From hart at pglaf.org Wed Feb 15 09:24:09 2006
From: hart at pglaf.org (Michael Hart)
Date: Wed Feb 15 09:24:13 2006
Subject: [gweekly] PT1b Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.60.0602150923180.3575@pglaf.org>
pt1b1.206
Weekly_February_15.txt
The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, February 15, 2006 PT1*
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***Progress Report, including Distributed Proofreaders
In the first 01.50 months of this year, we produced 533 new eBooks.
It took us from July 1971 to May 1996 to produce our first 533 eBooks!
That's 06 WEEKS as Compared to ~24.9 Years!!!
225 New eBooks This Week
69 New eBooks Last Week
294 New eBooks This Month [Feb]
355 Average Per Month in 2006
266 Average Per Month in 2005 Counting 216 PGEu
248 Average Per Month in 2005 Not Counting PGEu
336 Average Per Month in 2004
355 Average Per Month in 2003
203 Average Per Month in 2002
103 Average Per Month in 2001
533 New eBooks in 2006
3186 New eBooks in 2005 Counting 216 PGeu
> 2970 New eBooks in 2005 Not Counting PGEu
4049 New eBooks in 2004
4164 New eBooks in 2003
2441 New eBooks in 2002
1240 New eBooks in 2001
====
15,613 New eBooks Since Start Of 2001
That's Only 61.50 Months!
~254 books per month!
18,673 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks
15,454 eBooks This Week Last Year
====
3,221 New eBooks In Last 12 Months
[Incl. PGAu PGEu & PrePrints]
531 eBooks From Project Gutenberg of Australia
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251 eBooks From Project Gutenberg of Europe
158 Entry From Project Gutenberg PrePrints
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The Project Gutenberg Consortia Center started in 1997]
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PROJECT GUTENBERG DISTRIBUTED PROOFREADERS UPDATE:
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PGCC's current eBook and eDocument Collections listings
of 18 collections. . .with this week's listing as:
Alex-Wire Tap Collection, 2,036 HTML eBook Files
Black Mask Collection, 12,000 HTML eBook Files
The Coradella Bookshelf Collection, 141 eBook Files
DjVu Collection, 272 PDF and DJVU eBook Files
eBooks@Adelaide Collection, 27,709 eBook Files
Himalayan Academy, 3,400 HTML eBook Files
Internet Archive ~30,000 eBook Files [In Progress] <<<
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Swami Center Collection, 78 HTML eBook Files
Tony Kline Collection, 223 HTML eBook Files
Widger Library, 2,600 HTML eBook Files
CIA's Electronic Reading Room, 2,019 Reference Files
=======Grand Total Files=========~137,142 Total Files=====
Average Size of the Collections 8,067.18 Total Files
These eBooks are catalogued as per the instructions of
their donors: some are one file per book; some have a
file for each chapter; and some even have a file for a
single page or poem. . .or are overcounted for reasons
I have not mentioned. . .each of which could cause the
overcounting or duplication of numbers.
If we presume 2 out of 3 of these files are overcounts,
that leaves a unique book total of
~45,714 Unique eBooks
If we presume 3 out of 4 of these files are overcounts,
that leaves a unique book total of
~34,286 Unique eBooks
***
Please also note that over 25,000 eBooks are listed via
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You can try a new IPL service at:
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It would appear that The Internet Public Library ended
its first incarnation with about 22,284 entries, which
has now been surpassed by the Online Books Page.
Still looking for more Internet Public Library info.
***
Today Is Day #042 of 2006
This Completes Week #06 and Month #01.50 [364 days this year]
329 Days/47 Weeks To Go [We get 52 Wednesdays this year]
1,332 Books To Go To #20,000
[Our production year begins/ends
1st Wednesday of the month/year]
89 Weekly Average in 2006
61 Weekly Average in 2005 [Counting 216 PGEu]
57 Weekly Average in 2005 [Not Counting PGEu]
78 Weekly Average in 2004
79 Weekly Average in 2003
47 Weekly Average in 2002
24 Weekly Average in 2001
45 Only ~45 Numbers Left On Our Reserved Numbers List
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[This listing usually from the previous week]
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***
Statistical Review
In the 06 weeks of this year, we have produced 531 new eBooks.
It took us from 07/71 to 05/96 to produce our FIRST 531 eBooks!!!
That's 06 WEEKS as Compared to ~24.9 YEARS!!!
FLASHBACK!
Here's a sample of what books we were doing around eBook #533
Mon Year Title and Author [filename.ext] ###
A "C" Following The eText # Indicates That This eText Is Under Copyright
[Note: books without month and year entries are now in new catalog format]
Jun 1996 Silas Marner George Eliot/Mary Anne Evans[Eliot#3][smarnxxx.xxx] 550
Jun 1996 The Underdogs, by Mariano Azuela [Mexican Revolt] [ndrdgxxx.xxx] 549
Jun 1996 Project Trinity, Official U.S. Government Report [prjtrxxx.xxx] 548
Jun 1996 Baron Trigault's Vengeance, by Emile Gaboriau [trvngxxx.xxx] 547
Jun 1996 Under the Andes, by Rex Stout [andesxxx.xxx] 546
Jun 1996 At the Earth's Core, Edgar Rice Burroughs[Pell #1][atcorxxx.xxx] 545
May 1996 Anne's House of Dreams by Lucy Maud Montgomery[#5][annhdxxx.xxx] 544
Main Street, by Sinclair Lewis 543
May 1996 The Life of Me, by Clarence Johnson, Autobiography[lfomexxx.xxx] 542C
May 1996 The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton [Wharton#8][aginoxxx.xxx] 541
May 1996 The Red Fairy Book/LARGE older kids collection[#2][rdfryxxx.xxx] 540
[Edited by Andrew Lang]
May 1996 Biog Study of A. W. Kinglake, by Rev. W. Tuckwell [awkbixxx.xxx] 539
May 1996 Jean of the Lazy A, by B. M. Bower [lazyaxxx.xxx] 538
May 1996 Tales of Terror & Mystery, Arthur Conan Doyle[#10][totamxxx.xxx] 537
A Footnote to History, by Robert Louis Stevenson 536
[Subtitle: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa]
Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes, by Robert Louis Stevenson 535
May 1996 An Inland Voyage, by Robert Louis Stevenson [#23] [nvoygxxx.xxx] 534
May 1996 The Song of the Cardinal/Gene Stratton-Porter [#6][scardxxx.xxx] 533
May 1996 At the Foot of the Rainbow/Gene Stratton-Porter #5[frainxxx.xxx] 532
May 1996 The Gaming Table, by Andrew Steinmetz Volume #2 [tgamt2xx.xxx] 531
Driven From Home, by Horatio Alger 530
[Subtitle: Carl Crawford's Experience]
May 1996 Knights of the Art, by Amy Steedman [painters] [knartxxx.xxx] 529
May 1996 Joe The Hotel Boy, by Horatio Alger Jr. [Alger#5] [jothbxxx.xxx] 528
End of the Tether, by Joseph Conrad 527
Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad 526
(Also see: #219, a different version)
Youth, by Joseph Conrad 525
May 1996 Ann Veronica, by H. G. Wells [Herbert George #5] [anverxxx.xxx] 524
May 1996 Court Life in China, by Isaac Taylor Headland [#2][clchixxx.xxx] 523
May 1996 The Chinese Boy and Girl, by Isaac Taylor Headland[chnbgxxx.xxx] 522
May 1996 Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe [Defoe #3] [rbcruxxx.xxx] 521
May 1996 Life/Adventures of Santa Claus, L. Frank Baum[#11][lfstaxxx.xxx] 520
May 1996 A Kidnapped Santa Claus, by L. Frank Baum[Baum#10][kdstaxxx.xxx] 519
May 1996 The Enchanted Island of Yew, by L. Frank Baum [#9][enyewxxx.xxx] 518
May 1996 The Emerald City of Oz, L. Frank Baum[Oz#7/Baum#8][emctyxxx.xxx] 517
May 1996 The Silverado Squatters/Robert Louis Stevenson #23[silvsxxx.xxx] 516
May 1996 A Story of To-day, by Margret Howth [mhdayxxx.xxx] 515
May 1996 Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott [Alcott #2] [lwmenxxx.xxx] 514
May 1996 From The Snow Image by Nathaniel Hawthorne [#5] [snowixxx.xxx] 513
*
Have We Given Away A Trillion Books/Dollars Yet?
If our average eBook has reached just 1% of the world population of
6,497,898,891 that would be 18,673 x 64,978,989 = ~1.21 Trillion !!!
With 18,673 eBooks online as of February 15, 2006 it now takes an average
of ~1% of the world gaining a nominal value of ~$.82 from each book.
[1% world population x #eBooks] 64,978,989 x 18,673 x $.82 = ~$1 Trillion
[Google "world population" "popclock" to get the most current figures.]
*
A Trillion Dollars Given Away At Just $.53 Value Per Book To 100 Million
With 18,673 eBooks online as of February 15, 2006 it now takes an average
of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $0.53 from each book.
This "cost" is down from about $.64 when we had 15,454 eBooks a year ago.
Our Target Audience Is 1.5% Of The World Population = ~100,000,000 people.
At 18,673 eBooks in 34 Years and 07.50 Months We Averaged
539 Per Year
44.9 Per Month
1.48 Per Day
At 531 eBooks Done In The 042 Days Of 2006 We Averaged
12.6 Per Day
89 Per Week
354 Per Month
If you are interested in the population of the world or of the U.S.
you might want to know that these numbers, official as they appear,
are just just estimates, and perhaps not as accurate as we hope.
However, for those keeping track of how quickly the U.S. reaches a
300 million population level, and who noticed the passing of 298M,
just two weeks ago. . .the U.S. is already 1/6 the way to 299M, so
it will probably be 10 more weeks to 299M and 22 more to 300M.
Recently the U.S. Congress, pertaining to district reapportionment,
who gets to vote for which Congresspeople, decided that many of the
districts were undercounted by 5%, perhaps then later deciding that
all districts had been undercounted by 5% [can't recall details].
*
The production statistics are calculated based on full weeks'
production; each production-week starts/ends Wednesday noon,
starts with the first Wednesday of January. January 4th was
the first Wednesday of 2006, and thus ended PG's production
year of 2005 and began the production year of 2006 at noon.
This year there will be 52 Wednesdays, thus no extra week.
*
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From hart at pglaf.org Wed Feb 15 09:21:54 2006
From: hart at pglaf.org (Michael Hart)
Date: Wed Feb 15 09:21:58 2006
Subject: [gweekly] PT1a Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.60.0602150919570.3575@pglaf.org>
pt1a2.206
pt1b2.206
Weekly_February_15.txt
The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, February 15, 2006 PT1*
*******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971********
PT1A
*
Editor's comments appear in [brackets].
Newsletter editors needed! Please email hart@pobox.com or gbnewby@pglaf.org
Anyone who would care to get advance editions: please email hart@pobox.com
*
WANTED!
>>> !!!People who can help with PR for our 35th Anniversary!!! <<<
>>> !!!People to help us collect ALL public domain eBooks!!! <<<
*
Wanted: People who are involved in conversations on Slashdot, Salon, etc.
*
TABLE OF CONTENTS
[Search for "*eBook" or "*Intro". . .to jump to that section, etc.]
*eBook Milestones
*Introduction
*Hot Requests, New Sites and Announcements
*Continuing Requests and Announcements
*Progress Report
*Distributed Proofreaders Collection Report
*Project Gutenberg Consortia Center Report
*Permanent Requests For Assistance:
*Donation Information
*Access To The Project Gutenberg Collections
*Mirror Site Information
*Instant Access To Our Latest eBooks
*Have We Given Away A Trillion Yet?
*Flashback
*Weekly eBook update:
This is now in PT2 of the Weekly Newsletter
Also collected in the Monthly Newsletter
Corrections in separate section
1 New This Week From PG Australia [Australian, Canadian Copyright Etc.]
11 New This Week From PGEu [European Copyrights, Life + 50 and 70]
157 New This Week From PG PrePrints
56 New This Week To Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright
225 New This Week [Including PG Australia, PG Europe and PrePrints]
[I'm sure there are a few bugs in the new accounting]
*Headline News from Edupage, etc.
*Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists
***
*eBook Milestones*
18,675 eBooks As Of Today!!!
Including 531 Australian eBooks [+1]
and 261 Project Gutenberg Europe [+11]
And 157 From The New PrePrint Site[+157]
We Are ~93% of the Way to 20,000!!!
***531 eBooks Averaged Per Year Since July 4, 1971***
15,613 New eBooks Since The Start Of 2001
That's ~254 eBooks per Month for ~61.5 Months
We Have Produced 533 eBooks in 2006
1,325 to go to 20,000!!!
40 New eBooks From Distributed Proofreaders
8,040 total from Distributed Proofreaders
Since October, 2000 [Details in PT1B]
[Currently over 36,000 DP volunteers]
We Averaged ~339 eBooks Per Month In 2004
We Averaged ~248 eBooks Per Month In 2005
[Including PG Australia]
We Are Averaging ~255 eBooks Per Month This Year
[Including PGAu, PGEu and PrePrints]
[This change is due to the opening of Project Gutenberg
sites other than the original one at www.gutenberg.org]
[Now including totals from Australia, Europe and PrePrints]
[Apologies, it will take a while to integrate everything
not all statistics may be totally equalized yet]
[PGEu Statistics Are Counted Monthly Not Weekly]
[Daily PGEu stats at http://dp.rastko.net/default.php]
[Daily DP stats at http://www.pgdp.net]
BTW, we just started a new "PrePrints" site at PG,
so if you come across eBooks that aren't ready for
primetime, but that should be saved for upgrading,
we have a place to put them.
http://preprints.pglaf.org/ old site
http://preprints.readingroo.ms/ new site
[Still integrating, sorry]
All Four Sites Combined Are Averaging 89 eBooks Per Week In 2006
225 This Week
It took ~32 years, from 1971 to 2003 to do our 1st 10,000 eBooks
It took ~32 months, from 2003 to 2006 for our last 10,000 eBooks
It took ~10 years from 1993 to 2003 to grow from 100 eBooks to 10,100
It took ~2.00 years from Oct. 2003 to Nov. 2005 from 10,000 to 17,500
*
***Introduction
[The Newsletter is now being sent in two sections, so you can directly
go to the portions you find most interesting: 1. Founder's Comments,
News, Notes & Queries, and 2. Weekly eBook Update Listing. Note bene
that PT1 is now being sent as PT1A and PT1B.
[Since we are between Newsletter editors, these 2 parts may undergo a
few changes while we are finding a new Newsletter editor. Email us:
hart@pobox.com and gbnewby@pglaf.org if you would like to volunteer.]
This is Michael Hart's "Founder's Comments" section of the Newsletter
FREE INTERNET REFERENCE SITE
LivingInternet.com provides a 700-odd page reference about the Internet
"to provide living context and perspective to this most technological
of human inventions", and has received input from many people that helped
build the Internet. It currently receives about 3 thousand visitors a day,
many from educational institutions. Now in its 7th year of operation.
http://www.livinginternet.com/
TEXT TO SPEECH
Dolphin Producer is a new software package which will convert a text
document into a fully synchronized text and audio DTB at the push of a
single button. The DTB can then be played back using Dolphin's
EaseReader software player - which is included in Dolphin Producer.
The DTB can also be played back on any other DAISY DTB software or
hardware player, as well as any MP3 player - The choice is yours.
http://www.dolphinuk.co.uk or http://www.dolphinusa.com
*Headline News from Edupage
[PG Editor's Comments In Brackets]
MICHIGAN PRESIDENT DEFENDS GOOGLE'S BOOK SCANNING
Speaking at the annual conference of the Professional/Scholarly
Publishing division of the Association of American Publishers, the
president of the University of Michigan defended her institution's
participation in Google's Book Search program. The program has upset
many publishers and other copyright owners, who contend that the
project violates their intellectual property rights. Mary Sue Coleman
told conference attendees that the program "is about the social good of
promoting and sharing knowledge" and argued that Thomas Jefferson would
have loved it. Insisting that vast numbers of cultural artifacts are at
risk of being lost due to insufficient efforts at conservation,
particularly among libraries, Coleman characterized Google's project
as one of preservation and her institution's participation as central
to the university's mission. She noted that the University of Michigan
had been "digitizing books long before Google knocked on our door, and
we will continue our preservation efforts long after our contract with
Google ends." Coleman's comment also included a clear defense of the
rights of copyright holders. Her institution would not "ignore the law
and distribute [protected material] to people to use in ways not
authorized by copyright."
CNET, 6 February 2006
http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-6035858.html
EFF RAISES CONCERNS OVER GOOGLE DESKTOP
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is warning users about what it
says are privacy concerns with Google's new Desktop Search
application. The tool indexes files from a computer, allowing users to
search that content from other machines. According to the EFF, this
process poses significant risks to personal privacy, particularly in
light of recent government demands for access to usage logs from Google
and other companies. EFF staff attorney Kevin Bankston said, "Unless
you configure Google Desktop very carefully, and few people will,
Google will have copies of...whatever...text-based documents the
desktop software can index." If federal authorities obtain Google's
records, he said, they would have access to all of those files.
Officials from Google conceded that the new tool does represent a
trade-off of some measure of privacy, but said such a compromise is one
that many users will be willing to make. The company also said it would
encrypt those files, would place strong limits on who can access the
information, and would not store it for more than 30 days.
BBC, 10 February 2006
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4700002.stm
TSA CALLS FOR AUDIT OF SECURE FLIGHT PROGRAM
The federal government's Secure Flight program has suffered another
setback, this time from Kip Hawley, head of the Transportation Security
Administration (TSA). Hawley told Congress that he has ordered a
"comprehensive audit" of the program, though he did not say what
prompted his decision. The program is intended to increase airline
security by checking the names of all passengers against watch lists,
a task currently carried out by airlines. Under the Secure Flight
program, the federal government would assume that responsibility.
Critics of the program point to its cost--$200 million over four
years--noting that even last month Hawley said the TSA still was not
entirely sure how it would work. They also have complained about
privacy concerns of the program and routine mistakes that airlines
reportedly make in checking passenger names against watch lists.
Wired News, 9 February 2006
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70198-0.html
GROUP SAYS YAHOO AIDED CHINESE AUTHORITIES
For the second time recently, Yahoo has been accused of helping the
Chinese government identify and prosecute individuals accused of
political crimes. In 2005, Yahoo was criticized for providing
information that helped Chinese authorities prosecute journalist Shi
Tao, who was convicted of revealing state secrets. Reporters Without
Borders said that another case has surfaced in which the ISP provided
information to the Chinese government that led to the conviction of Li Zhi.
According to the group, Li was found guilty of "inciting subversion"
after he posted comments online critical of local officials and was sentenced
to eight years in prison. Mary Osaka, a spokesperson from Yahoo, said that at
the time the company was unaware of the nature of the investigation.
In addition, she reiterated the company's position that it is better
for Yahoo to have a presence in the country, "providing services we
know benefit China's citizens," even if that requires compliance with
local laws that run counter to U.S. beliefs and values.
Internet News, 9 February 2006
http://www.internetnews.com/xSP/article.php/3584191
BILL WOULD FORBID UNNECESSARY STORING OF DATA
A bill introduced by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) would require operators
of Web sites to delete information about the site's users unless the
site had a "legitimate" need to preserve that data. Information covered
by the bill includes names, addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses,
and other data, and all Web sites would be subject to the legislation,
including those operated by individuals and nonprofits. According to
Markey, the Eliminate Warehousing of Consumer Internet Data Act of 2006
is intended to address two issues: identity theft and government
subpoenas of Internet data from Web sites including Google and Yahoo.
Markey said personal information about Internet users "should not be
needlessly stored to await compromise by data thieves or fraudsters, or
disclosure through judicial fishing expeditions."
ZDNet, 8 February 2006
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6036951.html
THAILAND BLOCKS YALE PRESS WEB SITE
Internet users in Thailand will not be able to access the Yale
University Press Web site following the government's response to a
biography that presents an unflattering image of the country's king,
Bhumibol Adulyadej. Thai officials in the Ministry of Information and
Communications Technology frequently block access to online materials
that include adult or violent content, criticism of the Thai royal
family, information about the country's national security, or
allegedly false advertising. The book, written by journalist Paul M.
Handley, who reported from Thailand for 13 years, will be released by
the Yale University Press in July. It is also expected to be banned in
the country. Although Handley refused to comment specifically on the
government's decision to censor the press's Web site, saying that the
book will speak for itself, Yale issued a statement defending the book
and the author.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 8 February 2006 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/02/2006020801t.htm
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*HEADLINE NEWS AVOIDED BY MOST OF THE MAJOR U.S. MEDIA
[As requested adding sources, etc., when possible.
Remember, the subject is not the article's subject,
the subject is the manipulation of the world news.]
Not even going to really include much about VP Cheney
shooting of Harry Whittington other than to mention
that his name wasn't included in many reports, nor was
Cheney's name, and apparently not even White House
Press Secretary McClellan was notified at the time.
However, local authorities, who said their report is
already completed, would open an investigation which
would include a grand jury if Whittington dies.
Detail: Cheney didn't have the proper hunting license.
Detail: Whittington apparently still has birdshot in him,
and not only the one that worked its way into his heart
causing a heart attack.
Question: What if Whittington had shot Cheney?
*DOUBLESPEAK OF THE WEEK *STRANGE QUOTES OF THE WEEK
*PREDICTIONS OF THE WEEK [All combined this week.]
[From last week]
The Valerie Plame scandal will be swept under the carpet
until after the November US elections, as will most of a
host of related WMD issues, etc., mentioned below.
[OK, I was quite wrong about this one, details below.
My guess is that this information came out resulting
from the efforts to remove this as an election issue
by moving Libby's trial to after the election. I am
as surprised as anyone.]
Reports surfaced this week from various sources in the
CIA, State Dept., NSA and Scooter Libby's testimonies,
all concerning the dis-information campaign concerning
the rumored Iraq-Niger uranium sale that was publicly,
and privately, denied by Ambassador Joe Wilson, but it
still managed to get into the President's State of the
Union Message, 2003.
These reports from various senior officials indicate a
campaign began in March, 2003, to discredit Ambassador
Wilson and to deter any other future whisteblowers and
that the campaign was started in conferences called by
Vice President Cheney in his office, immediately after
Wilson's appearances in CNN interviews in which Wilson
said that there was no such Iraq-Niger uranium deal to
the public, views shared by State Department's reports
on the subject, the IEAE Chief, and weapons' inspector
Albright, as reported below.
Here is the timeline:
March 7
International Atomic Energy Association chief Mohammed
El Baradei addressed the U.N. Security Council, saying
the documents indicating the yellowcake deal were just
forgeries, and provided no evidence against Iraq.
March 8
CNN, Ambassador Joe Wilson appears supporting the word
of the IAEA Chief through his personal experience, but
the details can't be told, they were classified. This
is supported on CNN by U.N weapons' inspector Albright
in his own comments.
[See Wilson's conversation with the New York Times'
Kristoff in May, 2003]
March 9
Vice President Cheney calls a meeting in his office to
discredit Ambassador Wilson, attended by Scooter Libby
who was his Chief of Staff along with Karl Rove, White
House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Hadley, and Deputy
National Security Adviser John Hannah.
[This meeting was reported by senior officals, at both
the CIA and State Department who attended, who gave an
anonymous report to public sources. At first they had
no comment, claiming fear of losing their jobs, having
family members endangered as with Joe Wilson's wife on
the occasion she was "outed" as a covert CIA agent and
other fears not named. However, as more and more came
to light about the situation, they decided they had to
speak out about the campaign of disinformation. These
reports have lots more to offer, possibly reference to
the above mentioned "outing" of Valerie Plame Wilson.]
March 18
Invasion of Iraq
The basic disinformation, Weapons of Mass Destruction,
supposedly indicated by documents pointing to an Iraq-
Niger deal for now infamous "yellowcake uranium," then
already refuted by Ambassador Wilson internally by his
2002 mission to Niger at the request of Vice President
Cheney through the CIA.
The IAEA Chief, Ambassador Wilson, a weapons inspector
named Albright, who also appeared with Wilson on a CNN
interview, all said these documents were forgeries.
Additional information, previous released, was also in
serious doubt, having been challenged by our experts--
such as information obtained through "aggressive means
of interrogation."
There are way too many details to go into here, but it
should be noted that many of these challenges had been
made officially before The State of the Union Message,
in which President Bush included "yellowcake uranium."
[As mentioned immediately after the most recent of The
State of the Union Messages, it's hard to believe that
President Bush is still referring to a Weapons of Mass
Destruction scenario. Not to mention an Al Quada link
to Iraq.]
These reports also indicate that Vice President Cheney
and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Hadley visited a CIA
headquarters location immediately after Wilson did the
CNN interview, and other reports indicate the repeated
visits by Vice President Cheney. This reported by CIA
official[s]. [Now former]
Excerpts from Wilson's CNN comments of March 8:
"Well, this particular case is outrageous. We know
a lot about the uranium business in Niger, and for
something like this to go unchallenged by us, the
US government, is just simply stupid. It would have
taken a couple of phone calls. We have had an embassy
there since the early '60s. All this stuff is open.
It's a restricted market of buyers and sellers. For this
to have gotten to the IAEA is on the face of it dumb,
but more to the point, it taints the whole rest of the case
that the government is trying to build against Iraq."
Excerpts from Wilson's CNN comments of March 2:
"The underlying objective, as I see it, the more I look at this,
is less and less disarmament, and it really has little to do with
terrorism, because everybody knows that a war to invade and conquer
and occupy Iraq is going to spawn a new generation of terrorists,"
[This is getting way too much to follow here, so I am going
to end by pointing out an 02.16.03 article Stephen Hadley,
White House Deputy Chief of Staff, had written for the
Chicago Tribune, that was reused en masse by the State
Department in re-release to major media on March 10:
"Two Potent Iraqi Weapons: Denial and Deception"
This publication continued the Bush administration
position still relying on the "yellowcake uranium"
deal that had now been discredited multiple times.]
[I'm just suprised at how much of this has been kept
out of the press for three years now.
I have gone out of my way not to include personality
clashes, name calling, expletives, etc.]
*ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK
After the multiple fatal coal mine accidents recently,
the feds are going after millions of dollars in unpaid
fines from coal mines, but they say is has nothing to
do with recent events, citing plans they made last year
to make collection efforts.
*
96% of all clothing sold in the US is made in other countries.
*
By the way, for those interested, the official U.S. population
estimates just passed 298 million, though many say estimations
of this nature leave out as much as 5% of the population.
Still hoping for more statistical updates and additional entries.
"If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely
100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same,
it would look something like the following. There would be:
57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western Hemisphere, both North and South America
8 Africans
52 would be female
48 would be male
70 would be non-white
30 would be white
70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian
6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth
and all 6 would be from the United States
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition
1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth
1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education
1 would own a computer [I think this is now much greater]
1 would be 79 years old or more.
Of those born today, the life expectancy is only 63 years,
but no country any longer issues copyrights that are sure
to expire within that 63 year period.
I would like to bring some of these figures more up to date,
as obviously if only 1% of 6 billion people owned a computer
then there would be only 60 million people in the world who
owned a computer, yet we hear that 3/4 + of the United States
households have computers, out of over 100 million households.
Thus obviously that is over 1% of the world population, just in
the United States.
I just called our local reference librarian and got the number
of US households from the 2004-5 U.S. Statistical Abstract at:
111,278,000 as per data from 2003 U.S Census Bureau reports.
If we presume the saturation level of U.S. computer households
is now around 6/7, or 86%, that is a total of 95.4 million,
and that's counting just one computer per household, and not
counting households with more than one, schools, businesses, etc.
I also found some figures that might challenge the literacy rate
given above, and would like some help researching these and other
such figures, if anyone is interested.
BTW, while I was doing this research, I came across a statistic
that said only 10% of the world's population is 60+ years old.
This means that basically 90% of the world's population would
never benefit from Social Security, even if the wealthy nations
offered it to them free of charge. Then I realized that the US
population has the same kind of age disparity, in which the rich
live so much longer than the poor, the whites live so much longer
than the non-whites. Thus Social Security is paid by all, but is
distributed more to the upper class whites, not just because they
can receive more per year, but because they will live more years
to receive Social Security. The average poor non-white may never
receive a dime of Social Security, no matter how much they pay in.
*
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From hart at pglaf.org Thu Feb 9 11:34:09 2006
From: hart at pglaf.org (Michael Hart)
Date: Thu Feb 9 11:34:11 2006
Subject: [gweekly] !@!Newsletter Editor Needed
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.60.0602091130030.21084@pglaf.org>
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We could try to do something as long as usual, with help.
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Founder
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From hart at pglaf.org Wed Feb 8 09:35:25 2006
From: hart at pglaf.org (Michael Hart)
Date: Wed Feb 8 09:35:32 2006
Subject: [gweekly] PT1a Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.60.0602080934560.25560@pglaf.org>
pt1a1.206
Weekly_February_08.txt
The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, February 08, 2006 PT1*
*******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971********
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Editor's comments appear in [brackets].
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*
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*
Wanted: People who are involved in conversations on Slashdot, Salon, etc.
*
TABLE OF CONTENTS
[Search for "*eBook" or "*Intro". . .to jump to that section, etc.]
*eBook Milestones
*Introduction
*Hot Requests, New Sites and Announcements
*Continuing Requests and Announcements
*Progress Report
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*Project Gutenberg Consortia Center Report
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*Have We Given Away A Trillion Yet?
*Flashback
*Weekly eBook update:
This is now in PT2 of the Weekly Newsletter
Also collected in the Monthly Newsletter
Corrections in separate section
3 New This Week From PG Australia [Australian, Canadian Copyright Etc.]
6 New This Week From PGEu [European Copyrights, Life + 50 and 70]
0 New This Week From PG PrePrints
60 New This Week To Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright
69 New This Week [Including PG Australia, PG Europe and PrePrints]
[I'm sure there are a few bugs in the new accounting]
*Headline News from Edupage, etc.
*Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists
***
*eBook Milestones*
8,000 From Distributed Proofreaders!!!
[Exactly, as of this very moment]
18,450 eBooks As Of Today!!!
Including 530 Australian eBooks [+3]
and 250 Project Gutenberg Europe [+6]
And 1 From The New PrePrint Site [+0]
[We do have 150 in the pipeline]
We Are ~92% of the Way to 20,000!!!
***531 eBooks Averaged Per Year Since July 4, 1971***
15,388 New eBooks Since The Start Of 2001
That's ~255 eBooks per Month for ~61 Months
We Have Produced 308 eBooks in 2006
1,550 to go to 20,000!!!
20 New eBooks From Distributed Proofreaders
8,000 total from Distributed Proofreaders
Since October, 2000 [Details in PT1B]
[Currently over 36,000 DP volunteers]
We Averaged ~339 eBooks Per Month In 2004
We Averaged ~248 eBooks Per Month In 2005
[Including PG Australia]
We Are Averaging ~246 eBooks Per Month This Year
[Including PGAu, PGEu and PrePrints]
[This change is due to the opening of Project Gutenberg
sites other than the original one at www.gutenberg.org]
[Now including totals from both Australia and Europe and PrePrints]
[Apologies, it will take a while to integrate everything
not all statistics may be totally equalized yet]
[PGEu Statistics Are Counted Monthly Not Weekly]
All Four Sites Combined Are Averaging 62 eBooks Per Week In 2006
69 This Week
It took ~32 years, from 1971 to 2003 to do our 1st 10,000 eBooks
It took ~32 months, from 2003 to 2006 for our last 10,000 eBooks
It took ~10 years from 1993 to 2003 to grow from 100 eBooks to 10,100
It took ~2.00 years from Oct. 2003 to Nov. 2005 from 10,000 to 17,500
*
***Introduction
[The Newsletter is now being sent in two sections, so you can directly
go to the portions you find most interesting: 1. Founder's Comments,
News, Notes & Queries, and 2. Weekly eBook Update Listing. Note bene
that PT1 is now being sent as PT1A and PT1B.
[Since we are between Newsletter editors, these 2 parts may undergo a
few changes while we are finding a new Newsletter editor. Email us:
hart@pobox.com and gbnewby@pglaf.org if you would like to volunteer.]
This is Michael Hart's "Founder's Comments" section of the Newsletter
*Headline News from Edupage
[PG Editor's Comments In Brackets]
MIT PLANS WIRELESS NETWORK IN CAMBRIDGE
MIT has announced plans to deploy a wireless network covering
Cambridge, Mass., where the university is located. Working with Harvard
University and Boston's Museum of Science, MIT will set up the network
using mesh technology, which, although not as fast as commercial
service, is significantly less expensive. With a traditional wireless
network, wireless access points are installed to cover the desired
area, and every access point is hardwired to the network. Mesh
technology eliminates much of the wiring by relying on a small number
of wired antennae and many other antennae that relay signals to the
wired ones. Jerrold M. Grochow, vice president for information services
and technology at MIT, described it as "hopping from antenna to antenna
to antenna." Mary P. Hart, CIO for Cambridge, commented that the
proposed network will allow the city to determine the demand for
wireless access. Other cities have spent large sums developing wireless
coverage without knowing if residents want it, she said. Grochow noted
that unlike the situation in other municipalities, MIT's project has
not run into opposition from commercial Internet providers.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 6 February 2006 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/02/2006020601t.htm
AOL AND YAHOO EXPERIMENT WITH E-MAIL POSTAGE
In an effort to limit unwanted and fraudulent e-mail, AOL and Yahoo
have announced plans to begin charging "postage" for delivering some
e-mail to their customers. Under the system, companies that pay to have
their e-mail delivered--between 1/4 and 1 cent per message--will
receive preferential service. A third party, Goodmail, will collect the
fees and verify the source of messages. E-mail from nonpaying senders
will still be delivered, but it will be routed through spam filters and
other mechanisms, which could prevent it from reaching its target. The
hope is that the fees will discourage spammers from sending billions of
unsolicited messages every day. A spokesperson from AOL compared the
plan to the current functioning of the postal system. Certified mail,
for example, is guaranteed to be delivered "in a way that is different
from other mail," he said. Some analysts said e-mail postage will only
lead to disagreements between senders and ISPs. Many e-mail marketers
also rejected the idea, saying that there are already mechanisms in
place, such as a service called Bonded Sender, that verify the legitimacy
of e-mail and that cost significantly less than the proposed charges.
New York Times, 5 February 2006 (registration req'd)
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/technology/05AOL.html
PUBLISHER LAUNCHES AD-SUPPORTED ONLINE TEXT
HarperCollins has announced a new program that will make book content
available free online, supported by advertiser links that share the
page with the text. Officials from the publisher said the Harper
program will focus on nonfiction and reference books, noting that
advertisers are likely not as interested in paying to support literary
fiction. The first book offered in the program, "Go It Alone! The
Secret to Building a Successful Business on Your Own" by Bruce Judson,
was published in 2004 and later released in paperback. One test of the
program will be whether ad sales offset lost sales, according to
Murray, group president of HarperCollins. Despite the ongoing squabbles
over online access to books, supporters of the idea still believe it
has potential. Author M.J. Rose said that no one wants to read an
entire book online but that if they have easy access to a text on the
Web and they like it, they will be encouraged to buy a copy.
Associated Press, 6 February 2006
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060206/ap_en_bu/publishing_free_text
["One test of the program will be whether ad sales offset lost sales"
Of course this assumption flies in the face of all the studies, each
of which indicated that free eBook editions caused increased sales
rather than "lost sales."]
CELL PHONES AS TRACKING TOOLS
Companies that use cell phones to track people have seen significant
increases in business in the past few years. In Britain, firms such as
Followus and Verilocation frequently work with employers who want to
keep tabs on staff, despite concerns that the service infringes on
individuals' civil rights. Kevin Brown of Followus noted that his
company's service requires the consent of those being tracked. Users
must agree to having their cell phones tracked, and periodic messages
are sent randomly to users reminding them that their movements are
being followed. Officials at Verilocation pointed to such events as the
bombings in London last summer as times when being able to locate all
of your employees is highly valuable. Experts on business processes
said being able to track employees can allow companies to provide
better service to customers by, for example, letting them know exactly
where a technician is and when he will arrive at a customer's home.
Officials from Liberty, a civil rights group, were unconvinced, saying
that employees' rights in the workplace have been eroded and that
there is a significant risk that businesses will misuse tracking data.
CNET, 5 February 2006
http://news.com.com/2100-1039_3-6035317.html
EFF SUES AT&T OVER COOPERATION WITH NSA
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has filed suit against AT&T
for allegedly cooperating with the National Security Agency (NSA) in
eavesdropping on individuals without a warrant. President Bush ordered
the wiretaps following the terrorist attacks of 2001 and has vigorously
defended them, saying the Constitution and Congressional resolutions
allow them. Civil liberties groups and others reject that, saying that
the wiretaps violate existing laws on surveillance. The EFF said it
identified AT&T as one company involved in the activities and has filed
suit "to stop this invasion of privacy, prevent it from occurring
again, and make sure AT&T and all the other carriers understand there
are going to be legal and economic consequences when they fail to
follow the law." The EFF alleges that AT&T provided the NSA with access
to its network, which carries both voice and data, and to its vast
databases that store information on phone calls and Internet activity.
AT&T refused to comment on the litigation.
Yahoo, 31 January 2006
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060201/ap_on_hi_te/domestic_spying_lawsuit
CONGRESS HOLDS HEARINGS ON CELL-PHONE CUSTOMER PRIVACY
A Congressional hearing this week will address cell phone companies'
efforts to protect the privacy of their customers. The hearing comes
after recent revelations that a number of data brokers have been able
to con cell phone companies into disclosing data about customers and
their calling habits, which was then sold to third parties. The premise
is that certain individuals, such as attorneys, might want details of
cell phone calls, and data brokers supply that data. Cell phone
companies and some members of Congress, however, object to the methods
that data brokers use to obtain that information, including posing as
people they are not and using information such as Social Security
numbers without authorization. Some critics have pointed to weak
policies and practices among cell phone companies for protecting such
data as the root of the problem. Rep. Joe L. Barton (R-Tex.), chairman of
the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said in a statement that he intends
to make the practice of fraudulently obtaining such data "very illegal."
ZDNet, 1 February 2006
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-6033688.html
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*HEADLINE NEWS AVOIDED BY MOST OF THE MAJOR U.S. MEDIA
[As requested adding sources, etc., when possible.
Remember, the subject is not the article's subject,
the subject is the manipulation of the world news.]
[Reply from one of our readers follows this reprint.]
Bill Gates Says It Will Take 10 Years To Stop Piracy In China/India
"In India and China it will be a decade before we get that level,"
meaning the current protection level achieved in the United States,
as is currently in progress in Taiwan and South Korea.
Mr. Gates was addressing the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
[However, what I think he really means is that it will take 10 years
or so, for China and India to grow economically to the point where a
person of their average means can really afford MicroSoft programs.]
[By the way, I got the first clues to this story from the BBC, but a
recent search shows the story is already missing after a short time,
so the follow up was through The Express, of India.]
[In my own personal experiences outside the Asia major urbana center
locations, there is no place you can find legal copies of anything--
the manufacturers are just not interested in making them available.]
If the product is not made available, how can we buy The Real Thing?
Source:
BBC
Express India
Reply from Martin Ward <martin@gkc.org.uk>
Turning a blind eye to piracy in the developing world is Microsoft's policy:
few people can afford to buy their products (at the moment), so enforcing
copyright would just push customers into using Linux.
Instead, allow rampant piracy, until everyone uses MS products,
and becomes locked into MS products, *then* start enforcing
copyright, when it becomes harder to switch.
As the drug pushers say "The first one is always free".
Martin
martin@gkc.org.uk http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/ Erdos number: 4
G.K.Chesterton web site: http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/gkc/
*
*DOUBLESPEAK OF THE WEEK
[See below]
*PREDICTIONS OF THE WEEK
The Valerie Plame scandal will be swept under the carpet
until after the November US elections, as will most of a
host of related WMD issues, etc., mentioned below.
*DOUBLESPEAK OF THE WEEK
and
*STRANGE QUOTES OF THE WEEK [combined this week]
[Continued from last week's report from the previews]
"I participated in a hoax on the American people, the international
community, and the United Nations Security Council."
Sec. State Powell's Former Chief of Staff Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson
concerning the famous speech to the United Nations on "Weapons of
Mass Destruction," two years ago this very week, to which he was
a major contributor.
"I recall vividly the Secretary of State walking into my office,
and saying `I wonder what will happen if we put half a million
troops on the ground in Iraq and comb the country from one end
to the other and don't find a single weapon of mass destruction?'"
Wilkerson says that CIA Director George Tenent and others reported
no reliability or validity problems with the intelligence reported,
even though the majority of sources were suspect or compromised,
a charge that was extended to the DIA reports of Sheik Al Libbi.
He stated that Vice President Cheney's multiple CIA visits at the
time should be characterized as "undue influence" and also should
be compared the undue influence Cheney pressed on Congress during
the various recent dissussions of the "torture issue."
Wilkerson has repeatedly characterized the creation of a cartel of
Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney to override
U.S. allegiance to the Geneva Convention and "inept and incompetent"
operations in Iraq.
"I'm worried, and I would rather have the discussion and debate in
the process we've designed, than I would a dictat from a dumb strongman.
I'd prefer to see the squabble of democracy to the efficiency of dictators."
There's way too much more to include here, but you can find the
entire report via:
"Powell's Former Chief of Staff Lawrence Wilkerson Calls Pre-War
Intelligence a 'Hoax on the American People'"
Mathaba.Net, UK - Feb 6, 2006
*
"The politicians have hijacked our democracy by redistricting."
Boston Legal, 02/07/06
*ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK
"The British Library spends #2m of its #16m annual acquisitions
budget on digital material, mainly reference books and journals."
Already 1/8 of their money is being spent on digitial materials,
and presuming those digital materials are less expensive than a
paper counterpart, we should possibly consider that 1/4 of their
acquisitions are digital.
"By 2020, 90% of newly published work will be available digitally,"
"according to British Library predictions published last year."
Source: BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4675280.stm
*
The Nazis used the guillotine to behead far more people than the French.
*
Windfall Gasoline Profits in 2005
$36.1B Exxon +43% to +46% [various sources] [on $371B gross, +20%]
$25.3B Shell +26% to 30% [^more than the $340B GDP of Saudi Arabia^]
$22.34B BP
$14.1B Chevron [Chevron does more business overseas, hard to get figures]
[ChevronTexaco]
$13.53B ConocoPhillips
$111.37 Billion Total Profit For Those Five Companies in 2005
By comparison, the rumored merger of Mittal Steel and Arcelor
in Europe would have done $69B in 2005, run by Lakshmi Mittal,
listed by Forbes as the #3 richest person in the world.
The basic claims are that merger-mania MUST continue or else
they can't compete with those who have already done mergers.
And most of them are still complaining they didn't make enough.
Example:
BP still complained that they lost money in the 4th quarter
compared to last year, even though profits were up 26%. [BBC]
Home heating oil jas nearly doubled from the $1.16 of winter 2001-2002.
First column figures from articles:
"Resource Investor - Energy - Canada's Top Integrated Oil Firm"
"Hurricane Damage Limits Chevron's Profit"
"`conocophillips profits" - Google News'"
Also see Charlie Rose, 02/07/06
*
By the way, for those interested, the official U.S. population
estimates just passed 298 million, though many say estimations
of this nature leave out as much as 5% of the population.
Still hoping for more statistical updates and additional entries.
"If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely
100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same,
it would look something like the following. There would be:
57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western Hemisphere, both North and South America
8 Africans
52 would be female
48 would be male
70 would be non-white
30 would be white
70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian
6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth
and all 6 would be from the United States
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition
1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth
1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education
1 would own a computer [I think this is now much greater]
1 would be 79 years old or more.
Of those born today, the life expectancy is only 63 years,
but no country any longer issues copyrights that are sure
to expire within that 63 year period.
I would like to bring some of these figures more up to date,
as obviously if only 1% of 6 billion people owned a computer
then there would be only 60 million people in the world who
owned a computer, yet we hear that 3/4 + of the United States
households have computers, out of over 100 million households.
Thus obviously that is over 1% of the world population, just in
the United States.
I just called our local reference librarian and got the number
of US households from the 2004-5 U.S. Statistical Abstract at:
111,278,000 as per data from 2003 U.S Census Bureau reports.
If we presume the saturation level of U.S. computer households
is now around 6/7, or 86%, that is a total of 95.4 million,
and that's counting just one computer per household, and not
counting households with more than one, schools, businesses, etc.
I also found some figures that might challenge the literacy rate
given above, and would like some help researching these and other
such figures, if anyone is interested.
BTW, while I was doing this research, I came across a statistic
that said only 10% of the world's population is 60+ years old.
This means that basically 90% of the world's population would
never benefit from Social Security, even if the wealthy nations
offered it to them free of charge. Then I realized that the US
population has the same kind of age disparity, in which the rich
live so much longer than the poor, the whites live so much longer
than the non-whites. Thus Social Security is paid by all, but is
distributed more to the upper class whites, not just because they
can receive more per year, but because they will live more years
to receive Social Security. The average poor non-white may never
receive a dime of Social Security, no matter how much they pay in.
*
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