-- Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of War by Barbara Ehrenreich, Virago, London 1997, Reviewed by Cath Walsh http://www.richmondreview.co.uk THE RICHMOND REVIEW BOOK REVIEW, found on or about 9-17-99

"...with things like biotech and robotics we may be empowering individuals in dangerous ways and exposing ourselves as a human race to grave new risks"

-- Sir Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal

-- Voices on the future By David Kirkpatrick FORTUNE.COM; CNN; January 29, 2003

"We are inevitably empowering more people with the potentiality to harm on an ever growing scale"

-- Martin Rees, astronomer royal

-- The end of the world as we know it (maybe) by Simon Hattenstone; April 24, 2003; The Guardian

-- Anti-terror laws 'will curb research'; Times Online

"If you eliminate manufacturing, which accounts for 65 percent of private sector R & D, then innovation will decline, and you will see a nation in decline."

-- W. R. Timken Jr., chairman of Timken (a large regional US employer), and previously chairman of the National Association of Manufacturers

-- As Factory Jobs Disappear, Workers Have Few Options By STEVEN GREENHOUSE; September 13, 2003; New York Times

"The numbers reflect a severe idea recession"

-- Where Has All the Ambition Gone? By James Champy; Fast Company Issue 74 | September 2003, Page 112

-- The Deadly Effects of Suppressed Info By Mark Clifford; Businessweek; MARCH 21, 2003

"Twenty armed men willing to die within a few years can tie up billions of U.S. money, military men, equipment, and attention. When they are gone, twenty more can spring up to take their place."

-- On its Present Course, the U.S. is doomed to lose; Toby's Political Diary - 'Let it Begin Here'; May 27, 2003

"...we cannot, nor can you in the United States of America, guarantee 100 percent nothing will happen when a determined, crazy, evil person is determined to die"

-- Prince Bandar bin Sultan, Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States

-- U.S. Officials: Saudis Ignored Warnings; ABC News; May 15, 2003; [note the URL is not permanent: different content is cycled through it on a regular basis]

"Absolute security is an illusion...To pretend otherwise benefits no one but those who want to see our liberties eroded to nothing."

-- Robert Ferrell, security researcher

-- Are You Scared Stupid? Do Tell By Michelle Delio; WIRED; Feb. 17, 2003

-- Critics Say Security Laws Sacrifice Civil Liberties by Paul Roberts, IDG News Service/PC World; January 20, 2003

-- 'red alert may bring martial law'

-- U.S. becoming Big Brother society: Report; Associated Press; Jan. 16, 2003

-- Fighting terror by terrifying U.S. citizens by ROB MORSE; November 20, 2002; San Francisco Chronicle

-- The New McCarthyism: Secret Arrest and Detention instead of Blacklisting. by Toby Sackton; November 10, 2002; Toby's Political Diary - 'Let it Begin Here'

-- Court's ruling opens new chapter in government censorship

-- Envoy dubs US a police state

-- US uses terrorism law in other crime probes

-- Rotten, Old-Fashioned Corruption at the FCC By Molly Ivins, AlterNet; May 29, 2003

-- The Faint, Fading Voice of the Left By Thane Peterson; Businessweek; MAY 20, 2003

-- The "Enronization" of America By Thane Peterson; JUNE 10, 2003; Businessweek

-- I WANT THE PRESIDENT TO CERTIFY THE GOVT'S BOOKS By JOHN CRUDELE

"According to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions"

-- US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld

"We know it's gone. But we don't know what they spent it on...they have to cover it up...that's where the corruption comes in. They have to cover up the fact that they can't do the job."

-- Jim Minnery, Defense Finance and Accounting Service

"[the defense budget] numbers are pie in the sky. The books are cooked routinely year after year"

-- Department of Defense Analyst Franklin C. Spinney

"With good financial oversight we could find $48 billion in loose change in [the Pentagon building]"

-- Retired Vice Admiral Jack Shanahan

-- The War On Waste (possibly by Vince Gonzales); CBSNews.com; Jan. 29, 2002

"the federal government is keeping its books much like Enron did, and all of us will end up paying for it"

-- Sheila Weinberg, the Institute for Truth in Accounting

-- Federal reports blasted BY KEN GOZE; West Proviso [IL] Herald, 1/1/2003; Digital Chicago Inc.; http://www.pioneerlocal.com/cgi-bin/ppo-story/localnews/current/wp/01-01-03-27530.html [this article was cached for a time at http://www.unknownnews.net/cache34.html, where it was found on or about 1-1-03]

"We should not lose sight that building the capacity to fight corruption is paramount"

-- Sam Laidlaw, ChevronTexaco executive VP for business development

-- Relief agency wants oil payments revealed by Verne Kopytoff; June 18, 2003; San Francisco Chronicle

-- Backlog of Whistleblower Cases Growing, Agency Report Says By Tania Branigan; Washington Post; July 21, 2003; Page A04

Over a third of all economic crimes are only uncovered with the help of whistleblowers.

-- Economic Crime Detected Mostly by Whistleblowers and Audits, PwC Survey Finds By SmartPros Editorial Staff; July 9, 2003

"Whistleblowers can pay dearly for doing the right thing"

-- In the name of truth by Caroline Overington; The Age; July 22 2003

What becomes of US and British government whistleblowers? Smears and harassment.

-- Insiders Outed; Daily MoJo; motherjones.com; July 24, 2003

-- Whistleblowers get the axe by Jed Gottlieb; The Independent Online; Vol. 14 No. 48; Issue Date 11/27/2003 [this item was still a live link as of 12-03-03; however, the datestamp on the article seemed awfully recent compared to my memory of originally running across the item online, perhaps a month or so earlier in realtime than the datestamp indicates].

"I think George Bush is the most corrupt American president since Harding in the Twenties"

-- Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London

-- Livingstone attacks President Bush ; BBC; 8 May, 2003

"a firm that pays the vice president of the United States a million dollars a year has now taken over operation of Iraq's oil wealth"

-- Global Eye -- Language Barrier By Chris Floyd; The Moscow Times; found on or about 12-03-03

-- 'the amount that Halliburton could receive in the future is virtually limitless'

-- Secret Halliburton deal endangers U.S. credibility; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution; 5/8/03

-- Halliburton Discloses Bribery Payment In SEC Filing

As disturbing as it will eventually become to many US citizens, there's substantial evidence that the US president and vice president, their staffs, Congressional allies, and friends/families already have or will directly benefit financially and politically from the 9-11-01 terrorist attacks and the legislation and policies they subsequently pushed through Congress (as well as various high profile business scandals in the headlines of the time) more than anyone else who can be linked in any way to the events.

-- Follow the Money, Bush, 9-11 and Deep Threat by Fran Shor; www.counterpunch.org; May 21, 2002

-- The Army Secretary's Business (washingtonpost.com); March 28, 2002; Page A28

-- When the Business of Business Is Politics . . . (washingtonpost.com)By Sebastian Mallaby; The Washington Post January 28, 2002; Page A21

-- Memo Shows Enron Division Headed by Army Secretary Thomas White Manipulated California Electricity Market CONTACT: Public Citizen at www.citizen.org; 202-588-7742; MAY 8, 2002; ww.commondreams.org

-- Papers Show That Enron Manipulated Calif. Crisis By Peter Behr; Washington Post; May 7, 2002; Page A01

-- Docs Say Enron Was Part Of The Problem by Dan Ackman, 05.07.02; Forbes magazine

-- Bush and Ken Lay Slip Slidin' Away By Sam Parry February 6, 2002; consortiumnews.com

-- At Enron, the Fall Came Quickly (washingtonpost.com) By Steven Pearlstein and Peter Behr; Washington Post; December 2, 2001; Page A01

-- Enron Conservatives by ROBERT L. BOROSAGE; COMMENT | February 4, 2002; The Nation Company, L.P.; http://www.thenation.com

-- Enron-gate by Molly Ivins - Creators Syndicate; 12.06.01; URL: http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemId=12461

-- Enron Spoils the Party BY MICHAEL DUFFY AND JOHN F. DICKERSON; Cathy Booth Thomas, Karen Tumulty and Michael Weisskopf reporting; Time.com; Jan. 27, 2002

-- White House Aided Enron in Dispute (washingtonpost.com) By Dana Milbank and Paul Blustein; Washington Post; January 19, 2002; Page A1; Joe Stephens, James V. Grimaldi and Lucy Shackelford contributors

-- Campaign Gifts, Lobbying Built Enron's Power In Washington (washingtonpost.com) By Dan Morgan and Juliet Eilperin; Washington Post; December 25, 2001; Page A01

-- Through Enron, Lay Left His Mark, All Right by David Morris June 12, 2002 Commondreams, citing Minneapolis Star Tribune, December 9, 2001

-- DeLay Advisers Reaped Enron Windfall By John Bresnahan and Damon Chappie; Roll Call Inc.; February 25, 2002

-- Waxman: Energy Policy Helpful to Enron By PETE YOST, Associated Press/Yahoo! News; Jan 25, 2002; US Energy policy: http://www.fe.doe.gov/general/energypolicy.shtml

-- Harold Meyerson, "Enron's Enablers," The American Prospect vol. 13 no. 3, February 11, 2002.

-- Bush 2000 Adviser Offered to Use Clout to Help Enron (washingtonpost.com) By Joe Stephens; Washington Post; February 17, 2002; Page A01; Lucy Shackelford contributor

-- NSC Aided Enron's Efforts (washingtonpost.com) By Dana Milbank and Alan Sipress; Washington Post; January 25, 2002; Page A18

-- Enron Collapse Entangles Bush Administration By Arshad Mohammed; Reuters/Yahoo!; January 10, 2002

-- Lawmakers Want Bush Away From Enron By MARCY GORDON;The Associated Press/Yahoo! Politics Headlines; January 16 2002

-- Bush Did Try to Save Enron By Sam Parry; May 29, 2002; consortiumnews.com

-- Yahoo! News - Report calls Microsoft dominance national security risk

"Policymakers must "confront the security effects of monopoly and acknowledge that competition policy is entangled with security policy from this point forward"

-- from a paper prepared by the Computer and Communications Industry Association

-- Security Report Puts Blame On Microsoft By Jonathan Krim; Washington Post; September 24, 2003; Page E01

-- Report: Microsoft dominance poses security risk CNET News.com By Robert Lemos; September 24, 2003

"...technology experts are warning of the dangers of relying so heavily on just one outfit -- Microsoft Corp. -- to provide the backbone of the computing and Internet world"

-- Epidemic By Steve Hamm, Jay Greene, Cliff Edwards, Jim Kerstetter, and bureau reports; SEPTEMBER 8, 2003; Businessweek

-- Microsoft software "riddled with vulnerabilities", trade body claims By INQUIRER staff: 28 August 2003; the INQUIRER

-- Microsoft monoculture allows virus spread by Danny Penman; 25 September 03; NewScientist.com news service

-- Mono-culture and the .NETwork effect posted by Ray [possibly Ray Yeargin], October 13, 2003; Updated: October 14, 2003; Librenix

-- Gartner echoes concerns on Microsoft reliance CNET News.com By Robert Lemos; October 8, 2003

-- A Fraudulent, Cynical Settlement; News, Views and a Hong Kong Diary by Dan Gillmor; November 2, 2001; KnightRidder.com

Microsoft's stunning win in its settlement with the US government seems to have stemmed from a convergence of factors. First off, the Bush Administration all along had a different perspective on the case than previous Administrations. Microsoft also put up a fierce lobbying campaign. Then there was the weakening economy, the 9-11 terrorist attacks, and the judge wishing for a speedy settlement. This set the stage for Microsoft to negotiate some sweet terms for itself.

Many observers believe the Department of Justice simply didn't understand the technical details of the issues under negotiation, and so Microsoft got the best of them.

-- Circumstance Had Role in U.S.-Microsoft Deal (washingtonpost.com) By Jonathan Krim; Washington Post; November 3, 2001; Page A21

Microsoft has made a deal with the US government giving it (Microsoft) effective control over the internet. What did the government get in return for handing over such power to Microsoft? Will Microsoft become effectively another branch of government, performing surveillance on users, censoring or shutting down web sites the government dislikes, or helping collect internet taxes down the road? It appears Windows XP is the final lock on Microsoft's absolute control of the internet.

-- You're free to think by Dave Winer; Nov 6, 2001; davenet.userland.com

Preventing excessive concentrations of power over the public in either government or corporate entities has been a hallmark of the American way for much of our history. Now however, such prevention is becoming more difficult to do, as advances in computer and telecommunications technologies are allowing the creation of new global organizations and the reshaping of old ones in ways which defy the previous constraints any one government could exercise upon them.

A current example of such concentration of power is Microsoft's present course of extending its computer monopoly to the internet via .NET.

Microsoft's monopoly in PCs has reduced innovation and competition in the industry. Now via .NET it is trying to do the same with the internet industry. If it works, soon Microsoft could become a gating force in the online world, effectively controlling who may participate there.

But even if Microsoft acts responsibly with all this power, there would still remain the enormous security vulnerability such dependence upon a single standard would mean for any nation so enthralled. For within such a system, a single flaw could lead to the entire nation being compromised. Its citizenry, its businesses, its utilities, its government, its military-- everything. Maybe all simultaneously. We're talking not of the crash of a single computer, or even thousands here, but of an entire nation crashing, and being unable to get back up and running again. Maybe as the result of an accident, or bug. Maybe from a terrorist attack. Maybe from a military attack.

The past history of Microsoft product security provides plenty of reasons for concern here.

-- The Threat Of Microsoft's .Net BY WHITFIELD DIFFIE AND SUSAN LANDAU; found on or about 10-25-01, and other sources

Some economists who've studied economic depressions believe the clearest causes of depressions are too little business competition, especially when government itself contributes to such reductions. Also, when governments prop up inefficient businesses rather than letting them fail, that too can help bring on depression.

The USA itself may still be vulnerable to experiencing economic depressions in the present or future. There's no clear way to guarantee they won't occur. All we have available are clues from past experience about how we might minimize the frequency and severity of economic downturns.

-- Could We Face Another Depression? By Christopher Farrell; BusinessWeek; The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. ; OCTOBER 19, 2001

The Republican political party of USAmerica controlled both houses of Congress for the whole decade preceding the Great Depression. They also held the Presidency during these years. They pushed tariffs to an all time high, often looked the other way as big business commited violations of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and market competition within the USA waned, and made tax cuts which benefited the wealthy.

It was after all this that the Great Depression took place, lasting for many years. Republicans lost their popular support with this event.

-- Encyclopedia Americana: Republican Party possibly by George H. Mayer, University of South Florida, Grolier Incorporated

When nations are at war or in economic trouble they tend to reduce their tolerance of free and open markets, and open borders. If this happens in 2002 and after in USAmerica, it could lead to economic and technological stagnation. Increases in defense-related research and development will also reduce the engineering and scientific talent available for commercial developments, further slowing overall progress. Increased security concerns make for more secrecy too, which slows information flow through the economy, making business responses to markets more sluggish.

Note that according to USAmerican leadership in late 2001, America is both at war and in economic recession, simultaneously.

-- RETHINKING THE ECONOMY By Michael J. Mandel, Peter Coy and William Symonds; OCTOBER 1, 2001; BusinessWeek Online; The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.

-- Extending its tentacles; The Economist Newspaper/The Economist Group; Oct 20th 2001

Microsoft is steadily squeezing customers harder and harder for more revenues-- i.e., the real costs of being a Microsoft customer are growing by the day. Microsoft is also using its legal clout to gag sources which might publish information about Microsoft's software performance or quality compared to competitors. The company's latest software also leaves users with little or no privacy left at all on their machines, as personal info is routinely sent to the Microsoft mothership. Info, which among other things, allows Microsoft to keep tabs on competing software applications a user might install. With its new system Microsoft now could also decide to make your PC stop working entirely if you install too many new items on it-- unless you cough up more money for the company. The UCITA (Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act) theoretically gives them the power to shut down the entire world and demand new payments before allowing everyone to continue.

Oh yes-- and Microsoft is thumbing its nose at free speech rights in nations like the USA as well, by imposing censorship clauses in its software licenses. For example, users of FrontPage 2002 are not allowed to criticize the company or its products using the package.

-- A punitive puppeteer? The Gripe Line by Ed Foster; INFOWORLD; InfoWorld Media Group, Inc., October 04, 2001

The entertainment industry hopes to seize control of all digital devices with the SSSCA (Security Systems Standards and Certification Act). The SSSCA would effectively build copy protection into every new electronic device on the planet, making certain the industry could squeeze every last penny out of consumers, even for extra copies they have always had legal rights to for free in years past.

The previously passed 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act gave the industry such control in principle, but the SSSCA would give it to them in cold hard physicality.

Add to these items the huge new surveillance and control powers the US government wants over US citizens, plus Microsoft's own new user control systems added to Windows XP, and you get a possible convergence of corporate and government interests which could spell real trouble for civil liberties in all sorts of arenas.

At this point the entertainment industry may not realize they're stepping onto a slippery slope. Because the same weakening of individual rights they're presently pushing out of their own greed could eventually allow political extremists in government to turn around and start dictating what the industry itself can publish or air.

-- Entertainment control freaks have an ally in Microsoft (10-23-2001)

-- Ashcroft: 'Unlawful conduct' is over November 2, 2001; Cable News Network; CNN.com

Microsoft is trying to stifle free speech and public disclosures pointing out security problems and bugs in its software. The company is using terms like "information anarchy" in its arguments.

Public disclosure forces Microsoft to correct problems, and do it as soon as possible. If problems were not publically disclosed, Microsoft might never correct them, leaving ever larger numbers of users vulnerable to the first criminals who discovered the vulnerabilities on their own. Public disclosure also allows others to possibly put up temporary defenses to hold off attackers until Microsoft does distribute a patch.

Public disclosure of ongoing security problems with Microsoft's software also slows the adoption of its newest wares, and offers opportunities for competing operating systems like Linux; another reason Microsoft would probably like to stop such disclosures.

-- Microsoft, Researchers Tussle Over Security Issues By Elinor Mills Abreu; Yahoo!/Reuters; November 6, 2001, and other sources

Microsoft is using its considerable market clout to try to silence security researchers-- to prevent them from disclosing to the public information about security flaws in Microsoft's software.

It appears that if Microsoft succeeds in censoring security problems with its software, enormous new opportunities will open up for both domestic and international 'crackers' and/or various computer criminals to steal money and identities electronically, as well as sabotage the systems of companies or governments dependent upon Microsoft software.

-- MS to force IT-security censorship By Thomas C Greene; The Register; 2 November 2001

-- Microsoft dominance of OS market grows, IDC study says By Laura Rohde, IDG News Service/maccentral.macworld.com; October 08, 2003

"Our model "shows that closed-source projects are always slower to converge to a bug-free state than bazaar open-source projects," say theoretical physicists Damien Challet and Yann Le Du"

-- Could We Face Another Depression? By Christopher Farrell; BusinessWeek; The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. ; OCTOBER 19, 2001

-- "The 20th Century Was Probably Lucky"; Businessweek; MARCH 10, 2003 [an interview of Robert Shiller (author of Irrational Exuberance) by Marcia Vickers]

"I think the United States is setting itself up for a Latin American-style financial crisis"

-- Economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman

"...if he [Bush] wins reelection to the White House, an economic meltdown will become "inevitable."...[according to Krugman]"

-- NY Times Columnist Sees Gloom in America's Future By Mark Egan; Reuters; September 16, 2003

"A small minority of economists are already sounding warnings that interest rates and inflation will rise to unacceptable levels by the end of next year or early 2005."

"And when it all unravels, it will unravel fast" -- Diane Swonk, chief economist, Bank One Corp

-- The War and the Economy By Jonathan Weisman; Washington Post; September 16, 2003; Page E01

"Globalisation means that mistakes in one country - especially the world's largest economy - have powerful repercussions elsewhere."

-- US economic folly should worry us all by Joseph Stiglitz; September 17, 2003; The Guardian

-- Trade war on the horizon By NANCY DILLON; New York Daily News; July 12, 2003

-- US and Europe on brink of trade war by Andrew Osborn and Larry Elliott; July 12, 2003; The Guardian

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is being increasingly used to stifle business competition and innovation across-the-board-- which spells bad news ahead for consumers.

-- DMCA: Ma Bell Would Be Proud by Lauren Weinstein; WIRED; Jan. 20, 2003

The Recording Industry Association of America's pursuit of individual music downloaders will likely make for a stampede by consumers into various anonymity protection technologies-- thereby providing demand to bring about an economic supply response from entrepreneurs-- and so make it harder for all online criminal activity to be persecuted: including terrorism.

-- The Anonymity Doomsday Factor By John C. Dvorak July 7, 2003; PC Magazine

-- Tech worker says agency uses 'non-compete' agreements to bully, intimidate By Jeff Nachtigal; May 23, 2003; Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, Communications Workers of America, Local 37083, AFL-CIO

"The genius of international science collaboration"

-- Artificial intelligence, swimmer detectors, and blast resistant structures; eurekalert.org; 2-Nov-2002; Contact: Gail Cleere; cleereg@on.navy.mil; 703 -696-4987; Office of Naval Research

-- Fear of 'foreigners' may slow scientific progress; eurekalert.org; 30-May-2003; Ginger Pinholster; gpinhols@aaas.org; 202-326-6421; Coimbra Sirica; 631-757-4027; American Association for the Advancement of Science

-- BITING VISITORS THAT FEED US: U.S. VISA GANTLET [sic] HURTS ECONOMY, AIRLINES; Aug. 05, 2003; The Miami Herald

-- Buffett Sees Trouble for Airlines and Economy, Promise in Energy By Christopher Edmonds; Special to RealMoney.com; 05/03/2003; thestreet.com; URL: http://www.thestreet.com/comment/chrisedmonds/10084966.html

-- Fortress US Growing frustration over losing research and good will due to barriers to foreign scholars By Peg Brickley; February 11, 2003; The Scientist Inc. in association with BioMed Central

-- Study shows strong association between academic collaboration and scientific publishing productivity; eurekalert.org; 16-Feb-2003; Contact: John Toon; john.toon@edi.gatech.edu; 404-894-6986; Georgia Institute of Technology Research News

-- Defense Tech: Why the U.S. Must Share By Stan Crock; Businessweek; JUNE 20, 2002

"They call it World War Four, an unofficial title that is now used routinely by top officials and ground-level operatives in the U.S. military and the CIA...[as opposed to]...the Cold War, which the CIA types like to consider World War Three..."

"[the so-called WW4 is bigger than merely Iraq and Afghanistan; indeed, it is]...a broader war whose battlefields have spread quietly to two dozen countries"

"Below the surface are dozens of operations, some secret and some simply unnoticed, conducted by the CIA, the FBI, the diplomatic corps and small, elite military squads. They have been aided by changes to U.S. laws after Sept. 11 that allow Americans to do things once forbidden -- such as assassinating foreign figures"

"[as is presently being prepared for and envisioned by US leadership, this is a world war which]...could last decades"

"...one mistake of the Cold War was that the U.S. came to think that you have to fight the enemy everywhere. That's how we wound up in Vietnam, which was a terrible mistake in every sense...I'm concerned that that's happened in Iraq, and that it could happen elsewhere."

-- The Fourth World War by Doug Saunders; commondreams.org; December 03, 2003; originally posted September 6, 2003 by the Globe & Mail of Canada "The Pentagon's plan to hire a private paramilitary force to guard sites in Iraq may have surprised many Americans, but it was really just another example of a remarkable recent development in warfare: the rise of a global trade in hired military services."

-- t r u t h o u t - P.W. Singer Have Guns, Will Travel, found on or about 12-3-03, citing Have Guns, Will Travel By P. W. Singer; New York Times; 21 July 2003

-- Have Guns, Will Travel by Peter W. Singer; The Brookings Institution; December 3, 2003; citing The New York Times, July 21, 2003

-- Privatized Military Wave of the Future, Firms Say

"In Colombia and around the world, civilians are doing work formerly done by the military"

-- US's 'Private Army' Grows by Rachel Van Dongen; December 03, 2003; commondreams.org; originally published September 3, 2003, by the Christian Science Monitor

-- Bombings Bring U.S. 'Executive Mercenaries' Into the Light By William D. Hartung; May 16, 2003; Editor: John Gershman, Interhemispheric Resource Center; foreignpolicy-infocus.org

-- Iraq accuses U.S. of illegally funding mercernaries; Associated Press with CP [no page datestamp displayed for consumers/surfers, but the page was accessible online 12-3-03; "20030104" is part of the URL and may indicate something about original publication date]; The Globe and Mail

-- Outsourcing the Dirty Work The military and its reliance on hired guns By Joshua Kurlantzick; The American Prospect Vol 14, Iss. 5; Issue Date: 5.1.03

-- Privatizing Combat, the New World Order By Laura Peterson; The Center for Public Integrity; [datestamp of 2002]

-- This sense of irresistible US superiority is overblown by Martin Woollacott; July 12, 2002; The Guardian

-- 'Dr Strangeloves' meet to plan new nuclear era by Julian Borger; August 7, 2003; The Guardian

"Is George Bush the most dangerous president in U.S. history?"

According to Professor John Swomley, "...the administration has directed the military to prepare plans to use nuclear weapons against at least seven countries - China, Russia, North Korea, Syria, Iran, Libya and Iraq."

"The problem we face today is one that Al Gore described as a new doctrine that destroys the goal of a world in which states consider themselves subject to law, in favor of the notion that there is no law but the discretion of the president of the United States" -- Professor John Swomley, teacher of Christian ethics, the St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City

-- Oil may be the answer, but it isn't the question By Argyle Ellis; Feb 6, 2003; Asia Times

"future generations...will ultimately have to pay the price for his fiscal irresponsibility"

-- Paying the Price; Washington Post; September 14, 2003; Page B06

"...borrowing that will make life in America a very different experience for generations to come"

-- The American administration is a bloodthirsty wild animal By Harold Pinter; 11/12/2002; dailytelegraph.co.uk

-- Subject: Why the World's Opinion of Us Matters; From: Robert Wright; A Real War on Terrorism; Sept. 5, 2002; slate.msn.com

-- Rogue States? America Ought to Know The Hyperpower Sets Its Own Rules apparently by Phyllis Bennis; Mar 01 2002; tompaine.com

-- A rising anti-American tide by Brian Knowlton; International Herald Tribune; December 5, 2002

-- Approval of U.S. dives in new poll; Toronto Star

-- World Image of U.S. Declines (washingtonpost.com) By Richard Morin; December 5, 2002; Page A26

-- Why even allies are now anti-US - AUG 15, 2002

-- Global warmth for U.S. after 9/11 turns to frost By Ellen Hale, USA TODAY; 08/14/2002

-- 'We are loathed, and I think the world has every right to loathe us, because they see us as greedy, self-interested and almost totally unconcerned about poverty, disease and suffering'

-- World's View of U.S. Sours After Iraq War, Poll Finds; New York Times

"It is a fact that outside the United States many regard the world's only super-power with increasing suspicion and in some cases hostility"

-- Douglas N. Daft, chairman of Coca-Cola

-- America is now a hard sell; found on or about 10-9-03

"This is one of those little telltale signs of a much broader drift in trans-Atlantic relationships that reveal the gradual break-up of the Western alliance"

-- Loren Thompson; military analyst; the Lexington Institute of Arlington, Virginia

-- No-show at air show makes US view plain' June 18 2003; The New York Times/The Sydney Morning Herald

-- Poll suggests world hostile to US; BBC; 16 June, 2003

-- Fannie Mae's Loss Risk Is Larger, Computer Models Show; New York Times

-- Divided on Derivatives Greenspan, Buffett at Odds on Risks of the Financial Instruments By John M. Berry; Washington Post; March 6, 2003; Page E01

"derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that, while now latent, are potentially lethal"

-- Avoiding a 'Mega-Catastrophe' By Warren Buffett; FORTUNE; March 3, 2003

-- Apocalypse is nigh, Buffett tells Berkshire faithful By Simon English; 04/03/2003; telegraph.co.uk

-- Tripping Over Pension Shortfalls: Underfunded plans have led companies like US Airways into bankruptcy and will compromise others' credit ratings and spending plans By David Henry; Businessweek; MAY 14, 2003

"banks could suffer the same fate as some energy companies"

-- Buffett hits back at Greenspan over the risk of derivatives By Grant Ringshaw; Telegraph (11/05/2003)

-- Global economy reviving, US twin deficits a peril - IMF By Lesley Wroughton; Business Report; September 18, 2003

-- IMF warns US on deficit By Rodney Smith; BBC; 28 August, 2003

"The people running Wall Street simply do not grasp how corrupt and arrogant they appear to everyone else..."

-- Wall St. bosses, misguided defenders fighting back By Dan Gillmor; May. 07, 2003; Mercury News

-- Wall Street vs. U.S. government: Which is sneakier?

-- A Corporate (Crime) State by Ralph Nader; June 15/16, 2002; counterpunch.org

"One-quarter of public firms have to amend reports after SEC review – a sign of widespread manipulation."

-- How many Enrons are there? More than people may think. csmonitor.com By Ron Scherer; The Christian Science Monitor; July 03, 2002 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0703/p03s02-usec.html

-- Big investors say more reforms needed at NYSE ; reuters.com

"First, investors are told they can't trust the sell-side research analysts because of conflicts with investment bankers. Now, it looks like the buy-side, mutual-fund managers, are just as rotten."

-- Eliot Spitzer on His Fund Blitzkrieg by Mara Der Hovanesian; Edited by Patricia O'Connell; SEPTEMBER 18, 2003; Businessweek

-- US giants 'inflating their profits by billions' By Jason Nissé; 30 June 2002; news.independent.co.uk

-- Foreign Investors Losing Faith

-- Saudi investors 'could withdraw US funds'; 19 August, 2002; BBC

-- Saudis withdraw billions of dollars from US

-- The Dollar's Precarious Position By Christopher Farrell; JANUARY 31, 2003; Businessweek

-- The Dollar: Soggy and Still Sliding By Peter Coy, Jack Ewing, and Laura Cohn; JANUARY 3, 2003; Businessweek

-- Dollar slides to brink of free fall By Philip Thornton; 27 June 2002; Independent

-- Dollar Plunges As Euro Surpasses $1.14

-- 'Venezuelan move to replace US$ with the €uro upsetting Washington more than Saddam's €uro conversion last November'

-- 'a less global world where cities shrink into towns as people move closer to food and water supplies, where currencies will be local, electrical power delivered by cooperatives and bicycles and walking'

--Approaching imperial overstretch by Patrick J. Buchanan; July 21, 2003; worldnetdaily.com

"We can get that return in Britain and the Nordic countries, so why go to the U.S., where the currency risk is greater?"

-- The Germans Are Beating a Quiet Retreat By David Fairlamb, Chester Dawson, and Emily Thornton; Businessweek; JUNE 16, 2003

"Fifty-one percent of 280 fund managers...said...that U.S. earnings are the worst in the world when it comes to predictability, volatility and transparency."

-- Pierre Belec, Reuters; 2002

-- Not Buying the U.S. Earnings Story By Pierre Belec; Jun 22, 2002;Yahoo! /Business - Reuters

-- Profits: They Aren't As Good As They Look By Pallavi Gogoi and Robert Berner; Businessweek; FEBRUARY 10, 2003

-- 'In the Bush economy, everything that can go wrong is going wrong'

-- Bursting Bubbles Why the economy will go from bad to worse By Dean Baker; 5.9.03; inthesetimes.com

-- 'the endgame - including the risks of deflation and a dollar crisis - appears all the more treacherous'

-- 'History shows market volatility can last decades'; Star Tribune

"...American families live just one illness or accident away from complete financial collapse"

-- US Study: Medical Bills Main Culprit In Bankruptcies by Araminta Wordsworth; www.commondreams.org; October 09, 2002; originally published by the National Post in Canada, April 27, 2000

"It was very unlikely 30 years ago that an ordinary family could run up a half-million dollar medical bill, yet today that can happen in a matter of weeks in a major medical centre"

-- US Study: Medical Bills Main Culprit In Bankruptcies by Araminta Wordsworth; www.commondreams.org; October 09, 2002; originally published by the National Post in Canada, April 27, 2000

"Americans are raising the white flag as never before..."

-- Breaking Records--For Bankruptcies By Andy Serwer; FORTUNE STREET LIFE found on or about 7-14-2002

-- US bankruptcies break records; BBC; 30 December, 2002

-- The Bankruptcy Run Isn't Slowing By Michael Arndt; JANUARY 2, 2003; Businessweek

-- Our Crushing Personal Debt (washingtonpost.com) By David S. Broder; September 1, 2002; Page B07

"Ninety percent of personal bankruptcies are caused by the loss of a job, high medical bills or divorce"

-- The House Passes Anti-Consumer Bankruptcy Bill apparently by Adam J. Goldberg; Mar 21 2003; tompaine.com

"This chart shows the number of long-term unemployed [ 2 ] in the US (measured in thousands). By the end of 2002, it had risen to a level that has only been reached twice before in the last fifty years - early in the great recessions of 1982 and 1992."

-- Thoughts on ... guilt; iwillnotgoquietly.manilasites.com; March 29, 2003

-- Unemployment Rate Rises to 6.1% May Level Highest in Nine Years By John M. Berry; Washington Post; June 6, 2003

-- Unemployment Rate Surges to 6.4 Percent (washingtonpost.com) By John M. Berry; Washington Post; July 3, 2003

"...By some measures, as the Economic Policy Institute noted, we are in "the longest continuous stretch of job decline since 1944-46."..."

-- Meanwhile, Back in the Job Market By E. J. Dionne Jr.; March 14, 2003; Page A27; The Washington Post

"U.S employers still aren't hiring. The labor market is now in its longest slump since WW II."

-- Will the job market ever get better? By Mark Gongloff; July 3, 2003; CNN

-- Study: IT worker unemployment at 'unprecedented' levels - Computerworld by Patrick Thibodeau; SEPTEMBER 17, 2003

-- The Hidden Costs of Offshore Outsourcing Moving jobs overseas can be a much more expensive proposition than you may think. BY STEPHANIE OVERBY' Sep. 1, 2003 Issue of CIO Magazine

"In the out years, by their own estimate, their plan is a job and growth killer"

-- Jared Bernstein, economist at the Economic Policy Institute

-- Bush's Data Dump The administration is hiding bad economic news. Here's how. By Russ Baker; July 11, 2003; slate.msn.com

-- Surging Jobless- and Fake Unemployment Numbers ; May 02, 2003; nathannewman.org

-- Land of the Fee: Companies are nickle-and-diming Americans to death on the sly; Businessweek

"State and city governments have added thousands of fees in an effort to balance their budgets."

-- Land of the Fee and Businesses Invent New Fees to Boost Revenues; December 4, 2003; abcnews.go.com; Bob Jamieson contributor

-- Ego, Super-ego, and ID Theft: Why Identity Theft is Only Likely to Get Worse, Not Better By Robert X. Cringely; PBS | I, Cringely; September 18, 2003

-- Yahoo! News - Identity thieves feed on credit firms' lax practices

-- Child ID Theft Can Go Unnoticed for Years By Geraldine Sealey; December 4, 2003; abcnews.go.com

"THE U.S. PENSION SYSTEM -- what's left of it, that is -- is in sad shape."

-- Fixing Pensions; July 15, 2003; Page A18; The Washington Post

"These plans are already underfunded by billions of dollars...This provision digs the hole even deeper, and weakens important protections that have been built into the system over the last 16 years."

-- Steven Kandarian, executive director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation

"America's pension funds now have a total deficit of about $400 billion — a record..."

-- Senate Panel Votes to Give Pension Relief to Companies By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH; September 18, 2003; New York Times

-- Stocks' Slide Is Playing Havoc With Older Americans' Dreams; New York Times

"The nation is using only 75 percent of its industrial capacity, the lowest level in 20 years."

-- For Bush, Time to Mend Economy Is Running Out By Dana Milbank; Washington Post; April 5, 2003; Page A01

"House prices in the U.S., the U.K. and four other major economies will drop "dramatically" in the next few years, leading some of those nations to slip into recession..."

-- U.S., U.K. House Prices to Decline `Dramatically' (Update1); Last Updated: May 29, 2003; quote.bloomberg.com

"Fears of war and terrorism, continued mistrust of Corporate America, and a weak economy are forming a vicious cycle that'll be tough to break"

-- Why Investors Remain Weary and Wary By Amey Stone; Businessweek; FEBRUARY 27, 2003

-- If This Is a Bull, Buyer Beware (washingtonpost.com) By Jerry Knight; July 7, 2003; Page E01

-- Bull Market 2003: The Worse the Company, the Better the Stock

-- Statistical physics predicts stock market gloom by Jenny Hogan; 02 December 02; NewScientist.com news service

-- Stock market crashes are predictable, major decline is coming in 2003 and 2004, says UCLA physicist; eurekalert.org; 14-Dec-2002; Contact: Stuart Wolpert; stuartw@college.ucla.edu; 310-206-0511; University of California - Los Angeles

-- 'Stocks remain more expensive than they have been for much of the last century, relative to corporate earnings'; New York Times

-- US giants 'inflating their profits by billions' By Jason Nissé; 30 June 2002; news.independent.co.uk

"We won't be putting money into a society which is not transparent and [is] corrupt, and I suspect other countries won't either."

-- US President George W. Bush, 2002

-- EU gives more aid to Arafat in defiance of Bush by Suzanne Goldenberg; June 28, 2002; The Guardian

"...a state cannot be based on a foundation of terror or corruption...a...state must be based on the principles that are critical to freedom and prosperity: democracy and open markets, the rule of law, transparent and accountable administration, and respect for individual liberties and civil society." -- US President George W. Bush, 2002

-- a jaundiced eye - the weblog, found on or about 5-8-02; citing the New York Times at http://nytimes.com/2002/05/02/politics/02CND-PREX.html

"Fifty-one percent of 280 fund managers...said...that U.S. earnings are the worst in the world when it comes to predictability, volatility and transparency."

-- Pierre Belec, Reuters; 2002

-- Not Buying the U.S. Earnings Story By Pierre Belec; Jun 22, 2002;Yahoo! /Business - Reuters

-- Profits: They Aren't As Good As They Look By Pallavi Gogoi and Robert Berner; Businessweek; FEBRUARY 10, 2003

-- 'the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index is more expensive than it has been at any time since 1950, outside of the late 90's'; New York Times

-- Some corporate insiders remain on a selling spree

"Historically, insiders have been uncanny market "forecasters," Painchaud and other analysts say."

-- Corporate insiders are on a selling spree By Josh Friedman; LOS ANGELES TIMES/The Contra Costa Times; Aug. 14, 2003

-- Consumer Sentiment Hits 9-1-2 Year Low (washingtonpost.com)

-- Consumer Sentiment Plummets to Decade Low (washingtonpost.com)

-- Late credit card payments reach 5-year high - Apr. 29, 2002; CNN

"The best way to foster creativity in the digital age is to overhaul current copyright laws"

-- A radical rethink; The Economist; Jan 23rd 2003

-- Lessons from abroad: United States trails Europe in dependence on renewable energy; 16-Feb-2003; Contact: Monica Amarelo; mamarelo@aaas.org; Ginger Pinholster; gpinhols@aaas.org; 303-228-8301; American Association for the Advancement of Science

Only the US President Herbert Hoover offered a worse economic performance than George W. Bush has so far.

-- Squandering Prosperity By Harold Meyerson; The American Prospect vol. 14 no. 6, June 1, 2003

-- BIS says deflation possible, except U.S.

"...David Tice is quite bearish and believes the U.S. is headed for a long and painful ride downhill"

-- Prudent Global Income Fund By Cheryl Peress July 1, 2003; fundemail.com

"...the US is heading for maybe the greatest financial mess in world history"

-- Sage Financial Advice From Legendary Richard Russell; 16.07.2003; iraqwar.ru

"They're setting the stage for the next economic problem of stagflation with higher inflation and sluggish growth."

-- Edward Leamer, director at the UCLA Anderson Forecast of Los Angeles

-- Plunging interest rates alarm critics By David A. Sylvester; Mercury News; Jun. 30, 2003

"Tax revenue has fallen for three straight years, a streak not seen since the Depression."

-- Budget Deficit May Surpass $450 Billion By Jonathan Weisman; Washington Post; July 15, 2003; Page A01

-- US 'faces future of chronic deficits'

"I'm pretty nervous about the long-term implication of the deficits we're building right now...They're not smart deficits, they're ideological deficits."

-- Jared Bernstein, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute

-- Not all economists say deficits are bad By Alex Berenson; NEW YORK TIMES/The Contra Costa Times; Jul. 20, 2003

-- Deficits as Far as the Eye Can See By Howard Gleckman; Businessweek; MAY 13, 2002

-- Greenspan warns of problems from rising deficits By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, July 16, 2003; The Sacramento Bee

-- 'Greenspan says growing deficits threaten reduction of unemployment'

"Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned yesterday that continuing large federal budget deficits eventually would cause long-term interest rates to rise and damage U.S. economic growth."

-- Greenspan Sees Danger In Deficits By John M. Berry; Washington Post; July 17, 2003; Page E01

Out of control government deficits are creating terrible risks for the future of the US economy.

-- Alarms from Uncle Sam's Auditer Edited by Alicia Henry; Businessweek; JULY 17, 2003

"In truth, as bad as it may seem, it's actually worse."

-- Rep. John M. Spratt (S.C.)

-- Budget Deficit May Surpass $450 Billion By Jonathan Weisman; Washington Post; July 15, 2003; Page A01

-- Will Debt Weigh Down the Recovery? By Dean Foust; Businessweek; AUGUST 13, 2003

"The [US] consumer sector has never been more indebted and corporations are going bankrupt in record numbers"

-- Asia, its reserves and the coming dollar crisis - FinanceAsia.com By Richard Duncan 21 May 2003; FinanceAsia.com

"The financial system: unbalanced, unfair, unsustainable"

"When this credit bubble bursts in the United States and Britain, it will be middle-class consumers that will first bear the brunt of the financial crash."

-- The coming first world debt crisis by Ann Pettifor; 1 - 9 - 2003; opendemocracy.net

"At the present rate, estimates the Levy Institute, the amount owed to foreigners will rise to $8 trillion by 2008, or 60% of GDP."

"The U.S. economy has only just begun to enter the vicious downward spiral stage of this credit bubble cycle..."

-- Nixon's The One by Bill Bonner, Editor, The Daily Reckoning; August 29, 2003; financialsense.com

-- States borrow record amounts By Dennis Cauchon and Patrick McMahon, USA TODAY; 6/30/2003; Updated 7/1/2003

-- The States' Dire Straits By Michael Wallace; JULY 14, 2003; Businessweek

-- Finances of U.S. States Called Worst Since World War II; New York Times

-- N.Y. Fiscal Crisis Is Echoed Across Nation (washingtonpost.com) By Michael Powell; November 24, 2002; Page A01

"the worst crisis in state finances since World War II."

-- Ray Scheppach, National Governors Association executive director

-- Stiffing States And Cities By David S. Broder Sunday, November 24, 2002; Page B07

-- Governors Cite U.S. In Fiscal Crises (washingtonpost.com) By Jonathan Weisman; December 6, 2002; Page A01

-- Leaving the States in the Lurch (washingtonpost.com) By David S. Broder; July 31, 2002; Page A19

-- A Grim Fiscal Forecast for States (washingtonpost.com) By Dale Russakoff; December 24, 2002; Page A05

The awful fiscal shape of California is hurting the rest of the US economy too.

-- Some Golden State By Christopher Palmeri and Ronald Grover; Businessweek; JULY 7, 2003

It's expected the Federal Reserve will start hiking interest rates by 2005.

-- Democrats Expect Record Debts By Jonathan Weisman; Washington Post; May 31, 2003; Page A04

The US registers the worst wholesale inflation rate of the past thirteen years.

-- Energy touches off inflation spurt By Rex Nutting, CBS.MarketWatch.com; Feb. 20, 2003

-- Welcome to the Big Darkness By Hunter S. Thompson; ESPN Internet Ventures; found on or about 10-9-03

-- Bursting Bubbles By Dean Baker, In These Times May 28, 2003

-- Greenspan warns big trade gaps can be disruptive; Forbes

-- Boycott of American Goods Over Iraq War Gains

-- Coca-Cola disappears from menu as Europeans try to boycott U.S. goods by MELISSA EDDY; Associated Press; March 31, 2003

-- Arab nations gear for cola war HindustanTimes.com

-- Soda Giants Battle Public Panic in India (washingtonpost.com) By Rama Lakshmi; August 10, 2003; Page A17

-- Poison in your soft drink, says study HindustanTimes.com by Sutirtho Patranobis; August 5, 2003

-- Coke, Pepsi fail EU standards in India test By NIRMALA GEORGE, Associated Press/Nando Media/The Anchorage Daily News ; August 21, 2003

-- Coca-Cola promotes drink with 'swastika' robots; Associated Press/ananova.com; 30th April 2003

-- McDonald's Expects to Post Its First-Ever Loss (washingtonpost.com) By Dina ElBoghdady; December 17, 2002

-- 'the first time one of Detroit's Big Three has fallen to fourth place'; New York Times

"...the threats are consumer revolt against unreliable, difficult-to-use, and outright ugly products"

-- Nicholas Negroponte: The Innovation "Void"; [Nicholas Negroponte interviewed by Stephen Baker]; AUGUST 25, 2003; Businessweek

For more on the downward spiral in product and service quality in which the USA seemed to be leading the world at the dawn of the 21st century, please see The Signposts Timeline Prologue: 2001 AD-2002 AD.

-- Dire States by David Usborne; 17 July 2003; Independent Digital

Under 20% of circa 2000 USAmerica's GDP stemmed from manufactured goods.

The same sources described above believe this change in national perspective might help bring about longer and deeper periods of peace worldwide. However, the newly emerging hierarchy they ascribe to sounds much like the same old imperialist practices forced onto weaker nations by stronger ones throughout human history. It boils down basically to nations like the USA exporting all their lowest paid, dirtiest, and most dangerous jobs to third world countries, while keeping all the high paying, clean, safest, and most satisfying jobs at home. In other words, the same trend apparent for the second half of the 21st century.

But mounting software development expertise in places like India, the active opposition to many virtual state-related processes and advances by highly placed politicians and executives in nations like the USA, the increasing outcry by citizens in both developed and developing nations protesting regulation without representation regarding world trade policies and related issues, and the mounting struggle between proprietary software models and Open Source in the USA and elsewhere all would seem to throw monkey wrenches into the plan and expectations of these particular experts.

There's also the growing indignation and outrage of citizens in the developed nations against constant surveillance and monitoring and other transgressions by their own geopolitical governments to contend with.

At some point even slaves will rebel. And the middle-class of the developed nations will have far less patience with elitist plans for their futures, than actual slaves-- if history is any guide.

-- The Standard.com: Future State By Michael Parsons, on or about 1-17-2000, http://www.thestandard.com (http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,8852,00.html may be the original URL); a review/commentary regarding the book The Rise of the Virtual State: Wealth and Power in the Coming Century by Richard Rosecrance, Basic Books

Even as far back as 1998 the emerging threads of future conflict between geopolitical and virtual states, and the fertile environment in which vigilante organizations would rise in world influence could be seen. USAmerica was doing all it could to stymie the creation of an international court system which might adhere to higher ideals than it itself desired in the pursuit and persecution of war criminals, genocidal dictators, and justice in general. Thus, those pushing for true justice and freedom for all were increasingly forced to do so outside of antiquated geopolitical legal frameworks. Latter-day versions of 1990s Iraq's Saddam Hussein may eventually come to fear various vigilante organizations more than the forces of states like USAmerica, or legacy groups like the UN. Such villains may find themselves increasingly harassed by virtual state factions as well.

-- "Pinochet Takes U.S. Conservatives To New Territory" By Jonathan Wright, Reuters Limited/Yahoo, 12-13-98

The ramp up of conflict between the net and the geopoliticals

40% of deaths worldwide can be traced to a range of environmental factors (with pollution prominent among them).

David Pimentel of Cornell says we're getting hit from every side in the present and future. We're being increasingly crowded into urban locations which make wonderful breeding grounds for both old and new diseases among us, even as the added stresses weaken our immune systems and make us more vulnerable to a wide range of illnesses. The poor among us are malnourished and often get little or no proper medical care, making them a rich environment for diseases to reach critical mass and spread to the rest of us worldwide. Worsening pollution in air, water, and soil is poisoning our food and water supplies and making it even more likely we'll get sick, and do so more frequently, in years to come.

Global warming/climate changes lower our defenses still more via added stress, while allowing warm weather loving diseases to spread further and faster than ever before across the globe. Agricultural insect and disease pests are also amplified by such warming, thereby making food costlier and harder to come by-- causing even more widespread malnutrition. Climate change also kills the fertility of present agricultural regions, forcing farmers to move to new ones.

Increases in global travel and tourism make it easier than ever for diseases to span the globe in a matter of hours, affecting diverse populations suddenly and without warning. Future growth in world travel will only exacerbate this.

The continued loss of atmospheric ozone and its shielding effect against ultraviolet light will lead to people suffering from age-related blindness at much younger ages, as well as a big increase in skin cancers.

The cutting/burning of rainforests worldwide and overfishing of the oceans is gradually reducing the oxygen and food yields on which we depend.

It may be our best chance to reduce coming woes is to increase global cooperation (in effect, set up at least a minimal world government).

-- "Environmental pollution and degradation causes 40 percent of deaths worldwide, Cornell study finds", 9-30-98, Cornell News Service Home Page, and MOTHER NATURE IS STRIKING BACK, EDITED BY CATHERINE ARNST, Developments to Watch, Business Week: October 26, 1998

-- "Long-Term Air Pollution Harmful At Any Level", University Science, UniSci Science and Research News http://unisci.com, 15-Apr-1999 [Contact: Elisabeth Zemp Stutz M.D.

-- Campaign helps limit child sun exposure, Yahoo/Reuters Health December 16 1998

-- Tehran Smog Shuts Schools, Keeps Cars Off Streets, Yahoo/Reuters December 16 1998

-- E. coli outbreaks increase in swimmers, Yahoo/Reuters Health, December 15 1998

-- The Red Cross expects global warming to result in escalating scales of disasters in coming decades.

Want to see the future of civil disobedience?

A Florida university professor and biochemist (Hugo Nanofsky) was angered in 1984 when police permanently confiscated the family minivan being driven by his 16 year old son, after discovering NO drugs in a search, but a homemade pipe construed to be "drug paraphenalia", during a routine traffic stop.

So what did Nanofsky do? For weeks he wrote letters to the police chief, his City Council, the State District Attorney, and local newspapers.

But it did no good.

The family lawyer advised the professor's son to plead guilty to possession of paraphenalia to get a suspended sentence and his record sealed. But this meant the family van was lost forever, as an accessory to crime.

Nanofsky tried various legal avenues to get the van back, but it was all in vain.

Nanofsky decided he'd try to dissolve the drug bureaucracy his own way after that.

How? Over the next 14 years Nanofsky genetically engineered orange trees to create THC, the active ingredient in marijuana-- as a hobby.

Then Nanofsky posted messages to internet newsgroups that he was offering FREE "cannabis-equivalent orange tree seeds" by way of the U.S. mail.

It took the U.S. Justice Department a few weeks to arrive at his campus office in response. They persuaded him to stop distributing the seeds. But they may have been too late, as several hundred packages of seeds had already been sent out by then, and current law does not require Nanofsky to turn over his mailing list, or even classify what he did to be a crime.

Plus, others armed with similar expertise and equipment can reproduce the seeds themselves from scratch.

Cairncross predicts the declining costs of long distance telecommunications (and increasing accessibility to the internet) will allow the economic rate of growth and living standards worldwide to rise more and faster than it would otherwise. This implies growing financial independence and capabilities on the part of both individuals and organizations.

Other predictions/speculations from Cairncross:

* greater fragmentation and 'looseness' in companies and business organizations...perhaps like the networked Hollywood interests which today produce theatrical films. This implies growing freedom on the part of both individuals and organizations to set their own agendas, even where they might directly conflict with those of larger entities like governments and big corporations.

* a paradoxical simultaneous decline and rise in government powers over the individual. On the one hand, global commercial sales of books and other products and services reduce the censorship power and economic and legal control of individual governments over citizens. Yet at the same time it will become easier for governments to spy on citizens and locate them as it wishes. The ultimate socio-economic consequences of this paradox are unclear...This implies an expanding potential for uncertainty, insecurity, suspicion, and 'power vacuums' during given events, which may encourage and nurture the rise of vigilante organizations.

* less risk of substantial military conflicts in the future, as better communications leads to greater global democracy, and democracies don't war with one another as much as other types of nations do.This implies an expanding potential for SMALLER, LIMITED geopolitical conflicts in the future, usually inside given nations and not directly impacting the neighbors of such states. Most such conflicts will likely involve the use of 'non-lethal' weapons in conflicts between citizens and their own governments. This circumstance too would seem to encourage the emergence of both virtual states and vigilante organizations...

Cairncross has published a book on these subjects: "The Death of Distance".

Cyber-vigilantism on the rise

-- "Cyber-vigilantes hunt down hackers" by Winn Schwartau, CNN/IDG, 1-12-99

Geopolitical-vigilantism on the rise