8
Jul
2004

Another Attack on the Arctic

by BRUCE BABBITT

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/08/opinion/08BABB.html

BARROW, Alaska -- Thwarted by the public in its efforts to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, the Bush administration and the oil companies are now quietly turning their attention to the balance of the Arctic region of Alaska, all the way west to the Chukchi Sea, within sight of Siberia. In advance of its efforts, the administration has jettisoned environmental safeguards and is now threatening the traditional-use rights of the Alaska Natives who have hunted caribou and waterfowl along the Arctic slope for thousands of years.

This plan was announced in Anchorage just as Congress recessed for the Reagan funeral. Outside Alaska it has received little notice, not even for its centerpiece -- a proposal to lease rights for oil and gas development in Teshekpuk Lake, a body of water that is vital to the region. This shallow lake, which is about 30 miles across, is the biological heart of the western Arctic, the summer nesting and breeding ground for hundreds of thousands of black brant, spectacled eider, yellow-billed loons, white-fronted geese and other migratory birds that arrive here each year from 32 of the lower 48 states as well as countries as far south as Argentina.

The lake, however, isn't just for the birds. It is also a critically important subsistence area for the indigenous Inupiat communities on the Arctic slope. They go there to hunt and fish for food to sustain them through the long, dark winters.

Teshekpuk Lake lies within the western region of what is known as the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. In 1976 Congress transferred the management of the petroleum reserve to the Bureau of Land Management. But Congress also mandated protections for the wildlife and native peoples, making it clear that America's Arctic should not be transformed into another West Texas oilfield.

In 1998 the Clinton administration took the first steps to open the reserve with a two-year study involving hundreds of scientists and representatives of the Inupiat communities. Two years later the scientific teams returned with a recommendation to begin oil leasing, with stipulations for setting aside approximately 13 percent of the study area, mostly rivers and lakes, including Teshekpuk, as protected areas. They also recommended a ban on permanent roads across the fragile tundra, based upon assurances from the oil companies that they could operate with temporary winter "ice roads" that would simply melt away as summer approached and waterfowl and migratory caribou began congregating at the lake.

The Bush administration now proposes to eliminate these safeguards intended to protect the lake, the wildlife and the Inupiat who depend on it. The decision is not yet final. During the summer there will be
hearings in Anchorage and Washington. Then, Interior Secretary Gale Norton is expected to make a decision. In this land of endless summer days, there are bound to be a lot of sleepless nights.

Bruce Babbitt was secretary of the interior from 1993 to 2001.


Informant: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/08/opinion/08BABB.html

Weyerhaeuser logs in endangered forests regions

Wake up Weyerhaeuser Campaign News, Updates, Action!
Greetings Old Growth friends!

1) Trader Joe's update

Saturday, June 19th was our second in a series of days of action focused on getting Trader Joe's to sever business ties with Weyerhaeuser for paper bags. Weyerhaeuser logs in endangered forests regions in order to supply its customers like Trader Joe's with pulp and paper.

Dozens of events were held in 8 states, in cities stretching from San Francisco to Boston. Many events were at Trader Joe's locations; many others were educational events in communities throughout America to raise awareness about Weyerhaeuser and its customers, and to gather petition signatures.

More than 1,100 emails were sent to CEO Dan Bane, and hundreds of calls poured in during the week of the day of action to Trader Joe's headquarters in Monrovia. In fact, the Trader Joe's office has assigned a customer service representative to address individuals concerns on this issue!

Trader Joe's still hasn't cancelled its Weyerhaeuser contract. We're ready to turn up the heat. Our next step is taking this message straight to the company headquarters, in Monrovia, California (a suburb just 30 minutes away from Los Angeles). If you'd like to help us plan an event there, email us today at grassroots@ran.org.

2) Give Trader Joe's a piece of your mind

If you haven't already done so, take a few minutes today to make a call or send an email to Trader Joe's. Tell them to sever business ties with Weyerhaeuser. Click here to send your email letter:
http://action.ran.org/ctt.asp?u=2844473&l=43820.

If you want to make a phone call, here's the 411: Trader Joe's headquarters: 781-433-0234

A short message should suffice: "I shop at Trader Joe's and I am upset that my grocery store buys its paper bags from Weyerhaeuser - the #1 destroyer of old growth forests in North America. Please cancel your paper bag contract with Weyerhaeuser."

You can also help by coordinating an action at your local Trader Joe's. Pick a local store, and have a chat with the manager! Or distribute flyers to customers. Or paint some placards and organize a demonstration. Whatever you do, have fun, and be sure that the manager of the branch knows that the public demands strong environmental standards and will not tolerate more procrastination from Trader Joe's! Request an action toolkit at grassroots@ran.org

3) New Online Calendar at ran.org

RAN is committed to giving activists the tools they need to organize, agitate, and have fun while bringing about radical social change. One tool we're excited about is a new online calendar that allows members, activists, and people like YOU to spread the word about events you're coordinating in your local community.

By posting your events online, you can give others the opportunity to get involved in efforts to transform the global economy, curb climate chaos, and protect endangered forests around the world.

Click here to check out the calendar today! Our event calendar is located at: http://action.ran.org/ctt.asp?u=2844473&l=44283

4) Stop the Biscuit Timber Sale in Oregon

In Oregon, the fight to protect the Siskiyou Mountains from logging has begun. The Forest Service is currently proposing to log 372 million board feet of timber from this post-fire landscape in the Siskiyou Mountains, one of the most diverse temperate forests in the world, which makes this timber sale one of the largest in the modern times. About 25,948-acres, or over 30 square miles, would be clearcut (the entire city of Medford is 20 square miles).

Environmental organizations, including RAN, and activists from around Oregon and beyond, are working to protect these forests from the bite of chainsaws. If you would like to get involved in the on-the-ground forest defense campaign please contact http://www.kswild.org, and Lesley Adams at lesley@kswild.org, 541.488.5789.


For the Earth and for Justice!
Sharon and Jess

Mast row heads for appeal court

A battle over plans for a 25-metre mobile phone mast near three North Yorkshire schools is heading for the Court of Appeal, the BBC has learned.

Deputy prime minister John Prescott has decided to appeal against a High Court ruling allowing the mast in Harrogate.

Although an inspector rejected plans for the mast near St Robert's, Granby High and Woodfield schools, phone firms overturned this in the High Court.

The Appeal Court will be asked to give a landmark ruling on such plans.

Government challenge

Last month, Sir Richard Tucker ruled in the High Court that the proposals - by T-Mobile, Orange and Hutchinson 3G - met current safety guidelines.

The judge said the plans did not give rise to "actual danger", even though there was a "perception of risk" amongst the public.

Sir Richard quashed a previous planning inspectorate decision, saying that current government guidelines were concerned with "actual rather than perceived health risk".

But the government is challenging this interpretation of the guidelines, giving rise to a potentially landmark ruling.

Local anger

In a statement, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister said: "The Secretary of State has decided to appeal the judgment in the case of T Mobile v First Secretary of State and Harrogate Borough Council.

"The judgment is inconsistent with case law authority, (and) previous judgments clearly recognise that both actual and perceived health concerns are relevant considerations."

Campaigners had feared the earlier High Court decision would allow companies to ignore health fears and erect masts on sensitive sites in the future.

This ruling provoked anger from parents, teachers, Harrogate Borough Council and the town's MP, Phil Willis, who described it as "extraordinary".

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/england/north_yorkshire/3874463.stm

Published: 2004/07/07 15:48:44 GMT

© BBC MMIV


Informant: Robert Riedlinger

Bush signs Shoshone distribution

http://www.elkodaily.com/articles/2004/07/07/news/local/news2.txt


Informant: Carrie Dann

Bush Coordinating War on Terror With Election

http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1288388&l=44435

Get Truth Out on Intelligence Blunders

As early as tomorrow, the Senate will release a report that finds fault with the way the U.S. intelligence community gathered evidence on Iraq’s weapons and its links to Al Qaeda before the war. Unfortunately, the Senate doesn’t look at the role of one important actor: The White House.

If Fahrenheit 9/11 taught us one thing about the Bush administration, it’s that Bush has been keeping Americans in the dark on the war in Iraq. We shouldn’t lay the intelligence failure solely at the feet of the intelligence community. We need to create an independent commission to investigate the role of the White House. Take Action Today!
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=440882&url_num=2&url=http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/2020vision/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=74

Americans have the right to know how our intelligence community got it wrong on Iraq’s weapons and links to terrorists—two major justifications for this war! Tell the White House to step in and order the CIA to release as much of the Senate Intelligence Committee report as possible. Contact the White House Today!
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=440882&url_num=3&url=http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/2020vision/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=74

We’d also like to give you the chance to hear more about what we’ve been doing to educate people on the local level. Our Executive Director, Tom Collina has spoken on several radio shows about why we need to investigate the role of the White House in the Iraq intelligence failure.Click here to find out more!
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=440882&url_num=4&url=http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/2020vision/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=74


Best,

Tom and Rebecca

Your online team at

20/20 Vision

EDEKA steigt aus dem Geschäft mit Raubbau-Möbeln aus

Robin Wood Initiative zeigt Erfolg

08.07.04

Auf Druck der Umweltschutzorganisation Robin Wood hat EDEKA Tropenholzmöbel aus Vietnam und Indonesien aus dem Sortiment genommen. Robin Wood hatte Kontakt mit EDEKA aufgenommen, nachdem Aktivisten in diesem Frühjahr in Filialen des Unternehmens Merantiholz-Gartenmöbel aus Vietnam gefunden hatten. Jedem Möbelstück lag ein so genanntes "ITTO-Zertifikat" bei. Das Kürzel steht für International Tropical Timber Organisation. Diese Organisation wurde zur Förderung des Tropenholzhandels gegründet und zertifiziert gar keine Produkte...

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php4?Nr=8858

Omega-News Collection 8. July 2004

Attention, Shoppers: You Can Now Speed Straight Through Checkout Lines
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/259998/

NIH Scientists Take Big Pharma Money
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260586/

European Environmental Rules Propel Change in U.S.
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260723/

Bush Signs Western Shoshone Bill
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260301/

The Western Shoshone Claims Distribution Act
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260331/

Bush Team Pushes Huge Timber Sale Under Guise of Fire Protection
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260007/

War x 4
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260112/

Religious groups support global warming bill
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260020/

Stop Global Warming
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260707/

‘Water for the World’ Resolution
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260700/

GALAPAGOS UNDER SIEGE
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260338/

UN Urges Action After Gorilla Habitat Destroyed
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260535/

Request to help stop bill that would allow massive bird slaughter
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260566/

GM WHEAT DESTROYED IN SPAIN
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260337/

Verified Voting
http://omega.twoday.net/

Activist: E-Voting to Be a 'Train Wreck'
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/259094/

DNC's Voting Rights Institute to Teach 'Mechanics of Casting A Vote'
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/259981/

Support Your Freedom to Read
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/259323/

What's At Stake
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/259076/

US Soldiers Laughed At Drowning
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260597/

Abu Ghraib hits home
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/verified_voting.html

BUSH & CHENEY MISLEAD ON TORT REFORM
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/259267/

D'Amato to Bush: Dump Cheney
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260729/

Presidential morality
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260744/

Computer experts warn of e-voting problems
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260737/

Hijacking Catastrophe
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/259965/

9/11 panel repeats: Iraq-Osama tie weak
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/259968/

Degrees of Fahrenheit
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260084/

Foreign detainees are few in Iraq
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260073/

Iraq magnet to militants in Europe
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260068/

Blair says WMD may never be found in Iraq
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/259977/

CIA knew there were no WMDs
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260065/

God Is With Us
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260919/

The irrationality of patriotism
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/259987/

The American Revolution and Iraq
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260041/

Morning in Iraq?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260054/

A callous call-up
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260902/

The Republican Road Not Taken: The Foreign-Policy Vision of Robert A. Taft
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260059/

The Grim Balance Sheet Of The Iraq War
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260080/

The true human cost of the war in Iraq
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260884/

Pre-emptive War; Pre-emptive Arrests
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260088/

The Whole Truth About The Iraq War
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260090/

The United States Army in Operation Iraqi Freedom
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260313/

No more lawless interventions
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260075/

Bush Tries to Keep Half Million Vets In the Dark
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260703/

Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260926/

Defeats in Iraq and Afghanistan
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260595/

U.S. Response to Insurgency Called a Failure
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260896/

LAWSUIT OF FBI WHISTLEBLOWER SIBEL EDMONDS DISMISSED
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260311/

The neocons and the global order
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260877/

It's not always about you
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260909/

Norway reacts to alleged American child abuse in Iraq
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260891/

Disappearing Prisoners
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260905/

The Despoiling of America
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260914/

Restore the Constitution
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260327/

Vote To Impeach
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/261127/

Straw Fears Iraq War May Be Ruled Illegal
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260888/

Saudis freed Britons in a secret swap of prisoners
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260093/

Vote To Impeach

http://www.votetoimpeach.org/


From Information Clearing House

Hartz IV gegen internationale Menschenrechte

Die Habitat International Coalition (HIC) hat gegenüber Minister Clement ihre Besorgnis wegen der Hartz IV Reform ausgedrückt. Die weltweite Organisation befürchtet eine Zunahme von Obdachlosigkeit als Folge der Reform. Sie sieht in der Reform eine Verletzung des Rechts auf Wohnen, wie es im Internationalen Pakt über soziale, wirtschaftliche und kulturelle Rechte vereinbart wurde. Diese internationale Menschenrechtsvereinbarung wurde von der Bundesrepublik 1973 unterzeichnet. HIC bittet die Bundesregierung die Reformen zu überprüfen.

Grüße Knut Unger, MieterInnenverein Witten, 02302-276171


Hartz IV reform

Federal Minister
Wolfgang Clement
(Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour)
E-mail: info@bmwa.bund.de <mailto:info@bmwa.bund.de>

Mexico City, 7 of July 2004

Excellency,

Having received from social organizations based in Germany, fellow members of Habitat International Coalition (HIC), some alarming news about the recent reform of labour market, we would like to take the opportunity to underline some aspects of the newly implemented Hartz IV reform which can turn out to be a thread to the fulfilment of fundamental housing rights.

With the future housing costs support cut, a large number of the 5 million unemployed people in your country may be unable to cope with their rents, especially in urban areas where houses and flat prices are far too expensive. As a consequence, soon many of these citizens will fall in debt regarding their rent obligations and they may face eviction if the dept is over two months rent. Thus there is a real risk for homelessness to increase as a consequence of this process or, at least, of developing a new type of segregation with the concentration of the unemployed population in the cheapest suburbs. This critical situation deserves our greatest concern.

Our Coalition, which is made up by nearly 500 organisations from 80 countries and counts with a consultative status at the United Nations, works for the recognition, the defence and the fulfilment of housing rights. Basing our opinion on the international legal sources of human rights, we consider the Hartz IV reform as a violation of the human right to an adequate housing recognised on article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) ratified by Germany in 1973. The ICESCR also obliges States not to take regressive measures (article 2) as the Hartz IV reform is in terms of housing rights.

In this perspective and with all respect, we send you this letter to bring to your consideration the need to revise the Hartz IV reform on the perspective of international housing rights and to preserve the high quality of the German social welfare.

Respectfully,

Enrique Ortiz Flores
President of Habitat International Coalition

Coalición Internacional para el Hábitat
Oficina Regional para América Latina (HIC-AL)
Habitat International Coalition
Latin America Regional Office (HIC-AL)
Tacuba # 53, 1er piso, Col. Centro
06000 Mexico D.F.
MEXICO
Tel: +52 55 55 12 15 86
Tel: + 52 55 55 12 67 26
Fax: +52 55 55 12 38 42
E-mail: chm@laneta.apc.org
Web: http://www.hic-al.org

Environmental Health News

Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush

American Dynasty: Video

Phillips shows how spying, dishonesty about one's background and business dealings, multiple loyalties, and preoccupation with profits and oil go deep into the Bush family roots, and he likens their search for power to royal European dynasties and restorations of the 18th and 19th centuries...

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6440.htm

God Is With Us

Flash prensentation...

http://tinyurl.com/384tj


From Information Clearing House

The Despoiling of America

How George W. Bush became the head of the new American Dominionist Church/State...

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5646.htm

It's not always about you

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6439.htm

Disappearing Prisoners

Are they dead? Are they alive? Where is the media? Does anybody out there care?...

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0427/hentoff.php


From Information Clearing House

A callous call-up

The Pentagon's decision to press 5,600 discharged soldiers back into service, mainly for Iraq and Afghanistan, is the latest example of President George W. Bush's refusal to face the true costs of pre-emptive war...

http://www.iht.com/bin/print.php?file=528167.html


From Information Clearing House

U.S. Response to Insurgency Called a Failure

Some top Bush officials and military experts say the Pentagon has no coherent strategy. Little change is expected with Iraq's new sovereignty...

http://tinyurl.com/3c89v

Norway reacts to alleged American child abuse in Iraq

The Norwegian Government and individual politicians have reacted strongly to the alleged abuse of children in Iraqi prisons by American soldiers, as reported in a German TV documentary on Monday evening...

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6442.htm

Straw Fears Iraq War May Be Ruled Illegal

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is locked in a dramatic battle to stop a court branding the Iraq war illegal...

http://tinyurl.com/ywrw3


From Information Clearing House

The true human cost of the war in Iraq

Are we getting the whole story from the Pentagon?: The number of casualties from Operation Iraqi Freedom are, thousands and thousands of soldiers higher than the Pentagon seems to say...

http://www.pbs.org/now/printable/transcript325_full_print.html


From Information Clearing House

The neocons and the global order

http://www.antiwar.com/utley/?articleid=2951


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Kritik an Ausweitung von Großem Lauschangriff hält auch bei Grünen an

Bütikofer: "Darüber werden wir gegebenenfalls streiten müssen"

Berlin - Die Kritik an der geplanten Ausweitung des so genannten Großen Lauschangriffs hält an. Die schleswig-holsteinische Justizministerin Anne Lütkes (Grüne) warf Bundesjustizministerin Brigitte Zypries (SPD) im NDR vor, die vom Bundesverfassungsgericht (BVG) geforderten Beschränkungen beim Abhören von Wohnungen unterlaufen zu wollen. Auch Grünen-Chef Reinhard Bütikofer meldete Bedenken an. "Darüber werden wir gegebenenfalls streiten müssen", sagte Bütikofer der "Berliner Zeitung" vom Donnerstag. Kritik kam auch vom Deutschen Anwalt-Verein und der Ärztevereinigung NAV-Virchow-Bund. (AFP)

08.07.04, 13:32 Uhr

http://www.netscape.de/index.jsp?sg=News_Newsticker&cid=1950034628

Presidential morality

http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/19165/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Computer experts warn of e-voting problems

Detroit Free Press

07/08/04

Just four months before November's elections, vulnerabilities persist in electronic voting machines used nationwide, a group of computer experts told House lawmakers Wednesday. The experts are concerned the elections may be plagued by hackers, fraud and computer malfunctions. Some argue for the return of the paper ballot as a backup to verify voters' intentions. ... Nearly 50 million Americans are expected to vote using touch screen machines this fall."...

http://www.freep.com/news/politics/voting8_20040708.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

D'Amato to Bush: Dump Cheney

Las Vegas Review-Journal

07/07/04

President Bush should consider dumping Vice President Dick Cheney from the Republican ticket this year, an influential former GOP senator said Wednesday. Alfonse D'Amato said Bush should consider putting Secretary of State Colin Powell or Sen. John McCain of Arizona on the GOP ticket."...

http://tinyurl.com/ywlav


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

European Environmental Rules Propel Change in U.S.

by OTTO POHL

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/06/science/earth/06euro.html

BRUSSELS - When Darcy White of Raytown, Mo., chose to breast-feed her baby daughter two years ago, she had never heard of brominated flame retardants. But after randomly participating in a study, she learned that her breast milk carried unusually high levels of the chemicals.

Since then, the Environmental Protection Agency has announced an agreement with chemical manufacturers to phase out the worst of these toxic compounds, which are present in a wide variety of consumer goods like furniture and computer monitors, and Congress is considering legislation to make the ban permanent.

But it was only after the chemicals had been banned here in Europe that sufficient political pressure built for a phaseout in the United States.

That cycle was no accident. Globalization has often been condemned as encouraging a race to the bottom as multinationals seek the cheapest and least regulated place to do business. But increasingly, American environmental and public health advocates see globalization as a way to start a race to the top. They are taking their issues to the European Union, hoping to use regulations there as a lever for regulations in the United States.

"We are putting more resources into Europe than we otherwise would have done," says Charlotte Brody, coordinator of Health Care Without Harm, a Washington-based group attempting to reduce harmful substances in hospital supplies. "We desperately need the E.U. to be raising the bar and show what is possible."

Environmental groups, too, are working more closely with European lawmakers.

"We feel that Europe is a real opportuni ty," says Ned Helme, executive director for the Center for Clean Air Policy in Washington. Once Europe moves ahead on programs to curb the gases believed to cause global warming, Mr. Helme believes, it will promote change in the United States. "We're pushing where the opportunity for innovation is greatest," he said.

The regulations affect a broad range of American chemical, energy and electronics companies, and industry groups say bureaucrats they did not elect are wielding unprecedented power over them, based on insufficient evidence of harm.

"The E.U. is going where no man has gone before," says James Lovegrove, managing director of the European division of the American Electronics Association, a United States industry lobby. "The moment the ink hits the paper in Europe it becomes a global piece of legislation.''

The generally stricter European laws reflect a different philosophical approach to regulation, says Dr. Indra Spiecker, a lawyer specialized in comparative law and assistant professor for American law at the
University of Osnabrück in Germany. American lawmakers primarily look to cost-benefit analysis, which holds that the benefit of imposing regulation should outweigh its cost. European nations have more readily embraced what is called the precautionary principle. Essentially, Europeans emphasize the cost of inaction, while Americans tend to focus on the cost of action.

"Fifteen years ago consumer issues would start in the United States and sweep over to Europe," says Ursula Schliessner, a product safety lawyer at McKenna Long & Aldridge in Brussels. "Now when there are consumer issues in the E.U. they trigger reactions in the United States."

In the case of the flame retardants, scientists from the Environmental Working Group, researching the prevalence of the chemicals in American mothers, discovered that Ms. White, an outwardly healthy 31-year-old practicing nurse, had some of the highest levels ever recorded. Studies have shown that, in laboratory animals, the chemicals can cause severe damage to the brain, especially in the first months of life. No one has proved that the substances are dangerous to humans, and Ms. White's daughter, Katelyn, is thriving.

Although concerned, Ms. White does not warn expectant mothers who come to her maternity ward to be tested for the chemicals. "You don't want to freak out mothers more than they already are," she says.

But Dr. Linda Birnbaum, director of the experimental toxicology division at the E.P.A., says the risk identified in the European studies, which then triggered additional research in America, was high enough to warrant action.

A co-author of the current legislation in Congress, Representative Diana DeGette, Democrat of Colorado, also says the European action against the substance was important to raise the issue in the United States. "The fact that the E.U. is taking steps really helps give us an argument" to ban the substances, she said.

European legislation can have an even more immediate impact in an area like consumer electronics. Because of the global nature of the electronics business, a multinational that redesigns its product to eliminate a substance banned in the E.U. often finds it cheaper to sell that product worldwide.

One such law that came into force last year limits or eliminates metals used in electronics considered particularly noxious when they leach into the environment.

The E.U. is now considering sweeping new regulation of its chemical industry that has unleashed what analysts here say is the biggest lobbying effort in Brussels ever mounted by American industry.

The new law, known as Reach, would place the burden of proof of safety on the producers before its sale, rather than waiting for problems to spur regulation later. It would force American chemical companies to comply with the legislation in order to continue exporting to Europe - and raises the fear of similar legislation in the United States.

The chemical industry points out that few if any of the unregulated chemicals are causing obvious health crises and says the legislation is overly bureaucratic and expensive. The American Chemical Council has marshaled its members to alter or derail the legislation.

But American environmental groups are eagerly supporting the law. "This is the place where the action is," says Tony Long, director of the World Wildlife Fund European policy office. He sees the potential effects of Reach broader than its technical jurisdiction. "This will have results around the world," he says.


Informant: Teresa Binstock

Stop Global Warming

The film “Day After Tomorrow” may not be the most realistic depiction of how global warming could wreak havoc upon our environment, but it couldn’t have been more timely.

As early as TODAY, Congress will be voting on historic legislation that could help protect our planet from global warming. Please contact your Senators TODAY and ask them to support the McCain-Lieberman bill!
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=418696&url_num=2&url=http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/2020vision/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=69

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Joseph Lieberman’s (D-CT) bill would control 75% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. Better yet, it’s a pragmatic approach supported by industry, environmentalists, scientists, farm groups, and economists, and it wouldn’t hurt smaller businesses.



We have a unique opportunity to pass a consensus-based policy that will reduce air pollution and make our planet more secure in the long run. Last year we were only eight votes shy of winning.Please tell your Senators to support this bill today!
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=418696&url_num=3&url=http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/2020vision/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=69

After you’ve emailed your Senators, please sign this petition sponsored by Environmental Defense that has already generated hundreds of thousands of signatures in support of combating global warming.

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=418696&url_num=4&url=http://iw.rtm.com/ed/undoit_petition_1.asp?sitecode=uhp

Bush Tries to Keep Half Million Vets In the Dark

http://www.misleader.org/daily_mislead/Read.asp?fn=df07072004.html

‘Water for the World’ Resolution

June 25, 2004

Public Citizen Urges Congress to Adopt ‘Water for the World’ Resolution

Statement of Wenonah Hauter, Director of Public Citizen’s Water for All Campaign

In light of the growing shortage of clean water in the developing world and the international trend toward the privatization of water systems, Public Citizen applauds U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and 29 co-sponsors of the Water for the World Resolution, which was introduced late Thursday and calls for water to be regarded as a public good and fundamental human right.

It is essential that Congress support this measure. More than a billion of the world’s inhabitants lack adequate access to safe drinking water, and 2.5 billion have no proper sanitation. Thousands, mostly children, die each day from preventable waterborne diseases. Because of increasing pollution and a rate of global water consumption that doubles every 20 years, by 2025, 48 nations will face severe water shortages, according to the World Health Organization.

The Water for the World Resolution affirms that water is a global public good and should not be treated as a private commodity. It recognizes that government policies should ensure that all individuals have equitable access to water to meet basic human needs and that no one is cut off from water due to economic constraints.

Unfortunately, these principles have not always been upheld. In Detroit, Mich., more than 50,000 people had their water shut off during the past two years because they couldn’t pay. In South Africa, pre-paid meters force poor residents in townships to provide payment before they can drink. Unable to pay, families use contaminated water sources, such as polluted rivers, and as a result, waterborne illnesses are common. In fact, pre-paid meters were linked to a massive cholera outbreak in KwaZulu-Natal in 2000.

In the United States, there exists a funding gap for water and wastewater systems, which is leading governments to turn systems over to private companies. By some estimates, it will cost $20 billion annually for the next 20 years to build, repair and maintain water systems in this country. Around the world, millions of dollars in World Bank and International Monetary Fund loans prop up water privatization schemes that are corrupt and do little to help those who need access to clean water. But giving control to private companies is not wise; private companies care foremost about profits, not about repairing the infrastructure or keeping water rates affordable.

There is an international consensus – enshrined in the United Nation’s General Comment on the right to water and in the UN Millennium Development Goals – that water is a fundamental human right, and that access to water can mean the difference between sickness and health, cyclical poverty and economic development.

Congress should support the Water for the World Resolution.

To view the resolution, click here:
http://www.citizen.org/documents/SCHAKO_045_xml_2.PDF

Note: Schakowsky is hosting a congressional briefing on the resolution from 2 p.m.-3:30 p.m. on June 29 in the Cannon Office Building, Room 121.

http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=1738


Informant: Let's Make Change

Klassenkampf von oben gegen Gewerkschaften und Arbeitnehmerrechte

Neoliberales Trommelfeuer

Was kaum noch anders genannt werden kann: die massive Demontage der Gewerkschaften und der Arbeitnehmerrechte erreicht eine neue Intensität. Offensichtlich sollen hier die entscheidenden Schlage geführt werden, bevor die Partei in der Lage ist, sich anders zu besinnen.

Wir haben es selten erlebt, dass die Gewerkschaften derart massiv in die Zange genommen wurden von der SPD-Parteiführung einerseits und den Medien andererseits.

Jedes Massenblatt und jede "Qualitätszeitung" verfügt neuerdings über Dutzende von Wirtschaftsexperten und deren anscheinend kalt-objektive Analysen, dass Gewerkschaften, Linke und die Rechte der Beschäftigten eine Bedrohung für die Wirtschaft und unsere Zukunft insgesamt seien, und lässt sie mit dergleichen Statements Überstunden machen.

Dasselbe gilt für die Gefahr der Gründung einer neuen Linkspartei, die bereits eine regelrechte Hysterie ausgelöst hat unter den Mainstream-Medien, die sich nun im Verbund darum bemühen, dies Problem im Keim zu ersticken: die Frequenz, mit der negative Voraussagen und Einschätzungen abgegeben werden widerspricht deutlich der ansonsten zur Schau getragenen Gelassenheit, dass eine solche Parteigründung die bestehende Ordnung des Systems in keiner Weise gefährde.


Software-Patente

Die Bundesregierung/Schröder geben überdeutlich zu erkennen, dass sie sich als Agentur der großen Konzerne verstehen. Während die Patentierung von Software bereits im EU-Parlament mit deutlicher Mehrheit abgelehnt wurde, formiert u.a. die deutsche Regierungsspitze zusammen mit der Industrie eine Front zu ihrer rücksichtslosen Durchsetzung. Auch hier wieder die Medien mit im Boot: das ZDF-heute-Journal rückte gestern die Gegner der Softwarepatente in die Nähe von kriminellen Vereinigungen und Terroristen, die keine Rücksicht verdient haben.


Gesundheits"Reform"

Die Bundesregierung diskutiert nicht etwa die Rücknahme der Praxisgebühr, sondern beschließt, "Nachteilige" Auswirkungen auf die Pharmaindustrie zu minimieren. Die Deckelung der Medikamentenpreise soll wieder aufgehoben werden.

Das ganze Vorgehen derzeit nimmt die Gestalt einer Revolution von oben an, einer immer offeneren Diktatur der neoliberalen Konzerne.

Gerhard Wendebourg

US Soldiers Laughed At Drowning

Jul 07, 2004

Source; AP

The 19-year-old Iraqi's swimming skills were no match for the Tigris. "Marwan, save me!" Zaidoun Fadel Hassoun screamed to his cousin, himself struggling to stay afloat. The teenager drowned; his cousin made it to shore. "I could hear them laughing," Marwan Fadel Hassoun said, recalling how U.S. soldiers pushed the young men into the river. "They were behaving like they were watching a comedy on stage."

The U.S. military said last week that three soldiers, now back in their base at Fort Carson, Colo., have been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the Jan. 3 drowning of an Iraqi detainee. A fourth soldier faces charges of pushing a second man, who survived, into the same river.

The military identified the victims only as Mr. Fadel and Mr. Fadhil. The four soldiers face between 5 1/2 years and 26 1/2 years in prison if convicted on all charges.

Thousands of Iraqi civilians have died since the Iraq war began in March 2003. Some of them perished in the U.S.-led air and ground campaign. In the 15 months since the fall of Baghdad, many more have died in car bombings, or when caught in the crossfire as American troops battled insurgents or were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

With every such death, Iraqis point to what they see as the heavy-handedness of the U.S. military. The resentment is deeper when the victims are relatives, friends or neighbors.

Zaidoun Hassoun was to have finished high school this year. Three weeks before his death, he got engaged to a cousin, and he hoped to start a family in Samarra, a trade and agriculture center whose name means "pleasant to those who see it."

For Marwan Hassoun, a bearded and burly 23-year-old who attends a teachers' college, the death robbed him of a companion and a childhood friend. Zaidoun's voice pleading for help still echoes in his ears.

"Every time I see an American soldier, a Humvee or a tank I become agitated. Many emotions rush into my mind: confusion, fear and rage. I am constantly thinking of how I could have helped Zaidoun. I feel so much guilt, but prayers and reading the Quran keep me going," he said.

Sometime between Jan. 3 and the discovery of Zaidoun's body on the river bank 13 days later, Zaidoun's mother wrote an open letter addressed to President Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

"Any measure you take will not return my son to life. But I, with an overwhelming sense of bereavement, expect you to end the agony of mothers in my country," Widad Mahmoud Nadeem, 40, wrote in the two-page letter.

"We are harvesting misery and unhappiness because of the actions of American soldiers who pay no heed to human life, dignity and the values and traditions of our society," she wrote.

Trouble for Zaidoun and Marwan began about 10:45 p.m., 15 minutes before curfew came into force in Samarra and only 200 yards from their home at the end of a 100-mile journey.

The trip, which should have been routine in a pickup truck loaded with Italian-made bathroom fixtures from Baghdad, was made longer because of a recurring engine problem that Marwan had to fix along the way.

They were stopped and searched at an Iraqi checkpoint on Samarra's outskirts and allowed to enter town. Minutes later, a U.S. patrol - Marwan believes it was made up of four Bradley fighting vehicles - crossed the median and blocked their path.

They quickly searched the cargo and checked their identity documents, he said at the family's store that sells Chinese-made appliances, stationery and books.

He remembered one soldier happily greeting them with Arabic phrases.

The soldiers told them they were free to go, but just after they got back into the truck, the soldiers ordered them to step out. This time, they handcuffed them and took them into one of the Bradleys.

"What's happening?" a terrified Zaidoun whispered to his cousin. The Bradley drove for a few minutes before the two were ordered out at a bridge across the Tigris that also serves as a dam, several miles north of Samarra.

The soldiers - Marwan remembers four or five of them - removed their handcuffs and led them to a concrete ledge. Ordered to jump into the water, Marwan begged for mercy.

"Why? why?" he pleaded. "Shut up, shut up!" yelled the soldier who spoke some Arabic.

Zaidoun was pushed first. He held on to a soldier, who managed to free himself. Other soldiers joined in and pushed Zaidoun away. When Marwan turned to look at his cousin, he was pushed from behind.

"We are not great swimmers, but we knew enough not to drown," he said. Marwan swam to Zaidoun and grabbed his hand, but they slipped apart. "I lost him. He went under and then resurfaced near an open dam gate. Water was rushing and not even a good swimmer could resist that current."

"He was shouting 'Marwan, save me,' and I yelled back 'Try to swim, try to swim,' but he went under again and that was it. I could hear them (the soldiers) laughing. They were behaving like they were watching a comedy on stage," he said.

Standing at the scene Tuesday, he pointed to a cluster of bamboo at the water's edge.

"These are the plants that I held onto to save my life," he said. "I climbed back up to the shore, but they pointed a gun at me, so I went back down and waited."

His tormentors drove off, but he continued to huddle in fear. Only when he reached an Iraqi checkpoint, more than two hours after his ordeal began, did he feel safe.

http://www.jihadunspun.com/intheatre_internal.php?article=9032&list=/home.php&


Informant: MySubscriptions

Defeats in Iraq and Afghanistan

http://g0lem.net/vortal/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=14


Informant: ARISTOTLE

NIH Scientists Take Big Pharma Money

IT IS BAD ENOUGH THAT GOVERNMENT HEALTH AGENCY OFFICIALS ARE GETTING WEALTHY AT OUR EXPENSE...BUT, DO THEY HAVE TO DO IT BY PUTTING OUR NATION'S CHILDREN AT RISK?

IT WILL BE TRULY UNCONSCIONABLE NOT YO MAKE THE TIME TO VIEW AND/OR LISTEN TO A FEW OF THE VIDEO AND AUDIO CLIPS I'M PROVIDING BELOW. IF WE HAVE GOTTEN TO THE POINT THAT WE ARE JUST TOO BUSY TO LEARN TO WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON IN THIS AND OTHER AREAS, THEN WE DESERVE WHAT WE ARE GOING TO GET IN THE UP COMING ELECTIONS... BOTH PARTIES!

HOW COME NEITHER OF THE LEADING PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES HAVE ADDRESSED THIS EPIDEMIC "DOUBLE DIPPING" ISSUE AND, WORST, HOW IT IS IMPACTING THE HEALTH AND WELL BEING OF OUR CHILDREN... TALK ABOUT TERRORISM! WHAT YOU'LL LEARN BELOW, WILL PALE BY COMPARISON!


NIH Scientists Take Big Pharma Money

E-NEWS FROM THE NATIONAL VACCINE INFORMATION CENTER
http://www.nvic.org

UNITED WAY/COMBINED FEDERAL CAMPAIGN
"Protecting the health and informed consent rights of children since 1982."


BL Fisher Note:

No scientist, doctor or other employee working for a government health agency should be allowed to take money from pharmaceutical companies for any reason. Government health agencies research, develop, license, regulate, make policy for and promote mass use of drugs and vaccines manufactured and sold by drug companies. In the case of vaccines, this function extends to encouraging and giving financial incentives to states to mandate use of product by every citizen. It is a gross conflict of interest for these public servants to have their hand in the deep pockets of an industry whose products they license, regulate and promote for public use.


Double Dipping at NIH
Monday, July 5, 2004; Page A16

THE WASHINGTON POST
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A28128-2004Jul4?language=printer

And, if one thinks the NIH is the only government health agency that "double dips" take a look at the following short CBS News video clip (MAY NEED TO CLICK THE "PLAY" BUTTON ONCE OR TWICE)
CBS Evening News report "Mercury Rising" (June 12, 2004)
http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/videoplayer/newVid/framesource2.html?clip=/media/2004/06/12/video622792.wmv&sec=500251&vidId=50025

VACCINES, AUTISM and ANTI-DEPRESSANTS ISSUES
Following link contains 2 more video clip reports on Mercury & Autism
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/12/12/eveningnews/main532886.shtml
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/22/eveningnews/main625458.shtml

Dr. Leonard Horowitz - RENSE Radio - CBS News - Rep. Dan Burton R-Ind.

http://PlayAudioMessage.com/play.asp?m=27130&f=SLKJET&ps=7&p=1 (10 min)

Mercury dangers, loss of rights through CODEX, a video about mercury
http://www.iaomt.org/merc_release.swf

Rep. Dan Burton - Joyce Railey (Gulf War Vets) - Dr. Ann Blake Tracy
http://PlayAudioMessage.com/play.asp?m=27134&f=FSNHAO&ps=7&p=1 (10 min)

CHARGES OF CDC THIMEROSAL COVER UP
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/local/news-article.aspx?storyid=19491

STUNNING VIDEO CLIPS FROM "PBS TELEVISION" ON THE FDA
(click on each of 6 pictures to view)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/prescription/view/

CDC VACCINE COVER UP
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2003/12/283084.html

THE COVER UP ON PAXIL
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Glaxo-Lawsuit.html?ex=1086840000
http://www.guardian.co.uk/italy/story/0,12576,1225576,00.html
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8209-1135320,00.html

Mercury dangers, loss of rights through CODEX, a video about mercury
http://www.iaomt.org/merc_release.swf

Dr . Doreen Virtue - "INDIGO & CRYSTAL CHILDREN
I present this as the only explanations I can come up with as to why our children are being placed at risk by certain groups. Most may not accept or understand this...yet
http://PlayAudioMessage.com/play.asp?m=27135&f=LSRPBE&ps=7&p=1 (9 min)


Informant: Jack Topel

MISUSING SCIENCE AND CANCER DEATHS

MISUSING SCIENCE AND CANCER DEATHS

1. depleted uranium (DU) weapons

2. microwave weapons

2.1. Mobile Phone weapons

2.2. Wireless DECT weapons

2.3. Wi-Fi weapons

3. THE INVERTION OF SCIENTIFIC METHODOLOGY

3.1. FIRST ERROR
POLLUTE DAY AND NIGHT (168 HS/WEEK) WITH “HIGH POWER OF...”.

3.2. SECOND ERROR
REPEAT CONSTANTLY "INNOCUOUS" (with no proof at all).

3.3. THIRD ERROR

SOLEMN AND PERMANENT WAIT FOR "PUBLISHED-RESULTS": YEAR..?

* there was no proof that radiation from the tests .... made them sick.

Comments from Dr Miguel Muntané concerning
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/260549/

Request to help stop bill that would allow massive bird slaughter

Dear Best Friends Network Members,

Right now, there is in both the US Senate and the US House of Representatives, concurrently, a bill (S2547) and (HR4114) that would deprive 94 species of non-native birds of the protection of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, including species of cranes, cardinals, and swans.

This bill is moving rapidly through both houses, with little opposition, and has the potential to allow the mass slaughter, especially all along the East Coast, of tens of thousands of Mute Swans.

There has long been a plan for government agencies to slaughter Mute Swans, on the Chesapeake Bay and on many lakes. This nearly took place a few years ago, but it was prevented by a court ruling, in 2001, that found that Mute Swans were protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

The bill now in congress, called the Migratory Bird Treaty Reform Act would exempt Mute Swans and 93 other species from federal protection.

If this bill were to be passed, then the Mute Swans will be in danger all over again of mass slaughter, and the other 93 species of non-native birds will no longer have federal protection either.

If you would like more information about this, please go to http://www.api4animals.org
http://www.fund.org
http://www.sort.org

Please either call, send a letter to, and/or e-mail your two state senators and your representative in the House of Representatives, and ask them to vote against this bill.

Their names and contact information may be found at
http://www.action.fund.org/directory

A sample letter follows; you may use this, or send a letter in your own words.

Thank you so very much for caring about these birds and for taking the time to help them!

Sincerely,

Sharon
(Sharon St. Joan)
Bird and Wildlife Consultant
Best Friends Animal Society
http://www.bestfriends.org
sharonsj@bestfriends.org


Sample Letter

Dear

I am writing to urge you to oppose S2547 (to your two senators) (or to oppose HR4114- to your representative in the House).

S 2547 (or HR4114) will destroy the protection afforded by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act to 94 species of migratory birds, considered non-native, and will allow them to be shot, trapped, poisoned, or otherwise killed. These birds include cranes, cardinals, swans, and many others.

Overall bird populations are dwindling year by year in this country and globally. Birds need more protection, not less.

The mass slaughter of beautiful, magnificent Mute Swans along the East Coast by government agencies, had been planned and was about to take place, until it was halted by a Washington D.C. court ruling, in 2001, that found that Mute Swans were protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Passing S2547 (or HR4114) would remove this protection and would allow the long-planned slaughter of tens of thousands of Mute Swans. This seems to be the primary reason for the introduction of this bill.

Concerning the Chesapeake Bay, one of the areas targeted for the slaughter of swans, The Chesapeake Bay Foundation has determined that harm to the bay is caused by industry and farming, not by Mute Swans.

Mute Swans, and most birds, mate for life, take wonderful care of their young, are intelligent, graceful, beautiful, contribute positively to the environment, and cause no harm to human beings. They are a
source of joy to many human beings, in a world often short of joy.

Thank you very much for considering voting against S2547 (or HR 4114), thereby retaining federal protection for these beloved birds.

Sincerely,
(your name)

Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,
Troy Lea
Network Coordinator
Best Friends Animal Society
5001 Angel Canyon Road
Kanab, Utah 84741
435-644-2001 ext.123
troy@bestfriends.org
http://www.bestfriends.org


Informant: Angostura1819

Radiation risk "underplayed" to avoid compensation payouts

by Rob Edwards

Governments have deliberately downplayed the dangers of radiation so that they can avoid paying compensation to veterans of nuclear tests and carry on deploying depleted uranium (DU) weapons.

Dr Keith Baverstock, who was the World Health Organisation’s senior radiation adviser in Europe, says that science has been “perverted for political ends” by government agencies which should be protecting public health.

“Politics, aided and abetted by some in the scientific community, has poisoned the well which sustains democratic decision-making,” he told a conference on low-level radiation in Edinburgh yesterday.

Baverstock, now advising the UK government as a member of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management, delivered a fierce attack on government scientists. He accused the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) of “misusing” science in their studies of nuclear test veterans.

Over 21,000 members of the British armed services watched 46 nuclear tests in Australia and the Pacific between 1952 and 1962. Many have since become ill, and campaigned for compensation from the Ministry of Defence.

The MoD has rejected their claims on the grounds that there was no proof that radiation from the tests made them sick. The ministry is backed by three major studies carried out by the NRPB over the past 20 years, most recently in 2002.

Yesterday, Baverstock alleged that there was a “serious flaw” in the NRPB’s methodology because as many as 15% of the veterans could be missing from the studies. This could conceal an excess in cancer deaths, he said.

He pointed out that there was a lack of information on how much radiation people had been exposed to. A statistical excess of leukaemia among the veterans had also been dismissed as a “chance” finding.

“The conclusion is that the NRPB survey is deficient,” he said. “Further work needs to be done. It is sad that the NRPB, which should be an independent body, was complicit .”

The NRPB, based at Didcot in Oxfordshire, strongly denied the accusation. “We used standard methods for finding deaths and cases of cancer. These have been used in hundreds of studies,” said Gerry Kendal, head of population exposure at the NRPB.

He maintained that to have introduced additional cases in an ad hoc way would have produced “biased” results. The independent committee that oversaw the research was happy with the approach that was taken, he added.

The 2002 NRPB study was originally challenged by Sue Roff, a senior research fellow at Dundee University Medical School. She contended that up to 30% of multiple myeloma cancer cases among veterans had been overlooked by the NRPB.

“I’m not sure if this was a political or a scientific decision by the NRPB. But it was certainly more of a comfort to the MoD than to veterans,” she said.

Baverstock also accused the World Health Organisation of having “suppressed” a report he wrote in 2001 highlighting the dangers of DU in Iraq. The Sunday Herald revealed in February that the report predicted that DU from US and UK weapons would increase cancer rates among adults and children in the country.

By downplaying the risks from radiation, government agencies had undermined public trust in science and technology, he concluded. This was going to make it much more difficult to find an acceptable solution to the problem of how to dispose of radioactive waste from nuclear power stations.

04 July 2004

http://www.sundayherald.com/43149


Informant: Don Maisch

UN Urges Action After Gorilla Habitat Destroyed

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/25905/story.htm

Wertzuwachs/Wertminderung durch Mobilfunk-Antennen in der Nachbarschaft

HLV INFO 7-07-2004/AT

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/wertminderung_immobilien_schoeller.pdf

Wertminderung durch Sendemasten
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/319414/

Immobilien und Mobilfunk
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/475821/

Report on TETRA

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/report_on_tetra.doc

Useful TETRA links
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/406434/

GALAPAGOS UNDER SIEGE

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/galapagos_under_siege.html

GM WHEAT DESTROYED IN SPAIN

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/gm_wheat_destroyed_in_spain.html

OLD FAITHFUL CELL TOWER MAY BE SHORTENED AND CAMOUFLAGED

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, June 29, 2004

Contact: Chas Offutt (202) 265-7337

Park Resists Calls for Removal

Washington, DC — Yellowstone National Park has informed state and federal historic preservation agencies that it is considering shortening and camouflaging the controversial cell phone tower overlooking the Old Faithful Historic District, according to a letter released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

In a letter dated June 18, 2004, Yellowstone Superintendent Suzanne Lewis informed the federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation that the park was considering “removing an additional 20 feet of the tower” as well as “whether or not to camouflage the tower to improve the visual quality of the site.” The federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation has opened an investigation on the legality of the cell tower for its “adverse effect” on the Old Faithful Historic District. The Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office has lodged a similar complaint against the park for erecting a structure far different than what it described in the very limited public notices it circulated.

“Shortening the tower at Old Faithful by 20 feet will not make it any less ugly, less inappropriate or less illegal,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, whose organization has been faulting the National Park Service for allowing the telecommunication industry to determine the size and location of cell towers spreading throughout the national park system. “The superintendent is stepping around the central issue—should there be a cell tower at Old Faithful in the first place?”

By way of explanation, Superintendent Lewis writes, “the conditions that exist today at the location are different than those that existed [when the tower was built].” Apparently, the park did not anticipate that “burned tree snags” on the site would eventually fall over or be blown down. In addition, the park itself removed some of the visual cover “during maintenance work.”

Superintendent Lewis also announced a review of “the health and safety service levels for the public and the park.” The park has other cell towers and cannot isolate the calls enabled by the Old Faithful tower. Nor has the park examined alternative means of communications for visitors and staff or determined whether cell phones are needed for public safety. “The most disturbing part of this after-the-fact public safety justification is that it implies that Yellowstone is willing to provide cell coverage throughout the entire park and especially in the backcountry,” Ruch commented.

PEER is also targeting the exclusion of the public from decisions concerning the park. “After failing to post required notices for the tower when it was built, Yellowstone is repeating the error by doing its damage control in secret,” added Ruch, who obtained Lewis’s letter through a Freedom of Information Act request.

http://www.peer.org/press/475.html

The Western Shoshone Claims Distribution Act

July 7, 2004

Bush Lets Freedom Reign

Steven Newcomb

On July 7th, Bush signed into law H.R. 884, "The Western Shoshone Claims Distribution Act." By doing so, he clearly demonstrated the "freedom of imperial power," despite the fact that the Western Shoshone National Council and a majority of Western Shoshone IRA governments (6 out of 9) opposed the bill.

Bush used his pen as a "scepter of imperial freedom" to violate the fundamental and ancestral rights of the Western Shoshone Nation. "Imperial freedom" refers to the American empire's claim of "freedom" to do whatever it wants, whenever it wants, even against the will of those damaged by the action done.

President Bush recently made the remark, "Let freedom reign," to which New York Times Columnist Maureen Dowd responded with the rhetorical question: "Couldn't Karl Rove and his minions at least get that "ad-lib" right about freedom ringing?"

Although the idea of freedom "ringing" matches the iconic image of the Liberty Bell, Bush's comment about freedom reigning contains a deeper and little known truth about the word "freedom" in the context of feudalism, that helps explain the situation in which the Western Shoshones now find themselves.

According to the nineteenth century political philosopher Francis Lieber, the word "Freithum (literally freedom) means, in some portions of Germany, as estate of a Freiherr (baron)." In other words, according to this meaning, "a freedom" is, "a baron's estate." Just as the king reigned as Lord and dread sovereign of the entire kingdom, the baron reigned as lord and sovereign of a free domain.

Although a baron is a "lord," he is also a feudal vassal who holds his lands under a direct grant from the king. As a noble, the baron is "free" on his estate, beneath the monarch. For example, Lord Thomas Fairfax, a friend of George Washington and Chief Justice John Marshall, was a baron with an estate of more than 5 million acres of (Indian) lands in Virginia.

Importantly, the landless poor people were not "free" in the same sense as the noble landed class. As feudal tenants, the landless people were obligated to pay rents and homage (obedience and a percentage of their crops as taxes) to the landholding baron class. If they were to live at all, the landless serfs had to eek out a living by working for the aristocratic land owning class.

The English lords who came to North America were offended by the Indians' "haughty" and independent attitude. According to historian James Axtell, the English nobles that came to North America were also deeply offended by the vast amount of land the Indians possessed. It greatly offended the English nobles to see obviously "inferior" and "uncivilized heathen" Indians possessed of sufficient lands to live a privileged life of leisure that only those of noble birth were supposed to live, and engaged in such pleasurable experiences as hunting and fishing. From the viewpoint of the English nobles, it was only "natural" and destined by "God" that the Indians should be reduced to a position of "civilized" humility in keeping with their "inferiority," and that Indian lands ought to end up in English hands.

A rare publication titled, "Documents and Proceedings Relating to the Formation of a Board in the City of New York, for the Emigration, Preservation, and Improvement of the Aborigines of America, July 22, 1829," provides further insight. In an anonymous "Address" the unnamed commentator says that certain obstacles stood in the way of the Indians being reduced to "civilization" along European lines.

What were these obstacles? For one thing, the Indians had remained "uncivilized" because they possessed too much land. They held "an almost boundless extent of the forest" that "furnished the Indians with an easy means of subsistence, such as the plentiful game that abounded there." They had an understanding of their own power and independence. Their vast land holdings gave them the wealth and the power to remain free in the manner of their ancestors before them. So long as the Indians remained free and independent the Europeans would not consider them to have been reduced to "civilization and Christianity."

The unnamed commentator celebrated the process of these "obstacles" to Indian "civilization" being gradually removed: "The forests...and their game are gone. The Indian can no longer bury himself in the one, nor subsist in the other. He has now become a creature of necessity-he must labour, or starve. But not only are the forests and the game gone, but with these has disappeared also, that feeling of independence which made the native as uncontrollable, as he was invincible. Long and nobly did he struggle to maintain this."

True, as a charismatic leader, the Shawnee leader Tecumseh (1868?-1813) tried to maintain the spirit of independence by uniting all Indian nations against the invading United States. Of Tecumseh's death the commentator said: "His life paid the forfeit of the gallant enterprise [to unify the Indian nations]; and with it vanished all hope of all allied to him, of ever again becoming lords of their domain." Tecumseh's death near the River Thames was characterized by the commentator as movement along the path toward "Indian improvement."

Of the forefathers of his own race the commentator remarked: "They doubtless said...when this empire shall have become established, and the scepter of freedom be swayed over its teeming population, then surely, will that which is now literally a wilderness to [for] the Indian, be made to blossom as the rose...No longer able to bury himself in his forests, or subsist on their game, or measure strength with the white man, he [the Indian] will yield to necessity, resort to the [cultivation of the] earth for his support, and practice gladly, those lessons which are at present lost upon him."

President Bush's remark, "Let freedom reign," relates perfectly to the commentator's phrase, "scepter of freedom." A scepter is a rod or wand symbolic of "a royal or imperial power or authority, sovereignty." Hence, Bush using his pen as a "scepter of imperial freedom" to sign H.R. 884 is an example of him "letting freedom reign."

Like the colonizing English nobles of the past, Senator Harry Reid and Congressman Jim Gibbons of Nevada were no doubt offended by and jealous of the amount of Western Shoshone land pursuant to the Treaty of Ruby Valley. The traditional Western Shoshone in particular have an deep and spiritual understanding of their own power and rightful independence, which undoubtedly further offends Rep. Gibbons and Sen. Reid.

It is ironic in the extreme that at the same time Congress unanimously passed H.R. 884 between June 21-24, Senator Brownback's resolution to "apologize" to American Indians was being considered for passage. Sen. Brownback's resolution ought to include an apology for the United States' reprehensible, dishonorable, and disrespectful treatment of the Western Shoshones.

In the "apology resolution," Martin Luther King, Jr. is quoted as once having said, "The end is reconciliation, the end is redemption, the end is the creation of the beloved community." Very moving words I'm sure, but as Tecumseh once said, "they come to us with lips smoother than oil, and words sweeter than honey, but beware of them! The venomous wasp is in their heart!" Congress's passage of and President Bush's signature on H.R. 884, simply underscores Tecumseh's insightful words of defiance.


Informant: Carrie Dann

Restore the Constitution of the United States

An informed citizen is freedom's best friend and a controlled citizen is our worst enemy!

WE WILL NOT STOP!!!

Focus on subjects that inform and educate people every day to the real challenges that face this country. Help us restore the Constitution to its rightful place of importance in the United States.

http://www.thepowerhour.com/news_info.htm


Informant: ROSE KING

Vorsorgewert von 0,001 MilliWatt/m²

Biologische Wirkungen (athermische Wirkungen) bei lebenden Organismen treten bereits bei Strahlungsstärken auf, die ein Zehnmillionstel der bei uns geltenden (rein technischen =) thermischen Grenzwerte betragen.

Aus der Erfahrungsmedizin ist bekannt, dass viele Menschen inzwischen schon ab 10 Mikrowatt/m² erkranken.

Es gibt wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen, die z.B. schon nach 50 Minuten Bestrahlung bei 1000 Mikrowatt/m² eine signifikante Reduzierung der Gedächtnisleistung belegen. (Dr. Maier, Uni Mainz)

Außerdem gibt seriöse Studien, die sogar schon innerhalb weniger Minuten Bestrahlung mit 1 MilliWatt/m² (=1000 MikroWatt/m²) negative körperliche Reaktionen nachweisen.

Durch Mobilfunk-Feldstudien zeigte die Uni Wien auf, dass es sehr weit unterhalb von 1 MilliWatt (=1000 Mikrowatt/m²) zu Herz-Kreislauf-Problemen und Gedächtnisleistungsstörungen kommen kann.

Aufgrund des aktuellen Wissensstandes dürfte die Bevölkerung maximal nur mit 0,001 Milliwatt/m² (=1 MikroWatt/m²) bestrahlt werden. Dieser Wert wurde bereits im Oktober 1999 anlässlich des Elektrosmog-Forums in Bonn durch medizinische Ärzteverbände, Wissenschaftlern usw. von Umweltminister Trittin gefordert.

Dass bei dem Vorsorgewert von 0,001 MilliWatt/m² (=1 MikroWatt/m²) das Mobilfunk-Netz nicht mehr nach den Wünschen der Betreiber funktioniert ist bekannt. Wenn jemand konsequent die Sache zu Ende denkt, dann heißt es nicht, die Strahlenbelastung ist so weit zu reduzieren, dass die Technologie noch nach den Wünschen der Betreiber funktioniert, sondern richtig ist: wir müssen die Strahlenbelastung so weit senken, dass wir einen vernünftigen Gesundheitsschutz haben. Dann können wir sehen, ob bei diesen Werten die jetzige Technik noch nach den Wünschen der Betreiber funktioniert. Wenn nicht, dann muss eine ungefährliche Technik her. Erst die Gesundheit, dann das Geschäft.

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