The legendary Glenn Gould performing Bach's Partitia Number Six:

Part 1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag3atJSmgTM&feature=related

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xqstQJsQNk&feature=related

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9hP5xqhNpk&feature=related

(Wikipedia)

Johann Sebastian Bach (pronounced [joˈhan/ˈjoːhan zeˈbastjan ˈbax]) (31 March 1685 – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and organist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity. Although he introduced no new forms, he enriched the prevailing German style with a robust contrapuntal technique, an unrivalled control of harmonic and motivic organisation in composition for diverse musical forces, and the adaptation of rhythms and textures from abroad, particularly Italy and France.

Revered for their intellectual depth and technical and artistic beauty, Bach's works include the Brandenburg concertos; the Goldberg Variations; the English Suites, French Suites, Partitas, and Well-Tempered Clavier; the Mass in B Minor; the St. Matthew Passion; the St. John Passion; The Musical Offering; The Art of Fugue; the Sonatas and Partitas for violin solo; the Cello Suites; more than 200 surviving cantatas; and a similar number of organ works, including the celebrated Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.

While Bach's fame as an organist was great during his lifetime, he was not particularly well-known as a composer. His adherence to Baroque forms and contrapuntal style was considered "old-fashioned" by his contemporaries, especially late in his career when the musical fashion tended towards Rococo and later Classical styles. A revival of interest and performances of his music began early in the 19th century, and he is now widely considered to be one of the greatest composers in the Western tradition.

By Minghui/Clearwisdom reporter Hua Qing

(Clearwisdom.net) During the World Transplantation Congress (WTC), Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH) held a forum in Sydney. After the forum, Prof. Maria Fiatarone Singh from the University of Sydney told reporters that she feels very sad about the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners.

 

Dr. Singh said that the organ harvesting is a crime against humanity. She said, "It breaks my heart. I think all the doctors and public should know about it. It is a terrible sin and the media should make it public."

Dr. Singh said that many governments, including the Australian government, don't dare to offend China because of economic reasons, and this is why the organ harvesting has not been exposed enough or stopped yet.

Prof. Maria Fiatarone Singh from the University of Sydney

Dr. Singh said the most incredible thing is that the Chinese people around her don't want to know about the crimes happening in their own country. She said she has asked her Chinese students if they had heard about the CCP's organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners in China. They said no. When she asked why Falun Gong practitioners are jailed, they expressed no interests in it at all and did not want to express their opinions.

Dr. Singh believes that the crime of organ harvesting will be exposed, just like the Nazis' genocide was exposed. She said the persecution of Falun Gong is just like the Nazis' genocide. It is so horrible that even people who work at the human right organizations could not believe it. Because it is so horrible, many people pretend that it does not exist. She said the sad thing is that the Chinese government was authorized to hold the Olympics, just as Nazi Germany was in 1936, hoping the Olympics will cover their sins. "The organ harvesting is a crime against humanity. It breaks my heart," she said.

 

 

 

 

 

Reuters

 

CRAWFORD, Texas—China missed an opportunity to show progress on human rights and religious freedom during the Olympic Games, the White House said Monday, after eight Americans were deported for protesting.

President Bush attended the opening ceremony and several events despite pressure from U.S. lawmakers and activists who said his presence could legitimize the Chinese government's suppression of freedom of speech and religion.

During meetings with Chinese leaders in Beijing, Bush pressed them to be more accommodating to religious freedom and allow wider freedom of speech.

But that encouragement appeared to fall short, as none of the 77 applications that citizens submitted to protest legally in designated Beijing parks was approved and two elderly applicants were sentenced to one year in labor camps.

Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based press freedom advocacy group, counted some 100 cases where journalists or Internet bloggers covering China outside Olympic venues were harassed, detained and, in a few cases, beaten or jailed. 

The Chinese regime arrested or relocated thousands of Chinese citizens from the Beijing area to ensure a controlled environment. Any one with ties to Falun Gong practitioners, rights advocates, or democracy advocates werer ounded up and incarcerated prior to the arrival of the foreign press and the athletes.

As the Olympic Games closed, eight American supporters of Tibet were deported for trying to protest against the Chinese government, according to Students for a Free Tibet.

"It was maybe an opportunity missed for the Chinese to demonstrate their willingness to be more open and to allow more freedom of speech, freedom of religion, while the world was watching," said White House spokesman Tony Fratto.

"So I would say perhaps we're disappointed that they didn't take the full opportunity that was offered to them while the world was watching during these Olympics."

Beijing has bristled at advice from Washington, saying it was unnecessary meddling in internal Chinese affairs.

"We would like to see more liberalization of human rights and religious freedom," said Fratto.Added reporting by The Epoch Times.

 

By a practitioner from Ukraine

(Clearwisdom.net) On August 10, 2008, Falun Gong practitioners in eastern Ukraine held an informational activity in the coastal city of Mariupol. They introduced Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) to the local people and exposed the Chinese Communist regime's brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

People learn the Falun Gong exercises on a beach in Mariupol

This was the first time the practitioners had held an activity in this city. On Sunday, when practitioners arrived at the park, they discovered that there were few people around. Instead, a group of police greeted them. During the dialogue with the police, the practitioners felt that these policemen didn't know much about Falun Gong and were a bit suspicious. Practitioners gave each policeman informational materials about Falun Gong and politely talked to them about the brutal persecution innocent Falun Gong practitioners have been suffering in China. When the police heard that in today's China a group of kind people who follow the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance have been brutally persecuted by the Chinese Communist regime, they were all very shocked and immediately changed their attitude. They told practitioners in a very friendly way: "There are not many people in this park. If you want to let more people know the truth, you have to find a place with many people. There is a beach in this city that is very crowded. We can take you there. Every Sunday there are always lots of people from different cities who relax and see the sights there." Then the police directed practitioners by car to the crowded beach.

Practitioners chose the entrance to the beach to set up their display boards and banners. A few practitioners demonstrated the Falun Gong exercises while others distributed leaflets. Within two hours all four thousand leaflets were gone. When practitioners did the fifth sitting meditation on the beach, it attracted many people who wanted to learn the exercises.

On this day, with the help of the police, many Ukrainian people learned the truth about Falun Gong

 

By Dr. Cindy Clayton

8-21-8

 

Sugar is addictive and is a low grade poison like any other addictive substance.

Refined sugar in particular provides only "empty" calories and lacks natural nutrients which are present at least in some degree in the whole sugar beet or whole sugar cane.

Such sugar is a refined and therefore incomplete carbohydrate. The body cannot utilize refined carbohydrate that has been depleted of all the proteins, vitamins and minerals that make a complete carbohydrate.

Eating sugar is worse than not eating anything because to digest, detoxify and eliminate it, the body tissues must give up precious vitamins and minerals which are vital to cellular health. Deficiencies occur and cells grow weak ­ causing the tissues and organs they compose to become weak and your health to deteriorate. 

Additionally, the body's attempt to use incomplete carbohydrate results in the formation of toxic substances such as pyruvic acid and abnormal molecules containing five carbon atoms. Pyruvic acid accumulates in the brain and nervous system causing all manner of problems. The abnormal molecules accumulate in the red blood cells causing a different set of problems.

These toxic substances interfere with the respiration of the body's cells. The cells cannot get sufficient oxygen to survive and to function normally. In time, some of the cells die off and are no longer replaced.

These permanent cell deaths leave missing areas that interfere with the function of parts of the body, its nervous system and organs and this is the beginning of degenerative disease.

Excess sugar of ANY kind swells the liver and is then changed to fatty acids and deposited as fat in areas of the body like belly and thighs etc. and finally in the vital organs which slow down and can't function as they need to and the entire body is then severely effected with deteriorated function and health.

In addition to these destructive effects, sugar of ANY kind makes the blood and body tissues acid which is perfect for the development, survival and breeding of harmful germs and viruses. You need to keep your body tissues and blood alkaline so germs and viruses will not take hold and breed and result in you becoming quite sick. You can't keep your tissue and blood alkaline if you are eating sugar of ANY kind.

Withdrawal from sugar must be done gradually while giving the body large quantities of the substances that sugar steals from body tissues.

The first step to cutting out sugar is to throw away all refined sugar and to refuse to buy any refined sugar - and to replace it with only unrefined organic sugar.

Next, if the foods you are eating and the drinks you are habitually drinking contain sugar then gradually cut down on them and switch to healthy food and drink.

If you drink 4 sodas each day, start by cutting down to 3 each day for a few days and then to 2 each day - then to one and finally don't put this liquid sugar-poison in your body at all. Cut out cookies. the same way.

Man-made artificial, chemical-sweeteners are not safe and are toxic to nerve cells and tissue cells in varying degrees, causing head aches, perception oddities and other physical problems that get worse and more permanent the longer the artificial sweeteners are used ­ so do not switch to those.

The next step in withdrawal from sugar is to gradually replace all sugar with only pure Stevia Leaf Sweetener. Stevia is a totally natural herb with no calories and no adverse effects on the body. (A tiny amount of Stevia is needed or the sweetness is so extreme it tastes a little bitter.)

While withdrawing from sugar and afterwards the doctor or technician may require that you take generous amounts of liquid minerals, potassium tablets and liquid vitamins or other supplements.

 

By a practitioner from Canada

(Clearwisdom.net) On August 15, Falun Gong practitioners in Canada were invited to a parade in Charlottetown, the capital of Prince Edward Island. During the one-hour long parade, practitioners' float and entry attracted the attention of a lot of people.

Practitioners decorated the float with banners which read "Falun Dafa is good" and "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance". They did the exercises to the music Pudu and Jishi.

According to the organizers, more than 60 thousand people watched this annual local parade.

 

National Weather Service.   http://www.arh.noaa.gov/arhdata/validFcsts/public/CXAK57PAJK

 

CXAK57 PAJK 011343
CLMAJK

CLIMATE REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JUNEAU, AK                                 
545 AM AKDT FRI AUG 1 2008

...A COOL AND VERY WET JULY FOR JUNEAU...

THE MONTH OF JULY BEGAN WARM WITH HIGH TEMPERATURES IN THE LOW 70S...HOWEVER
TEMPERATURES QUICKLY FELL BELOW NORMAL AFTER THE 5TH WHEN A SERIES OF WET
AND COOL WEATHER SYSTEMS MOVED INTO SOUTHEAST ALASKA AND CONTINUED THROUGH
THE REST OF THE MONTH.

THE AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH OF 58.0 DEGREES WAS THE LOWEST
AVERAGE HIGH FOR THE MONTH OF JULY EVER RECORDED SINCE RECORDS BEGAN IN
1943. THE OVERALL AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH OF 53.3 DEGREES MAKES
JULY 2008 THE THIRD COLDEST JULY ON RECORD. A RECORD LOW TEMPERATURE OF 39
DEGREES WAS SET ON THE 21ST...WHICH WAS JUST ABOVE THE ALL TIME RECORD JULY
LOW OF 36 DEGREES SET IN 1950.

TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH WAS 8.25 INCHES...WHICH IS 4.11 INCHES
ABOVE NORMAL. THIS MAKES JULY 2008 THE 2ND WETTEST JULY EVER RECORDED SINCE
RECORDS BEGAN IN 1943. THE GREATEST 24 HOUR RAINFALL WAS ON THE 18TH WITH
1.90 INCHES...WHICH SET A RECORD FOR THAT DATE. TWO OTHER DAILY RAINFALL
RECORDS WERE SET WITH 1.55 INCHES ON JULY 8 AND 0.66 INCHES ON JULY 25.

THE HIGHEST WIND SPEED AT THE AIRPORT WAS 29 MPH ON THE 19TH. THE HIGHEST
WIND SPEED AT THE JUNEAU FEDERAL BUILDING WAS 10 MPH ON THE 3RD.
...................................

...THE JUNEAU CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR THE MONTH OF JULY 2008...

CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1971 TO 2000
CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD 1943 TO 2008

WEATHER         OBSERVED          NORMAL  DEPART  LAST YEAR'S        
                 VALUE   DATE(S)  VALUE   FROM    VALUE  DATE(S)     
                                          NORMAL                     
................................................................
TEMPERATURE (F)
RECORD
HIGH              90   07/07/1975                                   
LOW               36   07/08/1950                                   
HIGHEST            73   07/03        78      -5       71  07/15      
LOWEST             39   07/21        43      -4       44  07/03      
AVG. MAXIMUM     58.0              64.3    -6.3     62.8             
AVG. MINIMUM     48.5              49.2    -0.7     50.5             
MEAN             53.3              56.8    -3.5     56.6             
DAYS MAX >= 90      0               0.0     0.0        0             
DAYS MAX <= 32      0               0.0     0.0        0             
DAYS MIN <= 32      0               0.0     0.0        0             
DAYS MIN <= 0       0               0.0     0.0        0             

PRECIPITATION (INCHES)
RECORD
MAXIMUM        10.36   1997                                         
MINIMUM         1.15   1972                                         
TOTALS           8.25              4.14    4.11     6.71             
DAILY AVG.       0.25              0.13    0.12     0.22             
DAYS >= .01        23              16.7     6.3       25             
DAYS >= .10        12              10.3     1.7       13             
DAYS >= .50         5               2.5     2.5        6             
DAYS >= 1.00        2               0.5     1.5        1             
GREATEST
24 HR. TOTAL    1.90   07/18 TO 07/18           07/15 TO 07/16      
                                                          07/31 TO 07/31
                                                          07/31 TO 07/31

 

The high price of wilful blindness

 

By Hua Qing

(Clearwisdom.net) Dr. Rudolf Garcia Gallont from Guatemala is a member of The Transplant Society (TTS). He recently attended a TTS conference in Sydney, Australia. He told this reporter that for the last two years, TTS has paid close attention to the allegations of organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners in China.

Dr. Garcia condemns the CCP's organ harvesting atrocities

Dr. Garcia said, "Since this problem with Falun Gong was brought up in Boston two years ago, The Transplant Society has become very active, especially through President Nicholas Tilney, and Dr. Francis Delmonico who is in charge of International Affairs for TTS. He is also the representative of TTS at the World Health Organisation (WHO). Since Boston, when the society started to take all these actions, I don't think there is any doubt that every doctor who is here knows that this is happening, and has a very clear opinion about it. No question. No question."

"Among the different actions that TTS took to address this problem, Dr. Tilney, and Dr. Delmonico made several visits to China. They sat down with the heath authorities in China. The Ministry of Heath in China promised they would change this policy of using organ from executed prisoners."

"Istanbul Declaration" states organ trade is illegal

Dr. Garcia said, "Besides that, TTS organised a huge meeting in Istanbul a couple of months ago. The whole science community and WHO generated what we called the Istanbul Declaration, which addresses all the problems, not only from the executed prisoners, but anything related to organ sale, transplant tourism, and to organ trafficking. So the whole problem has been addressed. And WHO has taken this as an official opinion of the transplant community of the world. 152 countries were represented at this meeting, and the declaration is already official."

He continued, "Tomorrow there is a complete session here. The early morning session is about the Istanbul Declaration. So the whole transplant community knows and learns what the position of TTS is, addressing your problem, and the problem of many other countries"

"There are a couple of countries in the world who are special buyers of these organs. So I think TTS as a scientific society has taken a very clear stand in addressing the problem."

"It has already been brought to the world. This is the official statement, which urges every member, and every country to follow these rules to stop all these kind of practices."

Dr. Garcia said, "Well, it is officially known that this problem exists in China, especially this situation of executed prisoners. I think it is almost unique to China. I don't think, but I don't know, if this is a practice in other parts of the world. But it is condemnable of course. And society has taken a very clear stand."

When asked about if China will follow the Istanbul Declaration, Dr. Garcia expressed his concern, "This is another question, which I cannot answer, what China will do. I mean you cannot write down the things and agree to the things, but do whatever afterwards. But it is very difficult to control what happens inside a country where the system is not very open to the spread of opinions and information."

 

 

realtytribune.com

 

One dollar can get you a large soda at McDonald’s, a used VHS movie at 7-Eleven or a house in Detroit.

The fact that a home on the city’s east side was listed for $1 recently shows how depressed the real estate market has become in one of America’s poorest big cities.

And it still took 19 days to find a buyer.

The sale price of the home may be an anomaly, but illustrates both the depths of the foreclosure crisis in Detroit and the rapid scuttling of vacant homes in some of the city’s impoverished neighborhoods.

The home, at 8111 Traverse Street, a few blocks from Detroit City Airport, was the nicest house on the block when it sold for $65,000 in November 2006, said neighbor Carl Upshaw. But the home was foreclosed last summer, and it wasn’t long until “the vultures closed in,” Upshaw said. “The siding was the first to go. Then they took the fence. Then they broke in and took everything else.”

The company hired to manage the home and sell it, the Bearing Group, boarded up the home only to find the boards stolen and used to board up another abandoned home nearby.

Scrappers tore out the copper plumbing, the furnace and the light fixtures, taking everything of value, including the kitchen sink.

“It about doesn’t make sense to put the family out,” Upshaw said. “Once people are gone, you’re gonna lose the house in this neighborhood.”

Tuesday, the home was wide open. Doors leading into the kitchen and the basement were missing, and the front windows had been smashed. Weeds grew chest-high, and charred remains marked a spot where the garage recently burned.

Put on the market in January for $1,100, the house had no lookers other than the squatters who sometimes stayed there at night. Facing $4,000 in back taxes and a large unpaid water bill, the bank that owned the property lowered the price to $1.

$1 sale to cost bank $10,000

While it’s not unusual for $1 to be exchanged when property is transferred for legal reasons, listing a home in the Multiple Listing Service for $1 was surprising and unsettling to Kent Colpaert, the listing real estate agent for the property.

“I’ve never seen a home listed for $1,” Colpaert said.

“But it’s been hit hard: It’s just a shell.”

On Tuesday, Realtor.com listed one other single-family home, one duplex and one empty lot at $1 in Detroit.

Dollar property sales are the financial hangover from the foreclosure crisis, said Anthony Viola of Realty Corp. of America in Cleveland.

Lenders that made loans to unqualified buyers during the height of the subprime market now find themselves the owners of whole neighborhoods of vacant, deteriorating homes.

“No one has much sympathy for these banks that made subprime loans,” Viola said. “And in some cities like Cleveland, judges aren’t letting them sit on the properties — they’re ordering them to tear them down or sell them.”

So desperate was the bank owner of 8111 Traverse Street to unload the property that it agreed to pay $2,500 in sales commission and another $1,000 bonus for closing the $1 sale; the bank also will pay $500 of the buyer’s closing costs. Throw in back taxes and a water bill, and unloading the house will cost the bank about $10,000.

“It doesn’t make sense in some neighborhoods to keep paying costs and costs,” Colpaert said. “It can make more financial sense to give it away.”

Buyer calls it an investment

Colpaert declined to provide the name of the prospective purchaser, because the deal had not been through closing. The agent did say that the buyer agreed to pay the full list price of $1, and planned to pay cash.

The buyer, a local woman, considers the home to be an investment property and will not live there, Colpaert said, though exactly how soon the buyer can expect to recoup her four-quarter investment is questionable. Replacing the guts of the house will costs tens of thousands of dollars, and the owner will have trouble keeping scrappers from stealing the improvements as quickly as they’re installed. Home demolition costs about $5,000, Colpaert said.

Meanwhile, the new owner will owe $3,900 in property taxes in 2009 on her dollar purchase unless she challenges the tax assessment.

While selling a home for the amount of change most people could find between their couch cushions is unusual, some abandoned homes in Detroit sell for $100; vacant lots can be purchased for $300.

“My 14-year-old son could buy a block of Detroit property,” said Ann Laciura, senior servicing specialist for the Bearing Group.

 

By Matthew Robertson
Epoch Times Staff

 

 

Chinese authorities are secretly moving Falun Gong practitioners out of Beijing-area labor camps and detention centers to prepare for potential visits by foreign media, a group that monitors the plight of Falun Gong in China said Monday.

The Falun Dafa Information Center says the move came after it released a guide leading journalists to jails where Falun Gong practitioners are tortured, the Center said. Many of the sites in its guide are near Olympic venues in China.

Relying on their network of contacts inside China, the Information Center says practitioners detained in Beijing have been moved to Shanxi Forced Labor Camp and the Shanxi Women's Forced Labor Camp, and some to Inner Mongolia.

Those moved out of Beijing are being replaced with individuals who claim to have renounced Falun Gong, and who are prepared to repeat the regime’s line on Falun Gong to Western press, the Center says.

The Information Center suggests that Beijing authorities may be planning a media stunt for journalists.

"They’re moving victims of torture and other abuses out of Beijing, and replacing them with individuals who parrot the CCP’s stance on Falun Gong," says Mr. Erping Zhang, spokesperson for the Information Center.

"Think about it…they are preparing ‘show tours’ to pull the wool over the eyes of the international community. We trust journalists in Beijing won’t be taken in by these tactics."

The same tactics are thought to have been used in 2001, when the authorities invited journalists for a show-tour of the Masanjia Labor Camp in Liaoning Province, where many Falun Gong believers are thought to have been tortured.

In 2001, 18 female Falun Gong practitioners were reportedly stripped naked and forced into the cells of male criminals to be gang raped at the labor camp.

Journalists were invited to Masanjia a month after the allegations came to light and were presented with freshly painted walls and smiling prisoners bearing English name-tags. The Falun Dafa Information Center questioned why English name tags were needed in a Chinese labor camp if not for the foreign press.

State-run Chinese websites used the statements by purported former practitioners to justify its continued repression of the group.

The Center urges journalists in Beijing to work in tandem to visit multiple labor camps at the same time.Last Updated
Aug 12, 2008

 

By Jennifer Macey

August 12, 2008

ELEANOR HALL: China's human rights record is again under scrutiny, this time at an International Transplantation Congress in Sydney. A Canadian human rights lawyer says he has new evidence of forced organ removals from prisoners and Falun Gong practitioners in China.

David Matas says Chinese hospitals perform 10,000 organ transplant operations each year and that many of the recipients are foreigners. As Jennifer Macey reports, he's now calling on the Australian Government to do more to stop the practice.

JENNIFER MACEY: China performs an estimated 10,000 organ transplant operations each year more than any other country in the world except for the United States. But China has no formalised system of organ donations and human rights groups say the short waiting times and availability of organs in China raises serious questions about their source.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch first reported 10 years ago that the majority of these organs come from prisoners. Now Canadian Human Rights Lawyer David Matas says among the prison population, it's now members of Falun Gong who are being increasingly targeted.

DAVID MATAS: China's source of organs for transplants is almost entirely from prisoners. According to the Deputy Minister of Health it's 95 per cent, according to other statistics it's 96 per cent. So it's almost entirely forced organ harvesting. And there's two sources - it's prisoners sentenced to death and Falun Gong practitioners.

JENNIFER MACEY: Mr Matas says hospitals and prisons have arrangements to split the profits made through organ transplant operations, often to foreign patients. He says the prisoners are killed after their organs are removed.

DAVID MATAS: Basically they wait until there's an order from the hospital, they will blood test the person, and then they inject the person with potassium, and then they put them into a van and the actual organ extraction is in the van, where the prisoner is killed through the organ extraction and then the body is cremated.

JENNIFER MACEY: Last year David Mr Matas and Canadian former secretary of state David Kilgour released a report investigating allegations of organ harvesting of Falun Gong members in China. Mr Matas concedes it's difficult to find proof of this practise as China won't release official statistics on executions or organ transplants

But he says he has new audio tapes of Chinese doctors admitting they have Falun Gong organs for sale.

DAVID MATAS: We had callers calling in to China pretending to be relatives of patients who needed organs and asking the hospital that they were calling for organs of Falun Gong practitioners on the basis that Falun Gong's an exercise regime that practitioners are healthy and their organs are healthy. And we got admissions on tape throughout China and we've got the transcripts in our report and we've got phone records and we got the tapes from pick up to hang down.

JENNIFER MACEY: Dr Yuan Hong worked as a heart surgeon for ten years at a medical university hospital in north eastern China. He says it was an open secret at his hospital that prisoners organs were used in transplant operations for patients who had travelled from Japan.

YUAN HONG (translated): I start to notice these issues because one of the nurse wearing the army dress and then I also find an anaesthetist also wear the same clothes. So I ask him "why do you have to wear these clothes?" and then he told me, "we have to go to the place where people do executions, so we needed to transplant a kidney there."

JENNIFER MACEY: So you knew of Japanese people who were coming to your hospital for organ transplants?

YUAN HONG (translated): Because foreigner came to our hospital to be treated. It's a hot topic, so everybody knows.

JENNIFER MACEY: Jennifer Zeng is a member of Falun Gong who was offered asylum in Australia several years ago. In China she spent a year in a labour camp near Beijing. She says at the camp her blood was taken for tests and she underwent several health checks.

JENNIFER MACEY: Only Falun Gong practitioners were tested and get this physical check up. A lot of Falun Gong practitioners thought that Falun Gong got some special treatment, because they saw a physical check up after you were there for long years, it's good for your health.

So they ask the police, 'how about we pay for the physical check' and the police clearly said no, it's only for Falun Gong. So other prisoners even protested against it, they say, they are not treated fairly because they obviously didn't know the purpose.

JENNIFER MACEY: Human rights lawyer David Matas says there's a lot more the Australian Government could do to help stamp out the practice.

DAVID MATAS: The Government's could introduce extra-territorial legislation so that transplant tourism can become a crime, the way now child sex tourism is a crime,.

ELEANOR HALL: Canadian human rights lawyer David Matas ending that report by Jennifer Macey.

Source http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2008/s2332875.htm

 

UPI.com

 

 

The practitioners' peaceful protest and rally was held in front the Chinese Embassy. Passers-by could see the banner reading "Stop the persecution of Falun Gong" and many of them crossed the street to take flyers and view the pictures exposing the persecution.

People showed great interest in the Falun Gong exercise demonstration. Having learned about the peaceful nature of Falun Gong and the CCP's atrocities, a couple with two children signed the petition to support the campaign to end the persecution. They said they hoped to have a chance to learn the Falun Gong exercises some time.

After hearing that the CCP is not only persecuting Falun Gong practitioners but also Catholics in China, a woman accompanied by an elderly cleric expressed her hope to invite Falun Gong practitioners to a Spanish religious radio station to expose the CCP's persecution against people's beliefs. The woman also stressed that she admires Falun Gong practitioners' compassion and peacefulness very much.

Many passing motorists slowed down to look at the picture displays, honked their horns and gave the thumbs up sign to express their support for Falun Gong. Almost all the drivers who stopped at the traffic lights accepted the flyers and read them before the traffic lights turned green.

"I've never seen anything like this, an assembly without shouting and screaming," a police officer present at the site said. All police officers on duty at the protest site received flyers and said that they knew of the CCP's evilness and they supported Falun Gong practitioners' activities to end the persecution. They said, "Now, more and more people know the truth. We hope this persecution can be ended as soon as possible."

 

By Edward McMillan-Scott, Vice President of the European Parliament

August 8, 2008

While watching the games, remember they are designed to benefit a regime responsible for appalling abuse of human rights

The opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics will inevitably be an occasion for admiring comment about the immense achievements - architectural, organizational and presentational - of the host nation. This, of course, is precisely what the Chinese authorities hoped for when they secured their Olympic bid seven years ago. It was intended as a statement of China's modernity, its economic prowess and its rise to the top table of world power. Judging from the coverage so far, there are plenty of people willing to accept this image at face value. Yes, human rights groups have raised some awkward questions, but why should that spoil the party when so many world leaders will be on hand to give their blessing to the proceedings?

Despite the fact that I campaigned hard for a political boycott of the Beijing Olympics, I wish the athletes well and hope the competition passes without a repeat of the terrorist attack that happened earlier this week in Xinjiang province. What I don't want is for those watching to be in any doubt about the nature of the regime these games have been designed to benefit. Beyond the mesmerizing Bird's Nest stadium is a country presided over by a terror state responsible for some truly appalling crimes against humanity. Even the stadium's designer, Ai Weiwei, was moved to disown the games describing the human rights situation as "appalling". The countless victims imprisoned, tortured and murdered by the Chinese state also deserve to be part of this Olympic story. They should not be too far from our thoughts as the gold medals are being handed out.

Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are in agreement that far from honoring their pledge to improve human rights as a result of hosting the Olympics, the Chinese authorities have used the games as an excuse to intensify domestic repression. Much of this abysmal record is widely known about. There is no freedom of expression and the authorities go to extraordinary lengths to control information and restrict access to the internet. Dissent is punished severely, with those considered a threat imprisoned without trial and often without any information about their location or condition. The death penalty is applied extensively and for relatively minor non-violent crimes like tax fraud. The use of torture is frequent according to Manfred Nowak, the UN's special rapporteur on torture, including beatings, electrocution and the removal of fingernails. The violent suppression of Tibetan rights and cultural identity is well documented. Moreover, some of these methods appear to be for export. BBC Panorama recently exposed China's role in arming the Sudanese government in its genocidal campaign in Darfur.

The victims of Chinese state terror are numerous and include human rights defenders, lawyers, trade unionists, environmentalists, campaigners for regional autonomy and anyone who seeks to challenge state policy. One person I am particularly concerned about is Gao Zhisheng, a Nobel prize nominee sometimes referred to as "China's conscience". As one of his country's top lawyers, he was targeted by the regime for speaking out about human rights abuses and has been in detention and subjected to torture since he wrote a critical open letter about the Olympics last year. It is essential that the UK and other countries across the world raise his case with the Chinese authorities as a matter of urgency.
One of the groups that Gao has been most prominent in defending has been the religious movement, Falun Gong. Members of this group have been on the receiving end of some of the most brutal abuse imaginable. Many foreign observers are easily frightened off by the Chinese government's designation of it as an "evil cult", but Falun Gong is a harmless Buddha-school set of spiritual exercises that is persecuted mainly because its popularity is deemed to pose a threat to the "guiding role" of the Chinese Communist party. A decade ago it had up to 100 million adherents.

Falun Gong supporters are routinely imprisoned for their beliefs and are believed by Manfred Nowak to make up the majority of prisoners subjected to torture. But they are also the principal victims of China's most horrific crime against humanity - the harvesting of human organs from prisoners to supply the country's burgeoning transplant business. With transplants running at more than 10,000 a year, and with a harvested heart fetching up to $160,000, this is a profitable enterprise for the People's Liberation Army which organizes it and pockets the proceeds.

Unfortunately the organs used are far from surplus to requirements. A report written last year by the former Canadian secretary of state, David Kilgour, and the human rights lawyer, David Matas, concluded: "there has been and continues today to be large scale organ seizures from unwilling Falun Gong practitioners." Falun Gong prisoners are the only ones routinely subjected to urine and blood tests, with strong reason to believe that significant numbers of them are subsequently killed to order.
There is no sign that this appalling practice is about to stop, either. Earlier this year, the Chinese authorities announced that they were adopting a lethal injection as the means of capital punishment instead of a bullet through the head - the mouth was propped open to minimize damage, but it is still a messy way to kill. It is not hard to understand this change. In one province alone, 16 buses have been specially adapted to perform on-the-spot eviscerations.

This is the reality behind the facade of modernity presented by the Beijing Olympics. Although the political boycott of the opening ceremony will be nothing like as widespread as the seriousness of the human rights situation in China demands, it is not too late to register a protest against the terror state behind these games. I hope that Gordon Brown will reconsider his decision to attend the closing ceremony later this month. I also hope that those watching at home will take some time out from enjoying the sport to consider the enormous human suffering that is the reality of daily life for many Chinese people.

 

Here is the video on You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb9dFs0KaXA

 

 

By K. R. Bolton

In Solzhenitsyn's death on August 3, at 89, there passes one of the few truly great men of our time. Not only a courageous individual, but also one of rare insight. Whether such prophets are honoured in their own Time, let along their own land, is another matter.

 

Solzhenitsyn was born in 1918, at a time when the Bolsheviks had not even consolidated their power. Serving during World War II in the Soviet Army, he was sentenced to ten years of prison camps and internal exile for critical comments about Stalin to a friend.

 

After the death of Stalin, and eventually a new regime eager to give the impression of a different era, Solzhenitsyn's first and only book published in the USSR, "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch," appeared in 1962. However, Solzhenitsyn could not be co-opted by the new regime and was exiled from the USSR in 1974.

 

Solzhenitsyn also refused to be co-opted as a Cold Warrior defender of the liberal decadents of the West, as the Trotskyites had been. In fact he offended liberal sensibilities. His rejection of the Communist system was on the grounds of its spiritual impoverishment, its materialism and mass conformity, and in this he saw a parallel in the West's liberalism. Unlike most of the other Soviet dissidents, he was not a liberal-democrat, or a potential neo-con. He therefore made enemies among both the liberal literati and the corporate power elite such as those among the New York Times, and the likes of Henry Kissinger, who had in 1975 blocked Solzhenitsyn from visiting the White House, and had attempted to block his being awarded honorary citizenship by the Senate.

 

In 1978 Solzhenitsyn was invited to give the Commencement Address to Harvard. (Available from Renaissance Press, <http://www.freewebs.com/renaissancepress>www.freewebs.com/renaissancepress). Here he analysed with depth and vision such as few have, the fundamental malady of Western Civilisation. He declared that the West had lost its moral courage, starting at the top among the ruling elite and the intellectuals. Solzhenitsyn traced the decadence back to the ideology dominant in the West, lambasting the Western ideal of the happiness of the greatest number and a freedom that becomes licentious. Decades of technical and social progress had granted the masses the accumulation of goods, but also spiritual and moral impoverishment; happiness "in the morally inferior sense." This has led to the desire for ever more possessions, "without opening the way to free spiritual development." The excess of leisure and affluence had undermined any notion of the defence of higher values and of sacrifice. Drawing on the lessons of biology, Solzhenitsyn warned that "habitual safety" is not conducive to the well-being of an organism. 

 

Politically also nothing great could be achieved, because any sign of statesmanship and the need for far-sighted action would be stifled by this desire for "habitual safety." The outstanding individual could not assert himself; mediocrity triumphs in the name of democracy. 

 

"It is time in the West to defend not so much human rights as human obligations." 

 

"Destructive and irresponsible freedom has been granted boundless space."

 

"Society appears to have little defence against the abyss of human decadence."

 

Solzhenitsyn castigated the press for its freedom to be misleading, immature and superficial, devoid of in-depth analysis. The direction of standards by fashion and conformity is every bit as stifling as conformity of the Communist variety, and both led to the "herd."

 

In the West human weakness is cultivated; in the East, strength. The East had endured decades of suffering and privation, and from this crucible had emerged the soul longing for what is "higher and purer." The West offered by contrast "TV stupor" and "intolerable music", artistic decadence and the lack of statesmanship.

 

This Western decline had been advancing since the ideological foundations laid in the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, emerging as rationalism and humanism. From this emerged Marx and his communism. (Solzhenitsyn was to elsewhere refer to the natural alliance that had developed between capitalism and communism, alluding to Armand Hammer as having opened up contracts with the USSR since the time of Lenin; a relationship that had built Soviet military power).

 

Solzhenitsyn challenged humanity to rise to new spiritual heights.

 

The speech was a shocking blow to the Liberal Establishment. The New York Times called Solzhenitsyn "dangerous". The Boston Globe called him the "mad Russian." He was condemned by neo-con guru William Buckley, and by liberal columnist Arthur Schlesinger Jr. The Washington Post called him "irrelevant" to democracy. Rosalyn Carter, friend of that paragon of liberalism, Rev. Jim Jones, responded with total incomprehension. Solzhenitsyn could not be co-opted to the liberal cause. It seemed mighty ungrateful. He did not fit in with the Western intelligentsia, and refused to compromise his writing style for the sake of popular culture. He lived not among the rootless cosmopolitans but among the woods of Vermont.

 

Solzhenitsyn returned to Russia in 1994, but equally he would not be co-opted by a post-Communist regime that sought to import the liberal decadence he had decried in the West. He held capitalism in disdain, opposed the way the oligarchs were talking over the post-communist economy and held to a vision of Russia as having a unique culture and destiny, under the impress of Orthodox faith. Therefore he refused the Order of St Andrew offered by Yeltsin, paragon of the type of liberal rot the West wished for Russia. But he did accept an award from Putin.

 

Solzhenitsyn was the embodiment of the Russian soul, as such not itself of the "West" (see Spengler, Decline of the West), but provided a detached analysis of what ails the West Civilisation. We continue to ignore his wisdom, while Russia seems to have embarked on a course of revival based on the crucible of suffering that leads to spiritual realisation.

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Kerry Bolton is the Editor and Publisher of Renaissance Press in New Zealand.