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A huge number of gambling afficionados will surely have read the slogan “offshore sports betting” by now, though aren’t wholly in the know what it alludes to. A foreign betting website essentially functions extrinsically to the control of any single land instead it can mean a live sports betting web site which deploys their computer servers in a country where computer accessible gaming isn’t currently vetoed. Briefly therefore, it’s a gambling administration working extraneous of the power of the national territory of the clientele. Computer accessible gaming websites are at present modulated with the help of 3 structures. These are named OSGA (the Offshore Gaming Association), the IGC (Interactive Gaming Council) and finally the Fidelity Trust Gaming Association (the FTGA).

The Offshore Gaming Association is an unbiased “watchdog” authority which presently keeps checks on the thriving overseas gambling trade in an attempt to provide sports gamblers an easy way to to readily identify honest sites to play gambling games with. It seeks to defend the rights of bettors, additionally they do not demand any joining or annual dues. The association is a proficient and non-biased third party agency who pronounce equitable info, advised by customer feedback, objective research, phone discussions, insider advice not to mention supplies industry information.

The Interactive Gaming Council are a non commercially driven administration. The administration was created to allow a forum for interested parties to address topics and also to progress collective matters in the international interactive gaming business, in an effort to establish proper and also responsible professional codes and systems which heighten client faith in web based wagering products and services, and to serve as the trade’s global strategy guardian and the council also provides an info hub.

The Interactive Gaming Council has built up a name for advancing honesty, stability and in addition credibility via its rigid standards, also its allure for legitimate business enterprises. The Interactive Gaming Council regularises offshore sports betting via implementing a special 10-step set of standards furthermore charges sports gambling websites a payment to feature their logo. Unsatisfied clients may furthermore state their grievances to the IGC.

The Fidelity Trust Gaming Association was founded in an effort to compose a benchmark to improve the transactions of internet sports betting trading operations. The authority trust that carrying on business entirely with honorable enterprises, they are able to perfect an affiliation of the fairest and professional offshore gaming companies in the world at large.

To sum up, these are organizations who regulate the procedures exercised by machine-accessible gambling and which should help to mitigate a lot of the uneasiness held by a few betters. Networked gaming web sites are at present actually dependable, now that personal details are not requested also the remuneration and the betting odds should be equivalent to your familiar Vegas-type wager. These sites cut travel, but maintain of a casino, but now you can bet at your own desk.

Karen had just herded the kids into the back seat of that elephant sized black Lexus SUV they have when I caught her on her cell.

As usual, she had the Waylon Jennings pumped up to drown out the sound of little Georgie Joe and Condi Sue screaming in the back. Waylon was singing:

She’s a good hearted woman

In love with a good timing man.

She loves him in spite of

The wicked things that she don’t understand

She clicked in with “This is Karen” and I just couldn’t help myself. I had to yell.

Really let her have it.

“I can’t believe you did this to me! Karen, I just can’t believe it! It’s just. . . .you said I could have it! You said that the LINE was mine! You said it would be a throw away and that there was no way the Chief would ever use it. You said he’d just laugh and say, “Nice try Soccer Mom—but that doggie ain’t got no tail!”

For the love of . . . Oh Karen, . . . I don’t know. . . .for the love of Boy Genius himself: no one will buy the tag line “global struggle against violent extremism!”

You can’t just re-brand the whole war and expect people will swallow that! Think of Classic Coke Karen! Think of Euro Disney . . .Karen think of THE EDSEL!”

And Karen, you promised ME the line. You said I could I could have it! Now every first year MBA student is gonna be blogging and whining and buzzing on their cell phones that we’re off message, saying things like ‘Hey, Bushie Crew—where’s the beef?’—We got nothing now Karen. And worse yet: I got no way to come up with a power point deck to describe what it is I been DOING out here acting like I was looking for a job.

Karen, this just might even blow my cover! What if people find out that this whole time—I’ve been embedded in the ranks of the middle class un-employed, gathering the TRUTH about unemployment. Fighting the terrorists by being unemployed. Standing up for freedom by being unemployed.

“Roger, it sounds like—Georgie Joe! You get your hands off of your sister’s neck right now! Don’t you see how she starts turning blue when you choke her like that!—oh sorry. What were we talking about Roger?”

“We were talking about how I needed the global struggle tag line! How I needed a tag line for my mission. Didn’t matter which one. But I had to have a tag line. Karen: this could all land on HIS desk! And you KNOW how he hates it when stuff is on his desk!”

“Oklet me think a minute.”

That’s the thing about Karen. She can think in the middle of a hurricane. I’ve seen it a million times. We’d all be in meetings. Rummy off in the corner asking himself questions and then supplying the answers. That little guy who always walks a few steps behind him writing it all down. Rummy would be mumbling things like, “What is a war? It’s a struggle. And isn’t life a struggle? So aren’t we ALL struggling?”

Cheney in that surgical mask he wears to the really top secret meetings. Leaning over that scary stainless steel sink of his with the scalpel and the dead cats. That whisper voice he uses when he’s really concentrating. Hissing, “I’ll find the stem cells. I’ll do the research. I am the DOCTOR. The chief on the phone to a baseball player or his Mom. Condi thumbing through a leather catalog, Karl pacing up and down in the front of the room, clapping his hands and saying, “People! I need your attention here people! We are protecting freedom here people!

And there is Karen at the middle of it all. Humming along to the rhythm of her fingers on the keys of that laptop. Humming a show tune. Karen adores Steven Sondheim. She LOVES send in the clowns:

“Isn’t it rich?

Isn’t it queer

Loosing my timing,

This late in my career?

And then like she’s some sort of sorcerer or something, Karen stops typing and blurts out a tag line of pure genius. I think it might have been Karen who came up with, “Winston tastes good, like a cigarette should.” Sure, I know she doesn’t look that old.

But Karen has been around . . . . Well, let’s just say that she has always been with us.

She turns down the Waylon Jennings in her mini-van. Says, “Ok. Hang on Roger. Karl’s on the video feed monitor here in my van. Let me punch him up and see what he’s got. Maybe he can help us with this.”

“Karen my dear?” I hear the sound of Karl’s voice.

“Karl, let me switch on the cone of silence. My kids are in the back and I have Roger on the other line.”

“Ah Roger. But of course. Unemployment. How it too can protect freedom! Just got the Intel that we won’t be seeing you in the ranks of the unemployed much longer old man? We’ll talk later about how you plan on helping our true friends by NOT being unemployed.. And I think I might have a new assignment for you. “Library Visits from Your Neighborhood Special Agent? That Means Freedom. Karen, we’ll need you for the spin there. Don’t quite have all the bugs out . . . . .”

“Karl,” Karen cut in, ” Roger has some concerns about “Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism.” He wanted the line. A bit of a snafu. He thought no would buy it so he could use it for the Unemployment Means Freedom campaign.

“Acchh—so many campaigns, so little time!” Karl laughed in that way he has,” Well, I have news for you both. Early numbers tell us that we have a fish on the line my friends. 23% tested positive that “global struggle” actually had a MEANING! I told the Chief.

“What did he say?” Karen asked

“He said he had brush to clear, and some doggies had strayed from the herd,

“Oh that’s right. We’re in Crawford this month.”

“So, Roger, I’m sorry but that tag line has been taken. We’re going with it. And I think we’ll shut off “Unemployment Means Freedom.” Even with Karen driving our message: I was never sure how we’d shape that one as a way to help our friends. And the Library Visits? Well, that is coming as soon as we take care of the whole Supreme Court project.” Maybe we can use you for that Roger.”

“Hang on you two, I’ve got Novak on the other line. . . .”

“Karen,” I said, if I get a new assignment, can you help with the spin? I mean if we’re really going to go monitor the libraries now, we’ll need to. . . . “

But just then I heard the click and the line went dead. Lost the cell connection.

And again —I was alone.

About the Author

Roger Wright can be found on the blog CHURCH FOOD CHICAGO.

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The Palestinian Fatah Movement is doing whatever it can to brush up its image in the run up to this Summer’s parliamentary elections, including the appointment of young blood into the ranks. The outcome of the elections is going to be of crucial importance for the chances of peace with Israel as well as the country’s division of power. What would be the implications for a Palestine under more Islamicised rule, should Hamas achieve a much feared majority? And will the electoral map show that Islamists are on the rise mainly as a result of corruption and poverty?

The happenings in Palestine are going eerily exactly according to a master plan drawn up two years ago by the murdered Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. This leader drew out his vision for power sharing and legitimization of the Hamas organisation, starting by condoning to a ceasefire and subsequently by readying the organization for participation in mainstream politics. Next on the plan is slowly eating away power remaining in the hands of the Fatah movement. More on the bright side; Yassin also did not exclude acceptance of a two state solution. But, his condition is nevertheless worrisome - only as an interim solution.

It is not sure whether the Hamas movement would have found its way to the political arena had Fatah been enjoying a deeper political clout and a popularity akin to Hamas among the Palestinians. Some say it would have, because there is an ongoing collaboration between the two groups in attacks on Israel. But the fact that the political Fatah movement is losing its grip over the political reality in Palestine might in some sense be not only very convenient for the Hamas movement, it might also indicate that reality on the ground doesn’t just change overnight and that it takes a troop of bandits a lot of guts to organize themselves, steer clear of its former methods of communication and get a country going at the same time.

This, combined with Yassin’s ability to mastermind his future plan so indicates sharply how the land lies in Palestine. It is estimated that around 40 percent of Palestinians support Hamas but support is disproportionately strong in the Gaza Strip where some 1.3 million Palestinians live.

One positive side effect from having seen the Fatah movement struggle is that Hamas knows what kind of trouble it’s up for. This might already be evident from the January 2004 adoption of a more moderate stance by Yassin, months before he was killed, when he reduced the area he wished to see reclaimed from the whole of Israel to the West Bank and Gaza Strip. “We are leaving the rest of the occupied territories for history,” Yassin said in an interview with the London-based Arabic language newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi.

Some see this as the most significant item on Yassin’s master plan. “[Yassim implicitly acknowledges] the PLO’s 1988 decision to endorse the two-state solution,” says Mahdi Abdul Hadi, the head of the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs. The two state solution includes a Palestinian state on all territory occupied in 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and a solution to the issue of refugees to be found according to international law based on UN General Assembly Resolution 194.

“Regardless of whether or not this is explicitly acknowledged by Hamas as a permanent or temporary solution, it will become the movement’s operational political guideline”, predicts Mahdi Abdul Hadi. That in itself is quite an evolution for a movement that refused to take part in the last elections in 1996 saying they objected to Oslo Accords because these condoned the existence of Israel.

One can’t help but get a sense that any potential Hamas leaders will likely go about things in a way swifter manner than the Fatah stumblings have shown Palestinian leadership to be so far. Throughout the Middle East the fact that subversive to the state groupings have been forced underground has given them a chance to organize themselves really well. They also tend to endear themselves to populations in times of severe duress and hardship by well funded relief efforts and other charitable initiatives, which make them look incredibly social compared to corrupted governments.

The Hamas movement set to benefit from its popularity for a while to come, while incumbent leaders have seen to have become increasingly entrapped in a downward spiral. As the elections are nearing, true panic is setting in among the participant of the Palestinian Legislative Council in Ramallah, where the day to day infighting between old and new guard will soon have to make way for some pragmatism - if they want to hold on to any majority in the PLO whatsoever. Policy makers are doing their utmost in trying to delay the elections or even change the rules to the disfavor of Hamas, which are schuduled for July 17, almost coinciding with the date the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza will take place, purportedly to take political advantage of this.

Ironically, the Israeli Prime Minister Sharon, faced with what’s an almost surely record historical amount of disloyalty at home, is also putting difficult things off. He has put back the withdrawal from Gaza by another three weeks for pretty much opposite reasons. Some even believe that Sharon is moving the date back in case Hamas comes out so strongly in the elections that he will abandon the settlement closure altogether.

Whatever will be the outcome of the Palestinian elections, or however violent the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza will prove to be, will largely determine the chances for any the direct peace talks to be restarted. The outlook on this issue now is very bleak.

“If the nationalist Fatah is defeated — or seriously challenged — by Islamist Hamas, the chance of getting a state could be set back by decades. Nationalists would be too intimidated to make the compromises needed to achieve peace or, even worse, the opportunists among them could see an alliance with Hamas as the way to gain power for themselves. Hamas itself would believe it can take over the entire movement, making it more violent against Israel and aggressive toward other Palestinians”, says Barry Rubin in a commentary on UPI.

The incumbent leadership has recently started serious efforts to counter the notion that is very much alive among the Palestinian population that its supporting Fatah party is in a total mess. The Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ recent drastic reorganization of the national security is one sign to this effect. Furthermore, on Tuesday, the movement announced the names of younger generation of leaders who would probably be chosen to run in the election, replacing the old guard that has been accused of corruption and mismanagement. “We consider this as a correct start to rebuild (Fatah) on a democratic base,” said Ahmed Deek, a senior Fatah official to Reuters.

The the old guard, who have nearly all been chosen directly by Yassir Arafat, are heavily criticized for corruption and their weak efforts to build the Palestinian economy. These issues are more long term and it is likely that the Palestinian voters are more forgiving here than on the more immediate threats they face every day through dangerous militancy. This militancy is alive in both Hamas factions as well as the Fatah movement. It is of crucial importance for the Fatah movement to pull itself together and deliver a credible message to voters if the current leadership is going to outcompete the Hamas message, which Palestinians are believed to favor momentarily.

Somehow, the old trick of blaming all Palestinian misfortunes of the Israelis is not going to work as well for Mr Abbas as it did for Yasser Arafat. What’s more, Mr Abbas also has a lot less clout than Mr Arafat in organizing his support. “Arafat, who was unchallengeable, could get away with anything. Abbas has no such luxury”, Hadi believes.

Political analysts differ over the chances that Hamas might become a majority party in Palestine. Should the party be successful however, more or less similar bleak realities will await it as were bestowed on the incumbent leaders. People talking about a ‘price’ that politicizing the movement will have, mostly are concerned with two things; peacetalks with Israel (Yassin’s plan was to steer clear of any Oslo principles) and democratization and reform.

Even though it is enticing to think that the surfacing of this organization is going to be a healthy thing both for the Palestinian society and for the grouping as such, these worries remain significant because of their potential long term impact. The classic example of things getting completely out of hand in a democratic context is Algeria, where in 1992, the incumbent Islamist rulers canceled free elections when it became clear they would not win outright. This example is quoted very often, but given the ensuing violence in this country it is not overstating just how dangerous and inhumane a system can get.

“There is always a question mark over whether Islamists who take power by democratic means are committed to maintaining parliamentarian democracy, or to changing the system to an Islamic regime, which is a different proposition”, says Hassan Ghatib.

The Algerian situation followed the regime change in Iran in the 1970s, which itself somewhat tested the limits to autocratic rule and given the fact that in every situation where there is a chance of extremism this gets overt attention and analysis there is a lot of scope for prominent thinkers from within the Islamic movements to shape their ideas.

The most prominent issue is how to share power, remain loyal to a constitution without imposing social rules that contradict this. This is an area of friction, because the very idea around which Hamas’ ideology revolves does not naturally imply that it will steer away from wanting to establish a completely Islamicised state, rather than a democracy as the constitution stipulates. Even though there is consensus that Islamic movements also can bend their party manifestos around the idea of democracy, it is a means to an end.

“It is possible that Hamas, which so far maintains a fundamentalist ideological and extreme political position, will become a pragmatic movement if it has the chance to be part of official politics, locally, regionally and internationally”, says Ghassan Khatib, the Palestinian Authority minister of planning.

The question really is what kind of powerbase the group will be able to build. Should the inclusion of the party in the mainstream sector immediately be on the basis of majority rule, it would be most dangerous, because it then has a chance to help shape a democracy according to possibly less democratic but more Islamist principles. It is not immediately obvious how that would improve the internal Palestinian situation or, more like, how it would move forward the democratization and reform process which the country is crying out for. But then, who knows, perhaps real change, Islamist style, is even possible.

Angelique van Engelen is a freelance writer working for http://www.contentClix.com. She specialises in content creation. For tailormade reports, brochures, research or feature articles, contact her on angeliqueve@contentclix.com.

Every single day I surf through about a dozen sites, looking for
interesting articles and message board posts. I do this for many
reasons: for my job, which requires that I stay up-to-date on
current technologies, and for my hobby, which allows me to write
articles about the internet and the web.

A big portion of my daily routine involves visiting forums
related to all facets of the internet. These forums often have
some incredible information not readily available anywhere else;
the best of these (WebMasterWorld, JavaScript City, Spider Foods,
WebDev Forums, Lisa Says it all and the Web Site Abstraction
Forum) are tightly monitored and are heavily trafficked by
knowledgeable people.

I find them very useful not just for ideas, but to occasionally
post something of interest to others. You know, that’s something
that I truly enjoy. Stumbling across a post which asks a question,
responding and finding out that I really did help someone solve
an issue. There are few better feelings than that.

Anyway, today I was looking through some posts on these boards
and I noticed a very common concern and theme. Virtually every
webmaster on the boards is concerned above all else with one
thing: getting traffic to their site. And to get traffic
virtually all of those same webmasters was convinced they have
to get high rankings in the search engines.

I’d seen this before, of course, but today I noticed something
that actually made me angry. I realized that the search engines,
especially the larger ones, are causing people to self-censor
their own sites.

One lady stated she had a painfully built set of links for
quilt sites. She believed it was the most complete set of quilt
links on the internet, and seemed quite proud. However, she was
disturbed and even was considering removing the links because it
might hurt her rankings in Google.

I continued looking over the posts on that and other forums and
found similar posts scattered throughout. One person was afraid
because he included pages of content not related to the theme of
his site. Would Google drop his ranking and thus cut his income?
Yet he really wanted to include those pages … but felt he had
to remove them because of this search engine.

You see, what’s happening is Google and other search engines have
to work very hard to create very intelligent robots to scan the
web for sites. Until recently, these robots considered each and
every page as a separate entity. Now, however, a change is
occurring. Google is attempting to group pages together into
sites, and then judge all of the pages as a group. The
implication of this is apparently sites which are “tightly
themed” will be positioned higher in the results pages than
those that are not.

I guess the theory is that a tightly themed site is somehow
better than a site which has lots of information about many
different subject.

Google also ranks pages (and now perhaps entire sites) based
upon the number and quality of sites that link back. The thought
behind this is that if a site is linked to by other quality
sites (sites related to the theme), then that site is somehow
better than other sites and deserves to rank higher.

So what’s seems to be happening is many webmasters are very,
very concerned about every move they make. Every change to their
site is measured against the question, “what will Google or
Altavista or whatever think of this change?” Will making that
change drop their rankings? Will it get them removed from the
engine? Will the Earth come to an end simply because a link to a
site with different content is included?

Other questions I have seen include: will using Flash drop me
out of the engines? Should I use tables or will that hurt my
page ranking? If “low quality” sites link to mine, will Google
get annoyed and kick me to the second page?

This is, in my opinion, utterly and completely ridiculous. The
purpose of the web and the internet is communication. People
write articles, create graphics and multimedia and place them on
the internet because they have a story to tell or some
information to impart.

Of course it is important to promote your site, because part of
communication is finding someone to communicate with. However,
there are many, many ways to promote a web site. There are as
many ways and places to promote as their are stars in the sky or
electrons on a wire. Just use your creativity and your brain, and
you will figure out how to get people to visit your creation,
without selling your soul to a search engine.

One of my objections is the idea of “theming” a web site. That
is not the way that the web is intended to work and it is not in
the interest of surfers. When I search on a keyword, I want to
find the best pages that I can find. If someone wrote a page
about their cat but placed it on their site about quilts, then I
still might want to see it. In fact, it’s possible that this one
page has better information than a site devoted entirely to cats.

I have a great example of a site which is one of the best on the
internet by a good man named James Huggins. I’d bet that Google
wouldn’t appreciate this site very much because it would have a
very difficult time figuring out the theme. Yet it is by far one
of the most entertaining and informative sites on the entire web
(in my opinion, of course).

http://www.jamesshuggins.com/

A major problem with the idea of basing the ranking of a site
on it’s popularity is that new or smaller sites tend to drop way
down the list, even though they are often much better than sites
higher on the list. It simply is not true that a site which has
lots of incoming “quality” links is any better than those sites
which do not have as many of them.

Websites are very personal creations, and they should reflect
the unique viewpoints, opinions and background of the authors,
artists and creative talent. There is no need to make every site
on the web look or feel the same; There is certainly no need to
force every site to fit a set of rules in order to be found by
other people.

My advice is to create a web site in which you can be proud. Use
all of the tools and skills that you have, and use whatever
techniques you enjoy. At the same time, explore ALL of the
methods of site promotion, including search engines. But don’t
place too much weight on the engines - they change constantly
and they are very fickle. You might sell your soul to get a high
ranking one day only to find out the next morning that you are
gone entirely.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets
at http://www.internet-tips.net - Visit our website any time to
read over 1,000 complete FREE articles about how to improve your
internet profits, enjoyment and knowledge.

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“See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.” George Bush, “President Participates in Social Security Conversation in New York,” May 24, 2005

We’re all well acquainted with the ideas of propaganda, repetition and the Big Lie as outlined by Josef Geobells, the Nazi Minister of Propaganda: basically any lie, repeated often enough, will be believed. A corollary is that you may has well make it a big lie.

Yesterday I read Tom Engelhardt’s article The President, Cindy Sheehan, and How Words Die on AntiWar (originally on Tom Dispatch as A Worldview Repeated Once Too Often?): “Sometimes, just that extra bit of repetition under less than perfect circumstances, and words that once struck fear or offered hope, that once explained well enough for most the nature of the world they faced, suddenly sound hollow. They begin to sound… well, repetitious, and so, false. Your message, which worked like a dream for so long, goes off-message, and then what do you do?

This is, I suspect, exactly what growing numbers of Americans are experiencing in relation to our President. It’s a mysterious process really - like leaving a dream world or perhaps deprogramming from a cult. Once you step outside the bubble, statements that only yesterday seemed heartfelt or powerful or fearful or resolute truths suddenly look like themselves, threadbare and impoverished. In due course, because the repetitious worldview in the president’s speeches is clearly a believed one (for him, if not all of his advisers) and because it increasingly reads like a bad movie script for a fictional planet, he himself is likely to look no less threadbare and impoverished, no less - to use a word not often associated with him - pathetic and out of touch with reality to some of those who not so long ago supported him or his policies.”

This took me back to my literary criticism studies and reminded me of some of the other rhetorical uses of repetition.

In essence: any act of repetition changes the context of a statement, and renders it susceptible to defamiliarisation - the statement will appear different due to the change of context. This is a common artistic tool - from Marcel Duchamp’s elevated readymade ‘Fountain’ (a urinal signed R. Mutt 1917) through irony to the basest kind of sarcasm or satire.

In the early twentieth century the Russian formalists were particularly fond of this device; in the late twentieth century structuralism and deconstruction (and their many imitators and followers) appropriated it.

I think what Tom Engelhardt’s article points to is that the Bush rhetoric, based as it is on the propaganda of the repeated lie, has fallen victim to these other possibilities of repetition.

Sikhs have always been known as great warriors. During the two World Wars over 80,000 Sikhs gave their lives for the allied cause.Whilst Birmingham celebrates VE Day we could do well to remember this. Often unforgotten, there are many Sikhs who have been awarded the Victoria Cross.

Britain has a proud tradition of valiant armed forces and a capable military which has managed to defend these isles effectively for hundreds of years. British Military achievement is well known throughout the world and the bravery and versatility of its soldiers, seamen and airmen is unquestioned and forever stamped in history.

Today as we look at the VE Day Celebrations there is an abundance of information in the media that provides an insight into what life would have been like in those troubled times. It is right that we remember them, the fallen, and the living whose numbers dwindle with every passing year. To them we owe our freedom as they fought for this land and often lost their lives so that we might remain a free country.

However, whilst each country has a right to blow its own trumpet and remember the heroic gestures, hardships and victories that made this nation what it is today, we should also remember the massive sacrifice given by others from nations further afield.

The Sikhs sacrificed a great deal for this country. During the Anglo-Sikh wars of 1845 - 1849 the British had been so impressed by the Khalsa Army they decided to enlist many battalions of Sikh forces. The former Sikh enemy became so loyal that in 1857 when most of the Indian Army revolted, the Sikhs remained totally supportive and fought side by side with the British Army. Subsequently, the Punjab became the recruiting ground for the British. This staunch and loyal Sikh support was to show itself again during the great wars.

During the First World War Sikhs joined the ranks of the British Army in great numbers. They fought in the trenches of Germany and at Gallipoli where thousands of Sikhs fought and died. The British Indian Army was made of nearly 20% Sikhs, despite the fact that Sikhs account for only 2% of the population in India.

During the Second World War this action was repeated. Even though there was now a quest for Indian Independence the British Indian Army grew from 189,000 at the start of the war to over 2.5 million through voluntary recruitment and a large proportion of those were Sikh. At no other time in history has a foreign army this large been voluntarily mobilised to fight for a foreign land as if it were their own country. The significance of this should not be underestimated.

In 1944, Sikh Soldiers halted the advance of the Japanese in Burma and prevented them from invading India. Four VC’s were awarded in this campaign.

As the British Empire came to a close many Sikhs were encouraged to settle in the UK. Their loyalty, hard work ethics and historic connection with the British should be remembered. Many Sikh families in Birmingham are direct descendents of those who put so much into this country.

Of course, there were also millions of Russians who died in the Second World War. One might argue that the Russians won the war and that without them things would have been significantly different. Then of course there are the 100,000 Gurkhas who fought in World War I and the 40 battalions of Gurkhas in the Second World War. What of the Polish who valiantly fought during the Battle of Britain and those from other nations who out of Patriotism and loyalty, came from oversees to enlist, and often die, in order that we might enjoy our freedom today.

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If the group Move America Forward has its way, come June 25th, you will not be able to see Michael Moore’s new film, Fahrenheit 9/11.

Why? Well, the main reason seems to be…we do not like what Michael Moore has to say about America. And, being freedom-loving Americans, we want to pressure movie theater chains not to screen the film.

Another question that comes to mind is, what the hell is Move America Forward? I know, I hadn’t heard of them, either, until recently. As I looked over their web site, the first thought that popped into my mind was: right-wing fascist nut cases. But that’s not fair. I’m not a psychologist or psychiatrist, so I’m not qualified to make judgments on the mental health of Move America Forward’s board of directors and staff.

Apparently, Move America Forward was created by the public relations firm Russo, Marsh and Rogers a month ago. The group’s web site says they are non-partisan, but a look through the names of the board of directors shows a group lacking anyone who is a Democrat or liberal. Among the members of the board are: Chairman Howard Kaloogian, Republican and former member of the California assembly; Conservative radio talk-show host Melanie Morgan, vice-chairman; and Executive Director Siobhan Guiney, described as “a legislative advocate fighting for the people against liberal corruption.” That sounds non-partisan.

I’m guessing Move America Forward’s definition of non-partisan is something along the lines of “all of us here are conservatives.”

Melanie Morgan appeared on the June 16 “Crossfire” to argue her group’s case against Michael Moore’s film. Which, by the way, she has not seen. There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned boycott based on not knowing anything about the source material.

Questioned by “Crossfire” co-host James Carville on not seeing the film, Morgan explained, “…I haven’t seen the film yet. And the reason I haven’t seen it yet is because the majority of America has not seen the movie, and the reason why the majority of America hasn’t seen the movie is because it’s only been screened for a handful of Hollywood liberals and elite media. But I have been able to discern from the footage and from the information that is available by transcript on the Internet what the true intentions of Michael Moore are.”

In addition to being conservative,
Morgan is also, apparently, psychic.

Move America Forward is employing an e-mail campaign to get people to contact the executives at movie chains and urge them not to show the movie. How come conservative groups are so quick to silence voices that speak out against the government? Shouldn’t the free market decide the success or failure of Moore’s film? Frankly, I do not need “non-partisan” conservatives deciding for me whether or not to see the film.

And what’s the compelling reason for the movie theaters not to show the movie? Melanie Morgan explained to James Carville: “What we are doing is trying to make sure that there is an alternative voice to Michael Moore. He has received millions of dollars and free publicity over the last free weeks about this movie, on ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, you name it, he’s been everywhere…But not one single ordinary American has been able to stand up and say, ‘Hey, we don’t appreciate that crap that is being aimed at our troops because we support our troops, we love our troops, they’re friends, families, brothers and sisters, and we’re going to be there for them.’”

A pretty amazing analysis based on nothing, since Morgan has not seen the film, but has read articles in newspapers to really zero in on Michael Moore’s “true” intentions.

Also, does a movie really need an “alternative voice”? Isn’t that voice going to be provided by conservative talk radio, in conservative newspapers, and on conservative web sites, like World Net Daily or Free Republic? Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity combined have millions of listeners. Surely they will offer up that all-important alternative Morgan is complaining about. Also, why wouldn’t “ordinary” Americans be able to say they don’t like a movie they haven’t seen, or will see? You know they’re going to show up at the movie theaters with their signs and their rage at the “Bash America” filmmaker, Michael Moore, getting in the way of movie theater patrons who will use the power of their own brains to decide if Moore’s message is valid.

And Mike, well, I’ll bet he’s having a good chuckle over all of this attention, especially since Move America Forward’s efforts will result in increased ticket sales. There’s nothing like a good, pointless boycott of a film you’ve never seen that will result in more people seeing the movie than if there had been no boycott.

I know I’ll be there, joining up with my fellow “Blame America First” liberals, while Michael Moore laughs all the way to the bank. Well, Move America Forward, there’s always lots of books to boycott at the local public library, if the Michael Moore boycott doesn’t work out.

About the author: Scott C. Smith is a writer from Beaverton, Oregon. His column has appeared weekly at the Democratic Underground and other progressive web sites. In addition to his column, Scott writes for his web site, What’s In Scott’s Head, at www.scottcsmith.net. Scott is a proud member of the Blame America First crowd.

About the Author

Scott C. Smith is a writer from Beaverton, Oregon. His columns have appeared weekly at the Democratic Underground and other progressive web sites. In addition to his column, Scott writes for his web site, What’s In Scott’s Head, at www.scottcsmith.net. Scott is a proud member of the Blame America First crowd.

VSAT broadband is similar to cable and DSL services for your computer. It is Internet service through a satellite dish that is placed on your home or business. It is another option for a high-speed Internet connection that is considered to be one of the best technologies available today.

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About the author:

Bob Hett offers simple and concise information for the sometimes confusing world of Internet service. Get the answers to all of your questions at www.dslinternetcenter.info