http://www.counterpunch.org/lake08202005.html


Informant: Deb

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3307/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news



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

Tote Hühner bei CDU: Tierschützer fordern weltweites Ende der Versuche mit Affen (22.08.05)

Der 5. Weltkongress über Alternativen zu Tierversuchen hat sich für ein Ende der Tierversuche mit Affen ausgesprochen. In einer am Montag in Berlin verabschiedeten Resolution wurde ein weltweites Verbot für solche Tierversuche gefordert. Mehrere Arten sind nach Forscherangaben vom Aussterben bedroht. Daher forderte der Kongress eine international abgestimmte Strategie, um Experimente an Primaten schnellstmöglich durch Alternativmethoden vollständig zu ersetzen.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=11672

22.08.05

Eine Initiative "Aktion Wahlstreik" forderte am Montag die Einführung bundesweiter Volksabstimmungen. Bei vielen Wahlberechtigten sei nicht das Desinteresse an der Politik dafür verantwortlich, dass sie nicht an der Wahl teilnähmen. Vielmehr fühlten sich viele Menschen machtlos und ignoriert, was die politischen Entscheidungen angehe. Bei vielen wichtigen Fragen werde die Bevölkerung übergangen. Menschen die an der kommenden Bundestagswahl aus diesem Grund nicht teilnehmen wollten, könnten jetzt ihre Wahlbenachrichtigung an die Initiative senden und damit die Einführung bundesweiter Volksabstimmungen fordern. Auch eine Bürgerinitiative mit dem Namen "prosperRegio" setzte sich am Montag die Einführung von Volksentscheiden ein. Nur noch ein kleiner Teil der Bevölkerung hätte überhaupt noch Vertrauen in die Parteien, lautet die Argumentation. Politker würden die Probleme alleine nicht lösen können und sollten sich nun von der Bervölkerung "helfen lassen".

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=11668

ASL demande à Hervé MARITON Député de la Drôme et Maire de CREST de soutenir la proposition de loi N° 2491 du 13 Juillet 2005.

http://www.omega-news.info/assemblee_nationale_proposition_de_loi_2491.pdf

http://www.juancole.com/2005/08/ten-things-congress-could-demand-from.html

by Juan Cole, Informed Comment

Civil war in Iraq will mean a million dead, millions displaced and a global economic collapse. Congress must understand this.

http://www.tompaine.com/

by James Sample, TomPaine.com

McCain-Feingold was meant to clean up elections. Now both parties are undermining it by nominating opponents to the FEC.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050822/the_corruption_commission.php

by Norman Solomon, TomPaine.com

As long as public opinion is against a losing war and not the war itself, the president has an obvious exit strategy: escalate.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050822/dont_give_bush_an_exit_strategy.php

by William Fisher

As whistleblower Sibel Edmonds asked the Supreme Court to review her dismissed case against the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), mainstream media continues to refer to the government’s defense -- the so-called State Secrets Privilege -- as “rarely used.” In fact it has been used over sixty times since its creation in the 1950s. The State Secrets Privilege is a series of American legal precedents allowing the federal government the ability to dismiss legal cases that it claims would threaten foreign policy, military intelligence or national security. A relic of the Cold War, it has been invoked several times since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Judges have denied the privilege on only five occasions....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Aug05/Fisher0822.htm

by Robert Jensen

The failed war in Iraq -- and its effect on the U.S. military -- has the potential to spark the U.S. public to fundamentally rethink the role of force in U.S. foreign policy, and one of the central questions for the future of the United States is whether this questioning can mature and deepen. Can we in the so-called “lone superpower” face that we are now a nation of mercenaries?

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Aug05/Jensen0822.htm

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Aug05/Goldsmith0822.htm



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

http://www.antiwar.com/orig/horton.php?articleid=7032


Informant: Milo

By Tom Yulsman

http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_2954217

08/20/2005 07:41:22 PM

Scientists usually pride themselves as being above the political fray. But earlier this summer, three climate researchers not only found themselves at the center of the battle over global warming but also victims of a political inquisition.

The inquisitor was Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. His targets were Michael E. Mann of the University of Pennsylvania and two colleagues. The congressman demanded that the scientists turn over records related to every bit of climate research they had ever overseen. Among other things, Barton asked for a listing of every study they had completed, every source of funding for their work, the location of all of their data archives, a detailed description of everything they had done with the data since publication of their study and all of their computer code. Barton also demanded answers to a series of questions that in tone and substance seemed appropriate for a criminal investigation.

The scientists' alleged crime? A reconstruction of climate history showing that the latter half of the 20th century was warmer than any other period in the past 1,000 years. The reconstruction, a graph whose shape has earned it the moniker of the "hockey stick," was one important piece of evidence among many that humans are causing global warming. This view is held by the vast majority of climate scientists and is reflected in reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Barton says his probe was motivated by the findings of Steve McIntyre, a mining industry executive, and Ross McKitrick, an environmental economist, who claim to have invalidated the so-called hockey stick graph. Never mind that the Canadians' study, published in a self-avowed political "journal" without peer review, has itself been invalidated. Barton's real motivation is suggested by the company he keeps. The top industries supporting him since 1989 have been oil and gas and electric utilities, which have contributed more than $1.7 million to his campaign coffers.

The congressman's inquisition of three mainstream climate scientists has brought attention once again to a festering issue: the politicization of science. It gained publicity during the presidential campaign when the Union of Concerned Scientists accused the White House of abusing science at federal agencies. "There is significant evidence that the scope and scale of the manipulation, suppression, and misrepresentation of science by the Bush administration is unprecedented," the report charged.

John H. Marburger III, science adviser to President Bush and a self-described "lifelong Democrat," called some of the report's conclusions "preposterous." Whether they really are is unclear. But it is only fair to point out that the union is a left-leaning advocacy group. And just as it decries politicization of science, so do conservative groups, which charge that the same tactics have long been used to support environmental regulation.

If what government researchers themselves say is any indication, however, then political interference with science is real and very troubling. A survey of 460 scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, completed in June by the Union of Concerned Scientists, bears this out. Among the findings, 53 percent of respondents said they knew of cases in which "commercial interests have inappropriately induced the reversal or withdrawal of scientific conclusions or decisions through political intervention." And 58 percent knew of cases in which "high-level U.S. Department of Commerce administrators and appointees have inappropriately altered NOAA Fisheries' determinations."

These findings mirror those of an earlier survey of 1,400 biologists with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Even more troubling, the administration seems to be censoring politically inconvenient science. In 2002, for example, the Environmental Protection Agency removed a section on global warming from an annual report on pollution, after the White House had heavily edited the section for political reasons.

This fits a pattern of censorship. In March, Rick S. Piltz resigned his position as a senior associate at the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, citing pervasive politicization of science by the Bush administration. In a 14-page memo he sent in June to officials who deal with climate change at 10 agencies, he described in detail how the White House was interfering with the scientific mission of the program. "I believe the overarching problem is that the administration ... does not want and has acted to impede forthright communication of the state of climate science and its implications for society," he wrote. Politicization by the White House "has fed back directly into the science program in such a way as to undermine the credibility and integrity of the program," Piltz added.

One "flagrant and fundamental example," he said, involved a scientific report on the potential consequences of climate change in the United States. This "National Assessment" was produced with the help of hundreds of scientists and went through extensive review by experts. Yet the White House, Piltz wrote, "decided early on to essentially send the National Assessment into a black hole." It did this by deleting it from reports that would be seen by Congress and the public.

Recent documentation unearthed by New York Times reporter Andrew C. Revkin supports Piltz's charges. The documents show that a White House official edited climate science reports to discount the human impact on warming. Philip A. Cooney, then chief of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and a former official with the American Petroleum Institute, made dozens of changes. For example, in a 2002 draft of a summary of government climate-change research called "Our Changing Planet," Cooney crossed out a paragraph on shrinking glaciers and snow pack. In margin notes, he claimed the paragraph was "straying from research strategy into speculative findings/musings."

It's simply not appropriate for a political operative to make a scientific judgment like this, says William Collins, a researcher at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and a lead author of a major report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, scheduled for release in 2007. "It is an abuse of that person's position of power to edit a document in that way."

If censorship of government reports were not enough, the administration is trying to muzzle government scientists as well. A prominent example is James E. Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York and a respected climate researcher. According to Hansen, in 2004 Sean O'Keefe, administrator of the space agency at the time, instructed him to stop talking publicly about human contributions to global warming.

The Bush administration is not alone in this, as the Joe Barton affair demonstrates. The congressman clearly is trying to intimidate researchers into shutting up about global warming, and also to sow doubt about the validity of climate science.

Caspar Ammann, an NCAR researcher who recently reproduced the hockey stick graph of Michael Mann and his colleagues, says Barton's inquiry is not intended to take a fair and balanced look at the science. Barton is asking for "every piece of work they ever did, every grant in their whole scientific career," he says. "This is just ridiculous." Ammann concludes that the congressman and his colleagues are "fishing for something somewhere that they can use to discredit the scientific integrity of these people, and therefore the result, and therefore the IPCC final conclusion."

Abusing science for political ends didn't start with the Bush administration. And Republican policymakers have every right to favor the free market over command-and-control regulation. The president and Joe Barton were elected by the people, so on issues of policy the final call is theirs. Moreover, science doesn't tell us what to do, if anything, about vexing environmental issues such as global warming. It does not provide "the answer" - just imperfect information, which policymakers can consider before making their decisions. In the end, that information naturally will matter less than the values held by policymakers. This is true of both Republicans and Democrats.

That being said, this White House and some of its supporters in Congress have gone beyond their legitimate policymaking roles to interfere with the free exercise of scientific inquiry. They have also censored scientific information and the scientists themselves for political reasons. The taxpayers who funded this research have every right to hear what it has yielded so they can make up their own minds - based on an accurate picture of the science, and their own values.

If the president has a convincing case on issues like climate change, then let him make it forthrightly, without filtering the science through his propaganda machine. The fact that he and his supporters resort instead to censorship and intimidation suggests that the president has no case.

As James Hansen so aptly put it recently, "There is something rotten here in Washington."

Tom Yulsman is co-director of the Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado


Informant: Teresa Binstock



How Industry Manipulates Science
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/350582/

The Great Betrayal: Fraud in Science
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/394532/

Quellen: ZDF, 10.07.2002, 22.30 Uhr, "Abenteuer Wissen" http://www.zdf.de/ZDFde/inhalt/0,1872,2004444,00.html

Mikrostruktur des Wassers

Die chemische Formel von Wasser H20 ist jedem bekannt. Das Wassermolekül, das aus drei Atomen besteht, zeigt jedoch ein sehr komplexes Verhalten.

von Bärbel Scheele, 09.07.2002

Wasser ist ein ganz besonderes Untersuchungsobjekt. Die molekulare Struktur ist einfach, doch chemisch und physikalisch ist Wasser äußerst komplex und zeigt ein reiches Spektrum an unterschiedlichen Zuständen und Phänomenen. Das Element Wasser - fest, flüssig und gasförmig

Die Besonderheiten des Wassers sind uns aus dem Alltag geläufig, wie zum Beispiel die, dass Wasser sich beim Gefrieren ausdehnt und dass Eis an der Oberfläche schwimmt. So schwimmen Eisberge auf dem Wasser, wobei etwa 10 Prozent ihres Volumens über die Wasseroberfläche herausragen. Beim Gefrieren bildet sich aus losen, nur über Wasserstoffbrücken verbundenen Wassermolekülen ein mit vielen Hohlräumen durchsetztes Kristallgitter. Dabei vergrößert sich das Volumen, die Dichte nimmt also entsprechend ab, im Vergleich zum Wasser etwa um 10 Prozent. Damit verbunden ist eine weitere Anomalie von Wasser, die bei Experimenten mit Druck zu beobachten ist. Normalerweise gehen Flüssigkeiten unter hohem Druck in feste, kristalline Form über. Wird Eis dagegen unter Druck gesetzt, schmilzt es. Diese Besonderheit nutzt jeder Schlittschuhläufer: Unter dem Druck der Kufen schmilzt das Eis und der Eisläufer gleitet auf der entstandenen Flüssigkeit. Forschung am Institut für Statik und Dynamik

Seit drei Jahren erforscht Prof. Bernd H. Kröplin mit seinem Team am Institut für Statik und Dynamik der Universität Stuttgart das Lebenselement Wasser. Ihr Interesse: Wie verhält sich Wasser auf verschiedene Einwirkungen hin, wie zum Beispiel Magnete oder elektrische Felder. Mit mikrooptischen Untersuchungen versuchen die Wissenschaftler dem so genannten "Gedächtnis" des Wassers auf die Spur zu kommen.

Die Flüssigkeit trocknet konzentrisch mit klaren Strukturen:

Mikrooptische Untersuchungen

Die Untersuchungen erfolgen mit einem Dunkelfeldmikroskop. Wassertropfen werden auf einen Objektträger aufgebracht und die Strukturen beobachtet, die bei der Trocknung entstehen. Der Trocknungsprozess zeigt sich als filigranes Schauspiel. Zunächst bilden sich ganz langsam kleine Strukturen und geometrische Formen. Das getrocknete Wasser hinterlässt auf dem Objektträger einen Fingerabdruck, der konserviert und mit anderen verglichen werden kann. Ein Magnetfeld verändert beim Trocknen die Strukturen das Trockenbild eines Wassertropfens - das Bild wird strukturloser.

Experimente

Zwei Versuchspersonen tröpfeln aus der gleichen Spritze Wassertropfen auf einem Objektträger. Der Trocknungsprozess unter dem Mikroskop aber zeigt unterschiedliche Trocknungsstrukturen. Bei einem weiteren Versuch wird der Einfluss eines Handys getestet. Die Versuchperson gibt mit einer Pipette Speichel auf einen Objektträger. Der Tropfen trocknet in filigranen geometrischen Formen. Danach telefoniert die Versuchsperson zwei Minuten mit einem Handy. Der anschließend aufgetropfte Speichel trocknet in völlig anderer Struktur. Das deuten manche Experten als Einfluss elektromagnetischer Wellen.

--------

Schädigt Mobilfunk das Trinkwasser?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/4040163/

Handys beeinflussen Speichel und Wasser
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1216683/

Bisher geheime Studie heizt Konflikt um Handymasten an
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3464649/



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

AlterNet
by Antonia Juhasz

08/22/05

If Iraq's National Assembly meets its deadline, it will release a draft constitution to be voted on by the people in two months. Since February, vital issues have been debated and discussed by the drafting committee: the role of Islamic law, the rights of women, the autonomy of the Kurds and the participation of the minority Sunnis. But what hasn't been on the table is at least as important to the formation of a new Iraq: the country's economic structure. The Bush administration has succeeded in maintaining a stranglehold on issues such as public versus private ownership of resources, foreign access to Iraqi oil and U.S. control of the reconstruction effort -- all of which are still governed by administration policies put into place immediately after the invasion. The Bush economic agenda favors foreign interests -- American interests -- over Iraqi self-determination...

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/24307/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Boston Globe
by Ellen Goodman

08/21/05

The headline this morning labels her 'peace mom.' It's a moniker that simultaneously personalizes and trivializes the lanky woman with the high-pitched voice who has been camping out in Crawford, Texas. It's a shorthand that both grants and diminishes her authority to speak out against the war, a moral authority won the hardest way possible, through the loss of her child. We are now ending Week Two at Camp Casey. ... If Week One was the Making of a Celebrity with dawn-to-dusk coverage, Week Two brought the backlash and the bloggers. Conservative cable kings like Bill O'Reilly proved that not even the death of a child grants you immunity from attack. Iconoclast Christopher Hitchens took her on with a glee he once reserved for Mother Teresa...

http://tinyurl.com/dwytv


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

Cato Institute
by Doug Bandow

08/22/05

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., is again pushing legislation to reintroduce a draft. He first did so in 2003 to slow the Bush administration's rush to war. Now he says conscription is necessary to provide the bodies necessary for Iraq's occupation. Returning to a draft would ruin the world's dominant armed forces, filling its ranks with people who don't want to serve and turning military service into a divisive political issue. Yet Rangel's proposal reflects an ugly reality: The Bush administration's disastrous intervention in Iraq is weakening the U.S. military...

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4247


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The American Prospect
by Terence Samuel

08/19/05

It's hot in Texas these days, but judging by the guy who ran over Cindy Sheehan's crosses outside the Crawford White House or the guy who fired off his shotgun nearby, the thing to worry about is not the heat -- it's the stupidity. The president needs Sheehan like he needs another pretzel in his throat. If she comes back soon, the trouble she could cause him may be incalculable. There is simply no satisfactory response, either human or political, to a woman demanding to know exactly why her son had to die to advance the idea of freedom -- particularly when the original mission called for the scary and tangible task of saving the world by ridding it of a tyrant and his weapons of mass destruction. We have the tyrant, the weapons remain elusive, and Iraq is a mess. And no amount of political capital can compete with the moral gravitas of a grieving mother...

http://www.prospect.org/web/view-web.ww?id=10151


From Information Clearing House



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

AntiWar.Com
by Justin Raimondo

08/22/05

Both the neocon Right and the 'centrist' (i.e., left-neocon) Democratic Leadership Council denounce the antiwar movement -- and any timetable for withdrawal -- as 'anti-American,' but how 'pro-American' is the regime we've installed in Iraq by force of arms? When you look at what we've actually done in Iraq -- the emerging Islamist-Kurdish tyranny we've empowered -- it turns out that the U.S. government is the biggest exponent -- and exporter -- of true anti-Americanism. The irony and tragedy of this seems lost on those for whom 'anti-American' is the main epithet in their rhetorical arsenal. ... As Shi'ite party militias roam the ruins of Iraq's cities killing and beating political dissidents, and whipping women who fail to wear the requisite head-to-toe chador, our 'democracy'-crazed neocons cite the country as a 'model' -- and look forward to the 'liberation' of the rest of the Middle East along similar lines...

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=7034


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

CNN

08/22/05

President Bush will launch a new round of speeches to rally support for the war in Iraq, advisers said Sunday, as protesters camped outside Bush's Texas home and polls showed weaker support for the two-year conflict. Senior aides say Bush will attempt to portray the Iraq conflict in the context of long wars like World War II, which U.S. forces fought from 1941 to 1945. They said the president also will invoke the September 11, 2001, attacks, arguing once again that the insurgents battling American troops in Iraq share the same ideology as the al Qaeda operatives who crashed hijacked jetliners into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field...

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/08/21/bush.iraq/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

Wells Journal, Somerset

18:00 - 19 August 2005

Campaigners have won their battle against plans to put a mobile telephone mast in a residential area near Wells city centre. On Tuesday Mendip planners announced that they were refusing permission for telecommunications company Hutchison 3G to put a 12 metre high mast on Bath Road.

When the plans were announced, hundreds of outraged residents joined together to oppose the plans, forming a pressure group, collecting signatures and writing letters to the council.

As a result, planning officers at Mendip District Council received a petition of 575 signatures and addresses and 284 letters protesting against the proposal.

County Councillor for Wells John Osman said: "This decision is a triumph for the people of Wells and a tribute to all those who worked so hard to fight against it, collecting signatures and writing letters.

"However, we must not think that the fight is over. We can be sure that Hutchison 3G will not stop here and we must keep working to ensure that any mobile phone masts are sited safely away from schools and residential areas." Planning officer Ken Taylor gave three reasons for refusal.

The proposed site was next to the former service station which currently has planning permission both for the replacement of the garage and for nine houses to be built on the site.

In his report Mr Taylor said: "It is a material consideration that the housing development on the garage site could be implemented. It is considered that were this to be constructed the area would be of a predominantly residential nature and the appearance of the proposed mast would have a harmful impact on the character of the a rea." He also said that if houses were built onthe site then the mast would be directly in front of the entrance which could cause problems for vehicles entering and leaving.

The third reason for refusal was the anxiety caused to neighbouring residents by the possible adverse health effects caused by the mobile telephone mast.

Mr Taylor said: "The anxiety that would be caused by the possible adverse health effects of the technology associated with the proposed installation would significantly diminish the living conditions for people occupying residential properties in close proximity to the site.

"This harm outweighs the need for the proposed installation, particularly as it has not been demonstrated why the proposed installation is only required to provide coverage for a particular part ofWells and why other sites with a lesser impact upon people's living conditions cannot be utilised to accommodate the applicant's network coverage requirements."

wells@midsomnews.co.uk

By Dominic Yeatman
This is Local London

AN APPLICATION by mobile phone company O2 for a mast on the roof of the Courtney Hotel in Wanstead has been submitted to Redbridge Council just one day after a previous application was refused.

The first application for the 15-metre mast in Aldersbrook Road was turned down on grounds of visual intrusiveness but developers have now changed the proposed position of the antennae.

The new application, coming so soon after the old one, has left anti-phone mast campaigners worried that residents in the Aldersbrook conservation area may lose track of what phone companies have planned for their neighbourhood.

Elizabeth Canavan, of Merlin Road, who has waged a long campaign against plans for a mast outside the bowling club in Aldersbrook Road, said: "It's dismaying because it's very confusing for people and it's incredibly difficult to inform people that there's another one coming up.

"There are so many that it becomes hard to oppose them because just as we get a refusal we get another identical application."

Rival company Orange already has a mast on the roof of the Courtney Hotel but, despite guidelines urging companies to share transmitters wherever possible, O2 insists that a new mast is necessary.

A company spokesman said: "The technical feasibility of sharing was outside what we could do. It's a prime objective of ours to share them but we couldn't do it on this occasion."

Council officers have yet to decide how to proceed with the new application but it is likely to be considered at a future meeting of the council's regional planning committee west.

Plans for the mast can be viewed at Wanstead Library in Spratt Hall Road, and any comments should be addressed to the chief planning officer at Redbridge Council.

11:00am Saturday 20th August 2005

No matter what the evidence of lies, no matter what the "intelligence" really said, no matter what the damage to the nation and its citizens and soldiers, warmongers will be warmongers.

http://metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050815-084045-4860r


From Information Clearing House

Concentrating on the Iraq war is a fundamental prerequisite to the understanding of the new wars of colonialist conquests ushered in by the United States under Bush.

http://snipurl.com/h42h

--------

Part 5: Creating Our Own Reality

by Kim Petersen and B.J. Sabri

On the specific subject of violence and atrocities, from the Korean and Vietnam Wars until present, no one can deny there has been a remarkable sliding of the American state into adopting torture comparable to Nazi and Israeli standards of practice. Namely, torture, rape, racial anger, religious anger, mass murder, destruction of property, collective punishment, and disdain for established civilizations have become institutionalized, codified, taught, and are the preferred method for putting down liberation movements, which the US and other imperialists propagandistically call “insurgencies”. However, laying the blame solely at the feet of the troops and the political-economic elites is an attempt at abrogating the responsibility of the citizenry to oppose war, aggression, or occupation. Opposing wars of aggression is an individual and a societal responsibility, especially the overtly illegal mayhem and chaos that the US has been fomenting in Iraq. One antiwar writer argued, “Because the civilian leadership unlike the military is always indebted to public opinion for its existence, it’s ultimately public approval rather than military need that drives air war against civilians, which is why the corporate media obligingly does its bit to keep that approval going.”.....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Petersen-Sabri0919.htm

Whatever The West Decides:

It makes you want to scream. I have been driving the dingy, dangerous, oven-like streets of Baghdad all week, ever more infested with insurgents and their informers, the American troops driving terrified over the traffic islands, turning their guns on all of us if we approach within 50 meters.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9888.htm

Gold Star moms like Cindy Sheehan could be leading sit-ins at military recruitment offices across the country and in the home district congressional offices of Democrats and Republicans. How about Cindy Sheehan moving Camp Casey from Crawford to Hillary Clinton's offices in Washington or New York.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9889.htm



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

"My son died for nothing," Sheehan raged, "He was sent to fight in a war that had no basis in reality and was killed for it. I say my son died for lies. George Bush LIED to us and he knew he was LYING.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9898.htm



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

US defense contractors are riding high these days, buoyed by rising Pentagon spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the high cost of homeland security in the US-declared war on terror.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9899.htm

Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, who received two Purple Hearts and other military honors for his service in Vietnam, reaffirmed his position that the United States needs to develop a strategy to leave Iraq.

http://snipurl.com/h427


From Information Clearing House

If the Bush administration brokered a deal in occupied Iraq to enshrine Islamic law as the guiding principle of the new Iraqi Constitution, you'd think it would be headline news in the U.S. media, wouldn't you?

http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2005/08/bush_caves_in_t.html


From Information Clearing House

The stress on the need for more and more laws gives us the impression as if it was the lack of laws that lead to “terrorism” in the first place.

By Abid Ullah Jan

Even a cursory analysis shows that the target of the proposed terror laws is the basic principles that ensure justice and fairness.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9893.htm

People torn to pieces, relatives scream - another week in the theme park of death

Robert Fisk reports from beyond the Coalition's concrete walls

There are now two Baghdads. One is the Green Zone, where US and Iraqi officials live in a protected realm; the other is the danger zone, where everyone else lives.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9896.htm

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0821-02.htm



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

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3299/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3300/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

Report from Camp Casey II: Howdy, Neighbor! We had an incredible evening yesterday up at the new Camp Casey site. Now, as you read the rest of this post, keep in mind that the new site is literally within spitting distance of Bush's ranch - though we wouldn't actually spit, as we're trying to behave ourselves. And besides, why stoop to vulgar behavior when we have a sound system so loud the words "No more war!" can surely be heard in the man's bedroom?!?

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/1955

Beatrice Saldovar has come to Camp Casey to represent the Torres family whose son (her nephew) Daniel was killed in Iraq in February 2005, and she has done so with the utmost grace. Listen to audio of her extremely powerful story:

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/1956

5 More Co-Sponsors for Barbara Lee's Resolution of Inquiry

There are now 49 co-sponsors of H Res 375, which requires the President to turn over information about war planning in 2002. The four latest are Congressmen Barney Frank, Elijah Cummins, Rush Holt, Gregory Meeks, and Brad Sherman. The Resolution will likely be voted on in the House International Relations Committee between Sept. 6 and Sept. 16. The more congress members who co-sponsor, the more likely some committee members are to both vote Yes and engage in a serious debate in the committee. The ranking Democrat on the committee is Tom Lantos. Here's a report on efforts to lobby him and what you can do to help:

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/1941

In the past month, many of you have asked your Representative to co-sponsor. Please keep up the pressure. Call your Representative's Washington Office (ask for him/her by name at 202-224-3121, or search by your address on the right side of http://usalone.com ) and ask for the Legislative Aide who handles international issues. Take good notes on your conversation and report back to us here:

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/1887

Here is information about the Resolution of Inquiry:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/902

Leave My Child Alone

Did you know...that the infernal No Child Left Behind Act has a sneaky Pete section requiring high schools to turn over student information to military recruiters? Yikes. What do we do? Any way you look at it, this is a family privacy nightmare, another strong-arming of our local schools, and a creepy warm-up to the Draft. But it's also a great excuse to get together in action. So whether you're a parent, teacher, school administrator, veteran or just another adamant American concerned about privacy rights, look for an action to your liking on this site:

http://www.leavemychildalone.org

Congressional Education Day

On September 26, United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) is organizing people from all around the country to meet with Congress Members, Senators, and their staffs to urge them to stand up against the war. If your group is planning to bring a delegation to DC to pressure your Representatives and Senators, phone those offices right away this Monday and set up appointments on Sept. 26 with your elected officials or their staff. Then register your group on the UFPJ website:

http://www.unitedforpeace.org/congressform

If you are an individual interested in joining an existing delegation, send an email to CongressDay@unitedforpeace.org and a coordinator will respond to you.

Read this Lobbying Kit
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/538 and watch for information on the UFPJ site about lobbying training planned for Sept. 25.

Host a Back-to-School Event because most high schools turn over their student lists to military recruiters in October, it's imperative that we get as many kids as possible "opted out" during the month of September. Parents, teachers, grandparents and concerned citizens are planning Leave My Child Alone back-to-school events from September 7-30. It's easy to host an event at your home or local coffee shop -- we provide you all the forms and information you need, plus a free DVD on opting out featuring Cindy Sheehan if you register with us online before Aug. 31. Click here to register an event now and help local parents opt out!

http://www.leavemychildalone.org

More headlines from AfterDowningStreet.org:

Hypocrites and Liars by Cindy Sheehan
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082005X.shtml

The Swift Boating of Cindy Sheehan by Frank Rich
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082105B.shtml

Sheehan Breakthroughs, Unbridgeable Divides, and Taboos Unbroken by David Swanson
http://www.democrats.com/node/5768

The Crawford Coward is Terrified of Six Moms by Bob Fertik
http://www.democrats.com/node/5775

Portrait of Cindy Sheehan
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/1932

Utah TV Censors Cindy Sheehan Ad
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/1952

Salt Lake Mayor Wants Huge Red-State Protest on Monday for Bush's Visit http://www.sltrib.com/ci_2958368

The Coward of Crawford Won't Meet Cindy Because Five More Mothers Would Ask for Meetings
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/20/AR2005082001046.html

Pittsburgh Police Use Tasers and Dogs on Women Opposing War
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0821-01.htm

Army Plans 4 More Years in Iraq
http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3296/

Chuck Hagel Says 4 More Years in Iraq Is 'Folly'
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=avhZVt.Rqr30

Forget Freedom - U.S. Supports Islamist State in Iraq
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0821-04.htm

Sen. Russ Feingold Wants U.S. Out of Iraq by December 2006
http://www.democrats.com/node/5776


FORWARD THIS EMAIL



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

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3305/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

If you haven't participated in this urgent action, please sign them now.

(1) We have one last chance to block destructive oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/297924977?z00m=33291&z00m=33291

Signatures: 5,312 Goal: 50,000 Deadline: Ongoing... This is it: the most important vote to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will take place in September - and we need your signature today.

The showdown vote to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- America's greatest wildlife sanctuary -- will occur in both the House and Senate in mid-September. A provision to open the Refuge to drilling is expected to be buried in the massive Budget Reconciliation Bill.

Please sign this petition to your Senators and Representative today to urge a vote against the Budget Reconciliation bill! The stakes for the Arctic Refuge have never been higher.

For years, we have been fighting to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, America's greatest wildlife sanctuary, from destructive oil drilling - and we are now gearing up for the final vote, slated for right after Labor Day.

In September Congress will vote on the Budget Reconciliation Bill, which will likely include a provision to allow drilling in the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge.

This vote will be extremely close - the House passed their version of the budget bill last spring by only three votes, and the Senate by only five. Big Oil, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Interior Secretary Gale Norton are pulling out all stops to again prevail.

(2) Judgement Day at Hand for Arctic Refuge
http://www.sierraclub.org/planet/200505/arctic.asp

(3) Tight vote expected as Club targets Republican moderates

Get Started: Sign Our Petition! http://www.sierraclub.org/petition/arctic/

(4) Campaign to Save Arctic Refuge Continues http://www.savearcticrefuge.org/ (another action to sign)


This message was sent by Care2 Connect member: Suzanne K.

August 13, 2005 by Lisa Ghariani

Monday, August 15, 2005 - A colleague of mine - Chris Emery - and I drove very early this past Saturday morning to Camp Casey, which is anti-war protestor Cindy Sheehan's rallying point. The trek from Oklahoma City took about seven hours, including meal and fuel stops. We arrived in the small hamlet of Crawford, TX - a 90 mile drive south of the DFW metro area and located just west of IH 35 - a little after 2:00 PM to find hundreds of Cindy's supporters driving over three hundred vehicles; cars, vans, airport shuttles and RV's - moving at a snail's pace, bumper-to-bumper to the site where Cindy is camping about two miles from George Bush's ranch.

I estimated the head count at the rally to be at least 500. Chris overheard the local law enforcement radio traffic and their estimate was 420. The camp site has been turned into a make-shift shrine to honor Casey, Ms. Sheehan's 24 year old son who died in Iraq on April 4, 2004. In addition, nearly 60 other families displayed photos of their deceased loved ones throughout the campsite area. Small white crosses with the names of 842 of the fallen 1800+ soldiers in Iraq lined the final quarter mile mark of our destination.

Please note: This number - 1800 - reflects ONLY the military-conflict related deaths. We discovered from recently retired Iraqi war veterans - the actual number of deceased from the 2003 - 2005 Iraqi / Afghanistan conflicts is "well over" 6,000. This larger number includes deaths from friendly-fire combat accidents and non-combat / urban terrorist related deaths. This clearly emphasizes the point that our military hierarchy chooses to mislead us on several dozen aspects of this illegal war.

We were fortunate to find a parking place fairly close to the hub of activity. A truck bed had been set up as a stage with electric generators and audio equipment to facilitate short empowering speeches by Cindy and other family members who have suffered loss in this war. They are the diligent few who are leading the call to end this quagmire which is commercially packaged by the current administration as "The War on Terror."

We unloaded our gear, which consisted of a camera, water bottles, and a bright red and white sign that read "1,800+ Killed In Action / 0 - WMD's". We were greeted by an onslaught of camera's snapping photos of our sign. It was very hot and humid as we maneuvered our way through the crowd towards the platform stage set-up on the back of a pick-up truck.

Chris immediately noticed a friendly face. It was Ray McGovern, a former CIA analyst whom Chris had met on his recent trip to the Washington, DC Truth convergence. Ray is one of the growing number of former intelligence officers who has pledged his alliance to the truth movement while calling for an end to the Iraqi war. I told Ray that he was one of my newfound heroes. He didn't have much time to chat because he was due on stage to speak to the crowd of diverse activists. The first question he asked the group was, "How many of you are over 50?" Several hands went up. He then read a recent quote by GW stating coldly that "pulling our troops out of Iraq at this time was not wise" and then Ray paralleled it with almost identical quotes by Nixon during the tail end of the Vietnam war. The comparisons that he drew were uncanny, and then he triumphantly ended with "We had to work hard to end the war back then, and we must work together today to end this war too".

The wife of an active duty soldier and her teenage daughter came next and rendered heartfelt pleas to end this war so their loved one could finally come home and return to his role as a father and husband. The teenage daughter's voice wavered softly as she attempted to read a prepared statement. She then broke into tears as she expressed her deep sentiment about how hard it was to be without her father for months and months on end. The group was brought to tears while the young girl struggled to read her notes. Her mother read an email that her husband had sent from Iraq wherein he praised his family's efforts to voice their opinions openly about ending this war. The cryptic email's message supported Cindy's efforts, yet the soldier simply had to refer to Cindy Sheehan as "that lady" for fear of reprisal. He reminded his wife that it was her right as an American to speak out, and urged her to do so.

The next speaker was Cindy, who donned a floppy hat covering most of her sun-weathered face as she climbed upon the make-shift stage. Just as she began to speak a security helicopter circled above the stage, almost drowning out Cindy's words. She joked about the timing of the helicopter coinciding with the exact moment she was to speak, then went on to deliver her message to the applauding crowd. She began with, "This one of the happiest days of my life" and thanked everyone for their support. She also compared this day to one of the worst days of her life: when she found out that her son Casey had been KIA in Iraq. On a personal note she told us who Casey was; he was a very loving and bright 24 year old kid that had a lot going for him. Unfortunately his future was wiped out by George Bush's war, which was based on nothing but lies.

She spoke in a raspy voice as she recounted the first few months following Casey's death on April 4, 2004. "I lost the will to go on and felt like my world ended when Casey's life ended". Then something impelled her to stand up and demand the truth about Casey's death. She paused,then said whimsically, "Who would have ever thought that a revolution would begin last Thursday in Crawford, Texas? And if George was a truly man he would come out here and talk face-to-face with me. I will be here for the five weeks he is on vacation until Sept 1. If he won't talk to me I will follow him to the White house, then I will come back to Crawford for his next vacation, which we know will be very soon!"

She ended her empowering speech with a very simple and poignant statement that sent the group into a frenzy. She said, "I just want George Bush to know how sick and tired we all are of his shit!"

I thought to myself ... journalists, authors, former staff members and economists have written volumes about the Bush DyNASTY ,and Cindy is able to sum it up so eloquently - "George Bush, we are sick and tired of all of your shit!" Well said Cindy.

A few seconds later, I noticed something brewing to the north of the group and moved in closer to see what the hoopla was all about. A small group of Bush supporters, led by a plump man wearing a Hawaiian shirt, sunglasses, and a Panama straw hat reminiscent of the CIA outfit cloned from the movie "Ishtar" was yelling, "Talk to the troops Cindy! We support our president and the troops! Talk to the troops who have done three tours of Iraq!" He was carrying a sign that read "Sheehanism: America haters welcome."

Another skinny guy struggling with a giant American flag was taunting the group yelling, "We support Bush and our troops." Then a baby-faced poster boy for the war appeared in Wal-Mart bought fatigues [no ID's name tags nor US Army insignias were attached to the uniform] holding up a sign that said, "Don't be Michael Moore's Puppets." It was a dwindling motley crew, so they forced some five or six young children to stand in the blistering sun with bewildered expressions holding up flags and "We Love Bush" signs. At one point a veteran who had just lost his son in the war lunged at one of the brain-dead across the street who was jeering at him. The Bush's dirty dozen almost achieved a photo-op of a peace activist pummeling the guy with a flag bigger than Dallas, but then the bereaved man walked away shaking his head in disgust. In the midst of all this orchestrated drama, a helicopter flew low overhead with an Imax-type camera, circling the area like a vulture almost clipping trees and power lines. More ocal police and sheriff's units showed up to bring the tally to about 30 vehicles. SUV's drove by slow with shoe polish-laden windows that said "Cindy go home". We were told that the Bush supporters had been driven to the site in buses and that the original 100+ group by 3:00 had withered to about 16. This count includes the five children forced to stand alongside their parents shouting "We support Bush" in the blazing sun without water. Someone from Cindy's group started to take the kids some water, but local law enforcement announced over a bullhorn that any of Cindy's supporters found standing on the grass would be arrested. As far as I know there is no recognized law against standing on grass to the side of a public road in the boondocks of Texas, but this was a simple way to separate the opposing sides without incident, and it worked quite well.

A Vietnam vet with PTSD began to have some sort of breakdown due to the relentless circling of the choppers and had to be taken to a tent for medical treatment. Chris and I chatted briefly with the man who was holding up an American flag in front of the tent to shield the view of the vet flailing about in torment. They kept reassuring me, "He'll be alright" and asked me to step back. I started to take a photo, but then lowered the camera. There comes a point in journalism when a human being's privacy super cedes the story, and this was that time.

Black storm clouds began to roll in from the western horizon, and an eminent rain began to quiet the scene as the crowd began to leave peacefully. As Chris and I walked to the car, a lone protester wearing a mock Bush T-shirt played soothing jazz music in the rain. The secret service agents dressed incognito as protesters gave a sigh of relief as the crowds dispersed. Many others, who had come from all parts of the U.S. to support Cindy for the duration, settled in by putting up their tents.

I tuned-in to the fake news when I finally got home and Fox was estimating the crowd in Crawford today at around 100. This must be the same math they use to count the dead and injured in this ungodly war.

Lisa Ghariani is a film production assistant and freelance journalist living in Oklahoma City, OK

Chris Emery is a documentary film producer / director and freelance journalist living in Oklahoma City.

They may be contacted at: okctruth@cox.net


Informant: Mofmars3



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

http://www.lewrockwell.com/kwiatkowski/kwiatkowski120.html



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

http://www.codepink4peace.org/article.php?id=451


Informant: Friends



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

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0821-24.htm


Informant: Friends

The human cost of the more than 2,000 American military personnel killed and 14,500 wounded so far in Iraq and Afghanistan is all too apparent. But the financial toll is still largely hidden from public view and, like the suffering of those who have lost loved ones, will persist long after the fighting is over.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082105D.shtml

Frank Rich says that Cindy Sheehan couldn't have picked a more apt date to begin the vigil that ambushed a president: Aug. 6 was the fourth anniversary of that fateful 2001 Crawford vacation day when George W. Bush responded to an intelligence briefing titled "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States" by going fishing.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082105B.shtml