A-Changin' Times (ACT)
Born in the aftermath of 9/11, ACT has become as political as the times.
Now a blog for alternative news, views and rants offered with a twist, a song and a smile. Fair and balanced.

The Times They Are A-Changin'

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize [sic] with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.
 — Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan Copyright 1963
(1991 Special Rider)

"A-Changin' Times: taking the best from the past to make the most of the present and to create a better future."

"What marching through the streets was to the Sixties, walking through the halls of Congress is now."

 — Marianne Williamson

You're visiting a website that incorporates a blogging feature, not "just" a blog.

Blog entries follow, most recent entries at the top

Saturday, October 11, 2003

	:: Nora		10/11/2003 08:37:00 AM

Execution Drug May Hide Intense Suffering

by Adam Liptak, New York Times
October 7

Ashville, Oct. 1 — At the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution here, through a set of double doors next to several vending machines, a gurney stands ready to deliver prisoners to their executions by lethal injection.

Just about every aspect of the death penalty provokes acrimonious debate, but this method of killing, by common consensus, is as humane as medicine can make it. People who have witnessed injection executions say the deaths appeared hauntingly serene, more evocative of the operating room than of the gallows.

But a growing number of legal and medical experts are warning that the apparent tranquillity of a lethal injection may be deceptive. They say the standard method of executing people in most states could lead to paralysis that masks intense distress, leaving a wide-awake inmate unable to speak or cry out as he slowly suffocates.

In 2001, it became a crime for veterinarians in Tennessee to use one of the chemicals in that standard method to euthanize pets.

The chemical, pancuronium bromide, has been among those specified for use in lethal injections since Oklahoma first adopted that method of execution in 1977. Only now, though, is widespread attention starting to focus on it.

Spurred by a lawsuit by a death row inmate here, advances in human and veterinary medicine, and a study last year that revealed for the first time the chemicals that many other states use to carry out executions, experts have started to question this part of the standard lethal injection method.

Pancuronium bromide paralyzes the skeletal muscles but does not affect the brain or nerves. A person injected with it remains conscious but cannot move or speak. [my emphasis - N]

CONTINUE HERE

Read Amnesty International on the Death Penalty

Sign the petition

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Friday, October 10, 2003

	:: DUG853		10/10/2003 07:13:00 PM

ACLU ASKS US GOVERNMENT FOR PROOF
IT IS NOT TORTURING DETAINEES

The ACLU has joined with the Center for Constitutional Rights and medical and veterans' groups in filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking evidence that the United States government is not torturing detainees in its custody.

The FOIA request comes in response to news reports that the government may have tortured detainees or subjected them to "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" and seeks proof that the government is honoring its obligations under domestic and international law.

The request cited numerous credible reports suggesting that the maltreatment of detainees "may be accepted and even encouraged by senior officials."

Specifically, the ACLU is seeking documentation on the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody -- including two men who died -- as well as on detainees who were handed over by the U.S. to countries known to employ torture against those in their custody.

A special feature about the ACLU's FOIA request is online HERE.

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	:: DUG853		10/10/2003 12:37:00 PM

THINGS DUG UP BY DUG -- News and Views from Here and There

Police-State-Patriotism
by Sergei Borglum Hoff (Former peace officer)

Fourth Amendment: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."


Fifth Amendment: "No person shall be held to answer for a capitol, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb, nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation."

Sixth Amendment: "In all criminal prosecution, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed; which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense."


"Restriction of free thought and free speech
is the most dangerous of all subversions.
It is the one un-American act that could easily
defeat us." -William O. Douglas


My enthusiasm is lacking for this police-state-patriotism that John Ashcroft so eagerly prescribed for the masses. Indeed, I am repelled by what he perceives to be desirable patriotic expression. His most recent "phantoms of lost liberties" rebuke will not ease the pain of his Bully-Brother tactics. In testimony given before the Senate Judiciary Committee, our Attorney General, the archetype of sanctimoniousness, dared to insinuate that those people failing to enthusiastically embrace his "Homeland" security tactics are unpatriotic and enablers of terrorism. What balderdash! What impudence! What treachery!

CONTINUE


===0===0===0===

U.S. COMPTROLLER DECLARES BUSH POLICIES
WILL KEEP NATION DEEPLY IN DEBT

U.S. Comptroller General David Walker, the nation's chief fiscal officer, interjected a dose of reality this week into President Bush's rosy claims that his Administration can cut the federal deficit in half within five years without changing policies.

"The idea that this is manageable or that we are going to grow our way out of the problem is just flat false," Walker said.

CONTINUE

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	:: DUG853		10/10/2003 07:30:00 AM

FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH -- Actions to Take to Make a Difference

Help President Bush [. . . Find the Leaker(s) --DUG]
Clear your name.

Sign an affidavit that you're not involved with outing CIA agent Valerie Plame, and send it to the President to show him how easy it could be to get to the bottom of this. Then please forward this email to your friends and colleagues.

Today we're giving you a chance to clear your name. We're asking you and tens of thousands of other MoveOn members to sign an affidavit affirming that you didn't leak the identity of an undercover CIA agent to the press last July.

Here's why:

President Bush told the press on Tuesday that he doesn't "have any idea" whether the senior administration officials who blew a CIA operative's cover will ever be found.

But if he just asked his staff to sign a legally binding affidavit confirming that they weren't involved, and referred anyone who wouldn't to the FBI, it's possible he could flush out the perpetrators in a day.

To date, the President hasn't even discussed this matter with his staff.

We've already done the President's homework for him by writing the affidavit. Now let's show him how easy it is for innocent people to legally declare their innocence.

You can sign the affidavit and send it to the President in under a minute right here.

On Sunday, Reuters reported that Valerie Plame, the CIA agent whose cover was blown "was probably the single highest target of any possible terrorist organization or hostile intelligence service that might want to do damage," according to a former senior CIA official.

It's now clear that the leakers in the White House are willing to put national security and the lives of CIA operatives in danger for their own ends. But President Bush seems unconcerned -- he hasn't even looked into who it might be.

Here are a few quotes from the Bush Administration that give some contrast to the task of finding the leakers.


On finding Osama Bin Laden in Central Asia:

"We're going to hunt them down one at a time. . . it doesn't matter where they hide,
as we work with our friends we will find them and bring them to justice."
--President George W. Bush, 11/22/02


On finding Saddam Hussein in the Mideast:

"We are continuing the pursuit and it's a matter of time before [Saddam]
is found and brought to justice."
--White House spokesman McClellan, 9/17/03


On finding the leaker in the close confines of the White House:

"I don't know if we're going to find out the senior administration official.
I don't have any idea."
--President George W. Bush, 10/7/03

President Bush can do better than that. He could start by simply asking his staff to sign a legally binding affidavit.
Show the President how easy it is.

Sign the affidavit here and send it on to the President today.


It's been three months since Valerie Plame's identity was leaked to the press.
The time for President Bush to take command and find the leakers is long overdue.

Sincerely,
--Carrie, Eli, Joan, Noah, Peter, Wes, and Zack
The MoveOn Team
October 9th, 2003

(Many thanks to the Center for American Progress for the research and quotes.)

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Thursday, October 09, 2003

	:: Nora		10/09/2003 01:49:00 PM

Global Control Arms Campaign

from Amnesty International
9 October

The global arms trade is dangerously unregulated, and allows weapons to reach repressive governments, human rights abusers and criminals, says a new report released today. To address these concerns, three international organisations have joined to launch a global campaign in over 50 countries. The 'Control Arms' campaign aims to reduce arms proliferation and misuse and to convince governments to introduce a binding arms trade treaty.

Arms proliferation and abuse have reached a critical point, fuelling human rights violations, poverty, and conflict. Someone is killed every minute by armed violence while many more suffer abuse and serious injury. But arms are a dangerously unregulated global business, according to the new report.

Among the report's findings:

- National arms export controls are riddled with loopholes. The easy availability of arms increases the incidence of armed violence, acts as a trigger for conflicts, and prolongs wars once they break out. Civilians are increasingly being targeted.

- Conflict and armed crime prevent aid reaching those who desperately need it, and often lead to the denial of health care and education.

- The 11 September 2001 attacks and the resulting 'war on terror' have fuelled weapons proliferation, rather than focusing political will on controlling arms.

- The 'war on terror' has led to increasing numbers of arms being exported, particularly by the US and the UK, to new-found allies (such as Pakistan, Indonesia and the Philippines) regardless of human rights or development concerns.

"Each year hundreds of thousands of people are unlawfully killed, tortured, raped and displaced through the misuse of arms. With the 'war on terror' dominating the international agenda, there should be renewed interest in arms control. Yet the reverse has occurred. The vicious circle of arms transfers, conflict and abuse can and must be stopped," said Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

To address these concerns, Amnesty International, Oxfam and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) have jointly launched the global Control Arms campaign. The campaign will focus on promoting an international treaty covering arms transfers, "the Arms Trade Treaty", as well as a number of regional and locally appropriate measures designed to limit arms proliferation and misuse.

See the Report HERE

Editors note

A draft Arms Trade Treaty has been developed by a group of human rights, development and arms control NGOs including Amnesty International and Oxfam in partnership with international legal experts. It carries the support of 19 Nobel Peace Prize laureates, led by Dr Oscar Arias. The central aim is to provide a set of common minimum standards for the control of arms transfers, based firmly on states existing responsibilities under international law.

To see a copy of the draft Arms Trade Treaty, visit HERE

~*~

Campaigner Richard Stanforth from Oxfam said: "From Birmingham to Bogota the global arms trade is out of control. There are more regulations on the music industry than on arms traders."

Campaign supporter James Omunson said: "The village I grew up in Sudan is now completely awash with guns, even children as young as nine carry weapons in Torit. I urge all governments to sign up to an Arms Trade Treaty to control weapons sales in Torit and Birmingham alike."

Source

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	:: DUG853		10/09/2003 01:37:00 PM

The Sunshine Project
News Release - 9 October 2003

[This kind of activity in any country other than America would be condemned as "Illegal Biological Warfare Experiments" and no doubt would be used as reason enough for the American Gov to stage an illegal pre-emptive strike against said country, IMO. --DUG]


Lethal virus from 1918 genetically reconstructed
US Army scientists create "Spanish Flu" virus in laboratory --
medical benefit questionable

(Austin and Hamburg, 9 October 2003) – The 'Spanish Flu' influenza virus that killed 20-40 million people in 1918 is currently under reconstruction. Several genes of the extraordinarily lethal 1918 flu virus have been isolated and introduced into contemporary flu strains. These proved to be lethal for mice, while virus constructs with genes from a current flu virus types had hardly any effect. These experiments may easily be abused for military purposes, but provide little benefit from a medical or public health point of view.

The 1918 Spanish Flu was highly infectious and – in comparison to contemporary flu viruses – killed a very high percentage of those infected, including many younger people. The Spanish Flu alone caused the medium life expectancy in the US in 1918 to drop by 10 years. Hence, flu viruses are perceived today as a serious biological warfare threat. Just two weeks ago, a 15 million dollar research grant was awarded in the US to develop protective measures especially against a bioterrorist attack with flu viruses.

CONTINUE

Sunshine Project Home Page

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Wednesday, October 08, 2003

	:: DUG853		10/08/2003 04:48:00 PM

One Year Later, the President's Evidence
for Going to War remains Illusory

In the year since President Bush began his public campaign to justify attacking Saddam Hussein, launched in an Ohio speech on October 7th, 2002, he has been unable to corroborate the majority of his arguments for going to war.

On nearly every count, the President's claims about Iraq's weapons program have proven to be unfounded.

A lengthy $300 million search by 1,200 U. S.-led inspectors, headed by David Kay, turned up no new evidence that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction.

CONTINUE

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	:: DUG853		10/08/2003 01:03:00 AM

THINGS DUG UP BY DUG -- News and Views From Here and There and Now and Then

Kissinger gave Israel tacit approval to flout 1973 truce: documents
By Matthew Lee, AFP
Copyright 2003 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)


WASHINGTON, Oct 7 (AFP) - Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger gave Israel tacit approval to violate a US-Soviet brokered truce in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, according to newly declassified documents released Tuesday on the 30th anniversary of the start of the conflict.

The documents indicate that Kissinger secretly conveyed to the Israelis that Washington would understand if they took a "slightly longer" time in observing a deadline for the UN-backed truce which was due to take effect on the evening of October 22, 1973.

His comments appear to have emboldened the Israelis, who were complaining of truce violations by their Arab foes, to allow their troops to encircle and trap the Egyptian Third Army, according to the documents compiled by the National Security Archive, a private research group at the George Washington University.

CONTINUE

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Tuesday, October 07, 2003

	:: Nora		10/07/2003 07:13:00 PM

BITS AND BOBS FROM THE ROVING BLOGGER

ACTIVISM UPDATE: from www.FAIR.org
Times Corrects Iraq Inspections Myth
October 7, 2003

In the wake of a FAIR action alert, the New York Times printed the following correction on Saturday, October 4:

------
An article on Wednesday about renewed criticism of the Bush administration for its handling of intelligence before the Iraq war misstated the circumstances under which international weapons inspectors left Iraq in 1998. They were withdrawn by the United Nations, not expelled by Saddam Hussein.
------

Hundreds of FAIR activists wrote to the Times after a recent report (9/29/03) repeated as fact a charge by Secretary of State Colin Powell that weapons inspectors were thrown out of the country in 1998. According to the Times, "Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, in a television appearance today, noted that the Iraqi leader threw weapons inspectors out in 1998, making it more difficult for intelligence agencies to get hard information." In fact, as FAIR's action alert pointed out, the inspectors were not kicked out, but were removed by team leader Richard Butler right before an American bombing campaign. The Times had corrected the same error three years earlier (2/2/00).

The TV program on which Powell made the false statement, ABC's This Week (9/28/03), has yet to correct the error.

[For the record, the error was in Monday's edition of the paper, not in Wednesday's, as the Times indicated in its correction.]

===0===0===0===

[I'm a blogger. I have to blog about a cheese sandwich.]

Silly Science - the Perfect Cheese Sandwich
October 7

LONDON (Reuters) - A British scientist has calculated the optimum thickness for a slice of cheese to make the perfect cheese sandwich, according to a study published on Monday. In a bite-sized sandwich using pre-sliced white bread lightly buttered with margarine, a slice of cheddar needs to be at least 2.8 mm thick, the study found.

Source

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Tiger and Alligator Shared Apartment
October 6

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- New York has been described as a concrete jungle, but one Harlem resident seems to have taken that literally as police were called in to remove a tiger and an alligator from his apartment.

Tipped off by phone calls from neighbors, police on Saturday found the wildlife in the apartment of 31-year-old Antoine Yates, who faces charges of reckless endangerment.

A police sharpshooter fired a tranquilizer dart through the window of the fifth floor apartment to subdue the tiger, which weighed up to 500 pounds (225 kg), according to an NYPD spokesman. Along with the tiger, believed to be a Siberian-Bengal mix, police found a 3-foot (one-meter) alligator in the flat.

Source

READ HERE how the illegal trade in exotic animals is a billion-dollar industry

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	:: Nora		10/07/2003 08:37:00 AM

A MUST SEE

Inside Guantanamo

The 'Panorama' programme uncovers the true picture of this new system of arrest, detention, interrogation and eventual trial by military commission.

View here, at Information Clearing House

===0===0===0===

Revelation casts doubt on Iraq find

by Julian Borger, at The Guardian
October 7

The test tube of botulinum presented by Washington and London as evidence that Saddam Hussein had been developing and concealing weapons of mass destruction, was found in an Iraqi scientist's home refrigerator, where it had been sitting for 10 years, it emerged yesterday.

David Kay, the expert appointed by the CIA to lead the hunt for weapons, told a congressional committee last week that the vial of botulinum had been "hidden" at the scientist's home, and could be used to "covertly surge production of deadly weapons".

Continue here

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Monday, October 06, 2003

	:: DUG853		10/06/2003 03:02:00 PM

USA Patriot Act is anti-American
Boyd in the 'Hood - 10/3/03
By Tom Boyd


Each town council in Eagle County should take a symbolic stand against the USA Patriot Act, an unconstitutional set of new laws that debases the Bill of Rights and is quickly transforming America into a police state.

The U.S. has (once again) become a place where the federal government is spying on its people and imprisoning suspected criminals without charging them with a crime.

But this time around, it's completely legal. When the USA Patriot act was signed into law on Oct. 26, 2001, by President George W. Bush, the nation was led to believe that Attorney General John Ashcroft and the feds were going to be given new powers designed to catch and detain terrorists. But only six months after the Patriot Act was signed into law, federal agents were being taught how to apply the anti-terrorist laws to ordinary criminals, according to an Associated Press news report.

Since that time there have been numerous examples of how the Patriot Act has been applied to ordinary criminals. A man in North Carolina, for example, was charged with "Intent to Use a Weapon of Mass Destruction" after a homemade pipe bomb exploded in his lap.

Representative Scott McInnis, R-Grand Junction, wants to broaden the classification of the term "terrorist," making it easier for law enforcement officials to capture and detain people who are suspected of crimes like vandalism and destruction of property. Can anybody say McCarthy?

The parallels between the anti-Communist witch hunts of the Cold War and the current War on Terror are dismally similar. The United States seemed to be making progress on the freedom front in 1974, when Congress adopted laws intended to further prohibit the ongoing, and illegal, monitoring of its citizenry perpetrated by J. Edgar Hoover and his G-men.

The laws were brought into effect after the discovery of the COINTELPRO papers, which revealed that the FBI and other federal agencies were conducting illegal domestic espionage against American citizens. Now the feds are back at it, but this time with the consent of Congress and the executive branch.

It may be easy for some of the folks in this valley to dismiss these statements as paranoid rhetoric. After all, our lives seem pretty good. Things seem fine around here. And the important thing is to avoid breaking the law – that way the feds won't bother with us, right?

Wrong.

Under the USA Patriot Act (which passed in the Senate 96-1 on Oct. 11, 2001, and the House 337-79 the following day before the president signed it Oct. 26), law enforcement officials don't even need to announce their reasons for holding a person (even U.S. citizens) in jail, incommunicado, without legal counsel.

Section 215 of the Act allows the FBI to seize records without a search warrant, obtain information about a person's reading habits, religious affiliations and Internet use, and impose a "gag order" on those served with Section 215 orders.

Armed with the kind of evidence that was formerly illegal in this country, the feds can lock us up and throw away the
key. No phone call. No rights. No lawyer. Nothing.

Somehow that's not enough. Ashcroft is currently asking for increased power from Congress, and guys like Colorado's very own Rep. McInnis are supporting current efforts to expand the definition of "terrorist" to include anybody with a firecracker and an anger management problem. Makers of Methamphetamine drugs (which can be produced using household cleaning products) are being held and locked away under the charge of producing chemical weapons. My question is this: where was this law when farmers were spreading DDT all over the place? And what about the American companies that still sell domestically outlawed chemicals abroad? Can we charge them with terrorism, too?

Hundreds of cities and the state of Hawaii have condemned the Patriot Act, in some cases levying small fines on librarians and other officials who comply with federal demands. Although federal laws overpower our own, it's imperative for local representatives to speak up on our behalf. Law-abiding citizens need to inform the government that this will not stand. It flies in the face of everything this nation claims to be – and people inside and outside of our borders are disgusted with the way the current government is treating its own people.

SOURCE

Tom Boyd can be reached at tboyd@vailtrail.com or (970) 390-1585.

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	:: DUG853		10/06/2003 12:46:00 PM

No uranium, no munitions, no missiles, no programmes

[Some good anti-spin here with explanations for some
of the phrases that are still being used to try to justify
War in Iraq --DUG]

As the first progress report from the Iraq Survey Group is released, Cambridge WMD expert Dr Glen Rangwala finds that even the diluted claims made for Saddam Hussein's arsenal don't stand up05 October 2003

Last week's progress report by American and British weapons inspectors in Iraq has failed to supply evidence for the vast majority of the claims made on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction by their governments before the war.

CONTINUE

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Sunday, October 05, 2003

	:: DUG853		10/05/2003 04:04:00 PM

STUFF DUG UP BY DUG -- News and views from here and there

[Here's the best news I've heard all . . . YEAR! -v]


Soros calls for 'regime change' in US

Billionaire philanthropist George Soros has called for an end
to the Bush administration ahead of next year's presidential
elections.

The US would only stop pursuing "extremist" policies if there was a change at the White House.

"It is only possible if you have a regime change in the United States -- in other words, if President Bush is voted out of power.

"I am very hopeful that people will wake up and realise that they have been led down the garden path, that actually 11 September has been hijacked by a bunch of extremists to put into effect policies that they were advocating before, such as the invasion of Iraq."

There was a "false ideology" behind the policies of the Bush administration.

"There is a group of -- I would call them extremists -- who have the following belief: that international relations are relations of power, not of law, that international law will always follow what power has achieved," he said.

"And therefore [they believe] the United States being the most powerful nation on earth should impose its power, impose its will and its interests on the world and it should do it looking after itself.

"I think this is a very dangerous ideology. It is very dangerous because America is in fact very powerful."

US actions in the build-up to the war on Iraq was evidence of an extremist element in the Bush administration.

America being really the dominant power to be in the grips of such an extremist ideology is very dangerous for the world and that is my major concern."

SOURCE

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