 | the faylee kurd hostage's ( part 1 ) Approximately one million people, the overwhelming majority of whom were Iraqi citizens, were forcibly deported to Iran between April 1980 and 1990. The deportations commenced six months prior to the start of the Iraq/Iran war. The deportees were accused of being of Iranian origin and therefore sent back to Iran. Their belongings and documents, including their homes, businesses, passports and Iraqi citizenship documents were confiscated. To silence protest on the part of the deportees and prevent retaliatory action, the Iraqi authorities detained members of each family as hostages, approximately one detainee for every 10 deportees, giving about 100,000 detainees. The majority of these hostages were men aged between 16 and 40. Many of these hostages were subsequently released. Foreign nationals, other than Iranians, were released first. Non-Moslem Iranians were released next. This was followed by the release of some of the detainees with immediate family members still living in Iraq. Lastly some of the detainees, the whole of whose immediate families had already been deported and who were not doing military service at the time of arrest were released from custody and immediately deported. The remainder of the hostages were accused of being Or Iranian origin, although a large proportion of them were doing military service. and Iraqi law only allows Iraqi citizens to serve in the army. The 'civilian' detainees also all had Iraqi citizenship. Between 1986 and 1989 a further small number of hostages with immediate family members still living in Iraq were released. During the eight-year Iraq/Iran war (1980-88) some of the hostages were sent to the war. Other hostages died from disease or as a result of the harsh conditions and inhuman treatment in their places of detention. Most of these hostages were well educated and they included lawyers. teachers, doctors, university lecturers and students, business people and high-ranking military officers. Unfortunately the Iraqi Government has not yet released any information about these hostages. At present the Committee has the names and details of 935 of the hostages remaining in detention and knows of at least another three thousand, whose families have not given the Committee information for fear of reprisals. However, due to lack of information from the Iraqi authorities, it is very difficult to arrive at a precise figure for the number of people remaining in detention. This may be anything from about four thousand to many times that number |
 | Rose Israel lobbies NH Legislative subcommittee for Casella. Rose Israel is one of the principles in a devious money laundering conspiracy to influence local politics with Casella Waste Systems (Casella), a corporation with one half of a billion dollars in annual revenues. Israel's son is Richard Ubaldo, who was elected as a Bethlehem NH Selectman and Chairman of the Select Board in March 2008, after the most expensive and corrupt campaign in the history of local politics. Israel has said publicly that she does not care about the landfill, and all she is interested is their money. Israel claimed that she "financed" the several thousands of dollars poured into Ubaldo's political campaign for Selectman, to buy banners, buttons, business cards, flyers, handouts, many dozens of road side signs and town wide mailings; for an elected three-year position that pays one thousand six hundred dollars ($1,600) annually! Bethlehem has spent considerable time and efforts getting the proposed landfill controlling House Bill 1429 (HB 1429) passed in the NH House of Representatives, which was strongly opposed by Casella's nine lobbyist. Israel appears before the NH House of Representatives Environment and Agriculture Committee, and lobbies against the Town's HB 1429 for Casella. Filmed on February 14, 2008. |
 | Gennaro GOTV Rally & Canvass for Change FLUSHING, NY (Nov. 1, 2008) -- Over 100 supporters from Northeast Queens and all over New York joined a number of elected officials and organizations for Democratic State Senate candidate Jim Gennaro's "Rally & Canvass for Change" at his Flushing campaign headquarters on Saturday, Nov. 1. Following the rally, many from the energized crowd fanned out across Senate District 11 and knocked on several thousand doors to speak to voters about Gennaro's campaign to bring fiscal fairness to Queens residents and reform to a dysfunctional State Senate by ousting 36-year Republican incumbent Frank Padavan. Elected officials at the rally included Senate Democratic Leader Malcolm Smith, Senate Deputy Democratic Leader Jeff Klein, State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky and City Councilman John Liu. Other elected officials -- including Senator Eric Schneiderman, Senator Martin Dilan, Councilman Erik Dilan and Councilman Peter Vallone, Jr. -- also provided volunteers for the rally and canvass. Groups that helped organize the event and also sent canvassers include SEIU 32BJ, United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500, NARAL Pro-Choice NY, Human Rights Campaign, Democracy for New York City, NYS Young Dems, Queens Young Dems and the St. John's College Democrats. Gennaro, a member of the City Council, focused his remarks on incumbent Republican senator Frank Padavan's record of voting against women's health and safety legislation, as well as for not having a plan to revitalize New York's economy. Councilman Gennaro is a former college professor and, as Chair of the Environmental Protection Committee, is one of the City Council's most prolific authors of legislation, much of it dedicated to green issues like promoting alternative energy, reducing greenhouse gases and keeping New York City's drinking water clean. He is also a consistent fighter against examples of fiscal unfairness, like the recent New York City water rate hike. Councilman Gennaro has been endorsed by The New York Times, The Queens Tribune, The Queens Ledger, Governor David Paterson, U.S. Senators Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer, as well as Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and many local Queens elected officials. He has also been endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters, SEIU Local 32BJ, Transit Workers Union Local 100, Local 3 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500 and the Communication Workers of America Local 1180. The 11th Senate District includes the Northeast Queens neighborhoods of Auburndale, Bayside, Beechhurst, Bellerose, College Point, Douglaston, Floral Park, Flushing, Hillcrest Estates, Hollis, Holliswood, Jamaica Estates, Glen Oaks, Jamaica Hill, Linden Hill, Little Neck, Murray Hill, Oakland Gardens, Queens Village and Whitestone. |
 | Rose Israel lobbies NH Senate subcommittee for Casella. Rose Israel is one of the principles in a devious money laundering conspiracy to influence local politics with Casella Waste Systems (Casella), a corporation with one half of a billion dollars in annual revenues. Israel's son is Richard Ubaldo, who was elected as a Bethlehem NH Selectman and Chairman of the Select Board in March 2008, after the most expensive and corrupt campaign in the history of local politics. Israel has said publicly that she does not care about the landfill, and all she is interested is their money. Israel claimed that she "financed" the several thousands of dollars poured into Ubaldo's political campaign for Selectman, to buy banners, buttons, business cards, flyers, handouts, many dozens of roadside signs and town wide mailings; for an elected three-year position that pays one thousand six hundred dollars ($1,600) annually! Bethlehem has spent considerable time and efforts getting the proposed landfill controlling House Bill 1429 (HB 1429) passed in the NH House of Representatives, which was strongly opposed by Casella's nine lobbyist. Israel appears before the NH Senate Energy, Environment and Economic Development Committee and lobbies against the Town's HB 1429 for Casella. Filmed on May 6, 2008. |
 | HUNTINGTON LIGHTHOUSE MUSIC FEST 08 PART 1 The Huntington Lighthouse Music Fest 2008 got off to a rough start this Labor Day with a sudden and very unexpected rainout of the scheduled Saturday show. The The Huntington Lighthouse Music Fest 2008 got off to a rough start this Labor Day with a sudden and very unexpected rainout of the scheduled Saturday show. The Lighthouse Committee volunteers, and concert crew from HDH Davidson, after spending Friday ferrying out the huge sound system, all arrived at Gold Star Battalion Beach at 6am to wait for the rain to stop. However, by 8am it became obvious that this rain was not going to let up and the date was rescheduled for the following day, Sunday. Word spread throughout the North Shore boating community like wildfire and with much juggling and magic, the entire festival with 6 of the areas busiest bands was on for Sunday. Everyone arrived at the dock to a beautiful sunrise and the promise of perfect boating weather. By 10 the Lighthouse was alive with sound and video crews, volunteers setting up tents, running power lines and firing up generators. The Pirates arrived with sabers rattling and guns blazing, ready to Wreak havoc on the unsuspecting boaters, all in the name of good wet fun and fundraising .for the beloved Lighthouse. After a bell toll to honor the passing of Lighthouse Committee members and a few brief words from the local politicians, the festival was off to a dancing, rocking good time with the calypso sounds of The TOCO Band playing authentic Island Soca Music that had the hundreds of early arrivals blowing their horns in approval. Overhead, vintage WWII planes from the Warbirds Of Long Island roared by to the whoops and hollers from the excited crowd. Next up was the local legend WILLIE STEELE playing a set of boogie woogie , blues and swing to further set the musical mood for the day. Next up, BLACKLIGHT, featuring concert promoter Donald Davidson brought the crowd back to the San Francisco 60s with their blend of psychedelic classics, followed by the hot set of classic rock by veteran rockers CRISIS. By late afternoon , the bay was packed with over a thousand boats full of delighted sailors and music lovers and no one had any plans of leaving till the last note was played. The 70s and 80s classics were belted out next by SOUTH OF SUNRISE who delivered on of the most diverse sets of the day with leader Pauls High voice soaring across the water, backed by a very tight trio of rocking party pros. Last but definitely not least was BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. An amazing 10 piece R&B, swing and blues band with a great combo of male and female lead singers and a smoking hot horn section. They rocked as the sun set and finally, reluctantly, the bay full of boats waved goodbye, weighed anchor and set sail for home, already marking Labor day 2009 on their calendars for next years Huntington Lighthouse Music, Fest which will feature One if by land, two if by sea. Twin shows both on the water at the lighthouse and at a Huntington location to be announced Well see ya all there, keep on rocking. |
 | John McCain: Town Hall 04/30/08 John McCain Town Hall Meeting Allentown, PA 04/30/08 TRANSCRIPT: QUESTIONER: "Senator earlier you were talking about the inefficiency of the organization on your medical records and you're also talking about—" JOHN MCCAIN: "I was just joking. We are, if I may say, we are moving forward with that process. We have, uh, are compiling all of my medical records. It is still many months before the election and people cast the vote to decide. And so we'll get it out in a very timely fashion..." QUESTIONER: "But if I could just meld these two concepts, with the earmarks. You've talked about the millions and billions that you think are available to be saved with the earmark process—" MCCAIN: "I know that, I don't think so, I know so." QUESTIONER: "Well at a certain point is your campaign provide a hard figure? Are they going to...and when will that be?" MCCAIN: "Yes and we'll have that rather soon too. But we have already had a fundamental disagreement with many of the critics. I believe that growing the economy is the answer to our difficulties . . . " QUESTIONER: "But your campaign will provide a hard figure on how much savings you will have if we eliminate earmarks, these nine thousand earmarks—" MCCAIN: "Oh, I don't, I, we will, I can tell you right now. There's 35 billion dollars in one bill, uhh, and by in two bills that the President signed, in two omnibus appropriations bills. $17 billion in one, and $18 billion in another. $65 billion, or rough, $60 billion in earmarks in the past. Because every time there's an earmark appropriated, the budget, the base line of the budget goes up, as you know. So there's nearly 100 billion right there, off the top of my head. Now we'll provide you with others, but again the growth in discriminatory spending was huge, the greatest since the 'Great Society.' That has to be stopped . . . please, follow up again." QUESTIONER: "I just want to get a difference, a sense of the difference between the good earmarks and the bad earmarks and then how, where all these savings are going to come from? MCCAIN: "Oh, they're multitudinous. But the point is that there has to be authorization and appropriations. When you earmark in the middle of the night you have no budgetary constraints, you have no prioritization. You have only the individual influence of a member of the appropriations committee. As one of my friends once said, there's Republican Senators and Democrat Senators and then there's appropriators. And to, somehow believe that this really outrageous practice of earmarking is somehow acceptable because there are some good projects and programs in them, is actually in direct contradiction of everything I stand for and believe in..." LABEL: JM PA 4-30 (GR#81) DHGIS - Clip J To download a high res version of this clip, VISIT: http://issuealliance.box.net/shared/mkqldssw84 To download the full campaign event, VISIT: http://issuealliance.box.net/shared/9xb1l2348c |
 | State of the National Security State (1 of 3) Nov. 14 - Brian Flanagan participated in the second panel of the Hauenstein Center's conference, "George W. Bush: Legacy & Lessons." The panel explored "The Bush Administration: Process and Policies," and Flanagan presented a paper on "The State of the National Security State." Brian Flanagan is associate director of the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies at Grand Valley State University. With Gleaves Whitney and staff, he has helped organize more than one-hundred public programs, including two national conferences covered by C-SPAN, one debate web cast live to more than 3,500 viewers in eighteen countries, and another watched on YouTube by more than 40 thousand people on six continents. He has developed the Center's presence online, with a traditional website that has attracted 10 million hits, and a "Hauenstein Center Everywhere" campaign that brought the Hauenstein Center to YouTube, Wikipedia, Blogger, Flickr, Facebook, and MySpace. In 2008, Brian and a Hauenstein Center team were awarded a Mawby Fellowship to explore the connection between philanthropy and the American presidency. In 2007, he was appointed to the Michigan Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Committee, a two-year effort charged with providing leadership and direction for Michigan's celebration of the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. He also served as a Teaching and Learning Resources advisor for the National Endowment for the Humanities and was selected as a 2007 class member by Leadership Grand Rapids, a community leadership program by the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the Economic Club of Grand Rapids and the World Affairs Council of Western Michigan. During the 2004-05 academic year, Brian helped establish the Peter C. Cook Leadership Academy, the Hauenstein Center's leadership training program. He has conducted research at four presidential libraries, including the Lyndon B. Johnson Library in Austin, Texas, the Gerald R. Ford Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the Jimmy Carter Library in Atlanta, Georgia, and the George H. W. Bush Library in College Station, Texas. Flanagan graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2003, where he studied English literature, composition, and history. He is currently a Master's candidate in Grand Valley's School of Public and Nonprofit Administration. |
 | Lec 1 | MIT 3.091 Introduction to Solid State Chemistry Vision Statement, Administrative Details Introduction Taxonomy of Chemical Species Origins of Modern Chemistry View the complete course at: http://ocw.mit.edu/3-091F04 License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA More information at http://ocw.mit.edu/terms More courses at http://ocw.mit.edu |
 | The Mystery Of Bulgarian Voices - The project Voyager part 8 This song is recorded on golden CDs and is on the spacecrafts Voyager 1 and 2 as a message of the human nation to other civilizations. The song is from the Rhodope region The Voyager Golden Record is a phonograph record included in the two Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977. It contains sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth. It is intended for any intelligent extraterrestrial life form, or far future humans, that may find it. The Voyager spacecraft will take about 40,000 years to come near another star, 'near' meaning in this case within around 1.7 light-years' distance; hence, if other beings do not come in the direction of the spacecraft to meet them, it will take at least that long for the Golden Record to be found. As the probes are extremely small compared to the vastness of interstellar space, it is extraordinarily unlikely that they will ever be intercepted. If they are ever found by an alien species, it will be far in the future, and thus the record is best seen as a symbolic statement rather than a serious attempt to communicate with aliens. The contents of the record were selected for NASA by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan of Cornell University. Dr. Sagan and his associates assembled 115 images and a variety of natural sounds, such as those made by surf, wind, and thunder, and animal sounds, including the songs of birds and whales. To this they added musical selections from different cultures and eras, and spoken greetings from Earthlings in fifty-five languages, and printed messages from President Jimmy Carter and U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim. After NASA had received criticism over the nudity on the Pioneer plaque (line drawings of a naked man and woman), the agency chose not to allow Sagan and his colleagues to include a photograph of a nude man and a nude, pregnant woman on the record. Instead, only a silhouette of the couple was included[1]. Here is an excerpt of President Carter's official statement placed on the Voyager spacecraft for its trip outside our solar system, June 16, 1977: We cast this message into the cosmos... Of the 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, some — perhaps many — may have inhabited planets and space faring civilizations. If one such civilization intercepts Voyager and can understand these recorded contents, here is our message: We are trying to survive our time so we may live into yours. We hope some day, having solved the problems we face, to join a community of Galactic Civilizations. This record represents our hope and our determination and our goodwill in a vast and awesome universe. The 115 images are encoded in analog form. The remainder of the record is audio, designed to be played at 16⅔ revolutions per minute. It contains spoken greetings beginning with Akkadian, which was spoken in Sumer about six thousand years ago, and ending with Wu, a modern Chinese dialect. Following the section on the sounds of Earth, there is an eclectic 90-minute selection of music from many cultures, including Eastern and Western classics. The selections include:Bulgaria "Излел е Делю хайдутин" ("Izlel je Delyo Hajdutin") traditional Valya Balkanska Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece, Rome, Turkey,Serbia, Thracians, Byzantium |
 | Olympics '08: Fake Ticket Controversy OLYPlusSelectPlusSportsOlympics '08: Fake Ticket ControversyOlympics '08: Fake Ticket ControversyThe Associated PressThe IOC is moving to shut down an American web site that may have sold fraudulent tickets to the Olympics. (Aug. 4)IN THE U-S WE'RE USED TO IT....BUT WHEN IT COMES TO THE OLYMPICS IT'S A SERIOUS VIOLATION(SUN WEIDE/SPOKESPERSON BEIJING ORGANIZING COMMITTEE) "scalping olympic tickets is illegal"OLYMPIC OFFICIALS ARE EXPECTED TO TAKE LEGAL ACTION AGAINST AN OLYMPIC TICKET SCALPING WEB SITE CALLED BEIJING-TICKETING-DOT-COM...THEY SAY THE SITE SCAMMED NOT ONLY SPORTS FANS OUT OF THEIR MONEY BUT EVEN ATHLETE'S FAMILIES....FAMILIES OF SOME AUSTRALIAN ATHLETES WERE CHEATED OUT OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS.(JOHN COATES/ PRESIDENT AUSTRALIAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE) "it's a great pity, I suppose you can understand if there aren't enough tickets - albeit we had 31 thousand tickets for Australia this time as against the 19 thousand for Athens, but some folk have gone looking for extra tickets to satisfy their demand."AS AUSTRALIAN OFFICIALS SCRAMBLE TO FIND TICKETS FOR FAMILIES....THE CRACKDOWN HASN'T STOPPED OTHERS FROM PROFITING OFF SCALPING OLYMPIC TICKETS....ONE SELLER, WHO ASKED TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS, SAID HE LEGITIMATELY BOUGHT NINETY TICKETS IN THE U-S TEN MONTHS IN ADVANCE, BUT FOUND A HUGE DEMAND FOR THEM IN BEIJING....SO HE RE-SOLD THEM, SOME FETCHING AS MUCH AS A ONE HUNDRED SIXTY PERCENT MARKUP....ONE WOMAN SAID SHE PREFERRED PURCHASING A TICKET FROM A SCALPER BECAUSE IT WAS JUST MORE CONVENIENT |
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![Daily flights from NYC to Mont Tremblant\](images/articles/thumbs/nytremblantthumb.jpg "Daily flights from NYC to Mont Tremblant\")
