http://www.thenewamerican.com/artman/publish/article_1903.shtml


Informant: John Perna

http://www.rense.com/general67/painful.htm

"By the time the water is pumped out the city, all of those waterlogged houses will have to be condemned and torn down.

In light of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent eminent domain decision on private property, the City of New Orleans can easily condemn all of those destroyed properties and seize the land under eminent domain when the city is rebuilt."


Informant: maintzger

http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tporleans/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tporleans/archives/2005_09.html#076771

OUR OPINIONS: An open letter to the President

Dear Mr. President:

We heard you loud and clear Friday when you visited our devastated city and the Gulf Coast and said, "What is not working, we’re going to make it right."

Please forgive us if we wait to see proof of your promise before believing you. But we have good reason for our skepticism.

Bienville built New Orleans where he built it for one main reason: It’s accessible. The city between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain was easy to reach in 1718.

How much easier it is to access in 2005 now that there are interstates and bridges, airports and helipads, cruise ships, barges, buses and diesel-powered trucks.

Despite the city’s multiple points of entry, our nation’s bureaucrats spent days after last week’s hurricane wringing their hands, lamenting the fact that they could neither rescue the city’s stranded victims nor bring them food, water and medical supplies.

Meanwhile there were journalists, including some who work for The Times-Picayune, going in and out of the city via the Crescent City Connection. On Thursday morning, that crew saw a caravan of 13 Wal-Mart tractor trailers headed into town to bring food, water and supplies to a dying city.

Television reporters were doing live reports from downtown New Orleans streets. Harry Connick Jr. brought in some aid Thursday, and his efforts were the focus of a "Today" show story Friday morning.

Yet, the people trained to protect our nation, the people whose job it is to quickly bring in aid were absent. Those who should have been deploying troops were singing a sad song about how our city was impossible to reach.

We’re angry, Mr. President, and we’ll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry. Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not. That’s to the government’s shame.

Mayor Ray Nagin did the right thing Sunday when he allowed those with no other alternative to seek shelter from the storm inside the Louisiana Superdome. We still don’t know what the death toll is, but one thing is certain: Had the Superdome not been opened, the city’s death toll would have been higher. The toll may even have been exponentially higher.

It was clear to us by late morning Monday that many people inside the Superdome would not be returning home. It should have been clear to our government, Mr. President. So why weren’t they evacuated out of the city immediately? We learned seven years ago, when Hurricane Georges threatened, that the Dome isn’t suitable as a long-term shelter. So what did state and national officials think would happen to tens of thousands of people trapped inside with no air conditioning, overflowing toilets and dwindling amounts of food, water and other essentials?

State Rep. Karen Carter was right Friday when she said the city didn’t have but two urgent needs: "Buses! And gas!" Every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be fired, Director Michael Brown especially.

In a nationally televised interview Thursday night, he said his agency hadn’t known until that day that thousands of storm victims were stranded at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. He gave another nationally televised interview the next morning and said, "We’ve provided food to the people at the Convention Center so that they’ve gotten at least one, if not two meals, every single day."

Lies don’t get more bald-faced than that, Mr. President.

Yet, when you met with Mr. Brown Friday morning, you told him, "You’re doing a heck of a job."

That’s unbelievable.

There were thousands of people at the Convention Center because the riverfront is high ground. The fact that so many people had reached there on foot is proof that rescue vehicles could have gotten there, too.

We, who are from New Orleans, are no less American than those who live on the Great Plains or along the Atlantic Seaboard. We’re no less important than those from the Pacific Northwest or Appalachia. Our people deserved to be rescued.

No expense should have been spared. No excuses should have been voiced. Especially not one as preposterous as the claim that New Orleans couldn’t be reached.

Mr. President, we sincerely hope you fulfill your promise to make our beloved communities work right once again.

When you do, we will be the first to applaud.


Informant: Debi Clark

The Longer Bush Stays in the White House, The More That the National Security of the United States is Endangered

September 5, 2005
BuzzFlash Editorial

The irony of the 2004 election is that it was the last-minute release of an alleged Osama bin Laden tape that John Kerry believes lost him the election. Whatever the merits of Kerry's judgment, the irony is that bin Laden ended up with the candidate he undoubtedly preferred: George W. Bush.

Beginning with 9/11 -- and Bush's failure to protect America against hijackings that he and Condoleezza were warned about in advance, but took no security actions to stop, resulting in the September 11th hijackings -- George W. Bush has weakened national security and the U.S. government's ability to protect its citizens at almost every level. This is just a fact.

Bush, under the tutelage of Rove, gets high ratings for PR stunts, intimidation of the media, and the appearance of being the "paternal protector." But the reality is just the opposite.

In fact if Osama bin Laden wanted to invent a leader to bring America to its knees, it would be hard to imagine a more effective role model than George W. Bush. [...] Read more at
http://www.buzzflash.com/editorial/05/09/edi05063.html


© Virginia Metze

"Here's some disturbing news. They have much of the communications in New Orleans jammed using a military ship. Basically after martial law is declared, it's to keep certain "unsavory" information from getting out... like how horrible things are there. It could also be used to make sure material exposing the government as criminals would be suppressed." -- end message

NOTE: They do not need MILITARY RULE to handle this emergency. We are all Americans here. If Bush has declared martial law, CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN. They are just using that to treat people exactly as they want to, no matter the facts.

I have not yet found verification of this but it is certainly true that communications are still not working.

You can be sure that this thing will be dragged out forever. Drying out should not take as long as that money hungry Halliburton firm will make it last. This contract should be cancelled.

Privatization results in worse service and outrageous prices. The constitution makes clear what the tasks are that government should do, and the people, through their government, try to see to it that it is done. To privatize government responsibilities is ridiculous. Privatized police? Privatized prisons? Just asking for trouble.


© Virginia Metze

While George W. Bush is weakened by his own surprising inertia, absence of responsiveness, and lack of speed in gauging the measure of the Louisiana catastrophe (we will remember that he needed the same amount of time to react following the Asian tsunami last December), the administration could not allow the post of Chief Justice to remain vacant for three reasons.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090705H.shtml

Already under fire for its woeful response to Hurricane Katrina, the federal disaster agency appears to have turned hurricane relief donations into a political payoff - until it was challenged. The New York Daily News says that all last week, FEMA bureaucrats gave prominent placement on the agency's Web site to Operation Blessing, the Virginia-based charity run by controversial right-wing evangelist and Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090705F.shtml

http://www.sauvonsleon.fr/main.php?param=dernieresinfos&date_news=2005-09-09

COMMUNIQUÉ d’ASL: First TRIAL

It is not merely an emotional outburst when a top rap singer says on national television that George Bush doesn’t care about black people; Max J. Castro says it’s a solid argument backed not just by the evidence of the past few days but also by the policies of the last five and a half years.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090805P.shtml

In 1990, the Federal Communications Commission asked the first Bush administration to defend a policy aimed at encouraging more minority ownership of broadcast stations. As the number two man in the solicitor general's office, John G. Roberts Jr. played a critical role in the government's decision to reject the request, according to documents that came to light yesterday.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090805O.shtml

"It's impossible for me to imagine how you report a story whose subject is death without allowing the public to see images of the subject of the story," Larry Siems of the PEN American Center told Reuters.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090805N.shtml

The Bush administration's mishandling of Hurricane Katrina stands as the pluperfect case study of the Republican Party's theory and practice of government. Sidney Blumenthal reminds us that for decades conservatives have funded think tanks, filled libraries and conducted political campaigns to promote the idea of limited government. Now, in New Orleans, the theory has been tested. The floodwaters have rolled over the rhetoric.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090805M.shtml

Parts of the United States are as poor as the Third World, according to a shocking United Nations report on global inequality.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090805L.shtml

On the tape of the interview, Mrs. Bush chuckles audibly as she observes just how great things are going for families that are separated from loved ones, people who have been forced to abandon their homes and the only community where they have ever lived, and parents who are explaining to children that their pets, their toys and in some cases their friends may be lost forever. Perhaps the former first lady was amusing herself with the notion that evacuees without bread could eat cake.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090805J.shtml

Democratic leaders unleashed a burst of attacks on the White House on Wednesday, saying the wreckage in New Orleans raised doubts about the country's readiness to endure a terrorist attack and exposed ominous economic rifts that they said had worsened under five years of Republican rule.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090805I.shtml

(excerpt)

VICTORY - and THANKS to all supporters !!!

Judge Overrules Brussels Ban on Vitamins EU Supplements Directive
9-7-5

http://www.rense.com/general67/euu.htm


A controversial EU directive that could ban thousands of popular vitamin and mineral supplements has been declared illegal by a European Advocate.

The judgment is a victory for health food manufacturers and retailers who appealed to the European Court of Justice to overturn the proposed law.

The new rules governing vitamins and minerals are due to come into effect on 1 August and are designed to improve the safety and efficacy of products sold by the industry, worth millions of pounds. Only named ingredients with proven scientific benefits have been included on an EU "positive" list of approved substances that would be allowed in health supplements.

More than 300 different vitamins and minerals are not on the positive list, meaning that 5,000 supplements will be banned if the proposals become law, according to campaigners, who have been led by Carole Caplin, Cherie Blair's former lifestyle adviser. Popular supplements that will be outlawed include certain vitamin C brands, some calcium capsules and copper tablets.

The legal case against the directive was brought by the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH), a Europe-wide association of more than 300 manufacturers, retailers, consumers and doctors opposed to the legislation.

The advocate general at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) gave an advisory opinion that the directive, as it stands, infringes basic EU principles.

He said that the current proposals lacked clear rules for the European Commission to follow when deciding whether or not to include an ingredient on the positive list. The advocate general's opinion that the directive is "invalid" is not binding, and the full ECJ will rule on the case in July, but the court normally follows his opinion.

More than 20 million people in the UK spend £335m a year on vitamins and supplements in the belief that they bolster health and well-being. One in three women and one in four men takes supplements, and campaigners said the legislation would lead to inferior ingredients being used because more beneficial ones had been left off the positive list.

David Hinde, legal director at the ANH, said: "This is a very significant opinion in a landmark case. What we want to see in the EU is the food supplements directive doing the job for which it was created, which is to provide a 'safe harbour' for food supplements so that they are not classified as drugs, and to promote their availability across the EU. We are optimistic the ECJ will adopt the recommendations of the advocate general."

Under the directive, manufacturers could apply for products to be added to the "positive" list by submitting scientific evidence about the benefits of the supplements. But the high cost of producing such dossiers - up to £250,000 - would have meant that smaller manufacturers and health stores were most at risk from the new rules.

Sara Novakovic, the owner of Oliver's Wholefood Store in Richmond, south-west London, welcomed yesterday's ruling. She said: "At last it is now highly likely that we can continue to offer the products that our customers ask for and want, rather than have to remove them all from the shelves for no good reason and supply them with inferior quality alternatives."

However, the industry faces a continuing fight against EU legislation over health supplements and vitamins. The advocate general upheld the concept of EU legislation on health supplements, saying that the proposals needed to be reworked rather than scrapped.

Further directives on the maximum doses of vitamins and rules governing herbal remedies are due to be brought in over the next two years.

SUPPLEMENTS REPRIEVED?

BORON

A mineral found naturally in nuts, raisins and leafy green vegetables, and included in supplements such as Boots A-Z multivitamins. It is needed for the absorption of calcium, and deficiency is linked to osteoarthritis and osteoporosis.

VITAMIN E

An antioxidant that can protect against free radicals associated with degenerative disease. Naturally occurring versions of the compounds that make up vitamin E would be banned.

SELENIUM YEAST

Antioxidant that can help boost immune response and improve heart function, and is linked to sperm function. Certain types are on the positive list, but yeast form is said to be the most easily absorbed.

IRON

Vital for the production of haemoglobin, the pigment in red blood cells that transports oxygen around the body. Organic forms of iron that are easily absorbed by the body would be banned.

CHROMIUM

A mineral that balances blood sugar levels and is widely used by diabetics to help control their condition. Chromium picolinate supplement, which is not on the "positive list", is seen by health professionals as a safe and effective nutritional supplement for people with insulin resistance and those at risk of diabetes.

CALCIUM

"Bio" forms of calcium that are the most easily absorbed by the body would be banned. Calcium works with vitamin D and is needed to build bones and teeth, and can help regulate heartbeat.

POTASSIUM

A diet low in potassium can be a factor in high blood pressure, and supplements can help with fluid balance, heart rhythm and nerve impulses. More than 20 forms would be outlawed.

SILICA

All forms would be banned, yet it can help maintain flexible joints, supple skin and strong nails and hair. Silica levels in the body deplete with age, and many elderly people take supplements.

© Copyright 2005 by 1stvitality.com


It's an info war!

Forward this to the world! henrithecelt@gci.net

distributed via: namaste publishing
info@namastepublishing.co.uk


ECOTERRA Intl.

Nicht zukunftstauglich: Deutsche Autohersteller ignorieren Zeichen der Zeit (08.09.05)

Wenige Tage vor der Internationalen Automobilausstellung (IAA) in Frankfurt/M. hat die Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V. (DUH) die Autoindustrie zu einem "radikalen Strategiewechsel" aufgefordert. Angesichts des immer offensichtlicher wirkenden Klimawandels und der verheerenden Folgen des Wirbelsturms Katrina im Süden der USA müssten die deutschen Hersteller "in einer konzertierten Aktion alle entwicklungstechnischen Anstrengungen ihrer Ingenieure auf die Entwicklung spritsparender und sauberer Antriebe lenken", sagte DUH Bundesgeschäftsführer Jürgen Resch.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=11810

Ökonomie ohne Ökologie: DIHT fordert Rückschritte in der Umweltpolitik bei Regierungswechsel (08.09.05)

Der Naturschutzbund NABU hat die vom Deutschen-Industrie und Handelskammertag (DIHK) formulierten Erwartungen an die Umweltpolitik einer zukünftigen Regierung scharf zurückgewiesen. "Positionen von vorgestern werden auch durch stetige Wiederholung nicht besser", sagte NABU-Bundesgeschäftsführer Leif Miller. Das DIHK-Papier sei voller alter Forderungen und unter dem Strich viel dummes Geschwätz. Auch vor dem Hintergrund der verheerenden Folgen des Hurrikans Katrina, müsste allmählich auch der DIHK begreifen, dass die - auch ökonomische - Zukunftsfrage nicht mehr heißt, was uns Klimaschutz kostet, sondern was uns unterlassener Klimaschutz kosten wird.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=11813

Ölförderung: Konzerninteressen vor Menschenrechtsschutz im Tschad? (08.09.05)

Seit Juli 2003 wird im Tschad Erdöl gefördert und über eine 1100 Kilometer langen Pipeline an die Küste Kameruns transportiert. Das von einem Konsortium der Ölkonzerne Exxon Mobile, Chevron-Texaco und Petronas mit Hilfe der Weltbank durchgeführte größte Investitionsprojekt in Afrika hatte heftige Kritik durch Umweltschutz- und entwicklungspolitischen Gruppen hervorgerufen. Nun hat amnesty international einen Bericht veröffentlicht, der die kontroverse Diskussion wieder entfachen könnte. Er kommt nach der Analyse der Investitionsvereinbarungen zwischen dem Konsortium und den Regierungen von Tschad und Kamerun zu dem Schluss, dass diese auf Jahrzehnte den Menschenrechtsschutz in den beiden Ländern beeinträchtigen könnten.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=11814

Giftcocktail per Nabelschnur: Umweltgifte werden schon im Mutterleib auf Babys übertragen (08.09.05)

Ungeborenes Leben ist bereits einer Vielzahl von Chemikalien ausgesetzt. Die heute veröffentlichte Studie "A Present for Life" ("Geschenk fürs Leben") von Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) und Greenpeace belegt, dass Industriechemikalien über die Nabelschnur direkt in den Körper des ungeborenen Kindes gelangen können. Die in Blutproben gefundenen Substanzen können für Mutter und Kind gesundheitsschädlich sein oder die körperliche und geistige Entwicklung des Kindes beeinträchtigen. Greenpeace und der WWF fordern, dass durch das neue EU-Chemikaliengesetz REACH gefährliche Chemikalien duch sichere Alternativen ersetzt werden. Die erste Lesung des Gesetzestextes für REACH (Registrierung, Evaluierung und Autorisierung von Chemikalien) soll im November im EU-Parlament stattfinden.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=11812

Heftige Kritik an den USA im neuen UN-Bericht, Zwangsräumungen in New Orleans und die PR-Arbeit der Regierung Bush.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/20/20888/1.html

Der Lauschangriff auf einen Dresdner Journalisten ist nicht nur ein politischer Skandal.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/20/20889/1.html

Here's an update to the last email SUBJECT: Transport Provided to Anywhere - ... thank you so much for your patience. i am new at network messaging and will not abuse the privilege.

lynda has been asked not to take anymore messages on her cel and apparently her emailbox is clogged from an overwhelming response to the email i just out to you all.

there seems to be alot of confusion as many people are trying to help in this desperate situation. my apologies; i wish i knew more, but the news seems to be changing on a dime.

the the best link i have found so far:
http://news.bestfriends.org/index.cfm?page=specialreports&mode=cat&catid=04061773-BDB9-396E-9001EF6EC01318A4&stid=4

thank you!

ana


This message was sent by Care2 Connect member: Ana S.

Newscasters, sick of official lies and stonewalling, finally start snarling. In the last couple of days, many of the broadcasters reporting from the bowl-shaped toxic waste dump that was once the city of New Orleans have stopped playing the role of wind-swept wet men facing down a big storm to become public advocates for the poor, the displaced, the starving, the dying, and the dead.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090705C.shtml

The Bush White House is known for its ability to remain in control of its message and image, sliding out of crises with barely a scratch. Not this time. Despite day after day of appearances by President Bush aimed at undoing the political damage from a poor response to Hurricane Katrina, the White House has not been able to regain its footing, already shaken by the war in Iraq and a death toll exceeding 1,880.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090705B.shtml

Scott Galindez asserts that if Osama is still alive, he is now George W. Bush's #1 supporter. Galindez reminds us that once again, on Sunday, the Bush administration will be exploiting 9/11 to justify a war that there is no justification for. A war based on lies and evidence fixed to meet the policy. A war that accomplished many of Osama bin Laden's goals.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090705A.shtml

Please help protect the Great Bear Rainforest from logging by signing this petition. This is a time-sensitive petition, with the target date set for the end of September.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/462802826

If you have already signed, thank-you. Please pass this on to members of your network or those who you feel would be interested.

Sincerely;

Sharon Flathen


This message was sent by Care2 Connect member: Sharon F.

"Given the available information, we do not believe there can be any doubt that the U.S. government has intervened to support the stock market. Yet virtually no one ever mentions government intervention publicly, preferring instead to pretend as if such activities have never taken place and never would.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10163.htm

Senators need to ask these pointed questions of John G. Roberts Jr. at the upcoming confirmation hearings.

http://snipurl.com/hii1


From Information Clearing House

Critics charge Bush political patronage, focus on terror hurt FEMA's effectiveness.

http://snipurl.com/hihx


From Information Clearing House

Ten buses sent from Washington to help evacuate victims of Hurricane Katrina returned nearly empty on Wednesday after volunteers could find only one person willing to come to the U.S. capital, a city official said.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N07165370.htm


From Information Clearing House

Iran has offered to send 20 million barrels of crude oil to the US to help with the consequences of Hurricane Katrina.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4218986.stm


From Information Clearing House

An offer of aid from the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, which included two mobile hospital units, 120 rescue and first aid experts and 50 tonnes of food, has been rejected, according to the civil rights leader, Jesse Jackson.

http://snipurl.com/hii5


From Information Clearing House

A Swedish plane laden with aid was waiting to take off but had not got U.S. approval to enter the United States.

http://snipurl.com/hih7


From Information Clearing House

- Warning - Disturbing images
http://snipurl.com/hihp


From Information Clearing House

World press:

In newspapers across the world, commentators believe Hurricane Katrina marks a profound change in the way the US is perceived at home and abroad. Some speak of the American "myth" being shattered by the poverty and racial divisions which they say the disaster has revealed.

http://snipurl.com/hiho


From Information Clearing House

The first rule of the social fabric - that in times of crisis you protect the vulnerable - was trampled. Leaving the poor in New Orleans was the moral equivalent of leaving the injured on the battlefield. No wonder confidence in civic institutions is plummeting.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10164.htm

Present-day US fears about an Iranian-dominated super-state embracing southern Iraq and the Gulf have a basis in historical fact.

http://snipurl.com/hihk


From Information Clearing House

Iraqi MPs on Tuesday debated sweeping anti-terror legislation that would make even crimes such as vandalism subject to the death penalty in a bid to quell the raging insurgency.

http://snipurl.com/hihj


From Information Clearing House

By Brian Thevenot
Staff writer

"Don't step in that blood - it's contaminated," he said. "That one with his arm sticking up in the air, he's an old man." Then he shined the light on the smaller human figure under the white sheet next to the elderly man. That's a kid," he said. "There's another one in the freezer, a 7-year-old with her throat cut."

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10167.htm

SPACE WEATHER ADVISORY BULLETIN #05- 8
2005 September 07 at 01:31 p.m. MDT (2005 September 07 1931 UTC)

**** POWERFUL SOLAR FLARE ERUPTS ****

One of the largest solar flares on record occurred today, September 07. Very active Region 808 produced a powerful X17 flare (R4 on the NOAA Scale) observed on the NOAA GOES satellite at 07/1740 UTC (September 07, 1:40 p.m. EDT). This flare, the 4th largest in the last 15 years, erupted just as the Region 808 sunspot cluster was rotating onto the visible disk of the sun. Intense radio emissions were also associated with this flare. A very bright and fast coronal mass ejection was observed on coronagraph imagery; however, the material was not Earth directed. An S1 - S2 radiation storm is expected following this eruption, but is not expected to begin until late on September 07 or early September 08. This event created a complete blackout of high frequency communications on the daylit side of Earth. Communications used by emergency services along the Gulf Coast may have experienced problems due to this flare. Low frequency navigation systems may also have experienced a period of significant degradation. Over the past two weeks, this active region produced a series of significant solar eruptions as it made its passage around the back side of the Sun. Significant eruptions are expected in the coming days.

Agencies impacted by space weather storms may experience disruptions over the next two weeks. These include spacecraft operations, electric power systems, HF communications, and low-frequency navigations systems. CME confirm: http://mlso.hao.ucar.edu/cgi-bin/mlso_homepage.cgi


Informant: Dani Djinn

From: "Dan Jacobson, Environment California Legislative Director" DanJ@environmentcalifornia.org Date: September 7, 2005 3:55:42 PM PDT To: gmvye@pacbell.net Subject: Environment California : Three Days to Pass the Million Solar Roofs Bill


We have just three days left to pass the Million Solar Roofs bill. Over the past six months, dozens of people have helped us lobby in Sacramento, thousands of people have called their legislators, and over 60,000 Californians have sent emails or signed a postcard in support of this solar bill. Now we're down to the wire, and we need your help again.

Please make one more call to your Assemblymember RIGHT NOW and urge your Assemblymember to support the Million Solar Roofs bill, SB 1. Then ask your family and friends to help by forwarding this email to them.

You can call your Assemblymember, Pedro Nava, at 916-319-2035

Here is a sample message you can leave: "Hi, my name is _____ and I live in _______ (your city). Please support SB 1, the Million Solar Roofs bill, and do everything you can to help it pass."

Then let us know you called. This is an important part of our work! It lets us track how many people each legislator is hearing from.

To report your call, click on this link or paste it into your web browser:
http://environmentcalifornia.org/envirocalifenergy.asp?id=234&id4=ES


Background

Environment California is working to make California the nation's solar power leader by passing the Million Solar Roofs bill, SB 1, which would be the nation's largest solar power policy.

The Million Solar Roofs bill would build a million solar power systems over 10 years including building half of all new homes with solar panels. These goals would grow California's solar market 30- fold, cutting the cost of solar power in half and bringing clean air and energy independence to all Californians.

The Million Solar Roofs bill would accomplish these goals by:

* Creating a $2.5 billion fund to provide one-time rebates to homeowners of both new and existing homes as well as businesses, farms and schools over 10 years. The fund would come from a small surcharge on ratepayer bills of around 55 cents per month. Low- income ratepayers would be exempt from paying into the fund and 10 percent of the fund would go specifically to installing solar on affordable and low-income housing.

* Raising the current cap on a program called net metering, in which solar customers are given a credit on their electric bill for excess power generated by their solar system. State law currently caps this program at 0.5 percent of a utility's peak load. SB 1 would raise this cap five fold, up to 2.5 percent.

* Requiring new, large single-family housing developers to make solar panels a standard offer, similar to marble counter tops.

We have just three days left to pass the Million Solar Roofs bill. Over the past six months, dozens of you have helped us lobby in Sacramento, thousands have made a personal phone call, and over
60,000 California residents have sent emails or signed a postcard in support of this solar bill. Now we're down to the wire, and we need your help again.

Please make one more call to your Assemblymember RIGHT NOW and urge your Assemblymember to support the Million Solar Roofs bill, SB 1. Then ask your family and friends to help by forwarding this email to them.

You can call your Assemblymember, Pedro Nava, at 916-319-2035

Here is a sample message you can leave: "Hi, my name is _____ and I live in _______ (your city). Please support SB 1, the Million Solar Roofs bill, and do everything you can to help it pass."

Then let us know you called. This is an important part of our work! It lets us track how many people each legislator is hearing from.

To report your call, click on this link or paste it into your web browser:
http://environmentcalifornia.org/envirocalifenergy.asp?id=234&id4=ES

Sincerely,

Dan Jacobson Environment California Legislative Director DanJ@environmentcalifornia.org http://www.EnvironmentCalifornia.org

P.S. Thanks again for your support. Please feel free to share this e-mail with your family and friends.


Informant: Hopedance

September 4th, 2005 3:32 am

Antiwar Groups Hope to Pack 100,000 Around White House

By Petula Dvorak / Washington Post

From the Ellipse to Lafayette Square, including the streets and sidewalks in between, the public parks encircling the White House can hold about 100,000 people, according to the National Park Service.

Antiwar groups hope to bring that many people to fill the spaces with their rally Sept. 24, the first time in more than a decade that demonstrators will be allowed to surround the White House.

At a news conference yesterday, two major antiwar coalitions announced a demonstration and march that could be the largest since the Iraq war began, according to Bill Dobbs, a spokesman for United for Peace and Justice, one of the groups organizing three days of events.

The Park Service and the groups are negotiating the fine points of a permit, such as electrical cord routes and riser placement, but "in all likelihood," the permit will be issued to the groups' specifications, Park Service spokesman Bill Line said.

The rally has been in the works for months, but public sentiment about the war has soured, which has "marked a turning point for the antiwar movement," said Brian Becker, national coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition, which is partnering with Dobbs's group.

The response to the disaster in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina has fueled antiwar sentiment, because many believe the U.S. military presence in Iraq is "hampering efforts in New Orleans," said Mounzer Sleiman, an independent political and military analyst working with ANSWER.

And antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan's camp-out last month as she sought an audience with the president outside his Texas ranch spurred a level of support from military families that similar events have not had, said Leslie Cagan, an organizer with United for Peace and Justice.

U.S. veterans from generations of wars "are now speaking out loud and clear" against the war and are joining the peace movement, Cagan said.

The coalitions are organizing buses, vans and carpools from across the country and said groups are coming from Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Texas, New York, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, New Hampshire, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Florida and North Carolina.

The groups have obtained preliminary permits for the area around the White House that day, said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, co-founder and an attorney with the Partnership for Civil Justice, who has been negotiating for months to get approval for the rally.

Counter-demonstrators are having difficulty finding space because the antiwar groups' permits are so widespread, said Kristinn Taylor of FreeRepublic.com, a group that often rallies against antiwar demonstrations.

The umbrella groups staging the event say they represent thousands of people and hundreds of causes. They include the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, the DeKalb Interfaith Network for Peace and Justice, Grandmothers for Peace, Historians Against the War, Jewish Voice for Peace, the Kalamazoo Non-Violent Opponents of War, Texans for Peace, Korea Truth Commission and dozens more.

Often, such protests encompass a variety of issues, from U.S. policy in Haiti to the practices of the World Bank. Activists say it's important to show how U.S. policies around the world and at home are interlocked.

But at yesterday's news conference, which had nearly a dozen speakers, the activists edited one another, fighting to stay on their primary message.

"Bring the troops home now," Dobbs said.

He and others said that because the organizations are getting so much support from citizens who are not members of an activist group, they are trying to keep the message clear.

"The people themselves -- ordinary, average people -- will be the decisive factor," Becker said.

He and others said they are also fighting the perception that being antiwar means that they are anti-soldier. That is why the involvement of military families and veterans is so important.

"We're not against the troops," said Mehdi Bray, who is with ANSWER. "We don't oppose the troops; we love them. That's why we want to bring them home."


Informant: Hopedance

Despite reporting five deaths from a bacteria-caused illness, public health officials said they are more concerned about the possibility of toxic chemicals in the water covering New Orleans than they are about a cholera outbreak. But more than a week after Hurricane Katrina hit the region, health officials still don't know what kind of toxic chemicals are in the water.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/090705HA.shtml

Too many people using too much energy and natural resources make it inevitable that wild Pacific salmon will become extinct over the next century without a major overhaul in the way people live their lives, a group of 30 scientists, policy analysts and advocates concluded.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/090705EC.shtml

In the state's first major assessment of the environmental havoc in southern Louisiana, Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Mike McDaniel said large quantities of hazardous materials in damaged industrial plants, the danger of explosions and fires and water pollution were his main concerns eight days after the storm struck. "It's almost unimaginable, the things we are going to have to deal with," he said.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/090705EA.shtml

John Sugg writes from Atlanta: Much as 9/11 shifted the nation's discourse rightward - pushing values like privacy and open discourse aside for national security - Katrina may revive an appreciation for dealing with the natural world in a way that doesn't invite so many problems. Perhaps this trauma will begin to cleanse our lenses a bit and allow us to view things as they really are, rather than as part of some vast fantasyland to be lobbied and spun for political expediency.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090705R.shtml

Cuts to Medicaid have been delayed by lawmakers concerned about bad PR in the wake of a hurricane. So it's okay to cut health care for poor people when there's no televised crisis?

http://tompaine.com/uncommonsense/index.php#6091

by Michael T. Klare, TomPaine.com

The Bush energy policy, signed only two months ago, has collapsed. It's now time to start over.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050908/energy_policy_doa.php

by Frank O'Donnell, TomPaine.com

The Senate will soon hold a vote challenging the Bush administration's lies about mercury pollution.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050908/heavy_metal_holdup.php

by Terry Lynn Karl, TomPaine.com

A Stanford political science professor says the Bush administration's obsession with terrorism and privatization sapped FEMA's ability to prevent crisis.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050908/bushs_second_gulf_disaster.php

Von: Aktionsbündnis Münsterland gegen Atomanlagen AB.MS-Land@web.de
Datum: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 16:41:36 +0200
An: boesenzwerge@t-online.de
Betreff: PE zu den Bußgeldverfahren gegen AtomkraftgegnerInnen

Anbei eine Presseerklärung vom 7.9.05 der Bürgerinitiative "Kein Atommüll in Ahaus" zu den Bußgeldverfahren gegen AtomkraftgegnerInnen.

Bahnhofstr. 51
48683 Ahaus
Postfach 1165
48661 Ahaus
Vorwahl: 02561 Tel.: 961791 FAX: 961792 INFOLINE: 961799 Homepage: http://www.bi-ahaus.de
E-mail: mail@bi-ahaus.de


Pressemeldung vom 7.9.2005

Atomstaat gleich Polizeistaat!

Diesen Eindruck hatten die ca. 60 Teilnehmer der Informationsveranstaltung der BI-Ahaus am Montag, den 5. August in Ahaus. Die juristische Aufarbeitung der Demonstrationen der vergangenen Castortransporte wirft dunkle Schatten auf die Arbeit der Polizei. Gegen 270 Demonstranten wurde jetzt von der Kreispolizeibehörde ein Bußgeldverfahren eingeleitet. Die nachträglichen Kriminalisierungsversuche des Kreises Borken sind aus Sicht der Anwälte völlig überzogen und absolut ungerechtfertigt. Auch die BI wertet diese Verfahren als pauschalen Einschüchterungsversuch von politisch unliebsamen Demonstranten. Die unbegründete Räumung der Kreuzung am Schumacherring beim ersten Transport war selbst mit Taktik nicht zu begründen. Als besonders ungerechtfertigt und undifferenziert wurde die Polizeiarbeit beim zweiten Castortransport eingestuft. Da wurden willkürlich unbeteiligte Teilnehmer der genehmigten Mahnwache rechtswidrig über mehrere Stunden festgehalten. Gegen alle wurde mit gleichlautenden aber falschen Anschuldigungen ein Bußgeldverfahren eröffnet. Nach Auskunft des Rechtsanwaltes W. Achelpöhler aus Münster kann die Polizei mögliche Ordnungswidrigkeiten verfolgen, muss es aber nicht! Gerade die fragwürdige Polizeiarbeit sollte zur unverzüglichen Einzustellung aller Verfahren führen, meint Felix Ruwe, Sprecher der BI-Ahaus.

Die oft stundenlangen Vernehmungen der Ahauser Schüler, die in Eigenregie eine Schülerdemo organisiert hatten offenbaren erhebliche Mängel beim Demokratieverständnis der Polizei. Da wurden Schüler und deren Eltern vom "Staatsschutz" zur Vernehmung vorgeladen. Sie mussten seitenlange Protokolle unterschreiben ohne eine Durchschrift erhalten zu haben. Nach Ansicht des Anwaltes W. Achelpöhler "wurde hier mit Kanonen auf Schüler geschossen!" Eigentlich sollten wir uns freuen, wenn junge Menschen politisch tätig werden und sich für die Erhaltung der Umwelt einsetzen, meint Ruwe, aber jetzt müssen wir unbedingt dem Polizei- und Atomstaat die rote Karte zeigen. An Ahaus wird deutlich, dass es keine friedliche Nutzung der Atomenergie gibt.

Felix Ruwe
BI-Ahaus

The Bush Administration has tried its very best, from the beginning, not to show coffins and body bags, lest people understand the horrors they are involved in.

I believe we must demand that FEMA allow the press into the city, and that no more cases of shooting of news reporters and photographers being shot must happen.

And when we are calling, we should demand that the truth about the Republicans be told. They do not care for any non-millionaire types. And the first thought is always oil.

Further, they have once again given Halliburton non bid contract for cleanups in this country. How gross can they get? We have poured billions into Halliburton and have not even demanded a valid accounting!

Ginny


© Virginia Metze

Time Lines of What Bush Knew and When He Knew it & What Bush Didn't Do and When He Didn't Do It !!

IMPORTANT -- Pass it ON !!

This could bring him Down

Visual Timeline: Katrina versus Bush
http://www.basetree.com/articles/katrina-versus-bush.html

Think Progress » KATRINA TIMELINE
http://www.thinkprogress.org/katrina-timeline

Timeline of Hurricane Katrina - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Hurricane_Katrina

Hurricane Katrina timeline - dKosopedia
http://www.dkosopedia.com/index.php/Hurricane_Katrina_Chronology


Informant: ranger116

120 Ein-€-JobberInnen im Möbelverbund: Die ARGE zerstört in Köln selbstverwaltete Betriebe und Selbsthilfestrukturen

„Die Kölner ARGE will in verschiedenen Projekten des Kölner "Möbelverbund" (Verbund gemeinnütziger Kölner Möbellager e.V.) 120 MAE-Stellen einrichten (Arbeitsgelegenheiten mit Mehraufwandsentschädigung - besser bekannt als "1€Jobs"). Die Arbeitslosen sollen u.a. bei Umzügen und Entrümpelungen eingesetzt werden. Den Projekten entstehen für diese ArbeiterInnen keine Lohnkosten, und sie bekommen für die Arbeit der Arbeitslosen sogar noch zusätzliche Gelder von der ARGE ("Arbeitsgemeinschaft", der Zusammenschluss von Arbeitsamt und Sozialamt zwecks Verwaltung der EmpfängerInnen von Arbeitslosengeld 2). Von den Kunden brauchen diese Entrümpler dann nicht mehr viel zu verlangen - ist ja alles schon aus öffentlichen Geldern bezahlt. Die ARGE betreibt damit Lohndumping; die Löhne in diesem Bereich werden noch weiter gedrückt werden. Für Selbsthilfegruppen wie SSK und SSM könnte das ökonomisch das Ende bedeuten. Die ARGE schafft keine Arbeitsplätze, im Gegenteil: sie zerstört vorhandene…“ Presseerklärung der Sozialistischen Selbsthilfe Köln vom 05.09.2005 http://www.ssk-bleibt.de/


Aus: LabourNet, 8. September 2005

http://links.net-hh.de?lid=22634

Der Bezirksdirektor der Nachbargemeinde von New Orleans, Jefferson Parish, erklärt in der US-Talkshow "Meet the Press", wie er die Rettungsmassnahmen nach dem Durchzug des Hurricans erlebte und meint, man müsste die US-Regierung wegen vielfachen Mordes verklagen. (Video)

http://websrvr20.audiovideoweb.com/avwebdswebsrvr2143/news_video/Broussard512K.mov
http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/002348.html

By George Lakoff

Katrina's tragic consequences were not just due to incompetence, natural disaster, or Bush policies (though he is accountable). This is a failure of moral and political philosophy.

It is impossible for me, as it is for most Americans, to watch the horror and suffering from Hurricane Katrina and not feel physically sore, pained, bereft, empty, heartbroken. And angry.

The Katrina tragedy should become a watershed in American politics. This was when the usually invisible people suddenly appeared in all the anguish of their lives -- the impoverished, the old, the infirm, the kids and the low-wage workers with no cars, TVs or credit cards. They showed up on America's doorsteps, entered the living rooms and stayed. Katrina will not go away soon, and she has the power to change America.

The moral of Katrina is mostly being missed. It is not just a failure of execution (William Kristol), or that bad things just happen (Laura Bush). It was not just indifference by the President, or a lack of accountability, or a failure of federal-state communication, or corrupt appointments in FEMA, or the cutting of budgets for fixing levees, or the inexcusable absence of the National Guard off in Iraq. It was all of these and more, but they are the effects, not the cause.

The cause was political through and through -- a matter of values and principles. The progressive-liberal values are America's values, and we need to go back to them. The heart of progressive-liberal values is simple: empathy (caring about and for people) and responsibility (acting responsibly on that empathy). These values translate into a simple principle: Use the common wealth for the common good to better all our lives. In short, promoting the common good is the central role of government.

The right-wing conservatives now in power have the opposite values and principles. Their main value is Rely on individual discipline and initiative. The central principle: Government has no useful role. The only common good is the sum of individual goods. It's the difference between We're all in this together and You're on your own, buddy. It's the difference between Every citizen is entitled to protection and You're only entitled to what you can afford. It's the difference between connection and separation. It is this difference in moral and political philosophy that lies behind the tragedy of Katrina.

A lack of empathy and responsibility accounts for Bush's indifference and the government's delay in response, as well as the failure to plan for the security of the most vulnerable: the poor, the infirm, the aged, the children.

Eliminating as much as possible of the role of government accounts for the demotion of FEMA from cabinet rank, for Michael Brown's view that FEMA was a federal entitlement program to be cut, for the budget cuts in levee repair, for placing more responsibility on state and local government than they could handle, for the failure to fully employ the military, and for the lax regulation of toxic waste dumps contributing to a "toxic stew."

This was not just incompetence (though there was plenty of it), not just a natural disaster (though nature played its part), not just Bush (though he is accountable). This is a failure of moral and political philosophy -- a deadly failure. That is the deep truth behind this human tragedy, humanly caused.

It is a truth that needs to be told, starting now -- over and over. There can be no delay. The Bush administration is busy framing it in its own way: bad things just happen, it's no one's fault; the federal government did the best it could -- the problem was at the state and local level; we'll rebuild and everything will be okay; the people being shipped out will have better lives elsewhere, and jobs in Wal-Mart!

Unless the real truth is told starting now, the American people will accept it for lack of an alternative. The Democratic response so far is playing right into Bush's framing. By delaying a response for fear it will be called "partisan," the Democratic leadership is allowing Bush to frame the tragedy. And once it is framed, it is hard to reframe! It is time to start now.

Hurricane Katrina should also form the context in which to judge whether John Roberts is fit to be chief justice of the United States Supreme Court. The reason is simple: The Katrina Tragedy raises the most central issues of moral and political principles that will govern the future of this country. Katrina stands to be even more traumatic to America than 9/11. The failure of conservative principles in the Katrina Tragedy should, in the post-Katrina era, invalidate those principles -- and it should invalidate the right of George Bush to foist them on the country for the next 30 years.

John Roberts, as chief justice of a conservative court, would have enormous powers to impose on the nation those invalid principles. Do not be fooled by the arguments of "strict construction," "narrow interpretation" and the avoidance of "judicial activism" that will be brought forth in the hearings. What Roberts is brilliant at is the use of "narrow interpretations" to have maximal causal effect. Narrow interpretation, in his hands, can serve the purpose of radical conservative judicial activism.

Consider a small example, the Case of the Hapless Toad. The Constitution empowers Congress to regulate "commerce ... among the several states." This clause has been interpreted by the Court to make it the constitutional basis for much of civil rights legislation and all major environmental laws.

Over the past decade, the Court has been diminishing the powers of the federal government over the environment by limiting the scope of that clause, even limiting the application of the Clean Water Act. A completely narrow interpretation could eliminate all environmental laws (e.g., clean water and air, habitat protection) and threaten our civil rights. Roberts has written in favor such a narrow interpretation.

The case concerned a developer who wanted to build a large housing tract in California that would destroy one of the last remaining breeding grounds of the arroyo southwestern toad, threatening its continued existence. The U.S. Courts of Appeals on Washington, D.C., upheld the right to life of the toad species under the Endangered Species Act. But Roberts, in a July 2003 opinion, wrote that the Interstate Commerce Clause, on which the Endangered Species act is based, should not apply to "a hapless toad that, for reasons of its own, lives its entire life in California."

Such a narrowing would threaten the legal basis of the Endangered Species Act. Anti-discrimination legislation is also based on the Interstate Commerce Clause. What about discrimination wholly within one state? Were Roberts to apply a similar narrowing criterion, much of anti-discrimination law would go out the window.

The point is simple. Narrow interpretations can have massive causal effects and be a form of radical judicial activism in the conservative cause. After the Katrina Tragedy, we cannot afford a radically activist Chief Justice with the same philosophy that has failed America so badly. The ultimate moral and political issues apply in both cases. John Roberts as Chief Justice would be a danger to our democracy and possibly to our very lives.

George Lakoff is the author of Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate' (Chelsea Green). He is Professor of Linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley and a Senior Fellow of the Rockridge Institute.


Informant: Dawn Ortiz Legg

THIS IS EXCELLENT!!

PLEASE PASS IT ON TO YOUR FRIENDS ...FAMILY AND ....LISTS!!

YOUR AID WILL GO DIRECTLY TO THOSE IN NEED!

THANKS!!

ANNIE



----- Forwarded message from treet@myway.com ----- Date: Wed, 7 Sep 2005 13:31:43 -0400 (EDT) From: Reply-To: treet
Subject: [Wakeup Call] Special Message from Michael Moore
To: wakeupcall@voidzero.net


Friends, There is much to be said and done about the manmade annihilation of New Orleans, caused NOT by a hurricane but by the very specific decisions made by the Bush administration in the past four and a half years. Do not listen to anyone who says we can discuss all this later. No, we can't. Our country is in an immediate state of vulnerability. More hurricanes, wars, and other disasters are on the way, and a lazy bunch of self-satisfied lunatics are still running the show. So, in the next few days, I will write to you about what must be done about Bush and Co. But today I want you to join with me in bypassing the colossally inept and incompetent Bush administration and get help DIRECTLY to the people of the New Orleans area -- right now. A lot of you have written me to ask what you can do. Many don't know who to trust. Many want to do more than write a check. You are right to think that writing checks to relief agencies will not get water and aid to people in the next 48 hours. Checks will be needed later and can be written later. I have a way, though, for each and every one of us to do something today that can affect people's lives TODAY. For the past few days I've been working with a group that, I guarantee you, will get direct aid to the people who need it most. Cindy Sheehan, the brave woman who dared to challenge Mr. Bush at his summer home, has now sent her Camp Casey from in front of Bush's ranch to the outskirts of New Orleans. The Veterans for Peace have taken all the equipment and staff of volunteers and set up camp in Covington, Louisiana, on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. They are accepting materials and personally distributing them to those in need. This is where we come in. We need to ship supplies to them immediately. Today they need the following: Paper plates, paper towels, toilet paper, baby diapers, baby wipes, baby formula, Pedialyte, baby items in general, powder, lotion, handy wipes, sterile gloves, electrolytes, LARGE cans of veggies, school supplies, and anything else to lift people's spirits. You can ship these items by following the instructions on VFPRoadTrips.org. Or you can deliver them there in person. The roads to Covington are open. Here's how to get there. You can drop them off or you can stay and participate (if you stay, you'll be camping so bring your own tent and gear and mosquito spray). If you can't ship these items or go there in person, then go to VFPRoadTrips.org and make an immediate donation through PayPal. Camp Casey-Covington will have immediate access to this cash and can buy the items themselves from stores that are open in Louisiana (all donations to Veterans for Peace, are tax deductible). Each day I will post up-to-the minute information as to what is needed and the progress Camp Casey is making. Please visit MichaelMoore.com often and do what you can to help. Many other groups are also doing good work. MoveOn.org has set up a system for people to offer rooms in their homes to the survivors. There is no time to waste. People are suffering and dying. Each of us can do something. There is no other alternative. Thank you in advance for your help. Tomorrow, we will take care of the other work we need to do about the ideologically hamstrung incompetents in charge.

Yours, Michael Moore
Mike@MichaelMoore.com
MichaelMoore.com

http://www.democrats.com/node/5960


Informant: Friends

From: WantToKnow.info

http://www.emsnetwork.org/artman/publish/article_18337.shtml


Informant: Martin Greenhut

Published: 8th September 2005

CONTROVERSIAL plans to erect a mobile mast on Manchester Old Road have been refused by Middleton’s councillors.

At a meeting of the Middleton Township Planning Sub-Committee planning permission to build a T-Mobile mast on ground in front of the West Croft Industrial Estate were knocked back on the grounds that such an erection could have an adverse effect on the local area.

However, not all members agreed with the decision. Councillor Ian Robertson, representing Middleton North, pointed out that many of those objecting to the mast on health grounds are more than happy to use televisions and mobile phones, both of which emit radiation.

He said: “On the one hand you want the technology, but on the other hand you don't want the mast in your back garden.”

A representative from T-Mobile also told the committee that the proposed mast would fit in with local street furniture, standing in between existing streetlamps of a similar height, and that the company had also rejected other proposed sites as they were closer to residential areas.

It was pointed out that erecting this mast near an existing one that already stands just 30m from the proposed site would not encourage further masts to be built, but instead decrease the likelihood as phone companies could come together and use each other’s technology.

Nevertheless, an entourage of approximately 15 objectors put forward a case that helped to convince the committee that such a mast was not wanted in Rhodes, due to fears that it may affect both the health of locals and house prices.

Objectors also expressed concern Rochdale Council had not adequately consulted locals, although a planning officer stated that the council had actually gone beyond its requirements by sending letters to the most-affected residents.

Speaking against the plans, Councillor Peter Williams said: “The issue should be that the committee believes that the concentration of masts in areas such as this would be detrimental to the street scene and detrimental to the area.

“This site is right adjacent to a local amenity, in Alkrington Woods, and I don't believe that the developer has looked at other sites properly.”


First published by the Middleton Guardian

In a book that documents the distribution and mortality of cancer from the geographical (geology and hydrology) perspective, I learnt that consistenly esophagus cancer appears in areas that are deficient in calcium.

I didn't read the book with relation to the radiation, but it immediately rang a bell: TETRA and esophagus cancer in British policemen----> TETRA and calcium efflux ------> TETRA and esophagus cancer. Can the calcium efflux be the explanation to esophagus cancer that Bary Trower predicted several years ago among British policemen?

I wrote him asking him what he thinks about it, and this is what he wrote me: "I think you are correct in your hypotheses concerning calcium/ oesophagus. I think notes on calcium efflux appear in http://www.starwave.com . ..... if you affect one part of a body- all others are involved"...

Iris Atzmon


A Critical Overview into the death of Officer Neil Dring
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/308367/

I'm going to pass along a few first hand accounts of the horrors of New orleans.

These stories make clear that there is A LOT more to the story that we haven't heard yet. Specifically, the inability of people to voluntarily leave New Orleans after the storm.

Geraldo Rivera on FOX news (of all places) was in tears one night begging to let the people at the convention center to just walk across the bridge out of New Orleans. The authorities wouldn't let them.

The accounts I will be sending you seem to bear this out. Oh, how I hope we can actually find out the whole truth.

Sent: Saturday, September 03, 2005 10:13 AM Subject: a survivor's story: Katrina in New Orleans

I heard from my aunt last night that my cousin Denise made it out of New Orleans; she's at her brother's in Baton Rouge. from what she told me:

Her mother, a licensed practical nurse, was called in to work on Sunday night at Memorial Hospital (historically known as Baptist Hospital to those of us from N.O.). Denise decided to stay with her mother, her niece and grandniece (who is 2 years old); she figured they'd be safe at the hospital. They went to Baptist, and had to wait hours to be assigned a room to sleep in; after they were finally assigned a room, two white nurses suddenly arrived after the cut-off time (time to be assigned a room), and Denise and her family were booted out; their room was given up to the new nurses. Denise was furious, and rather than stay at Baptist, decided to walk home
(several blocks away) to ride out the storm at her mother's apartment. Her mother stayed at the hospital.

She described it as the scariest time in her life. 3 of the rooms in the apartment (there are only 4) caved in. Ceilings caved in, walls caved in. She huddled under a mattress in the hall. She thought she would die from either the storm or a heart attack. After the storm passed, she went back to Baptist to seek shelter (this was Monday). it was also scary at Baptist; the electricity was out, they were running on generators, there was no air conditioning. Tuesday the levees broke, and water began rising. They moved patients upstairs, saw boats pass by on what used to be streets. They were told that they would be evacuated, that buses were coming. Then they were told they would have to walk to the nearest intersection, Napoleon and S. Claiborne, to await the buses. They waded out in hip-deep water, only to stand at the intersection, on the neutral ground (what y'all call the median) for 3 1/2 hours. The buses came and took them to the Ernest Memorial Convention Center. (Yes, the convention center you've all seen on TV.)

Denise said she thought she was in hell. They were there for 2 days, with no water, no food. no shelter. Denise, her mother (63 years old), her niece (21 years old), and 2-year-old grandniece. When they arrived, there were already thousands of people there. They were told that buses were coming. Police drove by, windows rolled up, thumbs up signs. National guard trucks rolled by, completely empty, soldiers with guns cocked and aimed at them. Nobody stopped to drop off water. A helicopter dropped a load of water, but all the bottles exploded on impact due to the height of the helicopter.

The first day (Wednesday) 4 people died next to her. The second day (Thursday) 6 people died next to her. Denise told me the people around her all thought they had been sent there to die. Again, nobody stopped. The only buses that came were full; they dropped off more and more people, but nobody was being picked up and taken away. They found out that those being dropped off had been rescued from rooftops and attics; they got off the buses delirious from lack of water and food. Completely dehydrated. The crowd tried to keep them all in one area; Denise said the new arrivals had mostly lost their minds. They had gone crazy.

Inside the convention center, the place was one huge bathroom. In order to shit, you had to stand in other people's shit. The floors were black and slick with shit. Most people stayed outside because the smell was so bad. But outside wasn't much better: between the heat, the humidity, the lack of water, the old and very young dying from dehydration... and there was no place to lay down, not even room on the sidewalk. They slept outside Wednesday night, under an overpass.

Denise said yes, there were young men with guns there. But they organized the crowd. They went to Canal Street and "looted," and brought back food and water for the old people and the babies, because nobody had eaten in days. When the police rolled down windows and yelled out "the buses are coming," the young men with guns organized the crowd in order: old people in front, women and children next, men in the back. Just so that when the buses came, there would be priorities of who got out first.

Denise said the fights she saw between the young men with guns were fist fights. She saw them put their guns down and fight rather than shoot up the crowd. But she said that there were a handful of people shot in the convention center; their bodies were left inside, along with other dead babies and old people.

Denise said the people thought there were being sent there to die. Lots of people being dropped off, nobody being picked up. Cops passing by, speeding off. National guard rolling by with guns aimed at them. And yes, a few men shot at the police, because at a certain point all the people thought the cops were coming to hurt them, to kill them all. She saw a young man who had stolen a car speed past, cops in pursuit; he crashed the car, got out and ran, and the cops shot him in the back. In front of the whole crowd. She saw many groups of people decide that they were going to walk across the bridge to the west bank, and those same groups would return, saying that they were met at the top of the bridge by armed police ordering them to turn around, that they weren't allowed to leave.

So they all believed they were sent there to die. Denise's niece found a pay phone, and kept trying to call her mother's boyfriend in Baton Rouge, and finally got through and told him where they were. The boyfriend, and Denise's brother, drove down from Baton Rouge and came and got them. They had to bribe a few cops, and talk a few into letting them into the city ("come on, man, my 2-year-old niece is at the Convention Center!"), then they took back roads to get to them.

After arriving at my other cousin's apartment in Baton Rouge, they saw the images on TV, and couldn't believe how the media was portraying the people of New Orleans. She kept repeating to me on the phone last night: make sure you tell everybody that they left us there to die. Nobody came. Those young men with guns were protecting us. If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have had the little water and food they had found.

That's Denise Moore's story.

Incredible, simply unbelievable, but I know it is true!!! I will send it all around!!!


Best Regards,

Alan Dicey
Miami, Florida

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/3/131934/7503


Informant: Michael Novick

Next week I am meeting my MP, Lynne Featherstone LibDem and her researcher to talk about masts etc.

She is very keen to understand the issue and raise questions in parliament.

Is there anything specifically that anyone thinks I should ask her to do or say?

What is the current official Mast Sanity line on planning and exclusion zones around schools? Does Mast Sanity have an official line on WLAN specifically in schools apart from that it shouldn't be there!?

Thanks

sarah

--------

Dear Sarah,

I think the most important is recognising and helping the victims, queer against the coming instructions of the World Health Organisation (I just sent an article about these instructions). It is an absolute shame that society leaves the victims, without any health care, without any compensation, they need radiation free zones and support to be able to live and work urgently. For some reason the whole thing is seen as kind of sideline debate, a discussion about opinions. Sickness is not an opinion. A-specific complaints throughout a whole population is not a debate (I think changing focus of the lense and decreasing blood cholinesterase is specific, if diabetes and overexposure to pesticides is excluded).

Second is epidemiology (not only mapping the relatively few seriously radiation sick people, but also all the unwell-being consequences like headache, sleep disturbance etc. for lots of people) and assess risks (the risks are high, because risk is chance times consequences. Small chance times huge consequences for individuals; high chance times small consequences for all citizens, society; so, the risks are really high).

Frans

If I calculate the damage already done to me, my employer and society, and the damage that will be, it outreaches the 120.000 pounds. It is time the councillors open their eyes and understand the damage is huge (small consequences for almost everybody; dramatic consequences for the people who develop radiation sickness).



Extra bill for taxpayers?

07 September 2005 BARKING and Dagenham Council could be forced to stump up £120,000 of taxpayers' money to break two mobile phone mast contracts, the POST can reveal.

T-Mobile and O2 both have masts on Cadiz Court, which is set to be knocked down in the next few years.

As a result, the council now has to decide whether to refund cash to the mobile phone companies for cutting the contracts short, or find new homes for the masts.

But both organisations have refused to reveal how much the local authority could be made to pay if the contracts are cancelled early.

However, according to campaign group Mast Sanity, the council could be forced to fork out £60,000 compensation to both T-Mobile and 02 if their masts are not relocated elsewhere in the borough.

And in another twist, as public space is running out to site the masts, the councily could also decide to break its current policy of not locating them on council-owned properties in order to find them new homes.

A council spokesman said: "In these cases, the council will re-examine the contractual arrangements with the individual companies. If both parties agree, the option remains to terminate the affected contracts."

T-Mobile has posted a letter on the walls of neighbouring Thaxted House, informing families of its intention to site a mast there.

Planning chiefs may justify such a decision because the mobile mast contracts were drawn up before the so-called 'mast moratorium' was imposed in 2000.

The mobile phone operator is hoping to install three antennae and an equipment cabin on the roof of Thaxted House.

The POST reported last week how families had been left confused by the situation and had demanded explanations.

Many wanted an assurance from the council that the tower block was not going to be a 'dumping ground' for the mast.

Village councillor Lee Waker has told families that the matter is far from decided.

He has also urged them to oppose the plans if they are formally submitted.

But the POST has also revealed that the council is powerless to take down mobile masts installed on local authority land before 2000.

We also reported how mobile phone operators are unwilling to terminate contracts drawn up with local authorities.

The council refuses to accept there is any health risk associated with masts, and a comprehensive study led by Sir William Stewart on behalf of the Government in 2002 concluded that there were no proved general risks associated with living next to a mast.

Omega there is much health risk associated with masts. See under:

http://omega.twoday.net/topics/Wissenschaft+zu+Mobilfunk/
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Cancer+Cluster
http://www.buergerwelle.de/body_science.html

But he called for a more 'precautionary approach' to the siting of base stations.

http://tinyurl.com/azna9

http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8086


Informant: John Johnson

http://www.lewrockwell.com/sheehan/sheehan15.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

Fox News
by Adam Nossiter

09/07/05

You could live in a kind of dream-state in New Orleans, lulled into ignoring the crumbling houses you drove past, and their destitute inhabitants. In a city so beautifully green, so full of beguiling architecture, so appealingly laid-back, how easy it was. I've been there for nearly 15 years now, all the while participating in one of the city's great unspoken rituals: locking out the world of the other New Orleanians, those who were poor and more often than not black. ... Even before the storm, you were dimly aware that to ... awaken from the old New Orleans dream -- would be to go half-mad. Last week, all that changed. The reality of what New Orleans actually is, was thrown up in our faces: We couldn't turn away now, we couldn't deny that those fellow residents we'd never really known or understood had become refugees, milling and dazed or angry...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,168635,00.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The American Prospect
by LaNitra Walker

09/07/05

When Hurricane Katrina bombarded the Gulf Coast last week, she blew open a Pandora's box of race and class issues that Americans thought they had packed away. In the wake of a destruction of the hurricane, we simply weren't prepared to see how poor Americans in the South really are, and how many of the poorest are black. The media focused on the tired and desperate victims in the Superdome and the New Orleans Convention Center pleading for aid in the hours after the storm, and television audiences could see that they were almost all black. Journalists were too busy covering the dramatic rescue efforts to ask why only black Americans had become victims of the storm. Instead, the media focused on how federal and local officials were handling the disaster. Then, after much footage of Army helicopters shown plucking entire black families off of rooftops, the questions turned to whether or not the victims' race played a role in the slow relief response...

http://www.prospect.org/web/view-web.ww?id=10227


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Foundation for Economic Education
by Becky Akers

09/07/05

We already know government doesn't want anyone competing with its everyday functions, but apparently it harbors the same hostility towards competition in emergency relief work. Given the agony in New Orleans after the levees broke, and the state's utter inability to help in even the most elemental ways, you might think folks rushing to the victims' aid would be welcomed. But agencies from the Red Cross to the Canadian government tell a different story...

http://www.fee.org/vnews.php?nid=7176


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G. Hornberger

09/07/05

Among the most tragic scenes in the Hurricane Katrina disaster was that of the thousands of poor people -- almost all of whom were African Americans -- who were stranded at the New Orleans Superdome and Convention Center, desperately waiting for the federal government to come and save them. Why were they stuck there when thousands of others had already left the city? Because they were too poor to save themselves from death and disaster. They lacked the money to drive out of town and get a motel room for a few days before the hurricane struck...

http://www.fff.org/comment/com0509a.asp


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

CounterPunch
by Niranjan Ramakrishnan

09/07/05

There has never been any dearth of reasons to throw out this cabal. But now it has done the ultimate -- destroyed America's most unique city, allowed thousands of its citizens to die, scattered half-a-million people in a twenty-first century exodus of biblical proportions, and set off an environmental and medical holocaust. Will some Cromwell from the Senate or the House give the call that seems tailor-made for a faith-crazed administration: 'In the name of God, Go!'?

http://www.counterpunch.org/ramakrishnan09072005.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

CounterPunch
by Chris Floyd

09/07/05

Let's be clear about one thing. Nothing that has happened in the past week -- the mass destruction in the Mississippi Delta, the obliteration of the city of New Orleans, the murderous abandonment of thousands of people to death, chaos and disease will change the Bush Administration or American politics at all. ... There will be no real change, and the bitter corrosion of injustice, indifference and inhumanity that is consuming American society will go on as before. One proof of this can be found in the first polls coming out after the disaster, which show that a full 46 percent of the American people approve of Bush's handling of the relief effort. It seems inconceivable that any sentient being could witness the agonizing results of the Bush team's dithering, dilatory response an agony played out in the full glare of non-stop media coverage and not come away with a sense of towering anger at this criminal incompetence. But it's obvious that nearly half the American people have now left the 'reality-based community' altogether; they see only what they want to see, a world bathed in the hazy, golden nimbus of the Leader. The fact the undeniable truth that behind this carefully-concocted mirage lies nothing more than a steaming pile of rancid, rotting offal means nothing to these true believers. The Lie is better, the Lie is more comforting, the Lie lets them keep feeding on the suffering of others without guilt or shame...

http://www.counterpunch.org/ramakrishnan09072005.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

CounterPunch
by Michael Donnelly

09/07/05

Like most, I've been transfixed watching the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.And, like many, I'm astounded at the response of government at all levels. Most of the criticism leveled has rightly been focused on the Bush Administration's monumental, yet predictable and easily fathomable incompetence. But, ineptitude is on display at all levels of bureaucracy. I can't look at those pictures of hundreds of school busses flooded in their parking lots and wonder how they could not have been used to evacuate those without an automobile before the storm made landfall? Surely, someone had a plan to use them. A heroic seventeen-year-old understood and commandeered one of the busses and picked up desperate refugees and drove them to Houston. He was accused of theft!

http://www.counterpunch.org/donnelly09072005.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Daytona Beach News Journal
by Pierre Tristam

09/07/05

It's nice to point out the outpouring of good samaritanism. But those in power are doing so to ride on the Samaritans' coattails. The back-patting is out of place considering the extent of the betrayal of New Orleans and its consequences. For every donated million after the fact there'll still be two, three or more deaths that should have been prevented and thousands of lives unnecessarily uprooted and demolished, maybe for good...

http://tinyurl.com/9gywc


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Ether Zone
by John LeBoutillier

09/08/05

Hurricane Katrina is yet the latest example of 'government' -- at all levels -- failing the people ‘it’ is supposed to serve. This is not a matter of Republican or Democrat; it is a matter of the expected arrogance, aloofness, diffidence, innate corruption, coldness -- and sheer incompetence -- that always permeates all levels of government. Katrina is just the latest example...

http://www.etherzone.com/2005/lebo090805.shtml


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Slate
by Bruce Reed

09/07/05

Earlier this week, neo-con Bill Kristol told the Washington Post that almost every Republican he had spoken to was disappointed in Bush's performance. By evoking broad disdain for the administration's response from Republicans and Democrats alike, Bush has finally kept his promise to be a uniter, not a divider. Usually, the blame game is a loser for both parties. However, when Republicans and Democrats can make common cause against a common enemy, like the federal government or hapless FEMA Director Michael Brown, there is more than enough blame game to go around. Among the many illusions that washed away over the past week is one that was particularly precious to Bush: the long-lost and perhaps now never-to-be-seen-again political philosophy of compassionate conservatism...

http://www.slate.com/id/2125802/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Liberty For All
by Jessi Winchester

09/08/05

Mr. Bush's motto seems to be, 'Do as I say; not as I do.' The hypocritical difference between the quote above and his failure to do exactly what he criticized President Clinton for, is blinding. When President Clinton left office the deficit was in the black for the first time in many years. The domestic economy was healthy and foreign relations were stable. The former president is a man who loves people and forged friendships with leaders all over the globe during his term in office. Despite doing a good job for America, Congress brought impeachment proceedings against him for issues related to sex...

http://www.libertyforall.net/2005/sept11/honor.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://www.lewrockwell.com/akers/akers17.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

MSNBC

09/07/05

The Bush White House is known for its ability to remain in control of its message and image, sliding out of crises with barely a scratch. Not this time. Despite day after day of appearances by President Bush aimed at undoing the political damage from a poor response to Hurricane Katrina, the White House has not been able to regain its footing, already shaken by the war in Iraq and its death toll exceeding 1,880. ... Bush had raised eyebrows on his first trip by, among other things, picking Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss. -- instead of the thousands of mostly poor and black storm victims -- as an example of loss. 'Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch,' Bush said with a laugh...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9232927/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Guardian [UK]

09/08/05

Huntingdon Life Sciences, the controversial animal testing company, has been forced to postpone a listing on the New York Stock Exchange after animal rights extremists stepped up their activity in the US. The parent company, Life Sciences Research, was due to upgrade its listing to the NYSE yesterday but was asked by the exchange to delay the move. The exchange offered no explanation and refused to comment on the request. Huntingdon has been the subject of a violent campaign by animal rights activists in the UK but the activity appears to have shifted to the US. A New York yacht club was recently covered in red paint by the US branch of the Animal Liberation Front. The group said members of the club worked for a company that traded in Huntingdon shares...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,1565018,00.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Detroit Free Press

09/07/05

Time is running out for world leaders to keep their promises to roll back poverty and millions of people will die needlessly over the next decade without drastic changes, the U.N. warned in a major report Wednesday. The stark findings were presented to the 191 U.N. member nations a week before they meet in New York for a summit to review progress toward the Millennium Development Goals. The targets set in 2000 include halving extreme poverty, reducing child deaths by two-thirds and achieving universal primary education by 2015...

http://tinyurl.com/cwmpb


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

MSNBC

Democrats, divided over President Bush's handling of Iraq, are coming down hard on his administration's response to Hurricane Katrina. Some of the harshest words are coming from 2008 presidential hopefuls. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York ridiculed relief coordinator Michael Brown's suggestions. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards said the hurricane's aftermath underscores the 'two Americas' theme of his presidential campaign last year... [editor's note: Like it wasn't open season on Bush before? Yeah, right - TLK] (09/07/05)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9245785/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp