Letters, Issue 134

LETTERS

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Number 1,579

When I woke up this morning, the "official" death count in Iraq was 1576. The first thing I do in the morning after I boot up my computer is to check the DoD website to see if any more of our nation's precious children were killed in this horror of a nonsensical war. I was talking to another Gold Star Mom, Celeste Zappala, today and she sadly advised me that the count rose to 1579 (note: the official count is now 1594) while she was out to lunch.

Celeste and I and too many other moms know what the significance of "Pending Notification" means: it means that there are people in our country going through their lives right now not even knowing that they are about to be ambushed with the most devastating news of their lives: "We regret to inform you..."

Somewhere in America, there is a mom (I always think of the moms first) shopping for groceries, driving home from a long week of work, or maybe even planning her soldier's homecoming party. Somewhere, here in our country there is a mother who is hoping that she will receive a Mother's Day card from her soldier, or perhaps, if she is extremely lucky, a rushed telephone call. There is a mom out there who has been worried sick about her soldier since they arrived in the combat zone. Maybe the mom still supports George Bush and the occupation or maybe the mom is certain if her child is killed in this abomination that her sweet baby, her soldier will have died for lies and betrayals. In the end, and at that moment, the mom is not going to care about politics or about reasons for invasion and occupation. She won't care if her child died for freedom and democracy, or to make some people wealthier and more powerful. All she will see is the Grim Reaper in a uniform standing at her door before she collapses on the floor screaming for her child and pleading with the Grim Reaper to take her with him.

Somewhere there is a father in America who won't know what hit him and who won't know whom to hit back. There are brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, spouses, and children who are about to step on the path of unbearable pain and seemingly endless grief. Today there are the families and friends of three wonderful human beings who never, until now, knew that the human body could produce so many tears. Somewhere in America live our fellow citizens who never even knew that a broken heart is not theoretical or symbolic. These most unfortunates are about to find out that a broken heart hurts far worse than a broken limb, and does not heal so readily, if ever at all.

The families of these soldiers are also departing on a long tour of banalities uttered by well-meaning, but let's face it, uninformed people. I hear these phrases over and over again: "Time heals every thing," "Casey's in a better place," (oh really, I didn't know that home with his mom was such a bad place to be), "Casey wants you to be happy," "Casey died doing what he loved doing," (he did?), or, my favorite, "Casey died defending his country." Let me assure the reader, phrases like this do not help. They are cliches for one thing, and for another, none of them are true. None of them help a grieving family. If you, the reader, is ever in the situation facing a mom who had her son brutally murdered, God forbid, I will give you hints on what does help: hugs (lots and lots), make sure she eats, make sure she drinks plenty of water (tears are dehydrating), make sure she hears wonderful things about her child, bring boxes of tissues and toilet paper, and bring yourself. Leave your tired and impotent cliches at the door.

Of course, the most tragic thing about the 1579 is that not even one should be dead. Our "president" cheerfully rushed this country into a needlessly horrendous and devastating invasion. Our "president" thinks stolen elections confer a mandate. Our Congress cheerfully relinquished their Constitutional responsibility to declare war. If they had any courage or honor they would claim that right back and end this travesty. I have a feeling our mis-leaders will be having a nice day with their moms or their children on Mother's Day. As they are eating their brunches and giving and receiving bouquets of Mother's Day flowers, they probably never even think about the moms in this world that their insanely reckless policies have destroyed. It never enters their wicked brains that they have ruined Mother's Day for so many families. This is a tragedy.

Our media was, and still is, a willing shill for the Administration and has never told the American public the truth. Reporting about Iraq is always trumped by such as child molesters, Martha Stewart, Terri Schiavo, Scott Peterson, the American Idol, or now, Runaway Brides! Another tragic thing about this illegal and disastrous invasion and occupation is that there are only 1579 families in this country who even have to think about Iraq. Most Americans probably don't even know where to find Iraq on a map. The Halliburtons, Bechtels, KBRs, and the oil oligarchs of the world, who are laughing all the way to the bank, think of Iraq with greedy glee each day. Sorrowfully, there are 1579 families in this country who have "Iraq" carved on their hearts and souls for eternity. We have sacrificed more than the $1.99 it costs to buy a "Support the Troops" magnet for our cars. We have had a violent amputation. Even if our fellow citizens don't realize it, by allowing this occupation to continue, they are also losing a very important part of themselves: their humanity.

Cindy Sheehan, Mother of Hero: Spc Casey Austin Sheehan KIA 04/04/04

The Secret Way To War

Please print Downing Street Memo in full. Our democracy is failing because the truth is not being told.

Roni Beall

Two other readers also requested we publicize the memo, apparently unaware of "The Secret Way To War" news feature on the topic. A copy of the actual memo, both in plain text and as a PDF file, is available from a link at the top of that article.
-- Editor

You have the power

I'd be a rich man if I had a dollar for every time I heard, "Bush keeps violating America's trust and just keeps getting away with it." Gee, that sounds like some kind of New Age affirmation to me. Say it enough and it becomes a mantra. I believe Mr. Bush owes the anti-Bush folks a great deal of credit for helping to support him.

We are living in extraordinary times and up until now I have mostly kept silent about Bush's obvious machinations -- of spiritual principles. (I've been waiting for somebody else to point this out.) But forget politics. There's no power there anymore. If you disagree, think of hearing Edward Kennedy's voice shouting out your radio and ask yourself, "Do I feel moved?" And who else is going to save us? Hillary Clinton?

And forget the media. If Bill Moyers and Molly Ivins haven't stopped the Republican steamroller yet, there ain't nobody else better stepping up to the plate.

Half of America is waking up each morning and checking their news to see if Bush is going down in flames, i.e. in scandal. Nope -- not going to happen. Bush and his administration are so bogged down in scandal it's like giving him the job of draining the swamp and he keeps bringing in truckloads of alligators (way over-budget) and ... "he keeps getting away with it." It's not that there's one thing wrongheaded and scandalous with this administration; misdeeds fly at EVERY turn, while the press has turned frail.

So, are you curious about Bush's fatal flaw? It might not sound so impressive because it begins and ends with nobody better than -- you. You and you alone can bring this madness to an end because we're (all of us) in a new war and it's being fought in the realms of spirituality.

Everything is in a state of redefinition. By "spirituality" I don't mean "conservative" versus "liberal" or "evangelical" versus "New Age," etc. What Bush has done is to present himself as an evangelical, but operate by principles that are Universal. For those who see through "his religion," many have been losing power by being indignant. On the wide spectrum of energy, feeling indignant creates nothing and keeps one weak. We're talking about half of America inflicted with low energy.

George Bush has one very simple Modus Operandi and it is totally effective. It's called "swagger." Now this is what the peace movement has lacked. You see, on the energetic plane, integrity is not a necessary component to power. Swagger, however, is.

Many Americans know that this administration has gutted integrity left and right and has relied on OUTRAGE to render opposition powerless. On the other hand, evangelicals have very specific content to morality and Bush cannot be one of those religious types and do the things he does. I repeat: Bush is NOT an evangelical. He is a New Ager. New Age spirituality acknowledges that there exists an impersonal benevolent power which flows toward those who:

1) Ignore their opposition. Energy flows one way and to acknowledge outside opinions diffuses YOUR thrust of motion,
2) Form a core group of like-minded individuals to manifest visions. For Jesus to change the world, it took about 12 men. For Hitler, less than that. If you study people of power, you will observe their ability to form an unshakable core.
3) Vision creates reality. It doesn't matter the content of the vision, just that you have one and that you believe in it every day and this "new reality" comes to those who can hold their vision without wavering.

There are more and it would be time well spent to study and implement spiritual principles of the New Age by those tending toward the political left, even if it means for now imitating those currently "at the top" who have mastered a few things well.

This time in history intersects with a "fatal flaw in thinking." In the story of The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy receives great powers when on her feet ruby slippers appear. Yet she endures all sorts of trials and cowers before weaker entities having forgotten the power of her ruby slippers. She even bows before Oz, a mere mortal "like her."

I'll make this very clear: Bush is Oz and you are Dorothy. In the realms of New Age spirituality, you are wearing the ruby slippers. (And you and you and you.) Band together with folks of likeminded "shoes" and get excited for the magic we can create with our newfound powers. World peace and prosperity have been foretold in prophecies and evangelicals till now have stifled such visions with their own mythology. Let nothing impede the things you desire from manifesting into your plane of reality. Your life does not come through George Bush. He's just some guy behind a curtain in Washington.

W's fatal flaw? You wear the ruby slippers. Start acting the part! Let's see a little swagger!

Here's a New Age passage I came across written some 30 years ago in "The Nature of Personal Reality" by Jane Roberts. May these words launch deeper investigations into these matters of spirit.

"Many quite limiting ideas will pass without scrutiny under the guise of goodness. You may feel quite virtuous, for example, in hating evil, or what seems to you to be evil; but if you find yourself concentrating upon hatred or evil you are creating it. If you dwell upon limitations, then you will meet them. You must create a new picture in your mind. It will differ from the picture your physical senses may show you at any given time, precisely in those areas where changes are required. Hatred of war will not bring peace -- another example. Only love of peace will bring about those conditions."

Scott W. Webb (Nashville)

All in the name of feminism

If DeLay will start impeaching judges then he should be president in '08. The libs favor extending the war in Iraq so they can impose feminism, abortion, and gay rights/marriage in that area of the country. The Mideast was promised to Abraham's descents even if the libs do not believe it. The Arabs and religous Jews believe it because it is written in the Bible. We imposed feminist soldiers and the 1/3 quota on Iraq parliament regardless of the nation's culture or beliefs hence the libs keep the war going. The Republican will never remove the feminist requirement from Iraq because of the fear of women voters. This causes the death of U.S. soldier and the killings in Atlanta by the escaped convict. All in the name of feminism. I hope you are prepare to die as a nation for feminism/gay rights because that is what the terrorist comming across the border and the nuke development is all about in Iran/N. Korea.

Bryan Ranger

Time to invest?

The Iraqi plight continues to spiral downward, with bombings regular occurences now, and hardly even deemed newsworthy. Yet, you search Iraq on a search engine, and check out all the sites selling the new dinar, and touting the rebirth of Iraq and how things are so quickly improving. Is it possible to get a real, unbiased and uncensored view of what is happening in Iraq? I would be curious to know what the economy is doing and going to do in the near future, maybe the dinar would be a good investment.

Mike Chamerlin

Native People's DNA Being Illegally Sold On Internet, Brazil Charges

Recently I found published in your website an article which mentions my name in association with a case of biopiracy. Given the seriousness of the accusations and their complete lack of truth I want to formally request that this site publish, in all venues and vehicles of your property in which any article containing my name has been published, the letter of response included at the end of this message.

Given your purported mission and intent, I believe that it is in your interest that the news you publish be correct and accurate. As can be seen from the information below, the reports of my link with any case of biopiracy are false and unfounded.

Since your site is an important source of information worldwide, it certainly strives to provide scientifically and ethically correct information, and allows for the correction of any wrong reports, which as in this case, can seriously damage my reputation.

Dr. Hilton Pereira da Silva, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro

The 2004 Tierramerica article does not accuse Dr. Silva of wrongdoing, but reports that Brazil filed a 2002 lawsuit against him for collecting blood samples from Karitiana Indians in 1996 without the proper authorization, and that Brazillian prosecutors suspected that he illegally sold genetic material. His rebuttal is reprinted below in its entirety.
-- Editor

Ethical Humanitarian Medical Work, Not Biopiracy

In several recent news releases published in Brazil and reproduced worldwide my name has appeared linked to a case of biopiracy even though I have never been called to talk with the journalists. The news deal with the sale of immortalized cell lines of Brazilian Indians by the U.S. company Coriell Cell Repositories.
In August of 1996 I worked as the bioanthropologist consultant in a documentary film for the Discovery Channel about the Mapinguari, one of legendary creatures that is supposed to live in the Karitiana Indian territory in the State of Rondonia, Brazilian Amazon. Since I am also a trained physician, with a Master's degree in public health and several years of work experience among rural Amazonian populations, upon arrival at the Karitiana village I perceived that their health situation was extremely precarious and, even though their health post had some medications, several people in the village were at risk of dying of dysentery, dehydration, malaria, tuberculosis, flu etc. In one of the conversations during filming the Headman of the tribe, after finding out that I am a physician, asked, in the name of their Karitiana Association, if I could stay a little longer after the end of filming and help them with emergency medical care as, according to him and the tribe's health agents, several months had passed since they were last visited by a physician from the Brazilian Indian Service (FUNAI). After the end of filming, and after the okay of the local FUNAI officer, I stayed for three more days during which I attended, as a physician, at the tribe's health post, and also at the huts of those who could not go to the post. Overall I attended emergencially, for humanitarian reasons exclusively, and completely free, 162 individuals.
All of them came to me voluntarily, and requested my professional medical assistance. In order to try to help improve the diagnosis of some illnesses such as malaria, hepatitis, tuberculosis, viral diseases, anemia and others which I could not provide a diagnosis based on clinical evidence alone some blood samples were drawn and taken to be analyzed at the Instituto Evandro Chagas/FNS, in Belem, Para, which is linked to the Ministry of Health. I did not collect over 160 samples as some reports say. As this was unexpected I did not have that many vials on my emergency kit. Samples were only taken of the people I considered more severely ill or that I could not make a final clinical diagnosis. Since I did not have adequate storage equipment in the field (as I did not intend originally to provide medical care for a whole tribe and had only brought a basic emergency kit for myself and the TV team), the samples coagulated and, I was told, were no longer suitable for biochemical analysis. In order to try to recover any useful information from the samples, I took the material to the Universidade Federal do Para, where I deposited all the samples collected. I asked colleagues in the department of genetics, as a favor, that when possible they tried to see what kinds of diseases they could identify from the samples so we could report them to FUNAI and the Karitiana. As the news about the Coriell Repositories came out in the press in 1997, the material was never touched by anyone at the Universidade Federal do Para, and it was all delivered to the Ministry of Justice of Rondonia upon their request, in 2004. All the blood samples collected during my emergency medical work for the Karitiana went to the Universidade, they never left Brazil, and they never had any commercial purpose. To conduct research or commercialize any biological sample without proper consent of its donor is unethical and immoral, and it is against my principles and the principles of those with which I have worked throughout my life. With the volunteer support of my companion Denise, who is Brazilian and who is not a health professional as some reports have indicated, and simply helped with complementary activities such as playing with the children as I attended their parents, I provided, at their request, lawful emergency humanitarian medical consultations to the Karitiana, with the best of my knowledge. I did not promise them future medical services as this is the role of the Brazilian Health Ministry, and I did nothing to hurt the interests or the culture of the Karitiana or any other people with which I have worked in over fifteen years of anthropological and medical service in the Amazon. A complete report of my emergency medical activities in the village was sent to the Karitiana Association, to the FUNAI in Brasilia and in Rondonia, and to CIMI.

A simple web search, and several scientific papers published in the 1980s and 1990s, show that the Native American biological material for sale by Coriell comes from the Stanford/Yale collection and was gathered in the 1980s by North American researchers led by Dr. Francis L. Black, a world renown geneticist, likely with the permission of FUNAI, and was already being announced for sale in April of 1996 at the annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, in the USA. I never had any dealings with the Coriell Repositories or any other commercial enterprise in the USA, and the Coriell samples started to be sold in April, fully five months before my first and only stay among the Karitiana in August of 1996, hence it is impossible that I have anything to do with Coriell's samples. I was never in any other Indigenous territory in Brazil. In February of 1997 I and other Brazilian professionals tried to contact Coriell about their material and talked with Brazilian politicians about the need to investigate the legality of Coriell's procedures. We received no answer. Since 1997 there have been dozens of reports published in newspapers and on the web presenting these facts in a distorted manner and indicating that I sold the Indian samples to Coriell, instead of acknowledging my clear and only intent which was to provide the Karitiana with emergency medical assistance. This irresponsible and wrong information published has generated a Federal Court case against me, and has seriously hampered attempts of other physicians and researchers to work among Indigenous populations, which is well known, are in extreme need of assistance. I have responded immediately to all news about this matter that come to my knowledge; however, the grotesque errors continue to be published.
Biopiracy, as all forms of piracy, is a matter to be seriously investigated and fought against by authorities, scientists, the public and the press worldwide. The commercial use of biological products without benefit to their donors is immoral, unethical and should also be illegal in all countries. As a Brazilian citizen, a health professional, an anthropologist and a scientist it is my duty to protect the best interest and well-being of the people I work with. This has been my practice all along my professional life. As a professional with dozens of publications and a faculty at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro all my contact information is easily accessible on the Internet, and I have always made myself available to anyone interested in knowing the truth about this horrible situation in which my name was involved. I have been accused of barbaric acts when in fact I only attended the emergency medical call of a native tribe in need and followed the mandate of the Brazilian Code of Medical Ethics, in its Articles 57 and 58. It is very disturbing that instead of investigating the truth, reporters and news agencies care only for sensationalism.

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