<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Thursday, June 19, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

During his trip to Paraguay to attend the Southern Cone Economic Community (Mercosur) as a guest, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias has cast doubts on the Andean Community (CAN) capacity to advance and has once again criticized the US Free Trade for the Americas Agreement (FTAA).  

Venezuela has applied to enter Mercosur ... President Chavez Frias has said  that Venezuela is Mercosur's route to the Caribbean. 

Mercosur Presidents  ended a three day meeting reaffirming their intention to strengthen Mercosur and its ties with CAN ... improve a common foreign tariff policy and raise a " physical structure that will put some flesh on the integration effort" ... another important factor emerging from the meeting was a clear intention to move the Mercosur economic community towards a political union. 

President Chavez Frias has angered opponents in Venezuela and CAN Heads of State, stating that CAN is moribund because of its heavy reliance on neoliberal policies  .... "Mercosur is emerging more and more as a forum to debate ideas and contrasts." 

Chavez Frias warns that if the CAN does not insist on political union, then the market will dominate CAN ... politics should take the lead with economics in the rearguard."

iacenter.org

BUSH DECLINES INVITATION TO ATTEND THE OPENING OF THE NATIONAL CONSTITUTION CENTER IN PHILADELPHIA ON JULY 4TH

Thousands of people are expected to attend a demonstration in Philadelphia on July 4th to say No to U.S. Wars at Home and Abroad; No to Colonialism and Empire; End the Occupation of Iraq; No to Racism, Attacks on Civil Rights and Immigrants, the USA Patriot Act and the Shredding of the Constitution; and to Call for Funding of Social Programs - not the Pentagon's War Machine. The demonstration has been planned to coincide with the opening of the National Constitution Center, which has been built on the graves of enslaved Africans.

Demonstrators will begin gathering at N. 7th and Race Sts., in Franklin Square, Philadelphia at 8:00am with a rally scheduled for 10:am and a march at 12:00 pm followed by a closing rally. The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition will be providing transportation from the Boston area.

George W. Bush was expected to attend but has apparently decided that the only way to avoid a massive protest is to stay within the protective confines of a U.S. military base.  According to a statement issued by the July 4 Mobilization, the Philadelphia coalition who initiated this demonstration, “A military base is probably the only place Bush thinks he can go to avoid massive protest. But what he has to know is that veterans and military families are participating in the protests here, joining thousands of others in opposition to his plans for endless war, occupation, and other policies at home and abroad.”

Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and continues to lie when he claims the war is over, as more troops are being sent to crush Iraqi resistance to U.S. occupation. The people of Iraq are without electricity, drinkable water, or medical care as unexploded cluster bombs, a cholera epidemic, and bullets fired by U.S. troops claim more lives every day. The U.S. continues to discuss plans for regime change, either through invasions, economic pressure or stepped up covert operations, against all those who attempt to retain nominal sovereignty over their own land and natural resources. Syria, southern Lebanon, Palestine, North Korea, Cuba, Zimbabwe, Iran, Venezuela, Colombia, Haiti and other countries are slated for aggression. Yet the Pentagon's $400 billion budget is over 30 times the combined military spending of all the countries targeted in Bush's endless war plans.

Bush is an unelected president who stole the election by denying the Black vote in Florida. His administration is responsible for a wholesale assault on the Bill of Rights through the passage of the USA Patriot Act and institutionalized racial profiling. Imprisonment is at an all time high with over 2.2 million incarcerated and over 3,000 on death row. Single mothers of color are the fastest growing prison population. Thousands of immigrants, even U.S. citizens, have been detained without charges or trial. Due process continues to be denied for political prisoners Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard Peltier, the Cuban 5 and others. Racism is on the rise; Affirmative Action is under attack; restitution for slavery, the slaughter of indigenous people, and colonial occupation has not happened; and the corporate media gives right-wing politicians carte blanche to attack the rights of workers, people of color, women and lesbian, gay, bi, and trans people.

The Executive Branch under Bush has taken on near dictatorial powers — with its decisions rubber-stamped by Congress and the Supreme Court. The Bush wars for US corporate interests require a massive transfer of wealth directly from social programs. The administration hands out lucrative contracts to Bechtel, Halliburton, and Exxon, and it has engineered over $2 trillion in tax giveaways that primarily benefit the very rich. But the majority in the U.S face record high unemployment; cuts in spending for public transportation, housing, welfare, education, child care, veterans and HIV/AIDS benefits; and the closing of hospitals, libraries, drug rehab centers and more, as states are forced to balance their budgets because Washington won't. The income gap is widening. According to the Department of Labor, in the 1980's, income for the average CEO was 40 times that of the average worker. Today the difference is 531 times. Women earn 73% of what men earn—63% for Black women and 53% for Latina women—while women' caring work remains unvalued and unwaged.

Over the past several months millions of people from all walks of life have come together in this country and around the world in an unprecedented outpouring against war and for social justice. It is the responsibility of the people of this country to keep the pressure on and show that we will not stand idly by while this government pursues it’s goal of global empire at the expense of poor, working and oppressed peoples at home and abroad. On July 4th the eyes of the world will be focused on Philadelphia!

Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (A.N.S.W.E.R.) both locally and nationally are supporting the call from the July 4th Mobilization for a national protest in Philadelphia on Friday July 4th to Stop U.S. Wars at Home and Abroad.

The National Constitution Center, a museum dedicated to the history of the U.S. Constitution in a building constructed on the graves of enslaved Africans, invited George W. Bush, along with all living past U.S. presidents, to speak at their opening ceremonies. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor will also be on hand to receive Philadelphia's Liberty Medal. This event culminates a week of "Welcome America" festivities sponsored by oil giant Sunoco.  

Since the July 4th Mobilization put out a call for a national protest, we have learned that Bush has bailed out - once again avoiding any event where he would be confronted by protests. But whether he chooses to show in person or not, Bush's policies need to be opposed, and the protest will go on as scheduled (see enclosed flyer). We need to take the NCC to task for inviting Bush to speak when his administration has violated international law and systematically engaged in a campaign of repression at home including wholesale assault on the Bill of Rights, the passage of the USA Patriot Act, and institutionalization of racial profiling.

It's becoming obvious that Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and thousands of Iraqi people and hundreds of U.S. soldiers died as a result.  He continues to lie when he says this war, which claims more lives every day, is over. Yet the U.S. Congress, which rubber stamped this illegal and criminal war of occupation, refuses to hold Bush accountable. Meanwhile, Bush discusses a new round of wars. Syria, southern Lebanon, Palestine, North Korea, Cuba, Zimbabwe, Iran, Venezuela, Colombia, Haiti and other countries are slated for aggression.  

The Pentagon's $400 billion budget is over 30 times the combined military spending of all the countries targeted in Bush's endless war plans. The massive transfer of wealth to pay for war and tax breaks for the wealthy means deeper and more extensive cuts in spending for social programs on a federal level as well as in every state and municipality across the country.  

Here in Pennsylvania, Governor Rendell has threatened to cut hundreds of programs that our communities need, resulting in the loss of thousands of jobs. Rendell, already notorious in Philly for his attacks on unions and for his involvement in the death sentence frame-up of political activist Mumia Abu-Jamal, is also invited to speak.

We are determined to stop the never-ending series of wars in the various forms taking place against people here and abroad. We stand with people everywhere struggling for a world which values people over profits. We stand in solidarity with people living under oppression and occupation who have nothing to celebrate on this day.  

We believe there is a power capable of stopping Bush and his mad drive to war -- the united, mass mobilization of people here at home, in solidarity with people around the world -- recognized by the N.Y. Times in February as a new world "superpower". We can't predict turnout for the July 4th demonstration, but whatever our numbers, it's important to be there to show our determination to continue the struggle.  

We invite you to march with A.N.S.W.E.R.'s Anti-Imperialist contingent on July 4th.  

You can help make this rally possible by making a financial contribution to cover costs of printing, postage, and the costs of sound & stage for the event. Please send checks to Philadelphia ANSWER (for July 4th Mobilization), 813 S 48 St, Philadelphia, Pa 19143.

We hope you will also consider volunteering some time, either before the event or at the rally, to help with the tasks needed to make it a success.

Also please take time to complete and return the enclosed form with your ideas on what protections and rights you would like to see included in our Constitution if we had the chance to rewrite it today.  

The July 4th Rally in Philadelphia marks the start of the new stage in the movement to stop Bush's wars.  

In Philadelphia: To find out more about how you can get involved to support these and other A.N.S.W.E.R. activities, come to our weekly meetings on Tuesday nights, 7pm at the Calvary Church, 48th & Baltimore. The struggle continues!

International Action Center 39 West 14th Street, Room 206 New York, NY 10011 email: iacenter@action-mail.org En Espanol: iac-cai@action-mail.org web: www.iacenter.org CHECK OUT SITE    www.mumia2000.org phone: 212 633-6646 fax:   212 633-2889 To make a tax-deductible donation, go to   www.peoplesrightsfund.org

The Auburn Plainsman, By Rob Huffman, Staff Writer June 19, 2003

Michael Glenn Rich, 41, one of Auburn University's assistant professors in journalism, is preparing for retirement.

But then again, maybe he's not retiring at all.

"Retiring means you're not working anymore," Rich said.

It's true, Rich will in no way quit working. He is simply going to start work on a new job.

He is about to begin preparation to become a priest.

"I'm going to go to seminary, where I'll study for three years," Rich said. "After that, the intention is to lead to ordination at the Priesthood Episcopal Church."

Rich will be going to the General Theological Seminary in New York City after he moves from Auburn in August.

Rich graduated from Northwestern University in 1984 with a degree in journalism and earned his master's degree there in 1985.

He came to Auburn in the fall of 1999.

Previously he had taught two academic years at Auburn in 1990 and 1991 as a visiting professor.

"I've taught more than five years here, but not all at one stretch," he said.

Rich has also worked as a teaching assistant at the University of Iowa for one year.

Between Rich's teaching stints at Auburn, he also went to graduate school at the University of Iowa

"I also spent a lot of time working at The Huntsville Times, where I was feature editor and a few other things," Rich said.

In addition to The Huntsville Times, Rich has also worked for a number of other papers, including The Birmingham News and The Macon (Ga.) News.

Rich held many positions at the various papers he worked for, from copy editor to editorial page writer to international editor at The Daily Journal in Caracas, Venezuela.

While at Auburn, Rich has taught newspaper fundamentals, journalism history, feature writing, reporting, editing, beginning newswriting and a graduate course on international mass communication.

Casey Carpenter, a senior in public relations had Rich as her newspaper fundamentals instructor a few semesters ago.

"He was very enthusiastic," Carpenter said. "He was one of my better teachers and was always approachable."

Carpenter also added that Rich was knowledgeable about journalism in general.

Rich commented that one of the main things he will miss about Auburn is the people who have been a part of his life.

"People I've worked with, students that I know -- working with these people is by far the most rewarding thing about teaching at Auburn," Rich said.

"I have enjoyed the collegial setting of working with the people in this department."

Rich said journalism has been a large part of his life to this point, but he feels he is making the right decision by leaving.

"I've enjoyed what I've been doing, and it has been the right thing for me, and I love it, and I'm not leaving it because I dislike it," Rich said.

Nan Fairley, a member of the journalism faculty and one of Rich's closest friends, said she is saddened by Rich's upcoming departure.

"It's hard to comment about him -- I would need a long time," Fairley said. "He's been like a brother in the four years that I have known him."

Fairley believes that Rich's time at Auburn has been a success, but now he's ready to move on.

"Ministry is his calling," she said. "He'll be going from the podium to the pulpit."

Despite having to leave behind friends and loved ones, Rich is steadfast in his decision to become a priest.

"I've literally been in the process of -- that is, dealing with the church, working towards this -- for more than three years," Rich said.

Rich's commitment to becoming a priest is solid and real.

While in Auburn, Rich has been the faculty adviser at the Society of Professional Journalists, the faculty adviser and worship coordinator at St. Dunstan's Episcopal Student Center, and was volunteer at the Hospice of East Alabama Medical Center.

Rich touched many students' lives at Auburn, but his future in the priesthood looks to touch even more.

Published on Wednesday, June 18, 2003 by Inter Press Service-Common Dreams News Center, by Thalif Deen

STOCKHOLM - The war on terrorism has triggered a dramatic increase in U.S. military spending, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released Tuesday.

Jayantha Dhanapala, former UN under secretary-general for disarmament affairs, says the rising global military expenditure is not just diverting precious financial, material and human resources from productive to non-productive pursuits, but also jeopardizing the environment and the prospects for social and economic development.

The world spent $784 billion on arms last year, a sharp acceleration from $741 billion the previous year, the SIPRI report says. The U.S. accounted for almost three-quarters of that increase.

SIPRI attributes this increase primarily to the U.S. response to the terrorist attacks of September 2001.

But U.S. military spending had been rising earlier too. The figures show that U.S. military spending climbed from about $296 billion in 1997 to $335.7 billion last year.

”Our figures show clearly that the bulk of the rapid increase in spending in 2002 is accounted for by the United States alone,” SIPRI Director Alyson J.K. Bailes told IPS.

The U.S. Department of Defense has estimated U.S. military spending for 2004 at about $390 billion, rising to $400 billion in 2005. The recent war on Iraq is expected to cost the United States more than $150 billion, compared to the 1991 Gulf War, which cost about $61 billion.

Japan, the world's second largest military spender, is far behind the United States with an annual defence budget of $49 billion, followed by Britain with $36 billion. The top five spenders--the United States, Japan, Britain, France and China--account for about 62 percent of total world military expenditures.

According to the SIPRI Yearbook, the United States now accounts for 43 percent of world military expenditure.

China, Russia and Brazil have all increased defense budgets significantly. The countries with the sharpest reductions in military spending in 2002 were Argentina, Guatemala and Venezuela in Latin America and Belarus and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in Europe.

The European Union shows no sign of following the U.S. in raising defense budgets, Bailes said. And while the Russian budget has risen, its possibilities are limited, she added.

”A review of global expenditure trends shows that the rest of the world is not prepared, or cannot afford, to follow the U.S. example,” SIPRI says in the yearbook. Among the poorer nations the signs are mixed, said Bailes. ”Some nations are able to cut spending voluntarily because of the ending of local conflicts, or they are being forced to do so by economic problems,” she said. ”As the security sector reform becomes a serious focus both of international aid policy and of local security cooperation, we may also see improvements in what could be called the quality (rationality, transparency, and proper targeting) of defense spending, which can often be combined with quantitative cuts.”

Some former defense funds are not being cut so much as diverted to internal and non-traditional security aims, such as counter-terrorism, she added.

But there is pressure also to increase defense budgets because of factors such as keeping up with the latest technological advances, and the interest of developing states in peacekeeping and other interventions, Bailes said. The impact of increased military aid that the United States, in particular, is offering is also a factor, she said. The SIPRI Yearbook notes marked regional disparities in military expenditure. In 2001 the Middle East spent 6.3 percent of GDP on the military compared to a global average of 2.3 percent. Latin America spent only 1.3 percent.

Africa (2.1 percent), Asia (1.6 percent) and Western Europe (1.9 percent) spent less than the world average, while North America with 3.0 percent, and Central and Eastern Europe with 2.7 percent spent somewhat more.

The Middle East is the largest single market for U.S. weapons systems. The 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait prompted sharp increases in arms purchases by the six Gulf nations--Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Asked if arms purchases would decline following the ouster of the Saddam regime by U.S. military forces, Bailes said ”whatever uncertainties may still remain over aspects of Iraq's future and its future regime, it seems clear that for a long while at least we shall not see another belligerent Iraq with the power and the wish to threaten its neighbors.”

An international stabilizing force on Iraq's soil for some time could allow other states to reduce their level of military preparedness, Bailes said. But the results could be different if outside powers build new military ”clients” to compete with others, she added.

Jayantha Dhanapala, former UN under secretary-general for disarmament affairs, says the rising global military expenditure is not just diverting precious financial, material and human resources from productive to non-productive pursuits, but also jeopardizing the environment and the prospects for social and economic development.

Sixteen years ago the world community gathered at the United Nations for the International Conference on the Relationship between Disarmament and Development. Yet today military expenditure is rising, he told IPS.

Copyright 2003 IPS

VMU News, June 19, 2003

CHICAGO -- Dr. Ana Gil-Garcia, an associate professor at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago who received her doctoral degree from Western Michigan University, was recently notified that she will receive two Fulbright grants through 2008.

Gil-Garcia has been named to the Fulbright Senior Specialist Roster, as well as receiving a Fulbright U.S. Scholar grant. The senior specialist roster is a list of approved candidates available for short-term positions of typically two to six weeks. Gil-Garcia's name will remain on the list until 2008. She will use the Fulbright U.S. Scholar grant to return to her native Venezuela for 10 months beginning January 2004, where she will conduct research and teach at Universidad Simon Bolivar in Caracas.

"Western Michigan University provided me with one of the most solid and analytical educations I have ever received in my long academic years," says Gil-Garcia. "The educational environment I lived at Sangren Hall, the strong knowledge base offered by a well-recognized body of faculty experts, and the critical skills I expanded through the dynamic of interaction with others are some of the elements that have contributed to my successes in life."

Gil-Garcia originally came to the United States on a Fulbright Scholarship in 1987, while she was still a Venezuelan citizen. She earned a doctoral degree in educational leadership from WMU in 1991, receiving a WMU Research Award for her dissertation. Gil-Garcia, whose name at that time was Ana Gil Serafin, was a WMU Visiting Scholar and member of the educational leadership faculty in 1992-93.

For the past seven years, Gil-Garcia has been at Northeastern Illinois University, where she teaches graduate courses in the areas of educational leadership, research in education, school supervision, cultural pluralism, and curriculum development. She has been involved in education for 29 years. Most of Gil-Garcia's academic and administrative careers have been in Caracas.

In addition to a doctorate from WMU, Gil-Garcia holds a master's degree in curriculum and instruction from University of Tennessee, a specialist degree in middle school curriculum conferred by the Organization of American States, and a bachelor's degree from the Pedagogical University of Venezuela. She has additional training in the areas of reading and teaching strategies, multicultural education, brain-based learning, and teaching in multi-language and culturally diverse classroom settings.

Gil-Garcia has published two books and many articles in international and national journals and has delivered numerous papers nationally and internationally, including invited presentations in Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, France, Japan, Mexico, Spain, Peru, Hungary, Italy and Venezuela. She has been cited in several dissertations and books. The recipient of numerous merit awards, she considers her greatest honor to have been recognized as a Teacher of the Year in Venezuela for her 20 years of consecutive teaching services at all levels.

Media contact: Thom Myers, 269 387-8400, thom.myers@wmich.edu

WMU News Office of University Relations Western Michigan University 1903 W Michigan Ave Kalamazoo MI 49008-5433 USA 269 387-8400

www.wmich.edu