*The information
that follows is from PETA's website.*
The following product is made from animal:
"Animal
Fats and Oils.
In foods, cosmetics, etc. Highly allergenic. Alternatives: olive
oil, wheat germ oil, coconut oil, flaxseed oil, almond oil, safflower
oil, etc."
According to PETA, this is an animal-friendly company. "Those marked with a dot (·) meet the Corporate Standard of Compassion for Animals (CSCA). Those marked with an asterisk (*) manufacture strictly vegan products:
"Alexandra Avery Body Botanicals, 4717 S.E. Belmont, Portland, OR 97215; 800-669-1863"
Information is taken
directly from the Idealist website, which you should visit, if
possible (http://www.idealist.org/).
This Month's:
ABC Quilts
569 First NH Turnpike
Northwood, New Hampshire 03261
(603) 942-9211
Fax: (603)942-9210
http://jbu.edu/abcquilts/
info@abcquilts.mv.com
"The mission of ABC Quilts is to send love and comfort to at-risk children in the form of handmade baby quilts, and to use the process of creating these quilts as a tool for promoting awareness, informed choices and community service. We define "at-risk children" as those who are HIV/AIDS infected, alcohol/drug affected, or abandoned."
This month's "Update on Tibet" is running long so I decided not to put anything in this article this month.
Information is taken directly from the ICT website, which you should visit, if possible (http://www.savetibet.org).
"Clinton and
China Leader Meet but With Little Gain
By DAVID E. SANGER
The New York Times, September 9, 2000
President Clinton yesterday urged China's president, Jiang Zemin, to open a dialogue with the new government of Taiwan and put a stop to China's missile exports to Pakistan.
But in what had already been a week of diplomatic frustration for Mr. Clinton, Mr. Jiang offered little more than good wishes for the president's retirement in four months and thanks for supporting China's bid to join the World Trade Organization.
While Mr. Clinton's aides described the session as cordial, it was not expected to produce any breakthroughs - and it did not.
It came on a day that Mr. Clinton's efforts to restart the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians made such little headway that the president was overheard by photographers telling the Irish prime minister, Bertie Ahern, "This Middle East thing - it's maddening."
He was not the only leader unhappy at the diplomatic gridlock as the summit talks here ended. A senior Japanese official said Israel's prime minister, Ehud Barak, had vented his unhappiness to his Japanese counterpart, Yoshiro Mori. At a meeting yesterday, he complained that the Palestinian leader, Yasir Arafat, "has not responded" to several new proposals on the status of Jerusalem, and questioned whether "Arafat has the political courage to make the move."
Mr. Clinton's aides had played down the prospect of any major progress on Chinese missile exports, Tibet or Taiwan during Mr. Clinton's last months in office. But they had hoped that the expected Senate approval this month of permanent normal trade relations with China - which the United States promised as part of the accord with China that ushers it into the World Trade Organization - would be rewarded. They hoped to claim political progress on issues that have bedeviled Washington's relations with Beijing since the two first met in 1993.
In a measure of the two leaders' continuing communications problems after seven years of interchanges, a senior administration official said yesterday that the meeting was "designed to get these two men on the same wavelength a little more."
But Mr. Jiang was eager to show his American hosts that he could talk the talk of a high-tech nation, even while offering up familiar lectures about respecting China's sovereignty. Immediately after his hour-and-a- half meeting with Mr. Clinton, he used a luncheon meeting with America's top business executives to declare that China is plugging into the world.
"We now have over 16 million netizens," he said in a speech delivered entirely in English, "more than 27,000 World Wide Web sites, over 70,000 Chinese domain names and 61 million mobile phones in China."
But he did not mention China's recent efforts to crack down on the use of the Internet for the spread of dissenting opinions in China, and Mr. Clinton, aides said, never broached the subject.
When Mr. Jiang was done reciting China's technological advances to the executives, though, he wove back to familiar territory. He argued that China was a place of religious tolerance, saying, "The languages, religions and customs of ethnic minorities in China, including the Tibetans, are protected and respected, and their cultural traditions have been carried forward and developed."
Pro-Tibet groups argue that China has done all it can to stamp out the Tibetan culture, and they succeeded in killing a World Bank project this summer that some feared would relocate ethnic Tibetan farmers and further dilute Tibetan culture.
Mr. Jiang also called the Falun Gong religious group, whose members have been arrested in large numbers in recent months, a cult and said any government would crack down on "those who have done severe harm to the people." As he spoke, members of the group performed silent exercises across Park Avenue, under the watchful eye of the police.
James Lilley, a former American ambassador to Beijing who was at the luncheon, said Mr. Jiang's arguments amounted to "an effort to grab the religious issues by the throat and say, `We have religious tolerance, but not your kind,' " adding, "He just wants to sail right by the issue."
The conversation on China's missile exports to Pakistan came after Mr. Clinton, earlier this summer, sent a delegation to China to try to cut off the supply. The administration worries that any new missile technology would heighten Pakistan's ability to strike India.
But Mr. Jiang, by all accounts, has paid little attention to the issue. "This is going to take a while," an aide to Mr. Clinton said.
Nor did the Chinese leader indicate that he was ready to open talks with Taiwan's newly elected leader, Chen Shui-bian. The aide said "they spent a long time on Taiwan, but Jiang took much of that describing China's historical claims" to the island.
That also seemed out of place for what will probably be the second-to-last meeting between the two leaders; Mr. Clinton, by now, has heard China's claims to Taiwan many, many times."
Okay, the weirdest thing ever happened this month. I wrote up this article and the Song of the Month, and then when I went to transfer this from a WP document to an HTML document, those two articles disappeared, and only those two. Whathow, I think I wrote about how every episode of Pepper Ann is funny and you should watch it or something. "El Taco Noche!"
Last month's quote was from "Zach," Seinfeld. First one to guess the source of this month's line wins a prize!
"More sympathetic, I could not be."
Okay, Sally didn't really give me a poem for this part this month and nobody else has sent me anything, but I have started a Git Wit Lit section at Galopagos where I'll be adding a new poem every month. Well, actually, the poems and stories and whathaveyou are ones that have already been written and that I've already made web pages for, but I'm only adding new ones once a month. Queen Baby 225, Shadow, Daniel, and I are the only contributors so far. This section's purpose this month is to recruit any of you who have stuff you want me to put up there. Oh, and don't worry about it if you think your stuff is dumb. One glance at my crap and you'll feel like Donne, or Shakespeare, or Dickenson, or whatever writer you prefer.
April Fool's Day is a day Christians made up. After changing the Pagan calendar, they teased Pagans for celebrating the New Year on the wrong day. (Did anyone see that episode of The Simpsons?)
*This article was taken from http://www.excite.com*
"Border Guard
Held For... Peeing
Updated 11:03 AM ET September 14, 2000
TIRANA (Reuters) - An Albanian border officer who felt nature's call on the barren frontier with Macedonia was arrested by his eastern neighbors as he relieved himself under the cover of their trees, a newspaper said Thursday.
Gazeta Shqiptare said a Macedonian border patrol handcuffed the hapless culprit and whisked him off for questioning.
The Albanian said the lack of either trees or bushes on his side of the frontier, coupled with his own modesty, had forced him to cross into the thicket on Macedonian territory.
He was soon released. "
"Paper Bag,"
When The Pawn... by Fiona Apple. Damn, and I had written
this awesome thing about how I like this song and now I have to
try to conjure the past muses or something. Whathow, I totally
dig this song. Sample lyrics:
"-Hunger hurts, and I want him so bad, oh it kills
Cuz I know I'm a mess he don't wanna clean up
I got to fold cuz these hands are too shaky to hold"
Visit Blocking the Wall Online: http://www.dhak.net/btwonline
Sleepy Hollow (1999) ****1/2
Directed by Tim Burton (*cue reverend silence, choir*)
Starring Johnny Depp, Johnny Depp's cheekbones, Christina Ricci,
Christina Ricci's breasts, and Christopher Walken (w/ or w/o head)
You know, whenever I talk to people about this movie I always have about fifty million things to say, especially if they are a detractor. I start in from the beginning like "Fool!" and run down with direct citations and vivid detail. But now I'm sitting here ready to babble as I normally do, and I can't think of one godforsaken thing to say. So this won't be a "review" in essence, this'll just be Shadow spewing praise. I do love to spew.
When I first saw this, it was on video. I'll admit I didn't see it in the theater, which is weird. But I took home an advance copy and I had a McDonald's M&M McFlurry sitting there to eat while I watched what would no doubt be a masterpiece. Okay, the McFlurry melted cause I didn't want to look away, not even to eat. So that goes to show you two things: McFlurries melt easily, and you'll want to pay close attention to Sleepy Hollow. Mostly because every nuance of art direction and action is just so freakin' interesting.
I had this thing for a few weeks after seeing this where I'd say "pardon my intrusion!" whenever I walked into my friends' houses. But they never got it, and I hated explaining the reference, so I stopped doing that. Damn, this is a good movie.
The sun never, ever, EVER shines on the sound stages where Sleepy Hollow is built. NEVER. Is it night? Is it day? How do crops grow? HOW CAN IT BE A DUTCH FARMING COMMUNITY IF THE SUN NEVER SHINES!??! All right, who cares? It's cool to look at, plus, as I cried out to my father at one point, "It's a Tim Burton movie, suspend a *little* disbelief!!"
This flick has a windmill scene. I mean honestly, how great is that?!
Oh, okay, I guess I should get around to some serious commentary right about now. Johnny Depp is excellent, Christina Ricci is a goddess, and Christopher Walken is scary....
It doesn't matter, I've been reduced to the level of a metalhead trying to explain why they love Skid Row. Why do I love Sleepy Hollow? "BECAUSE IT RULES!"(with accompanying devil's-horn hand signal)--um--"DUDE!"
So, yeah, you know. --Shadow Omega
Cardigans rule. I just bought this new one, it's red. It's soooo cool. And like, I'm in Texas and it's no less than 3598 degrees fareignheit and I still am going to wear it to work on Saturday. Why? Because cardigans rule and red ones rule the most and red ones on sale rule moster than that! So now my poor pitiful cardigan collection has expanded from just black and white to include red. Next time it's gonna be blue dude, blue. I like The Cardigans the band too. "Lovefool" combined with "Stoned" by the Old 97's combined with "The Way Things Are" by Fiona Apple combined with "You Make Me Feel Like A Whore" by Everclear are like, me to a T when I like people. Cardigans rule!
Alright, I couldn't think of anyone to put here so I asked you guys and you didn't offer up any suggestions, so let us all use this next month to contemplate one male and one female worthy of the titles Dude and Chick of the Month so that we may have an article here in the next newsletter.
Virgo (8/23-9/22) - Teddy is dressed in gold
Xs and juicy is in sparkling blue. Who sets the clock? Who bleeds
the oceans?
Famous Virgos - Ryan Phillippe (9/10/74), Salma Hayek & Keanu
Reeves (9/2/68), Harry Connick, Jr. (9/11/67), Sean Connery (8/25/30),
and B.B. King (9/16/25)
Libra (9/23-10/22) - This dreary anvil is over-worked, tired, and bored, so baby, stop trying to chew those jaw breakers.
Scorpio (10/23-11/21) - The skin keeps it from smelling; the glass keeps it out of your reach. So tell me how it is all of these delusions working out for you?
Sagittarius (11/22-12/21) - Chickens and the jungle clash; lions and a farm clash, but you and the fish on a hook don't.
Capricorn (12/22-1/19) - Your newspaper might not be so literally unbearable to read if you wouldn't lay it on the floor for the dogs first.
Aquarius (1/20-2/18) - Before you get to tangled in taffy, make sure the silver is clean. Beware of the magician whose disgusted as a cook.
Pisces (2/19-3/20) - Invest in some germicide this month; you'll need it once the manic little gangster is done masturbating in your tanning bed.
Aries (3/21-4/19) - After finishing the Hy-Top cola and the Hy-Top potato chips, please know there might not be any Kraft macaroni waiting for you in the pantry.
Taurus (4/20-5/20) - Just because you're buying a large, expensive coffin doesn't mean you're living; it just means your rotting corpse has more room to rot.
Gemini (5/21-6/20) - Even though the runaway mail truck clobbered the one-way sign on Friendship St., the traffic is still coming in one direction, and when that El Camino maneuvers your paralyzed heart, pick up the flatten ball of nothing along with some litter and make art baby!
Cancer (6/21-7/22) - The candle and all of his magnetism isn't color-blind like you think, although you're right when you say the King of Wax is rather chaotic.
Leo (7/23-8/22) - Plucking the last strawberry is not to mourn it but to savor it; remember that this month.
email:
Last month, we had the pleasure of having Alan join the IPS. Welcome Alan!
We're still trying to get new members so if there's anyone that you've been meaning to invite to join the IPS, then by all means invite them to join now!
Song stuck in your head that deserves the Song of the Month title? Send it in. Avid about a worthy cause? Tell us about it. Your suggestions may not appear immediately because I write these so far in advance, but I promise I'll use it sooner or later. This is your newsletter so let me know what you wanna see in it and I shall do my best to please you. So it is written; so shall it be.