The Clarion Issue

In a surprising announcement in mid-December, former Democratic Vice President and presidential candidate, Al Gore, announced that he would not run for President in 2004. Gore had been exploring the possibilities for another run at the nation’s top office, but after consulting family and advisers, he announced that he would not run against President Bush in a re-match of the 2000 race. Gore received more popular votes than Bush, however, he lost in the electoral vote after the US Supreme Court stopped the Florida recount in December of 2002. With Gore out of the race, the Democrats will be looking for someone to step up to the plate and win the hearts and minds of the Democratic Party and independent voters of the country.

Utilizing the old Bedford Forrest adage, “Git thar the fustest with the mostest,” several Democratic contenders began to announce their intentions to establish presidential exploratory committees in early January of 2003. The contenders hope to secure a place in the hunt for media attention, funds, and votes in the year and a half long run to the Democratic nomination in the summer of 2004. The first Democratic contenders to throw their hats into the ring were Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts and Vermont’s Governor, Howard Dean.

Senator John Kerry is a liberal Democrat from Massachusetts. Kerry (58) graduated from Yale University in 1966, and he joined the U.S. Navy immediately following graduation. He served in Vietnam and received three Purple Hearts. He became a District Attorney and was elected Lt. Governor of Massachusetts in 1982. He was elected to the Senate in 1984. Kerry’s ties to the liberal Democratic Party in the “Bay State” could hurt his ability to raise money and attract attention from the more conservative wing of the Democratic Party that remembers Michael Dukakis and Edward Kennedy all too well. He is married to Teresa, the widow of Senator John Heinz (R. Penn.) who died in a plane crash. If the Democrats hope to win back the South, Kerry may not be the man for the task.

Governor Howard Dean of Vermont is also in the race. Dean (54) is a medical doctor turned political leader. He was elected Governor in 1991. His somewhat moderate record in Vermont reflects his basic platform of providing universal health care, strengthening and improving early childhood education, and positive environmental protection. Dean plans to accomplish this while maintaining a balanced budget. Dean is not as well known as others in the race, but he hopes to stay in the running, under the radar, and make a good showing in early primaries and caucuses. He has already spent a lot of time in Iowa, and New Hampshire is only a state away from his accomplishments in the “Granite State.”

On January 2, 2003, North Carolina Senator John Edwards (49) announced his intentions to seek the Democratic nomination for the Presidency during an appearance on NBC’s “Today Show.” Edwards is a wealthy trial lawyer and new to the political scene. Edwards is handsome, well spoken, and brings a huge personally funded “war chest” into the race. In an interview with CNN, Edwards described himself as a “mainstream North Carolinian.” He wants to create a domestic intelligence agency, stronger security for America’s borders, and a comprehensive readiness plan in case of more terrorist attacks on the country. Edwards favors an attack on Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. He also favors quality health care, tax cuts, better schools, protecting civil liberties, preserving the environment, saving Social Security and Medicare, and reforming the way campaigns are financed. Edwards, the son of a mill worker, worked his way through college. He graduated from North Carolina State in 1974 and obtained a Law Degree from the University of North Carolina in 1977. Much of his law practice was spent helping defend the working people of his state. He was elected to the US Senate in 1998. Edwards has a major interest in improving the conditions of the workers and poor people in America; his brother was recently laid off from his job.

Also in the race is Civil Rights Leader Al Sharpton. Sharpton (48) has made a name for himself as a major spokesperson for minority and individual rights over the last several years. He ran for the Democratic nomination for US Senate unsuccessfully in 1994 and for mayor of New York City in 1997. He has spent the last year traveling across America giving speeches and appearing on TV talk-news programs. His philosophies can be found in his book, Al on America.

In a somewhat surprise move, Bob Graham, US Senator and former Governor of Florida, announced that he would explore the possibility of a presidential run in early January, 2003. Graham Received a BA from the University of Florida in 1959 and a LL.B. from Harvard in 1962. Graham (68) served two terms as Governor of Florida before he was elected to the US Senate in 1986. Graham was a very popular Governor in Florida, perhaps the one real barometer of the American political scene. He served on the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the Environment and Public Works Committee, the Finance Committee, the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, and was Chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, where he has received recent national media exposure. With adequate funding and an innovative platform, he could attract voters from all over the nation.

The early entry of so many political unknowns into the race prompted the Democratic “heavy hitters” into action. In the 1992 race the party’s “big guns” held back, aloof from the race, and allowed a Southern local yocal named Bill Clinton to gain the inside track to the nomination. This memory of the 1992 election brought out the Democratic leadership in early January 2003.

Richard Gephardt announced his intent to form an exploratory committee on Monday, January 6, 2003, making him the first Democratic “heavy hitter” to declare his intention to run. Gephardt, a Representative from Missouri, is the recent House Democratic leader who came under heavy, although undeserved, criticism for the Democratic failure to regain the House in the 2002 off year elections. Gephardt (61) is known as a straight shooting, hard working, politically savvy leader, with plenty of political chits to call in. In his announcement, he attacked the President for “ too many unmet promises and too much empty rhetoric.” Gephardt went on to say, “On nearly every issue of importance to the country—national security, the economy, health care, education, energy policy—President Bush is leading the country either down the wrong path or not leading at all.” Gephardt indicated that he would offer Americans a “distinctive choice” on the issues facing our country.

On January 13th, former Vice Presidential candidate and Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman announced that he was entering the crowded race for the nomination, bringing in another Democratic “heavy hitter.” The “Constitution State’s” favorite son, known for his honesty and integrity, is fairly conservative for a Democrat. He is seen as a candidate who could carry New York and Florida and would poll well in the early primaries due to name recognition. Lieberman (60) has a lot of political experience and positive national name recognition from the 2000 election.

On January 7, 2003, Senator Tom Daschle, the populist Democratic Senate Minority Leader, announced he would not seek the nomination for President, stating that “his passion was in the Senate.” Daschle’s announcement leaves Gephardt and Lieberman as the early “men to beat” in the race for the democratic nomination.

Gary Hart, a former Colorado Senator and 1988 political frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for President, has also indicated that he may enter the race. Hart’s 1988 bid for the nomination was hampered when he denied that he was having an extramarital affair but was later photographed on the yacht “Monkey Business” with model Donna Rice. In this era of post-Clinton morality, Hart, who has been married 44 years to his wife Lee, hopes the “Monkey Business” business will not come up. Political watchers and the paparazzi will be keeping an eye (and a camera or two) on Hart, who has been out of the political limelight for quite some time.

Another prospective candidate is the former First Lady and now New York Senator, Hillary Rodham Clinton. As of late, Senator Clinton has managed to lay low from major storms concerning her husband’s eight-year term in office. She could emerge from political hibernation if no front runner emerges quickly from the early primaries and caucuses.

Of course, the Democrats are facing an up hill climb against popular incumbent President George W. Bush. If Bush should pull off an easy victory in Iraq, continue to make strides in the War on Terrorism, and back into a recovering economy, his popularity will continue to soar and he could prove hard to beat. The next two years should prove interesting should the Bush administration fail to deliver victory in the wars or jump-start the economy. Regardless of which Democratic candidate wins the nomination, the Clarion Issue feels that the 2004 election may be President Bush’s to lose.

In October 2002, North Korea admitted to the world that it possessed a secret nuclear program. The Clinton regime and its eight-year reign of shame had denied having any knowledge of the North Korean nuclear program. Former Secretary of State Madeline Albright is reported to have said they did not know the North Koreans were lying and had assumed that the North Koreans were abiding by their word. This is in conflict with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reports and U.S. intelligence sources.

Intelligence is quite clear that former President Clinton had to have been aware of North Korea's nuclear program. North Korea signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1985. In December of 1991 both North and South Korea signed the South-North Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula to not own or possess nuclear weapons and pledged the same concerning plutonium reprocessing and uranium enrichment facilities. Both parties agreed to a mutual nuclear inspection system. North Korea eventually broke the Declaration and denied South Korea access to their sites, but they did allow IAEA to conduct six inspections from 1992 through 1993.

On October 20, 1994, President Clinton sent a letter to North Korean leader, Kim Jongil, stating that he "will use the full powers of my office" to carry out U.S. obligations related to light water reactors and alternative energy (oil). President Clinton added that if contemplated arrangements for light water reactors and alternative energy were not completed, he would use the powers of his office to provide light water reactors and alternative energy from the United States "subject to the approval of the U.S. Congress."

In 1995, North Korea limited the number of IAEA inspectors allowed to less than four inspectors. This number was not enough to adequately monitor all the sites. North Korea also blocked inspections of the plutonium reprocessing plant.

In May of 1992, after a visit to North Korea, Hans Blix (his name is back in the news with the weapon inspections in Iraq) reported a facility that fit the definition of a nuclear reprocessing plant. One reprocessing line was completed in 1993. In 1994 the IAEA inspectors saw evidence of a second reprocessing line being completed. Satellite imagery has been reported as showing no power lines being run from North Korea's nuclear power plants. Now how do they get power from the nuclear power plant to the people if it is really a nuclear power plant for electricity?

Various U.S. and other sources differ on the amount of plutonium North Korea has produced with its nuclear program. Estimates range from 5 kilograms to as much as 24 kilograms produced since 1989 and through 1994. There are also reports of North Korea smuggling plutonium from Russia.

We also have the Clinton regime to thank for North Korea's expediting the development of ballistic missiles. In August of 1998, North Korea launched a three stage Taepo Dong -1 that flew over Japan. The missile has a reported range of 1,500-2,000 kilometers. It is reported the advancement in multi-stage technology caught U.S. intelligence services off guard. Most weapons technology experts agree that the Clinton administration’s policy of selling American technology on the world market helped expedite North Korea’s development of its missile program.

In February of 1999, CIA Director George Tenet testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee that, with some technical improvements, North Korea would be able to use the Taepo Dong-1 to deliver small payloads to parts of Alaska and Hawaii. Tenet also says that Pyongyang’s Taepo Dong-2, if it had a third stage like the Taepo Dong-1, would be able to deliver large payloads to the continental United States, albeit with poor accuracy. It sounds like North Korea is full of surprises and is a clear threat to world peace; North Korea deserves to be included in the axis of evil!

In a move similar to the 1981 Israeli attack on Iraq’s nuclear reactor, Clinton wanted to bomb North Korea's nuclear sites in June of 1994. A few days later, Jimmy Carter went to North Korea, apparently his own idea, to negotiate with North Korea. Carter agreed to give North Korea two light water nuclear reactors producing a total of approximately 2,000 electric megawatts by the year 2003. Carter further agreed to supply North Korea with 50,000 tons of oil in the year 1995 and 500,000 tons every year after until the first nuclear reactor came online if North Korea would freeze it's nuclear program. The cost to the US alone would be in tens of millions of U.S. dollars, if not more. Carter also agreed to help cover the expense of supplying North Korea’s building the two nuclear reactors estimated to be worth about $6 billion at today’s costs. South Korea and other nations were to help in sharing the costs.

In 1994, U.S. intelligence sources believed North Korea had removed the fuel rods from the reactors and had enough plutonium for four or five weapons.

It is ironic that, not long after it was announced Carter had won a Nobel Peace prize, North Korea admits to having a secret nuclear program and violating the deal he negotiated. North Korea has resigned from Nuclear NPT, dismantled all UN and IAEA monitoring equipment and has started refueling its reactors.

North Korea is certainly a challenge and a threat to the world. A nation that has been and still is facing famine now possesses nuclear weapons. North Korea could easily sell these weapons to terrorists or anyone with the currency to purchase these weapons of mass destruction.

Sam’s editorial note: Incidentally, the last time I looked North Korea is a communist country and an enemy of the Unites States. I have yet to hear of one of the antinuclear groups protesting the building of nuclear reactors in North Korea. Take a look around America. How many new nuclear power plants have been built in the US recently? How much money have nuclear protestors cost US power companies in courts alone, delaying or preventing the construction of nuclear power plants and the storage or transportation of nuclear fuel and other related materials?

I wonder where North Korea would store such radioactive materials, and I really wonder where the nuclear protestors are?

Trent Lott, the Republican leader of the US Senate, caused major damage to his career and the Republican Party in December 2002 when he stated that the nation would have been better off if segregationist candidate Strom Thurmond had been elected to the Presidency in 1948. Thurmond ran in that year on the Dixiecrat Ticket trying to stop the movement toward desegregation taking place in America at that time.

Lott’s faux pas came at the 100th birthday party of the aged and retiring Senator from South Carolina, a man who had stayed 25 years too long in the US Senate. Lott indicated that he was carried away by the moment and was not speaking from a prepared text. There were jokes flying around about Viagra, getting old, enjoying retirement, and general “roast” style jokes.

Lott made several mea culpa appearances on TV including an appearance on BET (Black Entertainment Television) on December 16, 2002. While Lott’s comments during the televised apologies indicated that the Republican Senator from Mississippi had made strides in improving race relations in the US, a close scrutiny of his voting record turned up irregularities. Lott’s voting record on extending the Voting Rights Act and Affirmative Action legislation did not support his claim. When Lott indicated that he believed in Affirmative Action in the BET interview, the statement raised the eyebrows of several TV news commentators and anchormen. It was even suggested that Lott had opposed Afro-American students entering fraternities when he was a student at Ole Miss.

Republican opposition to Lott began to steamroll after President Bush indicated that Lott’s remarks did not represent the feelings of the nation. The Republican Senate members agreed to meet on January 6, 2003, to possibly elect a new leader. By December 17th Senator Bill Frist from Tennessee was being promoted as a replacement for Lott. After several top Republican leaders, including Secretary of State Colin Powell and Florida Governor Jeb Bush, indicated that Lott needed to step down as Republican Leader of the Senate, Lott resigned from that post on December 20, 2002.

With the resignation of Lott as Senate Republican Leader, the Senate Republicans held a “hurry up” phone conference on December 23rd to elect Frist as Senate Republican leader. William Frist is a noted heart-lung transplant surgeon who spends time in Africa performing transplants and operations for the needy people on that continent. Frist is expected to help put Medicare reform and prescription drug plans on a faster tract in the Senate. If Frist has an Achilles’ heel it is irregularities in his family’s business, private hospitals, which have overcharged Medicare in the past. While Senator Frist has not been part of the business, he still owns stock in the corporation. Frist was also responsible for the clause in the Homeland Security Bill that released the producers of the small-pox vaccine from liability for personal injury. Many people expect that clause to be reviewed by the new Congress.

While the Bush White House remained aloof from the debate over Lott’s statements, President Bush (43) did criticize Lott in a public statement in mid-December. Many White House observers feel that the Bush administration gave a wink and a nod to replacing Lott with Frist. Senator Frist was the Bush point man in the Republican effort to retake the Senate in the 2002 elections, and he seemed to be a favorite of the administration for elevation to the leadership position.

However, when all is said and done, still more will be said than done. The GOP (Grand Old Party, Gas-Oil-Plutonium, or whatever) still cannot hide from its true colors. The only cause they support is big business, money and wealth. The Republicans will never really win minority votes or the votes of most of the working class in America. The Republicans can rely on the Democrats to shoot themselves in the foot and lose votes by allowing their mindless ship to be steered by the whims of a unique coalition of single-issue petty autocrats. The Democratic choice of Nancy Pelosi, an ultraliberal California Democrat, is a prime example of Democratic stupidity, and their never-ending search for direction. Lott is out. He had one foot in the old south and one foot in his mouth, but if you really expect Frist and the Republicans to change course and spot color, Hillary Clinton has a bridge in New York she will be glad to sell you!

Three Southerners and three Yankees are traveling by train to the Super Bowl. At the station, the three Northerners each buy a ticket and watch the three Southerners buy just one ticket.

"How are the three of you going to travel on only one ticket?" asks one of the Yankees.

They all board the train. The three Yankee men take their respective seats but all three Southerners cram into a toilet together and close the door. Shortly after the train has departed, the conductor comes around collecting tickets. He knocks on the toilet door and says, "Ticket please." The door opens just a crack and a single arm emerges with a ticket in hand. The conductor takes it and moves on.

The Yankees see this happen and agree it was quite a clever idea, so after the game, they decide to do the same thing on the return trip and save some money.

When they get to the station, they buy a single ticket for the return trip, but see, to their astonishment, that the three Southerners don't buy any ticket at all.

When they board the train the three Northerners cram themselves into a toilet, and the three Southerners cram into another toilet just down the way. Shortly after the train is on its way, one of the Southerners leaves their toilet and walks over to the toilet in which the Yankees are hiding.

Two Arab terrorists are chatting. One of them has his wallet out and is flipping through pictures. "Yeah, this is my oldest. He's a martyr. Here's my second son. He's a martyr, too."

In the back woods of Oklahoma, a redneck's wife went into labor in the middle of the night, and the doctor was called out to assist in the delivery. Since there was no electricity, the doctor handed the father-to-be a lantern and said, "Here, you hold this high so I can see what I am doing."

Soon, a baby boy was brought into the world. "Whoa there," said the doctor, "Don't be in such a rush to put that lantern down. I think there's another one coming."

Sure enough, within minutes he had delivered a baby girl. "Hold that lantern up, don't set it down - there's another one!" said the doctor.

Within a few minutes he had delivered another baby girl. "No, no! Don't be in a hurry to put down that lantern, it seems there's yet another one coming!" cried the doctor.

The redneck scratched his head in bewilderment, and asked the doctor, "You reckon it might be the light that's attractin' 'em?"

“You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.”

Ya’ll-in general ya’ll is a southern contraction for you all. It can be and is used in both singular and plural forms. It is also a hello and goodbye similar to “Aloha” in Hawaiian.

Ya’ll as a greetin’- Howdey ya’ll!
Ya’ll as a farewell- Ya’ll come back now, ya hear.

Southern Tour Guide- “Ya’ll from here er far”? (Are you from around here or out’a

Thelma Lou- “Bubba, ya’ll make show them yankee folks git pulled out’a the ditch by

Bubba- I show ‘nuff will Thelma Lou. Ya better put on some coffee. Them ‘ere yankee

folks seemed a right a/ge/ta/ted (agitated) at ‘ur win’er roads ‘round here.

Editors note; When speakin’ Southern be sure to soften all sounds and drawl out all of the syllables.

After lying on the bottom of the Savannah River for over 135 years, the CSS Georgia may be salvaged. While the Confederate ironclad never inflicted any harm to another vessel during its short stint above water, it finally managed to damage a dredge as an underwater obstacle during 1968. The ironclad ship seems to be drifting into the busy Savannah River channel, where it poses a danger to river traffic. The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers is trying to determine how best to save the ship and clear the river of this unnatural obstacle.

The CSS Georgia was built in Savannah, Georgia, after the initial success of the CSS Virginia in 1862. A lot of the money to finance the ship was raised by the “ladies gunboat association.” The 500 tons of iron plating for the ship came from railroad tracks, and the ship was fitted with an engine from a US revenue cutter seized by the Confederacy in 1861. The ironclad could only make about two knots and ran aground on its three-mile maiden voyage. The CSS Georgia remained stationary and was used as a floating battery. The ship leaked and was known as the “swamp in an iron box.”

The ship was scuttled after the fall of Savannah in December 1864. Since General W. T. Sherman took the city by land, the ironclad played no role in the defense of the city.

The CSS Georgia is a mere footnote in Civil War history, and is more a memorial to the “daughters of the Confederacy,” who gave their time and fortunes to help build an iron plated warship out of railroad tracks and an old steam engine. This effort was repeated all over the South during the war as the agricultural South tried to produce modern weapons from factories that were 75 years out of date. It only proved, “You can’t fight a war with cotton.”

The estimates of salvaging the CSS Georgia are in the $13 million range. The ship lies in about 35 feet of water.

A California man was sentenced to almost 2 months in jail (time already served) and almost $15,000 in fines and services in late December for smuggling four Birds of Paradise and two rare monkeys into the country.

R. J. Cusak (45) was entering the country this summer after a trip to Thailand. When the customs man opened his luggage a Bird of Paradise flew out and around the facility. A further search of Cusak’s luggage reviled three more birds and about 50 orchids. When Fish and Wildlife Service official Ho Truong asked Cusak if he had any more contraband, Cusak replied that he had two monkeys in his pants.

A search revealed that Cusak had concealed two small monkeys in a pouch sewn inside his pants. The monkeys proved to be Lorises, rare Vietnamese primates closely related to Lemurs.

The Lorises have gained weight at the zoo and will have no problem finding a home at some American Zoo; unfortunately, the Birds of Paradise died.

ALL JUMPED OUT AND NOWHERE TO GO

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Contestants, both human and amphibian, in the Calaveras County Jumping Frog Contest face a new dilemma as the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has announced that it is illegal to return a captured bullfrog back into the wild. The jumping frog contest, held in May at the Calaveras County Fair, has always encouraged the return of the frogs to their familiar surroundings when the contest was over.

California law prohibits the return of the frogs to their natural ecosystems for fear of disease of unnatural alterations. The fine for returning a captured frog is up to $5,000. The 1896 introduction of the Eastern Bullfrog into California is a prime example. This large frog has replaced many native California frogs in the ponds and rivers of the Bear Flag State.

The contest was inspired by the Mark Twain short story, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” and is held each May. Contestants may bring their own frogs or rent a precaught frog at the contest. The contest has a “frog welfare policy” which prohibits abuse of the frogs and ample first aid is available at the “Frog Condo” to any frog showing stress or exhaustion during the contest. Contest rules prohibit any drugs, probes, or electrical shocking devices from being used to make the frogs jump higher, faster or further.

The Celebrated Jumping Frog Contest is a national treasure, introduced by “America’s Writer.” Today it is under attack by animal rights groups, environmentalists, and now state law. The next time you think Californians are a little crazy, consider this fact you learned in high school: California has over 50 electoral votes (more than any other state) for the presidency.

An innovative Washington, DC coffeehouse, Kramerbooks & Afterwards, is now offering a new coffee called the Trent Lotte. The coffee drink was named in honor of the ousted Senate Republican Leader, Trent Lott, who was ousted from his Senate Leadership roll after making racially insensitive remarks at the 100th birthday party of long time Republican Senator Strom Thurmond. The coffee drink features equal parts of coffee and milk served in separate but equal containers and can be integrated at the coffee drinker’s connivance.

The small town of Nederland, Colorado, 40 miles northwest of Denver, will play host once again to an unusual winter festival on March 7, 8, & 9, 2003. The Frozen Dead Guy Festival is held in honor of Bredo Morstoel, a Norwegian native and resident of Nederland, who was eventually deported back to Norway where he died. Morstoel was returned to Nederland by his grandson, Trygave Bauge, and frozen in a makeshift cryogenics laboratory in a shed in Nederland.
Last year’s Festival included a coffin race, pancake breakfast, a grandpa look-alike contest, a Grandpa Ball, and a tour of the shed where grandpa Morstoel awaits rejuvenation by science at a later date. A sneak peek at this year’s events revealed even more events and contests at Netherland’s Frozen Dead Guy festival.

Aficionados of the rare and unusual, as well as those with a morbid curiosity or sense of humor, will want to put this festival on their calendar. We did! The Frozen Dead Guy Festival is listed on the Southern Calendar found inside this issue of the Clarion Issue.

Cartoonist Bill Mauldin, the creator of World War II’s famous dogface infantrymen Willie and Joe, died from complications of Alzheimer’s disease on January 22, 2003. Mauldin was 81 and had been suffering from the illness for a long time.

Mauldin served as a GI during the war and published his famous cartoons in the US military’snewspaper, Stars and Stripes. In 1945, he earned a Pulitzer Prize for his collection of World War II comics, Up Front with Mauldin, and he won a second Pulitzer Prize in 1959 for a cartoon depicting Boris Pasternak in a Soviet gulag saying, “I won the Nobel Prize for Literature. What was your crime?”

Mauldin appeared in John Houston’s production of the Red Badge of Courage, filmed in 1951, and continued his work as a cartoonist, working for the Chicago Sun-Times, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and various free lance work. Mauldin never forgot veterans’ interests and was always commenting on political and social issues of the day. His wit and humor will be missed by all.

A German physician, Dr. Gunther von Hagens (57), performed the first public autopsy in Britain in 170 years before a sold out paying audience on November 20, 2002. For those 2000 people who were unable to acquire one of the 400 tickers, which sold for $19, the autopsy was broadcast on British TV complete with a step by step commentary from pathologist John Lee. It was also recorded and should soon be available on video and DVD.

In a somewhat open (pardon the pun) autopsy, Dr. Hagens began the procedure with the “Y” incision which opens the thoracic cage. Many of the major organs were removed and displayed, a rather gruesome act considering the deceased was a two pack a day smoker and a very heavy drinker. The spectacle was accompanied with, what one observer referred to, “a general sloshing about of the organs” and the almost monotonous droning voice of the good Dr. Hagens.

Dr. Hagens even opened the brain cavity with a hacksaw, commenting on the difficulty of sawing through the bones of the skull.

Some of the audience left the building, an abandoned Brewery in London’s East End. One of the images Dr. Hagens wanted to reenact was the historic autopsy captured by Rembrandt in his “Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicholas Tulp,” painted in 1632. When one of the observers asked Dr. Hagens if he planed to remove his fedora hat, Hagens referred to the hat worn by Tulp in the master’s work.

The corpse was a 72-year-old Munich businessman who had donated his body to Hagens with the expressed permission for a public autopsy.

Hagens was technically violating a British law. However, spokespersons for the authorities announced that charges would not be pressed, even though two policemen witnessed the autopsy.

This public autopsy was not Dr. Hagens’ first incursion into the world of morbidity. He has an exhibition known as “Body Works” which opened in Berlin in 2001, and has traveled around the world, including stops in Britain, Japan, and Australia. The exhibit includes dead bodies, some split in cross sections, posed in running, swimming, fencing, and even a man riding a horse (in cross section of course) swinging a sword. Officials believe he has made tens of millions of dollars off “Body Works.”

Dr. von Hagens hopes to perform another public autopsy soon in Munich, Germany. He still has four other bodies packed in formaldehyde

Human rights groups in Pakistan reported that 461 women were killed by their families in so called “honor killings” last year in the Asian nation that President Bush (43) considers an important ally in the War Against Terrorism. Our good friend and ally, Pakistan, allows families to kill female family members who dishonor the family by such immoral behavior as dating, having sex outside marriage, and even for being raped. Some women have even been killed for cooking poorly.

Pakistan’s human rights groups are concerned over the rise in these “honor killings.” The number of women being killed continues to increase, especially in the areas near the border with Afghanistan. The border area is suspected of being a major haven for al-Queda fugitives from the Afghan war and is a stronghold for radical Islamic beliefs. The area, ruled mostly by tribal warlords, is also far from the presence and influence of the Musharraf’s government in Islamabad.

There is also a major growth of conservative and radical Islamic feeling in Pakistan. The growing opposition to Musharraf and his need for American weapons and support is evidence of this growth. Many human rights observers in the Asian nation expect the “honor killings” to increase.

National Geographic estimates that three Pakistani women are killed every day in these so-called “honor killings.” The society will air a special about the Pakistani killings in a TV documentary on February 13, 2003. Check your local TV listings for the time and station for this important program.

Islamic violence to women is not confined to Pakistan. Indian news agencies have disclosed that at least three women were killed in late December in Kashmir, the disputed state in northern India, due to their failure to wear burqas. The wearing of burqas was ordered by Islamic rebels in the area, who carried out the executions. At least one of the women killed was beheaded in her own home while her father watched.

In the meantime, the Clarion Issue encourages President Bush (43) to review the human rights violations in Pakistan and to put pressure on our “very important ally” to improve the position of women in that country. Pakistan considers itself to be a modern nation and possesses nuclear weapons. With allies like Pakistan, do we really need enemies?

The 34-year-old King of Swaziland, King Mswati, has been strongly criticized lately for several actions he has taken in his kingdom. King Mswati, the last absolute monarch in Africa, infuriated many citizens of his small country by proposing the spending of $51 million on a jet airliner for his travels around the world. While $51 million is a small sum to the budgets of most western nations, it is almost half of the national budget of Swaziland. This protest is unusual in Swaziland where the monarch is considered one step below a god.

The monarch’s problems do not end there. King Mswati has also been accused of kidnapping an 18 year-old high school girl and forcing her to become one of his wives (wife number 10). The abduction of the young girl, the daughter of a leading feminist activist in the country, gave the mother the opportunity to take the case to court. The case became a central issue in the struggle for women’s rights in the country.

Another major problem for the monarch on the feminist front is the annual “Reed Dance,” held in the Queen Mother’s palace. Here all the young virgins of Swaziland gather once a year and dance bare breasted before the king. He is allowed to take one of these young virgins as a wife. The young woman does not have the right to refuse the king’s proposal.

Swaziland is a mountainous country that is totally surrounded by South Africa. The country has been ravaged by drought, and the population has a 33% HIV infection rate. Poverty is rampant, and most of the people live in thatched huts without running water. This monarch is viewed as abusive of his powers and is losing popularity with the people of the nation.

The Clarion Issue has recently been criticized for attacking people without suggesting adequate solutions to the problem at hand. We feel this is an unfair criticism and here we offer a real solution to King Mswati’s problems. Instead of blowing $51 mill on the jet, the king can now charter the new Hooters airline whenever he has to travel around the world. Not only will this solve the king’s air travel dilemma, with the Hooters girls serving drinks, hors-d’oeuvres, and meals, this should eliminate the need for the “Reed Dance” also. In flight, the king could propose to any Hooters girl he wishes, and she is free to accept or decline the offer. About the kidnapping, we feel the king should obey the final decision of the court. So there, just like James Bond, agent 007, the Clarion Issue has saved a king and a country!

When Touria Tiouli, a French national, entered a Dubai police station to accuse three men of gang rape, she was astounded to find herself accused of adultery under Shari law. Tiouli was arrested and sent to jail in the Arab Emirate where she may receive up to 18 months in a Dubai prison. She was later released, forced to surrender her passport, and is under house arrest at a local hotel awaiting trial.

Tiouli was on a business trip to the emirate when the incident occurred. One of the accused men admitted having “consensual sex” with Tiouli which, under Arab common law set forth in the Shari, makes her guilty of adultery and filing a false rape charge.

Touria Tiouli was born in Morocco, but later became a French citizen. She was in Dubai working for several French luxury-goods companies.

Perhaps this incident will wake up the French government about the conditions of women in the Middle East and the need to exert more diplomatic pressure on the Arab nations on behalf of women’s rights.

While in places like Nigeria adultery is punished by death, in Dubai a woman forcibly raped by three men will receive only 18 months in prison. This goes to prove that some Islamic nations can be humane.

The latest fad in the Congo’s five-year civil war seems to be the practice of cannibalism by some of the rebel forces. The two rebel forces suspected of the ancient ritual are the Congolese Liberation Movement (MCL) and their allies the Congolese Rally for Democracy-National (RCD-N).

UN investigators in the war-torn Ituri province have found credible evidence of the practice by the rebel forces. Ituri is a mineral rich province in the northern area of the Congo.

The rebel forces of the MCL and RCD-N often hire Pygmies in the province to hunt food to feed their rebel armies. It appears to UN observers that some of the Pygmies are being killed and eaten by the MCL and RCD-N soldiers, especially if they return from a hunt empty handed. The rebel warriors often eat the sexual organs of the Pygmies, thought by many to be the most efficient and prolific hunters in Africa, in order to obtain strength from the deceased individual.

Initial reports of the offensive practice was forwarded to the UN officials by the rival group the Congolese Rally for Democracy-Liberation (RCD-ML), also fighting for control of Ituri.

NEWS FROM THE KINGS BAY AREA

CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN ST MARYS, GEORGIA, PLANS NEW SANCTUARY

By Deacon Thom McPherson

This is an exciting time in the life of Christ Church in historic downtown St. Marys, Ga. For over one hundred and fifty years, we have served the people of this corner of Southeast Georgia, sharing the good news of God in Jesus Christ. Our first building was destroyed during the Civil War. It carried the name of Church of the Messiah. Our second (and present) house of worship was built under the auspices of the Reverend Anson Green Dodge, Jr. of St. Simons Island, and was consecrated in 1889. Sometime in the 1930’s, it was renamed Christ Church. It has served as a focal point for Anglican Liturgy since that time. In 1988, Christ Church became a parish, and Father Mac Flowers came in October of that year to serve as rector. We are currently planning to expand our worship space with a new building. We will keep the “Old Chapel” as a link to our historic past and continue to use it for special services. The new worship building will allow us to provide comfortable worship space for a growing congregation. It is designed to permit expansion so that future generations of Episcopalians can have the space they need.

Times change and with our growing congregation we have recently added new programs. Education for Ministry is a distance learning program of the School of Theology of the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. Completion of the EFM program takes four years, during which the participants study the Bible, Church History, and modern Theology. Christ Church also sponsors Daughters of the King, a religious order for women through a discipline life of prayer and service. The Daughters endeavor to encourage and develop an ever-growing, deepening relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Church also has a prayer ministry offered every week to anyone in the community with a need for healing of spirit, mind, or body. This is a caring team of ministers who will listen, love, and pray with you.

We are also affiliated with the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia, the Episcopal Church of the United States of America, and the World Wide Anglican Communion. Thus we are able to offer many, many more programs including: Cursillo, a short course in Christianity; Camden Episcopal Youth Activities; New Beginnings and Happening (a program for our young people designed to address the questions our youth have about our church and Jesus); and Summer Camp at our Diocese’s Honey Creek Conference Center at Honey Creek.

These are a few of the programs available at Christ Church, St. Marys. Sunday services are at 8:45 a.m. and at 11:00 a.m. The church has a newsletter, “The Beacon,” which contains information about special services and parish events. Please feel free to visit our church and worship with us. If you would like more information you may call our church office at (912) 882-5308 or contact us by e-mail. Father Mac Flowers can be reached at frmac@net-magic.net , and Deacon Thom McPherson can be reached at deacontm@starband.net .

WEBSITE REVIEWS

DREAMLAND PARK

By Sam Merier

DreamLand Park is a 3 Dimensional Virtual Reality online chat and community. It is easy to use, easy to learn, and easy to enjoy. Anyone can download it and use it for free. It is a wonderful program that can be used by anyone. Anne, Thunder Cloud, or any of the numerous DreamGreeters will be more than willing to get you up and running in a matter of seconds or minutes. DreamLand Park is about a 1.5 Meg free download, which allows users to build and create a virtual environment. People can build, fly, walk, run, chat, and interact with others and the environment. People do not have to build to use the program. Many people like to chat and many more are exploring the over 100 currently available worlds. The number is increasing as more people find out about the program.

While use of the program is free, there are certain benefits to be had by becoming a paying member. Among those benefits is a greater choice of avatars. An avatar in here is your body and how people see you. As a tourist the avatars are limited to simply either male or female. Your “builds” will be protected, no one but you can delete or change your build. You will also have a contact list to allow you to see and join your friends that are in universe. The system contains a telegram messaging system that allows you to send your friends or yourself messages. Sending yourself a message is very useful in building or for saving URLs and links. This may sound complicated: however, it really is not. For a complete list of all the benefits visit and ask one of the DreamGreeters.

No one will pressure you to join, but they will tell that the option is there and how to join if you ask. After all they should and do give an incentive to want people to join the community.

Building is done by people from many different ages and from all over the world and all find it fun and rewarding.

This program is not just for children or teens or "technogeeks". There are many professionals and others that find it relaxing. There are those that create, make, and sell various new objects and avatars for people to use.

Anyone can purchase his or her own world and choose from the various sizes and prices and build it to his or her dreams.

The opening world first time users land in is called Portal. At Portal you are greeted and assisted by friendly people called "DreamGreeters" and they will quickly have you walking, flying, chatting, exploring, and interacting like a long time user of the program. The DreamGreeters are all volunteers that take the time to ensure that you learn to quickly enjoy and use the program. They encourage you ask any questions. Portal is a G rated world and all the people are quick to remind you that it is enforced as children do pop in at anytime. There are also adult rated worlds. There is an easy to understand "Universal code of conduct".

The worlds can have any theme. From ancient Egypt (the world Pharoah1) to a virtual Vienna (the world Wien2) to almost anything one can conceive. There is even a virtual House of Music music museum in Wien2.

Some worlds offer rides, and some worlds offer games. Some of the worlds are based on novels or in the mind of the person that got an idea and made it happen.

Give them a try! Go to www.dreamlandpark.com and download and install the program today. You will not regret it.

Visit www.dreamlandpark.com today! I HIGHLY RATE THIS PROGRAM! PLEASE tell them you heard about DreamLand Park in the CLARION ISSUE.

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What album did John Lennon autograph for Mark David Chapman shortly before Chapman shot him?

A. The Plastic Ono Band
B. Abby Road
C. Milk and Honey
D. The Lennon Collection
E. Double Fantasy
F. Rubber Soul

Answer E Lennon had autographed Double Fantasy for Chapman as he left for a recording session earlier in the day.

Small town festival with food, arts & crafts, and the star of the show Rattlesnakes. Whigham is 10 miles west of Cairo, Ga. on Hwy 84

A Civil War Reenactment of the largest Civil War Battle in Florida. Event lasts all weekend. Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park is on Hwy. 90 about 2 miles east of Olustee, Fl.

A civil war reenactment. Aiken is 20-30 miles east of Augusta, Ga. and e-z to access off

Festival honors Bredo Morstoel, frozen by his grandson till a better time. 40 miles from Denver,

CO. Events include a coffin race, Grandpa Ball, Grandpa look alike contest and tours of the

St. Patrick’s Day
Savannah, Ga. Parade and large celebration. www.savannahnow.com

Small town festival w/ parade, food, arts & crafts. Between Bainbridge, Ga and Tallahassee, Fla.

A small town festival serving crawfish. Crafts, food, entertainment. Off I-95 between Brunswick, Ga

And the Florida/Georgia boundary. No city web site but some info on the dates can be found at

Major festival showing Rose Gardens and flowers of this town in Southwest Ga. Thomasville, Ga.

Is about 60 miles east of Valdosta, Ga. and 35 miles north of Tallahassee, Fla. Festival includes

a big Rose Parade, food, etc. Thomasville welcome center phone: (1-229-227-7099).

TO PLACE YOUR TOWN’S EVENT ON THE SOUTHERN CALENDAR
Email the information to: apearson@ClarionIsh.com