After 9/11, the word of the president was supposedly the only protection that the rights and liberties of the American people needed. After 9/11, President Bush granted himself unlimited, unchecked power over anyone in the world suspected of being a terrorist...

http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0407c.asp


From Information Clearing House

"Report Mainz" vom 5. Juli 2004 - [English translation]

http://www.traprockpeace.org/iraqi_child_prisoners.htm

German news video
http://www.swr.de/report/archiv/sendungen/040705/02/04070502.ram


Informant: Global Network

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1260750,00.html


Informant: NHNE

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/07/14/1410241


Informant: kevcross5

Es ist ein Skandal: International operierende Konzerne machen Milliardengewinne, zahlen ihren Managern Millionen an Bezügen und Prämien, drücken sich aber durch Tricksereien riesigen Ausmasses ums Steuernzahlen. Und das nicht nur bei uns in Deutschland, sondern weltweit.

Attac hat eine bundesweite Kampagne gegen den dreisten Steuerklau großer Konzerne gestartet. Auf der Vodaklau-Homepage sind Fakten und Hintergründe, Aktionsideen und Pressestimmen, Aktionsberichte und Argumente zum Fall Vodafone zusammengestellt: http://www.attac.de/vodaklau/

Macht alle mit und zeigt dem Konzern die Rote Karte!

1. Aktiviert den Mailomaten und schickt dem Vodafone Vorstand eine Protest-Mail: http://www.attac.de/vodaklau/alle/mail.php

2. Bestellt die Serie von Protestpostkarten und Plakaten, auf denen der Zusammenhang zwischen Steuertricks und leeren öffentlichen Kassen sehr anschaulich dargestellt ist, auch zum Weiterverteilen.

3. Bitte leitet diese E-Mail an FreundInnen und Bekannte weiter.

4. Außerdem suchen wir Menschen, die ihren Vertrag mit Vodafone gekündigt haben für eine öffentlichkeitswirksame Aktion - meldet euch bitte bei handtmann@attac.de.

Der Schneeball des Protests muss ins Rollen kommen - die Menschen müssen es nicht widerstandslos hinnehmen, mit den Folgen der Steuerflucht großer Konzerne zu leben. Breiter öffentlicher Druck ist immer noch das erfolgreichste Mittel um Veränderungen herbeizuführen!

Vielen Dank fürs Mitmachen und Weiterleiten!

Vodafreie Grüße, Stephanie Handtmann

http://www.attac.de/vodaklau


Stephanie Handtmann
Gruppen- und Aktionsunterstützung
Attac Bundesbüro * Münchener Str. 48 * 60329 Frankfurt
Tel. 069 - 900 281 22 * Fax 069 - 900 281 99
E-Mail: handtmann@attac.de



Informationen zum Stand der Dinge

Liebe Freundinnen und Freunde,

Ihr habt entscheidend dazu beigetragen, dass die Aktion gegen den Vodaklau eine so große öffentliche Aufmerksamkeit erlangt hatte. Über 33.500 Protestmails sind bei Vodafone eingegangen. Wir haben, wie Ihr sicher wisst, am 13. Oktober 2004 über 10 000 Protestkarten im Bundesfinanzministerium in Berlin überreichen können. Es war die bisher größte Kampagne von Attac. Für diese riesengroße Beteiligung bedanken wir uns sehr herzlich.

Es war zu erwarten, dass das durchaus große Medieninteresse nach und nach erlahmen würde. Von der Übergabe der Protestkarten an das Bundesfinanzministerium wurde noch bundesweit in den Zeitungen berichtet. Seither hat es weitere Protestaktionen in den Regionalgruppen gegeben. So hat beispielsweise Attac - Nürnberg im November 2004 ca. 20 öffentliche und kirchliche Stellen, Parteien und die Gewerkschaften in Nürnberg angeschrieben und aufgefordert, ihre Verträge mit Vodafone zu kündigen.

Vorläufiges Ergebnis:
- PDS und Grüne Stadtratsfraktion kündigen.
- ver.di und die SPD haben keine Verträge.
- Der Zuständige aus dem Hochbauamt (verantwortlich für den Mobilfunk der Stadt Nürnberg) fand die Aktion super und hätte gekündigt, wenn sie Verträge gehabt hätten.
- Die Oberfinanzdirektion hat Vodafone-Verträge und kann sie wegen eines Wettbewerbsgesetz nicht kündigen.

Am 16.12.04 gab Attac-Nürnberg zu dieser Aktion und ihrem Ergebnis eine Presseerklärung heraus. In Bremen wurden Mitte Januar 2005 alle Dienststellen und Behörden angeschrieben mit der Bitte, alle Vodafone-Verträge zu kündigen. Den Bürgerinnen und Bürgern Bremens wurde das in einer Verteilaktion mitgeteilt. Nun warten die Bremer Attaci auf Reaktionen.

Das sind nur zwei von vielen Aktionen in den Regionalgruppen bundesweit. Davon wurde natürlich nur in den Regionalblättern berichtet. Solche Aktionen sind weiterhin sehr sinnvoll. Wir sollten zeigen, dass wir nicht locker lassen, diesen schweren Fall von versuchter Steuervermeidung anzuprangern, und ihn scheitern zu lassen.

Es ist uns auch gelungen, diese unsere Protestaktionen mit einer positiven Forderung zu verbinden: der Einführung einer Solidarischen Einfachsteuer. Dies von Attac und Verdi entwickelte Konzept einer grundlegenden solidarischen Steuervereinfachung, dem auch die IG-Metall beigetreten ist und das im wesentlichen auch von der IG- Bau, Agrar und Umwelt unterstützt wird, würde den Steuerklau von Vodafone und anderen verhindern. Viele Attac Gruppen vor Ort haben dies Konzept mittlerweile in öffentlichen Veranstaltungen vorgestellt und vertreten. Seine wesentlichen Inhalte finden sich inzwischen auch in den steuerpolitischen Vorschlägen von PDS, Bündnis 90 die Grünen und in Papieren der SPD-Linken wieder.

Attac hatte Vodafone für den Public Eye Awards 2005 in der Kategorie „Steuern“ – nominiert. Bereits zum sechsten Mal fand parallel zum Weltwirtschaftsforum (WEF) in Davos eine „Public Eye“-Veranstaltung statt. Kandidaten sind WEF-Mitglieder und andere Konzerne, welche sozial und ökologisch verantwortliches Verhalten vermissen lassen. Die „Public Eye Awards“ werden in den Kategorien Menschenrechte, Arbeitsrechte, Umwelt und Steuern vergeben. Den Preis gewonnen hat allerdings KPMG International nominiert von: Tax Justice Network. Seit Jahren entwickelt die Wirtschaftsprüfungs- und Beratungsgruppe KPMG ständig neue Steuersparmodelle und ermuntert ihre Kunden zu aggressiven Steuervermeidungspraktiken. 500 Modelle hat KPMC entwickelt. Vier von diesen bringen den USA einen jährlichen Steuerausfall von 85 Mrd. US$. Link:
http://www.evb.ch/index.cfm?page_id=3293&archive=none

In einem Buch: Carl Amery (Hrsg.) Briefe an den Reichtum, Luchterhand Literaturverlag, finden wir den Brief des Journalisten Harald Schumann an den seinerzeitigen Vorstandvorsitzenden Gent, in dem es heißt: „Nein, Sie sind eine Berühmtheit, weil Sie sich große Verdienste um diese Republik erworben haben, Herr Gent. Denn Sie haben mehr zur Aufklärung über die Akteure und Methoden des globalisierten Shareholder-Value-Kapitalismus beigetragen als das ganze Heer der Wirtschaftsexperten, das täglich die Zeitungsspalten und Sendeminuten füllt.“ Dieser wirklich lesenswerte Brief wurde im Tagesspiegel vorabgedruckt und kann auch auf folgender Seite online gelesen werden: http://www.attac.de/vodaklau/gentbrief.php

Der Fall Vodafone ist also nicht vergessen, wiewohl es öffentlich um ihn ruhig geworden ist. Das zuständige Finanzamt hat den Fall Vodafone immer noch nicht entschieden. Die Entscheidung fällt ihm wohl schwer, weil der Fall so spektakulär ist – nicht zuletzt wegen unseren Aktionen. An diesen Fall ist ja auch die Grundsatzentscheidung geknüpft, was abgeschrieben werden darf und was nicht.

In der Süddeutschen Zeitung konnten wir am 16. Februar 2005 lesen:
"Wir gehen davon aus, dass es noch mehrere Monate dauert, bis das Finanzamt über unsere Steuererklärung für das Jahr 2001 entscheidet", sagte ein Sprecher von Vodafone auf Anfrage der SZ. Die Betriebsprüfung dauere an. Ein Sprecher der Oberfinanzdirektion Düsseldorf sagte lediglich, den Angaben von Vodafone habe er "nichts hinzuzufügen", und berief sich im Übrigen auf das Steuergeheimnis. Zeitpunkt und Inhalt der Entscheidung unterliegen tatsächlich dem Steuergeheimnis. Wir sind aber sicher, dass irgendetwas durchsickert. Ja nach Entscheidung wird Attac reagieren.

Nachricht von Bernd Schreiner

Members of the Klamath Tribes plan to protest outside a congressional field hearing regarding the Endangered Species Act because their tribal chairman was not included on a list of witnesses," according to the Associated Press, 7/12. The House Resources Committee will hold a hearing on the Endangered Species Act in Klamath Falls, Oregon this Saturday.

"The committee will be considering laws and regulations that profoundly affect tribal resources. We must speak on behalf of the tribal fisheries that have been decimated by reckless resource management in violation of our federal treaty rights, " said Allen Foreman, chairman of the Klamath Tribes. Tribes in the Klamath River basin "have fishing rights for endangered Lost River and shortnose sucker fish and threatened coho salmon.


Informant: Earth First!

Charlie Fidelman

CanWest News Service

Tuesday, July 13, 2004

MONTREAL - An increase in childhood cancers, diseases, birth defects, lower intelligence, and learning and behavioural problems could be linked to industry emissions of thousands of chemicals in North America, according to a draft report by the Commission for Environmental Co-operation.

But the report on these links -- which have been cited for years -- does not say what specifically puts children at higher risk. After tracking annual industry emissions in Canada, Mexico and the United States, the report by the Montreal-based organization is clear about increased risk of disease from pollution in air, water and soil, but warns that such data are only part of the picture.

The report does not draw a direct cause-and-effect link, but the commission was not trying to protect the industry, said pediatrician Lynn Goldman, lead author of the 90-page draft of A Special Report on Toxic Chemicals and Children's Health in North America. "We just put the facts out there," said Dr. Goldman, a professor of environmental health sciences at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

It is next to impossible, for example, to determine whether children living next to a hazardous-waste management plant are being exposed to pollutants from that site or other sources, she said. "We have this great [industry emission] data, but they don't have a way of connecting that with levels of exposure in children's bodies," Dr. Goldman said.

For example, an independent study in the United States found pesticide residues in blood and urine of children who did not live in polluted areas. And experts differ on issues such as cancer trends, she said.

"The public should know that although we know children are at risk, we don't really know what's in the environment and what it's doing to them," she said. "The report raises more questions than answers." Lead, mercury, PCBs and dioxins are known carcinogens, developmental toxins and neurotoxins, said Kathy Cooper, senior researcher for the Canadian Environmental Law Association, which contributed to the report.

Although these are now heavily regulated or banned outright, they are still among the top pollutants. And there are many new chemicals -- about 33,000 substances in commercial use -- of unknown toxicity, she said. "Most have not been evaluated for their effect on children," Ms. Cooper said.

The situation is similar for pesticides. About 70% of pesticides that got government approval decades ago are now slated for retesting by looking at exposure and children, she said.

The most troubling "toxic trespassers" are the persistent chemicals that accumulate in the food chain. Persistent chemicals do not easily break down in the environment.Small amounts at the wrong moment can lead to lifelong disorders. Even low levels of lead and mercury can stunt brain development in a fetus or young infant.

Society is conducting a vast, uncontrolled experiment, experts warn, and children are the experimental subjects.

For example, wood decks, fences and playgrounds are often made with wood treated with arsenic -- a known neurotoxin. According to Canadian Institute of Child Health statistics, cancer in Canadian children under age 15 increased by 25% during the past 25 years. And about 12% of children have asthma -- related to air pollution. A further 29% of children under age 11 have learning or behavioural problems.

The commission's draft report tracked public data on pollutants that are released into air, water and soil -- based on industry-provided information required by governments in Canada, the United States and Mexico.

The report suggests the data tends to underestimate the actual load of chemicals in the environment. That is simply the "tip of the iceberg," it warns.

While it only looked at industry sources, children are also exposed to all sorts of things in their own homes. For example, fire-retardant chemicals (which are similar to PCBs) can be found in everything from televisions to baby pyjamas, and are now turning up in breast milk.

Children are particularly sensitive because of their size and activity levels. Their developing kidneys and livers are less capable of breaking down toxins. The report clearly states that exposure to toxic chemicals contributes to increases in such childhood diseases as asthma, leukemia, brain cancer, birth defects and learning, behavioural and developmental disabilities.

The Canadian Chemical Producers' Association -- which represents more than 70 chemical manufacturers accounting for more than 90% of chemical manufacturing operations in Canada -- has said the report is flawed. They did not return calls.

But other groups preparing a response to the draft version are applauding the call for more research, education and better regulatory policies.

The commission is assembling a panel of scientists to polish the report for a year-end release, Vic Shantora, head of the CEC's pollution and health program, said. "We're trying to get best information ... and how it impacts on children's health and bring that to the public's attention," Mr. Shantora said.

(The Gazette)

http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/search/story.html?id=fde73124-c173-47d7-8a43-3991112c0beb&page=2

© National Post 2004


Informant: Deborah Barrie

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3194698


Informant: Davey Garland

Fiery Hell on Earth, Pt. 4
"GOD TOLD ME TO STRIKE"

In this series (see Rachel's #792, #793, #794), I am trying to
discover reasons why the U.S. is pursuing contradictory and
seemingly self-destructive nuclear policies, including:

(1) President Bush stresses again and again that the two
greatest dangers facing the U.S. are the spread of nuclear
materials and know-how into the hands of (a) terrorists and (b)
erratic and belligerent countries.

(2) Meanwhile Vice-President Cheney and the Commerce Department
are promoting the sale of nuclear power plants around the world
even though it is widely acknowledged that nuclear power
provides a sure path to nuclear weapons for any country so
inclined. Witness the recent experience of India, Pakistan,
North Korea and Iran.

(3) President Bush has initiated a "second nuclear age,"
ordering up a new generation of small atomic bombs which are
needed because they are "more usable" than older, larger
A-bombs. And Mr. Bush has announced provocative new war
policies, including the threat of pre-emptive nuclear strikes
against America's enemies, even enemies without nuclear arms.

(4) Meanwhile the U.S. is deliberately dragging its feet in
efforts to secure thousands of loose nuclear weapons in
countries of the former Soviet Union, and is failing to
retrieve tons of weapons-grade uranium and plutonium that were
given or lent to 40 or more countries under the "atoms for
peace" program begun by President Eisenhower.

It's as if U.S. leaders -- or the political supporters to whom
they are beholden -- believe that the rogue detonation of a
nuclear device in some key city like Jerusalem or even New York
is inevitable and can't be stopped, or perhaps might even be
beneficial in some way and therefore should be enabled.

In Rachel's #794, we examined half a dozen hypotheses that
might explain the deep inconsistencies in U.S. policies toward
rogue nuclear detonations. I don't think we can rule out any of
these hypotheses. To one degree or another, all of them may be
affecting President Bush's nuclear policies.

However, to me the most compelling hypothesis, the one with the
broadest explanatory power, is this: certain fundamentalist
Christian leaders within the U.S. say they believe that World
War III is inevitable (some even say desirable) because it is
part of God's plan, and those same Christian leaders control
the political agenda of the Republican Party, which in turn
controls the Congress and the Executive Branch.

These fundamentalist Christian leaders are, therefore, in the
best position to promote the spread of nuclear technologies
abroad, and to slow U.S. efforts to retrieve and secure
weapons-grade nuclear materials. Many of them also preach that
a fiery conflagration is required to defeat the armies of the
Antichrist and thus usher in Christ's thousand-year reign of
peace. This hypothesis, and its attendant theology, also may
clarify some of President Bush's other policies, such as those
on taxation, science, education, women's issues, Middle East
policy, and the environment.

This is a complicated story and I must emphasize at the outset
that it is not a story about Christianity or about
fundamentalist Christians or about Republicans. This is a story
about a few fundamentalist Christian leaders who decided 20
years ago to take "working control" of the Republican Party,
and a few Republican political strategists who sought the
support of fundamentalist Christians to increase the numerical
strength of the Republican Party.[1]

By 1994, both groups had succeeded -- fundamentalist Christians
had gained working control of the Republican Party, and the
Republican Party had achieved electoral majorities that would
have been impossible without the organized support of Christian
fundamentalists and their evangelical followers.

Christian fundamentalists first appeared on the national
political scene when the Reverend Jerry Falwell and the
Reverend Tim LaHaye organized the Moral Majority in 1979-80.
Ten years later the Reverend Pat Robertson formed the Christian
Coalition for the purpose of influencing state and national
elections. In 1992, he told the Denver Post, "We want as soon
as possible to see a majority of the Republican Party in the
hands of pro-family Christians."[2] By 1994, the Coalition had
succeeded.

The Christian Coalition rates members of Congress according to
their votes on issues, giving us a way to measure the influence
of conservative Christians within the Republican Party. Here
are the ratings of the 10 most powerful Republicans in the U.S.
House of Representatives. (Following each person's Christian
Coalition [CC] rating, I have added the person's rating by the
League of Conservation Voters [LCV] to show how Republican
Christian leaders vote on environmental matters.)

House Speaker Dennis Hastert (Ill.): CC: 100%, LCV: no data;
Majority Leader Tom Delay (Tex.): CC: 100%, LCV: 0%; Majority
Whip Roy Blunt (Mo.): CC: 92%, LCV: 0%; Chief Deputy Whip Eric
Cantor (Va.): CC: 100%, LCV: 0%; Republican Conference Chair
Deborah Price (Ohio) CC: 58%, LCV: 4%; Republican Conference
Vice-Chair Jack Kingston (Ga.): CC: 100%, LCV: 0%; Republican
Conference Secretary John Doolittle (Calif.): CC: 100%, LCV:
0%; Republican Policy Committee Chair Christopher Cox (Calif.):
CC: 100%, LCV: 14%; National Republican Congressional Committee
Tom Reynolds (N.Y.): CC: 92%, LCV: 18%; Chairman of the
Republican National Leadership Rob Portman (Ohio): CC: 100%,
LCV: 18%.

And here are the Christian Coalition (CC) and League of
Conservation Voters (LCV) ratings for the 7 most powerful
Republicans in the U.S. Senate: Majority Leader Bill Frist
(Tenn.): CC: 100%, LCV: 0%; Assistant Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell (Ky.): CC: 100%, LCV: 4%; Republican Conference Chair
Rick Santorum (Pa.): CC: 100%, LCV: 4%; Republican Conference
Vice Chair Kay Hutchinson (Tex.): CC: 100%, LCV: 4%; Republican
Policy Committee Jon Kyl (Ariz.): CC: 100%, LCV: 4%; National
Republican Senatorial Committee George Allen (Va.): CC: 100%,
LCV: 0%.[3]

This tally clearly reveals the power of fundamentalist
Christians to control the agenda of the Republican Party, and
their consistent hostility to environmental protection.

President Bush is now entirely beholden to evangelical
Christian leaders because evangelicals provided about 40% of
the votes cast for Mr. Bush in 2000, according to the New York
Times.[4] As Newsweek said in 2003, evangelical Christians now
"form the core of the Republican Party.... Bible-believing
Christians are Bush's strongest backers and turning them out in
even greater numbers is the top priority of the president's
political adviser Karl Rove."[5]

The Republican Party, and the Bush family, discovered the
importance of the evangelical vote in 1988 when George H.W.
Bush (father of current President Bush) was running for
president. According to Doug Weed, political advisor to both
father and son, in the 1988 presidential election, "We lost as
we always do the Jewish vote, the Hispanic vote and all those
folks. We lost the Catholic vote. We were the first modern
presidency to win an election -- and it was a landslide -- and
not win the Catholic vote." Mr. Weed goes on, "[In 1988] the
message did come home -- by God, you could win the White House
with nothing but evangelicals, if you could get enough of 'em,
if you could get 'em all."[6]

George W. Bush and the Republican Party have been wooing,
relying on, and taking direction from, evangelical leaders ever
since.[7]

The mass media tend to use the label "evangelical" when
referring to all fundamentalist Christians, as if all
evangelicals were fundamentalists. They are not. Furthermore,
the media assume that all evangelicals share one set of
political and theological beliefs. This is another serious
error. There is a very broad spectrum of political and
theological beliefs among evangelicals -- at least 10% are
liberals.[8] An estimated 15% of evangelicals are
African-Americans and, of those, 75% are staunch Democrats.[9]
However, among the fundamentalist Christians who have taken
working control of the Republican Party, the spectrum of
beliefs is much, much narrower and definitely not liberal.

What is fundamentalism?

Religious historian George W. Marsden begins his book,
Understanding Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism, this way: "A
fundamentalist is an evangelical who is angry about
something."[10] The Reverend Jerry Falwell has on occasion used
Marsden's definition to describe himself and his millions of
followers. Fundamentalists are pugnacious evangelicals who are
willing to take a stand and fight against liberal theology,
changing cultural values, and secular humanism. Fundamentalists
are very clear about their goals. They see themselves as
Christian soldiers engaged in a "culture war," a crusade
against the dominant liberal culture, which they consider evil.
Their stated goal is to win the culture war and to impose what
they believe are Christian standards of behavior on
everyone, in sum, a theocracy.[11]

In sum, the goal of fundamentalist Christian leaders is to take
dominion over American society -- a goal that the Reverend Pat
Robertson stated explicitly as early as 1984.[12]

Christian fundamentalist leaders are much further along toward
their goal of dominion than most people realize. They control
the Congress and the White House, and they are now working
methodically to take over the courts. Perhaps because religious
beliefs are considered to be a private matter in the U.S., the
mass media have largely ignored this, the most important
political story of our time.

Evangelicals tend to hold a common set of core beliefs,
including these:

(1) the Bible is the infallible ("inerrant") word of God;

(2) the salvation of lost and sinful people (which includes all
humans at birth) is only possible through regeneration by the
Holy Spirit -- a deeply personal experience of being "saved"
that many liken to being "born again" at the moment when they
accept Christ into their hearts;

(3) all who do not accept Christ as their personal savior
(including Muslims, Jews, atheists and agnostics, Hindus,
Buddhists, and all other non-Christians) will be resurrected
into damnation when they die and will spend eternity suffering
unspeakable agonies in the fires of hell;

(4) Because the stakes are so high, those who have been saved
by accepting Christ into their hearts have an obligation to try
to persuade others to accept Christ by spreading the "gospel,"
which is also called the "good news." (The word
"evangelicalism" comes from the Greek word evangelion, meaning
"the good news.")

(5) Christ will eventually return to Earth in power and glory.

Within the group of all evangelicals, there is a somewhat
smaller group called "premillenial dispensationalists" or more
commonly, "rapture Christians." They accept the five basic
tenets described above, and more.

What Do Dispensationalist Leaders Believe?

Dispensationalist leaders believe that before Christ returns to
Earth he will physically transport to heaven ("rapture") all
those who have been saved, whether they be dead or still
living. As the Reverend Billy Graham wrote in 1984, "The day is
fast approaching when Jesus Christ will come back to 'snatch
away' His followers from all the graveyards of the world, and
those of us who are alive and remain will join them in the
great escape!"[13]

The rapture entered U.S. evangelical theology in the 1860s and
has been widely accepted since then.[14] Today
dispensationalist views are taught at over 200 institutions of
higher learning, such as the Dallas Theological Seminary, the
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and the Moody Bible
Institute. Dispensationalist views are also reflected in the
notes accompanying popular study Bibles, such as the Schofield
Reference Bible and the Ryrie Study Bible.

The vast majority (perhaps all) of the evangelical leaders
visible on the political scene now are dispensationalists. The
Reverend Jerry Falwell boasts that he can mobilize 70 million
dispensationalists (36% of all U.S. adults); others say the
true number of dispensationalists is no more than 40 million
(20% of all adults).[15] Either number is politically
significant because only 50.99 million people voted for Al Gore
in 2000 and even fewer voted for George W. Bush.

Dispensationalist leaders believe the rapture will be followed
by a seven-year period of "tribulation" during which those who
are "left behind" (not raptured) will be afflicted with
terrible calamities including earthquakes, locusts, scorpions
and boils. During the tribulation, everyone left behind will
have another chance to accept Jesus into their hearts.
Dispensational leaders believe the tribulation years will see
mounting chaos, crime, blasphemy, adultery, homosexuality and
other evidence of moral decay. During this period, the
Antichrist, a diabolical dictator, will appear, offering
solutions to all the world's problems. The Antichrist will try
to organize a one-world government something like the United
Nations or perhaps the World Trade Organization.

At the end of the seven-year tribulation, Christ will lead his
armies of compassion against the Antichrist's armies of
evil-doers in the cataclysmic battle of Armageddon, after which
Christ will reign over the Earth during a thousand years of
peace (the millenium).

Based on their reading of the Book of Revelation in the Bible,
dispensationalist leaders believe that the "end times," leading
to the millenium, must unfold in a particular sequence.

First, the Jews must return to, and take control of, the
"covenant lands" -- lands given by God to the children of
Abraham, as recorded in Genesis 15:18. Then a temple must be
built on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, which happens to be
occupied today by the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a shrine that Muslims
believe is among the two or three most sacred spots on
earth.[16, pg. 109] After the Mosque is removed, the temple
will be built and animals will be sacrificed within it. Then
the rest of the "end times" can unfold -- the rapture, the
tribulation, the Antichrist, Armageddon, and the thousand years
of peace.[17, pgs. 88-116]

Many dispensationalist leaders believe that the end times were
set in motion by the creation of Israel in 1948 and were
accelerated by the six-day Arab-Israeli war of 1967 in which
Israel doubled the territory it controls by occupying
Palestinian lands known as the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

However, according to Genesis, the "covenant lands" stretch
from the Euphrates River (in central Iraq) eastward to "The
River of Egypt" which dispensational leaders interpret to mean
the Nile. If you look at a map, you can see that the existing
state of Israel -- even if you include the occupied territories
of the West Bank and Gaza -- does not presently encompass
anywhere near all the "covenant lands." So some Christian
fundamentalist leaders, such as Tom DeLay, the Republican
majority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, insist
that Arabs and others should be forcibly removed from those
lands to make way for Christ's return. A year ago, when
President Bush proposed his "road map" plan that could
eventually create an independent Palestinian state on a portion
of the covenant lands, Mr. DeLay made a special trip to Israel
to stir up opposition to the "road map."[18] Mr. Bush
subsequently stopped promoting his peace plan.

Israeli occupation of the "covenant lands" is exceedingly
important to Christian dispensationalist leaders. For example,
the 1967 Arab-Israeli war was a turning point in the life of
the Reverend Jerry Falwell. According to his biographers, prior
to 1967 Mr. Falwell said he believed preachers had no business
in politics. But Mr. Falwell saw the rapid victory of the
Israelis in the "six day war" of 1967 war as clear evidence of
"the intervention of God Almighty."[17, pg. 72] Mr. Falwell
soon visited Israel to meet Menachim Begin, then leader of the
convervative Likud Party, and subsequently energized a powerful
political movement in the U.S. known as "Christian Zionism" --
Christians eager to help Israel take and maintain control over
the convenant lands, as a necessary step toward the second
coming of Christ.

The Reverend Mr. Falwell is on record saying that Israel should
seize portions of present-day Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Saudi
Arabia, Egypt, and Sudan, plus all of Lebanon, Jordan and
Kuwait.[17, pg. 141] An effort to forcibly remove tens of
millions of Muslims from their homelands would almost certainly
lead to World War III but there are many in the U.S. who might
say, "Bring it on." Shortly after 9/11, neoconservative
polemicist Ann Coulter wrote in the National Review, "We should
invade their countries, kill their leaders and Christianize
them."[19] The Reverend Mr. Falwell himself asserts that God
favors war: "God is pro-war," he reportedly said earlier this
year.[20] Other fundamentalist Christian leaders agree. The
Reverend Charles Stanley, a former president of the Southern
Baptist Convention -- the largest Christian sect in America,
with 16 million members -- reportedly said last year, "God
favors war for divine reasons and sometimes uses it to
accomplish His will."[20]

For people holding such views, the present U.S. invasion of
Iraq may hold special meaning because it can be seen as an
essential step toward the second coming of Christ. Indeed,
President Bush describes his own role in the Iraq war in deeply
religious terms. When the President visited the Middle East a
year ago, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which is owned by the
New York Times, reported that the President said, "God told me
to strike at al Qaeda and I struck them, and then he instructed
me to strike at Saddam, which I did...."[21]

[To be continued.]
--Peter Montague
============

[1] I am indebted to Joan Bokaer, director of Theocracy Watch
(a project of the Center for Religion, Ethics and Social Policy
(CRESP) at Cornell University) whose work helped me make sense
out of an amazingly large number of threads that make up the
complex tapestry of this story. Her 20-web-page document, The
Rise of the Religious Right in the Republican Party, is
essential reading for anyone who wants to really understand the
influence of the religious right on American culture and
politics. See http://www.rachel.org/library/getfile.cfm?ID=411
or http://www.4religious-right.info/ . I am also indebted to
Sr. Miriam McGillis, a member of the Dominican Sisters in
Caldwell, N.J., who introduced me to Ms. Bokaer's work.

[2] Quoted in Joan Bokaer, "The Rise of the Religous Right in
the Republican Party -- Introduction," available at
http://www.4religious-right.info/introduction2.htm .

[3] Data from Joan Bokaer, "The Rise of the Religous Right in
the Republican Party -- Government," available at
http://www.4religious-right.info/govern.htm .

[4] Elizabeth Bumiller, "Evangelicals Sway White House on Human
Rights Issues Abroad," New York Times Oct. 26, 2003.

[5] Howard Fineman, "Bush and God," Newsweek, March 10, 2003.
Available at http://www.rachel.org/library/getfile.cfm?ID=419

[6] Doug Weed appeared on the Frontline program, "The Jesus
Factor" broadcast nationwide on PBS April 29, 2004. Available
online at
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jesus/view/ .

[7] See, for example, Alan Cooperman, "Churchgoers Get
Direction from Bush Campaign," Washington Post July 1, 2004.
Available at http://www.rachel.org/library/getfile.cfm?ID=420
And David D. Kirkpatrick, "Party Appeal to Churches for Help
Raises Doubts," New York Times July 2, 2004. Available at
http://www.rachel.org/library/getfile.cfm?ID=421

[8] Don Wagner, "Beyond Armageddon," The Link Vol. 25, No. 4
(Oct.-Nov., 1992). Available at
http://www.rachel.org/library/getfile.cfm?ID=392

[9] Stanley B. Greenberg and others, "Evangelicals, Born
Agains, and Fundamentalist Christians in Election 2004," May
26, 2004. Available at
www.cnionline.org/hearings/armageddon/Evangelical-stats.ppt
http://www.rachel.org/library/getfile.cfm?ID=417 and see
"America's Evangelicals; Key Survey Findings," Religion and
Ethics Newsweekly, May, 2004, available at
http://www.rachel.org/library/getfile.cfm?ID=388

[10] George M. Marsden, Understanding Fundamentalism and
Evangelicalism (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eeerdmans
Publishing Co., 1992). ISBN 0802805396. And see George M.
Marsden, Fundamentalism and American Culture (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1980). ISBN 0195030834. And see Nancy Tatom
Ammerman, Bible Believers (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers
University Press, 1987). ISBN 081351231X.

[11] Michelle Cottle, "Team Bush is on a Crusade," New Republic
June 4, 2004. And see David Gates, "Religion: The Pop
Prophets," Newsweek Mar 24, 2004. And, David D. Kirkpatrick,
"The Return of the Warrior Jesus," New York Times April 4,
2004, Week in Review section. See especially Note 19, below.

[12] The Reverend Mr. Robertson quoted in Joan Bokaer, "The
Rise of the Religous Right in the Republican Party --
Introduction," available at
http://www.4religious-right.info/introduction2.htm . And see
Robert Kuttner, "America as a One-Party State," American
Prospect Vol. 15, No. 2 (Feb. 1, 2004). Available at
http://www.rachel.org/library/getfile.cfm?ID=404

[13] Billy Graham, Peace with God (Nashville, Tenn.: W
Publishing Group, 1953; revised edition, 1984), pg. 256. ISBN
0849929911.

[14] Larry Eskridge, "Defining Evangelicalism," (undated)
available at
http://www.wheaton.edu/isae/defining_evangelicalism.html .
Accessed June 16, 2004.

[15] Jeremy Leaming, "Religious Right Leaders Press For Passage
Of U.S. Rep. Jones' Church Electioneering Bill," Church and
State magazine Feb. 2004. Available at
http://www.rachel.org/library/getfile.cfm?ID=422

[16] Hal Lindsey, The Late Great Planet Earth (Grand Rapids,
Mich: Zondervan, 1970); ISBN 031027771X.

[17] Grace Halsell, Prophecy and Politics; Militant Evangelists
on the Road to Nuclear War (Westport, Conn.: Lawrence Hill &
Co., 1986). ISBN 0-88208-210-8.

[18] David Firestone, "DeLay Is to Carry Dissenting Message On
a Mideast Tour," New York Times July 25, 2003. Available at
http://www.rachel.org/library/getfile.cfm?ID=409

[19] Ann Coulter, "This is War," National Review Sept. 13,
2001. Available at
http://www.nationalreview.com/coulter/coulterprint091301.html

[20] John F. Sugg, "America The Theocracy," Weekly Planet
(Tampa, Fla.) March 2004, quoting the Reverend Mr. Falwell and
the Reverend Mr. Stanley. This is a clear explanation of
the goals of Christian fundamentalists in the U.S. It is
available at http://www.weeklyplanet.com/2004-03-25/cover.html
and at http://www.rachel.org/library/getfile.cfm?ID=418 .

[21] Arnon Regular, "'Road map is a life saver for us,' PM
Abbas tells Hamas," Haaretz June 24, 2003. Original is
available at
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml
?itemNo=310788, and a PDF version is available at
http://www.rachel.org/library/getfile.cfm?ID=416 .

The Bush Administration's Top 40 Lies about War and Terrorism

Bring 'em On!

by Steve Perry

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0730-06.htm


Informant: Ace

This is an interesting article on the shifting of the Earth's magnetic field. I included the google link so you can click on the article link from the search engine. Due to registration reasons, you cannot access the article any other way unless you are registered with the NYT.

Marilyn Farhat.

The collapse of the Earth's magnetic field, which both guards the planet and guides many of its creatures, appears to have started in earnest about 150 years ago. The field's strength has waned 10 to 15 percent, and the deterioration has accelerated of late, increasing debate over whether it portends a reversal of the lines of magnetic force that normally envelop the Earth (read more)........

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=compass+point+south

http://www.luxefaire.com/holeclouds/index.html


Informant: Arthur Cottrell

Electromagnetic Energy in a Glowing Spherical Shell

Weird Weather Warfare & "Energetics Weapons"
Letter by T.E. Bearden

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shadowlands/6583/project138.html

The first KGB weather engineering tests over the U.S., using their relatively new interferometers, produced signatures of anomalous perfectly round holes appearing in clouds. These experiments started in 1967 or thereabouts. The Russians gave us that very severe "deep freeze" winter of 1967, as an initial weather-engineering test of their energetics interferometry weapons.

The KGB communists do have a sense of historical dates, and they often do things on certain dates in symbolic fashion. Full-time Soviet weather engineering over North America started in earnest on July 4th, 1976 - our Independence Day and our bicentennial. This was the KGB's "gift" to the United States on such a historic occasion. Full-bore weather engineering over the Americas has continued to this day, and even increased. It was passed into the hands of the Yakuza and the Aum Shinrikyo upon their leasing of those interferometers on site in Russia at the end of 1989. In 1985 I produced a rather crude videotape 42 (40 minutes) with pictures of the giant radial cloud signatures etc, associated with such weather engineering operations since 1976.

The basic weather engineering method is simple. Use an L[ongitudinal] W[ave] interferometer (LWI) to reach through the earth and cool the air in a region and produce a high pressure area, due to the densification of the air. Use another interferometer to heat another area and form a low-pressure area, due to the expansion of the air. Then carefully steer those highs and lows by gradually and slowing rotating the distant antennae and slowly adjusting the interferometry range simultaneously, according to a calculated schedule.

By that means, the LWIs easily catch, entrain, and steer the jet streams largely responsible for our weather. Put sharp loops and twists in that steering, and the huge angular momentum of the jet streams developed in those sharp turns and circles will spawn tornadoes, violent weather, etc.

The first complete weather engineering system over North America in 1976 also used the Woodpecker's normal EM carrier signals with dimensioning and internal assemblage of the composite longitudinal EM wavepairs. A giant "interference grid" was established over much of North America. A great deal of local adjusting of the interferometry in the grid was necessary. These local grid readjustments caused "sudden popouts" of EM energy, creating many atmospheric booms, rumbles, and explosions.

To really stir up big weather trouble, the Russians--and now the Yakuza and Aum Shinrikyo--also heat or cool areas of the ocean where El Nine and similar "water engines" form. A dimensioned LW interferometer is required for this operation. By slowly and protractedly heating or cooling the water in one of the "warm water engines" fueling the weather, one causes a very significant, long-term, later effect on perhaps an entire continent.

One can create great droughts in some areas, great floods in others, etc. The KGB has been doing this extensively, since 1976. The great floods in Red China a few years ago are a direct example of KGBNakuza weather engineering, as is much of the extreme heat of 1998. In fact, thanks to the weather operations of the Yakuza under their KGB mentors, 1998 was the overall hottest year on record till then, since records were kept. At least for the summer of 2002, the record may have been broken again, with a significant season of giant forest fires burning away.

One purpose of the excess heating of the atmosphere, of course, is to do damage. An added "benefit" to the KGB is to furnish support to the environmentalists who are concerned about global warming. Understand, there is indeed such a thing as global warming. But by augmenting the atmospheric (and ice sheet) heating just a bit in a single year, the statistical analyses are skewed. The skewed analyses will show that the global warming problem is far more imminent than it really is, if the LWI engineering of it were suspended. Nobody on either side of the global warming debate seems aware of the LWI intervention that is ruining the results of their models and calculations.

In turn, the heightened global warming indications, detected as a result of the LWI interruptions, impel strong activist support for such things as the Kyoto treaty, which is specifically designed to the strategic detriment of the U.S. if and when the U.S. Senate ever approves it. The Kyoto treaty does not even apply to some 160 countries including Russia, China, etc. This focuses a certain proportion of our government time and effort in grappling with an inflated global warming problem, immediately. It directly fits the KGB strategy of "spreading" our government energy and attention all over the map, anywhere but upon the coming strategic energetics strike and upon energetics weaponry.

The die-hard section of the KGB strategists are chess players. They will come at you anyway, anyhow, and anywhen that they can. Everything that can be impressed to serve or support the overall objective, will be impressed and used. That is the overriding principle when analyzing Russian KGB strategy.

Khrushchev meant every word of it when he said to Nixon in their famous Kitchen Debate: " ~Ye will bury you! " Interestingly, to this day Americans and their government officials have continued to be deceived as to exactly what Khrushchev meant. He meant it literally.

http://www.gaiaguys.net/bearden.weathwars.htm

by Justin Raimondo

AntiWar.Com

07/14/04

It's widely recognized that we were lied into war by a group of ideologues, but what is this 'idea they have?' What kind of 'utopia' is Iraq? The old Trotskyist idea of internationalism is here preserved, but for the red flags. Some of them even call themselves 'Trotsky-cons.' But this 'outing' of the neocons has caused them considerable embarrassment -- since they are currently masquerading as 'conservatives' -- and they've struck back by seeking to label the outers 'conspiracy theorists' and 'anti-Semites.' Most deny their Trotskyist heritage -- the more strenuous denials coming from the very people who embody it, such as Joshua Muravchik, once a youth leader of the SDUSA and now a rising neocon star over at the American Enterprise Institute...

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=3027

Red Cross

07/14/04

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The international Red Cross said Tuesday it suspects the United States is hiding detainees in lockups across the globe, though the agency has been granted access to thousands of prisoners in Iraq and elsewhere. Terror suspects reported by the FBI as captured have never turned up in detention centers, and the United States has failed to reply to agency demands for a list of everyone it's holding, said Antonella Notari, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross...

http://tinyurl.com/3rhb6


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

July 14, 2004

In its aggressive campaign to water down proposed new toxic chemical regulations in Europe, the Bush administration is now making vague accusations that the European initiative violates World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements governing how nations do business with one another.

At a July 1 meeting of the WTO's Technical Barriers to Trade Committee meeting, the administration submitted general comments that parroted the U.S. chemical industry's objections to the proposed regulations, known as REACH (Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals). However, U.S. officials failed to spell out how REACH would conflict with current WTO agreements -- despite recent demands from two U.S. senators that they do so. [1]

Prior to the July 1 meeting, U.S. Senators Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Jim Jeffords (I-VT) wrote to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, asking that he cite the specific WTO provisions that REACH would allegedly violate.

"We are troubled by reports that the position of this administration on REACH may reflect the interests of a narrow segment of U.S. industry without consideration of the broader ramifications for the U.S. economy, national interest, public health, and the environment," the letter stated. [2]

The REACH initiative -- the most sweeping change in European chemical policy in decades -- would require chemical manufacturers to provide the public with information about the potential harmfulness of their products before placing them on the market. It would also provide stricter regulations for thousands of chemicals already on the market.. Although the proposal would only govern countries in the European Union, U.S. chemical manufacturers would have to comply with the new rules in order to export their products to Europe.

The Bush administration, which has consistently favored policies beneficial to the U.S. chemical industry, has teamed up with American chemical companies to lobby against REACH and has already succeeded in weakening some of the proposed rules. Earlier this year, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell himself stepped up pressure on the EU when he cabled U.S. diplomats with a list of talking points, urging them to voice these objections to European officials. [3]

In its latest attack, the Bush administration is working to rally support among allies outside of Europe, to show that REACH would create barriers to trade among nations. The administration's argument "reflects a lot of industry arguments, such as the new regulations being too 'costly' or 'burdensome,'" Mary Bottari, an analyst for Public Citizen http://www.publiccitizen.org , told BushGreenwatch http://www.bushgreenwatch.org.

"Once again, we have the U.S. position equals the chemical industry position," agreed Joe DiGangi, a scientist with the Environmental Health Fund.

Supporters of REACH say sweeping changes in chemical regulations are urgently needed, both here and abroad. Currently, little is known about the safety of chemicals manufactured in the U.S. or Europe. Contrary to popular belief, the U.S. does not require companies to test chemicals for human exposure risks before placing them on the market.

SOURCES:
[1] US comments submitted to WTO Technical Barriers to Trade Committee, July 1, 2004; Letter to US Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick from Sens. Lautenberg and Jeffords, Jun. 22, 2004.
[2] Ibid.
[3] BushGreenwatch, Apr. 9, 2004
http://www.bushgreenwatch.org/mt_archives/000092.php

Handystrahlen als Ursache für Amokfahrt?

20:52 Uhr

DÜSSELDORF. Im Prozess um die blutige Amokfahrt in Düsseldorf vor gut einem Jahr soll nun der mögliche Einfluss von Handy-Strahlen auf das Geschehen untersucht werden. Der nach der Fahrt beschlagnahmte Wagen des Angeklagten werde dazu erneut unter die Lupe genommen, kündigte ein Sprecher des Düsseldorfer Landgerichts gestern an. Ein Sachverständiger soll auf Betreiben der Verteidigung klären, ob Handy-Strahlen einen Einfluss auf den Automatik-Wagen gehabt haben könnten. Der Prozess werde dadurch vermutlich länger dauern als zunächst angenommen.
Zudem wollen die Verteidiger des wegen achtfachen Mordversuchs angeklagten Gastwirts auch untersuchen lassen, ob ein epileptischer Anfall Ursache der Zickzack-Fahrt über die Terrassen zweier voll besetzter Straßencafés gewesen sein könnte.

Bei der blutigen Amokfahrt am 21. Juni vergangenen Jahres waren 14 Menschen verletzt worden, als der 64-jährige Gastwirt mit seinem 200 PS starken Sportwagen in die Cafés seiner Konkurrenz gerast war. Der Angeklagte hat beteuert, dass er keine Kontrolle über seinen Wagen gehabt habe und die Fahrt als Unfall bezeichnet.

Mehrere Zeugen hatten in dem Verfahren ausgesagt, dass der Gastwirt Hindernisse gezielt umfahren und seinen Wagen im Zickzack-Kurs absichtlich in die Menschenmenge gelenkt habe. Als Motiv geht die Anklage von einer Mischung aus Beziehungsproblemen, geschäftlichem Misserfolg und Neid auf das besser florierende Geschäft seiner Konkurrenten aus. (dpa)

(KR)

Dienstag, 13. Juli 2004

http://www.rundschau-online.de/kr/page.jsp?ksArtikel.id=1086537568390&listID=1038816862458&openMenu=1038816858441&calledPageId=1038816858441


Nachricht von der BI Bad Dürkheim

Nach Freiberger Appell jetzt der Bamberger Appell

Appell von Bamberger Ärzten zum Thema Mobilfunk

Kinderärzte warnen vor Schäden durch Mobilfunk

Wortlaut des Appells:

Als Ärztinnen und Ärzte halten wie den weiteren Ausbau des Mobilfunknetzes für bedenklich und appellieren an Politiker, Wissenschaftler und Verantwortliche des Gesundheitswesens, dem Schutz von Leben und Gesundheit von uns allen wieder den gebührenden grundgesetzlich garantierten Wert einzuräumen und sofort zu handeln.

Wir fordern nachdrücklich:

· Kein weiterer Ausbau der Mobilfunktechnologie, denn es handelt sich um unfreiwillig eingegangene Risiken mit wahrscheinlich dauerhaften Belastungen.

· Massive Reduzierung der Grenzwerte, Sendeleistungen und Funkbelastungen.

· Aufklärung der Bevölkerung und speziell der Handynutzer über die Gesundheitsrisiken elektromagnetischer Felder.

· Förderung des bewussten Umgangs mit Mobilfunk, Nutzungseinschränkung für Kinder und Jugendliche.

· Überarbeitung des DECT-Standards für Schnurlos-Telefone mit dem Ziel, die Strahlungsintensität zu reduzieren und auf die tatsächliche Nutzungszeit zu begrenzen sowie die biologisch kritische Pulsung zu vermeiden.

Erstunterzeichner:

Dr. E. Barth-Söder, Allgemeinärztin
Dr. A. Banzer-Leuteritz, Ärztin und Zahnärztin
Prof.Dr. K.H. Deeg, Kinderarzt
Dr. R.Grassmann, Frauenarzt
Dr. Heyn, Allgemeinarzt
Dr. K. Landgraf, Internist
Dr. B. Löffler-Röder, Frauenärztin
Dr. C. Waldmann-Selsam, Prakt. Ärztin
Dr. C. Weigmann-Popp, Kinderärztin
Ende Mai 2004

Als pdf zum Download: Bamberger Appell
http://www.elektrosmognews.de/news/20040709_Aerzteappell_Bamberg.pdf

Quelle:
http://www.elektrosmognews.de/news/bamberger_appell.html


Neueste Fassung des Bamberger Appells mit Ansprechpartner unter:
https://twoday.net/static/omega/files/appell_051004_130.pdf

Nachricht von Manuela Knapp

--------

"Bamberger Appell"

Zahlreiche Bamberger Ärztinnen und Ärzte setzen sich in einem Appell dafür ein, dass der weitere Ausbau des Mobilfunknetzes gestoppt wird, dass die Bundesregierung die Grenzwerte senkt und die Bevölkerung über die Gefahren der Mobilfunktechnik aufgeklärt wird.

Aktueller Stand der Unterschriften am 30.9.04: 129 Ärzte und Ärztinnen

Hier der "Bamberger Appell" im Wortlaut und mit den Namen der UnterzeichnerInnen (Stand Ende August 2004)

http://www.gal.bamberg.de/Aktuell/2004-August-Appell-Bamberger-Aerzte.pdf

Quelle: http://www.gal.bamberg.de/

Nachricht von Alfred Tittmann
c/o HESSISCHER LANDESVERBAND MOBILFUNKSENDERFREIE WOHNGEBIETE e.V.

--------

Symposium „Ärzte und Mobilfunk – Auswirkungen auf Mensch und Umwelt“
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/457381/

OFFENER BRIEF an Bundeskanzler Gerhard Schröder
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/448216/

Bamberger Appell – Ärzte gegen Mobilfunk
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/282385/

Bamberger Appell Ärzte gegen Elektrosmog
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/591167/

Endlich ein Signal aus Berlin
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/448219/

Strahlendes Bamberg?
http://www.gal.bamberg.de/Zeitung/gaz-63/MF-Strahlendes-Bamberg.htm

Ärzte-Initiative „Bamberger Appell“ gewinnt namhafte Referenten
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/487973/

1. Bamberger Mobilfunksymposium
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/484614/

Nach Freiburger Appell jetzt Bamberger Appell
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/350603/

Darf’s ein bisschen mehr Strahlung sein?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/460009/

Freiburger Appell
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/261421/

Symposium in Bamberg: Ärzte und Wissenschaftler warnen vor Gesundheitsgefahren
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/496175/

Die Naila-Studie
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/351483/

Ärzte und Mobilfunk
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/408385/

Ärzteappelle gegen Mobilfunk
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1064751/

Ärztekammern und Mobilfunk
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1104181/

Folgen durch Elektrosmog müssen untersucht werden
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/543979/



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

Anti-Terror-Datei und Co.: Neue Polizei-Befugnisse erst gegen Islamisten, dann gegen Linke

13.07.04

Die geplante "Anti-Terror-Datei", in der Daten über mutmaßliche Islamisten zentral gespeichert werden sollen, der beabsichtigte verstärkte Einsatz von DNA-Analysen sowie das gemeinsame Lagezentrum von Polizei und Geheimdiensten sind erneut auf scharfe Kritik gestoßen. Die Rote Hilfe bezeichnete die Beschlüsse der Innenministerkonferenz (IMK) als "Angriff auf zentrale Grundrechte". Dadurch würden zentrale BürgerInnenrechte, die durch die Politik der "Inneren Sicherheit" und ihre Rechtfertigung durch angeblich drohende Terroranschläge in den letzten Jahren ohnehin zunehmend eingeschränkt worden seien, weiter demontiert. Es sei - wie bereits in der Vergangenheit - davon auszugehen, dass neue Befugnisse für Polizei und Geheimdienste schnell wieder gegen unliebsame politische Aktivitäten eingesetzt würden...

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php4?Nr=8892

168 Mitarbeiter eines neu gegründeten Informationszentrums und der Generalstaatsanwalt haben sich angeblich aus Sicherheitsgründen einen GPS-Chip implantieren lassen...

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/deutsch/inhalt/te/17867/1.html

http://www.propagandamatrix.com/true_world_order_koryagnia.html


Informant: True

Fumes from traffic and industry harm our health

Polluted air from America could be damaging the health of people in Britain, experts fear.

Airborne chemicals from 5,000 miles are being dumped in the UK and western Europe and may be to blame for a rise in lung disease, say UK scientists.

Dr Alastair Lewis from York University and the Intercontinental Transport of Ozone and Precursors programme is running tests.

His team will track and test the air stream across the Atlantic.

About 50 scientists from seven UK universities are to join hundreds of other researchers in the Azores in the middle of the Atlantic ocean.

Toxic fumes

They will look at how a cocktail of chemicals, emitted from vehicle exhausts and power stations in the US, react together in the air on its way to Europe.

Colleagues in the US will test the air as it leaves the eastern coast of America.

It's perfectly plausible that they are exporting air pollution to us
Professor Malcolm Green, British Lung Foundation

Dr Lewis' team will test the plume of air as it travels over the Atlantic ocean and colleagues in France and Germany will run checks as it arrives in Europe.

The scientists believe pollutants from fossil fuels may react with nitrogen in the air to form ozone and sooty particles.

In the upper atmosphere, ozone protects the Earth from the sun's harmful ultra violet rays.

But when inhaled at ground level it can damage the lungs.

Sooty particles that collect in the lungs are also harmful.

Transatlantic

Dr Lewis said: "It's highly likely that air leaving the States contains a cocktail of nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons, which are emitted from vehicle exhausts and power stations.

"We want to know how these will react together on the way to Europe and notably whether they will form ozone and particles, both of which can be harmful in humans."

During last year's heat wave, during which there were 800 extra deaths across Britain, levels of ozone and particles soared.

Dr Lewis said: "Extreme events like that demonstrate the ozone and particles are quite potent and have a significant impact on health.

"Although we know that some of this pollution was produced locally in the UK, we still don't know what the contribution was from other countries.

"The more you look at ozone the more you understand that it is a global pollutant," he said.

Professor Malcolm Green from the British Lung Foundation said: "Unfortunately we know that pollution is an international problem.

"We know in the US air pollution is a significant problem.

"The US consumes 25% of the world's fossil fuels - mostly oil - and it's predominantly the consumption of fossil fuels that creates pollution.

"It's perfectly plausible that they are exporting air pollution to us. The predominant wind is from the south west.

Dr John Harvey from the British Thoracic Society said: "Ozone is good when it's right up in the atmosphere but down on the ground it can irritate the lungs.

"If you have asthma it can make it worse. It's bad for the lungs.

"We are very concerned about local levels of ozone, particularly in cities where there is a lot of exhaust pollution.

"People with lung disease, particularly asthmatics should keep an eye on ozone forecasts on Ceefax and in the papers so they can double their inhalers if the levels are likely to be high," he said.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/3886275.stm

Published: 2004/07/12 13:10:53 GMT

© BBC MMIV


Informant: Teresa Binstock

No More Nibbling: Administration Seeks To Devour Roadless Rule Whole

The Bush Administration announced a scheme today that would effectively overturn the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. The 2001 rule protected 58.5 million acres of pristine roadless lands on America's national forests from roadbuilding and commercial logging. And the American people have repeatedly declared their support for these protections: 2.5 million times in the last four years!

The administration has never liked the rule, has refused to defend it in court (despite promises to do so) and a year ago exempted our largest national forest, the Tongass in Alaska, from the rule's protection. Today it went whole hog.

The new scheme would force governors to petition the federal government to protect the last remaining pristine forests in their states. The process officials described today is convoluted, meaningless, and mostly political camouflage: reduced to its basics, the plan is an outright repeal of the roadless rule.

Citizens will have an opportunity to comment on the plan and we will send you a WildAlert seeking your help when we have details. But because this has been so important an issue to WildAlert subscribers, we wanted to update you as soon as possible.

For More Information

- Wilderness Society statement on the proposal:
http://www.wilderness.org/NewsRoom/Statement/20040712.cfm

- Forest Service web site:
http://roadless.fs.fed.us


Informant: Teresa Binstock

by Bob Fick

The Associated Press

Monday, July 12, 2004
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~11676~2267957,00.html

Boise, Idaho - The Bush administration today proposed a new plan to open up roadless areas of national forests to more logging, confirming a draft plan published two weeks ago.

Under the plan, announced by Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman at the Idaho state Capitol, governors would have to petition the federal government to block road-building needed for logging in remote areas of national forests.

The rule replaces one adopted by the Clinton administration and still under challenge in federal court. It covers about 58 million of the 191 million acres of national forest nationwide.

Idaho was one of the first states to challenge the so-called roadless rule in federal court.

"Strong state and federal cooperation in the management of roadless areas will foster improved local involvement in the process," Veneman said.

For nearly two years, the Bush administration has been weighing changes to the roadless rule, which blocks road construction in nearly one-third of national forests as a way to prevent logging and other commercial activity.

Officials call the new roadless policy a common-sense plan that protects backcountry woods while advancing a partnership with the nation's governors, particularly in the West.

The Natural Resources Defense Council made its opposition clear even before the official announcement.

"This is a roadblock to roadless protection," spokeswoman Amy Mall said. "The administration is not concerned about states' rights."

ROADLESS RULES

Click here http://roadless.fs.fed.us/ for the complete text of the
proposed Forest Service rules on roadless areas and more government information on the policy.
http://roadless.fs.fed.us/

Veneman, whose department includes the Forest Service, made the announcement flanked by Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, both Republicans.

As part of the plan, the administration said it would reinstate an interim rule for the next 18 months, requiring that Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth approve any new road construction in previously protected areas.

The administration had let the interim rule lapse last year as it considered a permanent rule to replace the Clinton policy.

As a practical matter, officials said they expect few, if any, changes in roadless policy during the next 18 months, noting that Bosworth did not approve a single new road during the two-plus years the interim directive was in place.

Environmentalists howled when the draft rule was made public earlier this month. Without a national policy against road construction, they said, forest management will revert to individual forest plans that in many cases allow roads and other development on most of the 58 million acres now protected by the roadless rule.

Environmentalists say it is unlikely that governors in pro-logging states such as Idaho, Wyoming, Montana and Utah will seek to keep the roadless rule in effect.

Kempthorne is among several Republican governors in the West who have strongly criticized the rule, calling it an unnecessary restriction that has locked up millions of acres from logging and other economic development.

Citing such complaints, the Bush administration said last year it would develop a plan to allow governors to seek exemptions from the roadless rule. The latest plan turns that on its head by requiring governors to petition the Agriculture Department if they want to protect against timbering in their state.

The Clinton administration adopted the roadless rule during its final days in office in January 2001, calling it important protection for backcountry forests.

Environmentalists hailed that action, but the timber industry and some Republican lawmakers have criticized it as overly intrusive and even dangerous, saying it has left millions of acres exposed to catastrophic wildfires.

Federal judges have twice struck down the 3-year-old rule, most recently in a Wyoming case decided in July 2003. That case, which
environmentalists have appealed, is one of several pending legal challenges, complicating efforts to issue a new plan.

The new plan will be published in the Federal Register this week, with a 60-day comment period extending into September.


Informant: Teresa Binstock

I wanted you to know that the Bush administration is using the recent rise in gasoline prices as a pretext to sacrifice one of America's greatest natural treasures -- the Western Arctic Reserve of Alaska -- to massive oil development.

We have a very narrow window in which to block this corporate-sponsored raid on our natural heritage. Over the next 30 days, the Bush administration is taking public comments on its plan to put 96 percent of the reserve's wildlife-filled northeast region on the auction block.

I am asking you and hundreds of thousands of others to join me in flooding the Bush administration with messages of protest over the next critical weeks.

Please do your part by going to
http://www.savebiogems.org/westernarctic/takeaction.asp?RR0407
and sending an electronic message telling the Bureau of Land Management to withdraw its destructive plan and to permanently protect the reserve's world-class wildlife habitats.

Then please forward my message to as many people as you can.

The Western Arctic Reserve may be less well-known than the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- which lies directly to the east -- but its wildlife populations are every bit as unique, spectacular and endangered.

I am especially concerned about the Western Arctic Reserve's Teshekpuk Lake region -- one of the most important tundra-wetland ecosystems left on our planet. This vast network of coastal lagoons, deep water lakes, sedge grass meadows and braided streams provides the critical calving grounds for the 45,000-member Teshekpuk Lake caribou herd.

Thirty percent of all Pacific black brant also take refuge in these safe and remote wetlands, remaining flightless while they replace their old feathers. Steller's eiders, northern pintails, tundra swans and rare yellow-billed loons are just a few of the other amazing species that flock to Teshekpuk Lake to nest, free from disturbance. Come fall, some of these birds will migrate as far south as Antarctica.

Polar bears roam the coastal areas of Teshekpuk Lake from summer to early winter. And people are counting on the lake for survival as well. The Inupiat Eskimos have subsisted here in balance with nature for at least 8,000 years by following the herds of caribou.

Incredibly, the Western Arctic has never been granted full federal protection. That's because it was set aside as the "National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska" nearly a century ago. But Congress also stipulated that this oil field be tapped only in time of dire national need.

Our government kept oil rigs out of the Western Arctic Reserve even during the darkest days of World War II and the oil embargo of the 1970s. As a result, most of the reserve has remained pristine -- its primeval beauty unmarred by roads, oil rigs or other signs of human interference.

Interior secretaries since the 1970s have recognized the need for special protection in the Teshekpuk Lake area. But if the Bush administration gets its way, Teshekpuk Lake will soon be stripped of most of those protections and sold to the highest bidder.

And for what? Drilling in the Western Arctic would have no effect on gas prices at the pump. Its oil would take years to get to market and would never equal more than one or two percent of America's oil supply -- a tiny drop in the bucket of our nation's oil consumption.

Only one group would benefit from destroying the Western Arctic: the oil giants. Meanwhile, they would turn one of the planet's most fragile homes for Arctic wildlife into an industrial zone of pipelines, producing wells and contaminated waste sites.

The Western Arctic Reserve is supposed to be an energy savings account of last resort. A recent poll shows that the vast majority of Americans would rather save oil and lower gas prices by adopting tougher fuel economy standards for our cars and trucks.

Please join me in telling the Bush administration to follow the cleaner and more self-reliant path of fuel efficiency -- and to put Teshekpuk Lake and other critical habitats off limits to the oil industry.

Please go to
http://www.savebiogems.org/westernarctic/takeaction.asp?RR0407
and tell the Bush administration to withdraw its destructive plan. And rememberto forward my message to your friends, colleagues and family.

This fight represents one of our very last chances to preserve untrammeled wilderness as we first found it. Let's speak with one voice and stop this senseless attack on one of the world's greatest sanctuaries for Arctic wildlife. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Robert Redford
Board of Trustees
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

Congressman Tom Udall of New Mexico sent this message to his constituients last Friday:

Dear Friend,

I wanted to alert you to an appalling abuse of power that occurred yesterday on the House floor. Republican leaders once again thumbed their nose at the concept of fairness and overturned the clear bipartisan majority in the House.

Yesterday, the House was poised to take responsible steps to preserve our civil liberties, protect political expression, and prevent the misuse of the Patriot Act. When passed, we were promised strong congressional oversight of the Patriot Act to prevent its implementation from being overly intrusive. Unfortunately, that oversight has not occurred, and a particular provision in the act that permits searches of library records clearly fits the definition of overly intrusive.

As you may have seen in press reports, in a shameful disregard for majority rule, the Republican leadership held open a vote on the amendment that would have protected your civil liberties over twice as long as normal to twist the arms of many Members of Congress. The initial vote was 219 to 201 for an amendment I co-sponsored. However, after severe pressure, the final vote was 210 to 210, a tie that meant the amendment's defeat.

This bipartisan, common-sense amendment offered by my colleagues Bernie Sanders (Vermont - Independent) and Butch Otter (Idaho - Republican) would have prevented law enforcement agencies from conducting broad and indiscriminate searches of libraries and bookstores and peering into your personal reading choices. We all agree that we need to take the necessary steps to protect and defend the American people against terrorism. However, we must not do so at the cost of shredding our precious Constitution and the civil liberties we cherish.

For more information on this terrible spectacle, you may visit my website at http://www.tomudall.house.gov/issues2.cfm?id=9162.

Thank you for taking the time to read this update. I hope you have found the information useful. Please watch your inbox for future updates.

Very Truly Yours,

Tom Udall
Member of Congress
nm03ima.pub@mail.house.gov


Informant: Martin Greenhut

On turning to today's (July 13) "Letters" page of THE IRISH TIMES, I did not have to think really hard to make out why this worthy but heavily-in-denial-of-RF/MW-bioeffects broadsheet (that is THE IRISH TIMES) choose to kick off its Letters section with a lengthy entry from Bob Hanna, Ireland's Chief Technical Adviser, Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources (see his letter below). If given a stark choice between going along with all electrosensitives in Ireland being sectioned/psychiatrically incarcerated and thus permanently silencing these irksome fly-in-the-ointment-of-industry-people (EHS sufferers) OR the IRISH TIMES and Irish Telecommunications admitting that regrettably a percentage of the population could and do indeed suffer allergic reactions to RF/MWs--well, if given this choice, I have little doubt that both THE IRISH TIMES and Ir. Telecommunications would just get some psychiatrists to lock us up and perhaps run an article/obituary on the moral imperative of a final solution for vermin like us who want to injure our beloved Celtic Tiger!

Of course Bob Hanna's letter in defense of the health safety of Irish teleconmmuncations is blatantly biased. Just notice his comments regards John Ryan's and how his office is "helping" John and his family! How cynical can one get.

What this letter needs of course are cogent quick response letters micro-shredding Bob Hanna's arguments. These letters can be addressed to:
lettersed@irish-times.ie

Best, Imelda, Cork


Tuesday, July 13 THE IRISH TIMES.

"MOBILE PHONE HEALTH COMPLAINTS

Madam, - I refer to the articles by Joe Humphreys and your editorial comment (July 9th) concerning the health complaints of the Ryan family of Co Tipperary following the erection of a mobile phone mast on their lands.

The headline on one of Mr Humphreys's articles reads "Monitoring the masts: who is responsible?" but the article does not answer the question. A little research on his part would have given him the answer - my Department, and specifically, my office.

It is correct for ComReg to state that it has no remit in the areas of planning or health; it provides measurement services which allow my office and members of the public to assess how individual sites have
performed against the relevant international guidelines.

The office of the Chief Technical Adviser in the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources maintains a watching brief on all matters connected with non-ionising radiation.

As such, I represent Ireland on the following international bodies: International Committee for Electromagnetic Safety; World Health Organisation International Project on Electromagnetic Fields; EU Joint Research Committee on Electromagnetic Fields.

I am also responsible for Ireland's implementation of the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) guidelines for exposure.

I have access to all the international work in this area.

I can state categorically that it has not been proven, through replicated studies, that exposure to non-ionising radiation at the levels specified in the ICNIRP guidelines causes any adverse health effects.

The international organisations above are charged with continuing research to try to establish any causal connection between non-ionising radiation and adverse health effects, and, as yet, none has been proven.

My office provides information and advice to organisations and members of the public in this area.

Since Mr Ryan has chosen to go public with his allegations, I can now state that this office has provided advice to Mr Ryan, his neighbours and the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association; this advice has effectively summarised the results of all the international work in this area and concludes that there is no proven connection between the symptoms allegedly experienced by Mr Ryan and his family and
the specific transmissions from the mobile telephone installations close to his residence.

Officials in this Department familiar with the file are sympathetic to Mr Ryan's concerns; that is why this country commits significant resources to subscribing to the best and most up-to-date international research work in this area.

We are far from complacent. We sympathise with the Ryan family, but must state that there has been no proven connection between their symptoms and the mobile phone installations that they allege to be responsible. - Yours, etc.,

BOB HANNA, Chief Technical Adviser, Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Adelaide Road, Dublin."

Omega: this is simply not true. There are numerous reliable studies which prove the noxious effects to human health, animals and nature from pulsating microwave radiation. See under: http://www.buergerwelle.de/body_science.html

July 13, 2004

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by Glen Barry, Ph.D., Forests.org

The World Bank's dubious and misguided plan (at best, and malicious and evil at worst) to finance industrial logging of the Earth's second largest intact rainforest continues to generate controversy. The Bank is pushing through new laws and a 're-zoning' of the Congo forests - the second largest in the world - that could see up to 60 million hectares (an area the size of France) handed out to logging companies. Despite the lack of a functioning government, banditry and civil war, and lack of local support – the world blank wants to zone most of the forests for commercial logging, turning the country into a vast logging concession.

In March we joined with the Rainforest Foundation in protesting World Bank and UN Food and Agriculture Organization plans to stealthily increase logging by some sixty times in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Hundreds of local and international groups have joined the Rainforest Foundation in protesting this immoral use of tax-payer funds. Most recently, the pygmy peoples occupying many of these forests have joined the protest – reported on below. It is simply atrocious that the world blank continues to operate with impunity against the aspirations and human rights of local peoples, undermining the ecological sustainability of their rainforest homes as well as the function of the Earth's biosphere.

This must not stand.

The World Bank and FAO must immediately halt plans for the expansion of industrial logging in the Democratic Republic of Congo and remaining ancient primary forests around the World. Rather than subsidizing rainforest destruction the World Bank should be initiating a participatory process to establish land rights for forest peoples, and developing economic alternatives to industrial logging that are community based and ecologically sound. The action alert at
http://forests.org/action/africa/ is still current, thought it will be updated and reissued shortly.

g.b.


Congo 'Pygmies' put case for forest protection and peoples' rights
to President of the World Bank

Source: Rainforest Foundation
Date: July 8, 2004

'Pygmy' peoples today urged World Bank President James Wolfensohn to halt plans that could unleash a wave of destruction on the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where they live.

The 'Pygmys' put their case directly to Mr Wolfensohn during a video conference organised by the Rainforest Foundation UK [1], which is challenging Bank plans for a massive increase in industrial logging in the Congo. The Bank is pushing through new laws and a 're-zoning' of the Congo forests - the second largest in the world- that could see up to 60 million hectares (an area the size of France) handed out to logging companies.

"You must not forget that the lives of indigenous peoples depend on the forest," Adolphine Muley of the Congolese Union of Indigenous Women (UEFA) told the World Bank President. "For a 'Pygmy' to talk of forest exploitation is to talk of reinforcing misery and poverty. You must put strategies in place so that the 'Pygmy' peoples are not damaged by the system that you are developing."

According to the Bank's own estimates, as many as 35 million of the Congo's 50 million people depend on the forests for their very survival. [2]

Simon Counsell, director of the Rainforest Foundation UK said: "The World Bank must strictly apply its own environmental and social safeguards, and fully respect international laws, to avoid what could be the world's first major environmental and humanitarian catastrophe of the 21st century. We will be working to ensure that the people of Congo have a say on the future of their forests, and that the rights of the people living in the forest are respected," he said.

Responding to these pleas, James Wolfensohn pledged the Bank to further discussion with Congolese people and non-governmental organisations about the future of the of the country's rainforests.

The Rainforest Foundation first raised its fears about the threatened 'carve-up' of Congo's rainforests with the World Bank in early December 2003. The UK All Party Parliamentary Group on the Great Lakes Region and Genocide Prevention (APPG), which has a membership of 148 MPs and Peers, has said that it "intends to follow closely" the World Bank's response to the concerns of the Foundation and Congolese campaigners [3].

For more information:
Simon Counsell, Rainforest Foundation, London
Tel: +44 (0) 207 251 6345 (office)
+44 (0)7941 899 579 (mobile)
http://www.rainforestfoundation.org.uk

Specific page:
http://www.rainforestfoundationuk.org/s-Stop%20the%20carve%20up%20of%20the%20Congo%20forests
[cut and paste in to internet address bar]

Notes to editors:
[1] The Rainforest Foundation supports indigenous people and traditional populations of the world's rainforests in their efforts to protect their environment and fulfil their rights.

2] According to the World Bank, the average income in the Democratic Republic of Congo is the lowest in the world, at $90 per year.

3] The APPG covers the Great Lakes region of Africa: Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, and Northern Uganda. APPG was formed following the UK's failure to prevent genocide in Rwanda and provides information so that Parliamentarians can play their role in preventing future genocides. In recent years, the Group has played an active role in investigating and bringing about parliamentary scrutiny to the illegal plunder of Congo's vast mineral and forest wealth.

"Outfoxed": Orwellsche Perfektion der politischen Gehirnwäsche durch FoxNews

Wie unterstützt der Newskanal Nr.1 in den USA FoxNews seinen politischen Liebling G.W.Bush im Wahlkampf ? Der Moderator der Talkshow erklärt beiläufig, es wäre ja offensichtlich, dass Kerrys bester Freund der nordkoreanische Diktator Kim il Sung sei; seine Gäste beeilen sich ihm beizupflichten "Absolut. Nordkorea liebt John Kerry.."

Der neue Dokumentarfilm "Outfoxed", der aktuell die amerikanischen Kinos erreicht, nimmt das Murdoch'sche Propagandasystem FoxNews auseinander.

Andrew O'Hehir meint im Internetmagazin Salon.Com, dass Fox offensichtlich bereits die von Orwell beschriebenen Mechanismen der politischen Gehirnwäsche weit übertrifft.

Zitat des Medienkritikers Robert McChesney: " It is much easier to propagandize a public that believes in its own freedom, and does not expect propaganda, than it was in a Soviet-style system where people were always suspicious of official pronouncements. In that context, it's no longer accurate to haul out the tiresome leftist chestnut and refer to a development like the rise of Fox News as "Orwellian." It's subtler, lusher, more sweeping and far more effective than anything Orwell ever imagined."

Das Resumè von O'Hehir:

"But beyond the management memos urging producers and newscasters not to dwell on the Iraq body count or the 9/11 commission, beyond the pathological behavior of Bill O'Reilly, beyond the ruthlessly stilted political coverage (Brit Hume's talk show features five Republican guests for every Democrat, and most of the latter are of the mealy-mouthed centrist variety), beyond all that lies something still more discouraging.

If Rupert Murdoch had created a news network that was overtly political, even if those politics were scarily right-wing, that would be one thing. (..) But Fox News is the modern mass media at its worst, pushed to its logical extreme."

Ideologie im Gleichschritt als Leitbild

"Rather than politics, Fox News offers only lockstep ideology. It does not present arguments; it blends fearmongering and happy talk, rinses in red, white and blue, and pours the mixture down our throats. Instead of challenging its audience, it simultaneously terrifies and comforts them, painting a hostile world constantly in need of good, old-fashioned Republican-style American might. It shows us a busy screen of sound and fury, but devoid of all thought. It's a nonstop thrill ride for the paranoid American body politic, and the public -- at least Murdoch's target audience -- has been as delighted as kids on their first visit to Disney World. Fox News has conquered the TV news landscape so thoroughly that the other networks have remade themselves in its image."

Im Unterschied zu Fahrenheit 9/11 wird "Outfoxed" nicht über den normalen Kinovertrieb verbreitet sondern nur durch NGOs und Graswurzelorganisationen / politische Initiativen.

http://www.salon.com/ent/indie/2004/07/13/outfoxed/print.html

-------------------------------------------------

Happy talk from hell

Even if you think you're wise to Fox News' right-wing agenda, Robert Greenwald's "Outfoxed" will leave you very afraid.

*By Andrew O'Hehir*

http://www.salon.com/ent/indie/2004/07/13/outfoxed/print.html
http://www.salon.com/ent/indie/2004/07/13/outfoxed/email.html

July 13, 2004 | I'm a neutral observer, of course, here to give you a fair and balanced report. But some people would say that Fox News Channel is nothing more than the private right-wing propaganda machine of a sneaky right-wing billionaire who is -- now these are just the facts, people -- not an American at all but some kind of Down Under, funny-accented, shrimp-on-the-barbie-eating, crocodile-hunting, profoundly un-American /Australian,/ for goodness' sake.

And while I know Australia is not obviously very much like France -- treasonous, untrustworthy France -- let's look under the surface a little, OK? Do you know what one of Australia's top agricultural products is? That's right, it's /wine./ Draw your own conclusions, people, that's all I ask. And when you get right down to it, isn't there something /French/ about Shep Smith, if you know what I mean? Isn't that "mousse" in his hair? Does that sound like an American word to you? Isn't there something about him that suggests the French government of, say, 1943? Something a little Vichy French? Nazi-collaborator French, possibly? I don't know, I'm only asking. You decide.

Maybe you think my parody of the methods employed by Fox News itself (yes, French and Australian readers, that's what it is -- please delete those partly composed e-mails) is a few truckloads too broad. After you see Robert Greenwald's documentary "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism," http://www.outfoxed.org/ you might change your mind.

Unlike "Fahrenheit 9/11" http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/review/2004/06/23/fahrenheit_yay/
and "Control Room" http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2004/05/27/beyond/and "The Corporation" http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/review/2004/07/02/beyond/
and the rest of the films in the Great Left-Wing Documentary Onslaught of 2004, you won't see "Outfoxed" in theaters, or at least not yet. Like Greenwald's 2003 movie, "Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War" http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/12/09/uncovered/
(which actually /will/ reach theaters soon, in an updated and revised version), it's being distributed by way of a grass-roots guerrilla marketing campaign that bypasses traditional venues entirely. "Outfoxed" premieres Tuesday at the New School in New York, and in coming days MoveOn.org and the Center for American Progress will be sponsoring roughly 2,000 house parties to screen it. (You can buy your own DVD or VHS copy through the film's Web site.)

It's not so much the fact that Fox News openly and sharply skews to the right, or, more accurately and more depressingly, that it parrots the Republican Party line. Unless you're just now getting cable or you live in Madagascar, that's not news. After all, there's something to be said for political frankness. I've always admired the way British newspapers wear their allegiances on their sleeves, and there's nothing duplicitous about it; all readers know that the Guardian favors the Labor Party and the Daily Telegraph supports the Conservatives, and they read those papers with appropriate ideological filters in place. I mean, hey, you're reading Salon right now; while we present a plurality of views and don't (I hope) march in lockstep with anyone, we make no pretense of political neutrality.

It's not even that Fox News commentators have suggested that John Kerry was the favored presidential candidate of the North Korean dictator. It's right there in "Outfoxed": An anchor on the morning show cheerily burbles, "Hey, [Kerry's] got Barbra and Kim Jong Il on his side -- what could go wrong?" "Yeah," chirrups the bimbette on his left, "North Korea loves John Kerry!"

Nor is it that the network found a way to turn the question of whether Kerry looked and acted French into a quasi-legitimate news story that played for several days. (At one point they interviewed some appropriately tousled-looking French philosopher, who agreed that oui, M'sieur Kerry had the attitude and demeanor of a leisure-class Continental, rather than the hardworkin' Texas rootsiness of his fellow Yale man, George W. Bush.)

When you watch Greenwald's barrage of pirated Fox News footage -- his filmmaking techniques are clearly testing the outer limits of the "fair use" doctrine, and may yet land him in court -- it's an overwhelming experience well beyond the hoot-inducing moments. Uprooted from the happy everyday babble of cable TV, the network looks more and more like a total propaganda system: Murdoch and his drones have created a dense and sophisticated weave of sound and image, drenched in the American flag and overloaded with authoritative-seeming info nuggets, whose exclusive goal is the dissemination of fear, confusion and disinformation designed to serve the ends of the governing regime.

As media critic Robert McChesney says in the film, it is much easier to propagandize a public that believes in its own freedom, and does not expect propaganda, than it was in a Soviet-style system where people were always suspicious of official pronouncements. In that context, it's no longer accurate to haul out the tiresome leftist chestnut and refer to a development like the rise of Fox News as "Orwellian." It's subtler, lusher, more sweeping and far more effective than anything Orwell ever imagined.

As discussed in Robert S. Boynton's story
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/11/magazine/11FOX.html in Sunday's New York Times Magazine, Greenwald made "Outfoxed" fast, cheap and in near-total secrecy. Fearing that Murdoch and company would throw millions of dollars worth of lawyers at him if he revealed his intentions, the director never asked Fox to respond directly to charges made in the film by critics and former employees. As Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post points out in a recent column, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41604-2004Jul10.html this is definitely the film's major weakness. While Greenwald includes some public ass-covering statements from Murdoch and Fox News head Roger Ailes, "Outfoxed" really offers no rejoinder to the harsh criticisms voiced by left-leaning usual suspects such as McChesney, Eric Alterman, David Brock and Jeff Cohen (a former Fox News contributor and the co-founder of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting).

Predictably, Murdoch's minions are striking back rapidly with a counter-P.R. campaign http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000575114 of its own, essentially claiming that the Times, MoveOn and lefty billionaire George Soros were mounting a concerted attack on the reputation of Fox News. There may be a germ of truth, or half-truth, to this charge, but that only speaks to the unbridgeable chasm that seems to be dividing the nation's media class; the outrageous partisanship (and immense success) of Fox News has made even the great, gray Waffle House that is the New York Times seem like a bastion of snail-eating socialism by comparison.

Furthermore, in the name of Jesus, what reputation has Fox News got to defend? Greenwald's talking heads make fine points, many of them, but the really damning stuff in "Outfoxed" is simply the tape. He builds his case by identifying a particular ideological device or technique, a particular political meme (e.g., Kerry as "opportunistic flip-flopper," one that may have cut uncomfortably close to the bone), and then providing examples of how Fox endlessly, mind-numbingly drills it into the viewer. (As the Boynton article explains, this required a team of volunteers combing through countless hours of Fox News broadcasts -- I don't think the concept of "combat pay" even begins to cover it.)

Take the network's "some people say" mantra (as used in my first paragraph, above). I had watched plenty of Fox News without ever noticing this -- it's a way of introducing commentary, and specifically the reflexive right-wing views of the presumptive Fox core audience, into what is supposed to be news coverage, while appearing to not quite endorse it. "Some people say that criticizing the war at a time like this is letting down our men and women in uniform," or "Some people say Richard Clarke is a political operative who's trying to sell books." (Or, yes, "Some people are saying that John Kerry looks /French!"/ -- uttered with a peculiar mixture of consternation and delight. Gosh, what a weird idea! But now that you mention it ...!)

There are plenty of specifics in "Outfoxed" to enrage the concerned citizen, and Greenwald includes a lame prescriptive section at the end, urging us to become media activists and reclaim the public airwaves from the imperial corporations. (I don't have any better ideas, but lefty media critics have been singing the same tune since the '60s, without noticeable effect.) But beyond the management memos urging producers and newscasters not to dwell on the Iraq body count or the 9/11 commission, beyond the pathological behavior of Bill O'Reilly, beyond the ruthlessly stilted political coverage (Brit Hume's talk show features five Republican guests for every Democrat, and most of the latter are of the mealy-mouthed centrist variety), beyond all that lies something still more discouraging.

If Rupert Murdoch had created a news network that was overtly political, even if those politics were scarily right-wing, that would be one thing. We are supposed to live in a marketplace of ideas; everybody gets a chance to air his views, and some of us, like Rupert, get more chances than others. But Fox News is the modern mass media at its worst, pushed to its logical extreme.

Rather than politics, Fox News offers only lockstep ideology. It does not present arguments; it blends fearmongering and happy talk, rinses in red, white and blue, and pours the mixture down our throats. Instead of challenging its audience, it simultaneously terrifies and comforts them, painting a hostile world constantly in need of good, old-fashioned Republican-style American might. It shows us a busy screen of sound and fury, but devoid of all thought. It's a nonstop thrill ride for the paranoid American body politic, and the public -- at least Murdoch's target audience -- has been as delighted as kids on their first visit to Disney World. Fox News has conquered the TV news landscape so thoroughly that the other networks have remade themselves in its image. Maybe I was wrong about Shep Smith -- some people say he looks more German than French.


Informant and comment: Gerhard Wendebourg

by Vox Day

WorldNetDaily

07/12/04

Any last vestiges of hope in the Republican Party have been shattered by the current regime, wherein a Republican President, Republican House, Republican Senate and Republican-nominated Supreme Court have demonstrated that they have zero interest in the timeless vision of America's founders. Supporting them in the hopes that they will revive American liberties is akin to hoping that shock paddles will suffice to revive a month-old corpse. American freedom is not only dead, it has been rotting for some time...

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=39394


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Indianapolis Star

07/12/04

The Bush administration Monday proposed lifting a national rule that closed remote areas of national forests to logging, instead saying states should decide whether to keep a ban on road-building in those areas. Environmentalists immediately criticized the change as the biggest timber industry giveaway in history...

http://tinyurl.com/5v4db


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Press Release

For Immediate Release.

Over the last two years The Stop The war movement has made a major contribution to the debate around the Iraq War. Simply by its sheer numbers, The Stop The War Coalition has become the voice of millions of British people who have opposed this illegal war.

On Wednesday 14th July, to coincide with the publication of Lord Butlers Inquiry into the intelligence and legality of the Iraq war, Stop The War will have a number of experts available for interview.

Security Service Failures

David Shayler has spoken in great depth at a number of Stop The War meetings on the failure of the security services to correctly identify the fact that Saddam had no stockpiles of WMD’s. David, from his years working inside the security services, is able to give a clear and analytical perspective on this central part of the Butler Report. He is also able to shed light on how the Official Secrets Act has today silenced any internal dissention against the war.

Legal failings

Lord Butler will use his report to look at the legal advice government received in the run up to the war. Louise Christian is one of a group of lawyers who have produced the definitive legal brief on the illegality of war. Her grasp of the complexity of the constitutional position on the war is second to none. Louise has been an articulate and provocative legal spokesperson on behalf of The Stop The War Coalition.

Public Opinion

Over three million people have taken to the streets in the last two years to show their opposition to the war. One of the leading organisers of this campaign has been Lindsey German National Convenor of The Stop The War Coalition.

Lindsey is one of the most respected speakers against the war and is able to provide ‘grass roots’ analysis of what the millions of opponents to the war feel about the Butler Report.

Millions of people have been proven to be right in their opposition to this war – Their voice is an essential part of the democratic debate this country needs to have as to why we went into this illegal war.

For further information or to book an interview please contact the Press Office at Stop The War on

0207 053 2153/4/5/6 – Office

http://www.stopwar.org.uk/

Press Release

However many reports Tony Blair and his government commission on the Iraq war one indisputable fact remains – Tony Lied and thousands died.

At 11.00am on Wednesday 14th outside the House of Commons Stop The War will be holding a picket to coincide with the release of the Butler Report.

Members of Stop The War will be dressed as ‘Pinocchio Blair’ and will be holding a number of placards and banners showing how the majority of people in this country have lost trust in Tony Blair and his lies.

For further information and details call Stop The War Press on

0207 053 2153/4/5/6 – Office



Rise like lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number
Spread your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you
You are many they are few

Let a vast assembly be
And with great solemnity
Declare with measured words that ye
Are as God has made you, free.


Stop The War Coalition
office@stopwar.org.uk
http://www.stopwar.org.uk/

Washington weighs terror’s impact on presidential vote

by Joseph Kay

4 May 2004

An article in the “Week in Review” section of Sunday’s New York Times by regular correspondent David Sanger constitutes a serious warning to the American people. Entitled “Calculating the Politics of Catastrophe,” the piece describes “obsessive” talk within political and national security circles about the possible electoral consequences of another terror attack in the United States.

While Sanger presents the issue purely as one of deep concern in the Bush and Kerry campaigns about the possibility of a “nightmarish, unpredictable event” that could shift the election one way or another, a much more serious question lies behind the discussion. Coming in the wake of further evidence of the deliberate stand-down of US defenses prior to the September 11, 2001, attacks, it must be asked: Will the Bush administration allow or facilitate another massive terror attack to help secure an electoral victory in 2004?

Sanger notes that in recent weeks the Bush administration has begun to talk in public about the possibility of such an attack, “perhaps to brace the country for the worst, perhaps to begin the political inoculation if domestic defenses fail.”

Last month, US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice gave an interview in which she warned, “I think we also have to take seriously that [terrorists] might try during the cycle leading up to the election to do something.” Rice continued, “In some ways, it seems like it would be too good to pass up for them, and so we are actively looking at that possibility, actively trying to make certain that we are responding appropriately.” Hinting that preparations to defend against a terror attack may not be successful, she added, “The hard thing about terrorism is that they only have to be right once, and we have to be right 100 percent of the time. And nobody can be certain there won’t be another attack.”

One of the greatest concerns of officials in the administration is that another terror attack like that of September 11 may not boost Bush’s political fortunes, but instead have the opposite effect. The talk of a potential attack has led to “a kind of macabre game theory,” writes Sanger, “in which security experts and political operatives—two classes of people who typically do not interact much in Washington—are calculating what the political fallout of an attack might be.”

Of particular concern is the Spanish precedent. Immediately preceding elections held in March, a terror attack in Madrid produced a backlash of anger against the right-wing government of Jose Maria Aznar, leading to the victory of the Socialist Party (PSOE). The bombing was seen by many as a consequence of Aznar’s support for the US-led war in Iraq, a war opposed by the overwhelming majority of the Spanish people. Aznar’s attempt to exploit the bombings to push the agenda of his Popular Party backfired, leading to his defeat.

The result of the Spanish election was a deep blow to the Bush administration not only because it represented a repudiation of its Iraq policy—Spain has since begun the withdrawal of all its troops from Iraq. It also demonstrated that the population of the United States as well as Spain could respond in ways not sought or anticipated by the ruling elite.

Sanger quotes a senior administration official as saying, “The message the terrorists learned in Madrid is that attacks can change elections and change policy. It’s a very dangerous precedent to have out there.”

Immediately following the elections, administration officials and right-wing media pundits in the US denounced the Spanish population for learning the “wrong lesson” from the terrorist attacks and for “appeasing” terrorism.

According to Sanger, however, the Bush administration is making its own calculations over whether a terrorist attack can “change elections” in the US—in Bush’s favor.

He writes: “Mr. Bush’s political aides—speaking only on background, because no one dissects terror on the record—argue that the crazier the world gets, the more it plays to the theme of the campaign: Now more than ever, the country needs a president who has proved to be strong on terror.”

Indeed, the use of the politics of fear has been a staple of the Bush administration since September 11. Through such mechanisms as the color-coded warning system, combined with strategically timed and unsubstantiated reports of possibly imminent terrorist strikes, the administration has sought to influence political events, including the Congressional elections in 2002. Already, the Republican Party has begun airing ads seeking to exploit the September 11 attacks for political gain, presenting Kerry as “soft on terror.”

According to Sanger, the problem that Bush officials and Washington insiders are grappling with, however, is the possibility that any support generated by an attack could be shorter-lived than after September 11 “because the shock value would be gone, and because this time American defenses are supposed to be up. So within a month or so, the thinking goes, horror could give way to analysis about whether the billions spent on security were well spent—and if Mr. Bush focused on the right threats.”

The administration has recently come under attack from people like former counterterrorism head Richard Clark for ignoring terrorist threats before September 11 and for initiating a war in Iraq rather than focusing on defense from future attacks. Another terrorist attack would undoubtedly be seen by millions of Americans as a consequence of the administration’s criminal policy in Iraq and elsewhere.

“One reason the administration is so obsessed with security for the conventions,” writes Sanger, “is that those gatherings attract large concentrations of the American elite in two major cities. But they also may be sufficiently far ahead of the election to allow time for predictable finger-pointing. Terrorists, some believe, might try to undertake an attack that could be credibly portrayed as a result of the Iraq war, rather than as a 9/11 replay.”

This concern suggests the obvious possibility that the administration could allow or facilitate an attack during a brief window of opportunity—immediately preceding the election—in order to stampede the American people behind Bush. If September 11 is any guide, they could count on the Democrats to raise no questions until well after the vote was held.

The talk of a terror attack on the eve of the November elections is not new. In December 2003, New York Times columnist William Safire made the prediction that “a major terror attack in the US” could be the “October surprise” for this year’s election. Shortly before Safire’s column appeared, General Tommy Franks—the former head of the US military’s Central Command who led the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq—predicted that another terror attack on the scale of September 11 would result in the abrogation of the Constitution and the beginning of military rule in the US.

This last possibility—not suggested by Sanger—is particularly significant given the concerns over the uncertain electoral consequences of another terrorist attack. If such an attack could not be used confidently to manipulate the results of the elections, it could be used as a justification for abrogating the elections altogether.

See also:
What the September 11 commission hearings revealed
[1 May 2004]
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/may2004/911-m01.shtml

The Bush administration and September 11: the implications of Richard Clarke’s revelations
[29 March 2004]
http://www.the7thfire.com/Politics%20and%20History/9-11/bush_and_september_11.htm

The “war on terror” and American democracy—some ominous warnings
[27 November 2003]
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/nov2003/warn-n27.shtml

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/may2004/terr-m04.shtml


Informant: Friends

While the mobile phone tower issue is relatively low key in Australia the issue is taking an interesting political direction in the UK with the telcos attempting to subvert the democratic system by running their own candidates in local elections. Old Dick Cheney would wonder what's the matter with that!

Don Maisch


Mast campaigners furious over National Lib dem stance

Head Office: 97 Spa Crescent Little Hulton Manchester M38 9TU Tel:
0161 278 3355 Fax: 0161 278 3344

LIB DEM CALLS FOR REVOLT AGAINST LIB DEMS

Mast campaigners furious over National Lib dem stance

National Mast Campaign Mast Sanity is backing Birmingham residents, who are demanding that Phone Mast Public Relations guru Nicola (Nokia) Davies, the Lib Dem Hodge Hill candidate in this Thursday's Parliamentary by-election resigns, and that the Lib Dem leadership publicly condemn the present phone mast policy that Ms Davies has so often defended.

A campaign against the prospective Lib Dem candidate has been building up since her nomination, with local residents, and recently recruited Lib Dem Candidates furious that a candidate who, entrenched in the desire to override local wishes to install masts in the most inappropriate locations, is being whole-heartedly accepted by the national leadership.

Local Lib Dem's who are being backed by other Lib Dem members from across the UK are furious with the reactions of Charles Kennedy, Simon Hughes, Vince Cable and Mark Oaten MP, and other leading Lib Dems, and demand that they reverse their stance and distance the Liberal Democrats from this candidate.

Feelings are running so high within the rank and file membership of the Liberal Democrats that mast activists and recently recruited candidates from the thousands of campaigns against mobile phone and TETRA masts across the country are threatening to leave the Lib Dems for good. Fury was also vented against Ms Davies over the very damaging evidence that she presented to the high profile Winchester Mast Inquiry, which saw a totally inappropriately sited mast being installed close to a school that is now potentially harming the health of hundreds of children. She was also involved in 'community liaison' matter at a school in Boldmere, situated a few miles north of Hodge Hill, where her ability to smile as she lied was
demonstrated.

Lisa Oldham, Director Mast Sanity said, "It is appalling that the national leadership of the Liberal Democrats have backed this candidate in a situation which could easily have been put down as a local mistake. The national determination to install her as an MP in an area where the mast campaign is so huge and volatile, shows complete disregard for local resident's feelings and concerns.

We intend to lobby as many people as possible to make sure the Liberal Democrats realise all across the country that this is not acceptable and that Mobile phone masts are a huge political problem, that will come back to haunt them if politicians fail to take the concerns of those affected by insensitively sited masts seriously. The repercussions could be severe and will be reflected in this and forth-coming elections - and not just in Birmingham".

Amanda Wesley a recent Lib Dem candidate and a member of Mast Sanity said: "I am utterly disgusted at the attitude of the Liberal Democrat Party, and do not intend to accept the stance of the Party's leaders. The Lib Dems asked me to stand in the last election as a result of my involvement in opposing local insensitively sited masts, largely arranged by people like Nichola Davies. One of these I am still fighting, because T-Mobile and their 'community liaison' people manipulate, ignore, and speculate upon the law, ignoring it completely when they can't find a loophole. The Mast in Chipstead Road, which I am still fighting because TMobile and their 'Community Liaison' people fought and lost at planning but ignored all legal enforcements, was arranged by people like Nokia Davies.

I now see this as a total slap in the face to my colleagues and I, as well as the many other mast campaigners who were persuaded to stand for the Lib Dems. I now urge all people in this constituency NOT to vote Lib Dem. In my view, this woman should never have been selected as a candidate. I have made a point of not meeting her, having dealt with other such 'Community Liason' people. Members of the Lib Dems in Birmingham, and across the country need to send a firm message to the party, we will not stand by and allow our party to be taken over by those that are working against the interests of the communities they seek to represent."

Pamela Chapman a Lib Dem Councillor in Wales and also the Mast Sanity Parliamentary Lobby Coordinator said, " I am devastated by this irresponsible nomination. Councillors including myself will have to look long and hard at where are loyalties lie in this if the leadership insist on the Lib Dems supporting this woman."

Mast Sanity is urging other elected Lib Dems and ordinary members to show their disgust with their leadership, by taking part in a national 'wake' at 11am on Thursday, as Hodgehill goes to the polls to symbolize the demise of the Lib Dems so called stance against an inappropriate mast policy. It is suggested that many will want to also take part in burning of their membership cards.

Contacts :

Lisa Oldham

Pamela Chapman

Amanda Wesley

HLV INFO 13-07-2004/AT

Johannes Nüdling 13-07-04:

ePlus verpasst Gemeinde bei Androhung von Regressforderungen einen Maulkorb.

Dazu Pressemitteilung der Bürgerwelle Rhön mit der Bitte um Verteilung.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Bürgerwelle Rhön
i. A. Johannes Nüdling


Pressemitteilung

"Wiederholt werden seriöse wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse durch die Betreiber ignoriert und den Bürgern Sicherheit vorgegaukelt, die es bei Mobilfunk nicht gibt." so das Fazit der Bürgerwelle Rhön (BI) zu den Ereignissen in Schwarzbach. Dort hatte der bei der Bürgerversammlung anwesende ePlus-Mitarbeiter geäußert, Mobilfunk sei sicher. Wissenschaftler jedoch haben mehrfach den Nachweis auf gesundheitsschädliche Auswirkungen des Mobilfunks erbracht. In der vor kurzem bekannt gewordenen Reflex-Studie wiesen zwölf Forschergruppen in sieben EU-Ländern eindeutig nach, dass Mobilfunkstrahlung das menschliche Erbgut schädige. Der Leiter der von der EU geförderten Studie Professor Franz Adlkofer erklärte: "Veränderungen am Erbgut führen in der Regel zu Krebs". Wissenschafter der ungarischen Universität Szeged kamen nach einer Langzeitstudie zum Ergebnis, dass Männer, die häufig Mobiltelefone nutzen, damit rechnen müssen, dass die Zahl ihrer Samenzellen dramatisch sinkt.

Während einer Ortsbeiratssitzung in Schwarzbach schilderte Bürgermeister Markus Schafft (Hofbieber), ePlus habe die Gemeinde bei Androhung von Schadensersatz aufgefordert, über den geplanten Bau eines Mobilfunkmastes in der Ortslage von Schwarzbach Stillschweigen zu bewahren.

Ein erneuter gravierender Verstoß gegen die Selbstverpflichtung der Betreiber auf Kosten der Bürger. so die BI. Einerseits werde Bürgern und Politikern öffentlichkeitswirksam Transparenz vorgegaukelt, das Handeln jedoch stehe im krassen Gegensatz dazu.

Bereits im Dezember 2001 hatten die Betreiber schriftlich gegenüber der Bundesregierung unter anderem die "Unterrichtung der Kommunen und der Bürgerinnen und Bürger in Abstimmung mit den Kommunen" zugesagt. Als Versuch Politiker zu beschwichtigen hatten Mobilfunkkritiker schon damals diese Verlautbarungen eingestuft. Mit Recht wie sich jetzt erneut beweist. Die Betreiber haben gegen diese Verpflichtung in Petersberg, Schwarzbach, Edelzell und Weyhers wie auch anderenorts verstoßen.

Dass es auch in Schwarzbach geeignete Standorte außerhalb der Ortslage gebe, sei in der Veranstaltung deutlich geworden. Der Eindruck, ePlus habe der Gemeinde zur Durchsetzung des innerörtlichen Mastes einen Maulkorb verpasst, habe sich verstärkt.

Laut Aussage des ePlus-Mitarbeiters gebe es bei den Planungen zum Ausbau des Mobilfunknetzes und Bau neuer Masten "ein 6-monatiges update mit dem Kreis Fulda". Die BI hofft, dass Politiker künftig die praktische Umsetzung der Selbstverpflichtung durch die Betreiber mit Nachdruck einfordern. Nur so könnten Mobilfunk-Standorte im Einvernehmen mit den Bürgern gefunden werden.

ECTV’s Research Show Earth’s Weakening Magnetic Field Contributes to Extreme Weather…07/13/04

by Mitch Battros (ECTV)

As so many of my articles have pointed out, suggesting as the natural cyclical event of Earth’s magnetic field weakening to a measure of “zero point”, Earth becomes more vulnerable to geomagnetic influence, namely solar flares, CME’s, and geomagnetic plasma burst.

The Earth’s magnetic field acts as a protector for various charged particles thrusting around in space. Most of this activity is generated by our Sun. As noted in my equation, the higher number of sunspots facilitates the size and number of solar flares. The size and number of solar flares, facilitates size and power of CME’s (coronal mass ejections). CME’s facilitate both in quantity and quality the significant disruption to our magnetic field. When Earth’s magnetic field is healthy and at full capacity, most solar storms are bounced and the magnetic field ‘warps’ around the Earth like a cocoon.

Equation:

Sunspots -> Solar Flares -> Magnetic Field Shift -> Shifting Ocean and Jet Stream Currents -> Extreme Weather and Human Disruption (mitch battros)

But every so many thousand years (I hope to present a range in tomorrow’s article) Earth’s magnetic field ebbs and flows. It weakens, flips, then strengthens. This is a very natural event the Earth has seen many times before. However, we humans have not. So we don’t know quite what to expect as we may be witness to a lengthy scattered magnetic flux, meaning the poles will bounce around a bit, before a full pole flip. I can speculate “severe and freak storms” will be part of this transition. I am also concerned about human health. Without our magnetic field to protect us, it may manifest as though each and every human on Earth will be exposed to large amounts of radiation. It might be equal to flying in a Boeing 747 at 40,000 feet for days on end.

At this point, I am sure to support all efforts be made to focus on fast track research to learn more and quickly about the effects of minimal magnetic field protection. Remember, not only will this effect weather in a most severe manner; it will also effect humans and animals in a way of disassociation, confusion, loss of direction, depression, anxiety, mood swings. We just don’t have enough research at this time to determine just exactly how all this will play out.

But one thing we all can do, and do right now….Monitor animal behavior! Animals have not yet destroyed their natural sense of self as we humans have. Their senses are several times more aware of sudden change. Unfortunantlly for us, we have been ‘dumbed down’. This could give a whole new meaning to the term “The dumbing down of American…No the World”.

Much more on this later. For now, read today’s NY Times article which is the first mainstream to pick up what ECTV has been writing about since 1997.



Collapse of Earth’s Magnetic Field Accelerates
NY Times

The collapse of the earth's magnetic field, which both guards the planet and guides many of its creatures, appears to have started in earnest about 150 years ago, the NY TIMES is planning to report on Page Ones Tuesday.

Science reporter Bill Broad has filed a report, according to newsroom sources, which explores how: 'The field's strength has waned 10 percent to 15 percent so far and this deterioration has accelerated of late, increasing debate over whether it portends a reversal of the lines of magnetic force that normally envelop the earth."

Broad explains: "During a reversal, the main field weakens, almost vanishes, and then reappears with opposite polarity. Afterward, compass needles that normally point north would point south, and during the thousands of years of transition much in the heavens and Earth would go askew."

Broad claims: "A reversal could knock out power grids, hurt astronauts and satellites, widen atmospheric ozone holes, send polar auroras flashing to the equator and confuse birds, fish and migratory animals that rely on the steadiness of the magnetic field as a navigation aid."