Letters to the Editor, April 19, 2005

commentary on the papal transition

Dear Sir: Thank you for your report "Millions Flood Rome for Pope's Funeral." I read it with interest, particularly the part about "Old Enemies Reunited." No other media pointed out that heads of government from Washington, Tehran, Cuba, Taiwan, Turkey, and Armenia all sat together.

You might be interested in my commentary from a US woman's point of view. See http://www.womensenews.com/

Anne Eggebroten

Does Bush have the Right to Amend the Road Map? post this letter again?

Bushes Amendment to the Road Map needs to be Challenged in the World Court. I believe the UN, EU and Russia, would also file that with the PA. he dose not have the authority if a legal challenge was filled by the PA. Would you Re run my letter or re write as you see fit.

A Legal Opinion by the "World Court" regarding the Legitimacy of one member modifying the Road Map is Required NOW. Bush had no Legal right to tell butcher, Sharon & his Squatters the could stay in parts of the West Bank as put forward by Bush in his "My Vision" letter to Sharon April 14, 2004. Without an Amendment & vote by all members of the Quartet who wrote the Road Map. History of Road Map--How is it Amended, Can one member make an Amendment without a vote of approval by the other Members? 'Russia co-drafted the UN-adopted “roadmap” peace plan with the EU, UN and the US." Thank You

Ronald Douglas Kennedy, California.

Global Greed of Corporations a great Danger to Democracy

Mr. Muentefering (Socialist Party, Germany) warned of continuing greed among corporations, saying it will endanger democracy world-wide and nurture totalitarianism. The big companies are only interested in huge profits - the margins of profits rising each year - and it presents a great danger to the future of mankind.

The rich are getting richer and the poor getting poorer....at a high speed like never before. (The same speed in which the environment is destroyed.)

Angie Badelt, Germany

Rich Nations "Rigging" Agricultural Trade Rules against the Poor, says Oxfam

London, April13, 2005 (RHC)-One of the world's leading aid agencies is warning that First World demands on the agribusiness of Third World nations could destroy the livelihoods of millions of poor farmers.

Oxfam International, which is sponsoring an international call for fair trade in a ''Global Week of Action for Trade Justice'', says that cheap, subsidized food imports from rich nations are ruining poor farmers in developing countries that have no hope of competing against the large corporations of the First World.

Citing rice as an example and pointing the blame for the worst of the abuses squarely at the United States, Oxfam said that the International Monetary Fund and World Bank are used to force poor nations to open their markets to a glut of cheap rice. A full one third of the human race - mostly in developing countries - earns its living from growing rice.

Oxfam used Haiti as an example, saying that perhaps the poorest nation on the planet had been forced by US agribusiness through the IMF to reduce it's import tariffs on rice to enable cheap US rice to be imported in massive quantities thereby devastating the nation's rice farmers where, said the aid agency "rice-growing areas now have some of the highest levels of malnutrition and poverty".

The World Trade Organization has given its members a year to cut down government subsidies to their farmers and agribusinesses and drop import barriers, but with Washington at the lead, the effort is failing.

'Saying that rich countries are "rigging agricultural trade rules against the poor", Oxfam said that the USA and EU in particular, have "repackaged their agricultural subsidies so that they appear to be legitimate under WTO rules, allowing them to continue dumping products such as rice, corn, milk, sugar, and cotton at prices far below their true costs of production".

Robert S. Rodvik Author/media analyst

Uncle Sam! Keep fighting for Islam By Abid Ullah Jan (Al-Jazeerah, April 11, 2005).

Dear Editor,

I am a non-Muslim but I wholeheartedly agree with the author of this article and please convey my appreciation to him. If Muslims were not divided against themselves into different sects, our government would not have fooled the world into the bloody escapades which we are witnessing today. By the way, I consulted a few Muslims and they could not come up with any reference from the Qur'an that refers to or justify division of Muslims into Sunni and Shi'a. That's why I believe the author of above subject article is right in his contention and deserve all credit for his impartiality and insight.

Kathleen Pratt.

US past Presidential election

I am an American citizen that has noticed that some recent stories concerning our past Presidential election have not been covered by the media here in the states, probably for partison reasons.

Here are some examples of some stories that have been scarcley covered in the mainstream media ,that I thought maybe the foreign media may find interesting.

Links and stories are listed below and thank you for your time and interest.

Concerned Citizen of the United States of America,

Sincerely,

Brenda Peters, Roswell, Georgia, USA

http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusgen/reuters04-12-165037.asp?t=renew&vts=41220051903

A message to Robert Fisk

The thing is my friend life or rather existence is upside-down, this is the reason why you find lower men in control of important affairs while the higher men are enchained by the voracious pig; memories of animal farm and on the way to big brothers brave new world.

The saddest part of this predicament that is widening among the many diversities of our culture from painters to writers, to newspapermen; all you can find is a superficial persona only interested in what it can obtain from the other.

Art is no longer art but commerce and decoration, journalism has become reality shows, and literature is only there for amusement. Worlds are pig's rule and men are prisoners of their honesty.

Real men no longer exist. Send news and let us know when man has become free.

Alfredo Bremont

Senator Boxer, and Representative Pelosi,

How is it that a Bible College is allowed to run a militia program in Arizona? IF the Bible College is a tax-exempt institution because of its religious affiliation: Does this not cross the line for tax exempt status - given that what is being run from this Bible College is potentially a vigilante exercise? Please restore the wall between church activity and the state.

If we had a national immigration policy with any real thought behind it - none of this would be necessary or viable - but apparently maintaining a porous border is the only thing that matters to the thugs in this White House. Mixing politics and religion is one thing, but adding this quasi-military element goes way beyond what US taxpayers ought to be paying for!

Jim Kirwan

Indian Fence on Bangladesh Border

Border fencing is not unique to India, America, Israel and South Korea are doing the same for practically the same reasons, to prevent illegal migration into these nations and also prevent possible (infiltrators) crossing the border. If India is constructing this fencing within the "no man's land" then they should move one foot within India's territory and continue the fencing.

Both Bangladesh and India are well aware of millions of Bangladeshi's Islamic population crossing the border causing unrest within India's mainly Hindu and Christian populations of the northeastern states and skewing the election results as these illegal immigrants manage somehow to vote in India.

Yes I agree with Bangladesh's position that fencing is a defensive act, but I don’t see anything wrong in defending one's border. If the flow of illegal Hindu immigrants were to flow from India to Bangladesh, Bangladesh would be the first to erect fences along her border to prevent such an act. To deny that this would occur in the case of Bangladesh is a bit hypocritical. India is not singling out Bangladesh as she is also building fences on her western border for the same reasons.

In the case of the United States, it has become a national crisis and the Mexican authorities are encouraging the flow of illegal immigrants thereby compounding the situation, the US government is doing little to prevent this resulting in average Americans going to the southern border to be lookouts and report any sightings of illegal immigrants to the authorities, they call themselves "the minutemen". Israel though do not have the vast numbers of illegal immigrants entering Israel the ones that do, many times pose a national security risk.

Regards,

Mr. Chrysantha Wijeyasingha New Orleans, LA. USA

Holywood Advances Soft Assault on Christian Imagery: Subliminal propaganda radiates from Big Screen By Mark Green and Wendy Campbell (April 16, 2005)

As an American Jew I was pretty alarmed by your article "Holywood Advances Soft Assault on Christian Imagery" [sic]. The assumption it makes is that the major Hollywood studios are carrying out a specifically pro-Jewish agenda.

Though a lot of Jewish people work in the Hollywood studio system, it is hardly controlled by Jewish people. The major studios are all publicly held companies. The major shareholder of NewsCorp is Australian, the major shareholder of Sony is Japanese, Universal is owned by the worlds largest corporation, General Electric (after years of Canadian and French ownership), and Warner Brothers likewise publicly owned. I don't believe that the CEOs of any of these companies are Jewish either.

Your evidence of a pro-Jewish bias seems to be that there aren't any movies with Jewish villains. Sadly, there aren't too many movies featuring Jewish characters at all! Looking through this weeks list of top fifty movies the only ones I could find that may have been about Jewish characters were "Melinda and Melinda" and "House of D", both small independents. There are only 6 million Jewish people in the United States, so its not financially viable to make movies about Jewish life. The few that get released are either foreign or usually independently produced.

Hollywood makes movies that will make them money. The few Jewish characters that do make it into studio movies ("Meet the Fokkers", for example) are usually comedy reliefs or stereotypes. There are many more movies made about Black and Hispanic Americans.

Futher, its most worth noting that though Sin City was produced by a Jewish producer, the creators of the film - Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller - are both Catholic. Miller has long explored the Catholic American experience in his work, going back to his Daredevil comics which I used to buy as a teenager for seventy five cents on the newsstand. Also, you should watch the movie more carefully - there may not have been any stars of David in it (though I'll have to see it again before I am sure of that), but one of the characters uses a swastika shaped weapon, and its featured prominently. In fact the swastika has been featured on the cover of a Sin City comic book. Not that I mind - I know its not anti-Jewish.

I am a supporter of a just peace process and Palestinian independence, and peaceful co-existance of people in Palestine/Israel, as well as elsewhere in the world. I am an opponent of the Iraq war and US imperialism around the world. So it disturbs me, and drives me to write to express my opinion, when I see anyone taking advantage of the universally condemned myths of Jewish media control in order to further any agenda, even if it were just.

Sincerely,

David Bernstein, New York, NY