Posts tagged "director"

Bhalessa Gandoh-Lengendaries

Ghulam Rasool Azad: A true Educationist

                                                           Sadaket Malik

It has revealed by our research that in different parts of the state people used to speak Kashmiri, if the local language is mixed with kashmiri but it is true that in ancient period some people migrated to Jammu region to make their haitation overhere.

            It is in Mahgam Kashmir that Batt  family migrated to start their habitation in Chamba District of Hamachal Pradesh and some Muslim Batt’s stayed in improvised part of Bhalessa i.e in Soti Village. From time to time they (Bhat family) became permanent peasants of Soti Bhalessa. One of the ancestors Kh. Khazra Batt was regarded as a leading peasent of the time. In this Peasantry family, Ghulam Rasool Azad was born in the year 1916. This was a period of ignorance, There was a no media, no education and no leadership. There were only single to two schools in Bhalessa, one was Primary school kilhotran wherein the people used to get elementary education at that time. Kh. Khazra Batt gets admission of Ghulam Rasool in this Primary school. Ghulam Rasool (Azad) passed his Primary basic education from this school in 1929. On the basis of his interest towards studies his parents put him in Bhaderwah Amar Singh High School for further studies.

            On the one hand, there was no transportation, no media and poverty had its head high, but Ghulam Rasool Azad used to exhibit his talent with the patronage of the well deserved teachers in Amar Singh High School.

            In 1935, Ghulam Rasool Azad passed entrance examination from Jammu Centre, he got encouraged and put forward his education and leadership.

            In 1939, he did his graduation in Mathematics with double course and got Post graduated in 1943 from Punjab University. During his studentship he was entrusted the responsibility of Student leadership. He was appointed as a Publicity secretary of Punjab University Students Union.

            It was very difficult for a person at that time to get education and Azad proved as a torch bearer. There were only three rare persons like Ghulam Rasool Azad of Soti,  Prof. Umer Din Malik of Bhatyas and Abdul Aziz Batt of Kilhotran to get higher education.

            To democratise the system of education and make the poor farmers of Bhalessa familiar about education, Ghulam Rasool Azad launched intensive awareness mission to change their mindset. He used to get oath from children to pledge for education.

            In 1946, he was appointed as a teacher in Shri Ranbir High School Jammu, during his tenure, he strived hard and worked honestly. The salary was too small but Azad proved as an ideal teacher. In this period, there was discrimination due to colonial rule. He started Jammu Provincial Teachers Association and pleaded the cause of teachers. Due to indefinite struggle for the cause of teachers, He and his associates were dismissed from service in 1946 by the government. Lo and behold, Azad not stopped his sprit of social work and leadership. It was a time of Communal disharmony. Divisive policies were in place.

            In another phase, Maharaja Quited the state and Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah resumed the office. Sheikh got abreast of the leadership satire of Azad and appointed him as  teacher in Shri Partap High School Srinagar. It was time of disamity of hindu’s and muslims. In 1947, Azad was entrusted the responsibility by the government to look after the welfare and prosperity of masses of the then Doda region. He reached every nook and corner of the district doda to spread the massage of love and friendship. The need was not to look after the developmental side, but to unite the scattered hindu’s and muslims. Azad  played a pro active role to end disamity. In this way the peole loved his qualities and his sprit of leadership. Government rewaded Ghulam Rasool Azad for his outstanding contribution in that period. Sheikh sahib at that time quoted in his speeched

“Kash sobha jammu ki Tarah Sobha Kashmir main

ik Ghulam Rasool Azad paida hota, to maire khuwabun

Ka naya Kashmir taamir hota.”

Like Jammu region, If Kashmir region might got the leader like Ghulam Rasool Azad, it would to true that my dream of Naya Kashmir will be fulfilled. Shaikh sahib told kashmiri leadership at that time.

            Keeping in mind his political satire, he was appointed General Secretary National Conference in 1947 and in 1948 he was appointed as Assistant Inspector of Schools for Rajouri, Nowshera, Poonch. During this period, he visited every school snd reached every teacher for educational advancement. He got a great status and sympathy in the people.

            Azad was appointed as a President of National Conference Doda for the welfare of  people.

            In 1950, Azad was appointed as Field Publicity Officer Jammu. From 1949-51 he was District Vice President National Conference of Rajouri. In the same period, he was given another responsibility at the capacity of PA to Director Education. He was appinted as a member of All J&K General Council NC. Joint secretary NC Jammu region, Being an officer Azad was full of leadership qualities. That’s why ruling political party like National Conference get advantage of his political satire and sprit of social work. His top priory was to look after the welfare of the people, and got a special place in the hearts of poor people. Sheikh Abdullah gave him a plenty of responsibilities.

            Later, He was inducted as an Inspector of schools Udhampur and Doda from 1951-54. and inspected all the schools, and conceded the demands of general people of the region. He was appointed as a Headmaster of Teacher’s Training School Bhaderwah. It is leant by us that Teachers Training school was opned by Azad himself. Its was a period when Sheikh Abdullah was arrested and Bhakshi Ghulam Mohammed was appointed as a Prime Minister of the state. The state was politically unstable. One the one hand It was campaign of Paraja Paishad and on the other hand a demand for “Raj Shumari”. Azad’s initiative turned towards the limping back the normalcy in the region. He used to say in his speeched:-

“ Na Hinduism ko khatra hai, na islam ko dur,

Ho Jawo Shair o shankar”

Azad as a freedom fighter was pinched with the people who used religion as a tool for gaining power. When Azad’s milti faceted qualities listened the then Prime Minister Bhakshi Ghulam Mohammed, he was deputed to England for DAATP training course. He visted educational institutions of  UK, England, Wales, Scotland, Belgium, Thailand, West Germany, Austrailia, Italy, Switzerland, USA and France.

            After his return from England, he was appointed to analyse the economic conditions of Doda, Poonch and Rajouri in 1956. He was appointed as a Principal of Government Higher Secondary School R S Pura in 1956-1957. This was the only Hr. secondary school in Jammu region.

            In this period, Corruption was increased in an alarming rate. Poverty was its heads high, economy was poor. He pointed truth before higher ups and suggested roadmaps to overcome corruption and increase well being of the people. He resigned from service and contested election for the poor people on the behalf of teacher fraternity. Government mandated a lady candidate against him in the election. But Azad got elected to Assembly. In Kashmir, a candidate namely Dina Nath General secretary was mandated by Azad and was elected. In another trip, he was elected unopposed as MLC and worked upto 1957.  In 1955, he founded All Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh Teacher’s Association. From 1955-69, he pleaded the cause of teachers. In 1958-59, 1959-60, and 1960-61 he remained Vice President of All India Federation of Education Profession. Being an educationist, he also worked for the cause of education at national level.  In 1961,He was one of the delegate of 34 delegates to attend the 10th onference of World Confederation of Organisations of Teaching Profession for the world education cause.

            Government led by Bhakhshi Ghulam Mohd. Invited Azad to re-join the government service and appointed him Dy Director Education Jammu in 1962-63. Government not tolerated his courage and appointed him as a Principal of Government Degree College Bhaderwah. He was again taransfered to Kashmir to work as a Dy. Director School Education Kashmir.upto 1971. In 1969-71 he remained Secretary J&K Sports Council. From 1963-64 he worked as a Saint member of Jammu University. and then member of J&K State Board of School Education in 1965. Member of Text Book Advisory Boad, After he finaly retired from the post of Dy. Director Education, He was appointed as a Fazil member of Anti Corruption Commission in 1973-75, member J&K Planning Board. Member District Development Board Doda in 1976-78, President Indo Sovait Cultural society (1971-73) Member Bhaderwah Welfare Front (1975-79), Chairman Bhaderwah Public Forum (1982) Chairman Advisory Council of J&K Education Officers Association, (1984)

            It was on 24th of January 1995, the land lost its great scholar, as ill luck would have it this legendary man not remained among the people.

Sadaket Malik
http://www.articlesbase.com/article-marketing-articles/bhalessa-gandohlengendaries-1100344.html

World War II Names Still In Our Vocabulary – Part Three – The Blitz

This is the third of a series of articles that document some of the names, places, catch words, and other items that are now lodged permanently in our vocabulary, History was made some 68 years ago. We dare not forget.

From July to February, the name of the game is football. It starts with the exhibition season and ends with the Super Bowl extravaganza. Out of World War II has come a term about which which we all know. It is called The Blitz.

The blitz is a team defensive move in which the defense sends more players than the offense can block. When the defense is running the blitz, it sends linebackers or even defensive safeties in order to try to tackle the quarterback or disrupt his pass drop. If it works, the quarterback is sacked behind the line of scrimmage for a huge loss. If the quarterback can “read” the defensive signals and pick up the blitz, it means a touchdown. The defensive team is risking its pass defense in order to get to the quarterback. One commentator picked up a verse from the Bible. You either live by the blitz or else die by the blitz.

By nature, blitzes are risky endeavors for the defense. Since the defense is taking away coverage defenders to rush the QB, there necessarily are holes in pass coverage. The defense does not and cannot cover all offensive players, but rather through the blitz, is proactively involved in rattling the QB, sacking the QB, disrupting QB timing, or forcing him to make an error such as an interception or fumble.

The blitz gets its name from the Blitzkrieg, a German strategy of the “Lightning War” during World War II. In World War One, most of the battles were fought in trenches. Both sides fortified their trenches heavily, and ended up taking heavy casualties while gaining little ground. Ironically after World War One, the British devised a new strategy. The strategy was first put forward by Colonel John Fuller, the chief of staff of the British Tank Corps. Fuller was disappointed with the way tanks were used during the First World War and afterwards produced Plan 1919. This included a call for long-range mass tank attacks with strong air, motorized infantry, and artillery support. These ideas were developed in more detail in his books, Reformation of War (1923) and Foundation of the Science of War (1926).

The British Army ignored Fuller’s ideas. However, leaders of the rebuilding German Army studied Fuller’s ideas in detail. They asked the government to commission the production of new tanks that would enable them to use Blitzkrieg tactics in any future conflicts The Germans called the Fuller plan Blitzkreig or Lightning War.

After Adolf Hitler obtained power in 1933, the German government was open about its tank production. In the spring of 1934 the German Army began developing the Panzer tank. Over the next few years the Panzer I, Panzer II, Panzer III and Panzer IV were produced.
During the invasion of Poland in September, 1939, it became clear that the outstanding performer was the Panzer IV as it had the perfect combination of speed, agility, firepower and reliability. Over the next few years it became the backbone of Blitzkrieg and over 9,000 of these tanks were produced.

The success of the Blitzkreig was overwhelming. The Germans finished off Poland in six weeks. It was now France’s turn. On May 10, the blitzkrieg rolled through the Ardennes. In three weeks, the British had to evacuate their entire army at Dunquerque. By mid-June, France had surrendered. The Germans held a victory parade through the Arc De Triumph, something that the French still remember to this day in 2007.

Sir Winston Churchill made a speech. “The Battle of France is over. The Battle of Britain has begun.” The German aerial attacks over England would now be simply called, “The Blitz.” Beginning in August 1940, German bombers visited England every day. By September, the Blitz had failed. The Royal Air Force (RAF) proved it could win over the Luftwaffe.
The Blitz went into night attacks. From September until June 1941, the Luftwaffe visited London from sundown to sunup with incendiary bombs and high explosive weapons. By July 1941, the Blitz had ended. The Luftwaffe was needed to go fight the Soviets. It would now be up to the Soviets to stop the Blitzkreig. However, the Blitz did return to England when the momentum of World War II was on the side of the Allies. It came in the form of the buzz bomb.

In June 1944 the first flying bombs fell on London. They were usually called ‘buzz-bombs’ or ‘doodle-bugs’. At first only one or two fell, but soon it became obvious that a regular bombardment was under way.
The most noticeable aspect of the doodlebugs was their sound, which was quite unlike any ordinary plane. It had a strange tearing and rasping sound, more like a two-stroke motor-cycle.. South London was on their regular flight path, and many of them fell nearby, causing damage and loss of life.

The RAF brought the first jet fighters into operation to try to catch them as they were much faster than piston-engined fighters. They would fly alongside them and flip their wing to spill them harmlessly into the open fields below. Some of them failed to explode and one was put on display at a store in Canterbury.

There is no doubt that these things did a great deal of damage in London within the space of a few weeks. The allied armies were advancing on the launching sites in Northern France and Belgium, and there was concern that they would not get there in time to prevent more damage and loss of life.

Soon, however, the buzz bombs were replaced by the far more frightening V2 weapons. These were rockets proper, much larger and more destructive which gave no notice at all of their arrival. They continued to fall on London at intervals during the last winter of the war, 1944-45. The V-2 ballistic missile (known to its designers as the A4) was the world’s first operational liquid fuel rocket. It represented an enormous quantum leap in technology, financed by Nazi Germany in a huge development program that cost at least $ 2 billion in 1944 dollars. Despite the scale of this effort, the inaccurate missile did not change the course of the war and proved to be an enormous waste of resources.

After the war, personnel and technology from the V-2 program formed the starting point for post-war rocketry development in America, Russia, and France. The Allies seized tons of documents, hundreds of experts, and dozens of V-2 missiles. Emerging from World War II was Dr. Wernher Von Braun

Before the Allied capture of the V-2 rocket complex, Dr. von Braun engineered the surrender of 500 of his top rocket scientists, along with plans and test vehicles, to the Americans. For fifteen years after World War II, Dr. von Braun would work with the United States army in the development of ballistic missiles. As part of a military operation called Project Paperclip, he and his “rocket team” were scooped up from defeated Germany and sent to America where they were installed at Fort Bliss, Texas. There they worked on rockets for the United States army, launching them at White Sands Proving Ground, New Mexico. In 1950 von Braun’s team moved to the Redstone Arsenal near Huntsville, Alabama, where they built the Army’s Jupiter ballistic missile.

In 1960, his rocket development center transferred from the army to the newly established NASA and received a mandate to build the giant Saturn rockets. Accordingly, von Braun became director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and the chief architect of the Saturn V launch vehicle, the superbooster that would propel Americans to the Moon.

Dr. Von Braun also became one of the most prominent spokesmen of space exploration in the United States during the 1950s. In 1970, NASA leadership asked von Braun to move to Washington, DC, to head up the strategic planning effort for the agency. He left his home in Huntsville, Alabama, but after about two years he decided to retire from NASA and to go to work for Fairchild Industries of Germantown, Maryland. He died in Alexandria, Virginia, on 16 June 1977.

And so, the Blitz came peacefully to an end. It is probable that while living in the DC Metro Area, Dr. Von Braun could have watched the Dallas Cowboys run the blitz against the Washington Redskins. Quarterbacks such as Jurgensen, Bradshaw, Namath, Elway, and Manning will know the Blitz in the same way as we all do, every Sunday. Let it stay that way, forever more.

Bob Carper
http://www.articlesbase.com/sports-and-fitness-articles/world-war-ii-names-still-in-our-vocabulary-part-three-the-blitz-122843.html

Alex Jones Websites Under Massive And Sustained Attack!!

Alex Jones Websites Under Massive And Sustained Attack

http://www.infowars.com/

Paul Joseph Watson

http://www.prisonplanet.com

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Alex Jones websites were assaulted by a massive, organized and sustained attack today which is still ongoing as zombie computers around the world were used to launch a denial of service attack which is undoubtedly related to our ongoing efforts to expose the governments Cybersecurity agenda as the gargantuan threat to Internet freedom it represents.

It appears to be a Distributed Denial of Service attack, utilizing zombied (or hacked) computers all over the world to overwhelm our servers, disabling them from serving normal traffic, states our Infowars systems administrator.

As Wikipedia explains, a DoS attack consists of Saturating the target (victim) machine with external communications requests, such that it cannot respond to legitimate traffic, or responds so slowly as to be rendered effectively unavailable. In general terms, DoS attacks are implemented by either forcing the targeted computer(s) to reset, or consuming its resources so that it can no longer provide its intended service or obstructing the communication media between the intended users and the victim so that they can no longer communicate adequately.

This is precisely what happened to Prison Planet.tv and Infowars.net today, while flagship websites Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com have also come under attack but are still holding up at time of press.

The last such attack occurred around the time that we were exposing the swine flu scandal last year, but todays attack even dwarfs that in terms of scope and sustained assault.

The most likely source for the attack is obviously the inner sanctum of the military-industrial complex that we have been exposing for months as they rush through their Cybersecurity initiative which represents a massive threat to Internet freedom.

Over the last few years, the Pentagon has developed an offensive cyber capability against adversaries, including DoS attacks. In the Pentagons Information Operation Roadmap document, it is stated that the military must fight the Net. The Pentagon believes the internet needs to be dealt with as if it were an enemy weapons system.

We are now witnessing intensified efforts to attack and remove from the world wide web sites like Cryptome.org and others which pose a fundamental threat to the anti-free speech agenda of the elite.

It is at times like these that we really need your support to bolster our servers in order to fend off these kind of attacks, either by getting the DVDs or becoming a Prison Planet.tv member.

As is our habitual response, every time we are attacked we only grow stronger by beefing our servers and launching another website which is exactly what will happen tomorrow with the birth of the Real Coffee Party initiative.

The enemies of freedom will be defeated in their continual attempt to silence free speech and their attacks will only make us close ranks and become stronger in the fight against the new world order.
http://www.infowars.com/alex-jones-websites-under-massive-and-sustained-attack/

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When Children Become Victims of Poverty and Ignorance

The ‘plights of the Akwa Ibom Children’, as the Punch Newspapers editorial of 15 January, 2009 described the madness in the name of child-witches hunting and exorcising going on in the state, need the attention of every rational being on the surface of the earth. For as Guardian Newspapers editorial of December 21, 2008 suggested, it is nothing but a ‘debacle on Child Rights’, a situation that have taken away self-esteem and psychologically demean many children in the state to the extent that they are far too conscious of every of their daily acts everywhere and anywhere for the fear of being tagged witches or wizards. This is totally unacceptable. Hence the question: who is a witch?

Witchcraft, according to Bertrand Russell, is ‘a composite phenomenon drawing from folklore, sorcery, demonology, heresy and Christian theology’. The World Book Encyclopedia describes it as ‘the use of supposed magic powers generally to harm or damage property”. From these two definitions, we can move on to deduce a definition of a ‘witch’ as a person who is supposed to have received such powers from ‘evil spirits’, that is, power to know all things, power to destroy lives, among others. While ‘witch’ is a general name, the word has a gender connotation. A ‘male witch’ is called wizard, while a ‘female witch’ is called ‘witch’.

The belief in witchcraft is not recent, nor is it a product of the popular Harry Porter series. Rather, according to Godffrey Parrinder, it is “one of the great (sic) fears from which mankind has suffered”. The belief has appeared in many parts of the world, in one form or the other. While it became particularly prominent and developed in Europe in the later middles ages and renaissance periods, the belief in witches and their evil powers have remained with Africans for centuries before then. For Africa, therefore, till today, witchcraft belief is a great tyranny spreading panic and death. This unhindered, thriving, belief, which is devoid of any commonsensical scientific ratiocination, is being buoyed by the excruciating and pitiable living condition of many Africans that they found unexplainable; hence the need for scapegoats, the ‘witches’.  Thanks to the modern day fraudsters, the Pentecostal pastors.

The advent of Pentecostalism, and the healing Christian, churches have contributed in no small measure in reinforcing the belief. They accepted the existence of witches and witchcraft and claimed they have the power to protect against its evil powers. All manner of social, health and economic problems are readily carpeted as having ‘spiritual’ dimension blamable on ‘witches’, who are usually aged women and unwitting teenagers. To market their churches, most of these pastors have now resorted to demonizing  innocent children, as witches that must be ‘delivered’ and ‘saved’ from the power of darkness. This uncritical scapegoating is gaining momentum more than ever before because of the seemingly irredeemable economic condition of living of sub-Saharan Africans. The many frustrated sub-Saharan African people are brainwashed to believe that their major enemies are not corrupt government officials, inhuman government policies nor their, personal, inability to cultivate and explore the best of their potentials in the ‘here and now’ world. Rather they have been sweet-tongued into believing that it is the ‘witches’ in their families and their homes that have been working against their fortune spiritually. Based on the ‘prophesies’, the unfortunate scapegoats, those accused of being witches, are given two options: either to confess to their ‘countless heinous sins’ and be saved/delivered after severe beatings or risk being killed, which in most cases mean being stoned to death.

In the Akwa-Ibom situation, confession is often preferred. Why? The ‘Prophets’ and ‘Bishops’ of God must eat! All you need to imagine is a steady ten thousand naira, N10,000, minimum income, almost every other day for tagging an unfortunate child a witch. Let’s not forget that some pastors like Bishop Sunday Ulup-Aya charge as much as between N30,000, thirty thousand, and N400,000, four hundred thousand, naira for their services. But how, for instance, can one be sure that these children are witches, as these prophets claim, and not mere victims of the poverty ravaging the material and psychological fabric of their families and that of the prophets?

To answer this question, we took a field trip to the affected towns and villages early last month. The product of the ‘expedition’ as friends have retorted to calling it, is revealing. Our very first respondent in Eket, Mr. Edet claimed to have participated in “dealing with not less than 7 ‘confirmed’ child witches”, one of which was burnt by the mob beyond recognition.

“Who confirmed them as witches?” we inquired.
“Our pastor is a man of God and when he prayed, the Holy Spirit arrested the children”.
“Is it the holy spirit that pushed them to the front of the congregation to confess?”
“Sometimes, they cried of fire burning all over their bodies and sometimes, to be sincere, the look on the faces of members of the congregation is enough to push them to the front”

We then asked the question that pissed him really, really off:
“Don’t you think these allegations are fictitious and merely being fabricated by pastors to make some money and lure people to come to church for protection?”
Silently, I wished we never asked the question.

“You are possessed! Are you saying my pastor is a liar? Who you be sef? (meaning who are you?).I see that the devil is really disturbing you like that stupid Sam Ikpe (referring to the Director of CRARN, Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network, where some of the alleged child witches live). Now get off my bike!!”

With that last sentence, I need not tell you his profession. Well, Mr. Edet is a professional motorbike transport operator; he takes people from one location to another on his bike for a fee. He is married with four children and lives in a two-room apartment, shared toilet, shared kitchen. His average income is a bit over $5 per day, but about $4 sometimes. After Edet, we had some other interviews at the bar, at the market (buying what we don’t really need sometimes only to give them to other respondents), at a popular burukutu (local beer) joint, in canteens and church environs.

What is glaring from all the responses to our questions is that there seems to be element of aggression and frustration, which is being vented on these innocent children. The belief in witchcraft has stunted the growth of unchained creativity and made many Akwa-Ibomites to recoil unnecessarily to fate, visiting only pastors, Alfas (the Muslim witchdoctors) and the the traditional witchdoctors to ward off and cleanse themselves of the ‘curses or family jinx’ trailing them. Lean income, rather than been spent wisely are given to these modern day ‘fraudsters’ who ride in big cars for the spiritual ‘protections services’ they provided. In some cases, micro-finance loans, and financial compensations provided by the oil companies like Mobil Oil Unlimited,  have been used in funding ‘witchcraft cleansing rituals’ rather than the small scale business that it was disbursed for. Some even ‘swore by the their fathers, grandfathers and great, great grandfathers’ that they will kill any child witch found in their families. Pathetic, enh?

So, what is the fate of these children? We sought audience with handful of local officials in charge of child welfare in Eket, Esit Eket and Ibeno local government areas and the youth council officials in Eket Zone. Specifically, we met the General Secretary of the Eket Youth Council, who also doubles as the Chairman of the Ibeno Youth Council, Mr. Ebong Edem and some of his executive members.

The local social workers opined that although they are convinced that these children are witches, yet as their duties demands, they are willing to help them, most especially in providing psychological counseling and rehabilitation, mostly biblically colored, for them. It was as if they have all rehearsed the same statement for ‘journalists’ (what we claimed to be). What is baffling is: how can a child, someone less than ten years old, think of seking ‘psychological counseling’? That to us is complete bullshit!! Why not offer the counseling to their parents and friends, we thought. Those are the people that need counseling. The representatives of the youths that we spoke with exhume hope and skepticism yet they can’t voice them. One sure fact, however, is that they are willing to do something about it.

That is exactly the kind of spirit that we need in our attempt to clear the slur on our image and stall the attempt to regress us back into the European middle ages. The people, as we observe, need to be enlightened on the provisions of the Child Rights Act, although ignorance of the law is not an excuse. The Akwa-Ibom State Ministry of Information needs to run campaigns that will inform and educate Akwa-Ibomites on the provisions of the Child Rights Act, passed by the Akwa Ibom state House of Assembly and signed by Governor Akpabio, which criminalise childwitch hunting and stigmatizing. The provision that deals with this reads: anyone caught or suspected to be involved in any form of torture, trial by ordeal or inhuman treatment of a child, purportedly to cure, purge or exorcise such a child of witchcraft would be liable to 10 years imprisonment without an option of fine. This to us is a precious and timely addition to subsisting Section 207 of the nation’s Criminal Code Act Cap 38(2004)  which criminalize any trial by ordeal and Section 208 which stipulates that any person who directs, controls or presides at any trial by ordeal which is unlawful, “is guilty of a felony” and is liable on conviction to severe punishment.

Obviously, these children are mere victims of poverty ravaging the country and the inactivity of the state ministry concerned in dutifully informing the populace even when a very proactive measure have been taken by the Governor. We are, therefore, duty-bound as responsible global citizens to, by all moral means, assist in freeing these children from the shackles and bondages of poverty and ignorance they have been conditioned to live. We can do it!

Onward!

‘Yemi Ademowo Johnson, socio-political philosopher and applied anthropologist, is Editor, YouthSpeak!, Belgium, and International Coordinator, HAWK-Africa Project.

Yemi Ademowo Johnson
http://www.articlesbase.com/causes-and-organizations-articles/when-children-become-victims-of-poverty-and-ignorance-756041.html

Government Grants for Alternative Energy

In his State of the Union Address for 2007, President George W. Bush called for a 22% increase in federal grants for research and development of alternative energy. However, in a speech he gave soon after, he said to those assembled, I recognize that there has been some interesting mixed signals when it comes to funding.

Where the mixed signals were coming from concerned the fact that at the same time the President was calling on more government backing for research and development, the NREL, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory of Golden, Colardo was laying off workers and contractors left and right.

Apparently, the Laboratory got the hint, because soon after the State of the Union Address, everyone was re-hired. The second speech of the President’s was actually given at the NREL. There is almost unanimous public support for the federal backing through research grants, tax breaks, and other financial incentives of research and development of alternative energy sources.

The NREL is the nation’s leading component of the National Bioenergy Center, a virtual center that has no central bricks and mortar office. The NREL’s raison d’etre is the advancing of the US Department of Energy’s and the United States’ alternative energy objectives.

The laboratory’s field researchers and staff scientists, in the words of Laboratory Director Dan Arvizu, support critical market objectives to accelerate research from scientific innovations to market-viable solutions. At the core of this strategic direction are NREL’s research and technology development areas.

These areas span from understanding renewable resources for energy, to the conversion of these resources to renewable electricity and fuels, and ultimately to the use of renewable electricity and fuels in homes, commercial buildings, and vehicles. The federally-backed Laboratory directly helps along the United States’ objectives for discovering renewable alternative fuels for powering our economy and our lifestyles.

The NREL is set up to have several areas of expertise in energy research and development. It spearheads research and development efforts into renewable sources of electricity; these would include such things as solar power, wind power, biomass power, and geothermal power.

It also spearheads research and development of renewable fuels for powering our vehicles such as biomass and biodiesel fuels and hydrogen fuel cells. Then, it seeks to develop plans for integrated system enginnering; this includes bringing alternative energy into play within buildings, electrical grids and delivery systems, and transportation infrastructures.

The Laboratory is also set up for strategic development and analysis of alternative energy objectives through the forces of economics, market analysis and planning, and alternative energy investment portfolios structurings.

The NREL is additionally equipped with a Technology Transfer Office. This Office supports laboratory scientists and engineers in the practical application of and ability to make a living from their expertise and the technologies they develop.

NREL’s research and development staff and its facilities are recognized for their remarkable prowess by private industry, which is reflected in the hundreds of collaborative projects and licensed technologies that the Laboratory now has with both public and private partners.

Warren Peters
http://www.articlesbase.com/environment-articles/government-grants-for-alternative-energy-128045.html

Cma-cgm: Jacques Saade’s Involvement in “damietta Gate”

Free translation of the article published in the egyptian daily « Massaeyat » of October 17th 2006

Jacques Saade’s involvement in “Damietta Gate”

New developments in the case of the Damietta company next November

The General Prosecutor launches new investigations in relation to public funds and other irregularities perpetrated after the arrest of Ali Massaad

The appearance of the accused and the lifting of the sequestrations are the main issues of this case

This case locally known as the “great corruption case of the Damietta Containers” and internationally named the “Damietta Gate” has shaken the Egyptian, Arab and international public opinion.

From the first audience, three of the six accused confessed, the third, the fifth and the sixth and acknowledged having been involved in the briberies paid to Ali Massaad, whereas the latter denied at the beginning the whole matter.

The six accused, Ali Massaad, chairman of the board of directors of the Damietta Container Company, Jihad Anis Dagher, employee of Leader Company, Nabil Elie Bassil, CMA-CGM regional Finance and administrative director, Mostapha Mohamad Khalil Abdel Monhem, Director of the Damietta subsidiary, Jamal Abdel Razek Abdel Sadek and Ahmad Mahmoud Ahmad Yacoub have been referred to the Penal Court by the General Prosecutor (financial section), and the second hearing is set for November 9th for a contradictory debate and confrontation with the prosecution’s witnesses who will appear before the court for corruption and misappropriation of public funds.

The most surprising aspect of this case it seems is that Ali Massaad’s successor as head of the Damietta Container Company is following the same methods as his predecessor, a matter which compelled the General Prosecutor to launch a second investigation pertaining to the period following Ali Massaad’s management of the company. This investigation has been postponed following the juridical holidays and the promotion of prosecutor Wadih Hanna Nached.

Ali Massaad, known as the “Bey”, is now in prison.

This case is about corruption, account manipulations, financial fraud and a plot between the Damietta Container Company and French company CMA-CGM presided by Lebanese national Jacques Saade whose corporate headquarters are in Marseille. The file that is being dealt with by the Court of State Financial Security in Egypt pertains to the misappropriation of funds that could reach up to 20 million dollars.

The main accused is being held in temporary custody while awaiting the outcome of this case.

This case is of major interest in its Egyptian, Lebanese and French ramifications.

The Egyptian media has released important pieces of information revealing that this is not an isolated corruption matter in the shipping sector in Egypt. The former General Prosecutor Maher Abdel Wahed has already ordered the chairman of the board of directors of the Damietta Container Company, Ali Massaad, to be placed in custody and his personal assets seized until the end of the investigation; the latter decision has been notified to the Central Bank of Egypt, the Finance Directorate and the land registry.

The General Prosecutor opened an investigation following a declaration presented by the president of the Central Accounting Agency regarding the statements of accounts pertaining to the company owned by the holding company for land and shipping transport presided by the General Mohammad Youssof already indicted in the case of the seizure of the “Salem 2” vessel in the port of Alexandria. The president of the Court of Appeal of the district of South Cairo, Adel Joumaa had set the next hearing to last May 29th in order to take a decision as to the verdict of the General Prosecutor.

The investigations have revealed a plot between engineer Ali Massaad and the managers of the foreign shipping company regarding the signature of an agreement according to which the foreigh company could benefit from exceptional rebates to the detriment of the Damietta Public Company that could reach up to 5,5 million dollars.

This scandal is worrying Egyptian public opinion as well as the political scene, as it happens to occur after other scandals such as the one related to the Directorate of Transport, the Bank of Cairo and the robbery of steal and other metals.

The investigations have proven the existence of a plot between the first accused Ali Massaad Saad and the President of the foreign shipping company, which resulted in the disappearance of 6 million dollars from the Egyptian treasury. It has been established, following the house search, that the accused regularly received briberies from France.

In a surprising rebounce, the investigation revealed that the managers of the international shipping company based in Marseille (France) reimbursed the amount of 3,1 million dollars by bankers cheque to the Damietta Company following a compromise aimed at smothering the case, after that the General Prosecutor started a legal action against this company and seized the assets of Ali Massaad. This payment did not put an end to the legal actions but led to the discovery of another aspect of this case namely the direct involvement of the French company in corrupting Egyptian officials.

Despite CMA-CGM’s denial of any involvement in this corruption case declaring that an internal investigation is underway in coordination with the Egyptian authorities, the Sunday Express newspaper revealed that CMA-CGM presided by Jacques Saade, paid 10,000 dollars per month to Massaad, and has reimbursed as reparation 3.1 million dollars to the Egyptian port of Damietta.

In a statement made by Jacques Saade to the same newspaper, he mentioned that these people were paid by the CMA’s Egyptian subsidiary, that no transfers were made by the French head office and that his company was investigating in coordination with the Egyptian authorities. Various managers were heard including the accountancy manager.

According to the Sunday Express, this is an extremely serious situation and other countries, including the United States, are being worried. It seems that political pressures have been exerted in order to prevent CMA-CGM from acquiring from the English company P&O its shares in the American port of Dubai for security reasons. The American authorities are undertaking an investigation regarding this matter.

Other pieces of information collected in parallel to the secret investigation indicated that many points in this case were still not clear. The most important element that has been discovered until now is the false contract -which is the main aspect of the investigation- signed by Farid Salem, CMA-CGM general manager and brother-in-law of Jacques Saade.

It has been revealed that Abdel Razek is the financial manager of CMA-CGM in Egypt, presided by Jacques Saade, as indicated by the social security registers.

All the evidence indicates that the financial offenses have been perpetrated by the chairman of the Damietta Company, in addition to the irregularities within the contract signed with the shipping line in Marseille.

In an Al-Ahram article of May 26th 2006, it seems, according to the investigations undertaken by the financial control services [official body], the principal accused perceived important amounts on a regular basis in exchange for those irregularities. The former General Prosecutor Wadih Hanna Nached issued search-warrants in the offices of the said shipping company (CMA-CGM) in Alexandria, which resulted in the seizure of numerous pieces of evidence confirming the transfer of important amounts from the accounts of the latter company in favor of the accused.

According to the “magazine Rose El Youssof” that published the result of a long investigation on the subject, the chairman of the Damietta Company is the owner of two palaces in the city of Damietta on the river Nile as well as a dozen estates and three villas in the touristic village of Yasmina in Port Said, in addition to five hectares of agricultural land in the latter city, 20 million Egyptian pounds deposited in bank accounts in his name, his wife’s and children’s and a number of bank accounts abroad which inventory is not yet known.

It was mentioned in the article that Ali Massaad had a nickname, “the Bey”, to the order of whom checks were drawn up.

The investigations revealed that the number of containers CMA-CGM sent in transit through the port of Damietta, did not exceed 70,000 teus for the last 12 months allowing the French company to benefit from rebates of the amount of 5,5 million dollars. This led them to illegally modify the contract with the Damietta Company by paying briberies in addition to the monthly remuneration of Ali Massaad.

Rose El Youssof added that Ali Massaad pretended that he made his fortune in Saudi Arabia, where he worked for 12 years, and in Bahrein, where he worked 5 years; but was not able to keep the evidence that would clear him.

A surprising aspect is that he appeared before the court, which ordered the seizure of his assets and his wife’s, wearing bad quality clothes, in an attempt to conceal his wealth. The most astonishing is that the law firm handling his defense is one of the major firms specialized in shipping matters in Egypt.

The investigation is moving forward with the hope to shed light on other thorny aspects of this case. There is a strong probability that the General Prosecutor would prosecute Jacques Saade, chairman of CMA-CGM; one more element that adds up to the conflict as to the ownership of this company and increases the legal stranglehold around Jacques Saade.

Damietta “Gate” to date is the last link in a series of legal proceedings facing Jacques Saade.

If this case is taking an official aspect in Egypt given that it involves a number of irregularities, corruptions and misappropriation of public funds, other legal proceedings have been launched in many countries in which the conflict between the brothers Jacques and Johnny Saade is raging around the ownership of CMA-CGM, the first shipping company in France and the third worldwide.

Six years after the signature of a contract on September 16th 2006 between the two parties aimed at ending the conflict but which deprived Johnny Saade of his legitimate rights due to a deceitful set-up, new facts could reveal unexpected developments in the coming months very probably in favor of the latter.

The internet site www.mistralholding.com owned by Johnny Saade’s company Mistral Holding s.a.l., contains a huge amount of documents, compromising reports and legal evidence, that explains in detail the conflict between the two brothers which is being reported at the top of the news in the Lebanese, arab and international press. Among these documents a report issued by the financial expert Antoine Gaudino explaining the circumstances that led to the said conflict.

One can read in the report that the conflict between the two Saade brothers as the major shareholders of the CMA-CGM Group is mentioned by the media as a family feud due to Jacques Saade’s statements, but Johnny, who owns 48.44% of CMA’s shares accuses his brother of hiding information in general and more specifically regarding transactions initiated by Jacques Saade in France and elsewhere.

The conflict actually starts by the lack of transparency during the acquisition of CGM by CMA, and Jacques Saade’s attempt at controlling the group for his sole personal benefit.

The preliminary investigations undertaken by Gaudino on August 29th 1997 at the request of Mistral holding, revealed that the management system established by Jacques Saade on behalf of CMA made Johnny Saade fearful, as major shareholder, of the company’s future.

With further investigations, various fiscal irregularities and others have been discovered, and are part of the conflict between the brothers.

The main historical stages of this conflict are the following:

The Limited company CMA (Compagnie Maritime d’Affretement) was created by brothers Johnny and Jacques Saade on September 8th 1986 and registered at the RCS of Marseille on April 8th 1987 under number 340 353 911.

The initial capital was FFr.250,000. It was to be increased following various share capital increases in 1986, 1987 and 1993 as well as on May 26th 1994 further to an extraordinary general assembly to reach FFr. 60,000,000 divided in 600,000 shares with a nominal value of FFr.100.

At the latter date and according to the shareholders’ registry, the shares were distributed between three Lebanese companies: Merit s.a.l., owned by Jacques Saade, 48.41%; Mistral Holding s.a.l., owned by Johnny Saade, 48.41%.

The six shares attributed to the “Jacques Saade Family” are held by Mr. Jacques Saade, his spouse Mrs Nayla Salem, his daughter Tania, his son Rodolphe, his brother-in-law Mr. Farid Salem and Mr.Tristan Vieljeux.

The three Lebanese companies are all registered at the Beirut registrar of Companies and domiciled in the same city and the same address.The company Rodolphe Saade & Co is owned by Jacques Saade and Johnny Saade, 50% of the shares each, respectively through Merit s.a.l. and Mistral Holding s.a.l.

CGM s.a. (Compagnie Generale maritime), with a capital of FFr. 1,275,948,600 and registered at the RCS of Nanterre under number 562 024 422, has been transferred by the French government to the private sector by ministerial decision on October 21st 1996.

The capital of CGM is distributed as follows: 90% of the shares came to be held by CMA, 6% personally by Jacques Saade and 4% between three other shareholders.

CMA got 96% of the CGM shares whereas the 4% remaining were held by three other shareholders; and Jacques Saade’s stake reached 51% whereas Johnny’s, through Mistral holding, did not reach 49.9%.

The first findings revealed a certain number of irregularities, the most important of which related to general assembly meetings.

An extraordinary general assembly was held at CMA head offices on December 12th 1996 without letting Mistral Holding s.a.l. have the opportunity to participate. This assembly was aimed at granting the board of directors the right to increase the share capital, in one or many times. This authorization to the board of directors was valid for a period of five years and aimed at increasing CMA’s capital from FFr. 60,000,000 to a maximum of FFr. 135,000,000.

The report added that until December 12th 1996 CMA’s management has always convened Mistral holding s.a.l. by rapid courier (DHL) and simultaneously by fax, given postage delays to Lebanon. In an unusual manner, the convening to the extraordinary general assembly meeting of December 12th 1996 was sent to Mistral Holding s.a.l. on November 26th 1996 by recommended letter with acknowledgement of receipt.

Everything was done in order to prevent Johnny Saade to be informed in due time and therefore to participate to the main decisions to be taken including the share capital increase.

It is within the above-mentionned context that Johnny Saade seized the Tribunal of Commerce of Marseille who designated on December 23rd 1996 a judicial “huissier’ in order to get the documents pertaining to general assemblies and board of directors held by CMA.

Following this judicial decision, Mr Johnny Saade was able to raise various irregularities. Four Board of Directors meetings were held on June 7th, September 20th and November 14th & 15th 1996 without Mistral Holding s.a.l. being ever convened whereas the minutes of meetings stipulated that Mistral Holding s.a.l. was “absent and excused”.

A general assembly was held on March 27th 1997 in cancellation of the share capital increase decided by the general assembly of December 12th 1996.

This did not however erase the irregularities due to the share transfers and the acquired majority to the benefit of Jacques Saade which jumped from 48,41% to 50,001%.

Irregularities were noticed regarding the presentation of balance sheets. It appears from CMA’s balance sheets in the offer for the acquisition of the CGM of October 3rd 1996, that CMA was in good financial health, that it increased its shareholders’ equity funds, reaching FFr. 700 million and the CGM acquisition project would allow the financial rehabilitation of the latter no later than 1999.

The findings made on certain accounting entries called in question the validity of the level of CMA’s shareholders’ equity which were lower than the reality. These shareholders’ equity funds were much lower than the FFr. 200 millions and CGM’s takeover was a juicy business deal that Jacques Saade wanted to keep for himself to the detriment of his brother Johnny.

This report mentioned, backed by the necessary documents and figures, that the filed balance sheets were false and did not reflect the truth about CMA’s accounts, a matter that was to jeopardize the future of the company and the interests of Johnny Saade, its main shareholder.

This report mentionned that Jacques Saade made his brother Johnny become a minority shareholder through successive steps and by premeditation in order to prepare the acquisition of CGM to his sole personal benefit; the report also summarized the various attempts of Jacques Saade to escape legal proceedings which were accumulating every day.

Of importance in this conflict is the re-opening of a financial investigation by the Paris Tribunal regarding the accounting irregularities and fiscal fraud perpetrated by Jacques Saade in managing CMA-CGM.

Other information indicate that Egyptian courts of law are entangled in an important corruption file involving the Port of Damietta since the 90s and are attempting to determine the scale of corruption involving the representatives of the French shipping line on behalf of their managers in France. While awaiting new developments, the director of the Port of Damietta has in the meantime been arrested.

On another level and following the penal lawsuit filed by Mistral Holding, Paris Tribunals (France) have launched legal investigation regarding the CMA-CGM balances sheets that are allegedly false. The investigation has been entrusted to two prominent magistrates in France. The aim of this investigation is to shed light on the possible fiscal fraud and concealment of the real profits, a matter that goes back to the signature of the contract that has put an end to the conflict between brothers Jacques and Johnny Saade.

Finally, we can add to this multi-faceted judicial file that is surrounding Jacques Saade, a matter that is worrying investigators near the General Prosecutor of Lattakia in Syria. It involves the falsification of official documents, the use of false documents and usurpation of legal capacity, involving Choucri el Khoury that seems to have acted on behalf of Jacques Saade.

andrew barns
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/cmacgm-jacques-saades-involvement-in-damietta-gate-80435.html

Cma-cgm Case : the Series of Lawsuits Continues in Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, France, England and the United States

Damietta company case : The series of lawsuits continues in Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, France, England and the United States

Free translation of the article of the syrian weekly « Al Boursat wal Aswak » of 1 8 October regarding the CMA-CGM case

The series of lawsuits continues in Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, France, England and the United States .
Jacques Saadé besieged by the judiciary.
Every day reveals a new case on the arab and International level in the long story of Syrian national Jacques Saade, chairman of the board of directors of the French company CMA-CGM.

The lawsuit of his brother Johnny R.Saade is still under deliberation near the tribunal of cassation regarding the production near a notary public by Jacques Saade and Lebanese lawyer Choucri El Khoury of a false power of attorney related to the partition of his sole benefit and to the detriment of his brother, of a building situated in Lattakia.
This partition was forbidden by the magistrates.
This case became penal near the Investigating Judge in Lattakia and the General Prosecutor issued an accusation against Jacques Saade and Choucri El Khoury for forgery offence and the use of official documents. The case is under course near the Higher Council of the court of cassation.

A far as Egypt is concerned, the Egyptian and Lebanese press as well as some television networks have reported that a major contract forgery case has broken out between the French company CMA-CGM signed by Farid Salem, a close colleague of Jacques Saade, and the Damiette Container Company, a public-sector corporation, to the benefit of Jacques Saade and Farid Salem who profited from important amounts to the detriment of the Egyptian treasury; in addition ot their committing briberies.
Whereas CMA-CGM was forced to return to the Egyptian state the sum of 3 million Egyptian pounds in exchange for allowing Jacques Saade and Farid Salem from leaving the Egyptian territory and lifting of a seizure decision against their assets wherever they may be.

The payment of this amount falls within a compromise aimed at removing the legal proceedings initiated by the General Prosecutor against them and focus the responsibility solely on VMA-CGM employees, who are not the personal beneficiaries of this corruption case.

However the company Mistral (Holding) s.a.l., CMA-CGM shareholder, has recourse to the Egyptian judiciary as a civil party with the aim of denouncing the people involved in this corruption case and benefiting from Egyptian public funds. It is to be noted that such crimes are subject to the imprisonment and penal servitude for life.

This case had consequences outside Egypt. The ministries of Justice and foreign affairs of the United States and Great Britain undertook investigations suspecting that this case went beyond corruption and the diversion of public funds. The arab and foreign press reported those facts, among which: The Sunday Express, Lloyds, the Wafd (Egyptian), AL Akhbar (Egyptian), Al Joumhouryah (Egyptian), Al Ihtidal (Syrian), Al Kifah al Arabi (Lebanes), Al Balad (Lebanese) as well as others…

Jacques Saade was deeply surprised of Mistral holding’s intervention at the court session of the penal tribunal on September 3rd 2006 which was adjourned to November 11th 2006 while at the same time keeping in custody the director of the Damiette company, engineer Ali Massaad and maintaining the warrant for the arrest against the regional manager of CMA-CGM, Nabil Bassil, fugitive, who is suspected of hiding in Jacques Saade’s offices in Beirut. Despite Jacques Saade’s attempts at denying any involvement following the clear confessions of the accused.

It is to be noted that the Egyptian judiciary, the General Prosecutor for financial matters is waiting for the return of Jacques Saade in order to arrest him.

It is expected that further developments will occur in the coming days especially that other similar corruption cases have been dealt with near the public funds general prosecutor in Egypt, establishing a new corruption case involving the Syrian national Jacques Saade acting on behalf of the French company CMA-CGM in Egyptian ports.
A number of lawyers of Jacques Saade are repeatedly coming to Egypt in order to find an unofficial compromise and put pressure on the Egyptian press in order for it to quiet down, and lead to a discreet closing of the file.

The Alam al Mashaeer newspaper (Egyptian), close to the investigation, reported that it was unlikely that Jacques Saade could be innocent of the crime of corruption given that the amount of the bribes is substantial and could not be undertaken by simple employees, especially that Jacques Saade personally benefited from this deal. It is his close relative Farid Salem who signed,on behalf of CMA-VGM, the false contract with the Damiette company.

As far as France is concerned, it is interesting to note that lawsuits are starting to encircle Jacques Saade as is reported by the French press. A new investigation has been initiated by the General Prosecutor in France and two investigative judges have been designed I the matter following a penal petition filed by Mistral against Jacques Saade for producing false accounts and under-estimated account projections in collusion with the company’s auditors.

The above fits with the illegal transfers to the benefit of the personal accounts of Jacques Saade through his range of personal companies such as CMA International and Container Management advisors, which have been under liquidation with the aim of concealing those offences; however legal proceedings have put a halt to the liquidation process of those companies.

Le Journal du Dimanche and La Lettre du Sud have written in this respect and added that legal proceedings against Jacques Saade are intensifying every day and the noose is tightening around him.

Businessurgent
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/cmacgm-case-the-series-of-lawsuits-continues-in-syria-lebanon-egypt-france-england-and-the-united-states-75432.html

We Can Begin the World Again

Jerusalem-On June 26, 2006 this reporter attended a world wide satellite linked Interfaith Peace Conference at Jerusalem’s Notre Dame Cathedral. Dan Rather moderated from Washington DC and the Holy Land interfaith panel were all moderates attempting to reclaim the battlefield of ideas from extremists on both sides.

Rev. Theodore Hessburgh, President Emeritus University of Notre Dame began the evening with a pledge and a summons: “The Peace of the world begins in Jerusalem.”

Dr. Tsvia Walden, Board of Director of the Peres Center and Geneva Initiative stated, “There is a need for a third party in the negotiations that could enable both sides to trust each other. There are more people in this region interested in making concessions, they all want peace so desperately.”

The Coordinator of World Bank emergency services to the Palastinian Authority, Rania Kharma commented, “We all need to be the bridges to our leaders that justice, equality, and human rights will bring peace. Give people justice and they will reward you with peace.”

Sheik Imad Falouiji warned, “Religions must go back to their origins. God commands us to love each other and live together. This Holy Land was given to all people. This land is on fire. There is an occupation that musty be removed. The language of peace cannot succeed without justice for all.”

President Bush in his second inaugural address promised, “In the long run, there is no justice without freedom, and there can be no human rights without liberty…. All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know the United States will not ignore your oppression or excuse your oppressors. When you stand or liberty we will stand with you.”

The Rt. Rev. Bishop Riah Abu Assal affirmed, “Peace is an act. Blessed are the peacemakers not the peace talkers. Peace is possible in the Holy Land. The root cause for the lack of peace since 1967 is the occupation. For peace to make progress in the Middle East we need to deal with the root cause…Religion was not meant to bring death. All those involved in searching for peace should commit themselves to work for justice and truth.”

On November 1, 2006, Jeff Halper, American Israeli, Founder and Coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions/ICAHD and a 2006 Noble Peace Prize nominee informed this reporter:

“It has been said that the Israeli’s do not love this land, they just want to possess it. There have been three stages to make this occupation permanent. The first was to establish the facts on the ground; the settlements. There are a quater of a million Israeli’s and four million Palestinians here. They have been forced into bantusan; trunkated mini states; prison states. It is apartheid and Bush and Hillary are both willing collaborators. In 1977, Sharon came in with a mandate, money and resources to make the Israeli presence in the West Bank irreversible. The second stage began in April 2004 when America approved the Apartheid/Convergence/Realignment Plan and eight settlement blocs. This is just like South Africa!

“The Bush Sharon letter exchange guaranteed that the USA considers the settlements non-negotiable. The Convergence Plan and The Wall create the borders and that is what defines bantusans. Congress ratified the Bush plan and only Senator Byrd of West Virginia voted no and nine House Representatives.”

With the turnover in Congress the words of Tom Paine come to mind, for in solidarity “we have it in our power to begin the world again.”

The gospel of Jesus Christ can become relevant in the 21st century if all who claim to be Christian’s follow his philosophy. Thomas Jefferson weeded out the miracle stories from the gospels and clarified the teachings of Christ in “The Jefferson Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth” which clarify what Christ was really all about:

To be just and justice comes from virtue which comes from the heart. To treat people the way we want to be treated. To always work for PEACEFUL resolutions, even to the point of returning violence with COMPASSION. To not judge others and bear no grudges, and those who think they know the most are the most ignorant.

“Soon after I had published the pamphlet “Common Sense” [on Feb. 14, 1776] in America, I saw the exceeding probability that a revolution in the system of government would be followed by a revolution in the system of religion. The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.”-Tom Paine

Christ’s other name is “The Prince of Peace” and he walked and preached the good news that God is within all people. To truly follow Christ means one will rise up, [in Arabic the word is "intifada"] for the oppressed, the outcast, the widow, the orphan, the poor, the prisoner and refugees. Christ taught that we are to pursue justice, and justice is the only way to security and peace.

The Christian population of the Holy Land has decreased from 20% of the total population to less than 1.3% since 1948. 90% of Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land never even meet any Palestinian Christians; thus they are known as The Forgotten Faithful.

Prior to 1948, 70% of West Jerusalem was Palestinian. From ’48 to ’67, Jerusalem was divided into Israeli West Jerusalem and Palestinian East under Jordan’s control. When Israel captured and occupied the West Bank in 1967, the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem were also redefined. Israel annexed the greater Jerusalem area but did not ‘adopt’ the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem as Israeli citizens.

Today, Palestinians living in Jerusalem are classified differently from those in the West Bank. They are called permanent residents, they can vote in local elections but not in Israeli national elections. Most do not bother to vote as a statement against the occupation.

Today, West Jerusalem in nearly 100% Jewish. The Palestinians in East Jerusalem pay the same taxes as those on the West side, but receive only 8% of the total municipal budget. Orthodox Jews pay no taxes. Palestinians make up 1/3 of the total Jerusalem population, but pay over 40% of the taxes. One is immediately aware when one walks from the East to the West that one is truly in two different worlds. On the West side of town there are many parks, the roads and streets are well maintained and sanitation pick up is predictable. Twenty-six of the thirty-one City Council members of Jerusalem are Orthodox Jews. The East side of Jerusalem resembles the lower east side of New York.

While the Israeli government considers Jerusalem the capitol of Israel no foreign country does. There are no international embassies in Jerusalem, except for a fundamentalist International Christian Zionist one.

The Wall that was begun after the Second Intifada/Rise Up, has expanded the municipal boundaries established in 1967 and the Israeli settlements/colonies are growing unabated.

According to International Law all the settlements are illegal and the world is silent. In the 1930′s Ben Gurion said that the settlements will define the boundaries of Israel.

In 1973, Ariel Sharon told Winston Churchill III, “We’ll make a pastrami sandwich of them. We’ll insert a strip of Jewish settlement, in between the Palestinians, then another strip of Jewish settlement, right across the West Bank, so that in 25 years time, neither the United Nations, nor the United States, nobody, will be able to tear it apart.”

But all things are possible and miracles do occur.

God has always spoken through Jewish prophets and Jeff Halper is one. On November 1, 2006 he informed this reporter, “Israel has set up a matrix of control; a thick web of settlements guaranteed to make the occupation permanent by establishing facts on the ground. Israel denies there is an occupation, so everything is reduced to terrorism. It is our job to insist upon the human rights issue, for occupied people have International Law on their side.”

While International Law guarantees the rights of the occupied to rise up with violence against their occupiers. But, prophetic organizations such as ICAHD, Anarchist’s Against the Wall, International Solidarity Movement and Sabeel all promote Creative Nonviolence.

Jeff stated, “When Jerusalem was controlled by Jordan, the East side was 6 sq. km. Since 1967, Israel has added 64 km. The West side was 38 sq. km until ’67 and is now 108 sq. km’s. Israel plans to develop 17 settlements. Israeli policy is to maintain a 72% Jewish and 28% Arab population. Palestinians cannot get building permits to build upon their legally owned land. The Arab land has been re-zoned as green space, and the green space will be re-zoned for the settlements.

“Every single Palestinian home in Jerusalem has a demolition order. The entire West Bank has been zoned as agricultural land by Israel, and that will also be re-zoned again for more settlements.

“It has been said that the Israeli’s do not love this land, they just want to possess it. There have been three stages to make this occupation permanent. The first was to establish the facts on the ground; the settlements. There are a quater of a million Israeli’s and four million Palestinians here. They have been forced into bantusans; trunkated mini states; prison states. It is apartheid and Bush and Hillary are both willing collaborators. In 1977, Sharon came in with a mandate, money and resources to make the Israeli presence in the West Bank irreversible. The second stage began in April 2004 when America approved the Apartheid/Convergence/Realignment Plan and eight settlement blocs. This is just like South Africa! The Bush Sharon letter exchange guaranteed that the USA considers the settlements non-negotiable. The Convergence Plan and The Wall create the borders and that is what defines bantusans.Congress ratified the Bush plan and only Senator Byrd of West Virginia voted no and nine House Representatives.”

Orwellian doublespeak has also been employed in the USA to turn the illegal colonies into “neighborhoods”. A new highway has already begun to link all the settlements. The Eastern Ring Road will have bridges for Israelis but is just another wall against the Palestinians. The settlements-and all settlements are considered illegal under international law- will ring around the Old City of Jerusalem.

Jeff concluded with, “I don’t just have a political problem with this Judiaization of the Old City, it is ecologically and environmentally offensive.”

I add it also is spiritually impoverished. The raping and pillaging of what is claimed holy ground refutes and denies the biblical meaning of dominion. The ancients understood dominion meant to nurture, love and protect and the destruction of Palestinian homes, the stealing of their legal property, their water is an abomination.

On May 14, 1948 The Declaration of the establishment of Israel stated:

“One the day of the termination of the British mandate and on the strength of the United Nations General Assembly declare The State of Israel will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel: it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion it will guarantee freedom of religion [and] conscience and will be faithful to the Charter of the United Nations.”

“What does God require? He has already told you o’man! Be just, be merciful and humble.”-Micah 6:8

“The greatest menace to freedom is an inert people.”-Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis

The “fierce urgency of now”-Rev. MLK, Jr should compel we the people of the United States to rise up and demand Congress hold President Bush to the promise in his Second Inaugural Address:

“In the long run, there is no justice without FREEDOM. There can be no human rights without LIBERTY. All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know the United States will not ignore your oppression or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for liberty, we stand with you.”

The “war on terror” must be fought at the root and all roads lead to Jerusalem.

Eileen Fleming
http://www.articlesbase.com/religion-articles/we-can-begin-the-world-again-76476.html

Hezbollah Operating in Mexico and U.s

MICHAEL WEBSTER: INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER OCT 27, 2008 at 12:01 AM PDT

Mexican drug cartels, Hezbollah (Party of God) and other Islamic terrorist groups are joining forces in Mexico. Hezbollah is synonymous with terror, suicide bombings, kidnappings and beheadings. No wonder the criminal organizations in Mexico seem to have adopted many Middle Eastern terrorist tactics with kidnappings and beheadings happening throughout Mexico.

According to authorities global Islamic terrorist have moved into Mexico and other Latin American countries to open the door for Mexican cartels to have excess to Afghanistan cocaine at bargain basement prices, those profits from those sales are being passed on to Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations worldwide to attack the states from within. Hezbollah is known to be raising money for their cause in the U.S and some Americans say they have brought suite case dirty booms into the U.S. and are waiting for further instructions. Hezbollah is currently training Mexican drug cartel enforcement gang members. They are teaching them their gorilla terror tactic’s that they use in the Middle East. One high ranking Mexican Army officer who will at his request remain anonymous says Hezbollah is now believed to be training Mexican drug cartel enforcers the art of bomb making. It is now feared that there will soon be car and truck bombings of Mexican solders at the many road blocks that they have set up throughout Mexico, their barracks, police stations and even government buildings are at risk. The training is designed to combat the Mexican Army and police, American Special Forces and DEA agents now operating in Mexico.

According to Mexican officials Hezbollah is training the opposition to the Mexican Army and is starting to be seen throughout the country. There are new reports of late, of hit and run tactics against Mexican military set up road blocks where both attackers and Mexican solders have been killed.

Homeland Security has said that there are Hezbollah members operating in the U.S. and it is reasonable to believe they are in contact with other Hezbollah in Mexico and around the world. In addition to other terrorist attacks, Hezbollah has been tied to the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Beirut that left 241 U.S. personnel dead, and the 1996 Khobar Towers attack in Saudi Arabia that left 19 U.S. servicemen dead.

One U.S. law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, says there is considerable forensic evidence tying Hezbollah bomb experts to roadside explosions in Iraq.

Dennis Lormel, who founded the counterterrorist financing program at the FBI, says the United States has been a cash cow for Hezbollah.

“They raise funds through business fronts, through criminal activity, use of shell companies and through fundraising mechanisms,” he says.

Before September 11, 2001, Hezbollah was responsible for more American deaths than any other terrorist organization. Hassan Nasrallah, the group’s secretary-general, recently proclaimed, “Death to America was, is, and will stay our slogan.”

In spite of all that, the terror and violence in Mexico, Mexican officials are encouraging Americans to visit Mexico in a new tourist campaign. But with more than 1,200 people having been killed this year alone in Ciudad Juárez that is not happening. Juarez has a population of 1.5 million people many depending on American tourist dollars. But many El Pasons who live in El Paso a bordering city of about 350,000 say they are just to frighten to risk going into Mexico.

Mexico’s violence of terror along with the world banking and financial crises that are happening today are forcing drastic changes in the rate of tourism to Mexico, especially border regions from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean. Mexico has been heavily dependent on tourism and American investors and both are drying up. Oil and drugs are now Mexico’s official and respectively unofficial main stay for what economy they have.

From Brownsville Texas to San Diego California the drug-related dangers and violence is so staggering that the country has been declared off-limits to all U.S. Military. Residents on the American side of the border have told the Laguna Journal that they are afraid to cross over to visit family, shop or conduct business anywhere along the border.

Violent spillover from crime-ridden Mexican border cities are a growing concern for Americans. With cartel-related killings in Chihuahua alone now topping over 1200 for the year, officials in the states are increasingly concerned about “spillover” of crime from neighboring border cites. In El Paso, real effects are being felt at the city’s hospital, where officials report dozens of cases of individuals wounded over the border in the Mexican state of Chihuahua being treated at their facility.

Just last week the State of Morelos Deputy A.G. for Organized Crime Affairs and two escorts were killed by what appeared to be a well organized paramilitary unit in a car-to-car gunfire assault. The killers then fled in two military style vehicles.

Another significant issue is that now Mexico’s toll of deaths linked to organized crime has reached four thousand so far this year, a historic record. That is more violent related deaths than Iraq and Afghanistan combined.  Mexico is reported to be on track to near 5,000 before the end of 2008, another record. The last one thousand deaths have taken place in 48 days. The first one thousand deaths of the year took place in 114 days, the next one thousand in 72. But seventy days later, it reached 3 thousand.

Iran, Hezbollah’s longtime sponsor, and donations from the Lebanese Diaspora are two sources for a multimillion-dollar budget that pays for the militia’s armed and political wings and for social projects such as money, food and hospitals in Beirut. But investigations around the world have shown that Hezbollah also funds itself through drug dealing, arms trafficking, contraband smuggling and other rackets in the Americas, Africa Europe and elsewhere.

The L.A. Times is reporting U.S. and Colombian investigators have dismantled an international cocaine smuggling and money laundering ring in Bogota, Colombia and Madrid Spain, that allegedly used part of its profits to finance Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Shiite militia, officials said.

Hezbollah presence in Venezuela is also feared

A couple of armed men arrived at a funeral home in Juarez and opened fire on persons at a service for a man who himself had been the victim of a homicide. Three persons were wounded before the thugs left.

“Worse than Iraq: 38 executed”
During the last 24 hours 38 persons have died in different events caused by members of organized crime; the number has reached 4,052 in 2008 in this country (Mexico), surpassing by more than three times the number of dead in Iraq this year, where they total 1,167.
Just recently, ten gunmen lost their lives after a shootout with state agents in Nogales, Sonora. The police were attacked with fragmentation grenades; three police and three civilians were wounded.

The body of a gagged man was found in Cabo San Lucas a known and popular American tourist spot. His fingers had been chopped off. Eight persons have died in Baja California Norte in the last 24 hours, the product of a spiral of violence. (Note: the Baja California Peninsula is divided into two states with the same name; each is differentiated by “Norte” and “Sur”) In the morning the bodies of two men were found, both shot to death out of different events.

Just recently two Rosarito police officers were assassinated while on patrol. Twenty kilometers away three other persons were murdered. This is an area where Americans murdered bodies have been found. A related account in “El Universal” (Mexico City) states that violence in Rosarito has cost the lives of seven police and at least a dozen other persons in less than thirty days; it adds that there have been mass resignations of police there because of fear of being murdered. (Note: just some years back Rosarito Beach was a laid back American tourist attraction, peaceful ocean beach town not far from Tijuana and San Diego.

According to Mexico City daily newspaper Reforma’s running tally of cartel-related killings, or Ejecuciones, (executions/assassinations) Chihuahua’s weekly rate of killings remained higher than it was before over two thousand soldiers and federal police were deployed there in mid-March. Seven other crimes took place in Chihuahua; two men were found dead in Hermosillo, Sonora, two in Culiacan and some others in Guanajuato, Guerrero, the Distrito Federal and Taxco.

From Aug. 9 to Aug. 15, Chihuahua had an unprecedented 79 ejecuciones, including the gangland-style killing of 13 partygoers in the town of Creel in the Sierra Tarahumara Mountains, a key transit point for drugs en route to the U.S.-Mexico border. Among the dead were several teenagers, a university professor, and a 1-year-old baby.

The previous week, eight were shot and killed during a prayer session at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in Cuidad Juárez. These attacks challenge a common perception that Mexico’s escalating death toll is reducible to cartel members killing other cartel members, and have driven local and state officials to publicly question the efficacy of the current campaign against the cartels. In a televised address, Chihuahua Gov. José Reyes Baeza Terrazas said that the massacre in Creel among other similar, recent events throughout the state show that “the strategy and actions for guaranteeing the security of people in [Chihuahua] need to be radically modified.”

Research group Consulta Mitofsky’s annual survey Encuesta Nacional en Viviendas revealed strong public will for drastically strengthening enforcement measures to combat organized crime in the country.

Police say six people were lined up and gunned down outside a business in this violent border city Juarez. City police spokesman Alejandro Pariente says a written statement “for all rats” was found among the bodies and declared that the killings “will continue.”
Pariente says investigators found more than 100 bullet shells at the scene. He says no arrests have been made.

Again in Tijuana this past week, at least five people are dead following a clash between soldiers and gunmen protecting a safe house near a junior high school in a residential area of the city. Concern about recent violence led a medical group to urge a voluntary curfew Wednesday through the end of November, calling for residents to avoid going out after 9 p.m.

This is real terror and it’s happening right in our own front yard and is expected to escalate and U.S. law enforcement fear it’s just a matter of time and we’ll be dealing with it right here at home. There already have been reported suspected attacks by these Mexican terrorist in Phoenix Arizona, Las Vegas Nevada, Atlanta Georgia, Dallas Texas and Birmingham Alabama.

U.S. drug czar John Walters said Friday that Mexico’s drug cartels are crossing the border to kidnap and kill inside the United States.

Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, was in Mexico for two days to discuss efforts with local officials to stem killings, weapons trafficking and money laundering by Mexican cartels and their U.S. associates.

“Some of these groups not only engage in crime and violence not only in Mexico and along the border, but they come across and kidnap, murder and carry out assassinations,” Walters told reporters. “These groups do not respect the border.”

Walters praised Mexican President Felipe Calderón for mounting a police and army offensive against the cartels, which he called “terrorist criminals.”

 For related articles visit www.lagunajournal.com

 Sources:

Justice in Mexico Project of the Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego.

El Universal Mexican Newspaper

The National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO)

San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE

L.A. Times

SignOnSanDiego

michael Webster
http://www.articlesbase.com/causes-and-organizations-articles/hezbollah-operating-in-mexico-and-us-617268.html

Amazing Discovery About Early Christianity

Few things are more important to a Central Asian than maintaining cultural traditions. Throughout the existence of the Soviet Union, they were forced to conform to a Russian mindset, lifestyle, and even language. Free from this tyranny, Central Asians now cherish the things they can call their own. On the flip side, they are turned off by anything that looks, smells, or acts foreign.

In the eyes of these people, Christianity is an intrusive import from the West. According to the Director of one of the leading Central Asian Christian ministries, it is viewed as a boil, a festering sore, and causes division. After all, a persons religion is not determined by choice, but by the family into which he is born. So to become a Christian is to turn your back on both your family and culture. And such an act goes beyond being disrespectful, its crazy.

It is for this reason that Central Asian Christians are persecuted. On a daily basis, they suffer at the hands of those who intend to bring them back to their senses. Families attempt to undo what they think is brainwashing by isolating him, denying his rights, or even through intense beatings.

Restrictions from the top
In two Central Asian countries, the governments have enacted laws to deter radical religions, such as Christianity. In these countries, it is unlawful to meet in churches that have not been legally recognized by the government. However, there are so many rules and regulations in registering, that few churches are able to complete the process of gaining approval.

In one Central Asian country, it is also illegal to conduct a service in the national language. This law was enacted to stop Christians from converting nationals to a foreign religion.

Shocking evidence
However, through the prompting of the Holy Spirit, more and more Central Asians are discovering that they have been living under false assumptions. And in evangelizing this region, one question is turning the tide, Why do you profess the religions of your conquerors, and forget Christianity, the faith of your forefathers?

Amazing recent discoveries have shown that Christianity was practiced throughout Central Asia long before Islam or Zoosticism, the two predominant religions of today.

While visiting a Central Asian home, the previously mentioned Director saw a pattern in the familys rug that demanded his attention. The design, common in area rugs throughout this region, was full of symbols that told the story of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

With the familys permission, the Director took the rug to an anthropology professor at the University of Chicago. Upon further study, the directors suspicions were confirmed, the Christian symbols predated the period when Islam spread to Central Asia.

Return to their roots
One by one, Central Asians are discovering what Christians around the world have always known, God is truth. God is love. And God is longing for Central Asians to return to their ultimate cultural heritage through faith in Jesus Christ.

Pray for those Christians throughout Central Asia who are facing the torture of their families and governments, that they will continue to have the courage to live out their faith, regardless of the cost.

Pray also for their persecutors. Pray that as Gods Spirit moves they will accept the gift of salvation from the one, true God.

John Savage
http://www.articlesbase.com/religion-articles/amazing-discovery-about-early-christianity-98724.html