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TAKE oVER! the UP//:-) 102 la - la - la - lap-toppling da system! WONDERFULL NEWS! TEXT JOCKEY // TJ PHRASER (fraser clark) cyberslut // TJ PHRASER & THE MEDIA EVOLUTION MIXING THE TRACTS LIVE ON THE KEYBOARD @ A MEDIA-MEME RATE OF 160 IPP * * Ideas Per Paragraph U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U UP P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P FEATURING exclusive rewrites re-takes & re-productions of da freshest deepest hacks ancient and modern, SAMPLES from media & mentalities all over, & bubbling up from da public DNA herself! U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U UP P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P The UPGRADEmag (or just the "UP") is a global edutainment round-up, ‘broadcast’ weekly to =[10,405]= Alternative// Activist// Zippy// Trance// New Age folks who’ve been recommended to the Parallel YOUniversity//Megatripolis Dance Dept as "showing signs of life". Since many recipients choose to forward it to their own lists, we estimate 28,000+ recipients. Further, because of its less 'specialist' content, it's increasingly being posted on a variety of sites worldwide, making a total weekly ‘readership’ of 275,000+ U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U UP P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
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WONDERFUL NEWS FOR EVERYONE LIVING LISTEN, LOOK, AND LEARN What was in your life the week of May 22, 2001? Look for a breakthrough this week. Information is the key now. Mellow out on the weekend, and prepare to jump into conflict on Monday. Honesty will be challenged, but ultimately is successful. Hard work is on the agenda Tuesday. For more detailed guidance, see www.daykeeperjournal.com * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * UNDER AN AUTHORITARIAN STATE (who? me?) OR AMIDST THE CURRENT PLANETARY ‘WAR’! PROVED - MANKIND NATURALLY PEACEFUL OFFICIAL - CIVILISATION & CITIES NOT TRIGGERED BY VIOLENCE AND THE NEED FOR SAFETY AT THE PEAK OF THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN, JUST AS IT LOOKS LIKE MANKIND MIGHT BE DOOMED BY HIS VERY NATURE TO ANOTHER MILLENNIUM OF WAR AGAINST HORRORISM, COMES CONCLUSIVE PROOF OF ITS COOPERATIVE NATURE FROM ARCHEOLOGICAL FINDINGS IN THE ANCIENT MOTHER CITY OF CARAL .... ask the average guy in the street (especially an american street) if ‘rave culture’s’ ideal of living cooperatively is realistic and he’ll tell you that man is basically competitive/aggressive. the power elites and their obscenely paid lackeys obviously believe the same. indeed, whether you’re a conspiracist or not, the excuse for New World Order advocates is that, if someone doesn’t control mankind, ‘civilisation as we know it’ will dissolve into anarchy. THE OPPOSITE IS TRUE! civilisation and cities DID NOT arise because men needed to protect themselves from other humans intent on destroying, controlling or robbing them. recent discoveries in the archeological investigation of the ancient ‘Mother City’ of CARAL, a lost, buried city of pyramids in Peru whose age makes it the model for all later cities, prove, finally and beyond all dispute, - that the human species is basically cooperative/ peaceful [FACT] - that the discovery of irrigation led to the growth of the first great Agri-Cultures [FACT] - that the city grew from trade between different groupings [FACT] - incidentally, (?) that drug experiences played a large part in their lives - AND THAT THE ‘MOTHER CITY’ CARAL PROSPERED FOR A MILLENNIUM WITHOUT A SINGLE TRACE OF FORTIFICATIONS OR WEAPONS. [FACT] THE DISCOVERY OF CARAL From the artifacts discovered there, we now know that at least 6000 years ago (some) people had left “the wild” and formed what we call civilisation. We also know that they built huge monuments, like the pyramids. Explorers had hurried past those mysterious mountain mounds in search of the (much later) Inca’s treasures in the mountains beyond, until, in 1995, drawn by reports of “mysterious mounds”, Ruth Shady [remember that name ed] from Lima’s University of San Marcos, found a huge hill rising out of the desert in a place that’s “somewhere between the seat of the gods and the home of man. A very strange place.” DR SHADY. Something seemed to be hidden under the rubble, the faintest outline of a... pyramid! And as she looked around she could make out another! And then another! She’d stumbled on a lost city which, as investigations went deeper, would ultimately stun the world of archaeology. CROSSING THE GREAT DIVIDE WHO LED THE WAY? As far as archeologists had previously been able to discover (and it wasn’t much) the human species roamed the world in small hunter-gathering family groups, or lived in tiny villages, until around 6000 years ago when huge cities began to appear a historical ‘event’ that archaeologists called Crossing the Great Divide. It happened in six places across the world - Egypt, Mesopotamia, China and India - and in the New World in Peru and Central America. Without these pioneers, our modern world would not exist. YET ALWAYS THERE REMAINED THE POSSIBILITY THAT EVEN ARCHEOLOGISTS MIGHT BE RUNNING ON ASSUMPTIONS BUILT INTO THEM BY THE CULTURE IN WHICH THEY WERE RAISED! A WORLD OF WARS AGAINST TERRORISM AND A CAPITALIST CONSUMER ‘RELIGION’ VIRTUALLY BASED IN COMPETITION. COMPETITIVE BY NATURE? the key question was and is: how does it happen, when does it happen, and why does it happen? taken with a misreading of Darwin’s work, and the current competitive state of humanity in its present crisis, warfare seemed the likeliest contender. surely it was warfare which forced groups of villages to huddle together for protection, leading in turn to new ways of organising society. powerful leaders emerged to assign tasks and organise lives, and these became the pharaohs and kings of ‘history’ (the dates of battles). complex society was born out of fear. and the tell-tale signs of battle have been found in every early civilisation studied until the oldest was discovered, CARAL. But was this a later ‘wrong turn’ or the original driving force?! What they needed to find was what archaeologists call a ‘Mother City’ - the missing link, the very first stage of civilisation. But these were very difficult to find because, as is still visibly the case on an almost daily basis, civilisations constantly re-build upon themselves, humans recycle materials, meaning that the earliest stages are all but wiped out. Certainly this was true in the Old World. THE RETURN TO... THE SEARCH FOR MOTHER... CITY They needed to find somewhere pristine that had not been built on. So the search for the Mother City switched to the New World. Peru, home to one of the greatest civilisations of all - the Incas. Until 500 years ago they’d ruled a mighty empire whose origins stretched back thousands of years into... mystery. Central to this intensified search was the discovery, just 10 miles from the coast in the Casma Valley, of a pyramid so huge that for a century explorers had assumed it could only be a hill. It rivals anything in Egypt - 15 football fields across, or two million cubic metres of material. The site includes a host of lesser pyramids, spread over six miles. In front of the main pyramid four plazas extend out for over a mile on which thousands of people could have met and done business or ‘spirituality’ or whatever. The Casma Valley is one of the wonders of Peru, and it’s a site reeking of civilisation, power, and a very high level of organisation. In 1996 wooden poles (which can be carbon dated) were unearthed inside the main pyramid, meaning that Casma was about to become one of modern archeology’s sensations. It was in 1500 BC, making it the oldest city ever discovered in the Americas, and an instant candidate for Mother City. As they dug deeper, everywhere were the tell-tale signs of a civilisation at a very early stage. The pottery was very simple, the Art was crude. Everything was at its most basic. Were there signs of battle, was it really true that the first civilisations were born out of warfare? Then came the final breakthrough - in one of the outlying pyramids they found some carvings. Warrior figures, standing next to their victims who are cut up, beheaded, their bodies cut in half. Heads with blood flowing from their eyes, mouths and body parts. The long suspicion of warfare theorists seemed confirmed ..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . [continued at end of this UP see below] . . . . . . . . . . . . . UP - the experienced woman: An older woman will never wake you in the middle of the night to ask, "What are you thinking?" She doesn't care what you think. To my fellow swimmers: here is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift, that there are those who will be afraid, who will try to hold on to the shore, they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly. Know that the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, and keep our heads above water. And I say see who is there with you and celebrate. At this time in history we are to take nothing personally, least of all ourselves, for the moment we do, our spiritual growth and journey come to a halt. The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves. Banish the word struggle from your attitude and vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration. For we are the ones we have been waiting for. Hopi Elders Prophesy UP- the experienced woman: An older woman knows herself well enough to be assured in who she is, what she is, what she wants and from whom. Few women past the age of 50 give a damn what you might thinkabout her. Your mailing has many interesting features - one is you never quite know what is coming and another, which often has me tittering, is the little one line funnies (or not so) that are often at the bottom of paragraphs. A Fan William planet earth UP- the experienced woman: Most older women cook well. They care about cleanliness and are generous with praise, often undeserved. ENRON? RALPH NADER IS GLAD YOU ASKED by John Nichols Ralph Nader would be delighted to discuss the Enron scandal. Just don't expect the once and possibly future US presidential candidate to do so with a straight face. "I hate to say 'I told you so,'" he begins, barely cloaking his glee over what could be the greatest corporate scandal in the lifetime of America's greatest corporate critic. “But"--and now the 67-year-old consumer activist pauses with an unexpectedly theatrical flair “I told you so!" And with that, Nader rips into the issue that official Washington is struggling to wrap its spin around. "Enron is our engine for reform. Enron is the supermarket of corporate crime for our time... It has embarrassed the hell out of the business community, raised questions about accounting practices, Investor confidence is severely shaken, the investment bankers are quaking, the lobbyists are scared, the politicians are scrambling to explain why they took those checks from Ken Lay. I could talk about this from now until 2004." Even if he still gets the cold shoulder equally from Republicans (for calling Bush campaign contributors "criminals") and from Democrats (who believe his renegade 2000 presidential race split the vote and ushered Bush into the White House) post- Enron America seems to be listening to what Nader is saying now. He’s appeared on NBC's Meet the Press, ABC's This Week and PBS's Firing Line. He even stirred it up one morning on Fox News Channel's Fox and Friends. For Nader, who as a presidential candidate held a press conference to which no press came, has written an unrepentant recollection of his candidacy, Crashing the Party: Taking on the Corporate Government in an Age of Surrender. And his book tour, which one critic said should be billed as "coming soon to a small independent bookstore near you," has turned into a rollicking tour of the country. "He's a rock star," said Bob Maull, owner of 23rd Avenue Books, a Portland bookstore that had to move Nader's reading to a nearby auditorium, and still turned away 400 people. "I have a hard time thinking of any other political figure at this point who would draw this kind of crowd, especially the young people." Up the West Coast, Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Joel Connelly - an unusually harsh critic of Nader as a self-absorbed political dilettante - welcomed the consumer activist with an admission that "just as this column was ready to get rough on Ralph Nader, who hits town today to promote a self-celebratory book on his 2000 presidential campaign, along came twin reminders of why America needs a burr-in-the-saddle corporate critic. Enron's collapse has renewed Nader." Nader is packing crowds into book signings and "People Have the Power" rallies. One $10-a-ticket event on January 26 in Austin, Texas, drew 5,000 people and reunited the supposed persona non grata of American politics with Jim Hightower, Molly Ivins, Jackson Browne and Patti Smith. "America is starting to understand what Ralph has been trying to tell them all these years," says Smith. "People don't trust Washington, but they trust Ralph Nader." “A POX ON BOTH THEIR PARTIES!” "The prospect of reform is eviscerated because of both parties' sticky hands. That is what is so disgusting. The Democrats can't really go after this scandal because so many of them look like hypocrites. They took as much money as they could get from Enron, and they keep raising money from corporate PACs. "If Democrats were saying the kinds of things that we are saying about Enron, this scandal would be blowing wide open. But they are not saying much, are they? That's how bad it's gotten: They cannot even seize an issue like Enron. They have decided to risk losing through cowardliness, rather than to risk winning through valor." Nader criticizes the Democrats for allowing the Bush Administration a free hand not just on military issues but on domestic matters since the September 11 terrorist attacks. Republicans, he says, have treated the war as "manna from Heaven, a perfect excuse for drilling in the Alaskan wilderness, tort deform, fast track, corporate welfare," while Democrats like Senate majority leader Tom Daschle have looked at Bush's high poll numbers and decided to give him whatever he wants. Says Nader, "Bush has used the war to advance a domestic policy that is all about increasing the strength of the commercial militarists, the autocratic ideologues and the corporate greedhounds. He has attacked our civil liberties. For this, he is praised by Democrats? It's amazing." In Nader's view, if Democrats fail to challenge Bush aggressively, not just on Enron but on a host of issues in coming months, they could destroy the party's prospects for years to come--guaranteeing the loss of the Senate and the House this fall and the presidency. For now, he is determined to beef up the Greens. "The failure of the Democrats to fight Bush on most of the major issues has created a vacuum that can be filled by a party that is willing to take a stand. And the Greens have taken a stand in their positions--on civil liberties, on the bombing of Afghanistan, Greens have been calling on senators who took Enron money to recuse themselves from the investigation. Do you think Democrats would ever do that?" But are the Greens really a viable alternative? Nader admits experiencing "lots" of frustration with the Greens. He warns that the party is not running enough candidates to achieve critical mass at election time, and he says it must do so. He frets that some state parties remain mired in internecine "bickering, trivia and process-mania" that make them unappealing to grassroots Americans who simply want to put a few hours a week into building a political alternative. "The Greens are terrific in a lot of states, But in a few states there are longtime Greens who, if they are not careful, are going to turn away the vast numbers of people who are going to make their party into something." While this makes him unpopular with some of the leading Greens, Nader remains enormously popular with the Green cadres - people like Pacific Greens campaigner Jennifer Malidore, who after Nader's Portland talk announced, "He really is the heart of this party. He's our national presence. I would love to see him run again in 2004." COULD RALPH NADER’S TIME HAVE COME? WILL HE RUN? "I am thinking about how to do it," says Nader. He goes on to describe how he’s been encouraged not just to mount another Green candidacy but to enter the Democratic primaries, or even to run as what he actually is: a confirmed independent. "This is not like a sure thing in 2004. There are a lot of things you have to see in order to make a decision like that.” A third presidential run would need to expand dramatically beyond a base that remains too white, too middle-class and too frequently clustered in college towns: "if a decision is made, it is going to be a campaign that no one has ever seen - in terms of its strategy and diversity. "For me, there has been a gradual commitment to getting involved in the electoral process, and I still cling to this civic, nonpartisan vision of how to do things. But if you do an acute analysis of why things don't change in this country, you come back to what has happened to the Democratic Party. When I look at how the Democrats have responded to Enron so far, it seems to me that we all have a responsibility to try to jolt them into an understanding of what is at stake. If Democrats respond effectively, there will not be much point to me or anyone else challenging them. But if they do not, something has to give. People realize that. People know what the Enron scandal means. This is a test. Are Democrats capable of addressing massive corporate crimes effectively? If Democrats cannot, if they are in such a routinized rut that they are incapable of responding, then how could anyone make a case that they should be given deference at the ballot box?" UP- the experienced woman: Yes, we praise older women for a multitude of reasons. Unfortunately, it's not reciprocal. For every stunning, smart, well-coiffed babe of 70 there’s a bald, paunchy relic in yellow pants making a fool of himself with some 22-year-old waitress. Ladies, I apologize for all of us. israel BRUTE FORCE WILL NOT WORK © Copyright 2002 Ha`aretz. The prime minister must have taken an overdose of vitamins when he was laid up with the flu. What other explanation could there be for his vigorous pronouncement that "Israel is going to win this war with the Palestinians," which is nothing but a bunch of hot air? Come off it. Has anyone noticed Sharon sitting around this past year with his hands folded? From his first day in office, he's done nothing but fight Palestinian terror and violence. The harder he strikes, the more terror we get in return. More Israelis have been killed under Sharon than in the days of any other prime minister. It's a fact, and it boils down to this: Sharon has no military solution for the intifada. We've come a long way since the slingshots and gravel-throwing machines of the first intifada. Nowadays, F-16s fly over Gaza, dropping bombs that weigh a ton - as much as four Iraqi Scuds. The chief of staff's motto that every clash with the Palestinians must end in a "win" for Israel has failed miserably. The grim events of this past week are proof that winning is no longer an option that belongs exclusively to us. They also know how to inflict pain and suffering. The targeted killings have become a double-edged sword. Every killing brings with it a series of fatal attacks that prompt Israel to retaliate with strategic weapons designed for bigger wars and more distant targets. to the nation. And while we prattle on about this silly missile, they blow up the most fortified tank in the world, the Merkava 3. As in Lebanon, sticking to routine, plying the same roads, relying on heavy armor in civilian population centers, have done us in. The deeper we go into Palestinian Authority territory, the more we pursue our plan of dicing up the West Bank into towns and districts, the worse off we will be. Yoel Marcus / ISRAEL http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=131696&contrassID=2&sub UP- the experienced woman: An older single woman usually has had her fill of "meaningful relationships" and "commitment". The last thing she needs in her life is another dopey, clingy, whiny, dependent lover. your stuff is great!! I haven't had time to read all the back issues as yet but I'm slowly going through it... it takes a while you know! I know a few people I want to send it on to... very informative, and I must say indeed brilliant, and very necessary.... mathew freeth / los angeles the experienced woman: Older women are dignified. They seldom have a screaming match with you at the opera or in the middle of an expensive restaurant. Of, course if you deserve it, they won't hesitate to shoot you if they think they can get away with it.
H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H
H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H HWARNING: 5 DAYS DELAY DUE TO VOLUME OF RESPONSE YOUR VERY OWN BUSINESS WEB SITE OR HOME PAGE FOR £100 by the YOUniversity’s very own cyber profs! (STICK IT ON YOUR BIZNESS CARD, APPEND IT TO YOUR EMAIL, FLAUNT YOUR LOGO / MISSION, OR ANNOUNCE YOUR PLANS FOR SOCIETY TO THE WORLD!) INCLUDES: - ORDERS & ENQUIRIES: fraser@parallel-youniversity.com london WORK IN PROGRESS - An Exhibition Marking Ten Years of Road Protest SAT FEB 23 - The Space Goats LIVE + Michael Ormiston, Mongolian Overtone Maestro. 3pm - late SUN FEB 24 - Two Hour Undercurrents Road Protest Video Extravaganza, Followed By Discussion. 3 - 10pm Supper available on both days. The Work In Progress Exhibition will be continuing during these events - bring your songs, stories, banners, photos, batiks & memories! INFO: 07932 762587 Work In Progress commemorates the battle to defend Leytonstone from the link road, as well as highlighting that road protest isn't obsolete yet. At the last count the current government was planning 50 new road schemes. @ 491 Gallery, 491 Grove Green Road, Leytonstone. UP yes, you are a trip!!!! thanks for the compiling on enron. I hope the bastard pres gets whats coming to his lying ass michael john chicago UP "To HarperCollins: I write this after reading Michael Moore's letter on the problems he faced getting his book to print. First, let me say that I don't agree with most of what Michael Moore says. Some, but not most. Nor do I think he has a particular good grasp of how economics and wealth creation works. My politics are in the center with a slight leaning to the right, so I'm not one of his typical followers. (I do believe, however, that when he's on, he's the single funniest man in America.) I have also been a big supporter of Bush's policy in Afghanistan. Having said all that, let me say that I am very happy you have decided to release his new book. I am very, very disturbed that a large book publisher in America would even consider not publishing a book merely because it might offend the sensibilities of a nation. I had friends in the World Trade Center. I almost went to work in the World Trade Center. I'm glad we bombed the hell out of the Taliban. But this is America. WE DO NOT BAN BOOKS! Companies such as HarperCollins are critical in the distribution of ideas. Michael Moore is a nationally recognized figure. We must hear him out, even if we vehemently disagree with him." Trenton Webster, Tallahassee FL (Michael Moore is a well known critic of America whose latest book STUPID WHITE MEN, though already printed on Sept 11, looked like it might be one more victim of the lynch mob fascism that’s broken out over there. Instead, it looks like the reverse might be happening and the book is in the US TOP TEN! As he says himself: .”I have not believed those "80%" approval ratings of Bush, and this confirms, for me at least, that quite a few Americans are ready to hear different or dissenting opinions on all the craziness coming out of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. This has been one of the few bright days I've had in months.” http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/new-for-you/top-sellers/-/books/all/ref=pd_ts_h/" or visit michael’s site on: http://www.michaelmoore.com And a social Worker in Islington/London, U.K. has been suspended from duty for criticising American Foreign Policy... So how long before the "beast" eats away our human rights too? Love and solidarity to you Phraser and all your readers. Andria E-Mordaunt Users Voice ed./John Mordaunt Trust UP- the experienced woman: An older woman has the self-assurance to introduce you to her women friends. A younger woman with a man will often ignore even her best friend because she doesn't trust the guy with other women. Older women couldn't care less. I have to tell you that reading the UPgrade makes me feel connected to something greater in this great but disconnected city. I pass it on to my friends to try to open them up and fight the propaganda war. A little at a time. Best wishes and respect, nikki new york UP newcastle, uk MARCH 13-15 Cross The Final Frontier - Time Travel: In the 21st Century we face the realisation and suppression of the Final Frontier - indeed the frontier which contains all others. Humanity has pierced the Wall of Time. The Organisation for the Most Pleasant and Successful Experiment in Time Travel invites you to participate in their current training sessions, aimed at providing the necessary psychological strengths to deal with stresses of temporal diffusion: Show and Tell: Northern Arts Conference Rooms, Newcastle. INFO: Dr When 079 60 69 79 55 info@j12.org UP US TERROR WAR COULD EXTEND TO INTERNET “The US reserves the right to retaliate militarily or in any way appropriate that’s available to the president if foreign countries or terrorist groups try to strike the country through the internet" White House technology adviser, Richard Clarke, told a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on cyber-terrorism Iran, Iraq, North Korea, China, Russia and other countries are already having people trained in internet warfare, he said, while not mentioning the US, the biggest terrorist state on the planet today. "A well-planned and well-executed cyber-attack on America wouldn't just mean the temporary loss of e-mail and instant messaging," said Senator Charles Schumer. "Terrorists could gain access to the digital controls for the nation's utilities, power grids, air traffic control systems and nuclear power plants." Mr Clarke refused to say what level of cyber-attack might lead to a military response from the United States. "That's the kind of ambiguity that we like to keep intentionally to create some deterrence," he told reporters. So far, the US has not caught any foreign governments or terrorist group using internet warfare, although that does not mean it has not been attempted, Mr Clarke says. "There are lots of cases where there has been unauthorized intrusions but we have never been able to prove to our particular satisfaction that a particular government did it," "If I was a betting man, however, I'd bet that many of our key infrastructure systems already have been penetrated." http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_520658.html - ever met a tekkie who didn’t tell you this? UP- the experienced woman: Women get psychic as they age. You never have to confess your sins to an older woman. They always know. NGOS MORE TRUSTED THAN COMPANIES OR GOVERNMENTS Non-governmental organisations have received a boost from an opinion poll that found their popular credibility had recently risen on both sides of the Atlantic. Commissioned by Edelman public relations and presented at the recent World Economic Forum in New York, the poll finds that in Europe, NGOs continue to inspire confidence levels well above those of government, companies and the media. In the US they now enjoy a level of public trust that almost matches that of companies. The popularity of both is exceeded only by that of government, which has seen its standing improve sharply since the September 11 terrorist attacks. “NGOs have now become the fifth estate of global government, and the true credible force on issues related to the environment and social justice” Edelman said. Some NGOs were now "superbrands", he said, particularly in Europe. Amnesty International, the World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace topped the public trust ratings there, well ahead of Microsoft, Ford and Bayer, the three most trusted corporate brands. In the US, WWF was the highest-ranked NGO with fourth place, just behind Nike, the sportswear company (god help us!). http://www.oxfam.org.uk UP “CRIMINAL: person with predatory instincts but insufficient capital to form a corporation" - Clarence Darrow MICKEY MOUSE OR MULLAHS I DON’T THINK SO! AMERICA'S GRIEF AT WHAT HAPPENED HAS BEEN IMMENSE, AND IMMENSELY PUBLIC. IT WOULD BE GROTESQUE TO EXPECT IT TO CALIBRATE, OR MODULATE ITS' ANGUISH. HOWEVER, IT WILL BE A PITY IF, INSTEAD OF USING THIS AS A CHANCE TO TRY AND UNDERSTAND WHY SEPTEMBER 11 HAPPENED, AMERICANS USE IT AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO USURP THE WHOLE WORLD'S SORROW TO-- MOURN AND AVENGE ONLY THEIR OWN. BECAUSE THEN IT FALLS TO THE REST OF US TO ASK THE HARD QUESTIONS AND SAY THE HARSH THINGS, AND FOR OUR PAINS, FOR OUR BAD TIMING, WE WILL BE DISLIKED, IGNORED AND PERHAPS EVENTUALLY SILENCED. WHAT WE ARE WITNESSING HERE IS THE SPECTACLE OF THE WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL COUNTRY REACHING REFLEXIVELY, ANGRILY, FOR AN OLD INSTINCT TO FIGHT A NEW KIND OF WAR. SUDDENLY WHEN IT COMES TO DEFENDING ITSELF, AMERICA'S STREAMLINED WARSHIPS, ITS CRUISE MISSILES AND F-16 JETS LOOKED LIKE OBSOLETE, LUMBERING THINGS. AS DETERRENTS, ITS ARSENAL OF NUCLEAR BOMBS IS NO LONGER WORTH ITS WEIGHT IN SCRAP. BOX CUTTERS, PEN KNIVES AND COLD ANGER ARE THE WEAPONS WITH WHICH THE WARS OF THE NEW CENTURY SHALL BE WAGED. OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM IS OSTENSIBLY BEING FOUGHT TO UPHOLD THE AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE. IT WILL PROBABLY END UP UNDERMINING IT COMPLETELY. IT WILL SPAWN MORE ANGER AND MORE TERROR ACROSS THE WORLD. TERRORISM AS A PHENOMENON MAY NEVER GO AWAY, BUT IF IT IS TO BE CONTAINED, THE FIRST STEP IS FOR AMERICA TO AT LEAST ACKNOWLEDGE THAT IT SHARES THE PLANET WITH OTHER NATIONS, WITH OTHER HUMAN BEINGS, WHO, EVEN IF THEY'RE NOT ON TV, HAVE LOVES AND GRIEFS AND STORIES AND SONGS AND SORROWS AND, FOR HEAVEN’S SAKES, RIGHTS. WE ALL DON'T HAVE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN MICKEY MOUSE AND THE MULLAHS. YOU KNOW, THERE IS A HUGE CIVILIZATION AND HISTORY BETWEEN THOSE TWO THINGS. Arundhati Roy (award winning Indian author) UP- the experienced woman: Yes, we praise older women for a multitude of reasons. Unfortunately, it's not reciprocal. For every stunning, smart, well-coiffed babe of 70 there’s a bald, paunchy relic in yellow pants making a fool of himself with some 22-year-old waitress. Ladies, I apologize for all of us. //YOU FEEDBACK: SUB STATIONS’ ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION? Dear Peter McCaig, UPgraders and anyone else concerned, For further information on the effects of artificial electromagnetic fields on health, I recommend taking a look at http://www.powerwatch.org.uk ("the independent voice on EMF issues in the UK"). (Some of Powerwatch's information was useful in campaigning against Orange putting up mobile phone masts around the Wrexham area recently. And nearby at Beeston Castle there seems to be a local campaign fighting against the marching Orange monster!) Also, a Web search on Electrosensitivity may turn up some contacts. My own limited reading suggests that exposure to even very weak oscillating electromagnetic fields has a measurable stress impact upon our body, prolonged exposure to which overstretches the body's ability to tolerate this stress and the organs concerned can begin to fail. Here's to a Global Electromagnetic Reform, Matt Moose / Wales UP Fraser, Thank you so much for printing the news NO ONE else is, it's staggering Aloha! Odysseus Hawaii UP NEW ZEALAND MOVING UNSTOPPABLY INTO THE FUTURE? Fraser, Would love to write you a piece on life in New Zealand, but it’s not as fantastically progressive as you may think. HOWEVER, various strands of it are definitely going in the right direction. The debate is whether NZ is really clean and green and the answer would have to be a very qualified maybe! We have probably one of the most progressive governments in the world right now, and we are likely to see them re-elected in November. Websites to check out in the meantime include Greenpeace NZ, Royal NZ Forest and Bird Society and the Green Party who are effectively in government as a coalition supporter. The music scene has really picked up over the last few years - the best two outdoor festivals would be The Gathering, nr Nelson and Splore, nr Auckland. Both have websites. Radio is excellent here too - check www.georgefm.co.nz www.95bfm.co.nz. Will try and drop you a more informative line before long... Cheers and keep up the great work. Glyn Walters / New Zealand UP- the experienced woman: An older woman looks good wearing bright red lipstick. This is not true of younger women or drag queens. Once you get past a wrinkle or two, an older woman is far sexier than her younger counterpart. Her libido's stronger, her fear of pregnancy gone. Her experience of lovemaking is honed and reciprocal and she's lived long enough to know how to please a man in ways her daughter couldn’t dream of. (Young men, you’ve something to look forward to.) san francisco SAT FEB 23 Ursa Minor Arts & Media’s second presentation in their series of Conscious Gatherings. Bio_Logic, a celebration of cultural synthesis, transformation, and global responsibility, features live music, DJs, dancers, visual artists, puppeteers, performance artists, altar-builders and a deep synergy inducing atmosphere. Proceeds will benefit the Coalition for Justice Not War and the California Peace Action Network. bio_logic: is officially endorsed by the California Green Party, and party officials will be in attendance. Live music will be performed by cyber-rock/trip-hop artists moon theory - rocktronic visionary, ledenhed, the neo-funk pulsations of Roux, Afghan fusion extraordinaire - Tameem, Eastern-electronica by fontain's M.U.S.E., and the trip-rock of Lotus Dog. DJ's include Brother Love and Database. Glowstick dancers Infinitefirefly, Firehorse and Zaphyre, Latin dancing by Marias y Gardenias, Majinga the Magician, belly dancers, and native american and Afghan visual artists will also be exhibiting. @ CellSpace, in the Mission District (2050 Bryant Ave.). 7pm to 2am All ages. $12 donation requested. http://www.fontainsmuse.com UP FEB 23MARCH 2 STARBUCKS GLOBAL WEEK OF ACTION Organic Consumers Association volunteers around the world are gearing up for the biggest week of action to date in the Frankenbucks Campaign, in which they’ll leaflet and demonstrate at 600 stores in 300 cities around the world. In the past year thousands of activists in the US, Canada, New Zealand, Israel and England have protested and leafleted outside Starbucks cafes in what continues to be the largest grassroots campaign of its kind focusing on genetic engineering and fair trade. Their volunteers have now handed out a quarter of a million leaflets to Starbucks customers and have educated many millions more through the numerous media stories they’ve generated. The upcoming week of action is crucial in getting Starbucks to meet their demands in this campaign. On February 26, Starbucks hold their annual shareholders meeting in Seattle. During the meeting Starbucks shareholders will present a resolution asking the company to label or remove GE ingredients from their product line. They want Starbucks to live up to their self-proclaimed image of being a socially responsible business. As an industry leader Starbucks has an obligation to provide safe food for their consumers and a living wage to coffee growers. HELP PRESSURE STARBUCKS TO REMOVE GENETICALLY ENGINEERED INGREDIENTS FROM THEIR FOOD AND DAIRY PRODUCTS ON A WORLDWIDE BASIS, IMPROVE WORKING CONDITIONS FOR COFFEE PLANTATION WORKERS, AND BREW AND SERIOUSLY PROMOTE FAIR TRADE COFFEE IN ALL THEIR CAFES. YOUR SUPPORT IS NEEDED TO MAKE THIS WEEK OF ACTION SUCCESSFUL. HELP THEM LEAFLET 300 CAFES AROUND THE WORLD!! TO PARTICIPATE, mail the site below stating date, time and location of Starbucks outlets you’ll be leafleting, and they’ll send you an organizing packet with complete INFO and materials for organising a protest in your town. mailto:Simon@organicconsumers.org For latest campaign developments check the special Starbucks section on http://www.organicconsumers.org/Starbucks/starbucks.html UP- the experienced woman: Older women are forthright and honest. They'll tell you right off you are a jerk if you are acting like one. //YOU FEEDBACK confessiontime The Brits do it too sometimes for retired military who like the challenge of being more or less permanently online. However (as you might expect) a lot more subtle. There's a lot of FUD spread to confuse people who are largely ignorant. Agents join lists as well and infest discussion on websites (like the discussion that's going on about bush privatizing theInternet, and giving the content control to Time life and Disney. More about that later. I had to get some weasel off a list,luckily moderated, about Natural Vision Improvement who was clearlythere to destroy the list (he failed in this case). It's the same syndrome as the Roman habit of poisoning wells if they had to leave a town they could not 'have'. Luckily there are a lot of us who have known this all along and realise that there IS something that can be done about it. One thing is having nothing tohide :-) Jackie / London UP a book I've just read has uncannily drawn many separate and apparently unrelated threads together and at just the right time. called The Field, by Lynn McTaggert, It outlines the serious research that has continued since the early days of Quantum stuff, and more importantly the successful experiments that have been done in all those ‘psychic/california sciences areas. it’s important stuff and must be read by more people so we can get on and heal the world with confidence. the book’s in layman’s terms, but of course it does cover some mind bending things. check these (un-metaphorical) titles: Light In The Darkness, The Sea Of Light, Beings Of Light, The Language Of The Cell, Resonating With The World, The Creative Observer, Sharing Dreams, The Extended Eye, The Endless Here And Now, Telegram From Gaia, The Zero Point Age. www.wddty.co.uk UP- the experienced woman: “They don't swell They don't tell and Are grateful as hell” Xaviera Hollanders glastonbury, uk FRI FEB 19 A full-on dance night featuring Celestium live, promoting their long-awaited new album "Ideology", and with Source DJs Chrisbo and Phil Ross. @: Glastonbury Town Hall, High St. 020 7735 5522 info@rtts.com http://www.rtts.com UP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [continued from above] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PROVED - MANKIND NATURALLY PEACEFUL OFFICIAL - CIVILISATION & CITIES NOT TRIGGERED BY VIOLENCE AND THE NEED FOR SAFETY THE WONDERFUL NEWS But just as Casma was beginning to bask in the height of its fame, Ruth Shady was returning to her site at Caral, again and again actually, with a whole team of students and archaeologists now whose first task was to get a rough idea of how old the city actually was. For 2 months they looked for pottery with absolutely zero success. They were baffled. Every early civilisation, even Casma, is littered with pottery. Why not here? There were no metal tools either, only stone ones. Finally only one conclusion was possible: this was a civilisation at an extraordinarily early stage. “We began to realise that this place was completely different to anything we ‘d seen before, and much older than we'd expected.” But how old? Having still found nothing they could date, they began digging inside Caral's biggest structures - the pyramids. For such a huge undertaking, Ruth recruited the Army! Thousands of tons of sand, rubble and stones had to be shifted, carefully, one bucket at a time. And gradually they caught glimpses of what lay beneath: original stones, traces of plaster, paint not seen for thousands of years, a series of staircases, and the wall at the front of the pyramid. Such pyramids would have required craftsmen, architects, a huge workforce and leaders, all the trappings of civilisation. And then at last they found what they were seeking reeds, which had been woven into what are called shicra bags to carry stones from the mountains a technique found only in the very oldest buildings in Peru. Reeds can be carbon dated. So, in 2001, the very turn of the millennium, 12 samples were taken to the University of Illinois for testing. If the bags were from about 1400 BC Caral would be younger than Casma. Dates around 2000 BC would make it the oldest city in the Americas. Earlier dates than that seemed inconceivable. The bags were actually dated at 2600 BC! Caral was as old as the pyramids of Egypt, older than anyone had thought possible. It was a thousand years older than Casma, and the real mother city, which meant that archaeologists could at last answer their great question: why, how and when had civilisation begun? “It was the most incredible assemblage of archaeological sites we’d ever seen anywhere in the world. it was literally one of those double-take moments when your mouth drops open and you go my God, I've never seen anything like this in my life”. Jonathan Haas. Ruth Shady’s work revealed that at the heart of Caral were six pyramids arranged around a massive central plaza. Alongside them an amphitheatre and temple, the religious heart of the city, contained a furnace which Ruth believes fired a flame that was meant to burn forever. In the centre of the plaza were houses, some ornate, some simple. Dominating everything was the main pyramid, seat of the city's rulers, and the symbol that the people of Caral had left behind the primitive life and discovered civilisation. This then is what modern society might have looked like at its very beginning. Jonathan Haas, the world's expert on the warfare theory, arrived in search of evidence to back it up. The first thing he thought he might find were battlements. “I began walking and climbing all of the hillsides around Caral” he told a BBC documentary, “until it finally dawned on me that there weren't any fortifications round these sites.” “Nor have we been able to find any sign of the sort of weapons you see in later periods of history, like stone cudgels. I don't see any evidence of conflict. The city isn't walled, its inhabitants didn’t feel under any threat of war, there are no weapons of war.” Ruth Shady. Haas then researched the valley's mouth through which any invaders would have had to pass. Here, of all places, you’d expect to find defensive fortifications, a wall going across it. Nothing. “There are no fortifications round any of these sites! CARAL’S MESSAGE WAS CLEAR: WARFARE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE CREATION OF CIVILISATION. But, if it wasn't warfare, what was it that brought these people here, where nothing grew, to build their magnificent city? CARAL, THE HUMAN SPECIES’ MOTHER CITY, GREW AROUND WATER, TRADE AND DRUGS Near the main temple Ruth and her team found beautifully carved flutes made from the bones of condors, the first things that showed people working as specialised craftsmen. Back in the laboratory her team unearthed fragments of the fruit of the achiote plant - used by today’s rainforest tribes as body paint, food colouring, and to “enhance sexual performance”. Well, that’s what these archeologists say but what do they know about the natural drug allies?! They also found megabolinus snail shells, obviously used as ornaments for necklaces. Inside one they spotted traces of a mysterious white powder - lime. Oh ho, i hear you say, and yes, the team also found seeds from the coca plant!! And they also found bone snorters! The shamans of certain Amazon tribes use something similar even today, with dramatic effects. If they were taking coca and achiote, there’s every reason to assume they were taking ayahuasca too, “Probably, during the very frequent religious ceremonies, there would have been some hallucinatory drug present.” Dr Ruth Shady: A NETWORKED GARDEN OF EDEN These finds reveal even more about Caral, however. The plant, the snail and the bone snorters are clues to the basis of the whole civilisation - for they’re entirely alien to the surrounding deserts. They came from high in the Andes, or from the rainforest 200 miles away. All these goods had been brought to Caral from far away, but why? Nor did Caral import only its pleasures, it imported its most basic commodity too: food. The staple diet turned out to have been completely bizarre for a city deep in the desert. Fish. There were endless fish bones, mainly of sardines and anchovies which could only have come from the Pacific coast more than 20 miles away. Goods of all kinds seemed to be flooding into Caral from all over Peru. Why? What was happening there that drew them? Finally it dawned that the valleys of Caral had one thing in common: rivers. Even today Caral is fed by rivers flowing down from the Andes to the sea. These rivers turn out to be the key to unlocking the mystery of why civilisation first formed here because, with rivers, had come a huge technological advance: irrigation. Think about it. All a ‘wildman’ needed to do was to scratch a little canal from the river to his ‘garden’ and that was easy to do correctly because the water would flow right in. And, indeed, the Caral valleys are crisscrossed with ancient irrigation trenches which would have transformed the desert into very productive land. So Caral was once a huge Garden of Eden in the middle of the desert, a vast oasis of fruit, vegetable and flower fields. It would have made Caral one of the wonders of the Ancient World. PEACEFUL EXCHANGE OF IDEAS, GOODS & SERVICES And irrigation led to something else, the thing that would turn out to be the crucial innovation behind the rise of civilisation. As Ruth's team began to look for the kinds of vegetables the people of Caral had been eating, in amongst all the beans and nuts they found cotton seeds, lots of them. In fact cotton seemed to be everywhere. Every building contained cotton seeds or cotton fibres or textiles. Some of it was obviously used for clothes, but it had another use that had nothing to do with Caral: fishing nets. Caral was engaged in trade. it made cotton nets for the fishermen who sent fish as payment. A trading link was established between the fishermen and the farmers which allowed the city to grow and prosper in a huge, self-sustaining system. With the nets that Caral manufactured, the fishermen could catch more food. More food meant more people could live at Caral to grow more cotton and so the growing city became a booming trading centre. And the trade spread. Goods have been found from as far away as Ecuador, the Andes, and of course the rainforests hundreds of miles away- a national and even international trading network far beyond the internal trade within the local valleys. THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND THE BIRTH OF CIVILISATION AT CARAL FIVE THOUSAND YEARS AGO WAS NOT WARFARE, BUT TRADE. Exchange underlay and grew the system. And amazingly (to poor brainwashed people today) this trade built a contented world. There were no battles, no fortresses. Civilisation in Peru appears to have been born of a time of peace. CARAL - THE REAL STORY OF EVOLUTION In the desert a Gardened Pyramided City of Eden arose built on riches gained peacefully through trade. It spawned a civilisation that lasted unbroken for more than 4000 years. Caral was the first city, with the first central government, ever to be created. Caral changes all our current thinking about the origins of civilisation. it seems that 5000 years ago they had no need for warfare. Caral enjoyed a peace that lasted almost a millennium, an achievement unmatched in the modern world. “A thousand years of peace. I can't have a thousand years of peace if warfare's natural to human beings. If warfare's part of human nature, you don't get a millennium of no war.” Jonathan Haas. Human civilisation was not born in bloodshed and battle. Warfare came much later. WOULD SOMEONE TELL GEORGE BUSH AND THE MARINES B4 IT’S TOO LATE FOR EVOLUTION! http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2001/caraltrans.shtml UP peterborough, uk FRI FEB 22 Live P.A - SilverSpace (Organic Trance), Magic Lamp (Psychedelic Trance) + GloBug DJs taking a musical journey from dub to trance. 8pm - 1am @ The Westside Bar, Broadway. Peterborough. £3 8pm - 1am, @ Newages, Stamford. £2 (Stama Festival Benefit) UP - the experienced woman: "As I grow in age, I value older women most of all.” Andy Rooney. |