Employees of the Republican-controlled Philadelphia Parking Authority said they were told by their superiors to contribute to the GOP, or risk losing their jobs...

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/news/print_09142004_nw_parkingauthority.html


From Information Clearing House

Noam Chomsky on Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest For Global Dominance

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5052.htm

Among the world's foremost experts in the field of international law, the overwhelming jurisprudential consensus is that the Anglo-American invasion, conquest, and occupation of Iraq constitute three phases of one illegal war of aggression...

http://207.44.245.159/article6917.htm


From Information Clearing House

Moyers on Secrecy in Government: ‘It’s Contagious, Scandalous, Toxic’
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0917-04.htm

Manipuliert: Gen-Mais soll zugelassen werden

17.09.04

Die Umweltorganisation Greenpeace hat Landwirtschaftsministerin Renate Künast aufgefordert, sich gegen die Marktzulassung des Gen-Mais MON 863 auszusprechen, über die am Montag in Brüssel abgestimmt wird. Die Sorte des Monsanto-Konzerns war im April 2004 ins Blickfeld der Öffentlichkeit geraten, als die französische Tageszeitung "Le Monde" darüber berichtet hatte. Anlass war eine Studie der Französischen Gentechnik Kommission CGB (Commission du Génie Biomoléculaire) aus der hervorgeht, dass bei Fütterungsversuchen an Ratten Blutwerte und Nieren Veränderungen im Vergleich zur Kontrollgruppe aufwiesen. Zu dem zuerst zugelassenen genetisch manipulierten (GM) Mais waren auch von deutschen Experten Bedenken wegen eines Antibiotikaresistenz-Gens geäußert worden. Trotz der aufgetretenen Abnormalitäten wurde der Gen-Mais von der europäischen Lebensmittelsicherheitsbehörde (EFSA) für unbedenklich erklärt.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php4?Nr=9322

Krieg nicht nachträglich legitimieren: Friedensinitiativen fordern Veto gegen NATO im Irak

17.09.04

Die Bundesregierung soll im NATO-Rat Widerspruch gegen einen Militäreinsatz im Irak einlegen. Organisationen aus der Friedensbewegung appellierten am Freitag, dem Druck der USA nicht nachzugeben. Eine Tendenzentscheidung in Richtung militärischen Engagements der NATO im Irak sei bereits Ende Juni beim Gipfel des Militärbündnisses in Istanbul gefällt worden. Jetzt bestehe jedoch noch eine Chance, dies im NATO-Rat zu verhindern.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php4?Nr=9324

Vogelschutzcamp ab 1. Oktober: Italien gibt Millionen geschützte Vögel zum Abschuss frei

17.09.04

Kurz vor dem offiziellen Beginn der Jagdsaison haben zahlreiche italienische Regionen den Abschuß und Fang von mehreren Millionen nach EU-Recht geschützten Zugvögeln erlaubt. So dürften allein im Veneto vom 19. September bis Ende Dezember ganz offiziell bis zu 6 Millionen Stare, 2,4 Millionen Buchfinken, 1,2 Millionen Bergfinken sowie mehr als 12 Millionen Sperlinge geschossen werden, so das Bonner Komitee gegen den Vogelmord. Ein entsprechendes Regionalgesetz wurde im August von Silvio Berlusconis Partei "Alleanza Nazionale" im Regionalparlament von Venedig vorgelegt und verabschiedet. Hinzu kommt eine große Zahl gewilderter Tiere. Naturschützer wollen der illegalen Jagd mit einem Vogelschutzcamp entgegentreten und Fallen abbauen.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php4?Nr=9329

A high level mission from Amnesty International arrived in Sudan this week to examine the current human rights crisis in the Darfur region and to press for measures to end this human rights catastrophe. The mission includes AI's Secretary General, Irene Kahn, and the Executive Director of Amnesty International USA, Bill Schulz. The delegation has met with senior members of the government of Sudan and Sudanese non-governmental organizations and civil society as well as individuals in camps for internally displaced people. The delegation is part of AI's ongoing work to alleviate the crisis and end human rights abuses.

Listen to an audio recording from Amnesty International USA Executive Director Bill Schulz on his visit to the town of Nyala. (requires Real player):
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=677776&l=9871

Read the transcript of Bill Schulz's recording:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=677776&l=9872

Read a summary of the delegation's visit to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp at Sissi, forty kilometers outside the town of al-Jeneina:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=677776&l=9873

BREAKING: U.S. Military Running Out of Guard, Reserve Troops
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/091604_guard_reserve.shtml

http://www.davidicke.com/icke/articles3/t-control.html


Informant: Romy

http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=19462


Informant: DitziSis

http://www.septembereleventh.org/newsarchive/2004-09-10-outrage.php


Informant: Nilbux

Secret Laws and YOU: Flight ID Rules Fuel Fresh Furor

Source:
http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,64866,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2

Flight ID Rules Fuel Fresh Furor

By Ryan Singel zzz|

02:00 AM Sep. 08, 2004 PT

Lawyers for privacy advocate John Gilmore, who is pursuing a lawsuit challenging the government's alleged requirement that airlines ask passengers for identification, are filing a motion late Tuesday seeking to keep the case open to public scrutiny.

The motion opposes the federal government's request to present its rebuttal of Gilmore's case to the court alone and in secret. Justice Department lawyers made the request (.pdf) to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Friday, saying that if the requirement to demand ID exists, it would be in a security directive that is classified as "sensitive security information" that it could not
reveal in open court. The government did say, however, it would also file a redacted version of its arguments publicly.

Gilmore first challenged the constitutionality of requiring airlines to ask passengers to show identification in U.S. District Court in San Francisco in July 2002, but the government refused to tell that court whether the rule existed.

However, the government acknowledged that if the requirement did exist, it would be in a secret security directive that would have to be challenged in an appeals court.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston heeded that argument when she finally dismissed the original lawsuit on jurisdictional grounds in March, 14 months after hearing arguments in the case. Illston ruled that "federal law vests exclusive jurisdiction in the Court of Appeals over an order issued by the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) or FAA (Federal Aviation Administration)."

Gilmore appealed the dismissal in mid-August.

Jim Harrison, one of Gilmore's attorneys, lambasted the government's latest request and called it "radical" in Tuesday's filing.

"Secret court proceedings about secret laws make for a dangerous environment," Harrison said in a phone interview. "Just take a look at history."

Lucy Dalgish, executive director of The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, described the government's request for a secret hearing, in which Gilmore's attorneys would not be present, as "absolutely ridiculous."

But she said she was not surprised, given the growing number of secret hearings post-9/11.

"This is a government and administration that places an incredibly high value on secrecy," Dalgish said. "All brilliant legal arguments aside, what do they think they are doing? This has gotten to the point of being nutty."

A Justice Department representative did not return a call for comment.

A spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration -- which is responsible for classifying security directives related to transportation -- was unable to provide comment by press time.

Harrison also argues in his filing that the government should not be allowed to introduce new evidence in the appeals court, which traditionally reviews the merits of a lower court's decision without allowing new evidence.

Government lawyers asked the appeals court to rule on its motion for the secret hearing by Sept. 15, which is the deadline for the government's response to Gilmore's appeal.

The case is known as Gilmore v. Ashcroft.


"FREEDOM THROUGH COMPLIANCE"
-US Department of Homeland Security
http://welcome.to/HomelandSecurity1


Informant: Jeff Greenspan

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0915-03.htm


Informant: Pam

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-ed-emissions12sep12,1,5328353.story

The Union of Concerned Scientists plans to release a study Monday explaining the ways global warming is changing California. The report predicts a rise in average summer temperatures of up to 5.5 degrees by mid-century, far higher than previous studies have projected. Even the scientists' most optimistic scenario, a temperature rise of only 2 degrees, could cause a host of economically damaging effects, such as the premature ripening of wine grapes.

Already, global warming is drying up water sources (such as the Sierra Nevada snowpack, which is melting earlier than usual). It may also be helping some tropical diseases, such as West Nile virus, migrate north.

California may soon become the first state to curb vehicle tailpipe emissions, which after power plant emissions are the key fossil-fuel pollutants responsible for the rapid acceleration of global warming. On Sept. 23, the state's Air Resources Board is scheduled to order that new vehicles sold in the state cut their greenhouse gas emissions 30% by 2016. California, however, will get nowhere without Washington's help, and that doesn't seem forthcoming. Congress, apparently buying into the ridiculous junk-science argument that global warming is a natural phenomenon that people can do little to thwart, is poised to pass spending bills for fiscal 2005 that will only worsen the problem.

Legislators should reconsider in light of a study presented to them Aug. 25 by President Bush's own science advisor and the secretaries of Energy and Commerce. It concluded that man-made emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases, not Mother Nature, had caused most of the increase in temperatures around the globe over the last three decades. Last month, various science officials abroad, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair's top science advisor, former United Nations chief weapons inspector Hans Blix and Canada's environment minister, went even further, characterizing global warming as a far greater threat in the coming decades than terrorism.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) should use his new pull with Bush to pressure Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) to schedule a vote on the Climate Stewardship Act. This modest and pragmatic bill, which McCain co-authored with Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), would require U.S. industrial plants to cut pollution from burning fossil fuels to 2000 levels by 2010.

More immediately, Congress should stop the phaseout of the tax deduction given to people who buy hybrid cars. The deduction started at $2,000 in 2002, but dropped to $1,500 this year and will fall to nothing in 2007 without new funding. Meanwhile, current tax rules heap obscene rewards on those who drive the least fuel-efficient cars on the road. One tax break, for example, gives business owners a deduction of up to $100,000 if they buy SUVs weighing 6,000 pounds or more. The $2 billion over 10 years that it would take to fully restore funding for the "clean"-hybrid tax deduction could be found by nixing some of the $9 billion in tax incentives that pending appropriations bills give to the "dirty" oil and gas industries.

Those opposed to decisive measures to reduce fossil fuel emissions argue that even if all of them were enacted tomorrow, they would still only slow, not stop, global warming. Even if that's true, it's no excuse for inaction. As any successful insurance executive will attest, risk may be unavoidable but dangers can be foreseen and thwarted. Or to put it more colloquially, it's cheaper to be safe than sorry.


Informant: ItalysBadBoy

by James Bovard

AlterNet

09/17/04

George Bush is seeking re-election as the Hero of 9/11 and as the Strong Leader against terrorism. At the recent Republican convention, speaker after speaker portrayed Bush's reaction on and shortly after 9/11 as an entitlement to extending Bush's power over the American people. Perhaps never before has a president sought a second term by endlessly hyping the catastrophic failures of his first four years in office. On both 9/11 and Iraq, the Bush campaign team long ago decided that truth is a luxury American voters can no longer afford...

http://www.alternet.org/election04/19914/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Houston Chronicle

09/17/04

A team of international observers will go to five states beginning Friday to monitor preparations for the Nov. 2 presidential election... Florida, Ohio, Arizona, Missouri and Georgia...

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/politics/2799842


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Dodge City Daily Globe

09/16/04

A federal judge has ordered the Pentagon to find and make public by next week any unreleased files about President Bush's Vietnam-era Air National Guard service to resolve a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by The Associated Press. U.S. District Judge Harold Baer Jr. handed down the order late Wednesday in New York. The AP lawsuit already has led to the disclosure of previously unreleased flight logs from Bush's days piloting F-102A fighters and other jets...

http://tinyurl.com/495ld


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

GIs claim threat: Re-enlist or be sent back to Iraq

Rocky Mountain News

09/16/04

Soldiers from a Fort Carson combat unit say they have been issued an ultimatum -- re-enlist for three more years or be transferred to other units expected to deploy to Iraq. Hundreds of soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team were presented with that message and a re-enlistment form in a series of assemblies last Thursday, said two soldiers who spoke on condition of anonymity. ... A Fort Carson spokesman said Wednesday that 3rd Brigade recruitment officers denied threatening the soldiers with Iraq duty. 'I can only tell you what the retention officers told us: The soldiers were not being told they will go to Iraq, but they may go to Iraq,' said the spokesman, who gave that explanation before being told later to direct all inquiries to the Pentagon...

http://tinyurl.com/5vog8


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The Ecologist magazine, 17th September 2004, has an excellent 12-page article on TETRA, the communications system for the UK police from Airwave MM02. As many of your readers will now, this system uses modulation frequencies that are widely believed to be seriously harmful (as indicated in the Stewart Report).

A full copy of the Ecologist article is viewable from the home page of my website http://www.starweave.com/ecologist/ together with much information on this and other mobile communications health issues: http://www.starweave.com

Regards
(Dr) Grahame Blackwell

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3024785.stm


Informant: DitziSis

The Earth is Melting, Arctic Native Leader Warns
http://tinyurl.com/62ayy