption (the closest I've come to understanding happiness). Not having a car gives me volumes not to think or worry about, and makes walks around the neighborhood a daily adventure. Lacking a cell phone and high-speed Internet, I have time to play ping-pong every evening, to write long letters to old friends and to go shopping for my sweetheart (or to track down old baubles for two kids who are now out in the world).

When the phone does ring - once a week - I'm thrilled, as I never was when the phone rang in my overcrowded office in Rockefeller Center. And when I return to the United States every three months or so and pick up a newspaper, I find I haven't missed much at all. While I've been rereading P.G. Wodehouse, or "Walden," the crazily accelerating roller-coaster of the 24/7 news cycle has propelled people up and down and down and up and then left them pretty much where they started. "I call that man rich," Henry James's Ralph Touchett observes in "Portrait of a Lady," "who can satisfy the requirements of his imagination." Living in the future tense never did that for me.

"Perhaps happiness, like peace or passion, comes most when it isn't pursued."

 

I certainly wouldn't recommend my life to most people - and my heart goes out to those who have recently been condemned to a simplicity they never needed or wanted. But I'm not sure how much outward details or accomplishments ever really make us happy deep down. The millionaires I know seem desperate to become multimillionaires, and spend more time with their lawyers and their bankers than with their friends (whose motivations they are no longer sure of). And I remember how, in the corporate world, I always knew there was some higher position I could attain, which meant that, like Zeno's arrow, I was guaranteed never to arrive and always to remain dissatisfied.

Being self-employed will always make for a precarious life; these days, it is more uncertain than ever, especially since my tools of choice, written words, are coming to seem like accessories to images. Like almost everyone I know, I've lost much of my savings in the past few months. I even went through a dress-rehearsal for our enforced austerity when my family home in Santa Barbara burned to the ground some years ago, leaving me with nothing but the toothbrush I bought from an all-night supermarket that night. And yet my two-room apartment in nowhere Japan seems more abundant than the big house that burned down. I have time to read the new John le Carre, while nibbling at sweet tangerines in the sun. When a Sigur Ros album comes out, it fills my days and nights, resplendent. And then it seems that happiness, like peace or passion, comes most freely when it isn't pursued.

If you're the kind of person who prefers freedom to security, who feels more comfortable in a small room than a large one and who finds that happiness comes from matching your wants to your needs, then running to stand still isn't where your joy lies. In New York, a part of me was always somewhere else, thinking of what a simple life in Japan might be like. Now I'm there, I find that I almost never think of Rockefeller Center or Park Avenue at all.

By Pico Iyer

Britain and the United States increased pressure on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to step down, accusing him of presiding over the country's economic collapse blamed for a cholera outbreak that has killed more than 1,000.

But the calls are more likely to harden the stance of Mugabe, who does not want to be seen as bowing to demands from white Westerners.

Britain's Africa Minister Mark Malloch Brown said Monday that Mugabe must retire for a power-sharing government to succeed in the former British colony facing a mounting economic and humanitarian crisis.

He told BBC radio that Mugabe was incapable of making good on a deal reached in September to govern alongside opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

"Power-sharing isn't dead but Mugabe has become an absolute impossible obstacle to achieving it," Malloch Brown said. "He's so distrusted by all sides that I think the Americans are absolutely right - he's going to have to step aside."

The remarks came a day after the top U.S. diplomat for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, said Washington can no longer support a Zimbabwean deal that leaves Mugabe in office as president. Also stepping up pressure, the Roman Catholic Bishops Conference of Southern Africa called for Africans and especially regional giant South Africa "to isolate Mugabe completely."

But Mugabe, once considered a hero among African freedom fighters, has shrugged off such criticism, drawing many Africans to his side with claims he is fighting a Western imperialist plot.

"The only likelihood is that they (African leaders) will harden in their stand against so-called Western imperialism," said John Makumbe, a political science professor in Zimbabwe. "I think (Mugabe) actually enjoys all that pressure and sees it as giving him the limelight."

African leaders are also wary of being seen as simply following the U.S. and now the British lead. Frazer on Sunday acknowledged that stepping up the pressure against Mugabe could backfire. But she said it was a risk worth taking, because "at some point we have to say what we really believe."

Mugabe, 84, has ruled the country since its 1980 independence from Britain and refused to leave office following disputed elections in March.

He has faced renewed criticism amid a humanitarian crisis that has pushed millions of Zimbabweans to the point of starvation and spawned a cholera epidemic that has killed more than 1,000 people since August.

President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy all have called for Mugabe to step down.

Those few Africans who have spoken out against him have been denounced as "lackeys" obeying the orders of white masters. The Catholic bishops said it was time for that to stop.

"Some African leaders, to their shame, have felt it necessary to stand in solidarity with Mugabe against the supposed machinations of former colonial and present imperial powers; it is time for them to redirect their solidarity towards the needs of the suffering people of this once-thriving country," they said Sunday.

Britain and the United States keep urging African governments, especially those in southern Africa, to take concerted action against Mugabe. But there is little they can do to put pressure on the Africans.

"I think this is a hardening of rhetoric by the U.S. and the U.K., but I don't think that is reflected in the thinking of the Southern African Development Community, or the African Union," said Alex Vines, head of the Africa program at London's Chatham House think tank.

Meanwhile, he thinks "the impasse will continue."

On Friday, an ever-defiant Mugabe declared that "Zimbabwe is mine," saying only Zimbabweans can remove him from power and that no African nation is brave enough to wrest it from him.

"The real pressure will have to come from within Zimbabwe, through civic action, through the military rioting, work boycotts by teachers, the nurses and the doctors to keep the hospitals and schools closed," Makumbe said.

Zimbabwe, once the region's breadbasket, has seen its agricultural sector collapse under Mugabe. There are chronic shortages of everything including food, medicine, fuel and cash.

Critics blame Mugabe's policies for the nation's ruin. Mugabe blames Western sanctions, though the European Union and U.S. sanctions are targeted only at Mugabe and dozens of his clique with frozen bank accounts and travel bans.

This month, soldiers rioted in downtown Harare when they could not withdraw their salaries from banks that ran out of cash; all the main hospitals in Harare are closed, because staff have not been paid or because they have no medication.

The bishops called for South Africa's President Kgalema Motlanthe "to stop immediately all collusion with Mugabe and to cut off any lifeblood that South Africa is offering him." Specifically, they suggested cutting fuel and electricity supplies to landlocked Zimbabwe.

Last month, Botswana's Foreign Minister Phandu Skelemani called for African nations to close their borders with Zimbabwe, saying it would bring Mugabe down in just a week or two.

But South Africa maintains the answer for Zimbabwe is power-sharing, not ousting Mugabe.

Malloch Brown suggested that Mugabe might be moved by a promise of immunity from international prosecution for alleged crimes against humanity.

"I think that if President Mugabe was to come to the U.K. and the U.S. or other third parties - African neighbors - and say 'I'll go if I can be offered a quiet retirement,' I expect people would look at what's possible," he told the BBC.

For years, rag-tag outfits toting deadly weapons have been left to their devices in Somalia, and anarchy has reigned supreme.

But when the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) was formed in Nairobi in 2005, it was envisaged that the international community would give Somalia troops and logistics to mop up arms and stabilise the war-ravaged nation, and material aid for reconstruction.

However, according to a former Kenyan ambassador to that country, "the international community has so far been the biggest culprit in the Somali conflict".

In an interview with the Sunday Nation, Mohamed Affey claimed that had Somalia been given "a third" of the attention being accorded Darfur, Chad or even Uganda, the conflict in the country would have ended a long time ago.

But he said the new government, led by President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, is more inclusive and appears to have the tentative support of the international community.

"For the last 18 Somalia has been a tale of missed opportunities, but now there is a chance that the country, with the assistance of the international community, could finally come to a peaceful resolution".

The new government's inclusiveness stems from the fact that, apart from the hardline al Shabaab Islamic group, the administration is now enlarged to include members of the TFG (composed mainly of former warlords), the Islamic Court Union and lobby groups, a critical element that was missing before.

It may also be a plus for Sheik Ahmed that he is not known for warlike activities, a fact that could endear him to the UN, the US and the other Western countries that have shown signs of support.

He is also comparatively young - about 45. So the majority of Somalis who are youthful and fatigued by war and political bickering can identify with him.

"When he assumed the leadership of the Islamic Courts Union, he was able for six months before the Ethiopian troops came in to effectively manage the city of Mogadishu, which speaks volumes about his leadership qualities," notes Affey.

The outcome of the process that made Sheik Ahmed president is seen as a continuation of the Nairobi one that resulted in the TFG, and with the standing bilateral agreement signed in 2005 between Somalia and Kenya, it is expected to be business as usual between the two countries if and when the situation normalises.

But Affey admits that the security situation in that country and generally in the region is precarious.

"We share a 2,400km plus porous border and small arms from that country easily find their way into our cities and towns. This situation is enough to worry. "Insecurity in Somalia automatically translates into insecurity in Kenya and the rest of the region, and so nobody can rest easy," he adds.

The influx of refugees running away from the mayhem in their country is a big challenge to Kenya's ecosystem as well as internal and food security, among other things.

"Although we welcome them on humanitarian grounds, they are a big stress to our socio-economic wellbeing, and the sooner their country is back on its feet, the better for us as a country," Affey says"

And noting that Kenya is one of the region's states affected economically by the Somali pirates, with the transportation of cargo by sea to the port of Mombasa becoming prohibitive, the envoy says the Government cannot simply wish the problem away, and that it has the "sacred duty" of ensuring there is stability in Somalia for the sake of that country's people, Kenyans and the other people of the region in general.

CLARENCE CENTER, N.Y. Feb. 18...On a gloomy Thursday afternoon (Feb. 12) a random sampling of Americans boarded Continental Connection Flight 3407 departing Newark Airport  en route to Buffalo. 

Psychologist Mervyn Fliegel calls them "the givers."

On that same day another group in D.C., New York, Dallas,Miami, Chicago and Hollywood, were desperately  phoning, emailing and texting their lawyers, agents, flacks, trainers, astrologists, aromatherapists--anyone who could help them salvage their public lives. 

Fliegel, research director of PUNS (Psychologists United for a New Society)  calls this group "the takers."

Several hours later the "givers" were lying dead in the burning wreckage of flight 3407.

The "takers" were still single-mindedly trying to burnish their tarnished images.

"It's an American irony that you can take a random sample aboard a commuter plane and find people with more talent, character, courage and dedication than you'll  find in the centers of political, financial and artistic leadership, " Fliegel says. 

In his new book Who We Give Our Power To And Why  Fliegel tries to answer the question of why ordinary people are morally, ethically and often intellectually superior to those they choose to run their lives. He calls this "American schizophrenia" and uses the event of February 12 as a textbook example.

Among the ordinary Americans who were flying to Buffalo on that day were:

A much decorated Marine (Silver Star, two Bronze Stars), who had survived two helicopter crashes in Vietnam.

A human rights crusader who had tirelessly worked to expose the genocide in Rwanda.

A woman whose husband had been killed on 9/11and had since become a leader of victims' advocates groups.

A young hockey player who had been the first female ever to play on a men's  team.

Two jazz musicians, good friends, who were on their way to perform with Chuck Mangione's band.

"These people were social altruists," Fliegel said. "Whether it be human rights, terror victims, hockey or jazz they  had sacrificed money, career and family life in the service of a cause greater than themselves."

Among the stars, leaders and role models who were spinning their way out of trouble as they had each done so often in their lives, were:

An ex-president trying to salvage a "legacy" out of the wreckage of his administration.

Another ex-president going insane with thwarted exhibitionism.

A Treasury Secretary who had cheated on his taxes and had been brutally criticized for his financial rescue plan.

A Secretary of State whose husband is collecting millions of dollars in lecture and lobbyist fees from countries with whom she will be negotiating. 

A prominent politician who had been forced to withdraw from his cabinet post because of $110,000  in undeclared income.

Still another who had withdrawn from a cabinet nomination because of an FBI Investigation into illegal fundraising.

A baseball star, accused of lying about steroid use, who was trying to buy his way back into the public's good graces with crocodile apologies and a $3.2 million gift to a college baseball program.

A Governor impeached for solicitation of bribery.

A newly appointed Senator under investigation for perjury.

Various disgraced economists and financiers, who had lied, embezzled and misrepresented trillions out of the public coffers.

Movie stars, athletes, celebrities who had abused substances and each other...

"These are the sociopathic elite," Fliegel says. "People who have risen to dominance in every area of American life. Their only cause  is themselves and they pursue it relentlessly without regard for truth or scruple."

Fliegel says that these radically different personalities share one character trait. "They are addicted to risk. They tempt fate like reckless drivers, breaking rules, lying, intriguing, even committing criminal acts. The fear of discovery and punishment is an almost sexual thrill for them."

Again he asks: "Why do we give these people power over our lives?"

Fliegel says the American obsession with "world-wide celebrity, astronomical wealth and record-breaking achievement" is so demanding that only liars, cheats and connivers can hope to succeed.

"Those who aspire to success soon learn that it cannot be achieved by skill and application alone," he says. "They become cynical about the system they are subverting, contemptuous of the people they are manipulating."

The true problems begin when the sociopathic elite gain power, Fliegel says.

"The thrill is gone," he says. "They become bored with the every day tasks of this power. They have no respect for the process, only for the prizes. They become inattentive, unfocused. They make terrible mistakes...

"Many are misled...Millions die...Tens of millions are ruined..."

Fliegel says the American political system has to be restructured so that the altruists, people like the passengers aboard that tragic flight, can assume leadership roles.

"We need to put the careful drivers behind the wheel again," he says.

Hello!

Just a quick hello to let you know about me.

I'm a mobile journalist working in South Florida as a general assignment reporter and photographer for a television station.

I write, shoot and report my own stuff.

To see my work, visit www.cbs4.com/mojo

jr

Ivan Yopsvoyomatsky, editor of paranoiaisfact.com and columnist for The Daily Event
answers readers' questions

Dear Igor,

I just shot my broker. He had assured me that quant funds would earn great returns no matter which way the market went. This morning I nailed my banker as he was getting into his car. He had urged me to take a sub prime mortgage, saying the rising value of my home would be my collateral for high yield investments. My boss called me a sissy and told me my 401k was safe because the ratings agencies had Triple A'd every derivative and anyway AIG was insuring them. I blasted his fat ass in the executive washroom after lunch. Now I'm standing over Bernie's (that's my broker) body with a Glock in my hand, getting up the nerve to use it on myself. It seems certain that I will die a failure. Is that paranoia or fact?

Troubled
Greenwich, Connecticut.

Dear Troubled,

That is paranoia. Reading between the lines I would guess that you are penniless and your family has abandoned you. But don't despair. You can still go out with a bang, proving to the world, your embittered wife and scornful children, that you are a savvy investor.

Now, listen carefully: Take your finger off the trigger and remove the Glock from your mouth. Get in your car and drive to the nearest Wal-Mart. Get out, leaving the Glock in the glove compartment, and walk in. Feast your eyes on the aisles and aisles and of gaudy packaging. Wal-Mart is unequaled in its compliance and logistics systems. No one can restock faster than Wal-Mart. Doesn't that give you a comforting feeling?

Now for a big surprise. Go to the firearms and ammunition department. What do you see? Empty shelves, disheveled display cases. It is as if the place had been looted by a desperate mob.

Wal-Mart is selling guns and ammo faster than it can restock them. This is the Black Swan that Nassim Taleb writes about--the unexpected deviation from the curve. The economy may be whimpering, but the gun market is banging.

Cheer up, Troubled. I think we've found a wrinkle the smart money overlooked.

Now, boot up your laptop and check some stock prices.

Cabelas, an outdoor outfitter, which sells rifles and ammo, has gone up 35% on stronger than projected earnings.

Firearms manufacturer, Smith and Wesson is up 50%.

Ruger, its closest competitor, has increased 40%.

Olin, another gun maker, has raised earnings guidances for its Winchester ammunition division.

Gunshow dealers report that customers are buying two and three guns, stocking up on ammunition, 50 boxes at a time.

Gun stores all over the country report increased sales to a demographic that never bought a gun--young professionals.

Rich Wyatt, owner of Gunsmoke, a firearms training facility outside of Denver, is quoted as saying: "We are getting Prius-driving Obama types buying guns for the first time."

Wal-Mart, canny merchandiser that it is, has been taken by surprise. After the election it reduced its firearm inventory in anticipation of President Obama issuing an executive order limiting gun and ammo sales. There were rumors that he would pressure the states into repealing carry permits for concealed weapons and would restore the assault weapons ban that had expired in 2004. The order was never issued, the pressure hasn't come. But the rumors provoked an unexpected response: gun sales exploded. Applications for concealed carry permits shot into the hundreds of thousands.

"If I had known it would be this good in the gun business I might have voted for Obama," says Wyatt.

There is an old Russian proverb: "You won't see the seed until the tree has grown." The underlying causes of this phenomenon were there all along.

1. The fear that a liberal president would put a stop to gun sales.

2. The fear, in a crashing economy, that violent robberies would increase and people wouldn't even be safe in their homes.

3.. The sudden rash of mass shootings, making people feel they needed protection in public places.

4. The sudden shortage of firearms as dealers smuggle them across the border into Mexico to be sold to the cartels at three times the retail price.

Now, perhaps, you are getting frustrated, smacking your forehead and saying "I should have seen this coming." Remember, analysis is retrospective, not predictive. There is still time to jump on this bandwagon. Invest in the Paranoid Fund.

We're betting that a bloody class war will erupt in the next eighteen months. People will barricade themselves in foreclosed houses. Bankrupts will invade the homes of their more solvent neighbors. Twittering hordes will pour out of the urban ghettos to loot and pillage in the suburbs. The cartels will lay siege to border towns in Texas and California. Bankers will use bailout money to hire private police, fortify their automobiles, have their children home-schooled to prevent kidnapping.

If you doubt our prognostications look at yourself. Only last year you were a normal family man with a job, a home and a foreseeable future. Today you are a destitute, deserted triple murderer contemplating suicide.

You are our demographic.

We are looking at companies that will prosper in the Apocalypse. Guns and ammo, alarm systems, body armor and personal protection, alcohol, tobacco, pharmaceuticals, caffeinated drinks. We guarantee that our fund will grow in an up or down market. You will be able to leverage your position into other investments. Your investment will be insured by AIG, which is back and stronger than ever.

Instead of a suicide note you can leave your family a piece of the Ammo Fund. There will be tears at your funeral, fresh flowers on your grave.

There is no time for a prospectus. Write us a check right now. If you're sending cash, crumple the bills into tiny balls the size of discarded pieces of chewing gum and wrap them in a piece of paper to fool the desperadoes at the Post Office.

Okay, now drop it in the mail.

Have you done it? Good.

Now you can pick up that Glock, brother, and rest in peace.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Ca, March 5...At the age of 102, blacklisted screenwriter Art Ostrovsky says he is witnessing something he never thought he would live to see--the overthrow of Capitalism. 

His rheumy eyes brighten, his crabbed fingers tremble around a glass of vodka. "I waited 80 years for the Revolution to come to America," he says. "Now I can feel it in the wind..."

In this rundown garden apartment complex off Magnolia Boulevard in North Hollywood, Ostrovsky is a puzzle to his neighbors, mostly new arrivals from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. They call him "el viejito" in humorous reference to a popular brand of Tequila and know him as the skeletal old man teetering on his walker in a daily promenade around the courtyard, with a stoic West Indian home care worker in attendance. They occasionally look in on him in the cluttered apartment where along with floating dust devils, spider webs and the resident mouse scurrying in the crawl space he has lived for sixty-two years, among fading photos of the authors, politicians, actors and directors he knew in the "Movement." 

Ostrovsky is convinced that the economic crisis and the new administration of President Obama provide an opportunity to change the world. He urges his neighbors to participate in "bourgeois" politics. "Marx said that capital is reckless to the health and length of life of the laborer unless under compulsion from society," he says. "I warn them not to let the bosses pit them against each other the way the studios did to us."  He fishes a bent Marlboro out of a crumpled box..."The old ones smile behind their hands, but the young ones hear me. They will carry the torch."

Ostrovsky may be the last surviving founder of the Screenwriter's Guild. No one knows...

"In the movie business sentiment is reserved for the successful," he says. "Lawson, Cole and Ornitz were the stars because they wrote the major features. I was just a laborer in the vineyards. I licked the envelopes and ran the mimeograph..."

Blacklisted in 1953 for his refusal to testify about his Communist affiliations he has stayed faithful to the Marxist view of history. 

"Marx predicted that the capitalists would be the agents of their own destruction," he says with a triumphant gleam. "Now the financiers are pleading for the nationalization of the banks and major industries as the only way to save their personal wealth. The parasite is begging the host to keep it alive." 

Born in Harlem in New York City in 1907, Ostrovsky was raised in an orthodox Communist family. His father was a founder of the Fur and Leather Worker's Union. His mother was a leader of a historic 1909 strike against the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, which won union representation for seamstresses. 

"When I was nine years old a little boy named Serge was brought home to play with me," Ostrovsky says. "He was very serious and said his father was going to make a big revolution in Russia and chase out the Czar. I laughed at him, but my mother pulled my ear until I cried and said his father was Trotsky, a great man.. 

"That serious little boy became an engineer and returned to help rebuild Russia," Ostrovsky says. "He was arrested and shot during Stalin's purges of the '30's."

On September 16, 1920, a horse cart loaded with 100 pounds of dynamite and 500 pounds of cast-iron slugs exploded across from the J.P. Morgan headquarters on Wall St., killing 30.   

In the crackdown on Communists and Anarchists that followed Ostrovsky's parents were deported to Russia and he was sent to live with an aunt in Coney Island.

"My parents became political commissars in charge of collecting grain from collective farms," Ostrovsky says. "During the Great Famine of the 1933, they were killed by a mob of starving Ukrainians."

Ostrovsky grew up to become a loyal member of the Communist Party. 

"We believed in the words of Nicola Sacco that every human life is connected to every other life through threads that you cannot see," he said. "We fought for the rights of the workers against the bosses and their gangster goons," he said. "For the martyrs who were framed by the corrupt judicial servants of the exploiters."

In 1931, Ostrovsky rode the rails to Scottsboro, Alabama to support the defense of a group of black teenagers who were accused of gang raping two white women.

"When everyone else abandoned them the Communist party came to their defense," Ostrovsky says. 

During the 1932 presidential campaign he traveled to Los Angeles with the Communist candidate William Z. Foster. They were arrested on charges of "criminal syndicalism."

"I tell the young people that Obama is not the first black man to run in a presidential election," he says. "In 1932, the Communist Party nominated James W. Ford as Foster's running mate. The Party came in fourth with 102,000 votes that year."

When they were released, Ostrovsky was instructed by cultural Commissar V.J. Jerome to stay in Hollywood. "Movies were seen as a tremendous vehicle for propaganda," he says. " A comrade got me a job writing comedy shorts for Vitagraph. My job was to try to portray the class struggle, the nobility of the workers and the essential shallowness of the bourgeoisie."

Ostrovsky remembers the short unit as the purest expression of collective unity. 

"Writers, actors, directors, technicians all worked together in solidarity," he says. "We were the proletarians of the studio system and were united against a common enemy--the bosses."

His proudest achievement was a short in which a young Glenda Farrell, playing a shopgirl, is promised a promotion by her lecherous boss, Guy Kibbee, but fights him off and returns to her poor but honest carpenter boyfriend, Dick Foran.  

"We were positive that the Depression would raise the collective consciousness of the working class and lead to world revolution," Ostrovsky says. "But FDR and his band of left meliorists kept the people in check."

The Party viewed the Spanish Civil War  as a proxy battle between the Soviet Union and the Fascist powers.. Ostrovsky was working on a serial in which the hero had to capture a dangerous secret weapon. The Cultural Commissar instructed him to make all his villains Germans or Italians.  But Warner Brothers wanted to sell movies abroad and was loath to offend such good customers. 

"We compromised and made our villains American neo-fascist plutocrats," Ostrovsky says. "My bad guys were modeled on Henry Ford and John D. Rockefeller. Our subliminal message reached millions of kids in Saturday matinees..."

During the war he worked in an Army Air Corps film unit commanded by Lieutenant Ronald Reagan. "We made morale boosting films for the troops," he says. "I managed to slip in some pro-Soviet messages...Ronnie never caught on."

After the war Ostrovsky says "the bourgeois democracies were confronted by the sudden emergence of the Revolution, spreading from Eastern Europe and Asia toward the  West." 

"The reaction set in," Osotrovsky says. "Communists were demonized. At the same time a suffocating blanket of prosperous conformity settled over the land." 

Ostrovsky refused to testify against his comrades and was blacklisted. "The famous writers, the Hollywood Ten, all worked under pseudonyms," he says. "But the B-writers were finished."

In the late '50's he was given a few pseudonymous scripts on the TV series Robin Hood. "I enjoyed writing stories about a defender of the oppressed. But the series didn't last." 

After that, Ostrovsky never worked again. His fourth wife supported him with her earnings as an official of the Los Angeles teacher's union. Now he lives on her small pension and Social Security. He admits he despaired of ever seeing the Revolution. "In the '60's they stifled collective action with drugs and false philosophies of self-realization," he says. "For the last twenty years they deadened the oppressed with easy credit. Now it's over." He turns with grim satisfaction  to the photos of Paul Robeson, Jules Dassin, Dalton Trumbo, Zero Mostel and The Weavers. "Our time has come.."

After a restorative gulp of vodka Ostrovsky grips his walker and pushes open his screen door. In the courtyard some kids are kicking around a soccer ball. Closing his eyes and harking back to a time when he addressed public meetings Ostrovsky calls to them with sudden strength.

"You must grab the moment," he shouts. "Capital has exhausted the consumer market it created. In a last gasp it commodified itself. It created a world wide market in which capital was the only product. But now the house of cards has collapsed. Capital is like an animal, gnawing at its limbs to extricate itself from a trap that it set for others...

"Obama's humane democracy will change the economic relations between people. It will open the door for a socialism of equality and eventually for a classless society...."

Steadying himself with one hand, Ostrovsky raises his fist.

"I believe in the ultimate victory of the Fourth International," he cries

The kids stop their game and applaud.

"Bravo Art," they shout. "Ole..."

BROOKLYN, N.Y. , Feb 13...The economic crisis is being prolonged by faulty terminology that distorts perceptions, dampens expectations and crushes optimism, an analyst charged today.

"Our nomenclature is counter-productive," said Efraim Durg, founder and CEO of NeuroBrands, a marketing consultancy.  "We say one thing, but the listener reacts in a totally different way." 

Durg released a study that he claimed proved that the words used by policy makers often produce the opposite effect of what was intended.

The study was done with an "eclectic" group of volunteers--executives with the Carlyle Group, inmates on Death Row at Angola Prison and residents of the Hebrew Home For the Aged. The participants were wired with electrodes attached to the pleasure and pain centers of the brain. Words and phrases were flashed on a screen in front of them and simultaneously spoken in their earpieces by a soothing female voice. Their neural responses were recorded.

The first phrase was the acronym TARP, former Treasury Secretary Paulsen's bailout plan. 

"The word has a harsh sound and connotation," Durg said. "The elderly people associate tarps with the gurney covers thrown over the recently deceased,"  Durg said. "Prisoners said police sometimes covered informers with tarps when transporting them from one unit to another Carlyle executives said they used tarps to protect their vintage sports cars from the elements and  the prying eyes of reporters and government investigators. All agreed that TARP meant cover up and they had negative reactions." 

Next, the participants were shown the term "toxic assets." They reacted with revulsion. 

"The Government tried to encourage banks and private investors to buy these  assets" Durg said. "But our participants said they wouldn't buy anything with the word toxic on the label and the banks haven't touched them."

Durg suggested a simpler label like "A Real Steal"

"Then, we could change the acronym to STARS for Secret Treasure A Real Steal." In this celebrity-obsessed culture people would believe that a program called STARS could save the economy."

Legislators on both sides of the aisle have been railing about bills that "are loaded with pork," but when Durg showed that phrase to his subjects the response was positive.

"The inmates said they had ordered pork for their last meal. The Carlyle execs said the phrase made them think of the Charcuterie platters they used to get at their favorite bistro before Obama took their expense accounts away. The aged Hebrews registered ambivalent reactions, but all agreed that something loaded with pork was probably a good thing."

"If you want these bills to die you need a stronger term," Durg said. "Something like: 'This bill is loaded with putrefying cadavers,' Or 'with conniving lobbyists.' Then, you could have Senators ringingly refuse to support legislation that was 'laden with putrefying cadavers and conniving lobbyists.' No politician would vote for that."

Treasury Secretary Geithner wants to work with private equity investors who specialize in bad debt. These people have been referred to a "vultures" who circle over a dying company and swoop down when its work force has been depleted and its debts buried in bankruptcy. 

Durg's subjects recoiled from the term. "You can't be saved by a vulture," an aged Hebrew said. "You're already dead." A Carlyle exec complained: "Why are the rich always vultures while the poor are crippled sparrows?" Durg feels the billionaire investors Geithner is trying so hard to woo will stay away. 

"Nobody wants to be thought of as an ugly, squawking bird picking at carrion," he said. "If we want to involve these investors we should change the description. Something like 'public-spirited philanthropists.'"

Durg said a total rephrasing was needed to draw private equity into the market. Something like: "Public-spirited philanthropists flocked to the STARS program investing a trillions in "real steals."

He smiled proudly. "That'll jumpstart the economy for sure."

WALL STREET, N.Y., May 1...Declaring that "only collective action can restore our faith in ourselves and each other,"  writer Igor Yopsvoyomatsky yesterday urged every American to "stop spending"  for one day next week.  

Speaking to a boisterous crowd in New York's  financial district, Yopsvoyomatsky said: "The neuro-economic manipulators have addicted us to consumption in order to enrich themselves.  And like drug addicts we must steal and lie to indulge our habit." 

He called on all Americans to " break the daisy chain of deceit that has strangled our lives. Stop lying and cheating and bribing each other." 

He called for a "no sale Sunday"  to protest the exploitation of the "consuming classes." 

"Can you go cold turkey on frivolous expense?" he challenged. "Can you show the manipulators that you can bring their system to a crashing halt?"

Yopsvoyomatsky, a recent immigrant from Pinsk, was on the first stop of a publicity tour to promote his new book "The Sociopathology of the Financial System " He led a contingent of "Desktop Desperadoes," writers who claim their books are so subversive they cannot even pay to have them published to Border's Books, hoping to have what he called a "guerilla signing." When turned away by store security he set up a table outside the store, grabbed a cordless mic and harangued the lunchtime crowd.

"Do you know what happens to sheep? They are slaughtered. Lemmings follow each other to mutual destruction. Rats under stress consume themselves. This is what they are doing to you."

"Who?" someone asked.

"Them..." Yopsvoyomatsky pointed to a skyscraper across the street. "The sleek, well-tailored men in the corner offices with the gleaming limousines waiting to whisk them to gourmet restaurants for caviar and champagne and later"--he sighed with a wistful look--"into the arms of their beautiful mistresses..."

A broker, unshaven, tie askew, shirt flopping untucked out of his trousers, stopped in disbelief. "Who?" he demanded.

Grunting with the strain,Yopsvoyomatsky hoisted his eleven hundred page book. "It is all here in painstaking analytic detail. They have created a polity of thieves..."

"A what?" the harried broker demanded.

Yopsvoyomatsky riffled the pages. "Under socialism people cheated and stole because they had nothing. Under capitalism they cheat and steal because they don't have enough. Under socialism the nomenklatura had it all..."

The broker shook his head with an angry squint.

"The what?"

"The privileged classes," Yopsvoyomatsky said.  "The ones with the powerful jobs, who shopped in special stores, had Black Sea dachas. Even a special lane to drive their cars. They had everything. The rest of us had to cheat, steal and bribe to survive..."

"That was Russia," the broker said. 

"What is the difference?" Yopsvoyomatsky said. "You have here capitalist nomenklatura. Bankers, hedge fund, private equity. They are allowed to create and circulate wealth among themselves. When they are ensnared by their own greed their cronies in government free them. Then they return the favor by hiring cronies to eight figure jobs...But they have done something much worse..."

"Tell them, Igor," a Desktop Desperado shouted and confided to a friend: "this is cool..."

"They have turned all of us into thieves, cheaters and liars so that we can continue buying pointless electronic toys they foist on us," Yopsvoyomatsky shouted. "You sir..." He approached the broker. "You give buy recommendation on bad stock to increase the value of your holdings..."

"That's a lie!" the broker shouted.

"Your client who you lied to owns restaurant that charges you thirty dollars for a piece of  farm-raised fish that they say is wild caught. A taxi driver who buys gasoline for price inflated by your speculation fixes the meter to raise the fare. At home, the plumber who lost mortgage on sub-prime insured by your CDO charges you thousands when all he had to do was replace a washer. And to add insult to injury he is having an affair with your wife, who is angry because she saw passionate e mail from your receptionist..."

The broker gulped and reddened. "So that's why he's been coming every day...And billing me for his time..."

"You open your mail, sir. The phone company has billed you two dollars for fictitious calls, calculating that you won't spend an hour on the phone to get the money back. Your credit card interest has been arbitrarily doubled and you have penalty for not paying. The hideously expensive private school wants a contribution or it won't even consider your superbly gifted children. The nanny has given your credit card  and account numbers to identity thieves in Slovakia. Meanwhile, her twenty dollar prepaid phone only has seventeen dollars in calls..."

" My God, you're right," the broker said with a stricken look. "We're all stealing from each other."

A contingent of motorcycle cops from the security checkpoint up the block arrived. "You are creating a traffic hazard, sir. You'll have to disperse..."

Yopsvoyomatsky climbed on his rickety table. "And look. They send the Cossacks  to attack us ..." The legs buckled and the table collapsed. Yopsvoyomatsky tumbled and was stunned by one of his falling books. "Police brutality," he shouted. 

He marched down Broadway, shouting: 

"What do we want?"

The crowd shouted, "No sale Sunday!"

"When do we want it?"

The crowd was puzzled. 

"Sunday?"

He arrived at the bronze statue of a bull, the symbol of BoA Merrill Lynch at Bowling Green.

"This bull my friends is perfect symbol of capitalism..."He paused for effect..." A bull screws passive cows. It takes huge shits wherever and whenever it wants and it gores anybody who comes into its pasture..." As the crowd roared he jumped on the bull's back. "We will show this bull what we think of it..."

Police moved in quickly and took Yopsvoyomatsky into custody. He was charged with obstructing commerce, orating without a permit and attempted sodomy of a financial icon.

Jerusalem hopes to see the Obama administration lead efforts to prevent Iran from developing nuclear arms, that's the key message Israel's leadership wants to see visiting US secretary of state take home

The identical message Israel's leaders made an effort to hammer home as they met with visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in rapid succession on Tuesday is that Israel expects US President Barack Obama's administration to lead the international charge against the Iranian nuclear threat.

Here on her first official visit since being appointed secretary, Clinton's hectic schedule included meetingswith President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Affairs Minister Tzipi Livni.

All of whom told Clinton that the progression of Iran's military nuclear program must be halted and that more pressure must be exerted to cut off the supply of missiles and technology to Tehran while combating the funding of terror organizations.

Israel considers Iran its central threat, Clinton was told. Furthermore, Israel also believes that time is running out while Tehran stalls in an effort to establish facts on the ground that will be difficult to change in the future.

Jerusalem is seeking to have Washington set time constraints on dialogue with Iran, and if these should fail the world must impose harsher economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

And if this course of action should also fail to yield results, Israel is asking the US to consider military action.

Defense Minister Barak told Clinton during their meeting that Israel would not take any option off the table.

The second track pursued by the Israeli leadership embraces the notion reportedly put forward by President Obama, according to which Russia would prevent the sale of advanced technology and long-range missiles to Iran while in exchange Washington would reconsider its missile defense shield in Europe.

And the third track urges stronger action to prevent the smuggling of arms from Iran to Syria, Hizbullah and Hamas, in accordance with the resolution passed by the UN Security Council.

Clinton made clear during her visit that the Obama administration would continue predecessor George W. Bush's stalwart opposition to an Iran with nuclear might at its military's disposal.

Israel's Ambassador to the US, Salai Meridor, who accompanied Clinton's visit, said Washington had yet to decide whether it would set a deadline for the dialogue with Tehran before moving to harsher sanctions.

As for Russia preventing the sale of long-range missiles and technology to Iran, Clinton confirmed that the proposal was in talks with Moscow.

The secretary said that she has already discussed the matter with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during the Egyptian conference earlier this week on the rehabilitation of Gaza, and that she expects to talk Lavrov again on Friday.

Dispute over Palestinian issue

But while Jerusalem and Washington appear to be in sync regarding Iran, there is a great deal of disparity between the leaderships' view of the stagnated Palestinian peace process.

The first matter of contention is the closure imposed on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

In her meeting with Barak, Clinton pressed for Israel to open the border crossings to ease the Palestinians' needs, and expressed her concerns regarding the impact the closure has on the humanitarian situation in the coastal territory.

During her joint press conference with Minister Livni the secretary said that it was difficult to discuss the transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza so long as the rocket attacks against Israel continue, however the Obama administration is expected to continue pressuring Israel on this matter.

Another issue that will likely drive a wedge between the US administration and the future Netanyahu government is the two-state solution favored by Obama and outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Netanyahu was adamant to project a solid relationship with the Obama administration and a lack of US pressure on the Palestinian track, and indeed Clinton did broach the subject during her meeting with him. The secretary did however discuss the two-state solution and the Annapolis process in her other meetings.

US sources made clear that the matter "would be discussed in due time. There is no point in raising the issue before the Israeli government is formed."

The sources stressed Secretary Clinton's message that 'friends must be honest with each other' as testament to Washington's future intentions.

The settlements are another issue related to the Palestinian talks, one that already plagued the

Republican Bush administration and will certainly be on the agenda of the new Democratic one.

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice publically slammed construction in existing settlements, which Olmert's government dismissed as natural growth.

Obama's administration is expected to make things very difficult for an Israeli government that will adopt the right-wing stance regarding the West Bank, that settlements should not be evacuated and that the state should permit construction where in demand.

This without mentioning the matter of the illegal outposts, which former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had already agreed to dismantle, though most remain untouched.

The Daily Event reports from the Davos Conference.

ACTIVIST INVADES PLUTOCRATS'
POVERTY PSYCHODRAMA

Robert Polet, Gucci Group CEO, an AK 47 to his head, pleaded for help.

"Please, please help me find my children," he cried as soldiers pinned him to the muddy floor of a refugee camp.

In a moment of high psychodrama, pampered executives learned what it's like to be one of the 32.9 million displaced persons who live in squalid, brutalized conditions around the world.

The simulation, presented by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in coordination with the Crossroads Foundation and the Global Risk Forum, a Davos non-profit, was meant to heighten executive sensitivity to the problems of the oppressed. Polet, who was called Mustafa in the play, flinched as an actress stepped on a make-believe land mine and was stretchered away, gushing stage blood.

"What a humbling experience to feel so defenseless," Polet told the Wall St. Journal and agreed enthusiastically when UN High Commissioner Antonio Guterres said that the lesson of the exercise was: "We should have the same level of determination in saving lives as saving banks."

But then someone in the audience shouted:

"This is the height of hypocrisy!"

Suddenly, the stage was invaded by a young woman leading a group of South Asian children.

"This man is responsible for the poverty and oppression of thousands of workers," she shouted.

The woman identified herself as Leah Schikdkraut, Labor Rights specialist with the Anarcho-Feminist Coalition.

"As the head of Unilever, this man employed 25,000 child laborers, ages 6 to 11, in the cotton seed operations of his Indian branch, Hindustan Lever," she shouted. "Hindustan Lever factories in Nepal, Mumbai and Pakistan were targeted for unfair labor practices and false police charges against workers."

Guards tried to evict her, but she waved an official invitation in their faces. "Polet now heads a company which hides its Made in China and India labels in the folds of its thousand dollar garments," she shouted. As Davos officials debated what to do she swung an Yves St. Laurent sweater, with embroidery by Lesage over her head.

"The rhinestones are falling off, " a designer screamed in anguish.

"This sweater cost $23,155," Schildkraut shouted. "Do you know how many displaced people we could feed...?"

Schildkraut was quickly surrounded by Swiss Guards. Brandishing a bottle of wine she held them at bay.

"After attending a three course gourmet dinner to discuss world hunger, these men will go to a Classic Claret wine tasting hosted by Jancis Robinson, wine columnist for the Financial Times," she said.

"Be careful for God's sake, that's a Latour 1952," a sommelier pleaded.

"Do you know how much medicine we could purchase with the price of this bottle?" Schildkraut shouted.

Outside, reporters asked Schildkraut how she had managed to wangle an invite to this exclusive session. She reddened and hesitated for a moment.

"I sold myself as a sex slave to Eliot Shpritzer, a real estate mogul from New York," she said. "The price was his invitation."

" I, too, wanted to know what it's like to be exploited and degraded..."

IT'S THE US AGAINST THE WORLD

Executives played the "blame game" at Davos and the US was the loser.

Chinese Premier Wen Jia Bao blamed China's sudden slowdown on US's "macroeconomic failures and "underregulated economy." He threatened to stop buying US T-bills, but was then seen offstage with his head in his hands, moaning: "what am I going to do with all that money?"

Russian President Putin blamed social unrest, the price of oil, the dispute with the Ukraine and the watery borscht on the US. He then raised eyebrows when he blamed an anti-government demonstration in Vladivostock on "Communist agitators."

Finally, the Americans had enough. When asked how American bankers could be so "stupid," Morgan Stanley Asia Chairman Stephen Roach fired back: "How could the regulators have been so stupid? How could the borrowers have been so stupid? How could everyone have been so stupid?"

Outside, the dispute continued.

"You were stupid to give mortgages to people who couldn't pay," a Chinese official shouted.

"You were stupid to buy the mortgage securities of the people who couldn't pay," an American banker replied.

"You were stupid to sell insurance on the mortgage securities of people who couldn't pay," a Swiss broker accused.

"You were stupid to trade swaps on the insurance on mortgage securities of people who couldn't pay," the American parried.

"You hit a mulligan into a sand trap," a Japanese CFA snorted.

"You served toxic blowfish testicles and seven people died," the American shot back. "How stupid is that?"

TURKS SAY MODERATOR
WAS "ARMENIAN AGITATOR"

Feb. 2...Turkish sources today accused Washington Post columnist David Ignatius of being an "Armenian agitator" who deliberately snubbed and humiliated Prime Minister Erdogan at a debate on the Middle East last week.

Ignatius, an Armenian-American, has written of the world's failure to acknowledge the massacre of a million Armenians by the Turkish Army in 1915. Sources claimed he had been planted on the panel to humiliate Erdogan. That it was all part of a plot to get Jewish legislators to vote for a Congressional resolution condemning the genocidal attacks

The debate began with four participants--Erdogan, Israeli President Shimon Peres, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and Arab League Secretary Amr Moussa-- ritually repeating familiar positions.

There were yawns. Heads bobbed in and out of wakefulness as:

Erdogan spoke of a "humanitarian crisis" and expressed annoyance that Israeli Prime Minister Olmert had been in Turkey four days before the Israeli invasion of Gaza and had given no indication of what was to come.

Moon asked for $613 billion and said the Israeli attack was "disproportionate."

Moussa said the Israelis were enforcing a "military occupation" and demanded a peace agreement by the end of 2009.

Peres protested that Israel "did not want to shoot anybody," and asked "why did they fire rockets? What did they want?" Then concluded by saying it was all Iran's fault.

At that point a Pakistani delegate's stomach grumbled so loudly that several Indian IT executives thought there was a terror attack and caused a panic. Ignatius, responding to urgent messages in his earphones, said the debate had gone overtime and that the audience was "anxious to go to dinner." But Erdogan grabbed his sleeve and demanded a chance to rebut. He accused Peres of speaking loudly to hide a "guilty conscience." Apologetically, Ignatius cut off Erdogan in mid-tirade. Claiming that people were "late for dinner", he closed the session. Erdogan invoked the Sixth Commandment (Thou Shall Not Kill) and left the stage to enthusiastic applause and a fraternal handshake from Moussa, vowing never to return to Davos "because you didn't let me speak."

Event host Klaus Schwab mounted the podium and thanked the participants as the audience stampeded to the buffet.

Later, sources confirmed that the diplomatic and military cooperation between Turkey and Israel would continue. Turkey was set to receive a shipment of Israeli- made UAV's and modernized tanks to be used in its ongoing war against Kurdish nationalists.

Ignatius would not comment, but a spokesperson for the Washington Post said he had been instructed to end the debate when Deutsche Bank analyst Horst von Grepps fainted from hunger and had to be given a glucose IV.

Igor Yopsvoyomatsky, editor of paranoiaisfact.com and columnist for the DE, answers readers' questions.

Dear Igor,

My son came home for winter break with a new culture hero--Slavoj Zizek. Zizek had taken his university by storm, giving two sold-out lectures and sitting for an online interview that lasted hours. "He's a post-modern ironist," my son said. It was nice to hear him use words I didn't think he knew. It was great that he went to hear a philosopher-any philosopher- give a lecture. But then I  read some of Zizik's essays and I was appalled. Zizik says that Islamic terrorists are not fundamentalists or even revolutionaries, but the casualties of global capitalism. That on 9/11 a paranoid America got what it had been fantasizing about for decades. That Mohammad Atta and  his terrrorist hijackers represented the "good as the spirit of and actual readiness to sacrifice in the name of a higher cause." That when prisoners were tortured in Guantanamo they were really  being initiated into the true essence of American culture. And if Americans really believed in Democracy they would not vote themselves, but would let the rest of the world choose their leader. My son  says I should lighten up. It's just a big joke-"post modern, dad-" meant to make people question conventional assumptions. But then I read an article which calls Zizek "the most dangerous philosopher in the west." Is this paranoia or fact?

60's Liberal

Shaker Heights, Ohio

Dear Liberal,

First...If you want to cure your son of his post-modern tendencies cut off his allowance.

Now to your question. This is pure paranoia. If Zizik were dangerous you would never have heard of him. The capitalist culture welcomes and rewards only harmless iconoclasts, who do not challenge the economic order. To Zizek goes the lucrative honor of being this generation's token anarchist.

Slavoj Zizek is Slovenia's most famous culture hustler. (Admittedly, it is a small country.) You could say he is the Jon Stewart of the academic lecture circuit. He plies a nice trade on the well-endowed campuses of the world, making statements that seem to be outrageous, but are really clever panderings to the politics of his audience. He is a living oxymoron-a best-selling philosopher. He publishes prodigiously dense, obscure musings, but always inserts a sensational easy-to-understand headline  about the US, Nazism, Stalinism, Jihadism, Christianity, Zionism, Anti-Semitism (a particular favorite) which creates controversy and adds to his box office appeal.

If Zizek didn't exist, Woody Allen would have had to invent him. He is the subject of a full length documentary, has had a punk band (Laibajh) and a virtual nation (NSK) founded in his honor. He has his own academic journal (International of Zizek Studies,) has written copy for the Abercrombie and Fitch Catalogue  and is recently married to a beautiful Argentine model. 

He cultivates publicity, responding to every request for a quote or an interview. He loves to  tweak Americans and Jews because they can be counted to respond with howls of injured indignation. In his book The Borrowed Kettle he is quoted as saying: "Better the worst Stalinist dictatorship than the most liberal capitalist democracy." He is modishly anti Israel, saying that Nazism and Zionism were allied in their programs to "change violently the ratio of ethnic groups in a population." He has been quoted as supporting the view that "the only true solution to the Jewish question is the final solution (their annihilation) because the Jews are the ultimate obstacle to the final solution of history of overcoming of divisions in unity and flexibility" while offering an exemption from extermination "to Jews resisting identification  with the state of Israel." When challenged he responds with rhetorically raised eyebrow that Jews are "the majority of my friends and theoretical collaborators."

Zizek's politics are shared by many on the lifestyle left. But he stands out because of his clever use of American popular culture to disarm his critics. He is an expert on Hitchcock, finds great significance in the Matrix trilogy and leavens his diatribes  with movie references, jokes and humorous anecdotes. How angry can you be at a man who claims to see the world as a Marx Brothers' out take?

In the spirit of Zizek I can offer you an anecdote for consolation. In my student days I worked as an orderly on the psychiatric ward of the Pinsk hospital. A man marched back and forth, a sheet wrapped around him like a toga. 

"He thinks he's Julius Caesar," a nurse said with a smile.

Another man stood by the window, whining and strumming on an air guitar..."Thinks he's Bob Dylan," she said.

In a shadowy corner a man sat crooning to himself, while he rocked back and forth  on a pile of soiled, fetid sheets.

"Who does he think he is?" I asked.

"An intellectual," the nurse said.

We had an idea for iNewsit to better server the Global Community.

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After spending some time with a nine year old by the name of C.J. George at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, I find myself wondering how someone so young can be so brave and positive.

At such a young age he's already a writer, a poet, and a cancer patient. C.J. has acute lymphoblastic lymphoma, a very rare and aggressive cancer that originates in the lymph nodes. C.J.'s Mom, Dawn, tells me he had severe pain in his back that wouldn’t go away.

She took C.J. in for a series of blood tests, and X-Rays, but everything was coming up negative. A scheduled MRI found tumors that had taken over his body. She says, "It had spread through his abdomen, kidneys, diaphragm area, and wrapped around his spine and pelvis". Scared and unsure about the future, they began chemotherapy. C.J. spends three days a week at therapy and the treatment will last two years.

It's not easy for this fourth grader. Mom says, "Day in and day out, constantly having procedures done and being poked and prodded and and examined". There is, however, one thing that brings happiness to this little boy and his mother.

That happiness comes from a wonderful person who gets up every morning, and puts red makeup on her nose and cheeks. Her name is Lotsy Dotsy, and she's the on-staff clown at Memorial Regional. Her job is to help kids at Joe DiMaggio'sChilren Hospital laugh, and forget about their pain, treatments and fears. Lotsy is ready to work, especially during the upcoming holidays when children are sad that they're not home.

She says, "a lot of people ask how could you work on Christmas? I say how can you not work on Christmas when you have these kids and their families. Believe it or not they make your Christmas".

There is an amazing connection between C.J. and Linda "Lotsy Dotsy" Herbert. While the camera rolled on this passionate woman, she made me really think about life and the troubles we all deal with in a day, week or year. Here is a person dedicated to making a child giggle, and it was apparent that she truly brightened up C.J.'s day. For me, it was a powerful feeling as she spoke from her heart.

Seeing her and CJ made me realize that the troubles I face, ones that can 'ruin' my day, are simply challenges that must be overcome. I see what happiness can come from putting my own issues aside and just being positive, not only for myself, but for everyone around me. Happiness is truly contagious. C.J. and his Mom are great people with a touching story.

If you would like to read more about C.J.'s journey from the diagnosis to now, just follow the link below to visit the family's blog. You can also make a donation, and receive a blue bracelet with the inscription 'Pray for C.J.' on it. Visit the George Family Blog See web exclusive video of C.J. and Lotsy Dotsy

To read the C.J.'s Blog Click Here.

Protests against the Israeli attacks have been held throughout the Arab world, Europe and the United States. The United Nations Security Council Sunday issued a non-binding statement calling for "an immediate halt to all violence" in the Gaza Strip and for Israel to open the border crossings for aid supplies.

Neven Jurica, UN Security Council president: "The members of the Council called for all parties to address the serious humanitarian and economic needs in Gaza and to take necessary measures, including opening all border crossings to ensure the continuous provision of humanitarian supplies, including supplies for food, fuel and provision of medical treatment."

US Officials Back Israeli Attack

In the United States, Republican and Democratic leaders voiced support for Israel's actions. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, "When Israel is attacked, the United States must continue to stand strongly with its friend and democratic ally." A White House spokesperson said, "These people are nothing but thugs. Israel is going to defend its people against terrorists like Hamas." The Jerusalem Post reports the Israeli Air Force has been using a new US-made bunker buster missile in its attack on Gaza. Earlier this year, Congress allowed the Bush administration to sell 1,000 of the GBU-39 bunker buster bombs to Israel.

It's ten in the morning and I’m checking in at the media tent for a cool little story. I bump into our friends at CBS’ Sunday Morning and Bill Geist, a correspondent with the show who is a great guy in person and really a wonderful writer. It’s been a dream of mine to have my story in their show. Who knows, maybe someday. Back to the event, I grab my red bracelet from the folks at the Seminole Casino Coconut Creek and head up to a giant crane that is holding a large dinner table. There is a red carpet extending to the platform and the sounds of fast-paced dance music playing in the background. Guys dressed in all black are preparing for a group of V.I.P.’s and me, for a high-flying brunch. It’s called, ‘Dinner in the Sky’ and it’s a company from Belgium. They are at the Casino to give customers an experience that truly is unique. Imagine having a candle lit dinner at a hundred fifty feet up in the air. The Atlantic Ocean in the distance, and a peaceful setting only made possible by being hoisted into the air. I think of being in a hot air balloon, just a quiet and eye opening view of our South Florida home. Before take-off, I meet Brittany Peitsmeyer with a North Miami Beach magazine. She says, “That’s the most exciting thing I wanted to do all week.”. We all head over to the table where we are strapped in like the seats on a rollercoaster. Safety first! There’s coffee, fresh squeezed orange juice and coming down the line, a plate of fresh berries, and rolls. We are slowly brought up with the crane to about a hundred and eighty feet. Looking around, you could see for miles and it was a serene feeling. Dishes clinked and laughter mixed with sounds of the wind blowing around us. We came back down and go figure, I was so busy taping the others having fun, that I didn’t even finish my brunch. Tickets are $500 bucks at the Casino if you want to experience it for yourself Watch the video at cbs4.com/mojo

  Israel prepares to respond to possible war crimes charges after its soldiers admitted to having used chemical weapons against Gazans.

Israeli government sources revealed on Friday that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had tasked an inter-ministerial team to clear Tel Aviv of possible war crimes charges relating to its three-week-long assault on Gaza.

Israeli Justice Minister Daniel Friedman will spearhead the efforts to coordinate a legal defense for civilians and the military amid world condemnation of Tel Aviv's war on Gaza.

Israel moved close to being prosecuted for war crimes after Norwegian found traces of depleted uranium in Gaza victims, suggesting that Israel used the illegal weapons in its war on the densely-populated territory.

The UN nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday that it would open an investigation into Israel's alleged use of depleted uranium weapons, which are listed as 'illegal weapons of mass destruction' in the Geneva Convention.

The case for Israeli war crimes became stronger on Thursday when the Israeli military admitted that it pounded the Palestinian coast with at least twenty phosphorus bombs during the offensive.

White phosphorus, classified as a 'chemical weapon' by the US intelligence, is a highly-incendiary substance that bursts into all-consuming flames that cannot be extinguished with water, burning flesh to the bone and often leading to death.

Under the Geneva Treaty of 1980, the use of white phosphorous as a weapon is prohibited.

Human rights group Amnesty International has also touched on the issue, saying that Tel Aviv used white phosphorus munitions "indiscriminately and illegally" in overcrowded areas of Gaza.

"The repeated use [of White Phosphorus] in this manner, despite evidence of its indiscriminate effects and its toll on civilians, is a war crime," said Donatella Rovera of the Amnesty International.

Eight Israeli human rights groups have also called for an investigation into the offensive -- which has left some 1,340 people dead and thousands of others hospitalized.

UN special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, Richard Falk, meanwhile, said Thursday that there is more than enough evidence that Israel committed war crimes in the strip.

According to Falk, the crimes committed in Gaza are clearly reminiscent of "the worst kind of international memories of the Warsaw Ghetto", which included the starvation and murder of Polish Jews by Nazi Germany in World War II.

Israel launched its Operation Cast Lead on December 27 to allegedly defend its territories from Hamas rockets, which were fired in retaliation for Israel's defiance of a ceasefire that had previously been in place.

The UN Charter and international law, however, does not give Israel the legal foundation for claiming self-defense in the case of the Gazans.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says it is "hard" for Israeli troops to spare civilian lives in the densely-populated Gaza Strip.

"It is very difficult in circumstances like Gaza, which is a very densely populated area," Rice told reporters on Friday when asked if Israel is living up to its humanitarian obligations during its massive military offensive in the beleaguered sliver.

During its now two-week military campaign, at least 783 Palestinians have been killed and thousands others have been injured.

To date there are 783 fatalities and 3,300 casualties, the vast majority of whom are ordinary civilians with at least 215 of the deaths being that of children..

On Friday, the Israel cabinet rejected a UN Security Council Resolution 1860 which calls for an immediate halt to the ongoing onslaught against Gaza.

UN aid agencies and the Red Cross have halted their activities in the impoverished strip after Israeli forces targeted a number of humanitarian convoys in the region.

NEW YORK, N.Y., Jan. 6th...Fast food franchises are "insidiously" planting sexist, anti-labor and neo-imperialist propaganda in their commercials, a consumer advocate charged today.

Leah Schildkraut, Corporate Malfeasance specialist with the Anarcho-Feminist Coalition, called for an immediate boycott of Taco Bell, Carl's Jr. and Burger King.

In a press conference to kick off a nationwide campaign, Schildkraut spotlighted three commercials which she said "reinforced reactionary tendencies in the young male demographic."  

In the Taco Bell ad, a customer is about to tip the counterman. "Keep the change," he says. But his friend stops him and says he can get another Taco Bell for what he just tipped. The customer changes his mind and quickly scoops up his change.  "You only pushed a button," he explains to the stiffed counterman. As he walks away his friend shrugs  as if to say "sorry, but he's right."

"Close analysis of this commercial reveals a very subtle message of class prejudice," Schildkraut said.

A man in the audience jumped up. "Get a life."

Schildkraut ignored him. "The customers are young, smug and obviously more intelligent than the counterman who is portrayed as an unskilled, retard, undeserving of a tip. This is a not so subtle attempt to devalue labor in the minds of the young and produce an anti-union mentality..."

The heckler who identified himself as Efraim Durg, founder  of Males in Revolt. com, looked  to the crowd for support. "It's a not so subtle attempt to sell burritos, you mean."

"Only on the surface," Schildkraut said. "What's important are what advertising people calls hidden persuaders..."

She cued up another commercial. "Now we turn to the blatantly sexist Carl's Jr."

A young man is seen devouring an enormous  Carl's Jr. burger while mechanics sand splashes of white paint off his car. A voice informs us that the man has  several girlfriends and "there was nothing wrong with that" until they found out about each other. The mechanics work away with knowing, complicit smiles.  As the commercial ends we see that one or all of the scorned females has painted "CHEATER" on the man's car. 

"Notice his gloating look," Schildkraut said, seething. "This commercial endorses infidelity, deceit and male conspiracy against women."

"It endorses cheap food for young guys on a budget, you mean," Durg said.

"Everything has a political context," Schildkraut said. "Have you ever seen a commercial in which a woman is congratulated for cheating on her boyfriend?"

"Maybe not, but it happens in real life every day," Durg said with an aggrieved look. "Young, broke guys can't get women..."

"You really believe it's all about money, don't you?" Schildkraut said. "You're a victim of fast food propaganda..."

A large woman stood over Durg.  "You're pathetic," she jeered.

Schildkraut screened a Burger King spot entitled "Whopper Virgins." A picnic table of Greenlanders in colorful indigenous dress, taste a Burger King Whopper and a Big Mac. They choose the Whopper.

"The manifest content of the commercial is that unspoiled palates will prefer Burger King," Schildkraut said. "But the subtext is that  fast food - American popular culture- is embraced by all. The fast food empires, having saturated their domestic markets, have now invaded these unspoiled lands...They hope to create a colonial dependency with their new weapons of conquest--- transfat, sugar and sodium..."

"It'll still be  a whole lot better than seal blubber," Durg said.

The crowd erupted.

"Typical."

"Redneck!" 

"Burger Kings, Dunkin' Donuts, Kentucky Fried will pollute the pristine beauty of Nuuk," Schildkraut warned, her voice rising. "Imperialism will bring obesity, diabetes, cardiac arrest to the Inuit just as it brought alcohol opium and syphilis to other unsuspecting people in the past..."

The audience was inflamed. 

"How about that Taco Bell commercial where the dude sends the valet parking lot guy to get him a Triple Steak and doesn't tip him or even say thank you," somebody shouted. 

"Or the Del Taco where the kid's mom turns out to be a cougar."

Schildkraut clapped. "Shut 'em down..." The audience joined her, clapping and chanting. "Shut 'em down...Shut 'em down..."

"Hey don't take our cheap food away," Durg pleaded. "It's the only thing we have."

The audience quieted, struck by the anguish in his tone.

"Imagine, you're a young guy who just got laid off from his dead end job," Durg said. "You're back living in your old room. Mom does your laundry. You have to borrow from dad to gas up the car. Can't even take a girl out for a non fat vanilla latte. But you know  for a coupla bucks you can get a cheeseburger, fries, a coke and feel satisfied...Don't take this small consolation away."

Chairs scraped. There were murmurs of sympathy.

Schildkraut looked intently down at Durg. "Wait a minute, I know this guy."  She jumped off the platform, pointing an accusing finger. "He's the manager of the Jack-in-the-Box at the Paramus Mall."

The crowd surged...

"He's a spy."

"Corporate goon!"

Durg was immediately surrounded by members of the Lesbian Cage Fighting Cooperative, who had been providing security.

"Okay buddy, take a hike..."

"Hold it!" Durg with a dramatic gesture.He pushed through the crowd to confront Schildkraut. "I know you too,bitch," he said. "You come in every morning for a breakfast bowl. I didn't recognize you without the Mets cap and the sunglasses,""

Schildkraut turned away, blushing. 

"I'm trying to kick the habit," she explained to her stunned colleagues. "I'm off Wendy's and Long John Silver's...But that nitrite rich bacon, the molten plastic cheese..."

"Busted!" Durg shrieked with a demonic glee. "From now on no more extra cibatta for you..."

Gaza City, Gaza - The United Nations has protested the Israeli military bombing of Asma Elementary school where 400 Palestinians had taken shelter and three of them were killed, and a second school where 44 were killed, despite U.N. officials telling Israeli military officials that it was a U.N. school filled with civilians.

About 400 people who had fled their homes in Beit Lahiy because of violence there were being sheltered in the U.N.-run Asma Elementary school.

Asma Elementary was clearly marked as a U.N. installation, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency said in a statement Tuesday.

"Well before the current fighting, UNRWA had given to the Israeli authorities the GPS (global positioning system) co-ordinates of all its installations in Gaza, including Asma Elementary School," UNRWA officials said in a news release.

"UNRWA is strongly protesting these killings to the Israeli authorities and is calling for an immediate and impartial investigation," the agency continued. "Where it is found that international humanitarian law has been violated, those responsible must be held to account."

Three men from the same family were killed Monday night from a direct hit by an Israeli bomb on the school that took place just as the three left the school toilet.

Another U.N. facility, the Ash-Shouka School in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, was also bombed Monday night and 44 Palestinian civilians were killed there, according to reports.

Other bomb attacks Monday night struck homes belonging to Hamas leaders, or people affiliated with Hamas.

Israeli warplanes and helicopters have attacked the Gaza Strip for a third day in a row. More than 310 Palestinians have been killed since Saturday, and 1,400 have been wounded. Saturday was the deadliest day in Gaza since Israel's occupation of the territory in 1967. Israel's defense minister Ehud Barak said today that Israel was in an "all-out war against Hamas." Israel has bombed every major town in Gaza, including Gaza City, Khan Younis and Rafah, and is now threatening to launch a ground invasion as Israeli troops and tanks move to the border. On Sunday, the Israeli cabinet called up 6,500 reserve forces. Overnight, Israeli warplanes bombed Gaza's Interior Ministry and the Islamic University in Gaza City. A separate Israeli bombing killed four young Palestinian girls from the same family. Palestinian officials say at least twenty-two children have been killed and more than 235 children have been wounded since Saturday.

Israel: International Community Should Condemn Hamas

Israel says the attacks are necessary in order to stop Hamas from firing rockets into southern Israel. Earlier today, one Israeli died after a Palestinian missile hit the town of Ashkelon. Fourteen Israelis were wounded in the missile strike. The Israeli fatality is the second since the air strikes began Saturday. On Sunday, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Hamas should be condemned by the international community for firing rockets into Israel.

Tzipi Livni: "Excuse me, I cannot accept something like we call both sides to halt the violence or to stop the military actions. There is no ‘both sides' in this. There is one designated terrorist organization which controls Gaza Strip, which spreads its agenda of hatred, that cannot accept our right to live."

Hamas Accuses Israel of Causing a Holocaust

Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum accused the Israeli government of carrying out a holocaust of the Palestinian people.

Fawzi Barhoum: "Today is a holocaust and a massacre day that Livni had internationally and regionally campaigned for so she can commit to this holocaust and this massacre. This is a public massacre for our Palestinian people in Gaza. All the casualties and dead are policemen, women, children, elderly and civilians."

On Saturday, the exiled political leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshal, called for a third intifada, or uprising, against Israeli forces. Hospital officials in Gaza say they are overwhelmed with the number of casualties. Hospitals have been unable to get needed medical supplies into Gaza for more than a year because of the Israeli blockade.

BRUSSELS, Belgium, Dec. 26...Upstaged and rendered irrelevant by the rise of Barrack Obama, European leaders have formed a secret task force to find ways to tarnish his image, the Daily Event has learned.

"George Bush was an easy foil who made all our leaders look good," said a Euro diplomat, who asked not be identified be cause he/she is not allowed to speak to the media. "But Obama is outshining us, seducing our volatile populations."

The unit, consisting of intelligence analysts, media specialists and psychological warfare operatives, will seek to uncover scandal, create unflattering stories and exploit weaknesses in Obama's personality. Nations that have been in political and economic conflict have agreed to forget their differences and cooperate fully.

"We are united in our understanding that Obama is a threat to the political survival of every leader in the world," the diplomat said.

The alarm was sounded in foreign capitals last July when 200,000 screaming Germans welcomed Obama to Berlin. Flaunting piercings, strumming guitars and, most distressingly, waving American flags, the crowd massed impatiently across from the Brandenburg Gate where JFK had famously proclaimed "Ich Bin Eine Berliner," and Ronald Reagan had challenged Russian Prime Minister Gorbachev to "tear down this wall." Rock bands and DJ's warmed up the crowd, local politicians, scrambled for a ray of reflected glory.

The crowd cheered as Obama called for greater cooperation in dealing with the problems of terrorism and poverty. "No nation, no matter how large and powerful can defeat these challenges alone," he said. The collective mood was summed up by a student: "Having a black American president will be totally cool."

In her office German Chancellor Angela Merkel watched glumly. She had tried everything to prevent Obama's appearance, saying that it would give the impression that the German government supported his candidacy. But she had been overwhelmed by the world's need for a new charismatic leader. On her desk were German newspapers raving about Obama. On her phone were some very worried heads of state---Sarkozy, Brown, Berlusconi, Putin, Hu Jintao, Saudi King Abdullah and Venezuelan President Chavez.

"I haven't seen a German waving an American flag since 1989," Putin said.

"Let's face it, ragazzi," said Berlusconi. "We've lost our whipping boy."

For the last eight years the world has been able to hide its misdeeds behind the catastrophic policies of the Bush administration. Under Bush the US was the only country to reject the Kyoto accords. Every other nation piously criticized the US while secretly violating the agreement by engaging in meaningless carbon exchanges that actually increased the amount of pollutants in the atmosphere. Under Bush's refusal to lift farm subsidies the other nations were able to conceal their protectionism. European Commissioner for Trade Peter Mandelson was allowed to indulge his penchant for drama, while accomplishing nothing. Bush's invasion of Iraq became a pretext for European inactivity in Africa, South Asia and the Middle East. They were able to pin the blame for their multitude of sins on his scandal-ridden, dysfunctional administration. Putin, faced by the collapse of a mismanaged, single-product economy, could accuse the US of "infecting" the financial system. French Finance Minister Lagarde could obscure the $7 billion fraud at Societe Generale by criticizing the American SEC for "failure to regulate." Iceland could blame the US for its infatuation with risky derivatives. Germany could neatly deflect attention from its tax and banking scandals. OPEC, which had gotten wealthy on $50 a barrel oil could condemn the US because oil producers now needed $90 oil just to survive. China could appeal to its rebellious workers that the US was responsible for their sudden unemployment. It could righteously refuse to help the US out of the economic crisis it had helped to create when it purchased trillions of dollars of debt and artificially devalued its currency to fund American consumers purchase of its defective and dangerous products.

As long as Bush bullied and blundered, the other leaders could shine in comparison. But now Obama has hit the ball into their court. He has asked for their cooperation. Implicit in his appeal is the message: you must do more in this dangerous world. You must take political risks.

"It is cheaper and easier to undermine," the Euro diplomat said.

The task force, code named Operation Smear, has been at work behind closed doors in an obscure office building in downtown Ghent for a month and a half. Sub groups were formed to work on corruption, sexual misconduct, drug abuse, association with criminals, weird hobbies, odd dietary habits, embarrassing odors, anything to promote contempt or ridicule. At their weekly meeting, group leaders admitted they were stymied.

They were admonished by their chairman. "You are the best and brightest scandal mongers, malice spinners, frame artists and disinformation specialists in the world and you cannot dig up one speck of dirt on this man?"

After a moment of abashed silence, a timid voice volunteered:

"We could say he is soft on Israel..."

The room erupted in applause.

"Yes...Yes...He's a tool of the Jewish lobby," someone shouted.

"That always works."

If the full moon tonight looks unusually large, it is not your imagination - it is the biggest and brightest full moon to be seen for 15 years.

Each month the Moon makes a full orbit around the Earth in a slightly oval-shaped path, and tonight it will swing by the Earth at its closest distance, or perigee. It will pass by 356,613km (221,595 miles) away, which is about 28,000km closer than average.

The unusual feature of tonight is that the perigee also coincides with a full moon, which will make it appear 14 per cent bigger and some 30 per cent brighter than most full moons this year - so long as the clouds hold off from blocking the view.

WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 20...Can a man who has been honored by the Queen of England, given a TED award for social activism, named a Time  Magazine Person of the Year, nominated for an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a Grammy and a Nobel Peace Prize be all bad?

Leah Schildkraut thinks he can.

Bono, lead singer of U2, billionaire financier and globetrotting philanthropist, has devoted much time and energy to raising money for African causes.  

But Schildkraut, Emerging Economies Specialist, with the Anarcho-Feminist Alliance, thinks he and other celebrities are doing more harm than good.

"Africa doesn't need handouts," she said. "It needs a level playing field."

On the eve of President-elect Obama's inauguration, she traveled to Washington with a delegation of African entrepreneurs to expose what she called the "cult of celebrity charity," and to lobby officials of the incoming administration for free trade agreements with Africa, investment initiatives and aid to local businesses.

They stood in the happily milling crush near the Lincoln Memorial holding signs, demanding "Independence, not Dependence," and  "Trade Not Aid for Africa." Schildkraut had set up a table with a selection of African exports--Ghanaian grapefruit, Nigerian prints, Ugandan coffee--and a colorful leaflet explaining the wide range of products and services that Africa offers. Holding a portable mike she harangued the crowd. "Africa is being kept in a state of colonial subservience by capitalist donor fronts, the World Bank and the IMF. The same people who give them a useless pittance are holding them back from real prosperity..."  Hundreds of TV News people, photographers and You Tubers walked by, but no one stopped. All eyes were on the Memorial where a troupe of A- list performers were entertaining the star struck crowd. 

"Maybe this was not a good time, Leah," Edward, a free press advocate from Zimbabwe said gently. "Nobody wants controversy today."

"U2 ," someone shouted excitedly and the crowd surged forward for a better look.

At the top of the steps, Bono was being cheered on as he sang "Pride...In the name of Love", the song U2 wrote in honor of Martin Luther King.

"U2 is the problem, not the solution," Schildkraut shouted. She erased the "Trade not Aid" sign and hurriedly printed "BONO IS A HYPOCRITE" in black block letters. 

"That is a little strong, Leah," said Miriam, an anti-slavery activist from Niger.

People paused for a moment, but then moved on as Schildkraut grabbed a hand mike. "Bono and Geldof and all the celebrity dilettantes present a distorted picture of Africa..."

A tall man in a colorful dashiki fixed her with a scornful look. "What do you know about Africa, lady?" And moved on before Schildkraut answered:

"Don't listen to me. Listen to Ugandan journalist Andrew Mwenda. He says that the celebrity charities offer 'a portrayal of Africans as unable to think, empty...' He says that Africa has been stripped of self-initiative...That giving money to governments makes them accountable to the donors, the World bank, the IMF, the celebrities and not their own people...He says that the billions donated to corrupt governments are used to pay off political allies and bolster police forces that maintain  repressive rule."

Humanity flowed around them. Only one person stopped and watched in indignant disbelief. He was carrying a sign that read: U2 MEETUPS and identified himself as Efraim Durg, head of the Brooklyn chapter. 

"Listen to Professor William Easterly," Schildkraut said. "He says that the typical African is a long way from being a starving AIDS victim at the mercy of child soldiers. He says that between 1/2 and 1 per cent of Africans died of AIDS in 2007. That only one out of 10,800 died as a result of armed conflict..."

"That's because people like Bono are making a difference," Durg said.

"Easterly says that in 2006 Sub-Saharan Africa registered its third straight year of GDP growth above 6%, better than most western countries," Schildkraut said. "Economist Michael Clemens says that Africa has expanded elementary school enrollment at more than twice the rate of western economies, which kept peasants and workers functionally illiterate for centuries..."

"No one is lis-ten-ing," Durg jeered.

Schildkraut climbed a chair and turned up her mike. "At a recent conference Mwenda, who was imprisoned twice in Uganda for criticizing the government, challenged the G8 countries to liberalize trade rules so African products could compete in the world market. 'Did any country ever become rich by holding out the begging bowl?' Mwenda asked...And Bono..." She gulped, speechless with rage.."Bono heckled him. Said what he was saying was 'bollocks.'"

Durg blinked in puzzlement. "What's bollocks?"

"Bono was angry because Mwenda was upstaging him," Schildkraut said.

"Oh yeah, can he sing?" Durg asked.

"Professor Easterly says he wonders if Africa is saving celebrity careers more than celebrities are saving Africa."

This was too much for Durg. "Bono runs himself ragged trying to raise money for poor, sick people and this is the thanks he gets...He gets billions of dollars of debts forgiven..."

"So the corrupt rulers don't have to repay money they used to buy limos, pay off cronies and strengthen their police forces," Schildkraut said. "And meanwhile the G8 is keeping African cotton, sugar and produce out of the world market..."

"Bono started the "Red" products campaign," Durg said.

"Which is a complete flop," Schildkraut said, her voice breaking. "After a $100 million marketing campaign only $18 million has been raised..."

"It's just getting started," Durg said.

"And it's the typical shallow consumerist meliorism that the Africans object to," Schildkraut scoffed. "Buy an iPod nano and provide 83 treatments to relieve the risk of AIDS transmission. Buy a billion nanos and wipe out AIDS. Buy a trillion and wipe out world poverty... Meanwhile, the nano is manufactured at factories in Longhua and Suzhou, China where the workers put in 15 hour days for $50 a month..."

"That's not Bono's fault," Durg said." He can't solve all the world's problems."

"Let him start with his own company, Elevation Partners," Schildkraut said. "They own a piece of Palm electronics, whose products are manufactured in Guanzhou, China by Casio where four thousand workers walked off the job in protest at low wages and poor conditions and the riot police were called in to force them back to work and 20 were injured. They own BioWare/Pandemic game producers whose components are manufactured by Atari at factories in Guangdong where workers are made to stand for hours at a time..."

"You couldn't afford any of those products if they were made in the US," Durg said.

Schildkraut sagged and stepped off the chair. "I know," she said. "I'm the contradiction. I'm the problem..."

"Look Leah, there's Stevie Wonder," Miriam said.

Durg pointed to Obama who was smiling benignly from behind a glass shield.

"You should try to lighten up," he said. "Today's a great day."

"I know," Schildkraut said. She gave him a bag of Good African Coffee. "Try this," she said. "It's really good."

LONDON, England, Jan 12...Insurance companies face "total extinction" if the global economic crisis continues, an executive warned today.

"We are being inundated by a tsunami of fraudulent claims," said Walter Neff, VP Adjustments for AIG. "Our trust is being betrayed by desperate, unscrupulous insurees. Forget the bankers, brokers, auto makers and porn merchants. Our boat is the leakiest. We need a bailout now."

Neff told attendees at the annual Assurers and Actuaries convention that failed business people, destitute mortgage holders and disgraced CEO's had put an "intolerable" burden on the system.

"We're optimists, we make our money betting against disaster," he said. "We trusted our clients to stay in their homes, keep their jobs and outlive their insurance policies. And they let us down."

Since the recession began three years ago, "insurees have been wreaking havoc on our actuarial tables," Neff said.

It began with the fires, he said. In normal times there is a very slight probability that a house will be destroyed by fire so the insurers could fatten the homeowner's premium with extra fire protection.

But when the subprime meltdown began the companies saw an incredible upsurge in fire claims.

"Houses were going up in flames all over the country," Neff said. "We had to hire extra adjusters to keep up with claims."

After a few investigations uncovered arson, the companies realized that people who couldn't keep up with their mortgages were burning down their dream houses to squeeze out one last bit of equity. "We could nail the few who had moved valuables and furniture before the fire," Neff said, "but it was hard to prove a case against the ones who were willing to let heirlooms and family keepsakes be consumed. These small domestic tragedies added up to a tremendous loss for us "

Small businesses were the next flag. "Fire, theft, flood, spoiled shipments, vandalism," Neff said. "I'm talking about family businesses that had been around for generations and were now ruined...Respectable people whose only recourse was fraud."

Corporate insurance had been a cash cow for years. "We sold hundreds of millions of liability protection," Neff said.

"But suddenly, companies were shedding CEO's like a sheepdog sheds hair. Faced with illegal dismissal suits they were opening those golden parachutes. And we were providing the soft landing."

"Corporate officers whose contracts indemnified them against legal action were getting sued and indicted left and right," Neff said. "And all those expensive lawyers were on us."

And now comes a new and potentially lethal wrinkle, which Neff says "could sink the industry"--Tycoon suicides.

In the last few months four prominent and--according to Neff--heavily insured executives have killed themselves. Investment banker Thierry Magon de La Villehuchet, who lost $1.4 billion of his clients money in the Madoff scandal slit his wrists in his midtown Manhattan office. German billionaire Adolf Merckle, ranked as the 92nd. richest man in the world and often described as Europe's Warren Buffet, took a $600 million loss when he sold Volkswagen short. He wrote a suicide note and lay down on the railroad tracks about 300 yards from his home. In September London financier Kirk Stephenson, CEO of struggling private equity firm Olivant Partners, stepped in front of a railroad train going 100 mph. Last week Chicago real estate mogul Stephen Good was discovered in his car, a bullet wound in his head.

"These were devoted family men," Neff said. "The only liquid asset they had left was an insurance policy. It's possible that they killed themselves to leave some cash for their heirs..."

All insurance policies contain a clause that cancels payment if the insured commits suicide in the first two years the policy is in force. "Our actuarial tables showed no significant incidence of suicide after the cut off date, so we felt safe with that clause," Neff said.

But now the actuaries have determined that executive suicides could become a copycat phenomenon. Agents have been calling clients seeking to rewrite their policies.

"It's tricky," Neff said. "Some of these guys are in bad shape. We don't want to give them any ideas."

Companies have been talking about an industry-wide agreement to change the terms of the standard policy to forbid suicide entirely.

"That probably won't work, either," Neff said. "Would you buy a policy that doesn't let you kill yourself in forty or fifty years if you get a terminal disease or are just tired being old?"

Most policies have a clause which pays double for accidental death. "That was a good deal when only 4.5% of deaths were accidental," Neff said. But now he is afraid resourceful execs will stage their deaths to look accidental. "We're watching out for scuttled yachts, totaled Ferraris, crashed private planes," Neff said. "We're on alert for death by salmonella, botulism, the ebola virus..."

Lobbyists have been put to work in all the major capitals seeking a bailout. "There are thousands of young, healthy men in the prime of life, who qualified for billions of dollars of life insurance," Neff said. "With more companies going bankrupt, more dismissals and indictments we could have an epidemic of dead executives on our hands."

The US House joins the Senate offering staunch support to Israel in its14 days of assault on Gaza, that has killed 800 Palestinians.

"Today, we reaffirm that Israel, like any nation, has a right to self-defense when under attack," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday.

Also on Thursday, the US Senate said that Israel had an "inalienable right' to defend itself from attacks by Hamas.

"The rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza, which were increasing in frequency and range constituted an unacceptable security threat to which Israel had a responsibility to respond," she said, pointing to Israeli claims that it attacked Gaza in response to Hamas' rocket attacks on Israel.

Since Israel's military campaign on the impoverished strip started two-weeks ago, at least 800 Palestinians have been killed. The dead include at least 230 children and 92 women. Another 3,300 have also been wounded due to Israel's heavy military offensive and a deadly siege on the strip that has caused a severe lack of basic supplies such as food, sanitary water, medicine and fuel.

Ten Israeli soldiers and three civilians have been killed in combat or rocket attacks into Israel.

Pelosi backed the Bush administration position that a Friday UN ceasefire should address the root causes of the conflict to forge a peace that is 'durable and sustainable.'

The UN Security Council almost unanimously approved on Thursday a resolution for an 'immediate' and 'durable' ceasefire followed by the 'full withdrawal' of Israeli forces from Gaza.

Fourteen out of the Council's 15 members voted for the resolution which also demands "the unimpeded provision and distribution throughout Gaza of humanitarian assistance, including of food, fuel and medical treatment." The US abstained from voting on the ceasefire resolution.

Prime minister Ehud Olmert rejected the UN resolution as impractical, saying it would not be respected by Palestinian resistance forces such as Hamas--and as Tel Aviv has made abundantly clear, it has no intentions of abiding by Resolution 1860.

BEIJING, China,...Dec. 9 A top-secret report prepared for China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) predicts that none of President-elect Obama's appointees will be in office at the end of his first term.

They are all qiao zong huo fan," the anonymous author says, using the Chinese term for bridge burners. "They will depart, leaving flames in their wake."

The report, which was leaked to the Daily Event by officials who prefer to be nameless out of fear of summary execution, analyzed bios and interviews to compile a profile of the typical appointee.

"He or she is addicted to conquest," the report says." But once success has been achieved becomes bored and either moves on or self-destructs."

The author sees Obama's cabinet as a "snake pit of militant egos," Three appointees sought the presidential nomination--Clinton, Richardson and Daschle. "Clinton feels great bitterness toward Richardson and Daschle for rejecting her to support Obama. She regards Richardson as an apostate who turned on her after all she and her husband had done for him.

"Richardson for his part, feels that he has not been rewarded for courageously spurning Clinton to support Obama in the early days before the outcome was clear. Every cabinet meeting will sting like a slap in the face as he sees Clinton sitting on the president's right hand in the job he coveted."

"Clinton and Richardson will make a public show of working together, but will intrigue against each other in private."

Daschle, was humiliated by his defeat in 2006 when Democrats were sweeping into office everywhere else. The report says that he he must engineer a major health care initiative to restore his political viability and predicts that his possible opponents in 2016 will try to block him at every turn.

"Competitive people do not give up their dreams," the author says. "The three who lost still aspire to ultimate power. Secretly they will wish Obama to fail."

The report predicts that the early days of the new administration will be rife with conflict and controversy. "Each cabinet officer will be given daunting tasks that they will be unable to perform."

As Secretary of State Clinton will be charged with persuading the Europeans to contribute more troops and money to the War on Terror.

"This they will not do."

Iran will not swayed from its nuclear path, the report says. "Clinton will try to ignore the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, but a series of attacks and retaliations will force her to engage...and fail."

The exit from Iraq will be messy. "American troops will fight bloody rear guard actions designed to extract the utmost humiliation."

Wary of appearing weak Obama will not remove the missile shield in Eastern Europe and Clinton will try to mollify the Russians into accepting it.

"This she will not do," the report says.

Defense Secretary Gates is a possible Republican contender. He will be looking for a way to maximize his credit while subtly detracting from his possible opponent in 2012. Sensing this, Clinton will try to minimize his influence. "There will be much backstage plotting," the report predicts.

"After the last American soldier has left, Gates will resign..."

Clinton and new Treasure Secretary Geithner will try to get the Chinese to open their financial markets and let the yuan appreciate.

"This of course, we will not do," the report says. It concludes that Clinton's tenure will be dogged by one failure after another that, fearing for her place in history, she will have to find a way to escape. A seat on the Supreme Court might provide a graceful exit.

Attorney-General designee Eric Holder has been chosen to "prevent revenge prosecutions," the report says. "The left wing of the party will want to indict Cheney and Rumsfeld. It will seek prosecution of high level financial donors. Obama does not want to alienate Republicans by going after Bush war criminals. Holder will hold the fort for Obama's wealthy patrons as long as he can. He will suffer a great loss of public prestige and will return to his lucrative law practice."

As Commerce Secretary Richardson will have to create business opportunities in a depressed global economy.

"This he will not do," he says.

"He will be diminished politically."

Treasury Secretary Geithner will try to find a way to keep taxes and inflation down while Government expenditures soar into the trillions.

"This no one could do."

Lawrence Summers, Obama's top economic adviser is "a brilliant careerist, but not an original thinker," the report says. "Faced by a real unemployment rate of 15% he will be unable to innovate. Watching his fabled reputation wither as the economy languishes he will focus on the job he really wants---Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Current chairman Bernanke, weakened by the crisis, will be easy to topple. Summers will have a job that confers the maximum of prestige with the minimum of thought."

The report expresses puzzlement that Obama has not chosen loyalists, but "competitive individuals with deep personal agendas." It asks: "does this show that he is a naive bungler? Or is he brilliantly creating scapegoats for the failures he knows will come?"

It says a deeper analysis of Obama can be delayed in the short term. Given the turmoil in the US, China's future is not threatened.

"If we control dissent, stifle protests among migrant workers and farmers and keep the yuan artificially low we will continue to prosper. The US will not stop us."