In the few weeks before its fall, Iraq's Ba'athist regime made a series of increasingly desperate peace offers to Washington, promising to hold elections and even to allow US troops to search for banned weapons. But the advances were all rejected by the Bush administration, according to intermediaries involved in the talks.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5172.htm

Dramatic examples of the U.S.’s failed Latin American policy and the Bush administration’s disdain for international norms.

http://www.coha.org/NEW_PRESS_RELEASES/New_Press_Releases_2005/05.42%20OAS%20Bolton%20the%20one.htm


From Information Clearing House

The media took little notice of this bipartisan move to try and end the administration's outsourcing of torture - which President Bush continually says is not happening, despite mounting evidence from human rights organizations, freed tortured detainees, and journalists worldwide.

http://www.decaturdailydemocrat.com/articles/2005/04/13/news/opinion/editorial03.txt


From Information Clearing House

Illegal Mahogany from Peru Threatens Native People, Amazon Forest
http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0414-19.htm

Apr 14, 2005, 10:24

Tax payers could be forced to foot a hefty bill after councillors refused to back plans to upgrade a phone mast in Kate's Hill.

Telecommunications giant T-Mobile hoped to put additional antennae on the 20m mast in Hilltop Road, near Cawney Hill reservoir.

Experts warned Dudley Council planners a refusal on health, rather than planning, grounds would be unacceptable and could trigger a costly appeal.

But after hearing Kate's Hill Primary was just 150m away from the mast councillors voted again. Now T-Mobile say they may indeed try again.

Worries over the possible health risks of living and working near masts have grown in recent years but government scientist insist their is no proven risk.

Debbie Haywood, head at Kate's Hill, said: "The school nursery is sited within a matter of metres of the proposed phone masts and, given the unknown effects on children's health and well-being, we have grave concerns about this.

"We have up to 100 children between the ages of three and four in our nursery. They regularly play outdoors and would be exposed to any possible side effects that may result from the siting of phone masts in the vicinity."

Planning committee member councillor John Donegan said he welcomed the plans, saying councillors had called in the past for phone companies to share masts instead of building new ones.

But his fellow councillors planners disagreed, with councillor Graham Debney saying: "I have to vote against it - it's too near the school. It's no good saying it's already there, you are still adding to it. We have to look after tomorrow, our children.I won't put my name on anything like this."

Councillor Margaret Wilson said the flat she lived in was sited right next to a mast, and claimed that she suffered from giddiness whenever she was at home.

She said: "I am not happy with one by me, and what I don't want for myself I don't want for other people.

Councillor Wilson claimed: "The people saying 'There are no health fears' are the ones making money out of it."

Planning officer Helen Brookes-Martin warned it was likely the operator would appeal and win, saddling the council with a heavy bill for costs.

But councillor Debney insisted : "We took a vote on it and lets go with it - personally I don't care what it costs."

A spokesman for T-Mobile said the company was 'disappointed' and would decide whether or not to appeal in the next few weeks.

http://www.expressandstar.com/articles/news/chronicles/dudley/article_73788.php

"Absageagentur" präsentiert Firmen Absagen auf Jobangebote.
http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/19/19886/1.html

Die EU-Kommission hält gentech-freie Zonen für rechtswidrig, doch viele Regionen wollen Brüssel die Stirn bieten.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/19/19877/1.html

Auch bei wiederholten Bagatelldelikten soll der genetische Fingerabdruck gespeichert werden – Befürworter sind damit noch nicht zufrieden.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/19/19887/1.html

Anhörung im Bayerischen Landtag

Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren, liebe Freundinnen und Freunde,

wir möchten Sie/Euch aufmerksam auf und einladen zu einer neuerlichen Veranstaltung von uns zum Thema Mobilfunk. Während wir unsere früheren Fachgespräche und Anhörungen eher breit angelegt haben (z.B. rechtliche und politische Einordnung, Planungskonzepte, gesundheitliche Auswirkungen), konzentrieren wir uns diesmal auf die Thematik Mobilfunk und Gesundheit. Wir würden uns freuen, Sie/Euch hier im Landtag am 29. April begrüßen zu können und bitten Sie/Euch um rege und rasche Anmeldung.

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/einladung_pdf_290405.pdf


Mit freundlichem Gruß

Ursula Gessner
Persönliche Mitarbeiterin Dr. Martin Runge,
wirtschaftspolitischer Sprecher sowie Sprecher des Arbeitskreises Ökologie und Ökonomie
von BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN im Bayerischen Landtag, Medienrat

Unsere e-mail-Adresse hat sich geändert martin.runge@gruene-fraktion-bayern.de

und

Einladung Vortrag Dr. Oberfeld

Liebe Mitstreiter

wir freuen uns sehr, Herrn Dr. med. Gerd Oberfeld im Gröbenzeller Bürgerhaus am Freitag, den 29. April 2005 begrüßen zu dürfen. Dr. Oberfeld ist Umweltmediziner bei der Salzburger Landesregierung und Referent für Umweltmedizin der Österreichischen Ärztekammer.

In seinem Vortrag wird er auf die Auswirkungen von Mobilfunk auf die Gesundheit eingehen und über die neuesten Forschungsergebnisse berichten.

Einführung und Moderation: Dr. Martin Runge, MdL.

Dazu laden wir Sie herzlich ein.

Termin: Freitag, den 29. April 2005 um 19.00 Uhr im Bürgerhaus Gröbenzell

Nähere Infos, siehe:
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/oberfeld_einladung.jpg

Den Vortrag mit anschließender Diskussion haben organisiert:
Bund Naturschutz, Bündnis 90/DIE GRÜNEN und der Arbeitskreis Mobilfunk im Landkreis FFB.

Für die Veranstalter

Lilli Kammerl und Paul Hornyak

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/2603/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

The Campaign for America's Future's 2005 Take Back America Conference will bring together thousands of progressive leaders, thinkers and activists. The conference will include skills trainings and workshops with prominent progressive leaders in Washington from June 1st to 3rd, 2005.

We've extended our early-bird special discount registration date by more than two weeks to April 29th! Register today to attend at the reduced $199 three-day conference rate.

http://action.ourfuture.org/ctt.asp?u=1742757&l=87905

The 2005 Take Back America Conference has launched a new website. Visit today to see our latest agenda and speakers list as well as video and highlights from previous conferences!

http://action.ourfuture.org/ctt.asp?u=1742757&l=87910

Join thousands of fellow activists, elected officials, national opinion leaders and celebrities to build the rising progressive majority in American politics. Take Back America has historically attracted the nation's most prominent progressive leaders and activists from across the country. This year promises to be even better.

Speakers will include:

Bill Moyers*
Sen. John Edwards*
Rev. Jesse Jackson*
Naomi Klein
Al Gore
Sen. Jon Corzine*
Katrina vanden Heuvel*
Arianna Huffington*
Howard Dean
* = confirmed

Register today for Take Back America 2005: The Conference for America's Future

http://action.ourfuture.org/ctt.asp?u=1742757&l=87905

We look forward to seeing you in Washington!

Sincerely,

Robert Borosage, Co-Director
Campaign for America's Future

Roger Hickey, Co-Director
Campaign for America's Future

Keine Kredite für Landräuber, Frau Ministerin!

Die Weltbank und insbesondere ihre Tochter International Finance Cooperation wollen ihre Umwelt- und Sozialstandards aufweichen, die für die Vergabe von Krediten gelten. Die Bundesregierung hat bei der Weltbank den drittgrößten Stimmenanteil und könnte bei der jetzt anstehenden Frühjahrstagung des Geldinstituts ihren Einfluss geltend machen.

Bitte fordern Sie die zuständige Ministerin für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit, Frau Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, noch heute auf, sich für eine soziale und ökologische Verschärfung der Standards statt für deren Abschwächung einzusetzen.

Über unsere Homepage
http://www.regenwald.org
können Sie einen Musterbrief online versenden.

Oder schicken Sie einen selbst formulierten Brief an die
Bundesministerin für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit
Frau Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul
Stresemannstr. 92
10963 Berlin
Fax 030-2503-25 55

Bitte leiten Sie diese Email an Freunde und Bekannte weiter. Bitte nur wenn die Empfänger einverstanden sind.

Vielen Dank für Ihre Unterstützung und herzliche Grüße
Ihr Reinhard Behrend
Vorsitzender Rettet den Regenwald e. V.

Gentechnik: Verbraucherschützer beklagen weiter verdeckten Verkauf von Genfood (14.04.05)

Ein Jahr nach Inkrafttreten der neuen Gentechnik-Kennzeichnungsvorschriften für Lebensmittel sind gekennzeichnete Produkte im Handel praktisch nicht zu finden. Grund dafür ist, dass viele Verbraucher gentechnisch erzeugte Lebensmittel ablehnen und der Handel daher kaum kennzeichnungspflichtige Waren anbietet. Dennoch sind die Waren keineswegs völlig frei von Gentechnik. "Zahlreiche Ausnahmen von der generellen Kennzeichnungspflicht schaffen hier ein falsches Bild", klärt Ernährungsberaterin Heidrun Franke von der Verbraucherzentrale Brandenburg auf.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=10880

FAIR's annual report describes the behind-the-scenes power plays involving PR and advertising firms that infect American journalism.

http://www.tompaine.com/uncommonsense/index.php?dateid=20050414

by Earl Hadley, TomPaine.com

Are the changes to the federal education law meant to help all children succeed--or just a public relations stunt?

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/questioning_bushs_motives.php?dateid=20050414

A project of
Global Justice Ecology Project
PO Box 412
Hinesburg, VT 05461
(802) 482-2689
http://www.globaljusticeecology.org

April 14, 2005

Long-time forest protection activist Tim Hermach calls it "a greater threat to the world's forests than the chainsaw, the feller buncher and the bulldozer combined."

Dr. David Suzuki, geneticist and host of "The Nature of Things" says this threat "has the potential to wreak ecological havoc throughout the world's native forests. " To read Dr. Suzuki's letter of support for the campaign, go to the bottom of this letter.

What is this threat? It is the genetic engineering of trees.

There is still time to stop GE trees, but we need your support to succeed.

Please join the STOP GE Trees Campaign, an alliance of 13 national, regional and local organizations from the US and Canada that have united to stop the genetic engineering of trees. Simply click on http://globaljusticeecology.org/index.php?name=member to donate securely through Paypal or send a contribution by mail.

The year 2005 is critical. GE Tree promoters are going on the offensive to push this dangerous and unproven technology into commercial plantations as soon as 2006. We must stop it this year.

Genetically engineered trees grow for decades if not centuries, can pollinate for hundreds of miles and have wild relatives throughout our native forests.

GE Trees are a disaster waiting to happen.

Trees are being engineered to kill insects. They will contain the bacterial toxin Bt. Bt indiscriminately kills both beneficial and pest insects, and harms wildlife that feed on those insects. The pest insects become rapidly immune to the toxin, leading to applications of increasingly toxic chemical pesticides to control these "super-bugs." Bt is also exuded through the roots of trees, causing disruptions to soil ecology.

Herbicide resistant GE trees can be heavily treated with the chemical herbicide RoundUp and remain unharmed. This will result in large increases in the application of this toxic chemical, contaminating water and soils and impacting local communities.

Trees are also being engineered for reduced lignin. Lignin is the fiber that gives trees rigidity and must be removed to make paper. It gives trees protection against insects, disease and animal browsing, as well as environmental stresses like wind. Removing it makes trees much more susceptible to these threats. In addition, reduced lignin trees rot faster releasing CO2 into the atmosphere more rapidly (very ironic because industry wants to "sell" GE trees to the public by saying they will be used to help stop global warming by soaking up CO2 emissions).

Industry claims that genetically engineered trees will be sterile. However, researchers have admitted that they cannot provide a 100% guarantee that all of the trees will be sterile. Tree pollen can travel up to 1,000 miles , which means it would not take long for GE trees to contaminate vast expanses of native wild forest with the traits above.

Escape of the insect-resistance gene would cause total disruption of the forest ecosystem- insects form the base of the forest food chain. Escape of the low lignin gene would leave trees vulnerable to insects, disease and wind. Contamination by the sterility gene would mean trees would produce no seeds, nuts, fruit, or pollen--no food for wildlife.

Once contamination begins, it cannot be stopped. GE tree plantations contaminate native forests, which themselves become contaminants in a never-ending cycle. This must be stopped before it starts.

GE tree contamination could also be very harmful to private land owners and to public lands. Current legal precedents indicate that trees contaminated with GE pollen would legally become the property of the corporation holding the GE patent. Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser lost his farming livelihood and incurred $160,000 in legal fees as a result of a patent infringement lawsuit brought by Monsanto --all because Percy's canola fields were contaminated by a neighboring farmer's GE canola.

In the case of public lands , this could mean contaminated trees in a designated Wilderness Area becoming the legal property of a corporation. In this lose-lose scenario, either the corporation would be allowed to go in and log the contaminated trees, or they would remain there and continue to contaminate more native forests. The only solution is not to allow GE trees into the environment in the first place. Please Help us stop GE trees. Just click on http://globaljusticeecology.org/index.php?name=member to donate securely through Paypal.

In addition to their ravaging ecological impacts, GE Tree plantations will be devastating for rural and indigenous communities in the regions being targeted for GE tree plantations--in the Global South, as well as the Southeast U.S.

Many rural and indigenous communities communities rely on intact native forests for their livelihood, water, medicines, food and fuel. In areas where native forests have been removed and industrial tree plantations developed, communities' water tables have dropped dramatically, impacting crops, livestock and native forests. Loss of wildlife has left communities without access to game for subsistence hunting. Toxic herbicides and pesticides contaminate water supplies. Including GE trees in these plantations will magnify these problems. Plus, GE trees grow faster, so they more rapidly deplete ground water and soils, accelerating desertification of the land.

In addition, physicians working with Filipino agricultural workers have found indications that inhalation of Bt pollen causes allergic and immune system reactions. The long-term impacts are unstudied. Widespread dispersal of Bt pollen from GE trees could lead to serious health impacts, particularly on nearby communities.

GE trees must not be released into the environment. Join the growing movement to end this menace.

To Join, click on http://globaljusticeecology.org/index.php?name=member to donate securely through Paypal or send a contribution through the mail.

Your support will help advance the campaign against GE trees. It will be used for the following activities:

GE Trees Documentary: Global Justice Ecology Project is collaborating with filmmakers on a documentary entitled A SILENT FOREST: The Growing Threat of Genetically Engineered Trees, narrated by Dr. David Suzuki. The film details impacts of GE trees on forests and wildlife as well as rural and indigenous communities.

English and Spanish versions of the documentary and an accompanying report will be distributed along with Action Tool Kits that give recipients organizing tools including posters, sample press releases, letters to the editor, citizen action guides, petitions and how-to instructions to organize a showing.

Media Campaign: We have initiated an aggressive media campaign to reach people throughout the US, Latin America and around the world with the extreme dangers of commercializing GE trees.

University Campaign: We will be traveling to various campuses to hold presentations and trainings with the goal of organizing campus chapters of the Stop GE Trees Campaign.

Strategy Sessions: Global Justice Ecology Project will be organizing national and international strategy meetings involving national, regional and grassroots groups from around the world to advance regional and global campaigns against genetically engineered trees.

GE Fruit Tree Campaign: This program will enable us to connect the movement against GE trees with the movement against GE foods and will include outreach to non-GE fruit growers.

Markets Campaigns: Active markets campaigns are being coordinated by national coalitions against numerous corporations that make, sell or buy timber or paper products. These campaigns include demands to reject GE trees.

Focus on the Southeast: GE trees research and development in the US is predominant in the Southeast, which has the majority of test plots and industrial tree plantations. The STOP GE Trees Campaign has a special emphasis on this critical region.

Join the campaign to STOP GE Trees! This campaign relies heavily on the support of individuals like you.

To Join, click on http://globaljusticeecology.org/index.php?name=member and donate securely through Paypal, or to send a contribution through the mail .

Thank you for supporting this important campaign.

Sincerely,

Anne E. Petermann
STOP GE Trees Campaign Steering Committee Coordinator
Global Justice Ecology Project Co-Director

P.S. Join today at the level of $75 or more and we will send you a free copy of the GE trees video narrated by Dr. David Suzuki along with the action tool kit to enable you to get active with the campaign and organize a showing of the video in your own community.

The STOP GE Trees Campaign includes the following groups: Sierra Club, Rainforest Action Network, Dogwood Alliance, Polaris Institute, Institute for Social Ecology Biotechnology Project, GE Free Maine, ForestEthics, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Northwest RAGE, WildLaw, Southern Forests Network, Forest Guild and Global Justice Ecology Project.



Letter of Support from Dr. David Suzuki,
Emeritus Professor of Genetics, University of British Columbia

I am writing to support Global Justice Ecology Project's Genetically Engineered Trees Program.

GJEP's co-founders have been leaders in the effort to end the genetic engineering of trees since 1999.

We have no control over the movement of insects, birds and mammals, wind and rain that carry pollen. Genetically engineered trees, with the potential to transfer pollen for hundreds of miles carrying genes for traits including insect resistance, herbicide resistance, sterility and reduced lignin, thus have the potential to wreak ecological havoc throughout the world's native forests.

GE trees could also impact wildlife as well as rural and indigenous communities that depend on intact forests for their food, shelter, water, livelihood and cultural practices.

As a geneticist, I believe there are far too many unknowns and unanswered questions to be growing genetically engineered plants - food crops or trees - in open fields. GE trees should not be released into the environment in commercial plantations and any outdoor test plots or existing plantations should be removed.

Global Justice Ecology Project is coordinating efforts in North America with the Stop GE Trees Campaign, a network of more than a dozen national and regional groups; and they are facilitating an international alliance of groups working on the GE tree threat all over the world.

I support their efforts to end the hasty and far too premature rush to grow genetically engineered trees outside of controlled lab facilities. That is why I agreed to narrate the video "A Silent Forest: The Growing Threat of Genetically Engineered Trees" which Global Justice Ecology Project is co-producing.
I encourage you to join me in supporting the work of Global Justice Ecology Project against genetically engineered trees because it is critical work that too few are doing.

Sincerely,

David Suzuki



Anne Petermann
Co-Director
Global Justice Ecology Project
P.O. Box 412
Hinesburg, VT 05461
+1-802-482-2689 ph/fax

https://www.pressetext.at/pte.mc?pte=050326005


Nachricht von Wolfgang Blüher

Amnesty International has created a new downloadable organizing kit - based on the award-winning film, Hotel Rwanda -- that you can use to bring human rights education to your community. The kit is composed of three elements: a house party kit, a teacher's guide, and a photo exhibit, and is designed to be used in conjunction with the release of Hotel Rwanda on DVD. We encourage you to use these new resources and to share them with family, friends and teachers.

ABOUT HOTEL RWANDA

In 1994 almost one million people were killed in a systematic genocide in the central African country of Rwanda. As the world stood by, a handful of brave, resourceful and inspiring individuals did all they could to save Rwandans from brutal deaths. Paul Rusesabagina, whose story is portrayed in this film, reminds all of us what one person can accomplish when moved to act.

Terry George, Hotel Rwanda's director, takes us on Paul's journey, showing the country's struggle and how the world turned a blind eye. He leads us in the end to a place of hope and promise.

"I still can't believe they made a movie about me. I'm just an average person. Hopefully people will see that even an average person can make a difference in someone else's life just by opening your eyes and your heart." - Paul Rusesabagina, USA Today, January 3, 2005

This new organizing kit will help you and others explore the history of the crisis and use the film as a guide to discuss strategies that could have been pursued to prevent the genocide. It is also a tool for analyzing what will be effective in the future as the international community confronts similar conditions. The kit also includes information and actions on the current situation in Darfur, Sudan - including a compelling, downloadable photo exhibit.

DOWNLOAD THE KIT NOW
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=677776&l=12576

Die Aktionswoche für globale Gerechtigkeit ist in vollem Gange. Ein lebendiges Huhn gab es gestern für jeden Abgeordneten - behängt mit einem Kettchen und einer Botschaft: Nicht in Berlin, sondern in Accra (Ghana) lassen die an der Aktionswoche für globale Gerechtigkeit beteiligten Gruppen heute die Hühner raus, um gegen das Dumping mit Geflügel aus der Europäischen Union zu protestieren. "Keine Chicken schicken" lautet ihre Botschaft nach Europa, denn die minderwertigen Geflügelteile, die hierzulande niemand auftauen will, ruinieren dort die Existenz der kleinen Bauern, die ihre Hühner nicht so billig verkaufen können.

Solch einfallsreiche Aktionen gegen die Folgen ungerechten Welthandels gibt es in dieser Woche in mehr als 80 Ländern und in über 50 deutschen Orten. Doch auch wer sich nicht an diesen Aktionen beteiligen kann, muss nicht untätig sein: Auf http://www.attac.de/wto/april05/protestmails/ kann nach wie vor online protestiert werden. Unser Protest richtet sich insbesondere gegen die Verhandlungsposition der EU-Kommission beim GATS: Von vielen Ländern wird die Liberalisierung weiterer Dienstleistungsbereiche verlangt, die Öffnung europäischer Märkte wird im Gegenzug angeboten. Betroffen sind auch so sensible Bereiche wie Wasserversorgung, Bildung, Gesundheit. Das GATS ist Ausdruck einer radikalen Marktideologie im Konzerninteresse: Gemeinwohl, Demokratie, Umweltschutz, Arbeits- und Sozialstandards werden ausgehöhlt; private Konzerne können hingegen noch mehr Profit machen und ihren Einfluss weiter ausdehnen.

Daher richtet sich unser Protest auch direkt an diejenigen, die maßgeblichen Einfluss auf die EU-Positionen haben: Kommissionspräsident Jose Manuel Barroso, Handelskommissar Peter Mandelson und Industriekommissar Günter Verheugen - sie alle erhalten Mails über den Protestmailomaten. Wir hoffen auf viele Klicks!

(Auszug)

Referendum in Frankreich: Das "Non" zum vorliegenden Verfassungsentwurf wird stärker. Die Chancen, den vorliegenden EU-Verfassungsentwurf beim Referendum in Frankreich am 29. Mai zu stoppen, werden immer besser: Die Zahl derjenigen, die mit "NON" stimmen wollen, ist in jüngsten Umfragen auf 54 Prozent gestiegen. Weil die Befürworter des Verfassungsentwurfs derzeit mit einer großen Werbekampagne in die Offensive gehen, müssen auch die Gegenaktivitäten weiter verstärkt werden. Nur dann kann es gelingen, diese Verfassung mit ihrer Festlegung auf eine neoliberale Wirtschaftspolitik, mit ihrer Verpflichtung zur europaweiten Aufrüstung und ihrem Demokratie-Defizit zu stoppen und einen neuen Verfassungsvertrag auszuhandeln - mit breiter Beteiligung der BürgerInnen, und mit dem Ziel, ein soziales, friedliches, ökologisches und demokratisches Europa zu schaffen.

Großes Interesse an Unterstützung durch deutsche Attac-Mitglieder:

Damit das gelingt, brauchen wir Unterstützung. Das Angebot von Attac Deutschland, im Rahmen der internationalen Kampagne "Les faces du non" ReferentInnen und HelferInnen für Veranstaltungen in Frankreich zu vermitteln, ist bei unseren französischen Attac-Freunden auf große Resonanz gestoßen. Alle, die sich vorstellen können, bei einer Veranstaltung in Frankreich zu sprechen oder Material zu verteilen, sollten sich möglichst bald per Mail unter faces-du-non@attac.de melden. Auch von Deutschland aus ist Unterstützung möglich: Durch eine zweckgebundene Spende für die Kampagne, oder indem man ein Foto mailt, dass dann genutzt wird, um die "Gesichter des Nein" zu symbolisieren. Alle Informationen dazu finden sich auf der Seite http://www.attac.de/faces-du-non .

Internationale Aktion am 5. Mai (Europatag) an der Europabrücke (Kehl/Straßburg)

Eine grenzüberschreitende Protestaktion für ein Nein beim französischen Referendum findet am Donnerstag, 5. Mai (Himmelfahrt und Europatag), um 14 Uhr auf der Europabrücke zwischen Kehl und Straßburg statt. Unter dem Motto "JA zu Europa - NEIN zu dieser EU-Verfassung" soll auf der Brücke ein großes "NON" gebildet werden, um die französische "NON-Kampagne" zu unterstützen.

Treffpunkt auf deutscher Seite ist um 13 Uhr auf dem Bahnhofsvorplatz in Kehl, die Aktion beginnt um 14 Uhr. Veranstalter sind Attac Stuttgart, Attac Strasbourg und das Koordinationsbüro der Kampagne gegen die EU-Verfassung; AnsprechpartnerInnen von Attac Stuttgart sind Heike Hänsel, Tel. 07071-52200 und Adolf Riekenberg, Tel. 07182-49112

Weitere Informationen und Flugblätter zur Mobilisierung
gibt es unter http://www.attac.de/eu-verfassung/strassburg.php



Europa: Nein zu diesem EU-Verfassungsvertrag – Ja zu einem sozialen, demokratischen und friedlichen Europa

Europa ist in schlechter Verfassung. Die jüngsten anti-sozialen Zumutungen von Seiten der EU-Kommission und des EU-Rates sprechen eine deutliche Sprache. So die Bolkestein-Richtlinie, mit der die Dienstleistungsmärkte in der EU total liberalisiert werden, oder die Arbeitszeitrichtlinie, mit der europaweite Arbeitszeitverlängerungen auf den Weg gebracht werden sollen. Begleitet wird dies von einer andauernden Aufrüstung der EU-Mitgliedstaaten hin zu einer weltweiten Kriegsführungsfähigkeit. Der Verfassungsvertrag soll, wenn es nach dem Willen der Staats- und Regierungschefs der EU geht, die Grundlage für die Politik in Europa in den nächsten Jahrzehnten bilden.

Jetzt hat in den einzelnen Staaten der Ratifikationsprozess begonnen.

Wir, die Unterzeichnerinnen und Unterzeichner, wenden uns gegen die Ratifizierung dieses Verfassungsvertrags. Denn mit diesem Vertrag wird kein soziales, friedliches und demokratisches Europa unterstützt.

Wirtschafts- und gesellschaftspolitisch wird die Europäische Union eine neoliberale Ausrichtung festgelegt

- weil die Wirtschafts- und Währungspolitik der EU auf den "Grundsatz einer offenen Marktwirtschaft mit freiem Wettbewerb" (III-177, III-178) und weltweiten Freihandel (III, 314) verpflichtet wird;

- weil die Beschäftigungs- und Sozialpolitik den "Grundzügen der Wirtschaftspolitik" untergeordnet wird (III-206, 179), die geprägt sind durch die einseitige Orientierung auf das "vorrangige" Ziel der "Preisstabilität" (I-3, I-30, III-177, 185) und durch den in Verfassungsrang erhobenen "Stabilitätspakt" (III-184);

- weil die Etablierung der Marktfreiheiten (III, 130), eines Eigentumsrechts ohne soziale Bindungen (II, 77) und eine Stabilitätspolitik, die der internationalen Wettbewerbsfähigkeit dienen soll (u.a. III 185), Vorrang haben vor anderen Politikzielen.

Mit diesem Vertrag wird kein friedensfähiges Europa ermöglicht

- weil mit ihm die Militarisierung der Europäischen Union, bis hin zur globalen Kriegsführungsfähigkeit vorangetrieben wird (I-41, 1 und III-309);

- weil Aufrüstung zur Pflicht wird: "Die Mitgliedstaaten verpflichten sich, ihre militärischen Fähigkeiten schrittweise zu verbessern" (Art. I-41 Abs. 3);

- weil eine Rüstungsagentur, die "Agentur für die Bereiche Entwicklung der Verteidigungsfähigkeiten, Forschung, Beschaffung und Rüstung" in der Verfassung festgeschrieben wird, um die Aufrüstung der Mitgliedstaaten zu überwachen und zudem "zweckdienliche Maßnahmen zur Stärkung der industriellen und technologischen Basis des Verteidigungssektors" durchzusetzen (III-311);

- weil eine Verpflichtung auf die UN-Charta als Ganzes nicht vorgesehen ist und somit auch Militärinterventionen, die nicht UN-mandatiert durchgeführt werden, vom EU-Verfassungsvertrag gedeckt sind.

Mit diesem Vertrag werden die sozialen Grundrechte nicht gestärkt

- weil die sozialen und gewerkschaftlichen Grundrechte in der EU-Grundrechtecharta durch beigefügte Erläuterungen ausgehöhlt und praktisch ihrer Wirksamkeit beraubt werden (II-112, 7, Erklärung Nr. 12). Zwar ist ein sozialer Dialog zwischen den Tarifparteien vorgesehen (I 48; III 211). Doch werden den Arbeitnehmerinnen und Arbeitnehmern keine Mitbestimmungsrechte eingeräumt (II 87). Die Verfassungsartikel über eine repräsentative und partizipative Demokratie (I 46; I 47) können daher nur schwer mit Leben gefüllt werden;

- weil den europäischen Bürgerinnen und Bürgern anstelle eines "Rechts auf Arbeit" nur das "Recht zu arbeiten" gewährt (II-75) wird.

Mit diesem Vertrag wird kein demokratisches Europa geschaffen

- weil das Demokratiedefizit bestehen bleibt. Das Europäischen Parlament erhält nicht einmal die gleichen gesetzgeberischen Befugnisse wie der Ministerrat. Das parlamentarische Grundrecht auf eigene Gesetzesinitiativen bleibt den Abgeordneten weiterhin vorenthalten. Das Parlament hat in vielen und entscheidenden Bereichen lediglich ein Anhörungsrecht (III 173; III 304) und kann die EU-Kommission lediglich auffordern, „geeignete Vorschläge zu Fragen vorzulegen, die nach seiner Auffassung die Ausarbeitung eines Rechtsakts der Union zur Anwendung der Verfassung erfordern“ (Art. III-332). Die Wahl des Kommissionspräsidenten obliegt zwar den Abgeordneten, beschränkt sich aber auf Bestätigung oder Ablehnung eines einzigen, vom Europäischen Rat vorgeschlagenen Kandidaten (Art. I-27);

- weil die Entscheidungen in der Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik vom Europäischen Rat, Ministerrat und vom EU-Außenminister getroffen werden.

Das Europaparlament wird lediglich „regelmäßig gehört“ und über die „Entwicklung auf dem Laufenden gehalten“ (Art. I-40);

- weil es keine Möglichkeit der Individualklage vor dem Europäischen Gerichtshof in den Bereichen der Gemeinsamen Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik und in der Innen- und Rechtspolitik (Art. III-376 und III-377) gibt.

Mit diesem Vertrag entsteht keine zukunftsoffene Verfassung der Europäischen Union.

Es wäre für die demokratische Entwicklung in Europa fatal, wenn diese Verfassung angenommen würde. Sie ist weder zukunftsoffen noch zukunftsfähig. Eine Verfassung muss Raum für politische Alternativen offen halten. Dies geschieht im vorliegenden Verfassungsvertrag nicht. Im Gegenteil: Dieser Raum wird geschlossen. Eine Änderung des Verfassungsvertrages ist nur möglich, wenn alle Mitgliedstaaten der EU einem neuen Vertrag zustimmen und ihn ratifizieren (IV-443), keineswegs per Bürgerbegehren (I-47). In wenigen Jahren wird die EU 30 und mehr Mitgliedstaaten haben. Vor diesem Hintergrund ist eine spätere Änderung des Verfassungsvertrages wirklichkeitsfremd.

Um zu verhindern, dass dieser Vertrag in Kraft tritt, unterstützen wir die öffentliche Kampagne, die die Bevölkerungen über die Inhalte dieses Vertrages aufklärt. Die einseitigen Informationskampagnen der Regierungen für die Zustimmung zum Verfassungsvertrag, die den Charakter von Propagandafeldzügen tragen, müssen eingestellt werden. Die dafür vorgesehenen Mittel sollten zur ausgewogenen Information von Bürgerinnen und Bürgern verwendet werden;.

Wir rufen die Abgeordneten in den Parlamenten jener Länder, in denen die Ratifizierung per Parlamentsvotum erfolgen soll, auf, gegen den EU-Verfassungsvertrag zu stimmen. Wir rufen die Bürgerinnen und Bürger, die per Referendum über den Verfassungsvertrag abstimmen können, auf, den Vertrag über die Verfassung abzulehnen.

Nein zu diesem Verfassungsvertrag!

Ja zu einem sozialen, friedensfähigen und demokratischen Europa!

(Bei diesem Aufruf handelt es sich um eine Initiative aus dem wissenschaftlichen Beirat von Attac-Deutschland.)

Mit besten Grüßen
Peter Strutynski

Hier geht es zur friedenspolitischen Website der AG Friedensforschung an der Uni Kassel, die ich wie immer wärmstens empfehle: http://www.uni-kassel.de/fb5/frieden/


Quelle: 7. Rundmail des Friedensratschlags

Zahl der Depressionen nimmt laut Kassenstatistik zu. Wer seine eigenen Interessen nicht vertritt, wird schneller depressiv. Ein Interview von Claudia Wangerin mit Prof. Ulrich Hegerl, Psychiater in München und Leiter des "Kompetenznetz Depression",
http://www.kompetenznetz-depression.de erschienen in junge Welt vom 09.04.2005 http://www.jungewelt.de/2005/04-09/019.php


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 24, Eintrag 8

"Mangelnde Leistung von Mitarbeitern muss nicht tatenlos hingenommen werden." ..."Low Perfomer identifizieren" .... "Der richtige Umgang mit Low Performern". Immer offener wird seit einiger Zeit auf Arbeitgeberseite beraten, wie bei angeblichen Leistungsmängeln von Arbeitnehmerinnen und Arbeitnehmern (AN) vorzugehen ist. Das Ziel ist: "eine Trennung von solchen Mitarbeitern einzuleiten". Für Betriebs- und Personalräte bedeutet dieser Trend, möglichst frühzeitig Maßnahmen durchzusetzen, um die systematischen Ausgrenzung und Überwachung von AN zu verhindern. Sind belastende Daten vom Arbeitgeber erst einmal gesammelt und die Kündigung durch gesammelte Vorwürfe über Monate vorbereitet, wird es schwierig, eine Kündigung zu verhindern. Die AN sind dann in der unangenehmen Situation, sich ins Unternehmen oder in die Dienststelle wieder"hineinklagen" zu müssen. Das muss nicht sein. Wichtig ist, vorbeugend Sicherungen einzubauen, die die Datensammelwut mancher Personalverantwortlicher in die Schranken weist…"

Mandanteninfo des Anwaltsbüros Bell & Windirsch vom 06.04. 2005. (pdf)

http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeitsalltag/allg/lowperformer.pdf


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 24, Eintrag 8

Diskussionspapier erarbeitet von Ronald Blaschke; ständiger Vertreter des Arbeitslosenverbandes Deutschland e.V. am bundesweiten Runden Tisch der Erwerbslosen- und Sozialhilfeorganisationen vom 31. März 2005.

http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/realpolitik/kombilohn/mindest_blaschke.pdf


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 24, Eintrag 8

Entfesselung männlicher Konkurrenzsubjekte und Erzeugung rechtloser Dienstbotinnen. Artikel von Frank Rentschler in EXIT! Nr. 2 vom 23.03.2005.

http://www.exit-online.org/html/link.php?tab=autoren&kat=Frank+Rentschler&ktext=Das+Geschlecht+des+aktivierenden+Staates


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 24, Eintrag 8

Eklatante Rechtsverstöße gegen Hartz IV-Bestimmungen durch private Vermittler in Norddeutschland. Artikel von Andreas Grünwald in Junge Welt vom 13. April 2005.

http://www.jungewelt.de/2005/04-13/013.php


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 24, Eintrag 8

Positionspapier des ver.di-Erwerbslosenrates Hamburg zu den 1-Euro-Jobs vom 6. April 2005. (pdf)
http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/realpolitik/hilfe/position_hh.pdf

Aus dem Text: "…Wir lehnen die Ein-Euro-Jobs deshalb ab. Wir fordern sozialversicherungspflichtige Beschäftigungsverhältnisse und die Einführung eines Mindestlohns. (…) Der Erwerbslosenrat erklärt sich als Interessenvertretung für zuständig und gibt sich folgendes Sofortprogramm: Die Bildung einer Anlaufstelle samt Hotline für Ein-Euro-Jobber. Die Bildung von Interessenvertretungen bei Beschäftigungsträgern und in den einzelnen Bezirken…."


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 24, Eintrag 8

Grundsatzentscheidung: Tacheles wird keine 1 - Euro - Jobber
beschäftigen !

"Über Eintausend Ein-Euro-Jobs soll es in Wuppertal geben. Selbst Sozialeinrichtungen wie die Wuppertaler Tafel und das Arbeitslosenzentrum springen nun auf diesen Zug auf. Damit beteiligen sich aus Tacheles Sicht diese Organisationen an staatlich geförderter Zwangsarbeit, die zudem in den meisten Fällen rechtswidrig sein dürfte.

Tacheles fordert auch andere soziale Organisationen und Vereine Wuppertals auf, ebenfalls verbindlich zu erklären keine Ein-Euro-Jobs einzurichten und damit diesem arbeitsmarktpolitischen Wahnsinn ein Ende zu setzen…."

Die Pressemitteilung von Tacheles e.V. vom 23.03.2005
http://www.tacheles-sozialhilfe.de/aktuelles/2005/Ein-Euro-Jobs.html

Siehe hierzu auch:

1.000 Billigjobs in Wuppertal. Die Chance, Arbeitsgelegenheiten einzurichten, nutzen viele Wuppertaler Träger dazu, Dienstleistungen, die sie sonst bezahlen müssten, billig von ALG-II-Empfängern erledigen zu lassen

"Der Wuppertaler Verein Tacheles e. V. hat eine Liste veröffentlicht, die die rund 1.000 Ein-Euro-Jobs der Stadt im Bergischen öffentlich macht. Die Wuppertaler Arbeitsagentur hat die Echtheit dieser Liste gestern gegenüber der taz bestätigt. Die Sprecherin der Arbeitsagentur Wuppertal, Franziska Arndt-Duve sagte gestern: "Die Liste hat der Verein aus unserem Computer bekommen". Wie der Verein daran gekommen sei, sei ein Rätsel, "vielleicht haben wir in der Agentur einen Maulwurf"…." Artikel von Elmar Kok in der taz Ruhr vom 13.4.2005
http://www.taz.de/pt/2005/04/13/a0024.nf/text.ges,1

Die Liste der 1 - Euro - Job Anbieter in Wuppertal als PDF-Datei (2.101 KB) bei Tacheles
http://www.tacheles-sozialhilfe.de/aktuelles/2005/eineuro-wuppertal.pdf


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 24, Eintrag 8

1-Euro-Jobs und würdiger Umgang mit Arbeitslosen - Caritas
Göttingen

Noch ein offener Brief, diesmal von der GALG (Gewerkschaftliche Arbeitslosengruppe Göttingens) an den Caritasverband für Stadt und Landkreis Göttingen e. V. vom 07. April 2005. Thema: 1-Euro-Jobs und würdiger Umgang mit Arbeitslosen. Offensichtlich beabsichtigt das Bistum Hildesheim Gutes zu tun und möchte schneller seliggesprochen werden als der letzte Papst. Das Zauberwort heißt 1-€-Jobs, möglichst viele, möglichst schnell, möglichst wenig dafür ausgeben und möglichst viel daran verdienen. Widerwärtig, findet die Redaktion des Labournet und die Initiative auch die passenden Worte dafür.

http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/realpolitik/hilfe/galg.html


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 24, Eintrag 8

Offener Brief zur Situation der Beschäftigten in der ARGE Wuppertal

In einem offenen Brief an Bundesminister Clement beschreiben H.S. und R.W. die Situation der Beschäftigten in der ARGE Wuppertal und fragen "..Sollten die Reformgegner mit ihrer Meinung etwa Recht behalten, dass es bei der Reform Hartz IV in erster Linie um das Fordern geht?..." , stellen weiterhin berechtigterweise fest, "…dass diese Reform zu Lasten der betroffenen arbeitslosen Menschen und ihrer Familien durchgeführt wird. Die gesetzten Rahmenbedingungen lassen ein Einlösen der Versprechungen nicht zu. Diese Reform geht auch zu Lasten der betroffenen Beschäftigten und deren Familien. Die gesetzten Arbeitsbedingungen führen bei den Beschäftigten zu ernsthaften Erkrankungen.

Die ver.di-Personalräte werden diese Zustände nicht länger hinnehmen und fordern hiermit, dass der politische Druck verringert wird. Die personellen, technischen und räumlichen Voraussetzungen sind schnellstens zu verbessern. Darüber hinaus muss die durch die Politik aufgebaute hohe Erwartungshaltung der ALG II-Kunden auf die derzeitige Realität zurückgeführt werden…" und möchten gleichzeitig ihren Superminister nicht im Regen stehen lassen und bitten Clement "Geben Sie den Beschäftigten der ARGE Wuppertal die Chance, diese Reform zum Erfolg zu führen."

http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/realpolitik/zwang/offenerbrief.html


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 24, Eintrag 8

In Ergänzung des Beitrages von Peter Maron in der Frankfurter Rundschau vom 8. April 2005 noch ein Beitrag von Peter Novak auf Telepolis vom 11. April 2005. Aus dem Text: "…Die Sicherheitsüberprüfungen wurden nach den Anschlägen vom 11.September 2001 verabschiedet, um "sicherheitsrelevante Einrichtungen wie Atomkraftwerke oder Flughäfen vor Anschlägen zu schützen", so die offizielle Begründung.

Agenturen für Arbeit gehörten damals allerdings nicht zu den Zielobjekten der Terrorfahndung. Die bekannt gewordenen Überprüfungen scheinen Befürchtungen von Bürgerrechtsorganisationen zu bestätigen, die davor warnten, dass solche Überprüfungen schnell auf weite Teile der Gesellschaft ausgeweitet werden. Im Visier ist dann nicht mehr der Terrorismus, sondern politischer Protest. Schließlich wird keine Sicherheitsbehörde mit einem Terroranschlag im Arbeitsamt gerechnet haben. Sehr wohl aber wurden die Proteste gegen die Hartz IV-Gesetze beobachtet, vor allem als sie sich mit Aktionen wie Agenturschluss gezielt gegen die Ausführung der Gesetze richteten…."

Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 24, Eintrag 8
http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/19/19862/1.html

PRESS RELEASE

VALID: indefinitely

Mast Sanity is the national organisation representing mast groups and regional campaigns. One such group among the 900 on Mast Sanity's list is Tetrawatch which concentrates its efforts on campaigning to address the continuing efforts being made by the Government, Home Office, O2 Airwave and police forces to introduce Tetra nationwide against the wishes of a large number of residents.

Tetrawatch has invited all protest and campaign group members to express their concerns by e-mail to the Home Office official most responsible for the introduction and support of the Airwave (Tetra) project, in a concerted and concentrated effort so that he and his Departments can be in no doubt that there exists strong feeling among the people of Britain.

Directed mainly towards Sir John Gieve, Permanent Secretary to the Home Office, the planned protest will be evident on the morning of Wednesday 13th April, when large numbers of e-mails will be received by Ministers, MPs and Officials, from protesters.

COMMENT:

Among the reasons why Tetra is the subject of this campaign strategem are:

1. Tetra is proving to cause health symptoms to large numbers of uninvolved people.

2. Tetra is not the most cost-effective solution for an effective new police communications system.

3. There are functional deficiencies in the Tetra specification and delivered system.

4. Unlike most mobile phones, Tetra emits damaging electromagnetic radiation 24 hours a day with no respite for sufferers, which affects quality of life.

5. No research into the effects of Tetra is being conducted and the system was never tested prior to introduction.

6. Indulgent planning laws and attitudes of the ODPM have been effective in allowing the spread of Tetra despite reasoned opposition.

7. The people who have cause for concern are being ignored and pilloried by authority.

8. The robust opposition of people to the introduction and spread of Tetra has been forced by dis- and misinformation from O2 Airwave, ODPM, Ministers including Hazel Blears, Mireille Levy, Caroline Flint and others, who have used specious arguments provided to them by O2 Airwave and Home Office Civil Servants to deny that the problems being highlighted should be taken seriously.

Contact: John O'Brien 01903 883414
Tetrawatch@aol.com or watch@tetrawatch.net
http://www.tetrawatch.net

http://www.mastsanity.org
Advice line: 08704 322 377
Press Office: 01962 864 388

Please have a thorough look at this site and forward widely:

This site is comprised solely of letters directly from the G.I.s.
The site is updated daily.
http://www.militaryproject.org/
http://www.militaryproject.org/article.asp?id=529
and also:
http://www.traveling-soldier.org/

Then visit http://www.addictedtowar.com/


Informant: sash

Sure, the people with the 9/11 conspiracy theories are a little odd. But not everything they're saying is entirely crazy.

By Steven T. Jones

San Francisco Bay Guardian

[Note: This article has been changed from the print version to correct and update information about terrorism suspect Zacarias Moussaoui.]

THE GRAND LAKE Theater in Oakland was filled almost to capacity March 10, just as the Guild Theatre in Menlo Park was the night before and the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco would be the next night, all for a documentary with bad production values and even worse leaps of logic.

This was the local premiere of The Great Conspiracy: The 9/11 News Special You Never Saw, a benefit screening for the Northern California 9/11 Truth Alliance, whose activists have been laboring for more than three years to dispel popular belief in the government's version of the events on that fateful day. [...]

Yet the most disturbing thing about the 9/11 truth movement, something you learn when you really dissect their most compelling evidence, is that the activists are raising critically important questions about the Bush administration's lies, cover-ups, and geopolitical strategy – questions that are being almost entirely ignored by the mainstream media.

And they may well be right that more went down on 9/11 than the government wants us to know. [...] Read the rest at the SanFrancisco Bay Guardian: http://www.sfbg.com/39/25/cover_conspiracy.html or at the 911Truth.org web site, where they have this introduction to the San Franciso Bay Guardian news story: Breakthrough moment! The intrepid San Francisco Bay Guardian FINALLY wades into the 9/11 fray. City editor Jones adroitly covers his "respectable journalist" ass with careful research and distanced language, but he also lays out the 9/11 truth movement's official complicity case with admirable clarity and verve. - Ed. http://911truth.org/article.php?story=2005032321332746 or http://tinyurl.com/583gv


© Virginia Metze

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0412-10.htm


© Virginia Metze

GMO Rice Sold in Central China Markets - Greenpeace
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/30375/story.htm

News that a U.S. company recently sent vials of a 1957 pandemic flu strain to laboratories across the world by accident is only the latest outrage from the billion-dollar boondoggle called the federal biological weapons program.

As you might recall, the Bush administration started its “biodefense” spending spree following the September 2001 deadly anthrax attacks, and one of its first projects was to genetically engineer a super-resistant, even more deadly version of the anthrax virus.

Our leaders are nuts.

Unfortunately, Project Jefferson has good company. A US Army scientist in Maryland is currently trying to bring back elements of the 1918 Spanish flu, a virus which killed 40 million people. And a virologist in St. Louis has been working on a more lethal form of mousepox (related to smallpox) – just to try stopping the virus once it’s been created.

Lack of oversight and runaway spending are exacerbated by the Bush administration’s disrespect for the internationally-recognized Biological Weapons Convention. In short, reduced pressure on weapons labs to issue declarations and allow inspections means less accountability – and more opportunities for secrecy and abuse.

Put bluntly, the increasing number of stateside bioweapons blunders should come as no surprise. In February 2003, for example, the University of California at Davis (UCD) took a full ten days to inform nearby communities that a rhesus monkey had escaped from its primate-breeding facility. Coincidentally, UCD had been vying for government funds to set up its own "hot zone" biodefense lab which could use primates for biological weapons testing. If that monkey had been infected with ebola, or some other virus, it’s unclear when or if the public would have been informed.

At roughly the same time that the monkey ditched UCD, the Pentagon unearthed over 2,000 tons of hazardous biological waste in Maryland, much of it undocumented leftovers of an abandoned germ warfare program. Nearby, the FBI was draining a pond for clues into 2001's anthrax attacks.

Doesn’t inspire much trust in the transparency of US biological weapons programs. And things appear only to be getting worse.

In 2004, a whopping $6 billion went up for grabs for federal biodefense programs, and laboratories across the country went ballistic trying to get their hands on some of that cash. Predictably, cases of fraud and abuse quickly surfaced.

In June 2004, for example, the Army was caught shirking inspections at a major biodefense lab under its domain. The scandal went back to 1999, when the Army commissioned a biological and chemical weapons-agent lab at Tennessee’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Oversight regulations obligated the Army to inspect the lab each year thereafter, and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) were supposed to have inspected the lab on a regular basis too.

Everything seemed to be running smoothly; in December 2003, the committee in charge of safety at the Oak Ridge lab announced that it "remains comfortable of the review and inspections of the Chem/Bio Facility conducted by the CDC and the Army."

Small problem. In 2004, the Department of Energy's Inspector General discovered that the Army actually hadn’t inspected the Oak Ridge biodefense lab for the previous three years, and that the CDC hadn’t been there for four years. Yet the lab’s safety committee said it was “comfortable” with the imaginary inspections.

Also in 2004, a military biodefense contractor called Southern Research landed in hot water by accidentally sending live anthrax across the country from Frederick, Maryland to the Children’s Hospital of Oakland (California). To make matters worse, it turns out that Southern Research’s lab in Frederick, Maryland didn’t even maintain the institutional biosafety committee required by federal research rules. The punishment for these acts of gross incompetence and irresponsibility? The Bush administration gave Southern Research the task of safeguarding a new $30 million biological weapons facility being built near Chicago.

In September of the same year, three lab workers at the Boston University Medical Center were accidentally exposed to a potentially lethal biowarfare agent called tularaemia bacterium. The lab didn’t report the tularemia infections until two months later though – after it had won a contract to build a new, $178 million biodefense laboratory.

Concerns about lack of transparency and monetary waste aside, the administration’s bioweapons buildup raises obvious ethical problems. Why should the U.S. create newer, even deadlier viruses? Who are these catastrophic weapons going to be tested on? What populations will they ultimately be used against?

These questions take on urgent meaning given the Bush administration’s military adventurism coupled with the US media’s poor coverage regarding war victims. For example, eyewitnesses to the late-2004 attack on Fallujah claimed that US forces used poisonous gases, and “weird” bombs that exploded into fires that burned the skin despite water being thrown on the burns – a telltale sign of napalm or phosphorus bombs

UK reaction to the revelation was swift and strong, with demands that Prime Minister Blair remove British troops from Iraq until the US ceased from using such savage weaponry. Labor MP Alice Mahon demanded that Blair make "an emergency statement to the Commons to explain why this is happening. It begs the question: 'Did we know about this hideous weapon's use in Iraq?'"

No similar outrage in Congress. In fact, no comment at all. The US mainstream media didn’t cover the “weird bomb” allegations.

But it doesn’t take a genius to put two-and-two together: if we permit our government to ignore international weapons-control conventions and then say nothing while fresh billions are invested in barbaric new weaponry, we lose the right to act surprised when our own military uses that weaponry on innocent civilians abroad.

Or even on us.

You may be surprised to learn that in 2003, the Pentagon quietly admitted to having used biological/chemical agents on 5,842 service members in secret tests conducted over a ten-year period (1962-73).

In operations called Project 112 and Project SHAD, the Defense Department tested its own weapons on service members aboard Navy ships, and in all sorts of other nasty ways – such as spraying a Hawaiian rainforest and parts of Oahu. All in all, tests were conducted in six states (Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Utah) as well as in Canada and Britain.

Many military personnel were not informed when the toxic agents were being tested on them. Only decades later, as crucial documents slowly become declassified, have the veterans’ health complaints been acknowledged.

You might think such barbarism could never happen again: too many legal protections for citizens in place. Think again.

There’s a tricky clause in Chapter 32/Title 50 of the United States Code (the aggregation of US general and permanent laws) which states that the Secretary of Defense can conduct a chemical or biological agent test or experiment on humans in certain cases “if informed consent has been obtained.”

So far so good. But check out a different part of Chapter 32, Section 1515, entitled “Suspension; Presidential authorization”:

After November 19, 1969, the operation of this chapter, or any portion thereof, may be suspended by the President during the period of any war declared by Congress and during the period of any national emergency declared by Congress or by the President.

You got it. If the President or Congress decides we’re at war then the Secretary of Defense doesn’t need anybody’s consent to test chemical or biological agents on human beings. Gives one pause during these days of a perpetual “War on Terror.”

In January 2005, US Senate majority leader Bill Frist called for a new Manhattan Project (referring to the WWII-era nuclear weapons bonanza) for biological weapons. Frist told an audience at the World Economic Forum, “The greatest existential threat we have in the world today is biological," and he went on to predict a biowarfare attack "at some time in the next 10 years."

How ironic that while Frist cited the 2001 US anthrax attacks as proof more biological weapons research was necessary, he failed to mention that those incidents involved anthrax produced right in the good ‘ole USA - or that the primary suspect in the attacks was a US Army scientist. Frist also didn’t clarify how developing even more biological warfare agents will make the world safer.

The original Manhattan Project ultimately led to US forces dropping atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with the resulting slaughter of hundreds of thousands of people. It’s terrifying to consider the potential repercussions, both domestic and foreign, of the Bush administration’s biological weapons Manhattan Project.

Heather Wokusch
http://www.heatherwokusch.com

http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=80893;show_parent=1

Dead Scientists
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/592793/

The 9/11 Commission Report - Omissions and Distortions
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/671691/

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Toronto/Eric_Margolis/2005/04/09/989932.html


Informant: Lew Rockwell

04/14/05

Bush constantly uses such terms as freedom and democracy but does he have any idea of what the terms mean, or the only form of government that fully recognizes, supports, and defends liberty? (Hint: It is NOT democracy.) I do not think he does. I think he is ignorant of any concept of what unalienable, inherent, and God-given rights are, or the government's role in America. (Hint: Protecting our shores, and preserving and protecting the rights every human being is born with, including from government.)

http://www.libertyforall.net/2005/april17/understand.html

from Liberty For All, by Ed Lewis


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

04/13/05

Whenever government forcibly raises employment costs it causes marginal labor, that is, labor that barely covers its costs, to become submarginal. It does not matter whether government orders wage rates to rise or benefits to be improved, the workday to be shortened, overtime pay to be raised, funds to be set aside for sickness and old age, or any other benefit to be granted. A small boost renders few workers submarginal, a large boost affects many. In matters of employment they now are 'unproductive' and cannot be used economically...

http://www.mises.org/story/1782

from Ludwig von Mises Institute, by Hans F. Sennholz


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

04/13/05

Many have asked how it could be that a comparatively small group of intelligence analysts in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) was able to get it right on several key Iraq-related issues, while larger agencies like CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency -- with, literally, a cast of thousands -- got it so wrong. The answer is simple: INR had the guts to be the skunk at the picnic. State Department analysts showed backbone in resisting White House pressure, as well as in-house prodding from the likes of Under Secretary of State John Bolton, to cook intelligence to the White House recipe. ... INR analysts dissented loudly from some of the most important key judgments of the infamous National Intelligence Estimate, 'Iraq's Continuing Programs for Weapons of Mass Destruction' of Oct. 1, 2002...

http://tinyurl.com/5obxn

from Tom Paine, by Ray McGovern


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

04/13/05

For the past 30 years, the people living amid the chemical plants and oil refineries along the Mississippi River in the blighted area of Louisiana known as Cancer Alley have had one steadfast ally in the halls of a state government which has set the high bar for official corruption: Willie Fontenot. ... Down here in Cancer Alley, the weapons inspectors -- environmentalists, lawyers, scientists, ministers -- are regularly bullied, threatened and run out of town. Down here, both parties do the bidding of the oil and chemical industry -- witness Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu's recent vote to open ANWR to drilling. Down here, it's the rare brave bureaucrat who comes along with the courage to stand up and help people fight the corruption corroding Louisiana's political system from the inside out. Yet, that's what Willie Fontenot has done his entire career...

http://www.counterpunch.org/stclair04132005.html

from CounterPunch, by Jeffrey St. Clair


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

04/13/05

Most of all, the Long Emergency will require us to make other arrangements for the way we live in the United States. America is in a special predicament due to a set of unfortunate choices we made as a society in the twentieth century. Perhaps the worst was to let our towns and cities rot away and to replace them with suburbia, which had the additional side effect of trashing a lot of the best farmland in America. Suburbia will come to be regarded as the greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the world. It has a tragic destiny. The psychology of previous investment suggests that we will defend our drive-in utopia long after it has become a terrible liability...

http://tinyurl.com/4fvev

from Rolling Stone, by James Howard Kunstler


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

04/14/05

Today, I watched the Senate Intelligence Committee go through the motions of interviewing John Negroponte, who President Bush has nominated to be the first real 'intelligence czar.' I gather from the hearings that you think Negroponte is not a bad choice for the position and will vote for his confirmation. But I think you will be making a mistake. ... The power that FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover had in his day was trivial compared to the power Negroponte will have to guide him in the direction that the Perle Cabal desires...

http://www.lewrockwell.com/wanniski/wanniski69.html

from LewRockwell.Com, by Jude Wanniski


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

04/11/04

In the aftermath of Terri Schiavo's death, Republicans are disgusted with the courts, Democrats are disgusted with Republicans, and moderates are disgusted with politics. In other words, life is back to normal. Still, the Schiavo affair was illuminating. Democrats, it revealed, are not the only ones who are losing touch with Main Street values...

http://reason.com/rauch/041105.shtml

from Reason, by Jonathan Rauch


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

After eight years of Clintonian debauchery, the election of George W. Bush provided relief to many. How often have you heard that Our Great Christian President has brought 'dignity and honor' back to the Oval Office? ... Meanwhile, out in the real world -- if Lower Manhattan can be called the real world -- nothing has changed. The New York Post recently carried a steamy story on the escapades of Jenna Bush, Dubya's daughter .... If [Bush] has this little influence in his immediate sphere, how can he 'instill family values' in millions of households from Maine to Hawaii and from Key West to the Aleutians? Where does anyone get this idea?" (04/13/05)

http://www.strike-the-root.com/51/newman/newman4.html

from Strike the Root, by Doug Newman


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

04/14/05

In Florida, based on the testimony of one man, a defenseless woman is starved to death. His "evidence" was so flimsy that it normally would be insufficient to uphold even a parking ticket. The judge who nonetheless concurred and ordered her starvation is so mired in conflicts of interest that he should have been automatically recused from the case. Yet the Governor of the state, whose job it ostensibly is to protect citizens from being deprived of life, liberty, or property absent due process of law, stands impotently by and allows the travesty to proceed to its malevolent end, claiming that intervention on her behalf would be contrary to 'the rule of law...

http://www.rationalreview.com/guest/041405.shtml

from Rational Review, by Christopher G. Adamo


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

04/13/05

Senate Democrats are threatening to bog down the emergency war-spending bill with a broad debate on immigration if Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist doesn't win a guarantee from House Republicans to drop driver's license limits from their chamber's version. Minority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, said yesterday that he wants to ensure the eventual House-Senate conference will not include the House-passed Real ID Act, which cracks down on illegal immigrants' ability to use driver's licenses and restricts asylum claims...

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20050412-103010-7292r.htm

from Washington Times


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

I R I S H E X A M I N E R . C O M - 13 April 2005.

Civil servants threaten action over mobile phone masts

11 April 2005

By Donal Hickey

THE country’s 13,000 civil servants have threatened to take industrial action amid concerns about dangers posed by mobile phone masts on the roofs of buildings in which they work. Delegates at the Civil, Public and Services Union (CPSU) conference, in Killarney, at the weekend were told that the Government showed ‘scant regard’ for their health.

“We’ve one minister who is worried about the ill effects of passive smoking in pubs while at the same time the Government is turning a blind eye to the absorption of microwaves in the air,” said Thelma Davey, of the Central Statistics Office (CSO) Dublin branch.

She said a mast had been put on the CSO building in Rathmines, but staff were given no prior notice. “We’re not against the technology, but we want the safe implementation of it,” she told the conference.

She quoted a leading expert, Dr Dave Aldridge, who claimed radiation emissions from mobile phone masts in Ireland could be 10,000 times too high. She said the guidelines here referred to the adverse effects of heating on the body, but did not take into account the non-thermal effects within the body.

Such effects, she went on, could include an impaired immunity system, infections, viruses, arthritis, diabetes, cancer and cardiac disease. Ms Davey pointed out the Irish Doctors Environmental Association believed that between 1% and 5% of the population suffered from electro sensitivity, which was recognised as a medical condition in countries such as Sweden. Symptoms included nausea, vertigo, headaches and blurred vision. She also produced a letter sent last year by the Department of Health’s chief medical officer Dr Jim Kiely, to the Government saying uncertainties still existed about the potential impact of elector magnetic fields on human health. Ms Davey claimed the Government would earn €10 million a year for 10 years by allowing masts to be erected on buildings.

A number of motions calling on the CPSU executive to ensure safe workplaces, with calls for industrial action if necessary, were passed.

CPSU assistant general secretary Kevin Gaughran said the executive agreed with the sentiments voiced by delegates, but the union had gone a long way towards addressing the issues and would continue to work for safe and healthy workplaces.

He said a number of commitments had also been secured from the Government on the issue. Mr Gaughran said the Government had given a commitment that health and safety regulations regarding masts would be adhered to.

He also told conference that a number of international bodies, including the World Health Organisation (WHO), had concluded there were no adverse effects from masts.

The conference heard calls for a change in regulations so that civil servants could openly express their views on certain political and community issues was made at the CPSU conference.

At present, the civil service code of standards and behaviour prevents them from engaging in public debate on political issues without prior permission from their department.

Education and Science branch delegate Sinead Gilmartin, proposing that the regulation be amended and said her branch did not want the Official Secrets Act to be abolished, or ignored, and civil servants should not disclose sensitive information regarding their work.

The motion was passed unanimously.

© Thomas Crosbie Media, 2005.

http://newsfeed.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/story.asp?j=5454642765&p=545464z78x&n=5454642857


Informant: Colette O'Connell




Sligo civil servants to strike over phone antennae
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/993605/

by David Corn, TomPaine.com

With prominent Republicans publicly denouncing him, how much longer will Tom DeLay survive as majority leader?

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/bringing_down_the_house.php?dateid=20050413

http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index719.htm


Informant: Anna Webb

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

posted 04/07/05

Urge Texas Governor Rick Perry not to execute Mr. Mathis and to support legislation providing alternatives to the death penalty including a moratorium.

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=11205318&url_num=43&url=http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=526

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

posted 04/07/05

Email Texas Governor Perry and the Board of Pardons and Paroles asking them not to execute Mr. Roberts due to the fact that his trial attorney assisted in seeking out his death sentence.

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=11205318&url_num=41&url=http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=527

http://www.DemocracyRising.US


Informant: Shanti Renfrew

Wal-Mart Unionbusting Allegations Consistent with other Anti-Union Practices

http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0413-07.htm

Center for Constitutional Rights Responds to Shocking New Torture Allegations at Guantanamo

http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0413-14.htm

The Hague - A group of citizens from The Hague have filed a lawsuit against the state in order to allow for the arrest of president Bush as soon as he sets his feet on Dutch soil.

http://snipurl.com/dzu1


From Information Clearing House

Does it strike you as odd that persons calling themselves Christians are furious that the U.S. Supreme Court found executing juveniles unconstitutional? Do you find even odder that such individuals describe themselves, straight-faced, as adherents of the "culture of life"?

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article8532.htm

Denis Halliday resigned as co-ordinator of humanitarian relief to Iraq in 1998, after 34 years with the UN. His was the first public expression of an unprecedented rebellion within the UN bureaucracy. "We are in the process of destroying an entire society. It is as simple and terrifying as that."

http://www.democratsdiary.co.uk/2005/04/poor-are-revolting.html


From Information Clearing House

Mr Ford contradicted Mr Bolton's assertion during the first day of his confirmation hearing on Monday that he never tried to sack officials who disagreed with him.

http://snipurl.com/dztp


From Information Clearing House

The 392 cables and memos record Negroponte's daily, and even hourly, activities as the powerful Ambassador to Honduras during the contra war in the early 1980s.

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB151/index.htm


From Information Clearing House

Despite the presence of vigilantes on the Arizona border, a major international terrorist has apparently recently snuck across the border and entered the U.S. Yet astonishingly, only a single American newspaper, the Miami Herald, has even covered the story. Why?

http://lefti.blogspot.com/2005_04_01_lefti_archive.html#111335957512549816


From Information Clearing House

This media is actually serving the cause of the totalitarians who are out there to kill hundreds and thousands of people, occupy other countries, establish concentration camps abroad and pass draconian legislations at home only for protecting their personal interests and promoting their religious fantasies.

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article8523.htm

The number of soldiers to desert the army or go absent without leave has more than doubled over the past year, the Ministry of Defence has revealed.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1458283,00.html


From Information Clearing House

Journalist and former hostage Giuliana Sgrena says that the American military is lying about the shooting at a security checkpoint in Iraq that wounded her and killed an Italian intelligence officer.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/12/60II/main687555.shtml


From Information Clearing House

"I had to pick up several of my friends piece by piece. I had to kill women, children, old men - everyone."

http://www.thesouthern.com/articles/2005/04/02/local/doc424e94a503a1f286702309.txt


From Information Clearing House

A key figure in the Abu Ghraib detainee abuse scandal has given Army investigators a lengthy sworn statement accusing others of misconduct at the Iraq prison.

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article8533.htm

The international press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders is calling on the U.S. government to release a CBS cameraman it shot last week while he was covering a gunfight in Mosul. When he was shot, the Iraqi freelancer was armed with only his camera.

http://www.antiwar.com/glantz/?articleid=5521


From Information Clearing House

The United Nations special envoy to Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, has told the UN Security Council that greater attention needs to be paid to human rights there.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4435315.stm


From Information Clearing House

The US is failing - and hatred of the occupation greater than ever.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article8527.htm

by Ted Rall

Repetition is key to successful advertising. The American media uses repeated arbitrary labeling in its supposedly impartial coverage in a deliberate campaign to alter public perception. Americans were meant to feel less sympathy for an kidnapped Italian woman shot by U.S. soldiers manning a checkpoint in Iraq after the talking heads repeatedly referred to her as a "communist journalist."

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article8525.htm

by Jeffrey Fleishman

Masri said he was kidnapped in Macedonia, beaten by masked men, blindfolded, injected with drugs and flown to Afghanistan, where he was imprisoned and interrogated by U.S. intelligence agents. He said he was finally dumped in the mountains of Albania.

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article8524.htm

http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/2282.asp


Informant: Anna Webb

http://www.non-gm-farmers.com/news_details.asp?ID=2106


Informant: Hopedance

http://www.beyondtreason.com/


Informant: billder

Genug von der Marktwirtschaft: Müntefering kritisiert "totale Ökonomisierung" (13.04.05)

SPD-Chef Franz Müntefering beklagt eine zunehmende Dominanz der Ökonomie in Deutschland. Dies sei zu einer Gefahr für die Demokratie geworden, sagte Müntefering am Mittwoch auf einem Programmforum der SPD in Berlin. Die "Macht des Kapitals" und die "totale Ökonomisierung" blendeten den Menschen aus und reduzierten "rücksichtslos" die Handlungsfähigkeit des Staates. "Die international forcierten Profit-Maximierungs-Strategien gefährden auf Dauer unsere Demokratie", warnte Müntefering.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=10870

UN-Kommission für Nachhaltige Entwicklung: "Der Zugang zu Wasser ist ein Menschenrecht und darf nicht privatisiert werden" (13.04.05)

Bei den Vereinten Nationen in New York diskutieren derzeit Vertreter von Nicht-Regierungsorganisationen, Gewerkschaften und Unternehmerverbänden mit den Regierungen der Länder über gemeinsame Zukunftsstrategien. Im Zentrum der Diskussionen stehen Wasser, sanitäre Einrichtungen und Siedlungswesen. Für die deutschen Gewerkschaften setzt sich die IG Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt in New York für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung ein. "Gerade wenn es um Nachhaltigkeit geht, müssen Entscheidungen auf globaler Ebene und nicht nur in Deutschland gefällt werden", sagte Gewerkschaftschef Klaus Wiesehügel. Nach Auffassung der Gewerkschaften müssen Arbeitnehmer bei allen staatlichen und unternehmerischen Entscheidungen in den Bereichen Wasser, sanitäre Einrichtungen und Siedlungswesen beteiligt werden. Sie fordern in New York staatliche Investitionen, um die langfristige und nachhaltige Bereitstellung der Wasser-Infrastruktur zu sichern. "Der Zugang zu Wasser ist ein Menschenrecht und darf nicht privatisiert werden", heißt es in einer Erklärung.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=10867

13.04.05

In der SPD zeichnet sich im Vorfeld der Landtagswahl in Nordrhein-Westfalen eine Zerreißprobe ab. Der ehemalige SPD-Vorsitzende und Bundesfinanzmininster Oskar Lafontaine und der Chef des SPD-Arbeitnehmerflügels, Ottmar Schreiner, unterstützen als Erstunterzeichner eine vom Mitbegründer der neuen Linkspartei Wahlalternative Arbeit und soziale Gerechtigkeit (WASG), Markus Lein, initiierte "Saarbrücker Resolution" gegen die Arbeitsmarktreform "Hartz IV". In der Entschließung fordern sie die rot-grüne Bundesregierung auf, "Hartz IV" sofort zurückzunehmen.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=10861

http://www.truthpublishing.com/grocerywarning.html


From NewsTarget Insider

May Day

May 1st - 1 pm Union Square March and Rally

Bring the Troops Home Now! Jobs with a Living Wage for All!

http://www.TroopsOutNow.org

Endorse: http://www.troopsoutnow.org/may1endorse.html

Help get the word out--download leaflets at:
http://troopsoutnow.org/literature.html

In this email:

1) May Day - International Workers Day
2) May Day in New York City
3) How you can get involved


May Day is International Workers Day

May Day began more than one hundred years ago with the struggle of working people in the U.S. for an eight-hour day.

Now, it is observed world-wide as International Workers Day. On May 1, all over the globe, working people will take to the streets to struggle for workers' rights and oppose the war.

In Manila, more than 50,000 people are expected to march and rally to call for an end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq, to oppose the de-regulation of the oil industry, and to say "No to US Intervention in the Philippines!"

In Dublin, the council of Trade Unions will march from Parnell Square to Liberty Hall on April 30. The theme of the march is solidarity with migrant workers.

In London, organizers with the annual May Day March and Rally will march for workers right, also focusing on migrant workers' rights.

Throughout Europe, activists are organizing for "May Day Europe," with demonstrations in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Helsinki, Jyväskylä, L'Aquila, Leon, Liege, Ljubjana, London, Maribor, Marseille, Milano, Napoli, Palermo, Paris, Sevilla, and Stockholm.

Working people all over the globe will take to the streets, with hundreds of rallies and marches planned from Mexico City to Delhi.



May Day in New York City

On October 17, 2004, the historic Million Worker March saw thousands of labor union members and antiwar activists unite in Washington, DC to demand, "Bring the Troops Home! Money for Jobs, Not War!" On that day, organizers with the Million Worker March Movement called for working people and antiwar activists to join forces to help revive May Day as International Workers Day.

On March 19, 2005, the Troops Out Now Coalition and the Million Worker March mobilized called for a demonstration in New York City on the second anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. More than 10,000 marched from Harlem's Marcus Garvey Park to Central Park where they joined thousands already gathered in the East Meadow.

The turnout for this demonstration confirmed that the antiwar movement has entered into a new phase of organizing against the war. It confirmed that the greatest attention must be paid to reaching out to communities most impacted by the war and by the policies of the Bush Administration. These communities are the targets of the budget cuts. They are also targeted by military recruiters, who exploit economic hardship with false promises of opportunity. As a result, the children of these communities are dying disproportionately in Iraq, paying the ultimate price for a policy of greed and empire.

On May 1, beginning at 1 pm in Union Square, the Troops Out Now Coalition and the Million Worker March has called for a May Day demonstration to demand, "Bring the Troops Home Now! Jobs with a Living Wage for All!" The march will have a special focus on defending immigrant rights, and organizations of immigrant workers throughout the region are mobilizing to participate.

This uniting of trade unionists, antiwar activists, and community organizers to demand an end to the war and occupation is now more important that ever. Two years ago, the Bush Administration led the U.S. into war, using as an excuse the need to disarm Iraq, which it claimed possessed nuclear weapons technology and other "weapons of mass destruction."

Now, the Bush Administration is using the same lies to justify possible attacks against the people of Iran and North Korea. We must expose ANY call for nuclear disarmament or ending of nuclear proliferation at this time as just another justification for a war of aggression.

We must, instead, organize to stop the Bush Administration's policy of endless war and to fight back against his attacks on working people here.

Let's bring back May Day. All over the world, working and poor people will be marching, demanding the right to organize, fighting for a living wage, and opposing the U.S. wars for empire. Let's join them and bring back the fighting spirit of May Day!

May 1
1 pm Union Square March and Rally

Bring the Troops Home Now! Jobs with a Living Wage for All! http://www.TroopsOutNow.org




How you can get involved:

1) Pick up flyers, posters, and stickers at the IAC
(39 W. 14th St. #206 in Manhattan) and help get the word out; or download leaflets at: http://www.troopsoutnow.org/literature.html

2) Endorse & talk to your union, antiwar organization, community group, church or mosque about endorsing: http://www.troopsoutnow.org/may1endorse.html

3) Donate to help with the costs of sound equipment, printing literature, etc.: http://www.troopsoutnow.org/donate.html

4) Become a local organizer for May Day:
http://www.troopsoutnow.org/volunteer.html


http://www.troopsoutnow.org



May 1
May Day Rally for Jobs, Not War
Union Square, NYC, 1pm

http://www.newfarm.org/news/2005/0405/040505/vt_bill.shtml


Informant: billder

http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney04082005.html


Informant: Deborah Reid

ERSTELLT 13.04.05, 07:00h

Technik spielt bei Fahndung und Überwachung eine immer größere Rolle.

Um einen Straftäter festzunehmen, muss man wissen, wo er steckt. Manchmal wollen die Ermittler aber auch erstmal beobachten, wo ein Verdächtiger verkehrt und wen er dort trifft. Immer mehr kann sich die Polizei dabei moderner Technik bedienen. Wollte man früher eine Person nicht aus den Augen verlieren, gab es nur eine Möglichkeit: Sie musste auf Schritt und Tritt verfolgt werden. Das war aber nicht nur personalintensiv, sondern oft auch auffällig. Und wer merkt, dass er verfolgt wird, verhält sich auch entsprechend vorsichtig.

Heute kann ein Verdächtiger über das polizeiliche Computersystem Inpol zur Fahndung ausgeschrieben werden. Ziel kann die Festnahme sein oder auch nur die Erstellung eines Bewegungsbildes. Der Gesuchte würde dann bei jeder Grenz- und Polizeikontrolle anhand seiner Ausweispapiere erkannt und registriert, ohne dass er das merkt. Da es in Deutschland nur wenige Polizeikontrollen gibt, entsteht so höchstens ein sehr löchriges Bild.

Effizienter ist die Nutzung des Handys für Fahndungszwecke. Der jeweilige Mobilfunkbetreiber muss ohnehin wissen, in welcher Funkzelle sich ein Kunde gerade befindet. Auf diese Daten kann nach richterlichem Beschluss auch die Polizei zugreifen. Da hier nur die Daten von eingeschalteten Handys genutzt werden dürfen, griff die Polizei in Berlin zu einem Trick und verschickte verdeckte SMS an Verdächtige. Als die antworteten, konnten sie auch geortet werden.

Als erstes Bundesland hat Hessen den automatischen Kfz-Kennzeichenvergleich zugelassen. Bayern ist in der Versuchsphase. Mit Hilfe von Infrarot-Kameras werden an Autobahnbrücken alle Kennzeichen erfasst und mit dem Fahndungscomputer abgeglichen. So können nicht nur gestohlene Fahrzeuge schnell aufgespürt, sondern auch Bewegungsbilder von gesuchten Personen angefertigt werden.

In Zukunft ist noch viel mehr denkbar: Wenn erst einmal das Gesichtsmuster jedes Bürgers im Ausweis erfasst ist und dieses auch an zahlreichen Orten zur Zugangskontrolle benutzt wird, ergeben sich ganz neue Fahndungsmöglichkeiten. Datenschützer wollen eine derartige Rundumüberwachung allerdings verhindern und fordern, dass solche Daten nicht zentral zusammengeführt werden dürfen. (cra)

http://www.ksta.de/html/artikel/1113314505024.shtml


Nachricht von der BI Bad Dürkheim

URL:
http://sozialisten.de/presse/presseerklaerungen/view_html?zid=26847
Datum: 13.04.2005
© www.sozialisten.de


SPD im Widerspruch zwischen Wort und Tat

Zur Rede des SPD-Vorsitzenden Franz Müntefering zum Grundsatzprogramm seiner Partei erklärt Bundesgeschäftsführer Rolf Kutzmutz:

Gut gebrüllt, Löwe, möchte man meinen, wenn Franz Müntefering in der international wachsenden Macht des Kapitals eine Gefahr für die Demokratie sieht und die totale Ökonomisierung eines kurzatmigen Profit-Handelns kritisiert. Allein, die SPD lässt mit ihrer Politik solch hehre Worte zum blanken Hohn werden. Wenn Franz Müntefering die rücksichtslose Reduzierung der Handlungsfähigkeit des Staates beklagt, dann sollte er zuerst die fortgesetzte Umverteilungspolitik von Rot-Grün zugunsten der Großkonzerne, Vermögenden und Besserverdienenden benennen. Mit der Senkung des Spitzensteuersatzes, dem Verzicht auf die Vermögensteuer, mit der Aufhebung der Parität zwischen Arbeitgebern und Arbeitnehmern in der Krankenversicherung, hat die Bundesregierung der Dominanz des Kapital den Weg geebnet und dem Staat notwendige finanzielle Mittel entzogen.

Der Versuch der SPD, sich in den bevorstehenden Wahlkampfauseinandersetzungen erneut als kleineres Übel gegenüber der Union darzustellen, ist allzu durchsichtig. Die Menschen in Deutschland werden darauf kein weiteres Mal hereinfallen. Sie erfahren es am eigenen Leib: unter Rot-Grün sind die Reichen reicher und die Armen zahlreicher geworden, die Reformen belasten einseitig die sozial Benachteiligten. Mit Hartz IV wird der Sozialstaat in einem Maße zertrümmert, dass von sozialer Marktwirtschaft nicht mehr die Rede sein kann. Die SPD hat sich von dem, was nach Meinung ihres Vorsitzenden ihr Programm bestimmen soll, in der Realität längst verabschiedet.

04/11/05

Today communism has collapsed, but another universalist ideology, the new Jacobinism, has taken its place. A difference between the French and the new Jacobinism is that the latter has chosen not France but America as mankind's savior. In a large number of speeches and statements since 9/11, the president has made clear that he considers armed world hegemony necessary to America's mission. At the inauguration, the massive security -- involving some 30,000 secret service agents, police, and military personnel -- and other telltale symbolism signaled the invincibility and willpower of the United States. Here was installed an American emperor, but one far more powerful and far more ambitious than any Roman counterpart. Neo-Jacobin ideology can be seen as the perfect justification for American imperial power...

http://www.amconmag.com/2005_04_11/article2.html

from The American Conservative, by Claes G. Ryn


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

04/11/05

John Bolton, George W. Bush's astonishingly brazen choice to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, came off badly at his confirmation hearings today -- bloodless, evasive, and mendacious -- in ways that should give senators cause to reject him, regardless of whether they agree with the president's policies or even with the substance of Bolton's views. The hearings will continue for another day or two—to hear from officials who have had run-ins with Bolton and, possibly, to give him a chance for rebuttal—but, after today's session, his nomination should be put down for three reasons, quite apart from the many reasons that his critics (and I count myself among them) have laid out in recent weeks.::

http://www.slate.com/id/2116567/

from Slate, by Fred Kaplan


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

04/12/05

In February, the Army missed its recruiting goal for the first time in nearly five years. The Army missed its March goal by 32 percent while the need for soldiers is on the rise. The United States Armed Services have announced a new plan to solve their recruiting problems -- convincing parents to get their children to enlist. At the same time, parents are organizing to ensure the military draft does not return. The battle lines for the bodies of America's youth are beginning to take shape...

http://www.antiwar.com/orig/zeese.php?articleid=5529

from AntiWar.Com, by Kevin Zeese


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

04/12/05

In the Oresteia, Aeschylus proudly celebrated his country's supremacy-its civil society, in which all free men participated; its cosmopolitan economy; and the wisdom of its supreme court. By the end of the century, believing themselves invincible, having just defeated the evil empire of the Spartans with its oligarchic tyranny, the Athenians had sent their armed forces throughout their world. They traded their democracy for imperialism. Their over extended armies were destroyed in Sicily and a Spartan garrison on the Acropolis enforced the rule of a puppet oligarchy on the city of Athena. The cost of military adventure had bankrupted the Athenians. The democracy was thriving when Aeschylus wrote, but, even then, growing militarism augured the usurpation of justice by meretricious arrogance...

http://www.counterpunch.org/gibson04122005.html

from CounterPunch, by John Wheat Gibson


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

04/12/05

The purpose of this interview is to explain to the international community, and Americans, the very fundamentals of U.S. foreign policy and their position with regards to the Kyoto Treaty among others. This article is very different to the articles you may read on the Treaty or US foreign policy for that matter. This article is actually about core American beliefs that lead the U.S to the decisions they make rather than going around in circles over each individual issue itself. When we understand core beliefs we can come to agreements with less friction and increase the chance of our common ideals being achieved...

http://cei.org/gencon/023,04476.cfm

from Competitive Enterprise Institute, by Christopher C. Horner

04/12/05

1. Stop talking about 'bias.' Inaccurate, distorted and misleading news reports that further a conservative agenda or undermine progressive ideas dominate our newspapers and airwaves. But this isn't necessarily because reporters or media outlets are biased towards conservatives. For every Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, there are dozens of reporters who don't have an ideological axe to grind, but whose work contains conservative misinformation anyway. ... 2. Stay informed. ... 3. Get active. ... 4. Be patient -– and be persistent. ... 5. Fight back in innovative ways." [editor's note: As usual this kind of advice can work from whatever perspective one is looking at the unbalanced media-game. - SAT]

http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2065/

from In These Times, by Jamison Foser


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

04/13/05

Nothing in the U.S. Constitution authorizes the federal government to conscript citizens for any reason. While Congress has the authority to call out the 'militia' -- which is, in effect, the armed adult population -- to defend our nation against invasion or insurrection, this cannot be done through a draft without violating the Thirteenth Amendment. The problem is that the government has blithely disregarded these clear constitutional prohibitions in the past, and will do so again if permitted to do so. It is easy to foresee a draft-cum-national service measure being passed quietly in December 2006. Who's to stop this from happening? The mothers of America, that's who...

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig4/grigg3.html

from LewRockwell.Com, by Korrin Weeks Grigg


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

04/12/05

Officially, and in contrast to many other countries, the United States remains unconvinced about global warming. ... Despite Bush administration skepticism, however, climate change is emerging as a major political issue. Prominent Republicans are among those lawmakers pushing legislation that would start US reduction of greenhouse gases in line with the international Kyoto treaty. In federal court, a dozen states seek to force the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce heat-trapping greenhouse gases. Shareholder groups are pressuring corporations to consider the implications of climate change. And from coast to coast, states and communities -- on their own and in groups -- are implementing plans to 'think globally, act locally' on climate change by regulating transportation, power generation, and energy use...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0413/p03s01-uspo.html

from Christian Science Monitor


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/tz_05_04_13.pdf


Informant: Paul

04/12/05

Anheuser-Busch Cos., the nation's No. 1 buyer of rice as well as its largest brewer, says it won't buy rice from Missouri if genetically-modified medicinal crops are allowed to be grown in the state. The St. Louis-based beer giant is the latest company to express concern over plans by Ventria Biosciences to grow 200 acres of rice engineered to produce human proteins capable of making medicine. The company says it is concerned about possible contamination. ... The issue has already roiled California's $500 million-a-year rice industry. Last year, California regulators denied Ventria's application to grow commercial quantities of rice with human genes after rice growers said they feared international customers would refuse to buy conventionally-grown crops out of contamination fears...

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/04/12/beer.genetic.ap/

from CNN


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Copy of Bev Bush's letter to Mr. Gieve.

13th April 2005

PR8 3HN

Dear Mr Gieve,

I write to you with very serious concerns about Tetra and I have noted that you have been in a position where you could stop this invasion of emissions from Airwave O2 Tetra into our homes.

At present, in close proximity to our home, is a mast that includes antennae and equipment from MMO2, T-mobile, Hutchison 3G and the awful Tetra (O2 Airwave) which we felt the ill effects very shortly after it went up.

We have suffered from many health problems already including vertigo, headaches, vision disturbance, pains in ligaments and tendons which we attribute to the mast and we have had persistent insomnia.

We have spent a lot of money of our own desperately trying to shield our homes from this non-ionising radiation and we are at the end of our tether.

We call for the removal of this mast to a more suitable location. If this is not done, we will wait for proof of the effects of mobile technology on health and property value, which we are sure will come to light in the future. We know there will be proof because we are the living proof of this great risky exposure of humans to a technology that has not been proven safe and should never been allowed to develop and establish itself in such a manner without first total proof of it’s safety.

I have kept records of this notice letter and Mast Sanity and S.C.R.A.M also have a copy.

If you are responsible for setting up Tetra , then it is on your conscience that since Tetra was set up in Ainsdale, the well being of my family and neighbours has been ruined and our enjoyment of our homes has gone.

We no longer like being in our home because we feel unsafe there.

The evidence against Tetra and proof that it is harmful to health is shown by many situations all over Britain where people are suffering because of it.

We are networking as a group and are aware of the misery Tetra is causing across the country.

We call for the removal of Tetra from our doorstep.

Yours Sincerely,

Mrs. Angela B. Bush


Copy of Bush's second letter to Mr. Gieve.

----- Original Message -----

To: john.gieve@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
Cc: john pugh ; JOHN PUGH ; blaira@parliament.uk ; springr@parliament.uk ; prescottj@parliament.uk ; blearsh@parliament.uk
Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2005 10:47 AM
Subject: In hope for a better future


13th April 2005

PR8 3HN


Dear Mr Gieve,

I would like you to know that since the introduction of the Tetra Airwave mast 70 yds from our home in Nov 2002 (when approval was made) we have never felt happy in our home. We do not want to live so close to something that has not been proven safe.

In the last year and a half my health has degenerated and this last month the pains in my joints are much worse to the point that they are affecting my ability to work or enjoy life with my family. I believe my immune system is weakened and all I know is that I was full of life and energy before the decision was made to place these masts so near to my home. I would like you to know that our seasonal holiday has been ruined by ill health, constant worry and conversation about whether we can find the means to move away and also we are financially stretched to the limit because we've spent all our savings on screening material to protect us from the noxious emmissions from your masts.

In the last few months our 17 year old son has been complaining of vertigo and I fear for him too as these were the first symptoms of effects of the mast that were apparent in me.

The recent Reflex report AGAIN confirms that microwave emmisssions mess up DNA strands.

I recently acquired a com metre from Powerwatch and discovered to my horror that for several years I have been sleeping with 2.5 volts running constantly through my brain, courtesy of MM02, Hutchinson 3g, T-mobile and in the last year, Tetra.

We have now spent all our savings and more on sheilding material and we're still getting readings from the mast.

I know that you are not concerned for my welfare or all those other poor souls who are being equally blasted by the emissions from an industry that puts profit before health and safety.

Don't tell me it's within thermal guidelines, it's the BIOLOGICAL effects that count.

Would any of you like to be the guinea pig instead ?

Once this danger is proven (and it will be) we will be asking those responsible and the mobile phone companies represented on Ainsdale Telephone exchange roof to account for the damage that has been done to our health and well being in the years that we have had to live under the shadow of your masts. That is, MMO2, Tetra Airwave, Hutchinson and T-mobile. Also, in adddition, further down the road there is Vodaphone 3G.

Our children have to live with this and also my daughter goes to school that has a mast on the roof. No-one should have this invasion into their home without power to do anything about it. This should not be allowed until we KNOW what the dangers to health are.

Now I know why in the last few years I have suffered from unexplained severe vertigo for 4 months, constant waking up every night at 4 am. Pains in my feet, sore eyes, degeneration of vision, thirst, (which has prompted the doctor to send me for tests for diabetes 3 times, only to find I haven't got diabetes!)

The readings in my sister's home are worse and she is very poorly indeed.

I'm absolutely determined that this injustice should not prevail.

Think about it and be prepared.

This is not a matter of trivia, it will become a severe problem eventually for us all and some sensible solutions to the siting of masts must be sought NOW.

I must stress that the anger expressed in this email is aimed at those who have a part in agreeing to place masts where they can cause harm to people.

Next year my family and many local people want the Tetra mast REMOVED from our door step and we will do everything within our power to fight for it's removal to an appropriate site away from our homes.

We will also fight to prevent any company from placing any more masts on the Ainsdale telephone exchange roof. We will not rest until you take away this Tetra mast which has not just ruined our well being but is ruining our lives !

Mr. P. Bush

--------

Dear Sir John Gieve,

It is known throughout the UK that the Tetra system is dangerous, inefficient and has been introduced before proper research has been carried out. The police and emergency organisations and the population of this country have been put at serious risk, and in fact are guinea pigs in a dangerous experiment which will cost far more lives than it will save. The claims of efficiency and protection are blatant lies. Furthermore the introduction of Tetra was legally flawed.

The tender process was a sham and the EU censured the British Government for it actions. No other tenders but theTetra system were admitted. To hide that fact, the Government decided to put in place a procedure based on what other tenders might have been. This was called a ‘Should Cost’ model and it included a 17.5 % profit figure and a provision of £170 million against possible compensation. This compensation provision shows that the dangers, though totally ignored, were fully known even then. It could legitimately be argued therefore, that the whole Tetra debacle is illegal as well as criminally unsafe.

Despite this, the police are being blackmailed into using it even though hundreds of officers are suffering ill health. Two young and fit officers have died already from a very rare oesophagal cancer, located exactly in the position of the Tetra handset. The link is obvious and unavoidable. One officer who was told to take it home for practice, found his young son playing with the handset. The child tragically went into epileptic seizure. This was all the more appalling because his son had no history of epilepsy. There are numerous shocking cases like this, but officers have been threatened with dismissal if they speak out, so they keep silent to save their careers and pensions.

Ordinary people forced to live in the shadow of Tetra masts without their consent and often without their knowledge, are already suffering serious ill health, yet their concerns are being totally ignored. The Report on Tetra by M/W expert Barry Trower, which was commissioned by the Police Federation, warned of the dangers.
Omega see under: http://omega.twoday.net/stories/626200/
As a result, the Report was promptly suppressed and no action was taken. This blatant dereliction of duty of care to citizens and our emergency services, is scandalous, and many feel there should be a custodial sentence for those responsible, as it could be claimed that they are guilty of deliberate corporate manslaughter.

As part of the Telecom Industry / Government Alliance, Airwave consistently lies about the success and coverage of the Tetra roll-out. But mast campaigners nationwide, know the truth. They will not be voting for a government that is prepared to risk the lives of its citizens and especially its children, for sheer greed and profit. The Government must be forced to replace Tetra with the safer, more efficient and cheaper Tetrapole system, before it is too late and more lives are lost.

Jennifer Godschall Johnson

Below - Sir George Young's reply to my email in which I also hammered him for not staying or voting for the Spring and Stunell Bills and not signing up to Hesford's EDM. I said campaigners in his constituency would be considering his lack of support, and asked him to explain and put in writing whether he would be more active on our behalf when the next bill happens. He replied immediately - so think it might have had some effect - though wouldn't bank on it. Jenny


Many thanks for the email; I was a supporter of the Richard Spring Bill and stayed in the House of Commons a few Fridays ago, until it was clear that there would not be a vote on the Andrew Stunnell Bill. (I do not sign EDM's as, in my view, they have become a greatly devalued form of political currency with hundreds of them on the order paper.)

I have sent you details of my Party's proposals on the planning aspect of mobile phone masts, which represent an enormous improvement on the present regime and which I hope will command support from the manmy voters who regard this is a key issue in the current campaign.

Best wishes, George Young

--------

FYI. I have just sent the following to my MP Sir George Young and I included the PR on the Welsh Children visiting the Chief Constable about the Tetra mast.

There is a deafening, conspiratorial silence on the Mast issue, and although it appears on all the manifestos - no politicians and none of the leaders are putting this up front on the election band wagon. So, I thought I would point this out to Sir G, and see if I get back a response. Would it be an idea if we all did something similar? To save time and effort, if anyone wants to use this letter, appropriately altered obviously, as a template - that's fine. Should this, or something along these lines, be sent to Charles Kennedy? If so, we could add something about Nokia Davies. What about tempting the lesser parties like UKIP to put this up front? It doesn't matter who they are as long as they start talking about it as an election issue. Those parties who aren't going to get elected have nothing to lose and everything to gain, by talking the issue up. Anyway, this is just a suggestion which I thought we could all use without too much effort. Jenny


Dear Sir George,

Thank you so much for replying to my email concerning Tetra and your comments on the Telecom Bills and EDM's.

I am still not sure whether you are personally convinced or not by the Industry / Government arguments of health and safety regarding Mobile Phone and Mast technology. Whatever your views, there is no doubt whatsoever that this is a major issue right accross the country, and it must be addressed.

Although included in the manifestos of all three main parties, so far we have heard no politician speak publicly on this subject as an election issue. Clearly all parties want the significant revenue that the Industry brings in, and are so much under the thumb of the Telecom Operators that they are willing to risk the health of the nation and abuse both human and democratic rights on their behalf. This is shameful politics.

I hope you will consider speaking to your leader Mr Howard, and advise him that arguably millions of middle-aged, middle class,law abiding people ie typical core Conservative voters, could be turning to the Liberal Democrats unless he takes a strong, public line on this, now. He has made Immigration and Asylum key issues, but there is a far greater risk to the safety and well being to the whole of society, right on our doorsteps. Of course he is not alone in cleverly keeping quiet about the fact that the public is being abused by Telecom Companies. If the Conservative Party really wants to stand out from the others, making this a front page priority could be the answer. A public promise in media interviews to radically change the system in favour of people rather than these bully boy multinationals, could bring the Party back into power, as you would gain at a single stroke, millions of votes across the UK.

People have every reason to fear for their health, and for the health of their children. Every day they see their enviroment blighted and damaged. They are outraged at the biased abuse of the Legal system, the Ombudsman and Planning policies. They know that their properties are being devalued, and now, they are having to withdraw their children from their schools. This is becoming a minefield - AND NO-ONE IS HONESTLY ADDRESSING IT. The pledges in manifestos can be broken unless they are made openly and with a great flourish of publicity. The Conservative Government should honour the rights of the people, not lie low and hope that this will go away - because I can assure you, Sir George - it won't.

We are affiliated to national campaigns on a global level - the truth is now an unstoppable tide, and all the money and power of the Telecoms and their umbilically connected governments, won't stop it. That is a promise. I sincerely hope you will do all in your power to pass this message on to Mr Howard and obtain his commitment to protect rather than abuse the people of this country.

I enclose below, a Mast Sanity Press Release, one of many, which you might find of interest.

Omega see under: http://omega.twoday.net/stories/627194/

Kindest Regards,

Jennifer (Godschall Johnson)

--------

The other part of the key. Please take part and encourage as many others as possible to take part. Your message need not be long, but should be firm, polite and incisive.

Andy



You are invited to communicate your displeasure at the introduction of Tetra which was largely under the control and guidance of Sir John Gieve, Permanent Secretary to the Home Office. You will know what you want him to hear from you.

He oversaw the introduction, tendering and its subsequent failure, a device called a 'should-cost' model to ensure that BT got the contract and then supervised the setting up of measures to ensure that the police would overcome their reluctance and accept Tetra.

Since then, he has been the responsible Home Office official who briefed Ministers like Hazel Blears, John Prescott, Mireille Levy, Caroline Flint et al and gave them information distorted by bias from the Home Office and O2 Airwave, as it now is, in order to continue to justify taking no action where the public, MPs, medical authorities and morally-sound scientists were expressing doubts about Tetra.

Tetra is causing problems. It is not proving to be as good as senior officials claim. People are experiencing hardship as a result of it being in their communities and this has caused 900 protest groups around the country to oppose Tetra by whatever means they can.

Sir John needs to be reminded of the responsibility he has and the continuing responsibility for upholding truth and fairness.

By expressing your views to him NOW you can be assured that in future the confidence he has in a deeply flawed system is shaken sufficiently for him to look hard at his own conscience.

If you were to write to him several times over the next 18 hours and copy your views to your MP, the Press will at last be made aware, as will those in the corridors of power that we, the people, are not to be suppressed by their indifference to us.

Send as many e-mails as you can to

john.gieve@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
with copies to your MP, using this formula:
surname+initial@parliament.uk

e.g.
flighth@parliament.uk

Good luck and let us hope that future generations thank you for taking part in this activity.

Below please find a press release from Mast Sanity that deserves maximum exposure.

Yours very sincerely,
John O'Brien
for Tetrawatch and us all.

In order to give you some background to the man, here is an extract from the ^4th Public Accounts Committee Report to the House of Commons.

I will add no comment but the full text is available online.


Mr Osborne

16. May I return to the cost of the Airwave project? It says in this report that local solutions would have been cheaper, although you would argue not as good. Do you have any idea what the extra cost was of the Airwave project versus a local procurement?

(Mr Gieve) The figure quoted in the report is £300 million, which was a comparison with a review conducted for ACPO. As you say, that would not have been a comparable system in terms of functionality.

17. Do you accept the £300 million figure? (Mr Gieve) Yes.

18. Would you not argue that it is quite a lot of money extra to pay for the improvements?

(Mr Gieve) It is a lot of money but we think that it is worth paying for the improvements.

19. Various police authorities thought it was not worth paying. According to paragraph 1.21 of the report several police authorities said they had anobligation to pursue best value and that this radio system did not meet their requirements under local best value. Were they wrong?

(Mr Gieve) They were right in thinking they could have bought something else more cheaply which would have met some of the requirements locally, but not all. You have to understand this was also part of the negotiation with the Home Office on funding this project.

20. Which you solved by bunging all the local police forces money specifically for the Airwave project. You resolved the project by stuffing their mouths with gold.

(Mr Gieve) We resolved it by saying we would pay the costs in the first three years.

21. One of the original ways in which you structured the deal was that local police authorities were going to buy the equipment separately and that was going to encourage them not to over-order their equipment. By paying them directly now and helping them with the initial startup costs are you not watering down that mechanism?

(Mr Gieve) I do not think so. The thinking behind leaving a competitive market in some of the equipment was to get some contestability within the market. If you have more than one person oVering terminals, that in itself would be the main constraint on the price rising. The second point is that we were not paying for the full cost of this. This is a 19-year contract and we oVered to pay £500 million in the three years of the last spending review, that is up to 2003–04. They still have a very big interest in the costs.

22. I am not a technology expert, so you will have to forgive me if I get this wrong. According to paragraph 1.14 you did conduct a review in 1998 of mobile phone technology developments. You tried to identify whether future developments in mobile phone technology would make the system you were buying obsolete. You concluded that was not the case. Do you still stand by that? Have you updated that review? Mobile phone technology has moved on a lot.

(Mr Gieve) This was the examination by Professor Benjamin who reported in 1999. We have not updated that since then. Equally, we have no new reason to think this is going to be outmoded technology.

23. To the complete layman, apart from the encryption, what is the diVerence between this system and giving all your police fficers mobile phones?

(Mr Asque) The difference between the technologies is that this technology was designed to meet a requirement which is subtly different from people using a mobile phone. This requirement for emergency services calls for a high level of integrity in the signal, but especially a very fast call setup. For example, making an emergency call is almost instant in this technology, whereas we all know with a mobile phone, where you have to dial through, it does take an awful long time to make that connection. The technology facilitates that very fast call setup. That is one of the main differences between the TETRA technology and the mobile phone technologies and this includes the ones which are developed now

[Jon Trickett Cont]

45. The fact is that something well over £100 million additional costs per annum are now being incurred so that police officers can speak to each other at best marginally more efficiently than they could in the past.

(Mr Gieve) No, “marginally” is not true.

46. Would you agree with my estimate that the comparative figure in terms of police officers is somewhere between an additional 2,500 to 3,500 police officers?

(Mr Gieve) I cannot do that in my head.

47. ffou have not done that calculation.

(Mr Gieve) I have the cost of a police officer somewhere in my papers. In any business you have to decide whether you put money into equipment or manpower and the police have to decide this on all sorts of fronts: about this equipment, about vehicles, about planes and everything else. ffou could make the same calculation about any of their equipment budgets. It is a matter of judgement. You say this is just so they can communicate across borders better. That is not the whole point. We hope Airwave is going to produce and we think it is, there are signs of that already, very much better communication within police force areas and that is what we are hearing from Lancashire and North Yorkshire. That is an improvement in efficiency.

48. I am going to ask you about that in a minute because some of the figures beggar belief and some of the defence which has been mounted in favour of this beggars belief. From my point of view the two priorities which communities I represent have are: the public being able to speak to the police, which is a very diffcult problem even on 999 calls, it is difficult for people to get through; secondly, the police being able to attend incidents which are occurring in villages and towns. I would have thought that the priority would have been for additional police officers. I see that you disagree with me in relation to that.

(Mr Gieve) No, I do not; we are employing more police officers. We have a record number already and we have plans to increase them.

49. The fact is that you could have employed even more police officers had you not decided to go down what appears to me to be a fairly disastrous track. May I move in a different direction for a second or two? When you found you only had a single bidder for this very costly system, one of the things which the department did was to try to calculate what it would cost for the public sector to provide a similar kind of equipment. I think you cooked the books. You added £ 170 million for the alleged risk which the private sector were taking and you were losing. You added a further £70 million for a contingency sum. Presumably £240 million was added to the cost of the public sector price in order to get it higher than the price which the private sector was bidding. Would you agree with the way in which I have expressed that?

(Mr Gieve) No.

(Mr Webb) We had the private sector comparator undertaken by an independent authority, in fact Charterhouse and Masons Communications undertook that on our behalf. They did that in line with the Treasury guideline for calculating these terms. All of the things included were part of the guideline.

50. I have a note in front of me saying that the risks which the private sector were allegedly taking if they were to be the supplier were valued at £170 million. It does not say that your consultant advised you on the contingency sum, it says that PITO decided to have this contingency sum, that is a further £70 million. You added a quarter of a million pounds to the price of a public sector provider. Is that figure correct?

(Mr Webb) Yes, those figures are correct.

51. Did your consultants, who themselves are in the private sector and may have an interest in trying to load the dice against the public sector, advise PITO to add £70 million for unknown contingencies? Was that the figure they recommended?

(Mr Webb) Yes, it was.

52. Did they identify the £ 170 million of risk which the private sector were allegedly taking and you were divesting yourselves of? Did they recommend that figure as well?

(Mr Webb) Yes, they did. Bearing in mind this was new technology, it had not been done before, it was the largest IT project ever undertaken by the Police Service, risks were identified, particularly in the area of the acquisition of sites, which we have already seen have materialised. There was significant risk in terms of the figures which were being used in this activity and that is why they were included.

53. With the Chairman’s permission, could we ask for some further information on how these prices which are one quarter of a billion pounds in two global sums like this were calculated? That information would be helpful.

(Mr Gieve) Yes; certainly .4

54. Part of this report reads as though you have written it, frankly. It does not read as a report which was written jointly by yourselves and the C&AG. Paragraph 1.23 says “PITO regards the system as an enabler that can reduce the frequency with which police officers have to return to the station and the length of time they spend on tasks such as making telephone calls or receiving briefings”. It goes on to say “. .. not all forces were convinced” of this. May I ask the C&AG what independent evaluation they made of these claims?

(Mr Colman) They are claims about the future and you will see that we word this paragraph very carefully to say these are PITO’s opinions as to benefits which should flow from the introduction of this system. The system was not in operation when we were doing this work, so it was not therefore possible to verify that these savings would be achieved.

55. Have we identified how much time police officers use making telephone calls which is now going to be saved by making radio calls? Somehow they are going to be more brief than the telephone calls the police are currently making. If PITO has made that claim, which sounds bizarre, since I cannot understand why a telephone call takes longer than a (Page ends)


http://www.mastsanity.org
Advice Line 08704 322 377
Press Office 01962 864 388

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 11/4/05

RICHARD OF CORNWALL LEADS TETRA RESISTANCE

The days of knights and dragons have returned to Cornwall with a vengeance as the county rises up against TETRA the controversial police communications network being rolled out by O2 Airwave.

Punters placing bets on which single issue candidate may triumph in next month’s general election should look no further than the Labour marginal of Falmouth and Camborne where fifty-four year old grandfather, Richard Smith is standing for the newly formed Removal of TETRA Masts in Cornwall party.

Mr. Smith decided to take action after O2 Airwave erected an unlawful TETRA mast in his community despite the application being turned down by Parish, District and County Council. The company’s record of flouting planning decisions and applying for permission retrospectively is well documented, as are the worrying symptoms experienced by people living near the masts. Problems with TETRA are not confined to the general public. Health and safety concerns have been expressed on behalf of police officers, who are forced to use the equipment.

The TETRA controversy is the latest element in the growing resistance to the relentless march of phone masts across the UK. National campaign organisation Mast Sanity, which already has around nine hundred groups registered, says their advice line receives hundreds of calls each month. People, desperately worried about the proliferation of 3G masts and TETRA, are shocked to discover just how much freedom from planning controls the telecom operators have and how few powers local communities have to resist them. “ The public and the police are being used as guinea pigs. The Government tells people that this untested technology is safe and refuses to sort out the planning chaos,” says Mast Sanity Advice Co-ordinator, Sandi Lawrence.

This is the first time that TETRA or phone masts have prompted a single-issue election stand. Whether it will be a case of “Mr. Smith Goes To Westminster” is a hard one to call. Richard Smith is hoping his stand will inspire others and hopes to pick up the floating votes. “It’s going to be a hard month, but I’m up for it – on your behalf and for all families. Let’s take them on,” he says. Whether or not this Cornish “knight” turns out to be a dragon-slayer, the sitting MP Candy Atherton defending a slender majority of four and a half thousand, would be ill-advised to toe the official Labour Party line on TETRA.

END


From Mast Network

A RESIDENTIAL tower block that houses three communications masts is being investigated by health chiefs concerned about the number of cancer cases among residents.

In the last 18 months, seven residents of Liscard House, Wallasey, have died from cancer, another four are being treated for cancer-related illnesses and four people have had strokes.

A questionnaire is to be sent to every flat in Liscard House asking tenants to disclose all sickness suffered in the last two years.

Birkenhead and Wallasey Primary Care Trust will then take the data away and use it to help determine if the introduction of masts has had an averse affect on residents' health.

At present, there are 111 residents living in the 86-flat, council-run block in Mill Lane, Wallasey. The playground of St Alban's Catholic Primary School is just four hundred yards away.

Two of the masts that sit on top of the block belong to mobile phone operators Vodafone and Orange. The third is an Airwaves mast, which provides communications for the emergency services.

One resident has been diagnosed as suffering from a serious blood disorder, another recently had a pacemaker fitted, and a further resident had a bowel operation just last week.

Concerned about the numbers of people falling seriously ill, Bill Morrow, chairman of the Liscard House Residents' Association, wrote to the PCT asking them to investigate. "The Vodafone mast has been there for several years now but about two years ago they replaced it with a new, larger one with a bigger base station," said Mr Morrow.

"We know there is no concrete proof that these masts can cause any harm, but people are understandably very concerned that it's only matter of time before that proof is found.

"People getting ill is a fact of life, we know that. But there seems to be a lot of people getting ill with similar problems here in Liscard House and that's either a huge coincidence or a problem that needs looking at.

"We asked the PCT to look into it and they've told us they will give all the residents a questionnaire to fill in to see if there are any patterns emerging."

It's thought the questionnaire may help to map out any clusters of illnesses that may be associated with radiation from the masts.

Liscard Labour councillor Dave Hawkins told the Globe: "Liscard House recently had a second batch of masts installed. I objected to that installation but unfortunately the planning inspectorate overturned the decision of the council's planning committee.

"We have been calling for greater investigation into phone mast safety for quite some time. Until clear guarantees can be given regarding health we need to proceed with planning applications with great care, particularly in built-up residential areas."

http://www.thisiswirral.co.uk/wirral/birkenhead/news/BIRKENHEAD_NEWS17.html



Cancer Clusters in Vicinity to Cell-Phone Transmitter Stations
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/580224/

by Gareth Bethell and Gareth Bethell

A MOTHER heading a campaign to get a mobile phone mast moved was yesterday warning of alleged health dangers.

Karen Kelly, 47, of Manor Crescent, off Akers Way, Moredon, was joined by about 20 other campaigners at the site of the mast in her street.

They are determined to have the 45m O2 transmitter, which has not gone live yet, taken down.

This follows a petition from 300 residents, calling for it to be removed, which was handed to the council last month.

Mrs Kelly believes the mast is a danger to her children Summer, aged eight, and Morgan, 12, who has an auto-immune condition which makes him susceptible to disease.

She said: "We've got to keep fighting this. If there is any doubt that these masts are dangerous they should not be putting them in residential areas.

"It is only metres from my son's bedroom window and could seriously endanger him.

"I received five studies from Mast Action Group UK all with evidence saying that there is a concentration of cancer clusters near mobile phone masts.

"The Government is carrying out its own study, but if there is any doubt these things shouldn't be put near houses.

"My family are guinea pigs. It's profit over people's health."

Moredon's councillor Derique Montaut will meet the leader of the council, Mike Bawden, to discuss concerns over the phone mast on Thursday, April 14.

Coun Montaut said: "I'm hoping the concerns of residents will be discussed

"And I will be looking at whether we can raise objections on planning grounds.

Coun Bawden said: "There is no medical evidence to support fears that masts cause cancer.

"Local authorities are in a difficult position as there is no evidence of health risks.

"There are no grounds to object to masts on health grounds."

An O2 spokeswoman said the mast was urgently needed and that the company had to rely on current research, which says there are no health risks.

Here is a bit of interesting background on Dr Johansen

Christoffer Johansen is a medical doctor (1986) and the Head of Department of Psychosocial Cancer Research at the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology, the Danish Cancer Society. He received his Ph.D. in psychosocial oncology in 1992 focused on the topic: coping with colorectal cancer. Christoffer Johansen has published epidemiological studies within a number of research areas including psychosocial oncology, electromagnetic fields and pharmacoepidemiology in important journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine and Euroepan Journal of Cancer. Dr. Johansen is the President of the International PsychoOncology Society (IPOS) http://www.ipos-society.org which is creating significant links with the World Health Organization (WHO). An Advocacy Document has been written and it will be inserted in the guide-lines the WHO is preparing for the oncology area. He is also the organizing President of the next World Congress of Psycho-Oncology in Copenhagen in August 2004 http://www.ipos2004.dk .

The link below outlines his departments projects
http://www.cancer.dk/epi+research/departments/psk/

With this plethora of psychosocial expertise one can't help wondering why this study is cited by Dr Micahel Clark from the Health Protection Agency as "This is a significant result showing no increase in cancer risk in Denmark".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4432755.stm

Iris Atsmon elaborates some interesting details on funding of the Interphone Study in the following url

http://omega.twoday.net/stories/483229/

best wishes

panayis zambellis luton

From Mast Network

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In a press interview Christoffer Johansen from the Danish Cancer association said that his newest report showed there was no connection between use of mobil telephones and brain cancer. He questioned a group of 427 Danes with braincancer and another 822 Danes without braincancer about their use of mobiltelephones. His report clearly showed that the use of mobile telephones does not increase the risk for braincancer. The study was part of the Interphone study conducted in 14 European countries and just published in Neurology. Surprised?

A recent Swedish study came to the same conclusion.

However he still recommends children, young people and adults to use headsets when using mobiltelephones.

Sianette Kwee

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Dear Sianette,

This study does not respond to the Hardell/MIld work on acoustic neuromas but more to the REFLUX study which does indicate DNA damage. The findings may let these scientists off the hook, saying " to the best of their knowledge, there is no problem" but they keep everyone else hanging on, waiting for something more definitive, including those who make public policy and issue health advisories. The "it's too soon to tell" explanation: is an old one by now whereas, with the link to acoustic neuromas fairly well established, it is already pretty evident with two replication studies there is a causal relationship. So, they avoided stirring the pot by avoiding looking at that link to abnormal tumor growth. It is obvious that "we need to study a high number of long-term, heavy users of mobile phones." before drawing a conclusion about the end point of cancer in cell phone users, many years, in fact . But for the scientists to say that and then draw the conclusion that there must be no problem is plain unethical.

Then, they seem to evaluate whether there is any near term neurological damage by asking whether people recall how long they were on the call. How about assessing their driving performance, involvement in vehicular accidents, or acts of "road rage"? What about evaluating the number of times they are checking for messages or calling to say, "we are almost there?" Their methodology for looking at effect on memory seems flimsy.

Referring to the Finnish study, the link to analogue phones is again a useful finding, not to be dismissed as the phone are older, outdated and we still are waiting for news about the long term use of digital phones. These phones both use nonionizing radiation! Although the analogue phones had higher power output, the newer phones are held closest to the brain so the intensity may not bee al that different. The exposure patterns are different as well with longer term and more frequency of use.

We do need independent funding for continued research on potential cell phone user health effects. The Danish Cancer Center does not seem to qualify as being "independent" enough.

Libby Kelley


Mobiles do not cause tumours, scientists find. One of the most comprehensive studies into the dangers of mobile phones has found no link between how often they are used and the risk of developing brain tumours. London Independent , England. [related stories]
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/story.jsp?story=628587

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Very wise words, indeed, dear Libby! And, in addition, do not forget all the recent studies by us (as well as others):

Hallberg Ö, Johansson O, "Cancer trends during the 20th century", J Aust Coll Nutr & Env Med 2002; 21: 3-8

Hallberg Ö, Johansson O, "Does GSM 1800 MHz affect the public health in Sweden?", In: Proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop "Biological Effects of EMFs", Kos, Greece, October 4-8, 2004

Hallberg Ö, Johansson O, "1997 - A curious year in Sweden", Eur J Cancer Prev 2004; 13: 535-538

Hallberg Ö, Johansson O, "Long-term sickness and mobile phone use", J Aust Coll Nutr & Env Med, 2004; 23: 11-12

Hallberg Ö, Johansson O, "Mobile handset output power and health",
Electromag Biol Med 2004; 23: 229-239

Best regards

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

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And I read that this study observed only a period of 10 years (20-40 years are necessary) and in addition only glioma and meningioma have been studied in this study. There are several studies that show an increased risk for acoustic neurinoma and for DNA damage (micronuclei, single and double strang breaks etc.). It seems that Mr. Johansen is the German Mr. Silny, such press releases are not serious.

Best regards

Joerg Wichmann (Client Services Manager)
April 13, 2005

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Could cell phone radiation actually protect against brain cancer? Could it provide “vitamins for the brain”, as one irreverent epidemiologist suggested recently? Such a possibility, however improbable, is not as far fetched as it may sound.

This is not a new idea, but a new epidemiological study, published yesterday in Neurology brings it back to mind. A team led by Chrisoffer Johansen of the Danish Cancer Society in Copenhagen was looking at whether cell phones could promote brain tumors. They did not see an increased risk but did find that users had fewer aggressive tumors than non-users and that, in general, the tumors that did develop were smaller among users. These so-called “regular users” had only a little more than half as many high-grade gliomas as expected. And the tumors were, overall, 25% smaller.

The Danish study is the second brain tumor study to appear from the Interphone project, which is being coordinated by IARC, the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France. (In all, 13 countries are participating). Maria Feychting and coworkers at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm published their results last month in the American Journal of Epidemiology (AJE). They also saw fewer gliomas among cell phone users, though this difference was not statistically significant. While the Danes observed the greatest protection for the high-grade gliomas, the Swedes found it for the low-grade, or less aggressive, gliomas.

Since the Karolinska paper appeared on March 15, there has been much talk among epidemiologists about the fact that practically all the observed risks were smaller than expected. Amazingly, in one table (Table 2) presenting approximately 50 different categories of cell phone use, the Swedes found only a single risk above unity. (A relative risk of one signifies no effect; without a protective or deleterious effect, one would expect to see the risks randomly distributed above and below one.)

Sam Milham, the well-known epidemiologist, was the first to spot the skewed distribution of observed risks in the Swedish paper and has pointed this out in a letter which will appear in the AJE. If cell phones are not protective, then there was some kind of bias in the way the Swedes collected their data. This could mean that the whole study is faulty, calling into questions their conclusion that cell phones are not linked to brain cancer.

What’s so tantalizing about these two sets of findings is that there is some experimental evidence to support a protective effect. More than 15 years ago, Steve Cleary of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond showed that microwaves could either stimulate or suppress the growth of human glioma cells exposed in a laboratory setting. The direction of the effect depended on the intensity of the radiation (see MWN, M/A90)

To be sure, Cleary used some relatively high power levels in his experiments, but Jerry Phillips, in some experiments sponsored by Motorola, later showed a similar delicate balance between beneficial and deleterious effects in experiments on RF-induced DNA breaks. Phillips exposed human cancer cells at intensities that are common for users of cell phones (see MWN, J/F98).

A number of animal studies have also pointed to a protective effect The most notable of these was the experiment run by the late Ross Adey for Motorola (see MWN, M/A96 and J/A96). In essentially all these cases, the protective effect has been due to digital or pulsed microwave signals. (For an overview of these studies, see MWN, S/O02.).

The Danes and the Swedes who participated in the newly published epidemiological studies mostly used analog phones —at least in the early years. So one should be careful before jumping to any conclusions, but the results are provocative and should, we would hope, stimulate some interesting experiments. That is of course, if there is any money for follow-up work, always a dicey proposition.

The Danish group dismisses the possibility of a protective effect because of a lack of a “biologic plausibility.” But we would counter that many say that there is no biological plausibility for a detrimental effect.

Until we better understand what’s really going on, we are in unchartered waters and all possibilities should be considered. These two epidemiological studies and the others due from the Interphone project are only a preliminary picture of the long-term impact of cell phone use. So far at least, they have included only a small number of subjects who have used phones for ten or more years, with substantial air time over that period.

[It is worth noting that the definition of a “regular user” of a cell phone in all the Interphone studies is the use of a mobile phone on average once per week during at least six months.” Today, mobile phone companies routinely sell plans that allow thousands of minutes per month.]

The issues discussed here go far beyond hazard research. They raise fascinating questions about basic science that need to be answered. We shall see if anyone out there is interested in science or if this is really all about telling people that it’s okay to keep using their mobile phones.

http://www.microwavenews.com/fromthefield.html


Louis Slesin, PhD
Editor
Microwave News, A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation
155 East 77th Street
New York, NY 10021, USA
Phone: +1 (212) 517-2800; Fax: +1 (212) 734-0316
E-mail: mwn@pobox.com

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Mobile Phone Use and Acoustic Neuromas
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Display&dopt=pubmed_pubmed&from_uid=15824561


Informant: Iris Atzmon

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Mobile Phone Use and the Risk of Acoustic Neuroma
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/614189/

Could Cell Phone Radiation Be a Vitamin for Your Brain?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/631055/

Trust Us, We're Experts: How Industry Manipulates Science
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/618577/



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=acoustic+neuroma