http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0629-27.htm



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=impeach
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Downing+Street+Memo

From: JCMPelican@aol.com
Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2005 16:30:33 EDT
To: plunepur@earthlink.net

Joel: Do you know what an AC/DC network router is?


From: Angela Olstad <olstad@mel-min.k12.wi.us>
Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2005 13:35:39 -0500
To: jcmpelican@aol.com

Electrical Pollution and Cancer: A Survivor's Story

In late January 2005, I was diagnosed with a high grade brain tumor (anaplastic astrocytoma) that has an average survival time of 18 months. A biopsy and tissue test were done at UW Hospital in Madison, and the pathology was confirmed by MD Anderson in Houston. I had just turned 50, and had been exceptionally healthy until experiencing a seizure on Halloween 2004. I also had tingling in my left hand. A friend of my mother told me about electrical pollution and recommended that I study the topic at electricalpollution.com and stetzerelectric.com. She also lent me a microsurge meter from Stetzer Electric. A healthy level is under 50 volts per second. Most of my outlets showed a solid "1", with but some were fluctuating around 1900. I called Stetzer Electric and learned that the meter only displays up to 1999, and shows a "1" for readings above that. I immediately ordered 20 filters, but these were not enough to bring the problem under control. On the advice of Dave Stetzer, I checked the electrical panel, and found that the readings dropped when one circuit was turned off. By unplugging electrical devices on that circuit one-by-one, I found that an AC/DC power supply for a network router was causing the problem (this router had been continuously plugged in for about 4 years). After the router was replaced, microsurge readings throughout our house dropped by 99%. The tingling in my left hand went away immediately. The best news came last Thursday (June 16, 2005) when an MRI showed that my tumor was gone.

I cannot be certain that electrical pollution caused my tumor, or that fixing the electrical problem influenced my recovery. The deaths of teachers from brain tumors and leukemia in a Minnesota school with high levels of electrical pollution may have been coincidental
[link to http://www.electricalpollution.com/images/MNschool.jpeg ]

More research needs to be done. Unfortunately, cancer patients live in uncertainty, and do not have time to wait for conclusive research. They must act with incomplete information to reduce exposure to as many risk factors as possible. I believe that electrical pollution is a serious environmental hazard that is rarely recognized by its victims.

There are about 150 types of cancer, with many known and suspected causes. Environmental factors that impair one's immune system can allow cancer cells to take hold and proliferate. Cancer patients in particular need to have their homes and workplaces checked for high levels of electromagnetic radiation. Without greater awareness, health and lives will continue to be needlessly wasted. I am grateful for life, and hope that this information will help others in their battle with cancer.

Kris Brekke
6426 Inner Drive
Madison, WI 53705
608 238 3550
brekke@bluebottle.com

As the July 4th weekend approaches we know many of your groups are planning activities that will call attention to the horrendous conditions at the Guantanamo Prison Camp and other U.S. detention facilities. We want to make sure you know that several new leaflets are available for your use in this work. Click here to access these pieces: http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=2914

The leaflets are not date-specific, so they will still be relevant and useable after this weekend. Please feel free to download and make copies of any or all of the leaflets that are available. And if you know of other groups working on this issue please send them a copy of this memo and the links to the leaflets.

As always, we encourage you to post any activities (protests, educational events, public meetings, etc.) on the calendar on the UFPJ web site. Just click here: http://unitedforpeace.org/modinput4.php?modin=50

peace,

Leslie Cagan
National Coordinator
United for Peace and Justice

http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=147555412&p=y47556yy8


Informant: NoName

Die US-Manager stellen die globale Einkommensavantgarde dar, aber die der anderen Ländern holen auf; weltweit gibt es 8 Mio. Millionäre, die insgesamt 30 Billionen US-Dollar besitzen.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/20/20289/1.html

Klimaschutz: US-Initiative will unabhängig von Regierung Kyoto-Protokoll umsetzen (29.06.05)

166 US-amerikanische Bürgermeister unterstützen zur Zeit ein landesweites Klimaschutzbündnis in den USA. Davon berichtet das Bundesumweltministerium (BMU) am Mittwoch. Die Mitglieder des Bündnisses haben sich demnach verpflichtet, die von der Bush-Regierung abgelehnten Kyoto-Verpflichtungen der USA selbständig in ihren Städten und Gemeinden umzusetzen. Ziel der Selbstverpflichtung sei es, den Ausstoß von Treibhausgasen bis zum Jahr 2012 um sieben Prozent unter die Werte von 1990 zu senken. Eine zweiter Zusammenschluss aus 18 Bundestaaten wolle den Ausbau sauberer Energiequellen fördern.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=11325

Regionale Landwirtschaft für kürzere Transporte: Neue EU-Gesetzgebung fördert weiterhin tagelange Tiertransporte (29.06.05)

Mehr als 360 Millionen Tiere werden laut Deutschem Tierschutzbund jedes Jahr "unter grausamsten Bedingungen" quer durch Europa transportiert. Darauf wies die Organisation am Mittwoch anlässlich des "Tags gegen Tiertransporte" am 1. Juli mit. Auch von der neuen EU-Gesetzgebung, die 2007 in Kraft treten soll, versprechen sich die Tierschützer nicht viel. Während mit den neuen Gesetzen beispielsweise die Kontrollen verschärft wurden, konnte bei den Punkten "Ladedichte" und "Transportzeiten" keine Einigung zwischen den EU-Ländern erzielt werden. Konsequenz ist, dass in diesen Bereichen zunächst die bisherigen Regeln gelten. Zwischen 2007 und 2011 soll dann erneut darüber debattiert werden. Gerade diese Bedingungen aber sind aus Sicht der Tierschützer eine große Qual für die Tiere. Grund für den ganzen Ablauf sei "allzu oft die Profitmacherei der Agrarindustrie". Für diese lohnten sich die Transporte schon, wenn entfernte Schlachthöfe wenige Cent pro Tier mehr bezahlten. Außerdem subventioniere die EU die Transporte oft noch.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=11320

http://rense.com/general66/nomas.htm


From Our bill of rights

Your help is needed more urgently than ever.

In its 40-odd years speaking truth to power, Amnesty International has incurred the wrath of many despotic governments -- whose human rights violations, political prisoners and other abuses came to light through Amnesty's painstaking field research.

But few assaults by governments have been more disturbing than Washington's attacks on our recent Annual Report findings about widespread use of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment by U.S. troops and federal officers. This reaction is especially troubling considering our nation's long-standing history as a champion of human rights.

Recent revelations of abuse by our own government of detainees in Iraq and Guantanamo are simply shocking.

They violate bedrock American values.

They violate the Geneva Convention.

These actions are destroying U.S. credibility in the world.

When the United States helped draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the U.S. was a beacon of hope and justice for millions struggling against tyranny. Our leadership - in word and deed - is no less important today.

Amnesty is in the final stages of launching one of the most ambitious mass mobilizations in our history - to demand, as American citizens, an end to torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment by our own government.

This mobilization is taxing our already stretched resources. Please consider making a substantial donation right now using our secure Web page.

DONATE NOW:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=677776&l=13511

And this month only, your donation will go twice as far. Thanks to generous anonymous donors, all gifts to this emergency mobilization will be matched dollar-for-dollar.

The facts are ugly. Witnesses to abuse of detainees in Iraq and Guantanamo report hooding, beatings, placement of lit cigarettes into prisoners' ear canals, and sleep deprivation. Amnesty has compiled a list of 60 techniques authorized or used by the U.S. during the "war on terror."

Eyewitness reports from FBI agents read like the stuff of horror films. One agent described coming into an "unventilated room probably well over 100 degrees. The detainee was almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been literally pulling his own hair out throughout the night."

And these are not the acts of a few bad apples, as U.S. officials have claimed. Evidence is mounting that officials at the highest level of the U.S. government approved brutal interrogation techniques.

Under the Geneva Convention and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, torture and cruel inhuman and degrading treatment is NEVER permissible. We need to send the Administration an unmistakable message - that Americans did not give the government a mandate last November to violate international law by engaging in acts of barbarism. Nobody voted for that.

Amnesty USA is determined to mobilize a vocal, diverse and massive constituency throughout this country that will stand with our 320,000-strong U.S. membership in demanding an end to the use of torture by all agencies at all levels of government in the United States.

Thanks to years of grassroots activism, Amnesty has a corps of volunteers ready to carry out this urgently needed mobilization. And it's the most motivated and inspired citizen force you could hope to find.

But mobilizing people also takes money. And that's why I'm asking you for your help. Please donate now using our secure Web page and have your gift matched dollar-for-dollar through June 30th.

DONATE NOW:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=677776&l=13511

If we're to rescue our country from the taint of being branded a practitioner of torture, then we must confront the Bush Administration head-on with this issue. With your help, I believe justice will prevail.

Thanks for all your help.

Sincerely,

Bill Schulz
Amnesty International USA

by Jeff Rickert and Brian Siu, TomPaine.com

The energy bill passed yesterday represents a lost opportunity to lead America toward security and prosperity.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050629/a_fossilized_energy_bill.php

URL:
http://sozialisten.de/presse/presseerklaerungen/view_html?zid=28057
Datum: 28.06.2005
© www.sozialisten.de


Peter Strucks Arbeitslosenheer

Zum Vorschlag des Verteidigungsministers Peter Struck, künftig Arbeitslose als Schauspieler beim Truppentraining einzusetzen, weil Soldaten mehr kosten würden, erklärt Bundeswahlkampfleiter Bodo Ramelow:

Deutlicher hätte Peter Struck nicht sagen können, was von den Hartz IV-Korrekturen zu halten ist, die die SPD nun unters Wahlvolk streuen möchte: Es geht um Kosmetik. Dahinter bleiben die Arbeitslosen für führende Sozialdemokraten offensichtlich vor allem eins ein lästiger Kostenfaktor. Strucks Pläne, den Begriff vom Arbeitslosenheer wortwörtlich zu nehmen und künftig Arbeitslose für das Bundeswehrtraining von Auslandseinsätzen einzusetzen, versetzen die Betroffenen in einen Status, der von der Leibeigenschaft nicht mehr allzu weit entfernt ist. Wer sich an die Folterskandale im Zusammenhang mit derartigen Trainings erinnert, wird unweigerlich ins Grübeln kommen.

Peter Strucks Vorschlag legt die Philosophie der Hartz-Gesetze bloß: Es geht nicht um die Schaffung von Existenz sichernden Arbeitsplätzen, es geht nicht um den Kampf gegen die Arbeitslosigkeit, sondern um die möglichst kostengünstige Verwaltung der Betroffenen. Ihre Nutzbarmachung für auch noch die sinnlosesten Betätigungen eingeschlossen. Denn eines ist der Ein-Euro-Job als Bundeswehrkomparse für das Training von Auslandseinsätzen von seiner politischen Fragwürdigkeit ganz abgesehen mit Sicherheit auf keinen Fall: eine Brücke in den oder auch nur eine Vorbereitung für den ersten Arbeitsmarkt.



Pressemitteilungen der PDS
http://www.pds-online.de/presse-abo/

Control of information has become an integral part of the response of Western Governments to the so-called war on terror. They've all introduced laws that not only restrict long-cherished civil liberties, but also impose sanctions against reporting issues deemed to threaten national security.

Video and transcript
http://snipurl.com/fw9j


From Information Clearing House

1984: The Two Georges, Orwell And Bush:

Real Audio
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9319.htm

America last night refused to back a United Nations protocol against torture because of fears that it could allow international monitors to visit terrorist suspects in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

http://snipurl.com/fw9w


From Information Clearing House

But when it comes to social control, nothing works quite like torture.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9309.htm

Why is torture being developed to a fine art among US forces? Why is the US involved in organizing and supporting death squads once again?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9308.htm

Iraq War Fatalities: By day: By Country
http://www.obleek.com/iraq/index.html


From Information Clearing House

This is how Neil Cavuto opened his show today (June 27, 2005): "Remember how much we fussed over this guy? [Video of Saddam Hussein shown while the banner at the bottom of the screen read: Forget Saddam?] Now what if I told you we might be facing a bigger threat from this guy? [Video of Iran's President-elect, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]

http://snipurl.com/fw8x


From Information Clearing House

The United Nations has learned of "very, very serious" allegations that the United States is secretly detaining terrorism suspects in various locations around the world, and notably aboard prison ships, the UN's special rapporteur on terrorism said.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9329.htm

During Vietnam, Rumsfeld Criticized Administration For “Credibility Gap”: “The administration should clarify its intent in Vietnam. People lack confidence in the credibility of our government… It's a difficult thing today to be informed about our government even without all the secrecy. With the secrecy, it's impossible.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9324.htm

Iraq Exit Plan

By Raymond Long

This is a grassroots insurgency against an imperial adventure by our leader who lied to us before the war and continues to lie to us now. If we can see that they are human just like you and me perhaps we can understand. The insurgency will continue as long as we "stay the course".

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9310.htm

http://www.opednews.com/wade_062805_answer_is_no.htm


Informant: Hopedance



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=impeach
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Downing+Street+Memo

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/david-kirby/mercury-autism-and-the-c_3184.html


From ECOTERRA Intl.



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Autism
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Mercury

by Mike Whitney

In case your eyes glazed over and left you in a comatose state of vacuity, that was George W. Bush at the podium last night giving the most abysmal performance of his five-year presidency. For a moment, it seemed like General Westmorland was back among the living giving his immortal "light in the tunnel" speech. Nothing in Bush's palavering even approached that level of discourse. Instead, Bush droned on endlessly, exhuming the same bedraggled bromides in the most mind-numbingly dreadful speech of all time...

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/June05/Whitney0629.htm

by Shepherd Bliss

I live under what may be the most active volcano in the world -- Kilauea on the Big Island of Hawai’i. While watching lava cascade down its mountain peak, I consider the predicted peak in world oil production and the damage it could do. Its destruction could be far worse on human communities than that of a mighty volcano’s eruption, impacting not only a local area but civilization itself. We live today under the volcanic threat of peak oil, yet most people remain in denial about the potential dangers. According to geologists -- experts in volcanoes and oil -- slowly flowing crises face humanity as our supply of non-renewable fossil fuels dwindles. Few admit how disastrous peak oil could be. People gather at Kilauea’s base to enjoy lava fountains, seething lakes of molten rock, and incandescent rivers of slowly flowing lava. Yet my college students and friends often scatter when I talk about the consequences of peak oil, unable to consider the magnitude of the end of the oil age. Watching red-hot lava come down the peak, especially at twilight, and into the thirsty turquoise sea is awesome. Blazing fire meets receptive water and produces steam, as the heat is absorbed and cooled. It’s all natural. The deadly consequences of peak oil will be human-made...

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/June05/Bliss0624.htm

by Ken Sanders

In the wake of the Downing Street Memo and other leaked British documents created before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, many have begun to question the legality of the Bush administration's actions. In particular, families of soldiers, a few Democratic senators, and hundreds of thousands of outraged Americans, are calling for an independent investigation of the Bush administration's manipulation and outright fabrication of intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq. The word "impeachment" is even being bandied about. While it is certainly appropriate to demand an independent investigation of the Bush administration's pre-invasion shenanigans, as well as to pursue bringing articles of impeachment against the President for his official misconduct, there is something larger at stake. There is the matter of the Bush administration's post-invasion atrocities...

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/June05/Sanders0627.htm


http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=impeach
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Downing+Street+Memo

by John Chuckman

“We are all drowning in filth…I feel that intellectual honesty and balanced judgment have simply disappeared from the face of the earth.”
-- George Orwell (diary entry for 27 April, 1942)

I've given the date of Orwell's words lest someone think they were written by a contemporary bearing the writer's name. Recent events surely qualify the United States to claim some sort of title from the Guinness Book of Records such as the world's largest moral and intellectual open sewer...

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/June05/Chuckman0628.htm

http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=85985;show_parent=1



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=impeach
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Downing+Street+Memo

September 24 - Impeachment Call Comes to the White House

There's one thing you have to give George W. Bush credit for: the man can lie, and with a straight face. The problem he faces is that fewer and fewer people in the United States believe him. One day after Donald Rumsfeld stated that the U.S. troops should be prepared to confront the Iraqi insurgency for up to the next 12 years, Bush went on national television to try to convince the American people that they must support the continuation of his war policies.

If the media had any guts, they would have ripped Bush's speech apart tonight. On five separate occasions he invoked the September 11 attacks as the pretext for the war and occupation. There wasn't a single, solitary reference to Iraq's so-called weapons of mass destruction. Before the war, this was the core of the Bush/Cheney propaganda.

"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction."
- Vice President Dick Cheney, speech to VFW National Convention, August 26, 2002.

Bush's motivation to justify his war policies on national television was not simply a desperate act to bolster sagging public opinion. Bush is actively trying to head off the growing movement for impeachment. His pre-war lies are being exposed by the Downing Street series of memos. Lying to Congress and the people is an impeachable offense. The fact is that more than 100,000 Iraqis and more than 1,700 U.S. soldiers have died as a consequence of these lies. Bush's illegal war of aggression is also a War Crime, a Crime Against Peace, and a Crime Against Humanity.

Bush says: Give me your children

Bush also took on a new role as the pitchman for war: that of "Recruiter-in-Chief." Bush, who was a gung-ho supporter of the Vietnam War - but used his wealth and power to avoid personal participation - shamelessly appealed to young people to sign up to become soldiers for his Iraq war, claiming glory and honor would await them.

Bush has again tried to turn reality on its head, but let's use one of his banal generalities as a guide to action. Bush said tonight: "We know that if evil is not confronted it gains in strength and audacity." Exactly! Unless Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld are impeached, the evil they represent will gain audacity and strength.

YOUR HELP IS NEEDED

Tonight Bush entered our living rooms to sell us his war. On September 24, 2005, more than 100,000 people are going to his doorstep to make it clear that we aren't buying it. Thousands of people across the country are organizing to bring the call for impeachment to Washington with a massive protest at the White House. Help make this demonstration happen. For access to the online donation form and the secure server, where you can also get information to write a check, click here:
http://www.pephost.org/site/R?i=iLjNBL-BiBMMKNjM-ZoKfg

We are growing stronger because of the support of so many people around the country.

--All of us at ImpeachBush/VoteToImpeach.org



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=impeach
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Downing+Street+Memo

Urge the G8 to take action on climate change
http://news.panda.org/cgi-bin1/flo/y/hggU0DZ3EE0La80Cfw10AV

On 6 July, the leaders of the world's eight richest nations will gather in Gleneagles, Scotland for the annual G8 Summit. The G8 countries must show real commitment to tackle climate change, but there is a danger that the US President will prevent the Summit from agreeing to concrete action.

G8 countries represent just 13% of the world's population, but they account for 45% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions - almost half of the emissions that cause climate change.

Take action and urge G8 leaders to stand up to the US President and make saving the climate a priority.
http://news.panda.org/cgi-bin1/flo/y/hggU0DZ3EE0La80Cfw10AV

Besides President Bush, all the other leaders attending the Summit have clearly stated they believe climate change is real and have ratified the Kyoto Protocol. However some leaders have been strangely silent on climate change in the run up to the meeting. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Canadian Prime minister Paul Martin, in particular, have said very little and WWF is concerned that they will not resist US moves to water down G8 initiatives. Read more http://news.panda.org/cgi-bin1/flo/y/hggU0DZ3EE0La80Cfw10AV

Die Vereinigung der Huaorani-Frauen im ecuadorianischen Amazonas will mit einem Friedenscamp im Yasuni-Nationalpark das traditionelle indianische Stammesgebiet vor der Zerstörung durch Ölausbeutung schützen. Der Yasuni-Park gehört zu den artenreichsten Gebieten der Welt und ist seit Jahrhunderten Lebensraum von etwa 2500 Huaoranis. Rettet den Regenwald hat 5000 Dollar Soforthilfe für das Huaorani-Friedenscamp zur Verfügung gestellt.

Bitte unterstützen Sie die Huaorani-Frauen und protestieren Sie noch heute bei der Ecuadorianischen Regierung. Hier gehts direkt zur Protestmail

http://www.regenwald.org/mailaktion/aktion.php?show=45

Bitte leiten Sie diese mail an möglichst viele Freunde und Bekannte weiter, wenn diese damit einverstanden sind!

Vielen Dank für Ihre Unterstützung und herzliche Grüße.

Reinhard Behrend
Rettet den Regenwald e. V.
Friedhofsweg 28
22337 Hamburg
Tel. 040 - 4103804
info@regenwald.org

URL:
http://sozialisten.de/presse/presseerklaerungen/view_html?zid=28062
Datum: 29.06.2005
© www.sozialisten.de


In der Vertrauensfrage müssen die Wählerinnen und Wähler das letzte Wort haben

Zum Vorgehen von SPD und Grünen bei der Vertrauensfrage des Kanzlers erklärt Bundeswahlkampfleiter Bodo Ramelow:

Die politische Situation in Deutschland fordert Neuwahlen. Die Bundesregierung ist gescheitert, der Kanzler will die Bundestagswahlen zur Abstimmung über seinen Reformkurs machen. Zugleich wird der Ruf nach politischen Alternativen zum Neoliberalismus lauter, in der Gesellschaft entbrennt eine Gerechtigkeitsdebatte, in der die parlamentarische Vertretungslücke auf der Linken immer deutlicher wird.

Die PDS hat sich deshalb nach dem Vorstoß des Bundeskanzlers am Abend der NRW-Wahl für rasche Neuwahlen ausgesprochen. Die verfassungsrechtlichen Verrenkungen allerdings, die nun von SPD und Grünen vollzogen werden, drohen das Ganze zur Farce zu machen.

Natürlich setzen das Grundgesetz und die Rechtsprechung des Bundesverfassungsgerichts für eine Auflösung des Bundestages enge Grenzen. In dieser wäre es allemal sauberer und ehrlicher, wenn Gerhard Schröder seinen Rücktritt als Bundeskanzler erklären würde. Wenn seine Regierung handlungsunfähig ist, ist dies die logische Konsequenz. Nun von den SPD-Abgeordneten zu erwarten, dass sie ihm erst das Vertrauen vorenthalten und dann für ihn Wahlkampf machen, verlangt doch ein gehöriges Maß an Selbstverleugnung. Mit diesem Vorgehen wird der verfassungsrechtliche Rahmen doch so weit strapaziert, dass sowohl der Bundespräsident als auch die Verfassungsrichter, wenn sie denn angerufen werden, wohl einige Klimmzüge machen müssen, um die Grundgesetzkonformität bescheinigen zu können.

Dennoch bleibt: An Neuwahlen so bald wie möglich führt auch deshalb kein Weg vorbei, weil die Wählerinnen und Wähler sie wollen. Und die sollten in einer Demokratie das letzte Wort behalten.

Thiruvananthapuram, June 26 2005

The Kerala Government today issued orders banning fashion show, cinematic dances and mobile phones with camera system in government and non-government educational institutions in the state.

However, with the consent of respective ethics committees traditional arts programmes could be conducted in schools, a release said here.

The use of mobile phones in schools and higher secondary level educational institutions has been completely banned, it said and directed that teachers should not carry mobile phones in class rooms.

However, carrying of cell phones in higher educational institutions was not banned, it should be switched off in class rooms and campus, it added.

The ethics Committees and head of the institutions have the power to punish the teachers and students who violate the ban.The head of departments have the power to take action against the institutions which were not implemented the ban, it said.

The state government has asked the ethics committee to oversee the ban and submit a monthly report by July 10 to the State-level Committee and in turn it the committee should submit its review report to the Education Minister by July 15, the release added.

http://www.keralaonline.com/keralanews.asp?folder=Keralanews&file=7_6056.xml


Informant: NoName

New product for U.S. industry: 'manufactured doubt'

Industries growing adept at manipulating science to suit their needs

By Jeff Nesmith
jeffn@coxnews.com
WASHINGTON BUREAU
http://www.statesman.com/search/content/insight/stories/06/26doubt.html

Sunday, June 26, 2005

WASHINGTON -- In the 1970s, facing the loss of millions of dollars in sales because of fears that chemicals it produced were shredding the Earth's protective ozone layer, DuPont Corp. fought for time.

It got what it wanted.

A carefully designed campaign by the Hill and Knowlton public relations firm attacked the science behind the ozone depletion fears and delayed government action for two years, enough time for DuPont to bring new, ozone-friendly chemicals to market.

The campaign employed a tactic that is now being used by more and more industries to ward off costly government action, says George Washington University epidemiologist David Michaels.

He calls it "manufactured doubt."

By generating and publicizing uncertainty about the scientific underpinnings of proposed action on air pollution, global warming, the health effects of tobacco and other subjects, industries have been able to ward off regulation and buy valuable time, Michaels said.

Now, with the Bush administration's skepticism about regulation, the "manufactured doubt" tactic is more effective than ever before, Michaels wrote in the current edition of Scientific American.

"Industry groups have tried to manipulate science no matter which party is in power," he wrote, "but the efforts have grown more brazen since George W. Bush became president. I believe it is fair to say that never in our history have corporate interests been as successful as they are today in shaping science policies to their desires."

Michaels' article was published shortly before The New York Times reported that a White House official -- a former American Petroleum Industry lobbyist with no scientific training -- had edited government reports on climate change research, inserting numerous expressions of doubt.

The official, Philip Cooney, resigned his position at the White House Council on Environmental Quality this month after the White House confirmed that he repeatedly inserted phrases that played down links between greenhouse gases and global warming. He has gone to work for ExxonMobil, according to industry reports. The White House says the resignation was planned before the story appeared.

Bob Hopkins, a spokesman for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said Michaels' article was a "pretty one-sided presentation."

"Advocates on all sides try to use data to support their policy goals," Hopkins said. "This administration strongly believes that decisions should be made using the best science available."

In the case of DuPont, a former Hill and Knowlton executive said the firm did seek to delay government action, but did not bend or hide any facts in doing so.

After the first scientific paper warned in 1974 that chlorofluorocarbons, chemicals widely used as coolants, solvents and aerosol propellants, were responsible for a huge "hole" in the ozone layer protecting the Earth against dangerous ultraviolet radiation, Hill and Knowlton set up a "quick response" campaign to react to the findings and to temper critical press accounts.

According to a memorandum on the campaign written in 1989 by Howard Marder, then a Hill and Knowlton senior vice president, DuPont wanted the firm "to help calm fears, get better reporting of the issues and gain up to two or three years before the government took action to ban" the chemicals.

When the evidence against CFCs mounted, DuPont dropped its opposition to a ban. The chemicals were barred from aerosol sprays in 1978. By that time, Marder wrote, "DuPont gained much-needed time to find scientific answers to the allegations and to develop alternatives" to CFCs.

Marder, now a spokesman for the New York City Housing Authority, said that he did not remember details of the memorandum but that his purpose at Hill and Knowlton was to get the truth out.

"I would never obfuscate an issue, and I would never spin an issue," he said. "My intention when I worked for Hill and Knowlton was to have the truth be told."

Michaels, a former assistant secretary of energy in the Clinton administration, acknowledged in an interview that an element of doubt was inevitable in government regulatory decisions because they must be based on the best available science, which by definition can never be absolute.

However, "corporations and others who manufacture dangerous products and pollutants have realized that by adding manufactured uncertainty to the equation, they can essentially stop the regulatory process from moving forward," he said.

He said consulting firms hired by industries review critical scientific findings "and pull these studies apart."

"Industry is able to pick a key point that can destroy a regulation, and they take that one on," he said. "The government scientists are just outgunned. They use basic research, and when their research is attacked, they don't go back and do more research. There's no funding for that."

"The vilification of threatening research as 'junk science' and the corresponding sanctification of industry-commissioned research as 'sound science' has become nothing less than standard operating procedure in some parts of corporate America," he wrote in the magazine article.

Although the practice "goes back a long time," it was perfected by the tobacco industry, Michaels said.

He said one tobacco company executive wrote in a memorandum, which later came to light in tobacco litigation, that "doubt is our product, since it is the best means of competing with as 'body of fact' that exists in the mind of the general public" that smoking is linked to serious health problems.

William O'Keefe, CEO of the George C. Marshall Institute, a nonprofit organization that has repeatedly promoted the views of scientists who question the prevailing opinion that use of fossil fuels are raising the globe's temperature, said he felt Michaels "had an agenda (in writing the article), and he picked examples to promote it."

A former executive of the American Petroleum Institute, O'Keefe said Michaels "takes the position that the government is always right and the private sector is always wrong, and I don't believe that."

"My experience in 25 years in the petroleum industry is that companies are not in business to harm their clients," he said.

If industry insists that regulations "meet the highest possible standards, I don't know what's wrong with that," O'Keefe said.


Informant: Teresa Binstock



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=betrayal

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=91857


Informant: crystal1281960

06/24/05

There is an industry in the USA in which people make a career based on using the power of the state to seize the private property from churches, home owners and small businesses and turn it over to large corporations in order to let them benefit by setting up large businesses and thereby provide more tax money for more public sector employees to share in." [Editor's note: This commentary provides a link to Eminent Domain Online ... Mission statement: "To provide an internet based business to government (b2g) clearinghouse for professionals in the eminent domain, right of way, and infrastructure development fields... This is not a joke site. This is the enemy. -MLS]

http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/007694.html

from Samizdata, by Perry de Havilland -- Hat Tip to Strike the Root


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

06/28/05

There were reports last Friday that representatives of the US Occupation Forces in Iraq were engaged in secret talks with leaders of the Iraqi resistance. For a brief two day period, there was reason to hope that there might be a genuine opportunity to begin negotiations for a political settlement to the 27 month conflict. When Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made his scheduled appearances on the Sunday morning talk shows he confirmed that the alleged meetings had taken place saying, 'Well, the first thing I would say about the meetings is they go on all the time.' Later, he would reinforce this suggestion on Meet the Press when he was asked whether there had been 'two meetings between Iraqi and U.S. officials and some members of the insurgency.' Rumsfeld responded, 'I think there have probably been many more than that.' It was all lies...

http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney06282005.html

from CounterPunch, by Mike Whitney


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

06/29/05

American economy is failing under the Bush administration. A crushing deficit, failing domestic policy, a deceitful inept and uncaring administration, and unchecked illegal immigration are creating a third world situation right here at home. The current administration has divided the country. The 'American Dream' of the 1950s is just a fond memory. Soaring inflation and meager wages have all but eliminated the middle class. Young couples can no longer hope to buy an affordable first home and young mothers don't have the luxury of being stay-at-home Moms as it now takes three fulltime jobs for most young families to simply survive. ... Washington has sold us out...

http://www.libertyforall.net/2005/july8/Invasion.html

from Liberty For All, by Jessi Winchester


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

06/28/05

Washington's war on terror may be quietly taking a toll on unsuspecting quarters -- America's universities. ... The key issues here are twofold. First, restrictive U.S. visa and security policies continue to discourage and prevent many exceptionally talented students and scholars from even attempting to pursue their studies and careers in the United States. Second, the silencing effects of post-Sept. 11 antiterror policies continue to resonate on U.S. university campuses. Campuses are not in a new McCarthy era, but views outside the mainstream are less welcome than before -- a development contributing little to the war on terrorism...

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/06/27/opinion/edsidel.php

from International Herald Tribune, by Mark Sidel


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

In 1733 the philosopher credited with ushering in the French Enlightenment, François Marie Arouet de Voltaire, published Letters Concerning the English Nation. It was a pivotal work. Although written in French, the 24 letters were first issued from London in an English translation; the material was considered too politically dangerous for the author or any French printer to have the work to appear in France. Voltaire was no stranger to such controversy. Some years before, after being beaten up by the hirelings of an aristocrat whom he had offended, Voltaire had been thrown into the Bastille (for the second time)." (written 1998; reposted 06/28/05)

http://www.fee.org/vnews.php?nid=4043

from Foundation for Economic Education, by Wendy McElroy


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

06/28/05

The Supreme Court by a 5-to-4 vote continued its unrelenting thrashing of the Constitution. The Court ruled in Kelo v. City of New London that local governments may seize private homes, businesses, or land against the owner's will and then re-sell the property to another private owner. No real 'public use' is required; the government need only allege that the new owner will generate more taxes. Thus, if the government thinks that a convenience store, hotel, apartment building or business will result in more taxes, they can force you out and compel you to sell your home. That's the verdict of five unelected liberals -- in black robes who obviously haven't read Constitution in years...

http://tinyurl.com/8qkl9

from Frontiers of Freedom, by George C. Landrith


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

06/29/05

States that voted for George W. Bush in the last election tend to have less government regulation and more economic freedom than states that voted for Sen. John Kerry, according to a report released today by the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) and Canada's Fraser Institute. Ten of the 12 states with the most economic freedom were carried by President Bush (Red states), and 7 of the 12 least economically free states were carried by Sen. Kerry (Blue states)...

http://www.ncpa.org/prs/rel/2005/20050629nr.html

from National Center for Policy Analysis, by staff


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

06/28/05

Comparisons between the wars in Vietnam and Iraq are coming fast and furious now, so let's consider one more. There is an apt parallel between the way we got out of Vietnam and the way that we will get out of Iraq -- sooner or later. Public opinion is turning sharply against the war, even though mainstream Democrats and most Republicans are mostly sticking with the victory-in-Iraq strategy. The conditions in Iraq and here at home are strikingly similar to those we saw surrounding Vietnam at the end of the Johnson administration. Those looking for an exit strategy, take note. In Vietnam, by the spring of 1968, it was clear to just about everyone -- including our intelligence agencies -- that the war was lost. The Tet Offensive made it obvious that the combined forces of North Vietnam and the Viet Cong weren't being defeated or decimated...

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050628/the_vietnam_solution.php

from Tom Paine, by Robert Dreyfuss


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

China is the leading scapegoat for America's economic ills. On May 20, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman blamed China for the U.S. housing bubble. If only China were not lending us so much money, mortgage rates would be higher, forestalling a housing bubble. Krugman says China is a poor country and should be investing its capital at home, not lending it to the U.S. Krugman could just as well have said, 'If only U.S. manufacturers produced in America instead of outsourcing to China, the Chinese would not have any money to lend us. Thus, no housing bubble.' Krugman is correct that if foreign lending to the U.S. slows, interest rates will rise, putting a speculative housing market in trouble. But the interest of the U.S.-China relationship goes far beyond the effect on the U.S. housing market. Economists set in traditional ways of thinking miss the really important aspects of the relationship"... (for publication 07/04/05)

http://www.amconmag.com/2005_07_04/article1.html

from The American Conservative, by Paul Craig Roberts


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

06/27/05

The core of liberty is private property. Private property means that the owner may control the use and transfer of the property. The forced taking of property from the rightful owner is theft, an evil act which government should outlaw, not perpetrate. Just because the thief does something good with the stolen loot does not make the theft right. This principle applies equally to private theft and theft by government. The excuse for government is the protection and security of persons and their property. Government not only commits an evil act by forcibly taking property, but also delegitimizes itself...

http://www.freeliberal.com/archives/001135.html

from The Free Liberal, by Fred Foldvary


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Rabattschlachten im Einzelhandel gehen auf Kosten der Beschäftigten.

Ein Gespräch mit Helmut Born von Daniel Behruzi in junge Welt vom 28.06.2005

http://www.jungewelt.de/2005/06-28/021.php

Aus dem Text: „…Es ist zwar klar, daß die Tarifrunden für uns derzeit nicht unter guten Bedingungen stattfinden - da reicht ein Blick auf die Abschlüsse in der Bauindustrie oder die Auseinandersetzung bei den Druckern. Das Grundproblem ist, daß ver.di den Widerstand der verschiedenen Branchen vereinzelt statt ihn zu bündeln. Das Ziel muß sein, endlich gemeinsamen Widerstand aufzubauen.“


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 26, Eintrag 18

Konflikte und Arbeitskämpfe im Gesundheitswesen > Vivantes Berlin: Solidarität mit einer gekündigten Altenpflegerin

Wenn Arbeit krank macht

Vor dem Berliner Arbeitsgericht kämpft eine Altenpflegerin gegen einen städtischen Betreiber und gegen einen menschenunwürdigen Pflegealltag. Artikel von Wolfgang Pomrehn in junge Welt vom 28.06.2005

http://www.jungewelt.de/2005/06-28/016.php


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 26, Eintrag 18

Tarifabschluss 2005: 40 Stunden und „ Leistungslohn“ - wofür?

»Das ist eine Illusion«. Auch Lohnverzicht und unbezahlte Mehrarbeit wird keine Arbeitsplätze im Baugewerbe retten.

Ein Gespräch mit Lothar Nätebusch, Bezirksvorsitzender der IG Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt (BAU) in Berlin, von Rainer Balcerowiak in junge Welt vom 24.06.2005

http://www.jungewelt.de/2005/06-24/021.php


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 26, Eintrag 18

Resolution des Hanauer Sozialforums - Bündnis gegen Sozialabbau - gegen den Einsatz von Ein-Euro-Kräften an Schulen im Main-Kinzig-Kreis.

Der Text der Resolution von Anfang Juni 2005.
http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/realpolitik/hilfe/sforum.html


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 26, Eintrag 18

„Wein predigen und Wasser trinken - Intellektuelle und Kulturschaffende wirken oft unter den Bedingungen der Selbstausbeutung. Doch allmählich können Gewerkschaften auch bei den »Freischaffenden« im Kulturbetrieb Fuß fassen…“ Artikel von Peter Nowak in Neues Deutschland vom 24.06.05

http://www.nd-online.de/artikel.asp?AID=73837&IDC=42&DB=O2P


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 26, Eintrag 18

„Im Folgenden werden die Haushalteinkommen mit Hartz IV-Leistungen den Armutsgrenzen des 2. Nationalen Armuts- und Reichtumsberichts der Bundesregierung (2. NARB) gegenüber gestellt. Es soll nachgewiesen werden, dass Hartz IV Armut per Gesetz bedeutet…“ Dieser Artikel von Ronald Blaschke, Arbeitslosenverband Deutschland, Sächsische Armutskonferenz, vom Juni 2005 liegt nun in einer aktualisierten Fassung vor! (pdf)

http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/realpolitik/allg/armutsgrenzen.pdf


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 26, Eintrag 18

Neue und alte Armut (trotz Arbeit)

Armutverläufe

Unter diesem Titel findet vom 7. Juli - 2. August 2005 im Osnabrücker Gewerkschaftshaus ein Ausstellung von Projektgruppe „Armut grenzt aus“ / Kooperationsstelle Hochschulen und Gewerkschaften Osnabrück statt. Die Ausstellung „Armutsverläufe“ porträtiert sechs von Armut betroffene oder an der Armutsgrenze lebende Haushalte. Die Porträts basieren auf umfangreichen Leitfadeninterviews, die im Abstand von fünf Jahren geführt wurden. Für die Ausstellung und begleitende Veranstaltungen siehe
http://www.ausstellung-armut-grenzt-aus.de

Zur Ausstellung gibt es eine gleichnamige Publikation - für weitere Infos und Bezugsquellen siehe die Leseprobe: „Franz, Denise und Nico“ http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/realpolitik/allg/armutsverlauf.html

Als Kostprobe der Druckfassung siehe „Gerd O. Bescheidener Lebenskünstler“
http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/realpolitik/allg/armutsverlauf.pdf


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 26, Eintrag 18

06/28/05

In his speeches, George Bush regularly calls for a return to or the reinforcement of traditional, even eternal, family values and emphasizes the importance of personal 'accountability' for our children as well as ourselves. ('The culture of America is changing from one that has said, if it feels good, do it, and if you've got a problem, blame somebody else, to a new culture in which each of us understands we are responsible for the decisions we make in life.') And yet when it comes to acts that are clearly wrong in this world -- aggressive war, the looting of resources, torture, personal gain at the expense of others, lying, and manipulation among other matters -- Bush and his top officials never hesitate to redefine reality to suit their needs. When faced with matters long defined in everyday life in terms of right and wrong, they simply reach for their dictionaries. ... What the Bush administration has proved is that, if you have a mind to do so, there's no end to the ways you can define 'is'...

http://tinyurl.com/dafc2

from Mother Jones, by Tom Engelhardt


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

06/27/05

In a major victory for the entertainment industry, the Supreme Court this morning ruled that file-sharing companies could be held liable when people use their products to download copyrighted movies and music from the Internet. The unanimous decision said there was enough evidence of unlawful intent for the case of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer vs. Grokster to be sent back to lower court for a trial. The high court appeared to agree with the entertainment industry’s argument that the peer-to-peer file-sharing services were actively inducing users to engage in piracy. 'We hold that one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties,' Justice David H. Souter wrote for the court...

http://tinyurl.com/cbn5y

from San Francisco Chronicle


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Administration failed to plan for war casualties: "About one-quarter of this year's $1 billion shortfall [at the Department of Veterans Affairs] results from the services needed by veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, [VA Secretary Jim Nicholson] said, adding that the estimate of roughly 23,000 returning veterans [seeking care] proved far below the actual total of 103,000."

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=3777

Yes, the headline above is real. And, yes, the article below is real. If you want to know what the current administration in Washington reads as gospel truth every morning, then read the article below. The Washington Times, owned by convicted cult leader and self-proclaimed "God" Sun Myung Moon, ignores facts and plain common sense by declaring "victories" in Iraq.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=3776

In addition to the Halliburton contracting scandal, another investigation raises the issue of further bribes in Washington. Did MZM Inc. pay Congressman Duke Cunningham $700,000 in a questionable real estate deal in order to receive up to $163 million in defense contracts over the past few years?

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=3774

The U.S. military said Monday it plans to expand its prisons across Iraq to hold as many as 16,000 detainees, as the relentless insurgency shows no sign of letup one year after the transfer of sovereignty to Iraqi authorities.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=3771

Troops burned in war find recovery a painful journey, both in mind and body.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=3767

Is President Bush living on Mars? Is he tone deaf? At a news conference last month, he wrote off as an "absurd allegation" the conclusion by Amnesty International that the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was the "new Gulag" because of the mistreatment of prisoners there.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=3759

LONDON -- In the spring of 2002, two weeks before British Prime Minister Tony Blair journeyed to Crawford, Tex., to meet with President Bush at his ranch about the escalating confrontation with Iraq, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw sounded a prescient warning.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=3757

President Bush will discuss the situation in Iraq. It's long past time to get it right in Iraq. The Bush administration is courting disaster with its current course - a course with no realistic strategy for reducing the risks to our soldiers and increasing the odds for success.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=3755

World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
15-16 June 2005

http://www.who.int/peh-emf/meetings/base_stations_june05/en/index.html
http://www.who.int/peh-emf/meetings/base_stations_june05/en/print.html


Informant: NoName

Ammersbek: Funkturm wird nicht gebaut

Hartnäckig: Forderung nach totalem Haftungsausschluß vertreibt den Investor.

Von Alexander Sulanke

Ammersbek - Der auf dem Fußballplatz am Schäferdresch geplante Mobilfunkmast (wir berichteten) wird doch nicht gebaut. Die Deutsche Funkturm, eine hundertprozentige Tochter der Deutschen Telekom, hat die Verhandlungen mit dem Ammersbeker Bürgermeister Axel Bärendorf (47) über den Standort auf gemeindeeigenem Grund und Boden für gescheitert erklärt. Offenbar rückt das Unternehmen nun sogar ganz von seinem ursprünglichen Plan ab, im Bereich Schäferdresch/Rehagen einen Antennenträger für Mobilfunksender zu bauen.

Die Anwohner in dem Ammersbeker Ortsteil können also aufatmen. Aus Angst vor ihrer Ansicht nach gesundheitsschädlichen Strahlen hatten sie gegen den Turmbau protestiert, seit das Thema im Spätsommer vergangenen Jahres spruchreif geworden war.

Doch wie ist in Ammersbek gelungen, was sich die Menschen auch in anderen Kommunen wünschen - oft vergebens? Offenbar hat die Taktik des Bürgermeisters mehr Früchte getragen als er sich jemals selbst erhofft hätte. Die Taktik nämlich, sich auf einen konstruktiven Dialog mit den Turmbauern einzulassen und dabei hartnäckig darauf bedacht zu sein, jeglichen Schaden und jegliches Risiko von der Gemeinde fernzuhalten.

Als Akquisiteure der Hamburger Firma Vivento Technicals GmbH im Auftrag der Deutschen Funkturm am 18. August vergangenen Jahres erstmals in Ammersbek vorstellig werden, ist Bärendorf nicht begeistert, bietet aber seine Hilfe bei der Suche eines Standortes an. Seine damalige Devise: Verhindern kann die Gemeinde einen Funkmast nicht. Also gestaltet sie mit. Denn Antennenträger gelten als privilegierte Bauvorhaben. Das heißt: Liegt eine Standortbescheinigung vor, ein Attest gewissermaßen, daß die Richtwerte der Bundesimmissionsschutzverordnung eingehalten werden, muß einem Bauantrag ohne Rücksicht auf die Befindlichkeiten in der betroffenen Gemeinde zugestimmt werden.

Mit knapper Mehrheit billigt die Gemeindevertretung Bärendorfs Vorschlag, den Fußballplatz als Standort anzubieten. Bei der Ausgestaltung eines Vertrags kann Ammersbek als Partner mitwirken. Dem Bürgermeister ist wichtig, daß die Gemeinde von niemandem haftbar gemacht werden kann. Deshalb fügt er in den Vertragsentwurf Paragraph 7a ein, der da lautet: "Der Pächter stellt den Verpächter von allen Ansprüchen Dritter, die sich aus dem Bau, dem Betrieb oder dem Rückbau sowie sonst aus der Nutzung der Pachtsache ergeben, frei."

Für die Deutsche Funkturm ist das zuviel. Sie streicht den generellen Haftungsausschluß. In den verklausulierten Vertragstext, der der Ahrensburger Zeitung auszugsweise vorliegt, läßt sie einfügen, daß die Deutsche Funkturm "lediglich im Rahmen und im Umfang ihres Versicherungsschutzes" hafte. Wie hoch der ist, will die Deutsche Funkturm auf Anfrage nicht beantworten. "Vertragsinhalte kommunizieren wir nicht öffentlich", sagt Sprecherin Corinna Kielwein (29).

Außerdem sieht die von der Deutschen Funkturm vorgeschlagene Haftungsklausel vor, daß Ammersbek im Falle eines Schadens vor Gericht ziehen müßte, um Ansprüche gegen den Turmbetreiber geltend zu machen. Nach Auskunft der Deutschen Funkturm sind das standardisierte Vertragsklauseln, auf die sich alle Vertragspartner einließen. Nicht so der Ammersbeker Bürgermeister. Bärendorf: "Ich will in kein Gerichtsverfahren hineingezogen werden, und ich will mich nicht mit Versicherungen herumschlagen müssen. So einfach ist das."

Theoretisch könnte die Deutsche Funkturm nun versuchen, für irgendein Privatgrundstück in der Nähe ihre Vertragsbedingungen durchzusetzen. Doch das Interesse scheint verflogen. Sprecherin Corinna Kielwein: "So, wie es aussieht, wird es keinen Funkturm geben."

erschienen am 29. Juni 2005

Copyright © 2005 Hamburger Abendblatt

http://www.abendblatt.de/daten/2005/06/29/453164.html

BBC News website 28.06.05

A GP who has been fighting for three years to have a phone mast moved from near her home has been told she cannot take her case to the House of Lords.

Three law lords have refused permission for Dr Christine Nunn to challenge a Court of Appeal ruling but have not given any reasons for their decision.

The doctor, who lives in Bardsey, near Leeds, and her neighbours say the T-Mobile mast is a health hazard.

The mast was allowed because Leeds City Council bungled planning procedures.

In February, the appeal judges told the protestors the only remedy open to them was to claim damages from the council which lodged their notice of objection one day after the statutory 56-day period had elapsed.

Property values

Dr Nunn and her neurosurgeon husband Geoff moved into the Old Vicarage in the village before the mast was built just 120 yards from their home.

Their legal battle began when the Nunns and their neighbours tried to protest at a planning inquiry that, as well as health implications, the mast would hit property values.

But the inquiry inspector said he had no power to hear their case because Leeds City Council had failed to act within the time limit.

This prompted the Bardsey residents to take the case to the Court of Appeal and then the attempt to go to the House of Lords.

Dr Nunn said on Monday she was not surprised at the decision by the law lords and there would have been problems in paying the legal bills, estimated at £30,000.

She added that the protestors would be meeting officers from Leeds City Council next week in the hope that the council might still be able to issue an order that the phone mast should be taken down.

Milton Keynes Today

A MOBILE phone operator who placed a mast just yards from a nursery, youth club and the local MP's home, has faced fury from residents.

Residents say Hutchison 3G has exploited a loophole in the law which means it can place the mast on top of Olney Fire Station's training tower without planning permission because it is less than 15m tall.

Jeremy Rawlings, the chairman of the neighbouring Olney Youth Club, said: "The way Three have behaved in this matter is totally indefensible because they gave an assurance to Milton Keynes Council they would look at all sites but have gone ahead with it without any consultation."

Hutchison had asked Milton Keynes Council last year for suggestions for sites in the town, but when it gave 28 days notice in April that it was going to place the mast on top of the training tower of the fire station in East Street, the proposal was met with universal opposition.

Milton Keynes Council asked Hutchison to reconsider, and the firm said it would think about it.

Residents thought that was the end of the matter until they saw work starting at the site two weeks ago.

Kevin Viney, who lives on East Street , said: "The loophole is if they put the aerial at the height they wished to, they would have required full planning permission. But by conveniently putting it on a disused structure they did not need to do any more than inform Milton Keynes Planning Department."

MP Mark Lancaster, who described it as an anomaly in the law, said: "It is ironic it is just yards from my house but I can assure you that Conservative Party policy has not changed since I moved there. "We think masts like this should require planning permission."

Olney councillor Graham Mabbutt was also furious that Hutchison 3G had ignored the town council's wishes and penned a 10-year contract with Bucks Fire Authority, thought to be worth tens of thousands of pounds.

Cllr Mabbutt said: "What I find unsavoury more than anything is the action of the Bucks Fire Authority not consulting with us or finding out what our policy on it was."

The fire service, which is embarrassed by development, said it will meet with the council and Hutchison 3G.

Gareth Coombes-Olney, Hutchison 3G's corporate affairs manager, said the mast meets safety and technical requirements.

"Hutchison have not done anything wrong, they are entitled to build it," he added.

richard.cooper@mkcitizen.co.uk

--------

Loophole in the law: Calls for `illegal' phone mast veto

The telecommunications industry often does not even bother to seek planning permission, as these examples from the Worcester Evening News show, they just show up and install after dark, or on a Friday afternoon when the council and planning have gone on weekend, or they call it “TEMPORARY MAST”.

The sloppy and biased wording of John Prescott’s PPG8 allows them to believe that they alone have inherited the earth, and they make full use of that.

Can anyone explain to me why the Government bothered to concoct the mobile industries “Code of best conduct” when it was never intended to be used, there are no repercussions for not following ANY of the guidelines it gives, so it is totally safe for the industry to ignore it, which of course they do.

Is this just one more of from the heap of the Governments Useless Paperwork, which has cost a fortune to produce, but was never intended to be followed??

Best regards.
Agnes .
http://www.mast-victims.org/


First published on Thursday 04 November 2004:

Calls for `illegal' phone mast veto

A MOBILE phone mast has been put up in a village near Droitwich without planning permission or consultation.

The Vodafone third generation (3G) mast appeared - to villagers' amazement - in a private field in Salwarpe.

But residents say they are outraged that the communications giant has no planning permission for the transmitter and that it failed to let anyone know it was erecting the mast last week.

"I have received many letters from residents who are very angry about this," said Wychavon councillor, Andrew Christian-Brookes.

"If a member of the public builds a house without permission, Wychavon District Council would use the law to stop them and force them to take it down.

"No resident could build a house and then say `it's OK, we will come back in six months with a planning application'.

"There cannot be a rule for one, and one for another. Vodafone must stick to rules like everyone else."

Villagers had at first believed that farm building work was going on but then a 50ft mast appeared.

Mr Christian-Brookes said that he and residents would now be officially objecting to the mast and hoped that legal action would be taken against Vodafone.

Principal area planning officer for Wychavon, Mike Hurst, confirmed the council had received a letter from Vodafone asking for planners' views on a possible mast but that no permission had been granted.

"We are aware of the mast. Vodafone has jumped the gun and we are now investigating the situation," he said.

A spokesman for Vodafone said the antenna was only a temporary structure but said the company would be applying for planning permission for a permanent mast to be put up somewhere on the site.

"The mast is in a rural area and tall trees around the area minimise its visual impact," said the spokeswoman.

Farmer and owner of the land, Mike Davis, said he did not wish to comment on the issue.


First published on Wednesday 09 February 2005:
Second mobile phone mast for golf course on the cards

A SECOND mobile phone mast is likely to be put up on Tolladine Golf Course.

Vodafone has put in a planning application for a mast disguised as a fir tree to improve its mobile coverage.

*** It follows criticisms the company received from the city council after it put up a temporary mast without planning permission last year.

Residents in The Fairway, off Tolladine Road , complained because the mast was not disguised and needed a noisy generator to power it.

But the new mast will be some way from homes and disguised as a tree - although it will have a standby generator that will reach 60 decibels at night.

A similar mast, put up by mobile phone company 3, has been on the course for two years.


Floodgates:

Warndon Parish Council raised no objection to the latest plans, although member Frank Lauriello warned that it could set a precedent.

"This could open the floodgates so there could be more up there before long.

"What if Orange, for example, comes along and wants to put up a mast?

"It's very important that these things stay in keeping with the environment."

***A temporary mast, on the back of a trailer, was put up last November under cover of darkness prompting what

Worcester City Council's principal planning officer Peter Yates called an "exchange of views" between him and Vodafone.

The temporary mast was taken away and the new planning application has now been submitted.

The application will now go before Worcester City Council's planning committee for approval, taking into account the views of the parish council and other people affected.

--------

David.

The operators (and their bounty hunters, who are the people who deal with finding the sites and dealing with council planners) must give awfully good lunches and treats.

Just the way the planners use the language to intimidate and try and humiliate the people objecting shows how good education seminars the operators have given to council planners.

The planner in Worcester, Peter Yates is a real beauty, and I bet he also is a fast learner.

He is the head of the Worcester group of Amnesty International, and does a lot of work to get political prisoners in Korea out of jail and torture, but he has no compassion for his own people in Worcester.

I have wondered whether he does the Amnesty bit on grounds of bad conscience over how he treats his own.

Regards.

Agnes.

http://www.mast-victims.org

Please find below weblink on yesterday’s debate.
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2005-06-28.345.1&s=phone+masts#g366.0

Bath Chronicle 28.06.05

11:00 - 28 June 2005

A Mobile phone company has failed to overturn a council's decision to reject a plan for a 30-metre mast in a village near Bath. Telecommunications giant Orange has lost its appeal against the ruling by Bath and North East Somerset Council.

The firm had applied for permission to build the slimline tower, six antennae, four dish antennae and six equipment cabins on land at Shockerwick Farm, Box Road, Bathford.

Bathford Parish Council objected to the scheme, saying it would detract significantly from the natural beauty and unspoilt character of the area, and 12 letters of opposition were sent by local residents.

The application was refused by B &NES councillors at a meeting in September 2004 on the grounds that the mast would spoil the appearance of the rural area, which is in the Green Belt.

And a Government planning inspector has now dismissed the appeal, agreeing the proposal would be inappropriate in the Green Belt. The inspector also said the structure would introduce a noticeable and intrusive urban feature, detracting from the landscape.

He accepted the need for further network coverage in the area, and that some searching for alternatives had been carried out.

But he concluded it was inadequate, and that the need did not outweigh the harm that would be caused.

The inspector added that the case for very special circumstances had not been proved.

--------

Some councils across the UK are begining to say that it is a waste of time rejecting mast applications when the Inspectorate overturns their decision. This has happened in conservation areas and green belt. We have to somehow remind councils that both are still planning considerations! Any ideas?

Sandi

--------

Sandi

I have also heard of Councils who think it is a waste of time refusing mast applications in green belts and protected conservation areas - this Bath Appeal dismissal is a good one to use when writing to Councils displaying the 'apathetic mode'.

I think that letters also need to go to the Planning Inspectorate's Chief Executive pointing out its gross inconsistency in allowing/dismissing mast appeals in 'protected areas', and posting them copies of actual appeal notices (allowed/dismissed) as evidence.

I shall be writing to the Inspectorate's Chief Executive again, using this Bath result, complaining about what happened here in Otterton where an Inspector allowed a mast that was unanimously refused by the Council, in an AONB next to the first natural World Heritage Site in a Coastal Conservation area.

After all, in the Government's PPG8 these protected Conservation areas and AONB's are supposed to be given priority over all other development. How can the Inspectorate be taken seriously when they are making such rubbish decisions and not protecting these 'Government protected' areas?!

The Bath decision is a good one and shows what is possible - what we need now are more good Inspectors like that one - Appeals should not be such a worrying "lottery'!

Best wishes

Jane

--------

These are my views exactly, Jane, so perhaps we all need to send this to our local councils and to any area where this attitude prevails. We need to question this flouting of the planning laws, which are, all said and done, the laws of the land! Are we to become a lawless, undemocratic country under this present Government, at the mercy of mobile phone companies?

Sandi

Birmingham Evening Mail Jun 28 2005

By Paul Dale, Chief Reporter

Schools, old people's homes and children's playgrounds across Birmingham could get lucrative financial handouts if they agree to have controversial mobile phone masts sited on their land.

The idea stems from a city council scrutiny inquiry into telecommunications policy, which is recommending ending a temporary 17-month ban on placing masts on local authority land or buildings.

In return for agreeing to have a mast, governors would get at least half of the annual rental to boost school funds. With annual leasing fees topping £10,000, schools could make £50,000 for a ten-year contract.

Council-run old people's homes would be offered a similar deal.

Rental from masts on council housing estates and playgrounds would be used to improve community facilities.

The proposition was condemned last night by a leading anti-mast campaigner.

Eileen O'Connor, from Sutton Coldfield, said schools and residential homes would be tempted to make money without properly considering health risks.

Mrs O'Connor said: "They will be encouraged by the telecommunications industry to take the offer and then foolishly suffer the consequences."

Mrs O'Connor, a cancer sufferer who believes her illness was worsened by radiation from masts, was saddened that the council was likely to end the ban on siting masts on local authority property.

She said: "I sat through every one of the scrutiny committee hearings and there was no evidence given that masts are safe. They are likely to accelerate the growth of tumours in people who already have them.

"If the committee hearings had been a court of law, the telecommunications industry would have been found guilty. I just don't know how the council can lift the ban when there is so much uncertainty about mobile phones and health risks."

The council already has lease agreements with mobile phone companies at 134 sites across the city under contracts approved before the ban came into force. Most masts are placed on high-rise flats and offices.

Scrutiny committee chairman Mick Wilkes insisted that Birmingham would not become a "soft touch".

The committee's recommendations stipulate that the ban should only be lifted if mobile phone operators agree to independent checks on the operation of the masts.

Proposals include: * Independent audits of emissions to ensure radiation safety levels are not exceeded * Regular inspections to make sure masts conform to the original specification supplied * Development of a standard lease agreement enabling the contracts to be terminated should future research show masts to have adverse health effects.

Omega: research shows already that masts have adverse health effects. See under:
http://www.buergerwelle.de/body_science.html

Coun Wilkes (Lib Dem, Hall Green) said Birmingham was planning the most stringent conditions on the siting of masts anywhere in the country. Other councils would probably follow suit.

He stressed the council could not ignore the popularity of mobile phones and the requirement of the business community to benefit from easier communication. Birmingham could not afford to have "black holes" where mobile phones could not work.

At the same time, it was necessary to recognise public concern about health risks.

He added: "We are proposing a very strict regime with tough checks. The conditions we require are the most exacting to be found anywhere."

Coun Wilkes pointed out that, if the ban were to continue, mobile phone companies would take advantage of Government planning guidelines to site masts on privately-owned land or next to roads. The council would in that case be powerless to prevent the uncontrolled expansion of masts.

"Not only would we have less control, but the distribution of masts and possibly the numbers may be worse," he added.

--------

Self regulating a self certificating mobile phone companies kept under stringent controls?

What madness is this? And we need coverage for 3G which is causing harm much more quickly that 2G? We are heading into dangerous waters again.

Sandi

--------

"Strict and tough?" I can't see how that fits anything said here ...

Andy

The Citizen Gloucestershire

10:30 - 28 June 2005

An anti-mast campaigner has condemned as "monstrous" plans to erect a mobile phone mast close to two Stroud schools.

Mast Sanity spokeswoman Lynne Edmunds said it was "totally unacceptable" that Vodafone had applied to put up a third generation antennae on the pavement between two bus stops in Merrywalks. The 12m-high mast would tower over the Rosary Primary School and St Rose's Special School , said Miss Edmunds.

"It is the worst plan since the Tetras (police system) four years ago," said Miss Edmunds, who is concerned about possible ill-effects the health of local pupils.

"Vodafone clearly pays no attention to the vulnerability of children," she said.

But Vodafone spokeswoman Jane Frapwell said: "We are talking here about very low-powered devices - about as powerful as a light bulb.

"They have to be stationed where mobile phone users are. If we put it on a hill outside of Stroud it would only cover the hill."

Ms Frapwell said: "There are guidelines designed to protect all sectors of the public."

A few months ago Miss Edmunds and Mast Sanity backed a protest that blocked proposals for a similar Hutchison 3G mast near The Shrubberies, a special school in Stonehouse.

The Merrywalks mast would be only 175 metres from St Rose's and 120 metres from The Rosary, said Miss Edmunds.

Miss Edmunds said she feared radiation from the mast would also affect bus passengers.

Stroud District Council senior planning officer Andrew Case said the Vodafone application was already out to public consultation.

Regulations stated representations could be made about its site and appearance until a deadline of July 15.

Jun 28 2005

By Neil Elkes, Evening Mail Birmingham

CITY council chiefs today vowed they would not be a "soft touch" for the mobile phone industry by lifting a ban on masts.

The big five mobile phone companies, Vodafone, O2, 3, T-mobile and Orange are set to be able to put new masts on city offices, schools, leisure centres and tower blocks from November 1.

The controversial move was exclusively revealed in yesterday's Evening Mail.

But Coun Michael Wilkes (Lib Dem, Hall Green), who chaired the six-month inquiry into masts amid fears they cause ill-health, insisted that the lifting of the ban would give the city greater control over the sites, locations and output of masts in Birmingham.

He said: "If this policy is endorsed, further masts will only be erected on council land and premises on the council's terms and we will not be a soft touch.

"The conditions we require are the most exacting to be found anywhere.

"I believe that this policy represents good sense and is in the best interests of Birmingham as whole."

They decided that by allowing masts, for example, on a high rise block, it would prevent three or four masts being sited on low level private land or roads in the same area.

Coun Wilkes added that if the ban continued masts would simply be displaced to unsuitable and less desirable privately-owned sites or roadsides where the council is powerless to control them.

A key consideration was the business community and the thousands of regular mobile phone users.

The Birmingham Chamber of Commerce feared that the city would lose its competitive edge and be seen as a technology "black hole" if the ban continued.

The Full Council will vote on the report on July 5.

by Harold Williamson

In a speech at the White House commemorating the one-year anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, President Bush said, “All of us can now agree that the fall of the Iraqi dictator has removed a source of violence, aggression and instability in the Middle East.” Yet most Iraqis will now argue that the removal of Saddam Hussein from power merely replaced one form of tyranny with another...

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/June05/Williamson0628.htm

by Ralph Nader and Kevin Zeese

President Bush will address the nation about Iraq tonight. This is the first time he will be speaking to the country on the U.S. occupation of Iraq since the Downing Street Memos have been released. As ten senators pointed out in a letter on Friday, June 24: “at a time the White House was promising Congress and the American people that war would be their last resort, they believed military action against Iraq was ‘inevitable.’” Thus, the President was telling the public he was seeking a peaceful resolution when in fact he was planning an invasion. He told Americans there were unmanned Iraqi aircraft that could drop bombs over our cities. His own intelligence agencies told him this was inaccurate. He tied Saddam to Al Qaeda and Bin Laden -- there was no evidence of that. Indeed, the two -- one secular, one fundamentalist -- were mortal foes. He talked about Saddam being able to launch a strike on the United States in 45 minutes -- there was no evidence Iraq was capable of such an attack. He talked about the potential of a mushroom cloud over the United States -- a nuclear attack by Saddam -- when there was no evidence that a weakened, surrounded and embargoed Saddam had any nuclear capability. When he was going to the U.N. it was not to seek peace but to try and make an illegal invasion legal by tricking Saddam into a misstep. For month after month, it now seems evident President Bush and his minions misled the nation, repeating the fabrications and manipulations about weapons of mass destruction over and over and over in a drum beat to war...

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/June05/Nader-Zeese0628.htm



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Downing+Street+Memo

http://www.statewatch.org/terrorlists/terrorlists.html


From ECOTERRA Intl.

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=22759869&url_num=6&url=http://usactions.greenpeace.org/

For years, I’ve researched the relationship between the ExxonMobil corporation and the Bush administration, and in recent weeks, I’ve seen the world recognize what I have learned during these years: they’re practically one and the same.

Reports from the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal have exposed an in-depth connection between the Bush administration and ExxonMobil. Revelations include Exxon’s influence of America’s policy on global warming and a leading administration staffer's alteration of scientific documents - who is now working directly for ExxonMobil.

Now we’ve learned that Exxon’s influence on the Bush administration is extending to America’s international policies. Next week, world leaders from the eight major industrialized nations (G8), including President Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, will meet to discuss the world's most serious issues, including global warming.

But Bush administration officials, with help from their friends at ExxonMobil, have been working for months to weaken a major global warming proposal that will be considered during the G8 Summit.

It’s time to cut the umbilical cord of oil feeding American politics and the future of our planet.

Take Action! Tell Bush it’s time to wash his hands of Exxon oil.
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=22759869&url_num=3&url=http://usactions.greenpeace.org/action/start.php?action_id=57&usa_source_template=thin_ice&ref_source=newsletter20050628

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3015/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

The Associated Press

Tuesday 28 June 2005

According to a report published on Monday from King's College, London, the United States continues to have the highest incarceration rate in the world.

With 714 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants, the United States remains the country with the highest incarceration rate in the world, ahead of Russia and Belarus, according to figures published by the London University King's College International Centre for Prison Studies.

The United States has held first place in this ranking since 2000.

"In 200 years, the United States has succeeded in creating two million prisoners," frets researcher Anton Shelupanov. "It's a very worrying rate of growth."

Of nine million people imprisoned in the whole world, more than two million (22% of the total) are behind American bars.

Russia is First in Europe

Russia has the highest incarceration rate in Europe, with 550 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants, ahead of Belarus (532/100,000) and Ukraine (416/100,000). The rate is 91/100,000 in metropolitan France, between Belgium (88/100,000) and Germany (96/100,000).

South Africa has the highest incarceration rate on the African continent (413/100,000) and Surinam the highest in South America (437/100,000).

The International Centre for Prison Studies gathers data from various sources, notably the prison administrations of each country.


Informant: JHW369

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001499.htm


Informant: NHNE



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Downing+Street+Memo

http://www.walmartmovie.com/


Informant: Bob Banner