CITIZEN ALERT v2.273ARMS TO PAKISTAN

Citizen Alert takes a cue from a verse in Bobot Adrenaline's "State of Affairs" that discusses arms sales to Pakistan:

Kashmir what’s your fear. The secrets travel ear to ear
I’ll check my neighbor bash him well
This aeroplane is hard to sell. To sell, I said to sell!

Back in November, the Federation of American Scientists obtained a copy of a 4 page Congressional Research Service report on “U.S. Arms Sales to Pakistan”. It reads in part:

In 2006, the United States signed arms transfer agreements with Pakistan in excess of $3.5 billion, ranking Pakistan first among all arms clients of the United States during that calendar year. The key elements in Pakistan’s arms purchases from the United States were 36 F-16C/D Block 50/52 fighter aircraft for $1.4 billion; a variety of missiles and bombs to be utilized on the F-16 C/D fighter aircraft for over $640 million; the purchase of Mid-Life Update Modification Kits to upgrade Pakistan’s F-16A/B aircraft for $890 million; and 115 M109A5 155mm Self-propelled howitzers for $52 million. The rise of Pakistan to its new status as a major arms purchaser from the United States is particularly noteworthy given the difficulties the United States has had with Pakistan since the 1970s over its successful effort to produce nuclear weapons. The total value of Pakistan’s 2006 arms purchases from the United States nearly matches the total value of all Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program purchases by Pakistan from the United States for the entire period from FY1950-FY2001 (more than $3.6 billion in current dollars).

READ the full report here.

CITIZEN ALERT v2.272QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Every human being is an artist, a freedom being, called to participate in transforming and reshaping the conditions, thinking, and structures that shape and condition our lives." - Joseph Beuys

CITIZEN ALERT v2.271MERCY CORPS

From the Mercy Corp this morning:

Fifty Indian rupees. That's about a dollar and 28 cents at current exchange rates — not enough to buy a cup of coffee most places.

But in northeast India's Darjeeling District, 50 rupees is a day's pay for hard-working tea pickers. Four hundred miles away, another half-million earn a similar wage plucking tea leaves in Assam's humid lowlands.

Tea dominates the economy of both Darjeeling and Assam, names synonymous with some of the world's best teas. Strong, malty Assam and golden-hued, fragrant Darjeeling teas have been prized above others for more than 150 years.

And during that century and a half, living conditions for tea workers have changed very little.

See what Mercy Corp is doing to change this by visiting their website.

mercycorp.org

CITIZEN ALERT v2.270TIRED OF IT

Really tired of the primary back and forth nitpicking that's going on. November can not get here soon enough! I still stand by my prediction of January 8th.