by Ralph Nader

Statement of Ralph Nader, on the nomination of John G. Roberts Jr. by President George W. Bush to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C., September 12, 2005....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Nader0918.htm

by Evelyn J. Pringle

I have come to the conclusion that even if I live to be 100, I will never be able to track down every Bush-connected profiteer involved in this phony war on terror scheme. According to a report released in March 2005 by Transparency International (TI), an international organization that focuses on matters of corruption, Iraq could become "the biggest corruption scandal in history."....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Pringle0918.htm

in the Wake of a Not-So Natural Disaster
by Paul Street

The brilliant and prolific left sociologist C. Wright Mills once said that the core purpose of meaningful analytical work on social and political affairs was to make relevant connections between individual pain and structural inequality. The point of such work, by Mills' reckoning, was to de-atomize personal difficulty and relate it to broader contextualizing forces of class, race, bureaucracy, and unjust power and authority. The dominant authoritarian and neoliberal ideology of our time works in the opposite direction. It tells us to separate the personal from the societal. It expects us to think of ourselves and others as purely autonomous sole actors -- a veritable mass of self-produced Robinson Crusoes (with Crusoe's slave Friday deleted from the formulation), each living on his or her own island of possessive-individualist economic rationality and "personal responsibility."....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Street0918.htm

by Gene C. Gerard

The day after Hurricane Katrina hit, exposing much of the public to the tragic conditions of poverty in America, the Census Bureau quietly released its annual report entitled, “Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States.” In some respects, it provided a demonstrable backdrop to the pockets of poverty common to New Orleans and other cities. It also explained why, despite President Bush’s assertion last month that, “Americans have more money in their pockets,” many people aren’t faring as well as they once did. The report indicates that in 2004 there was no increase in average annual household incomes for black, white, or Hispanic families. In fact, this marks the first time since the Census Bureau began keeping records that household incomes failed to increase for five consecutive years. Since President Bush took office, the average annual household family income has declined by $2,572, approximately 4.8 percent....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Gerard0918.htm

by Mike Whitney

Blackwater represents the globalization of repression: a free market progeny that is transforming the people’s army into privately owned militias for multinational corporations. The deployment of these armed units is a clear threat to public safety and personal liberty. The decision to send Blackwater mercenaries to New Orleans was not made haphazardly. A recent Washington Post article indicated that Donald Rumsfeld would use the military more extensively within the US if there were another terrorist attack on American soil. It’s clear now that the use of mercenaries was integral to that plan and that Rumsfeld wants Americans to acclimate to the idea of seeing troops deployed within their cities....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Whitney0918-2.htm

"Bolton's visit raised some eyebrows in Washington," the Post said. "A vocal defender of administration claims in 2003 that Iraq was seeking weapons of mass destruction, he could have had access to a State Department memo, parts of which were classified, that detailed Wilson's trip to Niger to determine whether Iraq was seeking uranium there and identified his wife as a covert CIA operative.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091805Y.shtml

Please forward far and wide

Bill Moyers' "The Secret Government" video segment It aired on PBS in 1987 and is as good as anything on the tape (must see). Moyers is a very respected TV journalist who also worked for Lyndon B. Johnson and has a very professional approach. He interviews many different people involved with the CIA and other government agencies. His documentary gives quite an overview of what has actually happened in the last 50 years regarding the CIA and the cold war (including Iran, Guatamala, Cuba, Viet Nam and Chile). He features such people as Ralph McGeehee and Phil Retinger (both former CIA agents), Rear Admiral Gene La Rocque (Ret. U.S.N.), Theodore Bissell (active in the CIA at the time), Sen. Frank Church and many others. Moyers is so very credible. The full video "The Secret Government" is 90 minutes - this segment is edited by Frank Dorrel to 20 minutes. This video segment totals 20 minutes and must be downloaded in 2 parts: Part 1 - To download 12 minute video clip, (2.9MB) click on http://www.peace.ca/moyers1.wmv Part 2 - To download 10 minute video clip, (2.6MB) click on http://www.peace.ca/moyers2.wmv

Windows Media Player 6.4 or later is required to view video

The book: The Secret Government: The Constitution in Crisis:
With Excerpts from an Essay on Watergate by Bill D. Moyers, Henry Steele Commager. ISBN: 0932020844. Based on the acclaimed PBS documentary, The Secret Government analyzes the threats to constitutional government posed by an illegitimate network of spies, profiteers, mercenaries, ex-generals and "superpatriots" who have tried, at various times, to take foreign policy into their own hands.

To order the book from Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0932020844/ref=ed_oe_p/102-3526130-6563362


Informant: Mofmars3

Don't say they can't. They can - and they did. Despite every calumny, it turns out that the Bush administration can put together an effective, well-coordinated rescue team and get crucial supplies to militarily occupied, devastated New Orleans on demand, in time, and just where they are most needed. Last Thursday, in a spectacular rescue operation, the administration team delivered just such supplies without a hitch to one of the city's neediest visitors, who had been trapped in hell-hole surroundings for almost three weeks by Hurricane Katrina. I'm speaking, of course, of George W. Bush.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091805X.shtml

For those that can't hit the streets for whatever reason in activism...This is the way to go.

Please send your view on this (or any other) matter to let the media know "We The People" are aware of the Cheny and Haliburton connection and appreciate the honesty that is now beginning to surface in main stream media.

Below this message I sent the media is the best website ever for every media, elected official, television news network, newspaper and magazine all over the USA...Just enter your own zip code...Or spend the day sending powerful messages to as many areas as you like...

Subj: MSNBC Date: 9/18/2005 10:39:46 AM Eastern Standard Time From: Mofmars3 To: msnbcinvestigates@msnbc.com, msnbcreports@msnbc.com, MSNBC_BreakingNews_NewsMail@MSNBC.COM CC: info@fox16.com, nytimesreporter@nytimes.com buchananandpress@msnbc.com, chronfeedback@sfchronicle.com, CNN@cnn.com, comments@foxnews.com, contact@altermedia.info, countdown@msnbc.com, dan.abrams@msnbc.com, Dateline@nbc.com, editor@globe.com, editor@nytimes.com, editor.reuters@reuters.com, editor@usatoday.com, feedback@nytimes.com, frontline@pbs.org, gazette.emailsrv@wvgazette.com, general@hbo.com, greg@gregpalast.com, hardball@msnbc.com, headliners@msnbc.com, imc-news@lists.indymedia.org, letters@latimes.com, letters@MSNBC.com, letters@nytimes.com, letters@newsweek.com, Imus@msnbc.com, media@gregpalast.com, moveon-help@list.moveon.org, nachman@msnbc.com, news@globe.com, newswatch@foxnews.com, newshour@pbs.org, news@worldnetdaily.com, newsroom@4bypass.com, news-tips@nytimes.com, Nightly@NBC.com, niteline@abc.com, oliver@gregpalast.com, Press@moveon.org, speakout@foxnews.com, staff@nytimes.com, TheNews@msnbc.com, webnews@washingtonpost.com, World@MSNBC.com, world@washingtonpost.com, Hannity@foxnews.com, Viewerservices@foxnews.com, Comments@foxnews.com, Foxnewsonline@foxnews.com, Afterhours@foxnews.com, Foxreport@foxnews.com, Atlarge@foxnews.com, Bullsandbears@foxnews.com, Colmes@foxnews.com, Cash@foxnews.com, Heartland@foxnews.com, Cavuto@foxnews.com, Ontherecord@foxnews.com, Dayside@foxnews.com, Special@foxnews.com, Forbes@foxnews.com, Studiob@foxnews.com, Friends@foxnews.com, Beltway@foxnews.com, Foxmagazine@foxnews.com, Myword@foxnews.com, Oreilly@foxnews.com, Feedback@foxnews.com, warstories@foxnews.com, FNS@foxnews.com, Newswatch@foxnews.com

The news anchor was awesome...Didn't catch her name...She pointed out that some "politically, well connected and well known companies like Haliburton have been given the Katrina contracts"...

She asks Keith Naughten from Newsweek..."How did this happen?...Is this evidence of political cronyism and is it to be expected?...Is it improper?...and these were her exact words

Answer was..."In reality these are the guys that can hit the ground running" Keith going on to speak of another company that was included in the no bid contracts...A few others had been mentioned

Point being...Thank you to the honest news anchor bringing up the subject of Cheny's corrupt Haliburton...

We The People are paying attention and very grateful for all the truth beginning to finally surface in main stream media.

Thanks to all of you who are really for our people...We salute you

Marsha McClelland
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio


"We People United Global Movement" We are many political and Patriot Groups joining together, to help take back our country..."United We Will Stand"

Click here: You're local media
http://tinyurl.com/ddsjd


Informant: Mofmars3

Joe Allbaugh was George W. Bush's good ol' boy in Texas. He hired his good friend Mike Brown to run FEMA. Now Brownie's gone and Allbaugh is living large.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091705D.shtml

Nearly three weeks after Hurricane Katrina cut its devastating path, FEMA - the same federal agency that botched the rescue mission - is faltering in its effort to aid hundreds of thousands of storm victims, local officials, evacuees and top federal relief officials say. The federal aid hot line mentioned by President Bush in his address to the nation on Thursday cannot handle the flood of calls, leaving thousands of people unable to get through for help, day after day.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091705C.shtml

American troops have killed 13 journalists in Iraq since the beginning of the war in March 2003, the US military has failed to investigate the killings fully, or implement its own recommendations to improve the safety of the news media, according to a study by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091705B.shtml

http://www.traprockpeace.org/george_galloway_boston.html

George Galloway started his national tour at Boston's historic Faneuil Hall on September 13, 2005.

Listen to and download his speech, see photos at
http://www.traprockpeace.org/george_galloway_audio.html

Order tickets for an upcoming event in Toronto, Madison, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, or Washington, DC.
http://www.mrgallowaygoestowashington.com

Read the national tour blog at
http://www.traprockpeace.org/george_galloway_tour/ or http://www.isreview.org/gallowaytour.shtml

In Boston, Annie Zirin, an activist from Western Massachusetts, introduced George Galloway and the four speaker who preceded him.

Speaking first was Eriko Nagai, a student with Northeastern Univeristy Campus Antiwar Network chapter. She was followed by Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner, Brown University Professor of English Literature William Keach, and Prof. Naseer Aruri of the National Council of Arab Americans.

Here are a few quotes from Galloway's speech:

“We who live in the United States or Britain, only have to answer one question, do we stand with the occupier, or with those who are resisting colonial occupation.”

“The swamp of hatred that our policies have created in the Muslim world nourish the mutation of hatred that believes killing innocent people in New York or London is somehow a blow against those responsible in our countries for those policies. All we have done be invading and occupying Iraq is increase the number of people who hate us and the intensity with which they hate us.”

All U.S. events are sponsored by: The New Press, The Center for Economic Research and Social Change, International Socialist Review, and the National Council of Arab Americans.

Traprock Peace Center co-sponsored the Boston event.

Traprock and the national sponsors wish to thank Jeff Manzelli. He recorded and edited the audio as our web editor was unavailable. His websites are http://www.freemanz.com/ and http://492cafe.org/

We were in a pinch to find an audiographer for that night, and coming to our aid in finding Jeff was Stan Robinson, the radio host with the WZBC News Team, the radio station at Boston College. We also had help with setting up and taking down equipment from two people affiliated with the North Bridge Chapter of The Alliance for Democracy.

See http://www.traprockpeace.org/george_galloway_audio.html for links to sponsoring and participating organizations.

See the National Tour Blog at
http://www.traprockpeace.org/george_galloway_tour/

and learn more about George Galloway and the tour; find links for listening to his Sept. 14 debate with Christopher Hitchens and order tickets at http://www.mrgallowaygoestowashington.com

For those of you who wish to download the mp3 directly (and miss all the great photos and links) here is the mp3 file:

http://www.traprockpeace.org/audio/george_galloway_09-13-05.mp3

(by going to the website instead to get this link, you can right click to download to your hard drive.)

The audio may be used for non-commercial use only. Any other use must receive permission from George Galloway.

For event information: Galloway2005@comcast.net Ph. +1 415 6071924

For Media inquires and bookings: ihoward@thenewpress.com Ph. +1 212 564 4406


Charlie Jenks Website Manager;
Past President Traprock Peace Center
103A Keets Road Deerfield, MA 01342
413-773-7427 (Traprock office)
413-773-5188, ex. 2 (personal messages) Fax 413-773-7507

http://www.traprockpeace.org


From ufpj-news

The argument, like the one below, that claim you can explain the events -- and incidentally build broad coalitions across actual racial lines -- by talking about "class" instead of "race" in regard to New Orleans is classic left-liberal evasion. The fact is that we live in a country where race, like class, is a social (NOT biological) reality that has become inseparably intertwined with class -- from the very beginnings of the country.

Class conflict as race conflict begins with the replacement of various forms of pre-class society by capitalism, which took the form of the struggle between two very different peoples and cultures -- the Indians being defeated by the European settlers and their descendants.

This was magnified with the arrival of the Black slaves, and their development into the laboring class at the bottom rung of the class hierarchy. It is important that Blacks were brought to the United States not simply as a different kind of people but as a specific laboring and exploited class. Labor in the Black skin as Marx called them. The post-reconstruction institution of Jim Crow in the South, and to lesser degrees across the entire country Reinforced the intersection and combination of race and class as social realities.

The civil rights movement, perhaps even more than the civil war, dealt a huge blow to the racist substructure of the society, and it has not fully recovered to this day. But under conditions of economic difficulties and decline and with the weakening of the unions and low level of struggle by Blacks and other oppressed peoples, the racist structures have been adapting to the changed conditions and regaining some strength and momentum.

These class conflicts, along with the much slower development of the class struggle between sellers of labor power and employers (which could only really come to the fore after the destruction of slavery), were the material underpinnings and social reality that enabled the rulers to invent the white race -- which was founded here, not carried over from Europe, where the concept had been almost nonexistent until they came here. (When did people come to regard Spaniards, Italians, and Norwegians as all equally "white"?)

The intertwining has gone down to the present, and part of unifying the working class is a full recognition and advances toward a political resolution of these social class-racial realities. This can only be accomplished with the initiative and leadership of those in the lower rungs of this stratification.

We live in a society where class and race intertwine so deeply that "nigger" is historically a CLASS term, while "poor" has now become a euphemism for Black (unless other adjectives are supplied like "poor whites"). And then there was the evil -- and basically Black -- underclass against whom the war against crime was waged and the destruction of the welfare system was carried out.

There was never a country in which the counterposition of class to race was so utterly, completely useless and misleading.

My "favorite" reactionary use of the "class, not race" gambit were proposals for "color blind" "class" affirmative action for poor working people only -- meaning that the working class families that fought their way into the middle classes through the civil rights movement and affirmative action would be fair game. At the same time, it denies all Blacks, including the poor and other working people, the right to be protected against institutionalized discrimination as Blacks. Instead they would have to compete for protection with deserving whites.

Reed makes the point about the middle class layers of Blacks managing to escape with their lives -- but of course they were victims of the class/racial treatment of the population as a whole. He also points out that the Black Democratic machines have acted much the same as the whites in dealing with poverty and basic social issues, including race-class, for that is their job in the capitalist structure and in their Democratic Party. But does Reed seriously think that politicians elected on a "class" basis from the current trade union leadership would cut a better figure than the Black politicians did.

And, anyway, it is the NAACP that is talking about organizing the shelter. It is the Black Commentator that attempts to make a deeper analysis of the events that confronts their inescapably combined race-class character. It is Black workers who attempted to lead groups out of the city, or participated in group collecting of necessities in the "looting" of the stores that may never reopen.

That is where the fight is beginning. That's why I think that so far, the debate over the need to forge a independent anti-establishment Black political movement is tending to rise to the fore much more rapidly than discussion of a labor party, although hopefully we wills see more of that too. It is also true that the Black community clearly has a sharper understanding of the race-class character of what is taking place than "middle-class" working Americans.

It is also very important to stress -- Reed's point on the Black Democratic mayors is useful here -- that the political crisis represented is a bipartisan one, not just a Bush crisis. The crisis we are beginning to experience has been a course followed by the ruling class and both its parties since 1973.

Dodging the centrality of the race/national issues in the name of supposedly color-blind class consciousness is a complete waste of time and effort. The road to unity is confronting this, not ducking it. Which is the key and indispensable kernel of truth in Malcolm X's statement when he announced his break from the Nation of Ialam and formation of a new organization that before there can be working class unity, there must be some Black community. That is as true or more true than ever today.

Fred Feldman

The Nation comment | posted September 15, 2005 (October 3, 2005 issue) Class-ifying the Hurricane Adolph Reed Jr.


UNITED FOR PEACE & JUSTICE | 212-868-5545


From ufpj-news

http://answer.pephost.org/site/News2?abbr=ANS_&page=NewsArticle&id=6793


Informant: Carlos Rovira

From ufpj-news

The planners of Operation Iraqi Freedom forgot another thing on the road to Baghdad: how veterans would affect their ability to get new boots on the ground.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091805Z.shtml

Far from celebrating free expression, the Pentagon’s September 11 Freedom Walk was expression free

By Christopher Hayes
September 13, 2005

IN THESE TIMES

When the Pentagon announced it would be staging a march on September 11, 2005, to commemorate the victims of 9/11 and show support for the troops, it was hard not to expect the worst: Triumph of the Will on the Potomac.

But after three of the dullest hours of my life, I’m happy to report those fears proved unfounded. Maybe it was the fact that the nation’s attention remains focused on the disaster in the Gulf, or that the President’s approval ratings have themselves sunk below sea level, or maybe it was just that Sunday also happened to be the first day of the NFL season, but of the 15,000 people who’d registered online for the 1.7 mile walk from the Pentagon to the Mall, only about a third showed up. Stacks of t-shirts and plastic dog tags, which were distributed to every marcher, sat unused on the registration tables. At the post-march concert, organizers had set up a Jumbotron 50 yards from the stage to broadcast the image of country music star Clint Black (author of the pro-war hit song, “Iraq and Roll”) to the throngs who couldn’t get close enough to the action. But there were no throngs-just a few thousand folks in identical white t-shirts sitting on the grass and clapping politely.

[...] Read the rest at http://tinyurl.com/dyb2r


© Virginia Metze

Posted 12:52 pm
September 16, 2005

The president's speech last night from Jackson Square had a beautiful backdrop, with the St. Louis Cathedral — well-lit to match Bush's shirt — on one side, and an Andrew Jackson statue on the other.

At first blush, the White House's attempts at stagecraft seemed to acknowledge the political realities .

Sensitive to fueling further criticism, the White House said it paid for the electricity and lights used for the speech, limiting the local inconvenience. But Bush emerged onto the square without an audience, speaking directly into the camera from a lectern placed so the [Andrew] Jackson statue would be in the picture.

I was just glad to see New Orleans had the power back on. As it turns out, according to NBC's Brian Williams , there's a funny story behind that… [...] Read the story at http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/5281.html


© Virginia Metze

Or...Getting Off The Picket Fence

By Ted Twietmeyer
9-16-5
rense.com

[...]

It wasn't a question of FEMA competency, but reaches far beyond that to using disasters for social engineering. The social engineering effort was notched up another level in the past, on that terrible day in 2001. Martial law was declared four days later when the nine month old dictator signed a "State of Emergency" executive order. He kept the martial law section secret to prevent crashing the economy. How many other presidents do we know of that have asked for, and received, every single thing they demanded without concessions? That's a clear sign of martial law and fear by Congress. The treasonous patriot acts and it's associated expansion are just one of many other signs of martial law. New Orleans is a martial law microcosm, nestled inside a bigger martial law country. The government is painfully forced to tolerate pro-American articles such as this one, since active censoring would let the proverbial cat out of the bag. [...] Read the rest at http://rense.com/general67/picket.htm


© Virginia Metze

Arianna Huffington
Posted September 16, 2005 at 7:17 p.m. EDT
The Huffington Post

Reacting to all the pricey promises the president made in his big Katrina speech, a senior House Republican official told the New York Times , "We are not sure he knows what he is getting into."

If that's true, Bush must have the worst memory since Guy Pearce in "Memento" because he's definitely been down this road before.

The coming attractions for the reconstruction of the Gulf Coast play like a shot-by-shot remake of the mother of all disaster features, the reconstruction of Iraq.

Let's start with the rhetoric. "We will do what it takes, we will stay as long as it takes," the president pledged on Thursday. "We will do whatever it takes... we will stay there until the job is done," the president said of Iraq in November 2003. It wouldn't be a "Terminator" movie without "I'll be back," and it wouldn't be a massive mega-billion dollar Bush initiative without a vow to stay the course. [...] Read the rest at The Huffington Post, http://tinyurl.com/8p92a See also Karl Rove's Big Easy at http://tinyurl.com/7gd7r


© Virginia Metze

Instead of embracing good jobs for the recently displaced, President Bush’s first major act in the Gulf Coast recovery effort was to suspend a law that requires federal contractors to pay workers a decent wage.

Please take a moment to demand that this recovery effort put people first – and reject efforts to exploit this tragedy to line the pockets of corporate elites. Please, write your member of Congress and insist that decent family wages and employing the victims of Katrina be the bedrock of the Gulf Coast rebuilding efforts. To send a message, go to
http://action.ourfuture.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=27805


© Virginia Metze

Sunspots Rise to 59 form 51, Flux Down to 104 from 112, Ophelia Dissolving

[ECB, Black Canyon City Arizona, September 18, 2005, 04:48:00 UTC] Sunspots rose slightly today but Flux, and solar activity continued to decline today from their high levels of the past few days. Even the the Fluxgate Monitor now confirms the improving conditions. It currently displays very few disturbances in the solar wind and magnetosphere of the Earth. This continuing drop signals the end of the Sunspot Peak for the Mercury | Jupiter Planetary Alignment. The alignment is due about the time of the Fall Equinox on September 22 and the Sunspot Peak, as is often the case, preceded the alignment by about 7-10 days.

Sunspot Counts are likely to drop again tomorrow but they may on average stay in the 30's and 40's until the middle of October when the alignment of Earth and Mars reaches its finale.

On a world basis, existing storm systems and fronts will continue to weaken during the next few days. More probable than not, Ophelia will now quickly dissolve in the Atlantic over the weekend.

This is probably true for at least the next 72 hours.

There are two Hurricanes currently active in the East Pacific but they seem destined to dissolve out at sea before encountering the Pacific Coast of Mexico

Forecast For The Next 40 Days

Phillippe - A Tropical Stormfront with winds up to 50 mph, forecasted by National Hurricane Cener to become a Hurricane

Rita - The next in line, not yet predicted for major storm status

October 15 - November 4: STRONGER POSSIBILITY FOR MULTIPLE OCCURRENCE OF STORMS EVEN MORE DANGEROUS THAN KATRINA.

These predictions are based on predictable surges in solar activity combined with the Global Warming Trend. Danger "Windows" are defined from generalizations made with three years of observation.


Best Wishes,

Michael Wells Mandeville,
The Hills of Arizona USA
at mwman@earthlink.net

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10312.htm


Informant: friends2b

This is Local London

AN MP has called for a change in the planning laws as they affect mobile phone masts.

David Evennett, who represents Bexleyheath and Crayford, is a long-time opponent of masts in residential areas.

He would like phone companies to face the same planning procedures for their masts as any other planning application.

Currently, only masts taller than 15m are subject to the full planning procedure.

Smaller ones have to have prior approval which gives planning committees the chance to comment, but only within narrow criteria such as siting and appearance and it can refuse to give approval.

Mr Evennett said: "Masts in residential areas are a blot on the landscape, an eyesore, nappropriate and out of character.

"There are also the health issues to consider.

"The law must be changed and I will endeavour to support a law change in Parliament."

9:50am Saturday 17th September 2005

Norwich Evening News

17 September 2005 12:32

Mobile phone mast campaigners in Norwich and Norfolk could be offered the chance to discover the effects of radiation from base stations through a new test.

Families who believe they are suffering ill-effects from phone mast emissions will be able to ask for a blood test to find out the effect of radiation.

LaboTech, the German laboratory, which has pioneered the process, will for the first time accept samples from British patients for analysis.

Ingrid Dickenson, director of scientific studies for national phone mast charity Mast Sanity, is responsible for the initiative.

“It seemed quite wrong to me that people in this country were being denied the chance to have this test,” she said.

“Although they will have to pay, we hope in time it will be included as one of the routine tests available on the NHS.”

The blood samples will be taken by the London based Biolab Medical Unit at a cost of £25 and sent to Germany for analysis.

This will cost a further £125 but is still cheaper than routine blood tests carried out privately.

Patients will then be given an individual programme of supplements, certified by the German Department of Health.

It is hoped that these supplements will be available from a British pharmacy at a future date.

Norwich North MP Dr Ian Gibson, a prominent campaigner against phone masts, said: “I think it's great. Anything that gives us evidence has to be welcomed.

“The struggle goes on and anything is worth doing - this kind of sampling has to be welcomed.”

Dr Gibson, who has been a long-time supporter of the Evening News's campaign against the installation of mobile phone masts near homes and schools until it is proved they are safe, urged city people to put themselves forward.

David Shailer, of Montcalm Road, Thorpe Hamlet, who successfully fought against an application for yet another antenna on the Mousehold water tower, said he would be interested in taking part.

“That sounds very good,” he said. “I think it's positive, and it might calm down a lot of the uncertainty.”

But while he admitted he was interested in taking part in the study, the cost would be the stumbling block.

“I'm in favour of it,” he said. “But when you say £25 and £125 your talking about £150 by the time you've finished.

“I would say that the companies who operate the masts near residents should be forthcoming in paying for the tests or the Government should pay for the tests for people who live near masts.”

Graham Barker, of Lloyd Road, Taverham, lives near to a controversial replacement Vodafone mast on Fakenham Road, said: “It's interesting, some people might welcome it, but I would want to know more about it.

“It's something some people might view as commercial exploitation but others might see that there's something in it.”

Mr Barker said it is something he would have to know a lot more about before he was prepared to commit himself too.

“I wouldn't rush in head first,” he said. “I would want to learn much more about the background.”

Pressure group Mast Sanity said the blood test was just the beginning in a campaign to make the public aware that mobile phone technology and health is a worldwide issue and that other countries are already taking steps to protect the public.

If you are interested in finding out more about the tests contact Biolab medical unit, 9 Weymouth Street, London, W1W 6DB; or call 02076365959; log onto http://www.biolab.uk , or e-mail info@biolab.co.uk .

Are you fighting plans to site a phone mast in your neighbourhood? Call Peter Walsh at the Evening News on (01603) 772443 or email peter.walsh@archant.co.uk

BY MELISSA BECK
Derbyshire Evening Telegraph

09:30 - 17 September 2005

People power has ensured a third set of plans to install a mobile phone mast in Shelton Lock have been withdrawn.

The latest application to install an 11.7m mast in Chellaston Road came in December after residents and Derby City Council planners quashed two previous proposals.

But next Wednesday, residents attending an Area Panel 2 meeting, which consists of the council wards of Alvaston, Boulton, Chellaston and Sinfin, will be told that T-Mobile has withdrawn the plans again.

The first proposal was made by T-Mobile in October 2003 to install an 11m mast on a grass verge outside the Shelton Lock Fish Bar, at the junction of Chellaston Road and Weston Park Avenue.

About 400 residents signed a petition and, in March 2004, the plans were withdrawn.

The company then submitted new plans for a mast in front of the Esso garage in Chellaston Road - about 200 metres from the original site.

Another petition was submitted to the council and the proposal was rejected by planners in June 2004 after they said it would obstruct the pavement and the visibility of drivers.

A formal application does not have to be submitted to the council for masts under 15 metres, but planners can reject proposals if the site is inappropriate, obstructs the pavement or the visibility of drivers.

The latest plans for a site on Chellaston Road, which have now been withdrawn, would have been near the filling station and would have included an equipment cabin in Acorn Close. Residents again set up a petition collecting more than 250 signatures.

Phil Day, of Chellaston Road, said: "At the moment it seems the residents are winning the battle against T-Mobile. But we don't know what alternative locations the company is considering. We don't want to push it into other people's back gardens."

Andreas Symeou, of Shelton Lock Fish Bar, is delighted with the company's decision.

He said: "It shows that if the community gets together then sometimes you can beat the big companies."

Philip Ingall, of St Peter's Road, Chellaston, is a member of the Mast Action Committee, a group protesting against planned mast sites in the area.

He said: "T-mobile worked with residents in a constructive and positive way to find a more suitable area for the mast. It's just a shame other mobile phone companies don't do the same thing."

A T-Mobile spokesman said he was unable to confirm other possible locations for the mast. He said: "All we can say at the moment is that we are in consultation with the council and residents and we are reviewing the options available to us."

At a council cabinet meeting on Wednesday, councillors unanimously voted to confront the Government over the proliferation of mobile phone masts in Derby after Chellaston councillors, Paul Willitts and Ron LIversedge, claimed that parts of the city were "almost under siege" by phone masts.

Sep 18 2005 ic Wales

Campaign for independent study into health risks of masts

Louise Day, South Wales Echo

Pressure is mounting for independent checks to be carried out on the possible health risks of mobile telephone masts before they are built near people's homes.

The Vale of Glamorgan council is leading the way in a campaign to ensure that residents' concerns about the health risks that the mast could pose are given more weight.

And a battle to prevent the expansion of a mast in Barry is set to come to a head in the next few weeks.

The Vale council has written to local MPs, AMs and Carwyn Jones, the assembly's minister for environment, planning and the countryside calling for more research to be carried out into the possible health dangers of mobile telephone masts.

It follows an independent radio frequency test on the health risks from a mast in The Heathers, Barry, which residents have been campaigning against.

The test, paid for by the mobile phone company, showed the radiation from the mast fell within Government health guidelines.

Omega see "Base Stations, operating within strict national and international Guidelines, do not present a Health Risk?" under:
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/771911/

But residents are still concerned and will oppose the planning application which has already been made to the Vale council.

Residents leader Angie Homer said: 'We believe there is a potential health problem. We suffer nausea and headaches and there have bee three cases of cancer.'

Resident Chris Murphy said: 'Despite this test, we are deeply concerned about the health implications involved in having it there. We agree there should be more research into the possible health risks posed by these masts.'

The companies maintain there is no evidence for such risk.

A spokesman for Orange said the Government encouraged mobile phone companies to share masts where ever possible in order to reduce the overall number of masts.

'We are aware there is opposition to mobile phone masts, but the reality is that the local community want to use mobile phones and without masts the phones won't work,' he said.

Nukleareinsatzdoktrin der USA vor der Verabschiedung - Einsatzoptionen von Atomwaffen beliebig erweitert - Perfide Politik der "Zweideutigkeit" - Parteien im BT-Wahlkampf müssen Position beziehen.

http://www.sonnenseite.com/fp/archiv/Akt-News/6869.php

Der Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND), die Anti-Atom-Initiative X-tausendmal quer und das Online-Bürgernetzwerk Campact haben die Kampagne ".ausgestrahlt" gegen die Renaissance der Atomenergie unter einer möglichen unionsgeführten Bundesregierung und für einen wirklichen Atomausstieg gestartet.

http://www.sonnenseite.com/fp/archiv/Akt-News/6884.php

Umweltschützer: Erneuerbare Energien statt Kirchhof Die Streichliste für Subventionen des Heidelberger Professors Paul Kirchhof, der unter Angela Merkel Finanzminister werden soll, ist zwar nicht publiziert, aber doch deutlich erkennbar auf Grund seiner Bücher und Äußerungen. Die Deutsche Umwelthilfe kommt zum Schluss: "Der Staat verabschiedet sich unter einem Finanzminister Kirchhof aus der Umweltpolitik." Stimmt diese These?

http://www.sonnenseite.com/fp/archiv/Akt-News/6892.php

Eine erste Frage in der Politik lautet: Was will man? Darauf folgt dann gleich: Was kann man? "Ist es möglich, dass wir in frühkapitalistische Zeiten zurückfallen", klagte Norbert Blüm auf der jüngsten Tagung der CDU-Sozialausschüsse und meinte das wohl nicht nur rhetorisch. Ist es schließlich auch möglich, dass wir nach der Wahl in vor-ökologische Zeiten zurückfallen?

http://www.sonnenseite.com/fp/archiv/Art-Umweltpolitik/6606.php

Eine bessere Welt durch die UNO? Der größte Skandal unserer Zeit ist, dass auf dieser reichen Erde alle fünf Sekunden ein Kind verhungern muss. Jetzt beim Weltgipfel der UNO sollte überprüft werden, ob die Ziele erreicht werden können. Das Ergebnis ist - wie absehbar - enttäuschend. Die "Süddeutsche Zeitung" schreibt zu Recht von der "Welt der Egoisten" und gibt vor allem den USA die Schuld am Scheitern. Kofi Anan nannte es "eine Schande", dass die USA atomar nicht abrüsten, sondern aufrüsten wollen, anstatt ihren lächerlich geringen Anteil an der Entwicklungshilfe zu erhöhen.

http://www.sonnenseite.com/fp/archiv/Art-eineWelt/6893.php