14
Apr
2005

Saddam's desperate offers to stave off war

In the few weeks before its fall, Iraq's Ba'athist regime made a series of increasingly desperate peace offers to Washington, promising to hold elections and even to allow US troops to search for banned weapons. But the advances were all rejected by the Bush administration, according to intermediaries involved in the talks.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5172.htm

Bolton and Negroponte Nominations

Dramatic examples of the U.S.’s failed Latin American policy and the Bush administration’s disdain for international norms.

http://www.coha.org/NEW_PRESS_RELEASES/New_Press_Releases_2005/05.42%20OAS%20Bolton%20the%20one.htm


From Information Clearing House

CIA's secret kidnappings

The media took little notice of this bipartisan move to try and end the administration's outsourcing of torture - which President Bush continually says is not happening, despite mounting evidence from human rights organizations, freed tortured detainees, and journalists worldwide.

http://www.decaturdailydemocrat.com/articles/2005/04/13/news/opinion/editorial03.txt


From Information Clearing House

Illegal Mahogany from Peru Threatens Native People

Illegal Mahogany from Peru Threatens Native People, Amazon Forest
http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0414-19.htm

Republican War On the Middle Class

http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0414-17.htm

John Bolton vs. Democracy

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0414-25.htm

US Lethal Injection Executions Condemned

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0414-04.htm

Mast refusal could force up tax bill

Apr 14, 2005, 10:24

Tax payers could be forced to foot a hefty bill after councillors refused to back plans to upgrade a phone mast in Kate's Hill.

Telecommunications giant T-Mobile hoped to put additional antennae on the 20m mast in Hilltop Road, near Cawney Hill reservoir.

Experts warned Dudley Council planners a refusal on health, rather than planning, grounds would be unacceptable and could trigger a costly appeal.

But after hearing Kate's Hill Primary was just 150m away from the mast councillors voted again. Now T-Mobile say they may indeed try again.

Worries over the possible health risks of living and working near masts have grown in recent years but government scientist insist their is no proven risk.

Debbie Haywood, head at Kate's Hill, said: "The school nursery is sited within a matter of metres of the proposed phone masts and, given the unknown effects on children's health and well-being, we have grave concerns about this.

"We have up to 100 children between the ages of three and four in our nursery. They regularly play outdoors and would be exposed to any possible side effects that may result from the siting of phone masts in the vicinity."

Planning committee member councillor John Donegan said he welcomed the plans, saying councillors had called in the past for phone companies to share masts instead of building new ones.

But his fellow councillors planners disagreed, with councillor Graham Debney saying: "I have to vote against it - it's too near the school. It's no good saying it's already there, you are still adding to it. We have to look after tomorrow, our children.I won't put my name on anything like this."

Councillor Margaret Wilson said the flat she lived in was sited right next to a mast, and claimed that she suffered from giddiness whenever she was at home.

She said: "I am not happy with one by me, and what I don't want for myself I don't want for other people.

Councillor Wilson claimed: "The people saying 'There are no health fears' are the ones making money out of it."

Planning officer Helen Brookes-Martin warned it was likely the operator would appeal and win, saddling the council with a heavy bill for costs.

But councillor Debney insisted : "We took a vote on it and lets go with it - personally I don't care what it costs."

A spokesman for T-Mobile said the company was 'disappointed' and would decide whether or not to appeal in the next few weeks.

http://www.expressandstar.com/articles/news/chronicles/dudley/article_73788.php

105,000 already dead - Today it starts again

http://tinyurl.com/6u6g5

Update from the Field 4/14/05

http://tinyurl.com/43drg

Die Rache der Jobsucher

"Absageagentur" präsentiert Firmen Absagen auf Jobangebote.
http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/19/19886/1.html

Abgeblitzt

Die EU-Kommission hält gentech-freie Zonen für rechtswidrig, doch viele Regionen wollen Brüssel die Stirn bieten.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/19/19877/1.html

Ausweitung der Gentests geplant

Auch bei wiederholten Bagatelldelikten soll der genetische Fingerabdruck gespeichert werden – Befürworter sind damit noch nicht zufrieden.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/19/19887/1.html

Mobilfunk und Gesundheit

Anhörung im Bayerischen Landtag

Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren, liebe Freundinnen und Freunde,

wir möchten Sie/Euch aufmerksam auf und einladen zu einer neuerlichen Veranstaltung von uns zum Thema Mobilfunk. Während wir unsere früheren Fachgespräche und Anhörungen eher breit angelegt haben (z.B. rechtliche und politische Einordnung, Planungskonzepte, gesundheitliche Auswirkungen), konzentrieren wir uns diesmal auf die Thematik Mobilfunk und Gesundheit. Wir würden uns freuen, Sie/Euch hier im Landtag am 29. April begrüßen zu können und bitten Sie/Euch um rege und rasche Anmeldung.

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/einladung_pdf_290405.pdf


Mit freundlichem Gruß

Ursula Gessner
Persönliche Mitarbeiterin Dr. Martin Runge,
wirtschaftspolitischer Sprecher sowie Sprecher des Arbeitskreises Ökologie und Ökonomie
von BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN im Bayerischen Landtag, Medienrat

Unsere e-mail-Adresse hat sich geändert martin.runge@gruene-fraktion-bayern.de

und

Einladung Vortrag Dr. Oberfeld

Liebe Mitstreiter

wir freuen uns sehr, Herrn Dr. med. Gerd Oberfeld im Gröbenzeller Bürgerhaus am Freitag, den 29. April 2005 begrüßen zu dürfen. Dr. Oberfeld ist Umweltmediziner bei der Salzburger Landesregierung und Referent für Umweltmedizin der Österreichischen Ärztekammer.

In seinem Vortrag wird er auf die Auswirkungen von Mobilfunk auf die Gesundheit eingehen und über die neuesten Forschungsergebnisse berichten.

Einführung und Moderation: Dr. Martin Runge, MdL.

Dazu laden wir Sie herzlich ein.

Termin: Freitag, den 29. April 2005 um 19.00 Uhr im Bürgerhaus Gröbenzell

Nähere Infos, siehe:
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/oberfeld_einladung.jpg

Den Vortrag mit anschließender Diskussion haben organisiert:
Bund Naturschutz, Bündnis 90/DIE GRÜNEN und der Arbeitskreis Mobilfunk im Landkreis FFB.

Für die Veranstalter

Lilli Kammerl und Paul Hornyak

US is 'militarily, economically, and morally bankrupt'

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/2603/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

The 2005 Take Back America Conference: The Conference for America's Future

The Campaign for America's Future's 2005 Take Back America Conference will bring together thousands of progressive leaders, thinkers and activists. The conference will include skills trainings and workshops with prominent progressive leaders in Washington from June 1st to 3rd, 2005.

We've extended our early-bird special discount registration date by more than two weeks to April 29th! Register today to attend at the reduced $199 three-day conference rate.

http://action.ourfuture.org/ctt.asp?u=1742757&l=87905

The 2005 Take Back America Conference has launched a new website. Visit today to see our latest agenda and speakers list as well as video and highlights from previous conferences!

http://action.ourfuture.org/ctt.asp?u=1742757&l=87910

Join thousands of fellow activists, elected officials, national opinion leaders and celebrities to build the rising progressive majority in American politics. Take Back America has historically attracted the nation's most prominent progressive leaders and activists from across the country. This year promises to be even better.

Speakers will include:

Bill Moyers*
Sen. John Edwards*
Rev. Jesse Jackson*
Naomi Klein
Al Gore
Sen. Jon Corzine*
Katrina vanden Heuvel*
Arianna Huffington*
Howard Dean
* = confirmed

Register today for Take Back America 2005: The Conference for America's Future

http://action.ourfuture.org/ctt.asp?u=1742757&l=87905

We look forward to seeing you in Washington!

Sincerely,

Robert Borosage, Co-Director
Campaign for America's Future

Roger Hickey, Co-Director
Campaign for America's Future

Weltbanktochter IFC will Umwelt- und Sozialstandards abschwächen

Keine Kredite für Landräuber, Frau Ministerin!

Die Weltbank und insbesondere ihre Tochter International Finance Cooperation wollen ihre Umwelt- und Sozialstandards aufweichen, die für die Vergabe von Krediten gelten. Die Bundesregierung hat bei der Weltbank den drittgrößten Stimmenanteil und könnte bei der jetzt anstehenden Frühjahrstagung des Geldinstituts ihren Einfluss geltend machen.

Bitte fordern Sie die zuständige Ministerin für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit, Frau Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, noch heute auf, sich für eine soziale und ökologische Verschärfung der Standards statt für deren Abschwächung einzusetzen.

Über unsere Homepage
http://www.regenwald.org
können Sie einen Musterbrief online versenden.

Oder schicken Sie einen selbst formulierten Brief an die
Bundesministerin für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit
Frau Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul
Stresemannstr. 92
10963 Berlin
Fax 030-2503-25 55

Bitte leiten Sie diese Email an Freunde und Bekannte weiter. Bitte nur wenn die Empfänger einverstanden sind.

Vielen Dank für Ihre Unterstützung und herzliche Grüße
Ihr Reinhard Behrend
Vorsitzender Rettet den Regenwald e. V.

14.04.05

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/14_04_05_pfarrer_engelbrecht.pdf

Verbraucherschützer beklagen weiter verdeckten Verkauf von Genfood

Gentechnik: Verbraucherschützer beklagen weiter verdeckten Verkauf von Genfood (14.04.05)

Ein Jahr nach Inkrafttreten der neuen Gentechnik-Kennzeichnungsvorschriften für Lebensmittel sind gekennzeichnete Produkte im Handel praktisch nicht zu finden. Grund dafür ist, dass viele Verbraucher gentechnisch erzeugte Lebensmittel ablehnen und der Handel daher kaum kennzeichnungspflichtige Waren anbietet. Dennoch sind die Waren keineswegs völlig frei von Gentechnik. "Zahlreiche Ausnahmen von der generellen Kennzeichnungspflicht schaffen hier ein falsches Bild", klärt Ernährungsberaterin Heidrun Franke von der Verbraucherzentrale Brandenburg auf.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=10880

Power, Pressure And News

FAIR's annual report describes the behind-the-scenes power plays involving PR and advertising firms that infect American journalism.

http://www.tompaine.com/uncommonsense/index.php?dateid=20050414

Why do Dems continue to make John Kerry's fatal national security mistake?

http://www.tompaine.com/uncommonsense/index.php?dateid=20050414

More Bush-Lite

http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=k8jqidbab.4l8gm9n6.ijblidbab.tiniiyn6.80374&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tompaine.com%2Funcommonsense%2Findex.php%3Fdateid%3D20050414

Questioning Bush's Motives

by Earl Hadley, TomPaine.com

Are the changes to the federal education law meant to help all children succeed--or just a public relations stunt?

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/questioning_bushs_motives.php?dateid=20050414

STOP GE Trees Campaign

A project of
Global Justice Ecology Project
PO Box 412
Hinesburg, VT 05461
(802) 482-2689
http://www.globaljusticeecology.org

April 14, 2005

Long-time forest protection activist Tim Hermach calls it "a greater threat to the world's forests than the chainsaw, the feller buncher and the bulldozer combined."

Dr. David Suzuki, geneticist and host of "The Nature of Things" says this threat "has the potential to wreak ecological havoc throughout the world's native forests. " To read Dr. Suzuki's letter of support for the campaign, go to the bottom of this letter.

What is this threat? It is the genetic engineering of trees.

There is still time to stop GE trees, but we need your support to succeed.

Please join the STOP GE Trees Campaign, an alliance of 13 national, regional and local organizations from the US and Canada that have united to stop the genetic engineering of trees. Simply click on http://globaljusticeecology.org/index.php?name=member to donate securely through Paypal or send a contribution by mail.

The year 2005 is critical. GE Tree promoters are going on the offensive to push this dangerous and unproven technology into commercial plantations as soon as 2006. We must stop it this year.

Genetically engineered trees grow for decades if not centuries, can pollinate for hundreds of miles and have wild relatives throughout our native forests.

GE Trees are a disaster waiting to happen.

Trees are being engineered to kill insects. They will contain the bacterial toxin Bt. Bt indiscriminately kills both beneficial and pest insects, and harms wildlife that feed on those insects. The pest insects become rapidly immune to the toxin, leading to applications of increasingly toxic chemical pesticides to control these "super-bugs." Bt is also exuded through the roots of trees, causing disruptions to soil ecology.

Herbicide resistant GE trees can be heavily treated with the chemical herbicide RoundUp and remain unharmed. This will result in large increases in the application of this toxic chemical, contaminating water and soils and impacting local communities.

Trees are also being engineered for reduced lignin. Lignin is the fiber that gives trees rigidity and must be removed to make paper. It gives trees protection against insects, disease and animal browsing, as well as environmental stresses like wind. Removing it makes trees much more susceptible to these threats. In addition, reduced lignin trees rot faster releasing CO2 into the atmosphere more rapidly (very ironic because industry wants to "sell" GE trees to the public by saying they will be used to help stop global warming by soaking up CO2 emissions).

Industry claims that genetically engineered trees will be sterile. However, researchers have admitted that they cannot provide a 100% guarantee that all of the trees will be sterile. Tree pollen can travel up to 1,000 miles , which means it would not take long for GE trees to contaminate vast expanses of native wild forest with the traits above.

Escape of the insect-resistance gene would cause total disruption of the forest ecosystem- insects form the base of the forest food chain. Escape of the low lignin gene would leave trees vulnerable to insects, disease and wind. Contamination by the sterility gene would mean trees would produce no seeds, nuts, fruit, or pollen--no food for wildlife.

Once contamination begins, it cannot be stopped. GE tree plantations contaminate native forests, which themselves become contaminants in a never-ending cycle. This must be stopped before it starts.

GE tree contamination could also be very harmful to private land owners and to public lands. Current legal precedents indicate that trees contaminated with GE pollen would legally become the property of the corporation holding the GE patent. Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser lost his farming livelihood and incurred $160,000 in legal fees as a result of a patent infringement lawsuit brought by Monsanto --all because Percy's canola fields were contaminated by a neighboring farmer's GE canola.

In the case of public lands , this could mean contaminated trees in a designated Wilderness Area becoming the legal property of a corporation. In this lose-lose scenario, either the corporation would be allowed to go in and log the contaminated trees, or they would remain there and continue to contaminate more native forests. The only solution is not to allow GE trees into the environment in the first place. Please Help us stop GE trees. Just click on http://globaljusticeecology.org/index.php?name=member to donate securely through Paypal.

In addition to their ravaging ecological impacts, GE Tree plantations will be devastating for rural and indigenous communities in the regions being targeted for GE tree plantations--in the Global South, as well as the Southeast U.S.

Many rural and indigenous communities communities rely on intact native forests for their livelihood, water, medicines, food and fuel. In areas where native forests have been removed and industrial tree plantations developed, communities' water tables have dropped dramatically, impacting crops, livestock and native forests. Loss of wildlife has left communities without access to game for subsistence hunting. Toxic herbicides and pesticides contaminate water supplies. Including GE trees in these plantations will magnify these problems. Plus, GE trees grow faster, so they more rapidly deplete ground water and soils, accelerating desertification of the land.

In addition, physicians working with Filipino agricultural workers have found indications that inhalation of Bt pollen causes allergic and immune system reactions. The long-term impacts are unstudied. Widespread dispersal of Bt pollen from GE trees could lead to serious health impacts, particularly on nearby communities.

GE trees must not be released into the environment. Join the growing movement to end this menace.

To Join, click on http://globaljusticeecology.org/index.php?name=member to donate securely through Paypal or send a contribution through the mail.

Your support will help advance the campaign against GE trees. It will be used for the following activities:

GE Trees Documentary: Global Justice Ecology Project is collaborating with filmmakers on a documentary entitled A SILENT FOREST: The Growing Threat of Genetically Engineered Trees, narrated by Dr. David Suzuki. The film details impacts of GE trees on forests and wildlife as well as rural and indigenous communities.

English and Spanish versions of the documentary and an accompanying report will be distributed along with Action Tool Kits that give recipients organizing tools including posters, sample press releases, letters to the editor, citizen action guides, petitions and how-to instructions to organize a showing.

Media Campaign: We have initiated an aggressive media campaign to reach people throughout the US, Latin America and around the world with the extreme dangers of commercializing GE trees.

University Campaign: We will be traveling to various campuses to hold presentations and trainings with the goal of organizing campus chapters of the Stop GE Trees Campaign.

Strategy Sessions: Global Justice Ecology Project will be organizing national and international strategy meetings involving national, regional and grassroots groups from around the world to advance regional and global campaigns against genetically engineered trees.

GE Fruit Tree Campaign: This program will enable us to connect the movement against GE trees with the movement against GE foods and will include outreach to non-GE fruit growers.

Markets Campaigns: Active markets campaigns are being coordinated by national coalitions against numerous corporations that make, sell or buy timber or paper products. These campaigns include demands to reject GE trees.

Focus on the Southeast: GE trees research and development in the US is predominant in the Southeast, which has the majority of test plots and industrial tree plantations. The STOP GE Trees Campaign has a special emphasis on this critical region.

Join the campaign to STOP GE Trees! This campaign relies heavily on the support of individuals like you.

To Join, click on http://globaljusticeecology.org/index.php?name=member and donate securely through Paypal, or to send a contribution through the mail .

Thank you for supporting this important campaign.

Sincerely,

Anne E. Petermann
STOP GE Trees Campaign Steering Committee Coordinator
Global Justice Ecology Project Co-Director

P.S. Join today at the level of $75 or more and we will send you a free copy of the GE trees video narrated by Dr. David Suzuki along with the action tool kit to enable you to get active with the campaign and organize a showing of the video in your own community.

The STOP GE Trees Campaign includes the following groups: Sierra Club, Rainforest Action Network, Dogwood Alliance, Polaris Institute, Institute for Social Ecology Biotechnology Project, GE Free Maine, ForestEthics, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Northwest RAGE, WildLaw, Southern Forests Network, Forest Guild and Global Justice Ecology Project.



Letter of Support from Dr. David Suzuki,
Emeritus Professor of Genetics, University of British Columbia

I am writing to support Global Justice Ecology Project's Genetically Engineered Trees Program.

GJEP's co-founders have been leaders in the effort to end the genetic engineering of trees since 1999.

We have no control over the movement of insects, birds and mammals, wind and rain that carry pollen. Genetically engineered trees, with the potential to transfer pollen for hundreds of miles carrying genes for traits including insect resistance, herbicide resistance, sterility and reduced lignin, thus have the potential to wreak ecological havoc throughout the world's native forests.

GE trees could also impact wildlife as well as rural and indigenous communities that depend on intact forests for their food, shelter, water, livelihood and cultural practices.

As a geneticist, I believe there are far too many unknowns and unanswered questions to be growing genetically engineered plants - food crops or trees - in open fields. GE trees should not be released into the environment in commercial plantations and any outdoor test plots or existing plantations should be removed.

Global Justice Ecology Project is coordinating efforts in North America with the Stop GE Trees Campaign, a network of more than a dozen national and regional groups; and they are facilitating an international alliance of groups working on the GE tree threat all over the world.

I support their efforts to end the hasty and far too premature rush to grow genetically engineered trees outside of controlled lab facilities. That is why I agreed to narrate the video "A Silent Forest: The Growing Threat of Genetically Engineered Trees" which Global Justice Ecology Project is co-producing.
I encourage you to join me in supporting the work of Global Justice Ecology Project against genetically engineered trees because it is critical work that too few are doing.

Sincerely,

David Suzuki



Anne Petermann
Co-Director
Global Justice Ecology Project
P.O. Box 412
Hinesburg, VT 05461
+1-802-482-2689 ph/fax

"Power of Prayer" Will Sustain Tom Delay

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/041305X.shtml

Pentagon Budget Sacrifices Human Needs

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/041305O.shtml

US, UK Nuclear Policies Send 'Most Dangerous Message'

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/041305N.shtml

Negroponte's Sealed Lips

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/041305L.shtml

Five Ways to Combat Conservative Media

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/041305J.shtml

New York Rejects Death Penalty

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/041305H.shtml

Liberals Look to 'Take Back Constitution'

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/041305F.shtml

CIA Agent Seeks to Subpoena Gonzales, Tenet

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/041305C.shtml

Gitmo Detainee Sues US for Video of His Torture

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/041405Z.shtml

Scientists Call on EPA to Reassess Health Risk of Widespread Chemical

http://www.bushgreenwatch.org/mt_archives/000257.php

World Bank is contributing to Destruction of World's Forests

http://tinyurl.com/57atc

Ungebrochene Gier nach den neuesten Handys

https://www.pressetext.at/pte.mc?pte=050326005


Nachricht von Wolfgang Blüher

Democrats Block Vote on Bolton

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/041305W.shtml

Hotel Rwanda Organizing Kit

Amnesty International has created a new downloadable organizing kit - based on the award-winning film, Hotel Rwanda -- that you can use to bring human rights education to your community. The kit is composed of three elements: a house party kit, a teacher's guide, and a photo exhibit, and is designed to be used in conjunction with the release of Hotel Rwanda on DVD. We encourage you to use these new resources and to share them with family, friends and teachers.

ABOUT HOTEL RWANDA

In 1994 almost one million people were killed in a systematic genocide in the central African country of Rwanda. As the world stood by, a handful of brave, resourceful and inspiring individuals did all they could to save Rwandans from brutal deaths. Paul Rusesabagina, whose story is portrayed in this film, reminds all of us what one person can accomplish when moved to act.

Terry George, Hotel Rwanda's director, takes us on Paul's journey, showing the country's struggle and how the world turned a blind eye. He leads us in the end to a place of hope and promise.

"I still can't believe they made a movie about me. I'm just an average person. Hopefully people will see that even an average person can make a difference in someone else's life just by opening your eyes and your heart." - Paul Rusesabagina, USA Today, January 3, 2005

This new organizing kit will help you and others explore the history of the crisis and use the film as a guide to discuss strategies that could have been pursued to prevent the genocide. It is also a tool for analyzing what will be effective in the future as the international community confronts similar conditions. The kit also includes information and actions on the current situation in Darfur, Sudan - including a compelling, downloadable photo exhibit.

DOWNLOAD THE KIT NOW
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=677776&l=12576

GLOBAL WEEK OF ACTION - Aktionswoche für globale Gerechtigkeit

Die Aktionswoche für globale Gerechtigkeit ist in vollem Gange. Ein lebendiges Huhn gab es gestern für jeden Abgeordneten - behängt mit einem Kettchen und einer Botschaft: Nicht in Berlin, sondern in Accra (Ghana) lassen die an der Aktionswoche für globale Gerechtigkeit beteiligten Gruppen heute die Hühner raus, um gegen das Dumping mit Geflügel aus der Europäischen Union zu protestieren. "Keine Chicken schicken" lautet ihre Botschaft nach Europa, denn die minderwertigen Geflügelteile, die hierzulande niemand auftauen will, ruinieren dort die Existenz der kleinen Bauern, die ihre Hühner nicht so billig verkaufen können.

Solch einfallsreiche Aktionen gegen die Folgen ungerechten Welthandels gibt es in dieser Woche in mehr als 80 Ländern und in über 50 deutschen Orten. Doch auch wer sich nicht an diesen Aktionen beteiligen kann, muss nicht untätig sein: Auf http://www.attac.de/wto/april05/protestmails/ kann nach wie vor online protestiert werden. Unser Protest richtet sich insbesondere gegen die Verhandlungsposition der EU-Kommission beim GATS: Von vielen Ländern wird die Liberalisierung weiterer Dienstleistungsbereiche verlangt, die Öffnung europäischer Märkte wird im Gegenzug angeboten. Betroffen sind auch so sensible Bereiche wie Wasserversorgung, Bildung, Gesundheit. Das GATS ist Ausdruck einer radikalen Marktideologie im Konzerninteresse: Gemeinwohl, Demokratie, Umweltschutz, Arbeits- und Sozialstandards werden ausgehöhlt; private Konzerne können hingegen noch mehr Profit machen und ihren Einfluss weiter ausdehnen.

Daher richtet sich unser Protest auch direkt an diejenigen, die maßgeblichen Einfluss auf die EU-Positionen haben: Kommissionspräsident Jose Manuel Barroso, Handelskommissar Peter Mandelson und Industriekommissar Günter Verheugen - sie alle erhalten Mails über den Protestmailomaten. Wir hoffen auf viele Klicks!

JA ZU EUROPA - NEIN ZU DIESER EU-VERFASSUNG

(Auszug)

Referendum in Frankreich: Das "Non" zum vorliegenden Verfassungsentwurf wird stärker. Die Chancen, den vorliegenden EU-Verfassungsentwurf beim Referendum in Frankreich am 29. Mai zu stoppen, werden immer besser: Die Zahl derjenigen, die mit "NON" stimmen wollen, ist in jüngsten Umfragen auf 54 Prozent gestiegen. Weil die Befürworter des Verfassungsentwurfs derzeit mit einer großen Werbekampagne in die Offensive gehen, müssen auch die Gegenaktivitäten weiter verstärkt werden. Nur dann kann es gelingen, diese Verfassung mit ihrer Festlegung auf eine neoliberale Wirtschaftspolitik, mit ihrer Verpflichtung zur europaweiten Aufrüstung und ihrem Demokratie-Defizit zu stoppen und einen neuen Verfassungsvertrag auszuhandeln - mit breiter Beteiligung der BürgerInnen, und mit dem Ziel, ein soziales, friedliches, ökologisches und demokratisches Europa zu schaffen.

Großes Interesse an Unterstützung durch deutsche Attac-Mitglieder:

Damit das gelingt, brauchen wir Unterstützung. Das Angebot von Attac Deutschland, im Rahmen der internationalen Kampagne "Les faces du non" ReferentInnen und HelferInnen für Veranstaltungen in Frankreich zu vermitteln, ist bei unseren französischen Attac-Freunden auf große Resonanz gestoßen. Alle, die sich vorstellen können, bei einer Veranstaltung in Frankreich zu sprechen oder Material zu verteilen, sollten sich möglichst bald per Mail unter faces-du-non@attac.de melden. Auch von Deutschland aus ist Unterstützung möglich: Durch eine zweckgebundene Spende für die Kampagne, oder indem man ein Foto mailt, dass dann genutzt wird, um die "Gesichter des Nein" zu symbolisieren. Alle Informationen dazu finden sich auf der Seite http://www.attac.de/faces-du-non .

Internationale Aktion am 5. Mai (Europatag) an der Europabrücke (Kehl/Straßburg)

Eine grenzüberschreitende Protestaktion für ein Nein beim französischen Referendum findet am Donnerstag, 5. Mai (Himmelfahrt und Europatag), um 14 Uhr auf der Europabrücke zwischen Kehl und Straßburg statt. Unter dem Motto "JA zu Europa - NEIN zu dieser EU-Verfassung" soll auf der Brücke ein großes "NON" gebildet werden, um die französische "NON-Kampagne" zu unterstützen.

Treffpunkt auf deutscher Seite ist um 13 Uhr auf dem Bahnhofsvorplatz in Kehl, die Aktion beginnt um 14 Uhr. Veranstalter sind Attac Stuttgart, Attac Strasbourg und das Koordinationsbüro der Kampagne gegen die EU-Verfassung; AnsprechpartnerInnen von Attac Stuttgart sind Heike Hänsel, Tel. 07071-52200 und Adolf Riekenberg, Tel. 07182-49112

Weitere Informationen und Flugblätter zur Mobilisierung
gibt es unter http://www.attac.de/eu-verfassung/strassburg.php



Europa: Nein zu diesem EU-Verfassungsvertrag – Ja zu einem sozialen, demokratischen und friedlichen Europa

Europa ist in schlechter Verfassung. Die jüngsten anti-sozialen Zumutungen von Seiten der EU-Kommission und des EU-Rates sprechen eine deutliche Sprache. So die Bolkestein-Richtlinie, mit der die Dienstleistungsmärkte in der EU total liberalisiert werden, oder die Arbeitszeitrichtlinie, mit der europaweite Arbeitszeitverlängerungen auf den Weg gebracht werden sollen. Begleitet wird dies von einer andauernden Aufrüstung der EU-Mitgliedstaaten hin zu einer weltweiten Kriegsführungsfähigkeit. Der Verfassungsvertrag soll, wenn es nach dem Willen der Staats- und Regierungschefs der EU geht, die Grundlage für die Politik in Europa in den nächsten Jahrzehnten bilden.

Jetzt hat in den einzelnen Staaten der Ratifikationsprozess begonnen.

Wir, die Unterzeichnerinnen und Unterzeichner, wenden uns gegen die Ratifizierung dieses Verfassungsvertrags. Denn mit diesem Vertrag wird kein soziales, friedliches und demokratisches Europa unterstützt.

Wirtschafts- und gesellschaftspolitisch wird die Europäische Union eine neoliberale Ausrichtung festgelegt

- weil die Wirtschafts- und Währungspolitik der EU auf den "Grundsatz einer offenen Marktwirtschaft mit freiem Wettbewerb" (III-177, III-178) und weltweiten Freihandel (III, 314) verpflichtet wird;

- weil die Beschäftigungs- und Sozialpolitik den "Grundzügen der Wirtschaftspolitik" untergeordnet wird (III-206, 179), die geprägt sind durch die einseitige Orientierung auf das "vorrangige" Ziel der "Preisstabilität" (I-3, I-30, III-177, 185) und durch den in Verfassungsrang erhobenen "Stabilitätspakt" (III-184);

- weil die Etablierung der Marktfreiheiten (III, 130), eines Eigentumsrechts ohne soziale Bindungen (II, 77) und eine Stabilitätspolitik, die der internationalen Wettbewerbsfähigkeit dienen soll (u.a. III 185), Vorrang haben vor anderen Politikzielen.

Mit diesem Vertrag wird kein friedensfähiges Europa ermöglicht

- weil mit ihm die Militarisierung der Europäischen Union, bis hin zur globalen Kriegsführungsfähigkeit vorangetrieben wird (I-41, 1 und III-309);

- weil Aufrüstung zur Pflicht wird: "Die Mitgliedstaaten verpflichten sich, ihre militärischen Fähigkeiten schrittweise zu verbessern" (Art. I-41 Abs. 3);

- weil eine Rüstungsagentur, die "Agentur für die Bereiche Entwicklung der Verteidigungsfähigkeiten, Forschung, Beschaffung und Rüstung" in der Verfassung festgeschrieben wird, um die Aufrüstung der Mitgliedstaaten zu überwachen und zudem "zweckdienliche Maßnahmen zur Stärkung der industriellen und technologischen Basis des Verteidigungssektors" durchzusetzen (III-311);

- weil eine Verpflichtung auf die UN-Charta als Ganzes nicht vorgesehen ist und somit auch Militärinterventionen, die nicht UN-mandatiert durchgeführt werden, vom EU-Verfassungsvertrag gedeckt sind.

Mit diesem Vertrag werden die sozialen Grundrechte nicht gestärkt

- weil die sozialen und gewerkschaftlichen Grundrechte in der EU-Grundrechtecharta durch beigefügte Erläuterungen ausgehöhlt und praktisch ihrer Wirksamkeit beraubt werden (II-112, 7, Erklärung Nr. 12). Zwar ist ein sozialer Dialog zwischen den Tarifparteien vorgesehen (I 48; III 211). Doch werden den Arbeitnehmerinnen und Arbeitnehmern keine Mitbestimmungsrechte eingeräumt (II 87). Die Verfassungsartikel über eine repräsentative und partizipative Demokratie (I 46; I 47) können daher nur schwer mit Leben gefüllt werden;

- weil den europäischen Bürgerinnen und Bürgern anstelle eines "Rechts auf Arbeit" nur das "Recht zu arbeiten" gewährt (II-75) wird.

Mit diesem Vertrag wird kein demokratisches Europa geschaffen

- weil das Demokratiedefizit bestehen bleibt. Das Europäischen Parlament erhält nicht einmal die gleichen gesetzgeberischen Befugnisse wie der Ministerrat. Das parlamentarische Grundrecht auf eigene Gesetzesinitiativen bleibt den Abgeordneten weiterhin vorenthalten. Das Parlament hat in vielen und entscheidenden Bereichen lediglich ein Anhörungsrecht (III 173; III 304) und kann die EU-Kommission lediglich auffordern, „geeignete Vorschläge zu Fragen vorzulegen, die nach seiner Auffassung die Ausarbeitung eines Rechtsakts der Union zur Anwendung der Verfassung erfordern“ (Art. III-332). Die Wahl des Kommissionspräsidenten obliegt zwar den Abgeordneten, beschränkt sich aber auf Bestätigung oder Ablehnung eines einzigen, vom Europäischen Rat vorgeschlagenen Kandidaten (Art. I-27);

- weil die Entscheidungen in der Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik vom Europäischen Rat, Ministerrat und vom EU-Außenminister getroffen werden.

Das Europaparlament wird lediglich „regelmäßig gehört“ und über die „Entwicklung auf dem Laufenden gehalten“ (Art. I-40);

- weil es keine Möglichkeit der Individualklage vor dem Europäischen Gerichtshof in den Bereichen der Gemeinsamen Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik und in der Innen- und Rechtspolitik (Art. III-376 und III-377) gibt.

Mit diesem Vertrag entsteht keine zukunftsoffene Verfassung der Europäischen Union.

Es wäre für die demokratische Entwicklung in Europa fatal, wenn diese Verfassung angenommen würde. Sie ist weder zukunftsoffen noch zukunftsfähig. Eine Verfassung muss Raum für politische Alternativen offen halten. Dies geschieht im vorliegenden Verfassungsvertrag nicht. Im Gegenteil: Dieser Raum wird geschlossen. Eine Änderung des Verfassungsvertrages ist nur möglich, wenn alle Mitgliedstaaten der EU einem neuen Vertrag zustimmen und ihn ratifizieren (IV-443), keineswegs per Bürgerbegehren (I-47). In wenigen Jahren wird die EU 30 und mehr Mitgliedstaaten haben. Vor diesem Hintergrund ist eine spätere Änderung des Verfassungsvertrages wirklichkeitsfremd.

Um zu verhindern, dass dieser Vertrag in Kraft tritt, unterstützen wir die öffentliche Kampagne, die die Bevölkerungen über die Inhalte dieses Vertrages aufklärt. Die einseitigen Informationskampagnen der Regierungen für die Zustimmung zum Verfassungsvertrag, die den Charakter von Propagandafeldzügen tragen, müssen eingestellt werden. Die dafür vorgesehenen Mittel sollten zur ausgewogenen Information von Bürgerinnen und Bürgern verwendet werden;.

Wir rufen die Abgeordneten in den Parlamenten jener Länder, in denen die Ratifizierung per Parlamentsvotum erfolgen soll, auf, gegen den EU-Verfassungsvertrag zu stimmen. Wir rufen die Bürgerinnen und Bürger, die per Referendum über den Verfassungsvertrag abstimmen können, auf, den Vertrag über die Verfassung abzulehnen.

Nein zu diesem Verfassungsvertrag!

Ja zu einem sozialen, friedensfähigen und demokratischen Europa!

(Bei diesem Aufruf handelt es sich um eine Initiative aus dem wissenschaftlichen Beirat von Attac-Deutschland.)

Mit besten Grüßen
Peter Strutynski

Hier geht es zur friedenspolitischen Website der AG Friedensforschung an der Uni Kassel, die ich wie immer wärmstens empfehle: http://www.uni-kassel.de/fb5/frieden/


Quelle: 7. Rundmail des Friedensratschlags

"Weniger Leistungsfähige werden aussortiert"

Zahl der Depressionen nimmt laut Kassenstatistik zu. Wer seine eigenen Interessen nicht vertritt, wird schneller depressiv. Ein Interview von Claudia Wangerin mit Prof. Ulrich Hegerl, Psychiater in München und Leiter des "Kompetenznetz Depression",
http://www.kompetenznetz-depression.de erschienen in junge Welt vom 09.04.2005 http://www.jungewelt.de/2005/04-09/019.php


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 24, Eintrag 8

"Low Performer" schützen: Einer ist immer der Letzte

"Mangelnde Leistung von Mitarbeitern muss nicht tatenlos hingenommen werden." ..."Low Perfomer identifizieren" .... "Der richtige Umgang mit Low Performern". Immer offener wird seit einiger Zeit auf Arbeitgeberseite beraten, wie bei angeblichen Leistungsmängeln von Arbeitnehmerinnen und Arbeitnehmern (AN) vorzugehen ist. Das Ziel ist: "eine Trennung von solchen Mitarbeitern einzuleiten". Für Betriebs- und Personalräte bedeutet dieser Trend, möglichst frühzeitig Maßnahmen durchzusetzen, um die systematischen Ausgrenzung und Überwachung von AN zu verhindern. Sind belastende Daten vom Arbeitgeber erst einmal gesammelt und die Kündigung durch gesammelte Vorwürfe über Monate vorbereitet, wird es schwierig, eine Kündigung zu verhindern. Die AN sind dann in der unangenehmen Situation, sich ins Unternehmen oder in die Dienststelle wieder"hineinklagen" zu müssen. Das muss nicht sein. Wichtig ist, vorbeugend Sicherungen einzubauen, die die Datensammelwut mancher Personalverantwortlicher in die Schranken weist…"

Mandanteninfo des Anwaltsbüros Bell & Windirsch vom 06.04. 2005. (pdf)

http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeitsalltag/allg/lowperformer.pdf


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 24, Eintrag 8

Statt Hartz IV und Armutsarbeit - Mindesteinkommen und Mindestlohn

Diskussionspapier erarbeitet von Ronald Blaschke; ständiger Vertreter des Arbeitslosenverbandes Deutschland e.V. am bundesweiten Runden Tisch der Erwerbslosen- und Sozialhilfeorganisationen vom 31. März 2005.

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


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 24, Eintrag 8

Das Geschlecht des aktivierenden Staates

Entfesselung männlicher Konkurrenzsubjekte und Erzeugung rechtloser Dienstbotinnen. Artikel von Frank Rentschler in EXIT! Nr. 2 vom 23.03.2005.

http://www.exit-online.org/html/link.php?tab=autoren&kat=Frank+Rentschler&ktext=Das+Geschlecht+des+aktivierenden+Staates


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 24, Eintrag 8

Drohungen gegen Erwerbslose

Eklatante Rechtsverstöße gegen Hartz IV-Bestimmungen durch private Vermittler in Norddeutschland. Artikel von Andreas Grünwald in Junge Welt vom 13. April 2005.

http://www.jungewelt.de/2005/04-13/013.php


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 24, Eintrag 8

Positionspapier des ver.di-Erwerbslosenrates Hamburg zu den 1-Euro-Jobs

Positionspapier des ver.di-Erwerbslosenrates Hamburg zu den 1-Euro-Jobs vom 6. April 2005. (pdf)
http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/realpolitik/hilfe/position_hh.pdf

Aus dem Text: "…Wir lehnen die Ein-Euro-Jobs deshalb ab. Wir fordern sozialversicherungspflichtige Beschäftigungsverhältnisse und die Einführung eines Mindestlohns. (…) Der Erwerbslosenrat erklärt sich als Interessenvertretung für zuständig und gibt sich folgendes Sofortprogramm: Die Bildung einer Anlaufstelle samt Hotline für Ein-Euro-Jobber. Die Bildung von Interessenvertretungen bei Beschäftigungsträgern und in den einzelnen Bezirken…."


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 24, Eintrag 8

Tacheles wird keine 1 - Euro - Jobber beschäftigen

Grundsatzentscheidung: Tacheles wird keine 1 - Euro - Jobber
beschäftigen !

"Über Eintausend Ein-Euro-Jobs soll es in Wuppertal geben. Selbst Sozialeinrichtungen wie die Wuppertaler Tafel und das Arbeitslosenzentrum springen nun auf diesen Zug auf. Damit beteiligen sich aus Tacheles Sicht diese Organisationen an staatlich geförderter Zwangsarbeit, die zudem in den meisten Fällen rechtswidrig sein dürfte.

Tacheles fordert auch andere soziale Organisationen und Vereine Wuppertals auf, ebenfalls verbindlich zu erklären keine Ein-Euro-Jobs einzurichten und damit diesem arbeitsmarktpolitischen Wahnsinn ein Ende zu setzen…."

Die Pressemitteilung von Tacheles e.V. vom 23.03.2005
http://www.tacheles-sozialhilfe.de/aktuelles/2005/Ein-Euro-Jobs.html

Siehe hierzu auch:

1.000 Billigjobs in Wuppertal. Die Chance, Arbeitsgelegenheiten einzurichten, nutzen viele Wuppertaler Träger dazu, Dienstleistungen, die sie sonst bezahlen müssten, billig von ALG-II-Empfängern erledigen zu lassen

"Der Wuppertaler Verein Tacheles e. V. hat eine Liste veröffentlicht, die die rund 1.000 Ein-Euro-Jobs der Stadt im Bergischen öffentlich macht. Die Wuppertaler Arbeitsagentur hat die Echtheit dieser Liste gestern gegenüber der taz bestätigt. Die Sprecherin der Arbeitsagentur Wuppertal, Franziska Arndt-Duve sagte gestern: "Die Liste hat der Verein aus unserem Computer bekommen". Wie der Verein daran gekommen sei, sei ein Rätsel, "vielleicht haben wir in der Agentur einen Maulwurf"…." Artikel von Elmar Kok in der taz Ruhr vom 13.4.2005
http://www.taz.de/pt/2005/04/13/a0024.nf/text.ges,1

Die Liste der 1 - Euro - Job Anbieter in Wuppertal als PDF-Datei (2.101 KB) bei Tacheles
http://www.tacheles-sozialhilfe.de/aktuelles/2005/eineuro-wuppertal.pdf


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 24, Eintrag 8

1-Euro-Jobs und würdiger Umgang mit Arbeitslosen

1-Euro-Jobs und würdiger Umgang mit Arbeitslosen - Caritas
Göttingen

Noch ein offener Brief, diesmal von der GALG (Gewerkschaftliche Arbeitslosengruppe Göttingens) an den Caritasverband für Stadt und Landkreis Göttingen e. V. vom 07. April 2005. Thema: 1-Euro-Jobs und würdiger Umgang mit Arbeitslosen. Offensichtlich beabsichtigt das Bistum Hildesheim Gutes zu tun und möchte schneller seliggesprochen werden als der letzte Papst. Das Zauberwort heißt 1-€-Jobs, möglichst viele, möglichst schnell, möglichst wenig dafür ausgeben und möglichst viel daran verdienen. Widerwärtig, findet die Redaktion des Labournet und die Initiative auch die passenden Worte dafür.

http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/realpolitik/hilfe/galg.html


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 24, Eintrag 8

Arbeitsverwaltungen wehren sich - wogegen?

Offener Brief zur Situation der Beschäftigten in der ARGE Wuppertal

In einem offenen Brief an Bundesminister Clement beschreiben H.S. und R.W. die Situation der Beschäftigten in der ARGE Wuppertal und fragen "..Sollten die Reformgegner mit ihrer Meinung etwa Recht behalten, dass es bei der Reform Hartz IV in erster Linie um das Fordern geht?..." , stellen weiterhin berechtigterweise fest, "…dass diese Reform zu Lasten der betroffenen arbeitslosen Menschen und ihrer Familien durchgeführt wird. Die gesetzten Rahmenbedingungen lassen ein Einlösen der Versprechungen nicht zu. Diese Reform geht auch zu Lasten der betroffenen Beschäftigten und deren Familien. Die gesetzten Arbeitsbedingungen führen bei den Beschäftigten zu ernsthaften Erkrankungen.

Die ver.di-Personalräte werden diese Zustände nicht länger hinnehmen und fordern hiermit, dass der politische Druck verringert wird. Die personellen, technischen und räumlichen Voraussetzungen sind schnellstens zu verbessern. Darüber hinaus muss die durch die Politik aufgebaute hohe Erwartungshaltung der ALG II-Kunden auf die derzeitige Realität zurückgeführt werden…" und möchten gleichzeitig ihren Superminister nicht im Regen stehen lassen und bitten Clement "Geben Sie den Beschäftigten der ARGE Wuppertal die Chance, diese Reform zum Erfolg zu führen."

http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/realpolitik/zwang/offenerbrief.html


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 24, Eintrag 8

Sicherheitszone Arbeitsamt

In Ergänzung des Beitrages von Peter Maron in der Frankfurter Rundschau vom 8. April 2005 noch ein Beitrag von Peter Novak auf Telepolis vom 11. April 2005. Aus dem Text: "…Die Sicherheitsüberprüfungen wurden nach den Anschlägen vom 11.September 2001 verabschiedet, um "sicherheitsrelevante Einrichtungen wie Atomkraftwerke oder Flughäfen vor Anschlägen zu schützen", so die offizielle Begründung.

Agenturen für Arbeit gehörten damals allerdings nicht zu den Zielobjekten der Terrorfahndung. Die bekannt gewordenen Überprüfungen scheinen Befürchtungen von Bürgerrechtsorganisationen zu bestätigen, die davor warnten, dass solche Überprüfungen schnell auf weite Teile der Gesellschaft ausgeweitet werden. Im Visier ist dann nicht mehr der Terrorismus, sondern politischer Protest. Schließlich wird keine Sicherheitsbehörde mit einem Terroranschlag im Arbeitsamt gerechnet haben. Sehr wohl aber wurden die Proteste gegen die Hartz IV-Gesetze beobachtet, vor allem als sie sich mit Aktionen wie Agenturschluss gezielt gegen die Ausführung der Gesetze richteten…."

Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 24, Eintrag 8
http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/19/19862/1.html

HUNTLY MOBILE PHONE MASTS PLAN PUT ON HOLD

http://tinyurl.com/6fdr2

Parents' anger at phone mast

http://tinyurl.com/d3dw5

Die Bolkestein-Direktive wird unverändert umgesetzt

http://www.nachdenkseiten.de/cms/front_content.php?client=1&lang=1&idcat=7&idart=552

Tetrawatch e-mail campaign

PRESS RELEASE

VALID: indefinitely

Mast Sanity is the national organisation representing mast groups and regional campaigns. One such group among the 900 on Mast Sanity's list is Tetrawatch which concentrates its efforts on campaigning to address the continuing efforts being made by the Government, Home Office, O2 Airwave and police forces to introduce Tetra nationwide against the wishes of a large number of residents.

Tetrawatch has invited all protest and campaign group members to express their concerns by e-mail to the Home Office official most responsible for the introduction and support of the Airwave (Tetra) project, in a concerted and concentrated effort so that he and his Departments can be in no doubt that there exists strong feeling among the people of Britain.

Directed mainly towards Sir John Gieve, Permanent Secretary to the Home Office, the planned protest will be evident on the morning of Wednesday 13th April, when large numbers of e-mails will be received by Ministers, MPs and Officials, from protesters.

COMMENT:

Among the reasons why Tetra is the subject of this campaign strategem are:

1. Tetra is proving to cause health symptoms to large numbers of uninvolved people.

2. Tetra is not the most cost-effective solution for an effective new police communications system.

3. There are functional deficiencies in the Tetra specification and delivered system.

4. Unlike most mobile phones, Tetra emits damaging electromagnetic radiation 24 hours a day with no respite for sufferers, which affects quality of life.

5. No research into the effects of Tetra is being conducted and the system was never tested prior to introduction.

6. Indulgent planning laws and attitudes of the ODPM have been effective in allowing the spread of Tetra despite reasoned opposition.

7. The people who have cause for concern are being ignored and pilloried by authority.

8. The robust opposition of people to the introduction and spread of Tetra has been forced by dis- and misinformation from O2 Airwave, ODPM, Ministers including Hazel Blears, Mireille Levy, Caroline Flint and others, who have used specious arguments provided to them by O2 Airwave and Home Office Civil Servants to deny that the problems being highlighted should be taken seriously.

Contact: John O'Brien 01903 883414
Tetrawatch@aol.com or watch@tetrawatch.net
http://www.tetrawatch.net

http://www.mastsanity.org
Advice line: 08704 322 377
Press Office: 01962 864 388

Directly from the G.I.s to all the rest of us

Please have a thorough look at this site and forward widely:

This site is comprised solely of letters directly from the G.I.s.
The site is updated daily.
http://www.militaryproject.org/
http://www.militaryproject.org/article.asp?id=529
and also:
http://www.traveling-soldier.org/

Then visit http://www.addictedtowar.com/


Informant: sash

We're all paranoid

Sure, the people with the 9/11 conspiracy theories are a little odd. But not everything they're saying is entirely crazy.

By Steven T. Jones

San Francisco Bay Guardian

[Note: This article has been changed from the print version to correct and update information about terrorism suspect Zacarias Moussaoui.]

THE GRAND LAKE Theater in Oakland was filled almost to capacity March 10, just as the Guild Theatre in Menlo Park was the night before and the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco would be the next night, all for a documentary with bad production values and even worse leaps of logic.

This was the local premiere of The Great Conspiracy: The 9/11 News Special You Never Saw, a benefit screening for the Northern California 9/11 Truth Alliance, whose activists have been laboring for more than three years to dispel popular belief in the government's version of the events on that fateful day. [...]

Yet the most disturbing thing about the 9/11 truth movement, something you learn when you really dissect their most compelling evidence, is that the activists are raising critically important questions about the Bush administration's lies, cover-ups, and geopolitical strategy – questions that are being almost entirely ignored by the mainstream media.

And they may well be right that more went down on 9/11 than the government wants us to know. [...] Read the rest at the SanFrancisco Bay Guardian: http://www.sfbg.com/39/25/cover_conspiracy.html or at the 911Truth.org web site, where they have this introduction to the San Franciso Bay Guardian news story: Breakthrough moment! The intrepid San Francisco Bay Guardian FINALLY wades into the 9/11 fray. City editor Jones adroitly covers his "respectable journalist" ass with careful research and distanced language, but he also lays out the 9/11 truth movement's official complicity case with admirable clarity and verve. - Ed. http://911truth.org/article.php?story=2005032321332746 or http://tinyurl.com/583gv


© Virginia Metze

Pay Gap Widens Between CEOs and Workers

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0412-10.htm


© Virginia Metze

GMO Rice Sold in Central China Markets

GMO Rice Sold in Central China Markets - Greenpeace
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/30375/story.htm

Courting Armageddon: How the Bush Administration’s Biological Weapons Buildup Affects You

News that a U.S. company recently sent vials of a 1957 pandemic flu strain to laboratories across the world by accident is only the latest outrage from the billion-dollar boondoggle called the federal biological weapons program.

As you might recall, the Bush administration started its “biodefense” spending spree following the September 2001 deadly anthrax attacks, and one of its first projects was to genetically engineer a super-resistant, even more deadly version of the anthrax virus.

Our leaders are nuts.

Unfortunately, Project Jefferson has good company. A US Army scientist in Maryland is currently trying to bring back elements of the 1918 Spanish flu, a virus which killed 40 million people. And a virologist in St. Louis has been working on a more lethal form of mousepox (related to smallpox) – just to try stopping the virus once it’s been created.

Lack of oversight and runaway spending are exacerbated by the Bush administration’s disrespect for the internationally-recognized Biological Weapons Convention. In short, reduced pressure on weapons labs to issue declarations and allow inspections means less accountability – and more opportunities for secrecy and abuse.

Put bluntly, the increasing number of stateside bioweapons blunders should come as no surprise. In February 2003, for example, the University of California at Davis (UCD) took a full ten days to inform nearby communities that a rhesus monkey had escaped from its primate-breeding facility. Coincidentally, UCD had been vying for government funds to set up its own "hot zone" biodefense lab which could use primates for biological weapons testing. If that monkey had been infected with ebola, or some other virus, it’s unclear when or if the public would have been informed.

At roughly the same time that the monkey ditched UCD, the Pentagon unearthed over 2,000 tons of hazardous biological waste in Maryland, much of it undocumented leftovers of an abandoned germ warfare program. Nearby, the FBI was draining a pond for clues into 2001's anthrax attacks.

Doesn’t inspire much trust in the transparency of US biological weapons programs. And things appear only to be getting worse.

In 2004, a whopping $6 billion went up for grabs for federal biodefense programs, and laboratories across the country went ballistic trying to get their hands on some of that cash. Predictably, cases of fraud and abuse quickly surfaced.

In June 2004, for example, the Army was caught shirking inspections at a major biodefense lab under its domain. The scandal went back to 1999, when the Army commissioned a biological and chemical weapons-agent lab at Tennessee’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Oversight regulations obligated the Army to inspect the lab each year thereafter, and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) were supposed to have inspected the lab on a regular basis too.

Everything seemed to be running smoothly; in December 2003, the committee in charge of safety at the Oak Ridge lab announced that it "remains comfortable of the review and inspections of the Chem/Bio Facility conducted by the CDC and the Army."

Small problem. In 2004, the Department of Energy's Inspector General discovered that the Army actually hadn’t inspected the Oak Ridge biodefense lab for the previous three years, and that the CDC hadn’t been there for four years. Yet the lab’s safety committee said it was “comfortable” with the imaginary inspections.

Also in 2004, a military biodefense contractor called Southern Research landed in hot water by accidentally sending live anthrax across the country from Frederick, Maryland to the Children’s Hospital of Oakland (California). To make matters worse, it turns out that Southern Research’s lab in Frederick, Maryland didn’t even maintain the institutional biosafety committee required by federal research rules. The punishment for these acts of gross incompetence and irresponsibility? The Bush administration gave Southern Research the task of safeguarding a new $30 million biological weapons facility being built near Chicago.

In September of the same year, three lab workers at the Boston University Medical Center were accidentally exposed to a potentially lethal biowarfare agent called tularaemia bacterium. The lab didn’t report the tularemia infections until two months later though – after it had won a contract to build a new, $178 million biodefense laboratory.

Concerns about lack of transparency and monetary waste aside, the administration’s bioweapons buildup raises obvious ethical problems. Why should the U.S. create newer, even deadlier viruses? Who are these catastrophic weapons going to be tested on? What populations will they ultimately be used against?

These questions take on urgent meaning given the Bush administration’s military adventurism coupled with the US media’s poor coverage regarding war victims. For example, eyewitnesses to the late-2004 attack on Fallujah claimed that US forces used poisonous gases, and “weird” bombs that exploded into fires that burned the skin despite water being thrown on the burns – a telltale sign of napalm or phosphorus bombs

UK reaction to the revelation was swift and strong, with demands that Prime Minister Blair remove British troops from Iraq until the US ceased from using such savage weaponry. Labor MP Alice Mahon demanded that Blair make "an emergency statement to the Commons to explain why this is happening. It begs the question: 'Did we know about this hideous weapon's use in Iraq?'"

No similar outrage in Congress. In fact, no comment at all. The US mainstream media didn’t cover the “weird bomb” allegations.

But it doesn’t take a genius to put two-and-two together: if we permit our government to ignore international weapons-control conventions and then say nothing while fresh billions are invested in barbaric new weaponry, we lose the right to act surprised when our own military uses that weaponry on innocent civilians abroad.

Or even on us.

You may be surprised to learn that in 2003, the Pentagon quietly admitted to having used biological/chemical agents on 5,842 service members in secret tests conducted over a ten-year period (1962-73).

In operations called Project 112 and Project SHAD, the Defense Department tested its own weapons on service members aboard Navy ships, and in all sorts of other nasty ways – such as spraying a Hawaiian rainforest and parts of Oahu. All in all, tests were conducted in six states (Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Utah) as well as in Canada and Britain.

Many military personnel were not informed when the toxic agents were being tested on them. Only decades later, as crucial documents slowly become declassified, have the veterans’ health complaints been acknowledged.

You might think such barbarism could never happen again: too many legal protections for citizens in place. Think again.

There’s a tricky clause in Chapter 32/Title 50 of the United States Code (the aggregation of US general and permanent laws) which states that the Secretary of Defense can conduct a chemical or biological agent test or experiment on humans in certain cases “if informed consent has been obtained.”

So far so good. But check out a different part of Chapter 32, Section 1515, entitled “Suspension; Presidential authorization”:

After November 19, 1969, the operation of this chapter, or any portion thereof, may be suspended by the President during the period of any war declared by Congress and during the period of any national emergency declared by Congress or by the President.

You got it. If the President or Congress decides we’re at war then the Secretary of Defense doesn’t need anybody’s consent to test chemical or biological agents on human beings. Gives one pause during these days of a perpetual “War on Terror.”

In January 2005, US Senate majority leader Bill Frist called for a new Manhattan Project (referring to the WWII-era nuclear weapons bonanza) for biological weapons. Frist told an audience at the World Economic Forum, “The greatest existential threat we have in the world today is biological," and he went on to predict a biowarfare attack "at some time in the next 10 years."

How ironic that while Frist cited the 2001 US anthrax attacks as proof more biological weapons research was necessary, he failed to mention that those incidents involved anthrax produced right in the good ‘ole USA - or that the primary suspect in the attacks was a US Army scientist. Frist also didn’t clarify how developing even more biological warfare agents will make the world safer.

The original Manhattan Project ultimately led to US forces dropping atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with the resulting slaughter of hundreds of thousands of people. It’s terrifying to consider the potential repercussions, both domestic and foreign, of the Bush administration’s biological weapons Manhattan Project.

Heather Wokusch
http://www.heatherwokusch.com

The mysterious deaths of top microbiologists

http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=80893;show_parent=1

Dead Scientists
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/592793/

The 9/11 Commission Report - Omissions and Distortions
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/671691/

Seymour Hersh: Bush is "Unreachable"

http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/05/03/con05117.html

Karriere auf die fiese Art: 61 Prozent fühlen sich gemobbt

http://www.tecchannel.de/news/business/20399/

Stockholm Syndrome

http://lewrockwell.com/hornberger/hornberger37.html

Autopsy of a Funeral

http://lewrockwell.com/orig5/ludlow2.html

Dandi March

http://lewrockwell.com/orig6/knaebel1.html

Bush rewards his failures

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Toronto/Eric_Margolis/2005/04/09/989932.html


Informant: Lew Rockwell

Churches and Government

http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north360.html

Does Bush "understand" freedom?

04/14/05

Bush constantly uses such terms as freedom and democracy but does he have any idea of what the terms mean, or the only form of government that fully recognizes, supports, and defends liberty? (Hint: It is NOT democracy.) I do not think he does. I think he is ignorant of any concept of what unalienable, inherent, and God-given rights are, or the government's role in America. (Hint: Protecting our shores, and preserving and protecting the rights every human being is born with, including from government.)

http://www.libertyforall.net/2005/april17/understand.html

from Liberty For All, by Ed Lewis


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Politics causes unemployment

04/13/05

Whenever government forcibly raises employment costs it causes marginal labor, that is, labor that barely covers its costs, to become submarginal. It does not matter whether government orders wage rates to rise or benefits to be improved, the workday to be shortened, overtime pay to be raised, funds to be set aside for sickness and old age, or any other benefit to be granted. A small boost renders few workers submarginal, a large boost affects many. In matters of employment they now are 'unproductive' and cannot be used economically...

http://www.mises.org/story/1782

from Ludwig von Mises Institute, by Hans F. Sennholz


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Exposing incompetent incumbents

04/13/05

Many have asked how it could be that a comparatively small group of intelligence analysts in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) was able to get it right on several key Iraq-related issues, while larger agencies like CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency -- with, literally, a cast of thousands -- got it so wrong. The answer is simple: INR had the guts to be the skunk at the picnic. State Department analysts showed backbone in resisting White House pressure, as well as in-house prodding from the likes of Under Secretary of State John Bolton, to cook intelligence to the White House recipe. ... INR analysts dissented loudly from some of the most important key judgments of the infamous National Intelligence Estimate, 'Iraq's Continuing Programs for Weapons of Mass Destruction' of Oct. 1, 2002...

http://tinyurl.com/5obxn

from Tom Paine, by Ray McGovern


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The scourging of Willie Fontenot

04/13/05

For the past 30 years, the people living amid the chemical plants and oil refineries along the Mississippi River in the blighted area of Louisiana known as Cancer Alley have had one steadfast ally in the halls of a state government which has set the high bar for official corruption: Willie Fontenot. ... Down here in Cancer Alley, the weapons inspectors -- environmentalists, lawyers, scientists, ministers -- are regularly bullied, threatened and run out of town. Down here, both parties do the bidding of the oil and chemical industry -- witness Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu's recent vote to open ANWR to drilling. Down here, it's the rare brave bureaucrat who comes along with the courage to stand up and help people fight the corruption corroding Louisiana's political system from the inside out. Yet, that's what Willie Fontenot has done his entire career...

http://www.counterpunch.org/stclair04132005.html

from CounterPunch, by Jeffrey St. Clair


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The long emergency

04/13/05

Most of all, the Long Emergency will require us to make other arrangements for the way we live in the United States. America is in a special predicament due to a set of unfortunate choices we made as a society in the twentieth century. Perhaps the worst was to let our towns and cities rot away and to replace them with suburbia, which had the additional side effect of trashing a lot of the best farmland in America. Suburbia will come to be regarded as the greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the world. It has a tragic destiny. The psychology of previous investment suggests that we will defend our drive-in utopia long after it has become a terrible liability...

http://tinyurl.com/4fvev

from Rolling Stone, by James Howard Kunstler


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Keep your eyes on John Negroponte

04/14/05

Today, I watched the Senate Intelligence Committee go through the motions of interviewing John Negroponte, who President Bush has nominated to be the first real 'intelligence czar.' I gather from the hearings that you think Negroponte is not a bad choice for the position and will vote for his confirmation. But I think you will be making a mistake. ... The power that FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover had in his day was trivial compared to the power Negroponte will have to guide him in the direction that the Perle Cabal desires...

http://www.lewrockwell.com/wanniski/wanniski69.html

from LewRockwell.Com, by Jude Wanniski


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Law trumps life

04/11/04

In the aftermath of Terri Schiavo's death, Republicans are disgusted with the courts, Democrats are disgusted with Republicans, and moderates are disgusted with politics. In other words, life is back to normal. Still, the Schiavo affair was illuminating. Democrats, it revealed, are not the only ones who are losing touch with Main Street values...

http://reason.com/rauch/041105.shtml

from Reason, by Jonathan Rauch


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Dignity, honor and "Da Butt Dance"

After eight years of Clintonian debauchery, the election of George W. Bush provided relief to many. How often have you heard that Our Great Christian President has brought 'dignity and honor' back to the Oval Office? ... Meanwhile, out in the real world -- if Lower Manhattan can be called the real world -- nothing has changed. The New York Post recently carried a steamy story on the escapades of Jenna Bush, Dubya's daughter .... If [Bush] has this little influence in his immediate sphere, how can he 'instill family values' in millions of households from Maine to Hawaii and from Key West to the Aleutians? Where does anyone get this idea?" (04/13/05)

http://www.strike-the-root.com/51/newman/newman4.html

from Strike the Root, by Doug Newman


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

America's system of justice is broken

04/14/05

In Florida, based on the testimony of one man, a defenseless woman is starved to death. His "evidence" was so flimsy that it normally would be insufficient to uphold even a parking ticket. The judge who nonetheless concurred and ordered her starvation is so mired in conflicts of interest that he should have been automatically recused from the case. Yet the Governor of the state, whose job it ostensibly is to protect citizens from being deprived of life, liberty, or property absent due process of law, stands impotently by and allows the travesty to proceed to its malevolent end, claiming that intervention on her behalf would be contrary to 'the rule of law...

http://www.rationalreview.com/guest/041405.shtml

from Rational Review, by Christopher G. Adamo


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Democrats may stall war bill over "Real ID" poison pill

04/13/05

Senate Democrats are threatening to bog down the emergency war-spending bill with a broad debate on immigration if Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist doesn't win a guarantee from House Republicans to drop driver's license limits from their chamber's version. Minority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, said yesterday that he wants to ensure the eventual House-Senate conference will not include the House-passed Real ID Act, which cracks down on illegal immigrants' ability to use driver's licenses and restricts asylum claims...

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20050412-103010-7292r.htm

from Washington Times


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Civil servants threaten action over mobile phone masts

I R I S H E X A M I N E R . C O M - 13 April 2005.

Civil servants threaten action over mobile phone masts

11 April 2005

By Donal Hickey

THE country’s 13,000 civil servants have threatened to take industrial action amid concerns about dangers posed by mobile phone masts on the roofs of buildings in which they work. Delegates at the Civil, Public and Services Union (CPSU) conference, in Killarney, at the weekend were told that the Government showed ‘scant regard’ for their health.

“We’ve one minister who is worried about the ill effects of passive smoking in pubs while at the same time the Government is turning a blind eye to the absorption of microwaves in the air,” said Thelma Davey, of the Central Statistics Office (CSO) Dublin branch.

She said a mast had been put on the CSO building in Rathmines, but staff were given no prior notice. “We’re not against the technology, but we want the safe implementation of it,” she told the conference.

She quoted a leading expert, Dr Dave Aldridge, who claimed radiation emissions from mobile phone masts in Ireland could be 10,000 times too high. She said the guidelines here referred to the adverse effects of heating on the body, but did not take into account the non-thermal effects within the body.

Such effects, she went on, could include an impaired immunity system, infections, viruses, arthritis, diabetes, cancer and cardiac disease. Ms Davey pointed out the Irish Doctors Environmental Association believed that between 1% and 5% of the population suffered from electro sensitivity, which was recognised as a medical condition in countries such as Sweden. Symptoms included nausea, vertigo, headaches and blurred vision. She also produced a letter sent last year by the Department of Health’s chief medical officer Dr Jim Kiely, to the Government saying uncertainties still existed about the potential impact of elector magnetic fields on human health. Ms Davey claimed the Government would earn €10 million a year for 10 years by allowing masts to be erected on buildings.

A number of motions calling on the CPSU executive to ensure safe workplaces, with calls for industrial action if necessary, were passed.

CPSU assistant general secretary Kevin Gaughran said the executive agreed with the sentiments voiced by delegates, but the union had gone a long way towards addressing the issues and would continue to work for safe and healthy workplaces.

He said a number of commitments had also been secured from the Government on the issue. Mr Gaughran said the Government had given a commitment that health and safety regulations regarding masts would be adhered to.

He also told conference that a number of international bodies, including the World Health Organisation (WHO), had concluded there were no adverse effects from masts.

The conference heard calls for a change in regulations so that civil servants could openly express their views on certain political and community issues was made at the CPSU conference.

At present, the civil service code of standards and behaviour prevents them from engaging in public debate on political issues without prior permission from their department.

Education and Science branch delegate Sinead Gilmartin, proposing that the regulation be amended and said her branch did not want the Official Secrets Act to be abolished, or ignored, and civil servants should not disclose sensitive information regarding their work.

The motion was passed unanimously.

© Thomas Crosbie Media, 2005.

http://newsfeed.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/story.asp?j=5454642765&p=545464z78x&n=5454642857


Informant: Colette O'Connell




Sligo civil servants to strike over phone antennae
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/993605/
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