Freedom Lawyers of America

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/30/nyregion/30MESS.html?8hpib

A Bronx man trapped for two days under an avalanche of newspapers,
magazines and books was rescued by firefighters and neighbors yesterday in
a small urban drama that recalled the macabre 1947 tale of the Collyer
brothers.

The victim, Patrice Moore, 43, of 1991 Morris Avenue, near Tremont Avenue,
was found shortly after 1 p.m. in a 10-by-10-foot room crammed with paper
and other detritus that completely filled it, except for a small corner
where he slept, neighbors and city officials said.

A reclusive man who lived alone and had been saving magazines, newspapers,
books, catalogs and junk mail for a decade - and had apparently thrown none
of it out - Mr. Moore was buried standing up under the collapse on
Saturday, according to neighbors, who heard him moaning and mumbling
through the door, which had been blocked by all the paper.

The landlord broke in with a crowbar and neighbors began digging into the
entombing piles of publications, communications and advertisements. Calls
to the city brought the police, three companies of firefighters, health and
buildings officials, and officials from the Office of Emergency Management.

It took more than an hour to extricate Mr. Moore - 50 garbage bags of his
paper had to be hauled out just to reach him - and he was taken to St.
Barnabas Hospital with leg injuries, apparently the result of the weight
that fell on him and the fluid that accumulated in his legs during his
captivity. He was reported in stable condition last night, a hospital
spokesman said.

Deon Baitmon, 35, a next-door neighbor who was one of a few people who knew
Mr. Moore had been living in a room filled with paper, said she had tried
to persuade him to get rid of some of it, without success. "I told him,
`You've got to be able to get in and out,' " she said, "but he didn't
really want to hear about that."

While it was hardly comparable, the episode echoed the strange cautionary
tale of Langley and Homer Collyer, who lived for years barricaded in a
12-room mansion at Fifth Avenue and 128th Street in East Harlem with their
legendary collection of stuff - tons of newspapers, magazines and books; 14
grand pianos, chandeliers, mirrors, bottles, rotting groceries and an
automobile chassis.

On March 21, 1947, alerted by a mysterious phone call, the police broke in
and found the body of Homer, who had been blind and bedridden. After
lengthy searching, they found Langley's body under piles of junk. He had
apparently died of a heart attack weeks earlier after triggering one of
many booby traps set for burglars, and Homer had died of starvation several
days later.

While people who hoard obsessively are generally regarded as troubled,
there is no agreement among experts on the causes of the phenomenon, which
dates back thousands of years. Cases are uncovered from time to time, often
after the death of a recluse discloses hidden wealth or troves of
possessions behind an otherwise unremarkable facade.

After getting a glimpse into Mr. Moore's room yesterday, some neighbors
recalled that almost every day for the past decade he had received a heavy
load of mail: newspapers, magazines, books that he ordered with a variety
of names and never paid for, and tons of unsolicited advertising and other
mail.

A cursory examination of the stacks turned up numerous copies of Sports
Illustrated, Nascar racing publications, Vibe, Scuba Diving, Essence,
skiing magazines, Savoy, Sound and Vision, Fitness magazine and copies of
the Harvard Business Review.

"He got everything," said John Thomas, a neighbor. "You name it - he got it
- except Playboy."

Bennie Jones, 62, the owner of the three-story brownstone, said: "I knew he
was getting a whole lot of magazines, but I had no idea there were so many
inside. I can't see how he had any space to move in there. It's crazy. He
had the place stacked up with magazines, and they fell on him."

Mr. Moore, who was unemployed and paid his $250-a-month rent from the
public assistance money he received, lived the quiet life of a hermit, his
neighbors said, rarely going out and never allowing visitors into his
windowless room on the parlor floor, halfway down a dark, narrow corridor.

"His room is his private room," Ms. Baitmon said. He opened the door to get
his mail, which was addressed to people named Joe Smith, Pamela Cruise and
other fictitious names, but bore his apartment number, 1-B. Occasionally,
she said, she heard his radio or his voice, singing or mumbling to himself.

Over the weekend, she heard his voice from time to time, but there were no
cries for help, nothing very coherent. "He was just talking through the
door a bit," she said, and noted that she had not been alarmed.

The discovery of Mr. Moore's plight was almost an accident. It happened
that he had asked his landlord last week for a small loan, and Mr. Jones
went to his door with a couple of dollars yesterday. He knocked on Mr.
Moore's door. There was no answer at first, but then he heard a voice
inside. It sounded strange.

It occurred to Mr. Jones that Mr. Moore might need help. The door was
locked, but Mr. Jones got a crowbar and pried it open. Stacks of magazines
and books had fallen against the door, and he had to get a couple of
neighbors to force it open.

They were astonished by what they found inside. The room was stuffed from
wall to wall and floor to ceiling with stacks of paper. They also heard
moaning from a corner, behind the stacks. "He was trapped in a little
corner," said Mr. Thomas. "We had to take books out just to get to him."

Mr. Jones called 911, and by the time the firefighters of Engine Company 42
arrived, the neighbors had hauled away enough material to create a path and
to unpaper Mr. Moore nearly down to his waist. Another obstacle remained. A
bookcase, apparently the only piece of furniture in the room, had also
fallen, wedging Mr. Moore tightly in an almost upright position.

The firefighters raised the bookcase, hauled away more loads of paper and
eventually freed Mr. Moore, who was carried out on a stretcher.

"He couldn't say much," Mr. Thomas recalled. "He was in pain."

Even as Mr. Moore driven away, the neighbors said, a postman was arriving
with another delivery of newspapers, magazines and junk mail for him. "He
never threw anything away," Mr. Thomas said.

 http://www.theinterviewwithgod.com/windowmovie.html

> Police call for remote button to stop cars
> Motorists face new 'Big Brother' technology
> Juliette Jowit, transport editor Sunday December 21, 2003 The Observer
> http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1111211,00.html
>
> After speed cameras, road humps and mobile phone bans, there could be more
> bad news for Britain's motorists. Police are urging Ministers to give them
> the power to stop vehicles by remote control.
>
> In what will be seen as yet another example of the in-creasing power of
Big
> Brother, drivers face the prospect of their cars being halted by somebody
> pushing a button.
>
> The police lobby is being led by Superintendent Jim Hammond of Sussex
> police, who chairs an Association of Chief Police Officers technology
> working group which is examining the idea.
>
> 'Providing an effective means to remotely stop a vehicle is fast becoming
a
> priority,' Hammond told a European conference. 'The development of a safe
> and controlled system to enable remote stopping has the potential to
> directly save lives.'
>
> However, Bert Morris, deputy director of the AA Motoring Trust said:
> 'People don't like the idea of Big Brother taking over their driving. In
> years to come that might be acceptable, but it's very, very important that
> there's a step-by-step approach.'
>
> Cars could be stopped by the gradual reduction of engine power so it
slowly
> comes to a stop, or by making sure when drivers come to a halt they can
not
> move again.
>
> Stopping cars remotely sounds futuristic, but the basic technology is
> already available and used in lorries to limit the top speed to 56mph and
> in new systems to immobilise stolen cars.
>
> The key is the electronics box in most new cars which, when the driver
> presses the accelerator or brake, sends a message to the engine to speed
up
> or slow down. It can be programmed to limit the speed generally or
> according to the position of the car, established via a GPS satellite. For

> remote operation, a modem, which works like a mobile phone, can be used
> tell the car to slow down or stop.
>
> Similar radio telemetry was used by Formula One pit crews to adjust the
> engines of racing cars at up to 200mph - until it was banned this year.
>
> 'The technology exists and will become more refined as time goes on,' said
> Nick Rendell, managing director of the Siemens business developing this
> technology in the UK.
>
> A senior police officer - assumed to be the chief constable or deputy -
can
> already give the order to stop a car remotely, but that power has rarely
if
> ever been used, said Morris. To use any new powers more widely, police
must
> first overcome some practical problems to reassure Ministers that vehicles
> would be stopped safety. Ministers will also want reassurances that
drivers
> would not be mistakenly stopped.
>
> ACPO insists that it would only introduce the technology when it was safe.
> It is calling on the Government to introduce the legislation which it says
> will be vital to stop vehicles when - as expected - manufacturers develop
> tyres that run when they are flat. This will make 'stingers' - the spiked
> strips thrown in front of speeding cars - useless to stop stolen and
> get-away cars or dangerous drivers.
>
> It is also linked to pressure to make cars 'pointless to steal' because of
> growing concern about more violent car crime as vehicles become harder to
> take. The RAC Foundation recently found there were as many as 1,200 car
> jackings in Britain last year.
>
> Another link is to technology which would stop cars going above certain
> speed limits - either a fixed maximum such as 70mph, or varying according
> to the local limit.
>
> The system could even be programmed to reduce speeds below the limit in
bad
> weather or when school children were expected to be about, said Robert
> Gifford, director of the Parliamentary Advisory Committee on Transport
> Safety, which believes the technology could cut the 3,420 deaths a year on
> Britain's roads by 59 per cent.
>
> Experts now believe the technology could start to be used voluntarily by
> the end of the decade and ultimately could be made mandatory.
>
>
> More on policing
> 02.06.2002: David Rose: Short straw for law
> http://observer.guardian.co.uk/crimedebate/story/0,12079,726381,00.html
> 17.03.2002: Andrew Rawnsley: Boys in blue will test Blair's bottle
> http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,668783,00.html
> 09.12.2001: Cristina Odone: Why do we knock the boys in blue?
> http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,615709,00.html
> 31.03.2002: 'Clean-up' police branded corrupt
> http://observer.guardian.co.uk/crimedebate/story/0,12079,742432,00.html
> 02.12.2001: I'll tackle our failing police, says Blunkett
> http://observer.guardian.co.uk/crimedebate/story/0,12079,742437,00.html
> 02.12.2001: Blunkett on the police: the Observer interview in full
> http://observer.guardian.co.uk/crimedebate/story/0,12079,742442,00.html
> 02.12.2001: Revealed: the country's worst police
> http://observer.guardian.co.uk/crimedebate/story/0,12079,742443,00.html
>
> Observer prisons debate
> 08.08.2002: Thinktank review: Solid convictions
> http://observer.guardian.co.uk/crimedebate/story/0,12079,771435,00.html
> 04.08.2002: Mary Riddell: An abuse of human rights
> http://observer.guardian.co.uk/crimedebate/story/0,12079,768971,00.html
> 11.08.2002: Paul Donovan: What happens when victims of injustice are
freed?
> http://observer.guardian.co.uk/crimedebate/story/0,12079,771367,00.html
> 28.07.2002: Michael Naughton: the scale of wrongful convictions
> http://observer.guardian.co.uk/crimedebate/story/0,12079,764137,00.html
> 28.07.2002: Sarah Spencer: We are all part of the war against crime
> http://observer.guardian.co.uk/crimedebate/story/0,12079,764668,00.html
> 10.02.2002: Mark Leech: Why part-time porridge won't
> workhttp://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,647678,00.html
> 10.02.2002: Unlocking the prisons debate: responses to Blunkett
> http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,648091,00.html
> 03.02.2002: Mary Riddell: Prison doesn't work ...
> http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,644040,00.html
> 03.02.2002: David Blunkett: ...but rehabilitation and reform could
> http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,643990,00.html
> 03.02.2002: 'Soft touch' plan to end jails crisis
> http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,644055,00.html
> Observer Comment
> http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/0,6903,156041,00.html
>
> More from Guardian Unlimited
> Special report: crime
> http://observer.guardian.co.uk/Guardian/crime/0,2759,339240,00.html
> Special report: prisons
> http://observer.guardian.co.uk/Guardian/prisons/0,7368,464445,00.html
> Politics: more on home affairs
> http://observer.guardian.co.uk/Politics/homeaffairs/0,11026,584184,00.html
>

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http://www.theonion.com/3949/top_story.html

BAGHDAD, IRAQ?On almost every corner in Iraq's capital city, carolers are singing, trees are being trimmed, and shoppers are rushing home with their packages?all under the watchful eye of U.S. troops dedicated to bringing the magic of Christmas to Iraq by force.

"It's important that life in liberated Iraq get back to normal as soon as possible," said Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz at a press conference Monday. "That's why we're making sure that Iraqis have the best Christmas ever?something they certainly wouldn't have had under Saddam Hussein's regime."

To that end, 25,000 troops from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and 82nd Airborne Division have been deployed. Their missions include the distribution of cookies and eggnog at major Iraqi city centers, the conscription of bell-ringers from among the Iraqi citizenry, and the enforcement of a new policy in which every man, woman, and child in Baghdad pays at least one visit to 'Twas The Night... On Ice.

Immediately following the press conference, high-altitude bombers began to string Christmas lights throughout the greater-Baghdad area, and Wild Weasel electronic-warfare fighter jets initiated 24-hour air patrols to broadcast Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" over the nation. Armored columns struck out from all major allied firebases to erect a Christmas tree in the town square of every city, while foot soldiers placed fully lit, heavily guarded nativity scenes in front of every Iraqi mosque.

"Thus far, Operation Desert Santa has gone off without a hitch," said Gen. Stanley Kimmet, commander of U.S. armed reconnaissance-and-mistletoe operations in the volatile Tikrit region of central Iraq. "There has been sporadic house-to-house fighting during our door-to-door caroling, but that's to be expected in a Christmas season of this magnitude."

According to Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top American military commander in Iraq, every precaution is being taken to ensure the peaceful enforcement of the Christmas season in occupied Iraq.

"All American military personnel have been instructed that the observation of Christmas should be carried out efficiently and tastefully, with minimal emphasis on the season's commercial aspects," said Sanchez, who addressed reporters while a decorations division strung wreaths and garlands outside his headquarters. "We must keep in mind that the reason for the season-oriented campaign is for Iraq to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

An aide for Sanchez later explained that, in order to ensure a meaningful holiday season for all Iraqis, provisions were made for those Iraqis who elected to observe Hanukkah.

Like many U.S. operations in Iraq, Operation Desert Santa has met with some resistance. A convoy transporting fruitcake and gingerbread came under rocket attack Sunday night just outside Checkpoint No�l in Basra, and unidentified bands of Iraqis exchanged gunfire with Marines operating an armored Humvee simulated sleigh ride in a Baghdad suburb. In spite of these troubles, regional commanders report progress, with only eight U.S. casualties resulting from the operation.

Still, Iraqis report that they are unable to get into the Christmas spirit.

"Why am I supposed to feel joy for the world?" said 34-year-old Baghdad mechanic Hassan al-Ajili as he stood in line for his mandatory visit with Santa. "My country is still at war. I need an American identification card to get anywhere in my own city. Now, for some reason, men with machine guns have placed two rows of jingling antlered pigs on the roof of our house. This is insane."

Bush, speaking from his Crawford ranch, praised the brave men and women of Operation Desert Santa and asked for the understanding of all Americans.

"We must be patient with the Iraqis," said Bush, seated before a Christmas tree dotted with Scottish terrier ornaments. "The holidays can be a very stressful time, especially for people not yet used to the customs. I'm sure Iraq will enjoy the happiest of holiday seasons if we show resolve and commit to making sure that they do."

President Bush then called for 30,000 new troops to be deployed in the next week to ensure an effective and precise enforcement of Christmas throughout the region. Salvation and Eighth Army detachments will be stationed on every corner by Christmas Eve to make sure that every last Iraqi citizen spends the holiday at home, with family.

Sanchez said he is confident that he can meet that deadline.

"A merry Christmas in Iraq means peace in the Middle East has finally been achieved," Sanchez said. "God bless us, every one."

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/14/national/14TRIA.html?hp

On television and in the popular imagination, lawsuits and prosecutions end
in trials, in open court before a jury. In reality, according to a new
study, trials have become quite uncommon.

In 1962, the study says, 11.5 percent of all civil cases in federal court
went to trial. By last year, that number had dropped to 1.8 percent. And
even though there are five times as many lawsuits today, the raw number of
civil trials has dropped, too. They peaked in 1985 at 12,529. Last year,
4,569 civil cases were tried in federal court.

"What's documented here," William G. Young, the chief judge of the Federal
District Court in Boston, said in a telephone interview, "is nothing less
than the passing of the common law adversarial system that is uniquely
American."

The percentage of federal criminal prosecutions resolved by trials also
declined, to less than 5 percent last year from 15 percent in 1962. The
number of prosecutions more than doubled in the last four decades, but the
number of criminal trials fell, to 3,574 last year from 5,097 in 1962.

The study, based on data compiled by the federal court system, was prepared
by Marc Galanter, who teaches law at the University of Wisconsin and the
London School of Economics, for the American Bar Association.

"This is a cultural shift of enormous significance," said Arthur Miller, a
law professor at Harvard.

Opinions vary on whether the shift is a positive one. Negotiated
settlements may satisfy both sides in a way a win-or-lose trial cannot, and
pretrial dismissals of cases by judges may avoid needless trials of
frivolous claims. Both of these alternatives to trial are less cumbersome,
less expensive and more efficient.

On the other hand, some studies suggest that individuals suing companies
fare considerably better before juries than they do in settlements and
before judges, meaning that a decline in the number of trials may hurt
plaintiffs with valid claims.

Judges, scholars and lawyers gathered over the weekend in San Francisco for
a bar association symposium to discuss the study. Among the possible
explanations for what the meeting's organizers call "the vanishing trial"
is a growing antagonism to trials by lawyers and judges, who consider them
costly and risky. They prefer negotiated settlements and pretrial
determinations by judges based only on paper submissions.

"There is a striking philosophical, ideologically driven view that is
hostile to trials," said Judge Patrick E. Higginbotham of the United States
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans. He attributed the
view to those who prefer mediation to adjudication.

Others view the trend as progress.

"If a trial occurs," said Samuel R. Gross, a law professor at the
University of Michigan, "it usually means a whole lot of efforts by a whole
lot of people have failed."

Paul Butler, a law professor at George Washington University, disagreed. He
said the loss of this form of dispute resolution was a devastating one.
"Nobody does trials like Americans," Professor Butler said. "We made it an
art form. It's almost as fundamental a part of our culture as jazz or rock
'n' roll."

Data from the state courts, which handle most lawsuits, are less complete
and harder to interpret. Legal experts at the National Center for State
Courts have studied the available data and say the patterns in them,
particularly as they concern jury trials as opposed to those before only
judges, are broadly consistent with those in the federal courts.

Judge Higginbotham recalled his life as a federal trial judge in Texas a
quarter-century ago. "When I went on the bench," he said, "we tried cases.
I sometimes had three juries deliberating."

In 1962, the average federal judge conducted 39 trials a year, including
both civil and criminal cases. These days, that number has fallen to 13.
Judges spend the rest of their time doing such things as supervising the
exchange of information between parties, deciding pretrial motions and
urging or approving settlements and plea bargains.

The dearth of trials has resulted in a sort of vicious circle. Many lawyers
who call themselves litigators have little trial experience, which may in
turn make them wary of taking cases to trial.

"We're almost moving into a barrister model," said Patricia Lee Refo, an
Arizona lawyer and official of the American Bar Association, referring to
the separate caste of lawyers who try cases in Britain.

On the criminal side, there is almost no dispute that the falling number of
trials in the federal courts is because of the revisions in sentencing
laws. Defendants who insist on a trial can face much longer sentences than
those who accept a plea bargain.

The civil trend is harder to explain, and legal experts have many theories.

Some point to the rise of arbitrations and other less formal means of
resolving disputes. Though the number of cases filed in court has continued
to increase, it may be that some sorts of cases have gone to other forums.
Injury and contract cases, which represented 74 percent of all federal
civil trials in 1962, accounted for 38 percent last year, according to
Professor Galanter. Those categories of cases, he said, have largely been
replaced by employment discrimination and other civil rights cases, which
now represent a third of all federal civil trials.

The sheer complexity and cost of litigation, others say, make settlements
more attractive. The cost of a trial can exceed the cost of a settlement,
giving defendants an incentive to settle. Plaintiffs and their lawyers, on
the other hand, often prefer the certainty of a settlement to the
possibility of recovering nothing at trial.

"The striking problem," Professor Gross said, "is that we have generated a
procedure that is way too expensive if actually employed."

But Gillian Hadfield, a law professor at the University of Southern
California, said settlements might actually be in decline.

"We need to follow up on this initial study to confirm these numbers,"
Professor Hadfield said, "but at this point it looks as though the
percentage of cases terminated in settlement has fallen by between 10 and
15 percentage points, from approximately 50 percent in 1970 to between 35
and 40 percent during the 1980's and 1990's."

By contrast, she continued, "nontrial adjudications" - written decisions by
judges typically based only on papers submitted by the parties - have risen
to 50 percent from 32 percent since 1970.

Professor Miller said such judicial decisions can be troubling.

"We speak glowingly of letting people have their day in court," he said.
"Now they have their day on papers."

> Designed to detect sex offenders or missing children
>
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/1211edsecurity11.htm
l
>
> A north-central Phoenix school is the first in the nation to install
> cameras designed to detect the faces of sex offenders or missing children
> and instantly alert police.
>
> The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office used a grant to install equipment in
> the entrance and attendance office at Royal Palm Middle School, 8520 N.
> 19th Ave. The cameras are expected to be operating next week.
>
> Rebecca Dornbusch, deputy director of the International Biometric Industry
> Association in Washington D.C., had never heard of biometric face scanning
> being used on K-12 campuses. Biometric handprints are being used by a few
> day care centers to insure the right adults are picking up kids after
> school, she said.
>
> "This is a very interesting and new application of the technology,"
> Dornbusch said.
>
> Sheriff Joe Arpaio said the cameras cost about $3,000 to $5,000 for a
> school to install and will not violate the privacy of anyone not already
in
> the Arizona sex offender or in the national missing children databases,
> including possible abductors of missing children. If the camera registers
a
> possible hit, the Sheriff's Office is quietly alerted and will send a
> deputy or police officer to investigate.
>
> Arpaio said the Royal Palm system is not set to recognize people wanted
for
> other crimes. School districts are not interested in becoming law
> enforcement agencies, he said.
>
> "The main issue is to take care of kids," Arpaio said. "We're not going to
> go after people who have warrants."
>
> The system scans 28 facial features and matches them against logged images
> in the databases. School personnel will not know about the alert, and
> images that do not match the databases are erased, with no permanent
recording.
>
> Mary Lou Micheaels is a mother of three and a member of the Washington
> District School Board. She's heard no complaints from parents.
>
> "I wanted to make sure it was a system that protected our children and
> protected people's privacy," Micheaels said. "If one child isn't abducted,
> or one is found, it's worth it."
>
> Principal Mike Christensen carries around the responsibility for the
safety
> of Royal Palm's 1,180 seventh- and eighth-graders. Christensen said he
> volunteered to test the new equipment, even though the campus has reported
> no problems.
>
> "I do not think we can do too much," Christensen said. "When kids walk on
> campus, the expectation is they need to be safe."
>
> Royal Palm mother Teresa Johnson said she supports the idea and would like
> to see the campus install a third biometric camera in the parking lot, a
> more likely place to find sex offenders lurking.
>
> Arpaio's office already is using biometric equipment to help verify the
> identity of suspects being booked into county jails. The locally based
> Hummingbird Defense Systems donated $350,000 worth of equipment to
Arpaio's
> office for pilot projects.
>
> The chances of catching a molester or finding a missing child on this
> campus are remote, Arpaio said, but this is an experiment that could begin
> to make a difference in a growing problem. Arpaio said he's ready to help
> other districts install the equipment.
>
>
>
> Reach the reporter at pat.kossan@arizonarepublic.com.
>

As true today as in 1776. These cycles are proven by history.
SRW


> "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only
> exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largesse from the
> public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the
> candidates promising them the most benefits from the public treasury, with
> the result that a democracy always collapses over a loss of fiscal
> responsibility, always followed by a dictatorship. The average of the
> world's great civilizations before they decline has been 200 years. These
> nations have progressed in this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith;
> from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from
> liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to
> complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependency; from
> dependency back again to bondage."
>
> Written by Alexander Fraser Tytler in "The Decline and Fall of the
Athenian
> Republic" 1776.
>

> Israeli Lawmaker Wants to Prevent Arafat Burial on Temple Mount
>
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=\ForeignBureaus\archive\2
00312\FOR20031203d.html
>
> Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - He's not dead yet, but some Israelis already
> worry about where Yasser Arafat will be buried.
>
> An Israeli parliamentarian has proposed a law that would prevent burials
in
> the Old City of Jerusalem, including the Muslim cemetery on the Temple
> Mount, where Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat is hoping to be
> buried.
>
> Sovereignty over Jerusalem - and particularly the Old City -- is one of
the
> most hotly contested issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
>
> Israel has ruled the Old City since Jerusalem was reunited under Israeli
> sovereignty following the 1967 Six-Day war. But day-to-day affairs on the
> Temple Mount, known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif, are the
> responsibility of Islamic religious authorities.
>
> Arieh Eldad, part of the Moledet faction of the National Union Party, has
> proposed that burials in the Jerusalem's Old City be prohibited from now
on
> unless special permission is granted.
>
> "The law suggests that nobody will ever be allowed to be buried in the
[Old
> City] only by special permission of the prime minister," Eldad said in a
> telephone interview.
>
> Eldad said he was motivated to propose the law about a month ago when
> Arafat indicated that he wanted to be buried on the Temple Mount --
> Judaism's holiest site -- currently occupied by Muslim religious shrines,
> including the golden Dome of the Rock and Al-Aksa Mosque, the third
holiest
> site in Islam.
>
> Arafat wants to transform the site where the first and second Jewish
> Temples once stood and the Jewish Kingdom reigned for the last 3,000 years
> not only into a religious Muslim center, but a political center, Eldad
said.
>
> Israel dates its claim to Jerusalem from the time of the Biblical King
> David, who made the city his capital. Since then, the Holy City has never
> been capital to another nation or people, although it has had many
> different rulers.
>
> "Arafat is the first leader of the Palestinian people. If he is buried
> there, [his tomb] will be a center for pilgrimage," Eldad added.
>
> Arafat has long expressed his desire to pray at the Al Aksa mosque. He
also
> has urged Palestinians to become martyrs for the sake of the Al-Aksa
> mosque. Palestinians call the violence and terrorism of the last three
> years, the Al Aksa intifadah (uprising), making it a focal point of their
> struggle.
>
> Because of Jewish religious law, there are no Jewish cemeteries in the Old
> City (or within the walls of any city), and as a rule, no Jews have been
> buried in the Old City for thousands of years, except a few dozen who were
> buried there during the siege of the Old City in 1948, Eldad said.
>
> A handful of Christians are buried in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher,
> where Orthodox Christian tradition holds that Jesus was buried.
>
> But a few families hold burial plots in the Muslim cemetery on the Temple
> Mount, and one of them has promised a plot to Arafat, Eldad said.
>
> The late Jordanian King Abdullah, the great-great grandfather of the
> present King of Jordan is buried there.
>
> The last person to be buried in the Muslim cemetery was Palestinian
> Minister for Jerusalem Affairs Faisal Husseini, who died suddenly of a
> heart attack while traveling abroad two years ago.
>
> Tens of thousands of Palestinians lined the roads of Jerusalem to pay
their
> last respects to Husseini and Palestinian Authority VIPs, and Israeli
> allowed close into Jerusalem from the West Bank -- sealed at the time --
> for the funeral.
>
> Eldad said he believes his law will be supported in the Knesset because
> many parliamentarians regretted that there was no such law in place at the
> time of Husseini's death.
>
> Israeli Arab Knesset Member Ahmed Tibi, who is an advisor to Arafat,
> criticized the proposal and said he would fight it. He charged that Eldad
> was chasing the Palestinians in both life and death.
>
> "Faisal Husseini is buried there," Tibi said by telephone. "Yasser Arafat,
> I hope he will live [on and on]. They should not interfere with his life
or
> his death."
>

> http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/04/technology/circuits/04stat.html
>
> EVERY few years, economists identify another mutant variation of inflation
> to keep them awake at night. In the 1980's, it was stagflation. Three
years
> ago, it was deflation. And now, meet the economic specter of the new
> millennium: stealth inflation.
>
> That's when phone companies and just about anybody else who sends you a
> bill manages to extract more money from you without actually raising their
> rates.
>
> Phase 1 of this program was the proliferation of miscellaneous fees - for
> "regulatory assessment," "handling," "restocking," and so on. According to
> Business Week, newly concocted fees will generate $100 million for hotels
> this year, $2 billion for banks, $11 billion for credit-card companies -
> and an average of 20 percent extra on every phone bill.
>
> Recently I may have stumbled upon Phase 2.
>
> Attracted by the superior coverage of Verizon's wireless network, I signed
> up for a new cellphone. The $60 package included unlimited night and
> weekend calling and 800 anytime minutes.
>
> A few days later, a welcome letter congratulated me on my new 700-minute
> plan. I called customer service. It was supposed to be 800 minutes, yes?
>
> The phone representative explained that what I signed up for was the
> 700-minute plan, with a 100-minute bonus. The welcome letter didn't
reflect
> the bonus, but I would see it on my monthly statements.
>
> All right, no problem. All I'd lost was the 25 minutes on the phone with
> Verizon.
>
> Yet when the first statement arrived, Verizon had charged me 25 cents for
> every minute over 700.
>
> I called the 800 number again; the representative apologetically credited
> me the 100 minutes. Cost to me: another 25 minutes.
>
> When the same error cropped up on the next month's statement, my wife
> mentioned that she had gone through precisely the same ritual with MCI
long
> distance a few months earlier. In fact, after reviewing our records, we
> discovered at least seven cases in the last few years when a service
> company (including at least three phone companies) overbilled us and
didn't
> correct the mistake until we turned ourselves into human pit bulls.
>
> All right, mistakes happen. But over and over and over again?
>
> Now, I'm not much on conspiracy theories. But in the weekly Circuits
e-mail
> newsletter (nytimes.com/circuits) I floated a theory that all this might
be
> part of a pattern of passive-aggressive robbery perpetrated on the premise
> that a certain percentage of customers won't notice, or won't bother to
> protest. Almost immediately, my copy of Microsoft Outlook turned into
> Microsoft Look Out. A tidal wave of responses poured in - over 1,200 in
the
> first four days.
>
> Because the comments were made by e-mail or as online postings, many of
the
> correspondents did not respond to requests for elaboration or fuller
> identification. But the volume of the responses made it clear that I had
> struck a chord.
>
> "My experience with cellphone companies, airlines, and Internet providers
> has been so overwhelmingly dominated by 'mistakes' that I can't believe
> that it amounts to anything less than an insidious new business model
> developed to prey upon busy lives," said Jeremy Cohen, a 25-year-old music
> student in Cambridge, Mass.
>
> A posting on nytimes.com offered a similar lament: "They've cut to the
bone
> to increase their bottom line. They train their front lines to blow people
> off, and give them no authority to make amends for problems. In previous
> eras, this was known as thievery. Now it's just the way things are done."
>
> Not surprisingly, the companies in question deny that there's anything
> fishy going on. "We're not in business to part people from their money for
> a service that they don't get," said Mark Siegel, an AT&T Wireless
> spokesman. "Are there mistakes from time to time? Yes. But is it the
> conscious act of some cabal, a secret group of people sitting in a
> smoke-filled room (O.K., not in New York City)? No way."
>
> On the other hand, would P.R. people even know about such a program? The
> people who would really know what's going on are the actual phone
> representatives - and I heard from them, too.
>
> "I can't speak for all the cell companies,'' wrote a two-year
> customer-service veteran at one of the big carriers, "but the idea that we
> would intentionally overcharge customers is just plain wrong. Any time
> someone calls an 800 number, the company is charged, staff has to be paid
> and call centers have to be maintained. Where I work, we try to find ways
> to prevent customers from calling in. It would not make financial sense to
> do things that would purposely cause customers to call in."
>
> That's a convincing argument; in fact, a Cingular spokeswoman told me that
> the industry-average cost per customer-service call is about $7. Yet the
> whole idea behind stealth inflation is that customers don't call in, that
> the overbilling will go unnoticed, perhaps masked by the dizzying
> complexity of the modern monthly statement. Verizon Wireless, for example,
> doesn't even provide an itemized list of calls with your statement (unless
> you pay - what else? - an additional monthly fee).
>
> Verizon's spokeswoman brought up another point, which I call the Theory of
> Statistical Inevitability. She pointed out that Verizon Wireless has 40
> million customers. "Even though we strive to get it right the first time,
> all the time, there are, unfortunately, times when we fall short," she
said.
>
> But there is a hole in that defense, as one reader wrote: "If these were
> truly random errors, one would expect that some of them would work in our
> favor. I know of no one who ever got extra minutes, extra money or extra
> anything else."
>
> And sure enough, in 1,200 tales of billing errors, only two people
> described ever being underbilled. (Of course, most customers who find
> errors made in their favor are smart enough to keep their mouths shut.
Only
> Abe Lincoln would spend 25 minutes on the phone trying to give his
> cellphone company its $1.75 back.)
>
> In the end, the idea of a scheme to bilk millions of people by tiny
amounts
> sounds preposterous, even silly. After all, wasn't that the villain's
> master plan in "Superman III"?
>
> If you ask people on the receiving end of the complaints, you'll hear
other
> theories to explain the explosion of customer accusations. Sprint
> executives, for example, assign part of the blame to the consumers
themselves.
>
> "Consumers, the press and others get caught up in the perception of
> overbilling," a spokeswoman said, but "if a customer changes her wireless
> calling plan and she doesn't read the terms and conditions of the
contract,
> she might perceive a larger bill to be the result of overbilling, when in
> fact she never understood the terms of the contract."
>
> Several carriers seconded Sprint's additional contention that "so many
> government taxes and federally mandated programs are being tacked on to
> phone bills in recent years. Consumers do benefit from these relatively
> recent government regulations, but at a cost that's not easily understood
> or explained."
>
> Meanwhile, a number of call-center employees suggested that what's really
> going on may have more to do with dim-witted corporate officers than evil
ones.
>
> "I see dozens of accounts every month where we have made a mistake," wrote
> an 800-number agent for retail-store credit cards. "But because the way
our
> jobs are structured, we are basically encouraged to ignore the mistakes
and
> make the customer go away.
>
> "When it takes several minutes to unravel a mess but we are only given 156
> seconds to handle the call, most customer service reps look for the
> quickest way to dispense with the call. Extra minutes are very costly to
> the C.S.R. With the millions of dollars we are getting from those who are
> not catching us, it more than makes up for the lost business."
>
> In any case, there is some cause for optimism. In the cellphone arena, at
> least, the new era of number portability means that companies have an
> enhanced incentive to improve. For example, Verizon Wireless says it is
> adding a number of satisfaction-improvement programs, including
> customer-service software that has been redesigned to prevent errors -
> "using drop-down menus to choose items rather than relying on a rep's
> ability to remember some of our changing promotions/procedures."
>
> A customer backlash is taking shape, too. Verizon agreed this year to a
$20
> million settlement in a class-action lawsuit that accused it of having
> overcharged hundreds of thousands of California customers on their
> long-distance bills. (The plaintiff's law firm is now pursuing the matter
> on a nationwide basis.) Sprint, Qwest, SBC, AT&T and MCI have also
recently
> settled class-action lawsuits related to fees and overbilling.
>
> The more customers catch the errors and push back, the more it will cost
> the service companies to handle them - and the more likely such problems
> will be prevented.
>
> At that point, Americans will encounter a form of inflation that will be
> worth celebrating: reverse stealth inflation.
>
> E-mail: Pogue@nytimes.com
>

Do not be drinking anything when you look at these entries.  Sample passage:
"...she came with the exhilarating whoops and pant-hoots of a troop of Rhesus monkeys, which was flattering, if alarming."
--dean


The Bad Sex award shortlisted passages  |  Thursday December 4, 2003
http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,6109,1099719,00.html

The Winner

Bunker 13 by Aniruddha Bahal (Faber & Faber)

She's taking off her blouse. It's on the floor. Her breasts are placards for the endomorphically endowed. In spite of yourself a soft whistle of air escapes you. She's taking off her trousers now. They are a heap on the floor. Her panties are white and translucent. You can see the dark hair sticking to them inside. There's a design as well. You gasp.

'What's that?' you ask. You see a designer pussy. Hair razored and ordered in the shape of a swastika. The Aryan denominator...

As your hands roam her back, her breasts, and trace the swastika on her mound you start feeling like an ancient Aryan warlord yourself...

She sandwiches your nozzle between her tits, massaging it with a slow rhythm. A trailer to bookmark the events ahead. For now she has taken you in her lovely mouth. Your palms are holding her neck and thumbs are at her ears regulating the speed of her head as she swallows and then sucks up your machinery.

She is topping up your engine oil for the cross-country coming up. Your RPM is hitting a new high. To wait any longer would be to lose prime time...

She picks up a Bugatti's momentum. You want her more at a Volkswagen's steady trot. Squeeze the maximum mileage out of your gallon of gas. But she's eating up the road with all cylinders blazing. You lift her out. You want to try different kinds of fusion.

* * *

The shortlist

The Sucker's Kiss by Alan Parker (Sceptre)

Honey couldn't get my pants over my boots, so she pulled her hair up on top of her head, readjusted the tortoiseshell hair comb, took off her glasses and went straight to work with that long tongue of hers licking my bat and balls... Maybe it was because I was tight as a goat, but it sure was a great afternoon. I'm not much of a muff diver, but I can strongly recommend that Kentucky cocktail of Sneaky Pete and strawberry juice. Further down my body, Honey Mackintosh bobbed up and down between my legs, her big soft lips locked around my hootchee and, true to her Scottish roots, she sucked away like she was the last person left on earth to play the bagpipes on Robbie Burns' birthday.

* * *

Too Beautiful for You by Rod Liddle (Century)

(Joanne hung with her head flung back over the side of the bed, her hair splayed out across the floor, which required Christian to cling on to her waist so they both didn't fall off, and then after a modicum of congenial thrusting, she came with the exhilarating whoops and pant-hoots of a troop of Rhesus monkeys, which was flattering, if alarming.)

*

Paul ejaculates voluminously and with very great force indeed. In fact he keeps on and on ejaculating, there's loads of the stuff, out it all comes, pint after pint, and he begins to wonder if it will ever cease. Sophie, the minx, trails the back of her hand across the back of his penis - what a wonderful trick, thinks Paul, vaguely, lost in a chemical oblivion - and delicately but decisively arches her body away from him to avoid the ostentatious spurting which continues for so long that Paul becomes embarrassed and wonders if there's maybe something seriously wrong with him.

When, eventually, it does stop ... They each cling to opposite sides of the mattress, well away from the vast lagoon of semen in the centre of the bed, a thick coldness which will still be damp when Paul awakes the next morning. His dreams are furred with a strange sort of exhaustion.

* * *

The Stranger at the Palazzo d'Oro by Paul Theroux (Hamish Hamilton)

The softness of her skin in the dark, far softer-seeming because of the dark, was irresistible. And the aroma of her lily-fragrant perfume mingled with the cat smell of her steaming cunt made me salivate and pant like a lion, my nose tormented by damp fur and hot blood. Still I could not tell where her soft skin ended and her silk began, and the complexity of her vaginal lips was like another elaborate silken garment she had put on for me to stroke. I adored the gleam of her body in the light from the ... streetlamps and the blistered moon... She knelt and worshipped my cock with her mouth and her gloved hands and she cried out louder than I did when I came, spattering her face as she licked.

* * *

Eleven Minutes by Paolo Coelho (HarperCollins)

As he simultaneously penetrated and touched me, I felt that he was doing this not only to me, but to the whole universe. . .

He stopped moving inside me while his fingers worked quickly and I had one, two, three orgasms in a row. I felt like pushing him away, for the pain of pleasure is so intense that it hurts, but I resisted; I accepted that this was how it was, that I could withstand another orgasm or another two, or even more... and suddenly, a kind of light exploded inside me. I was no longer myself, but a being infinitely superior to everything I knew. When his hand took me to my fourth orgasm, I entered a place where everything seemed at peace, and with my fifth orgasm I knew God. Then I felt him beginning to move inside me again, although his hand had still not stopped, and I said 'Oh, God', and surrendered to whatever came next, Heaven or Hell.

It was Heaven. I was the earth, the mountains, the tigers, the rivers that flowed into the lakes, the lake that became the sea. He was thrusting faster and faster now, and the pain was mingled with pleasure, and I could have said: 'I can't take any more', but that would have been unfair, because, by then, he and I were one person.

* * *

Peyton Amberg by Tama Janowitz (Bloomsbury)

Somewhere she had once heard that women - lesbians - were experts at this because they knew what another woman wanted. That wasn't true. When she and Victoria had done it, it had been like trying out some strange Japanese cuisine, something that wriggled, still alive, in a dish. Or having to swallow the contents of a bearded mussel attached to a rock, while all the while one knew the tide was rapidly coming in. She was never going to be a lesbian. Being heterosexual was already strange enough.

*

He was stroking her body over her silky dress and when his fingers got down to where her dress ended, just below her thighs, he reached up between her legs and plunged two fingers into her vulva, and began to probe her vaginal canal, as if he was searching for lost car keys.

After a time he removed them and spread whatever lubrication he had found there across her labia. 'Good girl, good girl,' he said. 'Oo, that feels nice.'

His penis was prodding her leg and she took it in her hand like the snout of a dog.

Her life, she knew, could have been so much worse.

* * *

Seek My Face by John Updike (Hamish Hamilton)

She would blow him while he kneeled straddling her face on the tatty brown sofa in his Pearl Street loft, a sofa that looked like one more piece of street refuse, and then show him his pale semen inside her mouth, displayed on her arched tongue like a little Tachiste masterpiece before she swallowed it or disgorged it back onto his still-firm prick; even his prick was smooth, barely marked by the ridges and homely veins that other men had, like an ivory dildo or the erection in that Marisol masterpiece with the cigarette lighter.

* * *

The Crime Tsar by Nichola McAuliffe (Bloomsbury)

'It's all right, I won't break,' she whispered.

She felt him aware of his size and weight. His care not to hurt her. She moved to accommodate him and felt the blind probings before he slipped inside her. He was bigger than she had remembered. She tilted her hips and felt the weight of his balls on her ... what? Small expanse of skin between vagina and anus. Perineum - was that it? Her mind screamed: Shut up, Lucy! You're not doing the Cosmopolitan crossword now.

The US Postal service sent out a message to all letter carriers to put a
sheet of Bounce in their uniform pockets to keep yellow jackets away. Use
them all the time when playing baseball and soccer. I use it when I am
working outside. It really works. The yellow jackets just veer around you.

And all this time you've just been putting Bounce in the dryer!

It will chase ants away when you lay a sheet near them.

It also repels mice.. spread them around foundation areas, or in trailers,
cars that are sitting and it keeps mice from entering your vehicle.

It takes the odor out of books and photo albums that don't get opened too
often.

Repels mosquitoes. Tie a sheet of Bounce through a belt loop when outdoors
during mosquito season.

Eliminates static electricity from your television (or computer) screen.

Since Bounce is designed to help eliminate static cling, wipe your
television screen with a used sheet of Bounce to keep dust from resettling.

Dissolve soap scum from shower doors. Clean with a sheet of Bounce.

Freshen the air in your home. Place an individual sheet of Bounce in a
drawer or hang in the closet.

Put Bounce sheet in vacuum cleaner.

Prevent thread from tangling. Run a threaded needle through sheet of
Bounce before beginning to sew.

Prevent musty suitcases. Place an individual sheet of Bounce inside empty
luggage before storing.

Freshen the air in your car. Place a sheet of Bounce under the front seat.

Clean baked-on foods from a cooking pan.Put a sheet in a pan, fill with
water, let sit overnight, and sponge clean. The anti-static agent
apparently weakens the bond Between the food.

Eliminate odors in wastebaskets. Place a sheet of Bounce at the bottom of
the wastebasket.

Collect cat hair. Rubbing the area with a sheet of Bounce will
magnetically attract all the loose hairs.

Eliminate static electricity from Venetian blinds. Wipe the blinds with a
sheet of Bounce to prevent dust from resettling.

Wipe up sawdust from drilling or sand papering. A used sheet of Bounce
will collect sawdust like a tack cloth.

Eliminate odors in dirty laundry. Place an individual sheet of Bounce at
the bottom of a laundry bag or hamper.

Deodorize shoes or sneakers. Place a sheet of Bounce in your shoes or
sneakers overnight.

Golfers put a Bounce sheet in their back pocket to keep the bees away.

Put a Bounce sheet in your sleeping bag and tent before folding and storing
them. Keeps them smelling fresh.



http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/germany_cannibal_dc

KASSEL, Germany (Reuters) - A German confessed on Wednesday to killing
and eating a willing victim in a case that could make legal history,
telling a shocked courtroom the experience was "like taking communion" in a
religious service.

At the start of his murder trial in Kassel, central Germany, Armin
Meiwes, 42, offered a full account of the killing that has gained him
worldwide notoriety as "The Cannibal of Rotenburg" after the town where he
lived.

Meiwes said there were "hundreds, thousands" of people seeking to fulfil
their desires to eat humans or be eaten via Internet advertisements in
forums called "Cannibal Cafe," "Guy Cannibals" and "Torturenet."

In testimony so frank it drew gasps from the public gallery, Meiwes said he
had kept his victim's skull and plastic bags of flesh in his freezer. He
ate about 44 pounds of the flesh, defrosting it bit by bit.

"With every piece of flesh I ate I remembered him," Meiwes, a self-assured
and well-spoken computer repair man, told the judge. "It was like taking
communion."

The killing took place in March 2001. Meiwes was arrested in December 2002
after police received a tip-off from someone who had seen one of his
Internet adverts seeking a slaughter victim.

The trial is expected to last until the end of January and some 40
witnesses will be called, including some of Meiwes's Internet contacts.

The gaunt, bespectacled defendant said that during his upbringing alone
with a dominant mother he had longed for a little brother he could make
"part of me."

He told how he made contact online with a 43-year-old Berlin computer
specialist identified only as Bernd-Juergen B.

He invited him to his elegant half-timbered home near Kassel and killed him
with a kitchen knife in a "slaughtering room" he had built containing meat
hooks, a cage and a butcher's table.

"He told me he had had the desire since he was a child to be slaughtered
and eaten," Meiwes said. "He was very intelligent and I didn't see any sign
that he was disturbed." Meiwes filmed the killing and the video tape may be
shown to the court.

Defense lawyers have said the film shows Meiwes cutting off the victim's
penis at the latter's request.

"It was important to him that his member be cut off and that he witness
it," Meiwes said.

"He screamed terribly and jumped around the table but after a while he said
he was surprised it didn't hurt and was very pleased that the wound bled so
strongly," he added.

"It gave him pleasure."

MURDER OR EUTHANASIA?

Eventually the victim lost consciousness and Meiwes killed him with a
knife. He hung up the corpse and cut it up, filming the process.

Prosecutors, who charged Meiwes with murder after a psychiatrist declared
him fit to stand trial, are seeking a life sentence.

They concede the victim wanted to be killed but argue he was incapable of
rational thought.

Meiwes's lawyer has pleaded for him to be convicted of "killing on
request," a form of illegal euthanasia which carries a maximum five years
sentence.

Legal experts say the charge of full murder may not stick given that the
video film shows the victim to be willing. The case could reach the Federal
Constitutional Court, Arthur Kreuzer of Giessen University's Institute for
Criminology said this week.

Meiwes said he became obsessed with wanting a younger brother -- "someone
to be part of me."

Using the pseudonym "Franky," he posted Internet ads saying: "If you are
18-25 you are my boy" or "Come to me I'll eat your delicious flesh."

Some 430 people responded to his e-mails within a year.

More Comfortable with Bullion than Stocks
By John Embry, Sprott Asset Management | For The Gold Report | November 2003
http://www.kitco.com/ind/Goldreport/dec022003.html

At this juncture I am much more comfortable with gold bullion than I am
with gold stocks. I think gold stocks have had an enormous run - they
started percolating a bit May and June and then went ballistic.
Subsequently, my fund is up 90% [since April]. Clearly stocks have done
really well. I think that the stocks are okay only if the gold bullion
price can exit this trading range it's in - currently between $370 and $400
- and clear $400 with some momentum and blast up to $420, which a lot of
technicians are calling for.

I'm concerned about two things: First, hedge funds are long . . . and
second, the central banks, who are managing the gold market - make no
mistake about that - do not want to see the gold price going up
significantly here because it would imply more inflation in the system. It
might lead to higher rates in the U.S., which would kill the mortgage
market. So, there's a real battle going on right now. So, I really don't
know in the short run what the gold price is going to do.
But I do think that over time the gold price is going up a lot, because it
has become evident that the United States, in particular, has no choice but
to create as much liquidity as necessary to keep the whole debt picture
intact. And at the same time, because the U.S. dollar is vulnerable, I
don't think any of the foreign countries really want their currencies going
up a lot against the U.S. dollar, so if the U.S. dollar is showing some
overt weakness, I think these countries will print money - they will buy
dollars, they will lower their interest rates - they will do everything to
prevent their currency from rising sharply against the U.S. dollar, and
weakening their competitive position.

So, I see an ongoing, accelerating global monetary debasement as being the
major factor in the gold market, and the only currency - and gold is most
assuredly a currency and has been for centuries- that can't be debased is
gold. So, as all these other paper currencies are created at an ever more
rapid clip, the price of gold as denominated in these currencies is going
skyward. It's just a matter of how long it's going to take.

As far as stocks are concerned, everything I look at, very simply, is in
terms of risk and reward. In the case of gold let's say the 200-day moving
average is in the neighborhood of 360; the current price is just under 380.
So, I keep 20 bucks as downside max in my mind, and I see upside over the
next 18 months of approximately 120 bucks, and over the next five years, of
maybe 600 dollars. So, I look at that; I say, "Gee, that's not a bad
risk/reward."

I look at a lot of the stocks, right now, and they have had an enormous
run; some of them are just trading on the moon, in relation to what their
real fundamental assets are worth. And accordingly, I think that I can
lose, in the short run anyway, as much money as I can make. So I am a
little less comfortable with stocks, certainly since the last time we
talked when I was quite bullish about stocks.

But I could be wrong. If the bulls win out, and the gold price roars
through $400, stocks are going to do just fine. (November 6, 2003)

Discussions of the consequences of a weaker dollar are no longer
theoretical. Foreign investors are actually starting to sell U.S.
dollar-denominated assets.

The reason for this paradigm shift, this watershed moment in history,
centers on a nasty, four-letter word: debt.

When America's 2003 fiscal year ended Sept. 30, it was reported that the
deficit had reached $374.2 billion. That's more than twice the published
2002 figure, and it shattered the previous deficit record of $290 billion
set in 1992.

But that's nothing compared to what lies ahead. The White House is already
projecting a $480 billion deficit for fiscal year 2004. And that doesn't
include all of the "off-the-books" spending going on.

Warned Warren Buffett: "The deficit has greatly worsened, to the point that
our country's 'net worth,' so to speak, is now being transferred abroad at
an alarming rate."

But what's even worse than record-breaking debt is our cavalier attitude
towards it - both on the federal and individual level - that virtually
assures the continuation of monstrous deficits for the foreseeable future.

Given the planet's dependency on the greenback (up to this point at least),
given the fact that no economy has come close to rivaling that of the U.S.,
Washington has seemingly operated under the smug belief that it could let
debt run rampant without significantly risking the dollar's supremacy.

But that's one smug belief that may prove monumentally foolish. After over
20 long years of mounting deficits (the trade deficit has more than tripled
since 1990), our debt is getting to be pretty old business in the world
community. In addition to foreign angst over North America retaining the
title of "The World's Debtor Nation," there have been other shocks to the
global economic system. These include:

* The collapse of the dotcom market in March 2000.

* The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

* The serious scandals on Wall Street.

* The impact of the war with Iraq.

* The sluggish U.S. recovery.

None of this has occurred in a vacuum. There continues to be worldwide
consequences, under-reported as they have been, to these traumatic U.S.
circumstances.

Euro on rise

For one consequence, the euro is looking more and more attractive to
foreign investors. From an all-time low of $0.83 in October 2000, shortly
after the currency's introduction, the euro recently hit a record $1.1977
(topping the previous May 12, 2003, record of $ 1.1558).

This is significant because a rising euro directly threatens the dollar's
enduring role as the world's defacto reserve currency (specifically, nearly
70 percent of official exchange reserves are held in dollars).

Possessing the world's reserve currency, it should go without saying, has
been a critical advantage to the U.S.

"The U.S. can run large trade deficits because the cost of producing an
American dollar is far less than what can be bought with it, giving the
U.S. an advantage over other countries that must pay for American dollars
with their own goods and services. Normally, a country that ran significant
trade deficits would face downward pressure on its currency. The dollar's
status as the world's reserve currency protects the U.S. from this,"
reported Mapleleafweb.com.

But that sweet advantage is now being threatened. That's because the
spigots of world investment in the U.S. are beginning to shut off.

According to respected analyst Stephen Roach: "In data just released,
overseas portfolio inflows into dollar-based assets totaled only $4.2
billion in September 2003 - far short of the $64 billion average inflows in
the first eight months of the year and the $46 billion monthly bogey
required to finance the U.S. current account deficit at its prevailing
rate."

Regarding this dramatic decline, ABN Amro Analysts warned, "Given the
U.S.'s $45 billion a month current account deficit, this lack of flows
(i.e., declining purchases of government securities) in a month when U.S.
bonds and stocks both rallied raises questions about the financing of the
trade deficit next year."

Which comes as particularly ominous news since it has largely been the
foreign buying of Treasury and Wall Street securities that has kept our
U.S. economy afloat. But, as bad as declining foreign investment is, it's
not the only scary news.

Oil in euros

According to Mapleleafweb.com, "In April 2002, a senior OPEC representative
gave a speech openly considering changing the denomination for oil
payment." In other words, the petroleum exporting countries are looking at
euros over dollars.

Evidently, this isn't just talk. Mapleleafweb.com also reported that, since
2002, Iran has been shifting the reserves in its Central Bank from U.S.
dollars to euros. According to respected analyst,Richard Russell, Russia
has also stated that it is thinking of selling its oil in euros instead of
dollars. Saudi Arabia would soon follow suit, he believes. Then Russell
added:

"There are elements in Europe that would like to give the U.S. its
'comeuppance' ('knocking America off its throne,' in other words). This is
impossible from a military standpoint, but not from an economic standpoint.
Remember, the reason our nation remains relatively prosperous is that the
U.S. owns and creates the world's 'reserve currency.' This allows America
to get away with 'economic murder' by paying off its debt with paper that
it prints at will and at no cost."

The universal hedge to the dollar

According to Stephen Roach: "I fear there is a tear in the fabric of
confidence that underpins the special role of the dollar - a tear that is
now getting larger under the stresses and strains of an unbalanced world."

So . how do you personally hedge against this tear in the fabric of
confidence? How do you preserve your all-important purchasing power in a
changing economy?

Consider these opinions.

* Jay Taylor, editor of J. Taylor's Gold and Technology Stocks
newsletter, reported, "People should really be owning gold because it is so
negatively correlated to equities and bonds and the dollar, even more than
real estate. We make no apologies for our 40 percent allocation to gold and
gold stocks."

* "Gold," said fund manager Alfred Wong of UOB Asset Management, "is
historically found to be negatively correlated with major assets like the
U.S. dollar, stocks and bonds. The asset of last resort is gold."

* Peter Urbani, investment strategist at The Fairheads International
Group, one of the world's most distinguished money management firms, said,
"Investors seem to have rediscovered gold as an alternative asset class,
which appears to be negatively correlated with the U.S. dollar."

* "Gold is the only asset class that is negatively correlated with
other asset classes, so its price tends to move in the opposite direction
to U.S. stocks, Treasury bills, bonds and the U.S. dollar," reported
Asiaweek.com.

Richard Russell has a specific example of this negative-correlation:

"The S&P 500's 20-month moving average has crossed down through its
40-month moving average, thereby indicating that stocks remain in a primary
bear market.

"But look at the picture in the gold market. The picture is a mirror
image of the stock market. The 20-month moving average of the gold price is
crossing up through the 40-month moving average, which shows that gold is
in a primary bull market.

"Gold is now in the accumulation phase, moving to strong hands from
weak hands . $556 per ounce is the first target."

But you don't have to be a "gold bug" to see the wisdom of diversifying
your stock-based portfolio with at least some gold. That's especially so as
the situation with the dollar plays out. Put in perspective, consider how
lucky we are to have any asset at all that moves contrary to the direction
traditional investments are heading.

Given that key advantage, we should avail ourselves of "the only asset
class that is negatively correlated with other asset classes," as
Asiaweek.com reported, and diversify our stocks, funds and bonds at this
dramatic junction in history. This is, after all, no time to have all of
our hard-earned assets in the same dollar-denominated basket.

* Lear Financial is making available free information on investing in
precious metals.
http://etools.ncol.com/a/jgroup/rd_lear_wnd_15.html

With more than 20 years of industry experience, Kevin DeMeritt is president
of Lear Financial, one of today's fastest growing and most successful
precious metals investment firms.