by Jeff Rickert, TomPaine.com

Why are states able to pass legislation that is good for the planet and creates jobs, while Washington subsidizes rich polluters?

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/green_states_v_white_house.php?dateid=20050422

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/gate/archive/2005/04/22/notes042205.DTL&nl=fix


Informant: Friends

The appointment of John Bolton as US Ambassador to the United Nations would be a disaster for America.

http://www.washingtondispatch.com/page2/archives/000804.html


From Information Clearing House

Reg Keys, whose son died at the hands of a mob in June 2003, is standing against Blair in his Sedgefield constituency in County Durham, arguing his son had died in an illegal war and that the premier had lied over the reasons for it.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/050421/325/fgta4.html


From Information Clearing House

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., today released documents recently declassified at his request that illustrate that some claims of a cooperative relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda made by top administration officials in support of the Iraq war were contrary to what U.S. intelligence officials believed to be true.

http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2005_cr/levin041505.html


From Information Clearing House

It is up to the American people to demand that our representatives stop the warhawks' world-girdling military appetite in the Middle East and elsewhere, restore our own democracy

By Reed M. Smith

Michael Parenti, eminent author and historian, recently told an audience of almost 300 people in Penn State's Schwab Auditorium that what empires do is much different from how they are represented in history by their leaders.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8609.htm

Election: the outrage - By voting for Blair, you will walk over the corpses of at least 100,000 people, most of them innocent, slaughtered in defiance of international law.

By John Pilger

A familiar, if desperate media push is under way to convince the British people that the main political parties offer them a democratic choice in the general election on 5 May. This demonstrable absurdity became hilarious when Tony Blair, leader of one of the nastiest, most violent right-wing regimes in memory, announced the existence of "a very nasty right-wing campaign" to defeat him. If only it was that funny.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8607.htm

Each of the Iraqi children killed by the United States was our child. Each of the prisoners tortured in Abu Ghraib was our comrade. Each of their screams was ours. When they were humiliated, we were humiliated. The U.S. soldiers fighting in Iraq - mostly volunteers in a poverty draft from small towns and poor urban neighborhoods - are victims just as much as the Iraqis of the same horrendous process, which asks them to die for a victory that will never be theirs: Source: Arundhati Roy, "Tide? Or Ivory Snow? Public Power in the Age of Empire"

http://www.democracynow.org/static/Arundhati_Trans.shtml


From Information Clearing House

by SkewsMe.com

21 April 2005

"Before a new weapons system can be used, it must be fully tested. The blueprint for depleted uranium weapons is a 1943 declassified document from the Manhattan Project. Harvard President and physicist James B. Conant, who developed poison gas in World War I, was brought into the Manhattan Project by the father of presidential candidate John Kerry. Kerry’s father served at a high level in the Manhattan Project and was a CIA agent.

"The first DU weapons system was developed for the Navy in 1968, and DU weapons were given to and used by Israel in 1973 under U.S. supervision in the Yom Kippur war against the Arabs. The Phalanx weapons system, using DU, was tested on the USS Bigelow out of Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in 1977, and DU weapons have been sold by the U.S. to 29 countries.

"Military research report summaries detail the testing of DU from 1974-1999 at military testing grounds, bombing and gunnery ranges and at civilian labs under contract. Today 42 states are contaminated with DU from manufacture, testing and deployment.

"Women living around these facilities have reported increases in endometriosis, birth defects in babies, leukemia in children and cancers and other diseases in adults. Thousands of tons of DU weapons tested for decades by the Navy on four bombing and gunnery ranges around Fallon, Nevada, is no doubt the cause of the fastest growing leukemia cluster in the U.S. over the past decade. The military denies that DU is the cause."[1]

"The American use of depleted uranium munitions in both Persian Gulf wars has unleashed a toxic disaster that will eclipse the Agent Orange tragedy of the Vietnam War, [former Maj. Douglas Rokke said 21 July 2004].

""The United States used 375 tons in Gulf War I," Rokke said."[2] "During Gulf War 2 more than 1000 tons of depleted Uranium were discharged."[3] "It's like playing darts," [Rokke] said, "except you're playing with 10 pounds of solid uranium and it catches fire immediately. You lose nearly 40 percent of the round in uranium dust. It contaminates air, water and soil for all eternity."[4]

"Depleted uranium is very much like uranium with a fissionable isotope removed. You can handle these weapons a little and not be harmed. They become extremely harmful after they leave the barrel of a gun. Then they begin to burn and create very fine particles of uranium-oxide dust. When they hit something about 70 percent of the uranium is aerosolized. When it is in these very tiny particles some only nano sized it can be breathed into the lungs easily. Once breathed in, or ingested with food or drink or by entering an open wound, these particles are chemically and radiologically poisonous and remain in the body. There is no way to decontaminate a person once this happens. The uranium causes multiple cancers and nervous and immune disorders. They are a death sentence by slow burn. The particles also attack DNA and cause birth defects."[5] ""Cancer appears to have increased between seven and 10 times and deformities between four and six times," according to [a] UN subcommission."[6]

"In the last year alone, the US had fired 127 tons of depleted uranium (DU) munitions in Iraq, the radioactive equivalent of approximately ten thousand Nagasaki bombs.... Widespread use of DU in the first Gulf War was believed to be the primary cause of the health problems suffered by its 580,400 veterans, of whom 467 were wounded during the war itself. Ten years later, 11,000 were dead and 325,000 on medical disability. DU carried in semen led to high rates of endometriosis in their wives and girlfriends, often requiring hysterectomies. Of soldiers who had healthy babies before the war,"[7] "67% had children with severe illnesses, missing eyes, blood infections, respiratory problems and fused fingers.

"The use of DU...is believed to be the cause of the ‘worrying number of anophthalmos cases, babies born without eyes’ in Iraq. Only one in 50 million births should be anophthalmic, yet one Baghdad hospital had eight cases in just two years. Seven of the fathers had been exposed to American DU anti-tank rounds in 1991. There have also been cases of Iraqi babies born without the crowns of their skulls, a deformity also linked to DU shelling."[8]

"The United States Department of Veterans Affairs’ Veterans Benefit Administration Office of Performance Analysis and Integrity Data and Information Services Gulf War Veterans Information System report that was...published (May 2002) states that as of May 2002: 696,778 individuals had served during the Gulf War with 572,833 individuals now eligible for Department of Veterans Affairs benefits to include lifetime medical care, financial compensation, and a lifetime pension. The difference of 123,945 individuals includes Desert Storm veterans who are still on active duty, who already received a disability rating directly from the military, and those who are ineligible for benefits for various reasons. As of May 2002, 206,861 veterans had filed claims for benefits based on service-connected injuries and illnesses caused by Gulf War combat related duties."[9]

""The technology of war is out of control," Rokke concluded. "We don't have the ability to clean it up (or) treat it. I'm a warrior, but my conclusion is that war is obsolete. A U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs report says over 221,000 of our sons and daughters are on permanent disability and over 10,000 dead - one-third of our Gulf War I force. And they're coming back sick right now.""[10]

"Medical professionals in hospitals and facilities treating returning soldiers were threatened with $10,000 fines if they talked about the soldiers or their medical problems. They were also threatened with jail."[http://mathaba.net/x.htm?http://mathaba.net/0_index.shtml?x=161632]

[1] http://mathaba.net/x.htm?http://mathaba.net/0_index.shtml?x=161632
[2] http://traprockpeace.org/rokkedepleteduranium220703.html
[3] http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=5616
[4] http://traprockpeace.org/rokkedepleteduranium220703.html
[5] http://www.willitsnews.com/Stories/0,1413,253~27832~2801499,00.html
[6] http://www.gnn.tv/headlines/1611/Depleted_Uranium_Cause_and_Effect
[7] http://www.lrb.co.uk/v27/n03/wein01_.html
[8] http://www.gnn.tv/headlines/1611/Depleted_Uranium_Cause_and_Effect
[9] http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=5616
[10] http://traprockpeace.org/rokkedepleteduranium220703.html

http://news.modernwriters.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1494&Itemid=0&limit=1&limitstart=1


Informant: Charles Bremer

http://rense.com/general64/cret.htm


Informant: Our bill of rights

04/21/05

As the 'war on terror' drags on, it has become apparent that there is no way of knowing when this state of emergency will end. National security decisions that are made in the context of a war are, of course, different than those made during peacetime. But this administration has locked us into what seems like an indefinite war thanks to a campaign with ill-defined aims and ends. Does the war on terror include the invasion of Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, the detainment of 'enemy combatants?' The answer appears to be: all of these things, and perhaps much more. The objectives of the 'war on terror' have never been clearly spelled out, and without objectives, there is no real end in sight. The protean nature of the 'war on terror' means that it can become anything the administration desires, from the invasion of another country to further surreptitious apprehensions of 'terrorists...

http://www.motherjones.com/news/dailymojo/2005/05/war_on_terror.html

from Mother Jones, by Onnesha Roychoudhuri


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

04/22/05

At the U.S. Army War College's 16th Annual Strategy Conference last week, a senior Department of Defense strategist defined U.S. 'Grand Strategy' as the export of freedom and democracy. He added that the U.S. military would play a huge role in implementing the strategy. In short, and to paraphrase, the official said: 'Get ready, soldiers, you're going democracy-crusading.' Exporting freedom and democracy is not a Grand Strategy. It may be an ambition, an obsession, or -- most likely -- a hallucination. The idea that such exports are a 'Grand Strategy' spotlights the ignorance about America of the men and women who today lead the country. Ditto for many of the 535 individuals in the Senate and House. America is not a nation meant to order others how to live and then push them at bayonet point into that lifestyle. The cost of such a policy, John Quincy Adams wrote, would be the loss of America's soul...

http://www.antiwar.com/orig/scheuer.php?articleid=5690

from AntiWar.Com, by Michael Scheuer


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Gastbeitrag von Herrn Prof K.Richter in der Saarbrücker Zeitung erschienen am 22.04.2004 / SZ

Der Umgang mit Mobilfunk-Anlagen zeigt die Deformationen unserer Demokratie

Saarbrücken. Es gibt eine optimistische Mobilfunkforschung; sie findet alles harmlos und unbedenklich. Und es gibt eine pessimistische, die wenig Erfreuliches prophezeit: hirnorganische und genetische Schäden, eine Zunahme von Gehirntumoren, Alzheimer, Depressionen, Tinnitus, Schlaf- und Herzrhythmusstörungen u.a.m. Der Bürger ist zum Versuchsobjekt geworden, wer Recht behält.

Die Deutschen gelten als ein sehr vorsichtiges Volk. Die Atomenergie wollen sie verabschieden. Nur ihre Mobilfunkpolitik leistet sich eine Risikobereitschaft, die die in Nachbarländern geltenden Grenzwerte bis zum 500fachen, den von Salzburg um das 5000fache, den vom Europäischen Parlament empfohlenen um das 100000fache übertrifft. In den Niederlanden hat eine von drei Ministerien in Auftrag gegebene Studie Tinnitus, Kopfschmerzen und Übelkeit als unmittelbare Wirkung der UMTS-Sendeanlagen erwiesen. Unsere Ministerien irritiert das nicht. Der Bundesumweltminister zieht dem Mobilfunk keine erkennbaren Grenzen. Ein Sprecher des Saarländischen Wirtschaftsministeriums sah das kleine Land kürzlich gar berufen, bei der UMTS-Aufrüstung ganz „vorn dabei“ zu sein (28.1.04, Südwest 3, mag's). Der Mobilfunkberater der Regierung, Prof. W. Langguth von der Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft, fand alles harmlos: Das Risiko sei kleiner, als „wenn wir Auto oder Rad fahren oder uns auf einem Spielplatz bewegen“.

Der Handel mit den UMTS-Lizenzen hat beide Seiten in eine schwierige Situation gebracht. Die Mobilfunkbetreiber wollen den Gewinn aus ihren Investitionen sehen. Die Politik scheint sich verpflichtet zu haben, sie zu unterstützen. Doch nach den Recherchen von Thomas Grasberger und Franz Kotteder („Mobilfunk. Ein Freilandversuch am Menschen“) gibt es ergänzende Motive der guten Kooperation. Die Betreiber verfügen im Bundestag über eine mächtige Lobby. Politiker unterschiedlicher Parteien sitzen auf gut dotierten Posten in den Aufsichtsräten. Der Bund ist der größte Anteilseigner der Telekom. In alledem geht es aber auch um unsere Demokratie. Denn wie wollen Politiker in einer solchen Situation die Unabhängigkeit wahren, für die sie vom Steuerzahler gut bezahlt werden? – Es ist nicht die einzige Deformation unserer Demokratie im Zeichen des Mobilfunks!

Artikel 2,2 des Grundgesetzes garantiert die körperliche Unversehrtheit der Bürger. Er fordert von der Politik eine entsprechende Risikovorsorge. Beim Gedanken an Freilandversuche mit genmanipuliertem Mais zucken unsere Politiker mit Recht zusammen. Den einträglicheren mobilen "Freilandversuch“ an Millionen von Bürgern betreiben sie ruhigen Gewissens.

Gefährdet sind alle. Doch die ‚Elektrosensiblen‘, die man auf ca. drei bis fünf Prozent der Bevölkerung schätzt, reagieren besonders häufig mit Erkrankungen. Der Schutz von Minderheiten unterscheidet unsere Demokratie von totalitären Regimen. Doch diese Minderheit scheint unseren Politikern nicht so wichtig. Die Prozentzahlen sind ja klein, das wirtschaftliche Interesse groß. Zu den Aufgaben der Demokratie gehört der Schutz des Eigentums (Grundgesetz, Artikel 14). Wertminderungen, die sich aus der Nähe zu Mobilfunkmasten ergeben und bis zur Unverkäuflichkeit von Häusern und damit zur faktischen Enteignung reichen, belaufen sich allein für den Raum München auf ca. 19 Milliarden Euro – noch vor Einführung der UMTS-Antennen. Selbst den materiellen Preis für den Handel zwischen Bundesregierung und Betreibern zahlen also letztlich die Bürger.

Drei abschließende Forderungen wollen dem Fortschritt des Mobilfunks dienen, indem sie ihn vor sozialem Rückschritt bewahren:

Wenigstens mit der Installation der UMTS-Technik muss zugewartet werden, bis verlässliche Erkenntnisse über ihre Wirkungen vorliegen. Der gewaltsam betriebene Versuch, bereits davor vollendete Tatsachen zu schaffen, ist unverantwortlich und menschenverachtend. Und davon hat Deutschland in seiner vordemokratischen Geschichte genug gehabt. Noch besser wäre der Umstieg auf eine für Mensch und Umwelt schonendere Technik, die es nach Auskunft kompetenter Physiker bereits gibt. Sie wäre teurer. Aber sie würde die Lasten nicht so bequem auf die Bürger abwälzen.

Und am besten wäre, wenn sich unsere Politiker in einer für die Bevölkerung so sensiblen Frage selbst ein Bild von der Bandbreite der Risikodiskussion verschafften. Sie wären dann nicht so abhängig vom Urteil einseitig informierter und positionierter Berater.

Der emeritierte Professor Karl Richter lehrte bis 2002 Literaturwissenschaft an der Universität des Saarlandes.

http://www.buerger-machen-mobil.de/10725.html

See below a section from http://www.emf-solutions.org.uk

Sleeping near Mobile Phone Base stations accelerates Cancer according to many experts in Microwave Radiation. The reason is because base stations emit 'pulses' which we cannot see or hear but our brain recognizes as a strong form of light. Now lets look at what the Medical experts say about long term exposure to light at Night:

The night time hormone melatonin puts breast cancer cells to sleep. It also slows breast cancer growth by 70%. David E. Blask, MD, PhD, of Bassett Research Institute in Cooperstown, N.Y., reported the findings at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. Breast cancers get revved up by a kind of dietary fat called linoleic acid. Melatonin interacts with linoleic acid, so he gave melatonin to mice implanted with human breast cancers. "This breast cancer rev-up mechanism gets revved down by melatonin" Blask said at a news conference. "Nighttime melatonin is a relevant anti-cancer signal to human breast cancers. Ninety percent of human breast cancers have specific receptors for this signal".

The hormone seeps from a pea-sized gland in the brain when the lights go out at night. It's the reason you get sleepy when it's dark. Blask and colleagues found that melatonin puts cancer cells to sleep, too. Blask's team exposed lab mice with human breast cancers to constant light. Tumor growth skyrocketed. "With constant light, tumors grow seven times faster and soak up incredible amounts of linoleic acid," he says. "During the day, the cancer cells are awake and linoleic acid stimulates their growth. But at night cancer cells go to sleep. When we turn on lights at night for a long time, we suppress melatonin and revert back to the daytime condition". The findings may explain why nurses who often work the night shift have high rates of breast and colon cancer.

So there we have a scientific explanation; our brains think it is daytime and don't produce melatonin; over a period of time we get to feel 'run down' and eventually cancer cells can grow.

editorial@hamhigh.co.uk

22 April 2005

PARENTS are right to be worried over mobile masts. There is enough evidence and advice against the safety of mobile masts which have been made public for all to be extremely concerned.

However, campaigners are misguided in using the "not in my own backyard" argument as a valid reason for fighting planning permission for the masts. Surly if the masts are a hazard, and sensible residents have reason to believe they are, then they ought not to be erected at all anywhere near households, schools or workplaces of any kind.

There is only one protest which would really work. Walk your talk. Give up your own mobile phones. Under no circumstances allow your children to use them.

Then, and only then, will protesters be persuasive in their argument.

My partner and I are so concerned about the danger of mobile phones and masts that we staunchly refuse to own a mobile phone and have succeeded in discouraging other family members from using them. We will join any protest in the fight against mobile masts but only alongside those who have refused or forsaken mobiles.

CELINE LA FRENIERE
Talacre Road, NW5

Apr 21 2005

http://icnorthwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/regionalnews/tm_objectid=15427079%26method=full%26siteid=50142%26headline=new-move-in-mast-row-name_page.htm

By David Greenwood, Daily Post


COUNCILLORS are calling for an emergency communications mast at a town centre police station to be taken down because of health fears and complaints it is interfering with TV reception in hundreds of nearby homes.

Now, after a string of meetings, Holyhead Town Council is demanding action from North Wales Police Authority over the Tetra mast.

Last night, town clerk Cliff Everett said: "I have been instructed by the entire council to write to the authority because they, as owners of the police station, have the right to say what goes on the building.

"The council has discussed this issue three or four times now and feel something positive has to be done and the authority is the one which can act in this case."

The Holyhead mast appeared on the roof of the station late last year and almost immediately people noticed a marked deterioration in TV picture quality.

The mast is part of a nationwide police network system which is being set up by specialist company O 2 Air-wave for the Home Office.

A spokesman for O 2 Air-wave insisted the Holyhead mast met stringent planning and radio airwave regulations.

The Home Office said:

"Current police radio systems are obsolete and incompatible with each other.

"New digital technology will allow there to be complete coverage, clearer signals and extra features such as data as well as voice communication."

http://www.southbendtribune.com/stories/2005/04/21/local.20050421-sbt-LOCL-B2-Electromagnetic_radi.sto

Electromagnetic radiation danger challenged
County Council sessions on subject to continue.

By JAMES WENSITS
Tribune Political Writer

SOUTH BEND -- Agreement was in short supply Wednesday as members of an informal group concerned about electromagnetic radiation and low frequency noise met resistance to their conclusions that the phenomena represent a health hazard.

The meeting, conducted by County Council President Rafael Morton and Council Member Mark Catanzarite, was the third in a series that now appears likely to continue for weeks, if not longer.

Morton, D-District D, said he thought it unlikely that the group can come to a conclusion in two or three more meetings and said he planned to continue the sessions without setting a time limit.

"It's very early in the process as far as I'm concerned," Morton said.

The last session was attended by Dr. Roland Chamblee, county health officer, who said in a later interview that he doesn't know of a connection between electromagnetic radiation, low-frequency noise and various diseases, but does know it would cost millions of dollars and take years of research to find out.

Wednesday's session featured comments by Marjorie Lundquist, a bioelectromagnetic hygienist from Milwaukee who said she has a doctorate in physics.

Lundquist said that in 1980, she became interested in the health hazards associated with video display terminals and then started thinking about similar problems associated with electrical power lines.

She recommended installing filtering equipment on ground wires leading from electrical installations to the Earth, then monitoring the effect on those who have disease symptoms that may be connected to the high frequency impulses.

John Matwyshyn, a Mishawakan who said he programs and designs digital circuitry, said federal studies during the 1990s concluded that the power lines were nothing to be concerned about.

That comment led Jeff Symmes, a Battleground, Ind., resident who is the leader of the informal group, to contend that the studies referred to by Matwyshyn were paid for by the electrical industry.

At an earlier meeting, Symmes had called for a moratorium on the construction of cell phone towers. The group believes the towers are a source of unhealthy radiation.

The next meeting will be May 4 in the County Council conference room on the fourth floor of the County-City Building. Another meeting is scheduled for May 18.

Staff writer James Wensits:
jwensits@sbtinfo.com
(574) 235-6353


Informant: Sylvie

Apr 21 2005

http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/thejournal/tm_objectid=15426866%26method=full%26siteid=50081%26headline=phone-mast-row-firm-pledges-talks-name_page.html

By Dave Black, The Journal

Mobile phone users will be cut off if Vodafone fails to replace its existing telecoms mast in a Northumberland village, it was claimed yesterday.

The firm promised to hold urgent talks with council chiefs in a bid to resolve the row over its plans to put up a 50ft temporary mast yards away from homes in Guide Post, near Ashington.

The company came under fire last weekend for threatening to invoke special emergency powers allowing it to install the mast behind the village working men's club without seeking approval from Wansbeck District Council or from local people. The tower is required as a replacement for Vodafone's mast in a nearby haulage yard, which it has been ordered by the landowner and a court to remove to make way for a new housing development.

There is already an Orange mobile phone mast behind the club and a number of villagers are horrified at the prospect of a second one being put up there.

The electricity supply to the existing mast was due to be disconnected on Monday but yesterday the company revealed that it was being allowed to use it until the end of this month. However, Vodafone says that at that point it will have to put up the temporary replacement under emergency powers or let local customers lose their mobile phone signals.

Spokeswoman Jane Frapwell said yesterday: "We have taken legal advice and feel we have a very strong case for erecting a temporary mast behind the working men's club. We have been able to delay losing the signal until the end of April but after that we would lose 2,000 voice calls a day in that area.

"We will be going back to the council to discuss the situation but we still feel there is a genuine emergency as we have done everything we can to find a replacement site. We hope to find a way of going forward."

Wansbeck Council says the emergency is of Vodafone's own making because it has known since November that its lease on the haulage yard site would not be renewed.

A council spokesman said: "We have said from the outset that we need to get around the table to talk about our concerns over the siting of this mast.

"However, we still remain firmly of the opinion that emergency powers should not be invoked in this instance, and that proper discussions need to take place so that the company can be made fully aware of the concerns of local people before we try to reach a satisfactory solution to this dilemma."

Apr 21 2005

By The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

CAMPAIGNERS are calling on Kirklees Council planners to refuse an application to install a mobile phone mast in Scholes.

Residents have objected to the proposal to build an 18ft mast on the Lee Mills site because of its close proximity to homes, a nursery and a public fishing dam.

Maggie Throup, the Tory parliamentary candidate for the Colne Valley, has also thrown her weight behind the campaign.

She said: "People don't realise that mobile phone masts don't have to go through the full planning process.

"At the moment it is all in favour of the developer and the views of local people are sidelined."

She called for a change in policy making it necessary for local councils to consult communities.

Today was the deadline for public objection.

Ms Throup added: "The location is in a hollow and houses look down onto it. It is a really odd place to put it."

Apr 21 2005

Surrey online

By Sarah Cooper


MEADVALE residents have turned to modern technology to highlight the impact a 10-metre mobile phone mast would have on their community.

T-Mobile wants to build the mast out-side The Ship pub, in Copse Road.

The project has sparked a backlash, and worried residents have now completed an artist's impression of how the mast would look - and are determined to stop it becoming a reality.

Most of them have small children and are concerned for their well-being.

There are also concerns over the number of elderly people living nearby and the devaluing potential of the mast on home prices.

Sharon Scotton, who is one of the main organisers of the Meadvale Against Masts campaign, and lives just metres from the proposed site, said: "I have three children. It's a great concern. One of my children has immune difficulties. It could put her at greater risk.

"It's going to make me angry and upset every time I look outside."

The group has produced draft objection letters to hand out in door-to-door calls to help people raise their concerns.

They also claim drawings produced by T-Mobile are misleading as they think the height of the mast is going to be more than is shown.

To show what they believe is the correct height they have taken a picture of a 10metre mast and imposed it onto a photo of the pub.

Fellow protester Nicola Mitchell, who also lives in Copse Road, has been told the value of her property could go down with the mast there.

She said: "I am absolutely outraged that such a large company can plonk something in the middle of a residential area without a thought for the community.

"I have two small children and I have a duty of care to them and my property is my main asset."

She added: "I am feeling sick with the worry."

Ruth Adam, who lives in Arbutus Close, said: "I feel that masts shouldn't be situated in residential areas while there is any doubt on the effect on people's health."

The mother-of-two added: "There is the most tremendous opposition. I am stunned by the opposition that I have come across.

"I don't think we're ever going to stop protesting against it."

A spokesman for T-Mobile said: "T-Mobile understands there sometimes can be concerns when locating base stations in communities.

"Based on more than 40 years of research, T-Mobile is confident that its base stations, operating within strict national and international guidelines, do not present a health risk to any member of the public.

"Property values are based upon a variety of market conditions and when buying a property the judgements people make are entirely personal, reflecting these many different factors."

Alarm in the Druze city
http://www.buergerwelle.de/body_emf-omega-news_14-02-04.html

Osafia’s activity becomes stronger
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/644608/

Osafia residents will file a suit against the cellular companies
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/382774/

The Cellular Antennas are Killing Us
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/644633/

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

165 cancer cases were found in one neighbourhood in Osafia.

The Health Ministry started researching the connection between the
cancer cases and the antennas that are erected in the area, and
considers extending the research to Yavne, Modeen, Reut and Tamra.

By Alex Doron

Maariv 20.1.2004

After the villages Zoran and Porat which became famous for their cancer cases multitude that were linked to the radiation from radio antennas, it's time for the Druze village Osafia to fight the cellular companies.

To the meeting of the parliament committee came the representatives of Osafia's "The Women Committee for Fighting the Antennas", who told that in the last 4 years 165 people died of cancer, all of them lived in one neighbourhood where there are cellular antennas. "We decided to unite and stop the monster" said the committe member Mira Abu Zalef. "The cellular companies representatives come as thieves in the night to erect the antennas". Abu Zalef presented herself as a mother of three children who had a brain damage, and added: "I don't want others to go through what I went through. Every day a new cancer case if found". Another committe member, Zahia Naser, was furious: "The Nature and Gardens Authority forbade erecting antennas in the National Park because of concerns for the animals' lives. And what about us? There is no concern about our lives?"

Dr. Micha Bar Hana, manager of the national cancer registry of the Health Ministry reported that he had started a research on Osafia in order to find out the connection between the exposure to electromagnetic radiation and the cancer rate in Osafia, "but we have difficulties in gathering data". Parliament members suggested that the research will be extended also to Yavne, Modeen, Reut and Tamra, which complained about many cancer cases near antennas.

The cellular companies representative, Asaf Aisen, said that the companies check the base stations and give all the data to the Environment's Quality Ministry. He emphasized that the radiation levels "are very low".

Parliament member Ofir Pines informed that he would initiate a law of 3 years in prison for manager of any cellular company that will erect antennas in a pirate way.


Informant: Iris Atzmon

http://www.grn.es/electropolucio/omega200104.htm


Osafia’s activity becomes stronger
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/644608/

Osafia residents will file a suit against the cellular companies
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/382774/

Alarm in the Druze city: Increase in the number of cancer cases in Daliat il Carmel & Osafia
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/644638/

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

“The antennas cause reduction in sexual desire”

Hadid Rashi,

Yediot Haifa 22.4.05

Last week anonymous lighted a fire in a house in Osafia in which a cellular antenna was erected. According to the suspicion, the people who burned also managed to damage the equipment that was in the place. It is an abandoned house whose owner died two years ago and his widow moved to live with her family. The police started investigating but arrested none until now.

Last week a brochure was distributed with the last warning before starting a religious and social boycott on residents who agree to place antennas in their house. In the brochure, 14 Druz Imams warn together with the heads of the Christian community and the Muslim leaders, that every person who will not respond in rejection to erect an antenna in his house, exopses himself to the anger of God and ostracism by the religion leaders. A religious person who will agree to put antenna in his house will be excluded from prayer places, until he removes the antenna. If he is a secular – he is completely ostracized and the public will be asked not to participate in any party that he will do or to participate in his grief in case a disaster will happen to him. None of the people in the village will buy or sell him things.

The mayor and vice mayor signed on the document, whose writers detailed the damage from cellular radiation- “scientific pubilcations link the radiation with cancer, reduction in sexual desire, damage that affects the next generations, learning difficulties, memory damage”, warns prof’ Padel Mansur from volcanic institute, “the main affected are children and women”.

Last Thursday, Dr. Micha Bar Hana, manager of cancer registry was invited to the municipality and claimed that there is no proven connection between the cellular radiation and cancer, but admitted that there is an increase of cancer rate in Dalia and Osafia, 6% more than the national average. The municipality people asked him to start doing a serious survey about the cancer rate in the two village, and Bar Hana prominsed that his institute will start the survey this year.

“62 antennas were in the village” said the mayor Dr. Akram Hason, “I have decided to remove them, even if there is no proven connection to cancer, in order to calm the people down, today there are 19 antennas left and we don’t know their place and they will be removed” he promised.

And non- formal data is that 2 weeks ago 4 people died from cancer in Osafia,

And - there is no cellular reception in the village - the companies turned the antennas off as a revenge because the municipality told them to move all the antennas to a hill near the village and the companies didn’t like this idea.

Iris Atzmon



Osafia residents will file a suit against the cellular companies
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/382774/

Alarm in the Druze city: Increase in the number of cancer cases in Daliat il Carmel & Osafia
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/644638/

The Cellular Antennas are Killing Us
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/644633/

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

Für technischen Fortschritt – aber nicht auf Kosten der Bürger!
http://elektrosmoghalle.twoday.net/stories/643602/

Freilandversuch an Millionen Menschen
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/644843/

Charta kritischer Bürger: 11 Punkte für technischen, kulturellen und demokratischen Fortschritt
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/644853/

Page Rockwell
War Room
Salon.com
April 19, 2005

Here's one weapon in the Defense Department's arsenal you may not have heard much about: its team of cyber warriors. Wired reports that officers from U.S. Strategic Command, or Stratcom, acknowledged the existence of a unit called the Joint Functional Component Command for Network Warfare during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last month. Strip away the jargon, and you have the key words: network warfare, also known as hacking.

Part of the network warfare command's job is defensive: The unit protected Defense Department computer systems from an estimated 75,000 hacking attemps last year. But President Bush signed a secret directive in July of 2002 calling for the development of Computer Network Attack protocols, specifically to enable the network warfare unit to launch cyber attacks against enemy computer systems. [...] Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/cjqhm


© Virginia Metze

The Theologian And Author Believes The President Endorsed The Attacks To Build Up Support For His Military Plans.

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Doug Erickson Wisconsin State Journal

A noted Christian theologian suggested Monday in Madison that the Bush administration not only had prior knowledge of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but probably helped orchestrate them.

David Ray Griffin, 65, a retired professor at the Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, Calif., said the government's version of the attacks is so implausible it can't possibly be true.

The numerous inconsistencies and far-fetched explanations from Bush officials "show that the attacks must have been planned and executed by our own political and military leaders," Griffin said.

He thinks Bush endorsed the attacks to gain support for a military buildup and global domination effort that began with the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. [...] Read the rest at http://tinyurl.com/8whsb You may want to check out the Common Cause web site and read their take on the first hearing of the Election Reform Commission headed by Jimmy Carter and James Baker: http://www.commonblog.com/story/2005/4/19/95650/8097?tr=y&auid=836312 or http://tinyurl.com/76oyq


© Virginia Metze

Beyond Barney: How PBS accidentally showed that Rove stole the Florida vote

Friday, April 15, 2005
posted by Jane Stillwater : 10:11 AM

I can't believe it! Frontline, the PBS news show, just explained to us on national television just exactly how Karl Rove managed to jimmy the election vote both in 2000 AND in 2004! And Frontline exposed Rove purely by accident too. They didn't MEAN to give away Rove's trade secret. But after they got done quoting our Karl, even Barney the Purple Dinosaur could have put two and two together and figured this one out.

According to political commentator John Machado, "On a recent Frontline segment featuring the grand accomplishments of Karl -- the architect -- Rove, the bottom line reason that Rove's vote goal was reached in November of 2004 was that 'his base came out' after the polls had indicated that Kerry was the winner by a comfortable margin. Does Rove's base, the holy rolling Right Wing, vote only after 5 PM?" [...] Read the rest at: http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/


© Virginia Metze

by JESSE J. HOLLAND

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Majority Leader Tom DeLay says Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy's work from the bench has been "incredibly outrageous," his latest salvo at the federal judiciary in the weeks following the courts' refusal to stop Terri Schiavo's death.

DeLay also labeled a lot of the courts' Republican appointees as "judicial activists," a term applied by conservatives to judges they dislike for not following what they call strict interpretations of the Constitution.

The No. 2 Republican in the House has been openly critical of the federal courts since they refused to order the reinsertion of Schiavo's feeding tube. And he pointed to Kennedy as an example of Republican members of the Supreme Court who were activist and isolated. [...] Read the rest on the AP web page http://tinyurl.com/be5ke


© Virginia Metze

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/2645/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

http://www.utne.com/webwatch/2005_195/news/11621-1.html


Informant: NHNE

Study Shows Antarctic Glaciers Shrinking
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050421/D89JUVFG0.html


Informant: NHNE

http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/story/0,13026,1464050,00.html


Informant: NHNE

A poisonous right wing infection has gotten hold of the Senate Republicans. They've got a narrow Senate majority that's not enough to get their extremist judges on the courts. So they're scheming to change the fundamental Senate rules, silence Democrats, and get their judges approved. It's an assault on the Constitution and the whole system of checks and balances that makes our democracy work.

This unprecedented scheme will reach a crisis in the coming days. The focal point may be William Myers, a nominee rejected last year who's been nominated again. He'll be the test vote on this far-out power grab.

I'll say no on William Myers - and no to the poisonous abuse of power Republicans are trying to foist on the Senate. My colleague, Senator Ted Kennedy from Massachusetts, is helping to lead the battle against William Myers' confirmation. Senator Kennedy's website is hosting a petition against Myers' confirmation – a petition I am pleased to support.

Please take a moment to join me in this effort and sign Senator Kennedy's petition:

http://www.tedkennedy.com/NoMyers

The vast, vast majority of President Bush's nominees - over 95 percent - have been confirmed by the Senate for the federal courts. But the Senate refused to confirm a handful of them who are too extreme to swallow - the worst of the worst, the very bottom of the right-wing barrel.

Bush has nominated Myers for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals - the largest federal court of appeals, and a potential stepping stone to the Supreme Court. It also has jurisdiction over vast expanses of public land and priceless natural resources - which makes a person like Myers especially unfit to serve.

He's spent his career trying to dismantle the legal protections our courts exist to protect. As a lobbyist for mining interests, he was handpicked by President Bush to regulate that industry. His only experience has been manipulating laws and regulations for corporate gain, against the public interest.

Myers and the other rejected nominees make up a band of corporate facilitators and right-wing crusaders who don't deserve lifetime power to shape laws that govern us. We have to say no:

http://www.tedkennedy.com/NoMyers

On the merits, there is simply no case for why William Myers should be confirmed.

Fortunately, the Constitution and two hundred years of Senate history give a minority of Senators like Democrats are today the right to say no to irresponsible nominees like Myers.

But Republican leaders won't take the Constitution for an answer. They want to change the basic long-standing Senate rules, silence the minority, and force Myers to the federal court for life.

We need your help. If we all stand together, if we stand with my good friend Ted Kennedy, we can stop this madness. Please - say no to Myers now:

http://www.tedkennedy.com/NoMyers

In Friendship,

Barbara Boxer

Bürgerrechtsorganisationen warnen vor einem im Aufbau befindlichen globalen Projekt einer umfassenden sozialen Kontrolle.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/19/19937/1.html

"Gas prices hit record highs and are expected to rise" roared a recent Associated Press headline -- and, as predicted, prices have continued to rise with no relief in sight. In "response", President Bush and fellow big-oil Republicans in Congress have played on Americans' frustration at the pump to push their corporate energy bill as the answer. The awful irony here is that -- according to the Department of Energy itself -- the House of Representatives plan would further increase gas prices AND increase America's dependence on imported oil. [1]

Instead of embracing 21st century solutions to address America's modern energy needs, Bush and the House majority have caved -- yet again -- to big-oil lobbyists, and presented us with the failed energy policies of the past. According to the Associated Press, the new House Energy bill pumps $7.5 billion into oil and gas and old energy technologies, compared with a mere $500 million investment in clean and renewable alternatives. [2]

We no longer have to take the corrupting influence of big-oil lying down, because viable new energy solutions exist which every one of us -- and every honest politician -- can stand for! No new energy bill takes effect until both houses of Congress pass it, and the President signs it into law. That's why we must tell the President and Congress today that America can do better than another oil dominated energy policy, and that we want real investments in new energy now!

Tell President Bush and Congress today: "Just say no to big-oil, and yes to American energy independence!"

http://action.ourfuture.org/ctt.asp?u=1742757&l=89466

A generation ago, John F. Kennedy inspired Americans to accomplish what was believed to be an impossible task -- to put a man on the moon in less than a decade. Kennedy's Apollo project sparked a unique brand of American innovation committed to the idea that a strong, prosperous nation can accomplish anything it sets its mind to.

Today's Apollo Project is not to put a man on the moon, but to declare energy independence by the year 2015. It's time to enact a modern-day Apollo Plan that will:

>>Free America from over-reliance on unstable and undemocratic oil regimes through real investments in modern energy-saving technologies.

>>Create millions of new jobs here in America through real investments in the energy industries of the future and strategies to re-tool our communities for high-performance energy efficiency.

>>Protect our natural environment through real investments in pollution-reducing technologies like bio-fuels, energy efficient buildings, solar and wind power, and a new generation of clean power plants.

>>Reduce gas prices by helping Americans reduce oil demand through real investments in hybrid cars, renewable fuels, and efficient mass transportation.

Tell the President and Congress that it's time to stop serving big-oil and stand with the American people by embracing a modern day Apollo plan. Tell them today to "Just say no to big oil, and yes to American energy independence!"

http://action.ourfuture.org/ctt.asp?u=1742757&l=89466

A new Apollo plan is something that progressives can stand FOR -- not just another Republican proposal to rail against. Apollo will break our addiction to oil, protect our natural environment, create millions of good paying jobs and set America free from the influence of despotic oil regimes. It's time for the President and his fellow big-oil Republicans to end their lip-service, and deliver an energy bill that moves America away -- with a giant leap! -- from the failed energy policies of the past to an independent new energy future.

Tell the President and Congress today: "Just say no to big-oil, and yes to American energy independence!"

http://action.ourfuture.org/ctt.asp?u=1742757&l=89466

Thank you for helping make a new Apollo plan a reality today!

Sincerely,

Bracken Hendricks, Executive Director
Apollo Alliance

ECUADOR'S AMAZON RAINFOREST

In Ecuador's Amazon, ChevronTexaco has closed its eyes to the human rights implications of oil spills that have contaminated both the soil and the groundwater of the communities in the area and threatened the economic and cultural bases of Indigenous peoples' survival.

Sign the online petition to ChevronTexaco's Board of Directors:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=677776&l=12610

Learn more:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=677776&l=12604

En español:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=677776&l=12614

In Bhopal, Dow Chemical refuses to take responsibility for a horrific chemical disaster that has killed tens of thousands, contaminated the area and devastated the local community.

Take action to defend the rights of communities in Bhopal:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=677776&l=12601

Learn more:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=677776&l=12609

http://www.civicworldwide.org/index.html
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0421-31.htm

Aid worker uncovered America's secret tally of Iraqi civilian deaths
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/642359/

Country's Violence Catches Up to U.S. Crusader in Iraq
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/642279/

Marla Ruzicka: The senseless death of the woman who fought George Bush
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/637239/

Despite more lenient grading standards than in past years, a Drum Major Institute Report found that more than 90 percent of Republicans consistently voted against the interests of working families in 2004.

http://www.tompaine.com/uncommonsense/index.php?dateid=20050421#4594

by John Prados, TomPaine.com

The Bolton hearings uncovered two ways to politicize intelligence: to threaten analysts directly and to 'Boltonize.'

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/boltonized_intelligence.php?dateid=20050421

We are happy to be passing along an exciting new resource: a power point presentation that links the struggle against nuclear weapons with our efforts to end the war in Iraq: http://tinyurl.com/aveqf

This is particularly timely as we approach the mass mobilization being organized in New York City for Sunday, May 1st.

If you have a computer with power point software you can open this attachment. If not, please ask others in your group if they have that software and forward this message to them. Please show the presentation to your members and share it with other groups. You should also check the UFPJ web site in a few days; we will be converting the power point presentation into pdf files which you will be able to download.

We especially hope you will be able to use this resource in the coming week or so, as we gear up for the May 1st mobilization.

The Bush administration brought us to war in Iraq because of a supposed threat of "weapons of mass destruction" - including nuclear weapons. The whole world now knows this was a lie to justify a war to control Iraq's oil. The war rages on with tens of thousands killed and maimed, Iraq in ruins, and hundreds of billions of dollars wasted while our schools, health care and other vital services suffer, hitting people of color, the poor and working people the hardest.

This May, world leaders, mayors and citizens of dozens of countries are coming to New York City. They will meet at the UN to decide the fate of the endangered Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Signed by 189 nations, including the United States, the treaty prohibits non-nuclear states from acquiring nuclear weapons, and requires nuclear nations, including ours, to negotiate the elimination of nuclear weapons.

The Bush administration threatens war against Iran and North Korea, charging them with violating the NPT, but ignores its own treaty obligations, spending $40 billion a year on nuclear forces and threathening to use them first.

This is the 60th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On Sunday, May 1st, tens of thousands of people are marching to support the call to abolish all nuclear weapons and to bring our troops home from Iraq. We have a historic opportunity to help people see how these issues are connected. And the power point included as an attachment is a valuable tool in this educational process. We hope you will be able to use it widely.

peace,

Leslie Cagan
National Coordinator
UFPJ

As the Global Network (GN) prepares for its 13th annual space organizing conference in New York City, on April 29-30, a call came into our office today from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

The ACLU office in Brevard County, Florida (where NASA and the Kennedy Space Center are located) called to inform the Global Network that an ACLU investigation of the Brevard County Sheriff's department has revealed 600-700 pages of internal files documenting extensive infiltration and surveillance of the Global Network and other anti-war activities in the county during recent years. The files contained descriptions of Global Network members as being "anti-American."

The ACLU investigation, which began last January, also revealed that NASA was gathering information on European demonstrations against the launching of weapons and nuclear power in space during recent years. In addition, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI), based in Tampa, Florida, had infiltrated the Global Network as late as October of 2002 during the organization's annual Keep Space for Peace Week.

According to the ACLU the investigations centered on Global Network Coordinator Bruce Gagnon and Global Network members Mary Beth Sullivan and Maria Telesca. In addition to infiltration of the organization, the ACLU noted that the investigations included background checks, driving histories, address histories, as well as other information gathering activities.

The ACLU has requested permission to pursue legal action on behalf of Bruce, Mary Beth, and Maria. The ACLU intends to attempt to retrieve all surveillance files gathered on Global Network members and to pursue a possible lawsuit.


Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011
(207) 729-0517
globalnet@mindspring.com
http://www.space4peace.org
http://space4peace.blogspot.com (Our blog)


Informant: sash

Throw Lying Cops Off the Force: In an Orwellian twist, the authorities even censored their own tapes to delete evidence of police lies.

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article8595.htm

In an Unseen Front in the War on Terrorism, America is Spending Millions...To Change the Very Face of Islam.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/050425/25roots.htm


From Information Clearing House

Before I read this book, I couldn't understand it either. In every country I've visited throughout the world, I have witnessed anti-American sentiment. I thought people were just ignorant and jealous of our wonderful nation.

http://www.mercola.com/2005/apr/20/economic_hitman.htm


From Information Clearing House

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=7686


From Information Clearing House

Panorama investigates the "neo-conservatives", the small and unelected group of right-wingers, who critics claim have hijacked the White House. They brought us war against Iraq - what do the hawks in Washington have in store for us now?

Real Video.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article8581.htm

We are now in an America where it's a commonplace for our President, wearing a "jacket with ARMY printed over his heart and 'Commander in Chief' printed on his right front," to address vast assemblages of American troops on the virtues of bringing democracy to foreign lands at the point of a missile.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?emx=x&pid=2334


From Information Clearing House

All is quiet in Falluja, or at least that is how it seems, given that the mainstream media has largely forgotten about the Iraqi city. But independent journalists are risking life and limb to bring out a very different story.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/6890A8DA-AF79-45AD-BB4F-42C060978A07.htm


From Information Clearing House

In 2004 the US-based scientist Dr Les Roberts led a survey into deaths caused by the invasion of Iraq. His results showed that approximately 100,000 Iraqis had been killed after the invasion. He spoke to Joseph Choonara about his survey.

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php4?article_id=6271


From Information Clearing House

A week before she was killed by a suicide bomber, humanitarian worker Marla Ruzicka forced military commanders to admit they did keep records of Iraqi civilians killed by US forces.

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article8598.htm

This is the story of the hidden agenda behind the invasion of Iraq. How much has this war really been about control over a dwindling resource?

Real Video
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article8582.htm

by Doug Smith, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

8:18 PM PDT, April 17, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq — She hugged and laughed her way through war zones with an effervescence belying her seriousness of purpose.

No pass to get through a checkpoint? She leaned across her Iraqi driver to show the stern American guard the shock of blond hair beneath her flowing black robes. "Please, please, please, please, please," she said, and then, "Where are you from?" She waved aside tough-looking guards from all corners of the world, never looking back to see if they had raised an AK-47 in her direction. In her one-woman mission to make the United States take responsibility for the innocent victims of its wars, 28-year-old Marla Ruzicka bubbled with a passion that seemed to lift her beyond danger. [...] Read more about her and her death at http://tinyurl.com/7ceo7

© Virginia Metze

by Steve Mills
Tribune staff reporter

Published April 20, 2005

AUSTIN, Texas -- With Texas' criminal justice system the subject of intense scrutiny for a crime lab scandal and a series of wrongful convictions, a state Senate committee heard testimony Tuesday about the possibility that Texas had experienced the ultimate criminal justice nightmare: the execution of an innocent person.

Fourteen months after Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in the nation's busiest death chamber, a renowned arson expert and Willingham's lawyer told the Senate Criminal Justice Committee that they believed Willingham might have been innocent but found nobody willing to listen to their claim in the days before the execution in February 2004. [...] Read the rest about justice in Bush's home state, where he was governor in the Chicago Tribune: http://tinyurl.com/758a2

© Virginia Metze

http://www.WantToKnow.info/050420gmocoverup


Informant: Friends

North Tyneside Guardian

Councillors call over phone mast requests

COUNCILLORS are calling on their local MPs to back a Parliamentary bill which aims to increase the powers for refusing planning applications for phone masts.

Under current legislation, councils can only refuse phone masts based on their appearance despite concerns from residents about the potential health impacts.

But that could change as a private members' bill was recently introduced by Andrew Stunell MP in the House of Commons, aimed at giving local authorities greater powers in refusing a development without planning permission and allowing councils to have regard to health issues.

Now North Tyneside Council has agreed to call on the three local MPs to support the bill after a motion was unanimously backed at a full council meeting last week.

Coun David Ord said: "We're asking for greater powers to decide whether these things should be allowed. We're asking for our MPs to support this bill."

Lib Dem colleague Coun Graeme Brett said he was concerned about the number of planning applications which were rejected by the council after a democratic debate, and taken to an appeal where they were approved by someone hundreds of miles away, often without visiting the area.

Conservative councillor Ken Mewett said they were happy to support the motion and the parliamentary bill as it seemed sensible legislation, especially considering local residents' views on mobile phone masts.

And Labour leader Coun John Harrison said: "We support this in principle."

19 April 2005

Wednesday 20 April 2005

'No' to mast plan

Plans to site a mobile phone mast close to homes on a Bicester estate have been refused.

Mobile phone firm O2 wanted to install a 40ft mast beside Southwold Lane, opposite the Southwold estate and between the Banbury Road roundabout and the Caversfield/ Fringford turn.

Cherwell District Council's south area planning committee turned down the application on the grounds that it would be an eyesore and too close to homes.

O2 said it would appeal against the decision and it believed local people and planners had no objection to the application.

Chairman Catherine Fulljames said: "Generally the committee thought it was ugly and too close to houses."

But she pointed out the committee could only consider planning issues and not any alleged health risks.

Andy Bowne, a sales manager, of Juniper Gardens, Southwold, thought the mask was a health risk but was also concerned that not enough residents had been consulted.

He said: "I'm pleased and I think it's very unusual. If there is concern about health risks, the council has an obligation to residents."

Chris Partridge, chairman of Southwold Community Association, said he was delighted.

"Everyone on the committee was against it. We are all aware these masts have to go somewhere, but this was not the best place. It would have been a real eyesore."

Jim Stevenson, a spokesman for O2, said: "We are very disappointed. We did speak to local people and we thought we had their backing and the planning authority's."

http://www.zeit.de/2005/17/RFID


Nachricht von der BI Bad Dürkheim

http://www.portel.de/news/view_redsys_artikel.asp?id=6325


Nachricht von der BI Bad Dürkheim

Here in Denmark two days ago a case of MFR-vaccination causing autism in a girl was turned down at the High court. Their verdict was that this vaccine cannot cause autism in children. The girls' parents and their lawyer has been suing the manufacturers at various courts for over 9 years. Now they have to give up, because this is the highest court. Their perfectly normal daughter became autistic a few days after being vaccinated with this vaccine.

Sianette Kwee


Mercury-based preservative in children's vaccines, may cause autism

Do I need to make any comments about the pure evil of this Bill and the people who are sponsoring it? I don’t think so. You are invited to share this with anyone who has children who have been vaccinated and with those young parents who are expecting children to be born in the future.

Playing politics at kids' expense

Bill would insulate pharmaceutical firms from liability

by ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.

Knight Ridder Newspapers

06:42 PM PDT on Sunday, April 10, 2005

http://www.pe.com/localnews/opinion/syndicated/stories/PE_OpEd_Opinion_D_op_11_autism.f42d.html

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has buried a provision in the "Protecting America in the War on Terror Act" to insulate the pharmaceutical industry from liability for venal actions that may have poisoned an entire generation of Americans.

Mounting evidence suggests that Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative in children's vaccines, may be responsible for the exponential growth of autism, attention deficit disorder, speech delays and other childhood neurological disorders now epidemic in the United States.

Prior to 1989, American infants generally received three vaccinations. In the early 1990s, public-health officials dramatically increased the number of Thimerosal-containing vaccinations without considering the cumulative impact of the mercury load on developing brains.


AP photo
Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative in children's vaccines, may be responsible for the exponential growth of autism.


Warning Issued

In a 1991 memo, Dr. Maurice Hilleman, one of the fathers of Merck's vaccination programs, warned the president of the company's vaccination division that 6-month-old children administered the shots on schedule would suffer mercury exposures 87 times the government safety standard (400 times the current U.S. government's safe level). He recommended that Thimerosal be discontinued, "especially when used on infants and children."

Merck ignored Hilleman's warning and, for eight years, government officials added seven additional shots for children containing Thimerosal.

Mercury is a known brain poison, and autism rates began rising dramatically in children who were administered the new vaccine regimens. A decade ago the American Academy of Pediatrics estimated the autism rate among American children to be 1 in 2,500. Today, the CDC places the autism rate at 1 in 166, or one in 80 boys. Additionally, one in every six children is now diagnosed with a related neurological disorder.

In 1998 the CDC's lead Thimerosal researcher, Dr. Thomas Verstraeten, complained to his colleagues in a secret memo that, despite rerunning and rethinking the research, the links between Thimerosal and autism "just won't go away."

Secret Meeting

In 2000, CDC, FDA and pharmaceutical companies called a secret meeting to review Verstraeten's findings. According to transcripts, participants were alarmed about the undeniable link between the mercury preservative and autism. Dr. Bill Weil told the group, "You can play with (the results) all you want. They are statistically significant."

Dr. Richard Johnston acknowledged he feared his grandchild getting vaccinated. But the group was most concerned with keeping the findings secret.

Numerous animal, DNA, epidemiological and other studies point to Thimerosal as the culprit in America's epidemic of neurological disorders.

Autistic children have been shown to have higher mercury loads than nonautistics, and there have been reports of significant improvements in some brain-injured children by removing mercury from their bodies.

Most of the symptoms of autism are similar to the symptoms of mercury poisoning. Recently, scientists have been able to induce autism in certain mice by exposing them to Thimerosal.

In a recent study, former FDA scientist Dr. Jill James uncovered a scientific link that helps explain why Thimerosal injures some children and not others. That study found that many autistic children are genetically deficient in their capacity to produce glutathione, an antioxidant generated in the brain that helps remove mercury from the body, a harmless difference until the child is exposed to large quantities of mercury.

Porter Bridges' experience is typical. In 1993, this healthy 4-month-old slipped into a coma hours after receiving his vaccines.

Today, 11-year-old Porter is autistic, hyperactive and severely brain damaged. He requires minute-to-minute supervision, is frequently afflicted with violent seizures and is not yet toilet-trained.

After a seven-year legal fight, the U.S. government acknowledged that Porter was damaged by his vaccines. There are now 520,000 autistics in the United States with 40,000 new cases each year.

High Cost of Care

The cost of caring for autistic children is conservatively $40,000 annually. Families with children with autism and other neurological diseases have filed more than 4,200 claims in the special federal "Vaccine Court." Some plaintiffs have also filed in trial courts.

Some Drug Makers Act

Thimerosal defendants include Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, Aventis, Weyeth and Eli Lilly. Frist's newly proposed "anti-terror" legislation would create insurmountable burdens of proof for plaintiffs in these cases and forbid states from banning Thimerosal.

Drug makers wary of liability have reduced Thimerosal in children's vaccines in recent years, with the exception of Chiron and Aventis' pediatric flu vaccine. Mercury-laced vaccine stocks were given to children until the end of 2003.

Thimerosal's inventor, Eli Lilly, donated $226,000 to Frist's national Republican Senate Campaign Committee in 2002 and bought 5,000 copies of Frist's book on bioterrorism. Congress will vote on Frist's bill in the near future.

Instead of demanding the immediate removal of Thimerosal from all vaccines, and making the drug industry help defray the public and private costs of caring for injured children, Frist's bill would give the industry a free ride at public expense.


Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the chief prosecuting attorney for Riverkeeper and a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Winfried Wolfs neue flugschrift Nr. 4 (48 Seiten für 2 Euro) ist brandneu erschienen. Hieraus im LabourNet Germany:

Der Inhalt und Bestelladresse
http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/wipo/allg/welt-ww.html

Gleichgewicht des Schreckens - Zur Lage der Weltwirtschaft im Frühjahr 2005 (pdf)
http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/wipo/allg/gleichgewicht.pdf


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 24, Eintrag 12

Exterritoriale Flüchtlingslager der Europäischen Union

Wir fordern eine öffentliche Inspektion der menschenrechtswidrigen Internierungslager von Flüchtlingen und MigrantInnen in den Mittelmeerländern, um der Forderung nach ihrer Schließung Nachdruck zu verleihen.

Internationaler Appell des Komitees für Grundrechte und Demokratie (zusammen mit der Forschungsgesellschaft Flucht und Migration) gegen die Errichtung exterritorialer Lager in verschiedenen Sprachen beim Komitee http://www.grundrechtekomitee.de/ub_showarticle.php?articleID=151

Der Krieg gegen die trikontinentale Massenarmut - Migration, Flucht und die Rückkehr der Lager, Hintergrundartikel von Thomas Hohlfeld und Dirk Vogelskamp vom 17.03.2005
http://www.grundrechtekomitee.de/ub_showarticle.php?articleID=150


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 24, Eintrag 12

Die Fotoreportage der Begehungsaktion von Arbeiterfotografie: 'Workfare is not fare - Ein-Euro-Jobs stoppen' - Protest gegen Lohndumping und Zwangsdienste

http://www.arbeiterfotografie.com/galerie/reportage-2005/index-2005-04-15-koeln-1-euro-job-protest.html

Erster Untersuchungsspaziergang zum Thema Ein-Euro-Jobs
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/641853/


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 24, Eintrag 12

Erster Ein-Euro-Spaziergang in Köln

"Im Rahmen des bundesweiten Projekts Dokumentationsstelle Hartz IV hat nun auch in Köln der erste Untersuchungsspaziergang zum Thema Ein-Euro-Jobs stattgefunden. Rund 25 Leute haben am 15. April zwei der leider mittlerweile zahlreichen Beschäftigungsträger besucht, die bereitwillig Ein-Euro-Jobs anbieten und weitervermitteln. Die Geschäftsführung fand die Situation offenbar so unübersichtlich, dass sie überhastet die Polizei rief…" Bericht von Agenturschluss Köln vom 20.4.05 http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/aktionen/koelnsp05.html

Fotoreportage der Begehungsaktion von Arbeiterfotografie
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/641859/

Treffpunkt für den zweiten Recherche-Spaziergang ist Do. 28.04. 10:00 U-Bahn-Haltestelle Lohsestraße (Ausgang Neusser Straße)


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 24, Eintrag 12

Position der ver.di-Frauen zur Mehraufwands-Entschädigungs-Arbeitsgelegenheit (MEA oder 1€Job). Positionspapier des ver.di-Bundesfrauenrates vom April 05 (pdf) http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/realpolitik/hilfe/euroverdifrau.pdf

Aus dem Text: "Durch die Zumutbarkeit jeder Arbeit für Arbeitslose werden Frauen, auch bereits junge Frauen, noch mehr als bisher an die Ränder der Beschäftigung verwiesen. Die Befürworter eines flächendeckenden Einsatzes der MEA machten von Anfang an deutlich, dass mit diesem Instrument eher diverse Löcher gestopft werden sollten, so z.B. der zunehmende Ausfall Zivildienstleistender, die Deckung von Personaldefiziten in Kindergärten und Schulen, die schlechte Finanzlage vieler Kommunen, die mangelnde Personalausstattung in der institutionellen und häuslichen Pflege usw. (…) Das Vorhandensein der 1€Jobs für Arbeitslose und ihre Androhung für noch Beschäftigte macht schon jetzt prekäre Beschäftigung und Niedrigstentlohnung zu einem von Arbeitgebern propagierten und politisch akzeptierten Beschäftigungssegment in der Privatwirtschaft. Dies hat nicht nur verheerende Wirkungen auf die ohnehin mehrheitlich in den prekären Arbeitsverhältnissen beschäftigten Frauen, weil ihnen so ein Ausweg immer schwieriger wird, sondern verstärkt insgesamt den Druck auf die Beschäftigungsbedingungen in der Privatwirtschaft…."


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 24, Eintrag 12

Mindestlohn-Debatte: Billig, willig und fleißig. Wenn die Lohnarbeit so transnational wird, wie es das Kapital schon lange ist. Artikel von Robert Kurz in Freitag vom 15.04.2005 http://www.freitag.de/2005/15/05150102.php


Zitat des Tages:

"Mindestlohngesetz

Im Rahmen ihres Sorgerechts für die deutsche Wirtschaft bringt die Bundesregierung mit diesem Mindestlohngesetz zum Ausdruck, daß sich künftig für Unternehmen der Einsatz von Arbeitskräften - wie der Name schon sagt - "mindestens lohnen" muß. Aus diesem Grund gelten ab sofort folgende gesetzliche Bestimmungen:

§ 1: Mindestlohn bedeutet, daß übergangsweise für lohnabhängig Beschäftigte mindestens noch Lohn zu zahlen ist.

§ 2: Der Mindestlohn darf 1 Euro pro Arbeitsstunde nicht überschreiten. Damit ist er nach wie vor allerdings erheblich teurer als die Postgebühr für einen Standartbrief.

§ 3: Alle weiteren Regelungen fallen daher unter die Postgebührenordnung. Die Entlohnung darf vom Arbeitgeber mit sofortiger Wirkung aus der Portokasse finanziert werden und ist steuerlich voll absetzbar.

§ 4: Unfrankierten Arbeitslosen ist die Arbeitserlaubnis unter Androhung eines Strafportos zu verweigern.

§ 5: Nach Ablauf der Übergangsfrist zahlt die Gebühren (also den Mindestlohn) der Empfänger (der Beschäftigte)."

Aus: Deutscher Einheit(z)-Textdienst von Werner Lutz Extra 5/05


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 24, Eintrag 12

"Lohnstruktur nach unten öffnen". Hartz-Reformen und "Kampf gegen Lohndumping" widersprechen sich. Artikel von Velten Schäfer, erschienen in ND vom 13.4.2005 - wir danken der Redaktion für die Freigabe!

http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/realpolitik/kombilohn/mindestnd.html


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 24, Eintrag 12

Thesen für eine europäische Mindestlohnpolitik

"Angesichts von Dumpinglöhnen in Osteuropa und der umstrittenen EU-Dienstleistungsrichtlinie wird auch hier zu Lande über Sinn und Unsinn von Mindestlöhnen gestritten. Experten aus Deutschland, Frankreich und der Schweiz kommen in ihren Überlegungen zu dem Schluss, dass das Problem europaweit gelöst werden muss. Wissenschaftler des Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Instituts (WSI) in der Hans-Böckler-Stiftung haben zusammen mit Kollegen des Schweizer Denknetzes und des französischen Forschungsinstitutes Ires Thesen für eine europäische Mindestlohnpolitik entwickelt…." Dokumentation in der Frankfurter Rundschau vom 19.4.05

http://www.fr-aktuell.de/ressorts/nachrichten_und_politik/dokumentation/?sid=48477979ccd74b79da360e31a2959297&cnt=663652

Wir erheben den Titel "Wer arbeitet, soll auch essen" zum Unzitat des Tages, denn da war doch was mit der Anti-These…. ?


WSI plädiert für europäische Mindestlohn-Politik

Erweitertes Entsendegesetz erster Schritt auf dem Weg zum Mindestlohn / Beschäftigungsrisiken nicht belegt

"Mit der von der Bundesregierung geplanten Erweiterung des Entsendegesetzes würde erstmals in Deutschland eine weitreichende Mindestsicherung eingeführt. Das Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Institut (WSI) in der Hans-Böckler-Stiftung sieht darin einen wichtigen Schritt, um Lohndumping und die weitere Zunahme von Armutslöhnen einzudämmen. Allerdings ist nach Einschätzung des WSI absehbar, dass auch nach einer Erweiterung des Entsendegesetzes große Lücken bei der Absicherung von Mindestlöhnen bleiben. So können die tariflichen Mindestlöhne nur in Branchen für allgemeinverbindlich erklärt werden, die über gültige Flächentarifverträge verfügen. Das ist jedoch in vielen Branchen nicht der Fall. Keine Lösung bietet das Entsendegesetz auch für Branchen, in denen die unteren tariflichen Lohngruppen mit Beträgen zwischen 4 und 6 Euro pro Stunde deutlich unterhalb der Armutsschwelle liegen..." WSI-Meldung vom 18.04.2005

http://www.boeckler.de/cps/rde/xchg/hbs/hs.xsl/547_34534.html


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 24, Eintrag 12

DWW 4/2005
Prof. Dr. jur. Klaus Kniep
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/abwehransprueche_gegen_mobilfunkanlagen.doc
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Prof.+Kniep

PLANNERS deferred making a decision on whether a mobile phone mast should be built just 400 metres away from a primary school. Parents of children at Bourne Abbey Primary School fear radiation from the mast could affect the health of pupils.

South Kesteven District Council's development control committee said it wanted more information before it could accept or reject the 20-metre high mast, which will have three antennae and three dishes. Planning officers had recommended the application for approval in their report to the committee.

Hutchinson 3G UK Ltd wants to build the mast at the former DW Green site, off Pinfold Road.

Parents only found out about the plans on the last day of the Spring term, while the Robert Manning Technology College, which is also near the proposed site, was not aware of the plans. Eamon Duff (48), of Gladstone Street, Bourne, has a five-year-old daughter, Niamh, at the school. He said: "I don't think mobile phone masts should ever be put near a school. "There are plenty of other places they could go."

Susie Norris (39), of Stanley Street, Bourne, whose seven-year-old son Kyle attends the school, said she was extremely concerned by the health issues surrounding the masts. She said: "I don't want anything like this near our schools. It should be placed out in the middle of the Fens."

Mast Sanity, a campaign group for the sensible positioning of phone masts, says a mast should be at least 600m from a school and has urged all those concerned to lobby their councillors. Co-ordinator Lynne Edwards said: "Radiation is emitted in several directions. In addition to the main beam, which has the most powerful level of radiation, the masts give off several side beams."

Radiation has been shown to increase the risk of children developing cancer, leukaemia and growths in later life and councillors were faced with a number of objections from parents when they considered the application.

Bourne Town Council also expressed its concern about the mast's close proximity to the school field, as did a resident of Arnhem Way. The application has been made because of public demand for phone coverage for the eastern side of Bourne and the A151.

Verity Stanford, of 3 Mobile, said a base station was needed in the area for that demand to be met and reassured concerned parents and residents. She said: "Radio waves only travel short distances, so we need base stations close to where people want coverage. "The industrial unit is the best location for this area. "It will be to the west of the main industrial site, within a large concrete parking area and away from any sensitive land use."

The mast would be 200m from the nearest homes and be partially screened by a number of 10m high cyprus trees, which line Pinfold Road.

The committee will look at the matter again at its May meeting.

20 April 2005

http://www.spaldingtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=829&ArticleID=1002324

http://tinyurl.com/9ee2p


Informant: Sylvie

04/21/05

George W. Bush was preoccupied with going to war even before he was elected. Brown and Root have expanded and profited immensely from their government contracts from the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. The similarity between what happened in the south Texas election of 1948 and what happened in the presidential race in Florida in 2000 along with the connection of Brown and Root to both LBJ and Cheney/Bush makes it appear history has repeated itself. There are other interesting similarities between LBJ and GWB besides their shared bond with the Lone Star State...

http://www.libertyforall.net/2005/may1/Texas.html

from Liberty For All, by Jessi Winchester


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

04/20/05

Social Security is nothing more than a bankrupt welfare program, one that is funded entirely by monies taken from young and middle-aged people. Medicare is another welfare program whose spending is going through the roof and whose regulations have plunged the medical profession into depression, despondency, and dependency. The Drug War is a decades-long program that has utterly failed to accomplish its supposed end and whose actual results have been overwhelmingly destructive.

http://www.fff.org/comment/com0504f.asp

from Future of Freedom Foundation, by Jacob G. Hornberger


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

04/20/05

[W]e shouldn't be laughing. What's going on in the United States, crystallized for many of us more dramatically than ever in these recent weeks, is nothing to laugh about. It doesn't get much more serious. The country is in the hands of extremist zealots who want to merge church and state and do away with every piece of socially ameliorative [sic] legislation passed in the last 70 years. The recent trifecta of shame began with the Schiavo matter. Its importance was that it showed that utterly no principle ... retains any meaning at all when it bumps up against the hungers of the religious right. ... [W]hat's going on now is not just politics. On the surface, the Schiavo case looked like the principle of minimal federal interference in states' matters competing with the 'principle' of life. Nonsense." [editor's note: Apperarances to the contrary, this is more than just "leftist ravings" - SAT]

http://www.prospect.org/web/view-web.ww?id=9558

from The American Prospect, by Michael Tomasky


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

04/20/05

Interview with Scott Parkin of Houston Global Awareness (which is organizing activities in Houston the week of May 15 around the Halliburton Shareholders Meeting): "We are beginning a long term direct action popular education campaign against Halliburton that will go beyond the shareholder's meeting. Anti-war and global justice activists here recognize that corporate war profiteering is an important pillar of Bush's power in occupying Iraq. We will continue to make a political, social and economic climate that makes it difficult for Halliburton to continue operations in Iraq...

http://www.counterpunch.org/zeese04202005.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Less than two years after it was plunged into a rape scandal, the Air Force Academy is scrambling to address complaints that evangelical Christians wield so much influence at the school that anti-Semitism and other forms of religious harassment have become pervasive.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=3063

Studie
http://www.tecchannel.de/news/business/20487/

04/20/05

At the end of the Cold War, Americans said yes to military power. The skepticism about arms and armies that pervaded the American experiment from its founding, vanished. Political leaders, liberals and conservatives alike, became enamored with military might. The ensuing affair had and continues to have a heedless, Gatsby-like aspect, a passion pursued in utter disregard of any consequences that might ensue. Few in power have openly considered whether valuing military power for its own sake or cultivating permanent global military superiority might be at odds with American principles. Indeed, one striking aspect of America's drift toward militarism has been the absence of dissent offered by any political figure of genuine stature...

http://www.motherjones.com/news/dailymojo/2005/04/bacevich.html

from Mother Jones, by Andrew Bacevich


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

04/21/05

The idea the US can somehow by violence change entire cultures is itself a belief in a type of White Magic to counter the Black Magic and the Evil Eye. Bush and the neocons are so deluded I don't know what else to call their beliefs except Magic: we will zap them with our White Magic to wipe out their Black Magic. We wave our magic wand. . .chango-presto, they become like us. The envy and the Evil Eye disappears; human nature is transformed! White Magic, Black Magic, the Evil Eye ... all hidden under a farrago of neocon verbiage. Added to this atavistic mess is a President who believes God chose him, meaning we now have a Priest-King. We appear to be stuck in a third-rate fantasy novel ...

http://www.lewrockwell.com/wallace/wallace206.html

from LewRockwell.Com, by Bob Wallace


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

04/20/05

One might expect conservatives, for many of whom Roosevelt remains a bête noire, to be chary of borrowing pages from his playbook, as with the Constitutional Restoration Act, which seeks to strip courts of the jurisdiction to review government's 'acknowledgement of God.' Any judge who exceeded her jurisdiction under the law -- say, by considering almost any plea for relief under the Establishment Clause -- would be subject to impeachment. To make sense of this strange appropriation of FDR, it's really necessary to watch the proceedings at the 'War on Faith' conference held earlier this month and absorb the sheer quantity of bile spewed on the black robes...

http://www.reason.com/links/links042005.shtml

from Reason, by Julian Sanchez


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

04/20/05

Currently we're getting used to revelations that the Iraq War (Act II) was started on the basis of completely false intelligence; in other words, a total screw-up, a massive blunder. However, this is nothing new. Most other wars also started as a result of government incompetence and/or government malevolence in some mix, and the exception usually perceived, World War Two, is no exception at all...

http://www.strike-the-root.com/51/davies/davies10.html

from Strike the Root, by Jim Davies


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

04/20/05

The Republican chairman of the House ethics committee offered on Wednesday to begin an investigation of Majority Leader Tom DeLay to end a stalemate that has kept the panel from functioning this year. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Washington, made the proposal at a news conference flanked by three of the four other Republicans on the ethics panel. The evenly divided committee also has five Democrats."

http://tinyurl.com/cyyvj

from CNN


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/crest1.jpg
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/crest2.jpg


Informant: Sylvie

Last posted: Wednesday 20 April 2005 16:40

A MOBILE phone company has unveiled new proposals to extend a controversial phone mast.

Communication giant O2 has submitted plans to increase the height of a pole in an alleyway next to Foundry Street, Little Lever, from 12.5 metres to 15 metres high.

The telecommunications firm tried to extend the mast last year, but Bolton Council rejected the application for being out of character with the surrounding area.

Now O2 has produced an amended design which shows a slimmer phone pole, broadening out at the top of the mast to include extra antennae.

The mast is situated in the village centre, near the shopping parade on Market Street.

It part of the company's Third Generation Network project, improving the network's coverage and allowing users to deal with large amounts of data.

Councillors in Little Lever say the mast would look like a "porcupine".

Cllr Mary Woodward, ward member for Little Lever, said: "A 15m phone pole in the middle of the precinct would be too high and it would be detrimental to the area, which is built-up.

"The mast would be out of character and become a total eyesore.

"The application for an extension was unanimously refused last time, and it should be again."

Ann McCracken, from O2, said: "We hope this new application will reduce any fears residents have about the mast's appearance.

"We wrote to local councillors in March to inform them about this further application."

Last year, O2 applied to Bolton Council to share an existing mast with rivals Vodafone at Little Lever Cricket Club, but this was rejected by planning bosses.

O2 also held talks with officials from a nearby church to try to find an alternative site.

The mast has a long history, with a successful campaign launched by villagers in the summer of 2003 to stop the monopole being erected.

But four months later, a government inspector agreed the phone mast should be built despite residents' concerns.

Residents had objected due to fears that the mast would be "an intrusive feature" and could attract vandalism.

http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/lancashire/bolton/news/NEWS3.html


Informant: Sylvie

http://www.textatelier.com/index.php?id=996&blognr=547
http://www.gigaherz.ch/902

Mobiltelefone darf man nicht anfassen
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/639038/

Kein höheres Risiko für Hirntumore durch Handys
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/641113/

http://omega.twoday.net/stories/624703/

Die Akademie der Wissenschaften New York, warnt vor Handys und Sendemasten, dass Kinder ein höheres Risiko hatten, an Blutkrebs zu erkranken: http://www.s-p-i-r-i-t.net/science/c-mobilfunk1.htm

Machen Handys wirklich schwachsinnig?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/641128/

Mobiltelefone darf man nicht anfassen
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/639038/