Artist eats Corgi

In an extraordinary art event artist and animal rights activist Mark McGowan has eaten a Corgi dog live on the Radio on Tuesday 29th May 2007, in a protest against the Royals and their treatment of animals. The dog died recently at a Corgi breeding farm in Southern England and will be prepared and cooked for McGowan's consumption on the Bob and Roberta Smith radio programme.


McGowan says,
'I know some people will find this offensive and tasteless but i am doing this to raise awarness about the RSPCA's inability to prosecute Prince Phillip and his friends shooting a fox earlier this year, letting it struggle for life for 5 minutes and then beating it to death with a stick.'


See the artists website http://www.markmcgowan.org

Anglicans 'obsessed' by gay issue

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has called on Africa's Anglican church to overcome its "obsession" with the issue of gay priests and same-sex marriages.
He said they should spend time on more pressing issues in the region.



Speaking to the BBC World Service, the South African bishop said Zimbabwe, HIV/Aids and the crisis in Darfur were not getting sufficient attention.



Zimbabwe's Anglican church also lacked courage to stand up to President Robert Mugabe's regime, he said. More on BBC

US Wargames off Iran's Coast

Ships packed with 17,000 sailors and Marines moved into the Persian Gulf on Wednesday as the US Navy staged another show of force off Iran's coast just days before US-Iran talks in Baghdad and amid new revelations over Iran's nuclear program.



The carrier strike groups, led by the Bremerton-based USS John C. Stennis and USS Nimitz joined by the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard and its own strike group, were to conduct air training while the ships ran submarine, mine and other exercises.



The war games - which culminate in an amphibious landing exercise in Kuwait, just a few miles from Iran - appear to be a clear provocation for Iran, coming just ahead of the Baghdad talks.



GlobalResearch.ca

SPIN: The Art of Selling War

Directed by Josh Rushing, a veteran Marine Corps media spokesman, "SPIN: The Art of Selling War" is an investigative documentary that looks ... all » at the standard justification for going to war by the American administrations of past and present

9/11 Heroes Respond To Bush Admin 'SiCKO' Investigation

More about Moore's SiCKO on his website

Karoshi

Yoshinori Hasegawa, Vice Director of the Chiba Kensei Hospital and a recognized authority on karoshi, says that most of the victims of death from overwork had been putting in more than one hundred hours of overtime each. He said the victims did not receive any overtime pay for their extra work, but were members of the élite managerial class who worked themselves to death "out of a samurai-like pride".



Because of peer pressure to keep up with co-workers, out-do competing groups and increase market-share at the expense of competitors, hundreds of thousand of Japanese managers are caught up in a vortex of psychological pressure that forces them to work at a frenzied pace.



After years of such intense over-work, most managers find that they cannot rest even when they do take time off. They are so wound up that not working leaves them disoriented and suffering from serious stress. More here



Also see the site of The office of the KAROSHI Hotline National Network
The office of the National Defence Counsel for Victims of KAROSHI

Rare giant turtle found in Mekong

One of the world's largest turtles, said to be on the brink of extinction, has been found in abundance in a former Khmer Rouge stronghold in Cambodia.
Conservationists discovered an 11kg (24lb) female Cantor's giant soft-shell turtle and a nesting ground during a survey of the country's Mekong River.



The species, which can grow two metres (6ft) long and weigh 50kg (110lb) was last spotted in Cambodia in 2003.
Scientists say the find could help save it from disappearing off the planet. More on BBC and more on WWF

Iraqi Oil Workers to Strike Over Privatisation Law

Iraq’s largest oil workers’ trade union will strike this Thursday, inprotest at the controversial oil law currently being considered by the Iraqi parliament. The move threatens to stop all exports from theoil-rich country.

The oil law proposes giving multinational companies the primary role in developing Iraq’s huge untapped oilfields, under contracts lasting up to 30 years. Oil production in Iraq, like in most of the Middle East, has been in the public sector since the 1970s.The Union, representing 26,000 oil workers, has held three previousstrikes since 2003, each time stopping exports, for up to two days at atime. The announcement of the strike has spurred negotiations with theMinistry of Oil, which are ongoing.

Imad Abdul-Hussain, Federation Deputy Chair of the IFOU said: "The central government must be in total ownership and complete control ofproduction and the export of oil". He warned against the controversial Production Sharing Agreements favoured by foreign companies, saying other forms of co-operation with foreign companies would be acceptable but not at the level of control and profiteering indicated in the current Oil Law. More on General Union of Oil Employees in Basra website

Freemason Tony Blair

YA BASTA

wish every person who watches Zapatista does two things. First see what they can contribute to help the struggle in chiapas. Second tell every person they come in contact with about the injustices that are occuring in chiapas. "YA BASTA"

Blackwater Inc.

The world's most controversial security service is now open for business in Illinois. But is Blackwater Inc. looking to make Illinois an outpost for what has been called the world's largest private army?
This is the same Blackwater that has become the icon for private security services in Iraq. According to critics, Blackwater is nothing more than a corporate warlord, based in North Carolina, with a payroll of hired gunslingers-- hundreds of them now protecting diplomats and contractors in Iraq. Blackwater executives say they and their mission near a rural town south of Rockford are greatly misunderstood-- that to know them is to like them-- and that they want their new neighbors in Illinois to know them. More on Thought Criminal

Loose Change: Final Cut - Teaser

Lyndon B. Johnson had John F. Kennedy Killed

This is Robert Gaylon Ross interview with Lyndon Johnson’s mistress, Madeleine Duncan Brown. She claims that LBJ told her that he had John F. Kennedy Killed.

Radio Universidad of the Benito Juarez Autonomous University, Oaxaca

On April 30th, at 5pm, sympathizers of the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO) and students from the Benito Juarez Autonomous University occupied Radio Universidad. Radio Universidad is the site of the November 2, 2006, battle between APPO sympathizers and Federal Preventive Police during an attempted eviction of the barricades protecting the occupied radio. The barricadistas and radio supporters were able to force thousands of Federal Preventive Police to retreat and continued to defend the occupied radio and it’s surrounding barricades for nearly a month despite severe paramilitary repression.



The radio was handed over to the university authorities a few days after the violent battle between APPO sympathizers and Federal Preventive Police on November 25th. Due to the siege of Oaxaca City by state, local, and federal forces and continuing repression, those upholding the university radio and the barricades felt that it was impossible to remain under the circumstances.



The radio hosts are asking for support from students and the general public to reinforce the radio installations and take security measures in case of state repression. The radio hosts are saying that the radio and the university will be occupied for the next two days. Indy Media



Listen Online (the stream may not work yet)



Also see Oaxaca: Portrait of the Last Barricade

Liberation of Estonia 1987-1991 (part 1/4, english audio)

What are the Russians up to in Estonia?

Occupations in the Recent History of Estonian Liberation 1987-1991

China to Force Rain Ahead of Olympics

Chance of showers during the 2008 Beijing Olympics: 50 percent. But Chinese meteorologists have a plan to bring sunshine.



The meteorologists say they can force rain in the days before the Olympics, through a process known as cloud-seeding, to clean the air and ensure clear skies. China has been tinkering with artificial rainmaking for decades, but whether it works is a matter of debate among scientists. LiveScience



Watch this documentary that looks at the history of weather modification and its use by the military. Among the topics covered are: cloud seeding, HAARP and declassified experiments

Though I am Gone

Yunnan Film Festival was suspended because of the nomination of documentary “Though I am Gone” (我虽死去). Danwei contacted the organizers of the festival: they said they did not yet know when they would be able to reschedule it. However, the entire film is on youtube now. (global voices)









Part one of ten

Click here to see the rest


"Though I аm Gone" was directed by Hυ Jie, an independent film maker. The documentary is about Bian Zhongyυn, the first teacher who was beaten to death by the Red Gυards in Beijing during the Cυltural Revolution. More comments on Danwei