Thursday, May 31, 2007

Correo de Noticias del 31/05/07




http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/primera/28991.html

Disputas internas, sello de origen del PAN

Gómez Morín, fundador del partido, encabezó en 1964 una de las primeras luchas internas, pues se opuso a la integración del instituto político a la democracia cristiana

M@: Solo que en esa época eran por los “principios". Ahora el billete RULES, o como dijo uno de los azul-poblanos: “El Partido se ha convertido en una agencia de colocaciones”. Sobran los comentarios.

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/primera/28990.html

IP: frenan crimen y corrupción a negocios

Falta capacidad para hacer valer el estado de derecho, señalan

Fernando Pedrero

El Universal

Jueves 31 de mayo de 2007

M@: Tax havens 'put Britain high on list of corrupt countries'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/global/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/global/2006/09/02/ntax02.xml

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/editoriales/37729.html

Entre la libertad y el miedo

Porfirio Muñoz Ledo

31 de mayo de 2007

En 1952 Germán Arciniegas publicó un libro que conmovió a mi generación: Entre la libertad y el miedo . Es la crónica apasionada de los sueños y batallas democráticas ahogados por el despotismo. Nos habla de dos Américas Latinas: una visible -la oficial- apoyada en la violencia y ornada de charreteras y falsas dignidades políticas, y la otra, la invisible, a la que concibe como una gran reserva histórica, compuesta de "muchedumbres que no pueden expresarse libremente".

M@: ¡Ah! La Libertad. ¿Qué no es una plaza en Tampico y ya?

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/editoriales/37735.html

Debatir la reforma del Estado

Ifigenia Martínez

31 de mayo de 2007

Se habla de reforma del Estado desde fines del gobierno de Ernesto Zedillo. Incluso se formó una asociación -con el impulso de Porfirio Muñoz Ledo- cuyos debates y resultados se presentaron en una emotiva ceremonia en el Museo Nacional de Antropología, con la asistencia de Vicente Fox, quien ofreció llevarla a cabo durante su mandato. En realidad ignoró cualquier intento de reforma y envió al promotor como embajador a la sede de la Unión Europea, en Bélgica. Es hasta ahora cuando, gracias a la pluralidad política y a la mayor politización de los ciudadanos, el tema ha estado sujeto a un intenso debate público, a la aprobación en el Congreso de la Ley para la Reforma del Estado (13 de abril de 2007) y a la reciente convocatoria de la comisión ejecutiva de negociación y construcción de acuerdos del Congreso de la Unión para la consulta pública que se celebrará en cinco capitales estatales de la República. Por tanto, esta demanda marcha, pero ¿de qué se trata?

M@: ¿De qué se trata la reforma del Estado? ¿Estado?

http://www.milenio.com/index.php/2007/05/31/74774/

Dice Lugovoi que servicio secreto británico asesinó a Litvinenko

El ex agente secreto ruso Adrei Lugovoi, dijo en conferencia de prensa en Moscú que, en su opinión, ésta es una de las posibles versiones que explican la muerte de Litvinenko el pasado mes de noviembre en Londres.

M@: ¿Quién asesinaría a Colosio, btw?

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2007/05/31/index.php?section=cultura&article=a02n1cul

Después de 25 años regresa ''el hijo más importante parido aquí'', dijo el alcalde

Multitudinario recibimiento a Gabo en su natal Aracataca

La casa museo con su nombre se abrirá en 2008 y esperan que Gabriel García Márquez asista

Entre mariposas amarillas y estaciones con olor a guayaba, llevó esperanza a sus coterráneos

AFP, DPA

M@: Cien años de … a punto de cumplirse, paisas.

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2007/05/31/index.php?section=politica&article=007n1pol

La droga que sale por las fronteras se intercambia por armas, advierte Carstens

Calderón: en México manda el Estado, no los poderes de facto

Dice el Presidente que su gobierno busca dejar "huella"

CLAUDIA HERRERA, ANTONIO CASTELLANOS

M@: Yeah, yeah, yeah!!! ¿Porqué sería que el reconocimiento aduanero se le concesionó a una empresa PRIVADA? ¿Quién tiene “ligas” con tal empresa?

¿Por qué hay zonas francas en SLP? EzZzteeee.

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2007/05/31/index.php?section=politica&article=007n1pol

La droga que sale por las fronteras se intercambia por armas, advierte Carstens

Calderón: en México manda el Estado, no los poderes de facto

Dice el Presidente que su gobierno busca dejar "huella"

CLAUDIA HERRERA, ANTONIO CASTELLANOS

M@: Yeah, yeah, yeah!!! ¿Porqué sería que el reconocimiento aduanero se le concesionó a una empresa PRIVADA? ¿Quién tiene “ligas” con tal empresa?

¿Por qué hay zonas francas en SLP? Esteeee.

http://www.milenio.com/index.php/2007/05/31/75099/

Duda la NASA que el cambio climático sea un problema

Expertos señalan que las afirmaciones del director muestran que está “totalmente despistado” o es “un ideólogo profundamente contrario a las teorías”.

M@: Oh, yes!!! Típico, Black or White de los primos. Si aplicamos prevención y cambiamos nuestros estilos de vida. La arrogancia de uno u otro lado sale sobrando.

http://www.milenio.com/index.php/2007/05/31/75090/

Decisión de la Corte, avance para desarticular la Ley Televisa: Corral

Ex senadores celebraron la decisión porque, dijeron, es un avance importante para desarticular los privilegios que se otorgaron.

M@: En las condiciones en las que está el país, cualquier avance es BienVenido.

http://www.milenio.com/index.php/2007/05/31/75071/

Ex agente demanda a la CIA para poder publicar sus memorias

Plame y la casa editorial que publicará su libro acusan al gobierno de actuar ilegalmente al no permitirle a la ex agente escribir acerca de las fechas específicas en que trabajó para la agencia.

M@: Espero que la Plame sea la siguiente John Perkins. ¿Algún valiente “Whistleblower” Mexicano? Any Zeta?

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2007/05/31/index.php?section=capital&article=042n1cap&partner=rss

Disputas de FPI y NI obligan a cambiar orden del día

Sin acuerdos y entre acusaciones llegan perredistas a su consejo

ROCIO GONZALEZ ALVARADO

El Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD) en el Distrito Federal llega este día a su Consejo Estatal sin acuerdos previos sobre la integración del Servicio Electoral local y en medio de mutuas acusaciones entre los integrantes del Frente Político de Izquierda y la corriente Nueva Izquierda de querer "cargar los dados a su favor" en la elección de los delegados del Congreso Nacional.

M@: “Las Tribus” versión … güeno, ya hasta la cuenta perdí.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2092628,00.html

Bush calls for action by biggest greenhouse emitters

Mark Tran and Will Woodward in Johannesburg

Thursday May 31, 2007

Guardian Unlimited

George Bush today called on the world's biggest polluters to set goals on curbing greenhouse gases, in the US president's clearest admission yet of the threat posed by climate change.

M@: ¿Me voy a dormir con una sonrisa de sandía en el rostro? Chin, ¿le doy el beneficio de la duda? It’s Bush, you know, THE Bush. Sorry, me reservo the “future scenario”.

http://books.guardian.co.uk/hay2007/story/0,,2092489,00.html

Children's laureate publishes anti-Blair allegory

Michelle Pauli

Thursday May 31, 2007

Guardian Unlimited

Anne Fine, the former children's laureate, was inspired to write her latest book for children by her anger over the Iraq war and the Blair government.

M@: 'I wanted my readers to understand how important politics are' ... Anne Fine.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/31/world/europe/31diplo.html?th&emc=th

By HELENE COOPER

Published: May 31, 2007

POTSDAM, Germany, May 30 — The United States and Russia, with relations between them at their most contentious since the collapse of the Soviet Union, openly sparred here on Wednesday at a meeting of foreign ministers of the Group of 8 industrialized nations.

M@: Toc, toc. Parece que el Gigante no ha despertado de su letargo. A lo mejor y hasta es cíclope.

http://as1.emv2.com/I?a=A9X7CqnzTp3b8TK7xKKImmvihg

Catalans are 'persecuting' the language of Cervantes

By Graham Keeley in Barcelona

Published: 30 May 2007

The language of Cervantes is being "persecuted" by nationalists in Catalonia, a director of Spain's leading linguistic body has claimed.

Gregorio Salvador, the deputy director of the Royal Spanish Academy - Spain's version of the authority which compiles the Oxford English Dictionary - hit out at the way Spanish was being downgraded in schools by nationalists running the regional government in the north-eastern region.

Catalan is the first language in schools in Catalonia and Spanish is taught only two hours a week.

Mr Salvador said: "Franco's dictatorship imposed [Castilian] Spanish on the Catalans and the Catalans thought it was an abuse, which it was. But now the same thing is happening the other way round."

In an interview with the Argentine daily, Clarin, Mr Salvador said that regional governments in Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia - which all have their own languages - "have come up with dictatorial regimes of linguistic immersion".

He said that children were increasingly taught in regional tongues. Headded: "The children of Spanish speakers in Catalonia do not have the option of studying in Spanish. Spain is the only country in the world where people cannot be taught in their own language and have another one imposed on them."

After democracy was restored in 1978 Catalonia, like other regions,was granted more autonomy.

Nationalist authorities started a process of "normalisation" in which Catalan was introduced to every part of everyday life.

A political linguistic department was established in the regional government to enforce laws which say Catalan must have equal status with Spanish.

Companies can be fined if they do not print signs in both languages. Some Spanish parents, who want their children to study Castilian, have brought court cases against the regional education department.

The Catalan regional government even gave €15,000 (£10,000) to a film director to make three pornographic films because they promoted Catalan.

But Artur Mas, the leader of the conservative nationalist party, Convergencia i Union, said that Mr Salvador's remarks were "an insult to Catalonia" that demonstrated "little common sense''.

M@: ¡Uchas! Me reservo el comentario.

¡Ah! Por cierto, ya tengo una “ideota” para conmemorar el aniversario del “Fraude No Va”. Una que nos va a ayudar a deshacernos del IFE. ¡Sí, como no! Ya ni las pulgas se te suben, sarnoso, me recuerda el subconsciente. Como quiera se las comparto, …espero.

"Cuando comencé a decir que el Partido Demócrata tiene las mismas normas que el Republicano, el apoyo a mi causa comenzó a erosionar. Creo que nadie me prestó atención cuando señalé que el tema de la paz y la gente muriendo sin razón alguna no es cuestión de derecha o izquierda, sino del bien y el mal", agregó. (Cindy Sheehan).

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2007/05/30/index.php?section=mundo&article=030n2mun

En EU importa más el American Idol que la guerra, dice

Renuncia Cindy Sheehan a la lucha pacifista; vuelve a su hogar

DPA, THE INDEPENDENT

Washington, 29 de mayo. Cindy Sheehan, considerada el rostro del activismo antibélico estadunidense por protestar contra la guerra en Irak frente al rancho del presidente George W. Bush en Texas, anunció este martes que abandonará el movimiento pacifista y regresó hoy a California.

Estados Unidos se está convirtiendo en un "baldío fascista corporativo" facilitado por un sistema en el que ambos partidos -Republicano y Demócrata- son igualmente culpables, dijo. Además señaló que repetidamente fue atacada por los conservadores y liberales quienes la acusaron de ser una "prostituta de atención".

Sheehan publicó su carta de renuncia en Internet y se retiró hoy de Crawford, en Texas, para regresar a su casa en California. "Me iré a mi casa, seré la madre de mis otros hijos y trataré de recuperar algo de lo que hemos perdido", después de señalar que su lucha vació su cuenta de banco, erosionó su matrimonio y provocó tensiones en su relación con sus otros hijos. El hijo de Sheehan, Casey, murió a los 24 años en una emboscada en Irak, en 2004.

Este retiro se da unos días después que los demócratas desistieron de impulsar su plan para condicionar la aprobación del presupuesto de 100 mil millones de dólares destinado a Irak, a cambio de un cronograma para el retiro de las tropas estadunidenses de ese país.

El hecho causó un profundo malestar en el movimiento pacifista, que lo considera una capitulación ante el gobierno de Bush.

"Fui mimada por la así llamada izquierda mientras limité mis reclamos a George W. Bush y al Partido Republicano", indicó Sheehan.

"Cuando comencé a decir que el Partido Demócrata tiene las mismas normas que el Republicano, el apoyo a mi causa comenzó a erosionar. Creo que nadie me prestó atención cuando señalé que el tema de la paz y la gente muriendo sin razón alguna no es cuestión de derecha o izquierda, sino del bien y el mal", agregó.

Y se cuestionó: "¿Por qué me estoy sacrificando y por qué los demócratas se pusieron de rodillas ante George W. Bush?"

Sheehan también criticó al movimiento pacifista por sus pequeñas luchas internas, y señaló que el país como tal aún no está listo para dar los pasos necesarios para la paz.

Sheehan comenzó a protestar contra la guerra en junio de 2004, tras un encuentro con Bush tres meses después de la muerte de su hijo. La madre desconsolada y crítica recogió la atención mundial y comenzó a crecer el descontento con la guerra en Irak.

La también llamada Mamá de la Paz, dijo que lo más doloroso de toda su experiencia es que "Casey murió por nada... murió por un país al que le importa más quién será el próximo American Idol que saber cuántas personas morirán en los próximos meses", escribió.

Una baja más para la causa. La verdadera, no esa caricatura que ronda entre las penumbras. Que en realidad se alimenta de teorías trasnochadas, de la escoria del pensamiento humano. Una Voluntaria cuelga su palabra, se lleva la RESISTENCIA a casa, nos priva de su alegría, su paciencia, su amor desinteresado. Hold on! Sí hay interés: “…el temá de la paz…es cuestión…del bien y el mal”.

Si algo podemos sugerirle a Sheehan y a todos nosotros también es que debemos “interiorizar” que partidos y a veces “candidatos” son parte del sistema de poder, dice Mojarro; y Almeyra los llama “transitorios” para nuestros verdaderos objetivos a largo plazo, por esas utopías debemos luchar diariamente y sin descanso.

Eso de las pequeñas luchas internas no es en realidad un obstáculo si lo usamos como acicate, como retroalimentación, como crecimiento. Sólo los “impolutos” o los “ingenuos” pueden pretender que este DEVENIR es perfecto.

Eso del American Idol más importante que los muertos en Iraq, es precisamente el meollo de este asunto. Iba a decir así los están preparando, pero creo que la frase correcta sería así los condicionan. A lo mejor a estos los podríamos disculpar Cindy; pero hay otra especie que es más peligrosa: aquellos que saben que están traicionando y lo hacen concientemente, y a la sombra. Ya que son tan cobardes que son incapaces de exponer su palabra y actuar en concordancia. Por lo menos sabríamos, de su propia boca y de frente, que “Nos van a acabar”. ¡Cuidadito con esos!



M@roculto;

Norwich, G(ran) B(aja);

31/5/07



P.D.ANTI-ERUDITA. "You are out of your mind...your great learning is driving you INSANE". Acts 26:24 (NIV).



P.D.PACIFICA. "I don't need to FIGHT/To prove I'm RIGHT". - Baba O'riley (The Who).



Pilona de despedida.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/5/28/12530/1525

"Good Riddance Attention Whore"

by CindySheehan

Mon May 28, 2007 at 09:57:01 AM PDT

I have endured a lot of smear and hatred since Casey was killed and especially since I became the so-called "Face" of the American anti-war movement. Especially since I renounced any tie I have remaining with the Democratic Party, I have been further trashed on such "liberal blogs" as the Democratic Underground. Being called an "attention whore" and being told "good riddance" are some of the more milder rebukes.

* CindySheehan's diary :: ::

*

I have come to some heartbreaking conclusions this Memorial Day Morning. These are not spur of the moment reflections, but things I have been meditating on for about a year now. The conclusions that I have slowly and very reluctantly come to are very heartbreaking to me.

The first conclusion is that I was the darling of the so-called left as long as I limited my protests to George Bush and the Republican Party. Of course, I was slandered and libeled by the right as a "tool" of the Democratic Party. This label was to marginalize me and my message. How could a woman have an original thought, or be working outside of our "two-party" system?

However, when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the "left" started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used. I guess no one paid attention to me when I said that the issue of peace and people dying for no reason is not a matter of "right or left", but "right and wrong."

I am deemed a radical because I believe that partisan politics should be left to the wayside when hundreds of thousands of people are dying for a war based on lies that is supported by Democrats and Republican alike. It amazes me that people who are sharp on the issues and can zero in like a laser beam on lies, misrepresentations, and political expediency when it comes to one party refuse to recognize it in their own party. Blind party loyalty is dangerous whatever side it occurs on. People of the world look on us Americans as jokes because we allow our political leaders so much murderous latitude and if we don’t find alternatives to this corrupt "two" party system our Representative Republic will die and be replaced with what we are rapidly descending into with nary a check or balance: a fascist corporate wasteland. I am demonized because I don’t see party affiliation or nationality when I look at a person, I see that person’s heart. If someone looks, dresses, acts, talks and votes like a Republican, then why do they deserve support just because he/she calls him/herself a Democrat?

I have also reached the conclusion that if I am doing what I am doing because I am an "attention whore" then I really need to be committed. I have invested everything I have into trying to bring peace with justice to a country that wants neither. If an individual wants both, then normally he/she is not willing to do more than walk in a protest march or sit behind his/her computer criticizing others. I have spent every available cent I got from the money a "grateful" country gave me when they killed my son and every penny that I have received in speaking or book fees since then. I have sacrificed a 29 year marriage and have traveled for extended periods of time away from Casey’s brother and sisters and my health has suffered and my hospital bills from last summer (when I almost died) are in collection because I have used all my energy trying to stop this country from slaughtering innocent human beings. I have been called every despicable name that small minds can think of and have had my life threatened many times.

The most devastating conclusion that I reached this morning, however, was that Casey did indeed die for nothing. His precious lifeblood drained out in a country far away from his family who loves him, killed by his own country which is beholden to and run by a war machine that even controls what we think. I have tried every since he died to make his sacrifice meaningful. Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives. It is so painful to me to know that I bought into this system for so many years and Casey paid the price for that allegiance. I failed my boy and that hurts the most.

I have also tried to work within a peace movement that often puts personal egos above peace and human life. This group won’t work with that group; he won’t attend an event if she is going to be there; and why does Cindy Sheehan get all the attention anyway? It is hard to work for peace when the very movement that is named after it has so many divisions.

Our brave young men and women in Iraq have been abandoned there indefinitely by their cowardly leaders who move them around like pawns on a chessboard of destruction and the people of Iraq have been doomed to death and fates worse than death by people worried more about elections than people. However, in five, ten, or fifteen years, our troops will come limping home in another abject defeat and ten or twenty years from then, our children’s children will be seeing their loved ones die for no reason, because their grandparents also bought into this corrupt system. George Bush will never be impeached because if the Democrats dig too deeply, they may unearth a few skeletons in their own graves and the system will perpetuate itself in perpetuity.

I am going to take whatever I have left and go home. I am going to go home and be a mother to my surviving children and try to regain some of what I have lost. I will try to maintain and nurture some very positive relationships that I have found in the journey that I was forced into when Casey died and try to repair some of the ones that have fallen apart since I began this single-minded crusade to try and change a paradigm that is now, I am afraid, carved in immovable, unbendable and rigidly mendacious marble.

Camp Casey has served its purpose. It’s for sale. Anyone want to buy five beautiful acres in Crawford , Texas ? I will consider any reasonable offer. I hear George Bush will be moving out soon, too...which makes the property even more valuable.

This is my resignation letter as the "face" of the American anti-war movement. This is not my "Checkers" moment, because I will never give up trying to help people in the world who are harmed by the empire of the good old US of A, but I am finished working in, or outside of this system. This system forcefully resists being helped and eats up the people who try to help it. I am getting out before it totally consumes me or anymore people that I love and the rest of my resources.

Good-bye America ...you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can’t make you be that country unless you want it.

It’s up to you now.


... RESISTENCIA a la antigüita.

Correo de Noticias 30/5/07


http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2007/05/30/index.php?section=opinion&article=022o1pol

Bajo la lupa

Alfredo Jalife-Rahme

Rusia: de la piratización petrolera (síndrome Pemex) a la resurrección

Marshall I. Goldman, profesor de Harvard, publicó un libro luminoso en 2003: La piratización de Rusia, el cual describe el descalabro de las "reformas estructurales" neoliberales y el modus operandi de los "oligarcas", quienes como aves de rapiña saquearon a partir de 1991, fecha del colapso soviético y su modelo comunista, la riqueza nacional condensada en las materias primas más importantes del mundo: petróleo, gas y metales preciosos, en un vasto territorio del doble de Canadá, China, Estados Unidos y Brasil, respectivamente.

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2007/05/30/index.php?section=opinion&article=004o1pol

Astillero

Julio Hernández López

Los gobernadores

Arreglos "necesarios"

AplauS.O.S. en Conago

Felices los normales

Contadísimos son los gobernadores que provienen de elecciones justas y legítimas, y que son ajenos a actos de corrupción con fondos públicos y a arreglos con el narcotráfico dominante (nótese la predisposición conciliadora del tecleador: "contadísimos", escribió, en vez de "ninguno", como piensa categóricamente que en realidad sucede). Contadísimos (el lector habrá de aplicar aquí el traductor sugerido) son los mandatarios estatales que no han tomado partido por uno de los bandos que pugnan por controlar el gran mercado de la droga, pues la mayoría de esos altos políticos ha recibido financiamiento de grupos de delincuencia organizada para sus campañas electorales y, ya en el poder, ha establecido cuotas a la actividad de esos vitales empresarios que sostienen las economías nacional y regionales.

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2007/05/30/index.php?section=economia&article=026n1eco

Proceden de islas del Caribe, informa Economía

Invertidos en México, más de 4 mil mdd de paraísos fiscales

JUAN ANTONIO ZUÑIGA

Más de 4 mil 600 millones de dólares procedentes de Islas Vírgenes, Bermudas, Islas Caimán, Bahamas y Antillas Holandesas, conocidas como los principales paraísos fiscales del Caribe, se encuentran invertidos en la economía mexicana y forman parte del capital social de 398 empresas domiciliadas sobre todo en el Distrito Federal, Nuevo León, estado de México y Jalisco, según informes de la Secretaría de Economía.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/world/2007-05-30-carlos-slim-usat_N.htm

The richest man you've never heard of

By Chris Hawley, USA TODAY

MEXICO CITY — Carlos Slim Helú's business career began on the playground, trading baseball cards.

He would buy the adhesive-backed cards at a candy stand in downtown Mexico City, then make a meticulous record of each trade in a notebook, carefully evaluating whether he had come out on top.

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas/2007/05/30/ponen-a-la-venta-el-piano-favorito-de-john-lennon-en-ny

Ponen a la venta el piano favorito de John Lennon en NY

Agencias

30/05/2007 11:41

Nueva York. El piano favorito de John Lennon, un vertical fabricado en Nueva Inglaterra, fue puesto a la venta por los propietarios del desaparecido estudio de grabación Record Plant, con un valor inicial de 375 mil dólares.

El instrumento fue tocado por el ex Beatle el día en que murió, de acuerdo con la firma intermediaria Momentos en el Tiempo, a la que le fue confiada la promoción y venta.

Lennon utilizó este piano para grabar, entre otros, su álbum Imagine, en 1971, y estaba tan apegado a él que pedía que lo trasladaran a cualquier estudio en el que estuviera trabajando, de acuerdo con los promotores.

Además de Lennon, el piano fue usado por otros grandes de la música, como Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Peter Townsend, David Bowie, Alice Cooper y Elton John.

Los estudios Record Plant en el barrio de Hell"s Kitchen, al oeste de Manhattan, cerraron sus puertas en la década de los 90 y desde entonces el piano ha permanecido en una bodega.

Momentos en el Tiempo tiene también a la venta el álbum Double fantasy, que Lennon le firmó a Mark Chapman, su asesino, unas horas antes de morir, y un libro de poesía que Adolfo Hitler regaló a su amante Eva Braun.

Double fantasy fue encontrado por un trabajador del edificio Dakota en el que vivía Lennon, sobre la acera, y lo vendió años después a un intermediario, quien ahora decidió también ponerlo a la venta.

El libro de poesía dedicado por Hitler es vendido en 175 mil dólares, y Double fantasy está abierto al mejor postor.

La casa Momentos en el Tiempo opera desde el poblado de Washingtonville, en el estado de Nueva York.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

For decades he was the scourge of successive Nigerian despots. Now aged 72, Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka tells Maya Jaggi how 'repetitions of history' - most recently the atrocities in Darfur - continue to haunt his life and work



http://books.guardian.co.uk/hay2007/story/0,,2089620,00.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith2004/

The voice of conscience

For decades he was the scourge of successive Nigerian despots. Now aged 72, Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka tells Maya Jaggi how 'repetitions of history' - most recently the atrocities in Darfur - continue to haunt his life and work

Monday May 28, 2007

The Guardian

When the Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka visited the Hay Cartagena festival in Colombia earlier this year, in a walled Spanish colonial town on the Caribbean coast, children in the streets instantly thought they recognised the black man with leonine grey hair. But they couldn't decide whether he was Kofi Annan or Don King. They might not have identified the great Nigerian writer, but they were certainly on to something: Soyinka is surely both pugilist and peacemaker.

Soyinka, who is 72 and won the Nobel literature prize in 1986 - the first African so honoured - has for several decades been an abrasive conscience for his country of Nigeria, and for a continent. Obsessed with the "oppressive boot and the irrelevance of the colour of the foot that wears it", he has charted the lethal gulf between legitimate authority and the "power that any goon can seize". A scourge of successive Nigerian despots and kleptocrats, he was jailed without trial for 28 months in 1967, most of it spent alone in a tomb-like cell, for trying to head off civil war with breakaway Biafra. The ordeal gave rise to his classic prison memoir written on toilet paper, The Man Died (1972), and drove him to self-imposed exile. Thirty years on, he was sentenced to death in absentia for treason under the even more brutal military rule of General Sani Abacha, whose crimes included the hanging of the writer Ken Saro-Wiwa.

We meet in a London pub on his way to give a lecture at the Guardian Hay festival at the weekend; and his subject is international culpability over what's happening in Darfur. Soyinka presided as chief judge at a mock trial last November when Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir was found guilty in absentia of crimes against humanity in Darfur. For the playwright, poet and novelist, who is also an actor-director, the symbolic court was "play-acting, but of a very serious kind". During the tribunal set up by Genocide Watch, Soyinka heard searing testimony, he says, from "witnesses flown out from southern Sudan, people whose families had been killed, or who had been raped or seen relatives raped or maimed - some broke down. They testified to the war crimes of the Janjaweed [the government's proxy militia], saying they raided villages and killed Nuba at any time."

Tracing the abuses to a vestigial legacy of the Arab slave trade that pre-dated transatlantic slavery, and likening the Darfur cause to anti-apartheid, when "non-Africans felt aggrieved by the assault heaped on humanity", Soyinka says: "This can't go on. Over 2 million refugees, and still raids by Janjaweed, backed by the Sudanese government military, with the war spilling into neighbouring countries." Instead of public indictments and sanctions with teeth, "people make token resolutions. It's yet another failure. I don't understand how this can be happening in the 21st century."

He says that all "hidden atrocities" are revealed eventually, even if many years later. "It all comes to light in the end. So why don't these would-be Stalins and Hitlers take a leaf from history instead of burdening us with exposing their crimes? Why does it have to happen again and again?"

The repetitions of history, whether as tragedy or farce, have haunted Soyinka's life and work. I first met him in 1994, when he warned despairingly of impending civil war in Nigeria, after the 1993 elections were annulled, the victorious Moshood Abiola jailed, and power seized by Abacha, the "butcher of Abuja". In his third volume of memoirs, Ibadan: The Penkelemes Years (1994), Soyinka reminded fellow citizens of an earlier "electoral robbery" in 1965, when he was arrested for holding up a radio station at gunpoint and broadcasting a pirate protest - but acquitted on a technicality. Within months of our meeting, Soyinka's passport was seized by Abacha's regime, and he made a perilous escape on a 12-hour motorbike ride across the Benin border.

Punctuated by Nigeria's political upheavals, our talks have resumed in varied locations, from his literary compatriot Chinua Achebe's 70th birthday celebrations by New York's Hudson river, to a cous-cous joint in Paris, where he ironically toasted an end to exile after Abacha's unexpected death in 1998. Abiola died mysteriously in prison a month later. While the actor's resonant voice now seems fainter, his convictions remain just as firm.

After Nigeria's interim leader returned his passport "on a gold platter", Soyinka found his welcome "overwhelming. There was amazement at what it meant to others, although, within me, I'd never left Nigeria." Unlike his first exile, which entailed "an act of internal severance", he threw himself into opposition to Abacha's rule, in which his sons Olaokun and Ilemakin were also active. In You Must Set Forth at Dawn, a volume of memoirs published this month, Soyinka puts his lifelong belief that "justice is the first condition of humanity" down to an "over-acute, remedial sense of right and wrong".

He has a home in California, and affiliations at Harvard and Nevada universities. There is now a Wole Soyinka chair of drama at Leeds university, where he studied in the 1950s. Yet Soyinka has restored the house in his birthplace of Abeokuta, outside Lagos, built with the Nobel "windfall" only to be colonised by bats in his absence. It is the place, he says, "where I recover myself; it's me in every way". His sometimes melancholy new memoir pays tribute to the dead, from Soyinka's parents to his cousin, Afrobeat star Fela Kuti, and he says he intends to be buried in a cactus patch in the grounds of his house. He still yearns for the freedom to pursue savoured pastimes, from collecting African art and book browsing, to solitary hunting in the forests ("I 'take my gun for a walk' for whatever can be eaten, not for trophies").

"Each time I think I've created time for myself," Soyinka says, "along comes a throwback to disrupt my private space."

Tomorrow's inauguration of Nigeria's new president, Umaru Yar'Adua, is, for Soyinka, such a throwback. Along with international observers, he deems last month's presidential elections "no elections at all", so baldly were they rigged. "In some states there were no votes," he says. "We have videos of police commissioners carting off ballot boxes, and police looking on as thugs carted them off." Though the outgoing president, Olusegun Obasanjo, ended military rule in 1999, Soyinka sees his rule as "civilian dictatorship". He has now "made himself life chairman of the ruling party to dictate policies", he says.

In his memoir he blames Obasanjo - also from Abeokuta - for betraying him in the run-up to the civil war, landing him in jail. Yet far from holding a grudge, Soyinka now wonders if he bent too far backwards not to criticise Obasanjo, "for fear that it might be thought I was still angry. I'm friends with [Yakubu] Gowon [the former military ruler who jailed him]. I suspect there's a missionary streak in me as the inheritor of my parents." His schoolteacher father, "Essay", and the mother he called "Wild Christian" are depicted in his early memoirs, Ake (1981) and Isara (1989).

He initially saw Obasanjo as a "practical stopgap - a soldier who had been "civilianised" by prison and given a death sentence against which the nation rose on his behalf." Yet once in power, "he built a one-party dictatorship by force majeure". In his second term, after disputed elections in 2003, "he installed a reign of thugs; political assassinations reached a peak never witnessed before. There were crimes and killings. When they realised they had a monster on their hands, he tried to manipulate the constitution to give himself a third term. The money to bribe legislators amounted to billions of naira." Yet for Soyinka, it was a defining moment when "the legislature refused to buckle. It provided a modicum of hope."

Any dictator, secular or theocratic, "merely implants the seeds of eventual rebellion," he believes. Soyinka belongs to Nigeria United For Democracy, a "temporary coalition". As recently as 2004 he was teargassed and arrested on a protest march against arbitrary police powers, though he was released within hours. "The police insist they have the authority to decide who walks the streets," he says. "How can they decide whether I can protest against government policy or not? It's unacceptable. If they say I need a police permit, I'll tear it up."

In his 2004 Reith lectures, published as Climate of Fear, Soyinka quoted a Yoruba saying, "Sooner death than indignity", and he sees dignity as simply "another face of freedom". Probing the "psychopathology of the zealot" ("I am right, you are dead"), he says the "lunatic fringe", in both state power and resistance to it, must be watched. In his view, Bush, like Obasanjo, believes in a direct hotline to God. "He says, 'We don't care about recognition from the world if God approves.' It's an extreme fundamentalism of the most dangerous kind - and it has led to Iraq." As for Tony Blair: "It was Blair who spearheaded Nato's involvement in Kosovo on behalf of Muslims battered by the Serb government. Blair acted as a man of principle - to give credit where it's due. Unfortunately, he got carried away by the moral authority he had acquired, failing to recognise George Bush as a fundamentalist of a different kind."

Soyinka sees Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe as "the latest King Baabu of the African continent" - an allusion to his 2002 play, a satire about a fictional but recognisable tyrannical general called Basha Bash. On Darfur, he hopes that not only will Arab and African countries alike pull their weight, but China will reverse its support for Sudan's government as the Beijing Olympics approach.

"One's own self-worth is tied to the worth of the community to which one belongs, which is intimately connected to humanity in general," he says. "What happens in Darfur becomes an assault on my own community, and on me as an individual. That's what the human family is all about".

* - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - *

M@rconciencia;


Norwich, G(ran) B(aabu);


30/5/07



P.D.POLIGLOTA. "...I have spoke with the TONGUE of ANGELS...". - I still haven't found what I'm looking for (U2).



… pay per VIEW.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Correo de Noticias 29/5/07


http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/primera/28981.html

Fracasa programa de apoyo a pequeñas y medianas empresas

Las compras que hace el gobierno privilegian a los grandes consorcios

Fracasa programa de apoyo a pequeñas y medianas empresasFracasa programa de apoyo a pequeñas y medianas empresas

El Universal

Martes 29 de mayo de 2007

Fernando Pedrero

M@: Alright, la LIBRE COMPETENCIA en pleno.

http://www.vefutbol.com.mx/notas/2778.html

Para Salcido, en México miman a futbolistas

Celebra el defensa del PSV, campeón en Holanda, que en Europa no mimen a los jugadores tal como sucede en su país

EFE

El Universal

Ciudad de México

Lunes 28 de mayo de 2007

19:30 El mexicano Carlos Salcido, defensa del PSV Eindhoven, campeón del futbol holandés, aseguró hoy que en las ligas europeas no miman a los jugadores y eso los hace crecer

M@: No, Salcido. Quienes verdaderamente “apapachamos” a los jugadores somos los aficionados. El día que dejemos de consumir la mediocridad que nos brindan en México, excepto la liguilla para ser justos, ese día cambian ustedes, te lo aseguro.

http://www.milenio.com/index.php/2007/05/24/72464/

24 de Mayo

Sorprende sismo a los científicos

Sorprendida por el temblor de 5.2 grados que se registró la tarde de ayer en el sur de Tamaulipas y norte de Veracruz, la comunidad científica se pronunció por investigar a fondo las causas del fenómeno en esta zona no sísmica, al tiempo en que hizo un llamado a la población para no caer en psicosis luego del tsunami ocurrido en Indonesia en el 2004.

M@: http://www.aporrealos.org/actualidad/a11393.html

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/427963.html

Bush desea mi muerte: Fidel Castro

Revela el líder cubano que en fecha reciente un personaje importante cuestionó a su homólogo estadounidense sobre su política hacia Cuba, a lo que éste contestó: "yo soy un presidente de línea dura y sólo espero la muerte de Castro"

M@: Any news? ¿Qué es un presidente de línea dura?

http://encontrarte.aporrea.org/fascismo.php/a12582.html

El Fascismo como fin político : Benito Mussolini, il Duce

Martín Maytín

El 23 de marzo de 1919, es fundado en Milán por Benito Mussolini un movimiento político social denominado Fascios di Combattimento, que a pesar de las múltiples desgracias y ruina a la que condujo a la nación italiana, se ha convertido —especialmente para grupos minoritarios clasistas y racistas— en una teoría o ideología para hacer y ejercer la política y el gobierno. A esta tendencia se le ha denominado Fascismo. Este partido no nació basado en una doctrina previamente estructurada sino por una necesidad de acción, agrupando a elementos de diversas tendencias políticas.

M@: Fachos del mundo, uníos.

http://www.proceso.com.mx/noticia.html?sec=2&nta=51065&nsec=Estados

Se obliga a maestros a afiliarse al Panal, en Tamaulipas

gabriela hernández

Ciudad Victoria, Tamps., 28 de mayo (apro).- En un retorno a los tiempos del corporativismo, el Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación presiona a los maestros para que se afilien al Partido Nueva Alianza (Panal), denunciaron profesores y representantes gremiales.

M@: Uchas, por lo menos espero que haya JALEA REAL.

http://www.proceso.com.mx/prisma.html?sec=3&nta=51031&nsec=

índrome de guerra
matteo dean

México, D.F.(apro).- Treinta y siete soldados italianos muertos entre 2001 y 2006 y más de 300 en riesgo de correr la misma suerte, es el saldo que presenta la Asociación Nacional de Asistencia a las Víctimas Alistados en las Fuerzas Armadas y Familias de los Caídos (Anavafav), que desde 1994 registra los casos de militares italianos que se han enfermado al regresar de los frentes de guerra.

M@: Cuando los estragos de la guerra nos alcancen.

http://www.proceso.com.mx/columna.html?col=9&nta=50952&ncol=adelanto+de+libros

Cien años de literatura mexicana, de Philippe Ollé-Laprune

armando ponce

México, D.F., 28 de mayo (apro).- Si pudiéramos elegir un compendio de los novelistas, poetas y ensayistas mexicanos del siglo XX traducidos al francés, el mejor ejemplo actual sería Cent ans de littérature mexicaine (Cien años de literatura mexicana), del investigador francés radicado en México, Philippe Ollé-Laprune.

M@: Hay que conseguirlo, pues.

http://www.proceso.com.mx/noticia.html?sec=0&nta=50995&nsec=

Legalidad detrás del aborto (Primera de tres partes)

maría de la luz tesoro

México, D.F., 28 de mayo (apro-cimac).- El ejercicio de la medicina y de sus disciplinas auxiliares consiste en salvaguardar la salud, y si el funcionario o médico del IMSS se niega terminante e injustificadamente a realizar un aborto, o participar en alguna intervención relacionada con el mismo, incurre en flagrante violación al artículo 47, fracción I de la ley federal de responsabilidades de los servidores públicos.

http://www.proceso.com.mx/noticia.html?sec=0&nta=50994&nsec=

Legalidad detrás del aborto (Segunda de tres partes)

maría de la luz tesoro

México, D.F., 28 de mayo (apro-cimac).- La “objeción de conciencia”, nombrada reiteradamente en el debate sobre la interrupción del embarazo, es una negativa a realizar actos o servicios invocando motivos éticos o religiosos, mismos que suelen acomodarse a los grandes movimientos o transformaciones culturales de la historia, advierte el doctor Raúl Carrancá y Rivas.

http://www.proceso.com.mx/noticia.html?sec=0&nta=51003&nsec=

Legalidad detrás del aborto (Tercera y última)

maría de la luz tesoro

México, D.F., 28 de mayo (apro-cimac).- En el mundo occidental, el tema de la liberación del aborto ocupa un sitio privilegiado en el debate de las ideas, por lo que debe analizarse con gran cuidado para no dejar espacios abiertos que permitan críticas insanas, tendenciosa y, por supuesto, cargadas de fanatismo, aseguró el doctor Raúl Carranca y Rivas.

M@: Se van a dar hasta con la cubeta, ya lo verán.

http://www.milenio.com/mexico/milenio/firma.php?id=514514

La tanga de Soberanes

• ¿Agenda bilateral? La de EU

• Lozano desactiva mina por mina...

El hombre devoto, mi estimado, solo piensa en sí mismo. Felipe Calderón está cumpliendo su palabra del slogan de campaña. ¿Cómo era que decía? “Seré el Presidente del empleo (or something)...”. Y ayer, con el anuncio de la creación de un Comité Especializado de Alto Nivel en Materia de Desarme, Terrorismo y Seguridad Internacional que contará con ¡seis! grupos operativos (¿encabezados por Madame Sazú...?) que serán: Armas nucleares, armas químicas y biológicas, armas convencionales, lucha contra el terrorismo, “armonización” (jajajaja... perdón) legal y administrativa (¿?), y de seguridad internacional, el inquilino de Los Pinos comienza con palomita su accidentado sexenio en materia de empleo.

M@: Comité Especializado … mmm. How many Zetas more today?

http://books.guardian.co.uk/hay2007/story/0,,2090085,00.html

Hay Festival 2007

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

No regrets

Richard Perle was one of the arch hawks who helped to push America into the Iraq war. Four years on, Suzanne Goldenberg finds him unrepentant

M@: ¿Porqué habría de pedir perdón? La DEMOCRACIA está funcionando de Maravilla en Iraq. Oh yeah!!!

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/article2591496.ece

Human rights in Iraq: a case to answer

Revealed: How Lord Goldsmith advised Army chiefs to deny detainees 'full' legal protection

By Robert Verkaik, Law Editor

Published: 29 May 2007

The Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, is facing accusations that he told the Army its soldiers were not bound by the Human Rights Act when arresting, detaining and interrogating Iraqi prisoners.

Previously confidential emails, seen by The Independent, between London and British military head-quarters in Iraq soon after the start of the war suggest Lord Goldsmith's advice was to adopt a "pragmatic" approach when handling prisoners and it was not necessary to follow the " higher standards" of the protection of the Human Rights Act.

That, according to human rights lawyers, was tantamount to the Attorney General advising the military to ignore the Human Rights Act and to simply observe the Geneva Conventions. It was also contrary to advice given by the Army's senior lawyer in Iraq, who urged higher standards to be met.

Today, rights groups and experts in international law will call on the Government to disclose Lord Goldsmith's legal opinion, which they say could have helped create a culture of abuse of Iraqis by British soldiers.

Last month, the first British soldier convicted of a war crime was jailed for a year and dismissed from the Army after being convicted of mistreating Iraqi civilians, including the hotel worker Baha Mousa, who died of his injuries at the hands of British soldiers. In 2005, three British soldiers were jailed by a court martial in Germany after "trophy" photographs emerged, showing Iraqi detainees being abused at an aid centre called Camp Bread Basket. There are about 60 more allegations of abuse being prepared for legal claims by rights groups.

Last week, Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights wrote to the Government to ask for an "explanation" about the evidence of torture in the Baha Mousa court martial.

Andrew Dismore MP, chair of the committee, said: "We have asked the Ministry of Defence to explain what appear to be stark inconsistencies in the evidence presented to our committee about the use of inhuman and degrading interrogation techniques prohibited as long ago as 1972."

But emails sent just after the invasion indicate Lord Goldsmith's belief that British soldiers in Iraq were not bound by the Human Rights Act. The documents also show a wide differing of opinion between him and Lieutenant-Colonel Nicholas Mercer, the Army's most senior legal adviser on the ground, who wrote to say he felt "the ECHR would apply" to troops in Iraq.

On one occasion, Rachel Quick, the legal adviser to Permanent Joint Headquarters who had regularly sought and been given guidance from Lord Goldsmith on the treatment of Iraqi prisoners, wrote to Colonel Mercer giving her interpretation of the Attorney General's advice. His view, she said, "was that the HRA was only intended to protect rights conferred by the Convention and must look to international law to determine the scope of those rights".

Ms Quick went on say that the advice of the Attorney General, supported by Professor Christopher Greenwood [the barrister who advised Lord Goldsmith on the legality of the war], was that, in the circumstances, the HRA did not apply. "For your purposes," she wrote, "I would suggest this means no requirement for you to provide guidance on the application of the HRA. I hope this is clear."

Ms Quick, who in November 2003, was appointed OBE, added: "With regard to the detention of civilians - I will look at your documents in more detail and discuss with FCO, MoD legal advisers. Although my initial thoughts are you are trying to introduce UK procedures to a Geneva Convention IV context. Whilst this may be the perfect solution it may not be the pragmatic solution. Again we raised this issue with the AG and got a helpful steer on the procedures. I'll aim to try to produce guidance, taking into account their advice on the detention of civilians."

Such were the concerns of legal advisers on the ground over the Attorney General's views that the MoD arranged for the senior legal adviser at the Foreign Office, Gavin Hood, to visit Permanent Joint Headquarters to settle any worries. Crucially, the emails make clear Lord Goldsmith's legal opinion was not shared by Colonel Mercer, who contacted his superiors in London to ask for guidance after he had witnessed the hooding of 40 Iraqis at a British PoW camp in March. The men were all forced to kneel in the sun and had their hands cuffed behind their backs. Worried this could leave the soldiers vulnerable to prosecutions, he told the MoD that in his view soldiers should behave in accordance with the "higher standard" of the Human Rights Act.

But the response from the military's Permanent Joint Headquarters in Qatar was that Lord Goldsmith had told the MoD the human rights law did not apply and soldiers should simply observe the Geneva Conventions.

When Colonel Mercer said he disagreed with the Government's most senior law officer he was told that "perhaps you should put yourself up as the next Attorney General". Colonel Mercer also asked for a British judge to be flown out to oversee the procedures for the detention of Iraqi prisoners, but this also was blocked at a high level.

Colonel Mercer's interpretation of the law has since proved correct. Thirty months after he first raised his concerns during the Iraq conflict, the Court of Appeal ruled that British soldiers were bound by the Human Rights Act, which bans torture or degrading of prisoners.

The emails, part of court documents being prepared to support a judicial review in the High Court this year, reveal considerable disquiet among the military about the Attorney General's advice.

The documents show that as early as March 2003, the International Committee of the Red Cross had begun investigating complaints of possible war crimes by British soldiers at the same PoW camp in south-east Iraq that had prompted Colonel Mercer's original intervention. The Government was so worried about this that it flew out a political adviser from London to address the Red Cross's concerns about hooding and other practices.

International law

* Torture is defined by international law as any threat or use of severe pain, physical or mental, against an individual with the intention of obtaining a confession or other information. Under the UN Convention Against Torture, 40 states - including Britain - have agreed not to engage in such practices.

During military conflict the third and fourth Geneva Conventions protect prisoners of war and civilians who are held by soldiers. Torture is also defined as a war crime by the International Criminal Court, which describes it as the unlawful infliction of severe pain.

Many of the incidents of abuse committed by British soldiers on Iraqi civilians may fall outside the strict definition of torture under international law.

But under the European Convention of Human Rights, incorporated in the Human Rights Act 1998, there is no requirement that the threat or use of pain should be severe for an act to fall foul of the law.

Lord Goldsmith argued that because UK forces did not have full control of Iraq, the country was not part of its jurisdiction and therefore the Human Rights Act did not apply. He lost this argument when the Court of Appeal ruled that Iraqi civilians held in custody and the soldiers detaining them were subject to the Human Rights Act. The case is to be settled later this year by the House of Lords. If the Government loses then it is expected that full and independent inquiries will be held into the deaths, disappearances and torture of Iraqis by British soldiers.

http://environment.independent.co.uk/lifestyle/article2591469.ece

Organic movement faces split over air-freighted food

By Martin Hickman Consumer Affairs Correspondent

Published: 29 May 2007

For the conscientious, food shopping poses many ethical dilemmas: are organic bananas better than Fairtrade or English tomatoes preferable to imports?

Britain's booming organic movement has been wrestling with one such dilemma for years and the debate has become so heated it can no longer be ignored. From today, the country's organic farmers, suppliers and shoppers are being asked for an answer to an awkward question: is it acceptable to air-freight organic food?

On this one question could hinge the prosperity of thousands of African farmers, fruit and vegetable importers, the integrity of the organic movement and, to some extent, the health of the planet itself.

If the body which certifies three-quarters or organic food, the Soil Association, rules that the climate change pollution cannot be justified, it may ban all flown-in food.

A ban might split the organic movement: one side with strict environmental standards and another with looser standards that factor in the development of the Third World. The argument arises from the rapid rise of the UK organic movement, which has burgeoned into a £1.6bn-a-year business.

Farmers have struggled to grow enough food and in 2005 supermarkets imported one-third of their organic range, mostly by air.

Nationally "food miles" are at a record high, with air-freighting up 136 per cent between 1992 and 2002.

Yet flying food thousands of miles from poor farmers to wealthy Westerners generates substantial amounts of C02 just as climate change is being recognised as an emergency. Shoppers find the dissonance uncomfortable: a Soil Association survey found that eight out of 10 would prefer to buy conventional local food rather than an organic import.

At Britain's biggest vegetable box supplier, Riverford Farm in Devon, air-freighted food is banned. The self-imposed ban is sometimes difficult but Guy Watson, its founder, believes the environment must take priority. He tells customers: "Most out-of-season veg imported to the UK is flown in from Africa and South America causing horrendous emissions, or trucked from southern Europe with less, but still substantial, environmental impact." About 80 per cent of company's 35,000 customers' food comes from the UK, with the rest arriving by road or ship.

By contrast, the importer Blue Skies in Northamptonshire buys fresh pineapple, mango and coconuts from Ghana, where it employs 1,500 people. "We would see any change to the rules as unfair to us and unfair to Africa," said the founder, Anthony Pile. "The carbon emissions for air freighted food is something like 1 per cent of the total emissions." Why hit farmers who have a tiny carbon footprint and often live without electricity? he asked.

In its consultation, which ends on 28 September this year, the Soil Association is setting out the case for five options. Maintaining the status quo would help faraway producers but might damage the organisation's credibility. A gradual or total ban would damage exporters but help tackle climate change and encourage more sustainable agriculture. Warning stickers or offsetting flights would be a compromise.

Anna Bradley, of the Soil Association's standards committee, explained that the rules had to evolve over time and the time had come for a definitive answer on aviation. "It's quite clear right now that these issues of climate change and CO2 are much more important than they were 10 years ago and it feels much more pertinent to talk about them," she said. But Britain's organic trailblazer could lose business by raising its standards, just as it did when it tightened its rules on poultry farms. "That cost us licensees but it has ... retained the integrity of the standard," she said.

Flown in from abroad

* PORK FROM DENMARK

When it opens its massive new 75,000 sq ft store in London's Kensington High Street next month, the US organic giant Whole Foods Market will stock many imports from all over the world because UK supply of organic produce is overstretched. Among products likely to be brought in are pork from Denmark and beef from France and Germany.

* PINEAPPLES FROM GHANA

Workers in west Africa grow and pack tropical fruit such as pineapples, mangoes and papaya which is then flown to the UK. Countries like Ghana say the foreign income is vital to development.

* MILK FROM THE NETHERLANDS

Supermarkets are struggling to find enough organic milk because of the number of dairy farmers going out of business and the time taken to convert to new methods. Organic milk is bought from the Netherlands.

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2591473.ece

Chirac faces inquiry into £30m account

By John Lichfield in Paris

Published: 29 May 2007

The former French president, Jacques Chirac, will soon be questioned by investigating magistrates on his alleged use of an illegal bank account in Japan.

Although M. Chirac also faces questioning on other alleged financial irregularities, his mysterious Japanese dealings over many years appear to have risen to the top of the pile of his legal worries.

Two judges investigating the Clearstream affair - false allegations of corruption against French public figures, including the present President, Nicolas Sarkozy - will seek to question M. Chirac soon , the newspaper Libération said yesterday.

Judge Jean-Marie d'Huy and Judge Henri Pons, investigating the Clearstream affair, have unearthed new evidence suggesting that M. Chirac had an undeclared account at a Japanese bank in the 1990s. The evidence suggests the account may once have received funds from Gaston Flosse, the former president of French Polynesia who is an old friend and political ally of M. Chirac.

M. Chirac and M. Flosse have denied the allegations, which were leaked to the French press. The former president has always denied having opened a bank account in Japan. M. Flosse, a controversial figure for many years, was found guilty last year of illegally using his political influence to bail out a struggling hotel owned by his son.

Although the claims seem minor in themselves, investigators believe that the Japanese-Polynesian connections may help to explain a web of mysterious financial dealings.

A note from the French external security service, the DGSE, unearthed by the investigators last year, implies that M. Chirac once had ¥7bn (about £30m) in an account opened at Tokyo Sowa bank in 1992. The bank, owned by a since-ruined Japanese businessman, Shoichi Osada, has ceased trading. M. Osada was a friend of M. Chirac for decades.

The investigating judges are reported by the French press to have found new evidence linking M. Chirac to the Japanese bank account in private notes kept by a former intelligence officer, General Philippe Rondot.

General Rondot was one of the - innocent - prime actors in the Clearstream affair. In 2004, he was asked by the former prime minister Dominique de Villepin to investigate fake illegal bank accounts supposedly held by French public figures, including M. Sarkozy, in Luxembourg. The general's entire records have been seized by the judges.

When M. Chirac was president, he was immune from prosecution, even from investigation. Now that he has left the ElyséePalace, he is almost certain to be questioned about his alleged role in illegal party funding in the 1990s when he was mayor of Paris. The alleged Japanese bank account is part of a separate investigation.

M. Chirac is a great Jap-anophile, a fan of sumo wrestling and an expert on Japanese art. He has visited Japan 54 times in the past 37 years, mostly unofficially. His Japanese connections have always been a matter of great sensitivity.

While sharing power with the Socialist prime minister, Lionel Jospin, from 1997-2002, M. Chirac became convinced M. Jospin was using the security services to investigate his dealings in Japan. After M. Jospin left office in 2002, M. Chirac fired the head of the DGSE. The media then learnt that the DGSE had made a brief investigation in Japan, although not at M. Jospin's request. Documents from this inquiry were in General Rondot's files.

Eva Joly, the Norwegian-born former magistrate and a fearless and successful judicial investigator, has called for a separate inquiry into the Japanese affair. Mme Joly, now retired, said it was unclear whether the Clear-stream judges would have the authority to inquire deeply into M. Chirac's Japanese connections.

"It seems essential to me that an investigation should be conducted on the documents which reportedly point to a [Chirac] account in Japan," she said. "A democracy worthy of the name cannot continue in this uncertainty."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/29/business/29coal.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

Lawmakers Push for Big Subsidies for Coal Process

By EDMUND L. ANDREWS

Published: May 29, 2007

WASHINGTON, May 28 — Even as Congressional leaders draft legislation to reduce greenhouse gases linked to global warming, a powerful roster of Democrats and Republicans is pushing to subsidize coal as the king of alternative fuels.

M@: Sigánle sacando al parche. Queda un buen de tiempo. Don’t worry.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/29/world/middleeast/29syria.html?th&emc=th

Desperate Iraqi Refugees Turn to Sex Trade in Syria

MARABA, Syria — Back home in Iraq, Umm Hiba’s daughter was a devout schoolgirl, modest in her dress and serious about her studies. Hiba, who is now 16, wore the hijab, or Islamic head scarf, and rose early each day to say the dawn prayer before classes.

M@: Y Perle no tiene nada de que arrepentirse. Seguramente su hija también se dedica a la vida galante. Todo un éxito la Liberación, right?

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article1804147.ece

From The Times

May 18, 2007

The ghetto blaster

Former boy-band star Simon Webbe escaped from a crime-ridden estate through his music. Now he’s helping other youngsters

M@: ‘The attitude of these kids has got to change, not where they come from’

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article1819535.ece

From The Times

May 22, 2007

Body and mind: how the power of music lifts and heals

Maxim Vengerov is considered by many to be the best violinist in the world and commands upwards of £20,000 a performance – but few are as rewarding as the one he gave for nothing at a hospital for those with severe neurological conditions and traumatic brain injuries. Richard Morrison reports

M@: ‘They warned me that there would probably be no reaction from the children. But one girl started singing’