http://www.newtopiamagazine.org/ The Newtopia Collective Content Management System en-us http://www.newtopiamagazine.org/images/newtlogo.gif http://www.newtopiamagazine.org/ info@newtopiamagazine.net http://www.newtopiamagazine.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=73 Newtopia is no longer publishing new material, but you can still access our archives. For Issues 1 (July 2002) through 20 ("Law & Order" - Feb/March 2005) click "ARCHIVES" on the menu bar above.For all weekly material published between April and September of 2005, see the menu selections in the left margin. Search engines will remain active as well. http://www.newtopiamagazine.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=71 To all the readers and supporters of Newtopia Magazine. After much deep consideration I have decided to shut the doors on Newtopia Magazine. The three and a half years I have spent building this publication have been some of the most rewarding of my life. I have made friends and colleagues far and wide, met fascinating people, learned new things, gone to amazing places, and tried, in whatever capacity I could, to be a force for positive change in this increasingly insane world of ours. (MORE) http://www.newtopiamagazine.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=69 by Brian Allemana On August 20th, machinist and custodial workers for Northwest Airlines, members of the Airline Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA), walked out on strike to protest proposed cuts in pay and benefits. On September 14th, Northwest submitted their bankruptcy filing after hiring cheaper, non-unionized replacement workers. According to Northwest Airlines, the cuts are necessary for the company to stay in business. But the strikers tell a different story, one that warns of safety problems, national security concerns, and major fallout against labor unions across the nation. http://www.newtopiamagazine.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=68 By Clifford Thornton If one doesn’t understand racism, white privilege, classism, terrorism and the war on drugs—what these terms mean—how these concepts work—then everything else you do understand will only confuse you. http://www.newtopiamagazine.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=65 by The Dark Wraith The town is divided into the visible, reputable, upper-middle class and the less visible, but far larger, class that isn't. The better people for the most part work in middle or upper management at one of the several huge, multi-national services companies in town. Everyone else gets by. The layoffs at the big factories on the outskirts of town have left a quiet wasteland of older people trying to find work and younger people trying to find a future. http://www.newtopiamagazine.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=63 A Documentary Film Written and Directed by Alex Gibney Film reviewed by Jane Alexander Stewart, Ph.D. CinemaShrink Says "Enron the film is a must-see film, documenting stories of greed by Enron the firm, the likes of which you have to see to believe! And I didn't even know when I wrote this review that the Enron fiasco caused a shut off electricity in Tbilisi, Georgia/Russia—which I found out about in the documentary film, Powertrip." http://www.newtopiamagazine.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=60 by Gretchen Ross According to CNN, top American federal law enforcement officials believe "violent animal rights extremists" and "eco-terrorists" currently pose the greatest domestic terrorist threat to the nation. Who defines domestic terrorism, and how the definitions are interpreted and presented to the public, plays a large role in how the masses will view reality. http://www.newtopiamagazine.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=59 by Randy Roark Today Dhyana told me about two books she’d like to write—the first a roman a clef about her time with a swami in India, and the second a collection of wisdom tales she’d learned from her cats. As a true son of Allen Ginsberg, I questioned her precisely as to her plans and ideas and gave what helpful suggestions I could—in this case, I recommended she read William Burroughs’ “Book of Cats,” because that’ll show her one way to go about writing about cats without becoming sentimental. http://www.newtopiamagazine.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=58 Dear Readers, Last March, Newtopia's Editor-in-Chief, Charles Shaw, was arrested on charges of drug possession. Specifically, he was found carrying a small amount of marijuana and MDMA (Ecstasy). From mid-March to July 1 of this year, Charles was under house arrest while his case was processed. At his preliminary hearing, the judge ruled in favor of probable cause for the arresting officers. The result of his sentence hearing was a recommended term of one year, which Charles accepted. On the morning of July 1, Charles arrived at the Cook County courthouse in Skokie, IL, to plead guilty and begin his one year incarceration. http://www.newtopiamagazine.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=56 by Natylie Baldwin The strong independent spirit of the Iranian people stems from a long history of imperial powers exerting their hegemony directly or using the nation as a pawn in a series of rivalries, namely the Great Game between Russia and Britain in the 19th century, the Cold War in the 20th, and the newly intensified petro-politics of the 21st. Americans would be well-advised to look into the Iranian past if they think that the Neocons will be able to succeed where other imperialists have failed. http://www.newtopiamagazine.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=55 by Ronnie Pontiac, Poet-in-Residence, Newtopia I don't know how an immigrant war survivor and the most powerful nation on Earth can so closely resemble one another but I don't picture America as Uncle Sam America is my schizophrenic mother. http://www.newtopiamagazine.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=54 by Gretchen Ross Buried in priority underneath headlines on gay sperm donors, celebrity cancer advertisements and acupuncture sat a small, modest headline that simply read “AIDS Drugs Tested On Foster Kids.” If you clicked that link, you may have spit out your coffee while reading the opening paragraph. http://www.newtopiamagazine.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=53 by Robert Brown Government corruption and incompetence are rapidly approaching critical mass. Traditional news media sources, that in the past have investigated and exposed corruption, do not exist today. We are being kept in the dark, drugged and fed a steady diet of corporate sponsored news/fertilizer/entertainment. http://www.newtopiamagazine.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=52 by Jason Miller Just as the Matrix offered a pleasant fiction to humans in exchange for their subordination to the machine world, American society offers such an "opiate to the masses". From a young age, American society bludgeons us with propaganda that diverts our attention from reality, and impedes us from aspiring to spiritual fulfillment. http://www.newtopiamagazine.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=51 by Rod Coffman There is only one country in the world that has to take the US Dollar and that is the country of its birth, the United States. For the time being, most industrialized countries are forced to accumulate dollars in order to purchase oil. But there is a growing trend of divestment occurring where nations are diversifying their dollar reserves with Euros. Once this becomes widespread, it will have devastating effects on the US Economy. http://www.newtopiamagazine.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=50 by Ralph Nader and Kevin Zeese Some Republicans are meeting secretly about Bush's lies and an exit strategy for Iraq. The Democrats are demanding an explanation for Bush "fixing" intelligence. Occupation related violence is increasing with Syrian border offensive and over 500 people killed in "insurgent" bombings this month alone. Is it time for Impeachment? http://www.newtopiamagazine.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=48 by Colin Shea The world is not as stable as we think it is. Things slide and slip past one another, more like reflections on a pane of glass than truly independent objects. Creation is like a hastily-assembled table, perched precariously on unsteady legs – touch it the wrong way and it can collapse in an instant. Matter is not solid at all, it consists merely of transient ripples across the black and silent pool of Being. http://www.newtopiamagazine.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=47 by David Ray Griffin In what is perhaps the most detailed and accessible refutation of the "official" story of 9/11, author and theologian David Ray Griffin breaks new ground with this transcript of a lecture delivered at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on April 18, 2005, and first broadcast on C-Span2 and BookTV, April 30, marking the first time any mainstream media source has consented to air any material challenging the "official" story. What resulted was a tour-de-force of logic and reason, and a clarion call to people of faith everywhere to build a mass-movement to end the American Empire. http://www.newtopiamagazine.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=46 Featuring poems by Randy Roark, Ronnie Pontiac, Tom Goforth, Tamra Spivey, Kimberly Nichols, Akin Olatidoye, and Billy Shakes. http://www.newtopiamagazine.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=45 by Doug Soderstrom The arrogance of ignorance, a profoundly dangerous and ill-informed presumption that one’s own people are better (wiser, morally and spiritually ascendant, and more capable) than others, seems rather well entrenched within the American populace. It is such that seems to have created a social-political environment that continues to encourage the American effort to build a World Empire. http://www.newtopiamagazine.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=49 by Mario Petrucci Part I of "Sustainability & Community" discussed the interaction of communities with "external" society, and Illich’s concept of Conviviality. Part II (below) considers two of the toughest barriers facing any community desiring transformation: "Radical Inertia" and "Shadow Work." Dr. Petrucci is introducing these ideas here, in the context of communal life, for the first time. http://www.newtopiamagazine.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=44 by John Eger According to the O.E.C.D., a Paris-based governmental research organization, the US now ranks 11th in the world in broadband communications behind Korea, Singapore, Japan, Canada, and Norway to name but a few. Yet broadband—or as some call it, broadband internet—today is as important as waterways, railroads and interstate highways of an earlier era. http://www.newtopiamagazine.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=42 by Charles Shaw Neoconservative strategists have lauded the plan for what they refer to as “Full Spectrum Dominance”—complete geostrategic control of land, air, water, and space to retain “American primacy”. For Americans to escape this runaway train to ruin, we must engage in “Full Spectrum Accountability” and hold accountable those guilty of crafting our war policies and fostering a culture of war and militarism. Regardless of political (or apolitical) affiliation, we must hold our all our elected officials and their corporate benefactors accountable. http://www.newtopiamagazine.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=41 By Joseph Dispenza Theresa Schindler-Schiavo died – if we can call it that – in Florida on March 31. About 48 hours later, Karol Wojtyla died in Rome. Both were Catholic and received their Church’s Last Rites on their deathbeds. Both required feeding-tubes during their much scrutinized final hours. Both commanded a public focus so absorbing that all other “news” of the world seemed to stop until their separate stories played out. But the similarities between the deaths of Terri Schiavo and Pope John Paul II ends there. The differences in the circumstances of their passing are vast – and in those dissimilarities lie some lessons for us. http://www.newtopiamagazine.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=37 by Jolly Roger "You’re sticking to old routines in a world that’s changed, and you refuse to honestly address the real problems we face today. Our government has promised us a war we won’t live to see the end of, and your organization seems to be convinced that marching in circles behind humiliating metal fences is going to change that. What your organization achieves actually helps the opposition, because it convinces the public that protests are futile, and dissenters only get beaten and arrested without ever changing anything."