Sacramento Free Press

Maybe it was the cover story in the News & Review for Sacramento (the band), but I actually had to stand in line to get into the Blue Lamp to see them, th' Losin Streaks and Rock the Light play last night (1/23). (Sunshine Smile had bowed out on account of illness.) By the first Losin Streaks song I was in, pressing myself into a postion stage right that could best be described as obscured view-- the drummer and guitarist Stan clean out of view. I credit Tim Foster and the Losin Streaks for getting me back out into the local music scene -- the fat bald man you've seen bobbing his head, often out of sync, Guiness in hand. I've seen all there local shows and have enjoyed watching them get tighter and tighter. Favorite song, as always, last night was John Brown.

Lalo Alcaraz | 'La Cucaracha' Goes Nationwide | Politically Charged Latino Comic Strip Gains Wider Audience | An NPR Story about cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz. More of his editorial cartoon work.

HARPER'S WEEKLY | December 24, 2002 | North Korea began removing United Nations monitoring devices from its Yongbyon nuclear reactor and from its stockpile of plutonium; experts said that North Korea could potentially build a small nuclear arsenal within a year. Russia's deputy foreign minister blamed George W. Bush for the crisis: "How should a small country feel when it is told that it is all but part of forces of evil of biblical proportions and should be fought against until total annihilation?" Secretary of State Colin Powell declared that Iraq has already committed a "material breach" of the latest Security Council resolutions by failing to disclose information about its putative weapons-of-mass-destruction programs. Powell was described by one widely-quoted Republican as having shown "the talons of the dove." America agreed after many requests to share intelligence on suspected Iraqi arms sites with the United Nation's weapons inspectors, who keep insisting that their work has only just begun. The United States, which edited Iraq's weapons declaration before distributing it to other members of the U.N. Security Council, removed the names of 150 companies that were listed as contributors to Iraq's arms programs. Two prominent teaching hospitals, apparently unconvinced that a smallpox attack is suddenly a real danger, refused to allow their employees to be vaccinated for smallpox, saying that the risks of side effects, including death, are too great. Wall Street's largest brokerage firms agreed to pay almost $1 billion in fines for misleading clients during the stock-market bubble. In Israel, the Likud party was being damaged by revelations that the party's central committee forced parliamentary candidates to buy their seats and that mafia figures bought spots for their allies. George Soros was convicted of insider trading in France. McDonald's Corp. warned that it will post its first ever quarterly loss. Nicholas Calio, President Bush's liaison to Congress, said that he was resigning because he can't pay his bills. The Baghdad Stock Index was up 50 percent. Senator Trent Lott, in what was widely described as a "coup" organized by the White House, was forced to resign as Senate majority leader even after coming out in favor of affirmative action "across the board" and promising to make the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation a national holiday. The dexterity with which the president's men eliminated Lott so impressed Washington insiders that they were able to view the whole scandal as an unambiguous victory for the president rather than a national embarrassment for the Republican Party. David Duke, the "white survivalist" and former Ku Klux Klan leader, pleaded guilty to tax and mail fraud. A New York judge threw out the convictions of the five young men who as it turns out did not commit the famous Central Park jogger attack. The Department of Justice added Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Armenia to the list of countries whose adult male citizens
residing in the U.S. must register with federal authorities but later dropped Armenia after it was pointed out that most Armenians are Christian. Federal authorities began releasing hundreds of Muslim immigrants who were arrested when they showed up to register under the new rules. It was reported that the Bush Administration will propose a new centralized system for monitoring all activity on the Internet. White House officials downplayed reports that the Pentagon is planning a propaganda assault on allied countries and emphasized that the president would never condone anything that involved lying. General Richard B. Meyers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, took Roger Clemens and Drew Carey with him to Qatar to help cheer up the troops. Three women were killed in Kashmir, apparently for walking around
without veils. Pakistan cracked down on pornographic movie theaters. Iran's morality police arrested a barber for giving short haircuts to girls seeking to pass as boys.
The United States vetoed a Security Council resolution condemning Israel for killing United Nations workers in the Occupied Territories. The resolution, proposed by Syria,
called on Israel to comply with its obligations, as an occupying power, to safeguard the lives of civilians as required by the Fourth Geneva Convention. Four teenage
Palestinians, including two 11-year-old girls, were killed by stray bullets fired by Israeli settlers in Gaza. South Africa's health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang told a
reporter that her government cannot afford drugs to fight AIDS. "We don't have the money for that," she said. "Where would it come from?" After it was pointed out that her government is buying new submarines for the military, Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang said that the subs were needed to deter potential aggressors such as the United States: "Look at what Bush is doing. He could invade." President Bush ordered the Pentagon to build a "modest" antimissile system. The European Union was planning a "Euro-Pentagon" that will be authorized to attack enemies anywhere in the world. Former president Alberto Fujimori of Peru, who is living as a fugitive in Japan, said that he was contemplating a political comeback in Peru. Baby Doc Duvalier said that he hoped to return to Haiti one day. The pope officially recognized a posthumous miracle attributed to Mother Teresa, who still needs to perform one additional miracle if she wants to become a saint. Joe Strummer died. A herd of wild drunken elephants went berserk and killed at least six people in Tinsukia, India. The Raelians, a Canadian free-love cult that has been trying to clone a human, said that a human clone baby could be born on Christmas day. Working kidneys were grown in mice using human stem cells.

Depleted Uranium and the Gulf War: A whistle-blower from the inside, Dr. Rokke explains the reckless policies of the Army that exposed troops to deadly 'depleted' uranium (DU) and other toxic compounds. Dr. Rokke is a former US Army DU team health physicist and former US Army DU Project Director who worked on Depleted Uranium (DU) education and clean-up during the Gulf War. The Gulf War was claimed an 'easy victory', with only about 300 US casualties. Dr Rokke will address the shamefully ignored reality of the Gulf War Syndrome that continues to plague tens of thousands Gulf War veterans and their children. Rokke will also discuss health and environmental consequences of another war in Iraq as it could play out in the lives of US soldiers, their offspring, countless Iraqi civilians and our world.

Date: Monday, 25 November 2002 | Time: 7 p.m. - 9 p.m.
Where: Davis Community Church, Fellowship Hall | 412 C Street, Davis
Info: (530) 792-1040 or (916) 456-2441

George, Listen to your father: "While we hoped that popular revolt or coup would topple Saddam, neither the U.S. nor the countries of the region wished to see the breakup of the Iraqi state. We were concerned about the long-term balance of power at the head of the Gulf. Trying to eliminate Saddam, extending the ground war into an occupation of Iraq, would have violated our guideline about not changing objectives in midstream, engaging in 'mission creep,' and would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. Apprehending him was probably impossible. We had been unable to find Noriega in Panama, which we knew intimately. We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq. The coalition would instantly have collapsed, the Arabs deserting it in anger and other allies pulling out as well. . . . Had we gone the invasion route, the U.S. could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land. It would have been a dramatically different -- and perhaps barren -- outcome." | From "Why We Didn't Remove Saddam," by George Bush (Sr.) and Brent Scowcroft, March 2, 1998, issue of Time Magazine.

POEMS-FOR-ALL | Since the publication of a story about the Poems-For-All Series in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers, submissions of poems as well as requests for the little booklets has been overwhelming. For updates and information on the series go to www.poems-for-all.com. There are currently around 160 titles in the series.

It's come to this. A specialized service to ensure that the front page to the Sacramento Free Press is updated in a timely manner. Let's see how this works, shall we?