10
Feb
2005

HEARTLESS response from Bush to lady

Got the audio clip with the HEARTLESS response from Bush to lady w/3 JOBS!

( I bet this woman will some how mysteriously get a new single job that more than pays her bills or just mysteriously disappear, so she won't how up on talk hows)

I took my tape recorder with me today, in case Air America Radio replayed the audio clip with the response from Bush to a lady, Ms. Mornin, who was holding 3 jobs (See text below)

Sure enough, Randi Rhodes, of Air America Radio, played portions of it this morning. It is about a minute long but I kept recording her and included the additional comments she presented. THEY ARE VERY WORTH WHILE TO LISTEN TO.

There are two personal observations I would like to include:

1. At the end Bush told Ms Mornin not to worry that "nothing will change" as a result of the Social Security program he is pushing. My thought were: "Oh, does that mean she gets to continue working on 3 jobs?"

2. Bush was WRONG to say that holding 3 jobs is "uniquely American". Bush is obviously unaware that holding 2 and 3 jobs, for many people, is common place in second and third world countries... THE LEVEL TO WHICH HE IS TAKING OUR MIDDLE CLASS AND WHICH HAS BEEN IN THE PLANNING, FOR DECADES, WITH WHAT IS KNOWN AS "THE PLAN 2000".

PLEASE TURN YOUR COMPUTER VOLUME UP AND CLICK ON LINK TO LISTEN

http://PlayAudio-123.com/play.asp?m=146365&f=HRKQCK&ps=13&p=1
(7 min)


Jack Topel


-----original messages----

Gloria,

I also happened to be in my car when I heard the actual audio clip about the interchange that took place with Bush and that poor lady, Ms Mornin from Omaha Nebraska, who told the president she is holding down 3 JOBS! in order to make ends meet. Reading about it here does not even come close to hearing the actual interchange.

There was one more thing that was left out, in the transcript below, which Bush told Ms Mornin at the end. He said "That is great!" (that she is holding 3 jobs) and Bush himself initiated the round of applause which the audience followed.

The tragic thing is that she, probably, voted for Bush, given that they only allow Bush supporters in the carefully screened rallies he holds.

HOW PEOPLE HAVE BEEN "PROGRAMMED TO VOTE AGAINST THEIR OWN BEST INTERESTS, IS BEYOND ME!

The hosts of the "Majority Report" on Air America said that they were going to make the clip available on their Blog. I looked for it today but could not find it. I sent them a note requesting that they make it available.

I URGE EVERYONE TO CONTACT THE SHOW AND REQUEST THAT THEY MAKE THIS AUDIO CLIP AVAILABLE SO THAT WE CAN SHARE IT FAR & WIDE!!!

Below is the link to write to the show:
http://www.airamericaradio.com/shows/majorityreport/contact.asp

Gloria

I was shocked (not really) when I heard how our compassionate conservative president responded to a single mom who is working three jobs. I can't find the link but you can already buy a t-shirt which reads...I work three jobs...That is uniquely American. I heard this on Air America yesterday and was further shocked to listen to the audience laughing at Bush's apathetic response. He has no heart.
See below.

GT
Gloria


*BUSH: HOLDING THREE JOBS 'UNIQUELY AMERICAN'

Tues Feb 8 2005 9:27:01 ET

Last Friday when promoting social security reform with 'regular' citizens in Omaha, Nebraska, President Bush walked into an awkward unscripted moment in which he stated that carrying three jobs at a time is 'uniquely American.'

While talking with audience participants, the president met Mary Mornin, a woman in her late fifties who told the president she was a divorced mother of three, including a 'mentally challenged' son. The President comforted Mornin on the security of social security stating that 'the promises made will be kept by the government.' But without prompting Mornin began to elaborate on her life circumstances.

Begin transcript:

MS. MORNIN: That's good, because I work three jobs and I feel like I contribute.

THE PRESIDENT: You work three jobs?

MS. MORNIN: Three jobs, yes.

THE PRESIDENT: Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that. (Applause.) Get any sleep? (Laughter.)***


Jack Topel


Informant: ranger116

Stupid Intelligence

by The Dreyfuss Report

Named and anonymous intelligence sources go on the record about the United States' lack of knowledge about what's happening in Iran.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/stupid_intelligence.php

Keep Your Huddled Masses

by Cory W. Smith, TomPaine.com Exclusive

Today Congress debates a bill that will "protect" America from people fleeing persecution and torture.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/keep_your_huddled_masses.php

Urge Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to appoint an independent counsel for torture abuses

Recently confirmed attorney general, Alberto Gonzales is under pressure from the ACLU to show his commitment to justice by immediately appointing an outside special counsel to investigate and prosecute any criminal acts by civilians in the torture or abuse of detainees by the U.S. government.

"Alberto Gonzales must demonstrate his willingness to uphold the oath of office as attorney general by appointing an independent special counsel that will credibly investigate and prosecute the high-level government officials who were responsible for allowing torture and abuse to take place," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero.

After three days of rigorous debate, the Senate confirmed Gonzales on a vote of 60 to 36, one of the narrowest confirmation votes ever for an attorney general. The ACLU noted that a recurring concern raised by senators was the Bush administration's policies on the torture and abuse of detainees. At his confirmation hearing, Gonzales failed to adequately answer questions from senators of both parties about his involvement with those policies and their implementation.

Read the ACLU's letter to the Senate urging a special counsel:
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?orgid=n&ID=17374&c=206&MX=1884&H=1

Take Action! Urge Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to appoint an independent counsel for torture abuses and to release all torture related documents!
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?orgid=n&ID=17420&c=206&MX=1884&H=1

ACLU Examines Homeland Security Nominee Michael Chertoff's Questionable Record

Michael Chertoff, nominee for Secretary of Homeland Security and the force behind the unprovoked detention of hundreds of Arab, South Asian and Muslim men after 9/11, showed no regrets for that roundup during his Senate confirmation hearing. He also acknowledged he was consulted on the development and implementation of a notorious Justice Department torture memo.

In the days after the terrorist attacks, hundreds of Arab, South Asian and Muslim men were detained using minor immigration violations that would not normally warrant detention, a racial and religious profiling policy that was developed and carried out by Chertoff.

As a matter of policy, the ACLU neither opposes nor endorses cabinet-level appointments. It does examine and publicize nominees' civil liberties records, as it has done with Chertoff and recently confirmed Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. The ACLU's memorandum on Chertoff's civil liberties record can be found here:
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?orgid=n&ID=17378&c=206&MX=1884&H=1

Take Action! As with Attorney General Gonzales, the unanswered questions swirling around Chertoff need to be addressed if the Senate is to properly exercise its "advise and consent" authority. Urge your Senators to ask the tough questions:
http://www.aclu.org/NationalSecurity/NationalSecurity.cfm?orgid=n&ID=17384&c&MX=1884&H=1

ACLU Examines Homeland Security Nominee Michael Chertoff's Questionable Record

mailbox:///C|/DOKUMENTE%20UND%20EINSTELLUNGEN/ZWERENZ/ANWENDUNGSDATEN/Mozilla/Profiles/default/jhcng299.slt/Mail/mailin.t-online.de/Trash?number=356026#story1

HR 418- A National ID Bill Masquerading as Immigration Reform

http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2005/cr020905.htm


Informant: Shanti Renfrew



A National ID Bill Masquerading as Immigration Reform
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul234.html

Watch Ron Paul deliver this speech to the House of Representatives on video:
http://recap.fednet.net/archive/Buildasx.asp?sProxy=80_hflr021005_008.wmv&sTime=00:00:32.0&eTime=00:04:00.0&duration=00:03:29.0&UserName=reppaultx&sLocation=&sExpire=1

IG Metall-Chef Peters fordert eine Verschärfung des Kündigungsschutzes

"Soziale Autisten": IG Metall-Chef fordert eine Verschärfung des Kündigungsschutzes (10.02.05)

IG-Metall-Chef Jürgen Peters hat in der Debatte um Stellenabbau bei wirtschaftlich erfolgreichen Unternehmen deutsche Konzernvorstände scharf angegriffen. Unternehmen wie die Deutsche Bank versündigten sich an der sozialen Marktwirtschaft, sagte Peters der "Bild"-Zeitung laut Vorabbericht. "Die Gewinnmaximierung auf Kosten der Allgemeinheit ist Verrat an der Gesellschaft. Solche Firmen sollten wir ächten, die müssen moralisch an den Pranger", forderte Peters. Der Gewerkschaftschef warf den betreffenden Führungskräften Gefühlskälte vor. "Einige Manager sind zu sozialen Autisten mutiert, die emotional völlig von ihren Belegschaften entfremdet sind und die Menschen nur noch als Kostenfaktor betrachten. Vor dem Hintergrund der aktuellen Massenkündigungen verlangte Peters eine Verschärfung des Kündigungsschutzes.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:

http://www.jpberlin.de/www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php4?Nr=10415



Hessische SPD-Vorsitzende Andrea Ypsilanti ruft zum Boykott der Deutschen Bank auf
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/513836/

Proteste gegen Kriegspolitik angekündigt

Nato und Bush: Proteste gegen Kriegspolitik angekündigt (10.02.05)

Um gegen Krieg und die zunehmende Militarisierung der Außenpolitik zu protestieren, hat das globalisierungskritische Netzwerk Attac seine Mitglieder zu Demonstrationen gegen die so genannte Nato-Sicherheitskonferenz in München und beim Besuch von US-Präsident George Bush in Mainz aufgerufen. In München tagten am kommenden Wochenende Regierungsvertreter, Militärstrategen, Generäle und Verteter von Rüstungskonzernen "hinter verschlossenen Türen", erklärte Attac. Das Motto "Frieden durch Dialog" führe dabei in die Irre, sagte Hagen Pfaff von Attac München. In München gehe es nicht um Frieden und Sicherheit, sondern ums Gegenteil. "Hier werden Militärstrategien koordiniert und Kriegskoalitionen für gemeinsame Angriffskriege geschmiedet."

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.jpberlin.de/www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php4?Nr=10417



Demonstration zum Bush-Besuch - Termine zum Bush-Besuch
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/496994/

Generelle Vorratsspeicherung von Kommunikationsdaten verfassungswidrig

Rechtsgutachten: Generelle Vorratsspeicherung von Kommunikationsdaten verfassungswidrig (10.02.05)

Eine Pflicht zur generellen Vorratsspeicherung von Kommunikationsdaten, wie sie derzeit im Rahmen der EU angestrebt wird, ist unverhältnismäßig und daher mit verschiedenen Grund- und Menschenrechten unvereinbar. So lautet das Ergebnis eines Rechtsgutachtens des Frankfurter Juristen Patrick Breyer. Demzufolge steht der zu erwartende Nutzen einer Vorratsspeicherung dieser Daten in einem deutlichen Missverhältnis zu den damit verbundenen Nachteilen für die Betroffenen und die Gesellschaft insgesamt. Wegen vielfältiger Umgehungsmöglichkeiten seien Auswirkungen einer Vorratsspeicherung auf das Sicherheitsniveau, also auf die Kriminalitätsrate, nicht zu erwarten.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:

http://www.jpberlin.de/www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php4?Nr=10399

Help Keep Bush on the Run

President Bush is on the defensive. After his State of the Union speech, the White House launched a four state blitz to sell his Social Security privatization scam. But in every state he visited, the Campaign for America's Future, and our allies, organized thousands of people to greet Air Force One with protest.

Our message was carried by nearly every TV station and every newspaper in each city visited by the President -- reaching hundreds of thousands of people. Because of our efforts, the White House is running scared and has now doubled the scope of its opening sales pitch to hit another four states with its pro-privatization rhetoric.

We need to raise $15,000 in the next two days to get people on the ground in every state that Bush plans to visit, and continue trumping him with highly visible protests against privatization.

http://action.ourfuture.org/ctt.asp?u=1742757&l=78275

"Social Security is the soft underbelly of the welfare state," declared White House ally Stephen Moore of the radically right wing Free Enterprise Fund and Club for Growth. "If you can jab your spear through that, you can undermine the whole welfare state."

The Campaign for America's Future is on the front lines of a battle to protect a basic American value: that after a lifetime of hard work, our government should guarantee American families a life above the poverty line.

Please help us continue to take the fight to the President in each and every state he's planning to visit.

http://action.ourfuture.org/ctt.asp?u=1742757&l=78275

The President is extending his tour because he knows we're winning. We have to keep up our momentum. Last week, together with our allies, we hounded the media and organized thousands of people to meet the President at every turn. One Nebraska newscaster put it this way on the evening news: the Campaign for America's Future "thinks nationally and speaks locally." (KETV Channel 7, Omaha, 2/3/05)

We didn't plan on the President extending his trip, but he's doing it to bolster his flagging support for Social Security privatization. We need to raise $15,000 in two days to make sure that we can stay on the offensive and turn up the heat on the White House. In the coming days, we will rally thousands of people, print countless signs and make sure the local media in each town the President visits knows exactly what his privatization scam means for their community.

http://action.ourfuture.org/ctt.asp?u=1742757&l=78275

We're leading the charge to save Social Security, but, don't just take our word for it. According to the Associated Press, "The Campaign for America's Future is leading a coalition of 20 organizations traditionally aligned with the Democratic Party: labor unions and advocacy groups for civil rights, women, senior citizens and the disabled." (Associated Press, 2/1/05) We are proud to be working with powerful allies like USAction, the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, the Alliance for Retired Americans, the AFL-CIO, and MoveOn.org in this important fight.

See more about our recent successes and help keep the great momentum -- against privatization -- going strong!

http://action.ourfuture.org/ctt.asp?u=1742757&l=78275

Campaign for America's Future Co-Director Roger Hickey was quoted in USA Today this Monday as saying: "It's an epic battle. If Bush succeeds here, he's changed the whole paradigm of what government is out to do."

The road ahead will be difficult, but with your help, we will win.

http://action.ourfuture.org/ctt.asp?u=1742757&l=78275

Thanks for everything you do,

Adam Luna, Policy Director
Campaign for America's Future

UK to Air Show on Torture Techniques

Iraq Watch Specials: From Peace No War Network

February 9, 2005

URL: http://www.PeaceNoWar.net

Latest Iraq Body count Number:

Minimum: 15654

Maximum: 17884

URL: http://www.iraqbodycount.net

UK to Air Show on Torture Techniques

by THOMAS WAGNER

.c The Associated Press

LONDON (AP) - Two people vomited, two wet their pants, another suffered signs of hypothermia - all for the cameras - after volunteering to spend 48 hours locked up in cages and subjected to sexual humiliation, forced nudity and sleep deprivation allegedly like prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

A British television station plans to air "The Guantanamo Guidebook,'' a program that recreates some alleged techniques used at the U.S. prison camp for terrorist suspects.

Channel 4 says it wants to make the public aware of such abuses, but a human rights group said Wednesday the program violates U.N. conventions banning torture and shouldn't be shown.

"Your program may have undesirable effects of acclimatizing the audience to the use of torture. The real issue is: how do we make an end to impunity for torturers,'' said Brita Sydhoff of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims in Denmark. The group represents 200 rehabilitation centers for torture victims.

The show's producers say they have recreated some of the milder forms of alleged abuse used at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The methods used on seven volunteers included religious and sexual humiliation, forced nudity, sleep deprivation and extreme temperatures, Tim Carter, the show's producer and director, said Wednesday.

The volunteers were locked in a warehouse with cages, interrogation rooms and surveillance equipment for 48 hours. In the end, after getting sick or suffering symptoms of hypothermia, three of the seven volunteers quit before the 48 hours was over, Carter said.

"We made the program to show viewers how devastating even the milder techniques such as sleep deprivation and playing on personal phobias can be,'' said Carter, who made the program for the Twenty Twenty Television production company in London.

The Bush administration has denied using torture at the Guantanamo prison, where many of the 545 detainees are held without charge. However, some detainees have said they were wrongly imprisoned and allege mistreatment, including beatings, forced nudity and sexual humiliation.

Tom Wilner, a lawyer for 11 Kuwaiti prisoners, recently told The Associated Press that most of his clients falsely confessed to belonging to Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime or the al-Qaida terror network as a way to stop alleged abuse.

Carter said many forms of purported abuse at Guantanamo have been publicly described by alleged victims, their lawyers and in memos and other documents released under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.

A broadcast date for "The Guantanamo Guidebook'' has not been announced, but Yad Luthra, a spokesman for Channel 4 in London, said it is one of four programs dealing with torture planned for a one-week period in the next month.

Carter said TV stations in other countries have expressed interest in the show, but none has bought the rights.

The other programs include a documentary by Clive Stafford Smith, the first British lawyer allowed into Guantanamo, that explores the issue of whether torture ever works when used on alleged terrorism suspects.

Another by former BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan is about how the United States and other nations allegedly take terrorist suspects outside the country to torture them.

Gilligan resigned from the British Broadcasting Corp. after a senior judge, Lord Hutton, criticized his story in 2003 that alleged Prime Minister Tony Blair's office had "sexed up'' an intelligence dossier about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction before the Iraq war.

The fourth Channel 4 documentary is about alleged torture in U.S. prisons.

On the Net: http://www.irct.org

Associated Press writer Christian Wienberg in Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed to this report.

02/09/05 16:28 EST

Photos of U.S. Military Torture in Abu Ghraib Prison
http://www.peacenowar.net/Iraq/News/April%2004-Photos/Abu%20Ghraib.htm

Los Angeles Times has a complete biographical Information on U.S. Soldiers Killed:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/external/fmmac2.mm.ap.org/war2/adv_search.php?SITE=CALOS&SECTION=MIDEAST

For more photos and Videos from Iraq, visit:
"Report from Baghdad" July, 2003
http://www.actionla.org/Iraq/IraqReport/intro.html

Objector.org
http://www.objector.org/


Peace, No War
War is not the answer, for only love can conquer hate
Not in our Name! And another world is possible!


Informant: SIUHIN

From ufpj-news

Doctors call for ban on child mobile phone use

Fast on the heels of the prominent article on Irish Doctors Environmental Association (IDEA) coming up with strong evidence that cellphones do cause health problems to vulnerable members of the population, in Ireland, posted at
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/16470166?source=Evening%20Standard
is the following, printed in today's (Thursday, 10 February, 2005) print edition of the IRISH INDEPENDENT.

Best, Imelda, Cork, Ireland



IRISH INDEPENDENT, THURSDAY, 10 FEBRUARY, 2005, PAGE 5

"Doctors call for ban on child mobile phone use

Young children should be stopped from using mobile phones because of health risks, a doctors' group warned yesterday.

The Irish Doctors Environmental Association (IDEA) said children could be sensitive to electromagnetic radiation emitted from the devices.

Dr. Philip Michael, chairman of IDEA, said: "The Government needs to act by at least stopping children." He referred ministers to a report from the British National Radiological Protection Board which advised parents not to give mobiles to young children.

Dr. Michael said there was a body of research from Scandinavian countries which highlighted sensitivity to the effects of electromagnetic radiation from mobile phones. "They haven't been proved to be safe, while there is no conclusive evidence against them," he said.

Dr Michael said the studies, mainly from Sweden and Britain, had pointed to irritation, drowsiness and lethargy from using the phone.

He said there was no major research carried out in Ireland, but the group had carried out a small study among 16 people from the Irish Electromagnetic Radiation Victims Network [IERVN] over the last few years. This pointed to distressing side-effects from radiation, including excessive fatigue, confusion, paraesthesia (tingling) and dizziness.

Dr Michael said there was no recognition of this risk from the Government.

He added that IDEA had proposed a motion to come before a meeting of the Irish Medical Council suggesting that the Government should discourage children from using mobile phones except in emergencies.

Other motions also include a request that the government bans the building of base stations on or near schools.

Dr Michael said health experts would be carrying out a further phase of their study to see if they could prove the effects. He said the group had already made a submission to the Joint Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources in relation to mobile phone radiation.

The Department of Communications said there was no valid scientific reason to warn against the use of mobile phones by children."


Irish Doctors Environmental Association (IDEA) Position on Electro-Magnetic Radiation
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/502478/

SENSITIVITY TO NON-IONISING RADIATION IN IRELAND
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/518018/

Laden dicht: Über den Start und die Folgen von Hartz IV

Gaby Gottwald, ehemalige Bundestagsabgeordnete der Grünen, hat ihren Laden zum 31. Dezember 2004 dicht gemacht und damit auch ihren Job aufgegeben: Sie war Geschäftsführerin von "Abakus", einem gemeinnützigen Beschäftigungsträger in Hamburg, der Langzeiterwerbslose auf Basis des SGB III und des BSHG, also z.B. als ABM-Kräfte, sozialversicherungspflichtig beschäftigt, qualifiziert und wo möglich in Arbeitsverhältnisse des so genannten "ersten Arbeitsmarktes" vermittelt hat - bis Ende letzten Jahres. Aufgrund der neuen Konkurrenz durch 1-Euro-Jobs seit dem 1. Januar 2005 sei Abakus die betriebswirtschaftliche Grundlage zur Erfüllung dieser Aufgabe entzogen, so Gottwald. Im Folgenden begründet sie, warum es nicht nur ökonomische Gründe waren, die bei Abakus dazu führten, die weitere Tätigkeit des Vereins einzustellen. Demnach wird Abakus kein Einzelfall bleiben..., es sei denn, es regt sich doch noch breiterer Widerstand der Beschäftigungsträger (s. dazu das Interview mit Michael Burbach im Anschluss an diesen Beitrag):
http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/realpolitik/hilfe/gottwald.html


"Die Versuchung wird groß"

Ein Gespräch mit Michael Burbach über gute Gründe, keine 1-Euro-Jobber einzustellen

Michael Burbach ist Geschäftsführer des BVZ e.V. in Frankfurt a.M., eines gemeinnützigen Vereins, dessen Aufgabengebiet vor allem die Betreuung und Verwaltung von Kindertagesstätten, aber auch Angebote zur Jugendarbeit und -bildung umfasst. Eigentlich ein typischer "Arbeitgeber" für die seit 1. Januar zulässigen "1-Euro-Jobber". Doch im Unterschied zu den großen Wohlfahrtsverbänden und vielen anderen kommunalen Beschäftigungsträgern bzw. deren Nutznießern lehnt das BVZ den Einsatz solcher "Arbeitsgelegenheiten" ab - nicht zuletzt, weil es sich dabei gar nicht um "Arbeitsverhältnisse" oder auch nur "Jobs", sondern um "staatlich verordnete Zwangsverpflichtungen" handele, so Burbach. Wir sprachen mit ihm über diesen und weitere Gründe für die entschiedene Haltung des nicht eben kleinen "Arbeitgebers" BVZ, sich nicht an der Umsetzung von Hartz IV zu beteiligen:
http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/realpolitik/hilfe/burbach.html


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 22, Eintrag 8

Phone mast health shock

http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/education/s/145/145770_phone_mast_health_shock.html


Informant: Sian

From Mast Network

Year 5 - Number 3 - 01/29/2005

http://tinyurl.com/4gxxp

Blind faith

by Bill Moyers

In These Times

02/09/05

One of the biggest changes in politics in my lifetime is that the delusional is no longer marginal. It has come in from the fringe, to sit in the seat of power in the Oval Office and in Congress. For the first time in our history, ideology and theology hold a monopoly of power in Washington. Theology asserts propositions that cannot be proven true; ideologues hold stoutly to a worldview despite being contradicted by what is generally accepted as reality. The offspring of ideology and theology are not always bad but they are always blind.

... One-third of the American electorate, if a recent Gallup Poll is accurate, believes the Bible is literally true. This past November, several million good and decent citizens went to the polls believing in what is known as the 'rapture index...

http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/1915/



Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Law of unintended consequences

by Robert Scheer

The Nation

02/08/05

In a heightened display of saber rattling, President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have been saying nasty things about Iran's 'unelected mullahs.' This is apparently so we'll be able to tell the difference between the theocracy in place in Tehran and the one coalescing in Baghdad. ... In his State of the Union address, Bush denounced Iran as 'the world's primary state sponsor of terrorism.' At the same time, he celebrated an Iraqi election that handed power to Shiite ayatollahs who were sponsored for decades by their co-religionists in Iran and who share much of Tehran's vision of religion and politics. ... The final returns from the Iraqi election are not in, but it seems clear that the slate headed by the Iranian-backed Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution is going to have a clear majority in the new constitutional assembly...

http://tinyurl.com/62aj8



Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Personal-account myths

by Cesar Conda

FreedomWorks

02/09/05

In the Democratic response to President Bush's call to make Social Security a better deal for younger workers through voluntary personal retirement accounts, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid likened the plan to a risky game of 'roulette.' New York Times columnist Paul Krugman called it a 'system in which workers engage in speculation that no financial advisor would recommend.' In opposing personal accounts, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) launched national ads stating: 'Winners and losers are stock market terms. Do you really want them to become retirement terms?' Given the way the Democrats and some commentators are talking about stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, you would assume that none of them invest any of their own money, and instead keep sacks of cash in their mattresses...

http://tinyurl.com/6p8hl



Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Monsters, the good and the damned

by Jonah Goldberg

National Review

02/09/05

About a decade ago, Columbia University professor Andrew Delbanco wrote an elegant book, The Death of Satan, in which he argued that America had lost the ability to speak in terms of evil. He called it a 'tragedy of the imagination,' and he was right. For decades, a therapeutic culture of 'understanding' was on the rise. Except for acts of racism and so-called homophobia, there was a mad rush to 'understand' evil people. Were they victims of a racist culture? Were they abused themselves? Were they expressing their natural frustration with the patriarchal capitalist system? Blah, blah, blah. The tragedy of the imagination was that we couldn't appreciate that evil is real and it exists...

http://www.nationalreview.com/goldberg/goldberg200502090800.asp



Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Blind patriotism on display at Super Bowl

by Francisco Unger

ZNet

02/08/05

Provided with two clear-cut options, blind patriotism or objective defiance, Americans have fallen smoothly into the first, eager to conform with mainstream belief and eager to make clear on which side they stand. With such a decisive outlook, few will question what it is that is so celebrated in a soldier, what it is that we are fighting for, or who it is that we are fighting against. Under this condition, Americans have surrendered all rights of free thought, creating a population uniform in belief, and in the process signing a blank check for leaders in Washington...

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=51&ItemID=7200



Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

At what cost?

by Jorge & Vickie E. Castro

Common Dreams

02/09/05

What makes the war real is when your doorbell rings at 8:00 pm and you open it to see an Army soldier standing there in his dress uniform, with all his medals on display. And then you know, you know that it is all too real. You know that REAL people die; you know that they have come to rip your heart out. They regretfully inform you that your only child, the center of your universe, is gone. Dead! The word screams in your head over and over. DEAD, DEAD, DEAD!! That is exactly what happened, Dec. 21, here in our own community. Another soldier died, another family was destroyed, I know because he was my soldier, my son and it was my family that was destroyed..

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0209-20.htm



Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Pentagon is funding the future of new media at Orlando, Florida's I/ITSEC

CGI Joe

by Ed Halter

Village Voice

02/07/05

Waging war isn't about fun and games. Or is it? A visit to one of the world's biggest conventions for military training technology reveals that today's armed forces are taking cues from video games, theme parks, and Hollywood. Find out how the Pentagon is funding the future of new media at Orlando, Florida's I/ITSEC: the Defense Department's own Disney World...

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0506,halter,60855,6.html



Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Fake news, fake reporter

by Eric Boehlert

Salon

02/10/05

The Gannon revelations come on the heels of the discovery that Bush administration officials signed lucrative contracts for several conservative pundits who hyped White House initiatives and did not disclose the government's payments. The Talon News fiasco raises serious questions about who the White House is allowing into its daily press briefings: How can a reporter using a fake name and working for a fake news organization get press credentials from the White House, let alone curry enough favor with the notoriously disciplined Bush administration to get picked by the president in order to ask fake questions? [subscription or ad view required]

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/02/10/gannon_affair/



Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The fudge-it budget

by Thomas L. Knapp

Free Market News Network

02/09/05

Any truthful way you cut it -- pun intended -- the FY2006 budget proposal is bigger than the FY2005 budget. So, when a Republican begins to brag, or a Democrat starts to whine, about the 'budget cuts,' don't believe'em. And, in reality, the FY2006 budget is going to be a lot larger than the FY2005 budget. We're only just beginning to discover the tricks that the White House played, even to get its request down to a 'modest' increase...

http://www.freemarketnews.com/pview/5837/863/html/index.php

McCain-Feingold "antidote" re-introduced in House

CNSNews.com

02/09/05

Those who believe that campaign finance 'reform' didn't reform anything are rallying behind a newly re-introduced bill called the First Amendment Restoration Act. The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Roscoe Bartlett [R-MD], is intended to overturn portions of the McCain-Feingold law that prevent advocacy groups from running certain political ads in the days leading up to an election. Free speech advocates describe Bartlett's bill as an antidote to the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, which they see as an effort to protect incumbent politicians from criticism. 'Passing the First Amendment Restoration Act will be a good and necessary first step toward repairing the damage done to Americans' constitutional rights by so-called 'campaign finance reform' ... [and] begin to give Americans back their free speech rights,' said Reid Cox, general counsel for the Center for Individual Freedom...

http://tinyurl.com/5ll7n



Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

FSU Center spent public money to tout feds' policies

Palm Beach Post

02/02/05

A Florida State University center has used more than a half-million in education tax dollars to put a positive spin on President Bush's key school policies, including hiring a public relations firm to teach charter schools to be more media-savvy. Despite conflicting studies on the success of charter schools and other alternative education programs, the School Choice Center at FSU touts them as ways to 'increase student achievement, increase parental involvement, promote school improvement through constructive competition, and accomplish racial and ethnic diversity.'

http://tinyurl.com/4rcbv



Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Kay, Carter urge caution on Iran

CNN

02/09/05

Former U.S. chief weapons inspector David Kay urged the United States on Wednesday not to make the same mistakes with Iran that he said it made with Iraq ahead of the second Persian Gulf War. Former President Jimmy Carter, meanwhile, said that even a pre-emptive strike against Iran's nuclear facilities 'would not be successful,' but he agreed with U.S. officials who have demanded more transparency from the Islamic republic...

http://tinyurl.com/4quhw



Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

AARP opposes "radical" Social Security changes

Houston Chronicle

02/09/05

The U.S. retirement system can be stabilized through a series of smaller fixes and does not need a major overhaul that would include private accounts, the nation's largest lobby group for the elderly said today. The AARP, formerly known as the American Association for Retired Persons, said the amount of wages that can be taxed for Social Security should be raised from $90,000 to $140,000. The change could be phased in over about 10 years and would cut the projected shortfall by 43 percent...

http://tinyurl.com/5us68



Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Rice: Iran risks UN action on nuke plan

Las Vegas Review-Journal

02/09/05

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran on Wednesday that it risks U.N. action if negotiations with Europe over its nuclear program don't progress. Nearing the end of a fence-mending tour of European allies, Rice also said she encountered 'a kind of coming together of common purpose' on another troubled front: Iraq. Several countries committed to help train Iraqi forces and participate in an upcoming NATO training mission. 'I heard devotion to helping more on the reconstruction side and, most importantly, to helping with the training of the security forces inside of Iraq, outside of Iraq, in the NATO training mission,' the secretary said...

http://tinyurl.com/59t3v



Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

White House reporter quits under scrutiny

Delaware Journal

02/10/05

A former Wilmington [DE] resident whose softball questions at White House press conferences have prompted heated criticism from online media watchdog groups has sworn off presidential press conferences. James D. Guckert, who reported under the pseudonym Jeff Gannon, resigned late Tuesday as Washington bureau chief for Talon News, a conservative Internet news outlet owned by the Web site GOPUSA."

http://tinyurl.com/3qhvw



Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

House likely to pass "Real ID" bill

Los Angeles Times

02/10/05

A bill aimed at blocking states from issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants appeared headed for passage today in the House of Representatives, aided by a strong endorsement from the White House and broad support within the Republican majority." [editor's note: Section 102 of the bill in question allows the head of Homeland Security to suspend any and all laws, at his discretion, and bars judicial review of his actions - TLK]

http://tinyurl.com/68mw9


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Reclaiming Public Water

http://www.tni.org/books/publicwater.htm


Informant: Kate Harris

Oppose HR 418 - Real National ID Act

http://capwiz.com/liberty/issues/alert/?alertid=6938731&type=CO


Informant: omnisprinter

Environmentalists raise outcry over forest firm's road-building in Clayoquot

Victoria Times Colonist

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

VICTORIA - An environmental group is raising the alarm over International Forest Products' construction of a logging road into the Hesquiat Lake Creek valley north of Tofino.

Friends of Clayoquot Sound on Monday described the building of the road as "an ecological crime" and called on Interfor to halt construction. The group said this marks the first time in 14 years that an intact wilderness valley in the sound has been subject to road-building and the falling of ancient temperate rainforest.

But Interfor's West Coast division area manager Don McMillan said the company has necessary approval from both government and first nations to conduct the road work.

"We've got approvals at all levels,' " McMillan said. "We're following all of the very strict science panel recommendations and government and first nations in terms of the plans that have been signed off and approved."

Diego Garcia, a Friends of Clayoquot Sound spokesman, said even though Interfor may have the legal right to construct the road, that doesn't mean it should.

Undisturbed valleys are rare on Vancouver Island, where 75 per cent of the original productive forest has been logged, the group said in a news release. It calls on Interfor to immediately cease all forestry activity in Clayoquot's intact valleys.

© The Vancouver Sun 2005


Informant: Deane T. Rimerman

6th Global Women's Strike – 8 March 2005

http://www.globalwomenstrike.net/

The Meningococcal Gold Rush

1.15 million New Zealand children target of untested experimental vaccine

http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0502/S00064.htm


Informant: Andrea Ball

Pentagon to broadcast to millions of U.S. homes

Moving on from its phase of embedding journalists, or as some would say, 'a policy of restricting and controlling the flow of information,' the Pentagon will now produce and disseminate the news itself. It will be beamed to the public at no charge.

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=4272a7ec26944f6c
http://tinyurl.com/5bvhd


From Information Clearing House

Scribe for New Age Imperialism

http://www.counterpunch.com/whitney02072005.html


From Information Clearing House

Will Democracy Survive the Media?

http://207.44.245.159/article8011.htm


From Information Clearing House

How to seek shelter when it's raining fear

When we look back at the past, people's responses to perceived threats often strike us as disproportionate or simply crazy. Past panics tend to be quietly forgotten, or dismissed as embarrassing reminders of our capacity for group hysteria.

http://www.iht.com/bin/print_ipub.php?file=/articles/2005/02/07/news/edbourke.html
http://tinyurl.com/4ru79


From Information Clearing House

Iran to take control of world's oil trade in 2005?

In 2005 Iran will launch a new oil exchange that is expected to put an end to Western domination of the international oil trade. The US and UK, currently home to the world's largest oil markets, are unlikely to allow Iran to undermine their control of the oil trade without putting up a fight.

http://www.theinsider.org/mailing/article.asp?id=0508


From Information Clearing House

PM agrees with Bush on Iranian threat

Iran is a sponsor of state terrorism and should realise it must not seek to obstruct progress towards a Middle East peace settlement, Tony Blair said yesterday.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/02/09/nblair109.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/02/09/ixnewstop.html
http://tinyurl.com/3pdx4


From Information Clearing House

Rice Pursues Gunboat Diplomacy in Syria

Rice made a statement in Italy accusing Syria of supporting terrorism and threatened the country with "isolation." Rice emphasized that terrorists in Iraq were supported by Damascus and said the Damascus administration "supports at least the terrorism in the south of Lebanon" and asked for cooperation.

http://www.zaman.com/?bl=international&alt=&hn=16391


From Information Clearing House

If kids are the future, we're in big trouble

http://www.nypress.com/18/6/news&columns/AlexanderZaitchik.cfm


Informant: Lew Rockwell

Crimestop

http://www.lewrockwell.com/hein/hein95.html

A More Powerful President Is the Last Thing We Need

http://www.lewrockwell.com/gregory/gregory60.html

A Spaced-Out Democracy Vision

Making the Solar System Safe for Democracy

Vulcans target Titan. Article by Leon Hadar:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/hadar2.html

Preserve the Integrity of the U.S. Senate

Common Cause

posted 02/07/05

Tell United States Senators not to support changing long standing Senate filibuster rules to blatantly advance one party's goals.

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=6784145&url_num=9&url=http://www.commoncause.org/site/apps/ka/ct/contactus.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=317178&en=6oJJIPOkF6KCIIOjF9JLLNNjF8JLL0MDLjIIJMNoFgKVJ7K


From Moving Ideas Network

Impact of President's Budget Proposal on States

National Priorities Project

posted 02/09/05

National Priorities Project has produced a breakdown of the budget's impact on each state for: the total of all discretionary federal grants to state and local governments; Low-Income Home and Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP); community and economic development funds, the No Child Left Behind Act; and the Clean Water State Revolving Fund.

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=6784145&url_num=8&url=http://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget


From Moving Ideas Network

State of the Union 2005: Reality Check

posted 02/03/05

A reality check to Bush's plans for Social Security, Iraq, and his other priorities for the upcoming year.

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=6784145&url_num=7&url=http://www.movingideas.org/content/en/on_the_hill/2005_sou.htm

Action Needed to Stop Anti-Consumer Class Action Bill

posted 02/04/05

Senate to vote on bill that would dramatically curtail the rights of consumers to pursue class action claims.

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=6784145&url_num=6&url=http://www.movingideas.org/content/en/on_the_hill/class_action_fairness_act_2005.htm

Protect our borders from the threat WITHIN them

We urgently need your help to protect the wildlife and people living along our borders, as well as to ensure the purity and safety of our air, water, and wild lands.

Tomorrow Congress could vote on a bill that would allow the Homeland Security Department to IGNORE ALL FEDERAL ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION LAWS, effectively giving them free reign to destroy national parks, forests, monuments, wildlife refuges, and wilderness areas along our borders.

Click here to send a free fax to your Representative urging him or her to vote NO on these unnecessary and harmful exemptions before it's too late! Or if you're a registered user, simply hit "reply" then hit "send" and we'll send the letter below on your behalf:
http://www.saveourenvironment.org/ctt.asp?u=2205119&l=5912

This legislation will allow the Homeland Security Department to completely ignore long-standing laws like the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act and Safe Drinking Water Act. That means increased risks of air and water pollution for all of us.

Many of our border areas run through national parks, forests and monuments, wildlife refuges, wilderness areas and other environmentally sensitive areas. This bill could have a devastating impact on some of our last remaining wild lands!

Our border areas are home to hundreds of species of endangered plants and animals. If the Homeland Security Department is allowed to sidestep all environmental protection laws, animals already on the brink of extinction like grizzly bears, jaguars, and wolves could vanish forever.

Not only are these exemptions dangerous, they also appear to be unnecessary. Not one single Congressional hearing has illustrated a need for these broad exemptions. Never before has any federal agency been provided with such a breadth of unjustified exemptions from our laws.

We need your help to stop this legislation today! The House is expected to vote on this bill as early as tomorrow February 10, 2005, so there's no time to spare. Click here to take action now!
http://www.saveourenvironment.org/ctt.asp?u=2205119&l=5912

We also need your help to spread the word about this dangerous legislation. Once you have taken action, please forward this email to your friends, family and co-workers and urge them to contact their Representatives too!

Thank you for your help!

Sincerely,

Katelyn Sabochik
Online Campaign Manager
info@saveourenvironment.org



Dear Representative,

I am extremely concerned about the sweeping exemptions from the landmark laws that protect our air, water, land and wildlife that would be given to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security if H.R. 418, The Real ID Act of 2005 were to become law. The bill includes unprecedented language allowing the secretary of Homeland Security to exempt the agency from all federal, state and local environmental laws when constructing walls, fences, roads and other barriers along U.S. borders. I strongly urge you to vote NO on this unnecessary and excessive piece of damaging legislation.

It is critical to note that this provision is not limited to a single fencing project along the San Diego border, but would apply to all areas along and "in the vicinity" of our international boundaries with both Mexico and Canada. Under this sweeping waiver, Homeland Security would be free to undertake large construction projects anywhere along our borders without oversight, accountability or legal constraints - from the densely populated border communities in California, Texas and Washington, to the remote wilderness of Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona, to the pristine islands and waters of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northern Minnesota. Never before has any federal agency been provided with such a breadth of unjustified exemptions from environmental laws.

We are a nation founded on the rule of law. To place any federal official above any law of their choosing - whether environmental, labor or civil rights - is a step that should not be taken lightly. In addition, Homeland Security has not demonstrated a need to waive any or all laws. In fact, there has not been a single congressional hearing that has illustrated a need for these broad exemptions. Furthermore, the removal of all avenues of judicial review is a direct affront to the most basic principles of checks and balances and separation of powers in our Constitution. We believe that it is possible to ensure border security while shielding the public and the environment from harm and have not seen evidence otherwise.

We strongly urge you to reject this attempt to include language that would allow Homeland Security to waive environmental laws or other important health and safety statutes.

Sincerely,
[your name here]

Hearst Newspapers Push Monopoly Control

http://tinyurl.com/3qmm4

Climate change costs Southern Ocean oxygen

http://www.publiceyestv.org/global_warming_news_archive_1.htm


Informant: cobra

Important petition for ELECTION REFORM

Please quickly sign this important petition for ELECTION REFORM -- cosponsored by Boxer and Clinton

The following letter is from Hilary Clinton. She and Barbara Boxer (our hero from Jan 6, 2004) are cosponsoring a bill for ELECTION REFORM.

And they need YOU to sign their petition:
http://activate.friendsofhillary.com/t?ctl=B7E7C5:3302CBE

It literally takes A SPLIT SECOND to sign. So, please do sign it RIGHT NOW, and then forward to others.

It is vitally important that you sign, EVEN if you somehow remain convinced that the last 2 elections were completely legitimate.

Thank you!!!
Kai


Dear Friends,

It's time to tell those who celebrate elections and voter participation in countries around the world that we must make sure every vote is counted in elections right here at home! That's why I am asking you to sign on now as a citizen co-sponsor of vitally important election reform legislation.

Sign the petition:
http://activate.friendsofhillary.com/t?ctl=B7E7C5:3302CBE

Next week, I will introduce the Count Every Vote Act of 2005, co-sponsored by Senator Barbara Boxer. This comprehensive election reform bill will:
- Provide a verified paper ballot for every vote cast in electronic voting machines;
- Set a uniform standard for provisional ballots, so that every qualified voter within the state will know their votes are treated equally and will be counted; and
- Require the Federal Election Assistance Commission to issue standards that ensure uniform access to voting machines and election personnel in every community. It's outrageous that some people in predominantly minority communities had to wait up to 10 hours to vote, while people in other communities often voted in minutes!

In 2004, I introduced legislation similar to the Count Every Vote Act. But, it never saw the light of day. I couldn't even get a hearing for my bill before the Senate Rules Committee. We can't allow this new legislation to suffer the same fate.

The Republicans who control Congress don't want to address this issue. So, we've got to build grassroots momentum to make sure they don't have any choice but to act. That's why I am determined to keep moving forward - on the Hill, with advocacy groups, and with all of you!

Sign the petition:
http://activate.friendsofhillary.com/t?ctl=B7E7C5:3302CBE

Will you join me in calling for action to Count Every Vote? Will you sign up to become a citizen co-sponsor of this bill, so that we can demonstrate that the American people won't sit still for inaction on legislation so essential to our freedom?

Please forward this e-mail to your friends, and ask them to join us.

And then, consider making a contribution to Friends of Hillary to help us keep this important project going.

Make a contribution:
http://activate.friendsofhillary.com/t?ctl=B7E7C7:3302CBE

Together, we will restore the credibility of American democracy, and make sure that we count every vote.

Sincerely,
Hillary Rodham Clinton


P.S. You have been such a good friend and supporter, and I appreciate everything you have done. The Count Every Vote Act is one of the most important bills I will ever introduce as a Senator. I hope you will be able to help me now.

Please help spread the word by forwarding this message to your friends and family!

To view the Friends of Hillary Privacy Policy, please visit:
http://activate.friendsofhillary.com/t?ctl=B7E7C9:3302CBE

All content copyright 2005 Friends of Hillary

Paid for by Friends of Hillary, 1717 K Street, NW, Suite 309A,
Washington, D.C. 20036
Karyn Kai Anderson, PhD, MPH
KKA_AUG18@yahoo.com
410-889-4176

Open letter to public servants

http://proliberty.com/observer/20020216.htm


Informant: Be Kind Whenever Possible

Lady Liberty Under Attack

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/020905X.shtml

Is It a Backdoor Draft?

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/020905O.shtml

Outsourcing Torture

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/020905M.shtml

Iran Will Be Held Accountable

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/020905J.shtml

Conservatives Balk at Bush Call for Bigger Government

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/020905G.shtml

Bush's Budget Cuts Would Fall near Main Street

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/020905F.shtml

Bush Plan for Nuclear 'Bunker Buster' Alarms Congress

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/020905E.shtml

War on Tyrants: What Will Bush Do Next?

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/020905A.shtml

California Considers Ban on Pet Cloning

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/29450/story.htm

Die Non-lethal weapons kommen

"Phaser auf Betäubung!" Die Non-lethal weapons kommen.

Im Mai findet in Deutschland das 3rd European Symposium on Non-Lethal Weapons statt, eine Art Leistungsschau der Branche, auf der auch internationale "Gäste", wie etwa John D. Alexander, der Vater des amerikanischen Non-lethal-weapon-Programms, gesehen werden können. Nicht unwesentliches Detail am Rande: Vertreter des österreichischen Bundesheeres gehören zu den federführenden Organisatoren der Veranstaltung ...

Mikrowellen-Waffen wie im Raumschiff-Enterprise, Ultra- und Infra-Schallkanonen, Plasma-Teaser, EMP-Bomben - das Arsenal der modernen Kampfmittel ist groß und scheint auf den ersten Blick aus dem Fundus der Science-fiction zu stammen. Dennoch werden verschiedene "Nicht-tötende Waffen" (nicht nur) in den USA von der Polizei bereits zur "Crowd-control" bei Demonstrationen eingesetzt.

NÄHERE INFORMATIONEN ÜBER DIE NÄCHSTE SENDUNG SIND AB KOMMENDEM WOCHENENDE AUF DER HOMEPAGE DER BIG BROTHER NEWS ZU FINDEN: http://www.bigbrothernews.org/

Suicide seeds: Stop GE terminator technology

Action Alert

Terminate the Terminator
http://www.organicconsumers.org/un.htm

Sign Petition to United Nations
http://www.organicconsumers.org/un.htm#factoryfarm


Informant: garden beekeeper

--------

Email this article to a friend!

Stop GE terminator technology

ETC Group received confidential documents stating the ministers from Canada intend to force overturning the international moratorium on genetic seed sterilization known as terminator technology, at a United Nations meeting in Bangkok February 7-11. It is not too late to stop this assault by the Canadian government.

ETC Group, IATP, along with indigenous and farmer groups are calling on people to write the Canadian government and urge them to continue supporting the international moratorium on terminator technology.

A draft letter can be found here:
http://foodfirst.org/action/2005/terminator.html

For more information:
http://www.etcgroup.org/article.asp?newsid=498

--------

From: Phil Silberman

Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2005 11:30 PM
To: 'John Grove'
Subject: FW: FW:URGENT ACTION ALERT!!!

Check this out..

The ETC Group (Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration) headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada issued a press release (posted below) on Monday.

They received a confidential memo that reveals that at a United Nations meeting this week in Bangkok, the Canadian government will attempt to overturn an international moratorium on Terminator seed technology.

The Campaign has launched an ACTION ALERT in response:
http://www.thecampaign.org/alert_terminator.php

Terminator seeds are genetically engineered to be sterile and thereby prevent farmers from saving seed. This is an extremely risky and controversial technology. Some scientists worry about what could happen if the terminator is unleashed on the environment. They fear that terminator technology could migrate from one farm to another, or from a farm to wild plants.

And activists in developing nations are concerned that the technology would put too much power in the hands of a few international agribusinesses.

The Campaign has set up an ACTION ALERT that allows you to send an instant e-mail to the following Canadian officials:
1) Prime Minister Paul Martin
2) Hon. Andy Mitchell, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
3) F.B. Fadden, President, Canadian Food Inspection Agency

Visit the following web address to TAKE ACTION NOW:
http://www.thecampaign.org/alert_terminator.php

Thanks for taking the time to contact these Canadian government officials.


Craig Winters
President
The Campaign
PO Box 55699
Seattle, WA 98155
Tel: 425-771-4049
E-mail: label@thecampaign.org
Web Site: http://www.thecampaign.org



Date: February 7, 2005

ETC Group
News Release
7 February 2005
http://www.etcgroup.org

Canadian Government to Unleash Terminator Bombshell at UN Meeting: All-out push for commercialisation of Sterile Seed Technology

A confidential document leaked today to ETC Group reveals that the Canadian government, at a United Nations meeting in Bangkok (Feb 7-11), will attempt to overturn an international moratorium on genetic seed sterilisation technology (known universally as Terminator). Even worse, the Canadian government has instructed its negotiators to "block consensus" on any other option.

"Canada is about to launch a devastating kick in the stomach to the world's most vulnerable farmers - the 1.4 billion people who depend on farm saved seed," said ETC Group Executive Director Pat Mooney speaking from Ottawa. "The Canadian government is doing the dirty work for the multinational gene giants and the US government. Even Monsanto wasn't prepared to be this upfront and nasty. Canada is betraying Farmers' Rights and food sovereignty everywhere."

Terminator technology was first developed by the US government and the seed industry to prevent farmers from re-planting saved seed and is considered the most controversial and immoral agricultural application of genetic engineering so far. When first made public in 1998, "suicide seeds" triggered an avalanche of public opposition, forcing Monsanto to abandon the technology and prompting the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to impose a de facto moratorium on its further development. According to the leaked instructions to Canadian negotiators at SBSTTA 10 (a scientific advisory body to the CBD), Canada will insist on Wednesday (9 Feb.) that governments accept the field testing and commercialization of Terminator varieties (referred to as GURTS -- Genetic Use Restriction Technologies). Canada will also attack an official UN report, prepared by an international expert group, which is critical of the potential impacts of Terminator seeds on small farmers and Indigenous Peoples. In stark contrast to Canada's position, the expert report recommends that governments seek prohibitions on the technology.

In Bangkok, civil society and Indigenous Peoples are calling on the Canadian government to abandon its endorsement of Terminator and to join with other governments to prohibit the technology once and for all. Many African and Asian governments have called for Terminator to be banned and the European Union has also been supportive of the existing moratorium.

"It is outrageous that Canada is backing an anti-farmer technology and shameful that it will 'block consensus' on any other outcome. Governments from around the world must not accept this bullying tactic," says ETC Group's Hope Shand from the negotiations in Bangkok. "If Canada blocks decision-making on this issue, the moratorium will be in jeopardy and terminator seeds will be commercialized ending up in the fields of small farmers."

The full leaked text of the Canadian government's instructions to its negotiators on Terminator/GURTS follows.

Hope Shand and Jim Thomas of ETC Group can be contacted at SBSTTA negotiations in Bangkok on cell phone +44 (0) 7752 106806 or by email jim@etcgroup.org or hope@etcgroup.org

Pat Mooney (in Ottawa) +1 (613) 241-2267 etc@etcgroup.org
Kathy Jo Wetter (USA) +1 (919) 960-5223 email kjo@etcgroup.org

The Head of the Canadian Delegation in Bangkok is Robert McLean, Environment Canada email Robert.Mclean@ec.gc.ca tel +1 (819) 997-1303



"Advice on the report of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Genetic Use Restriction Technologies (GURTS);

Canada has major reservations regarding the recommendations in the AHTEG report. Canada notes that the experts were unable to reach consensus and that while this is recognized in para. 15 of the report, this should have been made clear in the recommendation section of the report. Unfortunately, the report leaves the impression that consensus was achieved on all of the recommendations when this was clearly not case and in particular in terms of recommendation (b) which reads as follows, "In view of the current lack of data, recommends that Parties and other Governments consider the development of regulatory frameworks not to approve GURTs for field-testing and commercial use."

Canada will suggest that the document clearly indicate in the Annex that there is no consensus on for the recommendations. Alternatively, the AHTEG report can be referred to as the "Chairs' report". Canada also believes that the AHTEG report contains scientific inaccuracies and a lack of balance in terms of reflecting both potential positive and negative impacts of this technology, and these issues should be addressed before the report is further distributed. We believe that it would be beneficial for Parties and other governments to submit comments to the Executive Secretary/CHM to represent national views to improve the accuracy of the document, and that these be made available to both the 8j working group and COP.

Additionally, Canada will propose that SBSTTA adopt a recommendation for decision at COP8 based on the revised wording of recommendation "b" below and will propose this recommendation be incorporated for consideration at the 8j meeting:

NEW WORDING for recommendation b) of AHTEG report
(b) In view of the current lack of data, recommend that Parties and other Governments consider the development of domestic regulatory frameworks TO ALLOW FOR THE EVALUATION OF NOVEL VARIETIES, INCLUDING THOSE WITH GURTS, FOR FIELD TESTING AND COMMERCIAL USE BASED ON PROPRIATE SCIENCE-BASED ENVIRONMENTAL RISK/SAFETY ASSESSMENTS.

In Canada's opinion the revised wording we are suggesting, strengthens the recommendation and provides for a strong scientific assessment of risk.

If we are unsuccessful in obtaining these additions (indication that recommendations in the AHTEG report were not based on consensus OR agreement to have national views submitted) AND changes to recommendation "B" --or any other outcome which clearly addresses our concern over a defacto moratorium on GURTS-- Canada is prepared to block consensus on this issue."


Informant: oscully



Further proof---as if we needed any---that the world has lost its collective marbles. I can't imagine a single argument for advocating this practice in a sane world. Please send e-mails to the Canadian Prime Minister at pm@pm.gc.ca

Party leaders:

Copps.S@parl.gc.ca , Minister_Ministre@hc-sc.gc.ca , just@parl.gc.ca , jack@fed.ndp.ca , Harper.S@parl.gc.ca , Duceppe.G@parl.gc.ca

Government Newsroom
newsroom@canada.gc.ca

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
http://www.agr.gc.ca

Plant Gene Resources of Canada
http://pgrc3.agr.gc.ca/

Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration
http://www.agr.gc.ca/pfra/

Canadian Wheat Board
http://www.cwb.ca/en/index.jsp

All government emails in pasteable form at:
http://ghostchild.com/Canadian_Government_Email_list.htm

PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS INFORMATION WIDELY


ETC Group
News Release
Friday, February 11, 2005
http://www.etcgroup.org/

Suicide Seeds - Bombshell in Bangkok

Canadian-Led Coup to Allow Terminator Technology Narrowly Squelched at UN Meeting

Percy Schmeiser, a Canadian farmer who was sued by Monsanto, spoke today at a UN meeting in Bangkok - harshly criticizing his governments' efforts to promote field-testing and commercialization of Terminator seeds (plants genetically-modified to render seeds sterile at harvest time).

"The Canadian government has acted shamefully. It is supporting a dangerous, anti-farmer technology that aims to eliminate the rights of farmers to save and re-use harvested seed," said Schmeiser. "Instead of representing the good will of the Canadian people or attending to the best interests of the Biodiversity Treaty, the Canadian government is fronting for the multinational gene giants who stand to win enormous profits from the release of Terminator seeds around the world."

Schmeiser is the 74-year old Canadian farmer who was sued by Monsanto for patent infringement when the company's patented, genetically modified canola seed invaded his farm - unwanted and unwelcome. A victim of genetic pollution and a champion of Farmers' Rights, Schmeiser courageously fought Monsanto all the way to the Canadian Supreme Court.

A Canadian government proposal to unleash Terminator was leaked to the ETC Group on the first day of a UN meeting in Bangkok, February 7-11 (SBSTTA, the scientific advisory body to the Convention on Biological Diversity - CBD). The news stunned farmers' organizations, government delegations, and civil society worldwide. Ottawa's instructions to the Canadian delegation in Bangkok called for an all-out push for field-testing and commercialisation of sterile seed technologies, effectively un-doing the precautionary, de facto moratorium on Terminator seeds adopted by governments in 1998. Even worse, the Canadian delegation was instructed to "block consensus" by governments attending the meeting if it didn't get its way. ETC Group has also learned that, in advance of the Bangkok meeting, Canadian embassies around the world asked governments to support a recommendation for "field testing and commercial use" of Terminator.

Canada's blatant promotion of an anti-South technology does not bode well for the G8 meeting of world leaders in July in Scotland where Canada will propose to introduce nanotechnology on the G-8 agenda.

After being swamped this week by protest emails and letters, the Canadian government was forced to soften its public position on Terminator, but it continued to press a solidly pro-Terminator view in the corridors and in a committee appointed to negotiate draft text on Terminator. (The drafting group on Terminator included representatives from Canada, the European Community, Peru, Tanzania, and the Philippines.) By Thursday morning Canada and its seed industry allies had drafted text that included language promoting Terminator field trials, capacity building for the use of Terminator in the developing world and specifically invited the research participation of "private sector entities."

"The draft text on Terminator released Thursday morning was appalling - it looked like it was written by the multinational seed industry," said Jim Thomas of ETC Group, speaking from Bangkok. "It strongly reflected the Canadian government 's pro-Terminator position as revealed earlier this week in the leaked document."

Suicide Seed Squad: Canada hasn't been working alone in Bangkok. The UN meeting was crawling with representatives from the biotech industry and related trade groups - including Monsanto, Delta & Pine Land, Crop Life International, PHARMA (pharmaceutical manufacturers), the International Seed Federation and more - who lobbied against current restrictions on the development of suicide seeds. New Zealand and Australia also backed the position of industry and Canada, while a fleet of US government representatives observed from the sidelines. (The US government is not a Party to the Biodiversity Convention.)

Thankfully, disaster was averted due to key interventions by the governments of Norway, Sweden, Austria, the European Community, Cuba, Peru and Liberia, on behalf of the African Group. The good news is that these governments managed to delete the most offensive wording. The final text and recommendations reaffirm earlier decisions, amounting to a continuing, but fragile, de facto moratorium on Terminator. The issue now bounces to another CBD advisory body (the Working Group on 8(j)) in March 2006.

Interminable Terminator? The bad news is that decisions made in Bangkok will allow the issue of Terminator to be re-examined and re-studied interminably. In ETC Group's view, the CBD continues to dilly-dally and delay decisions on Terminator while the industry is moving full-speed ahead to bring sterile seeds to market.

"The international community needs to know that Terminator technology is a real and present danger. The biotech industry is chomping on the bit to commercialize suicide seeds. Nothing short of an all-out ban on Terminator will stop it from being unleashed in farmer's fields," said Hope Shand of ETC Group.

For more information:

Pat Mooney, ETC Group (Canada) etc@etcgroup.org:
Hope Shand and Kathy Jo Wetter, ETC Group (USA) hope@etcgroup.org: 919 960-5223

Silvia Ribeiro, ETC Group (Mexico) silvia@etcgroup.org: 52 55 55 632 664 Jim Thomas, ETC Group (UK) jim@etcgroup.org: 44 (0)7752 106806 (mobile)



Canada Backs Terminator Seeds

By John Vidal

The Guardian U.K.

Wednesday 09 February 2005

An international moratorium on the use of one of the world's most controversial GM food technologies may be broken today if the Canadian government gets seed sterilisation backed at a UN meeting.

Leaked documents seen by the Guardian show that Canada wants all governments to accept the testing and commercialisation of "terminator" crop varieties. These are genetically engineered to produce only infertile seeds which farmers cannot replant.

Jointly patented by the GM company Monsanto and the US government, the technology was condemned in the late 1990s by many African and Asian governments who called for a permanent ban.

Monsanto and other GM companies which were developing similar technologies voluntarily pulled out of research after concerns were also raised about the "terminator" genes spreading to non-GM crops, and international outrage that poor farmers would not be able to use seeds from their crops, as they have always done.

But leaked instructions to Canadian government negotiators at the Bangkok meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, a group which advises the UN's Convention on Biological Diversity, show that Canada will request today that all countries open their doors to the technology.

The papers, leaked to the environment group ETC, also show that the Canadian government will attack an official UN report critical of the potential impact of "terminator" seeds on small farmers and indigenous peoples. The report recommends that governments prohibit the technology.

The Canadian government team in Bangkok was last night unavailable for comment.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/021005X.shtml


Alfred Lambremont Webre, JD, Med
ICIS-Institute for Cooperation in Space
3339 West 41 Avenue
Vancouver, BC V6N3E5 CANADA
Tel: 604-733-8134
Fax: 604-733-8135
Email: alw@peaceinspace.com
Campaign: http://www.peaceinspace.org
Exopolitics: http://www.exopolitics.com
ICIS: http://www.peaceinspace.com


Informant: Bea Bernhausen

U.S. Might Face "Ultimate Nightmare" In Middle East Where Shiites Control Most Of World's Oil

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/02/09/1458256


Informant: Friends

Rumsfeld supports bombs to target Iran sites

Sydney Morning Herald

February 3, 2005

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Rumsfeld-supports-bombs-to-target-Iran-sites/2005/02/02/1107228771907.html?oneclick=true

The Pentagon wants to revive a controversial program to build nuclear warheads capable of penetrating hardened underground targets such as Iran's covert nuclear facilities. A leaked memo from the US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, to the Energy Department proposed funding for the scheme to begin next year. "You can count on my support for your efforts to revitalise the nuclear-weapons infrastructure and to complete the RNEP [robust nuclear earth penetrator] study," Mr Rumsfeld wrote in a memo seen by the Washington Post. An official from the Energy Department said on Monday that $US10.3 million ($13.3 million) to restart that study is expected to be included in the Bush Administration's budget, which is to be released next week. The memo leak seems certain to trigger a major row with Congress, which eliminated the scheme from the budget last year. That decision was made at the behest of Republican legislators angered by estimates suggesting the program would cost more than $US500 million. The Bush Administration has long emphasised the scheme is merely a question of research and that Congress would have to approve the production of such weapons. AdvertisementAdvertisement Democrats also were outraged, arguing that programs to improve nuclear weapons made their use more likely and undermined efforts by the US to halt the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in other countries. The Arms Control Association, a pressure group that has opposed the bunker-buster scheme, said: "The Administration is missing a key opportunity to make good on the congressional decision last year ... it sends the wrong signal to the international community on the US approach on non-proliferation." Opponents of the proposed new weapon have argued that sealing off underground facilities could be done as well with smart, precision-guided conventional weapons, a position supported in 2003 by Admiral James Ellis, then head of the US Strategic Command. The US military has been studying bunker-busting weapons with renewed vigour since the September 11 attacks. Osama bin Laden is believed to favour underground caves as a hiding place and used the Tora Bora network in the mountains of Afghanistan when he fled US-led forces in late 2001. . North Korea has reprocessed 8000 spent fuel rods into weapons-grade plutonium - potentially enough material to produce six atomic weapons - and appears to have exported nuclear material to Libya, the US informed its Asian allies, Japan, South Korea and China. The nuclear material that North Korea may have exported to Libya was uranium hexafluoride which can be enriched into weapons-grade material if it is fed into nuclear centrifuges. The Telegraph, London; The Washington Post and The New York Times

-- Posted for educational and research purposes only, ~ in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 ~ NucNews Links and Expanded Archives - http://nucnews.net


From FoE Sydney

US allies fret at hard line of 'nuclear hawks'

by Guy Dinmore in Washington

Published: February 4 2005 Financial Times

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/c2f02ab8-76ef-11d9-b897-00000e2511c8.html

How far the second Bush administration can take its charm offensive in rebuilding its traditional alliances is already being put to the test by newly promoted "nuclear hawks" committed to a hardline approach on arms control and non-proliferation.

Tensions are emerging between the US and its allies over what non-nuclear nations see as a lack of sincerity by the superpower towards nuclear disarmament, even as it pushes for a tightening of the international nuclear regime and a tougher response to the ambitions of North Korea and Iran.

Senior diplomats are concerned that a review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a conference held every five years and due to reconvene in New York in May, will produce no outcome.

The "nuclear hawks" or "bomb lovers" as one former official described them include Jack Crouch, named this week as deputy national security adviser; Robert Joseph, expected to be named soon as undersecretary for arms control; and John Rood, who replaces Mr Joseph in the White House as special adviser.

The hawks--supported by Vice-President Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary--are known for their scepticism towards arms control agreements, their commitment to missile defence and development of new nuclear weapons, such as "bunker busters", and an appreciation of covert operations.

In his Senate confirmation hearing in 2001, Mr Crouch was questioned about his support for nuclear testing and his 1995 recommendation for attacks on North Korea's nuclear complexes should agreements fail.

Discussions over the NPT review agenda are stalled, in part because of the US refusal to reaffirm the "13 steps" adopted at the 2000 conference. Those steps included a broad commitment to undertake nuclear disarmament and not to resume testing.

"Times change. Debate moves on. The debate will be relevant to conditions that prevail today, not in 2000," Stephen Rademaker, assistant secretary of state for arms control, told a panel discussion organised by the independent Arms Control Association this week.

Roberto Abdenur, Brazil's ambassador to Washington, was visibly upset. Reflecting the sentiment of countries that have renounced development of nuclear weapons, he warned that the NPT review conference, to be chaired by Brazil, could fail. "If a nuclear power says the 13 steps belong in the past, what confidence do we non-nuclear developing states have in the NPT?" he said. "Let's be careful about this."

Failure at the review conference to produce a consensus has happened before. It would by no mean spell an end to the NPT. But diplomats say it would weaken the main pillar of non-proliferation at a critical moment.

The US administration insists the NPT remains the cornerstone of global arms control and non-proliferation efforts. Under the bilateral 2002 Moscow Treaty, the US will reduce (but not destroy) its operationally deployed strategic nuclear warheads to between 1,700 and 2,200 about one-third of the level in 2002 in the next seven years. Since 1989, the US says it has cut by nearly 90 per cent the number of non-strategic nuclear weapons.

The hawks were instrumental, while George W. Bush was campaigning for office in 2000, in drawing up a review of US nuclear strategy, adopted in 2002 that foresaw an expanded role for nuclear weapons.

Washington affirms it will not resume nuclear testing, even though it refuses to become a party to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

Despite these declarations, Joseph Cirincione, head of the non-proliferation project at the Carnegie Endowment, is among analysts and former officials concerned that the review conference is heading for a "train wreck".


-- Posted for educational and research purposes only, ~ in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 ~ NucNews Links and Expanded Archives - http://nucnews.net


From FoE Sydney

Strike against Iran will have huge political costs

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_3-2-2005_pg7_60


Informant: FoE Sydney

GOP in panic mode over Hillary - Polls show her beating Giuliani

See these Newsmax (Republican magazine) stories issued today:
GOP to Launch 'Stop Hillary' Web site http://tinyurl.com/6ou4d
Poll: Hillary Leads Giuliani in Senate Match-up http://tinyurl.com/3jvss


copyright Virginia Metze

Sunshine Turns to Darkness for the Media

by Cliff Kincaid | February 4, 2005

Accuracy in Media

It was a big story for the liberal media that they had finally caught a conservative journalist or commentator doing something wrong. They found out that Armstrong Williams had taken federal money through a public relations firm. But our journalists know something about public relations, too. The Associated Press reported in January that journalism organizations are planning a nationwide campaign in March, dubbed "Sunshine Week," to press the case for freedom of information and the right to know. According to AP, "For a week beginning March 13, news outlets will run stories, editorials and cartoons on the subject."

This is nothing but a public relations campaign by, of and for the media.

It just so happens, according to AP, that Tom Curley, president and CEO of the Associated Press, is part of the effort. AP quotes him as saying, "From city hall to Congress, and from police chiefs' offices to the attorney general's office, the trend toward secrecy is unmistakable. The most important thing from our standpoint, of course, is to connect what we do to the public interest, and to line up with the people and remind them how important it is that they get access to what their elected representatives are doing."

Isn't it nice that the media report favorably on initiatives from the media? But isn't it curious that AP runs a story on the subject quoting the president of AP and no one who questions what the campaign is all about? Fortunately, there is a publication called PR Week, which covers the public relations industry. And when it found out about "Sunshine Week," it seemed to recognize a public relations stunt. What's more, PR Week journalist Erica Iacono came to Accuracy in Media for comment. ... More about this at http://www.aim.org/media_monitor/2605_0_2_0_C/


copyright Virginia Metze

Bush's Budget: The Bad Math Is No Secret

Capital Games by David Corn
The Nation February 8, 2005

If it's budget time, it must be disinformation time. That's how it goes in the Bush II era. George W. Bush released a budget today that he claims is responsible, honest, and designed to cut the $400 billion-plus deficit in half by 2009. Not so. By now, you probably have heard the obvious criticisms. The budget does not include the $80 billion Bush is asking for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. (And that probably won't cover the full tab.) It doesn't account for the $1 trillion to $2 trillion that Bush needs to pay for the private investment accounts he wants to carve out of Social Security. It also doesn't recognize that several hundred billion dollars will disappear from the revenue stream when the government rejiggers the alternative minimum tax--which it must--to prevent this tax (written to apply to corporations that make creative use of loopholes) from hitting middle-class individual tax filers. ... Read the rest at: http://www.thenation.com/capitalgames/index.mhtml?bid=3&pid=2179 or http://tinyurl.com/4qlec


copyright Virginia Metze

Wrong Choices: An Analysis of the 2006 Budget

Center for American Progress

February 9, 2005

President Bush's 2006 budget makes the wrong choices for our nation. As the embodiment of the president's policies, it reflects skewed priorities and runs counter to our deepest held beliefs. The budget embraces the administration's disastrous economic policies while at the same time failing to put forward a vision of what the United States should be. What America needs instead are responsible policies that reflect our values, help bring our nation together, and invest in the future by expanding opportunity. ... read the rest at
http://tinyurl.com/524bn Full report in pdf available on site.


copyright Virginia Metze

Another Turkey Escapes the Pot

Alberto Gonzales, the new U.S. attorney general, is the perfect example of the New Racism.

by Osha Neumann, AlterNet. Posted February 7, 2005.

... “A few carefully bred turkeys,” she said, “the occasional Colin Powell, or Condoleezza Rice ... are given absolution and a pass to Frying Pan Park. The remaining millions lose their jobs, are evicted from their homes, have their water and electricity connections cut, and die of AIDS. Basically they're for the pot.” And so, Arundhati asked “Who can say that turkeys are against Thanksgiving? They participate in it!” ... read the whole article at:
http://www.alternet.org/rights/21193/


copyright Virginia Metze

Official Who Criticized Homeland Security Is Out of a Job

Inspector General Had Reported Mismanagement, Security Flaws

by BRIAN ROSS AND RHONDA SCHWARTZ

ABC News Investigations February 8, 2005

The man who has issued many critical reports about the mismanagement and security flaws at the Department of Homeland Security was told Wednesday night that he was out of a job.

Clark Ervin made himself very unpopular by issuing a series of stinging reports on security programs that he said had failed, officials he called inept, and fraud that he suspected. His year-end report, out today, alleges that millions of dollars have been wasted or are unaccounted for by the department. ... Read the rest at: http://tinyurl.com/53nql


copyright Virginia Metze

Plum assignment awaits Harris

Remember Katherine Harris, Secretary of State in Florida and Bush's campaign manager there in 2000? Well, another reward is coming her way, probably to all of our regret ....

Plum assignment awaits Harris

She's a candidate for a coveted seat on the Homeland Security panel

by JEREMY WALLACE

Herald Tribune.com (Southwest Florida's Information Leader)

Tuesday, February 8, 2005

A high-ranking member of Congress says U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris will be given one of the most sought-after committee assignments on Capitol Hill.

U.S. Rep. Tom Reynolds, R-N.Y., told a Sarasota crowd at a Republican fund-raiser on Friday night that Harris would get a coveted seat on the Homeland Security Committee. It is a post that Harris, R-Longboat Key, has quietly lobbied to get for months. ... Read the rest at: http://tinyurl.com/6qgq3


copyright Virginia Metze

Interesting chart comparing military spending of the U.S. with other large countries

Someone posted a very interesting chart comparing military spending of the U.S. with other large countries. You will find it fascinating. See: http://www.globalissues.org/images/USvsWorld2004Top25.gif

The web site, http://www.globalissues.org , appears to have a lot of data relating to (surprise) global issues!


copyright Virginia Metze

Bush’s Budget Fails to Protect Consumers’ Critical Resources

Bush’s Budget Fails to Protect Consumers’ Critical Resources: Energy, Food and Water

Statement by Wenonah Hauter, Director, Public Citizen’s Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program February 7, 2005

WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Bush’s budget proposal will do little to protect the health and safety of consumers in three critical areas: energy, food and water. These are essential resources that every citizen must be able to afford, have access to, and most importantly, know are clean and protected. ... read rest at:
http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=1871 There are other good articles on this site that you may want to browse if you have time, such as "Defrauded Consumers Call for Defeat of Pro-Business Class Action Legislation in U.S. Senate This Week." Check that out at:
http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=1869


copyright Virginia Metze

Internal Bleeding

George Bush’s aggressive push to privatize Social Security is causing concern — inside his own party.

By Mary Lynn F. Jones, AlterNet. Posted February 8, 2005.

Just last year, congressional Republicans had a powerful scapegoat in Congress. Anything they couldn’t accomplish, they blamed on Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.). Unable to confirm President George W. Bush’s controversial judicial nominees? It was the “obstructionist” Daschle’s fault. Couldn’t get the energy bill through the Senate? Daschle was to blame. ...

The biggest obstacle for Bush this year is not any Democratic congressional leader, however. It’s the Republicans in Congress who are thinking about their next election, something Bush doesn’t have to worry about ever again. “The real fireworks this year will be between the GOP Congress and the Republican White House,” says Brad Bannon, a Washington-based Democratic consultant. “Bush wants to leave a legacy and there’s no better legacy than to dismantle the FDR New Deal legacy, even if it destroys the congressional majority in his own party.” ... Read this story at Alternet: http://www.alternet.org/story/21201/ Mary Lynn F. Jones is online editor of The Hill. http://www.thehill.com/


copyright Virginia Metze

End to American Global Dominance

http://slate.msn.com/id/2112697/


Informant: Bob Reuschlein

From ufpj-news

BORDER SECURITY - HR418 REAL ID ACT

http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=75547;show_parent=1

Over 400 BILLION DOLLARS for the MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=75535;show_parent=1

"I think you know there's something unusual going on"

http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=75533;show_parent=1

THE AMERICAN EMPIRE - LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT?

http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=75529;show_parent=1

Something Strange In Russia???

http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=75514;show_parent=1

Oppose HR 418 (national ID)

RED ALERT!

http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=75513;show_parent=1

What's Next?

http://www.counterpunch.org/shivani0813.html


Informant: Friends

Meyssan,Thierry - 9-11Review

Hi Di, I know many may be sick of seeing this, but this site has the lot. Cheers Old Bob.

http://911review.org/Wiki/Meyssan,Thierry.shtml


Informant: Cactus Mary
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