http://la.indymedia.org/news/2004/05/110675.php

Bernard Eastlund, Inventor of HAARP (High Frequency Active AURORAL Research program), from his Patent # 4,686,605 “...
http://www.gewo.applet.cz/agentura/haarp__file_5.htm
The apparatus could cause total disruption of communications over a very large portion of the Earth, disrupting not only land based communications, but also airborne communications and sea communications (Both surface and subsurface). By altering solar absorption...weather modification is possible... for example, altering upper atmosphere wind patterns by constructing one or more plumes of atmospheric particles which will act as a lens or focusing device...A moving plume could also serve as a means for focusing a vast amount of sunlight on selected portions of the Earth... ”


FULL ARTICLE:
Chemical Aurora Keyhole Surveillance
http://arizona.indymedia.org/news/2004/05/18658.php

Bernard Eastlund, Inventor of HAARP (High Frequency Active AURORAL Research program), from his Patent # 4,686,605 “...This invention relates to a method and apparatus for altering at least one selected region normally existing above the Earth’s surface...by initially transmitting electromagnetic radiation from the Earth’s surface... ...By altering solar absorption...weather modification is possible... for example, altering upper atmosphere wind patterns by constructing one or more plumes of atmospheric particles which will act as a lens or focusing device...A moving plume could also serve as a means for focusing a vast amount of sunlight on selected portions of the Earth...HIGH INTENSITY, WELL CONTROLLED ELECTRICAL FIELDS CAN BE PROVIDED IN SELECTED LOCATIONS FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES...(caps ours, ed.)”


Informant: billder

By Jo Best
Silicon.com

May 18, 2004, 6:51 AM PT

Businesses are all too keen to talk up the potential of radio frequency ID (RFID) while privacy campaigners are similarly vocal in calling for some hardcore data protection to go with the new tagging technology, and one of the emerging battlegrounds is all about when exactly the tracking chips need to die.

Item-level tagging is some way off yet, mainly due to cost rather than retailers' lack of enthusiasm but, when it does kick off in earnest, it's worth putting money on consumers being at loggerheads with retailers over when exactly to switch off and kill the chips.

RFID tags can be read--either by a store or by an unrelated third party--unless they're shut down by the company that installed them in the product.

While a consumer might quite fancy the idea of walking up to the checkout and having his new $9,000 plasma-screen TV scanned instantaneously, he might not be so pleased that any passer-by with a reader can find out what he's got in the back of his car. He may also just not like the idea of a supermarket being able to scan his goods after he's left the store.

But when should the tag's tracking powers be turned off? Kill commands, as they're known, do exist. The idea is that when a shopper passes a certain point, any active RFID chip essentially shuts itself down (German supermarket Metro tried similar technology with its RFID rollout and was rather red-faced to find its kill commanders were more like a nasty-kick-in-the-shins commands).

The question remains: why would we want to keep the tags active once we've left our local Tesco and should retailers be allowed to?

Burk Kaliski, chief scientist and director of RSA Laboratories, believes there's a strong case for chips that never die. That doesn't mean always-on though. They would be more zombie than normal chip--alive but not capable of doing anything without being activated.

When the chips leave the store, they should be switched from non-private to private so they remain intact and in some select instances can be returned to readability, but otherwise are immune to shop-scanning, he said.

Introducing kill commands, Kaliski said, would "discourage innovation" and would be "counterproductive". There are indeed uses being touted for zombie tags. Taking goods back to a shop, for example, would be easier; recalling faulty or dangerous goods would be simpler; and distributing pharmaceuticals could be made safer by using RFID to scan for potentially harmful combinations.

But is that enough?

According to Katherine Albrecht of privacy group Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering (Caspian), the disadvantages far outweigh the benefits. "Whoever made the tag is the entity that can reactivate it... that's even more dangerous [than kill-command chips]. If you believe a chip is dead, you don't take common-sense precautions to protect your privacy," she said.

The issues of individual privacy are more pressing when it comes to item-level tagging--the more commonly practiced case of pallet level-tagging is less of a threat, according to Geoff Barraclough, marketing director of BT Auto-ID Services. "With the use of RFID in the supply chain, there are no privacy implications," he said.

Consumers may be able to dodge uninvited eyes gleaning information from RFID tags but businesses may not be so lucky. With new extra-long read-range RFID equipment hitting the market, the motive and opportunity arise for underhand retailers or suppliers to gain an advantage by picking up on who's moving what goods, where and when.

With standards yet to be sorted out and early adopters falling over themselves to implement RFID rollouts, it seems the big names may have forgotten to protect the privacy they will no doubt miss most if it goes--their own way.

http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-5214648.html

Informant: Ken DeBusk

GRANMA INTERNATIONAL
Havana. May 19, 2004

1,600 unpublished photos: A descent into hell, as one congressman affirms

Donald Rumsfeld in the eye of the storm

BY MICHEL PORCHERON
Granma International staff writer

LESS than two weeks after the CBS television network’s transmission in the United States of the first photos and videos showing acts of torture practiced by U.S. soldiers in Iraq, the “Lynndie England” case – the name of the 21-year-old female soldier who appears in many of the photos – has turned into the “Rumsfeld case.”

A veteran investigative reporter, Seymour Hersh, 67 – the man who revealed the My Lai massacre in 1969 – unleashed the scandal by directly accusing the secretary of defense.

According to his May 17 New Yorker article, “The roots of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal lie not in the criminal inclinations of a few Army reservists but in a decision approved last year by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, to expand a highly secret operation, which had been focussed on the hunt for Al Qaeda, to the interrogation of prisoners in Iraq.

Hersh, who specializes in researching the intelligence services, specifies that the Pentagon has created special interrogation techniques that “...encouraged physical coercion and sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners in an effort to generate more intelligence about the growing insurgency in Iraq.” Rumsfeld gave the green light to a “highly secret” program that basically had “...given blanket advance approval to kill or capture and, if possible, interrogate ‘high-value’ targets in the Bush Administration’s war on terror.” Hersh maintains that every soldier who knew the code name of one of these special programs (SAP, Special-Access Program) could act freely in the field.

According to a former high-ranking intelligence service official quoted by Seymour, some 200 people in total were in on the secret, including George W. Bush himself. For its part, the May 16 edition of Newsweek published a memorandum dated January 25, 2002, signed by Alberto González, legal advisor to the White House, explaining that the war on terrorism is a new form of war, and that this new paradigm renders obsolete the Geneva Convention’s strict limitations on interrogating enemy prisoners. The confusion reached its peak last weekend, when it became known that abuses being perpetrated on the prisoners at the Guantánamo Naval Base were being videotaped, according to statements by a former British prisoner there quoted on May 16 by the British weekly The Observer. Nobody was surprised when spokespersons for the U.S. authorities scrambled to deny everything.

WHERE GENERAL MILLER REAPPEARS

According to what has come to light in the last few days, in August 2003 General Geoffrey D. Miller, 55, who then commanded the Guantánamo detention center, made a 10-day visit to the Abu Ghraib prison. His mission was “enigmatic,” as El País qualified it on May 14: to inform the chief of the prison’s military intelligence on a series of recommendations “from the base” on how to undertake interrogations, punish prisoners and organize arrests. His disciples learned their lesson, beyond expectations. Abu Ghraib was thus “Guantanamized.” Today, General Miller is once again in Iraq, this time as...the man in charge of U.S. prisons, replacing General Janis Karpinski, seven of whose troops have been castigated in the torture scandal. Six of them must remain under surveillance in Camp Victory near Baghdad, possibly awaiting court martial.

As for Lynndie England, the notorious female soldier who is currently pregnant, she has been temporarily stationed in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, until her fate is decided.

General Karpinski was discreetly “dismissed” in January after the first revelations – at that time internal – of the torture and brutality being practiced there.

NEVERTHELESS, IT WAS AN OLD ISSUE

While the scandal became public less than a month ago, the highest U.S. military and civil authorities were perfectly aware of the practice of torture in Iraq all throughout 2003. According to General Peter Pace, right-hand man to General Richard Myers, chief of general staff, everyone was regularly updated orally.... Pace responded with a categorical “Yes” when asked on CBC whether General Myers and President Bush were fully informed on the situation...

For his part, George W. Bush – one lie more or less no longer means anything to him – affirmed that he knew of the investigation’s existence and the Pentagon reports, but had not read them and neither had he seen the photos until the day CBS transmitted them. If he is telling the truth, that omission is even more serious than lying. According to those who surround the president, he didn’t know anything about anything.

However, the International Committee of the Red Cross, human rights groups and even General Antonio Taguba, commanded by the Army to draft a secret internal report on torture and abuse (that he delivered in March), had regularly alerted all the authorities. However, starting with the Pentagon, the reaction of the U.S. authorities was to try to hide the issue from January. It wasn’t until January 16, 2004 that the Central Command published a five-line press release.

However, the International Red Cross Committee, human rights defense groups and even General Antonio Tagula who was ordered by the Army to produce a secret internal report (that he presented in March) on torture and abuse, had regularly warned all the authorities. But, beginning with the Pentagon, what the U.S. authorities have done since last January is attempt to conceal the matter. It was not until January 16, 2004 that the Central Command publicly released a five-line press statement of notable neutrality referring to an investigation into the mistreatment of prisoners, according to Seymour Hersh. It did everything possible to conceal the matter and confine it to a small group of young or relatively young soldiers, presented as “some kids who got out of control” or “a handful of sadists”.

Despite everything, on January 21 – as reported by French daily Le Monde in its May 14 edition – the first reference to the existence of photos appeared thanks to Barbara Starr, a CNN military correspondent, who wrote that U.S. soldiers had posed for photographs with partially naked Iraqi prisoners. Then began the investigation on the part of U.S. journalists. What also began was a high-speed race between the press on one side and the Pentagon on the other, who increased the pressure so that the photos would not be published. For a time, CBS agreed to postpone its report when the battle for Al Fallujah was intensifying in Iraq. But, on discovering the imminent publication of Seymour Hersh’s investigation, including several photos, in The New Yorker magazine, CBS decided to take the lead and release its own photos and videos. On the other hand, the role of Joseph M. Darby, a sergeant with the 372nd company, who revealed that the photos existed, should also be mentioned. “Incensed by photos that he saw on his computer, he took the photos with an anonymous letter and slipped them under the door of a superior’s office” in Baghdad. (Le Monde, May 14)

Darby’s CD-Rom ended up on CBS’s table by way of soldiers’ relatives.

In effect, everything really kicked off when on April 28, CBS broadcast its “60 Minutes” program with the legendary Dan Rather, showing the first authenticated images. A young female soldier named Lynndie R. England appeared in them. CBS specified that the photos had been taken between October and December 2003. The world’s written press then repeated the story, albeit two or three days later, the time needed to overcome incredulity over the issue.

In the May 5 edition of The New Yorker, Seymour Hersh published the first article publicly exposing the Abu Ghraib scandal. The weekly also published exclusive excerpts – not declassified – of Taguba’s 53-page compromising report and was the first to reveal new photos on its web site ( http://www.newyorker.com ); photos that had not been circulated by CBS. The same day, The Washington Post published a new series of some 20 photos. England appeared once again in this series, on the front page of the daily and at the http://www.washingtonpost.com website and subsequently, of course, throughout the international media. The Washington Post affirmed that the photos came from a CD-Rom containing around a thousand images. On May 10, the Wall Street Journal website
( http://online.wsj.com ) published the entire text of the (confidential) Red Cross report that was presented to the United States in February. The following day, General Taguba appeared before the Senate Defense Committee, but decided not to include any of the photos in his report, judging them to be of “an extremely sensitive nature”. It should be noted that however incriminating they may be, the aforementioned photos and videos are merely the visible side of the torture put into practice in Iraq, those included in the reports by Taguba and IRCC offer a real idea but no visual images of any of these exist's so it would seem.

THE WORST IS YET TO COME

In early May, Donald Rumsfeld himself insinuated as much. On Wednesday, May 12, senators and representatives were able to see some 1,600 photos and video clips – unpublished to date – that were in the hands of the Pentagon. Democrat Ron Wyden declared that they were worse than anyone could have imagined. Richard Durban described it as a descent into hell and Republican Hill Frist as “appalling”. Something so explosive that for the moment widespread circulation has not even been considered. “The devastating effect,” of these first revelations, “does away with the credibility of the United States” read Le Monde’s editorial on May 7. Lynndie England – who has now become “Bush’s nightmare” according to a headline in El País on May 7 – will remain as one of the strongest symbols. It does not just refer to a change of direction in the Iraqi conflict, but a nightmare for the history of the modern world in which the hyper-power has descended into total degradation and completely lost its moral leadership, if indeed it ever possessed it. The torture scandal has served as the latest indication of the failure of Bush’s performance with regard to the Iraqi drama. It is said that several hawks are preparing to jump ship. Some are going very far, such as liberal pro-war columnist Thomas Friedman who, on the editorial pages of The New York Times, posed the daring question: Is it possible to successfully achieve a regime change in Iraq without a change of regime in the United States?

Meanwhile, another question remains unanswered: Where does the real level of responsibility lie? With the soldiers who say they were just carrying out orders? According to several investigations, it is almost certain that no one prevented them from doing what they did, and in certain cases they were encouraged by military intelligence officials. On the other hand, it is known that some of the most severe interrogation sessions were carried out under the directions of civilians contracted by private paramilitary firms.

Mrs. Laura Bush commented that each time a photo is released, it is torturous for everyone. Not as much as for the dozens (or more) of Iraqis who have experienced the worst of it: the degradation of the human condition. How can we believe the enchanting and sensitive wife of the president when we know that on May 10 Bush proclaimed that Donald – to whom “the nation owes gratitude”- had undertaken outstanding work against terrorism? “Guarantee or epitaph?” asked El País (May 11). Will Rumsfeld be the spark that ignites Bush’s electoral hopes? A possibility to which analysts are increasingly referring. In the May 11 edition of El País, Allan Lichtman is categorical: “Rumsfeld’s days are numbered. He is now a political
corpse.”


Informant: Walter Lippmann

BUSH vs. GREENPEACE - NOT GUILTY
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/223010/

Pacific Lumber tries to go back on deal
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/222535/

Speak Up for the Forest
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/222608/

Temporary Setback for Bush Plan for Roadbuilding Across Wilderness
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/221703/

Sodas Raise Cancer Risk, U.S. Study Finds
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/221512/

Bush EPA Let Factory Farm Industry Draft Their Own Air Pollution Rules
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/222749/

Pollution Alters DNA in Mice, Study Finds
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/222623/

MSG: Slow Poisoning
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/223021/

ACTION ALERT! President Putin - Please Ratify Kyoto Now
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/220353/

Urge the wood giants to help stop illegal logging
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/219118/

RAPID RESPONSE needed to save Dominican Republic parks
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/219119/

Ukraine threatens Europe’s second largest wetland
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/219121/

Governor Seeks to Chop Red Tape for Loggers
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/220272/

Coastal Flood Potential - Will It Force Redefining of "Defense"?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/219266/

Globe Grows Darker as Sunshine Diminishes 10% to 37%
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/219468/

GM canola backs out of Australia
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/219475/

Europe to back GM corn for humans
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/220280/

Ashcroft Fishes Out 1872 Law in a Bid to Scuttle Protester Rights
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/219479/

Ocean medicines could be lost
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/219477/

Arctic temperatures are warming rapidly, says polar explorer
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/221273/

The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/219851/

We are the Majority
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/220203/

THE GRAY ZONE
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/220179/

Discovering America as It Is
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/220210/

Atrocities in Iraq: 'I killed innocent people for our government'
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/220363/

Baghdad Burning
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/220364/

Human rights groups tell US to clean up own house
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/220378/

Bush Administration Attack on Peaceful Protest Goes to Trial Today
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/220713/

Iraqis, US GI's & Babylon D.U. poisoned -- CLEAN UP NOW!
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/221168/

Animal welfare activists and backbench members of parliament called on Britain's government Wednesday to reopen the long-running debate on banning hunting with dogs.

http://www.enn.com/news/2004-05-20/s_24066.asp

By Jon Hanian

Some researchers believe Lyme bacteria linked to mystery illness
Boise, ID -

http://www.2online.com/x5154.xml?ParentPageID=x5157&ContentID=x53603&Layout=KBCI.xsl&AdGroupID=x5154


Informant: Pam

READ AND PASS ON

I wondered if there could be an actual chemical causing the massive obesity epidemic, so did a friend of mine, John Erb. He was a research assistant at the University of Waterloo, and spent years working for the government.

He made an amazing discovery while going through scientific journals for a book he was writing called The Slow Poisoning of America. In hundreds of studies around the world, scientists were creating obese mice and rats to use in diet or diabetes test studies.

No strain of rat or mice is naturally obese, so the scientists have to create them. They make these morbidly obese creatures by injecting them with a chemical when they are first born. The MSG triples the amount of insulin the pancreas creates, causing rats (and humans?) to become obese. They even have a title for the race of fat rodents they create: "MSG-Treated Rats" .

MSG?

I was shocked too. I went to my kitchen, checking the cupboards and the fridge.

MSG was in everything! The Campbell's soups, the Hostess Doritos, the Lays flavored potato chips, Top Ramen, Betty Crocker Hamburger Helper, Heinz canned gravy, Swanson frozen prepared meals, Kraft salad dressings, especially the 'healthy low fat' ones. The items that didn't have MSG had something called Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein, which is just another name for Monosodium Glutamate. It was shocking to see just how many of the foods we feed our children everyday are filled with this stuff. They hide MSG under many different names in order to fool those who catch on.

But it didn't stop there. When our family went out to eat, we started asking at the restaurants what menu items had MSG. Many employees, even the managers, swore they didn't use MSG. But when we ask for the ingredient list, which they grudgingly provided, sure enough MSG and Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein were everywhere. Burger King, McDonalds, Wendy's, Taco Bell, every restaurant, even the sit down ones like TGIF, Chilis', Applebees and Denny's use MSG in abundance. Kentucky Fried Chicken seemed to be the WORST offender: MSG was in every chicken dish, salad dressing and gravy. No wonder I loved to eat that coating on the skin, their secret spice was MSG!

So why is MSG in so may of the foods we eat? Is it a preservative or a vitamin?

Not according to my friend John. In the book he wrote, an expose of the food additive industry called The Slow Poisoning of America, http://www.spofamerica.com , he said that MSG is added to food for the addictive effect it has on the human body.

Even the propaganda website sponsored by the food manufacturers lobby group supporting MSG at
http://www.msgfacts.com/facts/msgfact12.html
explains that the reason they add it to food is to make people eat more. A study of elderly people showed that people eat more of the foods that it is added to. The Glutamate Association lobby group says eating more benefits the elderly, but what does it do to the rest of us?

'Betcha can't eat just one', takes on a whole new meaning where MSG is concerned!

And we wonder why the nation is overweight? The MSG manufacturers themselves admit that it addicts people to their products. It makes people choose their product over others, and makes people eat more of it than they would if MSG wasn't added.

Not only is MSG scientifically proven to cause obesity, it is an addictive substance: NICOTINE for FOOD!

Since its introduction into the American food supply fifty years ago, MSG has been added in larger and larger doses to the prepackaged meals, soups, snacks and fast foods we are tempted to eat everyday.

The FDA has set no limits on how much of it can be added to food. They claim it's safe to eat in any amount.

How can they claim it is safe when there are hundreds of scientific studies with titles like these?

The monosodium glutamate (MSG) obese rat as a model for the study of exercise in obesity. Gobatto CA, Mello MA, Souza CT, Ribeiro IA. Res Commun Mol Pathol Pharmacol. 2002

Adrenalectomy abolishes the food-induced hypothalamic serotonin release in both normal and monosodium glutamate-obese rats. Guimaraes RB, Telles MM, Coelho VB, Mori RC, Nascimento CM, Ribeiro Brain Res Bull. 2002 Aug

Obesity induced by neonatal monosodium glutamate treatment in spontaneously hypertensive rats: an animal model of multiple risk factors. Iwase M, Yamamoto M, Iino K, Ichikawa K, Shinohara N, Yoshinari Fujishima
Hypertens Res. 1998 Mar

Hypothalamic lesion induced by injection of monosodium glutamate in suckling period and subsequent development of obesity. Tanaka K, Shimada M, Nakao K, Kusunoki
Exp Neurol. 1978 Oct

Yes, that last study was not a typo, it WAS written in 1978. Both the medical research community and food "manufaturers" have known MSG's side effects for decades!

Many more studies mentioned in John Erb's book link MSG to Diabetes, Migraines and headaches, Autism, ADHD and even Alzheimer's.

But what can we do to stop the food manufactures from dumping fattening and addictive MSG into our food supply and causing the obesity epidemic we now see?

Even as you read this, George W. Bush and his corporate supporters are pushing a Bill through Congress. Called the "Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act" also known as the "Cheeseburger Bill", this sweeping law bans anyone from suing food manufacturers, sellers and distributors. Even if it comes out that they purposely added an addictive chemical to their foods.
Read about it for yourself at:
http://www.yahoo.com.http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?
tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040311/ap_on_go_co/obesity_lawsuits_4

The Bill has already been rushed through the House of Representatives, and is due for the same rubber stamp at Senate level. It is important that Bush and his corporate supporters get it through before the media lets everyone know about MSG, the intentional Nicotine for food.

Several months ago, John Erb took his book and his concerns to one of the highest government health officials in Canada. While sitting in the Government office, the official told him "Sure I know how bad MSG is, I wouldn't touch the stuff!" But this top level government official refused to tell the public what he knew.

The big media doesn't want to tell the public either, fearing legal issues with their advertisers. It seems that the fallout on the fast food industry may hurt their profit margin.

So what do we do?

The food producers and restaurants have been addicting us to their products for years, and now we are paying the price for it.

Our children should not be cursed with obesity caused by an addictive food additive.

But what can I do about it? I'm just one voice, what can I do to stop the poisoning of our children, while guys like Bush are insuring financial protection for the industry that is poisoning us.

I for one am doing something about it.

I am sending this email out to everyone I know in an attempt to show you the truth that the corporate owned politicians and media won't tell you.

The best way you can help save yourself and your children from this drug-induced epidemic, is to forward this email to everyone. With any luck, it will circle the globe before Bush can pass the Bill protecting those who poisoned us.

The food industry learned a lot from the tobacco industry. Imagine if big tobacco had a bill like this in place before someone blew the whistle on Nicotine?

Blow the whistle on MSG.

If you are one of the few who can still believe that MSG is good for us, and you don't believe what John Erb has to say, see for yourself. Go to the National Library of Medicine, at http://www.pubmed.com Type in the words "MSG Obese", and read a few of the 115 medical studies that appear.

We do not want to be rats in one giant experiment, and we do not approve of food that makes us into a nation of obese, lethargic, addicted sheep, waiting for the slaughter.

With your help we can put an end to this, and stop the Slow Poisoning of America. Let's save our children

Source: http://www.rense.com/general52/msg.htm


Informant: Pam

It's over! I've been in court in Miami all this week defending our ability to stand up for what's right for the planet and our right to speak out against environmental abuses

And at 3:30 this afternoon the judge acquitted Greenpeace on all charges. The prosecution's case was unproven before we even presented our defense. I wanted you to be among the first to know. Thanks so much for your support.

It's incredible - in the last couple of weeks 81,311 people like you, all around the world, have e-mailed President Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft to condemn this prosecution. The US Government has never heard from Greenpeace in such strong numbers. It's a great show of what we can all do together, and I congratulate you.

Together we have won. Bush and Ashcroft have been shown to have been vindictive, using an 1872 law, and shown to be trying to stifle civil disobedience by shutting Greenpeace down.

But Greenpeace is still in business, and we come out of court more determined than ever to stand up for the planet. But we need your help.

The US Government has forced us to spend a lot of time and money defending this case. Money we should be spending defending ancient forests, sailing the high seas to highlight the collapse of ocean eco-systems, campaigning against irresponsible corporations that pollute our air and water at will.

Our campaign to defend ancient forests, in the Amazon - where this Miami case started - and the last remaining ancient forests in the United States, continues. Watch us.

However, the threat to Greenpeace is not yet over. Hard on the heels of the US Government's case, we may end up in court against Exxon Mobil, the world's largest corporate producer of global warming gases. Last year Greenpeace volunteers protested at their headquarters dressed in tiger suits to highlight Exxon's role in global warming. They didn't like it, and our volunteers face felony charges. Like Bush, they are trying to shut us up for good.

So please, keep Greenpeace in action, be part of the action. We appreciate your on- going support, and we continue to need it, now that we have faced off Bush's malicious prosecution. If you can make an emergency donation, please click here.
https://usa.greenpeace.org/trial/

We couldn't have done it without you.

Rave on
John Passacantando
Executive Director, Greenpeace

Hallo liebe Leute,

bitte unterschreibt für einen Atomausstieg und leitet die mail möglichst in eurem Verteiler weiter. Lasst uns zeigen, dass wir viele sind, die endlich den Ausstieg aus dieser verantwortungslosen Technik und den wirklichen Einstieg in eine verantwortbare Energiepolitik wollen, die an oberster Stelle die Energieeinsparung haben muss.

Der untenstehende Abschnitt ist ein Auszug des IPPNW-Newsletters zum Kongress der IPPNW (internationale Ärzte zur Verhütung eines Atomkrieges, Ärzte in sozialer Verantwortung) in Berlin. Wer hier mehr wissen will, kann einen großen Teil der Vorträge unter http://www.atomkongress.de abrufen.

Die Unterschriftenaktion ist zu finden unter http://www.atomhaftpflicht.de

Die Informationen der IPPNW sind erhellend, was da abläuft und was die meisten nicht wissen. Jedenfalls rütteln sie viele aus dem süßen Dauerschlaf. Auch Euch?

Viele Grüße
Peter Borel

Nachricht von Manu Knapp

Heidelberg

19.05.04

Mit der Forderung, die Besatzung des Irak zu beenden findet am Mittwoch Abend ab 18 Uhr eine Kundgebung vor dem Hauptquartier der US-Streitkräfte in Deutschland statt. Initiator ist das Heidelberger Forum gegen Militarismus und Krieg. Anlaß seien zum einen, die nun in der breiteren Öffentlichkeit bekanntgewordenen Folterungen zum anderen natürlich auch die anderen Kriegsverbrechen, wie die Belagerung und Bombardierung irakischer Städte, die eine große Zahl ziviler Opfer forderten und noch fordern. Daran seien die in Heidelberg stationierten US-amerikanischen Einheiten direkt beteiligt.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php4?Nr=8493

19.05.04

Im UN-"Übereinkommen gegen Folter und andere grausame, unmenschliche oder erniedrigende Behandlung oder Strafe" vom 10.12.1984 heißt es in Artikel 2, Abs. 2: "Außergewöhnliche Umstände gleich welcher Art, sei es Krieg oder Kriegsgefahr, innenpolitische Instabilität oder ein sonstiger öffentlicher Notstand, dürfen nicht als Rechtfertigung für Folter geltend gemacht werden." Die aktuellen Versuche, das Folterverbot angesichts des "Krieges gegen den Terror" zu relativieren oder Folter sogar zu rechtfertigen (in den USA Rumsfeld, Bush, Cheney; in Deutschland Wolfssohn), können nach ener Erklärung der IPPNW (Internationale Ärzte gegen den Atomkrieg) nicht hingenommen werden.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php4?Nr=8495

EU Lebens- und Futtermittelrecht

19.05.04

Das Bundeskabinett beschloss am Mittwoch die Neuordnung des Lebensmittel- und Futtermittelrechts (LFBG). Der Gesetzesentwurf berücksichtigt verschiedene europäische Vorgaben, die im Gefolge der BSE-Krise entstanden sind. Für Deutschland ist erstmals ein einheitliches Lebens- und Futtermittelgesetzbuch vorgesehen. Die Grundsätze des Gesetzentwurfs hält foodwatch für sinnvoll. Aber bei der Konstruktion des Gesetzes sieht die Organisation erhebliche Gefahren für den Verbraucherschutz: "Die einflussreiche Wirtschaftslobby wird den Verbraucherschutz aushebeln", prognostiziert Wolfschmidt.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php4?Nr=8498

19.05.04

Bereits seit dem 5.5.2004 ist bekannt, dass gentechnisch veränderter Mais in fünf Bundesländern auf Versuchsflächen angebaut wurde. Weder die Öffentlichkeit noch die Bauern wurden bislang informiert, wo die entsprechenden Felder liegen. Der Bund Ökologische Lebensmittelwirtschaft (BÖLW), in dem die Verbände von landwirtschaftlichen Erzeugern, Verarbeitern und Händlern von Öko-Produkten organisiert sind, wendet sich nun an alle Biobauern ebenso wie an alle ohne Gentechnik wirtschaftenden konventionellen Bauern. Er fordert sie auf, bei den zuständigen Landesbehörden Auskunft zu den Freisetzungsorten zu verlangen. Wird die Auskunft verweigert, sollen die Bauern ihre Kosten für prophylaktische Gen-Analysen der Ernten über die Staatshaftung geltend machen.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php4?Nr=8497

Internal documents made public this week reveal that the Bush Administration granted almost unbelievable influence to livestock industry lobbyists in a proposed amnesty deal for factory farm polluters. The favors included a series of secret meetings with government officials, and the opportunity to draft portions of the Environmental Protection Agency's power-point presentation on a proposed air pollution monitoring program. [1]

The documents formed the basis of a May 16 Chicago Tribune expose of the degree to which meat industry lobbyists controlled the direction and content of proposed federal air pollution regulations that would apply to them. According to the Tribune, industry was granted such an influential role over the development of air pollution controls that several EPA officials resigned. It also led state and local officials to walk out of EPA meetings on the subject. [2]

The meetings were closed to environmental groups or other opponents of the plan. What took place at these secret meetings – and in subsequent communications between meat industry lobbyists and EPA officials -- was unearthed largely as the result of a lawsuit brought by the Sierra Club last September under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

The Sierra Club requested the documents from EPA after word leaked out about the meetings and a sweetheart deal that would exempt factory farms from Clean Air Act and Superfund regulations. Under the deal, factory farms that agree to a two-year monitoring program become exempt from federal air pollution enforcement during that time. Furthermore, they are not held accountable for any previous violations of federal air pollution laws.

"They let everyone off the hook," said Barclay Rogers, an attorney with the Sierra Club, in an interview with the Chicago Tribune. "Everyone who signs up gets protection. It's a 'get out of jail free' card." [3]

Giant factory farms dominate the U.S. meat industry - packing thousands of hogs, cattle and chicken onto a few massive farms. As a result, they are a major source of air emissions of hazardous gases and particulate matter proven to cause lung ailments and even premature death.

The internal EPA documents reveal a relationship between EPA officials and meat industry lobbyists so cozy it involves the EPA advising lobbyists on how to make their case to the agency.

In turn, meat industry lobbyists were allowed to develop legal language for the monitoring program and power-point slides for the agency to use in presenting its plans. There was even discussion of industry footing the bill for EPA travel costs, an idea later rejected when one EPA official admitted it had been a "no-no" for EPA to even ask. [4]

This is not the first time the Bush administration has allowed industry to heavily influence environmental rules by which it is supposed to live. After discovering that portions of EPA's proposal to regulate mercury emissions had been copied verbatim from energy industry lobbying materials, Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Tom Allen (D-ME) wrote to EPA Administrator Michael Leavitt to complain that the agency’s rulemaking process had been "improperly influenced by industry at the potential cost of the health of future generations of children." [5]


SOURCES:
[1] Sierra Club press release, May 17, 2004
[2] "Livestock Industry Finds Friends in EPA," Chicago Tribune, May 16, 2004.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Sierra Club press release, op. cit.
[5] Waxman-Allen letter, Feb. 12, 2004.


Source: http://www.bushgreenwatch.org/mt_archives/000121.php

Dear Friends

New international newsletter on EMR

I am happy to announce the launch of a new international newsletter on electromagnetic radiation.

Called "EMR Focus", the quarterly newsletter provides information about EMR and health, planning and design. It contains:
* the latest international news
* scientific research on the impact of EMR on health
* precautions for reducing exposure
* articles of interest.

As well as being an authoritative source of information about EMR, "EMR Focus" is also an enjoyable read. It is written in a style that is easy to understand, with cartoons, interesting snippets and humorous comment.

"EMR Focus" is unique in that it is available in either digital or print form. If you would like information about how to obtain this newsletter, please feel free to contact me at office@emraustralia.com.au.

I hope you will take the opportunity to explore "EMR Focus" and would appreciate any feedback you may have.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Lyn McLean
Editor

Lyn McLean
Director
EMR Australia Pty Ltd
PO Box 738 Gymea 2227
(02)9501 2665
office@emraustralia.com.au
http://www.emraustralia.com.au

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/18/science/earth/18POLL.html

ASHINGTON - Breathing soot from factories or highways may cause genetic damage that can be passed to offspring, scientists have found in an experiment on mice.

It is unclear whether the pollution-damaged DNA harms health. But the discovery comes as scientists already are calling for more research into the dangers of particulates, microscopic soot particles linked to asthma, heart disease and other health problems.

"At the moment, we are grappling with the fact that even though the air is visibly cleaner, we're still finding adverse health effects," said Dr. Jonathan Samet of Johns Hopkins University, who led a recent National Academy of Sciences study of the issue. "The new work now adds another area of potential concern."

Until 2002, there was little evidence that any air pollutant might cause genetic damage that can be inherited.

That year, Canadian scientists placed mice downwind from steel mills and tested their offspring. The males passed on twice as many DNA mutations as did mice living in the cleaner countryside. Those same researchers, who are from McMaster University in Ontario, reported in the journal Science last week that the cause of the mutations was airborne particulate matter, or soot. It is emitted from factories, power plants and diesel-powered vehicles.

In the latest experiments, the scientists housed two groups of mice near the steel mills for 10 weeks. One group breathed outside air; the other was housed in a chamber equipped with high-efficiency air filters to catch microscopic particles.

Then, the mice were bred and scientists checked their offspring for specific DNA mutations that are passed through the father's sperm. The mice breathing filtered air had mutation rates 52 percent lower than those exposed to full-strength pollution, the scientists found.

The mutations measured are not linked to disease, but they are similar to a type of DNA damage that is. Dr. James Quinn, a McMaster biologist and the report's lead author, said more research was needed to determine whether these changes were a marker for potential health problems and whether the mutations could be inherited, too.

Dr. Quinn said the study's practical value might lie in what it showed about the effectiveness of air filtration. Because particulates adhere to tree leaves just as they do to filters, he said, the study may have implications for policy-makers who must decide on road-building and tree-cutting projects.

The Environmental Protection Agency already has ordered tougher limits on ultrafine particulate pollution because of concern about how it affects the elderly, children and people with respiratory illnesses. In December, the agency plans to announce which parts of the country are not in compliance with these rules.

Dr. Quinn said he did not know whether the particulates themselves or toxic chemicals that attach to them damaged the sperm. But one suspect is a group of particulate-clinging chemicals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or P.A.H.'s, some of which are known to be cancer-causing. Air samples showed daily P.A.H. exposure near the steel mills was 33 times as high as in the countryside. But HEPA filtering of the urban air blocked most of those chemicals, the study concluded.


Informant: Teresa Binstock

LATimes editorial

May 18, 2004

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-forest18may18,1,1515499.story

The smallest national forest in California is also the most pressed, with three rapidly growing counties nipping at its mountain flanks. Like its bigger siblings, Cleveland National Forest is a "Land of Many Uses," but considering how little land must serve dense populations on all sides, its best uses are wilderness preservation and environmentally friendly recreation.

In its 15-year draft management plan for Southern California's national forests, the U.S. Forest Service has drawn up six options for the Cleveland. Two of them, Alternatives 3 and 6, adequately protect the oasis of fragrant pine and sage from proposals to blast tunnels through the mountains, carve highways into the wilderness, string high-voltage utility lines for 28 miles and push water up the eastern hillside from Lake Elsinore for a profitable power project.

The Forest Service, though, has tentatively conferred "preferred" status on Alternative 2, which would allow more intensive uses, including those listed above. That won't work for a forest this size, at the juncture of Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties, where the combined populations top 7.5 million and are growing.

Unless enough people protest, the preferred plan will be the default.

Alternative 2 and the government's preferred options for the other three national forests in the region would also dramatically increase off-roading, with 70,000 more acres set aside for such use, much of it in environmentally delicate areas. The Forest Service defends the proposed increase, saying it would protect the land by keeping vehicles on designated trails. That is no more than a hope. In fact, one possibility in this plan is for the Forest Service to legalize trails carved out illegally by off-road vehicles, providing reinforcement for more incursions. The Forest Service concedes that the vehicles increase the risk of wildfire and that it lacks the manpower to police them now, let alone on tens of thousands more acres.

Agency spokesmen stress that these are only drafts and vow to take public comments seriously. At a later point, they could switch to another alternative or modify any of the existing options, with the regional forester making the final decision. Southern California residents have only themselves to blame if they don't let government know what they want in their diminishing forests.


To Take Action: The forest plan website, http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/scfpr/ , has links to view the draft plans, find out about public meetings and send comments electronically. Public comments may also be mailed to Southern California Forest Plan Revisions, USDA Forest Service Content Analysis Center, P.O. Box 22777, Salt Lake City, Utah 84122.

Copyright 2004 Los Angeles Times


Informant: Teresa Binstock

Could Bush administration officials be prosecuted for 'war crimes' as a result of new measures used in the war on terror? The White House's top lawyer thought so.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4999734/

and

Chaos in Washington

http://www.nationinstitute.org/tomdispatch/index.mhtml?pid=1441


From Information Clearing House

The Wrong Direction
by Kim Petersen

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/May2004/Petersen0518.htm

By Kim Petersen

Professor Norman Finkelstein identifies a gullibility and naivety among a significant sector of the American public that, if true, has disturbing ramifications -- not just for Americans but also for the rest of the world. The consequences are manifest in Iraq. Obviously the invasion of Iraq was never about liberation -- except the liberation of oil from Iraqis....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/May2004/Petersen0518-2.htm

May 13, 2004

By CAROLE MIGDEN

The latest attack on California's environment by big business is being waged right now in Humboldt County.

Five years ago, Pacific Lumber Company signed a historic agreement with the state of California and the federal government to preserve the Headwaters Forest in Humboldt. The core of this balanced agreement allowed the state to purchase 7,500 acres of ancient redwood groves from Pacific Lumber, and placed strong restrictions on logging for an additional 210,000 acres of Pacific Lumber's land.

I was proud to play a part in the original agreement when I authored the legislation to appropriate $240 million toward the purchase of the forest. It was a hard-fought win and a true victory for a national treasure.

Now, Pacific Lumber wants to renege on that agreement. After receiving a fair purchase price for Headwaters, Pacific Lumber is using its own scientists to support its claim that new methods of logging will allow the company to expand logging in sensitive areas beyond the limits agreed upon in the plan.

Pacific Lumber is now proposing to loosen restrictions on 30,000 acres to allow logging on steep slopes, during dangerous wet weather, and near streams and watersheds. It is also proposing changes to road improvement requirements, restrictions in streamside buffers, and to the cost and requirements of future scientific studies.

If adopted, these loosened rules would result in increased sediment runoff in streams, fewer environmental protections and greater danger for already threatened species

These changes come on the heels of four years of steady assault on California's natural resources by the Bush administration which have weakened clean air and clean water, opened up our national forests to expanded drilling and logging, rolled back rules banning mining next to streams and called for amending the historic Northwest Forest plan.

I'm very disappointed that Pacific Lumber wants to go back on its word. Back in 1998 and 1999, we forged the agreement in a way that allowed Pacific Lumber to keep its mills open in an environmentally sensitive and sustainable manner. It also put to bed years of sustained warfare over the divisive issue of how to preserve redwood forests while balancing the needs of our growing state. We had an agreement then, and we should keep it today.

While we should all be insulted by Pacific Lumber's attempt to break its word, our greatest responsibility is to the Headwaters Forest.

The 2,000-year-old trees at stake are far too precious and irreplaceable to be subject to the large-scale logging which Pacific Lumber desires. The Habitat Protection Plan preserved the native habitat for the endangered marbled murrelet, northern spotted owl and coho salmon.

It is important to have regular scientific review of remaining logging operations, which was a part of the original agreement. But any scientific analysis that occurs should be done by an independent, outside auditor, not by Pacific Lumber's own scientists. The Headwaters Forest is an environmental jewel that belongs to everyone and should be treated that way.

We held up our end of the bargain; now I hope Pacific Lumber will do the same.

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/opinion/columns/13close.html


Informant: Nicholas Wilson

Forest Conservation Action Alerts @ Forests.org
http://forests.org/action/

May 18, 2004

Three extremely urgent alerts:

** President Putin - Russia must ratify Kyoto now **
http://forests.org/action/climate/
Decision widely expected by end of week on treaty's future - will a decade of negotiations be wasted?

** Protect Montana's Rocky Mountain Front from Drilling **
http://forests.org/action/america/
One of the most important American wildernesses to be trashed by drilling. Do you have anything to say about this?

** Demand World Bank Stop Subsidizing Industrial Logging in the Congo **
http://forests.org/action/africa/
As country is in anarchy, World Bank auctions off the second largest
rainforest for logging. Will we stand for this?

Already responded? Do it again, and forward to at least a dozen or more people. There are ten thousand people on this email list. Though we have generated hundreds of thousands of protest emails, still only about 25% are responding to any particular alert. Frankly, we can do better. Let's vigorously respond to these alerts, grow the action alert list, and continue to wage a peaceful Earth Revolution.

Networked by Forests.org, Inc., gbarry@forests.org

"What is perhaps most surprising about the abuses committed against civilians at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq is the fact that they came as a surprise at all. The 'sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses' found by Major General Taguba has a long history within the tradition of US imperial policing of third world nations. The primary means for this policing had traditionally been counter-insurgency warfare which has always sought to contain and destroy social forces considered inimical to US interests."

http://www.counterpunch.org/stokes05182004.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

"The ill-named Patriot Act ramroded through Congress just days after 9-11 is costing the average American precious freedoms and allowing unwarranted expansion of government power. We are paying dearly for not taking a strong stand against this tyranny. We have only to look at the intent the Founding Fathers had in framing the U.S. Constitution to understand how much it is being trashed and circumvented today."

http://www.libertyforall.net/2004/may23/Dismantling.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

"From the evidence presented so far, it is clear that the footsoldiers in Rumsfeld's secret army are not alone in their responsibility for the war crimes committed at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere. Not only Lynndie England and the other Army reservists charged, but also Col. Pappas, Stephen Cambone, and all the architects of Operation Copper Green are among the guilty parties, and ought to be brought to justice. The War Party is reeling under the impact of these multiple shocks. Several have gone 'wobbly,' as Maggie Thatcher once said of Bush I, and I predict they'll go even wobblier -- because more shocks are coming."

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=2600


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Mejia wrote in his testimony. 'I have witnessed the suffering of a people whose country is in ruins and who are further humiliated by the raids, patrols, curfews of an occupying army. My experience of this war has changed me forever.'"

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,120304,00.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Presse

IKRK-Bericht über unangekündigte Gefängnis-Visiten lag vor

Washington - Führende US-Militärs haben laut Medienberichten bereits im vergangenen November von den Misshandlungen irakischer Gefangener gewusst. Das Internationale Komitee vom Roten Kreuz (IKRK) habe der US-Armee damals einen Bericht über zwei unangekündigte Besuche im berüchtigten Abu-Ghraib-Gefängnis im Monat zuvor übermittelt, berichteten die Zeitungen "Wall Street Journal" und "New York Times" am Mittwoch unter Berufung auf einen ranghohen US-Offizier. In dem IKRK-Bericht sei beschrieben, wie Gefangene tagelang nackt in dunklen Zellen gehalten und mit Frauen-Unterwäsche auf dem Kopf fotografiert worden seien. US-Verteidigungsminister Donald Rumsfeld hatte bei einer Anhörung im Senat angegeben, seine Behörde sei Mitte Januar über die Misshandlungen informiert worden. Das Pentagon leitete Ende Januar eine Untersuchung ein. (AFP)

19.05.04, 10:12 Uhr


Quelle:

http://www.netscape.de/index.jsp?sg=News_Newsticker&cid=1235229