FAZ vom 26.1.2005

Die heimliche und tendenziöse Forschung der Tabakindustrie

Beinahe einer James-Bond-Story gleicht der Bericht englischer und schweizerischer Wissenschaftler, die mit dem Spürsinn von Geheimagenten verdeckten Forschungsaktivitäten des Tabakkonzerns Philip Morris auf die Schliche gekommen sind. Viele Jahre lang haben Vertreter der Tabakindustrie demnach öffentlich behauptet, ihnen seien keine wissenschaftlichen Untersuchungen über die schädlichen Folgen von Zigarettenrauch bekannt. Diese Aussage haben Martin McKee von der London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine und seine beiden Schweizer Kollegen, Pascal Diethelm von OxyRomandie und Jean-Charles Rielle von Cipret-Genève, unlängst in der Zeitschrift „Lancet“ Lügen gestraft. In akribischer Kleinarbeit haben die Autoren alle internen Dokumente und Notizen, die Philip Morris und einige weitere Tabakkonzerne im Zuge eines Schlichtungsverfahrens offenlegen mußten, durchstöbert. Wie ihre Spurensuche ergab, hatte Philip Morris mehr als drei Jahrzehnte lang die gesundheitlichen Auswirkungen von Tabakrauch untersucht, die dabei gewonnenen Erkenntnisse allerdings größtenteils verschwiegen. Nur wenige Eingeweihte wußten von den heimlichen Forschungen des Tabakherstellers. Diese wurden - offenbar aus Sicherheitsgründen - zudem nicht in den Vereinigten Staaten, sondern in Deutschland vorgenommen. Bei der beauftragten Forschungseinrichtung handelte es sich um ein Kölner Unternehmen namens Imbifo (Institut für Industrielle und Biologische Forschung GmbH), das Philip Morris im Jahr 1970 erworben und später einer Schweizer Tochtergesellschaft abgetreten haben soll. Weshalb jedoch soviel Heimlichtuerei? McKee und seine Kollegen sind überzeugt, daß Philip Morris die Erkenntnisse seiner Forschung zu eigenen Zwecken nutzen und nicht Konkurrenten und Gegnern in die Hände spielen wollte. Auch war dem Konzern offenbar daran gelegen, die schädlichen Folgen des Tabakrauchs anderen Einflußfaktoren anzulasten, etwa dem Konsum von grünem Tee. Diesen hätten Wissenschaftler des Kölner Instituts in einer älteren Untersuchung mit der Entstehung von Lungenkrebs in Verbindung gebracht.

Darüber hinaus beschäftigte man sich in Köln intensiv mit den gesundheitlichen Konsequenzen des passiven Rauchens. In den Untersuchungen erwies sich der Qualm, ob aus den Glimmstengeln direkt oder schon ausgeatmet, offenbar durchweg als extrem giftig. Das geht unter anderem aus einem Bericht hervor, den Mitarbeiter des Instituts an Philip Morris gerichtet haben sollen. Darin sei im Detail beschrieben worden, so die Verfasser des kritischen Berichts, welchen Einfluß Tabakrauch auf den Gesundheitszustand von Ratten ausübt. Passivrauchen hatte demzufolge noch schädlichere Folgen als das aktive Rauchen. Jedenfalls führte es zu größeren Schädigungen der Geruchszellen in der Nase. Auch die Organentwicklung, die Atmung und die Nahrungsaufnahme wurden beim Passivrauchen offenbar noch stärker beeinträchtigt. Wie McKee und seine Mitstreiter schreiben, haben die Forscher von Imbifo mehr als 800 wissenschaftliche Arbeiten über die Auswirkungen von passivem Rauchen verfaßt. Ihre einschlägigen Erkenntnisse seien indes nicht oder nur bruchstückhaft veröffentlicht worden. Distanziert mutet vor diesem Hintergrund eine Pressemitteilung von Philip Morris an http://www.pmusa.com/en/ healthissues/secondhand_smoke.asp .

Demnach seien „Gesundheitsbeamte zu dem Schluß gekommen, daß Passivrauchen krank macht“. Die Vorwürfe der LancetAutoren wies die Altria-Gruppe, zur der auch Philip Morris gehört, im übrigen als „verzerrt und irreführend“ zurück.

Auch die Ergebnisse einer weiteren Untersuchung werfen ein schlechtes Licht auf die Tabakindustrie (,‚Lancet“, Online-Ausgabe vom 14. Januar). Wissenschaftler um Asaf Bitton von der Universität in San Francisco sind darin der Frage nachgegangen, inwieweit die Hersteller von Tabakwaren die gesundheitlichen Gefahren des Rauchens herunterzuspielen versuchen. Ihr Augenmerk richteten die amerikanischen Forscher dabei auf ein Gen, das in etlichen Untersuchungen mit der Entstehung von Krebs in Verbindung gebracht worden ist. Die Rede ist von dem TumorsuppressorGen p53, einem normalerweise vor Krebs bewahrenden Erbfaktor. Wie ungezählte Studien gezeigt haben, führt Zigarettenrauch zu funktionellen Schäden in dieser schützenden Erbanlage. Solche Mutationen tragen wesentlich dazu bei, daß das Zellwachstum außer Kontrolle gerät und somit bösartige Tumore entstehen können. Für die Tabakindustrie arbeitende Wissenschaftler haben aber offenbar versucht, diesen Zusammenhang zu widerlegen. Das geht jedenfalls aus den Nachforschungen von Bitton und seinen Kollegen hervor. Einige Autoren, die an der Publikation der zweifelhaften Untersuchungsergebnisse beteiligt waren, sollen ihre Verbindungen zur Tabakindustrie zudem verschwiegen haben. Ähnlich bedeckt hielten sich offenbar auch die Herausgeber jener Fachjournale, in denen die fragwürdigen Arbeiten gedruckt wurden. Die neuen Erkenntnisse zeigen einmal mehr, wie wichtig es ist, Interessenkonflikte in der Forschung rigoros offenzulegen.

NICOLA VON LUTTEROTTI


Nachricht von Ulrich Weiner

--------

Apropos Nikotinsucht

Die Weltgesundheitsorganisation WHO hat 50 Jahre gebraucht, um zuzugeben, dass Rauchen gesundheitsschädigend ist. Dieselbe WHO hat nebenher zusätzliche 30 Jahre gebraucht, um zuzugeben, dass Passivrauchen der Gesundheit abträglich ist.

Mit Dutzenden von ihr selbst finanzierten wissenschaftlichen Gutachten hat es die Tabakindustrie verstanden, sich jahrzehntelang vor jeglichen Schadenersatzforderungen zu schützen.

Hier ein Bericht über die Expertenbefragung am letzten grossen Tabakprozess in den USA:

Gunther, der Fachexperte der Tabakkonzerne, war nicht da, um irgend etwas zu beweisen. Seine Aufgabe war es lediglich, den Experten der Anklage dauernd zu widersprechen und so viel Schlamm aufzuwühlen, dass die Geschworenen nicht mehr wussten, wie gefährlich Rauchen nun wirklich war. Er konnte nicht beweisen, dass Rauchen keinen Lungenkrebs verursacht und deshalb argumentierte er, dass sämtliche Untersuchungen keinen Beweis dafür erbracht hätten, dass Rauchen tatsächlich diese Folgen hatte. „Dazu sind weitere Forschungen erforderlich“ sagte er alle 10 Minuten.

Diese Zeilen stammen aus dem Buch „Das Urteil“ von John Crisham über die grossen Sammelklagen gegen die Tabakkonzerne in den USA. Sehr lesenswert und dazu erst noch hochspannende Unterhaltung. Denn genau so wie Crisham die kriminellen Umtriebe der Tabakmafia beschreibt, agieren heute die Mobilfunkbetreiber. Oder kommt etwa jemandem der obige Buchauszug nicht höchst bekannt vor?

Von 1954 bis 1960 durften die Zigarettenhersteller behördlich bewilligt und von der Lehrerschaft geduldet, vor und in allen Schulhäusern der Schweiz massenhaft Gratismuster verteilen, teilweise sogar in den Korridoren und Klassenzimmern der Oberstufen.

Heute werden Gratishandys abgegeben.

http://www.gigaherz.ch/929





Forscher und Forschungsergebnisse von der Industrie bezahlt
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/281056/

I've been trying to sound the alarm on this for ten years now. But forest activists haven't wanted to become climate activists. What's your excuse?

I know the science and politics can be intimidating, but so is it to learn the forest ecology of native forests, or marine biology. But just think about, among other horrors, how many coastal forest ecosystems will just vanish. Unfortunately, too, I know, we don't have the equivalent of clearcuts to show people or to put on video.

So ten years later, there still isn't a climate action protest movement, and no resources have been offered to start it. If you want to help or can offer financial, office, or expertise support, or can get some celebrities or otherwise influential people involved, please drop me a note. I would be thrilled to hear from you.

And the threat is a 20 foot increase, not 16.

Andy Caffrey
Climate Action NOW!

I know I've posted this link/article before, but for those who are new to this list, please check out my Earth island Journal article:

http://www.earthisland.org/eijournal/summer98/wr_sum98d.htm



February 2, 2005

Dramatic Change in West Antarctic Ice Could Produce 16ft Rise in
Sea Levels

by Michael McCarthy

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/story.jsp?story=606845

Tim Hermach
Native Forest Council

PO Box 2190
Eugene, OR 97402
541.688.2600
541.461.2156 fax

web page: http://www.forestcouncil.org

DEFENDING LIFE, LAND & LIBERTY

* Demanding Honest & Fully Costed Accounting,
* Supporting Inspired Voices of Moral Integrity, Hope & Reason
* Providing Uncompromised Public Education, Advocacy & Litigation
* Demanding Total Protection for 650 Million Acres of Federal Lands & Waters

YES, for Survival
YES, for Wild Forest Sanctuary
YES, for Keeping Public Lands Forever Wild & Free, Forever
YES, for Ending our Third World Colony behavior exporting jobs & natural resources

See the photographic evidence for yourself at:
http://forestcouncil.org/learn/aerial/index.html


From EF! Media Center

Tewolde Egziabher
25 September 2003
Source: PANOS Features

Tewolde Egziabher argues that developing nations must put in place biosafety systems based on the precautionary principle, and develop the capacity — no matter how costly — to deal with the risks of genetically modified crops.

The author is director general of Ethiopia's Environmental Protection Authority, and was chief African negotiator at the Cartagena Protocol.

[ADDIS ABABA] As the world's attention was focused firmly on the Cancún World Trade Organisation summit in September, an important international agreement quietly made its entry on the world stage, holding out immense implications for developing countries.

The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, which aims to regulate trade in genetically modified organisms (GMOs), came into force on 11
September after five-year-long negotiations over trade advantages and disadvantages – intractable North-South issues that are set to continue to bedevil the Protocol's implementation.

This is highlighted most forcefully by the US move to take the European Union to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism over the European Union's insistence that US exporters clearly label all GM food sold to Europe.

One of its main complaints is that Europe's stand makes Africa reject GM. The elephants that are Europe and the United States thus fight, and the grass that is Africa gets trampled. The WTO Ministerial Meeting in Cancún, Mexico, which would have had direct or indirect implications on the case, collapsed on 14 September 2003, largely because the South, and especially Africa, refused to accommodate the elephants.

Is this a foretaste of the future of the implementation of the Biosafety Protocol as well? Why do I foresee future difficulties? The reasons are many, flowing chiefly from the substantive differences between the developing countries and the United States over GMO regulation.

The United States, which is unlikely to be a party to the Protocol, and the 60 parties to the Protocol start from opposing premises.

The United States starts from the premise of `substantial equivalence', which says GM crops are as safe as non-GM ones unless proved otherwise. The European Union and the developing world support the `precautionary principle' embodied in the Protocol which states that a GM crop is to be considered possibly risky unless proved to be safe.

From these perceived differences flow implications for implementation. The Cartagena Protocol requires a country to allow the importation of a GMO only after it has obtained all the necessary information about it and carried out a risk assessment to evaluate the likelihood of harm to human health, to agricultural systems, to its environment and to its socio-economic conditions.

The country of import is first informed by the exporter or by the country of export of the intention to export the GMO. The country of import, after a risk assessment, then informs the exporter or the country of export in writing whether or not it will allow the import.

In the case of GM commodities intended for food, feed or for processing, the intention to export is notified to all countries in one go through a computerised database system called the clearing- house.

In this procedure, failure to communicate a decision to the country of export or to the clearing-house cannot be taken as an agreement to import. The failure might happen through lack of capacity and the precautionary principle would then imply that no exportation takes place.

There are some exceptions to the procedure. A GMO that is merely transiting through a country is not subjected to the procedure. However, if a country considers any GMO as too dangerous to be allowed even transit, it has the right to register this fact at the clearing-house and prohibit its transiting.

A GMO that is destined for contained use — under conditions from which it cannot escape into the open environment and cannot come into contact with humans or other forms of life — need not go through the procedure before importation. A GMO for use as a pharmaceutical for humans is subjected to the procedure unless there is another international law or a specified international organisation to govern its import and export authorisation.

At the moment, there is no international law other than the Cartagena Protocol to govern the environmental impacts of GMOs. The World Health Organisation is responsible only for the safety to human health of pharmaceuticals — GMOs or otherwise — and not for their environmental impact.

When it comes to implementing and regulating the Protocol, however, developing nations are faced with all kinds of handicaps — for a variety of reasons.

For instance, the Protocol depends on full information for its effective implementation — it requires a labelling and traceability regime to be negotiated once it comes into force. But the United States, the biggest producer of GMOs in the world, refuses to label them, so countries will not necessarily know when an unlabelled US GMO is imported into their territories. In the meantime, safety will be compromised.

The poverty of developing countries, especially the least developed among them, mostly in Africa, remains a crucial handicap: they are simply too poor to allocate adequate resources for biosafety. Even more worrying is the fact that, should a risk occur, these countries will find it hard to muster the financial and technical capacity needed to combat it.

One would have thought that, given this situation, socio-economic considerations would constitute a very important component in decisions over whether to import a GMO. But the relevant provision of the Protocol is very weak. However, neither this weakness nor any other international law prevents a poor country from adhering to the precautionary principle and making a rigorous socio-economic assessment before importing a GMO.

Risk assessment in the South also becomes complicated because of the complex tropical and subtropical environments. A micro-organism under contained use functions optimally at high temperatures. If it escapes into the open environment in the North, it is unlikely to survive the winter cold. But in the hot tropical and subtropical environments of the South, it may survive and flourish indefinitely.

The South should, therefore, put in place biosafety systems that restrict contained use only to laboratory conditions from which escape of GMOs is impossible.

A major problem is related to the rich biodiversity of the South. It is a well-recognised fact that biodiversity increases Equatorwards and decreases Polewards. The environmental risk GMOs pose is one of passing their genes to wild species. The larger the biodiversity, the more complex and uncertain becomes the evaluation of risks posed by GMOs.

And yet, owing to low technical capacity, specific knowledge on the South's biodiversity is very poor. Additionally, most centres of origin of crops are in the South, which makes any mistaken release of a GM crop more devastating in the South. The Protocol's information and risk assessment requirements recognise this fact and include the centres of origin or genetic diversity.

It should thus be, but is not necessarily seen as, in the interests of the North not to push GM crops into the South, and for the South to resort to caution. After all, virtually all crops of importance in the North have their centres of origin or genetic diversity in the South, which means that the North depends on the South for its future breeding programmes and its future food security.

A more intractable issue, of course, is trade and environment. Trade rules favour the North. And the international agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights — or TRIPs — makes GMOs especially problematic for the South.

TRIPs makes the patenting of micro-organisms and microbiological processes compulsory. The North is allowing the patenting of GMOs and their sub-cellular components based on this provision. The cellular parts essential for genetic engineering are already patented. This means that any domestic development and use of GMOs will become internationally bureaucratic (negotiating for the tens of subcellular parts) and expensive (paying royalties on each patent). It also means that GMOs, even when developed in the South, will be controlled by the foreign patent owners of sub-cellular parts.

TRIPs puts the burden of proof of innocence on the person accused of the infringement of a process patent. This could spell trouble when a GMO cross-pollinates with the unmodified crop of a smallholder farmer and his crop becomes contaminated by patented genes.

Absurdly, the farmer is assumed to be a process patent infringer. The culprits — the wind and the insects — cannot be summoned to court as witnesses. A South that wants food sovereignty and its farmers to remain innocent of crime can refuse the planting of genetically modified crops in its territories.

Happily, however, at the insistence of the South, there is now a commitment to negotiate a liability and redress regime under the Protocol in case of damages caused by GMOs. Given these handicaps, is the South going to benefit from genetic engineering? I wonder.

Generally, genetic engineering appeals to the South, which wants to develop fast — the technology promises to put beneficial traits found in living organisms to human use. Conversely, not using this capacity threatens being left even more behind in development.

It has no choice but to stay safe. The South has to put in place biosafety systems firmly based on the precautionary principle and develop the capacity — no matter how expensive — to protect itself.


Informant: joe_cale

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10009238


Informant: NHNE

http://chronicle.com/temp/email.php?id=5olxgmpu8go2b4u9vpdfqg10v0x186aa


Informant: William K. Dobbs

From ufpj-news

Link on water spouts and record rainfall. Anna
http://starbulletin.com/2005/02/03/news/index2.html

On Feb 3, 2005, at 12:13 PM, Anna Webb wrote:

Breaking News (no links yet on the water spouts) Two water spouts off the Island of Oahu - very rare (if ever) in addition to 6 inch "dump" of rain. Also, Mt. Kilauea volcano erupts new lava flow. This comes after a 6 foot dump of snow on one of the big island's dormant volcanoes two weeks ago.

Anna

Lava From Hawaii Volcano Drops Into Ocean

2 hours, 39 minutes ago

VOLCANO, Hawaii - Lava from Kilauea volcano began dropping into the ocean at two new points this week, treating visitors to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to a fiery show.

The lava began flowing into the Pacific on Monday at one spot that is about a mile and a half from a park ranger station. The second spot is on the far side of the park near the former town of Kalapana, which was covered by lava in 1990.

As lava hits the ocean, it can create crowd-pleasing explosions and fantastic views of red-hot flow.

The national park was established in 1916 and includes 13,677-foot high Mauna Loa, the world's largest volcano, and Kilauea, which has been erupting continuously since Jan. 3, 1983.

http://www.cpusa.org/article/articleprint/618/


Informant: Annie

Kongo: Marshall-Plan soll Afrikas Regenwälder retten (03.02.05)

Wenn Rodungen, illegaler Holzeinschlag, Wildtierhandel und -schmuggel sowie der Handel mit Buschfleisch in gleichem Maße weiter betrieben werden wie bisher, werden nach Schätzungen des WWF zwei Drittel der Tropenwälder im zentralafrikanischen Kongobecken innerhalb der nächsten fünfzig Jahre verschwunden sein. Davor warnt die Umweltorganisation zum Auftakt des zweitägigen Waldgipfels für die Kongoregion, der ab Freitag in Brazzaville in der Republik Kongo stattfindet.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:

http://www.jpberlin.de/www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php4?Nr=10364

by Melissa Knific And Erik Johns, Advocate Reporters

2/3/2005

NEWARK -- After reviewing more than 700 voting machines, Domestic Relations Court Judge candidate Paul Harmon has requested a criminal investigation of the Licking County Board of Elections.

read article:
http://nov2truth.org/article.php?story=20050203105309855

I find it unusual to have pollution alerts this time of year. In SW Ohio we are accustomed to these types of alerts in the heat of July and August, but in Winter it's unusual. This would indicate that the atmosphere isn't moving - that the fine particulates and pollution is "trapped".

It's been announced on the Weather Channel over the past 3 days, but there are no articles or detailed information that I can find on a search engine.

Peace - Anna

Your help is needed.

Please use our cyberaction centre to protest against the unjust detention of leader of dam affected communities in Guatemala. For more information and a suggested message visit:
http://www.foei.org/cyberaction/chixoy.php

And support the Buddhist monk on hunger strike to prevent a high speed rail tunnel destroying Mount Cheonseong in Korea.

http://www.foei.org/cyberaction/cheonseong.php

Please forward this message to your friends and colleagues and encourage them to get involved with this action, too.

Thanks for your support. The FoEI Web Team

Opinion by Consumer Advocate Tim Bolen

Wednesday, February 2nd, 2005

The five components of Western Medicine are guilty, in my opinion, of more crimes against humanity than any other entity in mankind's history.

As we sit here, the very structure of western civilization is at risk because of the sheer murderous greed of the number (1) component of Western Medicine - Big Pharma. Health Care costs in the the US and Europe have gone over the top, just because Big Pharma thinks it's OK to gouge. US Seniors on a limited income have to make choices between food or drugs each month. The Vioxx scandal points out just how murderous Big Pharma executives can become, in the name of profit.

So many drugs are pushed through the average American's body each month that our water supply now contains a plethora of pharmaceuticals, simply because our sewer plant systems are unequipped, and were never designed to filter out any laboratory produced drugs, much less the volume it is faced with.

The number (2) component, the American Hospital System, is the number one killer of Americans, with 783,936 deaths annually. If you have to check a loved one into a hospital, plan on staying with them 24 hours a day - or there's a good chance you'll get them back in a bag.

The number (3) component, the health insurance insurance industry, charges you for a Rolls Royce, but delivers the K-Mart Blue Light special.

The number (4) component, the Regulatory System for health care is completely corrupt. The FDA, and the State Health Practitioner Regulatory Boards, are a waste of time. The FDA, recently, admitted that it can't protect Americans. Medical boards are "Good Ole Boy" clubs designed to protect bad practitioners.

The number (5) component, the "quackbuster" operation, designed, and operated to inflict damage on competitors to components (1) and (2), has never been truly analyzed to determine the damage they've inflicted on North America. But, that's beginning.

These five components of Western Medicine, make up the "Status Quo" in health care.

The "Status Quo, holds in place expensive, but fruitless medical offerings, and prevents any research, findings, paradigms, etc., that compete for health dollars. The same "status Quo" is responsible, by its policies, for the numbers two, three, and four causes of death in America - Heart Disease, Cancer, and Stroke.

Western medicine is ONLY about drugs, drugs, more drugs, surgery, and radiation. And, it's killing us.

Thank God it's ALL coming down...

The number (1) component of Western Medicine - Big Pharma, is on its way out. They've reached the self destruct mode. Doubt that? Than you're not reading the newspapers, or listening to the financial news..

The number (2) component, the American Hospital System is just beginning the slide down the slippery slope. The days are over when they could slide through the body fluids of their victims heading for the Mercedes Benz parking lot. Just a few days ago, a major Los Angeles hospital lost its accreditation in an inspection. I predict that this will happen a lot more.

The number (3) component, the health insurance insurance industry, is about to lose, due to the new Bush administration "health plan," a fortune in business. All they'll have to offer is "catastrophic" insurance.

The number (4) component, the Regulatory System for health care is completely corrupt. We know that. The FDA, and the State Health Practitioner Regulatory Boards, are a waste of time. We know that. But all that is under pressure - and the change is beginning.

The number (5) component, the "quackbuster" operation, designed, and operated to inflict damage on competitors to components (1) and (2), is falling apart. They're heading for an incinerator.

The future of health care is up for grabs...

So, what will happen? That's the question.

Stay tuned...


Tim Bolen - Consumer Advocate

This "Millions of Health Freedom Fighters - Newsletter" is about the battle between "Health and Medicine" on Planet Earth. Tim Bolen is an op/ed writer with extensive knowledge of the activities of a subversive organization calling itself the "quackbusters," and that organization's attempts to suppress, and discredit, any, and all health modalities that compete with the allopathic (MD) paradigm for consumer health dollars. The focus of the newsletter is on the ongoing activities, battles, politics, and the victories won by members of the "Health Freedom Movement" against the "quackbusters" It details "who the quackbusters are, what they are, where they are operating, when they appear, and how they operate - and how easy it is to beat them..."

For background information on the "Battle between Health and Medicine" go to: http://www.savedrclark.net/by_whom2.htm. A copy of THIS newsletter, and older ones, are viewable at the website http://www.quackpotwatch.org/default.htm.

For EVEN MORE interesting and related articles go to http://www.bolenreport.com

In last night's State of the Union address, President Bush turned up the volume in his effort to sell America his next big scam: Social Security privatization. He tried to dress it up, but here's what it really means: smaller Social Security checks for us, and fatter Wall Street wallets for the President's friends.

Privatization is the President's #1 priority this year. If we are going to stop him, each of us needs to step up and say no. It makes no sense to replace a guaranteed Social Security benefit with a guaranteed Wall Street gamble.

Please do your part to get that message out where you live, and help counter the President's spin. Ask the editor of your local newspaper, radio or TV station cover the facts behind Bush's privatization scheme.

http://action.ourfuture.org/ctt.asp?u=1742757&l=76835

President Bush talks about Social Security as if the sky is falling! But the facts tell a different story. According to the Social Security Administration itself, the system can meet 100% of its obligations for the next 37 years with no changes at all. And beyond that, there are less risky things we can do to shore up Social Security.

Consider that the President himself only pays Social Security taxes on less than a quarter of his income. That's right, the law today exempts every penny of income over $90,000 from Social Security taxes. If we raised that ceiling to the President's salary, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Privatization is the ONLY Social Security crisis. The President's plan would cut benefits and funnel about a third of all Social Security money into Wall Street. Without Social Security, 40 percent of seniors today would live in poverty. The Bush privatization scam would cheat a 20 year old worker out of $152,000 in Social Security checks over his or her retirement.

The media needs to start reporting this truth about privatization right now. Please ask them to do their job.

http://action.ourfuture.org/ctt.asp?u=1742757&l=76835

Over the next two days, the President will travel to five states to try to sell privatization to the American public. Everywhere he goes, the Campaign for America's Future and our allies will greet him with thousands of people at protests and news conferences. But the message needs to be heard nationwide -- this is where you can help.

President Bush has no mandate to privatize our Social Security, but he is being helped by powerful allies. Together, we can stop them. Please contact your local media today.

http://action.ourfuture.org/ctt.asp?u=1742757&l=76835


Sincerely,

Adam Luna, Policy Director
Campaign for America's Future

Nuclear Information and Resource Service

1424 16th Street NW, #404, Washington, DC 20036

202.328.0002, f: 202.462.2183; nirsnet@nirs.org, www.nirs.org

STATEMENT OF MICHAEL MARIOTTE
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
NUCLEAR INFORMATION AND RESOURCE SERVICE

FEBRUARY 3, 2005

ON STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH BY

PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH

In his State of the Union Speech, President George Bush called on Congress to enact legislation to support his energy program, including “safe, clean nuclear power.”

*Where Bush sees “safe, clean nuclear power,” we see construction of new pre-deployed weapons of mass destruction to be used against us.

Every community near a reactor would be at risk.

*Where Bush sees “safe, clean nuclear power,” we see an unsolved legacy of lethal radioactive waste.

This waste will continue to pile up at reactor sites, even if the proposed Yucca Mountain waste site—which does not and cannot meet federal regulations—were to open. Building new reactors would exacerbate the problem, and force the U.S. to find yet another national dumpsite, probably in the Eastern U.S.

*Where Bush sees “safe, clean nuclear power,” we see the proliferation of nuclear weapons-usable technology across the globe.

Bush should have taken the courageous lead of International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohammed ElBaradei, who has called for a five-year moratorium on construction of new uranium enrichment facilities to help prevent nuclear proliferation. Instead, the administration supports construction of such plants in New Mexico and Ohio.

*Where Bush sees “safe, clean nuclear power,” we see the diversion of scarce resources from sustainable technologies that should be used to combat the global climate crisis to the most expensive, least effective technology available to address the overriding environmental issue of our times.

*Where Bush sees “safe, clean nuclear power,” we see an industry that spews radiation into the air and water on a daily basis from all of its reactors, mines, processing plants, and other facilities, and poses the constant threat of atomic meltdown.

There is nothing “safe” or “clean” about nuclear power. The first generation of atomic reactors brought us bankrupted utilities, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, the threat of a nuclear waste transport accident—a “Mobile Chernobyl,” and the existing 103 reactors scattered across our nation that can provide nuclear dirty bombs for the enemy.

The Bush Administration’s energy bill has failed for the past four years for good reason. Its support for the polluting nuclear, coal and oil industries offers mid-20th century solutions to 21st century problems. Rather than rewarding the Bush Administration’s energy industry friends with taxpayer dollars, the Congress can, and should develop an energy policy that will lead the world in efficiency and sustainability, provide millions of new jobs in progressive new energy industries, and take effective steps toward ending the global climate crisis.

The Bush Administration’s energy policy can, should and will be rejected by the American people and their elected officials.


Informant: andreixxxx

From ufpj-news

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/index.cfm?Page=Article&ID=2765


Informant: Shanti Renfrew

by Public Citizen

Don't believe the president's hype! A new report finds no empirical support that tort reform is badly needed...

http://www.tompaine.com/action/#003596

by Robert L. Borosage, TomPaine.com Exclusive

On the lies the president peddles to dismantle Social Security:
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/less_perfect_union_shock_jock_president.php

STUDY: CELL PHONE USE UPS ACCIDENT RISK
by Leon D'Souza

Associated Press

February 2, 2005

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20050203/ap_on_re_us/cell_phones_young_drivers

SALT LAKE CITY - Talking on a cell phone makes you drive like a retiree -- even if you're only a teen, a new study shows. A report from the University of Utah says when motorists between 18 and 25 talk on cell phones, they drive like elderly people -- moving and reacting more slowly and increasing their risk of accidents.

"If you put a 20-year-old driver behind the wheel with a cell phone, his reaction times are the same as a 70-year-old driver," said David Strayer, a University of Utah psychology professor and principal author of the study. "It's like instant aging."

And it doesn't matter whether the phone is hand-held or handsfree, he said.

Any activity requiring a driver to "actively be part of a conversation" likely will impair driving abilities, Strayer said.

In fact, motorists who talk on cell phones are more impaired than drunken drivers with blood-alcohol levels exceeding 0.08, Strayer and colleague Frank Drews, an assistant professor of psychology, found during research conducted in 2003.

Their new study appears in this winter's issue of Human Factors, the quarterly journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

Strayer said they found that when 18- to-25-year-olds were placed in a driving simulator and talked on a cellular phone, they reacted to brake lights from a car in front of them as slowly as 65- to 74-year-olds who were not using a cell phone.

In the simulator, each participant drove four 10-mile freeway trips lasting about 10 minutes each, talking on a cell phone with a research assistant during half the trip and driving without talking the other half. Only handsfree phones -- considered safer -- were used.

The study found that drivers who talked on cell phones were 18 percent slower in braking and took 17 percent longer to regain the speed they lost when they braked.

The numbers, which come down to milliseconds, might not seem like much, but it could be the difference to stopping in time to avoid hitting a child in the street, Strayer said.

The new research questions the effectiveness of cell phone usage laws in states such as New York and New Jersey, which only ban the use of hand-held cell phones while driving. It's not so much the handling of a phone, Strayer said, but the fact that having a conversation is a mental process that can drain concentration.

The only silver lining to the new research is that elderly drivers using a cell phone aren't any more of a hazard to themselves and others than young drivers. Previous research suggested older drivers may face what Strayer described as a "triple whammy."

"We thought they would be really messed up because not only are they slower overall due to age, there's also a difficulty dividing attention," Strayer said.

But the study found that more experience and a tendency to take fewer risks helped negate any additional danger.


Human Factors and Ergonomics Society:
http://hfes.org


Informant: NHNE

by Pastor Chuck Baldwin
http://www.newswithviews.com/baldwin/baldwin214.htm

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/2196/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

by Rosemarie Jackowski

...and they said that we were there to bring freedom and liberty...it is time to tell the troops the truth.

How did this happen?

While few of us were paying attention, the Coalition Provisional Authority, representing the government of the United States, imposed a set of 100 orders on Iraq.

A careful examination of these orders could lead to the conclusion that the war is being waged to enrich corporations at the expense of the ordinary citizens.

Many of these orders take freedom and liberty away from the people of Iraq.

The orders also have a profound effect on us.

Iraqi Order 81 is of special interest because it goes a long way in affecting every living being on the planet.

This order prohibits Iraqi farmers from using the methods of agriculture that they have used for centuries. The common worldwide practice of saving heirloom seeds from one year to the next is now illegal in Iraq.

Order 81 wages war on Iraqi farmers. They have lost the freedom and liberty to choose their own methods of agriculture.

The food chain has been under worldwide assault by U.S. corporations for some time now.

The Master Race of corporations has seized control of the very essence of life itself. We are now in the age of Genetically Modified Doomsday Seeds.

This is not exactly a new phenomenon. It has been a gradual takeover. Remember Percy Schmeiser, the Canadian farmer, who was sued by Monsanto? Not enough people stood up for Percey, so then they came for otherfarmers. In fact, Monsanto has sued so many farmers that a nationalhotline (1-888-FARMHLP) has now been set up to assist them.

Those who have been pushing for Tort Reform never mention the frivolous, mean-spirited lawsuits brought by Monsanto against U.S. farmers. This is a David and Goliath battle and, as usual, our government is on the side of Goliath.

Order 81 now spreads the assault on farmers to Iraq.

The domino effect is underway. The victim farmers in the U.S.,Iraq, Canada,and all of the other countries who have been under attack by Monsanto need our help. The Tort Reform that is really needed would be reform aimed at compensating victims of corporate intimidation.

The corporations, backed up by the Pentagon, have been jackbooting and goose stepping their way across the planet. Whether you like it or not, you probably will have some franken food on your dinner plate tonight... franken foods, grown from franken seeds, brought to you compliments of the Franken Empire. Our own USDA was complicit in the development of Terminator seeds. Picture Dr. Strangelove on the John Deere.

The existence of Order 81, and the other 99 orders, which limit Iraqi liberty and freedom, creates some interesting questions.

How can Washington even pretend that the election in Iraq is legitimate if U.S. imposed rules are enforced after the election, or are we to believe that the 100 Orders are canceled by the election? I don't think so.

Is it possible that Iraqi farmers think back fondly to the good old days before the Occupation and before Order 81?

Even Saddam Hussein allowed them to save seeds for the next year's crop. Is Monsanto a worse master than Saddam? Imagine what would happen if there was a successful worldwide movement of resistance, an international Save the Seed Campaign.

Farmers and consumers in the U.S. need to stand in solidarity with the farmers and consumers in Iraq. If you have a stamp or coin collection, forget it. Instead, it might be better to start collecting seeds.

Maybe soon, one good old-fashioned seed that was made by Mother Nature will be more precious than your most prized gold coin.

Just one more thing... if you save seeds, keep it a secret. The Seed Police have been on patrol. They are looking for you.

On Town Meeting Day, 2004, in Vermont, the citizens in 79 towns passed resolutions against Genetically Engineered Crops. Then Vermont made history when it became the first state to require the labeling of Genetically Modified seeds.

"The Farmer Protection Act is a pre-emptive strike to stop predatory lawsuits against Vermont's family farmers by biotech companies like Monsanto," said Ben Davis with the Vermont Public Interest Research Group.

Maybe this small, but hard-fought victory, gives reason to hope for a better world.


Rosemarie Jackowski (dissent@sover.net) is a member of Southern Vermont VFP Chapter 88. She was arrested, tried, and convicted for having participated in a peaceful protest against the war. The Conviction is currently under Appeal in the Vermont State Supreme Court.


Informant: Shanti Renfrew


Order 81
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/496503/

The Ultimate War Crime: Breaking the Agricultural Cycle
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/493632/

http://www.schillerinstitute.org/food_for_peace/kiss_nssm_jb_1995.html
http://www.population-security.org/28-APP2.html
http://www.population-security.org/11-CH3.html


Informant: Janissary Joe

--------

Kissinger, Eugenics And Depopulation
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/406362/

Last night, in the State of the Union address, President Bush painted a rosy picture about democracy and freedom in Iraq.

The truth is not so simple.

An estimated 100,000 Iraqis and more than 1400 U.S. soldiers have died in the unnecessary war, and the toll mounts daily. The presence of U.S. occupation forces has been -- and will continue to be -- a flashpoint for violence.

Today, as part of our growing Wage Peace Campaign, AFSC is launching a new movie that tells the truth about the ongoing loss of life in Iraq -- and encourages viewers to sign our petition to bring the troops home.

Click the link below to watch the movie [2 min]:
http://ga3.org/ct/q1A7S5F18m29/wagepeace/

I think you'll be moved... and if you have friends who are on the fence about the war, this is something you will want to share with them.

Please take a few moments to watch the movie, sign the petition, and then please forward the message to ten friends.

This spring is a critical time to demonstrate the breadth and diversity of opposition to the war. Military families, veterans, people of faith, students and many others are now speaking out. The momentum is building.

Together we can end this war.

Peace,
Peter Lems
AFSC Iraq staff

Click the link to view the movie and share it with your friends:
http://ga3.org/ct/q1A7S5F18m29/wagepeace/

Very hopeful information from Ireland - more and more people are now beginning to react. I was there, several years ago, and gave lectures. At that time only some few, open-minded physicians and scientists showed interest.

http://www.ideaireland.org/emr.htm

Olle Johansson, assoc. prof.
The Experimental Dermatology Unit
Department of Neuroscience
Karolinska Institute
171 77 Stockholm
Sweden


The Irish Doctors' Environmental Association believes that a sub-group of the population are particularly sensitive to exposure to different types of electro-magnetic radiation. The safe levels currently advised for exposure to this non-ionising radiation are based solely on its thermal effects. However, it is clear that this radiation also has non-thermal effects, which need to be taken into consideration when setting these safe levels. The electro-sensitivity experienced by some people results in a variety of distressing symptoms which must also be taken into account when setting safe levels for exposure to non-ionising radiation and when planning the siting of masts and transmitters.

1. An increasing number of people in Ireland are complaining of symptoms which, while they may vary in nature, intensity and duration, can be demonstrated to be clearly related to exposure to electro-magnetic radiation (EMR).

2. International studies on animals over the last 30 years have shown the potentially harmful effects of exposure to electro-magnetic radiation. In observational studies, animals have shown consistent distress when exposed to EMR. Experiments on tissue cultures and rats have shown an increase in malignancies when exposed to mobile telephone radiation.

3. Studies on mobile telephone users have shown significant levels of discomfort in certain individuals following extensive use or even, in some cases, following regular short-term use.

4. The current safe levels for exposure to microwave radiation were determined based solely on the thermal effects of this radiation. There is now a large body of evidence that clearly shows that this is not appropriate, as many of the effects of this type of radiation are not related to these thermal effects.

The Irish Doctors' Environmental Association believes that the Irish Government should urgently review the information currently available internationally on the topic of the thermal and non-thermal effects of exposure to electro-magnetic radiation with a view to immediately initiating appropriate research into the adverse health effects of exposure to all forms of non-ionising radiation in this country, and into the forms of treatment available elsewhere. Before the results of this research are available, an epidemiological database should be initiated of individuals suffering from symptoms thought to be related to exposure to non-ionising radiation. Those claiming to be suffering from the effects of exposure to electro-magnetic radiation should have their claims investigated in a sensitive and thorough way, and appropriate treatment provided by the State.

The strictest possible safety regulations should be established for the installation of masts and transmitters, and for the acceptable levels of potential exposure of individuals to electro-magnetic radiation, in line with the standards observed in New Zealand.

--------

Mr Con Colbert

Olle Johansson at the Karolinska Institute sent me your organisations statement on EMFs.

Congratulations on the stand your organisation has taken. In Australia the Australian College of Nutritional & Environmental has taken a similar stand. Their web site is http://www.acnem.org If you go to the journal/author section you will find my papers on this topic (Maisch). Also see my site at: http://www.emfacts.com for more.

Please note that in the final sentence in your statement "in line with the standards observed in New Zealand" is incorrect. New Zealand follows the ICNIRP RF guidelines. Dr. Neil Cherry was unable to change the paradigm unfortunately. You should just delete those nine words from the end as an urgent priority before the Telcos pick up on it.

Sincerely

Don Maisch


Informant: Colette O'Connell

--------

Irland: Studie zu durch Mobilfunk verursachten Krankheiten

Bis zu 5% der Bevölkerung können unter gesundheitlichen Beeinträchtigungen aufgrund der Strahlung von Mobilfunkgeräten oder Masten leiden, behauptet eine Gruppe von irischen Ärzten. Die „Irish Doctors’ Environmental Association IDEA“ drängt die Regierung, bei dieser Technologie das Vorsorgeprinzip anzuwenden.

In einer Studie, die diese Woche veröffentlicht wird, heißt es, dass die Ärzte 16 Personen identifiziert haben, von denen sie glauben, dass diese durch Strahlung beeinträchtigt sind. Symptome sind Erschöpfung, Verwirrtheit, Klingeln im Ohr, Temperaturschwankungen, Schwindel und Schlafschwierigkeiten. In der Studie wird geschätzt, dass zwischen 1 und 5% der Bevölkerung sensibel auf Strahlung reagieren könnten und deshalb krank werden.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/
http://www.ideaireland.org/

Quelle: FGF-Infoline vom 03.02.2005

--------

SENSITIVITY TO NON-IONISING RADIATION IN IRELAND
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/518018/

Doctors call for ban on child mobile phone use
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/515097/

Irish mast cum cellphone health issue hots up further
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/495427/

Mobile phones no threat to people's health?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/490768/

Mobile Phones Trigger Symptoms
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/487618/

Public workers 'concerned' by phone mast siting
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/483868/

PROBE INTO MOBILE PHONE DANGERS
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/482922/

100M [EURO] DEAL WILL PUT MOBILE PHONE MASTS ON PUBLIC BUILDINGS
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/458468/

DEMPSEY RULES OUT HEALTH WARNING FOR MOBILE PHONES
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/429584/

Die Zeitung 'Fränkischer Tag' berichtet:

„Eine unterschätzte Gefahr“

1. Mobilfunk-Symposium im Marcushaus: Ärzte warnen vor Elektrosmog

Frei sollen sie uns machen, die Handys, unabhängig und mobil, bei Arbeit, Sport und Spiel. Das verspricht die Werbung. Dass sie dem Körper womöglich immense Schäden zufügen können, sagen Industrie wie Politik nicht. Beim 1. Bamberger Mobilfunk-Symposium äußerten sich dafür Mediziner und Betroffene zu den Gefahren, die von elektromagnetischen Feldern ausgehen können.

Über 40 Mobilfunksender sind allein im Bamberger Stadtgebiet zu finden. Und die Pläne, weitere Antennen aufzustellen, führten im Sommer 2004 bekanntlich zur Gründung des von 130 Ärzten getragenen „Bamberger Mobilfunk-Appells“. Diese Gruppe richtete am Samstag das sehr gut besuchte Symposium im Marcushaus mit Experten und Betroffenen aus der Bundesrepublik und aus Österreich aus. Mit dem Ziel, die Bevölkerung vor der noch nicht überschaubaren Gefahr zu warnen, die vom Mobilfunk ausgeht. Die Warnungen, so hoffen sie, sollen bei Politikern Gehör finden und zu Konsequenzen führen.

Wie der Allgemeinarzt Dr. Helmut Heyn vom „Bamberger Appell“ in einem Pressegespräch sagte, hätten Messungen am Arbeitsplatz und in Wohnungen gezeigt, dass Mobilfunk auch unterhalb der geltenden Grenzwerte die Gesundheit beeinträchtige. Kopfschmerzen, Hörsturz, Schlafstörungen oder gar Malignome seien die Folgen.

Betroffene aber hätten es schwer, ernst genommen zu werden. „Selbst Ärzte werden als Spinner abgetan“, bestätigte Dr. Reinhold Jandrisovits, Allgemeinarzt aus dem österreichischen Müllendorf, der an Tinnitus litt. Seit in seinem Einzugsgebiet Sender aufgestellt wurden, hatte er nach einer Latenzzeit einen „massiven Anstieg“ an Krankheitsfällen beobachten können. Ferner bemängelte Jandrisovits wissenschaftliche Beiräte, die alles Kritische unter den Tisch kehren würden.

Auch Dr. Cornelia Waldmann-Selsam, Mitorganisatorin des Symposiums, sprach von einer „Fehlbesetzung der Strahlenschutzkommission“ und fragte, warum nicht Leute wie Professor Dr. Karl Hecht dort vertreten seien.

Der Berliner Emeritus hat am Samstag in Bamberg seine langjährigen Forschungen zum Einfluss elektromagnetischer Felder auf den Schlaf des Menschen vorgestellt. Im Umweltministerium, so ergänzte Hecht, sei er immer wieder abgeblockt worden. Er betonte, dass neue Medikamente erst auf den Markt dürften, wenn deren Nicht-Schädlichkeit nachgewiesen werde. Bei neuen Techniken, so bemängelte Hecht, sei dies nicht der Fall.

„Du siehst nur, was du weißt“, merkte Martin H. Virnich, Ingenieur für Baubiologie und Umweltmesstechnik aus Mönchengladbach an. Die Risiken des Elektrosmogs, gerade auch für Kinder, müssten den Konsumenten und auch den Ärzten publik gemacht werden. In der Ausbildung von Medizinern gelte es, das „Problem Mobilfunk“ endlich zu verankern.

Und wenn man schon zu Handy oder Schnurlostelefon greifen müsse, so empfahl Helmut Heyn abschließend, dann solle man das „selten, sparsam und gezielt“ tun.

Jürgen Gräßer

http://tinyurl.com/4vln6

Quelle: http://de.groups.yahoo.com/group/elektrosmog-liste/message/4910 (Auszug)


Nachricht von Reinhard Rückemann


HLV Kommentar:

Es soll und kann nicht sein, was im Interesse der Mobilfunklobby nicht sein darf!

Wir verweisen in diesem Zusammenhang auf die vielen örtlichen bekannten Gegebenheiten, wo im Umfeld von Sendeanlagen die Erkrankungen zugenommen haben. Außerdem erfolgt in diesem Zusammenhang auch noch einmal der Hinweis auf eine weitere signifikante Erhebung durch den österreichischen Arzt Dr. med. Reinhold Jandrisovits aus Müllendorf, welche ebenfalls in Bamberg auf dem Ärzte – Symposium vorgestellt wurde.

Es ist schlichtweg ein Skandal, wie die Politik praktische Untersuchungsergebnisse der Ärzteschaft ignoriert, diskreditiert und glaubt die Menschen weiterhin verdummen zu können!


Alfred Tittmann


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

Britische Experten warnen Eltern.

Kinder unter acht Jahren sollten grundsätzlich keine Handys bekommen. Diese Empfehlung haben britische Wissenschaftler vom National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) jetzt speziell an Eltern gerichtet.

Die Forscher die Ergebnisse haben mehrere neuere Studien unter die Lupe genommen. Dabei sind sie zu dem Schluss gekommen, dass vor allem jüngere Kinder gefährdet sein könnten, weil ein größerer Teil ihres Gehirns durch die geringere Größe ihrer Köpfe direkt durch die Handystrahlung beeinflusst wird. Zwar gebe es keine abschließenden Beweise für die Schädlichkeit der Strahlung, aber auch ihre Unschädlichkeit kann bislang nicht nachgewiesen werden.

Weltweit gibt es mittlerweile rund 30000 Untersuchungen, die der Frage nachgehen, ob Elektrosmog und Handystrahlung gefährlich sind. Rund die Hälfte vermeldet biologische Effekte bis hin zur Entstehung von Krebs, die andere Hälfte kann keine Auswirkungen auf die Gesundheit von Menschen oder Versuchstieren feststellen. Weitere Infos unter http://www.nrpb.org oder natur+kosmos, Heft 12/2004.

03.02.2005 - Gesundheit

http://www.natur.de/sixcms/detail.php?id=162783


Quelle: http://de.groups.yahoo.com/group/elektrosmog-liste/message/4916


Nachricht von Reinhard Rückemann

by Mark Morford

San Francisco Chronicle

02/02/05

Ah, the violent march of democracy. Beautiful thing, really, seeing repressed and weary Iraqis vote for the first time, and dance in the bloody bombed-out streets, and avoid the suicide bombers and of course not be able to travel between provinces or drive anywhere in their locked-down nation and by the way watch out for the snipers on the roofs. It really is amazing, watching the deeply flawed system of democracy take hold in a raw and decimated nation like a thorny weed cracking through shattered concrete. All people deserve to be free and now Iraqis have a tiny bloody taste of it and this is always, always a good thing. I am not kidding. So, should we be proud? Is Bush's thuggish and illegal pre-emptive attack strategy justified? Are Iraq's first-ever elections a defining moment in American political history?

http://tinyurl.com/3jofo


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

by John Cory

TruthOut

02/02/05

A man who sought to define torture and make it acceptable, who advised the President that he could act above and beyond the law, is nominated for Attorney General. Democrats might not oppose Alberto Gonzales, or perhaps they will make a symbolic gesture of opposition, saving the filibuster for more important matters, yet to be determined. But in the meantime, lowly enlisted soldiers go on trial and to jail for implementing the very acts of torture so carefully defined by their leaders. Our moral conscience is soothed by their imprisonment. America has gone to war on false and erroneous and ever shifting pretenses without Congress declaring war, as it has the sole authority to do. Instead, it handed over its power and responsibility to men of weak character and selfish partisan interests. But never fear, amid the death and destruction hammered upon a small sovereign nation, we gave them the vote. All is well...

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/020205A.shtml


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

by David Corn

Tom Paine

02/02/05

The historic election that occurred in Iraq has made it easier for George W. Bush to distance himself from the phony case he presented for war in Iraq. This latest State of the Union address is the president's first since his weapons hunters declared there had been no WMDs and no WMD programs in Iraq before the war. Bush might -- only might -- feel obligated to reference the matter and offer what has become his final and disingenuous fallback position on those (nonexistent) WMDs. But the election has shoved the WMD controversy (or non-controversy) even further to the side. When the CIA issued a classified report this week concluding that Iraq had abandoned its chemical weapons program in 1991, it was not front-page news. So whether the MIA WMDs are State of the Union material or not, allow me to puncture Bush's final WMD myth. He has, of course, promoted a series of WMD fables...

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/dreaming_of_wmds.php


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

by Kristen Lombardi

Village Voice

02/01/05

Two days before Christmas, Elena Sassower walked out of the Washington, DC, jail where she'd just finished serving a sentence that should frighten anyone inclined to protest in the halls of power. For reading a 24-word request to testify at a judicial appointment hearing on Capitol Hill, an act that qualified as 'disruption of Congress,' Sassower was hit with six months' incarceration -- the maximum allowed by law. Despite the grave constitutional implications of her case, not one of the dozen civil rights organizations she'd asked for help came to her assistance: not the ACLU, not Public Citizen, not People for the American Way, not Common Cause. Her real crime, it seems, was her penchant for being a pest...

http://villagevoice.com/news/0505,lombardi,60660,6.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

by Kenneth S. Baer

The American Prospect

02/02/05

Democrats need to do more than criticize Bush's foreign policy. They need to develop one of their own. ... The closing 'God bless America, and good night' of George W. Bush's State of the Union address [signals] not just the official ending of his speech but also the end of the debate surrounding Bush's last major pronouncement, his second inaugural address. Before we consign the inaugural address to the anthologies and history books, look back for a moment not at the address itself but at the debate it sparked. Two things become clear: When it comes to foreign policy, the right is divided, and the left is directionless. ... If Democrats ever hope to succeed in their long trek out of the wilderness and back to power, they must get off the sidelines and engage on this issue...

http://www.prospect.org/web/view-web.ww?id=9134


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

by Jim Lobe

Asia Times

02/02/05

Amid rising concern about the over-extension of US military forces and the growing budget deficit, the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), a neo-conservative group whose past foreign-policy recommendations have often been followed by President George W Bush, is urging Congress to add 25,000 new soldiers to US ground forces each year over the next several years. The appeal, which comes on the eve of Bush's State of the Union address, is certain to fuel the growing debate over whether Washington can afford the interventionist vision long espoused by PNAC and its highly influential founders -- that of a global 'Pax Americana' in which the US military in effect acts as the guarantor of international peace and security...

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/GB03Aa01.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

by Michael Tennant

Strike the Root

02/02/05

[T]he overwhelming majority of Americans have been educated in government schools. If you were in charge of shaping the minds of future generations, would you teach them how to defeat you and your grand designs for the future? Well, neither would the government; and since it has a near monopoly on shaping the minds of future generations, it's only natural that most people haven't a clue as to what their constitutional rights are nor how they should be exercised and defended...

http://www.strike-the-root.com/51/tennant/tennant2.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

by Michael Tanner

Cato Institute

02/03/05

Overall, Social Security's unfunded liabilities total nearly $12 trillion, and the longer we wait, the worse it gets. Estimates suggest that each year that we wait to reform Social Security costs between $150 billion and $600 billion more. That sure looks like a crisis to me. But the larger crisis is not about the system's finances. It is about workers forced to pay 12.4% of their wages into a system that cannot pay them the promised level of benefits. It is about a system where workers have no real ownership of their benefits, and where low- and middle-income workers cannot accumulate wealth that they can use in retirement and pass along to their heirs...

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3663


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

by Carl F. Worden

Sierra Times

02/02/05

For those of you who think the Iraqi Election on January 30, 2005 was a turning point in the Iraq War, it wasn't. We tried the same thing during the Vietnam War. ... [quotation cited from 1967] ... I will once again repeat that this war in Iraq is unwinnable. ... The huge difference between the Vietnam War and the Iraq War is that Vietnam was a tactical war, whereas the war in Iraq has developed into a strategic one -- and there's a nasty difference between the two. We could declare false victory in Vietnam and walk away without repercussions. Where Iraq is concerned, when we walk out of there in defeat, as we most assuredly will, we will have created a united enemy of many peoples and nations, and we will be left without the future support of most of our most trusted former allies...

http://www.sierratimes.com/05/02/02/worden01022005.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

by Ward Churchill

Rocky Mountain News

01/31/05

The bottom line of my argument is that the best and perhaps only way to prevent 9-1-1-style attacks on the U.S. is for American citizens to compel their government to comply with the rule of law. The lesson of Nuremberg is that this is not only our right, but our obligation. To the extent we shirk this responsibility, we, like the 'Good Germans' of the 1930s and '40s, are complicit in its actions and have no legitimate basis for complaint when we suffer the consequences. This, of course, includes me, personally, as well as my family, no less than anyone else...

http://tinyurl.com/6gmer


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

by Thomas L. Knapp

Free Market News Network

02/02/05

'He's Hispanic.' 'He'd be the first.' 'Latino voters are watching.' In all its bare, audacious simplicity, that is the Republican case for anointing Alberto Gonzales as the nation's top law enforcement officer. John Ashcroft might find the case convincing. He's no doubt standing by with a can of shortening at the ready, champing at the bit to get about the anointing part and then on to some hymns and maybe a game of 'pin the sheet on the statue's breast.' .... But for me, for many Americans, and hopefully for the 100 members of the US Senate, the case is even more simplistic: A vote to confirm Gonzales is a vote in favor of the proposition that the United States should endorse and practice torture, reward perjury and endorse the notion of an executive whose activities are not subject to any law which displeases him...

http://www.freemarketnews.com/pview/5837/814/html/index.php

by Jarret Wollstein

International Society for Individual Liberty

02/03/05

In the wake of this unending bloodshed, destruction and death, some soldiers are beginning to question the wisdom of this 'war of liberation' in which entire cities like Fallujah (home to 300,000 people, just a few months ago) are being obliterated. It should therefore come as no surprise that more and more soldiers are returning to the U.S. very angry with the authorities who lied to them about nearly everything, when they sent them to Iraq. Nineteen-year-old Marine Lance Cpl. Andres 'Andy' Raya was one of them...

http://www.isil.org/towards-liberty/rambo-comes-home.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

by Victor Milán

Rational Review

02/03/05

How can the US export freedom to Iraq or anyplace? We don't have any. The Constitution is a dead letter. The US is now ruled by fiat. The average Unitedstatesian 'citizen' subject now enjoys, in real terms, precisely the same 'rights' enjoyed by Gitmo detainees. Far, far sooner than any of us imagine -- even me, I fear -- we will also begin to enjoy the same living standards. Enforced by the wonderful people who brought you Abu Ghraib. Let's presume I'm mistaken in all the above; it's happened before. Let us postulate that the elections in Iraq were entirely fair and free, and that the occupying force will abide scrupulously by the outcome. In which case, congratulations: the US has bought itself a brand-new Iranian Islamic Republic...

http://www.rationalreview.com/guest/vm020305.shtml


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Since December, a 60-slide Power Point presentation on "4th-generation warfare" has been making the rounds of the U.S. military, one of whose slides makes this basic point about modern warfare: "Information is ammunition." -- Karl Rove, GOP warrior, certainly believes this about politics, too. -- So every military and political operation undertaken by this administration includes its Information Operations component. -- Thanks to Mark Nagel for sending this piece. --Mark]

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/2198/

News
Nation
Washington

WHITE HOUSE-FRIENDLY REPORTER UNDER SCRUTINY

By Charlie Savage and Alan Wirzbicki

Boston Globe

February 2, 2005

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/02/02/white_house_friendly_reporter_under_scrutiny

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration has provided White House media credentials to a man who has virtually no journalistic background, asks softball questions to the president and his spokesman in the midst of contentious news conferences, and routinely reprints long passages verbatim from official press releases as original news articles on his website.

Jeff Gannon calls himself the White House correspondent for TalonNews.com, a website that says it is "committed to delivering accurate, unbiased news coverage to our readers." It is operated by a Texas-based Republican Party delegate and political activist who also runs GOPUSA.com, ( http://www.GOPUSA.com/ ) a website that touts itself as "bringing the conservative message to America."

Called on last week by President Bush at a press conference, Gannon attacked Democratic Senate leaders and called them "divorced from reality." During the presidential campaign, when called on by Press Secretary Scott McClellan, Gannon linked Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, to Jane Fonda and questioned why anyone would dispute Bush's National Guard service.

Now, the question of how Gannon gets into White House press conferences is coming under intense scrutiny from critics who contend that Gannon is not a journalist but rather a White House tool to soften media coverage of Bush. The issue was raised by a media watchdog group and picked up by Internet bloggers, who linked Gannon's presence in White House briefings to recent controversies over whether the administration manipulates the flow of information to the public.

These include the disclosure that the Education Department secretly paid columnist Armstrong Williams to promote its education policy and the administration's practice of sending out video press releases about its policies that purport to be "news stories" by fake journalists.

McClellan said Gannon has not been issued -- nor requested -- a regular "hard pass" to the White House, and instead has come in for the past two years on daily passes. Daily passes, he said, may be issued to anyone who writes for an organization that publishes regularly and who is cleared to enter the building.

He said other reporters and political commentators from lesser-known newsletters and from across the political spectrum also attend briefings, though he could not recall any Internet bloggers. McClellan said it is not the White House's role to decide who is and who is not a real journalist and dismissed any notion of conspiracy.

Nonetheless, transcripts of White House briefings indicate that McClellan often calls on Gannon and that the press secretary -- and the president -- have found relief in a question from Gannon after critical lines of questioning from mainstream news organizations.

When Bush called on Gannon near the end of his nationally televised Jan. 26 news conference, he had just been questioned about Williams and the Education Department funds, an embarrassment to the administration. Gannon's question was different.

"Senate Democratic leaders have painted a very bleak picture of the US economy," Gannon said. "[Minority Leader] Harry Reid was talking about soup lines, and Hillary Clinton was talking about the economy being on the verge of collapse. Yet, in the same breath, they say that Social Security is rock solid and there's no crisis there. How are you going to work -- you said you're going to reach out to these people -- how are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?"

As it turned out, Reid had never talked about soup lines. That was a phrase attributed to him in satire by Rush Limbaugh on his radio show.

Last year, during the presidential campaign, Gannon's comments could be even more pointed. In a Feb. 10, 2004, briefing with McClellan, for example, Gannon rose to deliver the following:

"Since there have been so many questions about what the president was doing over 30 years ago, what is it that he did after his honorable discharge from the National Guard? Did he make speeches alongside Jane Fonda, denouncing America's racist war in Vietnam? Did he testify before Congress that American troops committed war crimes in Vietnam? And did he throw somebody else's medals at the White House to protest a war America was still fighting?"

David Brock, the former investigative journalist who made his name revealing aspects of former President Bill Clinton's extramarital affairs, said he was watching last week's press conference on television and the "soup lines" question sparked his interest because it "struck me as so extremely biased." Brock asked his media watchdog group, Media Matters for America, to look into Talon News.

It quickly discovered two things, he said. First, both Talon and the political organization GOP USA were run by a Texas Republican activist and party delegate named Bobby Eberle. Second, many of the reports Gannon filed for Talon News "appeared to be lifted verbatim from various White House and Republican political committee documents."

Eberle did not return phone calls yesterday, and Gannon declined to comment. He did reply to Brock's group on his personal blog: "In many cases I have liberally used the verbiage provided on key aspects of the issue because it is the precise expression of where the White House stands -- free of any 'spin.' It's the ultimate in journalistic honesty -- unvarnished and unfiltered. If only others would be as forthcoming."

From ufpj-news

US Lies About Iraq

Eliot Weinberger on an astounding list:
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v27/n03/wein01_.html


Informant: Lew Rockwell

Liberation Via Aerial Bombing

Tom Engelhardt and Dahr Jamail on what it's like:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/engelhardt/engelhardt43.html

The Conservative Fixation on Order

It's harmful, at home and abroad, says Robert Murphy:
http://www.mises.org/fullstory.aspx?Id=1734


Informant: Lew Rockwell

Murray N. Rothbard on the state-establishment axis for intervention and war:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard66.html

POST-ELECTION BUZZKILL: WHY IRAQ IS STILL A DEBACLE

By Arianna Huffington

Quick, before the conventional wisdom hardens, it needs to be said: The Iraqi elections were not the second coming of the Constitutional Convention.

The media have made it sound like last Sunday was a combination of 1776, the fall of the Berlin Wall, Prague Spring, the Ukraine's Orange Revolution, Filipino "People Power," Tiananmen Square and Super Bowl Sunday -- all rolled into one.

It's impossible not to be moved by the stories coming out of Iraq: voters braving bombings and mortar blasts to cast ballots; multiethnic crowds singing and dancing outside polling places; election workers, undeterred by power outages, counting ballots by the glow of oil lamps; teary-eyed women in traditional Islamic garb proudly holding up their purple ink-stained fingers -- literally giving the finger to butcher knife-wielding murderers.

It was a great moment. A Kodak moment. And unlike the other Kodak moments from this war -- think Saddam's tumbling statue and Jessica Lynch's "rescue" -- this one was not created by the image masters at Karl Rove Productions.

But this Kodak moment, however moving, should not be allowed to erase all that came before it, leaving us unprepared for all that may come after it.

I'm sorry to kill the White House's buzz -- and the press corps' contact high -- but the triumphalist fog rolling across the land has all the makings of another "Mission Accomplished" moment.

Forgive me for trotting out Santayana's shopworn dictum that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it but, for god's sake people, can't we even remember last week?

So amid all the talk of turning points, historic days and defining moments, let us steadfastly refuse to drink from the River Lethe that brought forgetfulness and oblivion to my ancient ancestors.

Let's not forget that for all the president's soaring rhetoric about spreading freedom and democracy, free elections were the administration's fallback position. More Plan D than guiding principle. We were initially going to install Ahmed Chalabi as our man in Baghdad, remember? Then that shifted to the abruptly foreshortened reign of "Bremer of Arabia." The White House only consented to holding open elections after Grand Ayatollah Sistani sent his followers into the streets to demand them -- and even then Bush refused to allow the elections until after our presidential campaign was done, just in case more suicide bombers than voters turned up at Iraqi polling places.

And the election doesn't change that.

Let's not forget that despite the hoopla, this was a legitimate democratic election in name only. Actually, not even in name since most of the candidates on Sunday's ballot had less name recognition than your average candidate for dogcatcher. That's because they were too afraid to hold rallies or give speeches. Too terrorized to engage in debates. In fact, many were so anxious about being killed that they fought to keep their names from being made public. Some didn't even know their names had been placed on the ballot. On top of that, this vote was merely to elect a transitional national assembly that will then draft a new constitution that the people of Iraq will then vote to approve or reject, followed by yet another vote -- this time to elect a permanent national assembly.

And the election doesn't change that.

Let's not forget that many Iraqi voters turned out to send a defiant message not just to the insurgents but to President Bush as well. Many of those purple fingers were raised in our direction. According to a poll taken by our own government, a jaw-dropping 92 percent of Iraqis view the U.S.-led forces in Iraq as "occupiers" while only 2 percent see them as "liberators."

And the election doesn't change that.

Let's not forget that the war in Iraq has made America far less safe than it was before the invasion. According to an exhaustive report released last month by the CIA's National Intelligence Council, Iraq has become a breeding ground for the next generation of "professionalized" Islamic terrorists. Foreign terrorists are now honing their deadly skills against U.S. troops -- skills they will eventually take with them to other countries, including ours. The report also warns that the war in Iraq has deepened solidarity among Muslims worldwide and increased anti-American feelings across the globe. Iraq has also drained tens of billions of dollars in resources that might otherwise have gone to really fighting the war on terror or increasing our preparedness for another terror attack here at home.

And the election doesn't change that.

Let's not forget the woeful lack of progress we've made in the reconstruction of Iraq. The people there still lack such basics as gas and kerosene. Indeed, Iraqis often wait in miles-long lines just to buy gas. The country is producing less electricity than before the war -- roughly half of current demand. There are food shortages, the cost of staple items such as rice and bread is soaring, and the number of Iraqi children suffering from malnutrition has nearly doubled. According to UNICEF, nearly 1 in 10 Iraqi children is suffering the effects of chronic diarrhea caused by unsafe water -- a situation responsible for 70 percent of children's deaths in Iraq.

And the election doesn't change that.

Let's not forget the blistering new report from the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, which finds that the U.S. occupation government that ruled Iraq before last June's transfer of sovereignty has been unable to account for nearly $9 billion, overseeing a reconstruction process "open to fraud, kickbacks and misappropriation of funds."

And the election doesn't change that.

Let's not forget that we still don't have an exit strategy for Iraq. The closest the president has come is saying that we'll be able to bring our troops home when, as he put it on Sunday, "this rising democracy can eventually take responsibility for its own security" -- "eventually" being the operative word. Although the administration claims over 120,000 Iraqi security forces have been trained, other estimates put the number closer to 14,000, with less than 5,000 of them ready for battle. And we keep losing those we've already trained: some 10,000 Iraqi National Guardsmen have quit or been dropped from the rolls in the last six months. Last summer, the White House predicted Iraqi forces would be fully trained by spring 2005; their latest estimate has moved that timetable to summer 2006.

And the election doesn't change that.

And let's never forget this administration's real goal in Iraq, as laid out by Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and their fellow neocon members of the Project for the New American Century back in 1998 when they urged President Clinton and members of Congress to take down Saddam "to protect our vital interests in the Gulf." These vital interests were cloaked in mushroom clouds, WMD that turned into "weapons of mass destruction-related program activities," and a Saddam/al-Qaida link that turned into, well, nothing. Long before the Bushies landed on freedom and democracy as their 2005 buzzwords, they already had their eyes on the Iraqi prize: the second-largest oil reserves in the world, and a permanent home for U.S. bases in the Middle East.

This is still the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time. And the election, as heart-warming as it was, doesn't change any of that.

© 2005 ARIANNA HUFFINGTON.
DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

I just found this one, a must to read, a good review on Bakan's book

"The Corporation"
http://www.phillarochelle.com/blog/archives/000064.html

I have Bakan's book and read it already for the 2. time. The mess we are in now is thanks to the Corporations....I believe! Or?....please correct me.

Distribute!

Hans Karow


THE CORPORATION
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/252266/

--------

The fact that the Telcos are continuing to target children and teenagers as "consumers" of their products despite the mounting evidence for harm, and Sir Willian Stewart's warnings, is understandable in light of Joel Bakan's book "The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power"

I have mentioned this book previously but following is an excellent review supplied by Hans Karow. Needless to say - Highly Recommended reading!

http://www.phillarochelle.com/blog/archives/000064.html

Don Maisch


Drug Company Empire Ready to Fall - Cell phone industry take note
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/464449/

Here is NRDC's account of what the Bush administration has done and is doing on environmental matters in chronological order, 2001-2004.

http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004.asp
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003.asp
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002.asp
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001.asp


Informant: ItalysBadBoy

http://www.prwatch.org/node/3220


Informant: Friends

http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/kopp/apjemp.html


Informant: The Webfairy

Every parent in America should be made aware of a presidential initiative called the “New Freedom Commission on Mental Health.” This commission issued a report last year calling for the mandatory mental health screening of American schoolchildren...

http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul232.html


From Information Clearing House

Tens of thousands of Iraqis – mainly Sunni Arabs – may have been denied their right to vote on Sunday because of insufficient ballots and polling centres, officials have said.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/B410976F-73A0-496F-A62A-CB01C3FAE6C5.htm
http://tinyurl.com/5nu5m


From Information Clearing House

“I started to think ... what’s it really for? I was willing to die for my country. I thought I was going over there to defend my country. But that’s not what I was doing,” Anderson said by telephone from Toronto on Monday.

http://207.44.245.159/article7946.htm

When a country takes upon itself the task of setting things right in a distant place simply because the ruler there tried to "kill my dad," one of George W. Bush's explanations for invading Iraq, then the blood-soaked aftermath can leave no winners.

http://207.44.245.159/article7944.htm

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the CIA to comply with the Freedom of Information Act and turn over to watchdog groups records concerning the treatment of prisoners in Iraq.

http://207.44.245.159/article7957.htm

What I've just read from the business press the last couple of days probably reflects the thinking in Washington and London: "Uh well, okay, we'll let them have a government, but we're not going to pay any attention to what they say." In fact the Pentagon announced at the same time two days ago: we're keeping 120,000 troops there into at least 2007, even if they call for withdrawal tomorrow.

http://207.44.245.159/article7952.htm

Video

Juan Cole, Professor of Modern Middle East History at the University of Michigan, discusses the Iraqi elections and the participation of the Shiites and other political factions.

http://207.44.245.159/article7949.htm

He writhes in pain, moaning with every other breath. The Iraqi police colonel’s chest is covered in bandages, his legs from the knees down nearly completely hidden from view due to thick bandages holding what is left of his shins together.

http://tinyurl.com/63duy


From Information Clearing House

Tahrir--"independence"--is a word which a lot of people voted for on Sunday; not for "democracy" as the Western media would have it, but for freedom; freedom to speak, freedom to vote, freedom from the Americans.

http://207.44.245.159/article7945.htm

The comment, made by Lt. Gen. James Mattis, came in reference to fighting insurgents in Iraq. Some Audience Members Clap.

http://207.44.245.159/article7956.htm

An urgent message on depleted uranium from Dr. Doug Rokke and Damacio Lopez.

We have a proposal for those individuals and organizations who wish to stop the use of depleted uranium in weapons, ensure that medical care is provided, and ensure that all environmental contamination is cleaned up.

Please join us in a world-wide campaign in demanding that the Pentagon of the United States follow it's own directive requiring thorough environmental remediation and that medical care is provided to all individuals contaminated by depleted uranium and/or other low level radioactive materials.

These legal mandates are prescribed in Army Regulation 700-48,* with specific maximum exposure criteria in US Army Technical Bulletin 9-1300-278. These require thorough environmental remediation and that medical care is provided to all casualties.

The responsible person to uphold this regulation is

Dr. Michael Kilpatrick
The Special Assistant, Deployment Health Support
Four Skyline Place - Suite 901
5113 Leesburg Pike
Falls Church, VA 22041
Ph 1-800-497-6264.
e-mail: special.assistant@deploymenthealth.osd.mil

Let's encourage Dr. Kilpatrick to uphold these legal requirements.

LT. General Ronald Peake, then Surgeon General of the U.S. Army, also appointed Colonel Robert Eng, Ph.D. (telephone 210-221-6612, email: Robert.Eng@amedd.army.mil, Fort Sam Houston, Texas) as his representative to ensure medical care is provided to all DU casualties when he issued his medical order dated April 29, 2004.

Please get this message to as many people as possible; this might be the straw that breaks the camels back. Past environmental remediation costs alone would be in the billions of dollars.

In Solidarity

Damacio Lopez and Doug Rokke, Ph.D.

Web sites for additional information include:
http://www.idust.net http://www.traprockPeace.org

references:

http://www.traprockpeace.org/twomemos.html
http://www.traprockpeace.org/rokke_du_3_ques.html
http://www.traprockpeace.org/du_dtic_wakayama_Aug2002.html

Also, read Doug Rokke's paper -
http://www.traprockpeace.org/wuwc_reader3_veterans.pdf
and hear his presentation -
http://www.traprockpeace.org/depleted_uranium_hamburg03.html#veterans
to the World Uranium Weapons Conference, Hamburg, 2003.

The conference reader is available for free download at

http://www.traprockpeace.org/depleted_uranium_hamburg03.html

*URL's of cited US Army regulation and documents:

US Army Regulation 700-48 -
http://www.traprockpeace.org/r700_48.pdf
US Army Technical Bulletin 9-1300-278 -
http://www.traprockpeace.org/tb_9-1300-278_1996.pdf
US Army, Pamphlet 700-48 - Handling Procedures for Equipment Contaminated with Depleted Uranium or Radioactive Commodities -
http://www.traprockpeace.org/p700_48.pdf


Charles Jenks, attorney at law
President of the Core Group
Traprock Peace Center
103A Keets Road
Deerfield, MA 01342
413-773-5188; Fax 413-773-7507
charles@mtdata.com
http://traprockpeace.org


UNITED FOR PEACE & JUSTICE | 212-868-5545


From ufpj-news

Dear Dr. Don Maisch,

Please find enclosed a copy of the letter sent to the International EMF

Project of theWorld Health Organization (WHO), including contributions for the general review on the WHO-EMF Precautionary Framework for Public Health Protection Draft (please find attached file Letter to the WHO from the V WSF.doc).

This was part of the Seminar's Letter "Cellular Phone: the Effects of Non-ionizing Radiation on Health and the Importance of the Social Control", approved at the 5th World Social Forum, held in Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil, on January 29th, 2005.

We would appreciate it very much if you could transmit this to the interested people and to the press.

Please let me know if you need any further information.

We ask you to acknowledge the receipt of this message.

On behalf of that Seminar`s Organizing Committee, I thank you very for your kind attention to this letter.

Sincerely yours,

Alvaro Augusto A . de Salles
Electrical Engineering Department
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, UFRGS
Av. Osvaldo Aranha 103, Porto Alegre,
RS, Brazil, CEP 90.035-190.

January 31st, 2005

International EMF Project
World Health Organization
Geneva, Switzerland

Attention: Dr. Emilie van Deventer, WHO EMF Program
Subject: Framework to Develop Precautionary Measures in Areas of
Scientific Uncertainty (Draft October 2004)

Seminar's Letter "Cellular Phone: the Effects of Non-ionizing Radiation on Health and the Importance of the Social Control", approved at the 5th World Social Forum, held in Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil, on January 29th, 2005.

Contributions for general review on the WHO-EMF Precautionary Framework for Public Health Protection Draft.

Concerned about the health risks of the radiation emitted by both the cellular phone base stations and mobile phones units, the participants of the Seminar approved the Manifest of the Social Movement, suggesting that the WHO issues the following recommendations:

1. Considering the volume of scientific evidence about long-term low level intracellular effects from human exposure to Non Ionizing Radiation (NIR), more restrictive limits than those contained in ICNIRP's guidelines, equal or lower than those included in the Switzerland's Guidelines (ONIR, 814.710 of 23 December 1999), must be implemented.

2. Regarding the Precautionary Principle, to implement short term measures aiming at reducing the power radiated by the cellular communication transmission infrastructures, as well as the mobile units, by using the least possible power necessary to the communication, according to ALARA (As Low As Reasonably Achievable) and ALATA (As Low As Technically Achievable) principles, taking into account the maximum tolerance absorption levels supported by human beings, of all ages and with different susceptibilities, including the workers of the cellular communication companies.

3. To implement health and environmental pollution policies, in all places where people can stay for longer than four hours, identifying and correcting those NIR levels potentially harmful to the continuously exposed population.

4. That the SAR measurement procedure must be carried out - under maximum radiated power condition - by independent and reliable laboratories, according to international recommended procedures (such as those issued by CENELEC or IEEE), specifying the distance (from the antenna to the user's head) used in each SAR measurement.

5. That the cellular phone manufacturers must display the maximum SAR (specific absorption rate) on the handset, on its package, in the operation manual, as well as in the advertising material, specifying the distance (from the antenna to the user's head) used in each SAR measurement.

6. That all cell phone models, now being used by people, whose SAR levels are above the recommended limits, must be recalled by the manufacturer.

7. To establish a schedule and a deadline for the cellular phone manufacturers to develop new technologies, which produce lower risk to the user's health.

8. To disseminate a worldwide campaign discouraging the use of mobile phones by children, teenagers, pregnant women, the elderly, as well as other vulnerable groups of people.

9. To prohibit the advertisement of cell phones and similar products to children and teenagers by the media (directly or indirectly), imposing ethical advertisement criteria, as well as warnings about short and long term health risks for all cell phone users.

10. As it has been mentioned in WHO PF (introduction - objectives, page 6, last paragraph), in its Annexes A and B, the case studies must include other hazard agents (such as physical, chemical or biological) which may synergistically affect human health.

Porto Alegre, January 29th, 2005.

--------

V world social forum (V WSF)
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=68393


From Mast Network

http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=/headlines05/0202-09.htm

Published on Wednesday, February 2, 2005 by Agence France Presse

Rumsfeld Mulls German Visit Amid Concern Over Possible War Crimes Prosecution

WASHINGTON - Concern that US leaders and military personnel risk prosecution in Germany for alleged war crimes has become a factor in deciding whether US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will attend an international security conference in Munich, a Pentagon spokesman said.

US defense secretaries have rarely missed the Munich conference, an annual gathering of the world's top defense and national security officials and experts for two days of frank debate on major issues of war and peace.

But Rumsfeld has announced no plans to attend this year's meeting February 11-13 even though he will be attending a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Nice, France just before it.

Pentagon spokesman Lawrence DiRita said it remains to be determined whether Rumsfeld will attend the Munich meeting. The meeting's organizer, Horst Teltschik, said last month Rumsfeld was not going.

Rumsfeld was among ten high-ranking US civilian and military officials named in a criminal complaint filed November 30 with a German federal prosecutor by a US legal rights group seeking an investigation into the Americans' role in the torture and abuse of detainees in Iraq .

Under Germany's Code of Crimes Against International Law, which was introduced in 2002, German courts have universal jurisdiction in war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Acknowledging US concern about the German law, DiRita told AFP, "It's a factor in the decision" on whether Rumsfeld attends the Munich conference.

"It's not just a question of the secretary's travel. We have many thousands of US forces stationed there, some of which are named in this brief. So it's a big, big problem," he said.

He said the issue was being "worked on a government-wide basis."

"My impression is the German government understands the gravity of this matter, but there are some unique aspects that will take time to address," he said.

A Berlin newspaper reported last week that the German federal prosecutor opted not to take legal action against Rumsfeld because no German citizen was a victim of abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison.

But the New York-based Center For Constitution Rights, which filed the initial complaint, said Friday it has filed new documents in the case, contending that Attorney General nominee Alberto Gonzalez had implicated himself in war crimes in Iraq, including torture at Aby Ghraib, in his Senate confirmation testimony.

Copyright © 2005 Agence France Presse


Informant: dmetke

From ufpj-news

The top public health official of Russia has claimed that mobile phones cause child cancer

FEBRUARY 01, 2005 22:49

Through the government magazine Rossiskaya Gazetta on February 1, the head of Russia’s national health, Gennadi Onishenko, announced research results showing that mobile phones harmed children’s health in particular.

http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=060000&biid=2005020273498


From FEB - The Swedish Association for the ElectroSensitive

http://www.citypages.com/databank/26/1261/article12904.asp (excerpt)

NEWS . VOL 26 #1261 . PUBLISHED 2/2/2005

A Stranger Is Watching

Image by JONATHAN STAVOLE
More News/City Beat Articles:

2/2/2005 Politician, Heal Thyself!

2/2/2005 Latest Criminal Scourge: Wal-Mart Openings

2/2/2005 The Cop Shop veterans all had a good laugh at Sunny's
expense. Nobody steals Lysol for cleaning purposes.

1/26/2005 Does the Pioneer Press have a commercial interest in the
proposal for a dike around the St. Paul airport?

1/26/2005 To one local bank, a Republican in need is a friend indeed.

1/26/2005 Addition, subtraction...the Strib struggles with the
education budget


RFIDs and the coming age of the digital pickpocket

by William Gurstelle

If you spend enough time listening to late-night radio or surfing the odd corners of the internet, you will invariably encounter a feverish speculation that goes something like this: At this very moment, a government black op agency is devising a plan to implant subcutaneous ID chips in the nape of your neck. Unless this scheme is exposed, you--along with pretty much everyone else--will find yourself permanently tagged. The government will be able to track your every move.

Okay. You can exhale now, because that is not going to happen any time soon. At the very least, not until our next 9/11. But unfortunately (or very fortunately, if you happen to work in the marketing racket) a very similar technology is making its way to Main Street in a big way. In the spirit of the age, the coming blow to personal privacy is a public-private collaboration, with government and business both investing heavily in the latest permutations of a booming technology called Radio Frequency Identification.

Here's how it works: RFID systems employ tiny computer chips that contain unique serial numbers. The chips can be affixed discreetly to any manner of object. Most commonly, they are about the size of a grain of rice. But some chips are so small they can be woven into the fabric of paper currency--a proposal, it so happens, under active consideration in the European Union.

The microchip in the tag is connected to a tiny antenna that absorbs electromagnetic energy beamed at it from a reader device. Once energized, the chip transmits information back to the reader; the information may include type of product, when and where it was manufactured, or whatever else the manufacturer deems significant. The functional range between reader and chip is anywhere from a few inches to 30 feet. From a reader, of course, all this information can easily be dumped into a computer database, and thus is born the marketer's wettest wet dream.

Currently, "spy chips," as critics have taken to calling them, are used for things like toll-way EZ passes or placed on shipping crates and pallets for the purpose of tracking merchandise through a company's distribution chain. Last year, two of the Twin Cities' biggest retailers, Target and Best Buy, announced plans for RFID pilot programs, placing the chips at a few regional distribution facilities. By 2007, according to both companies, all deliveries coming to Best Buy and Target warehouses will be chipped. Naturally, Wal-Mart has beaten both of them to the punch, announcing that all its pallets will be tagged this year.

From a business perspective, RFID technology holds near infinite appeal. On the retail level, for instance, RFID tags promise to speed the service at checkout lanes. Products can be scanned without the cashier needing to align the laser with a bar code. And, no doubt, cashiers will enjoy reduced incidence of carpal tunnel syndrome as RFIDs become less expensive and more common.

To privacy purists, RFID technology is about as welcome as Ron Artest at Bill Laimbeer Tribute Night at the Detroit Palace. Left unfettered, the critics contend, RFID will become a major force in the expansion of the surveillance society. It will, they say, present the government and private industry with unprecedented and nearly unlimited opportunities to gather data on people.

Consider the possibilities. Chips may be sewn into the hem of your blue jeans, woven in the soles of your sneakers. Anyone with access to the appropriate RFID scanner could, theoretically at least, harvest that information. That data, in turn, could be fed to that fast-growing sector of the economy, the data mining industry.

"Proponents of RFID envision a pervasive global network of millions of receivers along the entire supply chain--in airports, highways, distribution centers, warehouses, retail stores, and in the home," says Katherine Albrecht, who is the founder of the privacy advocacy group CASPIAN. "This would allow for seamless, continuous identification and tracking of physical items as they move from one place to another, enabling companies to determine the whereabouts of all their products at all times."

RFID's most vociferous critics tend to fall in one of two groups: civil libertarians who are concerned about RFID's threat to their privacy and biblical literalists who see RFID as the fulfillment of the mark-of-the-beast prophecies. Albrecht, it so happens, seems to fall into both groups. A doctoral student at Harvard pursuing a Ph.D. in education, Albrecht is both committed civil libertarian and devout Christian. While she is circumspect in her theological pronouncements, many of her followers directly tie RFID to the coming End Times. "RFID," they say, "is the wave of the Antichrist future."

For her part, Albrecht focuses on the privacy angle. Last fall, she got in a nasty public wrangle after she published a photographic exposé of the use of tags on common products at an RFID trade show. But she makes a compelling case for the creepy implications of the technology. Once a product is placed in a shopping cart, she points out, RFID scanners throughout a store will be able to sense it.

As the tag moves through the store, point-of-sale media will display advertisements tailored to each passing shopper. Perhaps this will based on the items in the shopping cart. So if you've loaded up on Mexican beer and corn chips, the television screen fronting the next aisle would inform you of salsa a few steps away; it's not much of a mental leap to figure the salsa and the corn chips would share a corporate parent. (A variant of that sales paradigm is prophesied in the mall scene in the futuristic thriller Minority Report; the scene, by the way, is fittingly and cynically freighted with actual product placements).

Of course, you can tease it out further yet. If RFID information is combined with a shopper's profile--gleaned, for instance, from the increasingly ubiquitous "customer loyalty card"--the data mining applications will expand exponentially. And it is difficult to imagine that it will be long before warrant-bearing lawmen come browsing through the databases. In an age of terror, there is little doubt that the government will fight for as much access as the public will bear. Accordingly, RFID promises to become a major bummer for anyone treading water in the black-market economy.

The appeal of RFID technology isn't restricted to corporate America, the cops, and the taxman. Last month, the State Department commenced tagging passports. While pre-chip passports remain valid, all renewals and replacements will be embedded with chips. This, the government says, will make passports more difficult to forge. Perhaps so.

But there is a flip side. Even by admission of the State Department's own contractors, a person with a compatible RFID reader could conceivably tap into a passport from as far away as 30 feet. So be forewarned. When you're at the airport in the not too distant future, the casual-looking guy leaning by the sunglasses kiosk might be swiping your vital statistics--your photograph, home address, date of birth, even your signature. And you won't have a clue until the bill collectors come calling.

"Someone with one of those readers could pick up all the information in the area," says ACLU spokesperson Will Potter. "It could be the Holy Grail of identity theft."

With proposals in the works for RFID tags in driver's licenses and library books, and the expanded use in the retail world, there will be more public debate on RFIDs. But given the shared interest of government and business in the outcome of that debate, it's also a fair bet that one day soon, you or someone you know will find yourself the victim of a digital pickpocket.



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Informant: STEAVE

On Friday, you received an important message with a new Draft Strategic Framework that, if adopted, will tighten and focus our work to stop the war in Iraq, as the linchpin of our long-term strategy to confront the imperial drive of the Bush Administration at home and abroad.

It will be up to you, the delegates, whether to adopt or modify this key document at the Assembly that opens just seventeen days from now. But to give greater clarity to the proposal process for the Assembly, we are making two further modifications to the process:

First, as you saw in Friday's announcement, we are extending the deadline for proposals to February 10. As before, submit proposals using our online form at http://www.unitedforpeace.org/assembly

Second, we are asking all makers of proposals to categorize their proposals at one of the following three categories or levels:

#1 Campaigns that will form the main work of UFPJ, requiring significant staff and/or financial resources
#2 Campaigns organized and led by member organizations or allies of UFPJ, which we will support through website publicity, email announcements, and/or other similar means.
#3 Campaigns or initiatives we simply endorse

National staff will contact all proposal makers to determine the category into which their proposal falls.

Third, we are asking those organizations submitting proposals focused on the war in Iraq (including all of its larger international and domestic ramifications) to adopt a common framework: What strategic point of vulnerability in the Bush Administration's war-plans will your proposal address?

We know there are many good ideas out there, but our job at the Assembly will be to sift out those proposals that most effectively confront and disrupt the war, and lead towards its end. Our related goal is to identify a limited, manageable amount of program work for UFPJ to develop and lead.

Here are the five major areas of vulnerability we have identified, and we urge you to submit campaign proposals that address one (or more) of these, or some other specific feature of the war that you think is a political liability for the Administration:

1. The war's increasing unpopularity.
Proposals should focus on increasing public opposition to the war through education and grassroots outreach, or on mobilizing that opposition using protests, direct action, and/or public forums such as the national and local media.

2. The war's financial burden.
Proposals should speak to how to cut off funding for the war, or should highlight the ways the war drains local and state budgets.

3. The war's impact on the U.S. military.
Proposals should address the range of issues relating to the troops, which might include the military’s abusive stop-loss policy and the inappropriate use of the National Guard and reservists; work to counter the intensifying recruitment drives by the military; support for and work with military families and veterans of the Iraq war; and support to those soldiers who choose to refuse military service.

4. The war's moral bankruptcy.
Proposals should address the cynical and sinister use of “morality” by policy makers in Washington to support the war in Iraq, as well as war crimes, the Iraqi death toll, and violations of international law. Proposals might focus on organizing within and outreach to religious communities and faith-based organizations.

5. The war's assault on basic human, democratic, and civil rights.
Proposals should target the undermining of the Constitution, violations of Constitutional rights, the detention and deportation of immigrants, and attacks on dissent.

If you have any questions about the proposal process, call our office at 212-868-5545, or contact Leslie Kauffman (lak@unitedforpeace.org) or Diane Lent (assembly@unitedforpeace.org).


The UFPJ Assembly Planning Committee

You are urgently needed to help launch a massive national mobilization against the use of torture by U.S. military personnel and federal officers. Recent revelations of abuse of detainees in Iraq and Guantanamo are simply shocking.

It violates bedrock American values.

It violates the Geneva Convention.

It is destroying U.S. credibility in the world.

Amnesty International is launching one of the most ambitious, most important and costliest mass mobilizations in our history. As a participant in our online action center, you have already shown your commitment. Now we need you to take the next step - by becoming a full-fledged member of Amnesty International USA.

You can join right now using our secure Web page:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=677776&l=11817

Last week we sent you an action alert urging you to demand action from the White House on allegations of torture by U.S. troops and federal officers. And yet, in his Inaugural address, President Bush said he wants America to be a beacon of freedom to the world.

But how can we be an example if we flout human rights and basic decency? Instead of upholding basic rights, the Administration engages in legal gamesmanship -- pressing on with its sweeping definitions of "enemy combatant" while more than 500 detainees languish in legal limbo. Earlier this week in fact, a federal judge in Washington declared the secret military tribunals in Guantanamo to be illegal. An appeal to the Supreme Court is certain, but the victory is at least a moral one.

And new, ever more disturbing news of gross mistreatment is coming from Guantanamo every day. Witnesses - among them federal officers - report strangulations, beatings, placement of lit cigarettes into detainees' ear canals, and sleep deprivation.

Eyewitness reports from FBI agents read like the stuff of horror films. One agent described coming into an "unventilated room probably well over 100 degrees. The detainee was almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been literally pulling his own hair out throughout the night."

These are not the acts of a few bad apples, as the Administration claims. Evidence is mounting that officials at the highest level of the U.S. government approved these brutal interrogation techniques.

Under the Geneva Convention and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, torture is NEVER permissible. We need to send the Administration an unmistakable message - that Americans did not give the government a mandate last November to commit acts of torture and engage in acts of barbarism. Nobody voted for that.

Amnesty USA is determined to mobilize a vocal, diverse and massive constituency throughout this country that will demand an end to the use of torture at all levels of government in the United States.

Thanks to years of grassroots activism, Amnesty has a corps of volunteers ready to carry out this urgently needed mobilization. And it's the most motivated and inspired citizen force you could hope to find.

But mobilizing people also takes money. And that's why I'm asking you for your help - to become a dues-paying Amnesty member. Please join now using our secure Web page.

Here are the main points for our nationwide mobilization:


-- Teach-Ins: Amnesty activists will organize a large number of teach-ins in cities and towns across the country that will reach hundreds of people directly at each event.

-- Community Fora: In addition, Amnesty will organize five large-scale public forums in critical media markets to raise awareness of the United States' record, role and responsibility regarding torture both at home and abroad.

-- Grassroots Demonstrations: Amnesty will also organize grassroots demonstrations on June 26 - International Day in Support of Torture Victims and Survivors.

-- Online Mobilizing: In order to involve as many concerned Americans as possible we will develop a special page on our web site, http://www.amnestyusa.org, to serve as a clearinghouse for information, resources and actions opposing torture.

This action plan for our national mobilization to end torture is both enormously ambitious and expensive. It is why we are reaching out for your support.

If we're to rescue our country from the taint of being branded a practitioner of torture, then we must confront the Bush Administration head-on with this issue. With your help, I believe justice will prevail.

By joining online, your dues will support our mobilization plans almost overnight: http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=677776&l=11817

Thanks for all your help.

Sincerely

Bill Schulz

P.S. I also hope that over the course of the mobilization you will consider participating either by taking action from your home or by taking part in an event in your community. We will be communicating these opportunities to the larger Amnesty community in the weeks ahead.

http://www.die-gesundheitsreform.de/presse/pressemitteilung/dokumente/2005_1/pm_2005-02-02-20.html?param=nb


Omega: wie wahr!

Moratorium zur UMTS-Technologie gefordert
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/454659/

Verbraucherschützer warnen vor Strahlenbelastung durch W-LAN und Bluetooth im Haushalt
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/480807/

Gesundheitsgefahren durch kabellose Laptops
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/191214/

Zigaretten und Mobiltelefone – vergleichbare Risiken?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/473553/

Keine Erklärung für Krankheiten
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/405994/

BARMER: Fast jeder Zweite hat erhöhten Blutdruck
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/369208/

Zwangseuthanasie auf AOK-Chipkarte - Zwangseuthanasie durch Mobilfunksenderstrahlung?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/154810/

Handystrahlung beschädigt Erbgut - Neue Schock-Studie der EU
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/433656/

Signifikante DNA-Schäden
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/185508/

Strahlen machen Sorgen
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/152856/

Mobilfunk und Gesundheit
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/303598/

Gefährdung der Volksgesundheit
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/262611/

Der Salzburger Vorsorgewert
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/302147/

Kinder und Mobilfunk
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/311977/

Schützt der Staat vor Mobilfunk-Strahlen?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/429187/

Brief an Bundeskanzler Gerhard Schröder
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/314545/

"Was unser aller Gesundheit belastet und bedroht, kann unmöglich dem Gemeinwohl dienen"
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/247665/

Gewerkschaftsantrag der AUGE zur Aufnahme von Elektosmog-Risken in das Österreichische ArbeitnehmerInnenschutzgesetz
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/238657/

Die Vorwärts-Flucht der Handybetreiber
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/409523/

„Die Warnsignale stehen eindeutig auf Rot"
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/378432/

Mobilfunk-Volksbegehren läuft weiter
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/469889/

Was ist ein Beweis, was Spekulation?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/487529/

Studien u. Literaturhinweise zum Thema Mobilfunk
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/160255/

Schmidt: Auf Vorsorge setzen, Kosten drosseln
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/501678/

Zwischen Wohnumfeld und Gesundheit besteht ein Zusammenhang:
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/501670/

http://www2.netdoktor.de/nachrichten/index.asp?y=2005&m=2&d=3&id=117570

Ulla Schmidt: Auf Vorsorge setzen, Kosten drosseln

«Durch gezielte Prävention und Gesundheitsförderung ist es möglich, die Gesundheit, Lebensqualität, Mobilität und Leistungsfähigkeit nachhaltig zu verbessern und einen großen Teil der sonst erforderlichen Kosten zu vermeiden», sagte Schmidt am Mittwoch in Berlin.

Omega wie wahr:

Moratorium zur UMTS-Technologie gefordert
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/454659/

Verbraucherschützer warnen vor Strahlenbelastung durch W-LAN und Bluetooth im Haushalt
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/480807/

Gesundheitsgefahren durch kabellose Laptops
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/191214/

Zigaretten und Mobiltelefone – vergleichbare Risiken?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/473553/

Keine Erklärung für Krankheiten
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/405994/

BARMER: Fast jeder Zweite hat erhöhten Blutdruck
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/369208/

Zwangseuthanasie auf AOK-Chipkarte -
Zwangseuthanasie durch Mobilfunksenderstrahlung?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/154810/

Handystrahlung beschädigt Erbgut - Neue Schock-Studie der EU
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/433656/

Signifikante DNA-Schäden
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/185508/

Strahlen machen Sorgen
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/152856/

Mobilfunk und Gesundheit
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/303598/

Gefährdung der Volksgesundheit
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/262611/

Der Salzburger Vorsorgewert
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/302147/

Kinder und Mobilfunk
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/311977/

Schützt der Staat vor Mobilfunk-Strahlen?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/429187/

Brief an Bundeskanzler Gerhard Schröder
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/314545/

"Was unser aller Gesundheit belastet und bedroht, kann unmöglich dem Gemeinwohl dienen"
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/247665/

Gewerkschaftsantrag der AUGE zur Aufnahme von Elektosmog-Risken in das Österreichische ArbeitnehmerInnenschutzgesetz
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/238657/

Die Vorwärts-Flucht der Handybetreiber
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/409523/

„Die Warnsignale stehen eindeutig auf Rot"
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/378432/

Mobilfunk-Volksbegehren läuft weiter
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/469889/

Was ist ein Beweis, was Spekulation?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/487529/

Studien u. Literaturhinweise zum Thema Mobilfunk
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/160255/

Prävention stärken - Gesundheit erhalten
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/501680/

Zwischen Wohnumfeld und Gesundheit besteht ein Zusammenhang:
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/501670/

Zwischen Wohnumfeld und Gesundheit besteht ein Zusammenhang
http://www.die-gesundheitsreform.de/presse/pressemitteilung/dokumente/2005_1/pm_2005-01-18-09.html

Omega: wie wahr!

Moratorium zur UMTS-Technologie gefordert
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/454659/

Verbraucherschützer warnen vor Strahlenbelastung durch W-LAN und Bluetooth im Haushalt
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/480807/

Gesundheitsgefahren durch kabellose Laptops
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/191214/

Zigaretten und Mobiltelefone – vergleichbare Risiken?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/473553/

Keine Erklärung für Krankheiten
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/405994/

BARMER: Fast jeder Zweite hat erhöhten Blutdruck
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/369208/

Zwangseuthanasie auf AOK-Chipkarte - Zwangseuthanasie durch Mobilfunksenderstrahlung?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/154810/

Handystrahlung beschädigt Erbgut - Neue Schock-Studie der EU
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/433656/

Signifikante DNA-Schäden
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/185508/

Strahlen machen Sorgen
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/152856/

Mobilfunk und Gesundheit
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/303598/

Gefährdung der Volksgesundheit
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/262611/

Der Salzburger Vorsorgewert
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/302147/

Kinder und Mobilfunk
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/311977/

Schützt der Staat vor Mobilfunk-Strahlen?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/429187/

Brief an Bundeskanzler Gerhard Schröder
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/314545/

"Was unser aller Gesundheit belastet und bedroht, kann unmöglich dem Gemeinwohl dienen"
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/247665/

Gewerkschaftsantrag der AUGE zur Aufnahme von Elektosmog-Risken in das Österreichische ArbeitnehmerInnenschutzgesetz
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/238657/

Die Vorwärts-Flucht der Handybetreiber
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/409523/

„Die Warnsignale stehen eindeutig auf Rot"
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/378432/

Mobilfunk-Volksbegehren läuft weiter
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/469889/

Was ist ein Beweis, was Spekulation?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/487529/

Studien u. Literaturhinweise zum Thema Mobilfunk
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/160255/

Schmidt: Auf Vorsorge setzen, Kosten drosseln
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/501678/

Prävention stärken - Gesundheit erhalten
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/501680/

The Iraqi Election 'Bait and Switch': Faulty Poll Will Not Bring Peace or US Withdrawal

posted 01/31/05

Problems of bias, insecurity, and voter confusion have undermined the democratic value of the election in Iraq, Carl Conetta says. Nonetheless, it will win greater international legitimacy for the US mission and enable more vigorous counter-insurgency operations. Conetta examines likely electoral outcomes and the factors shaping the new Iraqi government. An addendum summarizes Iraqi public opinion regarding the occupation and US forces.

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=6545719&url_num=24&url=http://www.comw.org/pda/0501br17.html


From Moving Ideas News

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

posted 02/01/05

The official end to the U.S. search for weapons in Iraq confirms what most observers had known for over a year and what UN inspections indicated before the war: Iraq did not have any significant amount of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons or long-range missiles. As a Carnegie study concluded one year ago, administration officials systematically misled the American people as to the nature of the threat and the need for military action.

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=6545719&url_num=19&url=http://www.carnegieendowment.org/npp/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=16382


From Moving Ideas News

Activists and residents in Arizona packed public hearings to demand that Peabody Western Coal Company (PWCC) stop pumping reservation groundwater, the source of their drinking water. They also denounced the public comment process.

Navajo and Hopi nations documented sinkholes and dried-up springs they believe Peabody caused by pumping water from the Navajo Aquifer. Peabody uses the water for a slurry to transport the coal to a generating station in Nevada.

In December, the California Public Utilities commission ordered the station shut down until Peabody can find an alternative source of water--but Peabody continues to pump from the Navajo Aquifer.

The public meetings were part of a series held by the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) on Navajo and Hopi reservations and in Flagstaff to hear comment on Peabody's application to extend its mining operations. Local and national groups and the city of Flagstaff have all criticized the process as inadequate.

According to Nicole Horseherder of the Navajo organization Beautiful Water Speaks, thousands of people could not attend the hearings because of poor translation and the fact that the meetings took place far from their homes.

"There's a lack of understanding between the OSM and grassroots people," Horseherder said. "I was imagining their translations into English: Translating 'Mother Earth' into 'land,' and 'sacred water' into 'just another resource.'"

Sources:
http://www.culturalsurvival.org
http://www.blackmesatrust.org/december%2014%202004.htm

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/02/mobe_using_drivers/


Informant: ItalysBadBoy

Schmidt: Auf Vorsorge setzen, Kosten drosseln
http://www2.netdoktor.de/

Pass It On: The Newest Weapon Of Mass Deception

by MoveOn.org

This clever ad about Bush's deceptive Social Security rhetoric appears in today's New York Times.

http://cdn.moveon.org/content/pdfs/SocialSecurity_WMD.pdf

by Rami Khouri, Beirut Daily Star

Democracy in the Middle East is more likely to come from indigenous efforts than Marines protecting ballot boxes.

http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/#003592

by Peter Wallsten and Warren Vieth, Los Angeles Times

Tort reform, Social Security reform, tax reform: all are designed to reduce the Democratic base while expanding Republican coffers.

http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/#003588

by Tim Wirth and Mindy Lubber, GreenBiz.com

Bush will ignore global warming tonight in his State Of the Union speech, but these green business experts says investors can't afford to.

http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/#003577

http://www.nodraftnoway.org/about.shtml


Informant: Marin Greenhut

by Mark W. Bradley

Come to think of it, why shouldn’t we let God back into the classroom? I mean, it’s not as if all those nasty French ideas about “social contracts” and “rational thought” ever really caught on here in America anyway, so what’s the big deal? If we cranky old Liberals would just stop all the grousing, quit fighting the inevitable, and get with the program, maybe we could all lock arms and march boldly forward into the brave new classroom of the future. Just imagine....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Jan05/Bradley0128.htm

by Ivan Eland

President Bush, in his second inaugural address, used soaring idealistic rhetoric to tell us that he was going to democratize the Middle East. After the recent Iraqi elections, he declared a triumphant moment in that effort. Yet those elections—with their predictable results—may not mean much for the future of Iraq and might, when combined with other U.S. policies in the Islamic world, reinforce world perceptions of U.S. foreign policy as hypocritical....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Feb05/Eland0201.htm

by Mike Whitney

If the Bush administration had any confidence in their Iraq policy they would have plopped Saddam’s name on the ballot. That way we’d know whether Iraqis would rather continue on the ruinous path of occupation or return to the “good old days” of the former tyrant. Instead, we’re left with a spaghetti bowl of candidates whose names tell us nothing about the success or failure of the American strategy. Despite Junior Bush’s assertion of “resounding success,” the elections have only further obscured the real source of the current dilemma: occupation....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Feb05/Whitney0201.htm

by Matt Reichel

The defining element of the 2005 World Social Forum is that the superstar of previous years was heckled off of the stage: Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva (Lula) being perceived as a sell-out by the movement that helped propel him into power. Once an inspiring labor organizer who helped formulate a grassroots political party within a political system replete with corruption and instability, Lula is now perceived as just another leader in the pocket of the Washington consensus. Popular left discourse now paints him as a traitor, whose policymaking has been more in line with those discussed in Davos, and not Porto Alegre. Others have argued that Brazilian military involvement in Haiti, under the auspices of the United Nations (UN), has served to further reveal how changed Lula has become since entering power. The easy conclusion to make is that this is a case in point: power corrupts. Then it follows that our goal as a movement seeking “another world” is to embrace anarchy or, minimally, radical de-centralization of power. While not opposed to either of these concepts, I think that it’s extremely important to take away another very important lesson from Lula’s fall from grace. Aside from the fact that a movement advocating power decentralization and social justice should never have had a superstar in the first place, I find the Lula dilemma to be grounded in the core terminology: “Another World is Possible.” As Social movement activists, we should be embracing the sheer plurality of worlds that would exist if we could effectively work to remove the political and economic superstructure that now dominates world affairs. Neoliberalism is all about one world; we should, in contrast, be all about the very many histories and lives that exist in making up this singular planet....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Feb05/Reichel0202.htm

by William Fisher

Good news! The Prince of Darkness has morphed into The Prince of Peace. Having fixed Iraq, Richard Perle is now ready to advise us on Iran. The former Assistant Defense Secretary in the Reagan Administration, and Neocon darling, appeared on a recent Charlie Rose show on PBS, following his nemesis, Seymour Hersh of The New Yorker magazine. When Perle appeared, Rose quoted Hersh: “The Neocons believe that if we take out Iranian nuke sites with precision airstrikes, the people will rise up and overthrow the mullahs.”....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Feb05/Fisher0202.htm

An Open Letter To Americans

by Rev. José M. Tirado

Dear fellow Americans,

Last week, George Bush took the Presidential oath of office for the second time to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." As usual, even the most hardened news reporters displayed their misty-eyed awe at the occasion as if it marked the high point of humanity's democratic aspirations. It didn't. Because left unsaid was a growing but palpable unease within parts of the United States and in many places around the world. his unease stems in part, from the manipulation of religiosity to further ends so anti-democratic and so against the grain of American ideals that our very system of government is now threatened. The growing, so-called Christianization of our political and civic life poses a threat to all of us, not just to non-Christians like myself. This trend is now joining forces with equally frightening trends in corporate America that are coalescing, with awful consequences for all concerned....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Feb05/Tirado0202.htm

by Ryan Winger

Ryan Winger reviews neoconservative author Niall Ferguson's book Colossus, which argues in Machiavellian fashion that empire -- particularly American empire -- is not to be denied, but instead desired....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Feb05/Winger0202.htm

by Marty Jezer

George W. Bush presents his State of the Union address tonight. He’s sure to talk about spreading “freedom” and “democracy” the world over, the “ownership society,” and the greatness of our country. Here are some subjects he won’t talk about....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Feb05/Jezer0202.htm

by Rachel Olivieri

Who will win the Super Bowl? That is as easy as saying, “Culture Industry,” the hands down winner for perhaps the last 38 Super Bowls. An anticipated 145 million predominately male US viewers are expected to tune in [tune-out]. Who says Big Brother is watching? Quite unnecessary -- far too many are more than willing to watch him, on their dime. Perhaps some Americans need a break from the war, pending economic doom, social security privatization, world poverty, global warming, prayer in schools... Well, I suppose it is just as well that they excuse themselves from the necessity of living their own lives. Why bother when we can sit down, pop a beer and watch someone else’s reality. Ooops, just a Matrix thought....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Feb05/Olivieri0202.htm

The Never Again Mantra: The Independent’s Case for Genocide in Iraq

by Kim Petersen

“Never again” must be one of the most hypocritical phrases ever mouthed. In October 2001, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair pledged to the Labour Party Conference: “And I tell you if Rwanda happened again today as it did in 1993, when a million people were slaughtered in cold blood, we would have a moral duty to act there also.” It was Blair’s version of the “Never again” mantra. His sincerity was damned by what the International Committee of the Red Cross called “the most deadly war ever documented in Africa. Indeed, the highest war death toll documented anywhere in the world during the last half century,” and ongoing since 1998 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Yet, it was allowed to slide under the UK media radar, as it was in the US and elsewhere....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Feb05/Petersen0201.htm

by T. Patrick Donovan

It seems to me that the political philosopher Hannah Arendt nailed it when she wrote: “Moreover, if we inquire historically into the causes likely to transform engagés into enragés, it is not injustice that ranks first, but hypocrisy.” Yes, hypocrisy as the principal cause of violence, transforming the “engaged” into the “enraged.” Arendt goes on to explain that, “Only where there is reason to suspect that conditions could be changed and are not does rage arise.” Are we not surrounded and bombarded by hypocrisy every single minute in America? Are we not the most violent -- ragefully violent -- society on the face of the planet? Do we not wonder why the richest, most powerful nation on earth does nothing to change conditions of poverty, starvation, and environmental despoliation?

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Feb05/Donovan0202.htm

CDU will Versachlichung, SPD für Vermenschlichung, Grüne gegen Verharmlosung

Kassel. Sind durch den Mobilfunk nach derzeitigem Wissensstand keine gesundheitlichen Schäden für die Stadtbewohner zu erwarten? Oder werden ernst zu nehmende Hinweise auf Gesundheitsschäden schlicht ignoriert? Beim Thema Mobilfunk prallten in der jüngsten Sitzung der Stadtverordnetenversammlung die Meinungen unversöhnlich aufeinander.

Die CDU-Fraktion sieht in den Ergebnissen der hessenweiten Messungen der elektromagnetischen Felder in der Nähe von Mobilfunk-Sendeanlagen die Bestätigung dafür, dass keine Gefahr droht. Die Grenzwerte wurden deutlich unterschritten, so Dr. Norbert Wett, es gebe in der Tat keine gesundheitliche Gefährdung. Dies werde auch durch mittlerweile über 3000 Studien bestätigt. Mit dem entsprechenden CDU-Antrag zur „Versachlichung der Mobilfunkdiskussion“ waren SPD und Bündnisgrüne aber gar nicht einverstanden. Die SPD-Fraktion legte einen Änderungsantrag vor. „Wir brauchen nicht nur eine Versachlichung, sondern auch eine Vermenschlichung der Debatte“, sagte Harry Völler. Die SPD fordert eine Untersuchung nicht nur der thermischen Effekte der hochfrequenten Mikrowellenstrahlung, sondern auch solcher Einflüsse auf den menschlichen Körper, die nichts mit einer Erwärmung zu tun haben. Für die Bündnisgrünen kritisierte Oberbürgermeisterkandidatin Helga Weber, dass eine Versachlichung gar nicht das Ziel sei: „Was Sie wollen, ist eine Verharmlosung.“ Niemand habe erwartet, dass Grenzwerte erreicht würden, weil die deutschen Grenzwerte „absonderlich hoch“ seien. Es gebe ernst zu nehmende Hinweise auf Gesundheitsschäden, daher müsse man für den vorsichtigen Umgang mit dieser Technologie plädieren. Für die FDP appellierte Dr. Rainer Manske, man müsse aufhören, sich gegenseitig zu bekämpfen und stattdessen aufeinander zugehen. Und an jene Mitbürger denken, die als elektrosensible Menschen wirklich Schaden leiden würden. Ihnen könne geholfen werden, wenn mehr Sendeanlagen aufgestellt würden, die dann mit geringerer Leistung arbeiten könnten. Die Stadt habe keinerlei Einflussmöglichkeiten, erklärte Stadtbaurat Norbert Witte (CDU). Grenzwerte würden auf Bundesebene festgelegt, auch mit dem Planungsrecht könne kein Einfluss genommen werden. „Wir haben nicht die Möglichkeit, hier etwas zu ändern“, so Witte. In der Tat seien die Möglichkeiten gering, sagte Helga Weber. Aber eine Abstimmung mit den Mobilfunk-Betreibern sei denkbar, um die Belastung zu minimieren - „da muss auch die Kommune mal ein bisschen die Zähne zeigen“. Auf Vorschlag der CDU kam man darin überein, die Beschlussvorschläge zunächst im Umweltausschuss ausführlich weiter zu debattieren. (ACH)

Online erschienen am: 27.01.2005 0:13

http://www2.hna.de/index.php?page=a-home&command=setvar:module-content-search:filename='/www/htdocs/hna/content/ausgaben/kassel/HNA0000000113134/index.php'

Dieser Leserbrief ging heute an die HNA Kassel. Wir gehen davon aus, dass eine Veröffentlichung erfolgen wird.

M.f.G.
Alfred Tittmann

HLV INFO 22--2-02-2005/AT

AN HNA Kassel

Betr. Artikel 27.01.2005

Leserbrief zum Artikel „Streit um Mobilfunkgefahr“

Online erschienen am: 27.01.2005 0:13

http://www2.hna.de/index.php?page=a-home&command=setvar:module-content-search:filename='/www/htdocs/hna/content/ausgaben/kassel/HNA0000000113134/index.php'

Die Politik ist den Bürgerinnen und Bürgern verpflichtet!

Es gibt zahlreiche international anerkannte Studien, die eindringlich vor Mobilfunk-strahlung warnen. So lange die Ungefährlichkeit seitens der Betreiber nicht explizit bewiesen werden kann, hat die Prävention im Vordergrund zu stehen.

Die im Bericht erwähnten viel zu hohen Grenzwerte wurden von einem Privatverein ICNIRP festgelegt, sie dienen der Politik und den Betreibern, die wichtige Vorsorge für die Bevölkerung wurde dabei unterlassen. Die Aussage von Dr. Norbert Wett (CDU), dass die hessenweiten Messungen keine Gefährdung belegt hätten und dass die Ungefährlichkeit des Mobilfunks in über 3000 Studien bestätigt würden ist sachlich falsch. Es ist betrüblich feststellen zu müssen, dass Herr Dr. Wett vermutlich total desinformiert, Daten benennt, die aus monetärer Interessenlage betreiberseitig kolportiert werden. Die genannten 3000 Mobilfunkstudien gibt es nicht! Gerade einmal seriös betrachtet kann man von ca. 200 sprechen – die anderen befassen sich mit EMF, mehr aber auch nicht. Die meisten Studien belegen genau das Gegenteil von dem, was Herr Dr. Wett aussagt, nämlich: Sie schließen eine Gefährdung nicht aus!

Die Messungen initiiert von der Landesregierung und der Betreibervereinigung IZMF lagen wie gar nicht anders erwartet werden konnte unter den Grenzwerten, aber selbst weit unter diesen Messdaten schließt die seriöse Wissenschaft eine Gefährdung nicht aus. Das ist die Wahrheit! Herr Dr. Wett sollte sich doch einmal bei einer der ehrenamtlich arbeitenden Kasseler Bürgerinitiativen sachkundig machen.

Auf dem am Samstag, 29.01.2005 in Bamberg stattgefundenem, von über 130 Ärzten initiiertem Mobilfunksymposium, wurde gerade die Gefährdung von Ärzten und Wissenschaftlern (über 350 Teilnehmer) dargestellt.

Zur weiteren Falschaussage, dass die Stadt keine Einflussmöglichkeiten habe folgendes:

Eine Gemeinde besitzt eine autonome Planungshoheit. Voraussetzung hierzu ist allerdings der Planungswille. Ist dieser vorhanden, kann sehr wohl durch eine vernünftige Senderstandortplanung eine Belastungsminimierung für die Bevölkerung erzielt werden. Niemand kann den Planungswillen einer Gemeinde innerhalb ihres rechtlichen Rahmens aufhalten. Über eine Veränderungssperre und einer positiven Bauleitplanung innerhalb des kommunalen Flächennutzungsplanes kann eine für alle Beteiligten vernünftige Mobilfunkversorgung erreicht werden. Beispiele dieser Art gibt es zur Genüge: Gräfelfing, Attendorn um nur zwei zu nennen. Durch die Bereitstellung von qualifizierten ausgewiesenen Alternativstandorten ergibt sich auch für die Betreiber eine Planungssicherheit. Dass Letztere ihre eigenen Vorstellungen aus monetären Interessen favorisieren liegt auf der Hand, sollte aber für die Hauptamtlichen in Kassel kein Grund sein, ausnahmslos den Betreiberinteressen zu folgen. Die Hauptamtlichen der Stadt Kassel hätten also durchaus die Möglichkeit, die Bevölkerung vor möglicher Gesundheitsgefährdung zu schützen. Mobilfunksender sollten, soweit es die topografischen Gegebenheiten ermöglichen, was auch sicherlich z.T. in Kassel der Fall ist, nur außerhalb von sensiblen Gebieten wie Wohngebieten, Kindergärten, Schulen, Altersheime etc., errichtet werden. Eine qualifizierte, funktechnisch fundierte Netzplanung, welche von einem unabhängigen Ingenieurbüro vorgenommen werden sollte, bietet hierzu die beste Voraussetzung. Der Kasseler Stadtbaurat Herr Norbert Witte (CDU) sollte einfach einmal zum Telefon greifen und die Bürgermeister, die Herrn Alfons Stumpf, Attendorn bzw. Christoph Göbel, Gräfelfing bzw. Stadtrat Frank Sommer, Gräfelfing anrufen. Diese Experten werden gerne bei der Problemlösung pragmatische Hilfestellung geben.

Mit flotten Sprüchen kann man zwar der Bevölkerung möglicherweise temporär Sand in die Augen streuen, aber eine reale Konfliktlösung wird damit nicht erzielt.

Von einer Entwarnung sind wir also leider noch nach wie vor weit entfernt.

Alfred Tittmann, Kettelerstr.3 – 63486 Bruchköbel
c/o HESSISCHER LANDESVERBAND MOBILFUNKSENDERFREIE WOHNGEBIETE e.V.

How low will the UK Cellphone Industry go to target children in spite of the NRPB Stewart report's recommendations?

Back September 22, 04, Childnet International, "a non-profit" U.K. organisation and registered "charity" working with others to "help make the Internet a great and safe place for children": http://www.childnet-int.org/default.aspx

Their web site claims that "Childnet believes that it is only by working actively with other partners in all sectors that the interests of children will be promoted in international communications.". . .

So a non-profit registered charity doing good things to aid children in the UK..................?

While trawling through the Internet for information on the Wireless Information Network (WIN) A global PR Telco group set up in 1998 and focusing on " health and environmental issues related to the wireless industry"(countering media and Internet information sources that they do not like) I came across the " Wireless World Forum" http://www.w2forum.com/database.php/1/c

Now the Wireless World Forum (WWF) not to be confused with the other WWF (World Wildlife Foundation) is a "business development and knowledge share network for senior decision makers in the telecommunications, media and technology sectors. The forum has over 4000 members representing 2700 companies in 98 countries. The Forum is well positioned to use these resources and develop its own research available to the wireless industry and beyond."

Through their site you can order a copy of their report, "mobileYouth - the definitive guide to developing mobile products for and marketing to young consumers". The cost of this report is only a meager £2495 which includes a "Team User License".

By purchasing this report companies can learn all the effective and proven techniques that other Telcos have utilized to better market their wireless products to young consumers. See:
http://www.w2forum.com/view/mobileyouth_2004_report

Perhaps WWF should forward on a free copy of "mobileYouth" to the the NRPB for Sir William Stewart comments! Considering Sir William's recommendations on why children should not use cell phones and strongly advising the industry not to target children he may well be interested in reviewing "mobileYouth".

A further search through the WWF site finds that just a few of thousands of Telcom related Companies and organisations represented by WWF include Vodafone, AT&T wireless, McKinsey & co., KPMG, NTT DoCoMo, T-mobile, Orange, Sprint PCS, Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Microsoft, etc., and If you dig deeper - guess what? Childnet International !

Since when is anything to do with the cell phone industry "non profit"?

And hiding behind the cloak of a "charity" to violate the recommendations of the NRPB report may also violate the rules for a charitable organisation.

I hope that the UK members on this list will follow this up .............

Don Maisch


Childnet International: A corporate wolf in sheep's clothing
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/374527/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42788-2005Jan27.html

Whale Stranding in N.C. Followed Navy Sonar Use

Military Says Connection to Death of 37 Animals Is 'Unlikely'

by Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer

Friday, January 28, 2005; Page A03

At least 37 whales beached themselves and died along the North Carolina shore earlier this month soon after Navy vessels on a deep-water training mission off the coast used powerful sonar as part of the exercise.

Although the Navy says any connection between the strandings and its active sonar is "unlikely" -- because the underwater detection system was used more than 200 miles from where the whales beached themselves -- it is cooperating with other federal agencies probing a possible link. Government fisheries officials, as well as activists for whales, say the fact that three species of whales died in the incident suggests that sonar may have been the cause.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists "are looking at all the possible causes of this stranding, which was a significant one," spokeswoman Connie Barclay said. Although the number of whales that came ashore is far from a record for mass strandings, Barclay said that "it's very curious to have three different kinds of whales strand, and a number of possible causes are being examined. Sonar is certainly one of them."

The possible connection between naval sonar and the deaths of whales and other marine mammals has become an increasingly controversial issue since the Navy acknowledged that the loud blasts of its sonar helped cause a mass stranding of whales in the Bahamas in 2000. Since then, critics have accused the Navy of involvement in numerous mass strandings in U.S. and international waters, and federal environmental officials have concluded in some instances that the loud pulses from active sonar cannot be ruled out as a cause.

The North Carolina strandings could be especially problematic for the Navy because it hopes to establish a 500-square-nautical-mile underwater sonar testing range off that coast. The Navy says a draft environmental impact statement is near completion, and officials have said the range is a high priority.

Most of the animals that died in the latest incident were pilot whales, which stranded around the Oregon Inlet of the Outer Banks on Jan. 15. One newborn minke whale also beached at Corolla that day, and two dwarf sperm whales came ashore at Buxton on Jan. 16, locations about 60 miles north and south of the inlet. Six of the pilot whales were pregnant when they died, Barclay said.

None of the three whale species is considered endangered, though NOAA officials say their populations are relatively small and little understood in the Atlantic. But other endangered marine animals -- including right and humpback whales and numerous species of sea turtles -- regularly migrate through the waters off North Carolina.

Navy officials said that the USS Kearsarge Expeditionary Strike Group, based in Norfolk, was conducting an anti-submarine exercise about 240 nautical miles from the Oregon Inlet on Jan. 14 and 15.

In e-mailed answers to questions, the Navy said a review of activities after following the strandings concluded that "no Navy ships were using active sonar within 50 nautical miles radius" of the inlet on Jan. 15 or the four days preceding -- although one ship not associated with the strike group did use sonar for seven minutes about 90 nautical miles south-southeast of Oregon Inlet. The strike group was on its way to a deployment after the training exercise, the Navy said.

Sonar acts as the underwater eyes and ears of the Navy, and intermittent bursts are often used in transit to detect potential enemies and other dangers. In addition, Navy officials increasingly believe that inexpensive quiet submarines from hostile nations pose a potential threat and want to upgrade sonar tracking systems to protect against intrusions into U.S. coastal waters. The Navy now uses mid-frequency sonar for its tracking but wants to deploy a new generation of low-frequency sonar that travels much farther underwater and is more powerful.

The Navy has sometimes been slow to acknowledge that its ships were in an area where strandings occurred and has accepted responsibility only in the Bahamas event. Environmental activists said that track record makes them skeptical of the Navy's statements about the North Carolina strandings.

"The circumstances are troubling," said Michael Jasny, a lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council, which has sued the Navy on other sonar-related issues. "After so many whale deaths caused by sonar, these latest strandings are a red flag. . . . Unfortunately, the Navy has a long history of denial."

The Outer Banks area is close to the Norfolk base and on the general course to where the exercises were held.

Most of the stranded whales were dead when they were found, and NOAA scientists are conducting necropsies of many of the animals to try to determine a cause of death. Although pilot whales travel in herds and are prone to strandings, the other two whale species are not, officials said.

Pilot and dwarf sperm whales are both deep-diving animals that feed off the ocean floor and slopes of the continental shelf. The other whale strandings linked to sonar use have also involved deep-diving species, such as the beaked whale. Researchers have theorized that the loud sounds of sonar can damage the whales' sensitive hearing system and cause them to surface too quickly from fright. After another stranding off the Canary Islands in 2002, researchers found unusual gas bubbles in some whale organs -- leading them to conclude that the animals suffered from a form of decompression sickness similar to the bends.

The Navy's plan for an East Coast underwater sonar testing range was first announced in 1996. Since then, the plan has been discussed internally and work on an environmental impact statement has proceeded, with some input from NOAA.

A Navy spokesman said last year that a final decision had not been made on where to locate the test site. But in April, the Atlantic Division of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command said in a statement: "The Navy's preferred site for the range is in the Cherry Point Operating Area located in Onslow Bay, southeast of New River, North Carolina, and approximately 105 km (57 nautical miles) from the North Carolina shoreline."


Informant: ItalysBadBoy

Cong. Conyers Asks FBI to Expand Investigation into Clermont, Union, Fulton, Hocking, Monroe, Henry, and Harrison Counties

Ray Beckerman

Congressman Conyers has written to the FBI asking it to expand its investigation into further incidents in Clermont, Harrison, Union, Fulton, Hocking, Monroe, and Henry Counties.

http://miamedia.com/news/2005-01-28ohelecfbifollowupltr.pdf


From nov2truth.org news update

VIVA 2005 - Ask Your Senators to Stand Up for Election Reform Today
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Common Cause
Main Office: 202-833-1200

WASHINGTON -- February 1 -- Here at Common Cause, our work to fix the flawed election system continues. Last week invited our members and supporters to tell us how they would prioritize the issues on our 2005 agenda. Election reform received the highest percentage of votes, of the six issues we listed.

read article:
http://nov2truth.org/article.php?story=20050201134457349

Group Notes That New Mexico Secretary of State Vigil-Giron Misrepresents Election Recount Efforts

ALBUQUERQUE, NM -- February 1 -- Help America Recount, a group questioning the accuracy of the results of the Nov. 2 presidential election in New Mexico, says New Mexico Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron has not told the truth about efforts by the Green and Libertarian presidential candidates to initiate a recount.

read article:
http://nov2truth.org/article.php?story=20050201180813611

http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/Commentary/Technocrats.htm


Informant: Terry Melanson

Posted by C.E. Carnicom on behalf of the author

May 22 2000

Mr. Carnicom:

I read the email you received from the anonymous mechanic and felt compelled to respond to it. I, too, work for an airline, though I work in upper management levels. I will not say which airline, what city I am located, nor what office I work for, for obvious reasons. I wish I could document everything I am about to relate to you, but to do so is next to impossible and would result in possible physical harm to me.

The email from the anonymous mechanic rings true. Airline companies in America have been participating in something called Project Cloverleaf for a few years now. The earliest date anyone remembers being briefed on it is 1998. I was briefed on it in 1999. The few airline employees who were briefed on Project Cloverleaf were all made to undergo background checks, and before we were briefed on it we were made to sign non-disclosure agreements, which basically state that if we tell anyone what we know we could be imprisoned.

About twenty employees in our office were briefed along with my by two officials from some government agency. They didn't tell us which one. They told us that the government was going to pay our airline, along with others, to release special chemicals from commercial aircraft. When asked what the chemicals were and why we were going to spray them, they told us that information was given on a need-to-know basis and we weren't cleared for it. They then went on to state that the chemicals were harmless, but the program was of such importance that it needed to be done at all costs. When we asked them why didn't they just rig military aircraft to spray these chemicals, they stated that there weren't enough military aircraft available to release chemicals on such a large basis as needs to be done. That's why Project Cloverleaf was initiated, to allow commercial airlines to assist in releasing these chemicals into the atmosphere. Then someone asked why all the secrecy was needed. The government reps then stated that if the general public knew that the aircraft they were flying on were releasing chemicals into the air, environmentalist groups would raise hell and demand the spraying stop. Someone asked one of the G-men then if the chemicals are harmless, why not tell the public what the chemicals are and why we are spraying them? He seemed perturbed at this question and told us in a tone of authority that the public doesn't need to know what's going on, but that this program is in their best interests. He also stated that we should not tell anyone, nor ask any more questions about it. With that, the briefing was over.

All documents in our office pertaining to Project Cloverleaf are kept in locked safes. Nobody is allowed to take these documents out of the office. Very few employees are allowed access to these documents, and they remain tight-lipped about what the documents say.

Mr. Carnicom, I am no fool. I know there's something going on. And frankly, I am scared. I feel a high level of guilt that I have been aware of this kind of operation but unable to tell anyone. It's been eating away at me, knowing that the company I work for may be poisoning the American people. I hope this letter will open some eyes to what's happening.

Again, I wish I could give you documented information, but you have to understand why I must remain totally anonymous.

Thank you.


Back to Contrail\Chemtrail Main Page
http://www.carnicom.com/conright.htm


Informant: billder

It can never be trusted, says Michael Gaddy:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/gaddy/gaddy8.html

American journalism sank to a new low in its coverage of the "demonstration elections" in Iraq, measured by the number of American journalists who challenged Washington's micro-managing of election coverage while on air: zero.

Just watching broadcast and cable television in the United States, you had no way of knowing that journalists were "limited to filming at only five polling stations" or that "it's American soldiers who will be transporting the ballot boxes around when they are full of votes" in Mosul, unless you happened to catch ITN's Julian Manyon on CNN International's program International Correspondents --

FULL TEXT:
http://montages.blogspot.com/2005/02/censoring-coverage-of-iraqi-elections.html

-- Yoshie

From ufpj-news

With the past few days' avalanche of spin, you could be forgiven for thinking that on January 30 2005 the US-led occupation of Iraq ended and the people won their freedom and democratic rights. This has been a multi-layered campaign, reminiscent of the pre-war WMD frenzy and fantasies about the flowers Iraqis were collecting to throw at the invasion forces. How you could square the words democracy, free and fair with the brutal reality of occupation, martial law, a US-appointed election commission and secret candidates has rarely been allowed to get in the way of the hype.

If truth is the first casualty of war, reliable numbers must be the first casualty of an occupation-controlled election. The second layer of spin has been designed to convince us that an overwhelming majority of Iraqis participated. The initial claim of 72% having voted was quickly downgraded to 57% of those registered to vote. So what percentage of the adult population is registered to vote? The Iraqi ambassador in London was unable to enlighten me. In fact, as UN sources confirm, there has been no registration or published list of electors - all we are told is that about 14 million people were entitled to vote.

As for Iraqis abroad, the up to 4 million strong exiled community (with perhaps a little over 2 million entitled to vote) produced a 280,000 registration figure. Of those, 265,000 actually voted.

Source: The Guardian, UK

Read the whole article here:
http://www.theinsider.org/mailing/article.asp?id=0887

by Robert Parry

In These Times

02/01/05

One of the most troubling crises confronting the world today is that the U.S. executive branch -- controlling the most fearsome arsenal in history -- has largely detached itself from reality and faces no counterforce in Washington capable of bringing it back down to earth. In that sense, George W. Bush's second inaugural address on January 20 stood out as a defining moment. Bush wrapped a grim record of presidential abuses -- an unprovoked invasion, extraordinary secrecy, tolerance of torture and indefinite imprisonments without trial -- in the noble cloak of 'freedom' and 'liberty,' words he uttered 27 and 15 times respectively, as if words can amend truth...

http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/1910/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

by James Carroll

Boston Globe

02/01/05

Iraq is a train wreck. The man who caused it is not in trouble. Tomorrow night he will give his State of the Union speech, and the Washington establishment will applaud him. Tens of thousands of Iraqis are dead. More than 1,400 Americans are dead. An Arab nation is humiliated. Islamic hatred of the West is ignited. The American military is emasculated.

Lies define the foreign policy of the United States. On all sides of Operation Iraqi Freedom, there is wreckage. In the center, there are the dead, the maimed, the displaced -- those who will be the ghosts of this war for the rest of their days. All for what?

http://tinyurl.com/3s6ks


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

by Sean Gonsalves

Cape Cod Times

02/01/05

I know you think we are in the year 2005 but we're not. We are living in the year 1984. And this is the word (and the world) according to Orwell. Witness the thought-police out in full force, cloaked in 'patriotism.' Any criticism of our government's policies is popularly labeled 'anti-American.' Notice the proliferation of false, child-like dichotomies such as 'either you're with us or against us' and 'we're-good, they're evil,' international law, the Geneva Conventions and Abu Ghraib aside...

http://www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/edits/seang.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

by Ed Lewis

Liberty For All

02/02/05

Politicians with rare exception are not the best of the best, or even the worst of the best, or hold any special talent other than being '(s)electable.' Of course, other special talent is not required, as one does not have to have any special abilities to be an official of government.

Why do I write that? Well, there are only two duties. The first is to uphold the Constitution for the united States of America and the rule of law established by Natural Law (inherent and unalienable rights), the unanimous Declaration of Independence of the thirteen united States of America, thereby allowing the people to exercise all rights without government interference. Their duty is to simply without fail obey the limitations placed on government by the Constitution for the united States of America...

http://www.libertyforall.net/2005/feb6/Qualifying.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

by Sheldon Richman

Future of Freedom Foundation

01/31/05

We have come to understand that when the typical politician speaks, he ought not to be believed. Nevertheless, in his inaugural address last week President Bush achieved depths of incredibility deserving of a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. Leave aside that his speech was preceded by his sworn promise to 'preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.' We already know what he thinks of that oath. Four sentences into his speech Bush told an amazing whopper...

http://www.fff.org/comment/com0501j.asp


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

by Francis A. Ney, Jr.

The Libertarian Enterprise

01/30/05

The second inaugural address by George 'Dubya' Bush promised the world that those who desire freedom would receive the full support of the United States. Given the events of the previous four years I have to wonder if the man even knows what 'freedom' means, since he's done a bang-up job of suppressing it. I mean, how free are you when stating an opinion in a gymnasium, or hanging a poster, or reading a web site print-out merits a visit from the FBI? How free are you when a donation to a charitable organization, or even playing a game of paintball can result in your arrest?

http://www.ncc-1776.com/tle2005/tle304-20050130-02.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Indianapolis Star

02/01/05

Videotapes of riot squads subduing troublesome terror suspects at the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay show the guards punching some detainees, tying one to a gurney for questioning and forcing a dozen to strip from the waist down, according to a secret report. One squad was all-female, traumatizing some Muslim prisoners.

Investigators from U.S. Southern Command in Miami, which oversees the camp in Cuba, wrote the report that was obtained by The Associated Press after spending a little over a week in June reviewing 20 of some 500 hours of videotapes involving 'Immediate Reaction Forces.' The camp's layout prevented videotaping in all the cells where the five-person teams -- also known as 'Immediate Response Forces' -- operated, the report said...

http://tinyurl.com/6kv8k


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

"Ein Arbeitsuchender hätte bei mir schlechte Karten" Organisationschaos in "Arbeitsgemeinschaften" von Arbeitsagentur und Sozialamt. Personal ist unqualifiziert und wird falsch eingesetzt, Technik klappt nicht. Gespräch mit einer "Fallmanagerin" in einer Arbeitsgemeinschaft zur Betreuung von Langzeitarbeitslosen in Schleswig-Holstein. Zu ihrem Schutz bleibt sie anonym. Interview von Ralf Wurzbacher in junge Welt vom 13.01.2005 http://www.jungewelt.de/2005/01-13/022.php

(Lohn)Arbeit jenseits der "Arbeitsgesellschaft" - Diagnose und Perspektiven

Existenzgelddebatte

Niemand darf zu einer bestimmten Arbeit gezwungen werden - Sozialdienst und "echtes" Grundeinkommen
Artikel von Gisela Notz vom Oktober 2004 (pdf)
http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/existenz/notz.pdf

"Netzwerk Grundeinkommen"

Newsletter Grundeinkommen Nr. 3 - Januar 2005 (pdf)
http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/existenz/netzwerknl3.pdf

Newsletter Grundeinkommen Nr. 2 - November 2004
http://www.sw.fh-jena.de:8080/~opielka/index.php?id=124

Newsletter Grundeinkommen Nr. 1 - Oktober 2004
http://www.sw.fh-jena.de:8080/~opielka/index.php?id=104


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 22, Eintrag 2



Siemens bezahlte Vorsitzende des Forschungsausschusses
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/462540/

Jung, ledig, obdachlos sucht...

Das Durchschnittsalter der Wohnungslosen in Deutschland sinkt beständig und liegt gegenwärtig bei 38 Jahren. Besonders süddeutsche Städte sind betroffen. Artikel in SZ vom 23.12.2004
http://www.sueddeutsche.de/,polm1/deutschland/artikel/217/45172/


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 22, Eintrag 2


Neue und alte Armut (trotz Arbeit)
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/500696/

Siemens bezahlte Vorsitzende des Forschungsausschusses
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/462540/

Armut in Deutschland wächst. Einkommensverteilung weist zunehmende Schieflage auf.

"Die Kluft zwischen Arm und Reich ist seit der Amtsübernahme der rot-grünen Bundesregierung größer geworden. Als Grund nennt das Deutsche Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW) vor allem die gestiegene Arbeitslosigkeit. Nach den Erhebungen des DIW hatte im Jahr 2003 das ärmste Fünftel der Bevölkerung ein Haushaltsnettoeinkommen pro Kopf von im Schnitt 7584 Euro. Das sind preisbereinigt gut drei Prozent mehr als noch 1998. Im gleichen Zeitraum stieg die Kaufkraft jedoch beim Fünftel mit dem höchsten Einkommen um 12,3 Prozent auf 32 812 Euro. Seit dem Jahr 2000 sei ein neuerlicher Anstieg der relativen Armut in Deutschland zu beobachten.

Davon betroffen sind rund 15,3 Prozent der Bevölkerung - 1998 waren es erst 13 Prozent…." Artikel von Roland Bunzenthal in FR vom 28.01.2005
http://www.fr-aktuell.de/ressorts/wirtschaft_und_boerse/wirtschaft/?cnt=623815&

Jung, ledig, obdachlos sucht...

Das Durchschnittsalter der Wohnungslosen in Deutschland sinkt beständig und liegt gegenwärtig bei 38 Jahren. Besonders süddeutsche Städte sind betroffen. Artikel in SZ vom 23.12.2004 http://www.sueddeutsche.de/,polm1/deutschland/artikel/217/45172/

Zitat zum Thema Kinderarmut

"Berlin: Das durch Hartz IV prognostizierte Ansteigen der Kinderarmut in Deutschland auf 2,5 Millionen Kinder wird von der Bundesregierung in Kürze durch einschneidende Maßnahmen verhindert. So soll das Eintrittsalter, ab wann man als arbeitslos oder sozialhilfeberechtigt eingestuft wird, für alle Bürger auf den Zeitpunkt der Geburt vorverlegt werden. Damit - so ein Pressesprecher - gibt es zwar 2,5 Millionen ALG II-Berechtigte mehr, aber dafür eben keine Kinderarmut. Voraussetzung ist allerdings, daß jedes Kind unmittelbar nach der Geburt seinen 16seitigen ALG II-Antrag eigenhändig ausfüllt und fristgerecht persönlich abgibt."


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 22, Eintrag 2


Übersättigung

Eine Polemik gegen die Banalisierung der Armut zum Stil-Problem von Peter Fuchs, Professor für Soziologie in Neubrandenburg, in Frankfurter Rundschau vom 20.05.2005
http://www.fr-aktuell.de/ressorts/kultur_und_medien/feuilleton/?cnt=679264&


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 25, Eintrag 13



Siemens bezahlte Vorsitzende des Forschungsausschusses
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/462540/

(Dumping)Tarifverträge zu Leiharbeit: Tarifvertrag zwischen DGB
und BZA

Anpassung im Osten ausgesetzt!

Die DGB-Gewerkschaften haben am 22. Dezember 2004 mit dem Bundesverband Zeitarbeit (BZA) vereinbart, dass die Ost-Entgelte später als bisher vereinbart angeglichen werden. Siehe dazu auch: Tarifverhandlungen 2005: Anpassung Entgeltdifferenzierung Ost ausgesetzt. "Die Tarifverhandlungskommission des Bundesverbandes Zeitarbeit Personal-Dienstleistungen (BZA) und die Tarifgemeinschaft Zeitarbeit des Deutschen Gewerkschaftsbundes haben am 22. Dezember 2004 eine für die konjunkturelle Lage angemessene Vereinbarung getroffen. Die Entgeltdifferenzierung Ost beträgt auch weiterhin in 2005 bis zu 13,5 %. Rechtzeitig vor 2006 soll über die wirtschaftliche Lage in den neuen Ländern einschließlich des Landes Berlin beraten werden. Die Verhandlungsverpflichtung zu Branchenzuschlägen bleibt bestehen und wird nach dem 01.10.2005 unter Berücksichtigung der wirtschaftlichen Situation der Zeitarbeitbranche erneut aufgenommen…"

BZA-Pressemitteilung vom 22.12.2004
http://www.es-zeitarbeit.de/index.php?seite=aktuelles_detail&id=297&back=1

Dies wird in den Unternehmen freudig umgesetzt:

Unternehmen: Randstad

Randstad ist mit der größte Arbeitgeber in den neuen Bundesländern
mit fast 7000 Beschäftigten

Randstad profitiert gerne von der verlängerten Tarifabsenkung im Osten und geht von einer Aussetzung für mind. das gesamte Jahr 2005 aus - so ist der Information an alle Beschäftigte vom 10.1. zu
entnehmen (pdf)
http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/realpolitik/psa/randstadtv.pdf
und dies, obwohl die Vereinbarung zwischen DB und BZA lautet, dass die Entgelte 2005 um 13,5 Prozent und 2006 um 10,5 Prozent unter dem West-Niveau liegen können (was schlimm genug ist!). Randstad soll andernfalls mit Betriebsschließungen im Osten drohen…

Neben der arbeitsmarktpolitischen Flankierung dürfte darin der Grund für die ökonomischen Erfolge von Randstad liegen:

"Randstad Konzern verbessert Profitabilität um 80%. In Deutschland verzeichnet Randstad 11 % Umsatzwachstum", so Pressemitteilung vom 03.11.2004
http://www.randstad.de/content/ueber/presse/pm-national/page_041103_Ergebnisse_Q3_04.xml

Aus dem Text: "…. Im Vergleich zum dritten Quartal 2003 erhöhte sich der Umsatz bei Deutschlands größtem Personaldienstleister Randstad um 11 Prozent. "Wir haben in Deutschland bereits zum vierten Mal in Folge die Quartalsergebnisse verbessert", meint dazu Heide Franken, Geschäftsführerin Randstad Deutschland. "Für die Zeitarbeitsbranche sehen wir insgesamt eine Fortsetzung des positiven Trends"….

Dabei sind die Beschäftigten - über die unglaublich niedrige Bezahlung hinaus - keinesfalls mit dem Tarifvertrag zufrieden, wie das Unternehmen selbst zugibt:

"Wir können mehr Mitarbeiter an Bord behalten". Ein Jahr ist der Branchentarifvertrag (BTV), der zwischen Bundesverband Zeitarbeit und DGB ausgehandelt wurde, in Kraft. Holger Grape, Direktor für Tarif- und Betriebspolitik, zieht eine Zwischenbilanz. Interview in randstadmemo Ausgabe 1/2005
http://www.randstad.de/content/mit/memo/memo-2005-1/thema-2/index.xml

Aus dem Text: "…Aber 35-Stunden-Woche und Arbeitszeitkonto kamen bei vielen Mitarbeitern gar nicht gut an ... Holger Grape: "Das ist verständlich. Aber man sollte das auch einmal aus einer anderen Perspektive sehen: Denn die Kombination beider Maßnahmen sichert Beschäftigung. Früher mussten wir uns in auftragsschwächeren Zeiten oft von Mitarbeitern trennen. Mit dem Überstundenausgleich können wir jetzt viele an Bord behalten. Leider nicht alle - aber auf jeden Fall deutlich mehr als früher." Gibt es Überlegungen, den BTV in dieser Hinsicht zu reformieren? Holger Grape: "Es gibt inzwischen durchaus wieder Mitarbeiter mit einer voll ausbezahlten 40-Stunden-Woche. Wenn dies auftragsbedingt nötig ist, lässt der BTV dies zu - und seit einigen Monaten nutzen wir diese Möglichkeit auch. Darüber hinaus werden wir uns demnächst mit unseren Tarifpartnern von den Gewerkschaften gemeinsam an einen Tisch setzen und eine Zwischenbilanz ziehen. Ob Änderungen dabei herauskommen, bleibt abzuwarten…."

Nach uns vorliegenden Informationen verdienen selbst Hochschulabsolventen nach regelmäßigen, überdurchschnittlich vielen Überstunden maximal 751 €, während der Rest auf dem Zeitkonto verschwindet. Der Informant: "Mit dem Zeitkonto kann ich aber nicht im Supermarkt bezahlen"!


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 22, Eintrag 2


Siemens bezahlte Vorsitzende des Forschungsausschusses
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/462540/

02.02.2005

7 Millionen ohne Existenz sichernde Arbeit - das ist eine Schande

Zur Situation auf dem Arbeitsmarkt im Monat Januar erklärt Bundesgeschäftsführer Rolf Kutzmutz:

Die offiziellen Arbeitslosenzahlen haben den höchsten Stand seit Bestehen der Bundesrepublik erreicht. Das ist eine Schande. Die 5,037 Millionen arbeitslosen Menschen im Land sind jedoch nicht die ganze Wahrheit. Die Statistik ist nach wie vor um Menschen in Fortbildung, Trainingsmaßnahmen, ABM und Ein-Euro-Jobs bereinigt. Insgesamt suchen bis zu sieben Millionen Menschen eine Existenz sichernde Arbeit.

Wer nun vor allem Hartz IV für den Anstieg verantwortlich macht, betreibt Augenauswischerei. Die so genannten Arbeitsmarktreformen der Bundesregierung laufen seit über einem Jahr, sie haben nur eines gebracht: eine rigide Beschneidung des sozialen Netzes und einen Anstieg der Armut. Hartz IV ist ein schlechtes und ein schlecht gemachtes Gesetz. Die Regelsätze sind nicht bedarfsdeckend und müssen in Ost und West auf mindestens 400 Euro angehoben werden. Die Eingliederungsmittel reichen hinten und vorne nicht. Es gibt eine Vielzahl falscher Bescheide, gegen die die Betroffenen unbedingt Widerspruch einlegen sollten. Nach unserer Auffassung ist die Widerspruchsfrist noch nicht vorbei.

Das Überspringen der Fünf-Millionen-Marke zeigt wie nichts anderes das Versagen der Bundesregierung. Ihre angebotsorientierte Politik gegenüber Unternehmerverbänden, Wirtschaft und Industrie hat den Anstieg der Zahlen nicht aufhalten können. Im Gegenteil: Vor sechs Jahren bei Regierungsantritt waren knapp 4,5 Millionen Menschen offiziell arbeitslos, jetzt sind es mehr als fünf Millionen. Die Verlierer der Politik von Rot-Grün sind Arbeitnehmer, Arbeitslose und sozial Schwache.

Der Kampf gegen die Massenarbeitslosigkeit wird für die PDS ein Schwerpunkt in den politischen Auseinandersetzungen bis hin zum Bundestagswahlkampf sein. Kanzler Schröder wollte sich daran messen lassen und er wird daran gemessen werden. Notwendig sind endlich politische Konzepte, die nicht die Arbeitslosen, sondern die Massenarbeitslosigkeit wirksam bekämpfen Alternativen für Arbeit und soziale Gerechtigkeit.

Für die PDS gehören dazu:

* der konsequente Abbau der Überstunden,
* der Aufbau eines öffentlich geförderten Beschäftigungssektors und die Förderung regionaler Wirtschaftskreisläufe,
* das Vorziehen von Infrastrukturmaßnahmen und öffentlichen Investitionen in Ostdeutschland.

URL:
http://sozialisten.de/presse/presseerklaerungen/view_html?zid=25879
Datum: 02.02.2005
© www.sozialisten.de


1-Euro-Jobs - vom Verarmungsprogramm Hartz IV profitieren
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/490249/

(Dumping)Tarifverträge zu Leiharbeit
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/500604/

Post von Wagner
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/506368/

Siemens bezahlte Vorsitzende des Forschungsausschusses
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/462540/

Was unsere Abgeordneten noch nebenbei verdienen
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/506384/

http://www.tecchannel.de/news/mobile/mobilfunk/19276/

Omega: warum aber nicht vor der gesundheitsgefährdenden Strahlung?



AWO hilft Schülern aus der Handy-Schuldenfalle

Die Berater klärten ohne erhobenen Zeigefinger über die gefährliche Kostenspirale auf

Kreis Pinneberg - Tina Rehder (44) ist begeistert. "Der Anfang an den Schulen war ein riesiger Erfolg!", freute sich die Schuldnerberaterin der Arbeiterwohlfahrt (AWO) Unterelbe. Insgesamt 217 Jugendliche plus 108 Erwachsene wurden von der Bankfachwirtin im Rahmen des neuen Präventionsprogrammes informiert. "Die Resonanz war sehr gut. Nahezu alle haben aktiv mitgemacht - und viele ihre persönliche Betroffenheit erkannt", lautete Tina Rehders Fazit der Anlaufphase.

Handykauf und Telefongebühren, Konsum und Überschuldung - das sind die Themen, für die die Finanzfachfrau Interesse bei Jugendlichen ab zwölf Jahren wecken möchte. Eigens für diese in den vergangenen Jahren zu kurz gekommene Präventionsarbeit war sie eingestellt worden. Das Sozialministerium und eine Zuwendung aus dem Regionalsponsoringprogramm des Wedeler Pharmaunternehmens AstraZeneca hatten es möglich gemacht.

Nach Berichten unter anderem in der Pinneberger Zeitung war die Nachfrage seitens der Schulen immens. Kompetent, aber nicht verbissen, spielerisch statt mit erhobenem Zeigefinger werden die jungen Konsumenten mit der Problematik vertraut gemacht. "Da kommt es oft zu ganz verblüffenden Erkenntnissen. Viele Schüler schätzen anfangs Kosten und die Schuldengefahr besonders durch Mobiltelefone völlig falsch ein", sagt die Beraterin.

Sie läßt es nicht bei der Aufklärung über Schulden-Fallen bewenden, sondern gibt ganz konkrete Ratschläge , wie man ihnen entkommt. "In den Veranstaltungen fassen oft Betroffene Vertrauen und kommen im Nachhinein zu mir, um ihren speziellen Fall einmal zu besprechen und dann Hilfe zu bekommen", sagt Tina Rehder.

Weil diese Veranstaltungen in den Schulen so gut angelaufen sind, werden sie intensiv fortgesetzt. Der Bedarf ist da, denn jeder zehnte Jugendliche ist verschuldet, das Durchschnittsdefizit beläuft sich auf 1550 Euro. Weitere Informationen sind unter 04121/897939 und http://www.AWO-Unterelbe.de zu bekommen. fr


Erschienen am 2. Februar 2005 in Pinneberg
http://www.abendblatt.de/daten/2005/02/02/393949.html


Nachricht von der BI Bad Dürkheim

http://www.izgmf.de/Aktionen/Meldungen/Archiv_05/Bamberg/bamberg.html

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

„Eine unterschätzte Gefahr“
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/502448/