Friday, February 18, 2005
Nobel Peace Prize nominations
Pope and Bono Among Nobel Peace Prize Nominees
By Inger Sethov, Reuters
Famous Nobel Nominees
OSLO (Feb. 17) - Pope John Paul and rock star Bono are among 166 nominees for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize, with relief groups helping victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami among the favorites.
"We have received 166 nominations so far, of which 29 are organizations," the director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, Geir Lundestad, told Reuters on Thursday. "The geographical scope is wide."
As usual, he declined to name any candidates for the prize, which last year went to Kenya's Wangari Maathai, the head of a tree-planting movement and the first environmentalist to win.
Some names have been made public or leaked privately by people nominating them. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell was also among them.
But many Nobel watchers believe the 2005 award will go to an individual or a group involved with relief efforts after the devastating Dec. 26 tsunami, such as Save the Children or Oxfam.
Among other aid groups, the International Committee of the Red Cross has won the prize three times, in 1963, 1944 and 1917. Most recently, Medecins Sans Frontieres won in 1999.
The deadline for mailing nominations for the award, named after Swedish dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel, passed on Feb. 1. Those who can make nominations include members of parliaments, former Nobel laureates and some university professors.
Rock Star or Sitarist?
The list of names is secret but some people publicize their suggestions for the 10 million Swedish crown -- $1.43 million -- prize, to be announced in October and awarded on Dec. 10.
The Nobel committee broadened its interpretation of peace last year by picking an environmentalist. Another unorthodox pick would be a musician, such as Bono, lead singer in Irish pop group U2, or Indian sitar master Ravi Shankar, also nominated.
In the more traditional anti-nuclear field of nominees, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is on the list this year -- on the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The pope, nominated many times, is unlikely to win since the five-member awards committee is widely believed to object to his conservative moral teachings, like opposing birth control.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko is nominated for his role in his country's peaceful "Orange Revolution," former Czech President Vaclav Havel is on the list as he has been several times before, and one group, "Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005," wants the prize split among 1,000 women around the world.
The number of nominations might rise with some arriving late even if they are postmarked by Feb. 1. Also, committee members can make nominations at their first meeting after the deadline.
Last year, a record 194 candidates were nominated.
02/17/05 10:28 ET
By Inger Sethov, Reuters
Famous Nobel Nominees
OSLO (Feb. 17) - Pope John Paul and rock star Bono are among 166 nominees for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize, with relief groups helping victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami among the favorites.
"We have received 166 nominations so far, of which 29 are organizations," the director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, Geir Lundestad, told Reuters on Thursday. "The geographical scope is wide."
As usual, he declined to name any candidates for the prize, which last year went to Kenya's Wangari Maathai, the head of a tree-planting movement and the first environmentalist to win.
Some names have been made public or leaked privately by people nominating them. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell was also among them.
But many Nobel watchers believe the 2005 award will go to an individual or a group involved with relief efforts after the devastating Dec. 26 tsunami, such as Save the Children or Oxfam.
Among other aid groups, the International Committee of the Red Cross has won the prize three times, in 1963, 1944 and 1917. Most recently, Medecins Sans Frontieres won in 1999.
The deadline for mailing nominations for the award, named after Swedish dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel, passed on Feb. 1. Those who can make nominations include members of parliaments, former Nobel laureates and some university professors.
Rock Star or Sitarist?
The list of names is secret but some people publicize their suggestions for the 10 million Swedish crown -- $1.43 million -- prize, to be announced in October and awarded on Dec. 10.
The Nobel committee broadened its interpretation of peace last year by picking an environmentalist. Another unorthodox pick would be a musician, such as Bono, lead singer in Irish pop group U2, or Indian sitar master Ravi Shankar, also nominated.
In the more traditional anti-nuclear field of nominees, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is on the list this year -- on the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The pope, nominated many times, is unlikely to win since the five-member awards committee is widely believed to object to his conservative moral teachings, like opposing birth control.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko is nominated for his role in his country's peaceful "Orange Revolution," former Czech President Vaclav Havel is on the list as he has been several times before, and one group, "Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005," wants the prize split among 1,000 women around the world.
The number of nominations might rise with some arriving late even if they are postmarked by Feb. 1. Also, committee members can make nominations at their first meeting after the deadline.
Last year, a record 194 candidates were nominated.
02/17/05 10:28 ET
Thursday, February 17, 2005
A reminder
Just a reminder of who, exactly, Churchill is talking about when he says that the 9-11 victims were Nazis who deserved to have an airplane driven through them (and when you read this post, bear in mind that Churchill laughed as he was reading the New York Times obituaries dealing with the 9-11 dead...)
First, a paragraph I have separated from the main article, dealing with Cantor Fitzgerald. I will post the entire article below this isolated paragraph:
Rabbi Charles Kroloff of Temple Emanu-El Reform in Westfield, N.J., which lost two congregation members and nine relatives of members, has been trying to help mourners “move toward closure” by holding memorial services and sitting shiva, a Jewish custom in which the bereaved pray and receive visitors at home.
Remember, these Jewish dead were, according to Ward Churchill, Nazis deserving of their fate...And now, the entire article, from 10-01-01:
Solemn tribute for Cantor Fitzgerald
More than 700 employees lost in World Trade Center attack
MSNBC NEWS SERVICES
NEW YORK, Oct. 1 — In a solemn ceremony in Central Park Monday, thousands paid tribute to the more than 700 employees of securities broker Cantor Fitzgerald who were lost in the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center. Cantor occupied floors 101 and 103-105 of 1 World Trade Center along with sister firms eSpeed and TradeSpark. Together they lost every New York employee who was in the building — more than 700 of the roughly 1,000 who worked there.
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani saluted those he called “quiet heroes, who work hard, support their families, and follow their dreams.”
Before and after the 90-minute service, friends and family read from six-foot banners inside two tents covered with tributes and photographs. Many of the snapshots were of young men and women.
In a letter, President Bush offered condolences to the company, the hardest hit of all the firms in the World Trade Center.
“All Americans have suffered as a result of the tragedies of Sept. 11,” the letter said. “But your loss has been particularly great.”
The Boys Choir of Harlem sang “God Bless America,” and singer Judy Collins delivered a solo “America the Beautiful” before the few thousand gathered under a giant tent.
A massive flag was draped over the back of a stage usually reserved for summertime concerts.
Cantor’s chairman and chief executive officer, Howard Lutnick, vowed he would do whatever he could to help grieving members of the Cantor “family.”
“They are a part of us, and they will remain a part of us,” Lutnick said.
Cantor resumed operations shortly after the attacks, relying heavily on its London office.
MOURNING WITH NO REMAINS
Friends and family of missing Cantor employees, like so many others, are having to come up with their own ways to mourn and remember, knowing that they will never get a body from the wreckage of the World Trade Center.
With more than 5,200 people missing in the wake of the trade center attack, many of them literally gone without a trace, customary mourning rituals have been disrupted.Families are coming up with their own ways to say goodbye.
“My youngest sister was crying, saying how are we going to remember Mom and Dad? She kept saying we have to wait for a body,” said Pamela Trentini, whose parents perished aboard one of the planes that struck the trade center. “She really wanted something tangible. I said there would probably be no remains.”
So the children of James and Mary Trentini, a retired couple from Everett, Mass., made up new rituals. Seeds of forget-me-nots, Mary Trentini’s favorite flower, were handed out at a memorial service to be planted in a cemetery. A headstone was ordered, and the family plans to plant tulip bulbs in the graveyard before the frost this fall.
“It will be a place we can go to and remember, even though there are no remains,” Pamela Trentini said.
Mayor Giuliani has said that “given the nature of this implosion and the temperatures,” identifiable remains would not be found for all victims.
Each day, local newspapers run death notices with the following words: “Missing, presumed dead, in the World Trade Center attack.”
MEMENTOS FROM GROUND ZERO
Gordy Dodge, an American Red Cross psychologist who has been counseling families in New York, said some “are asking for ashes from the scene. It serves the normal emotional process they need by symbolically giving them something to bury.”
For now, all debris is taken to a Staten Island landfill and inspected for human remains or evidence, like airplane parts. But Giuliani pledged this week that any family wanting a memento would eventually get something.
“We will give to each family something from the World Trade Center, whether it’s from the ground, the soil or rubble, at some appropriate time,” he promised.
Normally it takes three years to certify a death without physical remains, but officials have streamlined the procedure to reduce it to a few days. A death certificate allows families to receive insurance money and other benefits, but it may also give some the evidence they need to move on emotionally.Judy Keane of Wethersfield, Conn., whose husband, Richard, is among the missing, said she would wait for a notice from the medical examiner before planning a memorial service.
“I keep the thought in the back of my head that he might pop up — who knows,” she said. “I really don’t feel comfortable until we have something legal saying that he’s gone.”
Keane said a local vigil by friends and neighbors “brought me the same type of comfort that a memorial service would. It was across from our home on the town green. It was very consoling and beautiful.”
Her husband — a father and grandfather, an active Roman Catholic in his parish church, and a senior vice president with Marsh Inc., a financial services company — didn’t work at the twin towers but was attending a meeting there when the plane hit.
DIM HOPE STILL ALIVE
Dodge said that for many mourners, “uncertainty is sometimes tougher than the certainty.”
“If someone has information which is convincing that their loved one is dead, they’re not going to deny the death,” Dodge said. “But some people do need to maintain hope or continue a denial of death longer than others. They need that protection time to accept reality.”
Rabbi Charles Kroloff of Temple Emanu-El Reform in Westfield, N.J., which lost two congregation members and nine relatives of members, has been trying to help mourners “move toward closure” by holding memorial services and sitting shiva, a Jewish custom in which the bereaved pray and receive visitors at home.
But he added that “traditions also have to be adjusted in order to help people get through this.”
In one case, a child drew pictures for her missing father, and Kroloff showed the drawings during the memorial service. Some families have made pilgrimages to the attack site; others are planning monuments or stone markers, whether or not remains turn up.
“Most people would like to have a physical place to come to,” he said.
Still, a grave without a body is not the same.
“When I go to the cemetery, there’s nothing there,” Trentini said. “I feel my parents are in New York.”
Solemn tribute for Cantor Fitzgerald
First, a paragraph I have separated from the main article, dealing with Cantor Fitzgerald. I will post the entire article below this isolated paragraph:
Rabbi Charles Kroloff of Temple Emanu-El Reform in Westfield, N.J., which lost two congregation members and nine relatives of members, has been trying to help mourners “move toward closure” by holding memorial services and sitting shiva, a Jewish custom in which the bereaved pray and receive visitors at home.
Remember, these Jewish dead were, according to Ward Churchill, Nazis deserving of their fate...And now, the entire article, from 10-01-01:
Solemn tribute for Cantor Fitzgerald
More than 700 employees lost in World Trade Center attack
MSNBC NEWS SERVICES
NEW YORK, Oct. 1 — In a solemn ceremony in Central Park Monday, thousands paid tribute to the more than 700 employees of securities broker Cantor Fitzgerald who were lost in the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center. Cantor occupied floors 101 and 103-105 of 1 World Trade Center along with sister firms eSpeed and TradeSpark. Together they lost every New York employee who was in the building — more than 700 of the roughly 1,000 who worked there.
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani saluted those he called “quiet heroes, who work hard, support their families, and follow their dreams.”
Before and after the 90-minute service, friends and family read from six-foot banners inside two tents covered with tributes and photographs. Many of the snapshots were of young men and women.
In a letter, President Bush offered condolences to the company, the hardest hit of all the firms in the World Trade Center.
“All Americans have suffered as a result of the tragedies of Sept. 11,” the letter said. “But your loss has been particularly great.”
The Boys Choir of Harlem sang “God Bless America,” and singer Judy Collins delivered a solo “America the Beautiful” before the few thousand gathered under a giant tent.
A massive flag was draped over the back of a stage usually reserved for summertime concerts.
Cantor’s chairman and chief executive officer, Howard Lutnick, vowed he would do whatever he could to help grieving members of the Cantor “family.”
“They are a part of us, and they will remain a part of us,” Lutnick said.
Cantor resumed operations shortly after the attacks, relying heavily on its London office.
MOURNING WITH NO REMAINS
Friends and family of missing Cantor employees, like so many others, are having to come up with their own ways to mourn and remember, knowing that they will never get a body from the wreckage of the World Trade Center.
With more than 5,200 people missing in the wake of the trade center attack, many of them literally gone without a trace, customary mourning rituals have been disrupted.Families are coming up with their own ways to say goodbye.
“My youngest sister was crying, saying how are we going to remember Mom and Dad? She kept saying we have to wait for a body,” said Pamela Trentini, whose parents perished aboard one of the planes that struck the trade center. “She really wanted something tangible. I said there would probably be no remains.”
So the children of James and Mary Trentini, a retired couple from Everett, Mass., made up new rituals. Seeds of forget-me-nots, Mary Trentini’s favorite flower, were handed out at a memorial service to be planted in a cemetery. A headstone was ordered, and the family plans to plant tulip bulbs in the graveyard before the frost this fall.
“It will be a place we can go to and remember, even though there are no remains,” Pamela Trentini said.
Mayor Giuliani has said that “given the nature of this implosion and the temperatures,” identifiable remains would not be found for all victims.
Each day, local newspapers run death notices with the following words: “Missing, presumed dead, in the World Trade Center attack.”
MEMENTOS FROM GROUND ZERO
Gordy Dodge, an American Red Cross psychologist who has been counseling families in New York, said some “are asking for ashes from the scene. It serves the normal emotional process they need by symbolically giving them something to bury.”
For now, all debris is taken to a Staten Island landfill and inspected for human remains or evidence, like airplane parts. But Giuliani pledged this week that any family wanting a memento would eventually get something.
“We will give to each family something from the World Trade Center, whether it’s from the ground, the soil or rubble, at some appropriate time,” he promised.
Normally it takes three years to certify a death without physical remains, but officials have streamlined the procedure to reduce it to a few days. A death certificate allows families to receive insurance money and other benefits, but it may also give some the evidence they need to move on emotionally.Judy Keane of Wethersfield, Conn., whose husband, Richard, is among the missing, said she would wait for a notice from the medical examiner before planning a memorial service.
“I keep the thought in the back of my head that he might pop up — who knows,” she said. “I really don’t feel comfortable until we have something legal saying that he’s gone.”
Keane said a local vigil by friends and neighbors “brought me the same type of comfort that a memorial service would. It was across from our home on the town green. It was very consoling and beautiful.”
Her husband — a father and grandfather, an active Roman Catholic in his parish church, and a senior vice president with Marsh Inc., a financial services company — didn’t work at the twin towers but was attending a meeting there when the plane hit.
DIM HOPE STILL ALIVE
Dodge said that for many mourners, “uncertainty is sometimes tougher than the certainty.”
“If someone has information which is convincing that their loved one is dead, they’re not going to deny the death,” Dodge said. “But some people do need to maintain hope or continue a denial of death longer than others. They need that protection time to accept reality.”
Rabbi Charles Kroloff of Temple Emanu-El Reform in Westfield, N.J., which lost two congregation members and nine relatives of members, has been trying to help mourners “move toward closure” by holding memorial services and sitting shiva, a Jewish custom in which the bereaved pray and receive visitors at home.
But he added that “traditions also have to be adjusted in order to help people get through this.”
In one case, a child drew pictures for her missing father, and Kroloff showed the drawings during the memorial service. Some families have made pilgrimages to the attack site; others are planning monuments or stone markers, whether or not remains turn up.
“Most people would like to have a physical place to come to,” he said.
Still, a grave without a body is not the same.
“When I go to the cemetery, there’s nothing there,” Trentini said. “I feel my parents are in New York.”
Solemn tribute for Cantor Fitzgerald
"Maybe she needed to be spit on"
Ward Churchill spit on a Native American woman. And his lawyer now says that "maybe she needed to be spit on." Full article from today's Denver Post ( DenverPost.com - LOCAL NEWS) pasted below:
Clashes with Churchill found
CU records show several complaints about prof's behavior
By Arthur Kane Denver Post Staff Writer
University of Colorado officials received repeated complaints about Ward Churchill's demeanor and temper, beginning two years before he was granted a tenured faculty position despite never going through the normal review.
Churchill was promoted at the university, and there is no record in documents released Wednesday indicating that he has ever been disciplined for inappropriate conduct.
Additionally, a university spokeswoman said Wednesday that while Churchill was required to sign an oath pledging to "support the constitutions of the United States and Colorado" as a condition of employment, the university has not been able to find a signed copy. [there is a signed copy of one of the pages of this contract, but the actual page with the actual oath on it, signed, cannot be found--which means that as of Friday morning Churchill will be working illegally, as it is illegal for any teacher to teach in the State of Colorado without signing this oath. If he refuses to sign the oath, he cannot be legally a teacher in this state. If he admits to signing the oath, he is bound by Colorado law which states that he can and will be held accountable for violent threats against the government of this country as a teacher. It should be interesting watching him try to wriggle his way out of this one...]
University officials who supervised Churchill said they had no recollection of the complaints in Churchill's personnel file, but those on the receiving end of what they described as Churchill's temper said they had not forgotten.
Retired university administrator and journalism professor Joanne Easley Arnold said she received a call from Churchill in 1989 during a controversy over the naming of a dormitory on campus. She was trying to get the dorm named for a former director of student housing. Churchill, not yet a professor, was pushing to have it named for the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes.
"He suggested I should back off my proposal and if I didn't, I would get hurt," Arnold said after she was contacted by The Denver Post. "I was shocked, and that's why my dean heard about it."
David Lane, a Denver lawyer representing Churchill, dismissed any claims of wrongdoing by his client.
"Obviously, the police didn't get involved ... and I doubt anything happened," Lane said.
CU officials are reviewing Churchill's writings and speeches after it was reported that he had likened some of the Sept. 11 World Trade Center victims to a top Nazi and made other controversial statements. Gov. Bill Owens and others have urged CU to fire Churchill.
The Arnold incident, which came five years after an allegation by Churchill's first ex-wife that he had threatened violence, is not documented in Churchill's file. She reported it to the dean of the journalism school, Arnold said.
Kaye Howe, a former administrator who had recommended Churchill for a one-semester teaching position at CU, also was not aware of the alleged threat but was not surprised.
"It was a very stressful period of time in renaming the building," she said.
In 1990, Howe was a vice chancellor and Churchill's supervisor at his job as director of the University Learning Center. She served as a reference for Churchill for a one-semester teaching job but expected him to return to the center. She was surprised when he received a tenured teaching job.
"The tenure process is a laborious and long one, and it's very rarely given early," she said.
Three years after receiving tenure, Churchill was again accused of inappropriate behavior.
In April 1994, two women wrote Charles Middleton, then dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, about a March 28 incident outside the San Francisco Press Club involving Churchill and his wife at the time, Marie Jaimes.
"Carol Standing Elk was leaving the Press Club when Marie Annette Jaimes brutally attacked and injured her," Deborah J. Cruze wrote in a letter to Middleton in Churchill's file. "Then, as Ms. Standing Elk was trying to recover from the attack, she was spit on by Ward Churchill."
Cruze could not be reached for comment, but Lane dismissed the incident, saying it comes from a person who did not like Churchill.
"Maybe she needed to be physically attacked," he said. "Maybe his wife acted in self-defense. Maybe she needed to be spit on."
Middleton, who at the time told Cruze the university would investigate, said Wednesday he did not remember the incident.
Staff writer Arthur Kane can be reached at akane@denverpost.com or 303-820-1626.
Clashes with Churchill found
CU records show several complaints about prof's behavior
By Arthur Kane Denver Post Staff Writer
University of Colorado officials received repeated complaints about Ward Churchill's demeanor and temper, beginning two years before he was granted a tenured faculty position despite never going through the normal review.
Churchill was promoted at the university, and there is no record in documents released Wednesday indicating that he has ever been disciplined for inappropriate conduct.
Additionally, a university spokeswoman said Wednesday that while Churchill was required to sign an oath pledging to "support the constitutions of the United States and Colorado" as a condition of employment, the university has not been able to find a signed copy. [there is a signed copy of one of the pages of this contract, but the actual page with the actual oath on it, signed, cannot be found--which means that as of Friday morning Churchill will be working illegally, as it is illegal for any teacher to teach in the State of Colorado without signing this oath. If he refuses to sign the oath, he cannot be legally a teacher in this state. If he admits to signing the oath, he is bound by Colorado law which states that he can and will be held accountable for violent threats against the government of this country as a teacher. It should be interesting watching him try to wriggle his way out of this one...]
University officials who supervised Churchill said they had no recollection of the complaints in Churchill's personnel file, but those on the receiving end of what they described as Churchill's temper said they had not forgotten.
Retired university administrator and journalism professor Joanne Easley Arnold said she received a call from Churchill in 1989 during a controversy over the naming of a dormitory on campus. She was trying to get the dorm named for a former director of student housing. Churchill, not yet a professor, was pushing to have it named for the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes.
"He suggested I should back off my proposal and if I didn't, I would get hurt," Arnold said after she was contacted by The Denver Post. "I was shocked, and that's why my dean heard about it."
David Lane, a Denver lawyer representing Churchill, dismissed any claims of wrongdoing by his client.
"Obviously, the police didn't get involved ... and I doubt anything happened," Lane said.
CU officials are reviewing Churchill's writings and speeches after it was reported that he had likened some of the Sept. 11 World Trade Center victims to a top Nazi and made other controversial statements. Gov. Bill Owens and others have urged CU to fire Churchill.
The Arnold incident, which came five years after an allegation by Churchill's first ex-wife that he had threatened violence, is not documented in Churchill's file. She reported it to the dean of the journalism school, Arnold said.
Kaye Howe, a former administrator who had recommended Churchill for a one-semester teaching position at CU, also was not aware of the alleged threat but was not surprised.
"It was a very stressful period of time in renaming the building," she said.
In 1990, Howe was a vice chancellor and Churchill's supervisor at his job as director of the University Learning Center. She served as a reference for Churchill for a one-semester teaching job but expected him to return to the center. She was surprised when he received a tenured teaching job.
"The tenure process is a laborious and long one, and it's very rarely given early," she said.
Three years after receiving tenure, Churchill was again accused of inappropriate behavior.
In April 1994, two women wrote Charles Middleton, then dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, about a March 28 incident outside the San Francisco Press Club involving Churchill and his wife at the time, Marie Jaimes.
"Carol Standing Elk was leaving the Press Club when Marie Annette Jaimes brutally attacked and injured her," Deborah J. Cruze wrote in a letter to Middleton in Churchill's file. "Then, as Ms. Standing Elk was trying to recover from the attack, she was spit on by Ward Churchill."
Cruze could not be reached for comment, but Lane dismissed the incident, saying it comes from a person who did not like Churchill.
"Maybe she needed to be physically attacked," he said. "Maybe his wife acted in self-defense. Maybe she needed to be spit on."
Middleton, who at the time told Cruze the university would investigate, said Wednesday he did not remember the incident.
Staff writer Arthur Kane can be reached at akane@denverpost.com or 303-820-1626.
Ward Churchill and Colorado law
When he was hired, Ward Churchill--who ultimately managed to achieve full tenure in one year--signed an oath ( 630 KHOW - Denver's Talk Station ) to uphold the Constitutions of both the United States and the State of Colorado. Currently in the newspapers here in CO is the issue of whether or not the State has the right to step in. On the above link, two attorneys, one of whom is a liberal, have posted the entire section of Colorado law pertaining to this. I have pasted an interesting section of the law below.
[3] [4] Plaintiffs further claim that the oath
deprives them of equal protection of the laws by
arbitrarily classifying teachers as the sole group of
public employees required to take the oath. This, of
course, is not accurate. The oath is an almost
universal requirement of all public officials, including
lawyers and judges, and it cannot be truthfully said
that teachers are being picked on. Teachers would,
however, be the first to admit that they work in a
sensitive area in which they can shape the attitudes
of the students with whom they come in contact.
The state has a vital concern in the educational
process, and has the right not only to screen
teachers as to their fitness, Adler v. Board of
Education of the City of New York, 342 U.S. 485, 72
S.Ct. 380, 96 L.Ed. 517, 27 A.L.R.2d 472 (1952),
but also to be concerned about possible
advocacy of overthrow of the government by
force and violence.
[3] [4] Plaintiffs further claim that the oath
deprives them of equal protection of the laws by
arbitrarily classifying teachers as the sole group of
public employees required to take the oath. This, of
course, is not accurate. The oath is an almost
universal requirement of all public officials, including
lawyers and judges, and it cannot be truthfully said
that teachers are being picked on. Teachers would,
however, be the first to admit that they work in a
sensitive area in which they can shape the attitudes
of the students with whom they come in contact.
The state has a vital concern in the educational
process, and has the right not only to screen
teachers as to their fitness, Adler v. Board of
Education of the City of New York, 342 U.S. 485, 72
S.Ct. 380, 96 L.Ed. 517, 27 A.L.R.2d 472 (1952),
but also to be concerned about possible
advocacy of overthrow of the government by
force and violence.
Raelians
In their own words, taken from their own website, www.rael.org
The Raelian Revolution, the world's largest Atheist, non-profit UFO related organisation - over 60,000 members in 90 countries - working towards the first embassy to welcome people from space... destroying the myth of god and sweeping the world with the most politically incorrect and fearlessly individualistic philosophy of non-conformism.
SCIENTISTS FROM ANOTHER PLANET CREATED ALL LIFE ON EARTH USING D.N.A.
Traces of this epic masterpiece of creation can be found in all religious writings. It is to them that Moses, Jesus, Buddha and Mohammed referred to. It is now time to welcome them.
WHAT HAPPENED?
On the 13th of December 1973, French journalist Rael was contacted by a visitor from another planet, and asked to establish an Embassy to welcome these people back to Earth.
The extra-terrestrial was about four feet in height, had long dark hair, almond shaped eyes, olive skin and exuded harmony and humour. He told Rael that:
"we were the ones who made all life on earth"
"you mistook us for gods"
"we were at the origin of your main religions"
"Now that you are mature enough to understand this, we would like to enter official contact through an embassy"
THE MESSAGES
The messages dictated to Rael explain how life on Earth is not the result of random evolution, nor the work of a supernatural 'God'. It is a deliberate creation, using DNA,by a scientifically advanced people who made human beings literally "in their image" what one can call "scientific creationism". References to these scientists and their work, as well as to their symbol of infinity can be found in the ancient texts of many cultures. For example, in Genesis, the biblical account of creation, the word "Elohim" has been mistranslated as "God" in the singular, but it is a plural, which means "those who came from the sky".
Leaving our humanity to progress by itself, the Elohim nevertheless maintained contact with us via prophets including Buddha, Moses, Jesus and Mohammed, all specially chosen and educated by them. The role of the prophets was to progressively educate humanity through the messages they taught, each time adapted to the culture and level of understanding at the time. They were also to leave traces of the Elohim so that we would be able to recognise them as our creators and fellow human beings when we had advanced enough scientifically to understand them.
THE EMBASSY
Now that Man has put his foot on the moon, and our scientists are creating life through the synthesis of DNA, we are finally capable of understanding our creators rationally instead of mystifying and dumbly adoring them. For this reason the Elohim have contacted Rael. They have asked him to make their final message known throughout the world and to establish an embassy for them where they will officially meet with us and our world governments.
WHY DO THEY NEED AN EMBASSY?
They are not invaders. They have shown their desire to come but they respect our choice to say no. It is up to us to invite them - and our invitation is the embassy. It's the least we can do.
Without the neutrality of an embassy, free air space and an official welcome, an unannounced and undesired landing would have enormous political, economic and social repercussions with disastrous consequences world-wide. Nor do they wish to endorse any government, religion or ideology other than that of the Raelian Philosophy, by contacting any other institution first. Thus they will only come when we build their embassy, such is their love and respect for us.
Following the extra-terrestrial's instructions, Rael established the Raelian Movement, an international organization to bring together anyone who wishes to help.
It is an atheist, non-profit, spiritual organisation; "atheist" because it demystifies the old concept of god, "spiritual" because it links us with our creators and infinity, and "non-profit" because no member gets paid any salary, not even Rael himself.
It is a completely open organization designed not to convince people, but to allow those who wish to help, to join or leave anytime.
AIMS
Its aims are:
- To inform without convincing.
- To establish the embassy.
- To catalyse a society adapted to the future.
In the message which they dictated to Rael, which he has now published as a series of books, they kindly bring us a new vision of the universe, which provides us with the keys to awakening our own potential and a series of values to revolutionise society.
We are born into this world so full of blaring contradictions and injustices that we don't even notice them, we have got used to walking with our eyes half shut, ready to cut out suffering and pain brought about by the prejudice, greed and ignorance so inherent in the fear ridden old world. But now a new dawn is rising, we can open our eyes to the reality around us and take action to challenge the corruption and despair with hope and purity, backed by the power of science. Bio and nano-technology can bring food and health to everyone, it can remove the need for human labor and therefore break our slavery towards a monetary system and its lords, no one need belong to another or waste their lives away doing work they don't like. The accent can go on fulfilment and pleasure instead of on duty and survival. But this takes vigilance to see through the illusions of conformity and disillusions of normality, consciousness to act according to the bigger picture, and courage to challenge the old habits passed down unquestioned for generations, so as to bit by bit, paint a new multi-coloured tapestry of humanity, giving people freedom and choice to be themselves and fulfil themselves just for the pure pleasure of being.
This new philosophy, where spirituality and science meet, is taught at international seminars on every continent and is the final ingredient necessary to ignite a personal and global revolution of individuality, freedom, love and respect. It is already sweeping the globe and allowing humanity to transform war into peace, labour into leisure, poverty into fulfilment and money into love. The Raelian revolution is made up of people from all walks of life, from all sexual orientations, from all races, all ages, everyone different and fiercely non conformist, turning everything they touch into fun and pleasure.
Check your old religious writings, check out the latest scientific discoveries, check out the UFOlogical evidence and our bibliography and you will find that they are all increasingly supporting the Raelian Message.
And most important of all, read the book "The Message Given by Extra-Terrestrials" which will revolutionize your thinking, transform your life and which is already changing the world. You can download this book as well as all other books written by Rael for free by clicking here.
The Raelian Revolution, the world's largest Atheist, non-profit UFO related organisation - over 60,000 members in 90 countries - working towards the first embassy to welcome people from space... destroying the myth of god and sweeping the world with the most politically incorrect and fearlessly individualistic philosophy of non-conformism.
SCIENTISTS FROM ANOTHER PLANET CREATED ALL LIFE ON EARTH USING D.N.A.
Traces of this epic masterpiece of creation can be found in all religious writings. It is to them that Moses, Jesus, Buddha and Mohammed referred to. It is now time to welcome them.
WHAT HAPPENED?
On the 13th of December 1973, French journalist Rael was contacted by a visitor from another planet, and asked to establish an Embassy to welcome these people back to Earth.
The extra-terrestrial was about four feet in height, had long dark hair, almond shaped eyes, olive skin and exuded harmony and humour. He told Rael that:
"we were the ones who made all life on earth"
"you mistook us for gods"
"we were at the origin of your main religions"
"Now that you are mature enough to understand this, we would like to enter official contact through an embassy"
THE MESSAGES
The messages dictated to Rael explain how life on Earth is not the result of random evolution, nor the work of a supernatural 'God'. It is a deliberate creation, using DNA,by a scientifically advanced people who made human beings literally "in their image" what one can call "scientific creationism". References to these scientists and their work, as well as to their symbol of infinity can be found in the ancient texts of many cultures. For example, in Genesis, the biblical account of creation, the word "Elohim" has been mistranslated as "God" in the singular, but it is a plural, which means "those who came from the sky".
Leaving our humanity to progress by itself, the Elohim nevertheless maintained contact with us via prophets including Buddha, Moses, Jesus and Mohammed, all specially chosen and educated by them. The role of the prophets was to progressively educate humanity through the messages they taught, each time adapted to the culture and level of understanding at the time. They were also to leave traces of the Elohim so that we would be able to recognise them as our creators and fellow human beings when we had advanced enough scientifically to understand them.
THE EMBASSY
Now that Man has put his foot on the moon, and our scientists are creating life through the synthesis of DNA, we are finally capable of understanding our creators rationally instead of mystifying and dumbly adoring them. For this reason the Elohim have contacted Rael. They have asked him to make their final message known throughout the world and to establish an embassy for them where they will officially meet with us and our world governments.
WHY DO THEY NEED AN EMBASSY?
They are not invaders. They have shown their desire to come but they respect our choice to say no. It is up to us to invite them - and our invitation is the embassy. It's the least we can do.
Without the neutrality of an embassy, free air space and an official welcome, an unannounced and undesired landing would have enormous political, economic and social repercussions with disastrous consequences world-wide. Nor do they wish to endorse any government, religion or ideology other than that of the Raelian Philosophy, by contacting any other institution first. Thus they will only come when we build their embassy, such is their love and respect for us.
Following the extra-terrestrial's instructions, Rael established the Raelian Movement, an international organization to bring together anyone who wishes to help.
It is an atheist, non-profit, spiritual organisation; "atheist" because it demystifies the old concept of god, "spiritual" because it links us with our creators and infinity, and "non-profit" because no member gets paid any salary, not even Rael himself.
It is a completely open organization designed not to convince people, but to allow those who wish to help, to join or leave anytime.
AIMS
Its aims are:
- To inform without convincing.
- To establish the embassy.
- To catalyse a society adapted to the future.
In the message which they dictated to Rael, which he has now published as a series of books, they kindly bring us a new vision of the universe, which provides us with the keys to awakening our own potential and a series of values to revolutionise society.
We are born into this world so full of blaring contradictions and injustices that we don't even notice them, we have got used to walking with our eyes half shut, ready to cut out suffering and pain brought about by the prejudice, greed and ignorance so inherent in the fear ridden old world. But now a new dawn is rising, we can open our eyes to the reality around us and take action to challenge the corruption and despair with hope and purity, backed by the power of science. Bio and nano-technology can bring food and health to everyone, it can remove the need for human labor and therefore break our slavery towards a monetary system and its lords, no one need belong to another or waste their lives away doing work they don't like. The accent can go on fulfilment and pleasure instead of on duty and survival. But this takes vigilance to see through the illusions of conformity and disillusions of normality, consciousness to act according to the bigger picture, and courage to challenge the old habits passed down unquestioned for generations, so as to bit by bit, paint a new multi-coloured tapestry of humanity, giving people freedom and choice to be themselves and fulfil themselves just for the pure pleasure of being.
This new philosophy, where spirituality and science meet, is taught at international seminars on every continent and is the final ingredient necessary to ignite a personal and global revolution of individuality, freedom, love and respect. It is already sweeping the globe and allowing humanity to transform war into peace, labour into leisure, poverty into fulfilment and money into love. The Raelian revolution is made up of people from all walks of life, from all sexual orientations, from all races, all ages, everyone different and fiercely non conformist, turning everything they touch into fun and pleasure.
Check your old religious writings, check out the latest scientific discoveries, check out the UFOlogical evidence and our bibliography and you will find that they are all increasingly supporting the Raelian Message.
And most important of all, read the book "The Message Given by Extra-Terrestrials" which will revolutionize your thinking, transform your life and which is already changing the world. You can download this book as well as all other books written by Rael for free by clicking here.
Okay, this is funny
This is hysterical...Honorary priesthood, for a man who is actively demanding the complete destruction of the United States. Emphasis was added to bits of this tripe by me. Comments in brackets are mine. Again, yes, the United States needs to rethink our foreign policy. Yes, we have been responsible for the deaths of innocent people. There is no country in the world that does not have such blood on its hands. And for those who are curious, the Raelians are the people who believe that spacemen walk among us. See my next post for a view of this, in my opinion, weirdo cult, in their own words, taken from their own website.
Rael to bestow "Honorary Priest" title to Ward Churchill for his essay the 60,000+ members of the Raelian Movement send Churchill their support
Miami, Feb 10, 2005
Rael, leader of the International Raelian Movement (http://www.rael.org/) has just given the "Honorary Priest" title to Ward Churchill (University of Colorado professor) for his essay which most of the US is decrying as insensitive or unpatriotic.
Ricky Roehr (leader of the US Raelian Movement) is quoted: "Mr. Churchill is exactly right in what he wrote! If we are to have peace, we must take responsibility for our part in the violence and stop handing out blame as if we have done nothing. Quite the contrary, we have done terrible things to countless people. Churchill addressed the cause of the 9-11 attacks and people want to shoot the messenger. Fox news and the right wing would have him thrown out of the US for being unpatriotic and insensitive to the innocent people killed in the 9-11 attacks. It is precisely Churchill's compassion for loss of innocent life [compassion? calling them Nazis is compassion???] that prompted his essay - his words so easily twisted by the right-wing who dare not think anything which conficts with the what the Bush administration is spoon feeding a public blinded by the rhetoric of fear and intolerance. Blind patriotism is precisely what created Nazi Germany by instilling the same "culture of fear" which allows the normally peace loving public to justify attacking countries who never attacked them. The current air in America is eerily like that of pre-Nazi Germany. [yeah, we're actively building concentration camps even as I type]
Innocent Iraquis are no less important than innocent Americans - and there were 3,000 killed in the US compared to the 100,000 in Iraq. And don't forget about the 500,000 innocent children who died because of the UN sanctions against Iraq [and Saddam Hussein was of course completely innocent of any wrongdoing whatsoever], the same children whose deaths Madeline Albright [of the Clinton administration, which was not attacked by Iraq on home soil at any time] stated publicly was "worth the cost"?! Bush and the pentagon use sugar coated terms like "collateral damage" to describe the innocent people killed in Iraq. But those killed on 9-11 were innocent victims? What would the US do if a country imposed sanctions which killed 500,000 US children?
Churchill stated: "3 million people killed in the war in Indochina, those who died in the U.S. invasions of Grenada, Panama and elsewhere in Central America, the victims of the transatlantic slave trade, and the indigenous peoples still subjected to genocidal policies - all victims. If we respond with callous disregard to the deaths of others, we can only expect equal callousness to American deaths." [and the U.S. is responsible for the slave trade being carried on by the peoples who live there???] It is ALL true and the once great US is embarassingly and shamefully wrong. Nothing can justify the loss of even one innocent life. Because if we can justify one, we can justify two, or a hunderd, a thousand... Think about it! If we look at the history of the US, it would not even exist if its founders (who had slaves, did not allow women to vote etc) had not killed and stolen the land on which we all live today!
In a letter criticizing Churchill, Gov. Bill Owens (Co.) said "the victims of the 9-11 attacks were murdered by evil cowards". It is easy to call someone a coward when you have the world's biggest military and the enemy has the sense to hide from you! Violence is never a lasting solution to any conflict and the proof of this is the retaliation for an aggressive US foreign policy which has been pushing around less militarily developed peoples - people who could never stand "toe to toe" with the world's only super-power and have no choice but to fight in a "cowardly" way. How would anyone who voted for Bush explain to the mothers of the 500,000 children and the more recent 100,000 innocent civilians killed in Iraq that the US military are not terrorists?
Of course 9-11 was terrible. The fanatics who flew planes into buildings did it believing in a god who would reward them for killing innocent people. [go back and reread that sentence slowly...] And within the weeks following George Bush stated that god told him to strike at Saddam. One man's god is another man's devil - and neither even exist!
It's not too late. If the US were to spend only a portion of the time and money it spends for war and apply it toward apologies and actions toward reparations, we would become as we once were [okay, but according to Churchill and an earlier statement in this very article, we were a bunch of genocidal lunatics back in the day too] - a benevolent big brother instead of the big bully [yeah, Ward Churchill, bully extraordinaire, divorced from his first wife with more than a hint of domestic violence, a man called a bully by more than one person who's had the misfortune to actually cross him] everyone hates but fears. And while we're apologizing, send one to Ward Churchill, too."
For all interviews, please contact our press office:
Sylvie Chabot : 514-366-3734
Rael to bestow ''Honorary Priest'' title to Ward Chirchill...
Rael to bestow "Honorary Priest" title to Ward Churchill for his essay the 60,000+ members of the Raelian Movement send Churchill their support
Miami, Feb 10, 2005
Rael, leader of the International Raelian Movement (http://www.rael.org/) has just given the "Honorary Priest" title to Ward Churchill (University of Colorado professor) for his essay which most of the US is decrying as insensitive or unpatriotic.
Ricky Roehr (leader of the US Raelian Movement) is quoted: "Mr. Churchill is exactly right in what he wrote! If we are to have peace, we must take responsibility for our part in the violence and stop handing out blame as if we have done nothing. Quite the contrary, we have done terrible things to countless people. Churchill addressed the cause of the 9-11 attacks and people want to shoot the messenger. Fox news and the right wing would have him thrown out of the US for being unpatriotic and insensitive to the innocent people killed in the 9-11 attacks. It is precisely Churchill's compassion for loss of innocent life [compassion? calling them Nazis is compassion???] that prompted his essay - his words so easily twisted by the right-wing who dare not think anything which conficts with the what the Bush administration is spoon feeding a public blinded by the rhetoric of fear and intolerance. Blind patriotism is precisely what created Nazi Germany by instilling the same "culture of fear" which allows the normally peace loving public to justify attacking countries who never attacked them. The current air in America is eerily like that of pre-Nazi Germany. [yeah, we're actively building concentration camps even as I type]
Innocent Iraquis are no less important than innocent Americans - and there were 3,000 killed in the US compared to the 100,000 in Iraq. And don't forget about the 500,000 innocent children who died because of the UN sanctions against Iraq [and Saddam Hussein was of course completely innocent of any wrongdoing whatsoever], the same children whose deaths Madeline Albright [of the Clinton administration, which was not attacked by Iraq on home soil at any time] stated publicly was "worth the cost"?! Bush and the pentagon use sugar coated terms like "collateral damage" to describe the innocent people killed in Iraq. But those killed on 9-11 were innocent victims? What would the US do if a country imposed sanctions which killed 500,000 US children?
Churchill stated: "3 million people killed in the war in Indochina, those who died in the U.S. invasions of Grenada, Panama and elsewhere in Central America, the victims of the transatlantic slave trade, and the indigenous peoples still subjected to genocidal policies - all victims. If we respond with callous disregard to the deaths of others, we can only expect equal callousness to American deaths." [and the U.S. is responsible for the slave trade being carried on by the peoples who live there???] It is ALL true and the once great US is embarassingly and shamefully wrong. Nothing can justify the loss of even one innocent life. Because if we can justify one, we can justify two, or a hunderd, a thousand... Think about it! If we look at the history of the US, it would not even exist if its founders (who had slaves, did not allow women to vote etc) had not killed and stolen the land on which we all live today!
In a letter criticizing Churchill, Gov. Bill Owens (Co.) said "the victims of the 9-11 attacks were murdered by evil cowards". It is easy to call someone a coward when you have the world's biggest military and the enemy has the sense to hide from you! Violence is never a lasting solution to any conflict and the proof of this is the retaliation for an aggressive US foreign policy which has been pushing around less militarily developed peoples - people who could never stand "toe to toe" with the world's only super-power and have no choice but to fight in a "cowardly" way. How would anyone who voted for Bush explain to the mothers of the 500,000 children and the more recent 100,000 innocent civilians killed in Iraq that the US military are not terrorists?
Of course 9-11 was terrible. The fanatics who flew planes into buildings did it believing in a god who would reward them for killing innocent people. [go back and reread that sentence slowly...] And within the weeks following George Bush stated that god told him to strike at Saddam. One man's god is another man's devil - and neither even exist!
It's not too late. If the US were to spend only a portion of the time and money it spends for war and apply it toward apologies and actions toward reparations, we would become as we once were [okay, but according to Churchill and an earlier statement in this very article, we were a bunch of genocidal lunatics back in the day too] - a benevolent big brother instead of the big bully [yeah, Ward Churchill, bully extraordinaire, divorced from his first wife with more than a hint of domestic violence, a man called a bully by more than one person who's had the misfortune to actually cross him] everyone hates but fears. And while we're apologizing, send one to Ward Churchill, too."
For all interviews, please contact our press office:
Sylvie Chabot : 514-366-3734
Rael to bestow ''Honorary Priest'' title to Ward Chirchill...
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
On taking things out of context
"You're taking it all out of context" seems to have become a pretty standard argument in favor of Ward Churchill. If this is your feeling, please, read each of my Churchill posts very carefully and follow the links I have provided throughout.
Some things that would be awfully hard to misinterpret:
"But the Weather Underground knew more about Marxism than about bombs. Churchill briefly taught the Weathermen and Weatherwomen how to make bombs and how to fire weapons--'which end does the bullet go, what are the ingredients, how do you time the damned thing.'" From the Denver Post, January 18, 1987, article by Claire Martin. 630 KHOW - Denver's Talk Station
"This is not to say that I advocate violence; as a U.S. soldier in Vietnam I witnessed and participated in more violence than I ever wish to see." Ward Churchill press release, January 31, 2005. He was a projectionist, for Christ's sake. You've gotta wonder just where they were making this AV guy show those films. For proof that he was a projectionist, see the link above and just follow the various documents that have been posted on that website. Link again: 630 KHOW - Denver's Talk Station The documents were obtained from the University of Colorado, and would be difficult to take out of context.
This non-violent man wrote a volume entitled "Pacifism as Pathology." Definition of "pathology" from Google: "the scientific study of the nature of disease and its causes, processes, development, and consequences mywebpages.comcast.net/bnham/athena/glossary.html" He sent an e-mail to a woman who dared to disagree, which I have posted in its entirety in another post, and told her to "seek therapy on an urgent basis."
Again, on violence, we have the interview he gave Satya, an online magazine, in April 2004. In response to a question on what his audience should take from his lectures: "A fundamental understanding of the nature of their obligation to intervene to bring the kind of atrocities I've described to a halt by whatever means are necessary." http://www.satyamag.com/apr04/churchill.html Whatever means are necessary to bring down the United States. NOT just the government with which he disagrees, by the way, but the entire United States (and, incidentally, Canada), as evidenced by the following quote from the same source, Satya: "I don't want other people in charge of the apparatus of the state as the outcome of a socially transformative process that replicates oppression. I want the state gone: transform the situation to U.S. out of North America. U.S. off the planet. Out of existence altogether."
As a "scholar" he leaves much to be desired. He plagiarized his own ex-wife (see the post immediately before this one). He made up an entire event, the supposed genocide of the Mandan Indians in the 1800s, a matter of highly questionable practice that has been condemned by at least 2 actual scholars, Tom Brown and Guenter Lewy, links: Assessing Ward Churchill’s Version of the 1837 Smallpox Epidemic and Were American Indians the Victims of Genocide? as well as by University of New Mexico School of Law Professor, John P. LaVelle. LaVelle's article can be downloaded from 630 KHOW - Denver's Talk Station
He checked every single box on his application to C.U. that applied to Native Americans. He thereby cheated 10 other actual Native candidates from that job. Again, documents easily available at 630 KHOW - Denver's Talk Station If Churchill is actually an Indian, something even the American Indian Movement now questions, then he should provide proof of that genetic heritage, as he got his job in the first place by claiming to be a Native American. There's a document at 630 KHOW - Denver's Talk Station called Justification for Hiring wherein it's stated outright that he was hired over every other candidate specifically because he claimed Native blood. A Rocky Mountain News columnist traced Churchill's line back eight generations and found no trace of that supposed Native American ancestor.
The American Indian Movement Grand Governing Council on Ward Churchill (I have already posted this once before) has this to say: "The American Indian Movement Grand Governing Council representing the National and International leadership of the American Indian Movement once again is vehemently and emphatically repudiating and condemning the outrageous statements made by academic literary and Indian fraud, Ward Churchill in relationship to the 9-11 tragedy in New York City that claimed thousands of innocent people’s lives. Churchill’s statement that these people deserved what happened to them, and calling them little Eichmanns, comparing them to Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, who implemented Adolf Hitler’s plan to exterminate European Jews and others, should be condemned by all. The sorry part of this is Ward Churchill has fraudulently represented himself as an Indian, and a member of the American Indian Movement, a situation that has lifted him into the position of a lecturer on Indian activism. He has used the American Indian Movement’s chapter in Denver to attack the leadership of the official American Indian Movement with his misinformation and propaganda campaigns. Ward Churchill has been masquerading as an Indian for years behind his dark glasses and beaded headband. He waves around an honorary membership card that at one time was issued to anyone by the Keetoowah Tribe of Oklahoma. Former President Bill Clinton and many others received these cards, but these cards do not qualify the holder a member of any tribe. He has deceitfully and treacherously fooled innocent and naïve Indian community members in Denver, Colorado, as well as many other people worldwide. Churchill does not represent, nor does he speak on behalf of the American Indian Movement. New York’s Hamilton College Kirklands Project should be aware that in their search for truth and justice, the idea that they have hired a fraud to speak on Indian activism is in itself a betrayal of their goals."
And last but not least are Churchill's views of those people like myself who feel that simply voting for John Kerry was at least a step in the right direction (this is a quote from the Satya interview, link above): "We can go through the charade of 'let's elect John Kerry instead of George Bush,' do things which are essentially painless to us, and the outcome is going to to be different. You don't have politics, you have alchemy. That's delusional behavior. It's a state of denial in a social maybe even cultural sense. And that's what's masquerading as progressive politics."
So, fine, agree that the U.S.'s foreign policy sucks. That we are responsible for killing people. Yes, we are--I cannot think of a single country that isn't, and if we're talking Iraq here, why does Churchill never once mention the slaughter of the Kurds by Saddam Hussein? Oh, but he does, in fact, in the essay that started all this, mention the peoples of the Middle East, and I'll close my post with this quote from "Some People Push Back": "By this, it should be understood that Middle-Easterners, unlike Americans, have no history of exterminating others purely for profit, or on the basis of racial animus, Thus, we can appreciate the fact that they value life--all lives, not just their own--far more highly than do their U.S. counterparts." Okay, when I look outside my window, I fail utterly to see children with bombs strapped to them by their loving parents who "value life--all lives, not just their own--far more highly than do their U.S. counterparts." Somehow, I neglected to turn Veronica into an explosive device this morning on her way out the door. All those peaceful Isrealis and Palestinians, valuing life until it splatters all over the walls. Wow, too bad we don't have that kind of affection in the United States...And as for "no history of exterminating each other...on the basis of racial animus" what world does this man live in? Has he not read the history of the Middle East?
Free speech--I'm all for it. What I am against is people preaching violent hate-speech--let's be honest, how far would he get if he'd been telling his students that African Americans are all murderers? Or that homosexuals deserve to get AIDS? I am against someone telling me I'm pathological for desiring peace. That I am delusional for thinking voting for Kerry might have made some difference. Context? All you have to do is read the articles and documents I've read (and I've read all of them, more than once, and with highlighter in hand) to see exactly what the context is.
Some things that would be awfully hard to misinterpret:
"But the Weather Underground knew more about Marxism than about bombs. Churchill briefly taught the Weathermen and Weatherwomen how to make bombs and how to fire weapons--'which end does the bullet go, what are the ingredients, how do you time the damned thing.'" From the Denver Post, January 18, 1987, article by Claire Martin. 630 KHOW - Denver's Talk Station
"This is not to say that I advocate violence; as a U.S. soldier in Vietnam I witnessed and participated in more violence than I ever wish to see." Ward Churchill press release, January 31, 2005. He was a projectionist, for Christ's sake. You've gotta wonder just where they were making this AV guy show those films. For proof that he was a projectionist, see the link above and just follow the various documents that have been posted on that website. Link again: 630 KHOW - Denver's Talk Station The documents were obtained from the University of Colorado, and would be difficult to take out of context.
This non-violent man wrote a volume entitled "Pacifism as Pathology." Definition of "pathology" from Google: "the scientific study of the nature of disease and its causes, processes, development, and consequences mywebpages.comcast.net/bnham/athena/glossary.html" He sent an e-mail to a woman who dared to disagree, which I have posted in its entirety in another post, and told her to "seek therapy on an urgent basis."
Again, on violence, we have the interview he gave Satya, an online magazine, in April 2004. In response to a question on what his audience should take from his lectures: "A fundamental understanding of the nature of their obligation to intervene to bring the kind of atrocities I've described to a halt by whatever means are necessary." http://www.satyamag.com/apr04/churchill.html Whatever means are necessary to bring down the United States. NOT just the government with which he disagrees, by the way, but the entire United States (and, incidentally, Canada), as evidenced by the following quote from the same source, Satya: "I don't want other people in charge of the apparatus of the state as the outcome of a socially transformative process that replicates oppression. I want the state gone: transform the situation to U.S. out of North America. U.S. off the planet. Out of existence altogether."
As a "scholar" he leaves much to be desired. He plagiarized his own ex-wife (see the post immediately before this one). He made up an entire event, the supposed genocide of the Mandan Indians in the 1800s, a matter of highly questionable practice that has been condemned by at least 2 actual scholars, Tom Brown and Guenter Lewy, links: Assessing Ward Churchill’s Version of the 1837 Smallpox Epidemic and Were American Indians the Victims of Genocide? as well as by University of New Mexico School of Law Professor, John P. LaVelle. LaVelle's article can be downloaded from 630 KHOW - Denver's Talk Station
He checked every single box on his application to C.U. that applied to Native Americans. He thereby cheated 10 other actual Native candidates from that job. Again, documents easily available at 630 KHOW - Denver's Talk Station If Churchill is actually an Indian, something even the American Indian Movement now questions, then he should provide proof of that genetic heritage, as he got his job in the first place by claiming to be a Native American. There's a document at 630 KHOW - Denver's Talk Station called Justification for Hiring wherein it's stated outright that he was hired over every other candidate specifically because he claimed Native blood. A Rocky Mountain News columnist traced Churchill's line back eight generations and found no trace of that supposed Native American ancestor.
The American Indian Movement Grand Governing Council on Ward Churchill (I have already posted this once before) has this to say: "The American Indian Movement Grand Governing Council representing the National and International leadership of the American Indian Movement once again is vehemently and emphatically repudiating and condemning the outrageous statements made by academic literary and Indian fraud, Ward Churchill in relationship to the 9-11 tragedy in New York City that claimed thousands of innocent people’s lives. Churchill’s statement that these people deserved what happened to them, and calling them little Eichmanns, comparing them to Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, who implemented Adolf Hitler’s plan to exterminate European Jews and others, should be condemned by all. The sorry part of this is Ward Churchill has fraudulently represented himself as an Indian, and a member of the American Indian Movement, a situation that has lifted him into the position of a lecturer on Indian activism. He has used the American Indian Movement’s chapter in Denver to attack the leadership of the official American Indian Movement with his misinformation and propaganda campaigns. Ward Churchill has been masquerading as an Indian for years behind his dark glasses and beaded headband. He waves around an honorary membership card that at one time was issued to anyone by the Keetoowah Tribe of Oklahoma. Former President Bill Clinton and many others received these cards, but these cards do not qualify the holder a member of any tribe. He has deceitfully and treacherously fooled innocent and naïve Indian community members in Denver, Colorado, as well as many other people worldwide. Churchill does not represent, nor does he speak on behalf of the American Indian Movement. New York’s Hamilton College Kirklands Project should be aware that in their search for truth and justice, the idea that they have hired a fraud to speak on Indian activism is in itself a betrayal of their goals."
And last but not least are Churchill's views of those people like myself who feel that simply voting for John Kerry was at least a step in the right direction (this is a quote from the Satya interview, link above): "We can go through the charade of 'let's elect John Kerry instead of George Bush,' do things which are essentially painless to us, and the outcome is going to to be different. You don't have politics, you have alchemy. That's delusional behavior. It's a state of denial in a social maybe even cultural sense. And that's what's masquerading as progressive politics."
So, fine, agree that the U.S.'s foreign policy sucks. That we are responsible for killing people. Yes, we are--I cannot think of a single country that isn't, and if we're talking Iraq here, why does Churchill never once mention the slaughter of the Kurds by Saddam Hussein? Oh, but he does, in fact, in the essay that started all this, mention the peoples of the Middle East, and I'll close my post with this quote from "Some People Push Back": "By this, it should be understood that Middle-Easterners, unlike Americans, have no history of exterminating others purely for profit, or on the basis of racial animus, Thus, we can appreciate the fact that they value life--all lives, not just their own--far more highly than do their U.S. counterparts." Okay, when I look outside my window, I fail utterly to see children with bombs strapped to them by their loving parents who "value life--all lives, not just their own--far more highly than do their U.S. counterparts." Somehow, I neglected to turn Veronica into an explosive device this morning on her way out the door. All those peaceful Isrealis and Palestinians, valuing life until it splatters all over the walls. Wow, too bad we don't have that kind of affection in the United States...And as for "no history of exterminating each other...on the basis of racial animus" what world does this man live in? Has he not read the history of the Middle East?
Free speech--I'm all for it. What I am against is people preaching violent hate-speech--let's be honest, how far would he get if he'd been telling his students that African Americans are all murderers? Or that homosexuals deserve to get AIDS? I am against someone telling me I'm pathological for desiring peace. That I am delusional for thinking voting for Kerry might have made some difference. Context? All you have to do is read the articles and documents I've read (and I've read all of them, more than once, and with highlighter in hand) to see exactly what the context is.
Sunday, February 13, 2005
Ward Churchill--plagiarist
From WorldNet Daily:
Is 9-11 prof a plagiarist? Churchill writings said to contain passages 'almost identical' to those of other authors
Posted: February 13, 20055:47 a.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
Prof. Ward Churchill under fire for 9-11 comments
Ward Churchill, the University of Colorado professor under fire for saying the victims of the 9-11 terrorist attacks were not innocent, is now under the microscope for the accuracy of his academic writings, including possibly plagiarizing material.
"If he is going to get fired, it is going to be for making up data, and that's one thing you can't get away with in the academic community," Thomas Brown, assistant professor of sociology at Lamar University in Texas, told the Denver Post.
Critics such as John LaVelle, a University of New Mexico law professor, say essays by Churchill contain passages "almost identical" to those of other authors, according to the Rocky Mountain News.
That allegation was actually made in a 1999 essay by LaVelle published in "Wicazo Sa Review," an American Indian studies journal.
In his paper, LaVelle compared sections of Churchill's work to parts of essays by other writers, showing the wording to be "substantially the same," reports the News.
LaVelle's criticism says Churchill invents or distorts facts, a claim repeated by other scholars.
"He just makes things up," Guenter Lewy, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Massachusetts, told the News.
Lewy says Churchill's assertion that the U.S. Army intentionally spread smallpox among American Indians by distributing infected blankets in 1837 is false.
As an example of possible plagiarism, the News published two similar passages from Churchill and his ex-wife, M. Annette Jaimes, who later changed her name to Jaimes Guerrero.
Churchill: The Indian Citizenship Act greatly confused the circumstances even of many of the blooded and federally-certified Indians, and imposed legal obligations of citizenship upon them. As for the noncertified, mixed-blood people, their status was finally "clarified": they had been absorbed into the American mainstream at the stroke of the congressional pen. Despite the act having technically left certified Indians occupying the status of citizenship within their own indigenous nation as well as the U.S. (a "dual form" of citizenship so awkward as to be sublime), the juridicial door had been opened by which the weight of Indian obligations would begin to accrue more to the U.S. than to themselves.
– "Struggle for the Land," a volume of essays by Ward Churchill published in 1993
Jaimes: The Indian Citizenship Act greatly confused the circumstances even of many of the blooded and federally certified Indians insofar as it was held to bear legal force, and to carry legal obligations, whether or not any given Indian or group of Indians wished to be a U.S. citizen. As for the host of non-certifed, mixed-blood people residing in the U.S., their status was finally "clarified": they had been definitionally absorbed into the American mainstream at the stroke of the congressional pen. And, despite the fact that the act technically left certified Indians occupying the status of citizenship in their own indigenous nation as well as in the U.S. (a "dual form" of citizenship so awkward as to be sublime), the juridicial door had been opened by which the weight of Indian obligations would begin to accrue to the U.S. than to themselves.
– An essay by M. Annette Jaimes included in the volume "The State of Native America" published in 1992
Churchill reportedly cited Jaimes in a footnote, but did not put the material in quotes, nor did he refer to the similarity of the wording.
Churchill used extensive footnotes in his work, said to stretch for many pages.
"He's impeccable on his sources and known for his empirical and archival-based methodologies," Arturo Aldama, a professor with Churchill in the CU ethnic-studies department told the Post.
"Whether you agree with it or not, it's always been praised for academic rigor. He has 400 footnotes per chapter."
But LaVelle was critical of the content of the footnotes.
"By researching those copious endnotes, however, the discerning reader will discover that, notwithstanding all the provocative sound and fury rumbling through his essays, Churchill's analysis overall is sorely lacking in historical/factual veracity and scholarly integrity," LaVelle wrote.
Controversy erupted around Churchill last month, when one of his essays made it into the national spotlight.
Written shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, it describes the thousands of American victims who died in the World Trade Center inferno as "little Eichmanns" – a reference to notorious Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann – who were perpetuating America's "mighty engine of profit." They were destroyed, he added, thanks to the "gallant sacrifices" of "combat teams" that successfully targeted the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon.
Churchill resigned his position as head of the Colorado University ethnic studies program but kept his $96,000 per year teaching post. He has steadfastly refused to apologize for his comments.
He's also come under fire for claiming an American Indian heritage, training terrorists, and meeting with Libya's Moammar Gadhafi in the 1980s when the U.S. had banned travel there.
Is 9-11 prof a plagiarist? Churchill writings said to contain passages 'almost identical' to those of other authors
Posted: February 13, 20055:47 a.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
Prof. Ward Churchill under fire for 9-11 comments
Ward Churchill, the University of Colorado professor under fire for saying the victims of the 9-11 terrorist attacks were not innocent, is now under the microscope for the accuracy of his academic writings, including possibly plagiarizing material.
"If he is going to get fired, it is going to be for making up data, and that's one thing you can't get away with in the academic community," Thomas Brown, assistant professor of sociology at Lamar University in Texas, told the Denver Post.
Critics such as John LaVelle, a University of New Mexico law professor, say essays by Churchill contain passages "almost identical" to those of other authors, according to the Rocky Mountain News.
That allegation was actually made in a 1999 essay by LaVelle published in "Wicazo Sa Review," an American Indian studies journal.
In his paper, LaVelle compared sections of Churchill's work to parts of essays by other writers, showing the wording to be "substantially the same," reports the News.
LaVelle's criticism says Churchill invents or distorts facts, a claim repeated by other scholars.
"He just makes things up," Guenter Lewy, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Massachusetts, told the News.
Lewy says Churchill's assertion that the U.S. Army intentionally spread smallpox among American Indians by distributing infected blankets in 1837 is false.
As an example of possible plagiarism, the News published two similar passages from Churchill and his ex-wife, M. Annette Jaimes, who later changed her name to Jaimes Guerrero.
Churchill: The Indian Citizenship Act greatly confused the circumstances even of many of the blooded and federally-certified Indians, and imposed legal obligations of citizenship upon them. As for the noncertified, mixed-blood people, their status was finally "clarified": they had been absorbed into the American mainstream at the stroke of the congressional pen. Despite the act having technically left certified Indians occupying the status of citizenship within their own indigenous nation as well as the U.S. (a "dual form" of citizenship so awkward as to be sublime), the juridicial door had been opened by which the weight of Indian obligations would begin to accrue more to the U.S. than to themselves.
– "Struggle for the Land," a volume of essays by Ward Churchill published in 1993
Jaimes: The Indian Citizenship Act greatly confused the circumstances even of many of the blooded and federally certified Indians insofar as it was held to bear legal force, and to carry legal obligations, whether or not any given Indian or group of Indians wished to be a U.S. citizen. As for the host of non-certifed, mixed-blood people residing in the U.S., their status was finally "clarified": they had been definitionally absorbed into the American mainstream at the stroke of the congressional pen. And, despite the fact that the act technically left certified Indians occupying the status of citizenship in their own indigenous nation as well as in the U.S. (a "dual form" of citizenship so awkward as to be sublime), the juridicial door had been opened by which the weight of Indian obligations would begin to accrue to the U.S. than to themselves.
– An essay by M. Annette Jaimes included in the volume "The State of Native America" published in 1992
Churchill reportedly cited Jaimes in a footnote, but did not put the material in quotes, nor did he refer to the similarity of the wording.
Churchill used extensive footnotes in his work, said to stretch for many pages.
"He's impeccable on his sources and known for his empirical and archival-based methodologies," Arturo Aldama, a professor with Churchill in the CU ethnic-studies department told the Post.
"Whether you agree with it or not, it's always been praised for academic rigor. He has 400 footnotes per chapter."
But LaVelle was critical of the content of the footnotes.
"By researching those copious endnotes, however, the discerning reader will discover that, notwithstanding all the provocative sound and fury rumbling through his essays, Churchill's analysis overall is sorely lacking in historical/factual veracity and scholarly integrity," LaVelle wrote.
Controversy erupted around Churchill last month, when one of his essays made it into the national spotlight.
Written shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, it describes the thousands of American victims who died in the World Trade Center inferno as "little Eichmanns" – a reference to notorious Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann – who were perpetuating America's "mighty engine of profit." They were destroyed, he added, thanks to the "gallant sacrifices" of "combat teams" that successfully targeted the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon.
Churchill resigned his position as head of the Colorado University ethnic studies program but kept his $96,000 per year teaching post. He has steadfastly refused to apologize for his comments.
He's also come under fire for claiming an American Indian heritage, training terrorists, and meeting with Libya's Moammar Gadhafi in the 1980s when the U.S. had banned travel there.
Bill Clinton Foundation
I just got this wonderful e-mail--please help in this effort.
I want you to join me and a growing community of like-minded people in some of the most essential, effective, and exciting humanitarian work taking place on the planet today.
Learn more about the Clinton Foundation: www.clintonfoundation.org.
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I returned to the hospital recently, and I'm pleased to report a nearly 400% increase in the number of people who are receiving life-saving anti-retroviral medicine, thanks to the efforts of the hard-working hospital staff, the government of the Bahamas and the Clinton Foundation.
Fighting AIDS is just one of the important missions of the Clinton Foundation. We are also committed to:
Promoting racial, ethnic and religious reconciliation;
Economic empowerment;
Leadership development and citizen service.
We're making a difference in Africa, India, China, the Caribbean and in America. We're bringing hope to people in need.
Join me in this work and make a real difference in the lives of so many.
Please become a part of this life-changing work today.
Sincerely,
Bill Clinton
I want you to join me and a growing community of like-minded people in some of the most essential, effective, and exciting humanitarian work taking place on the planet today.
Learn more about the Clinton Foundation: www.clintonfoundation.org.
Princess Margaret Hospital is one of two places in the Bahamas where men, women and children suffering from HIV/AIDS can get life-saving medicines. I was first there in April 2003 when the Foundation started our work helping the government bring relief to people suffering from HIV/AIDS.
I returned to the hospital recently, and I'm pleased to report a nearly 400% increase in the number of people who are receiving life-saving anti-retroviral medicine, thanks to the efforts of the hard-working hospital staff, the government of the Bahamas and the Clinton Foundation.
Fighting AIDS is just one of the important missions of the Clinton Foundation. We are also committed to:
Promoting racial, ethnic and religious reconciliation;
Economic empowerment;
Leadership development and citizen service.
We're making a difference in Africa, India, China, the Caribbean and in America. We're bringing hope to people in need.
Join me in this work and make a real difference in the lives of so many.
Please become a part of this life-changing work today.
Sincerely,
Bill Clinton
Latest Sierra Club RAW
ISSUE #96, February 10, 2005
Devil in the Details
By now you've probably heard enough about President Bush's budget to know it's a huge mess. You may know, for example, that the administration pretends to balance the books by counting on money from highly speculative leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Of course, the administration had to get creative to convince the American people that it could cut essential programs while still increasing the deficit.
The cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency budget were just as creative. For those not familiar with the budget process, the President presents a proposed budget for Congress to use as a guideline for funding government programs. If you wanted to know whether the Bush administration was increasing or decreasing support for a program, the honest and most direct thing to do would be to compare what Bush is proposing this year to the amount that Congress actually approved last year. Instead, the administration compares this year's request to last year's request, completely ignoring the actual amount of money the program finally received by Congress.
Confused? Consider the case of the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, a program that helps communities clean up their sewage systems. The Bush budget, released this week, claims to only cut the program by $170 million. As bad as that sounds, the truth is much worse. Look at what Congress actually spent on the clean water program as opposed to what Bush requested last year. In real numbers, Bush is proposing to cut $361 million from the program. If the Bush administration told the truth in its budget, there would be no way to hide its relatively low regard for clean water.
The EPA budget for Superfund is equally, if differently, misleading. Although there is a slight increase this year in requested Superfund program funding, the request for "remediation" (i.e. cleanup) funding is way down. It's $82 million less than Congress appropriated last year for funding both short- and long-term toxic waste cleanups. That comes on top of the dozens of cleanups that have been underfunded over the past two years, including sites where children play in yards contaminated with lead. Because taxpayers now foot the bill for the 3 out of 10 Superfund cleanups where there is no responsible party, EPA has no choice but to slow down toxic cleanups at other sites. The net result is that the Bush proposal would fund cleanup of only 40 of literally hundreds of Superfund sites.
They say the devil is in the details. And from the looks of this administration's budget, the devil has been very busy lately.
Devil in the Details
By now you've probably heard enough about President Bush's budget to know it's a huge mess. You may know, for example, that the administration pretends to balance the books by counting on money from highly speculative leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Of course, the administration had to get creative to convince the American people that it could cut essential programs while still increasing the deficit.
The cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency budget were just as creative. For those not familiar with the budget process, the President presents a proposed budget for Congress to use as a guideline for funding government programs. If you wanted to know whether the Bush administration was increasing or decreasing support for a program, the honest and most direct thing to do would be to compare what Bush is proposing this year to the amount that Congress actually approved last year. Instead, the administration compares this year's request to last year's request, completely ignoring the actual amount of money the program finally received by Congress.
Confused? Consider the case of the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, a program that helps communities clean up their sewage systems. The Bush budget, released this week, claims to only cut the program by $170 million. As bad as that sounds, the truth is much worse. Look at what Congress actually spent on the clean water program as opposed to what Bush requested last year. In real numbers, Bush is proposing to cut $361 million from the program. If the Bush administration told the truth in its budget, there would be no way to hide its relatively low regard for clean water.
The EPA budget for Superfund is equally, if differently, misleading. Although there is a slight increase this year in requested Superfund program funding, the request for "remediation" (i.e. cleanup) funding is way down. It's $82 million less than Congress appropriated last year for funding both short- and long-term toxic waste cleanups. That comes on top of the dozens of cleanups that have been underfunded over the past two years, including sites where children play in yards contaminated with lead. Because taxpayers now foot the bill for the 3 out of 10 Superfund cleanups where there is no responsible party, EPA has no choice but to slow down toxic cleanups at other sites. The net result is that the Bush proposal would fund cleanup of only 40 of literally hundreds of Superfund sites.
They say the devil is in the details. And from the looks of this administration's budget, the devil has been very busy lately.
