New Sun Newsbriefs

"The President's men have compared their war in Iraq to a new product, but this is a product that nobody wants. So, they've timed it, from a marketing point of view, and they've supported it with a multi-million dollar P.R. blitz, but their product is a deadly distraction, bristling with nasty side effects and violating national law."
--Ben Cohen, at the peace rally in Washington, D.C., October 26, 2002. To read his speech in its entirety, go to: full speech.

"Once you choose hope, anything's possible. It's a big sea. We're in the sea together and it's ready to show us the way home."
--Christopher Reeve

"We are here by grace. We are meant to love. We will walk with hope. We will live for peace."
Full page ad in The New York Times by Lord & Taylor, on September 11, 2002.

"You're not a realist unless you believe in miracles."
-Anwar Sadat

"I used to think that anyone doing anything weird was weird. I suddenly realized that anyone doing anything weird wasn't weird at all. It was the people saying they were weird that was weird.
--Paul McCartney

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Compassionate Cabby
Ms. Polina Sirosh, a photographic artist, left her handbag -- with nearly $5,000 in cash -- in the back seat of a New York City cab.

The cabby, Saiful Mondal, 34, tracked down Ms. Sirosh and returned both the handbag and the cash within.

When she offered him a $500 reward, Mr. Mondal refused. "That's not my money...I told her, if you want, I can give that money to a charity in Bangladesh. It is a very poor country, believe me," said Mondal, a computer student who is putting himself through grad school by driving a taxi.

"I am a Muslim," Mondal continued, "and my religion says when you have something that's not yours, try to give it back to the owner."
Source: The New York Daily News

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Images and Voices of Hope is an international conversation about the impact of images and stories on people, families, communities, cultures and the world.

People from all over the world are gathering together to discuss the potential of the media forging positive change in society and the world.These conversations began three years ago in the United States and have been growing rapidly ever since.

Meetings are now flourishing in Brazil, Chile, Uraguay, Warsaw, and England, to name a few.

"When you terrify people, you limit their ability to act. When you inspire them, it increases their capacity for action." says IV of Hope's Founder and Director Judy Rodgers.

In England, for example, at the Oxfordshire home of the Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb and wife Dwina, media people participated in a day of talks, interactive discussions, silent reflections and inspirations.

For more information: www.ivofhope.org

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Postcards to New York
Photographer Gregory Wilcox proposed that the thirty-six story Ruan building in Des Moines, Iowa display "I Love New York" in their windows on Valentine's Day, 2002. After over 3 hours of strategically placing cardboard on the windows, this message of love was lit up for all to see.

Wilcox captured the tribute on a postcard and mailed it, along with other postcards on the same theme, to over 287 businesses and organizations in New York City as part of the "NYC Postcard Project." He would like to display all his photographs at a gallery in Des Moines and then in New York. For more information, contact: GregoryAWilcox@cs.com

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Staying Wild
"The U.S. Senate recently voted to block oil development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It restores one's faith to know that this greatest American wilderness is still safe from rigs and roads and pipelines...

"...Unfortunately, so many other gems of our natural heritage -- Greater Yellowstone, Utah's Redrock canyons, Wyoming's Red Desert -- are still endangered by the White House energy plan.


"...the National Resource Defense Council (NRDC) will need your ongoing help more than ever...I encourage you to visit www.savebiogems.org to find out more about the dozen campaigns we're waging right now. I hope you'll stick with us as we fight to save America's last wild places."
Robert Redford
Member, NRDC Board of Trustees



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