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, November 15, 2003

	:: Nora		11/15/2003 08:55:00 PM

Talks Fail on Damaging Fumigant

By James Macharia

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Environmental negotiations seen by U.S. fruit growers as critical to future profitability failed on Friday to reach consensus on a U.S. request to increase use of a fumigant known to destroy the ozone layer, delegates said ...

Methyl bromide, which kills soil pests before crops are planted, is due to be phased out by all developed nations by January 1, 2005, under a global pact to protect the atmosphere ...

The protocol -- seen by experts as the most successful global environmental treaty -- requires signatory states to phase out the use of some 95 chemicals that damage the ozone layer, a stratum of the atmosphere that protects the earth from ultraviolet radiation, which can cause skin cancer.

The United States, the European Union and Japan have cut down the use of methyl bromide to 30 percent of existing stocks, but now the United States wants to be allowed to increase its use to 38.2 percent in 2005.

A U.S. government delegation and farm groups say although they have made significant cutbacks in its use, they need more time to find effective substitute fumigants for crops such as tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, strawberries and sweet potatoes.

Ozone experts and the European Union delegates opposed the request because it could reverse the gains achieved so far.

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Friday, November 14, 2003

	:: DUG853		11/14/2003 08:44:00 PM

BUSH VETO THREAT MAY LEAD CONGRESS
TO REVERSE ITSELF ON OVERTIME PAY

With the White House "show[ing] no inclination to compromise," House and Senate conferees are likely to strip a provision protecting overtime from proposed Labor Department changes that would deny overtime pay to as many as 8 million workers.

Read the full Mis-Lead -->

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	:: Nora		11/14/2003 06:55:00 PM

Bush-Blair Talks Must Ensure Fair Trials at Guantanamo

(Washington, D.C., November 14, 2003) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair should insist in his meeting next week with U.S. President George W. Bush that no detainee at Guantanamo Bay be tried in proceedings that fail to meet international standards of due process, Human Rights Watch said today. The two leaders are scheduled to meet during President Bush's visit to London on November 18-21.

"The detainees have been held far too long without any kind of legal process," said Wendy Patten, U.S. advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. "But the military commissions proposed by the Bush administration will not provide a fair trial." ...

For nearly two years, the United States has held detainees at its naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Nine Britons are among the approximately 660 persons detained by the United States at Guantanamo. The Bush administration claims the detainees are all enemy combatants who are not entitled to prisoner of war status, even though the U.S. government has refused to afford them individual hearings to determine their status, as required by the Third Geneva Convention. By contrast, the U.S. government conducted over one thousand such hearings during the 1991 Gulf War and has conducted numerous such hearings in Iraq since the recent armed conflict. The Bush administration continues to oppose judicial review of the detentions at Guantanamo. On November 10, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider whether U.S. courts should be open to hear claims of unlawful detention by Guantanamo detainees.

FULL STATEMENT

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Wednesday, November 12, 2003

	:: Nora		11/12/2003 05:01:00 PM

FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH -- Actions To Take To Make A Difference

Take action, and enjoy yourself!

There's nothing better than taking action and having some fun at the same time. So even if I'm not marching the streets 7 days a week, I get great enjoyment out of bumper stickers, t-shirts -- and political posters which I stick on my glass front door. They provoke all sorts of conversations with people who call. Even my pizza delivery man looks forward to seeing what I'll put up next!

So why not stroll over here and view the merchandise at the official store of The Mahablog -- "Don't be shy about standing up to the Bush regime!" -- where you will find a large range of stickers, postcards, tote bags, t-shirts, mugs, and all you need to make a strong but peaceful statement. (They'd make nice Christmas presents too!)

A hilarious suggestion for the ladies, in a report from the Mirror.co.uk:

Fed up with Tony Blair for always waxing lyrical about war, a group calling themselves the Opposition Society decided to put their words into action and on Tuesday called for women to wax for peace on National Get Rid of That Bush Day.

Posters around Brighton called for other women to join them in protest and to "Wax 'em off, put 'em in an envelope and send 'em to Tony Blair with a message stating...'I got rid of my Bush now you get rid of yours.'"

Meanwhile, read at "Resist Bush" and here in the Telegraph about the major demonstrations planned against Bush during his proposed visit to London on the 19th -- methinks it will be a lively few days, and I hope the Shrub gets the message loud and clear. If by any chance you're going to be in London, see the calender of events here.

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	:: Nora		11/12/2003 11:17:00 AM

United States: Stop Handing Over Detainees to Torturers

Statement from Human Rights Watch

President George W. Bush should end the transfer of detainees to countries that routinely engage in torture, such as Syria, if he is to fulfill his pledge to champion democracy and human rights in the Middle East and honor the United States' international legal obligations, Human Rights Watch said today.

In a November 6 speech to the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington, President Bush condemned the government of Syria, along with Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, for leaving its people "a legacy of torture, oppression, misery, and ruin."

According to the U.S. State Department's annual human rights reports, Syria torture methods include beatings, administering electric shocks, pulling out of fingernails, forcing objects into the rectum, and bending detainees into the frame of a wheel and whipping their exposed body parts.

Yet last year, the United States reportedly transferred Maher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian citizen, to Syria after having detained him in New York as he was en route from Tunisia to Montreal. On November 4 in Ottawa, Arar publicly asserted that, while held in Syrian prisons for 10 months, he was repeatedly tortured by being whipped with a thick electric cable and threatened with electric shocks.

Since September 11, 2001, the Bush administration has reportedly facilitated or participated directly in the transfer of numerous persons without extradition proceedings, a practice known as "irregular rendition," to countries in the Middle East known to practice torture routinely.

CONTINUE

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	:: Nora		11/12/2003 10:54:00 AM

BITS AND BOBS FROM THE ROVING BLOGGER


Coffee Break!


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Zombie Machines Fueling New Cyber Crime Wave

By Bernhard Warner, European Internet Correspondent

LONDON (Reuters) - The rapid growth of broadband home computer connections may be inadvertently fueling what police suspect could be the start of a new crime wave -- cyber-blackmail.

As more homes connect to faster delivery systems, their computers are becoming vulnerable to hackers and virus writers who can turn them into "zombie" machines, ready to carry out any malevolent command.

Favorite targets for the extortionists -- many thought to come from eastern Europe -- have been casinos and retailers, but one recent high-profile victim was the Port of Houston.

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Woman Sues Over Condom in Her Clam Chowder

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Waiter, there is something worse than a fly in my soup.

A California woman who found a condom in her bowl of clam chowder has sued the upscale restaurant that served it to her -- saying she has suffered depression and anxiety from the shocking discovery.

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Ministers Fall to Own Road Safety Push

PARIS (Reuters) - Two French ministers being whisked to the unveiling of new radar speed traps outside Paris were caught over the speed limit as their cars raced to the event, French car magazine Auto Plus says.

It said Monday its reporters used hand-held radars to record Transport Minister Gilles de Robien's car whizzing out of the French capital at 62 mph on a road with a 43 mph limit.

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Monday, November 10, 2003

	:: DUG853		11/10/2003 09:54:00 PM

Rumsfeld Retreats, Disclaims Earlier Rhetoric
By Eric Rosenberg
Hearst Newspapers | Ocala Star Banner

Rumsfeld denies he ever made several pre-war statements.


In the lead-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said U.S. forces would be welcomed by the Iraqi citizenry and that Saddam Hussein had large stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons.

Now, after both statements have been shown to be either incorrect or vastly exaggerated, Rumsfeld - with the same trademark confidence that he exuded before the war - is denying that he ever made such assertions.

In recent testy exchanges with reporters, Rumsfeld interrupted the questioners and attacked the premise of the questions if they dealt with his pre-war comments about weapons of mass destruction and Americans-as-liberators.

CONTINUE

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	:: DUG853		11/10/2003 09:05:00 AM

THINGS DUG UP BY DUG

PRESIDENT BUSH'S STATED COMMITMENT TO VETERANS
NOT REFLECTED IN BUDGET
By MISLEADER, A Daily Chronicle of Bush Administration Distortion
A Project of Move-On.org

President Bush often emphasizes his commitment to veterans, saying in 2001, "My administration understands America's obligations not only go to those who wear the uniform today, but to those who wore the uniform in the past: to our veterans."

But the 200,000 veterans waiting six months or more for their first appointment at a VA facility would be denied access to VA health care under Bush's plan.

Others would be charged $250 annual enrollment fees, doubled prescription costs and increased co-payments.

Read the full Mis-Lead -->

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Sunday, November 09, 2003

	:: Nora		11/09/2003 04:29:00 PM

Bush visit set to paralyse London
By Martin Bright and Anushka Asthana
The Observer

Itinerary details remain secret in record security operation
as thousands plan street protests during first state visit
by an American President


London will be brought to a standstill in 10 days' time when the visit of US President George W. Bush will take place under the highest security ever reserved for a foreign head of state.

A combination of last-minute road closures and a rally at Trafalgar Square by an estimated 100,000 anti-war protesters will paralyse the capital when Bush arrives on 19 November for a three-day stay in Britain. It will be the first ever state visit by an American President, who will be the guest of the Queen for the duration of his stay ...

Bush's arrival is likely to follow the pattern of his visit to Australia last month, when he was spirited away from protesters along empty streets cleared of ordinary people. All police leave has been cancelled and armed units and US special agents will be assigned to the streets of London.

Whitehall sources have confirmed that the itinerary for the visit has still not been finalised, and officials on both sides of the Atlantic say that a visit which places the American President, Prime Minister Tony Blair and Queen Elizabeth II in the same place calls for an unprecedented level of protection.

The chaos will be compounded by the fact that protesters are not co-operating with the police in their plans for a demonstration against the two leaders of the coalition war in Iraq. Protesters last night said they will see it as a victory if they are kept away from Bush's cavalcade altogether. Andrew Burgin of the Stop the War Coalition said: 'I think it is a back-handed compliment, because it shows they realise he is such an unpopular political figure held in very low esteem and the war was so wrong. Other Presidents have come here and there have not been demonstrations, but against Bush there will be. The police have promised us we will be allowed a legitimate right to protest and we intend to continue with our plans.'

Tim Ireland, 33, marketing consultant of anti-war website Bloggerheads.com, said: 'Demonstrators should not be kept away from him. We expect them to make it difficult for us, and there will be a lot of misinformation.' ...

The centrepiece of the protest will be a huge march on 19 November arranged by the Stop the War Coalition which will go through the capital and end at Trafalgar Square, where a giant statue of George Bush will be pulled down in a parody of the toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad. It will be led by American nationals living in the UK who have gathered under the title Expats Against Bush. They will carry banners reading 'Proud of my nation. Shamed by my President'."

FULL TEXT

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