* Study finds long benefit in illegal mushroom drug By David Edwards NEW YORK (AP) — In 2002, at a Johns Hopkins University laboratory, a business consultant named Dede Osborn took a psychedelic drug as part of a research project. She felt like she was taking off. She saw colors. Then it felt like her heart was ripping open. But she called the experience joyful as well as painful, and says that it has helped her to this day. “I feel more centered in who I am and what I’m doing,” said Osborn, now 66, of Providence, R.I. “I don’t seem to have those self-doubts like I used to have.  read more »

HEY YOU!!! LIKE TO EAT??? LIKE DRUMS?...ARE YOU A PERFORMANCE ARTIST???..DO YOU BELIEVE IN BEING GREEN???? WELL THEN... JOIN US..FOR OUR..

"NEW SHAMBALLAH TRIBAL COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS AND INNER PEACE POT LUCK."

WHERE? Coopers Glenn apartments Walking distance from Evergreen State College. (3138 Overhulse Road N.W. Olympia Washington 98502..walking distance north from the dorms).

Time: 4pm to 10 pm

Cost: any one of these; a rock or stone, incense, or a candle.

All must bring something to share:
food and water
Love, cups and eating utensils
respect and peace

ALL must leave:
hatred, alcohol, and smoking green

There will be provided seperate tables for...  read more »

Slashdot has an interesting thread up nominating sites for a "Most Likely To Be Shut Down By the Government" award. A bunch of interesting projects get mentioned in the comments, making the whole thing a good way find out about snoop-free internet, encryption with no government-mandated backdoors, and other goodness the nerds are up to that gives the police state a rash.

Link

Relief according to the Feds: After you stick em in the trailers,which it turns out handily came equiped with 5x the safe level of formaldahyde fumes, lose track of em, start some useless studies and don't bother coming up with any long term plan to help these kids you've gotten so very, very sick... 12x the cases before the storm of severe asthma in kids after they stay in those FEMA relief trailers.

It will take 10-15 years before the cancers start to develop.

AP story after the jump, via Rawstory.  read more »

This article from Radar magazine discusses (all in good histrionic-free reporterese) "Main Core", the database that may identify contain up to 6 million names the Fascist's in power would want to round up if they ever got their martial law,.  read more »

Saudi Arabia gives 500 million dollars to world food appeal
AFP
Published: Friday May 23, 2008

Propel This! - Submit to Propeller.com

Saudi Arabia has donated half a billion dollars (317 million euros) to a UN World Food Programme appeal to battle the global food price crisis, helping it reach a 755 million dollar goal, the WFP said Friday.

"The World Food Programme has met its extraordinary call for 755 million dollars to compensate for the increased costs of food and fuel with a 500 million dollar donation from The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," said a statement.  read more »

http://friendsofthewaterfront.org/

Friends of the Waterfront is a group of Olympia Area residents and businesspeople who see the Olympia waterfront as a community treasure -- a central feature that is vital to the health of the whole community.

We advocate managing the waterfront area, the land within 600 feet of the water, wisely. It should be developed for the benefit of the entire community, not for the benefit of limited interests.

Doing that well requires managing it according to the community's vision, as determined by a process that includes all elements of the community.
What we think most people would want...  read more »

BLACKWATER MAKES COMEBACK
More tax money for Murder Inc.

Thomas Riggins

This news, as reported on the front page of the NYT for 5-10-08, should not be a big surprise. This one article encapsulates the whole insanity of Bush's adventure in Iraq. It also exposes the sharade of a "sovereign" Iraqi government. We all know about the infamous Blackwater mercenaries, hired killers used by the US government to protect the State Department workers and others in Iraqi and to also spread death and terror to Iraqis who get in their way. If any group should be on the government's list of terrorist organizations it is Blackwater, Inc.  read more »

WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR., R.I.P. AVE ATQUE VALE!
Thomas Riggins

There is no doubt, from reading the New York Times obituary (2-28-2008), that Buckley was a talented and bright person. But his legacy, I fear, is mostly negative and his existence was a not a boon to humanity. A few quotes from the Times reveals why.  read more »

Attack on Pensions by Right Wing Government Resisted
Thomas Riggins

“Options in favor of the European Union are incompatible with any concept of measures in favor of the popular strata”—A.Papariga, General Secretary, KKE

Two days ago the Greek working class closed down Greece for 24 hours to protest another attempt by the right wing capitalist state, run by Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis, to mess with the pension system.

Karamanlis wants to reduce benefits and extend the working age past 65 (men) and 60 (women) despite the fact that he won re-election last year after pledging to do neither.

The typical politicians ploy of promising one thing to get elected and then reneging.  read more »

Thomas Riggins

Here is all we need to know about the latest fabricated "incident" from the Persian Gulf. If you remember the Tonkin Bay "incident" you may want to sing a few lines of when will they ever learn.

The New York Times reported yesterday that the film we all saw on TV of the Iranian speed boats "confronting" the US Navy and threatening to "blow you up" was fake. That is the Navy and the Pentagon admitted "that the video and audio were recorded separately and then combined." That means all the major media broadcast a fake film.  read more »

Thomas Riggins

The Millennium Development Agency set up by Congress three years ago to help poor countries around the world has been slow to develop programs and invest the money provided for it ( $4.8 Billion). It has spent only $155 million!

So now the Senate wants to cut the foreign aid budget (to make "savings"). It wants to slash by 50% the available funds. The problem is this. The MDA works out a 5 year development plan with a country and if the plan is approved, funds it. The country involved often spends millions of its own money to make the reforms and infrastructure necessary to get the US grant. Its like a little test of the sincerity of the applicant.  read more »

Thomas Riggins

"GREECE : STRIKES AGAINST PENSION CHANGE BEGIN" so begins a World Briefing entry by Anthee Carassava in today's New York Times International section (11/27/07).

The capitalist neoliberal assault on worker's rights in the EU is not confined to France. There is a general trend, since the fall of the USSR and the Eastern European worker's states, to roll back the gains of the European working class since the end of WW2.

The reasons are the same in Greece as in France. "Striking teachers marched through Athens streets, part of a planned wave of strikes against what unions describe as government plans to raise retirement ages and cut benefits to millions of future retirees."  read more »

We saw seven Stryker vehicles move out Friday on flatbed trucks over road, all down Marine Drive to Interstate 5, to go back to Ft Lewis. The eighth stryker on a flatbed was stopped by people crossing in the crosswalk. The driver of the Semi truck then drove INTO the group of people, slowly trying to push through the crowd (vehicular assault). He was told that he was under citizens arrest at that time, and he was ordered to get out of the vehicle. He refused to comply. The truck driver then drove forward again, committing the same offense. The local police who arrived were told of the arrest, and simply said "nope" and got back into their cars to regroup and decide how to handle the situation.  read more »

"HELL NO WE WON'T GO": FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICERS TO RICE

Thomas Riggins

Recent press reports have highlighted a growing resistance movement by employees at the US State Department. It seems that the Dept. is having trouble finding enough red blooded pork chop eating real American patriots to serve their country by working out of the super sized new American Embassy in Baghdad. It seems like the diplomatic corps is turning down assignments to Iraq in droves, so the Dept. has issued a ukase to serve in Iraq or be fired.

The State Department insiders know what's what in Iraq, not to be at all fooled by the testimony of Tin Pot generals lying to Congress, and they would rather stay safe and sound then go there.  read more »

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the only socialist in the U.S. Senate, introduced the “Increasing American Wages and Benefits Act” on September 26, 2007. The Act requires employers to hire American workers at higher wages before hiring guest-workers under what is called the H-2B program, a temporary program allowing foreign workers who are less-skilled to work in the U.S. in non-agricultural roles.

The Act also gives the Department of Labor the “explicit authority” to enforce labor law violations “pertaining to the H-2B program,” according to statements Sanders made while introducing the Act.  read more »

The occupation of Iraq by U.S. military forces has proved to be a ‘meat-grinder’ for both U.S. forces and Iraqi civilians. National polls indicate that the majority of Americans want U.S. forces out of Iraq. Yet the Senate just passed the 2008 Defense Authorization Bill without timelines for withdrawal.  read more »

By Rebecca Trotzky Sirr
Originally published at www.UpsideDownWorld.org

Though new laws guarantee all Venezuelans the right to healthcare, birth control and sexual education, poorer women disproportionately face health problems including higher rates of disease, STDs, unplanned pregnancies and unsafe abortions.

Sara walks into the neighborhood clinic where I am volunteering in rural Venezuela, in a municipality of less than 15,000 people situated in the Andes mountains. Besides tourism, agriculture fuels the local economy, which is dependent on small farms. Sara visited today for her checkup. She’s 35 and has lived here all her life. "Before this clinic was here, I never went to the doctor," she explains.  read more »

Court Says No to Peabody Coal

In an important victory today, a Kentucky court ruled against Peabody’s proposed new Thoroughbred coal-fired power plant, citing the plant as a threat to both public health and Kentucky’s industrial growth. The plant, planned for Muhlenberg County, would have been one of America’s largest and most polluting power plants- emitting thousands of tons of air pollutants that cause smog and are known to cause severe public health problems including asthma and cancer.

“This is a huge victory, especially for our children and the elderly who suffer most from dirty air,” said Pat Gallagher, the Director of the Sierra Club’s Environmental Law Program.  read more »

Thought we would pass the good news on...... From: Citizens Coal Council

* Conservationists Score Major Court Victory on Destruction from Mining;*

*Federal Court Rules Pennsylvania Must Require Coal Industry to Post Bonds to Cover Entire Cost of Cleanup*

Harrisburg, PA (August 3, 2007) –The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit yesterday gave a victory to Pennsylvania’s environment and economy by ruling in favor of a coalition represented by Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (PennFuture) that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania must require the state’s coal operators to post bonds to cover the entire cost of environmental cleanup. The case began in December 2003, when PennFuture filed a lawsuit on behalf of Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs, Pennsylvania Council of Trout Unlimited (formerly PA Trout), the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Sierra Club, the Tri-State Citizens Mining Network (now known as the Center for Coalfield Justice) and the Mountain Watershed Association against both the federal and state governments for their failure to protect Pennsylvania’s environment from damage caused by mining operations, including acid stream pollution.  read more »

LATEST CARAVAN NEWS - PRESS RELEASE
July 17, 2007, 8:30am - for immediate release

CONTACTS: IFCO/Pastors for Peace
McAllen: Ellen Bernstein 646/319-5902
New York: Lucia Bruno 212/926-5757, 347/423-4330

PASTORS FOR PEACE CUBA CARAVAN DETAINED BY HOMELAND SECURITY:
OFFICERS CURRENTLY SEARCHING VEHICLES, 'DETAINING' COMPUTERS

126 U.S. Citizens and International Activists Challenging Immoral U.S. Blockade of Cuba  read more »