NEWS

[towhom]

U.S. man who gave secrets to Israel spared prison
NewsDaily
Posted 2009/05/29 at 7:16 pm EDT
www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre54s65h-us-usa-israel-spy/

NEW YORK — An 85-year-old former civilian employee of the U.S. Army was fined but avoided prison time on Friday after earlier pleading guilty to giving classified documents to Israel in the 1980s in a case the sentencing judge said was "shrouded in mystery."

Court documents showed that Ben-Ami Kadish, who was fined $50,000 but spared prison time, reported to the same handler as Jonathan Pollard, an American who spied for Israel in the 1980s and triggered a scandal that rocked U.S.-Israeli relations.

"Why it took the government 23 years to charge Mr. Kadish is shrouded in mystery," U.S. District Judge William Pauley said during the sentencing hearing in Manhattan federal court. "It is clear the (U.S.) government could have charged Mr. Kadish with far more serious crimes."

Kadish pleaded guilty in December to acting as an unregistered agent of Israel. He was arrested in April 2008 on four counts of conspiracy and espionage. The spying charge, dropped under a plea deal, had carried a possible death sentence.

"I am sorry I made a mistake," a frail-looking Kadish said during the sentencing hearing. "I thought I was helping the state of Israel without harming the United States."

The judge said he gave a lenient sentence due to Kadish's age and infirmity, but said Kadish had committed "a grave offense" and had "abused the trust" of the United States. For much of the hearing, Kadish sat slumped in his chair with heavy eyelids. At one stage, he had to be shaken awake by his lawyer.

MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEMS

Prosecutors had recommended no prison time as part of the plea deal. They said between 1980 and 1985 Kadish provided classified documents, including some relating to U.S. missile defense systems, to an Israeli agent, Yosef Yagur, who photographed the documents at Kadish's residence.

Yagur also was Pollard's main Israeli contact. Pollard, a former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst, is serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to spying for Israel in 1986. Israel gave Pollard citizenship in 1996 and acknowledged he was one of its spies in 1998.

During the hearing, the judge questioned a prosecutor as to why it took so long to charge Kadish when the telephone records on which the case was based were available in the mid-1980s.

"There is no mystery behind it, it's just what happened," said prosecutor Iris Lan, who explained she understood it took the FBI that amount of time to assemble the evidence.

The judge also questioned Kadish's lawyer about how Kadish was able to earn $104,000 in 2007 when he does not work. His lawyer said it was from investments.

Kadish was born in the United States but grew up on a farm in Palestine before the founding of the modern state of Israel. He served in the British and U.S. armies in World War II.

From 1980 to 1985, Yagur asked Kadish to obtain classified documents, which Kadish retrieved from the U.S. Army's Picatinny Arsenal in Dover, New Jersey, according to a sworn statement by Kadish. Kadish said he kept up a friendship with Yagur after 1985.

"While Kadish knew he was aiding Israel, an ally to the United States, he also knew his crime compromised the national security," the judge said.

"Shrouded in mystery", FBI took 23 years to compile and assemble the plaintiff's incriminating telephone records from the 1980s, plaintiff made $107,000 in 2007 from "investments" and was fined $50,000, divulged classified US Missile Defense system documents to a foreign national...

Geez, we get tickets for jaywalking and huge fines with jail terms for income tax evasion - now THAT'S a REAL mystery...

[towhom]

Threat of the 'thought police' alarms Israel's Arab minority
Freedom to oppose Israel's right to exist among acts that right-wing politicians are attempting to outlaw
The Independent
By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem
Saturday, 30 May 2009
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/threat-of-the-thought-police-alarms-israels-arab-minority-1693157.html

Israeli Arab leaders have called an emergency meeting today to discuss their growing alarm over a series of "racist and fascist" bills being promoted by right-wing members of the country's parliament. One of the bills has already brought fierce accusations from two prominent Jewish Knesset members that its backers are trying to create a "thought police" and "punish people for talking".

The Higher Arab Monitoring Committee – the main umbrella body of Arab political and civic leaders in Israel – cited special concern over another bill which would outlaw the commemoration of the Nakba or catastrophe on Israel's Independence Day. While Israel's Declaration of Independence on 14 May 1948 is celebrated annually as the foundation of the state, Palestinians in Israel, Gaza, the West Bank and in refugee camps abroad mark the expulsion and flight of some 700,000 Arabs during the war of that year.

But the Committee is also protesting at another bill, which was given its first reading in the Knesset this week, that would make it a crime to negate Israel's right to exist as a "Jewish and democratic state".

It was during a heated debate on that bill last Wednesday that Haim Oron, leader of the left-wing Meretz party, declared: "Have you lost all faith in Israel as a Jewish and democratic state? This crazy government, what on earth are you doing? A thought police? Have you all lost it?" And Roni Bar-On, who was the centrist Kadima finance minister in the last government, asked the promoters: "You want to punish people for talking? Soon, will you want to punish for thoughts?"

A third bill which is expected to come before the ministerial legislative committee tomorrow would enforce a "loyalty oath" on those seeking Israeli citizenship. The idea of the oath was a centrepiece of the election campaign waged by Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the hardline Yisrael Beiteinu party who is now foreign minister.

The Higher Arab Monitoring Committee, which says it represents well over one million Arab citizens in Israel, has declared its outrage, saying that these are "racist and fascist proposals aimed against the Arab public in Israel, and there is no doubt that these proposals must be dealt with".

The bill effectively outlawing Nakba commemoration was approved by a majority of the legislative committee last weekend after it was proposed by Alex Miller, a Russian-born Yisrael Beiteinu politician who lives in the Jewish West Bank settlement of Ariel.

Mr Miller's explanatory notes call for "harsh punishment for those who take advantage of the democratic and enlightened nature of the State of Israel to bring it down from within".

Saying that it would be inconceivable to hold protests against American Independence Day, Mr Miller declared this week: "It's high time for us to be proud of our country." The bill would carry penalties of up to three years in prison for violators.

It is far from certain that the bills will pass or that they will survive the scrutiny of Israel's Supreme Court even if they do.

Bills similar to Mr Miller's Nakba proposal have been proposed several times before and failed, though the rightward shift in Knesset representation in the last election may give them a better chance this time around.

A majority of Yisrael Beiteinu and Likud ministers on the legislative committee voted in favour of the Knesset debating the Nakba bill, although two ministers – Labour's Isaac Herzog and Likud's Michael Eitan – opposed it.

Mr Herzog, the son of a former President of Israel, said he had done so "because I believe that it could impair freedom of expression and freedom of protest and achieve the opposite goal – increasing alienation and strengthening extremists, who are on the margins of Arab society".

The first Knesset reading of the bill seeking to compel citizens to recognise the existence of Israel as a "Jewish and democratic" state secured a majority of 47 to 34.

The bill's promoter, Zevulun Orlev, a Knesset member in the right-wing Jewish Home party, cited the case of Azmi Bishara, a Christian Arab who resigned his Knesset seat in 2007 and fled Israel, where he was facing charges of treason and espionage. Mr Bishara was heavily criticised for trips to Syria and Lebanon, where he reportedly praised Hizbollah.

Mr Orlev claimed during the debate that Mr Bishara's case showed that what begins with words "very quickly leads to actions". But Mr Oron said: "It is the right of Israeli citizens to say that they think Judaism and democracy are not the correct formula. I think that they're wrong, but what does that have to do with criminality? Lay off it."

[towhom]

Last-ditch deal as world's biggest bankruptcy looms
As a Russian-backed consortium sealed a deal to buy GM Europe last night, Sean O'Grady explores the crisis in the motor industry
The Independent
Saturday, 30 May 2009
www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/lastditch-deal-as-worlds-biggest-bankruptcy-looms-1693142.html

In the car industry, few things stand still for very long. Yesterday though, the future for 5,000 Vauxhall workers in Luton and at Ellesmere Port in Merseyside seemed a little more stable. For days the negotiations surrounding the disposal of General Motors' European operations, including Vauxhall, have become something of an international soap opera. The Business Secretary, Lord Mandelson, has been accused by the unions of having nothing more than a walk-on part in scenes dominated by the American and German governments and the three private sector bidders for the business, which employs 50,000 people, half of them in German Opel factories.

Yesterday, the Canadian Magna company, the only prospective purchaser remaining after Fiat and US private equity group Ripplewood Holdings flounced off the set, took control of GM Europe, in a deal backed by at least €1.4bn (£1.22bn) in loan guarantees from the German government and €500m- €700m in cash from the new investors, who include the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Now GM in the US will still hold 35 per cent of GM Europe: the Russian state-controlled bank Sberbank, part of Magna's consortium, will own another 35 per cent, while Magna itself has 20 per cent. The remaining 10 per cent will be given to the workers. Russian auto firm Gaz, nominally controlled by Mr Deripaska, is also involved in the deal, and has an existing Russian joint venture with GM.

With the sale under way Detroit-based parent General Motors can now proceed to an "orderly" bankruptcy under America's special Chapter 11 rules. GM will file for bankruptcy on Monday in what will be the biggest failure in corporate history, once unthinkable, and a powerful badge, were any needed, of how a financial crisis originating in an obscure corner of the securities market has penetrated to the heart of the world's economic life. When GM emerges in a few months time, it will be smaller and 72 per cent owned by the US taxpayer. It will join AIG, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and other unwanted children of the economic crisis in President Obama's corporate orphanage.

Attention on this side of the Atlantic will now focus on Magna's intentions especially for the British business. During the talks, Magna was reported to be prepared to guarantee the continuation of production at all four of GM's Opel German plants, implicitly in the grounds that that was where the bulk of the funding was going to come from, with job losses limited to 2,500. That also carried the implication that other important centres, in the UK and Belgium and maybe Spain, were less secure. Lord Mandelson said last night: "I will, of course, look forward to a very early meeting with Magna. I will be seeking from them reinforcement of the commitment they gave to me last week to continued production by Vauxhall here in the UK. They made clear to me that they are committed to continued production by Vauxhall in the UK. I take that at face value."

Magna co-chief executive Siegfried Wolf has in the past only gone so far, on the record, as to say he would look for ways to keep the British and Belgian factories open. Ellesmere Port is due to begin production of the new generation Astra later this year, so a closure in the short term there seems less likely. But all players in the drama have stressed that GM Europe can make about 30 per cent more cars than it can ever hope to sell, and that painful cuts, somewhere, are inevitable.

Indeed, that is the fundamental problem facing every car-maker today – chronic overcapacity – and it has made adjustment to the downturn doubly difficult. The world's car factories can make 10 million more cars than they can sell, even in good times. To put that in perspective, GM's European production in 2007 amounted to 1.8 million units. New factories in China and India are only adding to overcapacity: no wonder some only half-jokingly suggested a consortium of Ford, Volkswagen, Renault, Toyota and Honda should have bought GM and Chrysler to close them down, thus helping to restore their own profitability.

Recession has certainly hit even the most respected names hard. Toyota, still the most efficient player in the world, has lost $8bn in the last two years. Almost every car-maker seems to be in trouble of one sort or another, even Porsche, the brand with the fattest margins in the business. A new car is the ultimate "big ticket" purchase, and is nowadays easily deferred. The revolution in quality and reliability over the past 20 years has meant that few consumers are forced into a buying a new car because their old one is dying, though scrappage schemes will help speed the automotive ageing process. The credit crunch has cut the ready supply of car loans.

But General Motors engineered its own faults. Generous lifetime healthcare and pensions benefits left it lumbered with costs its younger rivals from Japan and Korea never had to bear. That was a product of GM's 101-year history; but its overreliance on sports utility vehicles was not. When the US was framing its fuel-efficiency targets years ago energetic lobbying from the Big Three left a loophole for "light trucks". In common with the other US giants, Ford and Chrysler, GM became dangerously dependent on SUV and pick-up sales: they are simple (and cheap) to make and can be tarted up to command a high showroom price and decent margins. Then came dearer oil and the slump: Americans started to downsize to smaller sedans, and the best selling car is now the Toyota Camry.

Like all the Wall Street executives who sent their banks spectacularly bust, GM's management was recklessly negligent over the exposure the company was running to a particular set of economic conditions – cheap fuel and booming credit – that could not last forever. A firm worth over $50bn a decade ago is worthless today, an historic destruction of shareholder value, with the livelihoods of 150,000 staff in jeopardy. Very recently, GM has produced promising electric cars such as the Chevrolet Volt concept: it was too little too late. GM died of complacency.

[towhom]

The new boom: price of oil posts largest rise for a decade
Brent crude jumped by $1 yesterday to pass $66 for the first time since October
The Independent
By Sarah Arnott
Saturday, 30 May 2009

London Brent Crude jumped by more than $1 yesterday, passing the $66-per-barrel mark for the first time since October and completing a mini-boom for May, which saw the fastest monthly oil price rise in nearly a decade.

Oil has already nearly doubled its price so far this year, after plummeting to below $35 per barrel in December from its all-time $147 high last July.

It could yet rise higher. Abdalla el-Badri, the secretary general of the Opec oil producers' cartel, predicted this week that prices could reach $75 by the end of the year. Ali al-Naimi, the Saudi Arabian oil minister, predicted as much as $80 thanks to rising economic optimism and concomitant demand growth, particularly in Asia.

The outlook is sufficiently optimistic that the 12-strong cartel agreed at its quarterly meeting in Vienna this week that there is no need for further production cuts to shore up the price. Some 3.2 million barrels per day (bpd) of cuts were agreed in three tranches last autumn, in an attempt to put a floor under the collapsing price. Even though not all Opec members are pulling their weight – with Iran and Angola in particular understood to be cashing in on their counterparts' efforts – the price is nonetheless rising satisfactorily.

Reduced supply is not the only fundamental at work. Since the slump last autumn, lack of economic confidence has led refinery customers to draw on their own supplies rather than buy any more. But inventories are finally running low and data from the US government this week showed the country's crude stocks down by 5.4 million barrels in the previous week alone, as refineries up their output ahead of the summer.

But even with some early signs that the worst of the global slump may be over, most commentators are far less bullish than Opec on the timing of any recovery. The International Energy Agency (IEA), for one, paints a far gloomier picture. As recently as this month, the research group revised further downwards its forecasts for world oil demand this year, predicting a faster annual drop than at any time since 1981. Cutting another 160,000 bpd, the IEA now expects demand to come in at 2.56 million bpd lower this year than in 2008.

The economic outlook remains grim, with global GDP expected to contract by as much as 1.3 per cent this year according to the International Monetary Fund. And there is still considerable oversupply of oil, with between 100 million and 130 million barrels-worth stored on tankers offshore. Manouchehr Takin, a senior analyst at the Centre for Global Energy Studies, said: "With the fundamental outlook on the economy weak, with demand sluggish, and with so much oil available in storage, the basic view is that the price should not be high. But it is."

Paper investments – widely blamed for last year's price bubble – are the likely culprit once again. While Opec's production cuts might account for a price back up towards the $50 mark, the rest is down to institutional investors, say experts. Fund managers with billions of dollars to spend are wary of volatile stock markets, but the money has to go somewhere and commodities of all kinds are seeing a boost.

For oil, the fact that futures prices are higher than spot is also helping to draw in speculators.

But the situation is unlikely to continue as the reality of the economic problems sink in. "The Opec price forecast is not likely, because stock markets will become more reliable again and draw investment back, while the fundamentals are likely to remain weak and keep demand down," Mr Takin said.

[towhom]

Petraeus Says U.S. Violated Geneva Conventions - What Will Cheney and Rush Say?
Huffington Post
Jon Soltz, Co-Founder of VoteVets.org, served as a Captain in Operation Iraqi Freedom
Posted: May 29, 2009 03:52 PM
www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-soltz/petraeus-says-us-violated_b_209215.html

A couple of days ago, I chronicled the quickening departure of some big military names from the Republican party, those concerned about the party moving even farther to the right a number of issues, including torture. What struck me at the time is that General David Petraeus came out against torture and for closing Guantanamo.

I was stunned, however, when he admitted today that the United States has violated the Geneva Conventions. Without saying specifically how we did (though it doesn't take much imagination to figure it out), Petraeus said on FOX News:

Question: So is sending this signal that we're not going to use these kind of techniques anymore, what kind of impact does this have on people who do us harm in the field that you operate in?

Gen. Petraeus: Well, actually what I would ask is, "Does that not take away from our enemies a tool which again have beaten us around the head and shoulders in the court of public opinion?" When we have taken steps that have violated the Geneva Conventions we rightly have been criticized, so as we move forward I think it's important to again live our values, to live the agreements that we have made in the international justice arena and to practice those.

This fits in very well with an explosive new video put out by VoteVets.org today, in which Jay Bagwell, who worked in counterintelligence in Afghanistan not only argues against torture, but says that detainees were brought in who had pamphlets portraying Guantanamo in them.

One has to wonder what thingy Cheney, Rush Limbaugh, and their crowd will say to this? In the past, General Petraeus could do and say no wrong. Now, he is not only saying torture does not work, but is saying that what the right fringe believes are only "enhanced techniques" violated international law.

As Jay Bagwell in our video says so well, "The Unites States can't be a beacon of freedom and human rights and the value of law while we ignore international law."

Now, we can say without a doubt that General David Petraeus agrees.

Mr. Cheney? Rush? What do you say to that?

[ninathedog]

May 27, 2009 1:40:25 GMT 4 @nodstar said:

Animals can tell right from wrong

[/size][/b]

www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/5373379/Animals-can-tell-right-from-wrong.html

2009-05-25



Animals possess a sense of morality that allows them to tell the difference between right and wrong, according to a controversial new book.

Scientists studying animal behaviour believe they have growing evidence that species ranging from mice to primates are governed by moral codes of conduct in the same way as humans.

Until recently, humans were thought to be the only species to experience complex emotions and have a sense of morality.

But Prof Marc Bekoff, an ecologist at University of Colorado, Boulder, believes that morals are "hard-wired" into the brains of all mammals and provide the "social glue" that allow often aggressive and competitive animals to live together in groups.

He has compiled evidence from around the world that shows how different species of animals appear to have an innate sense of fairness, display empathy and help other animals that are in distress.

His conclusions will provide ammunition for animal welfare groups pushing to have animals treated more humanely, but some experts are sceptical about the extent to which animals can experience complex emotions and social responsibility.

Prof Bekoff, who presents his case in a new book Wild Justice, said: "The belief that humans have morality and animals don't is a long-standing assumption, but there is a growing amount of evidence that is showing us that this simply cannot be the case.

"Just as in humans, the moral nuances of a particular culture or group will be different from another, but they are certainly there. Moral codes are species specific, so they can be difficult to compare with each other or with humans."

Prof Bekoff believes morals developed in animals to help regulate behaviour in social groups of animals such as wolves and primates.

He claims that these rules help to control fighting within the group and encourage co-operative behaviour.

Recent neurology work has also revealed that distantly related mammals such as whales and dolphins have the same structures in their brains that are thought to be responsible for empathy in humans.

Other findings have also suggested that some animals may even be capable of showing empathy with the suffering of other species.

Prof Bekoff, who co-wrote the book with moral philosopher Jessica Pierce, also from the University of Colorado, added: "There are cases of dolphins helping humans to escape from sharks and elephants that have helped antelope escape from enclosures.

"While it is difficult to know for certain that there is cross species empathy, it is hard to argue against it."

His ideas have met with some controversy in the scientific community, but many admit it is difficult to argue that animals do not share many of the psychological qualities previously only attributed to humans.

Professor Frans de Waal, a primate behaviourist at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, said: "I don't believe animals are moral in the sense we humans are – with well developed and reasoned sense of right and wrong – rather that human morality incorporates a set of psychological tendencies and capacities such as empathy, reciprocity, a desire for co-operation and harmony that are older than our species.

"Human morality was not formed from scratch, but grew out of our primate psychology. Primate psychology has ancient roots, and I agree that other animals show many of the same tendencies and have an intense sociality."

WOLVES

Wolves live in tight-knit social groups that are regulated by strict rules. If a pack grows too large, members are not able to bond closely enough and the pack disintegrates. Wolves also demonstrate fairness.

During play, dominant wolves will "handicap" themselves by engaging in roll reversal with lower ranking wolves, showing submission and allowing them to bite, provided it is not too hard.

Prof Bekoff argues that without a moral code governing their actions, this kind of behaviour would not be possible. If an animal bites too hard, it will initiate a "play bow" to ask forgiveness before play resumes.

COYOTES

In other members of the dog family, play is controlled by similar rules. Among coyotes, cubs which bite too hard are ostracised by the rest of the group and often end up having to leave entirely.

"We looked at the mortality of these young animals who disperse from the group and they have four to five times higher mortality," said Bekoff.

Experiments with domestic dogs, where one animal was given a treat and another denied, have shown that they posses a sense of fairness as they shared their treats.

ELEPHANTS

Elephants are intensely sociable and emotional animals. Research by Iain Douglas Hamilton, from the department of zoology at Oxford University, suggests elephants experience compassion and has found evidence of elephants helping injured or ill members of their herd.

In one case, a Matriarch known as Eleanor fell ill and a female in the herd gently tried to help Eleanor back to her feet, staying with her before she died.

In 2003, a herd of 11 elephants rescued antelope who were being held inside an enclosure in KwaZula-Natal, South Africa.

The matriarch unfastened all of the metal latches holding the gates closed and swung the entrance open allowing the antelope to escape.

This is thought to be a rare example of animals showing empathy for members of another species – a trait previously thought to be the exclusive preserve of mankind.

DIANA MONKEYS

A laboratory experiment trained Diana monkeys to insert a token into a slot to obtain food.

A male who had grown to be adept at the task was found to be helping the oldest female who had not been able to learn how to insert the token.

On three occasion the male monkey picked up tokens she dropped and inserted them into the slot and allowed her to have the food.

As there was no benefit for the male monkey, Prof Bekoff argues that this is a clear example of an animal's actions being driven by some internal moral compass.

CHIMPANZEES

Known to be among the most cognitively advanced of the great apes and our closest cousin, it is perhaps not surprising that scientists should suggest they live by moral codes.

A chimpanzee known as Knuckles – from the Centre for Great Apes in Florida – is the only known captive chimpanzee to suffer from cerebral palsy, which leaves him physically and mentally handicapped.

Scientists have found that other chimpanzees in his group treat him differently and he is rarely subjected to intimidating displays of aggression from older males.

Chimpanzees also demonstrate a sense of justice and those who deviate from the code of conduct of a group are set upon by other members as punishment.

RODENTS

Experiments with rats have shown that they will not take food if they know their actions will cause pain to another rat. In lab tests, rats were given food which then caused a second group of rats to receive an electric shock.

The rats with the food stopped eating rather than see another rat receive a shock. Similarly, mice react more strongly to pain when they have seen another mouse in pain.

Recent research from Switzerland also showed that rats will help a rat, to which it is not related, to obtain food if they themselves have benefited from the charity of others. This reciprocity was thought to be restricted to primates.

BATS

Vampire bats need to drink blood every night but it is common for some not to find any food. Those who are successful in foraging for blood will share their meal with bats who are not successful.

They are more likely to share with bats who had previously shared with them. Prof Bekoff believes this reciprocity is a result of a sense of affiliation that binds groups of animals together.

Some studies have shown that animals experience hormonal changes that lead them to "crave" social interaction.

Biologists have also observed a female Rodrigues fruit-eating bat in Gainesville, Florida, helping another female to give birth by showing the pregnant female the correct birthing position – with head up and feed down.

WHALES

Whales have been found to have spindle cells in their brains. These very large and specialised cells were thought to be restricted to humans and other great apes and appear to play a role in empathy and understanding the feelings of others.

Humpback whales, fin whales, killer whales and sperm whales have all been found to have spindle cells in the same areas of their brains.

They also have three times as many spindle cells compared to humans and are thought to be older in evolutionary terms.

This finding has suggested that complex emotional judgements such as empathy may have evolved considerably earlier in history than previously thought and could be widespread in the animal kingdom.[/quote]

Thank you, Nod*
Of course many of us read this and thought "of course they do!"

I really especially liked the part about the elephant releasing the gazelle...

[ninathedog]

May 30, 2009 14:55:28 GMT 4 @towhom said:

Threat of the 'thought police' alarms Israel's Arab minority
Freedom to oppose Israel's right to exist among acts that right-wing politicians are attempting to outlaw
The Independent
By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem
Saturday, 30 May 2009
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/threat-of-the-thought-police-alarms-israels-arab-minority-1693157.html

Israeli Arab leaders have called an emergency meeting today to discuss their growing alarm over a series of "racist and fascist" bills being promoted by right-wing members of the country's parliament. One of the bills has already brought fierce accusations from two prominent Jewish Knesset members that its backers are trying to create a "thought police" and "punish people for talking".

The Higher Arab Monitoring Committee – the main umbrella body of Arab political and civic leaders in Israel – cited special concern over another bill which would outlaw the commemoration of the Nakba or catastrophe on Israel's Independence Day. While Israel's Declaration of Independence on 14 May 1948 is celebrated annually as the foundation of the state, Palestinians in Israel, Gaza, the West Bank and in refugee camps abroad mark the expulsion and flight of some 700,000 Arabs during the war of that year.

But the Committee is also protesting at another bill, which was given its first reading in the Knesset this week, that would make it a crime to negate Israel's right to exist as a "Jewish and democratic state".

It was during a heated debate on that bill last Wednesday that Haim Oron, leader of the left-wing Meretz party, declared: "Have you lost all faith in Israel as a Jewish and democratic state? This crazy government, what on earth are you doing? A thought police? Have you all lost it?" And Roni Bar-On, who was the centrist Kadima finance minister in the last government, asked the promoters: "You want to punish people for talking? Soon, will you want to punish for thoughts?"

A third bill which is expected to come before the ministerial legislative committee tomorrow would enforce a "loyalty oath" on those seeking Israeli citizenship. The idea of the oath was a centrepiece of the election campaign waged by Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the hardline Yisrael Beiteinu party who is now foreign minister.

The Higher Arab Monitoring Committee, which says it represents well over one million Arab citizens in Israel, has declared its outrage, saying that these are "racist and fascist proposals aimed against the Arab public in Israel, and there is no doubt that these proposals must be dealt with".

The bill effectively outlawing Nakba commemoration was approved by a majority of the legislative committee last weekend after it was proposed by Alex Miller, a Russian-born Yisrael Beiteinu politician who lives in the Jewish West Bank settlement of Ariel.

Mr Miller's explanatory notes call for "harsh punishment for those who take advantage of the democratic and enlightened nature of the State of Israel to bring it down from within".

Saying that it would be inconceivable to hold protests against American Independence Day, Mr Miller declared this week: "It's high time for us to be proud of our country." The bill would carry penalties of up to three years in prison for violators.

It is far from certain that the bills will pass or that they will survive the scrutiny of Israel's Supreme Court even if they do.

Bills similar to Mr Miller's Nakba proposal have been proposed several times before and failed, though the rightward shift in Knesset representation in the last election may give them a better chance this time around.

A majority of Yisrael Beiteinu and Likud ministers on the legislative committee voted in favour of the Knesset debating the Nakba bill, although two ministers – Labour's Isaac Herzog and Likud's Michael Eitan – opposed it.

Mr Herzog, the son of a former President of Israel, said he had done so "because I believe that it could impair freedom of expression and freedom of protest and achieve the opposite goal – increasing alienation and strengthening extremists, who are on the margins of Arab society".

The first Knesset reading of the bill seeking to compel citizens to recognise the existence of Israel as a "Jewish and democratic" state secured a majority of 47 to 34.

The bill's promoter, Zevulun Orlev, a Knesset member in the right-wing Jewish Home party, cited the case of Azmi Bishara, a Christian Arab who resigned his Knesset seat in 2007 and fled Israel, where he was facing charges of treason and espionage. Mr Bishara was heavily criticised for trips to Syria and Lebanon, where he reportedly praised Hizbollah.

Mr Orlev claimed during the debate that Mr Bishara's case showed that what begins with words "very quickly leads to actions". But Mr Oron said: "It is the right of Israeli citizens to say that they think Judaism and democracy are not the correct formula. I think that they're wrong, but what does that have to do with criminality? Lay off it."

A list of books that might be of interest...these I have on my shelf and there are very likely many more along the same lines:

A Threat From Within — A Century of Jewish Opposition to Zionism
by Yakov M. Rabkin
Translation from French by Fred A. Reed and Yakov M. Rabkin
Copyright © 2006 Yakov M. Rabkin
Translation Copyright © 2006 Fred A. Reed
Originally published in French in 2004 as Au nom de la Torah: Une histoire de l'opposition juive au sionisme by Les Presses de l'Université Laval © Les presses de l'Université Laval 2004
Published in Canada by Fernwood Publishing
Published in the rest of the world by Zed Books Ltd.
Zed Books ISBN: Hb 1 84277 698 3 Pb 84277 699 1
ISBN 1-55266-171-7

Between Home and Homeland — Youth Aliyah from Nazi Germany
by Brian Amkraut
Copyright © 2006
The University of Alabama Press
ISBN-13: 978-0-8173-1513-9 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8173-1513-6

51 Documents: Zionist Collaboration With the Nazis
Edited by Lenni Brenner
Copyright © 2002 by Lenni Brenner
Published by Barricade Books Inc.
ISBN 1-56980-235-1

as an aside:
Beyond Chutzpah — On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History
by Norman G. Finkelstein
© 2005 by Norman G. Finkelstein
University of California Press
ISBN 0-520-24598-9 (cloth : alk. paper)


Just a short list to get us all thinking.

Thank you for the above post, Sally Anne!
love,
jen.

[ninathedog]

Israel Threatened by Shoes, Toilet Paper And Laundry Detergent

By Mohammed Omer
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, May-June 2009, pages 22-23
www.wrmea.com/archives/May-June_2009/0905022.html

ISRAEL APPARENTLY considers toilet paper, laundry detergent, dish soap and shoes threats to its security—why else would it add these mundane and harmless items to a laundry list of basic necessities not allowed into Gaza? Nor is the exclusion of these necessities a harmless idiosyncrasy—for, with the exception of goods that are smuggled in (see Jan./Feb. 2009 Washington Report, p. 19), nothing can enter or leave the Gaza Strip without Israeli approval. The besieged and battered 25-mile-long stretch of land, regularly referred to as the world’s largest prison, is home to 1.5 million inadvertent inmates, nearly two-thirds of whom are under the age of 18.

Shortly after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to Israel and Palestine during the first week of March, European diplomats and various international organizations began raising objections to Israel’s sweeping restrictions. Several international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) also have protested Israel’s arbitrary restrictions on basic necessities. One example cited by the United Nations was Israel’s blocking for several weeks of a World Food Program (WFP) shipment of chickpeas, the main ingredient of hummus. With food supplies scarce, hummus provides the essential protein and iron normally obtained from meats and cheese.

Sari Bashi, executive director of the Tel Aviv-based Israeli human rights advocacy group Gisha–Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, confirmed in April that Israeli authorities continue to restrict the entry of even the most basic goods into the Gaza Strip.

“After the last attack on Gaza, Israel opened alternate crossings such as Karem Shalom,” he said. “However, this cannot provide more than 20 percent of what Gazans need. Israel has closed the Karni Crossing, the main commercial lifeline for Gaza.”

Closest to the West Bank, the Karni Crossing serves as the main artery for goods and services between the West Bank, Israel and Gaza. Although Gaza has a full seaport and airport, Israel continues to bar ships and planes from using these facilities, thereby forcing all trade to and from to be conducted through Israeli-monitored or manned checkpoints.

“The international community is not doing enough,” Bashi said in frustration. “They called for rebuilding Gaza weeks ago. You can’t rebuild Gaza without cement and construction materials!”

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) confirms that Israel has allowed 50 tons of cement into Gaza, to be used for repairs on the water treatment facility damaged in Israel’s latest assault. Despite its arrival in Gaza, however, the cement sits unused.

A Local Municipal Water Authority employee explained the reason: “Such supplies [as cement] are useless without water pipes”—which have been sitting on the Israeli side of the border since Israel declared a unilateral cease-fire in mid-January. The Water Authority also confirmed that, despite some improvement in the water supply, 40,000 Gazans remain cut off from clean water, with an additional 100,000 experiencing only intermittent access.

The Israeli Cabinet issued a decision in late March to lift all restriction of food shipments into Gaza. More than a week later, however, the people of Gaza had yet to see any tangible improvement to their situation or in the availability of food and basic consumer products. Despite Israel’s continuing promises that it will open the borders and insistence that it is not blocking essential supplies, the “facts on the ground” reveal otherwise.

Noted Faiq Al Nazleh, a wholesale distributor: “For the past eight months, we’ve been unable to get shampoo, laundry detergent or dish soap. It’s only recently that Israel allowed toilet paper into the Gaza Strip. However, we still need furniture and raw materials, including wood, glass and electrical components. All these things were available before January 2006”—when Hamas won free and fair parliamentary elections. “Since then,” he lamented, “things have gotten much worse.”

Gaza City resident and mother of five Ebtisam El Sheikh is worried because, as her children continue to grow, she is unable to provide them with such basic necessities as shoes, socks, underwear and clothing. “All the seasons of the year pass and my children are growing, yet they don’t have enough clothes,” she cried during a telephone interview.

Israeli human rights organizations increasingly have joined the chorus of international agencies and governments complaining about the Israeli government’s hoarding of humanitarian goods, its ever-changing requirements and guidelines, as well as its unwillingness to resume a regular flow of products and humanitarian necessities into Gaza. This uncertainty has created major logistical problems for aid groups and donor governments, rendering them impotent and unable to plan in advance. According to UNOCHA, “Israel has refused clearance for fortified wafers, halva , canned tuna, biscuits, tomato paste and jam in a USAID-funded shipment.”

These banned basic food staples, UNOCHA added, were in addition to a list of toys intended for UNICEF’s rehabilitation program for children also prohibited by Israel from entering the Strip. “European diplomats have asked Israel to allow pasta and jam into Gaza, but not cement and construction materials,” Bashi added, noting that the European Commission needs to pressure Israel to include basic building materials as well.

“The United Nations called for an increase in the quality and quantity of [building, food and humanitarian] materials going into Gaza,” said Jerusalem-based Allegra Pacheco, deputy chief of UNOCHA. The region is in desperate need of fuel, spare parts, construction materials and cash, she added.

El Shiekh agreed. “Bar soap and liquid soap, in addition to diapers for babies—none of these are available in the market. It’s just in the past few days we’ve finally started to see toilet paper entering Gaza!” she said. “What is the significance of not allowing laundry detergent into Gaza?” she wondered, noting that the lack of cooking gas also presents serious problems.

When asked that very question, the press officer for the U.N.’s World Food Program, which is in constant contact with Israeli authorities regarding logistics, replied, “Israel usually doesn’t provide information on why materials are not allowed.” Lacking explanations or guidelines, he acknowledged, there is little suppliers can do to avoid delays.

According to a report by a National Lawyers Guild delegation which visited Gaza in February (see p. 58), Israel’s “comprehensive closure destroyed the already feeble Gaza economy, further increased the number of Palestinians needing international humanitarian assistance from 60 to 80 percent, and created a situation of chronic malnutrition. Forty-five percent of children in Gaza today suffer from acute anemia. The closure depleted Gaza hospitals of basic medicine and medical supplies, leaving them, and Gaza’s infrastructure as a whole, unequipped to handle the casualties that resulted from Israel’s assault.”

Most people in Gaza already know this, of course, because they live it. What Gazans really want to know is, how much longer must they wait to simply take a bath with soap and water again?

Award-winning journalist Mohammed Omer maintains the Web site <www.rafahtoday.org>. He can be reached at <[e-mail]>

www.wrmea.com/archives/May-June_2009/0905022.html

[avid]

May 30, 2009 18:20:48 GMT 4 @ninathedog said:

Israel Threatened by Shoes, Toilet Paper And Laundry Detergent
ISRAEL APPARENTLY considers toilet paper, laundry detergent, dish soap and shoes threats to its security—why else would it add these mundane and harmless items to a laundry list of basic necessities not allowed into Gaza? Nor is the exclusion of these necessities a harmless idiosyncrasy—for, with the exception of goods that are smuggled in (see Jan./Feb. 2009 Washington Report, p. 19), nothing can enter or leave the Gaza Strip without Israeli approval. The besieged and battered 25-mile-long stretch of land, regularly referred to as the world’s largest prison, is home to 1.5 million inadvertent inmates, nearly two-thirds of whom are under the age of 18.
edited for length

Don't the people in the Israeli state require these things to preserve their dignity? Therefore why would they deny them to their 'equal in law' neighbours?
What is happening here is so disgusting - WC rolls regardless - the Palestinian history (Dead Sea Scrolls débacle)/their literary events, their status at work, their rights to their land - why do we watch in horror at the injustice and watch US money/armaments FOC pouring into Israel when parts of USA are broke and Palestinians asset-stripped to almost nothing? Why do some key USA government officials have dual US/Israeli nationality? I'm very puzzled as this is not logical..... that means no loyalty to your USA electorate...
My Jewish friends have no answer but horror - they are so angry about this, but are helpless.
Who are these crazed people?

Sorry - I went on a rant - but for goodness' sake - WC roll!!! As we used to say here "Radio Rental" - (rhyming slang for 'mental')

[towhom]

Altruism repays the best-connected individuals
Unselfish behaviour spreads through society in a way that most benefits the "hubs" in the network
Technology Review / arXiv blog
Friday, May 29, 2009
www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/23584/



How altruistic behaviour emerges has puzzled evolutionary biologists for decades. From the point of view of survivial of the fittest, the unselfish concern for the welfare of others seems inexplicable. Surely any organism should always act selfishly if it were truly intent on saving its own bacon.

One explanation is that altruistic acts, although seemingly unselfish, actually benefit those who perform them but in indirect ways. The idea is that unselfish acts are repeated. So those who have been helped go on to help other individuals, ensuring that this behaviour spreads through a group, a phenomenon known as upstream reciprocity.

Eventually, the individual that triggered the altruistic behaviour will be on the receiving end of least one unselfish act, ensuring that, at the very least, he or she doesn't lose out. In this way, unselfish individuals actually benefit from their altruism.

At least, that's the theory. While other types of altruism have been observed and modelled (for example downstream reciprocity in which people help others who they have seen acting altruistically), upstream reciprocity has proven harder to pin down, until now

Akio Iwagami and Naoki Masuda at the University of Tokyo have simulated the way upstream reciprocity spreads through a network when the behaviour gradually dies out. It turns out that the type of network is crucial for ensuring the spread of the behaviour. In heterogeneous networks like those that most societies seem to form, upstream reciprocity seems to spread successfully.

But interestingly, Iwagami and Masuda point out that certain individuals seem to benefit more than others. These individuals are "hubs" in these societies, people who have many links to other individuals. That makes sense, of course, because as this behaviour spreads, it is much more likely to pass through hubs than other points on the network.

So the moral of the story is that if you want to benefit from altruistic behaviour, do two things. First, trigger altruistic cascades by performing many acts of unselfish behaviour. Second, become a hub with lots of links to other indviduals.

For complete article see:
Upstream Reciprocity in Heterogeneous Networks
arxiv.org/abs/0905.4007

[towhom]

The role of a delay time on the spatial structure of chaotically advected reactive scalars
arXiv
Alexandra Tzella
Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique, ENS, 24 rue Lhomond, F-75231, Paris, France
Peter H. Haynes
Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics,
University of Cambridge, CB3 0WA, Cambridge, United Kingdom
27 May 2009
arxiv.org/abs/0905.4349

Abstract
The stationary-state spatial structure of reacting scalar fields, chaotically advected by a two-dimensional large-scale flow, is examined for the case for which the reaction equations contain delay terms. Previous theoretical investigations have shown that, in the absence of delay terms and in a regime where diffusion can be neglected (large P\'eclet number), the emergent spatial structures are filamental and characterized by a single scaling regime with a H\"older exponent that depends on the rate of convergence of the reactive processes and the strength of the stirring measured by the average stretching rate. In the presence of delay terms, we show that for sufficiently small scales all interacting fields should share the same spatial structure, as found in the absence of delay terms. Depending on the strength of the stirring and the magnitude of the delay time, two further scaling regimes that are unique to the delay system may appear at intermediate length scales. An expression for the transition length scale dividing small-scale and intermediate-scale regimes is obtained and the scaling behavior of the scalar field is explained. The theoretical results are illustrated by numerical calculations for two types of reaction models, both based on delay differential equations, coupled to a two-dimensional chaotic advection flow. The first corresponds to a single reactive scalar and the second to a nonlinear biological model that includes nutrients, phytoplankton and zooplankton. As in the no-delay case, the presence of asymmetrical couplings among the biological species results in a non-generic scaling behavior.

Complete article available for download in multiple formats at the link displayed above.

[towhom]

Taking the reaction-diffusion master equation to the microscopic limit
arXiv
Paul Sjöberg¹, Otto G Berg² and Johan Elf^1
1 Linneaus Center for Bioinfomatics in Department of cell and molecular biology, Uppsala University, Husarg. 3, SE-75124 Uppsala, Sweden
² Department of evolution, genomics and systematics, Uppsala University, Norbyv. 18C, SE-75236 Uppsala, Sweden
28 May 2009
arxiv.org/abs/0905.4629

Abstract
The reaction-diffusion master equation (RDME) is commonly used to model processes where both the spatial and stochastic nature of chemical reactions need to be considered. We show that the RDME in many cases is inconsistent with a microscopic description of diffusion limited chemical reactions and that this will result in unphysical results. We describe how the inconsistency can be reconciled if the association and dissociation rates used in the RDME are derived from the underlying microscopic description. These rate constants will however necessarily depend on the spatial discretization. At fine spatial resolution the rates approach the microscopic rate constants defined at the reaction radius. At low resolution the rates converge to the macroscopic diffusion limited rate constants in 3D, whereas there is no limiting value in 2D. Our results make it possible to develop spatially discretized reaction-diffusion models that correspond to a well-defined microscopic description. We show that this is critical for a correct description of 2D systems and systems that require high spatial resolution in 3D.

Complete article available for download at the link displayed above.

[towhom]

Kinetics of the helix-coil transition
arXiv
Armen E. Allahverdyan¹, Sasun G. Gevorkian¹, Aleksandr Simonian^2
1 Yerevan Physics Institute, Alikhanian Brothers Street 2, Yerevan 375036, Armenia
² Materials Research and Education Center, 275 Wilmore Auburn University, Auburn AL 36849-5341
27 May 2009
PACS 36.20.-r – Macromolecules and polymer molecules
PACS 36.20.Ey – Conformation (statistics and dynamics)
PACS 05.20.Dd – Kinetic theory
arxiv.org/abs/0905.4429

Abstract
Based on the Zimm-Bragg model we study cooperative helix-coil transition driven by a finite-speed change of temperature. There is an asymmetry between the coil-to-helix and helix-to-coil transition: the latter is displayed already for finite speeds, and takes shorter time than the former. This hysteresis effect has been observed experimentally, and it is explained here via quantifying system's stability in the vicinity of the critical temperature. A finite-speed cooling induces a non-equilibrium helical phase with the correlation length larger than in equilibrium. In this phase the characteristic length of the coiled domain and the non-equilibrium specific heat can display an anomalous response to temperature changes. Several pertinent experimental results on the kinetics helical biopolymers are discussed in detail.

Complete article available for download in multiple formats at the link displayed above.

[towhom]

Dynamical structures in binary media of potassium-driven neurons
arXiv
D. E. Postnov¹, F. Muller², R. B. Schuppner², and L. Schimansky-Geier^2
1 Department of Physics, Saratov State University,
Astrakhanskaya ul. 83, Saratov 410012, Russia
² Institute of Physics, Humboldt-University at Berlin,
Newtonstr. 15, D-12489 Berlin, FR Germany
28 May 2009
PACS numbers: 05.40.-a, 87.19.L-, 89.75.Kd
arxiv.org/abs/0905.4670

Abstract
According to the conventional approach to model neural ensembles the extracellular environment has fixed ionic concentrations. However, in many cases the extracellular concentration of potassium ions can not be regarded as constant. That represents specific chemical pathway for neurons to interact and can influence strongly the behavior of a single neuron as well as large ensembles. The released chemical agent follows a diffusive dynamics in the external medium, that lowers the threshold of individual excitable units. We address this problem by studying simplified excitable units given by a modified FitzHugh-Nagumo dynamics. In our model neurons interact only chemically via the released and diffusing potassium in the surrounding non-active medium. We study the dynamics of a single excitable unit embedded in the extracellular matter. That leads to a number of noise-induced effects, like self-modulation of firing rate in an individual neuron. In the spatially extended situation various patterns appear ranging from spirals and traveling waves to oscillons and inverted structures depending on the parameters of the medium.

Complete article available for download in multiple formats at the link displayed above.

[towhom]

Have you noticed that the banner ad displays on each different thread in this forum are correlated to the thread's subject matter?

So, the "Disclosure" thread normally displays ads and links to UFO and/or disclosure sites; the new ChemTrails thread has links to sites dealing with chemtrail disclosures and "cures" for those suffering the "effects" associated with chemtrails (which is highly amusing, since there has been no verified link between the contrails - which some call chemtrails - and illnesses, yet there is a "cure"); etc.

To say this forum is monitored is putting it lightly. Yes, there is a number of programs (bots) that link advertisers with keywords found in the text posted on any given site, however, it is just another way of tracking - both site content and possible revenue ventures. (It also is a way to dupe the unsuspecting web user to visit a malicious site loaded with codes that are capable of all sorts of nasty things.)

Whatever...

The point is there are probably watchers everywhere, so to "whomever" is watching...

HOWDY and hope y'all are having a great day! ;D

Peace and Joy
Always

Sally Anne
PS - sorry to disappoint you, but I do not click on your little linkies.