Warning to the world - Draconian anti-vitamin legislation
Starmail - 9. Feb, 23:04
9
Feb
2005
Young Cell Phone Users Drive Like Seniors
By E.J. Mundell, HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, Feb. 3 (HealthDay News) - Driving while talking on a cell phone adds decades to a young driver's life -- at least in terms of impaired driving ability, researchers say.
A new study finds the reaction time of young drivers using cell phones slows to levels roughly equivalent to those seen in 70-year-old drivers not using cell phones.
"They aged 50 years in five seconds, just by turning on their cell phones," said researcher Frank Drews, a cognitive psychologist at the University of Utah.
The findings, published in the current issue of Human Factors, included some good news for elderly drivers: their cell phone use did not further slow their reaction time any more than that of the young.
Drews and his colleagues first came to public attention in 2001, with a study pinpointing "inattention blindness" -- a splitting of available attention between the phone conversation and the road ahead -- as the main cause of impaired driving while on cell phones. That study raised questions as to whether legislation in New York and New Jersey banning handheld cell phone use while driving (in favor of hands-free devices), was really a solution to the problem.
In their latest research, Drews and co-researcher David Strayer examined the effects of cell phone use on two groups of drivers that federal statistics suggest are at highest risk for traffic accidents -- the young (between 18 and 25 years of age) and the elderly (between 65 and 74 years of age).
Using hi-tech, virtual-reality driving simulators, they had 20 people from each age group maneuver through busy highway traffic -- first without using a cell phone, and then while engaged in a long cell phone discussion.
While on cell phones, "people exhibit what we call sluggish driving behavior," Drews said. "They basically don't respond to the onset of the pace car's brake lights as well, and they aren't applying their brakes as strongly as someone who's not talking on the cell phone."
For example, in young drivers using cell phones, reaction times in hitting the brakes slowed from an average of eight-tenths of a second to just over nine-tenths of second. That difference may not sound like much, the researchers say, but it's roughly the difference in braking reaction times between a 20-year-old and a 70-year-old.
In terms of virtual-reality "accidents" occurring during the simulation, there were six, all rear-enders. Four of the six occurred while the drivers were talking on cell phones, and only one of those four involved an older driver. The other three involved young motorists, the researchers said.
Drews stressed that these numbers were far too small to reach statistical significance, so no firm conclusions can be drawn as to whether or not cell-phone use ups accident risk. However, he pointed out, "All of the previous studies [on the issue] show more accidents when people are talking on a cell phone than when they aren't."
The study did reveal the good news for elderly drivers: "We expected to find that [cell phone-linked] impairment would be much more when you're old than when you're young," Drews said. "But we found no such interaction." That's probably because older motorists compensate by bringing extra experience and caution to their driving, he added.
The Utah researcher shied away from any recommendation that cell phone use while driving be banned altogether, preferring to let the data speak for itself.
"I'm not a politician, but I think politicians should carefully review the existing literature and make an informed decision about the risks," Drews said. "We as a society have to determine, also, at which point we are no longer willing to take the risks associated with cell phone use while driving."
Drews did point to findings from one other study he helped conduct, however.
"We compared one accepted [legal] threshold of risk -- being legally drunk -- and compared the driving behaviors of people who were drunk vs. people who were on cell phones," he said. "We didn't find a lot of difference."
More information
To learn more about cell phone use and driving, go to the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov
SOURCES: Frank Drews, Ph.D., assistant professor, psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City; Winter 2005 Human Factors
Copyright © 2005 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2005 WorldNow and WLNS. All Rights Reserved.
Informant: Don Maisch
THURSDAY, Feb. 3 (HealthDay News) - Driving while talking on a cell phone adds decades to a young driver's life -- at least in terms of impaired driving ability, researchers say.
A new study finds the reaction time of young drivers using cell phones slows to levels roughly equivalent to those seen in 70-year-old drivers not using cell phones.
"They aged 50 years in five seconds, just by turning on their cell phones," said researcher Frank Drews, a cognitive psychologist at the University of Utah.
The findings, published in the current issue of Human Factors, included some good news for elderly drivers: their cell phone use did not further slow their reaction time any more than that of the young.
Drews and his colleagues first came to public attention in 2001, with a study pinpointing "inattention blindness" -- a splitting of available attention between the phone conversation and the road ahead -- as the main cause of impaired driving while on cell phones. That study raised questions as to whether legislation in New York and New Jersey banning handheld cell phone use while driving (in favor of hands-free devices), was really a solution to the problem.
In their latest research, Drews and co-researcher David Strayer examined the effects of cell phone use on two groups of drivers that federal statistics suggest are at highest risk for traffic accidents -- the young (between 18 and 25 years of age) and the elderly (between 65 and 74 years of age).
Using hi-tech, virtual-reality driving simulators, they had 20 people from each age group maneuver through busy highway traffic -- first without using a cell phone, and then while engaged in a long cell phone discussion.
While on cell phones, "people exhibit what we call sluggish driving behavior," Drews said. "They basically don't respond to the onset of the pace car's brake lights as well, and they aren't applying their brakes as strongly as someone who's not talking on the cell phone."
For example, in young drivers using cell phones, reaction times in hitting the brakes slowed from an average of eight-tenths of a second to just over nine-tenths of second. That difference may not sound like much, the researchers say, but it's roughly the difference in braking reaction times between a 20-year-old and a 70-year-old.
In terms of virtual-reality "accidents" occurring during the simulation, there were six, all rear-enders. Four of the six occurred while the drivers were talking on cell phones, and only one of those four involved an older driver. The other three involved young motorists, the researchers said.
Drews stressed that these numbers were far too small to reach statistical significance, so no firm conclusions can be drawn as to whether or not cell-phone use ups accident risk. However, he pointed out, "All of the previous studies [on the issue] show more accidents when people are talking on a cell phone than when they aren't."
The study did reveal the good news for elderly drivers: "We expected to find that [cell phone-linked] impairment would be much more when you're old than when you're young," Drews said. "But we found no such interaction." That's probably because older motorists compensate by bringing extra experience and caution to their driving, he added.
The Utah researcher shied away from any recommendation that cell phone use while driving be banned altogether, preferring to let the data speak for itself.
"I'm not a politician, but I think politicians should carefully review the existing literature and make an informed decision about the risks," Drews said. "We as a society have to determine, also, at which point we are no longer willing to take the risks associated with cell phone use while driving."
Drews did point to findings from one other study he helped conduct, however.
"We compared one accepted [legal] threshold of risk -- being legally drunk -- and compared the driving behaviors of people who were drunk vs. people who were on cell phones," he said. "We didn't find a lot of difference."
More information
To learn more about cell phone use and driving, go to the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov
SOURCES: Frank Drews, Ph.D., assistant professor, psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City; Winter 2005 Human Factors
Copyright © 2005 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2005 WorldNow and WLNS. All Rights Reserved.
Informant: Don Maisch
Starmail - 9. Feb, 22:47
What is wrong with the EU Food Supplements Directive
There has been much misunderstanding, and dare I say it, misinformation, regarding the EU Food Supplements Directive and ANH’s legal challenge to it.
As ANH Partners and Members it is vital that you understand what is really going on and I am going to attempt in this letter to put you in the picture.
It is quite involved and may take a little time to read but I urge you to persevere as your continued access to quality and effective food supplements depends on YOU taking appropriate informed action.
What’s wrong with the Food Supplements Directive?
The British Government and many MPs and MEPs when asked about the Food Supplements Directive (“FSD”) will insist that it is a good piece of EU legislation because it harmonises the currently very different laws of all EU Members States in respect of food supplements and ensures high quality standards at the same time. Thereby trade in supplements is increased across the EU and consumers can feel safe.
Seems reasonable you might be thinking.
But what is the price tag?
6 key things principally;
The FSD reverses the burden of proof as regards showing that food supplements are safe. Previously a food supplement could generally be sold as food unless the Regulator could prove scientifically that it is unsafe. (This is the position in the USA for example under DSHEA). Now in the EU it will be for the manufacturer to prove at great cost that it is harmless before he can sell it. It creates a very restricted list (known as the “positive list”) of allowable nutrients which favours synthetic nutrients over those much closer to how they are found in nature. It will, in time set what are anticipated to be very low maximum doses of nutrients In order to get on the positive list of allowable nutrients a technical and very costly Dossier will required which may or may not ultimately be acceptable to the EU Regulators.
If a nutrient (or its source) is not on the restricted list it will be banned across the EU from 1 August 2005 regardless of the fact that it was previously happily allowed to be sold in various EU Member States for perhaps many years.
At present the FSD only applies to vitamin & minerals. However it is a framework Directive and is intended in time to apply to all nutrients and their sources. So the negative pattern we see here applying now to vitamins and minerals will in time be applied to all nutrients.
So what have we got?
Under the guise of a harmonisation Directive ostensibly seeking to improve the supply of food supplements across the EU, we in fact end up with a measure which will ban many nutrients presently on sale in the EU.
And for those that get through, the maximum dose levels are likely to be very impotent.
The Directive thus defeats the whole purpose for which many people take food supplements, namely to supplement their diet in order to promote optimal well being through the addition of key vital nutrients which they cannot get in their normal diets any more (unless they happen to live in an organic tropical paradise).
The fact that the FSD has a negative effect is impossible to hide.
The UK Government when it undertook its Regulatory Impact Assessment (measuring the impact of the implementation of the FSD in the UK) concluded that on balance the FSD had a negative cost / benefit for the UK and conceded that the ban on nutrients which are currently allowed to be sold in the UK (unless they get requalified by submission of a dossier) was “unnecessary”.
You’ll see many statistics flying around but in essence we are looking at the ban of around 75% of the vitamin and mineral sources (“forms”) currently on the EU market. This will translate into a banning of some 300 vitamin and mineral ingredients and possibly around 5000 products currently available.
Now remember, if this is what is happening to vitamins and minerals now what will happen to all other nutrients in the future?
Keep well in mind the 3 FSD bogey men:
The reversal of the burden of proof
The restricted list of allowable nutrients unless proved harmless at huge cost
The very low potencies which will be allowed even if a nutrient gets through and onto the positive list
In summary what the FSD is really doing is to impose quite arbitrarily and unnecessarily, a drugs style licensing regime on food supplements or more particularly on food nutrients which hitherto we have been eating happily for thousands of years!
Well if this is so bad you might be asking how on earth did it get passed into EU law?
Indeed.
ANH has exhaustively researched this question and bottom line no one seems really to be able to justify what has happened.
The usual reason given is as I have explained above. The FSD will promote trade in safe food supplements across the EU.
And yes the price tag for the UK and other more liberal regimes may be high but that was the best we could get in our negotiations in Europe, so says the UK Government in particular.
But we say at ANH that the price is far too high and quite unnecesary and unacceptable.
The international Dimension
You might be reading this from a country outside the EU and thinking well that’s pretty tough for those Europeans but we’re ok here.
True for now, but perhaps not for long.
You may be aware that the EU has the dominant vote in the setting of Codex international standards for food. Thus what they want they can push through even if other countries protest.
This is a complex area of international law but in brief ANH and others are extremely concerned that an EU regime for the treatment of food supplements may be exported world wide under the auspices of Codex and made to have regulatory teeth through the WTO.
More, on this complicated subject in another letter.
But for the time being I repeat my point.
Bad things that happen in Europe may very well in time also negatively affect the rest of the world.
And that means YOU.
The ANH Legal Challenge
As you are well aware pretty early on ANH came to the view that the only way to deal with the FSD was to challenge it in the Courts and ultimately that meant bringing a case in the EU supreme court; the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”).
I will not bore you with the details of our case (for those who are interested, the key documents are available in the “ANH Legal Challenge” documents area of our web site).
But in essence we are saying the following.
Food supplements are food, not drug. Therefore they do not need a drugs style regulatory regime imposed upon them.
You do not need a license to sell food.
Under existing law throughout the EU, food is perfectly well regulated from a legal point of view ensuring quality and safety.
The Food Supplements Directive, if it really was intended to harmonise and promote the supply of safe food supplements across the EU, did not require a ban on nutrients which were not on the positive list.
It could have and indeed should have had merely a minimum list of acceptable nutrients which all Member States were obliged to accept across the EU (sometimes called a "White List"). Whilst leaving individual Member States free to allow a wider selection of nutrients to be used in food supplements within their particular borders if they wanted to.
Indeed we go further and argue that under EU law, the FSD,in imposing a sweeping and draconian ban across the EU without even attempting to provide a scientific justification or rationale, actually infringes EU law.
We conclude that the FSD should be allowed to remain and but should do its job properly.
Thus without the ban.
It would then act as a minimum white list of vitamin and mineral nutrients which all Member States would be obliged to accept across the EU.
That would increase trade.
What are our chances of success?
Cautiously we would say that we are optimistic. EU legal precedent is on our side.
The UK Government chose not to make present oral submissions at the Hearing of the case in the ECJ on 25 January 2005. Paul Lasok QC, our barrister said that in his experience it is most rare for the UK to not attend an oral hearing where it has filed Written Observations as it has done here.
The only Member State to present oral submissions was Greece.
And despite repeated questioning from the Advocate-General (a very senior independent lawyer who advises the ECJ in its deliberations), none of the Community Institutions were able to adequately explain exactly how the procedure for getting a nutrient on to the positive list actually works.
Indeed in some consternation the Advocate-general exclaimed at one point that as far as he could see it the procedure had “the transparency of a black box”.
Aside from being amusing this comment is significant because if the ECJ finds that there was no proper and transparent procedure for getting on the positive list that itself would be a ground for finding the ban as being unlawful under EU law.
As you will have seen from our press releases the Advocate-General will be giving is Opinion on 5th April 2005. This is not the judgment of the Court which will follow probably in June 2005. However as the ECJ tends to follow its Advocate-Generals' Opinions in 80% of cases this Opinion is going to be very significant.
What you can do
First and foremost please understand that we are all in this together.
It’s not a question of you helping the ANH with “its problem.”
No, rather we, together with you are in an alliance to protect the continued supply and availability of natural advanced and safe food supplements in the EU and indeed the world which are able to do their job properly.
What job?
Supplying vital micro-nutrients which are now missing from our western diet.
So when you help the Alliance you need to see that you are helping yourself and your family and those who are dear to you, to be able to maintain optimal health.
More particularly here are some key actions points for you:
Tell your friends and contacts about the problem and forward this and other ANH e-mails to them so that they know what is going on. Recruit your friends and contacts to join the Alliance.
PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW!
Remember that without you there is no Alliance!
Thanks for all that you do.
Yours in health!
David C. Hinde LLB Solicitor Legal Director Alliance for Natural Health http://www.alliance-natural-health.org
As ANH Partners and Members it is vital that you understand what is really going on and I am going to attempt in this letter to put you in the picture.
It is quite involved and may take a little time to read but I urge you to persevere as your continued access to quality and effective food supplements depends on YOU taking appropriate informed action.
What’s wrong with the Food Supplements Directive?
The British Government and many MPs and MEPs when asked about the Food Supplements Directive (“FSD”) will insist that it is a good piece of EU legislation because it harmonises the currently very different laws of all EU Members States in respect of food supplements and ensures high quality standards at the same time. Thereby trade in supplements is increased across the EU and consumers can feel safe.
Seems reasonable you might be thinking.
But what is the price tag?
6 key things principally;
The FSD reverses the burden of proof as regards showing that food supplements are safe. Previously a food supplement could generally be sold as food unless the Regulator could prove scientifically that it is unsafe. (This is the position in the USA for example under DSHEA). Now in the EU it will be for the manufacturer to prove at great cost that it is harmless before he can sell it. It creates a very restricted list (known as the “positive list”) of allowable nutrients which favours synthetic nutrients over those much closer to how they are found in nature. It will, in time set what are anticipated to be very low maximum doses of nutrients In order to get on the positive list of allowable nutrients a technical and very costly Dossier will required which may or may not ultimately be acceptable to the EU Regulators.
If a nutrient (or its source) is not on the restricted list it will be banned across the EU from 1 August 2005 regardless of the fact that it was previously happily allowed to be sold in various EU Member States for perhaps many years.
At present the FSD only applies to vitamin & minerals. However it is a framework Directive and is intended in time to apply to all nutrients and their sources. So the negative pattern we see here applying now to vitamins and minerals will in time be applied to all nutrients.
So what have we got?
Under the guise of a harmonisation Directive ostensibly seeking to improve the supply of food supplements across the EU, we in fact end up with a measure which will ban many nutrients presently on sale in the EU.
And for those that get through, the maximum dose levels are likely to be very impotent.
The Directive thus defeats the whole purpose for which many people take food supplements, namely to supplement their diet in order to promote optimal well being through the addition of key vital nutrients which they cannot get in their normal diets any more (unless they happen to live in an organic tropical paradise).
The fact that the FSD has a negative effect is impossible to hide.
The UK Government when it undertook its Regulatory Impact Assessment (measuring the impact of the implementation of the FSD in the UK) concluded that on balance the FSD had a negative cost / benefit for the UK and conceded that the ban on nutrients which are currently allowed to be sold in the UK (unless they get requalified by submission of a dossier) was “unnecessary”.
You’ll see many statistics flying around but in essence we are looking at the ban of around 75% of the vitamin and mineral sources (“forms”) currently on the EU market. This will translate into a banning of some 300 vitamin and mineral ingredients and possibly around 5000 products currently available.
Now remember, if this is what is happening to vitamins and minerals now what will happen to all other nutrients in the future?
Keep well in mind the 3 FSD bogey men:
The reversal of the burden of proof
The restricted list of allowable nutrients unless proved harmless at huge cost
The very low potencies which will be allowed even if a nutrient gets through and onto the positive list
In summary what the FSD is really doing is to impose quite arbitrarily and unnecessarily, a drugs style licensing regime on food supplements or more particularly on food nutrients which hitherto we have been eating happily for thousands of years!
Well if this is so bad you might be asking how on earth did it get passed into EU law?
Indeed.
ANH has exhaustively researched this question and bottom line no one seems really to be able to justify what has happened.
The usual reason given is as I have explained above. The FSD will promote trade in safe food supplements across the EU.
And yes the price tag for the UK and other more liberal regimes may be high but that was the best we could get in our negotiations in Europe, so says the UK Government in particular.
But we say at ANH that the price is far too high and quite unnecesary and unacceptable.
The international Dimension
You might be reading this from a country outside the EU and thinking well that’s pretty tough for those Europeans but we’re ok here.
True for now, but perhaps not for long.
You may be aware that the EU has the dominant vote in the setting of Codex international standards for food. Thus what they want they can push through even if other countries protest.
This is a complex area of international law but in brief ANH and others are extremely concerned that an EU regime for the treatment of food supplements may be exported world wide under the auspices of Codex and made to have regulatory teeth through the WTO.
More, on this complicated subject in another letter.
But for the time being I repeat my point.
Bad things that happen in Europe may very well in time also negatively affect the rest of the world.
And that means YOU.
The ANH Legal Challenge
As you are well aware pretty early on ANH came to the view that the only way to deal with the FSD was to challenge it in the Courts and ultimately that meant bringing a case in the EU supreme court; the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”).
I will not bore you with the details of our case (for those who are interested, the key documents are available in the “ANH Legal Challenge” documents area of our web site).
But in essence we are saying the following.
Food supplements are food, not drug. Therefore they do not need a drugs style regulatory regime imposed upon them.
You do not need a license to sell food.
Under existing law throughout the EU, food is perfectly well regulated from a legal point of view ensuring quality and safety.
The Food Supplements Directive, if it really was intended to harmonise and promote the supply of safe food supplements across the EU, did not require a ban on nutrients which were not on the positive list.
It could have and indeed should have had merely a minimum list of acceptable nutrients which all Member States were obliged to accept across the EU (sometimes called a "White List"). Whilst leaving individual Member States free to allow a wider selection of nutrients to be used in food supplements within their particular borders if they wanted to.
Indeed we go further and argue that under EU law, the FSD,in imposing a sweeping and draconian ban across the EU without even attempting to provide a scientific justification or rationale, actually infringes EU law.
We conclude that the FSD should be allowed to remain and but should do its job properly.
Thus without the ban.
It would then act as a minimum white list of vitamin and mineral nutrients which all Member States would be obliged to accept across the EU.
That would increase trade.
What are our chances of success?
Cautiously we would say that we are optimistic. EU legal precedent is on our side.
The UK Government chose not to make present oral submissions at the Hearing of the case in the ECJ on 25 January 2005. Paul Lasok QC, our barrister said that in his experience it is most rare for the UK to not attend an oral hearing where it has filed Written Observations as it has done here.
The only Member State to present oral submissions was Greece.
And despite repeated questioning from the Advocate-General (a very senior independent lawyer who advises the ECJ in its deliberations), none of the Community Institutions were able to adequately explain exactly how the procedure for getting a nutrient on to the positive list actually works.
Indeed in some consternation the Advocate-general exclaimed at one point that as far as he could see it the procedure had “the transparency of a black box”.
Aside from being amusing this comment is significant because if the ECJ finds that there was no proper and transparent procedure for getting on the positive list that itself would be a ground for finding the ban as being unlawful under EU law.
As you will have seen from our press releases the Advocate-General will be giving is Opinion on 5th April 2005. This is not the judgment of the Court which will follow probably in June 2005. However as the ECJ tends to follow its Advocate-Generals' Opinions in 80% of cases this Opinion is going to be very significant.
What you can do
First and foremost please understand that we are all in this together.
It’s not a question of you helping the ANH with “its problem.”
No, rather we, together with you are in an alliance to protect the continued supply and availability of natural advanced and safe food supplements in the EU and indeed the world which are able to do their job properly.
What job?
Supplying vital micro-nutrients which are now missing from our western diet.
So when you help the Alliance you need to see that you are helping yourself and your family and those who are dear to you, to be able to maintain optimal health.
More particularly here are some key actions points for you:
Tell your friends and contacts about the problem and forward this and other ANH e-mails to them so that they know what is going on. Recruit your friends and contacts to join the Alliance.
PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW!
Remember that without you there is no Alliance!
Thanks for all that you do.
Yours in health!
David C. Hinde LLB Solicitor Legal Director Alliance for Natural Health http://www.alliance-natural-health.org
Starmail - 9. Feb, 22:21
Budgets Are Moral Documents
Act Now: Budgets Are Moral Documents
by Sojourners
A budget that tramples the poor and powerless is immoral. Tell your representative to consider how the budget affects people in poverty.
http://www.tompaine.com/action/#003662
by Sojourners
A budget that tramples the poor and powerless is immoral. Tell your representative to consider how the budget affects people in poverty.
http://www.tompaine.com/action/#003662
Starmail - 9. Feb, 22:14
The Flickering Light Of America
by Sen. John Edwards, TomPaine.com
The former senator expounds on his vision for creating an "Opportunity Society."
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/the_flickering_light_of_america.php
The former senator expounds on his vision for creating an "Opportunity Society."
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/the_flickering_light_of_america.php
Starmail - 9. Feb, 22:12
Squandering America's Future
by Robert L. Borosage, TomPaine.com Exclusive
Bush's budget burdens the weak and protects the privileged:
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/squandering_americas_future.php
Bush's budget burdens the weak and protects the privileged:
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/squandering_americas_future.php
Starmail - 9. Feb, 22:10
Mike Farrell Urges California to Declare Moratorium on Executions
by Dan Bacher
While all other Western nations have abolished the “outdated, immoral and illegal” practice of Capital Punishment, the U.S continues executing people, said Mike Farrell, former MASH TV star and President of Death Penalty Focus, in Davis recently. “If killing is wrong, then it is at least as wrong for the state to kill in cold blood,” he said. “It’s a cold, dehumanizing ritual that teaches us that taking life is permissible.” The U.S. Supreme Court allowed states with newly drafted laws to resume executions in 1976. Thirty-eight states now have death penalties. A total of 877 people have been executed since 1977, when executions resumed. The nation's largest death row is in California, with 625 condemned inmates. The state has executed 10 people since 1976....
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Feb05/Bacher0209.htm
While all other Western nations have abolished the “outdated, immoral and illegal” practice of Capital Punishment, the U.S continues executing people, said Mike Farrell, former MASH TV star and President of Death Penalty Focus, in Davis recently. “If killing is wrong, then it is at least as wrong for the state to kill in cold blood,” he said. “It’s a cold, dehumanizing ritual that teaches us that taking life is permissible.” The U.S. Supreme Court allowed states with newly drafted laws to resume executions in 1976. Thirty-eight states now have death penalties. A total of 877 people have been executed since 1977, when executions resumed. The nation's largest death row is in California, with 625 condemned inmates. The state has executed 10 people since 1976....
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Feb05/Bacher0209.htm
Starmail - 9. Feb, 22:08
The Neoliberal EU Treaty: French Labor Says No
by Matt Reichel
The current project of the neoliberal economic machine is approval of the European constitution: with the aim of solidifying the political ties that have made it easier for transnational corporations to control European economic affairs. Thus far, champions of the constitution have sloughed off the opposition as the extreme right and extreme left up to their old tricks: using nationalism and class antagonism to destroy the journey of liberal peace-making. However, this idea was dealt a blow on February 3 when France’s largest trade union, the Confédération Général du Travail (CGT), urged its membership to oppose the constitution. Despite the support thrown at the project by the Socialist Party (PS) and most mainstream leaders of the Left in France, there is growing fear that the rank-and-file will not be going along. To no one’s surprise, the major parties are completely in bed with the spread of neoliberal political economy, while real people and their communities have grave fears. Indeed, what’s brewing in Brussels ought to be opposed by anyone on the Left. The consolidation of a trans-European neoliberal economic model will have untold consequences for workers, independent shopkeepers, retirees, and families throughout the continent. The growing controversy over the treaty is just another sign of the increasing resentment through the world of the Washington consensus....
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Feb05/Reichel0209.htm
The current project of the neoliberal economic machine is approval of the European constitution: with the aim of solidifying the political ties that have made it easier for transnational corporations to control European economic affairs. Thus far, champions of the constitution have sloughed off the opposition as the extreme right and extreme left up to their old tricks: using nationalism and class antagonism to destroy the journey of liberal peace-making. However, this idea was dealt a blow on February 3 when France’s largest trade union, the Confédération Général du Travail (CGT), urged its membership to oppose the constitution. Despite the support thrown at the project by the Socialist Party (PS) and most mainstream leaders of the Left in France, there is growing fear that the rank-and-file will not be going along. To no one’s surprise, the major parties are completely in bed with the spread of neoliberal political economy, while real people and their communities have grave fears. Indeed, what’s brewing in Brussels ought to be opposed by anyone on the Left. The consolidation of a trans-European neoliberal economic model will have untold consequences for workers, independent shopkeepers, retirees, and families throughout the continent. The growing controversy over the treaty is just another sign of the increasing resentment through the world of the Washington consensus....
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Feb05/Reichel0209.htm
Starmail - 9. Feb, 22:07
Still Playing Cute with the Law
by Ken Sanders
As the graphic images of torture, degradation, and abuse at Abu Ghraib slowly fade from America's collective consciousness and as scapegoats are prosecuted while those who created legal loopholes justifying torture are promoted to the President's Cabinet, it is worth noting that very little has actually changed. The U.S. and its proxies still engage in torture and abuse as part of the global war on terror. At the same time, the White House, Congress, and U.S. intelligence and law-enforcement agencies continue, in the words of Senator Lindsey Graham, “playing cute with the law.”....
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Feb05/Sanders0209.htm
As the graphic images of torture, degradation, and abuse at Abu Ghraib slowly fade from America's collective consciousness and as scapegoats are prosecuted while those who created legal loopholes justifying torture are promoted to the President's Cabinet, it is worth noting that very little has actually changed. The U.S. and its proxies still engage in torture and abuse as part of the global war on terror. At the same time, the White House, Congress, and U.S. intelligence and law-enforcement agencies continue, in the words of Senator Lindsey Graham, “playing cute with the law.”....
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Feb05/Sanders0209.htm
Starmail - 9. Feb, 22:04
Help establish a U.S. DEPARTMENT OF PEACE
From: Angus
Help Establish a U.S. Department of Peace! A Call to Action
September 14th, 2005
HELP SPREAD THE WORD!
On September 14th, 2005, legislation to establish a U. S. Department of Peace will be re-introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The primary function of a United States Department of Peace will be to research, articulate and facilitate nonviolent solutions to domestic and international conflict. The Department of Peace will employ proven and effective strategies for reducing violence in our country and around world, including nonviolent communication skills, conflict resolution techniques and cultural relationship building.
Learn more at The Peace Alliance website:
http://www.ThePeaceAlliance.org
We need your support to help make this bill law -- by calling, faxing and/or emailing your representative and also by spreading the word to everyone you know (you can copy this alert and forward to your email address book.)
Nothing you can do will have as much impact as contacting your member of Congress on, right before or after, Wednesday, September 14th. Further instructions are given below.
TAKE ACTION NOW!
*** CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE *** Contact your Representative at the U.S. capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121. To find your Representative, visit http://www.vote-smart.org Tell the staffer who answers your call that you want your Representative to sign on as a co-sponsor of the Department of Peace legislation. Request a written response explaining your member's position and the reasoning behind it. (You can call your local office as well.) It is most effective if you call the D.C. office first, then follow-up with a fax or email.
*** WRITE YOUR REPRESENTATIVE *** To write your Representative, click below to get started. This will allow you to send an email or a fax to your congressperson.
http://www.thepeacealliance.org/action
NOTE: you can first visit our website to see if your congressional representative is already a co-sponsor at: http://www.thepeacealliance.org/endorsements.htm If they are a co-sponsor, it is important that you still call to thank them and ask them to help garner more support with their colleagues in congress.
There will be no bill number assigned until after 11:00 a.m. eastern on the 14th. We will post the bill number on our website as soon as it is available on that day. In the meantime, just tell your Representative that you want them to support the Department of Peace bill. H.R. 1673 is last sessions bill number for reference. Call now and on the day the bill is re-introduced.
Please also call your senators and ask them to introduce the bill into the senate. Find your senators at http://www.vote-smart.org
Join us now. Create a Department of Peace. Help make history. Together, we can do this.
You can also contribute to our campaign by making a financial donation on our website at http://www.ThePeaceAlliance.org/donate, and by participating in and/or starting up a local campaign group. We already have active groups in more than 265 Congressional districts in over 46 states. Visit http://www.thepeacealliance.org/organize
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE LEGISLATION:
-- Provide much-needed assistance for the efforts of city, county, and state governments in coordinating existing programs in their own communities, as well as programs newly developed and provided by the Dept. of Peace -- Teach violence prevention and mediation to America's school children -- Effectively treat and dismantle gang psychology -- Rehabilitate the prison population -- Build peace-making efforts among conflicting cultures both here and abroad -- Support our military with complementary approaches to ending violence -- Gather and coordinate information and recommendations from America's peace community -- The Department of Peace will create and administer a U.S. Peace Academy, acting as a sister organization to the U.S. Military Academy.
Learn more at http://www.ThePeaceAlliance.org
Informant: Martin Greenhut
--------
"The time for peace is now. At the dawn of a new millennium, there is no better time to review age old challenges with new thinking that peace is not only the absence of violence, but the presence of a higher evolution of human awareness.” ~Congressman Dennis Kucinich
Participate in an historic citizen lobbying effort to create a U.S. Department of Peace, sponsored in the House of Representatives by Congressman Dennis Kucinich. This bill establishes nonviolence as an organizing principle of American society, providing the U.S. President with an array of peace-building policy options for domestic and international use. (The bills re-introduction for the 2005/2006 congressional session is forthcoming. To read our update, click here:
http://en.groundspring.org/EmailNow/pub.php?module=URLTracker&cmd=track&j=20350866&u=185417
The Department would focus on nonmilitary peaceful conflict resolutions, prevent violence and promote justice and democratic principles to expand human rights. Domestically, the Department would be responsible for developing policies which address issues such as domestic violence, child abuse, mistreatment of the elderly, and other issues of cultural violence. Internationally, the Department would gather research, analyze foreign policy and make recommendations to the President on how to address the root causes of war and intervene before violence begins, while improving national security, including the protection of human rights and the prevention and de-escalation of unarmed and armed international conflict.
Please read the following letter describing our latest organizational efforts to move this work for peace forward, followed by more information about the Department of Peace legislation and how you can help make it happen!
Please help us spread the word! Forward this email...
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE HISTORIC DoP LEGISLATION
(HR1673)
-Hold peace as an organizing principle in our society;
-Endeavor to promote justice and democratic principles to expand human rights;
-Strengthen non-military means of peacemaking;
-Address matters both domestic and international in scope;
-Work to create peace, prevent violence, divert from armed conflict, use field-tested programs, and develop new structures in non-violent intervention, mediation, peaceful resolution of conflict, and structured mediation of conflict;
-Develop new programs that relate to the societal challenges of school violence, guns, racial or ethnic violence, violence against gays and lesbians, and police-community relations disputes.
-Facilitate the development of peace summits at which parties to a conflict may gather under carefully prepared conditions to promote non-violent communication and mutually beneficial solutions;
-Submit to the President recommendations for reductions in weapons of mass destruction, and make annual reports to the President on the sale of arms from the United States to other nations, with analysis of the impact of such sales on the defense of the United States and how such sales affect peace;
-Create new policies and incorporate existing programs that reduce drug and alcohol abuse;
-Develop new policies and incorporate existing policies regarding crime, punishment, and rehabilitation;
You can read the entire bill at http://www.DoPcampaign.org
More Dept. of Peace Information...
The Dept. of Peace was introduced into the House of Representatives by Congressman Dennis Kucinich and currently has over 54 congressional co-sponsors. This bill establishes nonviolence as an organizing principle of American society, providing the U.S. President with an array of peace-building policy options for domestic and international use. From international conflicts to domestic issues such as gang, school and domestic violence -- the DoP would systematically root out the core causes of violence in our culture. A Department of Peace is no new idea, George Washington was one of the first people to declare how important such an effort would be to creating real peace on Earth.
The thirteenth amendment abolishing slavery; the nineteenth amendment providing women's suffrage; the Civil Rights legislation of the 1960's, were all critically important shifts in direction for our nation. Yet they weren't efforts born from within congress, they were brought to the forefront by strategic, well organized, well funded efforts ignited out of the will of we the people -- citizens making demands -- that pushed these issues into the mainstream and got them passed into law.
Similarly, we believe the Dept. of Peace is such an effort, and worthy of our collective support. Over the course of history people have always dreamed of peace, but we have never had a broad-reaching, well-funded, systemic structure to help make it a reality. We know that as a nation, now is the time that we must cultivate a real and lasting peace- the consequences of not doing so are almost too difficult to imagine. The Dept. of Peace legislation provides substance and meaning to the political yearnings of our generation. It systematically applies the power of peace to the eradication of root causes of violence.
Please call your representative today and ask them to support the legislation (you can find your congressperson at http://www.congress.org). We have a step by step guide for how you can be an effective citizen advocate on our "Take Action" section of our website at: http://dopcampaign.org/action.htm
We hope that you will learn more about this legislation at our website: http://www.DoPcampaign.org
Please help us spread the word! Forward this email to everyone you know...
The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiples it.
Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate, In fact violence merely increases hate.
So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
ORGANIZATIONAL ENDORSERS OF THE DoP LEGISLATION:
Amnesty International
Global Exchange
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Peace Action
N.O.W.
Veterans for Peace
Tikkun
and more...
The Peace Alliance and Foundation
PO Box 3259 - Center Line, Michigan 48015 USA
(586) 754-8105
http://www.thepeaceallaince.org -- info@thepeaceallaince.org
Help Establish a U.S. Department of Peace! A Call to Action
September 14th, 2005
HELP SPREAD THE WORD!
On September 14th, 2005, legislation to establish a U. S. Department of Peace will be re-introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The primary function of a United States Department of Peace will be to research, articulate and facilitate nonviolent solutions to domestic and international conflict. The Department of Peace will employ proven and effective strategies for reducing violence in our country and around world, including nonviolent communication skills, conflict resolution techniques and cultural relationship building.
Learn more at The Peace Alliance website:
http://www.ThePeaceAlliance.org
We need your support to help make this bill law -- by calling, faxing and/or emailing your representative and also by spreading the word to everyone you know (you can copy this alert and forward to your email address book.)
Nothing you can do will have as much impact as contacting your member of Congress on, right before or after, Wednesday, September 14th. Further instructions are given below.
TAKE ACTION NOW!
*** CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE *** Contact your Representative at the U.S. capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121. To find your Representative, visit http://www.vote-smart.org Tell the staffer who answers your call that you want your Representative to sign on as a co-sponsor of the Department of Peace legislation. Request a written response explaining your member's position and the reasoning behind it. (You can call your local office as well.) It is most effective if you call the D.C. office first, then follow-up with a fax or email.
*** WRITE YOUR REPRESENTATIVE *** To write your Representative, click below to get started. This will allow you to send an email or a fax to your congressperson.
http://www.thepeacealliance.org/action
NOTE: you can first visit our website to see if your congressional representative is already a co-sponsor at: http://www.thepeacealliance.org/endorsements.htm If they are a co-sponsor, it is important that you still call to thank them and ask them to help garner more support with their colleagues in congress.
There will be no bill number assigned until after 11:00 a.m. eastern on the 14th. We will post the bill number on our website as soon as it is available on that day. In the meantime, just tell your Representative that you want them to support the Department of Peace bill. H.R. 1673 is last sessions bill number for reference. Call now and on the day the bill is re-introduced.
Please also call your senators and ask them to introduce the bill into the senate. Find your senators at http://www.vote-smart.org
Join us now. Create a Department of Peace. Help make history. Together, we can do this.
You can also contribute to our campaign by making a financial donation on our website at http://www.ThePeaceAlliance.org/donate, and by participating in and/or starting up a local campaign group. We already have active groups in more than 265 Congressional districts in over 46 states. Visit http://www.thepeacealliance.org/organize
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE LEGISLATION:
-- Provide much-needed assistance for the efforts of city, county, and state governments in coordinating existing programs in their own communities, as well as programs newly developed and provided by the Dept. of Peace -- Teach violence prevention and mediation to America's school children -- Effectively treat and dismantle gang psychology -- Rehabilitate the prison population -- Build peace-making efforts among conflicting cultures both here and abroad -- Support our military with complementary approaches to ending violence -- Gather and coordinate information and recommendations from America's peace community -- The Department of Peace will create and administer a U.S. Peace Academy, acting as a sister organization to the U.S. Military Academy.
Learn more at http://www.ThePeaceAlliance.org
Informant: Martin Greenhut
--------
"The time for peace is now. At the dawn of a new millennium, there is no better time to review age old challenges with new thinking that peace is not only the absence of violence, but the presence of a higher evolution of human awareness.” ~Congressman Dennis Kucinich
Participate in an historic citizen lobbying effort to create a U.S. Department of Peace, sponsored in the House of Representatives by Congressman Dennis Kucinich. This bill establishes nonviolence as an organizing principle of American society, providing the U.S. President with an array of peace-building policy options for domestic and international use. (The bills re-introduction for the 2005/2006 congressional session is forthcoming. To read our update, click here:
http://en.groundspring.org/EmailNow/pub.php?module=URLTracker&cmd=track&j=20350866&u=185417
The Department would focus on nonmilitary peaceful conflict resolutions, prevent violence and promote justice and democratic principles to expand human rights. Domestically, the Department would be responsible for developing policies which address issues such as domestic violence, child abuse, mistreatment of the elderly, and other issues of cultural violence. Internationally, the Department would gather research, analyze foreign policy and make recommendations to the President on how to address the root causes of war and intervene before violence begins, while improving national security, including the protection of human rights and the prevention and de-escalation of unarmed and armed international conflict.
Please read the following letter describing our latest organizational efforts to move this work for peace forward, followed by more information about the Department of Peace legislation and how you can help make it happen!
Please help us spread the word! Forward this email...
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE HISTORIC DoP LEGISLATION
(HR1673)
-Hold peace as an organizing principle in our society;
-Endeavor to promote justice and democratic principles to expand human rights;
-Strengthen non-military means of peacemaking;
-Address matters both domestic and international in scope;
-Work to create peace, prevent violence, divert from armed conflict, use field-tested programs, and develop new structures in non-violent intervention, mediation, peaceful resolution of conflict, and structured mediation of conflict;
-Develop new programs that relate to the societal challenges of school violence, guns, racial or ethnic violence, violence against gays and lesbians, and police-community relations disputes.
-Facilitate the development of peace summits at which parties to a conflict may gather under carefully prepared conditions to promote non-violent communication and mutually beneficial solutions;
-Submit to the President recommendations for reductions in weapons of mass destruction, and make annual reports to the President on the sale of arms from the United States to other nations, with analysis of the impact of such sales on the defense of the United States and how such sales affect peace;
-Create new policies and incorporate existing programs that reduce drug and alcohol abuse;
-Develop new policies and incorporate existing policies regarding crime, punishment, and rehabilitation;
You can read the entire bill at http://www.DoPcampaign.org
More Dept. of Peace Information...
The Dept. of Peace was introduced into the House of Representatives by Congressman Dennis Kucinich and currently has over 54 congressional co-sponsors. This bill establishes nonviolence as an organizing principle of American society, providing the U.S. President with an array of peace-building policy options for domestic and international use. From international conflicts to domestic issues such as gang, school and domestic violence -- the DoP would systematically root out the core causes of violence in our culture. A Department of Peace is no new idea, George Washington was one of the first people to declare how important such an effort would be to creating real peace on Earth.
The thirteenth amendment abolishing slavery; the nineteenth amendment providing women's suffrage; the Civil Rights legislation of the 1960's, were all critically important shifts in direction for our nation. Yet they weren't efforts born from within congress, they were brought to the forefront by strategic, well organized, well funded efforts ignited out of the will of we the people -- citizens making demands -- that pushed these issues into the mainstream and got them passed into law.
Similarly, we believe the Dept. of Peace is such an effort, and worthy of our collective support. Over the course of history people have always dreamed of peace, but we have never had a broad-reaching, well-funded, systemic structure to help make it a reality. We know that as a nation, now is the time that we must cultivate a real and lasting peace- the consequences of not doing so are almost too difficult to imagine. The Dept. of Peace legislation provides substance and meaning to the political yearnings of our generation. It systematically applies the power of peace to the eradication of root causes of violence.
Please call your representative today and ask them to support the legislation (you can find your congressperson at http://www.congress.org). We have a step by step guide for how you can be an effective citizen advocate on our "Take Action" section of our website at: http://dopcampaign.org/action.htm
We hope that you will learn more about this legislation at our website: http://www.DoPcampaign.org
Please help us spread the word! Forward this email to everyone you know...
The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiples it.
Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate, In fact violence merely increases hate.
So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
ORGANIZATIONAL ENDORSERS OF THE DoP LEGISLATION:
Amnesty International
Global Exchange
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Peace Action
N.O.W.
Veterans for Peace
Tikkun
and more...
The Peace Alliance and Foundation
PO Box 3259 - Center Line, Michigan 48015 USA
(586) 754-8105
http://www.thepeaceallaince.org -- info@thepeaceallaince.org
Starmail - 9. Feb, 21:57
Proof of mobile health risk
Please, have a look at this very interesting news item:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/16470166?source=Evening%20Standard
Olle Johansson, assoc. prof.
The Experimental Dermatology Unit
Department of Neuroscience
Karolinska Institute
171 77 Stockholm
Sweden)
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/16470166?source=Evening%20Standard
Olle Johansson, assoc. prof.
The Experimental Dermatology Unit
Department of Neuroscience
Karolinska Institute
171 77 Stockholm
Sweden)
Starmail - 9. Feb, 21:44
There will be no Middle East peace without justice
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/story.jsp?story=609177
Informant: Zahi Damuni
From ufpj-news
Informant: Zahi Damuni
From ufpj-news
Starmail - 9. Feb, 21:41
Hessische SPD-Vorsitzende Andrea Ypsilanti ruft zum Boykott der Deutschen Bank auf
"Anforderungen an die Politik": Hessische SPD-Vorsitzende ruft zum Boykott der Deutschen Bank auf (09.02.05)
Die Ankündigung der Deutschen Bank vom vergangenen Donnerstag, trotz eines Gewinns von 2,5 Milliarden Euro rund 5200 ihrer global 65 000 Arbeitsplätze abzubauen sowie 1200 Stellen in Standorte mit niedrigeren Kosten zu verlagern, führte zu bemerkenswerten politischen Reaktionen. Die hessische SPD-Vorsitzende Andrea Ypsilanti hat am Dienstag die Kunden der Deutschen Bank aufgefordert, ihre Konten abzuziehen. Die Bank treibe ein zynisches Spiel mit den Beschäftigten, wenn sie trotz sinkender Steuern und Lohnnebenkosten und trotz Gewinnen in Milliardenhöhe Tausende Arbeitsplätze abbaue. "Damit bleibt einmal mehr das soziale Gewissen auf der Strecke. Jeder Kunde der Deutschen Bank kann sich überlegen, ob er nicht mehr für Arbeitsplätze in Deutschland tut, wenn er zu einer öffentlich-rechtlichen Sparkasse oder Genossenschaftsbank wechselt", sagte die SPD-Politikerin. Wenn die Manager der Deutschen Bank sich ihrer gesellschaftlichen Mitverantwortung entzögen, sollten sich die Kunden ihrer Verbrauchermacht bewusst werden.
Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.jpberlin.de/www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php4?Nr=10410
IG Metall-Chef Peters fordert eine Verschärfung des Kündigungsschutzes
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/515752/
Die Ankündigung der Deutschen Bank vom vergangenen Donnerstag, trotz eines Gewinns von 2,5 Milliarden Euro rund 5200 ihrer global 65 000 Arbeitsplätze abzubauen sowie 1200 Stellen in Standorte mit niedrigeren Kosten zu verlagern, führte zu bemerkenswerten politischen Reaktionen. Die hessische SPD-Vorsitzende Andrea Ypsilanti hat am Dienstag die Kunden der Deutschen Bank aufgefordert, ihre Konten abzuziehen. Die Bank treibe ein zynisches Spiel mit den Beschäftigten, wenn sie trotz sinkender Steuern und Lohnnebenkosten und trotz Gewinnen in Milliardenhöhe Tausende Arbeitsplätze abbaue. "Damit bleibt einmal mehr das soziale Gewissen auf der Strecke. Jeder Kunde der Deutschen Bank kann sich überlegen, ob er nicht mehr für Arbeitsplätze in Deutschland tut, wenn er zu einer öffentlich-rechtlichen Sparkasse oder Genossenschaftsbank wechselt", sagte die SPD-Politikerin. Wenn die Manager der Deutschen Bank sich ihrer gesellschaftlichen Mitverantwortung entzögen, sollten sich die Kunden ihrer Verbrauchermacht bewusst werden.
Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.jpberlin.de/www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php4?Nr=10410
IG Metall-Chef Peters fordert eine Verschärfung des Kündigungsschutzes
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/515752/
Starmail - 9. Feb, 21:37
Dropping In on the Apocalypse
Starmail - 9. Feb, 21:34
Konsumenten sind gegen RFID
Starmail - 9. Feb, 18:54
Kissinger Out Of The Closet
Starmail - 9. Feb, 16:48
While the United States Makes Demands on Iran, Budget Calls for Boost of U.S. Nuclear Weapons
Starmail - 9. Feb, 16:46
Can Democracy Survive the Fervent Embrace of George W. Bush?
Starmail - 9. Feb, 16:43
Will Bush Soften Rhetoric or Grow more Shrill?
Starmail - 9. Feb, 16:43
Strike Iran and Risk Huge Backlash, Blix Warns US
Starmail - 9. Feb, 16:41
Dreadful suffering engendered by emissions
Sue,
Thanks for phoning me about Trevor's programme. Once again, things were not studied in depth and no mention was made of the dreadful suffering engendered by these emissions. I understand this to a certain extent, as I feel loathe to 'worry' people, yet is it fair that some people are suffering effects without realising it? Surely it's time 'spades' were referred to so that they can join in the protests?
This is the third time I have seen reference to the increase in white bloodcell count in the presence of emissions (first was in the Pandora document) - we have two cases within 100 metres of the Orange mast in Kensworth there being no infection present in either case and Doctors unable to find a cause!
There have also now been 4 cases of stroke/heart attack 20 to 100metres from the mast as well as eight cases of severe nosebleeds amongst adults and children (one of them a visiting father whose baby could not get to sleep in the front bedroom. Dad changed places with the baby and suffered severe nose bleeds for two nights after which he took his family home and said he wouldn't go there again until the mast was moved!
And of course, we have all the usual symptoms - chronic insomnia and headaches, nausea and vertigo; tinnitus and earache; sore eyes; ulcerated mouths and throats with accompanying severe thirst etc etc.
Yet we still get replies from Dept of (Ill?) Health saying there is nothing they can do and the non-thermal effects are completely ignored!
Who can blame folk from pulling down masts?
Feeling bitter, Gill Lyden
From Mast Network
Thanks for phoning me about Trevor's programme. Once again, things were not studied in depth and no mention was made of the dreadful suffering engendered by these emissions. I understand this to a certain extent, as I feel loathe to 'worry' people, yet is it fair that some people are suffering effects without realising it? Surely it's time 'spades' were referred to so that they can join in the protests?
This is the third time I have seen reference to the increase in white bloodcell count in the presence of emissions (first was in the Pandora document) - we have two cases within 100 metres of the Orange mast in Kensworth there being no infection present in either case and Doctors unable to find a cause!
There have also now been 4 cases of stroke/heart attack 20 to 100metres from the mast as well as eight cases of severe nosebleeds amongst adults and children (one of them a visiting father whose baby could not get to sleep in the front bedroom. Dad changed places with the baby and suffered severe nose bleeds for two nights after which he took his family home and said he wouldn't go there again until the mast was moved!
And of course, we have all the usual symptoms - chronic insomnia and headaches, nausea and vertigo; tinnitus and earache; sore eyes; ulcerated mouths and throats with accompanying severe thirst etc etc.
Yet we still get replies from Dept of (Ill?) Health saying there is nothing they can do and the non-thermal effects are completely ignored!
Who can blame folk from pulling down masts?
Feeling bitter, Gill Lyden
From Mast Network
Starmail - 9. Feb, 16:38
New Spectator Sport For Americans - Watch It Play Out
Starmail - 9. Feb, 16:32
No halt to downward mobile marketing (online)
by Julian Lee, Marketing Reporter
January 13, 2005
The mobile phone industry has ruled out changes to marketing to children in light of a warning by a leading scientist that the phones could still pose health risks.
The British Government's leading adviser on radiation, Sir William Stewart, has urged parents of children under 10 to deny them access to mobile phones until scientists can say handsets are safe.
His warnings come as the number of six- to nine-year-olds using mobiles in Australia hit 2 per cent, far less than the reported figure of 14 per cent in Britain.
Australia's mobile phone operators claim they are doing enough already to ensure that figure does not rise.
"Our position to not market to under 10s remains solely a social issue. Our resolve in this respect has not changed. The health issues remains a separate issue," a Virgin Mobile spokeswoman said.
"There's nothing new in the research and it confirms that mobile phones do not cause adverse effects," a Telstra spokesman said. Telstra is exploring a handset for the under-10s and promotions in magazines targeting 10- to 14-year-olds are acceptable because Telstra classifies them as "youths" not "children". Vodafone and Optus are not changing their guidelines that prohibit marketing to under-16s.
As chairman of Britain's National Radiation Protection Board, Sir William concluded in 2000 that there were no adverse health effects for the general public but that children should only use mobiles for essential calls.
This week he told the London-based Daily Telegraph that making mobiles available to children under nine was "ludicrous". He was more concerned about the possible health hazards than he was five years ago because the number of mobile phones had doubled, the paper reported.
In October, Stockholm's Karolinska Institute found there was an increased risk of a brain tumour for people who had used mobiles for more than 10 years.
The Federal Government agency that monitors radiation levels, the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, is satisfied with the emission levels of handsets but a spokesman admitted there was still a "degree of uncertainty".
A specialist in occupational medicine, Dr Bruce Hocking, said: "There are still major concerns about the safety of handsets so if people are going to be serious where children are concerned then they should urge them to use SMS or a landline in ordinary circumstances."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Business/No-halt-to-downward-mobile-marketing/2005/01/12/1105423557223.html
Informant: Don Maisch
January 13, 2005
The mobile phone industry has ruled out changes to marketing to children in light of a warning by a leading scientist that the phones could still pose health risks.
The British Government's leading adviser on radiation, Sir William Stewart, has urged parents of children under 10 to deny them access to mobile phones until scientists can say handsets are safe.
His warnings come as the number of six- to nine-year-olds using mobiles in Australia hit 2 per cent, far less than the reported figure of 14 per cent in Britain.
Australia's mobile phone operators claim they are doing enough already to ensure that figure does not rise.
"Our position to not market to under 10s remains solely a social issue. Our resolve in this respect has not changed. The health issues remains a separate issue," a Virgin Mobile spokeswoman said.
"There's nothing new in the research and it confirms that mobile phones do not cause adverse effects," a Telstra spokesman said. Telstra is exploring a handset for the under-10s and promotions in magazines targeting 10- to 14-year-olds are acceptable because Telstra classifies them as "youths" not "children". Vodafone and Optus are not changing their guidelines that prohibit marketing to under-16s.
As chairman of Britain's National Radiation Protection Board, Sir William concluded in 2000 that there were no adverse health effects for the general public but that children should only use mobiles for essential calls.
This week he told the London-based Daily Telegraph that making mobiles available to children under nine was "ludicrous". He was more concerned about the possible health hazards than he was five years ago because the number of mobile phones had doubled, the paper reported.
In October, Stockholm's Karolinska Institute found there was an increased risk of a brain tumour for people who had used mobiles for more than 10 years.
The Federal Government agency that monitors radiation levels, the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, is satisfied with the emission levels of handsets but a spokesman admitted there was still a "degree of uncertainty".
A specialist in occupational medicine, Dr Bruce Hocking, said: "There are still major concerns about the safety of handsets so if people are going to be serious where children are concerned then they should urge them to use SMS or a landline in ordinary circumstances."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Business/No-halt-to-downward-mobile-marketing/2005/01/12/1105423557223.html
Informant: Don Maisch
Starmail - 9. Feb, 16:26
"Verwanzte Tickets"
Starmail - 9. Feb, 16:14
Reject Bush's Indecent Proposal
Beneath the incomprehensive federal budget numbers - a $2.57 trillion budget, a $427 billion deficit, $419 billion in military spending - the federal budget is a moment of truth. It reveals what we value, what kind of nation we are and what we seek to build. In this regard, the Bush budget is a stunning disservice to the nation, and it must be rejected.
To bank roll more tax cuts for millionaires and a sell-out of Social Security to Wall Street, President Bush has gone to new lengths to cut essential services from most American people. The President defies common decency and common sense in what he proposes to leave out of his budget and who, in turn, he would leave on their own.
The silver lining is that what the president proposes, Congress disposes. None of Bush's cuts will happen if Congress rejects his budget. This is where we come in. Congress needs to hear loud and clear from the American people: the Bush budget should be dead on arrival.
http://action.ourfuture.org/ctt.asp?u=1742757&l=77878
Below are ten misguided Bush budget decisions that particularly offend American values and squander our country's future. Please help to get 100,000 signatures to Congress demanding that they reject spending like this -- spending that is fundamentally out of step with the needs of the American people.
http://action.ourfuture.org/ctt.asp?u=1742757&l=77878
Tell Congress to reject Bush's indecent budget proposal! Tell them that you don't want your government to...
1) Undercut schools in need by reneging on $12 billion in funding promised to schools by President Bush himself. [1]
2) Eliminate childcare assistance for 300,000 children by 2009. [2]
3) Keep college out of reach for qualified students by failing to raise the maximum Pell Grant as promised [3] -- and by freezing work-study funding. [4]
4) More than double the co-pay charged to many veterans for prescription drugs, in addition to requiring some vets to pay a new $250 yearly "user fee" for promised healthcare services. [5]
5) Eliminate Community Development Block Grants - a lifeline for cities around the country to build and maintain clinics, day-care facilities and housing developments. [6]
6) Eliminate the Even Start literacy program that helps impoverished children and their illiterate or semi-literate parents learn to read. [7]
7) Cut funds from Medicaid that would pay health care for 1.8 million low-income children. [8]
8) Cut food stamps benefits for up to 300,000 of the working poor, largely parents and children. [9]
9) Force deeper cuts in basic domestic programs by adding new tax cuts that will cost $1.6 trillion over ten years. More than half of these cuts would go to households that earn more than a $1 million yearly, while virtually none target households earning less than $100,000 per year. [10]
10) Balloon the federal deficit to $1.4 trillion by 2010 due to war spending and new tax cuts. [11]
Congress has the power to overrule Bush's grossly misguided spending priorities. Please contact your representatives today and demand that they reject the Bush budget and realign America's spending priorities to serve us all not just a privileged few.
http://action.ourfuture.org/ctt.asp?u=1742757&l=77878
Thank you so much.
Sincerely,
Robert L. Borosage Co-Director
Campaign for America's Future
To bank roll more tax cuts for millionaires and a sell-out of Social Security to Wall Street, President Bush has gone to new lengths to cut essential services from most American people. The President defies common decency and common sense in what he proposes to leave out of his budget and who, in turn, he would leave on their own.
The silver lining is that what the president proposes, Congress disposes. None of Bush's cuts will happen if Congress rejects his budget. This is where we come in. Congress needs to hear loud and clear from the American people: the Bush budget should be dead on arrival.
http://action.ourfuture.org/ctt.asp?u=1742757&l=77878
Below are ten misguided Bush budget decisions that particularly offend American values and squander our country's future. Please help to get 100,000 signatures to Congress demanding that they reject spending like this -- spending that is fundamentally out of step with the needs of the American people.
http://action.ourfuture.org/ctt.asp?u=1742757&l=77878
Tell Congress to reject Bush's indecent budget proposal! Tell them that you don't want your government to...
1) Undercut schools in need by reneging on $12 billion in funding promised to schools by President Bush himself. [1]
2) Eliminate childcare assistance for 300,000 children by 2009. [2]
3) Keep college out of reach for qualified students by failing to raise the maximum Pell Grant as promised [3] -- and by freezing work-study funding. [4]
4) More than double the co-pay charged to many veterans for prescription drugs, in addition to requiring some vets to pay a new $250 yearly "user fee" for promised healthcare services. [5]
5) Eliminate Community Development Block Grants - a lifeline for cities around the country to build and maintain clinics, day-care facilities and housing developments. [6]
6) Eliminate the Even Start literacy program that helps impoverished children and their illiterate or semi-literate parents learn to read. [7]
7) Cut funds from Medicaid that would pay health care for 1.8 million low-income children. [8]
8) Cut food stamps benefits for up to 300,000 of the working poor, largely parents and children. [9]
9) Force deeper cuts in basic domestic programs by adding new tax cuts that will cost $1.6 trillion over ten years. More than half of these cuts would go to households that earn more than a $1 million yearly, while virtually none target households earning less than $100,000 per year. [10]
10) Balloon the federal deficit to $1.4 trillion by 2010 due to war spending and new tax cuts. [11]
Congress has the power to overrule Bush's grossly misguided spending priorities. Please contact your representatives today and demand that they reject the Bush budget and realign America's spending priorities to serve us all not just a privileged few.
http://action.ourfuture.org/ctt.asp?u=1742757&l=77878
Thank you so much.
Sincerely,
Robert L. Borosage Co-Director
Campaign for America's Future
Starmail - 9. Feb, 16:13
Courting Disaster
Starmail - 9. Feb, 15:36
Protecting Caribbean National Forest Wilderness
Senator Hilary Rodham-Clinton (D-NY) and Congressman Luis Fortuno (R-PR) have teamed together to introduce legislation to extend wilderness protection to over 10,000 acres in Puerto Rico's Caribbean National Forest. Although the smallest of the 155 national forests, it boasts the greatest number of native tree species at over 240 and is home to trees over 1,000 years old.
Find out more about this effort to create El Toro, the nation's first tropical forest wilderness area:
http://www.wilderness.org/NewsRoom/Release/20050203.cfm
Find out more about this effort to create El Toro, the nation's first tropical forest wilderness area:
http://www.wilderness.org/NewsRoom/Release/20050203.cfm
Starmail - 9. Feb, 15:33
New BLM Plans Put 8 Million Acres at Risk
Inside Story
New Mexico's Otero Mesa, Wyoming's Great Divide and northeastern Utah's Vernal region are home to breathtaking scenery, countless species of wildlife and rare plants as well as prehistoric ruins and Native American art. But soon, these lands may be home to oil rigs and off road vehicles thanks to new Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plans to open 8 million acres of land of public lands to oil and natural gas development.
"Now that the election's over, the Interior Department is rolling out plans that largely ignore public input and reflect a tremendously unbalanced approach to how our public lands will be used," said The Wilderness Society's Nada Culver.
Click here to read the full story:
http://www.wilderness.org/NewsRoom/Release/20050203b.cfm
New Mexico's Otero Mesa, Wyoming's Great Divide and northeastern Utah's Vernal region are home to breathtaking scenery, countless species of wildlife and rare plants as well as prehistoric ruins and Native American art. But soon, these lands may be home to oil rigs and off road vehicles thanks to new Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plans to open 8 million acres of land of public lands to oil and natural gas development.
"Now that the election's over, the Interior Department is rolling out plans that largely ignore public input and reflect a tremendously unbalanced approach to how our public lands will be used," said The Wilderness Society's Nada Culver.
Click here to read the full story:
http://www.wilderness.org/NewsRoom/Release/20050203b.cfm
Starmail - 9. Feb, 15:32
Arctic Refuge Wilderness Protection
Take Action
Hundreds joined Sen. Joseph Lieberman and Rep. Ed Markey outside the Capitol last week as the two announced legislation to forever protect the Arctic Refuge coastal plain from oil drilling. Also on hand were Norma Kassi, with the Gwich'in Steering Committee and Bill Meadows, president of The Wilderness Society. Since introduction of the bill, more than 100 House members and more than 20 senators have signed on.
Please take action on this important legislation, by asking your congressional members to co-sponsor S. 261 and H.R. 567, or thanking them for doing so.
You can take action now at:
http://ga1.org/campaign/ArcticWild/wd8ks5x4a758675
Hundreds joined Sen. Joseph Lieberman and Rep. Ed Markey outside the Capitol last week as the two announced legislation to forever protect the Arctic Refuge coastal plain from oil drilling. Also on hand were Norma Kassi, with the Gwich'in Steering Committee and Bill Meadows, president of The Wilderness Society. Since introduction of the bill, more than 100 House members and more than 20 senators have signed on.
Please take action on this important legislation, by asking your congressional members to co-sponsor S. 261 and H.R. 567, or thanking them for doing so.
You can take action now at:
http://ga1.org/campaign/ArcticWild/wd8ks5x4a758675
Starmail - 9. Feb, 15:30
National ID Vote WEDNESDAY
Starmail - 9. Feb, 15:25
MSG: actually kills the brain cells
Starmail - 9. Feb, 15:24
Global warming: a threat to world security?
Starmail - 9. Feb, 15:21
Fred Reed vs. George Bush
Starmail - 9. Feb, 15:19
Congress Passes 'Doomsday' Plan
Starmail - 9. Feb, 15:15
Mystery Illness Baffles Doctors; Frustrates Patients
Starmail - 9. Feb, 15:13
RFID-Chips aus dem Drucker
Starmail - 9. Feb, 15:12
Are conservatives re-fighting the last war?
by W. James Antle III
Intellectual Conservative
02/08/05
When the January 30 elections proceeded with high turnout and relatively low levels of violence, defying most predictions, many conservatives in the United States, especially those belonging to the chattering class, were almost as jubilant as the Iraqis dancing in the streets of Baghdad. But now it's time to lose the purple ties and put on our thinking caps. ... the religious Shiite political party linked to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani appears to be headed for a big win. The ticket associated with U.S.-backed Prime Minister Ayad Allawi is trailing badly. Key Shiite leaders are now speaking openly of imposing some version of Islamic law on the country. Let's be frank: This is almost exactly the opposite of what most war supporters intended to achieve in Iraq. Put aside for a moment your affection for President Bush and your enthusiasm for the Republican Party. Would you have wanted to go to war to replace a secular state with one ruled by clerics?
http://www.intellectualconservative.com/article4136.html
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
Intellectual Conservative
02/08/05
When the January 30 elections proceeded with high turnout and relatively low levels of violence, defying most predictions, many conservatives in the United States, especially those belonging to the chattering class, were almost as jubilant as the Iraqis dancing in the streets of Baghdad. But now it's time to lose the purple ties and put on our thinking caps. ... the religious Shiite political party linked to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani appears to be headed for a big win. The ticket associated with U.S.-backed Prime Minister Ayad Allawi is trailing badly. Key Shiite leaders are now speaking openly of imposing some version of Islamic law on the country. Let's be frank: This is almost exactly the opposite of what most war supporters intended to achieve in Iraq. Put aside for a moment your affection for President Bush and your enthusiasm for the Republican Party. Would you have wanted to go to war to replace a secular state with one ruled by clerics?
http://www.intellectualconservative.com/article4136.html
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
Starmail - 9. Feb, 15:00
Swinging, missing
by Joan Vennochi
Boston Globe
02/08/05
They still don't get it. Senator John Kerry gives yet another interview about the 2004 election. Sounding like Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Terrell Owens announcing that God told him his injured ankle was ready for the Super Bowl, Kerry suggests God will tell him whether to run for president in 2008. He also continues to insist, 'I am not a flip-flopper on anything.' Two days before Iraqis go to the polls to vote in a historic election, Senator Edward M. Kennedy calls for US troops to withdraw from that country; rather than acknowledge that his timing is off, Kennedy keeps the drumbeat going in speeches and interviews...
http://tinyurl.com/3whcd
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
Boston Globe
02/08/05
They still don't get it. Senator John Kerry gives yet another interview about the 2004 election. Sounding like Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Terrell Owens announcing that God told him his injured ankle was ready for the Super Bowl, Kerry suggests God will tell him whether to run for president in 2008. He also continues to insist, 'I am not a flip-flopper on anything.' Two days before Iraqis go to the polls to vote in a historic election, Senator Edward M. Kennedy calls for US troops to withdraw from that country; rather than acknowledge that his timing is off, Kennedy keeps the drumbeat going in speeches and interviews...
http://tinyurl.com/3whcd
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
Starmail - 9. Feb, 14:58
Sanctions and the health crisis in Iraq
by David Smith-Ferri
CounterPunch
02/08/05
By any measure of meteorological activity, the last two years have been a season of foul weather for US soldiers and their families. One storm after another, and long-term forecasts for more of the same. Sent into Afghanistan and Iraq in the emotional wake of 9/11, commissioned to liberate people from tyranny and to protect Americans from terrorist attacks, they find themselves instead fighting a never-ending guerilla war, the moral handholds of which are as difficult to locate and as unreliable as a trail in a sandstorm...
http://www.counterpunch.org/ferri02082005.html
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
CounterPunch
02/08/05
By any measure of meteorological activity, the last two years have been a season of foul weather for US soldiers and their families. One storm after another, and long-term forecasts for more of the same. Sent into Afghanistan and Iraq in the emotional wake of 9/11, commissioned to liberate people from tyranny and to protect Americans from terrorist attacks, they find themselves instead fighting a never-ending guerilla war, the moral handholds of which are as difficult to locate and as unreliable as a trail in a sandstorm...
http://www.counterpunch.org/ferri02082005.html
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
Starmail - 9. Feb, 14:53
Pro-soldier, anti-war
by Perry O'Brien
Common Dreams
02/08/05
I joined the Army on August 27th, 2001, just two weeks before the terrorist attacks of 9/11. As naive as its sounds, I wasn't thinking about going to war when I signed up. I was thinking about jumping out of planes, learning medical skills, and getting a tangible experience that would be somehow more 'real' than the previous two years of college. Enlisting was totally spontaneous, and I never took time to sit down and consider how I really felt about war. A year and half later I found myself working in a field clinic in Kandahar, Afghanistan. As a company of medics, my unit saw the worst consequences of war: mutilated children, traumatized civilians, dead soldiers. Even then, at least for the first few months of my deployment, I didn't take time to consider the implications of what I was doing; I was too busy doing my job. It was the Afghani children that finally got me thinking...
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0208-20.htm
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
Common Dreams
02/08/05
I joined the Army on August 27th, 2001, just two weeks before the terrorist attacks of 9/11. As naive as its sounds, I wasn't thinking about going to war when I signed up. I was thinking about jumping out of planes, learning medical skills, and getting a tangible experience that would be somehow more 'real' than the previous two years of college. Enlisting was totally spontaneous, and I never took time to sit down and consider how I really felt about war. A year and half later I found myself working in a field clinic in Kandahar, Afghanistan. As a company of medics, my unit saw the worst consequences of war: mutilated children, traumatized civilians, dead soldiers. Even then, at least for the first few months of my deployment, I didn't take time to consider the implications of what I was doing; I was too busy doing my job. It was the Afghani children that finally got me thinking...
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0208-20.htm
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
Starmail - 9. Feb, 14:50
Is Bush misdiagnosing the malady?
by Pat Buchanan
LewRockwell.Com
02/09/05
When the British left Palestine, Irgun terror ended. When the French left Algeria, FLN terror ended. When Israel left Lebanon, Hezbollah terror largely ended. These countries chose to resolve their terror problem by giving up their occupations and letting go. Their perceived imperial presence had been the cause of the terror war, and when they departed and went home, the wars faded away. The president says we must fight them over there, so we do not have to fight them over here. But, before we invaded Iraq, not one American had been killed by an Iraqi in a dozen years. Since we invaded, 1,500 Americans have died and the number of insurgents has multiplied from 5,000 to 20,000. By Don Rumsfeld's own metric, our intervention is creating more terrorists than we are killing. We are fighting a guerrilla army that our own invasion called into being...
http://www.lewrockwell.com/buchanan/buchanan25.html
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
LewRockwell.Com
02/09/05
When the British left Palestine, Irgun terror ended. When the French left Algeria, FLN terror ended. When Israel left Lebanon, Hezbollah terror largely ended. These countries chose to resolve their terror problem by giving up their occupations and letting go. Their perceived imperial presence had been the cause of the terror war, and when they departed and went home, the wars faded away. The president says we must fight them over there, so we do not have to fight them over here. But, before we invaded Iraq, not one American had been killed by an Iraqi in a dozen years. Since we invaded, 1,500 Americans have died and the number of insurgents has multiplied from 5,000 to 20,000. By Don Rumsfeld's own metric, our intervention is creating more terrorists than we are killing. We are fighting a guerrilla army that our own invasion called into being...
http://www.lewrockwell.com/buchanan/buchanan25.html
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
Starmail - 9. Feb, 14:47
Questions for those in uniform
by Michael Gaddy
The Price of Liberty
02/09/05
I do not believe for a moment that people in the military today are 'serving their country,' nor do I believe we 'support the troops' by sending them in harm's way, thousands of miles from home to fight wars based on lies, while thousands of illegals from foreign countries, many from countries who have sworn to destroy us, cross our virtually undefended southern border each and every day. This country's military long since ceased to serve their country, but instead, fight and die for the duplicitous State...
http://www.thepriceofliberty.org/05/02/09/gaddy.htm
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
The Price of Liberty
02/09/05
I do not believe for a moment that people in the military today are 'serving their country,' nor do I believe we 'support the troops' by sending them in harm's way, thousands of miles from home to fight wars based on lies, while thousands of illegals from foreign countries, many from countries who have sworn to destroy us, cross our virtually undefended southern border each and every day. This country's military long since ceased to serve their country, but instead, fight and die for the duplicitous State...
http://www.thepriceofliberty.org/05/02/09/gaddy.htm
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
Starmail - 9. Feb, 14:44
Our forgotten goddess
by Brian Doherty
Reason
02/05
Review of The Woman and the Dynamo, by Stephen Cox: "Paterson was appalled by the love for state planning that ruled the literary intellectuals of the '30s. Many were fascists, many communists, but hardly any believed that individuals or markets should be left to run freely. The standard opinion of the time was that markets required technocratic planning. The political themes fully expressed in The God of the Machine began showing up in Paterson's columns (which were never strictly about reviewing books) in the '30s and early '40s. These ideological intimations led Edmund Wilson to dismiss her as irrelevant, declaring her 'the last surviving person to believe in those quaint old notions on which the republic was founded'...
http://www.reason.com/0502/cr.bd.our.shtml
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
Reason
02/05
Review of The Woman and the Dynamo, by Stephen Cox: "Paterson was appalled by the love for state planning that ruled the literary intellectuals of the '30s. Many were fascists, many communists, but hardly any believed that individuals or markets should be left to run freely. The standard opinion of the time was that markets required technocratic planning. The political themes fully expressed in The God of the Machine began showing up in Paterson's columns (which were never strictly about reviewing books) in the '30s and early '40s. These ideological intimations led Edmund Wilson to dismiss her as irrelevant, declaring her 'the last surviving person to believe in those quaint old notions on which the republic was founded'...
http://www.reason.com/0502/cr.bd.our.shtml
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
Starmail - 9. Feb, 14:42
Ink stains and blood stains
by Ilana Mercer
AntiWar.Com
02/09/05
People with no principles look to consequences to justify their actions -- the Republican Party and its media megaphones now contend that Iraq's first democratic election has provided a final and irrefutable justification for America's invasion and conquest. That Iraqi Shi'ites turned out en masse for Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and sharia law doesn't alter the truth -- we waged an illegal, unjust, and unnecessary war. However, with Fox and Friends continuing to claim that WMD were probably moved to Syria, and al-Qaeda and the Ba'athists were an item, it falls to the 'reality-based community' to periodically remind them of the facts...
http://www.antiwar.com/mercer/?articleid=4772
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
AntiWar.Com
02/09/05
People with no principles look to consequences to justify their actions -- the Republican Party and its media megaphones now contend that Iraq's first democratic election has provided a final and irrefutable justification for America's invasion and conquest. That Iraqi Shi'ites turned out en masse for Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and sharia law doesn't alter the truth -- we waged an illegal, unjust, and unnecessary war. However, with Fox and Friends continuing to claim that WMD were probably moved to Syria, and al-Qaeda and the Ba'athists were an item, it falls to the 'reality-based community' to periodically remind them of the facts...
http://www.antiwar.com/mercer/?articleid=4772
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
Starmail - 9. Feb, 14:39
Firsthand look at war fuels disenchantment for some
Houston Chronicle
02/06/05
Sean Huze enlisted in the Marine Corps right after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and was, in his own words, 'red, white and blue all the way' when he deployed to Iraq 16 months later. Unquestioning in his support of the invasion, he grew irritated when his father, a former National Guardsman, expressed doubts about the war. Today, all that has changed. Haunted by the civilian casualties he witnessed, Cpl. Huze has become one of a small but increasing number of Iraq veterans who have formed or joined groups to oppose the war or to criticize the way it is being fought...
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3025120
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
02/06/05
Sean Huze enlisted in the Marine Corps right after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and was, in his own words, 'red, white and blue all the way' when he deployed to Iraq 16 months later. Unquestioning in his support of the invasion, he grew irritated when his father, a former National Guardsman, expressed doubts about the war. Today, all that has changed. Haunted by the civilian casualties he witnessed, Cpl. Huze has become one of a small but increasing number of Iraq veterans who have formed or joined groups to oppose the war or to criticize the way it is being fought...
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3025120
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
Starmail - 9. Feb, 14:36
New list of Russia's rich
Putin cronies exposed in new list of Russia's rich:
Independent [UK]
02/09/05
Russia's political class has amassed as much wealth as power under President Vladimir Putin, according to a new 'rich list' published yesterday. In revelations which will outrage many pensioners, who have recently campaigned against welfare cuts, Finance magazine reported that three regional presidents, 20 MPs, 11 senators, a regional governor and a deputy regional governor were among the country's 468 wealthiest individuals...
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=609193
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
Independent [UK]
02/09/05
Russia's political class has amassed as much wealth as power under President Vladimir Putin, according to a new 'rich list' published yesterday. In revelations which will outrage many pensioners, who have recently campaigned against welfare cuts, Finance magazine reported that three regional presidents, 20 MPs, 11 senators, a regional governor and a deputy regional governor were among the country's 468 wealthiest individuals...
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=609193
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
Starmail - 9. Feb, 14:33
Dolly scientist gets human cloning license
Cincinnati Enquirer
02/08/05
The scientist who attracted the world's attention by cloning Dolly the Sheep is about to take another major step for medical research: cloning human embryos and extracting stem cells to unravel the mysteries of muscle-wasting illnesses like Lou Gehrig's disease. Ian Wilmut, who led the team that created Dolly at Scotland's Roslin Institute in 1996, was granted a cloning license Tuesday by British regulators to study how nerve cells go awry to cause motor neuron diseases. The experiments do not involve creating cloned babies, but the license has nonetheless stirred fresh controversy over the issue and prompted abortion foes and other biological conservatives to condemn the decision...
http://tinyurl.com/474ka
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
02/08/05
The scientist who attracted the world's attention by cloning Dolly the Sheep is about to take another major step for medical research: cloning human embryos and extracting stem cells to unravel the mysteries of muscle-wasting illnesses like Lou Gehrig's disease. Ian Wilmut, who led the team that created Dolly at Scotland's Roslin Institute in 1996, was granted a cloning license Tuesday by British regulators to study how nerve cells go awry to cause motor neuron diseases. The experiments do not involve creating cloned babies, but the license has nonetheless stirred fresh controversy over the issue and prompted abortion foes and other biological conservatives to condemn the decision...
http://tinyurl.com/474ka
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
Starmail - 9. Feb, 14:30
GOP tries to rally support for Bush budget
Tampa Tribune
02/08/05
White House officials and Congress' top budget writers tried rallying support Tuesday for President Bush's $2.57 trillion budget, but cracks in Republican unity showed as lawmakers digested the plan's proposed spending cuts. 'Stay in the game the rest of the year,' House Budget Committee Chairman Jim Nussle, R-Iowa, urged colleagues who have voiced support for paring the deficit since the budget's release Monday. 'Don't claim you want to cut the deficit in one breath and demand we spend more in the next.' Joshua Bolten, Bush's budget chief, told Nussle's committee that the president 'won't hesitate' to veto excessive spending bills -- which he has yet to do in four years...
http://tinyurl.com/663hd
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
02/08/05
White House officials and Congress' top budget writers tried rallying support Tuesday for President Bush's $2.57 trillion budget, but cracks in Republican unity showed as lawmakers digested the plan's proposed spending cuts. 'Stay in the game the rest of the year,' House Budget Committee Chairman Jim Nussle, R-Iowa, urged colleagues who have voiced support for paring the deficit since the budget's release Monday. 'Don't claim you want to cut the deficit in one breath and demand we spend more in the next.' Joshua Bolten, Bush's budget chief, told Nussle's committee that the president 'won't hesitate' to veto excessive spending bills -- which he has yet to do in four years...
http://tinyurl.com/663hd
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
Starmail - 9. Feb, 14:27
The promotion of Karl Rove
[Karl Rove, the political mastermind known as "Bush's brain" (was that his voice the president was hearing through his listening device during the debates?) will now occupy a position called "deputy chief of staff."[1] -- While White House officials said his involvement with international affairs would be "limited," these limits will be hard to define, given his mandate to, in Scott McClellan's words, "coordinate" the National Security Council, the National Economic Council and other advisory panels to ensure that their ideas were "complementary."[2] -- The Bush White House has turned the "knowledge is power" dictum on its head, and embraced the view that "power is knowledge" -- a perspective that justifies Rove's promotion. -- "He is one of the president's most trusted advisors, who has played an integral role in the strategy and policy development for a long time," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "So now he has a more expanded role." -- There is nothing new in this. In Ron Suskind's *The Price of Loyalty*, Paul O'Neil described the attitude: "The aide said that guys like me were 'in what we call the reality-based community,' which he defined as people who 'believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.' I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. 'That’s not the way the world really works anymore,' he continued. 'We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.'" --Mark]
Read further under:
http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/2231/
From ufpj-news
Read further under:
http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/2231/
From ufpj-news
Starmail - 9. Feb, 14:23
Chips in WM-Karten alarmieren Datenschützer
Starmail - 9. Feb, 14:17
Strahlende Kinder!? Kinder durch Mobilfunktechnik in besonderer Gefahr
http://mobilfunk-allgaeu.de/arbeitsblaetter/handzettel-lehrer.pdf
Russland: Mobiltelefone und Krebs bei Kindern
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/520546/
Kinder und Mobilfunk
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/311977/
Mobilfunk in der Schule
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/338094/
Schule und Mobilfunk
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/403986/
Russland: Mobiltelefone und Krebs bei Kindern
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/520546/
Kinder und Mobilfunk
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/311977/
Mobilfunk in der Schule
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/338094/
Schule und Mobilfunk
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/403986/
Starmail - 9. Feb, 13:12
Handystrahlung schädigt Erbgut
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/handystrahlung_schaedigt_erbgut.tif
Aktion Elternbeiräte
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/507980/
Aktion Elternbeiräte
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/507980/
Starmail - 9. Feb, 11:58
VORSICHT VOR MOBILTELEFONEN
http://www.buergerwelle.de/body_newsletter_290904.html
Aktion Elternbeiräte
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/507980/
Aktion Elternbeiräte
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/507980/
Starmail - 9. Feb, 11:49
Jugendliche telefonieren sich arm
http://www.buergerwelle.de/body_newsletter_10604.html
Aktion Elternbeiräte
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/507980/
Aktion Elternbeiräte
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/507980/
Starmail - 9. Feb, 11:46
Angeblich 380.000 SMS-Süchtige in Deutschland
http://www.silicon.de/cpo/news-mobile/detail.php?nr=15457&directory=news-mobile
Aktion Elternbeiräte
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/507980/
Aktion Elternbeiräte
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/507980/
Starmail - 9. Feb, 11:42
Handy - kein Spielzeug
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/handy_kein_spielzeug.tif
Aktion Elternbeiräte
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/507980/
Aktion Elternbeiräte
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/507980/
Starmail - 9. Feb, 11:39
90 Prozent der Jugendlichen haben ein eigenes Handy
Studie: 90 Prozent der Jugendlichen haben ein eigenes Handy
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/55586
Aktion Elternbeiräte
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/507980/
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/55586
Aktion Elternbeiräte
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/507980/
Starmail - 9. Feb, 11:36
Handys - Eltern sollten Risiken ernst nehmen
http://www.aerztezeitung.de/docs/2005/01/17/006a0404.asp?cat=/news
Aktion Elternbeiräte
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/507980/
Aktion Elternbeiräte
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/507980/
Starmail - 9. Feb, 11:31
Wissenschaftler - endlich an die Front
Starmail - 9. Feb, 11:03
Low-height high-power mobile phone base station scandal
http://www.powerwatch.org.uk/news/20050207_tonight.asp
Informant: Gary
From Mast Network
If people read down to the Sitefinder map they will see just how bad London has become: http://www.sitefinder.radio.gov.uk/ to look up UK cell sites.
One primary school in London, in Soho, has about 120 base stations within a 1000 feet circle.
Yes, 120, I am NOT kidding. The world has gone cell-phone mad. They are coming to a place near you soon!
Alasdair
Informant: Don Maisch
Informant: Gary
From Mast Network
If people read down to the Sitefinder map they will see just how bad London has become: http://www.sitefinder.radio.gov.uk/ to look up UK cell sites.
One primary school in London, in Soho, has about 120 base stations within a 1000 feet circle.
Yes, 120, I am NOT kidding. The world has gone cell-phone mad. They are coming to a place near you soon!
Alasdair
Informant: Don Maisch
Starmail - 9. Feb, 10:25
