First and Last

French resistance hero Raymond Aubrac dies aged 97

France mourns ‘last great witness’ of the second world war, who defied the Nazis and survived torture by Klaus Barbie

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• Kim Willsher in Paris
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 11 April 2012 10.05 EDT
• Article history

Raymond Aubrac with his wife Lucie in 1987. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

France is mourning the death of Raymond Aubrac, one of its last great heroes of the resistance, whose bravery and exploits with his wife Lucie against the Gestapo became the stuff of legend and film.

Aubrac, who died aged 97 in the Val de Grace military hospital in Paris on Tuesday evening, was, along with his late wife, a leading figure in the underground fight against Nazi occupation.

He was a Grand Officer of the Légion d’Honneur, held the Croix de Guerre and Rosette de la Résistance, and was one of only around 20 surviving members of the Compagnons de la Libération.

He remained politically active to the end, visiting schools and colleges to talk about his wartime experiences.

Aubrac was born Raymond Samuel, into a family of Jewish shopkeepers, on 31 July 1914 – the day the French Socialist leader and celebrated pacifist Jean Jaurès was assassinated, just after the outbreak of the first world war.

After studying law, then a master’s degree in science from Harvard, he was an army engineering officer on the Maginot line on the German border when the second world Wwar broke out.

His parents, Albert and Hélène Samuel, were deported from France and died in the Nazi concentration camps.

After marrying Lucie, whom he met in December 1939 as a student in Paris, both joined the French Rresistance using the pseudonym Aubrac.

Raymond Aubrac was involved in creating one of the eight movements that made up the National Resistance Council. The main activity of his movement was to publish a secret newspaper called Libération, the forerunner of today’s daily paper.

Aubrac was arrested in June 1943 at Caluire, near Lyon, with Jean Moulin, head of the Resistance Council, and 12 other fighters. He was interrogated and tortured by the notorious head of the Gestapo, Klaus Barbie – nicknamed the Butcher of Lyon. Moulin died after the ordeal.

In an interview with Paris Match in 1983, Aubrac recounted Barbie’s pleasure at making his victims suffer. “I had the impression that he wasn’t really interested in the answers of the questions he was asking. His pleasure was to feel his power, his force, by torturing.”

Aubrac was freed four months later when Lucie led a daring commando raid on a lorry moving him and other resistance members from jail in Lyon. The episode was later made into a film.

Hunted by the Gestapo, the couple fled for London, from where Aubrac travelled to Algeria. After the war, he became regional commissioner of the Republic at Marseille, responsible for de-mining the coastal area, before taking up the national post of inspector general for reconstruction.

Nicolas Sarkozy paid tribute to “a heroic figure of the resistance”. In a statement, the French president said: “These quiet heroes who saved the honour of France at a moment when she seemed lost are dying, one after the other. We have a duty to keep their memory alive at the heart of our collective remembrance.”

The Socialist presidential candidate, François Hollande, whom Aubrac had openly supported, said: “In the most sombre periods of the history of our country he, with Lucie Aubrac, was one of the righteous who discovered in themselves, and in the melting pot of universal values that is our republic, the force to resist Nazi barbarity”.

Serge Klarsfeld, a lawyer and president of the Association of Sons and Daughters of the Deported Jews of France, saluted the “last great witness” of the resistance. “They were extraordinary people”, Klarsfeld said.

Lucie died in 2007 at the age of 94. The couple had three children and 10 grandchildren.

In an interview in Le Monde in March last year, Aubrac said the decision he was most proud of was choosing his partner. “You know,” he said, “in life there are only three or four fundamental decisions to make. The rest is just luck.”

• This article was amended on 12 April 2012. In the original version, the name of the Association of Sons and Daughters of the Deported Jews of France was wrongly given as the Association of Boys and Girls of the Deported Jews of France. This has been corrected.

“Underground Undercover Wisdom Keepers”

I don’t write often enough, but this time I had to get out of the bed and hunt for the computer. Found it and let the tale be told, in bits and bites if not fully unfurled as the days go on.

I have a knack for staying out of the way. But sometimes somebody elses way leads to you.

For some who are familiar with the tactic and explicit jokes about people who have schizophrenia while hearing voices proclaiming CIA mind control devices from outer space invading their brain, this should be easy to follow. But again, lets not let details get in the way of a good story. Or at least not get in the way of allusion to a good one.

For some blocking noise is a way of life. If you don’t like what you are hearing turn on the television. Others use sound as a defensive device and turn on the radio to somehow mask the argument in the apartment above. Sometimes you can no longer block and have no choice but to hear the dialogue and or accusations. When I am on foot, I hear most of the loose audio detrius around neighborhood and street corners. Most are never conscious of what they say, let alone how they say it. Somer days  are not at the depth of walking by a phone call and a murder is  plotted. Sometimes you are in the right place at the right time and you hear your name called. Something like the old wives tale of when you hear your voice called and no one is there, consider it a message from beyond that something is about to happen that you need to pay attention to.

In the case your reputation precedes you as well as your deeds, people find you. Or in the least try to make contact. Inhospitable is an accusation when they don’t get what they want and “take it to the streets” as it were looking for street justice. In other cases, some reserve their judgement. I’ve had the fortune to garner trust from a female who insists on being abusive to gain my ear. From the frequent chatter and noise outside her need is great, but her social skills are lacking. I never intended on becoming the underground librarian, still, making meaning out of relationships happens. And personally I do not control what job a friend might get. My skill is in listening. I’ve been asked to be a sounding board for others issues many a time. Sometimes, people just like supportive company. I’ve decided to log what I can. Brief comments about arms and locations there of on the East Coast I can not speak to. Work that is so deep and so veined with silence can be stifling. I’m empathetically sorry for that much and wonder what wisdom do these individuals seek to impart to me. I had my questions long ago. I have let them pass and moved on. Maybe I have another service calling to pay attention to.

Logging the stories seems only fitting for a piece of history that no one ever knows.

Everything casts a shadow as there is always light and always will be.

Through the penumbra,

The Underground Librarian

Rave revival – U.S. worthy

From The Sunday Times

August 23, 2009

Ravers hit Facebook for 1990s club revivals

Veteran ravers of Cream, Venus, Haçienda, Vague and Shelley’s are reliving the 1990s club scene through social networking

Chris Cottingham

It began as a bit of common-or-garden nostalgia. Two years ago, Ian Squire was spending Friday night at home with his wife, Stacey, in Nottingham. They were listening to classic club tracks from the early 1990s, songs such as Too Blind to See It, by Kym Sims, Don’t You Wanna Be Mine, by Denise Lopez, and Rhythm Is a Mystery, by K-Klass. They started reminiscing about Venus, the early-1990s club night in Nottingham where they’d both been regulars. “If I’m honest, I’d had a couple of beers,” says Squire, now a 37-year-old lab supervisor and father of four. “I decided to start a Facebook group called Let’s Have a Venus, the UK’s First Super Club Revival in Nottingham. We just wanted to see if there was any interest from people who used to go to Venus, but for various reasons had lost touch, and if they felt the same way we did.”

The next day, Squire had forgotten about it — but he had struck a chord. The Venus Facebook group snowballed and now has nearly 800 members. It’s just one of numerous Facebook groups dedicated to clubs from the 1980s and 1990s. Think of a club from that era and the chances are that there’s an online community of ex-ravers in their thirties and forties, swapping stories, meeting old friends and organising reunions. There are groups celebrating the original incarnation of Cream, the Liverpool night that defined the term “superclub” from 1992 to 2002; Vague, in Leeds, which championed “handbag house” in the mid-1990s; and Shelley’s Laserdome, in Stoke-on-Trent, a pivotal venue on the early-1990s rave scene. By far the largest is Fac 51, dedicated to Manchester’s Haçienda, which has more than 6,000 members.

It’s not hard to see the attraction. Acid-house culture was built on interlocking networks of clubbers. Social networking taps into the same sense of community. As with all reunions, the starting point is the opportunity to catch up with old friends, although, in this instance, friends whose names you don’t always know. Sam Bunbury, founder of the 1,600-strong Cream group, finally discovered that an old clubbing companion he previously knew only as “Orange Boy” (because he wore an all-orange outfit every week) was in fact plain old Richard. As Paul Senior, who oversees 1,300 fans of Shelley’s Laserdome, laughs: “You never really knew people’s names back then, just their faces.”

The trend is more than old friends e-mailing each other with the thud of dance music in the background. Facebook has been the starting point for numerous reboots of defunct clubbing brands. In the past year, there have been nights organised by veterans of Venus, Vague and Shelley’s, as well as events dedicated to less famous venues such as the Hippodrome in Middleton, on the outskirts of Manchester, and Quadrant Park, a hangar-like rave mecca in the Liverpool suburb of Bootle. In turn, DJs and dance producers who thought their time had long since passed have suddenly found an audience again.

In the case of the Haçienda, nostalgia has morphed into something else entirely. The club shut in 1997, after losing its entertainment licence, and the building was demolished in 2002 to make way for upmarket flats. Fuelled by a growing number of Facebook and MySpace friends, however, it has become a contemporary club brand — one with considerably more reach than the club it’s named after. As well as regular nights in the UK with original Haçienda DJs, including Jon DaSilva, Mike Pickering and Graeme Park, there are events around the globe. This month, you can attend the Haçienda in Mexico City, Trakai Castle, in Lithuania, and the Peruvian capital, Lima. New Order’s Peter Hook must be pleased. Earlier this year, the bassist revealed that he and his bandmates poured £30m into the club, a misjudged investment that presumably informs the title of his forthcoming book, How Not to Run a Club. Now, as the owner of the Haçienda brand name, he’s finally seeing a return on his money.

If the enthusiasm is still there, other things have changed. One veteran of the Manchester club Luv Dup, who wishes to remain nameless, recalls a recent reunion. The event was held on a canal boat. As he walked up, he saw one of the DJs through a porthole. “I recognised him immediately. The only thing that was different was that he had a pot belly.”

There are practical considerations, too. Squire explains: “The three Venus reunions we’ve had were great nights, but we made the decision to keep them to once or twice a year. After all, finding a good baby-sitter can be hard work.” He pauses for a moment. “The main attraction, I think, is that we all need to feel like we did when we first heard that amazing track, when we all shared that joke, when we felt free.”

No wonder he wants to relive the dream, even if, most of the time, it is virtual.

Twinkling Ramadan

Arabic Star Names

 

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Many star names are of Arabic origin, most of which were used by other nations in the past following almost the same Arabic nomenclature, and many of which have survived in modern scientific astronomical atlases. Below is a list of some of these Arabic star names and their meanings:

 

No.	Proper Name	Arabic Name	Meaning	Star
01	Acamar	Akhir an-Nahr	End of the river	Theta Eri
02	Achernar	Akhir an-Nahr	End of the river	Alpha Eri
03	Acrab	Al-‘Aqrab	The scorpion	Beta Sco
04	Acubens	Az-Zubana	The claw	Alpha Cnc
05	Adhafera	Ad-Dafirah	The curl	Zeta Leo
06	Adhara	Al-‘Adhara	The maidens	Epsilon CMa
07	Ain	‘Ain	“Eye” of the Bull	Epsilon Tau
08	Albali	Al-Bali’	The swallower	Epsilon Aqr
09	Alchibah	Al-Khiba’	The tent	Alpha Crv
10	Aldebaran	Ad-Dabaran	“Follower” of the Pleiades	Alpha Tau
11	Alderamin	Adh-Dhira’ al-Yamin ?	The right forearm ?	Alpha Cep
12	Alfirk	Al-Firq	The flock	Beta Cep
13	Algedi	Al-Jady	The goat	Alpha Cap
14	Algenib	Al-Janb	The flank	Gamma Peg
15	Algieba	Al-Jabhah	“The forehead” of the lion	Gamma Leo
16	Algebar	Al-Jabbar	The giant	Beta Ori
17	Algol	Al-Ghul	The ghoul	Beta Per
18	Algorab	Al-Ghurab	The raven	Delta Crv
19	Alhena	Al-Han’ah	The brand-mark	Gamma Gem
20	Alioth	Al-Jawn	The black horse	Epsilon UMa
21	Alkaid	Al-Qa’id	“Leader” of the mourning maidens	Eta UMa
22	Alkes	Al-Ka’s	The cup	Alpha Crt
23	Almak	‘Anaq al-Ard	Earth-kid	Gamma And
24	Almeisan	Al-Maisan	The shining one	Gamma Gem
25	Alnair	An-Nayyir	The bright one	Alpha Gru
26	Alnair	An-Nayyir	The bright one	Zeta Cen
27	Alnilam	An-Nidham	The string of pearls	Epsilon Ori
28	Alnitak	An-Nitaq	The belt	Zeta Ori
29	Alphard	Al-Fard	The solitary one	Alpha Hya
30	Alphecca	Al-Fakkah	“The broken” ring of stars	Alpha CrB
31	Alpheratz	Surrat al-Faras	Navel of the steed	Alpha And
32	Alsafi	Al-Athafi	“The tripods” for cooking on	Sigma Dra
33	Alsuhail	Suhail	Un-translated	Lambda Vel
34	Altair	At-Ta’ir	“The flying” eagle	Alpha Aql
35	Altais	At-Tinnin	The great serpent	Delta Dra
36	Alterf	At-Tarf	“The glance” of the lion	Lambda Leo
37	Aludra	Al-‘Udhrah	The maidenhead	Eta CMa
38	Alula Australis	Al-Qafzah al-Ula	The southern one of “the first leap”	Xi UMa
39	Alula Borealis	Al-Qafzah al-Ula	The northern one of “the first leap”	Nu UMa
40	Alya	Al-Alyah	The fatty tail of a sheep	Theta Ser
41	Angetenar	‘Arjat an-Nahr	Curve of the river	Tau2 Eri
42	Ankaa	Al-‘Anka’	Phoenix	Alpha Phe
43	Arkab	Al-‘Urqub	The heel-tendon	Beta Sgr
44	Arneb	Al-Arnab	The hare	Alpha Lep
45	Arrakis	Ar-Raqis	The dancer	Mu Dra
46	Atik	Al-‘Atiq	“The shoulder” of the Pleiades	Omicron Per
47	Auva	Al-‘Awwa’	The barker	Delta Vir
48	Azha	Al-Udhi	The hatching-place	Eta Eri
49	Baham	Al-Biham	The livestock	Theta Peg
50	Baten Kaitos	Batn Qaytus	Belly of Cetus	Zeta Cet
51	Beid	Al-Baid	The eggs	Omicron1 Eri
52	Benetnash	Banat Na’sh	Daughters of the bier	Eta UMa
53	Betelgeuse	Yad al-Jauza’	Hand of Orion	Alpha Ori
54	Botein	Al-Butain	The little belly	Delta Ari
55	Caph	Al-Kaff	“The palm” of the Pleiades	Beta Cas
56	Celbalrai	Kalb ar-Ra’i	The shepherd’s dog	Beta Oph
57	Chort	Al-Kharat	The rib	Theta Leo
58	Cursa	Al-Kursi	The chair	Beta Eri
59	Dabih	Sa’d adh-dhabih	The lucky star of “the slaughterer”	Beta Cap
60	Deneb	Dhanab ad-Dajajah	Tail of the hen	Alpha Cyg
61	Deneb	Dhanab ad-Dulfin	Tail of the Dolphin	Epsilon Del
62	Deneb Algedi	Dhanab al-Jady	Tail of the goat	Delta Cap
63	Deneb Kaitos	Dhanab Qaytus	Tail of Cetus	Beta Cet
64	Denebola	Dhanab al-Asad	Tail of the lion	Beta Leo
65	Diphda	Ad-Difdi’	The frog	Beta Cet
67	Dschubba	Al-Jabhah	“The forehead” of the scorpion	Delta Sco
68	Dubhe	Ad-Dubb	The bear	Alpha UMa
69	Dziban	Adh-Dhi’ban	The two wolves	Psi Dra
70	Edasich	Adh-Dhikh	The hyena	Iota Dra
71	El Nath	An-Nath	The butting	Beta Tau
72	Eltanin	At-Tinnin	The great serpent	Gamma Dra
73	Enif	Al-Anf	The nose	Epsilon Peg
74	Errai	Ar-Ra’i	The shepherd	Gamma Cep
75	Fomalhaut	Fam al-Hut	Mouth of the fish	Alpha PsA
76	Furud	Al-Furud	“Individual” stars	Zeta CMa
77	Gienah	Al-Janah	The wing	Gamma Crv
78	Gienah	Al-Janah	The wing	Epsilon Cyg
79	Gomeisa	Al-Ghumaisa’	The bleary-eyed one	Beta CMi
80	Hadar	Hadar	Un-translated	Beta Cen
81	Hamal	Al-Hamal	The ram	Alpha Ari
82	Heka	Al-Haq’ah	The white spot	Lambda Ori
83	Homam	Sa’d al-humam	The lucky star of “the high-minded man”	Zeta Peg
84	Izar	Al-Izar	The loin-cloth	Epsilon Boo
85	Jabbah	Al-Jabhah	“The forehead” of the scorpion	Nu Sco
86	Kaffaljidhma	Al-Kaff al-Jadhma’	The cut-short hand	Gamma Cet
87	Kaus Australis	Al-Qaus	The southern one of “the bow”	Epsilon Sgr
88	Kaus Borealis	Al-Qaus	The northern one of “the bow”	Lambda Sgr
89	Kaus Media	Al-Qaus	The middle one of “the bow”	Delta Sgr
90	Keid	Al-Qaid	The broken egg-shells	Omicron2 Eri
91	Kitalpha	Qit’at al-Faras	Part of the horse	Alpha Equ
92	Kokab	Al-Kaukab	The star	Beta UMi
93	Kurhah	Al-Qurhah	“The blaze” on a horse’s brow	Xi Cep
94	Lesath	Al-Las’ah	The sting	Upsilon Sco
95	Maasym	Al-Mi’sam	The wrist	Lambda Her
96	Maaz	Al-Ma’z	The he-goat	Epsilon Aur
97	Marfik	Al-Mirfaq	The elbow	Lambda Oph
98	Markab	Mankib al-Faras	“The shoulder” of the horse	Alpha Peg
99	Matar	Sa’d Matar	The lucky star of “the rain”	Eta Peg
100	Mebsuta	Al-Mabsutah	“The outstretched” paw	Epsilon Gem
101	Megrez	Al-Maghriz	“The insertion-point” of the Bear’s tail	Delta UMa
102	Meissa	Al-Maisan	The shining one	Lambda Ori
103	Mekbuda	Al-Maqbudah	“The pulled-in” paw	Zeta Gem
104	Menkalinan	Mankib Dhi-al-‘Inan	Shoulder of the rein-holder	Beta Aur
105	Menkar	Al-Minkhar	The nostril	Alpha Cet
106	Menkib	Al-Mankib	“The shoulder” of the Pleiades	Xi Per
107	Merak	Al-Maraqq	The loins	Beta UMa
108	Mintaka	Al-Mintaqah	The belt	Delta Ori
109	Mirak	Al-Mi’zar	The loin-cloth	Beta And
110	Mirfak	Al-Mirfaq	“The elbow” of the Pleiades	Alpha Per
111	Mizar	Al-Maraqq	The loins	Zeta UMa
112	Mothallah	Al-Muthallath	The triangle	Alpha Tri
113	Muphrid	Al-Mufrid	The solitary one	Eta Boo
114	Murzim	Al-Murzim	The roarer	Beta CMa
115	Nashira	Sa’d Nashirah	The lucky star of Nashirah (un-translated)	Gamma Cap
116	Nekkar	Al-Baqqar	The cattleman	Beta Boo
117	Nasl	An-Nasl	The arrowhead	Gamma Sgr
118	Nihal	An-Nihal	The camels quenching their thirst	Beta Lep
119	Nusakan	An-Nasaqan	The two series	Beta CrB
120	Okda	Al-‘Uqdah	The knot	Alpha Psc
121	Phact	Al-Fakhitah	The dove	Alpha Col
123	Phad	Al-Fakhidh	The thigh	Gamma UMa
124	Pherkad	Al-Farqad	The calf	Gamma UMi
125	Rasalased	Ra’s al-Asad	Head of the lion	Mu Leo
126	Rasalgethi	Ra’s al-Jathi	Head of the kneeling one	Alpha Her
127	Rasalhague	Ra’s al-Hawwa’	Head of the snake-man	Alpha Oph
128	Rastaban	Ra’s ath-Thu’ban	Head of the snake	Beta Dra
129	Rigel	Ar-Rijl	The foot	Beta Ori
130	Rigilkent	Rijl Qanturus	Foot of the centaur	Alpha Cen
131	Risha	Ar-Risha’	The rope	Alpha Psc
132	Rukbah	Ar-Rukbah	The knee	Delta Cas
133	Rukbat	Ar-Rukbah	The knee	Alpha Sgr
134	Sabik	As-Sabiq	The preceding	Eta Oph
135	Sadachbia	Sa’d al-Akhbiyah	Lucky star of the tents	Gamma Aqr
136	Sadalbari	Sa’d al-Bari’	Lucky star of the excellent one	Mu Peg
137	Sadalmelik	Sa’d al-Malik	Lucky star of the king	Alpha Aqr
138	Sadalsuud	Sa’d as-Su’ud	Luck of lucks	Beta Aqr
139	Sadr	As-Sadr	The breast	Gamma Cyg
140	Saiph	As-Saif	The sword	Kappa Ori
141	Scheat	As-Saq	The leg	Beta Peg
142	Shaula	Ash-Shaulah	The raised tail of the scorpion	Lambda Sco
143	Shedir	As-Sadr	The breast	Alpha Cas
144	Sheratan	Ash-Sharatan	The two signs	Beta Ari
145	Sirrah	Surrat al-Faras	Navel of the steed	Alpha And
146	Skat	As-Saq	The leg	Delta Aqr
147	Sulafat	As-Sulahfah	The tortoise	Gamma Lyr
148	Tania Australis	Ath-Thaniyah	The southern one of “the second” leap	Mu UMa
149	Tania Borealis	Ath-Thaniyah	The northern one of “the second” leap	Lambda UMa
150	Talitha Australis	Ath-Thalithah	The southern one of “the third” leap	Kappa UMa
151	Talitha Borealis	Ath-Thalithah	The northern one of “the third” leap	Iota UMa
152	Tarf	At-Tarf	“The glance” of the lion	Beta Cnc
153	Thuban	Ath-Thu’ban	The snake	Alpha Dra
154	Unukalhai	‘Unuq al-Hayyah	Neck of the snake	Alpha Ser
155	Vega	Al-Waqi’	“The stooping” eagle	Alpha Lyr
156	Wasat	Wasat as-Sama’	“Middle” of the sky	Delta Gem
157	Wazn	Al-Wazn	The weight	Beta Col
158	Wezen	Al-Wazn	The weight	Delta CMa
159	Yed Prior	Al-Yad	The preceding one of “the hand”	Delta Oph
160	Yed Posterior	Al-Yad	The succeeding one of “the hand”	Epsilon Oph
161	Zaniah	Az-Zawiyah	The angle	Epsilon Vir
162	Zaurac	Az-Zawraq	The boat	Gamma Eri
163	Zavijava	Zawiyat al-‘Awwa’	Angle of the barker	Beta Vir
164	Zubenelgenubi	Az-Zuban al-Janubi	The southern claw	Alpha Lib
165	Zubeneshamali	Az-Zuban ash-Shamali	The northern claw	Beta Lib

Notes:-

• These are not all of the Arabic star names. 
• Some stars in the table may have more than one Arabic name, such as: Gamma Gem, Eta UMa, Beta Cet, Lambda Ori, Alpha Psc, Beta Ori, Alpha And. 
• Some star names may be composites of Arabic and Latin words, such as: Alula Australis (Xi UMa). 
• Some of the above names are still used in the sky atlases, while others are rarely used, and others are no longer used. 
• References:- 
  1. “The Astronomical Companion”, by Guy Ottewell.
  2. “Short Guide to Modern Star Names and Their Derivations”, by Paul Kunitzch & Tim Smart (1986).
  3. “Rasd al-Sama’ ” (Observing the Sky), by Dr. Abdul-Rahim Bader.
  4. “Elm al-Falak” (Astronomy), by Prof. Hamid Al-Naimy.

   

• With many thanks, the above list was revised by Prof. Paul Kunitzsch. 
• We advise to visit this site, where it contains useful related information. Star Names.

Enduring Honduran Resistance

{What if the military coup was because of Zelayas attempting to get rid of the only U.S. military base there? What are the U.S. interests in Honudras that would maintain this issue so prominently some days} Honduras Resiste: A Speech on the Global Day of Action
by Simon Rios Email: elektrodread (nospam) gmail.com (unverified!)	12 Aug 2009
Good afternoon compañeras y compañeros, passersby, workers, bosses, fellow-citizens, humans, aliens. We unite today to celebrate the resistance to the military coup in Honduras, to lament for the fallen, disappeared, & wounded in the struggle, & to shout NO to the impunity of the men who have, for the moment, overturned the will of the Honduran people. Now we witness, in this twist of irony that is a drop of the lifeblood of history, that the actions of the golpistas not only fortify the popular will they aim to repress, they have set off an awakening in Honduras that no fleet, airforce infantry or death-squad will be capable of reversing.
On June 28th Manuel Zelaya Rosales, the rightful president of Honduras, was awoken at gunpoint at 5:30 in the dawn. It was the day he was to conduct a non-bindng poll that would survey whether the hondurenhos wished for there to be a constituent assembly. Instead he was flown out of Honduras, in brazen violation of the Honduran constitution and all norms of international law, and exiled from his country which remains under military rule. Though the coup was carried out in the name of justice—and what coup is not?—it is that very ideal that the golpistas are subverting. Irregardless of universal condemnation by the international community, the golpistas insist they are acting within the law. They insist Every arbitrary detention is for liberty. Every truncheon to the body of a protestor is for the common good. Every tear-gas canister is for order. Every death-threat is for stability. Every torture is for security. Every radio station shut down is for awareness. Every civil liberty suspended is for freedom. Every TV signal interrupted is for free expression. Every violation of the constitution is to maintain constitutional order. Every lie is for truth. Every violation of a woman by a soldier is for justice. Every knife wound in the body of a unionist is for the fatherland. Every bullet in the head of a young freedom-fighter is for peace. Alas, that every killing is carried out in the name of life. So, let us ask, why do the Honduran military brass, business elites, the courts, and the high offices of the political parties endorse these actions? And why do the unions, the campesino organizations, the ethnicities, the popular bases, the advocates of human rights, the rising masses of Hondureños, in addition to every country in the world condemn this coup d’etat? What was the real crime of Manuel Zelaya, the ACTIONS that would activate the spirit of dictatorship in the hearts of Honduras’ old rulers? Zelaya was a traitor to his class, and his crimes were numerous: 1) Raising the minimum wage. 2) Providing free meals & entry into the public schools. 3) Ending the concession of new mines to foreign companies. 4) Attempting to nationalize Honduras’ energy infrastructure. 5) Having initiated the process for Cuba’s re-entry into the Organization of American States. 6) Planning to close down the sole US military base in Central America. 7) And finally, encouraging the process of creating a constitution that would include the participation of the indian, the unionist, the afro-Honduran, the woman, the campesino, the maquila worker, and all those sectors of society marginalized throughout the history of the country. Zelaya had also aligned with Venezuela who sent cheap oil, and Cuba, who sent doctors, and Bolivia, who presented the new world with its first experience in indigenous power, and Ecuador, whose new constitution imbued rights to the pachamama, the mother earth. Here was the sin that may cost him his head. In befreinding the countries of the south, Zelaya was moving towards independence from the United States, who in addition to monopolizing the trade of the nation, in addition to having realized military coups throughout the history of Honduras, in addition to having trained the death squads of the 1980s, in addition to having used the military base for counter-revolutionary activity in Central America, and in addition to having trained the generals that would go on to overthrow Zelaya, the United States would go on to support the golpe de estado. We continue to train Honduran officers in the School of the Americas, & we continue to have diplomatic, economic, & military ties with the golpistas. President Obama speaks of our hypocrisy in condemning US intervention in some countries while calling for it in others. But what Obama can’t see, or refuses to see, or pretends not to see, or is prevented from seeing, is that what we are calling for is NON-intervention. To sever ties with the golpistas. To freeze their bank accounts. Revoke their visas. Boycot their products. Anything short of these actions, the continuation of business as usual, amounts to the ACTIVE support of the coup regime, and it is THIS we are opposing. We see now this isn’t just a clash between Zelaya & the Honduran state, as the golpistas pretend. It is a clash between the empire, to the north, & to the south, the countries breaking one by one the institutions that have pillaged Latinoamerica ever since Columbus set foot on the beaches of Hispañola. And it’s being done in every new constitution. And it’s being carried out in every expropriation. And it’s being realized in the closure of US bases. And it’s being achieved in every protest, every action, every act of resistance to the businessman’s military coup in the land of Lempira, and in the streets of Boston. VIVA HONDURAS!!! —————– Simon Rios is a freelance journalist and member of the Committee in Solidarity with the Honduran Resistance in Boston.
See also: http://www.hondurasresists.org/

tHE bUTTERFLY eFFECT

The Butterfly Effect – An Analogy from Quantum Physics
By Pete Latona Jul 25, 2009

The Butterfly Effect is a concept born out of quantum physics, but it has much greater implications than just a scientific principle. It is something we should all be aware because we create our own cause and consequences daily.
 
I am not a physicist, so what is about to follow comes from a mind that probably knows no more about quantum physics than you do. If you are not familiar with the term, “the Butterfly Effect”, this is a good place to begin and in my opinion, an important concept to understand. This analogy is about the degree of interconnectivity in all existence and how everything affects everything else.

I am sure there are many analogies for what physicists refer to as the Butterfly Effect and here is how I first heard it described. If a butterfly was able to stow away in a space capsule and survive the trip to Mars; once the ship has landed and the butterfly is released into the atmosphere, the mere fluttering if its winds could cause weather changes on Earth.

Okay. So we are to believe that a butterfly flapping its wings on Mars could affect our weather here on Earth. Well, actually no. We are not asked to believe because from a physicist point of view, which has been tested under the scrutiny of the scientific method, this is a fact. This is Reality as it actually exists. Think about all of Reality being a small pond. If you toss a rock into this pond the ripples flow out in circular directions until they hit the banks of the water. The entire pond feels the affect of the rock being thrown, not just the point of impact. Now imagine that a butterfly dips down close to the water. Its wings stir the air which stirs the pond and also sends out waves in all directions. In this case, they are just not so easily seen.

The Butterfly Effect is accepted fact in physics, so instead of dealing with the mathematics, (as if I could), I’ll discuss the ramifications. If the very fiber of our physical universe is so interwoven and interconnected that the energy from a butterfly’s wings could transverse through space and change weather on other planets, then what effects could we be having by our own much larger physical movements? Taking this a step further, what about the energy of our thoughts?

Most of us should be familiar with the concept of thoughts being subtle energy, and we understand that energy equates to movement. Therefore, our thoughts (like Butterfly wings) create movement, and this movement, this energy, ripples through existence and affects all of existence. This leads me back to my suggestion that it is important to understand this Butterfly Effect. Everything we do and think affects not only our selves, but everyone and everything around us and beyond. This is an important responsibility that we all share.  

The power of thoughts to change Reality is backed up by the science of physics. Do we say, “Ok, great, very interesting but who cares?” or do we scrutinize our thoughts to create a kinder more abundant existence? What if we made a collective effort to send more loving, kind and compassionate thoughts out into the ether? What if instead of gawking at some tragedy on the news we spent time sending out thoughts of love and compassion? At first it might be something we have to discipline our self to do, but if we stay with it, the habit will become second nature.

By nature, we are egoistic and we calculate and manipulate ways to get the greatest pleasure for the least effort. What if we began a battle against these basic instincts and try to go above them by calculating what is best for everyone involved and seek solutions that benefit the whole and not just the part? This could be applied to a family, circle of friends or even a work group. Thinking even bigger, we could try to think what is best for our city, state, nation or planet.

I believe there is a huge untapped force that could far exceed the power of atomic energy. The power of numbers using the power of love, to create a society where taking care of the next guy is the cool thing to do. One by one, let’s link our thoughts together, gathering people and momentum as we go and create a Butterfly Effect around the globe. As the Beatles once sang, “All you need is Love!”

Pete LaTona enjoyed a lengthy sales management career with AT&T and retired in 2006 to form his own consulting business. He resides in Edmond, Oklahoma with his wife Nancy.

Genealogy: How to Climb a Tree

7 steps to researching your family history
23 Jul 2009

 

 

YOU’RE one of the millions of people in South Africa who are curious about who their ancestors are. Over the next seven weeks, in conjunction with Ancestry 24.com, we’ll be telling you how to go about finding out more about them.

Step one — Start with yourself

The beginning of your family tree is not the famous gold prospector or burlesque dancer or warrior chief from the distant past who you hope that you can prove you’re related to. If you start with them, there are so many variables and unknowns that you’ll probably never get to the lead character in this story: you.

So, the beginning is you. First, sit down and write down what you know on a piece of paper. Draw a simple family tree. On the left of a piece of paper, put your name. Then draw a line that splits in two: put your father’s name at the top and your mother’s at the bottom. Then do the same for each of them, recording your grandparents. This is a pedigree, or ancestral chart.

Another kind of chart is a descendant chart — this shows all the children of particular couples. Put yourself and your siblings at the bottom of the page. Draw a line from yourselves to your parents (who will be connected by a double line to show they’re married) and list their siblings next to each of them. Draw another line to each of your parents’ parents and see whether you can list all your great aunts and uncles with them.

As well as the relationships between parents, children and siblings, you’ll want to include any dates of birth and death and marriage dates that you know, or ask someone in your family for them (in the next section, we’ll give you advice on interviewing relatives). These will come in useful as you start to fit more pieces of the puzzle together using ­archival material.

Okay, getting the picture? Need more space to record details? Then it’s time to use better tools. Ancestry24 offers two spreadsheets on the website that are very useful.

Ancestry Chart: Your first chart (the one with you on it) will be numbered one. The chart follows one person back four generations. You can follow specific individuals further back on separate sheets: just keep your numbering clear.

Family group Sheet: This is a “snapshot” of one family: mother, father and children, and includes space for information on the parents’ profession, other marriages and more. This is a useful sheet to take along when interviewing living relatives.

It’s likely you’ll have a few false starts and misunderstandings, so it’s probably easiest to organise your family tree on ­paper first. When you’re feeling confident, try some free family tree software like Family Tree Builder. These programs are very powerful and will be invaluable in helping you manage your family tree and its processes once it becomes more complex. They compile your data in a specific file format (GEDCOM, an acronym for GEnealogical Data COMmunication), so that it is possible to share your information with other genealogists around the world.

Ancestry24 offers a very easy-to-use family tree builder on the site. This can link to other family trees in the Ancestry24 database, so South Africans can pool their research.

Remember, a family tree is simply a chart, like a skeleton, which shows how members of a family are related. As you develop your skills, you’re going to want to build a family history, the fruit and flowers of the family tree.

Documents such as diaries, letters, photographs, property deeds, ship’s records and newspaper obituaries are all useful in painting the picture of how your ancestors lived.

While compiling your basic family tree you will come across these pieces of information — a will would show you what they owned, passenger records might allude to a particularly difficult voyage, or court records might reveal a difficult neighbour … or worse. Genealogy is more than names on paper, that’s for sure. It’s an adventure in bringing your own past to life.

The longest family tree in the world ­today is that of the Chinese philosopher and educator ­Confucius (551–479 BC). The tree has been maintained for over 2 500 years. It spans more than 80 generations, and ­includes more than two million members (1,3 million of whom are living today). Source: Wikipedia, Family Tree.

The Nannification of Niven

{Nannification of Niven will be a compilation creative nonfiction stories in the form of monologues}

Working Scene Title: Relativity Moving

Location: Lakeside at a public park

—I can’t stand this. I fucking can’t stand this!

Voice: You never swear. You must.

–[interrupting] Be upset? YES! I can never figure this out. I must have one of those faces. One of them asked me if I wanted to work for the CIA.

Voice: What? ok.hmm. what did you say?

—I told him no. I don’t want to carry a gun and I don’t want die anonymously in the middle of Keenebunkport. What can I do? Well (pause), don’t anwser that.

Voice: Allright. (latent smile in his voice) I’ll try not to. Well, let me ask you this: Why did he ask you that question? And explain another proposed marriage while you are at it.

–OOOOO! You would wouldn’t you?! Bring …that …..up! I think I opened my mouth a little too loud one day. I was bored. Police showed up too. Just a citation.

Voice: Were you hawking information or candy?

—Same difference.

Voice: [giggle] I meant cocaine.

—–I ran into one of them too, but I was talking about sugar candy and chocolate.. you know.. temptation.

Voice: Like you right?

–mmm..mm.. I don’t know how to answer that.

Voice: I could help you answer that.

—{slowly, with intent} No. Thank you. I dok now how to anwser that and I do not sell cocaine. To be honest with you, I would have said yes to the job, except for issues of danger. I remember other things which I did not mention to him. I thought it was just a game to run on someone to have sex with them. Or maybe a game to get into someones house. I didn’t think that till months later. Thinking of it that way, I could have a disease. Otherwise I have to wonder from a wider viewpoint, why me? That was the second time to become involved physically, but I vowed I would not go through the same issues again feeling like temporary refuse or futile. And a bit fearful as I watched others around him talk; they didn’t know he was undercover.

Voice: I’m sorry. I didn’t know it would affect you like this.

— How could you know that lightening would strike in the same place more than twice? mmm. Maybe I wasn’t that futile. He gave me a ring. Later that night as we were sitting there. He told me he was married before and he never kissed his wife. I like kissing and I didn’t consider us married, so I leaned in to kiss him. He turned his head. You know what? I found out,even after he broke up with me, he went to my college alma mater, took pictures and posted them on the internet. I found them and some others. He went to Europe. I’m gald he’s allright. The other one asked me how long I’ve been married. It has been four years since the one before. I ..  I.. I..

Voice: Take your time. Breathe. What’s wrong?

— I never realized I behaved like a married woman. We haven’t been near each other in over four years. This. this.. I know I don’t undersatnd manese, well.. manspeak, man language. Was asking me how long have I been married a compliment? Or could he not believe I was leaving him back where I found him.  How low have I sunk, All I can think is that.. I . i want my life back.

If you didn’t know…

New Sharia law marriage contract gives Muslim women rights

Muslim women are to be guaranteed equal rights in marriage under a new wedding contract negotiated by leading Islamic organisations and clerics in Britain.

 

By Urmee Khan
Published: 7:40PM BST 07 Aug 2008

Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, Director of the Muslim Institute and author of the contract Photo: PA

Hailed as the biggest change in Sharia law in Britain for 100 years, a married Muslim couple will now have equal rights. A husband will have to waive his right to polygamy, allowed under Islamic law, in the new contract which has been described as “revolutionary”.

Currently Muslims in Britain have an Islamic ceremony called a nikah (a non register office marriage) which, although it is guaranteed under Sharia law, is not legally binding and does not provide a woman with written proof of the marriage and of the terms and conditions agreed between the spouses.

 

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• ‘Predatory’ bigamist with five husbands facing jail

Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, Director of the Muslim Institute and one of the authors of the contract, told The Daily Telegraph: “The document is a challenge to various sharia councils who don’t believe in gender equality but the world has changed and Islamic law has to be renegotiated.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, was criticised earlier this year when he called for greater recognition of Sharia in British civil legislature, a view that was echoed recently by the Lord Chief Justice Phillips.

Ann Cryer, a Labour MP who has campaigned for the rights of Muslim women, welcomed today’s change, saying: “This document has been carefully researched over a four year period and I feel confident in recommending its findings to women (and men) of the Muslim Faith contemplating Marriage.”

In cases of divorces, the absence of such proof, has meant that many Muslim women have been denied financial rights.

The new Muslim marriage contract does not require a ‘marriage guardian’ (wali) for the bride, and also makes delegation of the right of divorce to the wife (talaq-i-tafweeed) automatic.

This right does not affect the husband’s right of talaq but enables the wife to initiate divorce and retain all her financial rights agreed in the marriage contract. These provisions reflect a recognition of changes in the Muslim world, including women’s greater public roles, educational achievements and financial autonomy.

Drawn up by the Muslim Institute, the contract has taken four years to negotiate and create. It is supported by leading Muslim organisations including the Imams & Mosques Council (UK), Muslim Council of Britain, The Muslim Law (Shariah) Council UK, Utrujj Foundation, and The Muslim Parliament of Great Britain.

According to its authors, the new contract “brings Muslim marriages in Britain into line with positive developments in Muslim family law across the Muslim world”.

Dr Siddiqui said “A lot of people come to us and the Islamic Shari ‘ah Council for advice and we realised that Islamic marriage had lots of problems.

“Many Muslims in this country have a ‘village’ background, with Muslims from Sylhet in Bangladesh or in Pakistan where the local Imam performs a nikah, without proper registration or properly recording that such a ceremony has taken place.

“But in Britain, more marriages are breaking down and young people have said that we need to update things.”

Dr Siddique outlined several cases where the cleric was a friend of the husband and there were no witnesses present.

“In many cases, Muslim men have put a woman on ‘trial’ to see ‘if a marriage works out’ and will not agree to have a civil ceremony” he said.

“One woman told me that she came home one day to find the locks had changed and there was a note saying ‘ your stuff is at my sisters house’.

“This contract is revolutionary and will lead the way in addressing problems that exist under sharia law. Although it is only the tip of the iceberg, it is a revolutionary step, nothing like this has happened in 100 years. The adoption of this model will change everything and force people to talk about the issues.”

Religious leaders and community groups have also said the document will be useful in securing rights for Muslim women.

Dr Usama Hasan, director of The City Circle, an organisation for British Muslim professionals, said: “Too many fathers have abused their right of wilayah (guardianship) over their daughters and too many husbands have abused their right of initiating divorce for us to continue with law rooted in patriarchal societies. It is high time that Muslim women enjoy the same rights and freedoms under Islamic law as they do under present legal systems in the UK.”

 

—>What are courtroom rights worth if a muslim woman has no rights in her own home? Is the bedrock of women’s rights under the roof of marriage with a  husband? Some balance and equity of survival in the stead of familial relationships must be secured. Human Rights and Common Sense must extend after where Shariah and the Qur-an stop or even where an interpretation is not mentioned at all.

Bad Interview Skills and Confirmation Hearings

The one thing you never do in an interview is to point out blatantly or euphemisitcally that you are not qualified for the job. Crafting your replies to questions in a manner that says, “in my old job, we did it this way”. Or perhaps to consistently comment that you can not guess at what other people do in a particular office and would rather not answer the question, because you do not know. The best questions in an interview are the leading ones that ask you to use your imagination and base your reply on what you have accomplished either professionally or personally. An interview is no time to reserve judgement and not try. It’s a determination of what initiative you have to flesh out or complete a job.

 I wonder if Judge Sotomayor actually hears what she is saying? Why can she not take up a challenge and leave her factoid limitations behind. Leading questions as to cases coming up in the court are built to flesh out her ideology and thinking. Not just an evaluation of her ability to complete the mechanics of judgeship. Which would incline her to consider what went wrong or right in the history of an appealed case that arrives at her bench.

Sotomayor was on target with fleshing out her character and experience in tandem with the law. Though she may be ground breaking, she seems to lack the courage to apply her personal knowledge and temper it with case law. Still it was explained to me in high school that the Supreme Court, when handing down an opinion and a dissent rule in the stead of contemporary culture and the needs of the current and upcoming generations. How can she not have some consideration toward general news and how she may have bandied topics about in her mind. She could resolve by saying, I have not come to a complete conclusion about the matter, but I have though about how certain aspects play out in an argument.

The other part about a bad interview is pushing off what you will do is dependant upon others.

It makes it impossible for the interviewer to figure out how the candidate will fit into the office.

Is Sotomayor saying that you’ll just have to hire me to see what I’ll do. Make the consideration on what I have done – which for some may not be that appealing.

Senator Kyl is catching Sotomayor on her ideology and plans in her speeches. In an absolutist realm, is Sotomayor trying to garner that her experience gives her a better perspective on all that would come before the bench of the high court? What catches her is that she does not comment that U.S. Supremem Court Judge Clarence Thomas has just as much of a better perspective. In the guise of feeling legal oppression and seeing the end of it from a manor of changing the system form the inside may be what colors Sotomayors comment. Which makes it not to far off from being representative of the student protest and Civil Right Era that her struggles and achievements are born from.

International Spy in the House of Love

Draft by Thomas Paine Frog and Pollix

New York Times reports that Russia wants to sign a Cyberspace treaty.

Perhaps it is true that what you post never leaves the net. I think someone found a document or two from the Kremlin  is publically accessible by anyone in the United States of America. Hmm. I wonder if anyone else caught on about how Google’s spider’s work into Microsoft email to harvest documents. I think I did. That is why I got a little more business like and prefer to talk in person. But if its spy language were talking, isn’t there a surveillance device everywhere? Just becareful when you save a document – that it saves as a word file and not a html file.

Oddity Aside: Did Afghanistan and Russia have a war in the past 15 years? Russia infiltrated througha nd eestablished a network throughto Iran? Possibly. I say this cause I think I heard President Obama say that Iran was a Communist country. That would more likely be China. But a Russian could pass for a Iranian muslim much easier I think. The meeting with Russia and China will be important I’m sure.

I think I read someones dreamlogs once and a detailed dream about North Korea came up. A rocket or missile or something pained with red and yellow colors. That would be more China’s color scheme I would think. But, in the dream the lauch went and the  missile fell over on the pad. The person thinks they were jarred awake so not to see and explosion. The other part of the dream watched a lauch during late dusk. The dreamer could see the outlines of the missile in the air. Black against a prussian blue/purple background.

Note: What China did to pull out of an economic crises was to move into communism. Wealth was reapportioned (Xref: Obama’s plans for a newtax structure). Families were pulled apart to reinvigorate from scratch the economy, food sources, travel, etcetera.  In the book Red Azalea teh main character was forced into a work camp on a farm. She was, I think, a writer. My subsequent question is where is the secret American Politburo? Is this why the attachment and stays in Communist countries when President Obama was young, play an important part in the future of the U.S.A. I’m almost positive.

There may have been a type of ideology taught in the church Obama left that was along the lines of Black Socialism. Check out Third World Press. You might find a hint or two of what is coming or in the least, a reworking of what already has come. There will be a permanent sense of indignation in him that will never leave. Maybe if he lets go of his inferiority complex and self-oppression as begot by a slave mentality. I say this because of his interjections and comments during press conferences. For instance, repeatedly pointing out that he is the President and you (we) are not. True you are, but there is a difference between “what I say goes” and “let me explain my conclusions to you and this is were I intend on directing us and the whole country”. Have courage and the integrity by virtue of the position. Take heart and not lead by charismatic motive, which is a failing grace of a leader who knows he is lacking. Go for what you know definitely, but you are not the only one at risk. Be a voice for the concerted opinion and know the dissent’s prinicples to your goals. Learn how to make a negotiated decision and be skilled enough to be afraid of your concluding words.

In Ecclesiates King Solomon, rather The Preacher points out that all is vanity. All the work we d under the sun will go to benfit those after us more than us. And they won’t care. It is a futile effort. I say this to keep in mind that the long term goals of reparing the economy and other issues must come with immediate and regular payoffs/benefits to get support. Becareful of the energy bill and your approach to environmental issues. Education is the best way to help someone to understand why to be or not to be on board. even when to not participate or recuse oneself from involvement or voting.

Pro-Choice is a difficult catch, but look at it this way: for instance a Catholic to be Pro-choice is a matter of drawing boundaries for themselves but also encourageing the best education about any subject that touches you, so that you may make a well informed decision. Not just with hard core facts, but also with your emotional self-knowledge. Awareness provides for better decisions. Awareness comes with progressive self education.

The best classrooms are never inside any school building.