This is an update from Suzanne Taylor and TheConversation.org Making Sense of These Times website at http://www.theconversation.org
Thank you for your interest!

September 23, 2002
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Contents:
Suzanne writes...
Column from Arianna Huffington
Column from Geov Parrish
Five Star Pieces
Noteworthy News
Quotes
Featured Conversations
Crop Circle Diary entries
Comment from a Listmember
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SUZANNE WRITES...

It's been a long few days getting out this first substantive Update with new webmaster, Palden Jenkins, as promised when we sent out the last Update with our newly posted Monthly Report. There has been lots of redesign of our site going on, and it's taken time to work our way into a new groove. I hope you'll pay attention to what is in this long Update, with the world getting ever closer to what feels like the brink. Iraq dominates here, and, in the interest of as much brevity as I could manage, I've pared down my posts to what I think are the best of the very bests to help us in "making sense of these times." You'll see a fair amount of crop circle material, also, which I think of as the counterbalance to the political scene, as developments in the fields draw us ever closer to "Contact" being the headline in every newspaper -- Iraq is the farthest in, where we can be hurt, and the crop circles are the farthest out, where we can transcend our warlikeness and tune into the oneness that lies beyond it.


COLUMN FROM ARIANNA HUFFINGTON
Politicians And CEOs Gorge At The IPO Feast -- September 12, 2002
Full column: http://www.ariannaonline.com/columns/files/091202.html

Suzanne's comment: As the corporate culture quagmire continues to fester, this column features the latest aspect to come to the surface, where the sharks that are swimming in Wall Street waters hold congressional positions. What a web has been woven among the power elite, making it hard to get the checks and balances that could protect the rest of us folks. "The IPO outrage is just another in a long list of examples proving that the work of cleaning up the corporate stench that has been filling the air and the headlines for close to a year still remains to be done."

Other quotes drawn from the column:

The latest example of how the financial deck is stacked against the average investor is the revelation that banking behemoths like Citigroup, Credit Suisse First Boston, and Goldman Sachs regularly doled out hard-to-get shares in hot IPOs to favored customers, among them corporate big shots and politicians.

...being cut in on a hot IPO was like being handed the combination to Bill Gates' wall safe, a stable boy's pick in the featured race at Aqueduct, and the map to the fountain of youth. All in the same day.


COLUMN FROM GEOV PARRISH
Inside Radio: It's ten past the hour - do you know where your DJs are? -- September 16, 2002
Full column: http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=13810

Suzanne's comment: This is an insight into something that has crept up on us in our march toward homogenization in the ugly new world ruled by corporations. Read about what has happened to our radio waves here. "...The trend toward McRadio didn't just accelerate -- it exploded, fueled by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the massive corporate takeovers it encouraged."

Other quotes drawn from the column:

A generation ago, radio was frequently fun and unpredictable; stations were often unique reflections of a community, in part because big chains didn't exist. Companies could own only one AM and one FM in an area, and no more than seven of each nationally...

Satellite technology and the advent of big companies has meant that stations now sound the same across the country...Staffs have been slashed, pricey items like news and public affairs dropped. With deregulation, the FCC no longer requires public service. The frequent result -- bland music, predictable talk, no real news -- and the inability of local communities to have our own stations.


FIVE STAR PIECE
We the People, We the Warriors, Talbot Brewer -- August 26, 2002.  Sent in by Walter Starck.
Full piece: http://www.theconversation.org/fs-wethepeople.html

Suzanne's comment: This call to intelligence, occasioned by Iraq, will make you think. (Actually, I thought about war not being an option, which goes beyond the purview of this piece, as further food for thought.) "We have fallen from this democratic element of our own Constitution to the point at which the public expresses little or no outrage when the president speaks and acts as though he has the unilateral prerogative to initiate a war in nonemergency conditions."

Other quotes drawn from the piece:

Too many of our political leaders are now in a position to choose war with little fear that it will endanger their friends or loved ones...Today we wage war at an anesthetizing distance, with precise munitions that make killing an abstract activity, registered largely in terms of hit and miss rates.

If war policy is chosen behind closed doors and then conveyed to the people in conjunction with a skillful caricature of the predetermined enemy (supported, perhaps, by intelligence whose precise nature cannot be revealed), the public can be made to prefer an array of unsavory wars that it would never choose in the light of open deliberation. To think that democracy boils down to making sure one's decisions can be made popular in retrospect is to reduce the ideal of democracy to competency in marketing.


FIVE STAR PIECE
On The Way to Telluride, On My Way Back to the World, Michael Moore -- August 29, 2002
Full piece: http://www.theconversation.org/fs-mmoore-telluride.html

Suzanne's comment: If you care about my hero, Michael Moore, but aren't on his mailing list, and you want to guarantee yourself a cry along with feeling your irritation at the state of the world, read this very poignant first communication in a long time from him. There are so many aspects to how this man serves us all, many of which are reflected here. Although he makes salient points along the way, I don't want to extract quotes -- this is poetry and I want you to read the whole thing.


FIVE STAR PIECE
Albert Interviews Chomsky on Iraq -- September 5, 2002
Full piece: http://www.theconversation.org/fs-chomsky-iraq.html

Suzanne's comment: I almost cried reading this, I was so grateful for clear thinking about what is involved in the Iraq situation. Noam Chomsky is my man. Thanks to listmember Michael Albert, a ZNet founder, who conducted this interview. Chomsky isn't arguing about whether to invade, but is giving the history and parameters for understanding all the aspects of this situation. "He is as evil as they come, ranking with Suharto and other monsters of the modern era. No one would want to be within his reach. But fortunately, his reach does not extend very far."

Other quotes drawn from the piece:

Saddam's worst crimes, by far, have been domestic, including the use of chemical weapons against Kurds and a huge slaughter of Kurds in the late 80s, barbaric torture, and every other ugly crime you can imagine...The crimes were well known at once, but of no particular concern to the West. Saddam received some mild reprimands; harsh congressional condemnation was considered too extreme by prominent commentators...Bush authorized loan guarantees and sale of advanced technology with clear applications for weapons of mass destruction (WMD) right up to the day of the Kuwait invasion.

...shortly before he invaded Kuwait, a high-level Senate delegation, headed by (later) Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole, visited Saddam, conveying the President's greetings and assuring the brutal mass murderer that he should disregard the criticism he hears from maverick reporters here...

The 1991 war was extremely destructive, and since then Iraq has been devastated by a decade of sanctions, which probably strengthened Saddam himself (by weakening possible resistance in a shattered society), but surely reduced very significantly his capacity for war-making or support for terror...

Despite enormous efforts to tie Saddam to the 9-11 attacks, nothing has been found, which is not too surprising. Saddam and bin Laden were bitter enemies, and there's no particular reason to suppose that there have been any changes in that regard.

The rational conclusion is that Saddam is probably less of a danger now than before 9-11, and far less of a threat than when he was enjoying substantial support from the US-UK (and many others).


FIVE STAR PIECE
The Long and Short of It, Robert G. Kaiser -- September 8, 2002
The War on Terrorism Began So Well. Then the Focus Changed. What Is the Bush Administration Aiming to Do Now?
Full piece: http://www.theconversation.org/fs-waronterror.html

Suzanne's comment: This is a good overview of what's going on as we are poising to invade Iraq. However, at one point it offended me. It was when the author praised the early success of the war in Afghanistan, measured in so few American casualties, with no regard for the suffering and devastation it inflicted on thousands of Afghans. And then his glee over people "dancing in the streets," when the new regime hardly was worth cheering about, bothered me, too. He says:

"That first phase was triumphant. The anxiety of last fall that somehow America and its allies would be stymied in Afghanistan, as the Soviets were two decades earlier, now seems silly. Routing al Qaeda and its protector, the Taliban regime in Kabul, proved remarkably easy. Watching joyful Afghans dancing in the streets was a joyful experience. The first phase has cost more than $30 billion and 51 American lives, but the initial mission was accomplished: no more Taliban, no more safe haven for al Qaeda."

But then he went on to document how we have cut ourselves off from the rest of the world in a withdrawal into unilateralism, leading to how misguided we are in what he thinks is a done deal to invade Iraq. "What is the purpose of poking an American finger in the eye of just about every country in the world? What does the administration hope to gain by emphasizing unilateral options, from declaring war without Congress to telling other nations to sign up or get out of the way? Does such bullying ever pay off in politics, domestic or international?"

Other quotes drawn from the piece:

It isn't easy for the world's leading power to alarm all of its allies in a matter of months, but this is what the United States has done, for purposes that remain mysterious...

President Bush has said from the outset that the terrorists responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks hated America because "they hate our freedoms." But the available evidence does not support this explanation. Bin Laden's own statements and the personal histories of participants in the Sept. 11 plot suggest there are more specific reasons for the terrorists' hatred. They include American support for regimes that they detest in the Arab world; American bases on Arab territory, especially in Saudi Arabia; and American support for Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory and for Israel's military campaign against the Palestinians...By ignoring the items on this list and denouncing an enemy that hates us for what we are, not for what we say and do -- or what they think we do -- President Bush has created an all-purpose bad guy whose existence allows him to sidestep any examination of American policy...

Judging by the public statements and published commentaries of Arab officials and analysts, they now see no significant difference between Bush and Sharon on the Palestinian issue. Bin Laden himself could have written this script, it so suits the goal of dividing the United States from the Arab world, including the Arab states that we have long considered our friends.


NOTEWORTHY NEWS
Israel set on tragic path, says chief rabbi, Jonathan Freedland -- August 27, 2002
Full piece: http://www.theconversation.org/nn-chiefrabbi.html

Suzanne's comment: Wow. It's courageous people like this who are visible enough to make news that perhaps can turn tides. The way change sometimes comes about is that a groundswell develops and heats up and feels its helplessness until something all of a sudden focuses the energy and lets something birth. I keep referencing that Howard Zinn piece, about the trial of the Camden 28 in the Viet Nam era, for that kind of turning point [http://www.theconversation.org/break-in.html]. Knowing this historical information helps us take heart when in seemingly lost causes, which all of a sudden can get found when a single potent move is made. This piece is a good counterpoint to the frustrating exchange I had with a rabbi of the opposite persuasion, CONVERSATION ON THE MIDDLE EAST [http://www.theconversation.org/c-mideast.html]. "Britain's chief rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, today delivers an unprecedented strong warning to Israel, arguing that the country is adopting a stance 'incompatible' with the deepest ideals of Judaism, and that the current conflict with the Palestinians is 'corrupting' Israeli culture."

Other quotes drawn from the piece:

Prof Sacks is at pains to underline his continuing, avowed support for the Jewish state - citing repeated efforts by Israel to make peace, and the Palestinians' failure to take the same "cognitive leap" towards compromise...

The chief rabbi is bound to cause further controversy by calling for dialogue with the most extremist representatives of radical Islam...The chief rabbi's new book is subtitled "How to avoid the clash of civilisations", and aims to offer the world a roadmap away from disaster. He calls on orthodox faiths in particular to realise that difference is not a problem to be managed, but an "essential" part of creation itself.


NOTEWORTHY NEWS
Open Letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and to Representatives of the Member States, on the Declared Intention of the United States to Commit Aggression Against Iraq, Edward S. Herman, Anthony Arnove, Rahul Mahajan and David Peterson -- September 1, 2002
Full piece: http://www.theconversation.org/nn-openletterUN.html

Suzanne's comment: "Capitol Hill and the media sit there with a straight face as it happens, merely nodding their heads," says a perturbed Wade Frazier, a listmember, about a news report he sent of Bush declaring he can wage war without authority from Congress. As depressing as this now familiar story is, Wade's P.S. counters it with what can raise our hopes. Wade says, "There are shreds of sanity left in America, and below is something from Uncle Ed and friends," to introduce this strong statement by distinguished people saying what needs to be said about Iraq. Ed Herman is a listmember, and your comments will get to him.


OTHER ADDITIONS TO OUR QUOTES SECTION
[http://www.theconversation.org/index.html#quotes]

One-Day Wonder - the Bush-Putin arms treaty, Ivo H. Daalder and James M. Lindsay
Full piece: http://www.prospect.org/print/V13/15/daalder-i.html

As McGeorge Bundy recognized more than three decades ago, "in the real world of real political leaders...a decision that would bring even one hydrogen bomb on one city of one's own country would be recognized in advance as a catastrophic blunder; 10 bombs on 10 cities would be a disaster beyond history; and a hundred bombs on a hundred cities unthinkable." We have long lived in Bundy's real world -- and we certainly do so now...More than 10 years after the Cold War ended, the United States and Russia still have 30,000 nuclear weapons between them.

Opening Markets Is Not Sustainable, Says British Guru, Sanjay Suri
Full piece: http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=11850

"The decisions are being made by multinationals", Edward Goldsmith, founder of The Ecologist magazine and a celebrated pioneer of Britain's environment movement since the Sixties, says. "So long as this remains the case we cannot solve any of our real problems. What is more, they will unquestionably take over whatever institution we set up to control them. This must make us seriously consider whether humanity can survive global economy, which by its very nature must be controlled by multinationals."...

The real object of development is to transform the third world into a market for the West's finished products, and a source for cheap labour and raw materials, Goldsmith says. Sustainable development "is just a euphemism for corporate growth," he says...

The World Bank has been referred to as a machine for creating debts. "Once third world countries are in debt, the West can control them and force them into the global economy...The Johannesburg summit has nothing to do with preserving the environment. It's about how best to allow the multinationals to destroy the environment to their heart's content in the name of 'sustainable development', that is, corporate growth which we are assured is the only means of combating growing world poverty. It is a confidence trick."

The real goal is the seizure of Saudi oil, Mo Mowlam
Full piece: http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,786180,00.html

[Note from Palden: Mo Mowlam was a UK politician with a high degree of integrity. In many people's view, she contributed more than any other person to the Northern Irish peace process. She had a charming, down-to-earth, motherly style which disarmed the hard-nuts in Ulster, yet she spoke with remarkable common sense and plain talk. She's a cancer survivor. She was very popular and respected, and was eased out of the government in 2001. She was probably destined to become the next prime minister in UK. She is a loss to British political culture, but she has 'got a life' instead, and well done to her.]

The many words that are uttered about Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction, which are never substantiated with any hard evidence, seem to mean very little. Even if Saddam had such weapons, why would he wish to use them? He knows that if he moves to seize the oilfields in neighbouring countries the full might of the western world will be ranged against him. He knows that if he attacks Israel the same fate awaits him. Comparisons with Hitler are silly - Hitler thought he could win; Saddam knows he cannot. Even if he has nuclear weapons he cannot win a war against America. The United States can easily contain him. They do not need to try and force him to irrationality...

This whole affair has nothing to do with a threat from Iraq - there isn't one. It has nothing to do with the war against terrorism or with morality. Saddam Hussein is obviously an evil man, but when we were selling arms to him to keep the Iranians in check he was the same evil man he is today. He was a pawn then and is a pawn now. In the same way he served western interests then, he is now the distraction for the sleight of hand to protect the west's supply of oil. And where does this leave the British government? Are they in on the plan or just part of the smokescreen? The government speaks of morality and the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction, but can they really believe it?

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FEATURED CONVERSATION -- WALTER STARCK
http://www.theconversation.org/c-walterstarck2.html#080802

Suzanne's comment: In this installment of my conversation with Walter Starck, Walter says, "For the immediate future it appears further conflict and retaliation are inevitable. This is unlikely to change until the mass consciousness wakes up to the realization we are all in the same boat and it is headed, quite literally into a storm the likes of which we haven't seen before." Our conversation is mostly about crop circles -- how profound a thing is going on that indeed could wake up the mass consciousness. Here are some quotes of Walter's that I hope will entice you to read the whole exchange. This conversation is where the most sense is being made about "making sense of these times."

It's time we stopped trying to explain [the crop circle phenomenon] away and give it serious consideration. This doesn't require subscribing to any belief about it but only approaching it with an open mind...

The ongoing debate over hoaxing is hard to believe...[it] requires dismissing thousands of figures spanning decades and continents as just a practical joke...Even just a single large complex figure that is not of human origin has profound implications for our entire world concept...All the hoax proponents have to do to vastly strengthen their case is to either offer some proof that one of the large complex formations was indeed made by humans or better yet, actually demonstrate the making of such an artifact complete with weaving and stem bending effects...What does it take to get us to simply recognize that something we can't explain is going on and we should perhaps pay attention?...

[There] are intelligent people who can accept the phenomena and the inadequacy of the hoax explanation but they cannot (or will not) recognize the profound implications of a non-human origin for them. Like a dog watching TV, their attention may be aroused momentarily by what is going on but as to what it all means, they simply don't get it...

We believe reality is limited to and governed by that which is known and explicable to mainstream consensus scientific belief, primarily a Newtonian mechanical perspective. When Crop Circles are said to be a hoax perpetrated by pranksters using strings and planks it is readily accepted with no understanding of what would actually be involved in designing, laying out, and executing any of the larger more elaborate figures.


FEATURED CONVERSATION -- DANIEL PINCHBECK
http://www.mightycompanions.org/cropcircles/wired/wheatgraffiti.html#alien

Suzanne's comment: There is fascinating conversation posted about the newest crop circle -- the "alien face" that's the buzz in our Crop Circle Diary. You won't find this anywhere else. If Daniel Pinchbeck weren't so credible it would be tempting to shine this on, but I feel very lucky to have such a mind-expanding correspondent. Here's a snippet:

The "Greys" have appeared to thousands of people all over the world. They are nasty and mean-spirited beings who definitely have their own agenda. It is clear that they have some kind of design on the human species, engaging in some sort of extradimensional "breeding" program...I suggest that the alien face formation is from other circlemakers who actually do belong to an extraterrestrial civilization, warning us of the Greys' deception. That is why they tell us: "There is good out there."

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CROP CIRCLE DIARY ENTRIES

August 28, 2002

The United States got two nice formations in August, one in New Jersey and the other in Idaho. The stories have a delicious ring of truth to them. The absolute best formations always are in England, and usually the ones in the U.S. -- that get authenticated as the genuine phenomenon in lab tests -- are pretty ratty affairs, but these two are very very sweet. The stories will enthrall you with crop circle magic, but the real eye opener, is the "orbs." The pictures that capture these innumerable balls of light are sensational. Wowee.
http://www.earthfiles.com/news/news.cfm?ID=386&category=Environment

August 29, 2002

Look how wonderfully the English crop circle season ended. Hearken to the email from the best photographer, whose yearbooks are the most beautiful of all publications. Highly recommended!

Hi everyone,

The season is now drawing to a close, with many fields here in the UK being harvested at a phenomenal rate. Here are two season finales! http://www.mightycompanions.org/cropcircles/diary2002.html#0829

The star shaped formation appeared close to Silbury Hill, Wilts on 25th August - approx. 200ft in diameter. The second formation appeared just North of Hungerford, Wilts on 27th August. The elaborate pattern around the central standing circle contains over 500 individual standing squares and is a DNA strand worked into a six-fold geometrical shape. The formation is 250-300ft in diameter.

Both these formations will be featured in our forthcoming Crop Circle Year Book 2002. They will also be featured in a new set of colour prints from 2002 - shortly to be launched on our website on September 4th - you can make an advance order for the new Year Book at www.temporarytemples.co.uk/shop

Best Wishes, Steve Alexander and Karen Douglas

August 30, 2002

The crop circle world is in a not atypical tizzy. Nothing ever seems to be cut and dried, and different opinions have a way of creating the same kind of divisions with crop circle researchers as other people experience in different fields. I believe there's something going on that's about us not being given gifts on silver platters -- we have to work to sort out confusion, and deserve new understanding by virtue of having worked for it at every turn.

So, this alien face along with a message disk arrived in England at the end of August, very different from anything before and with good reason both to think it's authentic and to believe it's a hoax. This is THE big dividing topic in the crop circle world. I don't know which is true in this case, and am watching the investigation and the debate with great interest. If this formation is authentic, it has a look that could be jarring, and, if it's not, there's a HUGE mystery about how it could have been executed by human hand. Believe me, ALL roads lead away from humans for anything as complex as this.

For a fascinating comprehensive of all that's being said, these three sites will give you the whole story:
http://www.swirlednews.com/article.asp?artID=501
http://www.electricwarrior.com/expose/ewExpose0007.htm
http://www.cropcircleresearch.com/articles/alienface.html

And here is the most thoughtful piece about the alien face formation, written by none other than Palden Jenkins, English croppie extraordinaire and general rabble rouser for a better world, who also is our new webmaster:
http://www.mightycompanions.org/cropcircles/diary2002.html#0818

August 31, 2002

Eltjo Hasselhoff is a Dutch scientist -- he's had a paper published in a scientific journal about crops gradually changing in some growth factor the further away you get from the center of formations, which is something hoaxers would have no control over. Now he's writing rebuffs, "Debunk the Debunkers," that can be used to counter people who propose that there's no genuine phenomenon. The first "self-defense" lesson takes up what Joe Nickell, a professional skeptic, just said in a cover story in "U. S. News and World Report," where "HOAX" is stamped on a picture of a crop circle. We'll keep bringing you these valuable writings as Eltjo turns them out.
http://www.dcccs.org/debunk_the_debunkers.htm

September 18, 2002

The crop circle world is buzzing with this excellent article written by Leslie Kean, an outstanding journalist. She is among the few mainstream reporters whose articles on scientifically taboo issues have been carried by the mainstream press. http://www.mightycompanions.org/cropcircles/diary2002.html#0918


COMMENT FROM A LISTMEMBER

Linda Smith wrote to me...

What an astounding, unforgettable day, Suzanne; I just stumbled onto your website. I have not been so overwhelmed since August, 1990, when I walked in a crop circle at Alton Barnes. After I was able to get away from the skeptics and fun-seekers I wandered to the very top of the circle where I was knocked--almost literally--sideways by two realizations: 1) We are all One; 2) Time is a circle. (The first is self-evident, but I'm still working on the second...). Thank you for being. And leading.
Linda Smith
linsmith@prodigy.net

Music to my ears, Linda. We are the lucky ones, who have tuned into perhaps the only magic happening on the planet these days. The circles are such a hopeful possibility that all of humanity could be enthralled by, and how shortsighted this endangered species is to focus on doubt rather than opening to awe. The evidence, even without the personal blast you got, is enough to energize curiosity, but we are so perverse in this rational reality of ours that we shoot ourselves in the feet instead.

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