Greetings friends!
Welcome to this general Newsletter, with many links to important articles and websites I hope you'll find of interest.
Maybe you will not agree with all the views expressed here, but hopefully you'll find enough food for thought to chew on.
Welcome to this general Newsletter, with many links to important articles and websites I hope you'll find of interest.
Maybe you will not agree with all the views expressed here, but hopefully you'll find enough food for thought to chew on.
Happy reading!
3 Wheels, 2 Guys, 1 Country
THEY MADE IT!
This is an enormous personal challenge for us, but also a great opportunity to promote serious issues within our adopted home, Vietnam. Our names are Adam Hurley and Marty Sharples and we have lived and worked as Tour leaders in Vietnam for 5 and 3 years respectively. We have come to love this diverse and captivating county and its vibrant citizens.
Vietnam, like many developing nations faces many serious social issues. Many people still live in conditions of extreme poverty, and many children grow up without an opportunity to escape such circumstance.
One organization close to our hearts KOTO (Know One, Teach One) is making a difference. KOTO is a not-for-profit restaurant and vocational training program that is changing the lives of street and disadvantaged youth in Vietnam.
Like many grass roots organisations KOTO relies heavily on outside donors and sponsorship. It costs 33,120 USD ($44,190 AUD) to ensure 23 trainees can complete their training at KOTO. Our aim is to raise at least this amount during our ride. This will ensure 18 months vocational training for the entire class 8.
For more information on KOTO see www.streetvoices.com.au
We will make a quality documentary of the challenges involved in riding a cyclo the 1700kms between Hanoi and Saigon. A cyclo is a traditional non-motorized form of local passenger transport still used throughout the country today.
Anyone who has traveled to Vietnam would agree that it is one of the most photogenic and aesthetically interesting places on the planet. Combine this with the industrious population and you have a great film location. We both have experience in filmmaking, and will be employing experienced filmmakers from both Vietnam and Australia to help with the process.
If your organisation or business would like to follow our progress and support this cause you can keep updated with our travels on http://www.extremecharity.info/ make a contribution by completing the attached donation form or by visiting www.intrepidtravel.com/rtextremecharity
We are seeking your support to help us reach our mission to sponsor the trainees of class 8 at KOTO. If you are interested in supporting this adventure and great cause please see attached for sponsor options and benefits.
We look forward to receiving your support and encouragement for our mission.
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The myths of Hiroshima
By Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin
The bomb was dropped, as J. Robert Oppenheimer, scientific director of the Manhattan Project, said in November 1945, on "an essentially defeated enemy." President Truman and his closest advisor, Secretary of State James Byrnes, quite plainly used it primarily to prevent the Soviets from sharing in the occupation of Japan.
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The Hiroshima Cover-Up
By Amy Goodman and David Goodman
A STORY THAT the U.S. government hoped would never see the light of day finally has been published, 60 years after it was spiked by military censors. The discovery of reporter George Weller's firsthand account of conditions in post-nuclear Nagasaki sheds light on one of the great journalistic betrayals of the last century: the cover-up of the effects of the atomic bombing on Japan.
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New research on Hiroshima, Nagasaki
New research on Hiroshima, Nagasaki
By John Catalinotto
Why was Harry Truman’s decision to use atomic weapons against Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 60 years ago, like George Bush’s decision to invade Iraq in 2003? They were both war crimes, of course. And they were both based on a Big Lie.
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Independent World Television
Independent World Television
From: Paul Jay,
Chair, Independent World Television
It's been over a month since IWTnews launched our new web site -- and what a month it's been! Below you'll find a roundup of recent highlights from http://click.iwtnews.com/t?ctl=E5E99B:3E114FA -- including a recap of our greatest successes and surprises from our first four weeks online.
IWT has taken several important steps closer to reality. Help us keep up the momentum!
Please take a moment to forward this message to friends and family. Let them know about our movement to build the world's first non-profit, global independent news network. And don't forget to add your voice on our blog -- tell us what you think about our first month's results, and where we're headed next.
IWTnews HIGHLIGHTS
Birth of a Movement: IWT's first month online
Over 6,000 people took our survey, 3,000 joined our email community, and over 600 supporters contributed money. Read our summary of IWT's successes and surprises in our first four weeks online -- including what we've heard from you, and where we're taking the movement next.
Uncompromising journalism or just more spin?
We've received a lot of questions about whether IWTnews aims to be a "left-wing CNN." IWTnews chair Paul Jay answers this question directly, using the example of the recent attacks in London to stress the need for "uncompromising journalism," instead of "spin from the other direction."
The IWTnews community responds to the London bombings
The day of the attacks in London, we reached out with a special blog post and email from IWTnews Chair Paul Jay -- and you responded, with over two hundred poignant comments and responses to what you were seeing -- and not seeing -- in the coverage that followed the attacks. The discussion continues here:
IWT continues to receive international press coverage
From Air America and CBC Radio to major newspapers like The Guardian, Toronto's Globe and Mail, Montreal's La Presse, the MIT Technology Review and China's LifeWeek Magazine, IWT continues to make news. Our Los Angeles "Birth of a Network" video screening and party was covered by Variety and the Hollywood Reporter. You'll find it all on our PRESS page:
IWTnews Blog features the world's best journalism
From the untold story behind recent violence in Haiti, to Afghanistan's potential "Taliban revival," the IWTnews Blog is currently featuring examples of the kind of investigative reporting you'll eventually find on IWTnews.
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By John Catalinotto
After two years of documenting the guilt of the U.S. and UK governments in carrying out an illegal aggression against the sovereign state of Iraq and a criminal occupation of that country, a worldwide people’s organization has met in Istanbul, Turkey, and delivered its verdict.
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By Minnie Bruce Pratt
As fierce resistance to the U.S. occupation of Iraq continues, both the Bush administration and liberal Democrats continue to use the excuse of “democracy” to justify invasion, the murder of tens of thousands of Iraqis and installation of a puppet government.
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AUSTRALIA GetUpFrom Jeremy & David & the GetUp team
Dear Friends,
This is a critical moment for Australia. Over the last nine years, John Howard's government has taken our country in a direction that many of us find profoundly distressing. But up until now, the damage has been limited: the opposition parties in the Senate have been able to check John Howard's worst excesses.
But all that will change.
John Howard's government is taking control of the Senate. For the first time in a generation, a government will have absolute power.
We already know that the government is planning changes that—- if implemented—will fundamentally change our country. This includes radical industrial relations laws that will strip workers' rights, changes in media ownership rules that will limit independent voices, and big cuts to services on university campuses through the introduction of voluntary student unionism.
At times like this, people need to take politics into their own hands. We need to show John Howard's government that it can't just do whatever it wants.
Together with our friends, we have created a website to help mobilise Australians who care about where this country is going. It's called GetUp.org.au.
Now, we need your help. As we write this, John Howard is finalising his legislative agenda. Now that the other parties can't block the government's legislation, only public opposition can moderate John Howard's agenda. We know that when enough people speak out, John Howard backs down, just as he did recently on children in detention. If John Howard and his Senators know that enough Australians are watching them, we can moderate his agenda even before it arrives in parliament.
At this critical moment, John Howard and the Coalition Senators need to know that—even though the other parties can't hold them to account—we will.
Send the Coalition Senators in your state this video message from ordinary Australians telling them that, from August 9, we will be holding the Coalition government to account:
http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/nowyouanswertous
The more messages the Senators receive, the better chance we have of moderating Howard's agenda even before it arrives in parliament.
Once you've sent your message please take a minute to let all your friends know about GetUp. Together, we can build a community of people who are going to help build a more progressive Australia.
Thanks for being part of this.
—Jeremy & David & the GetUp team
Tuesday, August 9th, 2005
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GI SPECIALExcellent free email newsletter about what is really happening in Iraq, and the growing war resistance within the military.
For back issues see GI Special web site at
htttp://www.militaryproject.org/
The following that we know of have also posted issues:
http://gi-special.iraq-news.de/
http://www.notinourname.net/gi-special/
www.williambowles.info/gispecial
http://www.albasrah.net/maqalat/english/gi-special.htm
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