Global Village News and Resources Issue 79 - January 26, 2004

Positive News was handed the guardianship of Global Village News and Resources in summer of 2004. Although we would like to continue to make the archives available to subscribers and readers we would like to point out that stories published prior to issue 89 were not under our editorial guidance and would like to make a distinction that these are not necessarily a reflection of the current opinions of our editorial team.

UN Program Peacefully Disarming 100,000 Afgan Combatants

Afghanistan - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in close cooperation with the Afghan Government and the UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) launched a $134 million programme in Afghanistan last October to disarm, demobilize and reintegrate Afghan combatants into civilian life. The programme aims to disarm 100,000 members of the Afghan Military Forces.

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http://www.gvnr.com/79/1.htm

Canada - Scallop shells can be used to clean up polluted water, three teenagers in Halifax, Nova Scotia have discovered. James Beaton-Johnson, Elias Fares and Amy Trottier began their award-winning research as Grade 12 students. They say the shells can be used to clean up contaminated rivers, lakes and even Halifax Harbour. The trio got the idea from a documentary about a Japanese fish farmer who tossed oyster shells into a pond and found it cleared the dirty water.

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http://www.gvnr.com/79/2.htm

USA - Chris Carter doesn't look anything like the Lone Ranger. He doesn't wear a mask, doesn't ride a horse, doesn't carry silver bullets. But he nevertheless rode to the rescue of an Old West village in October. And a number of Indian companions were involved. The village is really northwestern - far northwestern. And the Indian companions are really Inupiaq. They live in Ambler, Alaska, on the Kobuk River in northwestern part of the state, north of the Arctic Circle. Getting to Ambler involves days of travel - to Anchorage, then to Kotzebue on the Arctic Ocean and finally a small-plane hop to Ambler.

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http://www.gvnr.com/79/3.htm  

The Ten Rules for Being Human by Chérie Carter-Scott

1. You Will Receive A Body
   You may love it or hate it, but it will be yours for the duration of your life on Earth.
    
2. You Will Be Presented With Lessons
   You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called “life.” Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or hate them, but you have designed them as part of your curriculum.

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http://www.gvnr.com/79/soul_food.htm

Campaign for Precedent
by Swami Beyondananda (Steve Bhaerman)
www.wakeuplaughing.com

Dear Friends:

Happy New Year! Welcome to that teeming, bubbling stew of infinite potentials called 2004. Just think. In less than ten months, we will have four more years of the same old President -- or we will have chosen ourselves a brand new precedent. Will we give in to hopelessness, apathy, fear, and the belief that the world sucks and there is nothing we can do about it? Or will we apply our skills, our wit, our wisdom and our consciousness to bring down the Irony Curtain and take those first steps toward a government of the people, by the people, for the people, where our government does OUR bidding, not the bidding of the highest bidder? And now is the time to launch this American Evolution. Why? Because it is too late to do it sooner!

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http://www.gvnr.com/79/lighter_side.htm

On the Plane To Jerusalem
by Jo Powers

It seems like for the past few years not a day goes by that bleak breaking news from the Middle East does not inundate us on television, radio, and in virtually every newspaper and news magazine. Weather it is the prospects of war, actual war, a suicide bombing, targeted killing, or threats of an all out “holy war,” the Middle East has become far from the biblical paradise I used to hear of as a child. In this vain, the scenes of death, despair, frustration, and pain raced through my mind as I boarded a flight to Israel. Despite repeated reassurances from family and friends that things were not nearly as bad as the media portrayed them, I was nonetheless worried by this trip and the potential dangers that lay ahead in a foreign land filled with so much rage, hatred, and feelings of injustice. I recall the weeks leading up to this trip and the many political debates I found myself engaged in, desperately trying to make sense of what seemed illogical.

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We welcome your comments and feedback.  Please limit comments to 150 words. We reserve the right to edit letters which are longer than this. 

Dear Editor,

Howard Dean recently sent brochures to homes in New Hampshire with the following claim: "ONLY DEAN OPPOSED THE WAR FROM THE START." The Concord Monitor, in New Hampshire, also makes these claims.  This simply isn't true.

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