Readers who recall the February rendition on the Environment will savor Sandy Lulay's views on Earth Day. Behind all the bells and whistles and beyond the myth, Lulay shows that Earth Day has not worked. It's yet another part of the The Imperial Conservation Crusade. Check the list of related links at the end of her essay and form your own opinion.
In the Tax & Death department, old Benjamin Franklin would feel homey in the company of Jan Baughman who entertains a much cherished subject for Americans at this time of the year. The proposed Bush tax cut is a sham cleverly designed to distract us when he transfers more wealth to those who need it most, the wealthy!
On Good Friday, April 13, we published three essays by retired nuclear physicist, Professor Dr. Vladimir Ajdacic, which were written during Easter 1999 in the midst of NATO's illegal war against Serbia. These texts unmistakably demonstrate that from very early on NATO targeted the civilian infrastructure with the aim of terrorizing the population so that their government would relent. A team of Canadian volunteers worked on the English translation. Dr. Ajdacic's essays are introduced by Gilles d'Aymery.
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Sandy Lulay: Earth Day: American Myth?
On April 21, 1970, about 20 million people across the country took part in the first national Earth Day. In 1969 Senator Gaylord Nelson, then the leading environmentalist in the U.S. Congress, created the day for campus teach-ins to help educate young people about the environment. More...
Sandy Lulay studied Environmental Nutrition with Dr. Annemaria Ballin at the American Academy of Nutrition and has a degree in comprehensive nutrition.
Jan Baughman: Forty Five Shares of Lockheed Martin
It's that time of year, when many Americans are spending Easter Sunday calculating their taxes. They should feel good, however, because it's out with the Clinton plan and in with compassionate conservatism. Vive Trickle Down Theory! Write out that check to the Treasury Department with confidence, knowing that next year, and for the next few years everything will get better. After all, the upcoming Bush tax cut will give the money back to those who earned it, thereby stimulating the economy. What that means in Bushspeak is that it is not only time, but also your personal responsibility, to go shopping. Saving money is of no value to you, nor the common good. According to our learned leader, "credit card debt alone totals over $600 billion, more than $2,000 for every man, woman, and child in the country. This high debt level will eventually restrict consumer spending. And if consumer spending slows, the economy will slow also. Tax relief would give these families the ability to pay down their debt." (And then spend more, which will stimulate the economy, keep the service providers and manufacturers gainfully employed...) More...
Jan Baughman is a scientist and Swans' co-editor.
Gilles d'Aymery: Happy Easter Weekend, So To Speak
(Introduction to Dr. Vladimir Ajdacic's three essays)
Have you ever had moments when out of total frustration you wanted to scream, to shout at someone, yet managed to keep the lid on, stay in control and go home? Then, out of nowhere, a few nights later, you are with your loved one, a close friend, with a drink in your hand, and it hits you and you start screaming at them but really the thunder is directed toward no one in particular, the entire country, the world possibly, or just maybe yourself? Has it ever happened to you? More...
Gilles d'Aymery is Swans' publisher and co-editor.
Dr. Vladimir S. Ajdacic: Malevolent April Days
On that faraway morning of April 6, 1941, German Junkers Ju 87 Stuka planes swooped down over Belgrade leaving death and destruction in their wake. Children and families, with sleep still in their eyes, were indiscriminately killed; the bombs reduced to rubble parts of a city whose people had dared say "no" to a powerful dictator, Hitler. More...
Dr. Vladimir S. Ajdacic is a retired nuclear physicist who lives in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
Dr. Vladimir S. Ajdacic: The Bloody Catholic Easter 1999
Easter is the most sacred and the happiest day for Christians. However, the people of Yugoslavia will never forget Easter 1999. NATO, led by the Americans, carried out vicious bombing attacks on a variety of civilian targets in Yugoslavia. Despite a message and request from the Pope not to bomb during this important Christian holy day, NATO bloodied their hands. The patriarch of the Russian Eastern Orthodox Church, Aleksej II, predicted their actions correctly. NATO's message, written on the bombs and tomahawk missiles was, "Easter presents to the Serbs." More...
Dr. Vladimir S. Ajdacic is a retired nuclear physicist who lives in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
Dr. Vladimir S. Ajdacic: The Resurrection of Christ - Go Away Satan!
Thursday (April 8th, before Orthodox Good Friday) - Downtown Cuprija destroyed. Apartment and other civilian buildings razed. Recreational ski centre on mount Zlatibor -- demolished, three victims of the attack. A building housing children and the medical centre were bombed and completely destroyed. For the third time, the chemical plant in Lucan was bombed even though there is a danger of an ecological catastrophe. Villages Krcevac and Cerovac close to Kragujevac were targeted, also Grbavica close to Gornji Milanovac. In Pristina, bodies that were thrown out from their graves by the powerful blasts were reburied. The aftermath: 180 graves and 407 tombstones destroyed. Aleksinac, a city of miners, horrifically in ruins, 26 houses and about 400 apartments destroyed. Twelve dead and over 30 wounded. The crime has been committed: premeditated murder, explained by NATO as 'simple mistake'! More...
Dr. Vladimir S. Ajdacic is a retired nuclear physicist who lives in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
Sandy Lulay: TIDES
Midnight
Steps upon the dunes.
Dark skirts along the beach
Reaching for a wave.
Sprays of mist
Taste the stillness.
The beach listens
To the sibilant whispers
Of a long, cool breeze.
More...
An "Original Woodstock Girl," Sandy Lulay is also a "Swans kind of girl" who's been writing poetry since age 10.