8 Rs Net

Previously Senator Dick Armey and his staff in 2000 to review seriously the important decision to scrutinize the FTC’s franchising division. Mr. Armey has sense retired. Today, I urge the Administration, the GAO, Senate Subcommittee and other governmental oversight bodies to curtail the efforts of the FTC to further over regulate the MUD (much unnecessary disclosure) plaguing our industry. How much should the FTC’s franchise group be downsized? We see by the introduction of a proposed change and additions to the franchise rule that they have over stepped their usefulness in franchising, so perhaps that division should receive no funding and be immediately disbanded. I have an interesting case study and 2000 pages of proof of innocence of an action taken against my company by the FTC.

It is really incredible to read considering the FTC moved to seize bank accounts based on competitor’s complaints and declarations. The competition in the future does not appear to be coming from the marketplace. That competition is not too bothersome compared to the FTC. The new competition is agencies like the FTC against American business. Just like the new enemy to the flows of civilization are those of the International Terrorists. And we saw exactly what happens with all the layoffs of 2001-2003, we need not repeat that again in an exacerbated business cycle. I am still trying to figure out why I as a consumer was damaged by Microsoft for receiving a free web browser. Last time I checked “free” was my favorite price. Who is the FTC to tell me the consumer of my own free will that I am wrong to want to buy Microsoft products?

A question you are probably wondering is can the franchising industry survive without the FTC? The question should be more like how much can the franchising industry thrive without the FTC piling more minutia on its backs. Why is it up to the franchising industry to stop the horse and why are you trying stop the horse anyway (referring to the statue outside the their building). Do you have something against horses? I was quite concerned when I went to visit the FTC and discuss the case they filed against our company. We sat in a room and answered questions, before we started and after our meeting concluded of the investigator stood and was watching my rear end. Although I am from California and tend to let things like this go, I was offended as my wife was present. He was not a bad looking guy and said he was 26, but surely he would have no problem in Washington D.C. finding a date to suit his needs. I thought that was very inappropriate.

Also I got to thinking that the name of my company is The Car Wash “GUYS,” then I wondered how much did that fact have to do with the singling out of our company as an FTC target to prosecute. Or worse off how much of the name “GUYS’ in our brand name had to do with the prosecutor choosing us as his for next assignment? And how much of this fact has to do with the ongoing phone calls and harassment we keep getting. Is this a psychological stalking type mentality occurring? Should I just not worry about it since the FTC settled the case with our company and it is over, or should I be concerned that some one still likes me? This is a true story and I have a problem with any agency, which cannot put away personal issues like these and others to do their job. Is this the reality of the FTC, is it internally really this pathetic? I did not question anyone’s sexual preference nor should anyone question mine just because I am happily married. We should stick to the issues, without grandstanding. I am putting the FTC on notice of this issue as after this letter is read over, I do not wish all my suggestions to these proposed rule changes to come back an haunt me, they are my honest opinions and I have a right to be heard and the FTC has the responsibility to listen and public comments are to be taken seriously. How can I be sure the FTC will not once again target my company, we made comments in 1999 also and this was just prior to them opening a case against us, these are some real questionable issues, which also must be addressed as I pursue funding deletion of this division at the FTC. Will they come after our company again, they probably will not get very far.

Although I bet they try. Individuals who give Public Comment when the FTC has solicited them should not be harassed for their sincere opinions in the form of a lawsuit against their companies. I have not said anything in this letter that I am not sincere about. The FTC needs to look in the mirror and fix the internal problems there and continue the mission of Truth, Justice and the American way for the betterment of citizen and country. It must be done. We must hold government accountable as well as ourselves for we are all one.

If this proposed rule making exercise costs $250,000.00 of taxpayers monies, we should have them less often. We could have used the funds we would have saved, by the wasteful tendencies of a runaway agency to strengthen franchising and small business and for education on franchising for the public. We could have used this time, effort and these resources in Forming a task force with teeth to cut red tape, revitalize American small business and help with ways to educate new entrants. We could enlist this task force to come up with new innovative ways to encourage small business and help fund programs working with the private sector such as my plan to further increase funding for small businesses and franchising:

We should be investing in America’s future and find ways for more people to start franchises and other independent small businesses, not tying the hands of Franchisors, who hold the key to jump starting small businesses, increasing employment and bringing the economic recovery to robust fruition. Franchising promotes efficiency and sets the bar for competition and the consumer benefits from it. We should be turning towards the private sector and for answers, not to government agencies to dream up more rules and laws.

I find it interesting that anytime there is a problem or perceived problem someone in government comes up with a solution. It is always the same. I propose we make a another new law, rule, code, permit, condition, resolution, clarification, tax, fee, fine, act, decree, bylaw, directive, ruling, guideline, decree, declaration, decision, resolution, license, authorization, sanction, authorization, policy, system, format, charge, bill, statue or any number of other things that in the end all mean excessive regulation to business.

And may I ask the simplest of questions? What does any of this have to do with flipping a hamburger, changing a muffler, washing a car, sending someone on vacation or cleaning some ones house? Because last time I checked that is what the franchising industry does for America.

Rules for the sake of making rules will not make the world perfect and excuse me for saying so but the garbage they teach to first year law students that free society only exists when there is a set of standards for law is BS. The Taliban in Afghanistan also had laws based on god knows what/who? The best law in the world is that which can be avoided, that never has to be made.

The wonderful thing about making rules in government is once you make the first one you have job security for the rest of your life, must be nice. These proposed rules are an unjustified “piling effect” of minutia.

I look at the counterparts in other countries to the FTC. In those countries the agencies are there to spur on growth and economic development. Yet in our country, the greatest country in the world, our great agency, The Federal Trade Commission, spends its money and funding attacking American companies, stifling free enterprise and hurting consumer choice by enacting burdensome rules which border on restraint of trade and at minimum cause severe barriers to entry in so many industries that could hold possible economic opportunity to average Americans.

There are adequate restrictions on franchising in place already to protect consumers. Over regulation hurts consumers and now the FTC wants to impose restrictions on franchisors protecting non-consumers, possible consumers and competitors. Why are we protecting the possibility of damage to a consumer that has not yet actually occurred and may never occur. You are not a damaged consumer if you did not buy a franchise yet, how could you be. For actual fraud to occur in principal you have to have been ripped off and the culprit disappears with your money, leaving you holding the bag, how can that happen in franchising? There is no fraud in franchising that is a Myth. How could you be damaged as a consumer/investor if you never purchased anything? Well then why is the FTC attempting to enacting a rule to protect people who are not buying anything or have not bought anything?

And using as a basis for their endeavors 100 complaints in nearly a decade, all this after 350,000 franchise outlets have been sold. Event he franchise rights groups, rabble rousers and unions writing the letters in advance could not get more than 3 dozen people to sign them? What does this tell you folks? There is no fraud, unleash the reigns on the throats of the franchisors who are building this great nation, providing opportunity, helping people pursue happiness, my god I am on a roll after 90 pages, tell me, can you here me now? What is wrong with this picture why are we making more rules? To help lawyers? They have been helping themselves to the franchising industry long enough. We need some breathing space, America needs your help now. Reduce the drag and help lift this industry to new heights. Think about it, how does the over regulation from any agency help free markets?

“Lance Winslow” – Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

Every nation has its inventors. No; make it illustrious sons. (Because there are few illustrious daughters.) Look at this checklist: Alfred Nobel was an illustrious son. While his fellow Swedish natives were busy catching fishes in the North Seas, he was engaged in harnessing the destructive power of the atom. The Japanese residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the Second World War know the rest of the story.

Italy too has her illustrious son. At a time when the Catholic Church believed that the earth (supposedly supported by an elephant or a giant turtle) didn’t move, Galileo Galilei came with his telescope to rubbish the claim. He was condemned to die as a heretic when he dared say; “Essipur muove.” Translation: “the earth moves.” Germany has its illustrious son. When the pope was busy trying to prevent the layman from reading the Bible, Johannes Guttenberg came on stage and invented the movable printing press, which helped in the printing and distribution of the holy book. Johannes, however, got away free, but not William Tyndale, the Bible translator, who ended up with the Bible, tied on his chest in a literal lake of fire.

Then there was Michael Faraday, the illustrious son of England who vanished darkness forever from civilized climes with the invention of electricity. But like many others before him, his invention killed him. They were great inventors all the same—illustrious sons of great lands.

Yet, there is a not so great nation, Prussia. Ever heard of the name? So that the country is not eternally remembered as a center stage for the Great War, enter Mr. Fahrenheit. So that you would know at what degree to heat your soup or the safe time of the year to row your boat across the frigid waters of the Arctic, he invented the mercurial thermometer. Thank Heavens! We now know that at its core, the sun is about 27,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Just in case you can’t figure out what that means, try exploding 100 billion hydrogen bombs every second. Or detonate 100, 000 million megatons of TNT per second. Got the point?

When Mr. Fahrenheit invented his thermometer, however, he didn’t dream that someday the tallest buildings in America would be engulfed in an inferno and that his innocent instrument would be on hand to measure the temperature. Not actually that the firemen came to the burning World Trade Center on 9/11 with literal thermometers. But the conflagration has spawned a movie “Fahrenheit 911″ which swept the 57th edition of the ‘Festival de Cannes’—the world’s biggest film festival—earning the winner Michael Moore the loudest standing ovation at Cannes in the last 25 years. In his acceptance speech, the movie star said among other things: “. . . many people want the truth and many want to put it in the closet. . . . ” Well said Mr. Moore. But what is truth? That was the same old question thrown to Jesus during his trial by a cynical Pontius Pilate. Pity; he didn’t wait for an answer. Deduction: Truth is relative.

Let us exit Jerusalem and come back to Cannes in Southern France. Our movie winner is all smiles before a battery of cameras in the midst of the ovation at the end of his speech. And they slap his back. And they give him a fat check. He has won Round One. But here the story ends. Because there are suddenly no distributors for his movie in America until now. The reason is in the theme of the movie: an attack of George Bush’s American foreign policy before and after 9/11. Why would the movie get distributors? Who doesn’t want to win an election? Thank God, the pope isn’t in charge in America. Otherwise the movie icon would have gone the way of William Tyndale.

But before “Fahrenheit 911,” I had written CHASING SHADOWS1 to warn that all those fighting the war on terror are living in the land of Prester John. That wonderland does not exist. It lives only in the mind of the dreamers. Not real dreamers like the Biblical Joseph. But dreamers like Don Quixote. Or the natives of Sir Thomas More’s “Utopia.” Who was that author who wrote the book, “Erewhon”? Never mind the name though. Just try re-arranging the anagram beginning with the last letter. What do you get? ‘No Where.’

In the end, the real winners in this war against terror will not be a president or a war general. Neither will it be the movie star in Cannes Southern France, nor a Pulitzer winner in America or the winner of the Booker in London giving acceptance speeches amidst a thundering applause.

But the actual winners of Round Two will be those faceless ‘terrorists’ in caves trying to draw attention to the injustice and oppression in this world. The sad part is that when terrorists win, there are no ovations. No acceptance speeches. No back slaps. No prize monies. No Fahrenheit thermometers. But only funeral parlors. The pallbearers. Wailing women. And good-byes.

ARTHUR ZULU is an editor, book reviewer, and the author of the controversial book, CHASING SHADOWS! (A book that reveals the terrorists’ master plan to finally set the world on fire.) For a copy of the book and free excerpt, goto:
http://www.1stbooks.com/bookview/21013
For contacts, mailto:
mostcontroversialwriter@yahoo.com

About the Author

Arthur Zulu is the author of CHASING SHADOWS!

It’s a frightening feeling any time a doctor tells you that you’ve got any kind of chronic disease. At first your mind wants to reject it, and then you continuously give into the shock of realizing that you really do have anything up with you. Even if you’ve been exhibiting symptoms for a while, your problem just isn’t set in stone till the doctor tells you those fateful words: I’m sorry to tell you, but the tests came back positive.

When the diagnosis is Tardive Dyskinesia, it actually should not come as any surprise. In fact, it may be be a relief, because when you know what the difficulty is, there are thngs you can do to reverse the condition, and you definitely wish to do that. Maybe you’ve been suffering from the humiliation of your tongue popping out of your mouth every couple of seconds or of making horrible grimaces that are out of your control. You could have had a lot of agonizing physical symptoms, like neck spasms or involuntary twisting of joints. Don’t believe anyone when they tell you that you may just have to live with the issues, as they wouldn’t want to if they were in your place. Instead, here is what you can do.

For a start you can learn everything there is to know about TD lawyer. Sometimes it’s just great to have somebody you can talk to about your condition who will understand and offer suggestions for what you need to do next. Contacting the Foundation will put you in touch with caring folk who can help. You can also visit their website at www.dystonia-foundation.org.

Another group that may be ready to offer you the data and help you need is We Move which is a support group for people with movement disorders. This organization has groups throughout the world. You can find the nearest group by visiting their site at www.wemove.org. Folks who have developed Tardive Dyskinesia have filed successful suits, and plenty of other court actions are in process. If you are diagnosed with TD after taking Zyprexa [ Olanzapine ], Risperdal [ Risperidone ], Seroquel [ Quetiapine ] or many other neuroleptic drugs, you could be in a position to file a lawsuit looking for compensation to help you sustain due to the losses you incur because of the filed successfully against doctors prescribing medications known to cause TD. However, it’s yet to be seen if court actions against the giant pharmaceutical companies who produce the drugs will be settled in favor of patients.

There are many doctors who have researched TD and know the right kinds of treatments that will reverse the indicators of the disorder and bring relief to patients. If your folks surgeon isn’t ready to give you with this kind of assistance, you can contact a psychiatrist instead who has experience dealing with the side effects of anti-psychotic drugs. In addition, you will find a neurologist can efficiently treat your Tardive Dyskinesia Problem.

So the UK Government has had its way on banning smoking in all enclosed public places and places of work. This ban was carried through on the grounds of ensuring a safe working environment for all employees across the country. This ban applies everywhere except of course the House of Commons itself. One would presume that this is because it is not open to the public and nobody works there! This is just another example of the hypocrisy of our government; ‘Don’t do as I do, do as I say’. ‘You do not know what is good for you but We do’. You cannot have a wage increase or it must be restricted because it is not good for the economy; however we will vote ourselves a very large increase because we are a special case’, and so it goes on.

They also got their own way for the moment on ID cards. Arguments on this have shifted from combating terrorism, to combating illegal immigration to the current one of stopping ID fraud. I actually had no idea that that there were millions of people out there stealing each others identity. I suspect the only people guilty of identity fraud are the members of the government itself as they seem to take on a number of different guises depending upon what they next want to ban or subject us to.

I would suspect that the whole thrust of most of this recent legislation in the western world is an attempt to regain control over the population. In the past if you stepped out of line or had a counter argument you were threatened with hell fire and damnation. With the decline of the Church and its more modern approach this line of control has vanished. With the immediacy of communications around the world we all now know what is going on at any moment in time. Consequently governments have lost control of situations unless you happen to be in China!

There was talk of putting chips into cars so that there movements could be tracked all the time. I do not know why the government just do not forget about ID cards and go the complete step and put chips into all of us. This would act as a means of verifying your identity and have the added advantage of being able to track us and our movements all of the time. Any body visiting the country could have a temporary chip implanted. That way the police would not have to stop you and ask for a card they could simply scan you from a distance and if you happened to be ‘chipless’ they could lock you up for 90 days.

Strange isn’t it that it all started with the banning fox hunting. I periodically feel I have had enough and should move somewhere else, but where do you go? This seems to be like a tidal wave sweeping across the whole of the western world and it is impossible to stop.

It’s possible that a seminal moment in the history of electronic news occurred when a comedian confronted commentators …

Not long after Jon Stewart — host of the Comedy Central cable channel’s amusing newscast, The Daily Show — appeared on CNN’s staid Crossfire and roundly scorched its principals in a well-publicized confrontation over journalistic integrity (or the lack thereof), the news network announced that Crossfire was being cancelled. Ostensibly, the network said this move was due to the departure of conservative commentator Tucker Carlson. However, he wasn’t the original ‘right-wing’ representative on that show and there were surely more of that flock who would have willingly stepped into the position. CNN has probably assembled a litany of rationalizations for their decision to dump the program, but none of them will dare to broach the actual undertone of perception that would trump anything on their list.

In this day an age in the USA, a comedy show is more adept than a news show at presenting current events.

The crux of the matter is that contemporary electronic journalism is just as subject to the Prime Tenet of Marketing as any sales campaign would be, ie- to be successful, it is imperative to ’sell the sizzle and not the steak.’

Viewing this contention from another angle, respected newsman Ted Koeppel almost saw his redoubtable Nightline program shelved in favor of yet another late-night talk show featuring a comedian. Now that he’s retiring, it’s notable that the program will shift directions anyway, seemingly to assume a ‘lighter’ appearance in presentation to presumably better compete with the entertainers.

The sorrowful corollary of this point is that not only do the news operations overly heed the ’sizzle’ mantra, so do many of the organizations who feed them their details. In the battle for dominance and perception, ’spin’ is paramount.

Slanting a report to influence its perception has been in existence since the dawn of time, when Reporterpithicus — or whatever version of man existed back then — first related to someone else what someone told him. The tendency to spin has now evolved to where it has innately seeped into a troubling number of major news organizations. Anyone who has viewed a moment of Fox News can see for themselves how blatantly they have embraced this trend to promote their conservative leanings. MSNBC seems to be unusually beholden to the corporate world. CNN appears to abide the techniques of spin so as to not have their ratings erode any further.

Such policies clearly resonate in the minds and actions of their reporters in the field. Most seem to blithely absorb the spin given them by corporate and government spokesmen, given the bulk of milquetoast questions that now populate press conferences. Such practices and policies allow the Tucker Carlsons, Bill O’Reillys and Robert Novaks of the world to run amok, apparently encouraged to talk over any dissenting viewpoint as if they were thinly-veiled Jerry Springer clones in a stodgier setting.

Add the consideration that so many of those corporate and government spokesmen are so singly simple-minded about the message they’re spinning, and it’s no wonder a comedy offering like The Daily Show has risen in pop credibility to a level of perception that rivals the news programs. With so many thin platforms of substance just waiting to be skewered, Jon Stewart and his staff gladly accept a veritable cornucopia of material with every day’s harvest of sound bites. The punch lines contained therein seem to literally grab them by the lapels and insist to be written.

If you want to confirm that point, watch an episode and see how many times Mr Stewart merely needs to raise his eyebrows after a sound bite in order to draw guffaws.

Toss in the fact that Comedy Central’s video-to-mobile service is better defined for content than any of the news organizations, and The Daily Show is further cementing its image as the ‘cool’ news outlet for the younger set of voting age.

It’s notable that, in late-20th century American politics, when media ‘cool’ was on the ascent, Democrats won elections. It was true for John F Kennedy, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, and if that party could ever find a leader, it might be true again.

One would think the Republicans might take a hint and go back to the straight talk that struck enough of a nerve with voters to put them in the majority. Currently, that would advisably include an element of fallibility and contrition over recent policies and events. It remains to be seen if anyone in that camp is forthright enough to admit as much.

Otherwise, it’s all but inevitable that the obfuscation of news spin and comedy fodder will further lower the quality of daily electronic information to a series of straight lines that grew from Chevy Chase’s Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live portraying Gerald Ford as a bumbler to The Daily Show becoming an A-list stop on the itinerary of any legitimate candidate.

With all due respect to that excellent comedy series, if such a thing ever happened, it wouldn’t be breaking news. It would be broken news.

Copyright 2006 Al Arnold

I have been concerned about government/political apathy for some time. Especially, when it comes to local government. A unique idea has come out of Nevada.

Daniel Rosen has announced his intent to run for U.S. Congress. If elected, he promises to vote as instructed by his constituents on his web site. He claims that “Registered voters in the 2nd District of Nevada will have total control over how I vote. I’m not running an opinion poll. It’s a binding process.”

I see problems of only having “registered voters in the 2nd District of Nevada” vote on-line.

1) What kind of procedures will be needed to insure that only “registered voters in the 2nd District of Nevada” cast their votes on-line?

2) Will every registered voter will be given a password?

3) What about those “registered voters” who do not have access to, or the knowledge of how to operate a computer? Would Mr. Rosen purchase computers and classes for everyone?

4) Or, would the computer dummies become non-factors under this program?

Mr. Rosen correctly points out that even Congressmen don’t read all the legislation they vote on. Yet, he somehow believes that if given this power, citizens will read all bills upon which his vote will be cast. He states, “apathy comes from people viewing themselves as perfectly powerless, and once people are really convinced that their opinions count, then I think that apathy will disappear.”

Mr. Rosen’s delusions don’t stop there. It gets worse. He further states, “I hope the system will be developed so that legislators are bound by law to follow the dictates of their constituents.”

What may I ask, has become of leadership? Has it really come to the point where we don’t even want our representatives to think for themselves?

I have long believed in the quote of James Clarke, “A politician thinks of the next election. A statesman thinks of the next generation.” Under which category would Mr. Rosen fall? Since it looks like he is only interested in getting re-elected, I would classify him as a politician, not a statesman. What this country needs is a whole lot more statesmen!

So, as a observer and pontificator on local politics, why does Mr. Rosen fascinate me? He only wants to destroy national politics. This idea of direct democracy has to be stopped before it finds its way down to the local level.

Imagine trying to decide whose street gets fixed with on-line voting. How about voting on a new squad car? Do we need another employee in the Clerk’s Office?

How about local judges? They are elected officials. Must their plea bargains be approved on-line?

The resumes for every teaching position are placed on the web, and citizens vote who gets the job?

Mr. Rosen must be stopped.

Did I mention he was a composer and musician? Maybe that explains his naive delusions?

One of my favourite pieces of music is the Sex Pistols’ classic ‘Holidays in the Sun’ – a song that begins with the line, ‘a cheap holiday in other people’s misery’. This would have made a fitting epitaph for my holiday in Israel, except that the $3000 air ticket meant that it wasn’t exactly cheap.

I went to Israel full of apprehension. Just knowing what we all know of the backdrop of paranoia and pain that hangs over that land is enough to make anybody apprehensive, but I also went carrying a dark secret – that I was a friend of Mordechai Vanunu’s, and I was nervous about the reaction I’d get should this truth suddenly become public.

My friend Morde was completing an 18-year prison sentence for doing something that most people in this country consider heroic. Morde told the world about a secret stash of WMD’s (‘weapons of mass destruction’) that are being developed in an underground factory in the Negev desert. Most people I know think he did the world an enormous favour, but most people in his own country wish Morde had kept his mouth shut. Indeed, most Israelis regard him as a traitor!

In order to try to understand this attitude towards my friend, I tried talking to local people about their attitude to nuclear weapons. The response I received was alarming! “They’re only there as our last resort” one articulate young journalist said to me. “Just in case we get completely overrun.” “Well … what happens then?” I asked. “Well”, he said, “then we destroy everybody!”

Tragically, this was not an isolated example. Almost every time I sought an opinion from taxi-drivers, cafe workers or hostel staff concerning Israel’s nuclear capacity, the word ‘Armageddon’ would come up. And these apologists seemed quite accepting of the fact that in order to strike this decisive blow against their neighbours, they might indeed need to take the rest of the planet with them!

Thankfully not every Israeli took this position. Indeed, the ‘Free Vanunu’ campaign itself had a strong local contingent of active peace campaigners.

These local activists were some of the most impressive people I met during my stay in Israel. Even in Australia they would have been impressive – mainly young, idealistic University students, with a commitment to world peace and global disarmament – impressive but not extraordinary in our context. In this context though, growing up in an environment so overshadowed by violence and fear, these brave young souls stood out like shining lights.

The violent side of Israeli culture was never more tangible to me than it was on the day of Morde’s release. I had traveled many thousands of miles to be reunited with my friend on the day that he walked free. In my dreams I had imagined our reunion countless times. Morde would walk through those gates with his belongings in one hand, and me and a few friends and family would be there to embrace him and lead him away. I didn’t really realise until I reached the prison just how far from reality my imaginary depiction of that scene would prove to be.

There were hundreds of us at the prison, and the vast majority were not Morde’s friends. As the time of his release drew near, I tried to move towards the prison gate where I had always imagined myself standing as Morde walked out. I soon found myself squeezed into the middle of an angry mob.

It was certainly one of the nastiest experiences of my life. The whole mass of men seemed to seethe with aggression, and each individual was competing to claw his way to the front, for what exact purpose was not entirely clear. Thankfully I could not understand the chants that were being sung to the tune of ‘here we go, here we go, here we go’, but I was told later that the words for ‘death’ and ‘traitor’ had been central to all the mantras that were chanted that day.

On reflection I now think that it was a good thing that by the time Morde came through those prison gates the police had packed us together so tightly that I wasn’t able to move a limb. What prevented me from running out to embrace Morde also prevented my neighbours from reaching him with more sinister intent.

Thankfully the car with my friend in it got away with no more than a dented panel and a shower of eggs. One antagonist did manage to mount his motorbike in time to catch the car, but after slamming into the side of the vehicle he lost his mount, and the ‘free man’ was able to proceed in peace.

Back at the gaol things then started to unravel. With their anger unresolved, the mob started to vent their aggression on other targets. I found myself swept up in this like a wave breaking over my head. One second I was walking towards my bus. The next moment I was surrounded by a mob led by an angry rabbi, screaming at the top of his voice. ‘Go home’ was the only phrase I could understand. Equally unambiguous though were the rough hands that were being placed on my body, the kicks that were landing on my legs, and the spittle that was accumulating on my face.

I didn’t see any path of escape in this situation, so I placed my hands together in a position of prayer and bowed my head, working on the hitherto successful strategy that if you refuse to fight back, guys are generally very reluctant to beat you up. It worked. A man grabbed me from behind with both hands and hauled me out of the centre of the mob. I made it back to my bus without further incident.

All of this would have been water off a duck’s back had Morde and I then been able to board a plane and fly back to Australia. Unfortunately the authorities had ruled that this ‘free’ man should not be allowed to leave the country, nor go anywhere near a border or a foreign embassy, nor have any contact with ‘foreigners’. The ‘foreigner’ restriction was aimed at the foreign press. Even so, technically, I wasn’t allowed to spend extensive time with my old friend without risking seeing him re-arrested!

We were reunited briefly on the evening of that same day of his release. Unfortunately I cried so much that I really didn’t get the chance to tell him all of the things that I had prepared for that moment. All I can hope for now is that one-day we will catch up properly – perhaps over a few beers back here in the land of Oz. I know that Morde would like that.

Getting Morde out of Israel is indeed the next big challenge for the Vanunu campaign. I don’t know how hard this will prove to be. I do know that I had a bloody hard time getting out myself. In my case it wasn’t that they didn’t want me out (they held off the departure of the plane until I got on board). They just seemed determined to let me know that they didn’t want me back.

I had been warned by the other peace activists of intimidation tactics employed by airport staff. Ironically, I initially made it through all four security checkpoints without being stopped. It was only as I proceeded to the final gate that a young man in a suit caught up with me and said, “Excuse me sir, but can I see your passport.” He then told me that there had been a ‘problem’ and that he would need to retain my passport until the ‘problem’ had been resolved. I was then shuffled into a small room to begin a three-hour process of interrogation, body searching and luggage examination.

In the end the verdict was that I was free to go and that there was nothing suspect about the contents of my bags, but that the bags themselves were suspect and that none of them could be taken on board as hand luggage. This meant that I could carry with me my camera, but not in my camera case, my laptop, but not my laptop case, my video camera, but not the bag with the shoulder strap that I lugged it around in, my toothbrush and paste, but not my toiletries bag, and even my Palm-pilot portable keyboard, but not the little vinyl dust-jacket that I kept it in. I could take what I liked, so long as I carried it in my arms.

It was just a game, though they managed to keep straight faces throughout the whole ordeal. For my part I refused to get on board without the bulk of my carry-on items. In the end they agreed to give me a large cardboard box to put them in.

And so my cheap holiday in other people’s misery came to an end. But now the real work begins. For I returned home, but I left my friend inside the confines of St George’s Cathedral in Jerusalem, where the good bishop has offered him sanctuary.

Morde can’t leave the Cathedral grounds. He has at least two reporters on every exit, taking shifts to cover his movements 24-hours per day. If Morde tries to walk out into the street, he’ll be immediately surrounded and identified, and given the number of locals that would count it as a point of pride to be responsible for his death, Morde’s life in the open probably wouldn’t last more than a few minutes.

I’d like to see my friend back here in Australia. I wonder if the Australian government has the courage to offer him citizenship?

‘Fighting’ Father Dave Smith – Parish Priest, community worker, professional fighter, father of three – met Vaunu in Sydney in 1986. They have been friends ever since.

Vanunu is featured in Father Dave’s book,’Sex, the Ring & the Eucharist‘. Get a free preview copy when you sign up for Dave’s newsletter at www.fatherdave.org

The probability of scooping up the euro millions jack-pot is a far-off one : seventy six million but the likelihood of winning a money prize is a fairly decent one in 24. When the jackpot is not won on a given lottery draw, it is carried forward to the next week that will result in an ever increasing jackpot prize. Recent rules brought in on the 09-Feb-07 specify the amount of successive roll overs to eleven, with the jack-pot rolled down to lower prize levels in the 11th lottery draw when the prize is not collected.

The Euromillions lottery or the Euro Lottery, as it is usually better-known, pools the lottery ticket revenues of the nine partaking European countries giving a immense Euro Lottery jackpot. With the quantity of nations joining the EU on the increase, that will without question will lead to new countries participating in the Euro lotto. A growth in the amount of people partaking in the Euro millions lottery will lead to a continuing growth of the already enormous Euro Lottery jackpots.

The recent rules also initiated Euro Lotto Super Draw which happen twice yearly plus they offer jack-pots in the region of 100 million pounds. The difference with Super Draws is that the jackpot has to be collected during the calendar week of the draw; as a result, if there is no lotto ticket matching, all the numbers drawn and the top prize will be distributed to the ticket bearer(s) in the succeeding winning prize level.

Each player must choose 5 primary numbers from one to fifty plus two Lucky-star numbers from 1 to 9. During the draw, 5 main plus two lucky-star numbers are then chosen at random from 2 lotto draw machines containing numbered balls.

Michael Moore asserts the following in his political film Fahrenheit 9/11:

Con #1. Bush favors the Bin Laden family over American interests. Regarding the Bin Laden family leaving the country, we as Americans don’t punish people for crimes they didn’t commit. Releasing them was the civil answer. Imagine if your cousin blew up a building, would you want to go to jail for it? And what do you think the terrorists would have done to our families? Getting them out of the country stemmed a potential lynching, which would have made America look as bad as our enemies. It was the right thing to do.

Con #2. Halliburton and other war corporations are self-serving enemies of America, conspiring with the President for profit and privileges. These are public companies he is attacking. They are owned by millions of stockholders. America owns them.

Moore criticized executive appointments in Iraq and Afghanistan by “exposing” their prior relationships to the President, implying conspiracy. There is no immorality due to those appointed being associates of the President, any more than showing preference in choosing his cabinet. Experienced leaders choose people they like–they don’t have to field resumes.

Con #3. Our poor are preyed upon by U. S. military recruiters. That the poor and the middle classes do the majority of the fighting is not a conspiracy of the Bush presidency, but a historical fact of all armies in all nations. Upper class parents hand down a disciplined living structure to their children, while the middle and lower class parents provide limited to no living structure, which is reflected in their economic status. Their children need and should seek the kind of discipline that the military provides, and if they’re smart, they carry that rational order into their private lives. Upper class youth already have a plan at that stage, lead self-directed lives much earlier, and therefore avoid the risk of being called into action. Moore’s footage defeated his own argument in that the kids at the upscale malls were approached directly and weren’t interested; their “influential” parents obviously weren’t intervening. (It’s a voluntary army, Michael).

Con #4. A negative soldier’s viewpoint reveals the immorality of the war. A wounded soldier has good cause to question why he was there in the first place and to believe that war is devastatingly senseless, which is true for the aggressor. But American civilization cannot tolerate the random acts of violence, which are commonplace in Islamic Fundamentalist regions, to happen here. If necessary, we have to rout them out at the source. Twenty year-olds won’t have the experience to judge the policy of a nation, but should be able to comprehend right and wrong at a more basic level. We must honor those who fight for us; we must shelter our fallen, but given the blatant horrors of the enemy versus American life, he should know he’s on the right side.

Con #5. The Iraq Dictatorship had nothing to do with the war on terrorism. If they’re not terrorists, boy do they act like them. Car bombs, abductions, beheadings, anarchy and dictatorship preferred to democracy, suicide missions which murder their own people and offer no peaceful alternative; no, there’s no likeness there(!). (If you question our military strategy and the countries we’ve chosen, look at a map).

Look at the nature of our enemy. Most Americans are civil and constructive–including our troops, while the average insurgent is aggressive and foolish as an individual. If you pulled any insurgent aside for an interview you’d see he is a poorly educated, fear-driven control-freak charged with incoherent dogmatic conclusions he never would have come to on his own. They’re all psychologically trapped in the “submission/domination axis” (as Moral Armor calls it), which amounts to little more than roving criminality, veiled as an endless fight for Allah–which is only a substitution for their tantrum against ever being questioned. Their delusional dedication to an all-powerful force against the outsiders who threaten Him ignores a crucial contradiction: If God is all-powerful then He is in no danger, and doesn’t need their help.

Con #6. American forces are running amok, targeting innocent civilians. In The Art of War, Sun Tzu says to attack the heart of your enemy. Who has Moore attacked? Whose heart is he after? Did he show you the crippled and burned Americans still struggling to survive after September 11th? No, he showed you Iraqi casualties. All sides have casualties in war, and a movie maker will favor those of like ideology. Whose side are you on Michael? How many heads have we cut off? Such barbarism only strengthens our resolve to win.

Near the end, Moore meekly agrees that “America is a great country.” Still, you can’t help but get a strong anti-American feeling from the film. It’s him telling the rest of us that our world is a sham, our freedom is a lie, and that this dilemma is our own fault. Of course, he fails to mention that we wiped out two dictatorships with a wartime loss amounting to only one-third the casualties they caused us in New York, and we are now paving the way for their most productive citizens to thrive in a civil world community. The aggregate result will be a release of the pent up energy of the people–an Iraqi industrial revolution and a world benefit–new pipelines, skyscrapers and personal freedoms.

It’s irresponsible to watch such a movie and draw conclusions based solely on its contents. It is not honest to isolate three aspects of an issue when there are six to consider. Shame on you, Mr. Moore!
Summation and Solution. The Koran states that anyone who is not Muslim is the enemy, to be chopped, hacked and slaughtered, plain and simple. There is no room for misinterpretation, and no constructive reasoning with such insanity. Allegiance to life must come before religious or political ideas, and such ideas must be based on the furtherance of the biological life of a man; otherwise, they are wrong.

To the oppressed citizens of the world I say, as a free country, America offers a simple institutional structure–no dogmatic requirements; we’re all free to believe what we want–but if you limit or harm others, you’re freedom will be taken in turn. The old days are gone–the monarchies, the dictatorships, the communal nightmares–with room only for civility between men into the future. All must respect the human institutions whose fundamental guideline is the preservation of individual life, by outlawing the initiation of force against others. So conform, and live.

It is the obligation of philosophy to provide a constructive course of action in the individual, social, artistic and institutional realms–the full range of human action. Moral Armor does just that, providing the first fully-integrated non-sectarian moral code, and it is based on the nature of Man. No other style of moral code has even a chance to win over there.

The campaign in Iraq was not a new development. Iraq has been a thorn in the world’s side ever since the Gulf War when Hussein should have been deposed, and it’s too late to turn back now. Terrorist dogma thrives on fresh martyrs; we need a strong leader who will see this through, and our President will. Unfortunately, when one side won’t listen to reason, you have to fight, so let’s get it over with.

(In the time it took to read this, President Bush had reacted to 9/11).

Ronald E. Springer is the Author/Philosopher of Moral Armor, the world’s first fully-integrated moral philosophy based on the nature of Man. Featured on The Mitch Albom Show, NBC and FOX News radio affiliates, Mr. Springer is available for interviews, speaking engagements, philosophy workshops and seminars. Please contact RonaldESpringer@MoralArmor.com or visit http://www.MoralArmor.com for details. For a free three-part mini-course on morality-based happiness, send a blank email to: moralarmor@getresponse.com.

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