Verschiedene Studien haben bis heute belegt, dass Mobilfunk (dazu zählen auch die schnurlosen DECT-Telefone) für eine ganze Reihe von Symptomen verantwortlich sein kann.

Zu diesen Symptomen können u.a. zählen:

* Kopfschmerzen
* Schlafstörungen
* Gedächtnisstörungen
* Lernstörungen
* Antriebslosigkeit
* Müdigkeit
* Hyperaktivität
* Nervosität
* Innere Unruhe
* Depressionen
* Schilddrüsenfunktionsstörungen
* Autoimmunerkrankungen
* die Bildung bösartiger Tumore

Fast jede Erkrankung kann durch Mobilfunk verursacht oder vestärkt werden.

Zuerst erkranken im Organismus immer die Körperbereiche, die genetisch bedingte Schwachstellen darstellen.

Mobilfunk schwächt den gesamten Zellstoffwechsel. Alle Enzymaktivitäten werden deutlich herabgesetzt. Aufgrund dieser Tatsache ist es den Zellen nicht mehr möglich, die Stoffwechselendprodukte ordnungsgemäß aus dem Zellinneren abzutransportieren. Das heisst, der Organismus verschlackt zunehmend. Diese primäre Verschlackung wird durch die Problematik der Umweltgifte, die täglich in stetig zunehmender Weise auf unseren Organismus einwirken, sekundär verstärkt.

Neben der nachlassenden Enzymaktivität wird auch die Hormonproduktion beeinträchtigt. Am Beispiel der Hormonproduktion des Pankreas (Bauchspeicheldrüse) heisst dies, dass man an Diabetes mellitus erkrankt.

Sämtliche Drüsenfunktionen werden im Organismus durch Mobilfunk geschwächt. Dies betrifft vor allem die Thymusdrüse, die Hirnanhangdrüse (Hypophyse) und die Zirbeldrüse (Epiphyse). Dies hat weitreichende Folgen, nämlich die Schwächung des gesamten Hormon- und Immunsytems. Mobilfunk ist u.a. ein großer Faktor für die deutliche Zunahme von Allergien.

An dieser Stelle möchten wir das Thema "Mobilfunk" jedoch nicht weiter erörtern und auf den Verein Bürgerwelle e.V. verweisen. Dieser Verein beschäfftigt sich ausführlich und sehr intensiv mit dem brisanten und umstrittenem Thema "Schädlichkeit des Mobilfunks": http://www.buergerwelle.de

http://www.widrat.net/start.php?subID=2&pageID=215


Mobilfunk und Gesundheit
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/303598/

Übersäuerung des Blutes. Durch magnetische Felder entsteht eine Übersäuerung des Blutes, was wiederum eine Freisetzung von stresserzeugenden Stickoxiden bewirkt. Zugleich werden diese für die Leistungsfähigkeit wichtigen Stoffe verbraucht und stehen dann nicht mehr zu Verfügung, wenn sie benötigt werden. In Verbindung mit Melatoninmangel entsteht eine ständige Stresssituation, die schließlich die Betroffenen immer sensibler selbst für sehr schwache elektromagnetische Felder werden lässt.

http://www.elektrosmog.com/servlets/sfs;jsessionid=FFF5036A42AB2D2328F8A9619C7CFB25?s=08EECg5h2jC8wKH7G&t=/contentManager/onStory&i=1075375582041&b=1075375582041&l=1&active=no&ParentID=0&StoryID=1077726564797



Geldrollenphänomen: Wenn das Blut verklebt, drohen Herzinfarkt und Schlaganfall
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/363208/

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

ForumMobil diffamiert Schwedischen Top-Wissenschafter
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/509687/

Forscher und Forschungsergebnisse von der Industrie bezahlt
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/281056/

Der Boom in der High-Tech-Industrie, namentlich die Flut immer neuer und immer komplexerer Mobilfunkgeräte hat bedenkliche Folgen - nicht nur gesundheitliche für sogenannte "Dauertelefonierer", die sich einem erhöhten Krebsrisiko aussetzen, oder mit Blick auf den stetig zunehmenden Elektro-Smog. Im Kongo heizt die Nachfrage nach Rohstoffen für die Herstellung von Handys einen blutigen Bürgerkrieg an und bedroht außerdem die Existenz eines Naturschutzgebietes, in dem eine ohnehin gefährdete Tiergattung vor der völligen Ausrottung steht.

Coltan (Columbit- Tantalit) ist ein seltenes Erz, aus dem das enorm hitze- und säurebeständige Edelmetall Tantal gewonnen wird. "Wie nutzloser schwarzer Schlamm sieht das Zeug aus - nichts, was auf den ersten Blick lohnt", schreibt die Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) in ihrer Ausgabe vom 23. Juni 2001. Coltan ist für westliche Firmen kein "neuer" Rohstoff. Im High-Tech-Bereich findet es seit langem Verwendung, etwa für Nachtsichtgeräte, im Flugzeugbau oder in der Rüstungsindustrie. Unverzichtbar aber ist Coltan bzw. Tantal vor allem für die Herstellung von Mikro-Prozessoren, wie sie einen Computer in Gang halten - oder eben ein Handy. Heute ist Coltan einer der begehrtesten Rohstoffe der Welt. Allein im Jahr 2000 stieg der Preis für ein Kilo Coltan nach Angaben des Diane Fossey Gorilla Fund von 30 auf über 550 (!) Pfund, umgerechnet etwa 1760 Mark. Für die Menschen in verarmten und ausgebluteten Kongo eine geradezu märchenhafte Geldquelle!

Aber auch die Parteien des Bürgerkrieges, dem nach Schätzungen bisher etwa 2,5 Millionen Menschen zum Opfer fielen, profitieren von den Coltan-Vorkommen im Kahuzi-Biega-Nationalpark im östlichen Kongo. Über die Nachbarländer Burundi, Uganda und Ruanda läuft längst ein schwunghafter Handel mit dem kostbaren Metall, an dem auch deutsche Firmen beteiligt sind. Einem aktuellen UN-Bericht zufolge hat allein die ruandische Armee in 18 Monaten mindestens 250 Millionen Dollar am Handel mit Coltan verdient. Die UN- Experten nennen Coltan einen "Motor des Krieges" und verlangen vom UN-Sicherheitsrat weitreichende Boykottmaßnahmen gegen den Import des Metalls aus den genannten Ländern. "Wer Coltan aus dem Kongo verwendet", weiß auch Dr. Sandra Altherr, Sprecherin der Naturschutzorganisation Pro Wildlife, "finanziert nicht nur einen der schlimmsten Kriege weltweit, sondern auch die systematische Ausrottung der dortigen Gorillas". Denn der Kahuzi-Biega-Nationalpark ist letztes Refugium der Grau-Gorillas, einer eindrucksvollen, aber vollkommen friedlichen und rein vegetarischen Menschenaffenart. Der ohnehin beängstigend magere Bestand ist mittlerweile von 8000 auf 1000 (!) Tiere zurückgegangen - kein Wunder, hat doch der enorme Preisanstieg des "nutzlosen schwarzen Schlamms" im Kongo einen wahren "Coltan-Rausch" ausgelöst, "einen Ansturm von rund 15.000 Bergarbeitern, Händlern, Prostituierten und Kriminellen", so der Diane Fossey Gorilla Fund, die das Metall in illegalen Mienen im Dschungel des Nationalparks abbauen. Die Grau-Gorilla werden nicht nur aus ihrem Lebensraum verdrängt oder als angebliche Bedrohung für die Arbeiter abgeschossen, sie stehen auch durchaus auf der Speisekarte der "Coltan-Jäger". Dr. Altherr vermutet, daß weder die Regierung in Kinshasa noch die Rebellen der RDC-Goma, die das Gebiet gegenwärtig kontrollieren, sonderlich betrübt sind über diesen Zustand: "Es ist nicht auszuschließen, daß die Zerstörung der Artenvielfalt im Kahuzi-Biega-Nationalpark von den Kriegsparteien sogar gewollt ist. Denn wenn der Nationalpark verwüstet und wertlos geworden ist, steht das lästige Schutzstatut einer Nutzung des Gebietes nicht mehr länger im Wege".

http://www.graswurzel.net/261/handys.shtml

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Coltan Mining: No Blood On My Mobile
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/781281/

Ein Gespräch mit dem Anwalt W. Kaleck, der im Auftrag des Center for Constitutional Rights einen Strafantrag beim Generalbundesanwalt gegen US-Verteidigungsminister Rumsfeld eingereicht hat...

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/18/18942/1.html

02.12.04

Der Wald und seine Böden sind geschädigt wie noch nie. Die aktuellen Berichte über die rapide zunehmenden Waldschäden in den Bundesländern decken schonungslos auf, was Wissenschaftler und Forst-Experten schon länger beklagen: In unseren Waldböden ticken Zeitbomben mit verheerenden Wirkungen. Die zunehmenden Schadstoffe im Waldboden gefährden massiv den Trinkwasserspeicher Wald. Gleichzeitig lässt die Bereitschaft der Politik immer mehr nach, mit Bodenschutzkalkungen offensiv gegen die fortschreitende Versauerung der Waldböden vorzugehen.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php4?Nr=9908
http://www.ngo-online.de/leserbriefe_zuartikel.php4?Nr=9908&Vortitel=Baumsterben&Titel=Versauerung%20der%20Waldb%F6den%20gef%E4hrdet%20Trinkwasser

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"Elektrosmog": So‘n Quatsch! Ist ja gar nix zu sehen. - Eben doch, die sogenannte Funkschneise, nämlich das Absterben der Bäume in der Umgebung starker Sender, ist den Richtfunkern schon seit den dreißiger Jahren bekannt, die Schäden in der Natur hat man neuerdings stattdessen gerne dem sauren Regen in die Schuhe geschoben (übrigens als Folge des Autoverkehrs und natürlich nicht der Industrie), dabei fanden die ersten großen Waldsterben weit ab von Autobahnen und Industriezentren statt, nämlich im Schwarzwald und auf dem Brocken, wo die gewaltigen Lauschantennen der Allierten standen. Mobilfunk ist nach einer Studie der Betreiber selbst(!), die gegen ihren Willen von den beauftragten Wissenschaftlern veröffentlicht wurde, hochgesundheitschädlich!

http://www.station23.de/51022woerterbuchEbisH.html
unter E>>Elektrosmog


siehe dazu auch:

Der Mensch verwandelt die Erde in einen Mikrowellen–Ofen
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/189709/

Mobilfunk und Klimawandel - Globale Erwärmung
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/365607/

Als das Netz nach Grönland kam
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1174798/

Schäden an Bäumen durch Mikrowellen
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/522990/

Waldsterben und Elektrosmog
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/365522/

Radar, Natel und Richtfunk
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/533077/

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Umweltverschmutzung: Zustand der Wälder so schlecht wie vor 20 Jahren (08.12.04)

Noch nie seit Beginn der alljährlichen Waldschadenserhebungen vor über 20 Jahren ging es dem Wald so schlecht. Dies belegt der am Mittwoch von Bundesverbraucherministerin Renate Künast vorgestellte Waldzustandsbericht 2004. 72 Prozent aller Waldflächen in Deutschland sind erkennbar geschädigt. Ein Drittel der Wälder sind sogar besonders stark angegriffen. Umweltverbände und Waldbesitzer sehen in der deutlichen Zunahme der Waldschäden eine Folge jahrzehntelanger Belastungen der Bäume und des Bodens mit Säuren, Stickstoff, Schwermetallen und Abgasen. Hauptquellen für die hohen Schadstoffeinträge seien Verkehr und Landwirtschaft.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php4?Nr=9955

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Waldsterben und Luftverschmutzung

China und Indien werden zum Problem für die zarten Ansätze der Reduktion des Ausstoßes von Treibhausgasen nach dem Kyoto-Abkommen...

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/18/18991/1.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1363399,00.html


Informant: Lourdes Leger

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/articles/2004/12/01/voting_errors_tallied_nationwide/?rss_id=Boston.com%20/%20News%20/%20Politics%20/%20Recent%20Globe%20coverage


Informant: Diana Davies

http://www.politicalstrategy.org/archives/000869.php


Informant: civl ecco

http://tinyurl.com/3npj8

Wild Horses need your Help
http://www.livelogcity.com/users/omega/7877.html

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Beastly Behavior

Having gained the dazed complicity of a somnolent Congress, U.S. President George W. Bush calmly signed a death warrant for thousands upon thousands of innocent victims: a native population whose land and resources were coveted by a small group of powerful elites seeking to augment their already vast dominance by any means necessary, including mass slaughter.

http://context.themoscowtimes.com/story/138734/


From Information Clearing House

--------

CROSS POSTING APPRECIATED ...

----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, December 17, 2004 10:02 AM
Subject: National Emergency Wild Horse Meeting (Tentative)


This is a preliminary roll call for the upcoming National Emergency Wild Horse Meeting.

As most of you know, Karen Sussman of ISPMB is organizing an emergency meeting of wild horse and humane organizations. This meeting should be held prior to Congress reconvening on January 4. BLM has started gathering 2,000 more horses and there is reason to believe that the "disposal" of excess animals may begin as early as January 15.

Karen is out of the office today (Friday) and time is short so I'm helping with some logistic preparations.

The preferred dates for the meeting are January 2 and 3, 2005.

The preferred meeting place at this time is Reno - Carson City.

January 2nd will primarily involve identification of problems and discussions as to potential solutions.

January 3rd will primarily involve detailed action plans and task assignments for the various participating groups. (Note, transcripts will be available for delegates not able to remain for the Monday meeting.)

It is imperative that the wild horse groups get organized, coordinated and work cooperatively to ensure maximum impact. (The standard argument of anti-horse people is, "You can't get three horse groups into a room together and get them to agree on anything." We need to dispel that myth here and now.)

Northwestern Nevada is currently the first choice venue for several reasons.

1. The venue is closest to most of the smaller groups and smaller groups typically have the greatest difficulty funding air fares for delegates.

2. The Reno airport is readily accessible.

3. A historically "horse friendly" casino in Carson City, just down from the capitol, has tentatively offered a meeting room at no charge and can provide quality food and beverages to delegates at some of the most reasonable prices in town.

4. Area wild horse groups can help with ground transportation and even lodging for delegates on a tight budget.

5. Most of the northwestern nevada news media have taken a pretty decent pro-horse position since Senator Burns has made the wild horse issue newsworthy.

6. Carson City is the capitol of the state that holds most of America's free-roaming horses.

7. Governor Guynn contributed to this mess by formally requesting more money from Senator Burns to gather wild horses. He and his staff need to personally witness some formidable opposition.

8. The region's wild horse groups can conduct a variety of ancillary activities designed to draw additional attention to the meeting and the issues under discussion.

9. Nevada's wild horse groups have been vigilant and out in the public eye every week for a year, in blazing heat, rain and snow. Holding the meeting in northwestern Nevada is an appropriate tribute to their steadfastness and diligence.

We need to organize quickly so delegates traveling long distances can take advantage of lower advance reservation air fares.

At this point we need an idea as to which groups wish to send delegates, how many, what their needs are, etc. Therefore I am initiating a simple survey to determine what logistic needs there are to convene this meeting.

Please send me an email to mailto:willis@kbrhorse.net with the information asked for below. I will merge the responses into a report for Karen.

Please also remember that this is only a planning survey. Responding does not constitute a commitment on anyone's part, but rather it gives us an idea as to the resources needed for this meeting. Please also note that Karen Sussman will be the person to confirm the final date and location of the meeting so please wait for formal word from her.

SURVEY: (Please copy and paste into your reply email.)

Name of Organization:
(None is an acceptable response for non-affiliated individuals)

Contact Name:

Email:

Phone:

Number of delegates expected:

Need ground transportation?

Can you afford hotel lodging?

Need help with reservations?

Need a host family (if you can't afford a hotel?)

You can attend:

Both Sunday and Monday

Sunday only

Do you wish to be kept apprised of further developments?



Thanks for your prompt response.

Please also note that I don't have the email addresses for all of the wild horse and humane groups who may be interested in attending this meeting. Please forward this message to other responsible groups so that nobody inadvertently gets left out of the poll, and subsequently of the formal notification of this meeting if these tentative plans take shape.

Also if you are aware of any responsible groups who are not on the internet but wish to participate, feel free to forward their information in addition to your own.

It's up to us and the time to act is now. Thanks for your consideration and faithful participation!

Willis Lamm, President
LRTC Wild Horse Mentors

Save our Horses and Burros - BOYCOTT BEEF - EAT SOMETHING ELSE!!!

http://www.kbrhorse.net/news/eatsomethingelse.html


Informant: Lotus

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Wild Horses need our Help

As you know, over 14,000 wild horses lives hang in the balance as we begin the New Year. The appropriations bill passed with rider #142 attached that literally gutted the protections in the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act and will allow for the slaughter of thousands upon thousands of wild horses.

URGENT: Here is how you can help-

Pass this e-mail along to as many people as you know asking them to e-mail us their support and helping us attain one million e-mail addresses.

Link our web site to your web site. http://www.ispmb.org

Write a letter to the following Congressional people. This letter should be received in Congress between January 4th through the 7th, 2005. This should be letter and not e-mail. Our goal is to have Congress flooded with one million letters of support for America’s wild horses.

1. Your two Senators and Representative http://www.congress.org

2. Senator Conrad Burns who sponsored the rider.

3. Senator Harry Reid who assisted with the rider.

Please visit our website for a sample letter and to access complete details of the wild horse crisis: http://www.ispmb.org/sampleletter.shtml

The ISPMB invites you to attend a Wild Horse Emergency Alliance meeting to be held in Carson City, Nevada on January 2nd and 3rd. The conference will be a national meeting of various wild horse and animal welfare groups (both large and small) and non-affiliated individuals who have an interest in saving wild horse and burros.

We are grateful for your support! Together I know we can make a difference.

Sincerely,

Karen A. Sussman
President, ISPMB
PO Box 55
Lantry, SD 57636
Tel: 605.964.6866
Cell: 605.365.6991

Saving America's Wild Horses & Burros since 1960

http://www.ispmb.org

http://www.iammagginkat.com/Newsletter.htm


Informant: civl ecco

http://www.hillsenatenow.org/


Informant: civl ecco

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/120204V.shtml


Informant: Shanti Renfrew

After attending my first "Action Speaks Portland" meeting last night, I was invited by the groups founders to attend and participate in an intimate discussion with the Public Editor of our states largest newspaper The Oregonian. I am unsure of how I was chosen, there were approximately 60-75 people at last nights meeting and I was virtually a stranger to them all. There were 6 of us that attended the meeting with the Editor this morning and I feel it was a privilege to be invited. It is not often that you get an audience like that in times like these.

Our goal was to bridge the gap between local media and the various groups we represented, to share our resources and become resources ourselves so that the election story can be told clearly and consistently. More importantly, to help them help us find our voice in the media.

Michael Arietta-Walden is the Public Editor who was gracious enough to invite us and listen. He gave us nearly two full hours of his time - this was huge! He was very open to what we had to say - we shared our thoughts and feelings, and he acknowledged our complaints and concerns about the serious lack of proper media coverage from the local level on up. We provided fact checked, reputably sourced information on the voting "irregularities", transcripts from CNN's coverage of Bev Harris and even the transcript of Olberman's interview with Blackwell - this was added to show that not only are we looking at all sides, we also need to hold Blackwell accountable to hold true to his word when saying he nor his office would impede nor interfere with an Ohio recount and that there would in fact be a recount. We brought timelines of what the Green and Libertarian Parties have done thus far and included yesterdays press release of Kerry's long over due involvement in the coming recount.

Additionally we brought the Cal Berkeley study for his scrutiny - all of which should be front page stories across the Nation.

The Editor is planning a serious Editorial this Sunday based on the information we shared at this meeting and will be coming to speak to a large group of people we assemble - date to be announced. There looks to be future meetings with he and other Editors. He has provided us with the names and email addresses of divisional Editors (National, Political, Placement, etc.) as well as a personal introduction to them to help pave the way for more fluid correspondence and cooperation.

As the meeting came to an end I was even able to give him reputable information on the Project for the New American Century prefaced by a personal letter to me from Rep. Peter DeFazio - who the Oregonian and Oregonians alike trust and respect. The letter from DeFazio not only acknowledges that the PNAC is real but that it is critical for the American people to know more about them and their connection and influence over the Bush administration.

A genuine door of opportunity has opened and I am grateful to be a part of today's efforts to save tomorrow's democracy.

thisischer


Informant: D. Cinelli

Please get the word out FAR AND WIDE!

http://www.51capitalmarch.com/


Informant: Heidi Chesney

My question is when will professionals in this field - and science in general - roll up their sleeves and pinpoint WHY there is a mental health epidemic in children and teens in this country?

Is it the water? The flouride? The mercury in the vaccines? The chemtrails? Or some kind of toxic cocktail of all of the above? Or is it the msg that we, their parents, ingested as fast as we could get our hands in and out of the bags of snack foods that came out in the 60's and 70's? Could it be the elevated amounts of refined sugar we ingested? OR could it be pre-aspartame - saccharin??

OR is it HAARP, microwaves, radar, or electromagnetic field surges? Is it the mind tickling marketing techniques of our major toy and video game manufacturers? Or the japanimation in our children's fav cartoons???

What I'm saying is - what the hell is going on here? Yes, I'm sure now that "we" are on a roll, there are misdiagnoses of ADD/ADHD by the scores - and pills are most times the professionals' treatment. But the fact is, ALOT of kids are in deep trouble - reports of straight A students snapping like twigs, suicides, homicides, depression, fear/paranoia. This is real and there is a reason. When will they get down to business and really find the reason?

Peace - Anna



ADD & ADHD
Epidemic of a Phantom Disease
http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/ADHDisbogus.html


Informant: Sylviane



The Truth Behind ADHD
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/409851/

Fifty Organizations Come Together to Denounce “Big Brother”
”Right now, a conference committee of House and Senate Republicans is deciding whether or not to do the unthinkable. They would impose a national ID card on citizens of the United States,” warns Tom DeWeese, president of the American Policy Center, adding, “They must hear from us.” ”A national ID card would be Big Brother at its worst. The entire lives of every American, including medical history, job history, marital history, financial history, credit history. Everything could end up in a central federal database. Data about your entire life would be at the fingertips of faceless bureaucrats. ”There is no greater threat to our personal security and liberty than a national ID system,” says DeWeese, who is calling on supporters of the Center to contact seven key Senators and five key Representatives, all Republicans, to have any ID card language stripped from S. 2845 and H.R. 10.

The Center’s Executive Director, Peyton Knight, says, “John McCain has once again wandered off the reservation. Under the guise of fighting terrorism, he and many other Big Brother proponents in the House and Senate are pushing hard to pass a backdoor, de facto, national ID card. This is an unprecedented violation of our privacy rights guaranteed in the Constitution.

http://www.michnews.com/artman/publish/article_5732.shtml


From:
Aftermath News
Top Stories - December 2nd, 2004

There were thousands of reported incidents and problems with electronic voting systems on Election Day. In Florida alone there were more than 4,369 incidents of voting problems reported to Voteprotect.org.

For example, in Carteret County, N.C., thousands of votes were lost, while in Sarpy County, Neb., a single voting machine recorded 10,000 extra votes. In Carteret County, the Associated Press reported, “a voting machine used to store electronic ballots ran out of storage space” and 4,438 votes “disappeared.” Because the electronic voting machines used in Carteret County do not count or create a paper ballot, the disappeared votes were irretrievably lost. While the mainstream media is certainly aware of these incidents and the flaws inherent in computerized voting systems, it has come out after the election in support of such unverifiable voting systems. An article by Wyatt Buchanan in The San Francisco Chronicle of Nov. 11 provides a good example of how the corporate-controlled press supports unverifiable voting systems even while reporting their failures.

http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/tens_of_thousands.html


From:
Aftermath News
Top Stories - December 2nd, 2004

Ahmed Ghanim's nightmarish week began as Iraqi national guardsmen and US Marines entered the city's general hospital, handcuffed the doctors and forced patients out to the car park. The guardsmen "stole the mobile phones, the hospital safe where the money is kept and damaged the ambulances and cars," said Dr Ghanim, an orthopedic surgeon. "The Americans were more sympathetic with the hospital staff and ... untied the doctors and allowed them to go outside with the patients." But the worst was yet to come as the bombing came closer to the city centre. "I was doing amputations for many patients. But I am an orthopedic surgeon; if a patient came to me with an abdominal injury, I could do nothing," he said, close to tears. "We would bring the patient in and we would have to let him die." Electricity to the city was cut. There was no water, no food, no fluids for the patients, Dr Ghanim said. But patients kept coming. "We were treating everyone. There were women, children, mujahids. I don't ask someone if they are a fighter before I treat them. I just take care of them," he said. Late Tuesday, a bomb struck one side of the triage centre. Dr Ghanim ran out of the building. A second bomb landed, crashing through the roof and destroying most of the facility.

Dr Ghanim believes it killed at least two or three of the young resident doctors working there and most of the patients. "At that moment, I wished to die," he said. "It was a catastrophe."

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/11/15/1100384499066.html?oneclick=true


From:
Aftermath News
Top Stories - December 2nd, 2004

Inside the Government’s Secret, Corporate-Run Mega-Database

"When enough insignificant data is gathered and analyzed…IT BECOMES SIGNIFICANT"

In what civil liberties advocates call the most massive database surveillance program in US history, the Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange, or Matrix, continues to compile billions of records on law-abiding citizens and receive federal funding, despite public outcry and suspicion. A Florida-based company, Seisint, Inc., created the database shortly after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 by combining the company’s own commercial databases with law enforcement records. Now law enforcement officials in participating states can comb the database to investigate ordinary crimes and terrorist threats. Matrix contains an unprecedented amount of information: current and past addresses and phone numbers, arrest records, real estate information, photographs of neighbors and business associates, car make, model and color, marriage and divorce records, voter registration records, hunting and fishing licenses, and more. For example, a user could identify all brown-haired divorced male residents of Minneapolis who drive a red Toyota Camry and are registered to vote. The data can then be displayed in "social networking charts," showing connections between individuals, photo line-ups and "target maps," according to internal Seisint documents obtained by The New Standard after a Freedom of Information Act request by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). One of the documents boasts, "When enough insignificant data is gathered and analyzed…IT BECOMES SIGNIFICANT."

Seisint sells database access to individual states. Sixteen states went through a pilot program, but after negative media coverage and concern from citizens, politicians, and even law enforcement officials, all but Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Ohio have decided to stop using Matrix.

http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=662


From:
Aftermath News
Top Stories - December 2nd, 2004

Passengers should vehemently protest these ridiculous Transportation Security Administration bully airport screeners' pat-down searches and write to their congressmen. Furthermore, more should complain by asking for the TSA screener's name and badge number. It's gone way too far. The TSA is more based on people who have watched way too much TV and fantasized about cop shows. I can tell you that in most other places in the world, like western Europe for instance, they do not embarrass you or treat you so poorly as here. Does it tell you something when they have a curtained booth if they desire to wand you further (i.e. Switzerland)? I fly over 120,000 miles yearly worldwide on many airlines. These screeners are having too good of a time with their "Barney Fife" and such a bully mentality. They are not "just doing their jobs" as they remark. Hogwash. If they were serious about thwarting terrorism, they'd do things like conduct mini-interviews and ask intelligent questions to seek responses and observe one's behavior, like they do in Israel, in which they're excellent and highly successful at it. Of course that would be beyond the 10 minute maximum wait Mr. Norman Mineta had wanted when this TSA was formed. Forget that logic of interviews. And, the newer U.S.-visit program? I wonder how many of our western European friends we've run off from visiting or conducting business on our soil? Fingerprinting, photographing and treating them like criminals, too. Ridiculous for such lower risk persons. I wouldn't come here if I didn't have to. Three years past 9-11 and we still haven't learned squat on handling people at the country's airports. I think we're becoming a police state.

Thanks for re-electing wonderful Georgy Bush folks! Another four years, oh boy.


From:
Aftermath News
Top Stories - December 2nd, 2004


http://makeashorterlink.com/?A11653BE9

Hundreds of children and teenagers held in juvenile detention facilities in New Jersey are there illegally, kept for months without basic medical care in locked quarters that are severely overcrowded and leave them vulnerable to episodes of violence, according to a report by the independent monitor of the state's child welfare system.

The report, issued by the Office of the Child Advocate, which was created last year after the state's child welfare system scandal, is based on a yearlong investigation that had access to confidential government records. It amounts to a damning portrait of the 17 county detention facilities that together house more than 10,000 adolescents a year. The report found that fully a quarter of the youths held in detention facilities, many of them suffering from mental health problems, were there simply because the state could not find a more appropriate setting, such as a hospital or foster home. And in what the report called a "cruel irony,'' scores of them stayed four months longer on average than the sentences served by the adolescents who had been sent there for committing crimes.
The counties, according to the report, often failed to provide the most troubled youths in the facilities with rudimentary mental health care. Evaluations often were not done in some county juvenile jails; in others, mental health care was provided by drug and alcohol counselors, not doctors.

http://www.infowars.com/articles/ps/nj_children_jailed.htm


From:
Aftermath News
Top Stories - December 2nd, 2004

Please Forward -

Friends,

It's been a while since my last email. I've been busy with family, holiday, and travel. But the election story hasn't gone away, in fact it's gained quite a bit of steam (with zero help from the media).

In the last few days, Jesse Jackson been holding rallies all over Ohio to raise awareness of the voting "irregularities" (fraud). In a speech on Sunday, he revealed that he had talked to John Kerry who expressed his support for the investigation and recount efforts.

Today this was confirmed, as the Kerry team filed official papers to intervene in a legal battle in the state. As many of you know, the Green and Libertarian party candidates have filed for a recount in Ohio.

Judges have since filed a restraining order on them, basically stating that their recount request is not valid, because they were not close enough in the election that a recount could make a difference to them in any way.

This goes against the Ohio constitution, which states any candidate can file for a recount, as long as they were on the ballot. Still, the judges have ignored this statute and have silenced the recount request. But if a candidate that was close enough to be affected by a recount were to file such a request, their ruling would not apply. Can anyone think of such a candidate that could be affected by a recount?

"John Kerry, reporting for duty."

Today the Cobb (Green Party) campaign announced that the Kerry team has filed legal papers to intervene with the Judge's ruling. This is a major development and represents the first legal action by the Kerry team. It will not be the last. Please check the SolarBus website for a link to this breaking story.

And that's not all. Bev Harris has filed a second lawsuit in Florida, this one against election officials in Palm Beach County, which is normally a democratic stronghold but mysteriously was more for Bush than anyone expected. It appears that they have ignored her Freedom of Information Act request for the audit logs of the electronic voting machines there, and that is against the law. Check the website for a great story of how

Bev sneaked in to to a meeting to deliver the legal papers to the defendants.

There is also a developing story about a man named Wayne Madsen, who claims to have smoking gun evidence of a $29 million check that was used to finance the vote rigging operation. Some are concerned that this story could be a plant, because if it becomes a big story and then was proven false, it would raise doubts about the entire voter fraud theory (ala the Dan Rather papers). Still, Madsen has provided hard details including the check number, who it was written to, and other specific information that is going to have to be reconciled at some point. His three articles and an audio interview are now available on the SolarBus website.

There are dozens of new important articles found on the website. Please look for the "NEW" symbol next to the stories I've added in the last couple days.

I've also broken off the Take Action section into its own page. Please read through it and do everything on there that you can. You'll notice a growing list of local and nationwide protests that are being scheduled. A big one is coming up on December 12th. Please participate if you can.

We need to show that we're not just a handful of tinfoil hat conspiracy theorists. We are all types of people who just want our votes to count. (There are some good photos of a protest in Denver in the Lead Stories section).

A few reminders:

Don't wait for my emails to come. Check the website often, it is updated much more frequently than the emails.

Forward this email to your friends

Remember the Take Action section.

Keep the faith.

And here is your link to the website:

http://solarbus.org/stealyourelection


Regards,
Gary Beckwith



The most important issue we face as a nation is election reform and voter fraud. In the 2004 election, nearly 80% of the votes nationwide were counted on machines made by three companies that support the Republican Party, many of which produced no paper trail that could be checked in a recount. A bill was introduced in Congress to outlaw these machines but the Republican Party prevented the bill from coming to a vote. While Democrats today are trying to figure out what they did wrong, and how to change the party for the next election, the real issue is the voting machines and election reform. It is more important that the economy, the war, the environment, health care, taxes, and women's rights. If we do not take back our right to vote and have it counted properly, none of these other issues matter at all and nothing will change.

"There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!" - Mario Savio - 1964

[Excerpt of speech before the Free Speech Movement (FSM) sit-in - Sproul Plaza, UC Berkeley]


Informant: Heidi Chesney

Siemens : Mobile Überwachung

Siemens hat mit dem „MyAy“ ein mobiles Überwachungsgerät entwickelt. Der Prototyp soll als mobile Alarmanlage oder als Babyfone überall nutzbar sein.

MyAy besitzt Sensoren um Bewegungen, Geräusche und Ähnliches zu registrieren und dann den Nutzer darüber per SMS oder Anruf zu informieren. Durch ein eingebautes Mobilfunkmodul kann das Kästchen Kontakt zu einem Handy aufnehmen. Das kleine Gerät besitzt kein Display, dafür aber eine einfache kleine Tastatur. Auch ein Temperatur- und ein Geräuschsensor sind eingebaut. Der Infrarotsensor erkennt, wenn sich in der Umgebung etwas bewegt, so Siemens.

Das MyAy soll neben der Alarmfunktion aber auch als Babyfon, Alarmanlage im Auto oder im Urlaub anwendbar sein. Wenn ein bestimmter Lautstärkepegel erreicht wird oder sich etwas vor der Infrarot-Linse bewegt, sendet das MyAy eine warnende SMS oder ruft ein vorher eingestelltes Handy an. Bei der Anwendung in einem Auto, meldet sich das Gerät bei Berührung mit diesem.

Die erste MyAy-Version soll nach Siemens-Planungen im Frühjahr 2005 erhältlich sein.

03.12.2004 / rar

http://www.guenstiger.de/gt/main.asp?news=3799


Nachricht von der BI Bad Dürkheim

A federal judge yesterday questioned the Bush administration's broad definition of its powers to indefinitely imprison alleged Taliban and al Qaeda fighters at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, especially those who have never taken up arms against the United States.

http://207.44.245.159/article7401.htm


From Information Clearing House

In a detailed report, Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal and Rhuhel Ahmed provide a graphic first-hand account of life at Guantanamo Bay...

http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/reports/report.asp?ObjID=4bUT8M23lk&Content=424
http://snipurl.com/88ln


From Information Clearing House

President Bush's nomination of his White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales to succeed John Ashcroft as attorney general will almost certainly -- at least briefly -- once again raise the shadow of torture and whether or not the United States not only practices it but also condones it at the highest level of the government.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week814/exclusive.html
http://snipurl.com/b1vn


From Information Clearing House

U.S. Psychological Operations:

Military Uses Networks to Spread Misinformation: The U.S. military is reportedly distributing misinformation to the media as part of a campaign of psychological operation...

http://207.44.245.159/article7406.htm

Evidence is mounting that America's war in Iraq has killed tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians, and perhaps well over 100,000. Yet this carnage is systematically ignored in the United States, where the media and government portray a war in which there are no civilian deaths, because there are no Iraqi civilians, only insurgents.

http://207.44.245.159/article7403.htm

Who knew there was such a fine line between democracy and genocide? Destroying a city in order to save it is back in style, as long as a queasy public is spared raw footage of the details.

http://www.oscnewsgazette.com/index.php?option=news&task=viewarticle&sid=9677
http://snipurl.com/b1vg


From Information Clearing House

Dahr Jamail

I need another heart and eyes to bear it because my own are not enough to bear what I saw. Nothing justifies what was done to this city. I didn’t see a house or mosque that wasn’t destroyed.”

http://207.44.245.159/article7407.htm

If only those who sent us to Iraq lay awake at night...

http://207.44.245.159/article7408.htm


From Information Clearing House

More than 200,000 people who fled Fallujah ahead of the US offensive have yet to return and many are in desperate need of aid, with temperatures in Iraq heading towards freezing, a new UN emergency report says.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200412/s1256867.htm


From Information Clearing House

In a country where torturers are still free

By Tito Tricot

No one can really understand what being tortured means until that fateful moment when you find yourself naked, blindfolded and tied up at the mercy of your captors...

http://207.44.245.159/article7400.htm

http://www.sntp.net/education/sutton_1.htm


Informant: Andy Thames

Scoop [New Zealand]

12/03/04

Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb [and Libertarian Party presidential candidate Michael Badnarik] [Thursday] filed counterclaims in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio against Republican Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, asserting that Blackwell is stalling the Ohio recount and abusing his authority. ... The suit filed today by Cobb, Badnarik and the National Voting Rights Institute alleges that Blackwell is abusing his discretionary authority and is, in effect, stalling. The suit asks that the recount begin immediately and be completed by the federally declared 'safe harbor' date of December 7 and by December 13, when the presidential electors are scheduled to meet. The suit also demands that Blackwell not declare the results of the election as official and final and that the presidential electors not be certified until the recount has been completed...

http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/WO0412/S00045.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2004/11/09/religion-of-the-rich/

Informant: Hopedance

As for the big fight against Israel radio and the cellphone companies, the whole 'army' fighting them is 2 people: A doctor in Jerusalem: Eli Richter MD, and a medical microbiologist, that is me Zamir Shalita Ph.D. We collaborate with each other and with the comittee for interior affairs & environment of the Israeli parliament, against those irradiating our citizens. I will update you soon about these fights. I collaborated in the past with my friend the late Prof. Neil Cherry in Japan, in lectures, measurements in a cancer cluster near a power line, and testified at a comittee of the Japanese parliament (May 13, 2002).

The attachment contains contents my manuscript:

Keep Healthy with Pollution Computer and Cellphone
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/427212/

The files contain the suffix "jap" for this manuscript was used for translation to Japanese. The book was published in Japan in May 2004. I will have to update some of them, for new information comes everyday.

Please be advised that I tried to combine the electromagnetic and chemical hazards, with some brief advice to the reader how to keep healthy, in one volume.

The details revealed in studies, that are in the text, are important to well inform the reader with best research available, in simple terms, against the wicked disinformation, the public is exposed to, such as "not revealed any damage" or "no research has been done so far" and such nonesense of this sort. The experimental proof is sometimes has to be combined like a puzzle, in order to get the message how electromagnetic radiations injure the body cells.


Dr. Zamir Shalita

Gewerkschaften mobilisieren zum Widerstand, und auch in einigen Regierungen gibt es Vorbehalte. Kolumne von Sahra Wagenknecht in junge Welt vom 27.11.2004

http://www.jungewelt.de/2004/11-27/007.php

Artikel von Dirk Hauer, erschienen in Blätter für deutsche und
internationale Politik 12/2004 (pdf)

http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/realpolitik/kombilohn/nlhauer.pdf

2,400 emails from the grassroots!

In October, in just one week after the Tree of Life Celebration, more than 2,400 of you took action to protect the Walbran Valley! We flooded Weyerhaeuser and the provincial government with emails asking to set aside this ecological gem.

Yet, Weyerhaeuser continues to log in the Walbran and in other endangered forests.

Weyerhaeuser will not change its destructive business practices until it begins to lose customers. We need to tell Weyerhaeuser's biggest customers that we don't want them to support Weyerhaeuser.

Wild Oats, an environmentally-minded grocery store with about 100 store locations in North America, uses Weyerhaeuser paper bags in some of its stores. Wild Oats should not be affiliated with a company that is notorious for logging national and old growth forests, destroying the habitat of endangered species, such as the northern spotted owl and woodland caribou, and converting native forests into tree plantations.

Email Wild Oats today

Please send a message to the CEO of Wild Oats today - Mr. Perry Odak, asking him to cancel the company's business with Weyerhaeuser, by simply hitting reply to this email. When you hit "send", a short email will go to Mr. Perry Odak, as well as the Director of Operations for Wild Oats, Mr. Jim Middleton, asking them to make sure none of the Wild Oats stores continues to carry Weyerhaeuser.

December: 20 actions at Wild Oats

It's time for Wild Oats to receive some encouragement from the people it values most -- its customers and the public at large. Please coordinate an event some time this December at your local Wild Oats - and help us reach our goal of 20 actions nationwide and collecting 1,000 postcards to deliver to the CEO.

Find your local Wild Oats at http://action.ran.org/ctt.asp?u=2844473&l=68139

If there's no Wild Oats in your town, find another grocery store that uses Weyerhaeuser paper bags - or set up an informational table on your campus or in your community square, and encourage people to call and write Wild Oats. Use it as an opportunity to educate your community about Weyerhaeuser's predatory logging practices.


Call Wild Oats today

Register your disappointment with Wild Oats purchasing by making a 60-second call now to the CEO of Wild Oats, Mr. Perry Odak. Ask the CEO to "stop putting organic, fair trade and other socially responsible groceries into disposable paper bags made by Weyerhaeuser - a company that is known for clear cutting North America's last ancient forests. "

Here's the phone number: 720-562-4725! Let us know you've made the call by emailing grassroots@ran.org.


For the Forests,

RAN's Old Growth Team - Sharon, Brant, and Jessica


You can help us convince Wild Oats to sever business ties with Weyerhaeuser in two other ways.

First of all, make a quick call to the CEO of Wild Oats, Mr. Perry Odak, at 720-562-4725.

A quick message helps, such as "Mr. Odak, please stop putting organic, fair trade and other socially responsible groceries into disposable paper bags made by Weyerhaeuser - a company that is known for clear cutting North America's last ancient forests."

Second, consider coordinating an event at Wild Oats this December. Our goal is 20 actions around the nation, allowing us to gather 1,000 postcards to deliver to Wild Oats, and have conversations with thousands of employees and customers of the company.

Find out more by emailing grassroots@ran.org.

For the Forests,

Jess, Sharon and Brant
Rainforest Action Network's Old Growth Team

--------

Making progress on Wild Oats - more help needed!

Your calls and emails are making a difference!

Wild Oats has begun to take notice of the public sentiment against Weyerhaeuser. Just this week, as a result of your work - 700 emails and dozens of phone calls to the CEO of Wild Oats - the company begun to research Weyerhaeuser's logging practices. That's the good news.

The bad news is that Wild Oats doesn't see any problem with doing business with the #1 destroyer of old growth forests in North America.

For example, Wild Oats applauds Weyerhaeuser's "comprehensive re-plantation policy." It's our job to tell Wild Oats that a one or two-species plantation is not the same as a diverse, thriving forest ecosystem and that Wild Oats cannot continue to give financial support to a company that will not make a commitment to stay out of endangered forests around the world.

We still need your help.

Plan an action at your local Wild Oats

We've got actions planned from Long Beach to Miami; from Reno to Austin, Texas, and more. But it's not enough. We need more actions, more postcards collected, more conversations with customers!

Can you take the step needed to help Wild Oats kick the Weyerhaeuser habit?

Please coordinate an event some time this month at your local Wild Oats - and help us reach our goal of 20 actions nationwide and collecting 1,000 postcards to deliver to the CEO. Find out more and sign up today at:
http://action.ran.org/ctt.asp?u=2844473&l=70466

Call Wild Oats today

Wild Oats claims in their email responses to the public that the company has met with RAN. Not only have we not been offered the opportunity to meet, but since August, repeated phone calls, emails, and letters to the Wild Oats corporate headquarters have been met with a complete lack of response.

Call today and ask the CEO of Wild Oats, Mr. Perry Odak, to return RAN's calls and to meet with us. Also ask the CEO to "stop putting organic, fair trade and other socially responsible groceries into disposable paper bags made by Weyerhaeuser - a company that is known for clear cutting North America's last ancient forests."

Here's the phone number: 720-562-4725! Let us know you've made the call by emailing grassroots@ran.org.


We can do this! For the forests,

Jess, Sharon, and Brant
RAN's Old Growth Team

P.S.
Yesterday, a new study was released that showed Weyerhaeuser as being the 15th worst corporate air polluter in the United States, with 21.1 millions of pounds of toxic air releases. You can find out more at http://action.ran.org/ctt.asp?u=2844473&l=70468

Thursday, December 2, 2004

Lawyers against the War applied today to have the torture charges against George Bush set before a judge to determine whether a summons or warrant should issue. A date will be set in BC Provincial Court, Criminal Division, at Vancouver on Monday December 6th 2004.

Torture charges against Bush were laid November 30th 2004 by Gail Davidson, co-chair of Lawyers against the War--LAW, under provisions enacted pursuant to the U.N. Convention against Torture, ratified by Canada in 1987 and the United States in 1994. The charges concern the well known abuses of prisoners held by US Armed Forces in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and the Guantánamo Bay prison in Cuba.

Because Bush is not a Canadian citizen the consent of the Attorney General of Canada is required within 8 days in order for the prosecution to continue.

LAW has requested that Attorney General of Canada, Irwin Cotler review the evidence upon which the charges are based before deciding whether to consent to the prosecution.

Canada has a duty under the Convention against Torture to ‘take effective measures to prevent torture’.

LAW is an international group of jurists and others based in Canada with members in 14 countries.


Notice to LAW members

Let us know if you want to help

Michael Mandel, Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario, M3J 1P3. Tel: 416 736-5039, Fax: 416-736-5736, Email: MMandel@osgoode.yorku.ca

Gail Davidson, Tel: 604 738 0338; Fax: 604 736 1175, Email: law@portal.ca


Informant: Bea Bernhausen

Schaden von bis zu 1,2 Milliarden Euro jährlich

Deutsche Arzneimittel-Hersteller schließen mit Software-Herstellern sogenannte "Werbeverträge" oder "Sponsorenverträge" ab, damit diese bestimmte Medikamente in der Software für Ärzte an bevorzugter Stelle präsentieren. Das berichtete das ARD-Fernsehmagazin Panorama am Donnerstag.

In einigen Programmen werde bereits bei der Eingabe einer Diagnose ein Präparat des Sponsors vorgeschlagen, hieß es. Mitunter erscheine auf der Liste der preiswertesten Medikamente automatisch ein Produkt des Sponsors an erster Stelle, obwohl billigere Vergleichspräparate existierten.

"Ärzte merken im Prinzip nicht, dass sie auf's Glatteis geführt werden, also von den Firmen in eine falsche Richtung gelenkt werden. Und das nennt man ja wohl Manipulation," sagte Prof. Gerd Glaeske, Arzneimittelexperte der Universität Bremen.

http://www.silicon.de/cpo/news-mobile/detail.php?nr=17771


Nachricht von Bernd Schreiner

Ride Out to Meet Them: Some Post-Election Thoughts

by Starhawk

On my way to New York last summer to help organize protests against the Republican National Convention, I found myself on a plane watching Lord of the Rings over and over again. One thing struck me: every time the heroes were in deep troubled, surrounded, outnumbered, trying desperately to hold off ten thousand orcs and all the forces of evil, their leader Aragorn would turn to the others and say, “Let’s ride out to meet them!” Let’s take the offensive, go forward courageously instead of cowering in fear, and meet the enemy on our terms.

While the movie, and the books, can rightly be critiqued for their gender and racial stereotypes, I think a little of that heroic spirit is what we need now, as the forces of destruction close ranks around us, smirking to boot. In the last month, since the election, I’ve been on the road touring with my new book, The Earth Path, speaking to groups just about every night, listening to the deep despair that has settled over progressives across the land. I see the stricken faces and hear people asking what to do, where to go? Can’t we just curl up under the covers and moan for a while, or move to Canada? Where do we flee to when there’s nowhere to go?

Maybe we need to retreat, moan, and regroup—for a while, but not for long. Counterintuitive as it may seem, this is a crucial time to ride out and meet the onslaught head-on, not to run away. In doing so, we should not buy into the media propaganda that the left is somehow ‘out of touch’ with Real America. Our strength is precisely that we are in touch with realities the neocons refuse to acknowledge or face, and reality eventually catches up with even the most entrenched power. So here are some key fronts that we can advance upon:

Election Fraud and Voter Repression: It becomes clearer and clearer that there are massive, unexplained discrepancies between exit polls (historically quite accurate and used in many countries—Ukraine, for example-- to verify election results) and vote counts, too many black box machines that leave no paper trail, too many stories of ballots disappearing, of counts in locked rooms from which observers are excluded. And there are the thousands of out front, obvious attempts to intimidate, confuse and discourage voters from targeted groups—communities of color and students. Absentee ballots that disappeared, the ‘challengers’ inside polling places, the lack of machines in key areas leading to lines hours long, the clearly partisan election officials: all of this needs to be challenged. We can actively pressure the mainstream media to start covering these scandals. They are reluctant to do so—but organize even a small demonstration on their doorstep and you can suddenly find yourself on the evening news. And we can pressure our Democratic representatives to step up and demand a full Congressional investigation.

In waging this fight, we should not define victory as overturning the election results. This is a for the future, to assure that elections cannot be stolen, that at least the small aspect of democracy that voting represents is open to all. And this is a battle to reframe the election, to make clear that Bush and Co. did not win because they suddenly have a huge mandate for their policies, but squeaked by on a narrow margin they achieved through lying, cheating and outright fraud. Success is the chipping away of their legitimacy, laying the groundwork for a possible new Watergate. We need to wage a long term campaign not just to remove the current neocons from power but to utterly discredit their philosophies and policies. Since ‘morals’ are being put forward as a rationale for right-wing success, we need to put this forward also in moral terms—Stealing elections is morally wrong. Intimidating voters, the whole toolbox of dirty tricks and intimidation, T.V. ads that lie, misrepresentation of issues and facts—these are all moral issues, whatever your religion or lack thereof.

The War in Iraq: Since we’re talking about morals, what about closing hospitals, killing civilians, denying the Red Cross access to provide aid to the wounded, physical and psychological torture of prisoners? All of these are moral issues, and against international law as well.

Tom Hayden, in a recent article for AlterNet, suggests that we can bring an end to the war by denying funding, troops, alliances and political standing to the Bush administration. We know the war is not going to go well—and we need neither prophets nor the now-purged CIA to tell us so. Our long term strategy, again, is to discredit the whole idea of pre-emptive war, of Empire building through military adventurism, of the US as the global bully superpower commandeering the resources of the rest of the world. We can do this by constantly revealing the truth of the war’s human, economic and environmental costs, by supporting the veterans who resist the war and those who return home broken and wounded to face inadequate medical, psychological and economic resources.

The Environment:
What else do we know that Bush & Co. don’t know or refuse to know? We know that global warming and climate change are a reality, are happening faster than hoped for, and are scary enough to make Al Quaeda look like a bunch of kids knocking over blocks. To stabilize the climate would require not the 5% reduction of carbon emissions in the Kyoto treaty, but a 50-70% reduction. We also know that oil will become more and more expensive to extract and will eventually run out, and that our present way of life is not sustainable. Technologies exist that could help us make a transition into an oil-free economy of environmental balance and energy independence. The future belongs to those who anticipate and invest resources, energy and planning into that change. So we can push for those policies on local and state levels, work to develop those alternatives, and support efforts like the Apollo Alliance, http://www.apolloalliance.org/, which calls for massive investment in renewable energy and sustainable technologies to create good jobs in economically depressed communities and exciting opportunities for youth.

These are just a few of the ways we can move forward. The characters currently controlling the political scene are more frightening than all the trolls and monsters of fairy tales, and we are not mythic heroes, alas. If we ride into the face of all the forces ranged against us, no white wizard on a shining horse will appear to save the day. But the momentum of courageous action will call forth all those energies, within and around us, that can shift fate, generate surprises, kindle hope, and bring about change.

Some good links re election issues:
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/
http://www.codepink4peace.org/
http://www.starhawk.org/