BPR Mailing List Digest: 07/05/00

Philologos
BPR Mailing List Digest
July 5, 2000

Digest Home | 2000 | July, 2000

To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - July 5, 2000 TV Programs
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 08:36:37 -0400

8:00 PM Eastern

NBC - DATELINE NBC - Special effects in the movie
``The Perfect Storm.''(CC)

9:00

USA - THE DAY AFTER *** (Drama, 1983) -- A doctor and
other survivors roam scorched Lawrence, Kan., in the
aftermath of a nuclear attack. (150 minutes) (Ends 11:30pm)

9:30

TBN - JACK VAN IMPE PRESENTS

10:00

DISC - WRESTLING THE MISSISSIPPI - Hydrologists predict the
river will see an unparalleled flood in the near future.(CC)(TVG)

HIST - STEALTH TECHNOLOGY - The innovation keeps planes and
missiles from being detected by enemy radar.(CC)(TVG)

TLC - JUNKYARD WARS - "Flying Machines" - Psychologists and
washing-machine repairmen compete to build flying
machines.(CC)(TVG)

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Spacedaily items (7/5/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 08:57:44 -0400

JOVIAN DREAMS

- Galileo Will Make Final Plunge By 2004
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/galileo-00k1.html

Cameron Park - July 3, 2000 - The final phase of the
Galileo mission was the subject of a recent NAS report
that dealt with several issues including the dangers
the spacecraft posses to Europa should it crash into
the Jovian moon after the mission is wrapped up by
2004. In an extensive report Bruce Moomaw's details
the issues and how they impact planning for the final
phase of Galileo's mission to Jupiter.

- The Ethics Of Outer Space
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/ethics-00a.html

Paris - July 3, 2000 - ESA and UNESCO have prepared
a joint report on the ethics of space. It will be
presented to the media on 10 July in Paris by Professor
Alain Pompidou, former Member of the European Parliament,
and Antonio Rodota, ESA=92s Director General.

GPS ALERT

- Ukraine Planning To Join European GPS Program
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/gps-euro-00c.html

Kiev (Interfax) June 30, 2000 - The European Union and
Ukraine have confirmed preparedness for cooperation in
the creation of an all- European global navigation
Satellite System (GNSS).

- China Helping Pakistan Develop Weapons
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/missiles-00b.html

Washington (AFP) June 2, 2000 - US intelligence agencies
believe China is helping Pakistan develop long-range
missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons, according
to newspaper reports here Sunday.

- Russia Selling Missile Technology To N.Korea
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/missiles-00c.html

Washington (AFP) June 30, 2000 - US intelligence agencies
believe China is helping Pakistan develop long-range
missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons, according
to newspaper reports here Sunday.

via: transhumantech@egroups.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Preparing for "The Bartholomew's Night", Ukraine
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 08:16:00 -0500

Preparing for "The Bartholomew's Night", Ukraine

http://www.russiatoday.com/press.php3?id=174968

Summary

In mid-July, an unprecedented event in the Christian world will take place
in Swiss locality Champbesi. World Constantinople Patriarch Bartholomew I
and the head of the Moscow Patriarch's external affairs office will decide
the fate of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine. Representatives of three
churches are invited to the meeting: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of
Russian Patriarchy, the Ukrainian Autonomous Church and the Ukrainian
Orthodox Church of Kiev Patriarchy.

Hierarchies of the three churches will hardly achieve a compromise, because
they are known to be rather hostile to each other. The greatest mutual
distrust is between the Ukrainian Orthodox Churches of Moscow and Kiev
Patriarchies. In 1991, when Kiev mitropolit Filaret declared Ukrainian
Orthodox Church independent from the Moscow Patriarch, he was excommunicated
from the Russian Orthodox Church and anathematized. And for the past ten
years, the Ukranian Kiev Church has been recognized neither by Orthodox, nor
by Catholic world. Nevertheless, it has been made the official religion of
the Ukrainian Army. Still, the majority of the Russian-speaking population
in Ukraine go to "The Moscow church", because in the "Kiev church" they
serve in Ukrainian language. They are positive that support of Filaret by
Ukrainian powers is a measure aiming at extirpation of the Russian language.

Kiev is preparing to completely oust the Russian Orthodoxy from Ukraine.
This is done with support of Constantinople Patriarch Barholomew and under
cover of unification of the hostile countries. The "Single Ukrainian
Orthodox Church", that they plan to arrange by merging the Moscow and Kiev
churches, will be subordinated to the Constantinople Patriarch himself.
Moscow patriarch's office now accuse Bartholomew in assuming the role of the
Eastern Pope and in serving the interests of the U.S., that want to separate
the Russian Orthodox Church.

There are a lot of demonstrations in Ukraine. On June 26 Simferopol
parishioners rallied against the visit of Filaret, who came to the Crimea to
greet graduates of the Sevastopol Naval University. Rioters threw rotten
eggs at his car. And a day later, in Sevastopol, the congregation of
Vladimir's Cathedral blocked Filaret his way to the church, that was built
on the place where Vladimir the Saint was baptized.

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - See Ref to Decent Globe/Time Resource
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 08:29:34 -0500

-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Rankin [mailto:bob@RANKIN.ORG]
Sent: Tuesday, July 04, 2000 11:29 PM
To: TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Subject: TOURBUS - 04 Jul 2000 - Worldtime / Millennium Math

[... snipped ...]

------------------------------
IS IT MORNING IN MADAGASCAR?
------------------------------

WORLDTIME is a cool site where you can view an image of the globe with
shadows indicating day and night. You can also rotate the globe, set
the direction from which you would like to view it, and zoom in on
specific locations.

You can optionally add a longitude and latitude grid, draw the
national borders, or change the size of the globe. Clicking on a
country will change the page so that it includes time information for
selected cities and towns, along with a list of public holidays for
that country. If you're geographically-challenged, click on "View
list of countries" and you can zoom right to the correct spot on the
globe by selecting the country name. Pretty nifty.

<A href="http://www.worldtime.com">
http://www.worldtime.com </A>

Tourbus Home: Archives, Free Stuff and More - http://www.TOURBUS.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Infobeat New items (7/5/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 11:54:50 -0400

*** Arafat divulges financial secrets

JERUSALEM (AP) - After years of pressure from foreign donors,
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has divulged his administration's
financial secrets - from the existence of a multimillion dollar slush
fund to a state monopoly on cement and a $60 million share in a
highly profitable casino. The 16-page report, posted on the
Palestinian Authority's Web site, has drawn praise from the donor
community, coupled with warnings that fledgling financial and
economic reforms will be eroded if the government doesn't trim the
bloated public payroll expected to devour 60% of this year's $1
billion budget. The donor community, led by the United States and the
European Union, has demanded for years that the Palestinian
government divulge its financial dealings, including the diversion of
millions of dollars in tax revenues to secret accounts in Israeli
banks to which only Arafat and a few close advisers have access. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2567859981-c76

*** China denies missile charges

BEIJING (AP) - China denied Tuesday assisting Pakistan's nuclear
missile program, saying it adhered fully to international appeals to
discourage the buildup of nuclear weapons in South Asia. Allegations
that China has provided Pakistan with weapons' grade steel, missile
guidance systems and technical advice were "totally unfounded and
with ulterior motives," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun
Yuxi. The claims were published by The New York Times on Sunday in a
story that quoted U.S. intelligence officials saying they have
informed President Clinton and Congress that China is helping
Pakistan build nuclear-capable missiles. Alleged transfers of
missiles and missile technology by China to Pakistan have repeatedly
bedeviled Beijing's relations with Washington. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2567854738-fa5 ***
Also: Taiwan says China boosting military, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2567867910-a52

*** Nations increase Chernobyl aid

BERLIN (AP) - The Group of Seven biggest industrial nations and the
European Union have agreed to double their promised aid to $600
million to help rebuild the leaky cement shell that covers the ruined
reactor at Chernobyl, a German official said Tuesday. The additional
aid, to be announced Wednesday at a donor conference convened by
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in Berlin, means Ukraine will
have almost the entire $768 million it says is needed for the
project, the official said on condition of anonymity. Chernobyl was
the site of the world's worst nuclear accident when a reactor
exploded and caught fire in April 1986. Experts say a new cover over
the ruined reactor - instead of the hastily constructed and leaky
Soviet-built "sarcophagus" - is needed to prevent new radiation
dangers. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2567868114-651

*** Russian Duma gets its revenge

MOSCOW (AP) - After years of getting sand kicked in its face by its
parliamentary big brother, Russia's lower house is finally getting
its revenge. Lawmakers in the lower house, the State Duma, are
showing noticeable relish in their threats to push through President
Vladimir Putin's first major domestic policy initiative - a bill that
would overhaul Russia's upper house of parliament. On Tuesday,
leaders of the upper house shied away from a showdown over the bill
they oppose, instead agreeing to join a conciliatory commission to
find a compromise. The entire body was expected to meet Friday to
work out details. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2567860075-922

*** European court fines Greece

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - The European Court of Justice on Tuesday
imposed fines of $19,000 a day on Greece for failing to respect
environment regulations, the first time the EU's supreme court has
fined a member government. Greece will have to pay the sum every day
until it complies with an earlier court ruling demanding the clean up
of a waste dump on the Mediterranean island of Crete. In a statement,
the Luxembourg-based court said the fine reflected the "particularly
serious" nature of the case and the long duration of Greece's
infringement of EU law. The court first ordered Greece to close the
dump in 1992 after the European Commission claimed the disposal of
toxic waste there posed health and environmental dangers. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2567867922-d6f

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Gay Consumers in the Driver's Seat
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 11:54:50 -0400

Gay Consumers in the Driver's Seat
By Kimberly Shearer Palmer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 4, 2000; Page C01

A car can be a symbol of manhood, a venue for clandestine
groping or proof of a 16th birthday. Now, with the birth
of a Subaru ad campaign, cars can also define sexual
orientation.

"It's Not a Choice. It's the Way We're Built," read the ad
posters on bus stops around Dupont Circle. What are they
talking about? The car? All- wheel drive? Or, just
possibly, could the slogan be commenting on the nature of
homosexuality?

It depends on who's looking. "It's apparent to gay people
that we're talking about being gay, but straight people
don't know what's going on," said Paul Poux, founder of
Poux Co., one of the campaign's developers.

Gays are not only tuned in, but their wallets are also
turned out. Subaru has been so successful at attracting
gay customers that some drivers consider themselves
members of a "club," in which fellow Subaru owners share an
implied message behind their cars' brand. "I'm never
surprised when I look across a lane of traffic and see a
woman in a Subaru and think she might be gay," said Kim
Mills, who cruises in a Subaru Impreza.

When Mills, education director at the Human Rights
Campaign, was deciding between two types of cars four
years ago, she chose the Subaru because she knew the
company supported the gay community.

For the past six years, Subaru advertising has targeted
gays, partially through its support of the Rainbow Card
program, a Visa card that generates money to support AIDS
research and other gay-related causes. British Airways and
Citibank also participate in the program.

"We have continued success with the [ad] campaign, and it
certainly hasn't hurt us," said Tim Bennett, director of
marketing programs at Subaru. He thought of the "It's Not
a Choice" slogan as he was brainstorming for a way to
emphasize that each Subaru model has all-wheel drive.

While advertisements directed at gay men are nothing new,
Subaru may be one of the first companies to have attracted
a strong lesbian customer base.

A series of ads last year featuring various vanity license
plates included the plate "XENA LVR," which spoke
specifically to lesbians, said Poux, because some gay
women are fans of USA Network's "Xena: Warrior Princess."
He also suggested that Subaru's reliability was ideal for
women "who don't have a man around the house who fixes
cars."

Mechanical abilities aside, the car seems to fit the image
of an active lifestyle, which some lesbians associate with
their sexuality. "I cannot see a gay man in a [Subaru]
station wagon," said Northern Virginian Cindy Waddell.
Subaru, she said, "fits the lesbian image of an outdoorsy
person. . . . I don't know if they made [the car] with us
in mind, but it fits our lifestyle."

Coincidentally or not, the Subaru-lesbian connection seems
to have spread throughout the car-buying lesbian
community. "We call [Subarus] Lesbarus," said Pam
Derderian, CEO and principal partner of Do Tell Inc., a
gay niche marketing firm that created the Rainbow Card
program.

Gay men, however, also respond to the ads. Jeff Sachse,
owner of a Legacy Outback and special counsel for the
Human Rights Campaign, said he and his partner "never
would have gone into a Subaru showroom if it weren't for
the ads. It's nice to know your business is appreciated. I
have good feelings when owning and driving the car."

And even though Subaru has enlisted tennis great and
lesbian activist Martina Navratilova as a spokeswoman, the
company said its advertising message does not restrict
itself to the gay community. According to Bennett, the
message is open to interpretation. "It depends on what you
read into it. It's definitely a play on words and is
effective," he said.

The double meaning may be so vague, in fact, that many
people walking past billboards posted on bus stops don't
even realize it. Zuzanna Jaszczak, a summer student at
Georgetown University, said she didn't notice any gay
message in the Subaru ad at first. "What would matter to me
more is the actual price and quality of the car," she said.

Dupont Circle resident Michael Dang, 22, didn't notice the
gay implication either, and he was skeptical about the
motive. "It's not altruistic. It's just for profits," he
said.

Others passing the ad near Dupont Circle seemed to like
the idea, and said they might consider a Subaru if they
were in the market for a new car. Sheila Gudiswitz, a
consultant who lives in Adams-Morgan, said she would be
more inclined to buy a Subaru because of the ad campaign.
"For something big like a car," a company's policies
influence her buying decisions, she said. "I wouldn't give
30 or 40 thousand dollars to a company that's not gay-
friendly."

Because gay people may be more attuned to messages
directed at them, vague posters may attract the gay
community while avoiding the alienation that can come with
more obvious images, such as showing two men holding
hands. When Budweiser ran such an ad in gay-oriented
publications last year, it was attacked as anti-family by
conservative groups.

Poux called Subaru's approach more creative. In addition
to the lesbian connotation, and even more discreet than
word choice, the car in Subaru's poster campaign is
stacked with two bicycles--both of them men's bikes.

Subaru's ad also leaves room for differentiation among the
brand's models. Mills described the Subaru Legacy as more
of a "straight family's car," since it's not quite as
sporty-looking.

Certainly, many Subaru drivers are heterosexual. Derderian
said she would not assume a Subaru driver was gay. "I'm
sure Subaru sells a heck of a lot of cars to people who
aren't gay, too, " she said.

Subaru has a lot to gain from the loyalty of gay men and
lesbians. "This is a sound business decision for Subaru,"
Derderian said. "Don't kid yourself, we have tracking
lists that show how many cars are bought through our
[Rainbow Card] program. Thousands and thousands of cars."

Derderian would not give a specific number, but said sales
have increased for each period Subaru has been affiliated
with the card. Subaru has decided to renew its contract
with the card program every two years since the two first
joined forces in 1995. The current contract lasts through
2002. "If they couldn't measure positive results, they
wouldn't seek us out," Derderian said.

But advertising aimed at the gay community is not always a
positive step for gay rights. According to Alexandra
Chasin, author of "Selling Out: The Gay and Lesbian
Movement Goes to Market," it can hurt the struggle for
political equality.

In this particular Subaru ad, the concept that
homosexuality is not a choice but inherent in one's
biology is a "middle-of-the-road argument," Chasin said.
The more progressive message would be to suggest that
homosexuality "is a choice, and a damn good choice at
that," she said.

Also, people may be lulled into thinking that they are
engaging in political activity by buying a car, which is
not necessarily the case, Chasin said. By using political
words and phrases, "companies, Subaru among them, exploit
the idea that personal consumption is an ideal form of
political participation. In fact, it is extremely unlikely
that politics conducted through consumption could ever
produce significant progressive social change."

Whether their taste is politically inspired or not, many
people like the ads for their own sake. "People talk about
the ads and think they're really cool," Sachse said.

The "It's Not a Choice," campaign, which also appears in
10 other cities including San Francisco and Seattle, came
out in time for the District's gay rights march in April.
"Subaru is saying that we understand who you are," Poux
said.

Will other companies join in this niche-marketing trend?
For the past 20 years, gay marketing has been the domain
of alcohol, car, fashion and stereo equipment advertising,
said Chasin, because of "the personnel working in those
industries and assumptions based on stereotypes." She
named Absolut, Miller Brewing Co. and Calvin Klein as
leaders of the pack.

Some viewers saw the two men driving around in
Volkswagen's 1997 "Da, da, da" television commercial as
gay, and almost any same-sex pair in commercials can be
interpreted as romantically involved, if the viewer wants
them to be. "Gay [people] tend to read themselves into
ads," Chasin said.

Advertising aimed at gays seems to be increasing. Phil
Rockstroh, a sales representative for the Washington
Blade, a newspaper directed at the District's gay
community, said, "We've had a wider variety of advertisers
reaching out to the gay community over the last 10 years,"
especially for products intended for wealthier people.
"We've seen an increase in car dealers, financial advisers
and banking-related advertisements in the Blade."

Niche marketing gives companies an advantage by attracting
customers who keep returning each time they need a new
product. "Some big [companies] don't target in any
respect, so they don't always build a loyal customer
base," Derderian said.

David Smith, spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign,
said, "If a company is making an effort to reach out and
send us positive messages . . . then we are more likely to
feel positively towards them."

http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43093-
2000Jul3.html

via: Third_Watch@egroups.com

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - NewsScan Daily items (7/5/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 12:02:48 -0400

CRYSTAL BALL ON 2020
At the recent "Next 20 Years" gathering in San Francisco, futurist Paul
Saffo warned participants about the threat of cyburbia -- a scenario in
which "any fool with a double-wide trailer and a satellite dish can tow it
onto a piece of unoccupied land in the middle of the Nevada desert and have
enough power to compute." Making it all possible will be a
washing-machine-sized device capable of generating electricity with only
fresh water as a by-product. Meanwhile, Hewlett-Packard's Stanley Williams
predicted a future where sports fans could experience the game from
anywhere on the field, and visual entertainment in which the "viewer" could insert
him- or herself anywhere in the scene, or even participate as one of the
characters. And Benchmark Capital General Partner Bill Gurley envisioned
browsable desktop economies, fueled by a Napster-style computer
architecture in which every PC is connected to its peers, rather than the client-server
model now common. Users will be able to log on and "play" the economy:
"The economy is a game as well. So all of a sudden -- with everyone connected to
the Web and an easy way to transfer money, and the ability to compete for
your time or expertise -- I think you'll see a world evolve literally within
the next 20 years very similar to what's described in Neal Stephenson's
'Snow Crash'... The notion that you might wake up one day, take a shower,
walk into your office, put on a headphone, and sit down to a keyboard, and
literally jack into an entire different economy is very possible." (Wired
News 5 Jul 2000)
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,37360,00.html

POST OFFICE PLANS E-MAIL ADDRESSES FOR EVERYONE
The U.S. Postal Service wants to develop a system that would give each
individual in the U.S. a unique e-mail address (additional to other e-mail
addresses the person might have), and to use that address for such purposes
as alerting customers to incoming packages or bills. The system, which is
still several years away, is intended to help the USPS compete with Web
commerce, which some experts say will take away more than two-thirds of
USPS's revenue from First Class mail within the next ten years.
(Bloomberg/Atlanta Journal-Constitution 5 Jul 2000)
http://www.accessatlanta.com/partners/ajc/epaper/editions/today/business_9
3262d83a317d06310d2.html

"NewsScan" <newsscan@newsscan.com>

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - REAL WORLD NEWS 07/05/2000
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Wed, 05 Jul 2000 11:10:37 -0500

Selected Items from

REAL WORLD NEWS 07/05/2000

Visit Real World News online at http://www.realworldnews.net

ARAFAT FIXES SEPTEMBER 13 FOR PLO STATE
The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) has told its supporters to
start preparations for the establishment of an independent state by
September 13. This is the date that Israel and the Palestinians have
set as a deadline for reaching a final peace treaty. The Palestinian
Central Council, the second highest policy-making body of the PLO,
announced the decision at the end of a two-day conference in Gaza, in
which they backed plans by their supreme leader, Mr Yasser Arafat, to
declare an independent state this year.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/0007/05/world/world03.html

CLINTON TO HOLD MIDEAST SUMMIT ON JULY 11
President Clinton will host a summit with Israel and the
Palestinians near Washington on July 11 aiming to reach a deal
before their September target for a final peace, an official close
to the negotiations said Wednesday. Speaking less than an hour
before Clinton planned to make an announcement at the White House
at 1415 GMT, the official told Reuters: ``Both sides have accepted
to come to a summit near Washington on July 11.''
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000705/ts/mideast_summit_dc_2.html

ISRAEL SAYS PALESTINIAN STATE NEEDS ITS RECOGNITION
An Israeli cabinet minister said on Tuesday that a Palestinian
state could not exist without Israel's recognition. Justice
Minister Yossi Beilin was reacting to the statement by the
Palestinian Central Council (PCC) on Monday that if a final peace
deal with Israel was not reached by a September 13 deadline,
Palestinians would be free to declare a state in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip. "I can tell them that a Palestinian state will not be
created as long as Israel does not recognise it," said Beilin, an
architect of the 1993 Oslo peace accords. "It will stay on paper
even if the entire world recognises a unilateral Palestinian
state."
http://www.virtualholyland.com/channels/israel_n/reuters.htm

112 PEOPLE DIE IN UKRAINE OF MUSHROOM POISONING
At least 112 Ukrainians - including 33 children - have died this
year of mushroom poisoning, with the number of victims growing
daily, the Health Ministry said Wednesday. Some cases involved
entire families, such as a seven-member family including four
children who died in a village in the eastern Luhansk region, the
ministry said. Mushroom picking is a favorite summer and fall
pastime for many people in Ukraine, as well as in other former
Soviet republics, and for some impoverished Ukrainians it serves as a
way of eking out food supplies. But there are numerous poisoning cases
each year. http://www.foxnews.com/world/0705/i_ap_0705_58.sml

TEMPERATURES HIT 120 IN EUROPE HEAT WAVE
Hundreds of wildfires burned across southern Europe on Tuesday as
the region remained in the grip of a heat wave that has driven
temperatures as high as 120 degrees. In the Balkans, the sizzling
temperatures accompanied the worst drought to strike the region in
50 years, which has already caused record crop losses since it
began in late May.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20000704/aponline153315_
00
0.htm

SEVEN DEAD, 120,000 HOMELESS AFTER PHILIPPINE TYPHOON
Seven people have died and more than 120,000 others have fled their
homes after typhoon Kirogi and a lesser storm triggered floods in
Manila
and the northern Philippines, officials and reports said Wednesday. A
couple was crushed to death when an uprooted tree fell on their home
in
the northern mountain resort of Baguio on Wednesday, police said.
Five
other people either drowned in floodwaters or were crushed by debris
in
and around Manila, the civil defense office here said. Press reports
said about 120,000 people had fled their homes.
http://asia.dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/asia/article.html?s=asia/hea
dl
ines/000705/asia/afp/Seven_dead__120_000_flee_homes_after_typhoon_in_P
hi
lippines.html

GREEK MYTHS: NOT NECESSARILIY MYTHICAL
Neither an archaeologist nor a paleontologist herself, Adrienne
Mayor has nonetheless done some digging deep into the past and
found literary and artistic clues -- and not a few huge fossils --
that seem to explain the inspiration for many of the giants,
monsters and other strange creatures in the mythology of antiquity.
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/070400sci-archaeo-gree
ce
html

THE BIBLE'S PLACE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
It's the best-selling book of all time, yet confusion and
controversy surround its use in public schools. Fifteen-year-old
Angela Harbison said her teacher made her feel like a criminal for
bringing a Bible to school one day. "She grabbed it out of my hand
and she goes, 'These are not allowed on school campus or in this
school; I don't know what you were thinking,' " Harbison recalled.
The teacher, however, is the one who's confused, according to Mat
Staver of Liberty Counsel.
http://www.lifelinenews.net/candm/candm1/candm1.html

'MINUTE OF SILENCE' BEGINS IN SCHOOLS
As Virginia's new minute of silence law faces a legal challenge,
some local school officials are keeping a watchful eye on the
courts while they institute the measure in their classrooms. The
law requires public schools to have a daily "minute of silence"
when students may "meditate, pray or engage in other silent
activity." The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia filed a
lawsuit two weeks ago challenging the constitutionality of the new
law and asking a federal court to place an injunction prohibiting
school officials from enforcing it.
http://dailypress.com/news/stories/76380sy0.htm

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Seasons of the Moon - Tammuz
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 12:24:45 -0400

A VANISHED WORLD

Right now, as you are reading this, a million different things are
happening in the world. Millions of lives are beginning and millions
ending. A vast cacophony called life in all its rawness and
gentleness is being played out on this ball turning silently in space.
It all seems so chaotic. Great evil is going unpunished. And great
goodness is going unrewarded. Where is G-d? Has He thrown up His
hands in despair and gone off for a ride with the top down?

AMERICAN BEAUTY

The basic credo of Judaism is that G-d is One. Not just that there is
one G-d, but that He is One and that nothing else exists apart from
Him. This is what we mean when we say the Shema Yisrael: Hear O
Israel, the Lord our G-d, the Lord is One. One. Alone. Nothing
else.

Let me ask you a question. If G-d is One, how come this world is so
full of conflict, so full of contradictions to His Unity?

A few months ago, I was scanning through a magazine and my eye came to
rest on one of the photo icons of our age -- Ansel Adams' immortal
"Moonrise over Hernandez." A beautiful full moon skirting a low bank
of cloud, rising majestically from the horizon. The evening sky dark
and brooding... All this in the exquisite detail that only an 8x10
inch negative and the genius of a master can produce. My eye traveled
down to the caption and I started to read...

   "Because of my unfortunate disregard for the dates of my negatives,
   I have caused considerable dismay among photographic historians,
   students, and museums -- to say nothing of the trouble it has
   caused me. 'Moonrise' is a prime example of my anti-date complex.
   It has been listed as 1940, 1941, 1942, and even 1944. At the
   suggestion of the Beaumont Newhall, Dr. David Elmore of the High
   Altitude Observatory at Boulder, Colorado, put a computer to work
   on the problem. Using data from a visit to the site, analysis of
   the moon's position in the photograph, and lunar azimuth tables, he
   determined that the exposure was made at approximately 4:05PM on
   October 31 1941. That is now the official date..."

October 31st 1941. Here was the doyen of American photography making
art in all the beauty of a warm New Mexico evening while, on the other
side of the world, this same moon was witnessing the death sentence of
a generation.

October 31st 1941. I wonder what was happening in Europe when Ansel
Adams was making that photograph. Out of interest, I did some
research on that date. The results made the hair on the back of my
neck start to rise.

INTO THE WIRES OF EXISTENCE

On January 20 1942, at an idyllic lakeside house in Wannsee near
Berlin, there was an intramural meeting attended by Heydrich,
Eichmann, and other Nazi leaders. This is how the report begins:

   Protocol of the Wannsee Conference, January 20, 1942
   Reich Secret Document 30 Copies
   Protocol of Conference

   1. The following took part in the conference on the final solution
     (Endlosung) of the Jewish question held on January 20, 1942, in
     Berlin, Am Grossen Warmsee No. 56-58."

There it was in black and white "...the final solution..." I was
reading the death warrant of the Jewish People.

On page 4 of the Wannsee Protocol, the following seemingly innocuous
statement is made:

   "... since the Machtubernahme (rise to power of the Nazi party),
   January 30, 1933, until the accounting day, October 31, 1941, a
   total of about 537,000 Jews had been brought to emigration ..."

October 31, 1941. The day of accounting. While Ansel Adams was busy
photographing a moonrise in New Mexico, the Germans had drawn a red
line under the emigration of Jews from the Reich. There was to be no
more emigration. The final phase had been reached. The death
sentence of a generation had been sealed.

... And where was G-d?

THE DAY OF ACCOUNTING

If G-d created this world to reveal His Perfection and Completeness,
logically nothing should emerge from this wish except that which is
perfect and complete in every way.

Nothing in this world should exhibit any signs of lacking or
deficiency. There should be no room for evil. Since G-d's Will in
creation was to reveal His Perfection to the world, what possible
purpose could there be in His creations exhibiting deficiency?

So why should evil exist?

G-d chose to reveal His Perfection to man in a specific way -- and in
no other. He chose to reveal His Perfection by showing us His Unity.
There's something unique about unity. We can understand it.

A NEGATIVE WORLD

None of the Creator's other qualities can be defined by their
opposite. By saying that G-d is the opposite of evil gives us no
clue as to the extent of His Goodness; to define His Wisdom by saying
that He is the opposite of foolishness takes us nowhere in
understanding the extent of His Wisdom. Expressing the negative
doesn't define the positive. However, when we say that G-d isn't two
-- that defines exactly what it means that He is One. "Not being two"
is the perfect negative image of what "being One" means. As it says
in the poem Adon Olam, "And He is One -- and there is no second."

G-d decided to reveal His Perfection to the world not through
revealing His Wisdom nor His Goodness nor any other of His Qualities,
but only through His Unity.

Which is why we see such dis-unity in the world...

We live in a world where evil seems to grow every day; where the Light
is more and more hidden. This is truly a world of concealment. In
the Hebrew language, the word for "world" is olam. Olam comes from
the root ne'elam, which means "vanished." This is a vanished world.
A world from which G-d seems to have vanished. Vanished, along with
the six million...

THE DARKNESS AND THE LIGHT

You can look at this world as total chaos. You can look at it as
being a machine gone berserk without a driver at the wheel. But then
you will have to account for all the miracles of this world as well.
You're going to have to posit near impossible odds for the unique
existence of life in this universe. You will have to explain the
totally anti-historical existence of the Jewish People and how a three
thousand year-old document predicted that survival. There are going
to be a lot of things that are not going to fit into your theory of
chaos.

Or you can see that all the evil in the world, all the chaos, all the
disunity, is no more than the world's largest audio-visual aid to
portray the opposite -- the Oneness of He Who is One.

THE HIDDEN LIGHT

Evil has only one purpose in this world -- to be uprooted completely
and totally removed from existence. One day, when G-d decides, He
will show us His utter dominion over all that exists. He will reveal
that everything in this world is part of His Unity. Our perception of
this Unity in its total form will come from having known its reverse.
We will have seen unchecked evil descending to its nadir. When G-d
removes evil from this world, we will perceive His Unity and His
Perfection like a blinding light.

In the months of Tammuz and Av, G-d's light seems most hidden. These
are months of tragedy. Five tragedies occurred on the 17th of Tammuz,
and five on the ninth of Av. On the 17th of Tammuz, Moshe broke the
two tablets of stone after the incident of the golden calf. 17 Tammuz
was the date of the suspension of the Daily Offering in the time of
the First Temple. At the time of the Second Temple, on this day, the
Romans breached the walls of Jerusalem. Titus and his armies then
invaded the city. On the 17th of Tammuz, a Roman soldier -- Apostumus
-- burned the Holy Torah. And finally, on the 17th of Tammuz, an
idol was set up in the Sanctuary.

On the ninth of Av, we commemorate five more disasters: Just as the
Jewish People were poised to enter the Land of Israel, they insisted
on sending spies before them. The spies returned on the ninth of Av
and brought with them a negative report. The Jewish People rejected
the Land. This rejection provoked G-d to establish the ninth of Av as
a day set aside for calamity: On Tisha B'Av -- the ninth of Av --
both Holy Temples were destroyed. On the ninth of Av, the Romans
destroyed Betar and massacred thousands of Jews. On the ninth of Av,
Jerusalem was ploughed over, like a field.

In more recent times, on the 9th of Av 1492, the Jews were expelled
from Spain. On the 9th of Av 1914, the First World War began.

But there's another ninth of Av that we probably can relate to more
than all the others. In the early hours of July 23rd, the first
transport of "deportees" left Malkinia, Poland. It was loaded with
Jews from the Warsaw ghetto. The train was made up of sixty closed
cars, crowded with people. The car doors were locked from the
outside, and the air apertures barred with barbed wire. That was the
9th of Av 1942. The day the first killings started at Treblinka.

I wonder what Ansel Adams was photographing in New Mexico?

Source:
* Da'as Tevunos of Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzatto

Seasons Of The Moon
The Jewish Year seen through its months
Tammuz/Av 5760
July 4, 2000 - August 31, 2000
Ohr Somayach <ohr@virtual.co.il>
==============

17th of Tammuz /July 20, 2000
Tisha B'Av/August 10, 2000

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Book: What hath God Wrought?
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Wed, 05 Jul 2000 13:03:54 -0500

Hi guys,

Has anyone read the book "What Hath God Wrought" by William Grady?
If so, would you care to share your thoughts on it with me? Is it a
recommended purchase?

Thanks,

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Knesset committee moves to secure Jerusalem unity
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 17:36:09 -0400

Wednesday, July 5 2000 12:02 2 Tammuz 5760

               Knesset c'tee moves to secure J'lem
               unity
               By Dan Izenberg

               JERUSALEM (July 5) - A joint panel of members of the
               Knesset Law and Internal Affairs committees yesterday
               approved for first reading an amendment to the Basic
               Law: Jerusalem, defining the borders of the united city
               and barring the government from ceding any parts of it or
               any national or municipal prerogatives over it to a foreign
               entity.

               The initiator of the bill, Yehoshua Matza (Likud), made it
               clear he had in mind the reports of possible custodial or
               limited self-government arrangements with the Palestinians
               in the framework of a peace treaty, including granting the
               Palestinian Authority control of the Temple Mount or
               allowing broad autonomy in the Palestinian
               neighborhoods of Jerusalem.

               Matza's bill, which was sponsored by 80 MKs, was
               approved in the plenum in preliminary reading on May 17
               by a vote of 68 to 21. Although the Ministerial Legislation
               Committee headed by Yossi Beilin (One Israel) opposed
               the bill, Minister Haim Ramon, the cabinet liaison with the
               Knesset, told the plenum on the eve of the vote that the
               government supported it. The conflicting positions caused
               confusion among joint committee members yesterday as
               to the government's official stand.

               In the event, five of six joint panel members, including
               Eliezer Cohen (Yisrael Beiteinu), Ya'acov Litzman
               (United Torah Judaism), Nahum Langenthal (National
               Religious Party), Maxim Levy (One Israel), and Zippi
               Livni (Likud) supported the bill. Law Committee
               Chairman Amnon Rubinstein (Meretz) opposed it.

               Matza told the committee that "the law is not merely
               declarative. We should not have to hand over territory
               within Jerusalem to an administration which is outside the
               authority of the State of Israel."

               In Matza's original draft, he stipulated that it would take a
               majority of 80 MKs to overcome the bill's prohibitions
               and allow Israel to give up territory or exclusive control
               over parts of Jerusalem. He said he had agreed to reduce
               the required majority to 61 in order to gain government
               support.

               Deputy Attorney-General for Legislation Yehoshua
               Schoffman told the committee that there were problems
               with the wording of the bill.

Rubinstein replied that these would be addressed when
the committee prepared it for second and third reading.

http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/07/05/News/News.9168.html

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - EU Assembly to Investigate U.S. 'Spy System'
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 17:39:13 -0400

Wednesday July 5 7:46 AM ET

EU Assembly to Investigate U.S. 'Spy
System'

STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - The European Parliament
voted Wednesday to form a committee to investigate allegations
the United States and allies like Britain used Cold War satellites
to conduct industrial espionage in Europe.

The U.S. Echelon spy system of satellites and listening posts can
intercept millions of telephone, fax and e-mail messages and
Washington has been accused of using it for economic espionage
against its allies. The United States and Britain have both denied
the charges.

The EU committee will have one year to establish whether the
Echelon system really exists and whether European industry has
been damaged by global interception of communications. It will
also consider whether the privacy of individuals can be protected
from spying and how this can be done.

Assembly members said the committee was expected to be
headed by Portuguese deputy Carlos Coehlo and would aim to
report back on its findings in about eight months.

                         The existence of the Echelon
                         system and allegations it was used
                         to help U.S. firms gain a
                         competitive advantage over their
                         European competitors surfaced in
                         a report to the assembly earlier
this year, provoking a furor throughout Europe.

The French prosecutor's office said Tuesday it had appointed a
prosecutor to launch a preliminary judicial investigation into the
workings of Echelon, set up during the Cold War.

Other inquiries have been initiated or are being discussed in
Germany and Denmark, European Parliament officials said.

But the allegations have turned into a diplomatic nightmare at a
time European nations are planning to pool defense capabilities
and preparing to launch a global satellite positioning system,
called Galileo.

A report submitted to the European parliament by a British
researcher last October said Echelon's eavesdropping activities
had resulted in several major contracts going to U.S. rather than
European firms.

The Parliament, which has extremely limited powers over
European foreign and security policies, was split on how to
handle the issue.

It rejected a proposal to set up a ``temporary committee of
inquiry,'' which could have called witnesses, in favor of a
''temporary committee,'' which in theory has more limited powers.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000705/ts/europe_spying_dc_1.html

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

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