http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082005X.shtml



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

* Deutsches Gericht hat als erstes die schädliche Wirkung per Urteil anerkannt http://www.etzs.de/
* Einladung zu einer Informations- und Diskussionsveranstaltung
* am Samstag, den 24.09.2005 zum Thema:
* Mobilfunktechnik, zu Risiken und Nebenwirkungen in den http://www.tpvs.de

Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren aus Politik, Presse (mit der Bitte um Weiterleitung und Bekanntgabe der Veranstaltung), liebe Bürger diese Landes,

ich möchte Sie alle herzlich und persönlich einladen, in den Technologiepark von Villingen-Schwenningen zu kommen, um an der öffentlichen Veranstaltung zum Thema Mobilfunktechnik teilzunehmen.

* Hintergrund der Veranstaltung war die DPA-Meldung vom April gewesen: Handys darf man nicht anfassen. Durch das Berühren des isolierten Gehäuses verlieren Mobiltelefone ihre CE-Zulassung. Ein Experimentiergerät zur Erforschung des Elektrosmog, das die gleiche Skalarwellenstrahlung abgibt wie ein Handy, allerdings mit 60 mal weniger Sendeleistung, war von der Staatsanwaltschaft Konstanz als invasives Medizingerät eingestuft worden. Ziel war die Aberkennung des CE-Zeichens. Nach reiflicher Überlegung hat der Amtsrichter nach 16 Wochen sein Urteil bestätigt.

Wegen der überregionalen Bedeutung dieses Prozesses haben wir ihn komplett im Internet veröffentlicht unter http://www.etzs.de (unter Aktuell und Strafverfahren). Hier können sich Bürger wie Juristen anhand der veröffentlichten Schriftsätze genauestens informieren. In der Konsequenz sind ab sofort der Betrieb von Mobilfunksendern und der Vertrieb von Handys in Frage zu stellen.

* Die DPA-Meldung vom April war im Internet mit den Worten kommentiert worden: Das kommt dabei heraus, wenn Juristen über etwas urteilen, wovon sie nicht die geringste Ahnung haben. Mehr noch ist es ihnen nach dem Grundgesetz gar nicht gestattet, in die Freiheit von Forschung und Lehre mit formaljuristischen Urteilen einzugreifen. Juristen sind schließlich keine Wissenschaftler und können in dem Streit um die biologisch therapeutische Wirksamkeit des Mobilfunk keinen Beitrag leisten.

Wissenschaftler treffen sich üblicherweise auch nicht im Gerichtssaal, sondern in einem Forum z.B. im Technologiepark von Villingen-Schwenningen. Hier soll über die Risiken und Nebenwirkungen der Mobilfunktechnik informiert und diskutiert werden. Es sind alle eingeladen: Journalisten, Mediziner, Vertreter der universitären Gefälligkeitsforschung, freie Forscher und freie Bürger. Hier wird Forschungsbedarf angemahnt und begründet http://www.k-meyl.de

Prof. Dr. Konstantin Meyl lädt am 24.09.2005 um 13:00 Uhr ein zu einer Informations- und Diskussionsveranstaltung zum Thema:

Mobilfunktechnik, zu Risiken und Nebenwirkungen

Veranstaltungsort: Forum im TechnologiePark VS,
http://www.tpvs.de/>www.tpvs.de
D-78048 Villingen-Schwenningen, Am Krebsgraben 15, Tor A

Programmablauf für Samstag, den 24.09.2005
Eintreffen der Teilnehmer ab 12:30 Uhr

13.00 Uhr: Begrüßung der Tagungsteilnehmer durch Herrn Borgmann, Geschäftsführer des Technologieparks

13.15 Uhr: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Konstantin Meyl: Einführung in das Thema Handys darf man nicht anfassen oder vielleicht doch? Über die dubiose Rolle der deutschen Justiz zur Frage der Freiheit der Forschung zum E-Smog (dpa-Meldung vom April).

14.00 Uhr: Pro Mobilfunk (Vortragende sind eingeladen). Mobilfunkbetreiber berichten über den gegenwärtigen Stand und die Planungen für den Ausbau der Netze, über Frequenzbänder, über Sendeleistungen und Grenzwertfragen aus ihrer Sicht.

14.45 Uhr: Contra Mobilfunk (Vortragende sind eingeladen). Mobilfunkkritiker berichten über schädigende Wirkungen des Mobilfunk und erörtern aus ihrer Sicht die Grenzwerte.

15.30 Uhr: Kaffeepause.

16.00 Uhr: Berichte aus der Wissenschaft (Vortragende sind eingeladen). Messmethoden und Messergebnisse werden vorgestellt, die sich kritisch mit athermischer Strahlenbelastung befasst.

17.00 Uhr: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Konstantin Meyl: Zur Grenzwertdiskussion. Zu Fragen der Antennenabstrahlung mit experimentellen Vorführungen und öffentlichen Demonstrationen.

18.00 Uhr: Diskussion bis gegen 19:00 Uhr

8 Euro pro Person Unkostenbeitrag, incl. Pausengetränke,
5 Euro pro Person für Schüler, Studenten und Rentner

Anmeldung erbeten an: prof@k-meyl.de / Fax: +49- (0-) 7732-919911 oder bei TP VS: info@tpvs.de, Tel.: 0-7721-503337 / Fax: 0-7721-503336

http://openpr.de/news/57662-weg-fuer-schadenersatzforderungen-gegen-mobilfunkbetreiber-frei.html

From: CODEPINK <codepink@democracyinaction.org>

August 19, 2005

We continue to be part of the vigil at Crawford, Texas, even as Cindy Sheehan had to leave to be with her mother, who suffered a stroke. We pray for her mother’s recovery and for Cindy’s return. On Thursday, we had a wonderful “mother’s day” at the camp where all day long, women at the vigil and around the country wrote letters to Laura Bush asking her to intercede with her husband on Cindy’s behalf. In just 24 hours after putting out the call, we received over 500 letters to the First Lady from the women of America—one more poignant than the next. We’ll include a sample on our website, and if you’d like to add your own, email it to laurabush@codepinkalert.org.

In the afternoon, we had a women’s circle where woman after woman—many of them military moms—told heart-wrenching stories about how this war has affected them. Women who had been to Iraq as humanitarian workers talked about the devastating impact of the war on Iraqis, especially Iraqi women. Then about 100 of us gathered the letters, lined up along the road, and singing and chanting, marched down the 2-mile road in the blistering heat to the entrance of George Bush’s ranch. There we were stopped by the secret service, who refused to take our letters. But on our insistence—and to our great surprise—a White House staffer appeared, took our baskets of letters, and promised to deliver them to the First Lady!

Today, Friday, we had a lovely interfaith healing circle, and the first meal in our new camp. Instead of being crammed along the side of the road, we now have a lovely one-acre plot smack in front of Bush’s ranch, where the Secret Service is located. It’s quite a miracle that just at the time when our old campsite was becoming untenable due to congestion and safety concerns, a wonderful neighbor of Bush’s appeared to offer his land (actually a cousin of the gun-wielding neighbor from earlier this week). But then again, here in Crawford, miracles happen every day.

We can’t tell you how inspiring it has been to be by Cindy’s side and see this movement blossom. CODEPINK will be here until Cindy gets her meeting with Bush, or leaves at the end of August. Meanwhile, we’re planning for the big march and events in Washington DC on September 23-26. Please mark your calendars and commit to joining Cindy and us in Washington as we continue to show George Bush that the people of this nation—especially the women—demand an end to this bloody war.

With love and optimism, Alicia, Dana, Farida, Gael, Jodie, Medea, Tiffany and Whitney

PS- If you haven't already, please visit http://www.onemillionreasons.org/article.php?list=type&type=69 and give us YOUR reason to end the war. We will deliver them to the White House on September 26th.


Informant: Martin Greenhut



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

http://tinyurl.com/aa5op

In Madrid, and maybe in London, mobiles activated the bombs. France thinks about a system to stop the trafic as soon as an attack is known !!!!


Informant: Avoiding ridicule

An excellent collection of environmental reports
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/900203/

Ice Shelf Disintegration Threatens Environment
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/902023/

Climate scientists fear effects of immense Siberian peatbog meltdown
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/903922/

Icy Greenland turns green
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/913959/

Global Warming: Will You Listen Now, America?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/913894/

World Running Out of Time for Oil Alternatives
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/913903/

Reclaiming Appalachia: A Mountain Take Over
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/904605/

Monsanto files patent for new invention: the pig
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/903991/

GMOs and Human Health
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/904639/

Letter to José Maurício Bustani
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/910032/

Global Chemical Contamination Threatens Child Development
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/913907/

Vote USA 2004
http://omega.twoday.net/topics/Vote+USA+2004/

Iraq War
http://omega.twoday.net/topics/Irak-Krieg/

Is Iran next?
http://omega.twoday.net/topics/Is+Iran+next

Tsunami
http://omega.twoday.net/topics/Tsunami/

RFID
http://omega.twoday.net/topics/RFID/

EMF-Omega-News 20. August 2005
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/914005/

Cellular Phone Electromagnetic Field Effects on Bioelectric Activity of Human Brain
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/899551/

Cell Phone Radiation May Cause Visual Damage
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/901999/

Vienna doctors group say children shouldn't have phones
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/903250/

References for Olle Johansson et al papers
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/913511/

MOBILE PHONE MASTS: The Awful TRUTH About Their Effects On Your HEALTH
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/912897/

Mobiles aimed at under-8s set for return to high street
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/899565/

Pétition pour faire enlever le Dr Michael REPACHOLI de son poste de Coordinateur Général de l'OMS pour le programme International des Champs Electro Magnétiques
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/898322/

Birds suffer from biological effects of GSM, 3G (UMTS), DECT, WIFI, TETRA
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/900299/

Spanish paper on RF effects on birds
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/904106/

Mast families renew calls for research
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/899703/

The Greens support an opponent with the antenna-relays - Les Verts soutiennent un opposant aux antennes-relais
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/901431/

T-Mobile mast
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/903706/

Loud and mobile: a bad combination
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/912644/

Residents objecting to phone mast
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/912861/

Residents oppose mobile phone mast plan
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/912864/

MASTS ATTACK - NO DEFENCE!
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/912869/

Residents’ fury over secret phone mast
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/912871/

Why parish chairman kept silent
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/912876/

Phone mast campaigners admit defeat
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/912878/

Fight for an idea: The ELECTROMAGNETIC POLLUTION - Combat pour une idée: La pollution électromagnétique
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/905878/

The Canadian SWEEP Initiative
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/913517/

EFNS guidelines on the use of skin biopsy in the diagnosis of peripheral neuropathy
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/912540/

News from Mast Sanity
http://tinyurl.com/aotw3

The Government is creating a system of "mass public surveillance" capable of tracking every adult in Britain without their consent, MPs say. They warn that people who have never committed a crime can be "electronically monitored" without their knowledge.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9839.htm

In an article in the September issue of Vanity Fair (not yet online), Michael Wolff, in probing the Plame/CIA leak scandal, rips those in the news media -- principally Time magazine and The New York Times -- who knew that Karl Rove was one of the leakers but refused to expose what would have been “one of the biggest stories of the Bush years.”

http://snipurl.com/h1tz


From Information Clearing House

Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) is calling for an investigation into the role of former Attorney General John Ashcroft in the outing of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/08/18/1331249


From Information Clearing House

Right now, the pro-war propaganda arsenal of the world’s only superpower is drawing a bead on Cindy Sheehan, who now symbolizes the USA’s antiwar grief. She is a moving target, very difficult to hit. But right-wing media sharpshooters are sure to keep trying.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9850.htm



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

George Bush is responsible for killing so many people, but nobody scrutinizes anything he says, especially leading up to the war. Since there is nothing to smear me about with the truth, they have to tell lies.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9848.htm



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

"Will those who support liberation movements in, for example, Kashmir or Chechnya be denied freedom of expression?"

By John Pilger

If those who seek to understand what drives people to commit terrorist acts are vilified as "just one notch less despicable" themselves, we can say goodbye to freedom of speech.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9836.htm

I think this speech applies today. Worth the listen.

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm

Arrarita

By Richard Hollingham BBC News, Greenland
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/4145034.stm

Greenland's ice is melting rapidly. In some places, glacial levels have been falling by 10 metres a year and ultimately contributing to rising sea levels. Travelling to Greenland, Richard Hollingham sees the impact of climate change for himself.

The gleaming white executive jet taxied to a stop on the cracked concrete apron beside a couple of derelict hangars.

Beyond the rusty barbed wire and crude prefabricated buildings surrounding the airport perimeter, cliffs of dark granite rose from the valley to blend with the equally ominous grey of the sky.

No trees, no colour, no signs of life.

The door of the private plane swung down.

Onlookers, had there been any, might have caught a glimpse of the deep leather seats and walnut panelling of the interior.

Perhaps a group of sharp suited executives would emerge looking dynamic and business-like. Or perhaps some sinister men-in-black types, here on covert government business.

The first person to climb down was wearing oversized shorts, stout walking boots and a hat that looked like it had seen rather more of the world than it was perhaps designed for.

Its enormous ice cap, a sea of white stretching seemingly forever, overflows into thousands of glaciers

The next man was dressed in a clashing array of outdoor clothing and sported large tortoise-shell glasses and an unkempt beard.

Each man muttered something about the landscape being bleak.

I would like to be able to tell you that when the BBC descended from the plane we stood apart with our sartorial elegance.

But if you have ever met any BBC types, particularly radio reporters, you would know that would be a lie.

Research

We had landed at Kangerlussuaq, a community whose existence depends solely on the airstrip.

This used to be a bustling US base, servicing America's early warning system.

These days it is somewhat self perpetuating. The airport brings in supplies for the people who live here who mostly work at the airport.

I was tagging along with a group of eminent scientists, funded through the foundation of a billionaire philanthropist, Gary Comer. He has devoted his retirement to the science of global warming.

The researchers all make regular visits to the Arctic to assess the impact of climate change, not, it should be said, always in such comfort.

Retreating glaciers

Greenland is a massive island locked in ice. And from the air there is little evidence that it is melting.

Its enormous ice cap, a sea of white stretching seemingly forever, overflows into thousands of glaciers.

These in turn carve their way through the mountains to the coast.

It is only when you get near to the base of the glaciers that you can see how the landscape is changing.

A few metres above the ice, the rock is totally bare. A scar running horizontally across the valleys.

It is as if the ice has been drained away, like water in a bath, to leave a tide mark. Which is, in effect, what has happened.

The ice has melted and the glaciers have retreated hundreds of metres over the past 150 years.

New vegetation

The weather cleared and with the edge of the glacier, a giant wall of ice behind us, glaciologist Richard Alley led me across the barren rock.

This land was being exposed for the first time in millions of years

As I tripped and stumbled behind him, he bounded through scree and leapt over crevasses.

I have never seen a scientist more in his element as he pointed out deep grooves in the rock where the ice had raked the stone, or the giant boulders lifted by the glacier to balance precariously on top of tiny pebbles.

This land was being exposed for the first time for millions of years. Even a century ago, where I stood would have been solid ice, and I was struck by just how much vegetation there was.

Phillip, the biologist on the trip, was every bit as excited as Richard, identifying the dark brown lichens on the rocks, the grasses and beautiful purple flowers somehow managing to cling to just a few millimetres of soil.

Agricultural return

The Earth's climate has warmed before, albeit naturally.

A ruined church on the banks of a fjord marks the remains of a Viking farming civilisation.

The sun casts shadows through the arched window to the site of the altar, last used in the 1400s before the area was abandoned when it became too cold to support habitation.

Today, the farmers are back.

Sheep once again graze the surrounding hillside and shiny new tractors work the fields near the southern coast.

Greenland is turning green, something the rest of us should be very worried about indeed.

also posted on: http://FromTheWilderness.com


Informant: Scott Munson

Bob Herbert wonders whether reality ever comes knocking on George W. Bush's door. If it did, would the president with the unsettling demeanor of a boy king even bother to answer? Mr. Bush is the commander in chief who launched a savage war in Iraq and now spends his days happily riding his bicycle in Texas.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/081805O.shtml

While the president worries about restoring "balance" to his life, Sidney Blumenthal notes that Americans are worried by stratospheric gas prices and growing fed up with the war in Iraq.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/081805N.shtml

Swanson insists that if Casey Sheehan died for a noble cause, Bush can volunteer the documents that the Resolution of Inquiry will require him to produce. Not only has he not done so, but he has illegally refused to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request from 52 members of Congress asking for similar information.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/081905B.shtml

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0819-32.htm



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

Concern is growing worldwide over the long-term health effects of chemicals known as persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Exposure to POPs is shifting the IQ of the population downward - more developmentally-challenged people and fewer gifted people, according to Lynn Goldman, MD, MPH, Johns Hopkins University pediatrician and epidemiologist.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/081905HA.shtml

The world could run out of time to develop cleaner alternatives to oil and other fossil fuels before depletion drives prices through the roof, a leading Dutch energy researcher said on Thursday.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/081905EA.shtml

Two of the leading contenders to contest the next US presidential election have delivered an urgent warning to the United States on global warming, saying the evidence of climate change has become too stark to ignore. They called on world leaders to recognize "that delayed action will increase the risk of adverse environmental effects and will likely incur a greater cost."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/081905R.shtml

http://www.zdf.de/ZDFmediathek/inhalt/28/0,4070,2351804-0,00.html
http://www.zdf.de/ZDFmediathek/inhalt/28/0,4070,2351804-7,00.html


Nachricht von atlant

In his recent book "Steal This Vote" - a very judicious work, despite its title - Andrew Gumbel, a U.S. correspondent for the British newspaper The Independent, provides the best overview I've seen of the 2000 Florida vote. And he documents the simple truth: "Al Gore won the 2000 presidential election."

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9861.htm

Newly declassified State Department documents show that planning for the transition in Iraq began in October 2001, according to a "Project History".

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB163/index.htm


From Information Clearing House

Perhaps, we should pull over at a rest area, as the storm gathers on the horizon before us, and we should contemplate the things that are of consequence to us—here and now. And, if we are honest, our sorrow would swell, as the awareness arises within us of how the mindless demands of the corporate state suck the life and soul out those we love.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9867.htm

The rapidly dwindling minority of Americans who continue to search for some rationale for keeping U.S. troops in Iraq have been driven to the brink of breakdown by the success of Sheehan's protest.

http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/index.php?ntid=50925&ntpid=1


From Information Clearing House



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

In emotional private meetings with the families of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, President Bush offers solace—and seeks some of his own.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8941525/site/newsweek/page/2/


From Information Clearing House

http://www.flickr.com/photos/moveon/sets/774501/show/


From Information Clearing House



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

Since President Bush won’t meet with Cindy Sheehan to explain why her son Casey died in Iraq, I thought I would put forward the information I have. Like Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, I was in Baghdad’s Sadr City on April 4, 2004.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9865.htm



Why Casey Sheehan was killed

By Aaron Glantz

DENVER - Despite camping out next to George W Bush's Texas ranch for two weeks, Cindy Sheehan has been unable to get a meeting with the president for an explanation of why her 24-year-old son had to die in action. So, here is some of the story from one who was there.

Like Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, I was in Baghdad's Sadr City on April 4, 2004. I was there as an unembedded journalist (not attached to a military unit). Unlike Casey Sheehan, I came out alive.

I had traveled to Sadr City to cover the Bush administration's attack on the movement of Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. It didn't matter that the cleric had millions of followers or that he was the scion of an important political family with a history of standing up to tyranny. (His father was killed by Saddam Hussein's regime for fomenting revolution in 1999. His uncle, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Sadr, was killed for leading an insurrection against Saddam's Ba'ath rule in 1980.)

It didn't matter that Sadr's forces were providing food aid to the poor or organizing traffic patrol and garbage duty in an atmosphere with no basic services. The problem for Bush and his Iraq administrator, L Paul Bremer, was that Sadr was against the US occupation. So he had to be dealt with. First his newspaper was closed. (See The Shi'ite voice that will be heard , Asia Times Online, April 8, 2004)Then his top advisor was arrested. Then Bremer announced an unnamed judge was demanding that Sadr be arrested on charges of murder. "He's effectively attempting to establish his authority in place of the legitimate Iraqi government," Bremer told reporters. "We will not tolerate that."

That was the last straw. Until April 4, 2004 Muqtada had urged his followers to protest peacefully against the occupation. But the US assault led him to urge his followers to "terrorize the enemy". In the first 48 hours of fighting, Sadr's followers seized police stations and government buildings across the country, including the governor's office in Basra.

At least 75 Iraqis and 10 US servicemen were killed, among them Army Specialist Casey Sheehan. As an unembedded journalist, I saw only the Iraqi casualties (the US casualties being taken away to military hospitals). My translator Waseem and I weaved through roads closed by US tanks until we arrived at Sadr City's al-Ubaidi Hospital.

There, I interviewed 15-year-old Ali Hussein. He lay in the hospital, a US bullet lodged in his gut. He was barely able to lift his head, but he wanted to say a few words to the Western reporter: "I was standing in my doorway and I was shot," he said. "I don't have anything to say to the Americans. It's just between them and God."

A few miles away at Baghdad's Mustansuriye University, hundreds of students marched through the center of campus. They chanted, "The dead want a brave people so we won't follow the law of Bremer."

"We will act according to the situation that we face," said Wassam Mehdi Hussein, head of the Islamic Union of Iraqi Students, standing by Muqtada's declaration of jihad against the occupation. "We will use any means peaceful and violent."

Another Mustansuriye student, Ali Mohammed, noted the violence started when the US military closed Sadr's newspaper and arrested his top advisor. "We don't want to fight the Americans," he told me. "We are very grateful to them. They are very dear to us because they released us from Saddam. But at the same time we want them to do something for humanity.

"A lot of people are suffering from hunger and sitting at home having no work. These things make the situation bad and then we turn to explosions. We want to respect them and we want them to respect us."

A year on, such respect still isn't forthcoming - even to US citizens like Cindy Sheehan, who deserve to know the truth of why their sons have been killed in Iraq. It isn't for lack of trying that Sheehan isn't getting answers from Bush.

She has stubbornly maintained her vigil outside Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, demanding a meeting with the president. Since no weapons of mass destruction - which Bush used as grounds to go into Iraq - have been found there, she thinks Bush owes her an explanation.

Her protest has become a lightning rod for antiwar sentiment, with more than 1,000 vigils organized across the US this week in support of her demand.

Bush has largely ignored Sheehan's protest.

When asked last week about Sheehan's demand for a meeting, Bush refused to answer directly: "And so, you know, listen, I sympathize with Mrs Sheehan. She feels strongly about her - about her position. And I am - she has every right in the world to say what she believes. This is America."

Meanwhile, Associated Press reported that Bush was to spend two hours on Wednesday with families of soldiers killed in Iraq, but the meeting wasn't to include Cindy Sheehan. Bush said Tuesday he understood her anguish, but he also challenged her, saying the California woman's demands for an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq was not embraced by many military families and represented a view contrary to the national interest, AP reported.

IPS reporter Aaron Glantz is author of the book How America Lost Iraq (Tarcher/Penguin).

(Inter Press Service)

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GH25Ak04.html


Informant: sash



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

Exclusive Interview with Cindy Sheehan After Mother's Stroke: "I Want to Get Back As Soon As Possible".



BBC Newsnight: Interview With Cindy Sheehan.

Only available online for next 14 hours.
http://snipurl.com/h2vq

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9875.htm



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

Tony Blair could be forced to give evidence under oath after families of 17 soldiers killed in Iraq began a legal bid yesterday to secure an independent inquiry into the lawfulness of the 2003 conflict.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9857.htm

A government minister has openly lambasted U.S. occupation of the country, blaming it for the upsurge in violence and rampant corruption.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9855.htm

By Robert Higgs

The United States began its occupation of Germany and Japan sixty years ago, yet large U.S. military bases remain in those countries today. Does anyone really believe the Americans will walk away from their mega-bases in Iraq just because the Iraqis want the Yankees to go home?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9869.htm

Sponsors of this action include. Noam Chomsky, Medea Benjamin, Franklin W. Stahl, Peter Phillips Ph.D., Scott Kerlin Ph.D.…and hundreds more.

In honoring our Founding principles, I must proclaim that to exploit the fears and prejudices of the common people to maintain the flow of profits from conflict—to perpetuate a state of war for personal gain—is treasonous to our creed.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9868.htm

Some Americans, mostly the ones uninformed about past and present U.S.A. government corruption, may find it hard to believe that our government would intentionally cause harm and death to Americans who have not been found guilty of any crime. But our government has done that so much already. For example, from what I have learned about vaccinations those have toxic ingredients intentionally put into them that have caused harm and death to Americans - adults and children both. While most of the people that have become harmed or dead from the wars in the Middle East are citizens of those countries, many American soldiers are becoming harmed and dead too. The depleted uranium that has been put into the weapons is causing cancer for both Middle Eastern people and American soldiers plus causing birth defects of children born to people exposed to depleted uranium. These are just a few examples of our government's willingness to intentionally cause harm and death to Americans too.

All that our government has done wrong since the 9 - 11 terrorists' attacks convinces me, that unless the National I.D. card is stopped from being put into effect, our government will use it to control dissidents, even to put dissidents that don't cave in to the government's demands into the F.E.M.A. facilities with barbed wire fences that are essentially concentration camps. I believe that innocent Americans would be put to death in such places. The National I.D. card could be used as an easy method to keep track of and round up dissidents or anybody the government thinks shouldn't be alive.

Now is the time to start spreading the word far and wide to educate Americans about the dangers of the National I.D. card. and the F.E.M.A. concentration camps. You can do this via the Internet, but there are lots of Americans that aren't on the Internet that need to hear this message too. You can spread this message at any public places. For example, about a week ago when I was at a grocery store I gave the message about these dangers to numerous people. Here is essentially what I said, "Have you heard about what our government is planning to do about our driver's licenses? They are going to replace it with a National I.D. card. That card has a chip device in it that can be activated so that our government can track us from the satellites up above. That would make it easy for our government to put us in the concentration camps that have been found in the U.S.A. We need to complain to get the National I.D. card stopped. We need to warn other people about this too." That's easy enough to remember and to tell people. Please tell as many people as possible.

Another strategy is to contact preachers to ask them to take action to stop the National I.D. card. A few weeks ago I decided to write to a televangelist that I have seen on television a number of times. The letter I e-mailed to him is below. There are other televangelists that I haven't written to. Will you find out who they are and write to them about the National I.D. card? If you have a preacher, why not talk to him about the dangers of the National I.D. card and ask him to contact Federal and State government officials to discourage it from being put into effect? I believe that it is the first version of the "Mark of the Beast". Thank you for any help with these proposed strategies.

Sincerely, Deborah Reid http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/wisdomforcourts http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wisepeople


Dear Dr. Jack Van Impe,

Since our government officials decided to require Americans to have their driver's licenses replaced in 2008 by the new National I.D. card, I have been very concerned about that. I have read e-mail newsletters and done other reading about the new National I.D. card. I have read that there is a device inside the new National I.D. card called RFID that can be activated to enable our government officials as well as the government officials in Canada and Mexico to track us Americans from the satellites up above. I find it unacceptable for people that are not criminals to be tracked.

Of course, we Americans have been told that the reason for the new National I.D. card is to discourage illegal aliens from coming into the U.S.A. That won't discourage illegal aliens. Illegal aliens are determined to come into the U.S.A. They risk death to come into this country. However, the new National I.D. card is very controlling of Americans. It comes across as slavery to me. It has the potential to enable tracking of people from sateliites as pets and livestock are now tracked from satellites. Pets and livestock could also be referred to as beasts. I know the animals are being tracked from having a microchip inside of them. An individual wouldn't need a microchip to be treated like a beast. It occurs to me that the new National I.D. card is the first version of the Mark of the Beast. I know some people think it won't be the Mark of the Beast until there is a microchip implanted under the skin of people. But the microchip could be the second version of the Mark of the Beast. There is much to fear from government officials having the ability to track us. The very worst could happen to us.

Some people on the Internet have said the new National I.D. card is our number for being put into concentration camps. I have read on the Internet that some Americans have come across facilities that are fenced in with barbed wire fence in such a way that they are convinced the facilities are intended to be used as concentration camps. I have also read on the Internet that some Americans have come across large shipments of guillotines coming into the U.S.A. from China. The guillotines were accidentally discovered when a shipping crate was dropped or when an accident happened a truck driver was asked to open the back of a truck. With the facilities that could be used for concentration camps and the many guillotines that is cause for concern the the very worst could happen to Americans. There have been mass murders of many people in history by their government officials. I don't want that to happen here in the U.S.A.

Dr. Van Impe, I have learned from the Internet that there are people called New World Order that think the Earth has too many people. They think that there isn't enough food, water, and fuel to support all of the people here. I've read that is the reason they want to depopulate the Earth by about 90%. I have read they would depopulate the U.S.A. by 50%. The people on the Internet who call themselves Patriots think they would be the ones to be put into the concentration camps and murdered. However, it occurs to me that anybody could be such victims. Christians could be such victims. Even due to aging people could be such victims. If what I have read about the New World Order people is true, they must not be smart. It is possible for the Earth to support all of the people here. As to fuel there could be more energy efficiency methods put into use as well as alternative energies that have been suppressed that should be allowed to be developed and put into wide spread use. As to food more people should be allowed access to land to grow food. There could also be more efficiency of food by more people reducing their meat consumption. Growing meat requires a tremendous amount of grain and fresh water. The amount of grain used to produce a small amount of meat would feed many more people than could be fed by the meat. By more people reducing meat consumption that would also result in more fresh water for drinking and cooking purposes. I'm not saying that everyone would have to become vegetarians. However, a reduction perhaps by 50% could really make a difference in food and fresh water efficiency.

Perhaps the New World Order people aren't smart enough to think up such wise solutions. If what the Internet writers say about the New World Order people's plan to depopulate the Earth is true, that will be terrible evil on their part. If true, it may be that the New World Order people have other reasons than population control as a motivator for such predicted mass murders. Perhaps it's a cultural issue, a competition between cultures. From what I have observed there are people doing the most evil deeds in all cultures, including the Western culture. It appears that the people doing the most evil deeds to people of the Western culture are people of the Western culture themselves resulting in more victimization, suffering, injuries, disabilities,and deaths to their own people than are being caused by people of other cultures. However, the government offiicials, although they have been lobbied about the rampant crime and other evils in the U.S.A, don't acknowledge the seriousness of that and don't make wise reforms reality. For many years I've been a citizen activist trying to get something done about terrible crimes and the court system corruption that allows and even promotes terrible crimes. The corruption is strongly entrenched, but I keep trying to get the message out to enough people to bring about a transformation of the U.S.A. from it's dangerous, corrupt, crime rampant reality to a truly civilized safe reality. I looked around in your website. I noticed your question of the week is related to a terrible crime that I include in my writings.

Dr. Van Impe, I would like to ask if you could include education to the public about the new National I.D. card as to the details as I've described in paragraphs above. Also could you include information about the facilities that look like concentration camps and the guillotines found in the U.S.A.? Would it be possible for you to find out who the New World Order people are and try to talk some sense into them? Feel free to educate them that it is possible to solve the problems without mass murders. Thank you for any help with these matters.

Sincerely, Deborah Reid http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/wisdomforcourts

Quote: "I've learned that you can never have too many smart people in your life." Source: Live and Learn and Pass It On by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

http://tinyurl.com/9e5gu



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

by Nicholas von Hoffman

My friend Elizabeth told me the other day that she had received a phone call from the United States Marines. They weren’t interested in her but in her son, Garrett, who is a recent high-school graduate currently absorbed in taking the exam for his journeyman’s plumber license. She said that she told the Marines not to phone again and advised the caller that the Marines were “not going to use my son as a target.” She and her son are not alone in such opinions. This year, the Army will fail to make its recruiting goals even though it’s dangling ever more goodies -- like college tuition and chunks of cash—in front of the teenagers it hopes to enlist. Now there’s talk of accepting spry persons over 40 years of age to risk life and limb pro gloria dei and, I guess, patriae too. One of the Army’s problems is that it gets harder to find gullible galoots who believe the promises. Bitter veterans abound with angry stories about care withheld or the quality of the care offered men and women once they leave the services. Nor does it help that potential enlistees are shy of signing up because they fear they may never get out once they are in. The government has broken its word too often. So sing the National Anthem twice at the ball game and put another “I SUPPORT OUR TROOPS” sticker on one or even all of the family cars. Hey, it ain’t my war, ain’t my kid....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Aug05/Hoffman0819.htm

by Ahmed Amr

Once again, Karl Rove has let the dogs out. A vicious campaign to maul Citizen Sheehan is in play. Instead of answering her questions -- the right wing media hacks are focusing on her motives, her mental health, her ideology and her family. These are standard and classic Rovian tactics used to smear administration critics. The predictable pundits at FOX have taken the lead by portraying Sheehan as a treasonous “crackpot” who is exploiting the death of her son to gain fame and fortune and advance the extremist political agenda of leftist “anti-American” groups. Hate radio stations across the nations are assailing Cindy’s integrity and questioning her patriotism. The objective of this smear campaign is to draw fire away from Bush. Instead of focusing on the argument between Sheehan and the president -- we now have a contest between Sheehan’s supporters and her detractors. What started out as a search for the truth is being reduced to an ideological spat between the left and the right. The success of the White House plan of attack is by no means certain. Unlike the small band of neo-cons that infest the administration, most Americans are not glued to any ideology. They tend to navigate the political landscape using nothing more than their common sense. Millions of honorable conservatives want answers to Cindy’s questions. As for the phantom “extreme left” in America -- it only exists in the imagination of the extreme right, which unfortunately has a very real constituency....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Aug05/Amr0819.htm



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=89563;show_parent=1



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=89562;show_parent=1



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=89560;show_parent=1



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=89522;show_parent=1



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=89520;show_parent=1



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=89510;show_parent=1



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

The deepening division among the powers that be over the Iraq war is beginning to make itself felt among those in the legislative arena. The national legislature of the US gave Bush and company a virtual blank check for invading Afghanistan and Iraq, but the wars are coming unstuck as the numbers of dead US soldiers escalates. Discussion and debate over US policy on Iraq are more and more necessary.

The more debate there is, the more legitimate it becomes to mobilize to raise the alternative to the conquest and occupation of Iraq, which is withdrawal from that country.

In a way some of the deepest and most significant voices in the anti-war struggle now come from those like Walter Jones, that conservative legislator who made his national reputation by calling for "French Fries" to be re-dubbed "Freedom Fries" because of French opposition to Washington and its course in Iraq.

Today's edition of Pacifica Radio's DEMOCRACY NOW provides a glimpse of the wide range of anti-war sentiment which is growing daily even within the world of the military as well as among the Gold Star families.
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/08/19/1441247

Parallelling the discussion given on Democracy NOW, Mumia Abu-Jamal, reporting live from Pennsylvania's Death Row, provides an additional perspective on Cindy Sheehan's act of democratic rebellion. It's but four minutes long yet it provides the keys to reaching out and mobilizing a broad new layer into action against the war for the first time:

http://www.prisonradio.org/audio/mumia/2005maj/Aug05/8-16-05TheMammB.mp3

Discussion, debate and disagreement on US foreign policy toward Iraq can only be good for the Cuban Revolution as it also helps open up possible avenues for debate over US policy toward the island, also in overdue need of change.

All out for a vigorous and united protest September 24th.

Let's all join with Cindy Sheehan who's pointing the way to reach out to a new and broader public than ever.

Walter Lippmann, CubaNews http://www.walterlippmann


More US Legislators for Withdrawal from Iraq

Washington, Aug 19 (Prensa Latina) Some 50 US congressmen will co-sponsor a resolution urging US President George W. Bush to announce a schedule for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, Republican representative Walter Jones announced.

I think people have understood what we have been doing, said the legislator, who presented the draft last June together with another three colleagues from the House.

The proposal urges Bush to start evacuating US troops from October 1, 2006.

Besides Jones, other initial sponsors are Texas Republican Ron Paul, and Democrats Dennis Kucinich and Neil Abercrombie, from Ohio and Hawai, respectively.

The deputy said there are five conservatives among supporters of the new initiative.

There has been an increasing wave of criticism over Bush's handling of conflict in Iraq, where more than 1,860 US troops have been killed.

At least 54 percent of the US people think the US aggression of Iraq was a mistake, according to results of Gallup survey conducted just a few days ago.

mh/rma/rob

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-oe-hayden16aug16,1,7418541.story An exit strategy for Iraq now By Tom Hayden TOM HAYDEN is a former state senator and the author of "Street Wars" (Dimensions, 2004).

August 16, 2005

PRESIDENT BUSH HAS so far fended off Cindy Sheehan, a grieving mother demanding to know the "noble purpose" of her son's death in Iraq. However, Bush has been forced to address the existence of the antiwar constituency for perhaps the first time, if only to distort and discredit its message of "troops out now." It is the right moment for the peace movement to turn its slogan into a strategy.

The rallying cry of "out now" expresses the belief that the Iraq war is not worth another minute in lost lives, lost honor, lost taxes, lost allies. But its very simplicity makes the demand easy to ignore or dismiss.

Meanwhile, the administration focuses on the appearance of progress in Iraq (thus its desperate interest in an Iraqi constitution, any constitution). It may well order a token withdrawal of troops to pacify peace sentiment through the 2006 congressional elections. Then, as with Vietnam in 1969, the war is likely to continue.

Those who have been proved right in opposing this war deserve a hearing alongside the military and national security "experts" who have dominated commentary since the March 2003 invasion. It is time to explain "out now" and for peace advocates to propose exit strategies of their own. Otherwise, both political parties will be stuck with the mind-set that an exit is possible only after "stability," meaning a military victory years from now (if ever).

Peace movement advocates have lobbied successfully for members of Congress to hold Capitol Hill forums in mid-September to explore exit strategies. Here is a starting point that is being discussed in peace circles. It is based on deciding now to get out of Iraq and outlining how to do it. The basis of the plan is a shift from a military model to a conflict-resolution model, then to a peace process that ends in a negotiated political settlement alongside a U.S. withdrawal. The main themes are these:

First, as confidence-building measures, Washington should declare that it has no interest in permanent military bases or the control of Iraqi oil. It must immediately announce goals for ending the occupation and bringing all our troops home - in months, not years, beginning with an initial gesture by the end of this year.

Second, the U.S. should request that the United Nations, or a body blessed by the U.N., monitor the process of military disengagement and de-escalation, and take the lead in organizing a peaceful reconstruction effort.

Third, the president should appoint a peace envoy, independent of the occupation authorities, to begin an entirely different mission in Iraq. The envoy should encourage and cooperate in peace talks with Iraqi groups opposed to the occupation, including insurgents, to explore a political settlement.

Already 82 members of the Iraqi National Assembly have signed a public letter calling for "the departure of the occupation." A former minister in the Iraqi interim government, Aiham Alsammarae, is talking with 11 insurgent groups about a transition to politics. Even the militant Shiites led by Muqtada Sadr have shown interest in the political process by collecting a million signatures for American withdrawal. Surveys earlier this year showed that 69% of Iraqi Shiites and more than 75% of Sunnis favored a near-term U.S. withdrawal.

Neither the Bush administration nor the news media have shown interest in these voices, perhaps because they undercut the argument that we are fighting to save Iraqis from each other. By most accounts, the U.S. military presence has attracted and enlarged the hard-core jihadist forces. The course we are on also contributes to incipient civil war because of subsidies and training for Shiite and Kurdish forces against the estranged Sunnis. It was not enough to invite a handful of Sunnis into the constitutional talks.

Any settlement proposal must guarantee a troop withdrawal and new efforts at reconstruction. A successful peace process will guarantee representation for the Iraqi opposition in a final governing arrangement. It will encourage power-sharing arrangements in economic and energy development as well as governance. The handing over of the Iraqi economy to private and mostly U.S. interests will by definition end with the occupation.

These are plausible steps toward conflict resolution. Perhaps Cindy Sheehan's moral stance will awaken courage among politicians who openly or privately deplore the fabricated origins of the war but cannot bring themselves to be honest about the war itself.

NOTE FROM WALTER: Tom Hayden discussed his proposal on Democracy NOW this week also: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/08/16/1326257


Informant: Walter Lippmann

By Barry Grey
18 August 2005

It is both fascinating and instructive to observe the manner in which the American media seeks to handle the phenomenon of Cindy Sheehan, the 48-year-old woman from Vacaville, California, who has become a focus of anti-war sentiment in the US.

Sheehan, whose 24-year-old son, Casey, was killed in April 2004 while serving in Iraq, set up camp on August 6 down the road from Bush’s ranch outside of Crawford, Texas, and vowed not to leave until the president took time out from his five-week vacation to meet with her and explain, in her words, “Why you killed my son.”

Sheehan quite openly and articulately presents her action as a catalyst for developing a nationwide movement to demand the immediate withdrawal of all American troops from Iraq.

She describes the war as illegal and makes no bones about calling Bush and his fellow war-makers, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Rice, etc., liars.

To her credit, she has pulled back the curtain of deceit crafted by the media to conceal the miserable moral and intellectual stature of the president, describing his behavior at a meeting last year with her and other family members of fallen soldiers as insulting and insensitive. He acted, she says, as though “he were at a party.”

Sheehan has been joined at her encampment by other family members of soldiers killed in Iraq, and has won the sympathy of many millions of Americans who are opposed to the ongoing slaughter in Iraq.

Earlier this week, a veteran who owns an acre of land near Bush’s ranch invited Sheehan and her supporters to move their tents and cars onto his property, after right-wing Bush supporters in the area threatened the protesters.

One fired a shot in the air and another drove his truck over hundreds of small wooden crosses bearing the names of dead soldiers that the group had set up on the side of the road leading to Bush’s ranch.

Other residents had lobbied the county authorities to force the anti-war encampment to move miles away.

“I just think people should have a right to protest,” said Fred Mattlage, an Army veteran. “And I’m against the war. I don’t think it’s a war we need to be in.”

Sheehan’s simple but bold protest obviously took both the Bush administration and the media by surprise.

The instinctive and immediate reaction of the establishment press and TV networks to such an event could only be negative, if not downright hostile.

This goes not only for the far-right gutter press, such as the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post, but also for so-called “liberal” newspapers such as the New York Times and the Washington Post.

After all, they all have promoted the endless lies given out to justify the war and continue to support the occupation of Iraq.

Under conditions of a worsening military and political situation for the US on the ground in Iraq, and an unbroken string of opinion polls registering rising popular opposition to the war and plummeting support for Bush, Sheehan’s initiative was a most unwelcome and disturbing development.

The fallback position for the American media when such things occur is simply to ignore them.

More often than not, events that contradict the pro-war agenda of the corporate-controlled media never appear on the network evening news reports, or, if they do, they are noted and then discretely dropped.

As for the press, let us recall that the New York Times, whose official motto is “All the News That’s Fit to Print,” did not see fit to report prominently the world-wide anti-war protests that occurred on February 15, 2003— the largest international anti-war demonstrations ever held.

The Sheehan case, however, made the usual silent treatment an unsustainable option.

In the first place, she ensconced herself within a few miles of the entire White House press corps, which had made the trek to rural Texas to cover the presidential beat.

She set up camp along the dirt road leading to the Bush compound, where the reporters, cameramen, etc., could not help but see her.

More importantly, she presented a political difficulty.

Given the media’s ceaseless and cynical efforts to identify the legitimacy of the war with support for “our men and women in uniform” and whip up patriotic and pro-war sentiment by invoking those who made “the ultimate sacrifice” and the families they left behind— implying that those who opposed the war were betraying their countrymen on the field of battle— the networks and newspapers were obliged to tread carefully.

The task—at least for the mainstream and “liberal” media— was to treat Sheehan with a show of respect, while blunting her indictment of the war and the Bush administration and ultimately finding a way to discredit her anti-war views.

To the extent that the media has treated Sheehan sympathetically, it has focused on her personal tragedy and downplayed her strong political views.

It has largely ignored the fact that she characterizes the war as a criminal enterprise and supports Bush’s impeachment.

At the same time, a well-established division of labor is operating to discredit Sheehan.

The openly right-wing media swamp—Murdoch’s Fox News and New York Post, the dregs of the Internet, such as the Drudge Report, and the legion of fascist-minded radio and TV talk show hosts— serve up the dirt, and the “respectable” media organs spread their gossip and smears, in the form of “allegations” and “questions.”

Thus Fox News talk show host Bill O’Reilly wrote Tuesday in an online column, “It’s obvious Cindy Sheehan has become a political player, whose primary concern is embarrassing the president. She is no longer just a protester.”

The New York Post editorialized the same day under the headline “Cindy Sheehan’s Agenda”: “Like any other American, she is entitled to a personal agenda. Sadly, the one she’s developed is ugly.

“Cindy Sheehan is a fully-fledged member of the Michael Moore wing of the Democratic Party. She rails about how terrorism could be ended if only Israel would ‘get out’ of Palestine— and compares Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to ‘Hitler and Stalin.’...

“Her activities are being coordinated by Democratic political strategists—which helps explain why her statements parrot Democratic talking points, such as how ‘the Downing Street Memo proves’ that ‘Bush lied to the American people.’...

“[H]er vigil has degenerated into high-profile political theater—if, indeed, that wasn’t the point in the first place.”

What is the charge here? Cindy Sheehan is not simply the mother of a solider killed in Iraq.

She is a woman with definite political views, for which she fights. And those views—opposition to the war, opposition to Bush, opposition to the subversion of democratic rights by war conspirators who lied to the people— are extremist and illegitimate.

The claim that Sheehan is acting as a stalking horse for the Democratic Party is at once hysterical and far-fetched.

She is no doubt working with various groups linked to the Democratic Party, such as MoveOn.org, True Majority, Democracy for America and United for Peace and Justice, but her actions have cut across the consensus policy of the Democratic Party leadership, which is to fully support the imperialist project in Iraq and criticize Bush for failing to prosecute the war with sufficient ruthlessness and competence. For the most part, leading Democrats are calling for more troops in Iraq, and not one prominent figure in that party supports the withdrawal of US troops.

The New York Post’s reference to Sheehan’s sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians is by no means a casual one. It has now become a standard tactic of the media to implicitly or explicitly portray those who oppose the Iraq war as anti-Semites.

Last June, for example, the Washington Post published a derisory column on a hearing held by Michigan Congressman John Conyers on the Downing Street Memos, in which the author, Dana Milbank, cited the presence of critics of Israel to suggest that the entire proceedings were infected with anti-Semitism.

The notorious gossip monger and political provocateur Matt Drudge has reported on his Internet site that Cindy Sheehan had said her son died to defend Israel.

Such smears are repackaged, with a somewhat more objective tone, by the “moderate” TV networks and “liberal” press.

The Washington Post, for example, has taken to publishing reports on Sheehan that balance news of her growing support with echoes of the right-wing complaint that she has a political agenda and is working with various political and anti-war groups.

On Tuesday, CNN’s Anderson Cooper interviewed Sheehan and confronted her with her alleged statement on Israel. She denied ever having made it.

What the media fears in Cindy Sheehan is the broad and deep-going anger and potentially explosive social opposition that she represents.

Her firm and courageous stand, notwithstanding the limitations of her political outlook, suggests that a new quality is coming onto the scene— one that threatens to break the grip of political reaction and open the way for the entry of new forces, from among the working masses, into political life.

That is a nightmare for the American ruling elite that must be prevented.

The media operation on Cindy Sheehan is only now moving into high gear.

Stay tuned for more efforts to manipulate, insinuate and slander.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/aug2005/shee-a18.shtml See

Also: Growing support for Cindy Sheehan protest against Iraq war [16 August 2005]

Protest at Bush’s ranch gathers momentum—mother of fallen soldier continues to demand meeting with president [13 August 2005]

Mother of fallen soldier camps outside Bush ranch: “Why did you kill my son?” [11 August 2005]

The Washington Post and the Downing Street memo [22 June 2005]


Informant: Friends



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

PAUL KRUGMAN DOES IT AGAIN A CALL TO ACTION -- MOVING FORWARD TO 2006

By Congressman John Conyers August 19, 2005

http://www.conyersblog.us/archives/00000211.htm

Today's New York Times has an excellent column by Paul Krugman (see below). The topic: Republican electoral dirty tricks. It is well worth reading the entire piece. It also provides me an opportunity to reflect on the debate that has broken out among progressives about the 2004 election irregularities and how we move forward.

I think I can predict the initial reaction of many of you who have been closely following the Ohio 2004 Presidential election investigations. You will be disappointed that Mr. Krugman stops short of saying the election fraud and irregularities in the 2004 election cost Senator Kerry the White House. While it is no secret what conclusion I have drawn about that question, I do not share this disappointment.

I know that many of my fellow progressives think the official margin of victory for Bush in Ohio, well over 100,000 votes, is too large a margin to be entirely reversed by proof of fraud or malfeasance. For them to believe that to be the case, they need to see some reasonable quantification of the actual voters who were disenfranchised and, in turn, the actual votes that were lost. After all, unlike the Republicans who still think Saddam Hussein possessed WMD when we invaded Iraq and believe we are winning the war, who think that tax cuts for the wealthy will grow the economy and reduce the deficit, who think a grieving mother and an Ambassador's wife are "fair game," and who think that the way to fix Social Security is to destroy it, we progressives are a ³reality based community.²

The problem with answering my fellow progressives' challenge for numbers is that so much of what happened in Ohio centered on unquantifiable events that makes counting the number of disenfranchised voters impossible. How can we determine exactly how many Kerry voters turned around and went home facing hopelessly long lines at the polls? Or how many voters were never registered, and were turned away on election day, because of bizarre and conflicting Ken Blackwell edits about the weight of voter registration forms? Or how many votes were lost because of machine defects or manipulation?

What I can say is what the House Judiciary Committee Democratic Staff said best in the Conyers report: "We have found numerous, serious election irregularities in the Ohio presidential election, which resulted in a significant disenfranchisement of voters. Cumulatively, these irregularities, which affected hundreds of thousand of votes and voters in Ohio, raise grave doubts regarding whether it can be said the Ohio electors selected on December 13, 2004, were chosen in a manner that conforms to Ohio law, let alone federal requirements and constitutional standards."* Is there an exact number? No. Was it potentially a net loss of more than 100,000 Democratic votes? I think so. I continue to investigate what happened in Ohio and in the rest of the nation in the 2004 election and maybe someday the evidence will be sufficiently irrefutable to convince every fair-minded person of the extent and effect of electoral wrongdoing in 2004.

In the meantime, my fellow progressives and I, agreeing with each other on so many things, could go back and forth arguing with one another -- not about whether the GOP played dirty -- but about whether there was ENOUGH fraud to shift the outcome of the election. I see this happen over and over between progressives, sometimes in a civil tone and sometimes not.^ In doing so, however, we would be losing sight of the fact that we actually disagree about very little. Krugman¹s column brings that home.

"There was at least as much electoral malfeasance in 2004 as there was in 2000, even if it didn't change the outcome. And the next election may be worse." Indeed, I think we all agree that, when it comes to electoral dirty tricks, Republican partisans continue to outdo themselves election after election. The things Ken Blackwell did in Ohio were so blatant and, in many instances, so overt and public, that he made Katherine Harris seem shy and retiring by comparison.

Then, he talks about the near blackout about the 2004 election irregularities by the mainstream media: "But few Americans have heard these facts. Perhaps journalists have felt that it would be divisive to cast doubt on the Bush administration's legitimacy. If so, their tender concern for the nation's feelings has gone for naught: Cindy Sheehan's supporters are camped in Crawford, and America is more bitterly divided than ever." How true. But for the progressive voices on the radio, like the Stephanie Miller or Randi Rhodes newscasts, the Internet, and columnists like Willliam Raspberry, many would have no idea what went wrong in Ohio. I think we all agree that the mainstream media is not getting the truth out. (I recently heard Stephanie Miller say something self-deprecating to the effect that, if I had heard her show, I would not call it a "newscast." When you only hear about important news on shows like hers and Randi's, what else do you call it? That said, I agree that hers is a very unusual newscast.)

And then he gets to the heart of the matter: "We aren't going to rerun the last three elections. But what about the future?"

"Our current political leaders would suffer greatly if either house of Congress changed hands in 2006, or if the presidency changed hands in 2008. The lids would come off all the simmering scandals, from the selling of the Iraq war to profiteering by politically connected companies. The Republicans will be strongly tempted to make sure that they win those elections by any means necessary. And everything we've seen suggests that they will give in to that temptation."

Republicans find themselves with plunging poll numbers and an uncertain electoral landscape in 2006. Failure for them in their drive to keep control of the House of Representatives, and one party rule in Washington, means that, if reelected, I will become Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Henry Waxman will become Chairman of the Government Reform Committee, Louise Slaughter will become Chair of the Rules Committee, Charlie Rangel will Chair the Ways and Means Committee, and Nancy Pelosi will be the first woman to be Speaker of the House. That means accountability for this Administration with a stiff dose of the truth.

Make no mistake about it. Desperate times will lead to desperate tactics and partisans supporting Republican candidates will pull out every dirty trick in the book to stop us from bringing checks and balances back to the federal government. What do we do about it?

First, we must be vigilant and we must use every legal means at our disposal to stop the pre and post election manipulations. Second, we must push for legislation at the state and federal level to reform our elections, including providing a voter verified paper ballot.

More immediately, however, we must work harder to take back the House and to do so by a large enough margin so that the malfeasance and fraud makes no difference. I want you to start today (the election is just a little more than 14 months away) because they are. Start organizing in your neighborhood and precinct. Join your local democratic party if you haven't already. Talk to your relatives and friends about how much is at stake in 2006. Support progressive and alternative media that help get our message out by spreading the word about your favorite progressive talk radio hosts and stations, and the blogs you read. Support the candidates of your choice by signing up to be a volunteer for their campaigns, for the DCCC, or by making a financial contribution. Write letters to the editor about the lack of accountability in our government for the bad decisions made by this Congress and this Administration.

In sum, I have a small request: do everything you did for the 2006 election that you did last year in a close Presidential election marred by malfeasance and fraud, and then do more. It is never too soon to start.

..........

*Those irregularities included: "The misallocation of voting machines led to unprecedented long lines that disenfranchised scores, if not hundreds of thousands, of predominantly minority and Democratic voters"..."Mr. Blackwell¹s decision to restrict provisional ballots resulted in the disenfranchisement of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of voters, again predominantly minority and Democratic voters"..."Mr. Blackwell¹s widely reviled decision to reject voter registration applications based on paper weight may have resulted in thousands of new voters not being registered in time for the 2004 election"..."The Ohio Republican Party¹s decision to engage in preelection ³caging² tactics, selectively targeting 35,000 predominantly minority voters for intimidation had a negative impact on voter turnout"..."The Ohio Republican Party¹s decision to utilize thousands of partisan challengers concentrated in minority and Democratic areas likely disenfranchised tens of thousands of legal voters, who were not only intimidated, but became discouraged by the long lines"..."We learned of improper purging and other registration errors by election officials that likely disenfranchised tens of thousands of voters statewide...The Greater Cleveland Voter Registration Coalition projects that in Cuyahoga County alone over 10,000 Ohio citizens lost their right to vote as a result of official registration errors."..."There were 93,000 spoiled ballots where no vote was cast for president, the vast majority of which have yet to be inspected"...."There were numerous, significant unexplained irregularities in other counties throughout the state, [including] in Mahoning county [where] at least 25 electronic machines transferred an unknown number of Kerry votes to the Bush column" and "in Miami county, voter turnout was an improbable and highly suspect 98.55 percent, and after 100 percent of the precincts were reported, an additional 19,000 extra votes were recorded for President Bush."

On some blogs, my staff advises me that the critique of allegations of irregularities has been so angry and accusatory, and allegations of irregularities so wild and unsubstantiated, that I could be banned for posting this entry -- the topic itself is forbidden.

-----------

WHAT THEY DID LAST FALL By Paul Krugman New York Times August 19, 2005

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/19/opinion/19krugman.html

By running for the U.S. Senate, Katherine Harris, Florida's former secretary of state, has stirred up some ugly memories. And that's a good thing, because those memories remain relevant. There was at least as much electoral malfeasance in 2004 as there was in 2000, even if it didn't change the outcome. And the next election may be worse.

In his recent book "Steal This Vote" - a very judicious work, despite its title - Andrew Gumbel, a U.S. correspondent for the British newspaper The Independent, provides the best overview I've seen of the 2000 Florida vote. And he documents the simple truth: "Al Gore won the 2000 presidential election."

Two different news media consortiums reviewed Florida's ballots; both found that a full manual recount would have given the election to Mr. Gore. This was true despite a host of efforts by state and local officials to suppress likely Gore votes, most notably Ms. Harris's "felon purge," which disenfranchised large numbers of valid voters.

But few Americans have heard these facts. Perhaps journalists have felt that it would be divisive to cast doubt on the Bush administration's legitimacy. If so, their tender concern for the nation's feelings has gone for naught: Cindy Sheehan's supporters are camped in Crawford, and America is more bitterly divided than ever.

Meanwhile, the whitewash of what happened in Florida in 2000 showed that election-tampering carries no penalty, and political operatives have acted accordingly. For example, in 2002 the Republican Party in New Hampshire hired a company to jam Democratic and union phone banks on Election Day.

And what about 2004?

Mr. Gumbel throws cold water on those who take the discrepancy between the exit polls and the final result as evidence of a stolen election. (I told you it's a judicious book.) He also seems, on first reading, to play down what happened in Ohio. But the theme of his book is that America has a long, bipartisan history of dirty elections.

He told me that he wasn't brushing off the serious problems in Ohio, but that "this is what American democracy typically looks like, especially in a presidential election in a battleground state that is controlled substantially by one party."

So what does U.S. democracy look like? There have been two Democratic reports on Ohio in 2004, one commissioned by Representative John Conyers Jr., the other by the Democratic National Committee.

The D.N.C. report is very cautious: "The purpose of this investigation," it declares, "was not to challenge or question the results of the election in any way." It says there is no evidence that votes were transferred away from John Kerry - but it does suggest that many potential Kerry votes were suppressed. Although the Conyers report is less cautious, it stops far short of claiming that the wrong candidate got Ohio's electoral votes.

But both reports show that votes were suppressed by long lines at polling places - lines caused by inadequate numbers of voting machines - and that these lines occurred disproportionately in areas likely to vote Democratic. Both reports also point to problems involving voters who were improperly forced to cast provisional votes, many of which were discarded.

The Conyers report goes further, highlighting the blatant partisanship of election officials. In particular, the behavior of Ohio's secretary of state, Kenneth Blackwell - who supervised the election while serving as co-chairman of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Ohio - makes Ms. Harris's actions in 2000 seem mild by comparison.

And then there are the election night stories. Warren County locked down its administration building and barred public observers from the vote-counting, citing an F.B.I. warning of a terrorist threat. But the F.B.I. later denied issuing any such warning. Miami County reported that voter turnout was an improbable 98.55 percent of registered voters. And so on.

We aren't going to rerun the last three elections. But what about the future?

Our current political leaders would suffer greatly if either house of Congress changed hands in 2006, or if the presidency changed hands in 2008. The lids would come off all the simmering scandals, from the selling of the Iraq war to profiteering by politically connected companies. The Republicans will be strongly tempted to make sure that they win those elections by any means necessary. And everything we've seen suggests that they will give in to that temptation.


Informant: NHNE

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/shetterly4.html



Cindy Sheehan
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Cindy Sheehan
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http://www.lewrockwell.com/hornberger/hornberger54.html
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Cindy Sheehan
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