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The Gouldian Finch, Erythrura gouldiae (or Chloebia gouldiae), identified as the Lady Gouldian Finch, Gould’s Finch or Rainbow Finch , is a colorful passerine bird endemic to Australia. There is good evidence of a continued decline, even at the identified site near Katherine in the Northern Territory. It is bred in captivity, but in 1992 it was classed as an endangered species. This was due to the fact that 1: the viable population size was estimated to be less than 2,500 matured animals and b: no permanent sub population was acknowledged to contain more than two hundred and fifty matured animals and lastly 3: that a continuing decline was ascertained in the number of mature birds. It is currently subject to a preservation program.

The Gouldian Finch was depicted by British ornithological artist John Gould in 1844 and named after his wife Elizabeth. It is also identified in its indigenous country as the Rainbow, Gould, or Lady Gouldian Finch (although Mrs. Gould did not hold the title Lady). It is a member of the weaver-finch family Estrildidae, which is occasionally considered a subfamily of Passeridae.

Exported to Europe, the US and Japan has furnished this bird with a number of color mutations such as the blue back, pastel, silver, yellow back and even white.

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Remember when the Berlin wall came down, and some of us had hoped for world peace? One by one, former Soviet Block countries became democracies and we all hoped for the best. The concept of democracy is difficult for anyone who has not lived in a free society. Therefore, this is the reason for a “learning curve” in the upstart democracies of Eastern Europe and some of the former Soviet republics.

In the United States, we hoped for an end to nuclear proliferation and a chance to make new friends from old adversaries. Some of us also hoped for a Middle East peace settlement, took an eye off terrorism, and “let our guard down.” New words were created like “new world order, global economy, and politically correct.”

We assumed that all of our “allies” were our friends, and you could count on them - like they counted on you. We thought an “open society” was a good concept. We were going to concentrate on domestic flaws in education and health care.

Then, one September morning, we woke to see a different world. When the Twin Towers went down, we saw what some factions feel our lives are worth. We saw it, “up close and personal.” We saw Palestinians cheering in the streets, the French government’s concept of loyalty, and realized the British have been our best friends “through thick and thin.”

For America, nothing will ever be the same again. Shooting a person who pretends to have a bomb is “acceptable.” We willingly gave up our rights for tightened security measures. Most Americans could care less about terrorist rights. If you took a poll today, most Americans would prefer they be executed on the spot. Americans actively boycott most products that state, “Made in France.”

The rest of the world is puzzled by this sudden “about face” in the care for human rights. The terrorists and our former allies should get a copy of an American history book. We haven’t forgotten 911, and we are not “sheep.” Part of our culture is warm and loving, while another part of our culture is decisive, bold, militaristic, and wants immediate retribution.

We know that fundamentalism is an idea, and it cannot be “killed off.” However, the terrorists didn’t bank on the wrath of the American government and its people. They should also realize that you cannot kill the concepts of freedom and democracy.

The scales have been tipped, and like it or not, blood has been drawn. Some of us need to be reminded that 911 was not a situation that the American government, or its people, chose, but we cannot afford to forget.

© Copyright 2005 - Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

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The Libertarian Party sounds great. It always has. And every
year around election time I have the same discussion with my
other libertarian conservative friends as to if this is the year
to actually vote for the Libertarian candidates. Usually though
we continue to discard the Libertarian Party candidates as not
viable because of things like this:

“As the American people grow increasingly frustrated with the
occupation of Iraq, President Bush still refuses to articulate
any type of vision for withdrawal,” stated Shane Cory, Chief of
Staff for the Libertarian Party. “While the President evades
reality, American troops remain in harm’s way. The Libertarian
Party is still the only political party that has formulated a
viable, complete, and practical exit strategy for American
soldiers in Iraq.”

Quick Facts:

* Number of American deaths since the invasion of Iraq: 2,080 *
Total Number of Americans wounded: 15,468 * Number of proposed
strategies for exiting Iraq: 1(source)”

Spin worthy of some of the other political parties I dare say.
Ignoring for a moment that there has always been an “exit
strategy” for Iraq (called WIN the war) this is what the
Libertarian Party Proposes:

“The first step is immediately to begin the withdrawal of all
American troops from Iraq. Currently American troop levels are
at about 140,00011. Troops would leave gradually, in increments
of approximately 11,600 per month, resulting in a complete
withdrawal in one year’s time. This will bring the troops out of
harm’s way quickly, preventing more unnecessary loss of life.
Allowing a year for the withdrawal will give the Iraqi
government time to train and deploy a sufficient security force
in trouble areas. (source)”

Yep, you read right. Phased troops withdrawal … committing to
leave before we know if we should leave. Running away
essentially.

Then there is the mischaracterization of who the “insurgency” is
actually fighting:

“By removing our troops from Iraq and relocating them to various
bases in the Middle East, we remove the insurgency’s common
enemy.”

Implying that the insurgents are fighting against us, the United
States.

They are not. They are fighting against freedom for the Iraqi
people. That is why they are blowing up more Iraqi citizens each
day than they are killing US Soldiers. It is why they are
blowing up police barracks and sending car bombs into crowded
market places to blow up women and children shopping for
necessities. They want power. And they want it for themselves.
To Hell with liberty and justice for the Iraqi people they would
then control.

And this is why, the Libertarian Party cannot gain enough votes
to be a major player in American Politics. It is also why those
of us that are Libertarian get lumped in with he left wing even
though we are more to the right wing than almost any
“conservative” you will talk to.

Leaving before the job is done is not an exit strategy. Ok it
is, but it is a poor one at best and committing to a time table
DOES (no matter what the Libertarian Party thinks) tell the
enemy how long they have to hold on. Think of it in simple terms
we can all understand. If tomorrow the government announced that
on January 1st 2006 there would no longer be any taxes paid on
capital gains would you even think about liquidating assets
before that? Not unless you absolutely needed to you wouldn’t!

See, you can easily prove to yourself why committing to
timetables is bad.

Determining what number of troops to bring home each month after
the job is done and the war is won … now that is an exit
strategy and it has been proposed by President George Bush and
libertarians like myself time and again.

If the Libertarian Party really thinks that what they say is
true about the declining support for the war and that their plan
is a good idea run on it. Go ahead. Run on that platform. See
how many votes you get.

And those of us Libertarians out here will continue to vote for
the Republican Party because they are the lesser of two evils. I
wish there was a true Libertarian Party in America to vote for.
I really do. Because if there was, it would win. I wish there
was a true Libertarian Party that we could count on to reduce
government spending, uphold the constitution and defend this
country with a firm hand. There are so many of us just hanging
around the Republican party because there isn’t a better place
to be.

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“It is true that much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong.” Bush uncharacteristically admitted in the last of his recent Iraq War speeches. Well here is something else that is equally true Mr. President. It is true that much of the intelligence turned out to be true. For example, DITSUM No. 044-02, a 10/2002 Defense Intel Agency document that debunked the case of an Al-Qaeda/Iraq link.

Unfortunately, it didn’t support your vision though did it?

Much more than that was sanitized. For instance, there was the boat load of intelligence from Iraqi informants “Curveball” and Ahmad Chalabi, who were fingered as known liars, a piece of info few outside the neo-club had. And let’s not forget how your inner circle got all in a bunch over the infamous “What I Didn’t Find” article, written by Joseph Wilson, in which he revealed his briefing back in March of 2002 (eight months before your “Invade Iraq” speech) to the CIA regarding the unlikelihood of “yellow cake” getting in the hands of Saddam from Niger. And that is stuff we know about. It probably is fair to say there is a whole lot more.

So what is it you do to contrary opinions that might become a situation for your vision? I can only guess one of three possibilities occurs: 1) the handful of people comprising your inner circle screen the problem documents or trouble makers from you, 2) you skeptically receive them and promptly discard them yourself, or 3) you skeptically receive them but don’t understand them, thus discard them as a byproduct of your mental intelligence, albeit limited. I suspect it is the first scenario since I think you are bright enough to understand the complications of the second scenario and certainly smarter than the bonehead that the cheap joke in number three suggests you to be.

You went on in that speech to say, “As president I am responsible for the decision to go into Iraq. And I’m also responsible for fixing what went wrong by reforming our intelligence capabilities.” Now when you say that part about “fixing what went wrong”, what do you mean by that? It seems to me what went wrong was your dismissal of the right intelligence. But I’m not so sure that is what you think went wrong. I don’t know, maybe I’m just nave, but if I had conflicting intelligence about something as important as building a case to invade a country, I might hold off putting our troops in harms way until I figured out which set of “facts” were true. It seems to me you did just the opposite. You scampered to war, while the knuckleheads in the Senate and House were sifting through mountains of wrong intel. Gee, I’d sure like to think that wasn’t the case, you know with it involving other people’s lives and all. I mean I know from your heartfelt speech that the decision was a heavy one, probably as heavy as it must of felt when that big ole fatso Dick Cheney lay on top of you until you said “uncle”, huh?

And while I’m at it, you have to stop with this notion that Democrats and Republicans in the House and the Senate had access to the “same intelligence”. Yeah, we know all about that cleverly true claim. But Mr. President, “same intelligence” ain’t “all intelligence” is it now? Did they have access to DITSUM No. 044-02? Did they have knowledge of the Wilson briefings? Were they made aware of the dubious nature of sources “Curveball” and Chalibi?

I don’t think so.

I’ll tell you what though. To your credit, I don’t think you do lie because that would put you at odds with your Supreme Advisorthat’s with a capital S, capital A. Get it? Wink. Wink. By the way, if I were you, the next time you two talk at bedtime, I’d get on his case a little. I mean after all, if he is such a smarty pants, why didn’t he kind of give you a little hint about what was going on? He could have whispered something like, “ya know that DITSUM document, you might want to read it again. It’s pretty, pretty good. And that Wilson fellow might be a royal pain in robes but he’s got a point.” Actually, come to think about, ask him for the coordinates of Osama’s location while you’re at it too. Anyway, so if you don’t lie, what do you do? You just don’t tell “all the truth”, kind of like you don’t share “all the intelligence”. Am I right? Come on, you know I’m right.

The fact is you’re slicker than slop through a pig and let me tell you that’s slicker than slick Willie ever was. If only you could have advised him though his little intern indiscretion, he’d have us crooning “the world is a better place without Monica, even though she blew me like a harmonica”.

Yes-sir-ree Bob, when it comes to a little nuisance, you know like facts, you find a little nuance, you know like not-all-the-facts. Yup, you sure are smarter than old Willie boy when it comes to parsing the English language. Unfortunately, it comes at a higher cost: countless innocent lives and new generations of remorseless hate.

That’s the part that bothers me, Dub. How about dem apples?

This opinion piece is just one of many Humorist Robert Crane spews out after placing his head in a vice. If you like it, you can find a lot more at his popular website:

http://www.cranelegs.com

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A visitor to Moscow would be immediately struck by the fact that an otherwise dull Kremlin now seduces one to break the sound barrier in a mike, rediscover one self on a Compaq or simply feel Warner in a Pringles. If this is not enough then there is always Chairman Mao in Tiananmen Square calling upon workers and peasants to not only carry forward the revolution but also gulp down a Sprite, while they are at it. Numerous more examples abound from the Adriatic, so what does it all signify? Is it truly the end of History? Do we now see a time when a matter of ideology is drinking a Coke or a Pepsi? Closer introspection would reveal that it is not quite so.

Let us begin by noting that the world has not got rid of or minimized the areas of conflict. From the more recent Israeli- Palestinian clashes, to the problems in Chechnya, Kashmir, Sri Lanka, parts of Africa etc. The war on Terror has brought Afghanistan and Iraq into global focus. Tensions persist on one form or another and have the potential to assume more enormous dimensions at any time. Closely related to this point is the fact that there are vast areas of the globe that were, in a sense left behind in time: parts of the middle-east, chunks of Africa and Latin America and especially Afghanistan are regions where modernity as we know it has failed to penetrate let alone reach a critical mess to iron out medieval tensions and propel the inhabitants towards growth and self realization. Such geographical pockets are breeding grounds of what may seem outdated, yet in fact extremely potent ideologies and movements. These regions are not merely trouble spots of the world meant to be fumigated at will by the forces of modernity in their multi-billion dollar corporate avatars but are in fact pointers towards more serious matters. Namely how does one reconcile the difference between the majority of the human population that is battered by pressures of war, disease, hunger, natural calamities, apathetic rulers, poverty and ignorance everyday, and those who suggest that the panacea of all evils is to watch more movies, guzzle more beers drink more colas, and Just Do It?

Tied to the above factors is the fact that all over the world maybe in the countries themselves, the so-called engines of globalization seem to be acquiring local hues and colours as they clank. Be it the fact that fast food giants serving local cuisines, global television channels beaming programmes in regional languages or giant corporations trying to be more uniform global system, driven by the forces of profit and loss seems to be weakening.

If Bill Gates came to Hyderabad to sell his Windows XP, an Indian has moved to Redmond to design it for him. As a result America is browning and in a decade from now, the white man would be a minority on his island. Immigrants are no longer poor Italians, Irish and Jews sailing to their land of opportunity in claustrophobic ships but are in fact an important constituent of the demographic profile of every western country. Over the years these Patils and Changs have emerged as significant pressure groups in the government of their new homeland, and it is only with a passage of time that we will realize the full impact of these movements of migrants on the history of mankind.

Equally significant has been the revolution in the fields of science and technology. We are today witness to a rapid advancement in communication, especially information technology and networking. The world is increasingly shrinking to become one global village. One development in one part of the world soon affects the life of people in other parts of the world. Say for instance, oil production. If Saudi Arabia or any of the major OPEC nations decide to cut production, even if it is a marginal cut, oil prices shoot up and political climate can change. A country’s might and political clout now depends not just on sheer military power but also on the scientific potential. The case of India is ample proof of this and how different countries are analyzing its strategic importance in the 21st century. But here too there is a need to wait and watch as to how these developments affect history and its march forward.

Lastly, the world is seeing new ideologies and movements which cannot be simple bracketed as ‘right’ or ‘left’, ‘privatization’ or ‘nationalization’ and so on and so forth. Whether it is farmers in France preventing the development of genetically modified seeds, truckers in Britain blocking highways to protest against high fuel prices, Germans screaming ‘Inder Statt Kender’, Indians debating the merits of secularism or Americans calling for a ban on abortions and greater acceptance of gay rights, it all shows that each day new issues will present themselves before people and governments. These issues will remain just as pressing and significant even if they will not essentially involve tanks breaching iron fences or iron curtains.

To conclude briefly, all over the world, it seems newer forces are emerging and are yet to make their full impact. Therefore, far from it beginning the ‘End of History’, we have just managed to plough through the first few chapters and many more await us.

About The Author

NAME: MITHUN BHATTACHARYA
ADDRESS:
A/3,Institute of Economic Growth,
Delhi University Enclave,
Delhi- 110007
INDIA
TELEPHONE: +91-11-27667598, 27667665
EMAIL: bsmb@vsnl.com; bhattacharya_mit@hotmail.com
DATE OF BIRTH: 16th of January 1980

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